The following story is based on the fictional characters, situations,
and settings created by Rumiko Takahashi for her Ranma 1/2 series of manga.
They are here used without permission.
 
 
       Brief mention is made of Mr. Boris Vallejo. Not insult of Mr. Vallejo
or his work is intended. Quite the contrary. I encourage everyone to visit
the web site created by him and his partner in life:
 
http://www.imaginistix.com/index.cfm

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Divided I Stand: Chapter 6 Revision 0
 

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       Akane had been nearing exhaustion when they brought Ranma into the
compound. When not finding new places to place the injured, many had to be
moved back outside of the compound once they had been treated, she found
herself smothered by distraught children in dire need of comfort. She had
been dead on her feet and her nerves completely exhausted when the two men
bearing Ranma's stretcher walked through the gate. She had not even realized
who it was at first. She fell to pieces once she realized that it was Ranma
lying on the stretcher. It was Soun Tendo who guided the men to Ranma's tent
on the front lawn.
 
       "Don't worry," a corpsman had told Akane. "He's going to be fine. The
cuts were nasty, but they will heal okay. He's just a little tranked right
now, is all."
 
       "What happened?" Akane asked in a tiny voice.
 
       "He got into a sword fight," the corpsman had said. "It was pretty
nasty and I guess today was the first time he had ever had to kill anybody.
He was a little shaken."
  
       Akane had almost blurted out that this was not the first time Ranma
had killed someone, but caught herself in time. How on earth do you explain
to a normal person, even he is a soldier, about Safuron? she had asked
herself. The inability explain such things worried her.
 
       "Ranma doesn't fight with weapons!" Akane finally choked out. "How
did this happen?"
 
       "He didn't have a lotta choice, Akane," Ranko said in a grim voice.
"There was several of 'em and they had Ranma, your dad and Doc Tofu
surrounded."
 
       She and Ranko had stayed in Ranma's tent after they transferred him
to his futon. Even though by that time the evening shadows had gotten very
long, the oppressive heat had lingered on. She and Ranko had tried to keep
the air in the tent moving with fans until well after dark. Ryouga finally
came along and made a nuisance of himself until the two of them agreed to go
eat and get some rest. Akane had lapsed into a daze after that.
 
        She woke up in the middle of the night because Ranko was crying,
sounding very much like one of the children Akane had spent the day
comforting.
 
       "It's not my fault! Please don't kill me, Mommy!" Ranko cried as she
began shivering. "I'll be as manly as I can!"
 
       All the suspicions Akane had been harboring about Ranko died. This
girl was nothing like the previous copy of Ranma who had come from a haunted
mirror. This was the real Ranma in female form, deathly afraid of Nodoka. No
wonder the girl carried herself with such pride, and no wonder Ranko looked
as though she would melt every time she looked at Ranma. What other sort of
guy would a girl like Ranma be attracted to?
 
       "Well, congratulations, Nodoka," Akane said softly to the damp night.
"Your son is so manly she can barely keep her hands off of himself. I hope
you're pleased."
 
       "Please, Mommy! Please!" Ranko whimpered.
 
       "It's okay, baby," Akane said in a soft loving voice. She cuddled up
to Ranko's back and kissed the girl on the cheek. "Everything is going to be
fine."
 
        Ranko immediately rolled over and began sobbing into Akane's
shoulder. Akane sighed and held the girl close. Ranko was cuddly, like the
children Akane had been comforting all day. So is Ranma when he's having
this particular nightmare, Akane thought. Dragons and gods could line up to
take turns fighting him, or all of them could jump on him at the same time
and Ranma would barely blink an eye, yet one cross look from his mother
would turn him into a hopeless wreck. Akane sighed as she held Ranko a
little closer, then went back to sleep.
 
       Things were rather different when they woke up. Akane and Ranko's
positions had shifted during the night to reflect their true feelings for
one another. Akane blushed violently as she glanced around. There was
nothing for her to worry about. Kasumi was the only one awake. Akane
extricated herself as gently as she could from Ranko's powerful embrace as
she got up to see what Kasumi needed help with. Much to Akane's surprise and
delight, Kasumi asked her to help with breakfast.
 
       It was not a very complicated recipe. All she had to do was keep
boiling water in the pots and keep track of how long the pre-packaged meals
the army had given them had been in the water. Kasumi and Nabiki saw after
their distribution. By the time the sun had fully risen, Akane was ready to
go lay down again.  She did not do that, of course, there were entirely too
many diapers to change and too many children in need of comforting. Ranko
proved to be exceptionally good at this particular chore. The children loved
her.
 
       Akane cuddled a colicky newborn while trying to keep a pair of
toddlers safely seated in her lap. Two somewhat older children had sat down
on either side of her and were leaning against her. Ranko was playing with
sizeable pack of the more mobile children out in the yard. She seemed to be
having as much fun as the children were.
 
       Being deeply fatigued by the stress and long hours of physical labor,
Akane's mind began to wander, then lapse into a kind of trance. Suddenly,
she was seeing an older Ranko playing in the yard with several kids. Two of
the children had red hair. Another two had bluish-black hair and two others
had dark purplish hair. All of them were about the same age, and all of them
had their hair pulled back into a braided queue. They were all exceedingly
rambunctious and having a great time dog-piling Ranko. Children piling up on
Ranko was the only thing in Akane's vision that had any part of reality. The
rest was her subconscious trying to project the future.
 
       "Aiyah!" Shampoo's ever-cheerful voice cried out. "Girl-type Airen
having too, too much fun!"
 
