YEEE HAW! now on to part two.

                    ******************************

Hinako Ninomiya padded softly into her den,

Makes her sound like a lioness. :)

Sitting down at her desk, she tapped a key and the computer screen woke
from sleep mode.  She could see a symbol blinking away in the bottom
right-hand corner of the screen.  She smiled.  The datatap she had
ordered placed within Ranma Saotome's computer had something to report.
One of her men had installed the tap several days ago when the house
had been empty.

Heh. Thought so.

"Soun was wise to keep an eye on you, Ranma."  She paused and thought
for a moment.  "But you would be wasted under his guidance, so I think
I'll make you mine instead.  You and I could do many great things in
the Empire.  I'm so looking forward to talking with you.  With you at
my side, I'm sure we could go very far in the Empire together."  Her
smile grew more lustful.  "And I can teach you a great many wonderful,
pleasurable things, Ranma.  Things that a handsome, virile young man
like yourself would find very, very interesting."

Odd that she's that attracted to him. I'm sure given the combination of
brains and sleeping her way through the ranks has gotten her things, she's
be careful not to let the boy grow too attached to her. Guys like Gendou
know the score, but Ranma is young and potentially to idealistic.

It would be a modest challenge to break Ranma away from his arranged
marriage to Nabiki Tendo, and it would be a quite delightful slap in
the face of her arch-nemesis, Soun Tendo.

Ah yes. Fighting through minions.

 As to the other girls, if

any of them dared object to her claiming the Saotome boy, Hinako would
simply squash them like troublesome insects.  That gave her a notion.

A martial arts duel over the boy had a certain dramatic appeal, but
only the Kuonji girl had any notable fighting skills.  It was a pity
that Soun's daughter had let her combat abilities dwindle since her
mother's untimely death.

She knows this off the top of her head? Boy, she must really have it in for
Soun to have memorized every detail of his life. :)

  Beating Nabiki Tendo to a bloody mess in

single combat would have been enjoyable, and also quite legal under the
Empire's dueling laws.

I would think some pretense for a challenge would be necessary. Hinako's
shifty enough to arrange something that will make it appear that Nabby
slighted her in some way. OTOH, I'm surprised Hinako is bothering to overtly
move in such a way. She seems like much more behind the scenes type. I would
think she's simply plan to seduce Ranma behind the other girls backs. Which
would give her an additional satisfaction of knowing she was manipulting
events behind the scenes, leaving the others unaware that she's the one
pulling Ranma's strings (at least that is what she would assume would
happen)

Yes, a duel would make things so much tidier.  Once defeated, the girls
would be honor bound to release their claims on Ranma.  Then that only
left the matter of dealing with the boy's parents, potentially a more
challenging issue.  As for Ranma?  Seducing him around to her way of
thinking would be mere child's play to one of her experience.  Despite
his intellectual gifts, Ranma Saotome was still a hormonally-challenged
teenaged boy of very limited experience with the opposite sex.

Hmm. I would wager she's making an assumption about that, since I doubt if
she's been tracking Ranma personally or any files exist on his sexual
experience to date. :)

Hinako sensuously crossed her long legs as she sipped some more of her
tea, and she began laughing seductively.

Ranma Saotome's handsome body and his brilliant mind would be hers to
play with and use as she saw fit.

Might want to have her think 'Would be added to the collection of men that
were already under her thumb.'

"She's watching us again," commented Ami, pretending to write something

She who? Nabby?

Yohko looked back and shrugged.  "There's some kind of odd tension in a
number of the girls over by the main gate.  They're trying to be casual
about it, but they look like they're waiting for something.  And that
wannabe Jinnai girl

she's a wannabe what?

seems to be up to something, with Ami Mizuno of all

people."

"S-senpai,"

S-sempai."

 said Hiroshi, feeling a sharp trickling of fear at Nabiki's

rough treatment.  While she hadn't yet hurt him in any way, he could
sense her frustration.  "I really don't know what you're talking about.
I'm loyal to you.  I always have been."

"Shut up for a moment, Hiroshi-kun," Nabiki commanded, tightening her
grip in his jacket a little more.  This was something that she normally
had Akane or Yohko

Akane isn't there, and I'd be surprised if Yohko would threaten to beat
people up without somr pretence. She doesn't seem the type to engage in
shakedowns. :)

                    ******************************

Ranma paused for a moment as he felt another sneeze suddenly come over
him.  He had sneezed several times this morning, and he

can drop that 'he'

wondered if he

was coming down with something.  He had never been sick before, which
he now knew was due to the presence of his symbiote, but maybe there
was a first time for everything.  He stood at the gates of the Academy
as he rubbed his nose for a brief moment, dressed in his blue uniform,
his other clothes in his bookbag.  He looked at the sky.  It looked

two 'looked' close together. 'He stared at the sky', perhaps?

like the storm was about to break.