       Akane shook her head. Purplish hair? Whose kids were the two with
dark purplish hair?
 
       "I'll kill him!" Akane cried out, giving the children around her a
start.
 
       "What wrong with Violent-girl, now?" Shampoo asked, sounding annoyed
as she caught one of the kids trying to climb her leg and picked him up.
 
       "You okay, Akane?" Ranko called out.
 
       Akane's mind came back around to the here and now.
 
       "I'm ... I'm fine," Akane said, her embarrassment evident in her
voice. "I...I was just thinking about Happosai leading Ranma off into that
storm, that's all. I guess I'm a little tired."
 
       "Hmph!" Shampoo noised. "Violent-girl say when. Shampoo help her kill
Old Pervert! We roast him over coals, yes?"
 
       "Hah!" Ranko chortled. "Pass the word around and you won't even hafta
gather firewood. The girls' track team would be happy to help out."
 
       "And most of Amazon Tribe," Shampoo added. "Ones is pregnant not able
to help much, but would love to watch."
 
       Akane managed to smile at Shampoo while suppressing a shudder. I
wonder if the bimbo has figured out that her girl-type airen is also her
greatest competition? Probably not, Akane thought. If she had, she would be
chasing Ranko all over town with a pair of bonbori by now.
 
      As the morning dragged on, Akane tried her utmost to focus all her
attention on the children. She wondered who was in greater need of comfort,
the children or herself. Just as she finally decided that being a comfort to
others was the ideal way to gain comfort for oneself, the JSDF arrived and
began hauling people away. Akane helped them keep the children organized and
put brightly colored nametags on the children so that the JSDF people could
eventually them match up with their parents. It proved to be a very busy
morning.
 
      Once all the refugees were gone, the quiet around Tendo-ke seemed
almost ominous. Akane sat down on the engawa, to rest her weary feet and
listened intently for a moment. The silence was not total. Off in the
distance she could hear the rings of hammers and the shouts of men, already
working to rebuild the shattered township. Nearby, birds sang and the ever
present cicadas burst out into their raucous song. She could hear Nodoka and
Kasumi stirring around in the house. She smiled to herself as she heard
Kasumi and Nodoka gang up on Ranma and shoo him outside. Still, something
was missing. Akane felt as though she were sitting in graveyard.
 
       A jet liner rumbled overhead, the sound of its engines exceptionally
distinct. Akane suddenly realized what it was that her ears were missing. It
was the sound of traffic. There was no rubber on the roads, no clatter from
the nearby rails. Nerima was ordinarily a sea of white noise, most of which
was created by the sound of people and their machines scurrying about their
business for the day. It struck her as funny that such quietude could seem
so very wrong, but it definitely felt wrong. Tokyo had not the time for
quiet. She was a great city and the frenetic was her norm, her surest sign
of good health. The distinct call of birds rivaled only by the buzzing trill
of cicadas was, for Tokyo, a sure sign that trouble had arrived and done its
worst. Akane shuddered despite the heat.
 
       The clatter of falling boards drew her attention to the yard. It was
her father. He was walking around the yard like a weeping zombie, cleaning
up the incredible litter left by the improbable number of refugees that had
streamed through their yard and garden. Akane's heart went out to him. Soun
Tendo had long prided himself on his gardening and yard work. The arrival of
the two-man horde of Saotome had made his gardening challenges infinitely
greater than any faced by their neighbors, but Soun Tendo had fought on. Now
Akane's meteorological namesake had delivered him a crushing blow. She
watched with pride welling up out of her heart as her father wept, but like
the rest of Tokyo, making no admission of defeat.
 
     "I am become Akane!"
 
      This unexpected shout was followed by the sounds of breaking pottery.
 
      Nabiki? Akane thought. What the devil?
 
     "Destroyer of Kitchens!" Nabiki shouted. Then came another series of
crashes.
 
     "Whoa, now, Honey!" Ukyou shouted. "That one's not ours!"
 
     Akane's eyes narrowed with anger as her mind began racing ahead.
Knocking the soup out of Nabiki was not really the best thing to do under
current circumstances, but it was what she wanted to do. She got up and
hopped down into the yard. Nabiki was holding a large platter in one hand
and a piece of lumber just the right size to make an excellent truncheon in
the other. The only reason the platter was still in one piece was because
Ukyou had seized Nabiki's wrists. Akane stopped in mid-march. Her sister's
eyes were completely glazed over and it was obvious that her knees were
about to give out from beneath her. The only reason her sister had not
already collapsed was because Ukyou was now holding her up. Akane's anger
evaporated into a fit of giggling as she ran to give Ukyou a hand.
 
       "Whew!" Akane exclaimed as she got close to Ukyou and Nabiki. "She
needs a bath!"
 
       "So do we all, Sugar," Ukyou said with a grunt as Nabiki fell forward
and threw all of her weight onto the okonomiyaki chef. "Damn! She's a lot
heavier than she looks!"
 
       "Here, let me help," Akane said.
 
       "Take her feet, Akane, I've already got this end."
 
       "I don't think I've ever seen her like this," Akane said in a worried
voice. "It's not like her at all."
 
        Ukyou and Akane began making their way toward the house with the now
somnolent Nabiki stretched out between them, Akane holding her sister's
ankles, and Ukyou holding the slender young woman up by gripping her beneath
the arms.
 
       "I never figured her to be much of a trooper," Ukyou said between
grunts, "but she damned sure held her own until now."
 