His battle with Utena came to mind.  He smiled briefly at the memory of
the pink-haired girl.  She was certainly easier to get along with than
Nabiki often was, and sometimes even Kodachi was.  Utena was quite a
bit like Ukyo in personality, someone that he could enjoy a comfortable
friendship with.  Maybe more.  Ukyo had certainly been fun to be with
on their one date so far,

Hmm. Don't recall the official 'date' unless he counts the night she slept
over at his place and saw her naked and everything. :)

As he stood there, lost in his thoughts, male and female cadets in blue
and gray uniforms passed by him, a number of them giving him pleasant
smiles or friendly nods.  His uncharacteristic actions of late had
apparently been raising his favor among his fellow cadets, but he felt
embarrassed by the attention.  He had gotten used to being ignored by
everyone.

I thought the other 'science geeks' like Ami knew and respected him.

"What the heck?" Ranma blurted out, evading the strike with a quick
shift of his weight to the right.  Several more girls had reached him
by that time, all of them in an offensive posture.  Why were they all
attacking him?

Because it sucks to be Ranma. :)

Ranma had his hands full for several moments, as he quickly began to
deal with the sheer number of opponents now piling onto him.

No matter who tough you are, dog piles will bury you. It's the lessen of the
ants: strength in numbers. Now if they attack one at a time, then you can
systematically take them out. Ranma's good enough to know if he starts
moving they can't cluster in on him and he can disable them in smaller
numbers as they are forced to pursue.

"I haven't said I agreed to anything yet," said the man, turning away
from the window and presenting a face known Empire-wide for his many
film exploits and from his days spent fighting in the Arena, Jun Fan
Lee.

Good to see you reincluded him. Interesting that the Dean has the sort of
pull that Jun would come.

"Excellent."  Nanami rubbed her hands together gleefully.  Selling that
information to the other members of the club would be a very profitable
endeavor.

Indeed.

Standing with his trio of catgirls by the main building, Kinnosuke
Kashuoh calmly eyed the fierce battle taking place, his gaze alight
with interest.  He closely watched Ranma's technique, seeking for any
weaknesses that he could exploit.  He kept watching as girl after girl
attacked and was skillfully taken down, but he was a bit puzzled as to
their goal.  They weren't trying to seriously hurt him, just subdue
him.

That they are holding back helps explain things.

and speed as he dealt with his attackers.  She licked her lips, her
mouth suddenly feeling a little dry, a headache coming over her as she
thought about him.  Why was Ranma Saotome able to draw her attention
away from her beloved Kinnosuke-sama?  There was something on the edge
of her memory, but it evaded her more deftly the harder she tried to
reach for it.

It's been flushed. Sorry Tiger.

"Tiger," Kinnosuke said firmly.  He looked at her, noting her attention
lingering on Ranma Saotome for a moment longer than he cared to see
before snapping to meet his.  It was oddly irritating, almost as if he
was jealous.  But that was impossible.  Tiger was simply a tool for him
to use and eventually to be discarded when her usefulness was at an
end, nothing more than that.

But he would be disturbed by her inappropriate attention.

"Very well."  Kinnosuke took Tiger's chin gently in his hand, tipping
her head up slightly, his gaze boring into her eyes.  "I want this to
go off without flaw, Tiger.  I wish my debut to Nabiki Tendo and Ranma
Saotome to be done with proper drama."  His gaze briefly dipped down
her front, and he felt lust stirring within him.  It would be difficult
now to concentrate on his studies today.

Given his genius level intellect, nothing should  really challenge him,
though, unless he's in advanced classes.

"While I deal with Ranma Saotome, the three of you are to keep Nabiki
Tendo occupied, as well as anyone else who tries to interfere with my
business with him."  His grip tightened painfully on Tiger's jaw, and
he dropped his gaze to look into her eyes again.  "But there is to be
no serious damage done to Nabiki, Tiger.  I want her to fall by my hand
and by mine alone, once I'm done with breaking Ranma Saotome.  She's
mine.  Do I make myself absolutely clear?"