       "Yeah, well, the emergency is over with," Akane said with a giggle.
"I guess falling back into her normal character came as a shock."
 
       "Oh, does that mean _we_ can fall apart now?"
 
       "Nope! We were trained for this stuff, remember?"
 
       "Damn! And I really wanted to stop and have a good cry."
 
       "Me too! How about we get together Wednesday?"
 
       "Only if they've gotten the water back on."
 
       "Meet you at the sentou?"
 
       "You bet, Sugar," Ukyou said with a grin and another grunt. "Meet me
at the bathhouse somewhere around nine in the morning. I could use an eight
hour soak in the furo to help with my nervous breakdown."
 
       Akane gave Ukyou a grin, suddenly very happy that she and Ranma's
oldest friend were no longer rivals. Akane had Konatsu to thank for that.
The quiet, self-effacing little ninja had somehow crept into Ukyou's heart
without anyone, Ukyou least of all, noticing until it was too late. Once
their rivalry for Ranma's affections had ended, Akane had found Ukyou to be
an enormous amount of fun to be around, just as she had expected she would.
She liked Ukyou for the very same reasons she had feared Ranma might fall
for the girl. No matter what happened, Ukyou's sunny disposition always
broke through the clouds of adversity, cheering everyone around her. Making
people happy was something that came naturally to Ukyou.
 
       "Let's get her up on my shoulder," Akane said, once they reached the
stairs, "then you go up and get her door."
 
       "Gotcha, Sugar."
 
       Akane trudged up the stairs with Nabiki lying over her shoulder as
though she were a sack of rice. Getting Nabiki into her bed without dropping
her, or banging her head on something proved more difficult than the stairs
had, but they finally got her tucked in.
 
       "Momma?" Nabiki cried out without opening her eyes.
 
       This took Akane and Ukyou aback.
 
       "I tried to do all the dishes, but there's _so_ many!"
 
       Ukyou clapped her right hand over her mouth, her eyes bright with
amusement. Akane was amused, but also pained. None of them had ever quite
gotten over the loss of the Tendo matriarch.
 
       "It's okay, Honey," Ukyou said in a gentle voice as she knelt down by
the bed. "I'll finish the dishes. You get some rest."
 
       "I'm so tired, Mommy," Nabiki complained in little girl voice, still
fast asleep.
 
       "I know, Baby," Ukyou whispered, then kissed Nabiki's forehead. "You
go to sleep now."
 
       "Sure?" Nabiki asked sound as though she might be all of age six.
 
       "I'm sure, Honey," Ukyou said.
 
       Akane found herself struggling with a painful lump in her throat.
 
       "G'night, Mommy," Nabiki mumbled.
 
       "Good night, Baby," Ukyou whispered, then stood up and glanced at
Akane.
 
       Akane silently nodded her head and motioned for Ukyou to follow her
out of the room. They left on tiptoe, gently closing the door behind them.
 
       "You know, Akane, I really had the wrong idea about your sister,"
Ukyou said.
 
       "I don't think so, Ukyou," Akane answered. "The problem is, that
until this storm came along you only ever saw the one side of her."
 
       "I guess maybe you're right. It's hard to believe that there is a
real person behind all that ice and greed she usually shows us."
 
       Akane sighed. Ukyou could be painfully blunt at times, but was not
given to prevarication. Akane herself had begun to worry that the Nabiki she
had grown up with had died somewhere along the way. The storm had brought
the real Nabiki back--not that the real Nabiki had no love for money or
never loved to stir mischief, far from it. Nabiki had always been something
of a pill, but in the last few days she had been a lot more like her real
self than she had since before...before Ranma and Genma had shown up. Why
had their arrival loosed the Ice Queen?
 
       "I'm sorry, Akane," Ukyou said, sounding uncharacteristically
contrite. "I didn't mean to..."
 
       "Oh, that's all right," Akane said, cutting off Ukyou's apology. "You
just finally got to see the real Nabiki, is all. She has been misbehaving
for the last two years or so."
 
       "You mean since Ranma and his dad showed up, right?"
 
       "Yeah, I guess it was shortly after they came to stay with us that
she turned into a fulltime money-grubber. She even lost her interest in
men--something that would be hard to believe if you had known her back then.
She was boy-crazy just a couple of years ago. Now she treats them all like
cattle."
 
       "Hah!" Ukyou chortled. "That has to be Genma's fault."
 
       Akane giggled in spite of herself. It was another sad truth. Genma
never made a good first impression, yet, as Akane had learned by watching
him, there was a good deal more to the man than most people noticed. And, a
lot of that was less than pleasant to be sure, but much of that
unpleasantness had to do with Genma's skill in The Art. You never wanted to
be on the receiving end of what Genma Saotome could dish out.
 
       "Uh, Akane? I know this is kinda personal, but how much money does
your doujou bring in?"
 
       "Probably not as much as your restaurant on average," Akane answered.
"Class sizes go way up whenever a popular martial arts movie hits the
streets, then attendance just sort of dries up over the next year. Dad
always manages to hang onto a few long-term students, but never many." Akane
paused to giggle. "Nabiki says that if she ever meets Bruce Lee, she's going
to throw him on the ground and rape him out of gratitude."
 
       "That's kinda what I thought," Ukyou said, rubbing her chin
speculatively. "Nabiki handles the money, right?"
 
       Akane's eyes widened with shock at the realization of what Ukyou had
just deduced. 
 
       "And feedin' Ran-chan and his old man has got be like feedin' a whole
herd of horses, right?" Ukyou asked.
 
       "Try two herds of horses!" Akane exclaimed.
 
       Ukyou giggled.
 
       "Not to mention all the added repair bills we've had around here..."
Akane's voice trailed off for a moment as a wave of guilt washed over her.
"... but I have to admit, at least half of that has been my fault."
 
       "Then you've also had those little visits from Shampoo and Pansuto
Tarou and what was her name? Miss Flamethrower?"
 
       "Rouge."
 
       Ukyou shuddered, then asked, "You know what the real miracle of all
this is, don't-cha?"
 
       "That we still have a house to live in?"
 
       "You got it, Sugar!" Ukyou said, casting a respectful glance at the
door to Nabiki's room.
 
       "I wish there was some way I could help out," Akane said, as she
began biting at a fingernail.
 
       "With your looks, Hon, there's plenty you could do."
 
       "Why do I _not_ like where this is going?"
 
       "Because you're gonna hate it, but it'll bring in money and
students."
 
       Akane sucked in a deep breath and rolled her eyes toward the heavens
before exploding.
 
       "If you think for one second that I am going to pose in front of a
camera the way Ranma does for my sister, you are out of your dough-slinging
little mind!"
 
       "Posing, yes. The way Nabiki's been making Ranma pose, no," Ukyou
said. Her eyes were suddenly very bright and she had a happy grin on her
face. "Have you ever seen any artwork done by that Vallejo guy?"
 
       "Who?"
 
       "Boris Vallejo! He's this artist that does fantasy and science
fiction stuff. He does lots of pictures of girls wearing sexy armor and
carrying really wicked looking weapons."
 
       Akane thought for a second, and then recalled the sort of pictures
Ukyou was talking about. The guy was famous for his paintings of characters
that looked like scantily clad barbarians, usually carrying a broadsword or
oversized battle-axe. Akane suddenly had a vision of Ranma wearing a scanty
breechclout with a braided gold band holding his bangs out of his eyes and
wielding a long heavy sword, every muscle in his upper torso bulging. She
tried and failed to suppress a shiver. After a moment, another of those
kinds of pictures came floating up out of the depths of her memory.
 
       "You mean girls that look like Shampoo!"
 
       "Sort of," Ukyou said with a nod, "but they usually wear a little
less than Shampoo."
 
       "How can they be wearing armor and still have on less than what
Shampoo runs around in?"
 
       "Vallejo-san poses them very carefully," Ukyou said, her grin growing
larger.
 
       "I'll just bet he does!" Akane exclaimed. "You're right! I really
hate this idea!"
 
       "Konatsu likes it!" Ukyou blurted, then blushed bright red as she
began to giggle uncontrollably.
 
       "You mean he likes to dress up like that?" Akane asked in a shocked
voice.
 
       "No, silly! He likes for _me_ to dress up like that."
 
       Akane suddenly felt dizzy. "Let's go downstairs. I have _got_ to sit
down."
 
       "You really should hear me out on this, Akane," Ukyou said as they
made their way down the stairs.
 
       Akane, unable to vocalize a coherent answer, merely waved her hands
in the air on either side of her head in protest.
 
       "But it'll do so much to promote the doujou!" Ukyou insisted. "You'll
have students coming out of your ears!"
 
       "And feeling me up all the time!" Akane snapped as they walked out
onto the engawa. "No, thank you!"
 
       "Shampoo doesn't get felt up all the time!"
 
       "Oh, no? Do you know how many broken wrists and fingers Doctor Tofu
has treated since she came to town?"
 
       "Oh, come on, Akane!" Ukyou said in outraged protest. "That had to
have died down within the first month!"
 
       "It's crazy, and I _won't_ do it!"
 
       "Won't do what, dear?" Soun Tendo asked as he straightened up from
his yard work. He made a face, as he rubbed at a catch in his lower back.
 
       "Ukyou has this crazy idea about how to promote the doujou, Dad,"
Akane answered sounding aggravated. "You'd never go for it."
 
       "Well, I don't know about that, Akane," Soun said, rubbing his chin.
"Ukyou has built up a fairly respectable business. Perhaps I should hear her
out."
 
       Akane rolled her eyes in exasperation. "It's crazy, Dad, I'm telling
you."
 
       "So what is it then?" Soun asked, looking at Ukyou expectantly.
 
       Ukyou looked Soun Tendo square in the eye, gave him a huge grin and
said, "Boris Vallejo."
 
       Much to Akane's horror, her father's eyes widened with surprise and
delight as his chin dropped to his chest.
 
       "That...I..." Soun had to pause for a moment to let his jaw get in a
couple of inarticulate flaps. "...I should have thought of that one myself!
Why, I don't even need to hire models, and Nabiki is an _excellent_
photographer!"
 
       Ukyou turned to Akane and gave her a triumphant stare. "See? I
toldja!"
 
       "Daddeee!" Akane protested.
 
       "I think we might already have the right bits and pieces of armor for
that kind of shoot!" Soun exclaimed, paying Akane no heed.
 
       Akane clapped the palm of her right hand to her forehead. Damn! I'm
going to turn pink from head to foot before this is over, she thought. I can
feel the blush spreading already.
 
       "We'll get everyone dressed up!" Soun said excitedly.
  
       "What do you mean dressed up?" Akane asked. "Nobody wears anything in
those kind of pictures!"
 
Oblivious to his daughter's protests, Soun contined, "Then have you all pose
here on these rocks around the koi pond. Then with a little magic out of
Nabiki's camera, wa-lah! We'll have our very own Vallejo style posters to
promote our school! No one will be able to tell that the pictures were taken
right here!"
 