Them having to hold back won't help them either. Still, they should be able
to take her three on one easy enough, even with the amaguriken. Tiger alone
was able to rough Ranma up until he went into nekoken.

Less than a minute later, it was over.  Girls lay strewn around Ranma
in various states of disarray, groaning as they tried to catch their
breath.  A few of them even had broken weapons still clutched in their
hands.  Hearing a car approaching, Ranma kept his guard up as he turned
around and saw the Kuno family limousine pulling up to the curb outside
the gates, and then Kodachi gracefully emerged from within.

Heh. That should be quite the spectacle.

"I honestly don't know," Ranma confessed, shaking his head.  "They all,
well, just came up and attacked me."

Ranma; I have that effect on people.

"You poor dear."  Kodachi sidled closer to him, stepping over some of
the fallen girls.  Her voice briefly lowered in clear disapproval as
she looked at the girls.  "Such brutish hoodlums."

And in her head, Sukeban dachi cried out, "Yeah, hoodlums. Let's break their
legs!"

  When she was near

him, she brightened.  "I would be pleased if you could escort me away
from this dreadful scene and walk me to class, Saotome-kun."

"Sure, I guess," Ranma replied, nodding.  He began walking Kodachi to
the main building.  He didn't notice her trodding on the occasional
hand or limb as she walked just behind him.  He was more focussed

focused

on

Ukyo's feet landed noiselessly on the roof of one of the buildings next
to the Academy.  The journey had only taken her

can drop 'her'

The ninja girl smiled as she hunted for her target from her vantage
point, her gaze scanning through the knots of cadets moving through the
main gate and around outside the main building.

She should try dressing as a guy in a purloined uniform. No one would
harrass her then. :)

With a grin, Ukyo suddenly spied Ranma among a group of cadets, walking
towards the main building.  But her grin turned to a frown when she saw
who he was talking and walking with: Kodachi Kuno.  The noblewoman was
standing just a little too close to her Ranchan for Ukyo's tastes.  The
ninja girl felt quite irritated at the sight.  She leaped high into the
air, unsheathing her battle spatula for balance and hoping to spook her
rival for Ranma's attention a bit.

My. Things are happening quite quickly, aren't they?

Nabiki finally saw who her foe was as they had flashed by each other,
recognizing Ukyo Kuonji, dressed in the gray uniform of a male Security
cadet.

Eh? Didn't think she'd be the security type. One would think Security
directorate wouldn't want ninjas in their ranks, since they supposedly don't
exist to begin with. :)

Kodachi slammed hard into the soft grass, nose first, her head planted
into the sod deeply enough to cover her face up to her ears.  Her body
came to rest fully prone, her limbs sprawled all around her.  Kodachi
rested like that for several moments, almost motionless, her only sign
of life a slight twitching, quite obviously stunned.

Yep. That's going to hurt a wee bit.

The crowd began to whisper theories about what was going on, seeing a
very male-looking Ukyo talking in a friendly and rather affectionate
manner to Ranma, Nabiki apparently having just attacked the strange,
new boy for unknown reasons, and Kodachi now lying face-down in the
grass.  Some of the theories quickly being traded around were pretty
wild.

And probably not wild enough for the truth. :)

Terrific, thought Nabiki wryly.  The cross-dressing weirdo has shown
up, and in full costume for her part.  Flashes of memories from her
counterpart's life filled her mind's eye for a moment.  Nabiki eyed
Ukyo with a most unfriendly gaze.  It figures that she'd be a student
here, she realized.  But she'd better not be Ranma's fianc�e in this
world, or he and I are going to have words, harsh words.

I thought they were anyway. It's just mean they'll be harsher.

Kodachi, after taking a few moments recovering from the shock of what
had just happened, slowly levered herself up.  A few random clods of
dirt fell free of her face and hair.  She felt the sting of scratches
all over her face.  Fury filled her.

Use the yo-yo on someone! Use it!

"YOU!" roared Kodachi, breaking the momentary peace.  "How dare you do
such a thing to a lady of quality, you brute!  I demand an apology from
you immediately!"  Kodachi had seen that smirking face before.  It was
that cross-dressing peasant that she had run into a short time back at
Ohtori Academy, Ukyo Kuonji.

And still cross-dressing. :)

Please don't fight, Ranma kept repeating in his thoughts, his mouth too
dry to speak from his current nervousness.  The urge to run for cover
was growing within him.