       "Dad!" Akane shouted.
 
       "How can I ever thank you enough, Ukyou-chan?" Soun asked.
 
       "That's easy!" Ukyou answered with an even larger grin than she had
before. "I want to be on the poster!"
 
       "Why certainly!" Soun said enthusiastically. "We could even make up a
few posters to help promote your restaurant while we are at it!"
 
       "You're my kinda guy, Tendo Oji-san!" Ukyou happily exclaimed.
"Konatsu might want to get in on the fun, too."
 
       "Why certainly!" Soun answered. "After all, he is a great martial
artist in his own right. We'd love to have him!"
 
       Akane groaned aloud, then snapped, "Fine! Just fine! I'm going to go
help Kasumi and Aunt Nodoka!"
 
       "Excellent idea, Akane," Soun said absently, staring off into space.
 
       "I'll get lunch started," Ukyou said to Soun.
 
       "Very kind of you...Ukyou-chan," Soun replied, his mind obviously
already busy with future plans.
 
       Akane found Kasumi scrubbing the floor in the hallway near the door
to the master bedroom.
 
       "I'll get that, Kasumi," Akane said, doing her best to keep the anger
and frustration out of her voice and not quite succeeding.
 
       Kasumi straightened up from her work while remaining on her knees and
brushed a strand of hair out of her face before answering, "Oh, I can do it,
Akane."
 
       "NO!" Akane commanded as she relieved Kasumi of her brush, "You've
already done the work of five people for the last two days, now go get a
little rest!"
 
       Kasumi needed help to get up onto her feet.
 
       "Go change your bed or something, Kasumi," Akane ordered.
 
       Kasumi smiled at Akane then said, "You're hoping I'll lie down,
aren't you?"
 
       "Shouldn't I?" Akane asked, cocking an eyebrow at her older sister.
"Go on, get out of here. I'll have these floors spotless in no time."
 
       Kasumi gave Akane a quick hug, then made her way toward the stairs.
Akane dropped to her knees and began scrubbing the floor. The entire house
stank from having too many people in it, and she could tell that the floor
was the primary source of the odor. It had a bit of everything stuck to it,
from the contents of spilled rice bowls to the contents of spilled diapers
and leaky baby bottles.
 
       "Akane, dear?" Nodoka asked.
 
       Akane looked up to find Ranma's mother standing above her with a
double armload of laundry.
 
       "Yes, Aunt Nodoka?"
 
       "We are not refinishing the floors, dear--only cleaning them."
 
       "Oh," Akane said, glancing down at what she had been doing. "Sorry."
 
       "That's quite all right, dear, just use a bit less vigor and cover a
little more area, if you would, please."
 
       "Yes, Aunt Nodoka."
 
       "We must maximize our use of the water, you know."
 
       "Yes, ma'am," Akane said contritely. "I'll be more careful."
 
       "Thank you, dear," Nodoka said, then made her way down the hall.
 
       Akane watched her go, wondering how on earth Nodoka planned to wash
the laundry without running water, then decided that she did not want to
know. Nodoka probably knew things about laundry that would horrify Akane's
age.
 
       "She'll probably use a washboard in a tub or something," Akane
muttered to herself as she scooted down a half-meter or so and continued
with her self-assigned task. She was not merely scrubbing the floor, of
course. She was trying to scrub a vision out of her mind. It was not an
unpleasant vision, just a perverted one. Ranma in a breechclout, his tanned
skin shiny and slick from a fragrant oil, those powerful arms of his held at
the ready with the muscles in his legs rippling, leading the eye up to
his...
 
       "Ooooo!" Akane growled as she applied even more effort to the floor.
 
       Of course, there was Ranma's girl-half...well...Ranko now, as well,
wearing a tiny little chain-mail top over her ample breasts with just a hint
of a raggedy little mail skirt barely hiding that cute little muscled up
bottom of hers and her rippling little double-domed tummy bare and begging
to be stroked...
 
       "I'm turning into as big a pervert as he is!" Akane exclaimed in a
hoarse whisper.
 
       "Akane, dear?" Nodoka's voice came from down the hallway.
 
       "Yes, Aunt Nodoka?"
 
       "Mind the varnish, dear."
 
       "Yes, Aunt Nodoka!"
  
       "I can't believe I let Ukyou do this to me," Akane muttered as she
returned to her work. Oh, she thought, now there's a vision for you! Ukyou
wearing a shiny brass bra and a long chain-mail skirt with a slit in the
side to show off those long, luscious legs of hers and, no doubt, she'd be
carrying a nasty looking halberd of some kind and she'd have some kind of
bejeweled diadem holding that long hair of hers up in a fancy do.
Doubtlessly, Ukyou looks positively edible in that kind of get up. I'll bet
Konatsu ...
 
       Akane began licking her lips as she ground her badly overworked brush
into the floor.
 
       What am I doing? She silently asked herself. I'm not supposed to
think about girls that way! It's all Ranma's fault. Damn him! He's got me
confused! 
  
       Akane picked up the pace of her scrubbing by several degrees and once
again, the varnish began to suffer.
 
Thinking of Ranma and Ranko again did not help matters very much. She had
wanted to smother them both in kisses when they returned the day after the
storm. She had wanted to do so again after the fight at the clinic--but good
girls just didn't do those kinds of things! Summoning all her will, Akane
took a deep breath and forced herself to concentrate on the floor to the
exclusion of all else. It was, as far as she was concerned, a matter of
survival. 
 
       The morning wore on until Ukyou called everyone to come eat. By then,
Akane had finished scrubbing and rinsing most of the first floor. It had
more than a few places where the varnish was completely gone, but at least
now it was clean, and the house was beginning to smell better. Akane's hands
were swollen and red, and several of her knuckles were bleeding raw, but she
was calmer. Well, she was calmer until she found herself sitting between
Ranma and Ranko. 
 
       Both of them took the trouble to lightly brush her arm as they sat
down on either side of her, just as Ranma and Akane had been careful to do
since their return from the Battle of Kenseizan. It was their little game of
smuggled romance that they had fallen into. The failed wedding had caused
them to be circumspect about any show of physical affection for one another.
They had limited themselves to brief contacts at the table, an occasional
brush of the fingers on one hand while passing in the hallway at school,
sometimes a long stare into one another's eyes during a quiet moment when no
one was watching. They even held hands once in a while if they were certain
that no one was around to see them. In public, they made a point of arguing
as loudly as possible over things that amounted to nothing.
 
       Over the course of the year following their non-wedding, Akane had
reached the point of not caring what form Ranma was in at any particular
moment. She seldom ever really noticed anymore. She had come to appreciate
him in his female body as much as she did when he was male. After all, he
was Ranma all the time. Only now, there were two of Ranma, both of whom
treated her as though nothing strange had happened, but one of them was
female all the time the other very definitely male all of the time. The
situation was unnerving.
 
       For one thing, Akane could see that the male version of Ranma and the
female version of Ranma liked each other. In fact, it seemed they liked each
other a great deal. Akane found this discomfiting, but not necessarily
surprising. Why wouldn't Ranma like himself? Akane asked herself. He always
has and the attraction has to be even stronger, given that his alter ego is
an exceedingly attractive female. Akane rubbed shoulders with each of them
in turn, realizing that she loved them both. How could she not? They were
both Ranma, even if one did go by the name of Ranko. But, therein lies the
rub, I _don't_ like the idea of them being attracted to one another, but how
else would I have it? Would I want them _not_ liking each other? How could
that ever work out? What happens when we eventually marry? Somehow, the idea
of having them both to love and having them love one another excites me, and
frightens me, and infuriates me, all at one and the same time. I want...Oh,
Buddha help me! I want them both and I want them both in the most perverted
way, but I don't want anyone else to notice!
 
       Looks like lunch is mainly rice and little else. I suppose I should
be thankful for it, too, Akane thought. Things could have been much, much
worse. She took in a deep breath, held it for a minute, then let out a long
sigh. Ukyou began pitching her latest tea to Nodoka and Kasumi, but offered
none to anyone else at the table.
 
       Akane cocked an eyebrow at Ukyou and got a wink from her in response.
I wonder what she's up to? Oh, I get it. It's something to help Kasumi and
Aunt Nodoka rest. Good. They both need it and both of them are too frazzled
out to realize that Ukyou is up to something. Extra good. They've both done
enough in the last few days.
 
       Ranma and Ranko both took advantage of the stir around the table to
rub up against Akane. She shivered in response. Visions of Ranma in a
breechclout returned to her mind in a rush, followed by one of Ranko in a
scanty, chain-mail outfit. Butterflies whirled around in Akane's stomach as
the rest of her body began to tingle. She felt a sympathetic response from
both Ranma and Ranko as the tingle of her internal electricity made it to
the surface of her skin. Much to her horror, Akane realized that she was
starting to blush again. She glanced around the table. Everyone was too busy
eating to notice. Thank my lucky stars that Nabiki is out of it, Akane
thought. She never misses anything and almost never fails to ask about it at
the worst possible moment.
 
       Akane stopped eating and stared down at her bowl as yet another
perverted secret she had been keeping wormed its way back into her
consciousness. That damned manga I found lying on the sidewalk shortly after
Ranma arrived. It is so sick! I don't know why I keep it! The story, if it
can be called that, starts with two girls...playing with each other while a
guy watches and then the two girls gang up on his...Oh, my! Why did I have
to think of this now? His...it was...is...so much like...what I saw of Ranma
that day in the bath...Ranma was so...so MANLY! Oh, I wanted him so badly
that night!
 
       Akane's breath had started coming in short rapid pants, but no one
noticed. They were too busy dealing with the semi-somnolent Nodoka and
Kasumi. I wish I could understand why I kept that thing, or why it thrills
me so much. I _hate_ most perverted stuff, but I enjoy looking at that
stupid thing.
 
       Akane's breathing returned to normal and she had regained some
measure of control over herself, having put the torrid piece literature out
of her mind by the time everyone came back to the table. Ranma and Ranko
rubbed up against her again as they sat down, setting Akane's mind on fire
again. Looking up, she found Ukyou smiling across the table at her with
merry eyes. Akane again began to see the okonomiyaki specialist wearing
skimpy armor and a fancy hair-do held together by bejeweled gewgaws.
 
       It's a wonder Ranma didn't dump me the day Ukyou showed up, Akane
thought. She's got those long slender legs, long luxuriant hair, a wonderful
face and those pert breasts...how the hell can she stand to keep those bound
anyway...and those lovely long legs and that wonderfully heart-shaped little
ass...I'm really lucky Ranma just didn't steal some poor guy's yatai run off
with her. Her and her cooking both are edible.
 
       "Ran-chan got it from Tofu," Ukyou exclaimed, making Akane wonder
what on earth the okonomiyaki chef was talking about.
 
       "Ah! Good thinking, Son," Soun Tendo said. He gave Ranma a hearty
clap on the shoulder as he passed by and sat back down at his favorite
place.
 
       Murmurs of approval made their way around the room.
 
       "Way to go, Saotome!" Ryouga said, with a sneer. "I didn't think you
had a considerate bone in your body."
 
       What's up with him? Akane wondered. It's not like Ryouga to pick on
anyone. Ranma has probably been teasing him about something again. Ranma
used the disturbance as an excuse to rub up against Akane.
  
       "Ah, wadda you know, Pork-butt!"
 
       "Sticks and stones!"
 
       "No fighting!" Akane shouted, happy to have an excuse for a red face,
and also taking advantage of the situation by rubbing up against Ranma and
Ranko in turn. "We have enough to clean up as it is."
 
       Ranko rubbed up against Akane on her right side, causing Akane to
become acutely aware of the difference in how Ranko's skin felt compared to
Ranma's.
 
       "Yeah, you two! Cool it!" Ranko admonished.
 
       Akane shivered at the touch of soft feminine skin, then noticed the
stare that Ryuu Kumon was giving Ranko. Dammit! What is wrong with that guy?
Akane thought. He has to know who Ranko really is! He's a bigger pervert
than Happosai! How dare he stare at her like that? He'd just better keep his
hands off her is all I can say.
 
       Ranko gave Kumon a grin and a wink while continuing to rub shoulders
with Akane. 
 
       Ranma, you are _such_ a pervert! Akane wanted to say, but maintained
her silence by taking in a large bite of rice. Why is it you love being
ogled all the time? Yeah, okay! I don't mind being looked at either, but
geez! If you got half a chance, you'd be posing for the girly mags or
something. You _love_ teasing strange guys, even though you loathe them.
Some poor unsuspecting guy is going to try and take your bait one of these
days. What will you do then? Beat him up because you wriggled one time to
many?
 
       No one noticed Akane inhaling her rice like a refuse grinder eating
tree limbs, mostly because they were doing the same thing. A short time
later, the rice ran out. Akane stood up and stretched, rubbing at the kink
in her lower back.
 
       "I guess I had better get back to work on these floors," Akane
announced.
 
       "You want a hand with that, Sugar?" Ukyou asked.
 
       Akane blanched. The last thing she wanted today was to have Ukyou
working right along side of her. It wasn't that she did not normally enjoy
Ukyou's company, far from it. In fact, that was Akane's problem at the
moment. She would enjoy Ukyou's company just a wee bit too much. Why does
the idea of her wearing a brass bra trip me out so much? Ranma's the
professional pervert, not me. Maybe I should check with Doctor Tofu and see
if maybe disasters don't do something funny to your hormones.
 
       "No thanks, Ukyou," Akane said. "I haven't got that much left to do.
You'll probably still be doing dishes by the time I finish. I'll come out
and give you a hand, later, okay?"
 
       "Well, you're right about the dishes, Akane," Ukyou said with a
giggle. "We've got a mountain of 'em out there."
 
       "I'll find you on Mount Dishpan later," Akane said, then trudged off
toward the front hall where she had left her brush and bucket. She was
busily scrubbing away when she heard everyone else troop outside.
 
       Two hours of scrubbing away at unwonted visions and two thoroughly
worn out scrub brushes later, Akane finished with the floor. She dropped the
useless brushes into the now empty bucket as she stood up and made her way
toward the engawa and the backyard. She paused as she stepped out into the
yard, listening to Ranma and Ranko talk.
 
       "We got a real big mess on our hands, Ranko, and I don't know how to
straighten it out. I don't even know how to begin."
 
       Which mess? Akane wondered. We've only got a couple hundred of them
going at the moment.
 
       "We take it one step at a time, is all."
 
       Humph! Nabiki's right. Ranma's girl-half _is_ more practical.
 
       "Which reminds me, Colonel Abe and his adjutant are comin' over
tonight. I know they'll wanna talk to Oji-san, but I'd be surprised if they
don't want to talk to you and me, too."
 
       A colonel and his adjutant? Coming here tonight? None of us will have
had a decent bath! The house is a wreck--Kasumi and Aunt Nodoka are going to
shit cats! Dad's in big trouble!
 
       "Who's Colonel Abe?" Ranma asked.
 
       "Oh, that's right! You wouldn't know. You were out of it. He's in
command of the army guys that saved our ass yesterday. He declared martial
law because of the yakuza."
 
       "Martial law? Does that mean that the army's in control of
everything?"
 
       "Yeah, and be glad of it, Buddy! I think the regular cops wanted to
lock you, me, and Oji-san up yesterday."
 
       Useless damned cops! Akane thought. All they ever really worry about
is appearances and their squeeze money. Assholes!
 
       "Maybe they were right," Ranma said, glumly staring down at the
dishwater.
 
       What the hell is the matter with you, Ranma?
 
       "Don't be an idiot! You fought four guys in mortal combat with swords
yesterday, and won. Sergeant Tanaka killed four of 'em outright with a
rifle. He shot the first one in the side of the head because he was gonna
shoot you, then he shot three others in the back because they were running
away."
 
       And Dad took an even dozen of them out. He probably killed at least
eight of them from what I heard.
 
       "You're kiddin' me!"
 
       "No, I ain't!" Ranko said. "You know what's really strange? Tanaka's
a real nice guy."
 
       "You mean you talked to him?"
 
       "Yeah, him and the corpsman that patched you up. Both of 'em think
you and Oji-san are two of the gutsiest men on earth. So does Colonel Abe, I
think. I didn't really get to talk to him."
 
       Akane watched with growing concern as Ranma began to tremble. He
squeezed his eyes shut, but tears glistened in the hot sunlight as they ran
down his cheeks. Akane desperately wanted to reach out and hug him. Ranko
grabbed a folding chair and set it down behind Ranma.
 
       Akane began hurrying toward her husband and wife to be.
Why is he down on himself? Stuff like that is what we have trained all our
lives to do! 
 
       "Sit!"
 
       Ranma shook his head no.
 
       "Sit down, Saotome! Now!"
 
       Ranma breathed out a huge sigh as he sat down. Ranko straddled his
legs and sat down in his lap.
 
       Akane stopped and took in a sharp breath. That should be me doing
this, not him...her...!
 
       Ranko placed the palms of her hands on either side of Ranma's head
and whispered, "Now you listen to me, you blockhead! I can't know what you
are going through right now because I wasn't there with you yesterday the
way I always have been, and I hate it, Ranma."
 
       Neither was I and I hate it too! Wait! Always have been? Has Ranma
really been two different people all this time? Who is he in love with? Who
is she in love with? Oh, heaven and hell! Who, or what, am I in love with?
This is a bigger mess than any typhoon ever made before.
 
       "I would have given anything if I coulda been in there with you, but
one thing I do know, you did the only thing you could do at the time. Those
guys played their little game and they paid the price for it. It was their
fault they died, not yours."
 
        Ranma stared down into Ranko's eyes. Akane stared in open mouth awe
at Ranma and Ranko, touched by their obvious love for one another, while
burning up inside until there was little left of her save a solid cinder of
jealousy. 
 
       "There shoulda been another way!" Ranma said in a hoarse voice.
 
       There was no other way, Ranma, or you would have seen it and used it.
Ranko is right. You are a blockhead. Not that this is news. Now you are
finally finding out that you aren't so powerful as you think. So you're not
a kami, so what?
 
       "There probably was, but have you thought of it yet?"
 
       If he hasn't thought of a way by now, there wasn't one.
 
       Ranma silently shook his head.
 
       "Neither have I, and I saw most of the fight. What makes you think
you coulda come up with an answer yesterday, when they was slingin' steel
all over the place, huh?" Ranko asked. She put her arms around Ranma and
gave him a powerful hug, saying, "Ya big dummy!"
 
       Huge hot tears began to burn their way down Akane's cheeks. That's my
job! I'm supposed to be the one comforting him when things like this happen!
Why is she here? I know why. She's here because of that damned mirror and
she loves Ranma as much as I do. Maybe she loves him more than I do. She's
been riding around inside him for over two years now. I've lost. I can't
compete with her. Ukyou should be happy that Konatsu found her when he did.
At least she has someone of her own. I haven't got anybody now. There isn't
a man on earth who could take Ranma's place in my heart.
 
       "Uh, Akane?" Ranma and Ranko chorused. "It's not what you think!"
 
       Akane dropped her bucket, then turned and ran blindly toward the
dojo.
 
       "Wait, come back, Akane!" Ranko called out.
 
       Akane ignored her new rival's plea and kept running until she was
inside the dojo. She turned and slammed the shoji shut, then fell to her
knees as she turned her grief and anger loose on the floor. Tears and fists
rained upon the heavy hardwood planks.
 
       "Stop that!" Ranko's angry voice said. "I toldja, it ain't like you
think it is."
 
       "Why did you follow me in here?" Akane asked, her voice seething with
anger as she looked up at Ranko. "I wanted to be alone."
 
       "Because I love you, Akane."
 
       Akane's heart stopped as her jaw dropped into her cleavage.
 
       "So does he," Ranko said, gesturing toward Ranma's position with her
head, "but the big dummy can't bring himself to say it. I can, because I
know I don't have that much time left."
 
       "Aren't you two really the same person?"
 
       "Not for long."
 
       "I don't understand!"
 
       "I know," Ranko said, then cupped Akane face between her palms and
kissed her full on the mouth, "but you will."
 
       Akane's heart changed its pace from frozen-in-place to a thousand
beats per second. I _enjoyed_ that. I've wanted to kiss her for _so_ long!
But it's not right! I'm not being true to Ranma. Besides, she's a girl!
 
       Ranko dropped to her knees in front of Akane and made eye contact.
Akane suddenly felt as though she were drowning in twin pools of deep blue
water.
 
       "Right now, I'm only a little different from Ranma. That means that
I'm just as much in love with you as he is."
 
       "But you're in love with him!"
 
       Ranko laughed, then said, "How could I not be? I've always been in
love with myself! You know that."
 
       "You really infuriate me sometimes," Akane said through gritted
teeth. "You know that?"
 
       Ranko grinned back at her and said, "I am what I am Akane, even when
there's two of me instead of just one. Look at it this way, at least for
now, I can love you twice as much."
 
       Akane seized Ranko in her arms and held her tight, then gave her a
deep passionate kiss on the mouth. This, she thought, really is falling into
a burning ring of fire--and I love it!
 
       Their kiss lasted until the sound of the shoji sliding back got their
attention. Akane looked up to find the unmistakable silhouette of
Otoko-Ranma standing in the opening. The faint shimmer of a growing battle
aura writhed and danced in the air around him.
 
       "I'll hold him, Akane," Ranko said with the lopsided grin she wore
when facing a serious opponent, "you kiss him."


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