A sie feeling. He should give in. :)

"Anyway," said Ukyo more pleasantly, after glancing at Ranma.  "I just
became a cadet here, so I was hoping that Ranchan would show me around.
I'll also be cooking his lunch for him," she then added as a sudden
afterthought.  Twirling one of her throwing spatulas in her hand, she
smiled in challenge.  "Okonomiyaki, the best in the Empire, of course."

Kodachi: Okonomiyaki. Ah yes, we feed that to the dogs where I come from.
Much too staid and boring to be eaten by people.

Ranma swallowed down a suddenly drier throat, glancing over at Nabiki
and hoping for some assistance.

I think he would know by now she has no intention of doing anything other
than letting him stew in his own juices.

Morning classes began with homeroom.  Ukyo stood at the front of the
room as Ayaka gathered her class notes, still feeling a bit fragile.
She smiled at the new addition to the class, and she wasn't the only
one.  As she straightened papers, many of the female cadets gazed
happily at Ukyo, some even sighing.

Odd. Word should have gone through about the 'guy' being so friendly with
Ranma.

Quietly sitting on the other side of Minami, Hikaru Gosunkugi glared
sullenly at the new addition to the class and brooded grimly.  His mood
had grown progressively darker since waking up from his pleasant dream
to the hell of his real life.  His great spell of revenge, intended to
punish the wretch Ranma Saotome, had failed, and even the tome he had
used to cast it from had vanished.  Now Minami was not only ignoring
him, she was gazing at the new prettyboy

pretty boy

and since Ukyou isn't trying to pass herself off as a guy, that illusion
should fall soon.

Hikaru's lips suddenly quirked into a cold smile.  He wasn't sure how,
but he had received a clear image suddenly appearing in his mind of how
he would finally attain his revenge on Ranma Saotome: Jusenkyo.  It was
perfect.  Why hadn't he thought of it before?

When did Gos learn of it, or is it part of his purloined memories, as well
as the spells he recently received.

Hikaru wasn't sure how he knew of such a place as Jusenkyo, but it had
a familiar ring to it.

I see

                    ******************************

After homeroom was over, Minami was surprised to see Kisaragi-sensei
approach her while she was chatting with the new boy.  While she was
partly doing it out of a desire to punish Hikaru, and hoping to make
him a bit jealous by her flirting with Ukyo, she could also admit that
she found the new boy to be quite handsome.  He had the most beautiful
facial features that she had ever seen on a boy, and they had an almost
feminine quality to them, but Ukyo was definitely masculine from his
mannerisms.  He was also very much a gentleman, not letting his gaze
linger on Minami's bosom like most boys would,

Of course, she wants to show her new chest off to them.

 >

"Uh, yeah," Ukyo replied with a casual wave of her hand.  "Later."  She
sighed briefly when Minami was safely out of sight.  It wasn't the very
first time that a girl had expressed such interest in her, thinking she
was really a boy, but it was always disconcerting.  Ukyo was a girl,
and while she wasn't particularly attracted to other girls, she had
been out on dates with a few as part of her pretense at being a boy.

Oh, so it is a disguise? So she assumes Nabby thinks she's a guy? And She'll
have to tell Ranma not to spill the beans as well.

In her pursuit of Ranma, the only difficulty she could see was the
interference of those other girls.  Physically dominating them and
driving them away from her fianc� was the simplest course of action.
As the best fighter by far at her old school, Ukyo was quite confident
in her abilities, despite her aunt's warnings against overconfidence.

Remember. It's only overconfidence if you can't kick their ass. :)

Ayaka abruptly held up one hand.  "Save it.  Because of that little bit
of recklessness on your part, I've been given instructions to mentor
you and offer you the benefit of my experience as a Ghost Sweeper."

Minami: Isn't that sort of like telling the garbage collector you'll be
giving him a bag of shit to help him clean up?

Ayaka: Now you die.

"I see."  Minami looked down at the floor, trying her very best to look
humble.

Ayaka sighed and said, "Director Kasuga thinks you're salvageable, but
right now I have my doubts.  You've caused me a lot of trouble, Minami-
san."  She paused.  "I wonder.  Do you have what it really takes to
earn your license and be a fully-fledged Ghost Sweeper?

Minami: Drink and whore around?

Ayaka: No. I do that in my free time. It's not related to Ghost Sweeping.

Stepping out from the boys locker area, Ranma was dressed in one of his
red Chinese-style shirts and a pair of black gi pants,

might want to mention it feels more natural than ever now that he's
integrated his other two personalities.

her legs together as she bent almost double, giving him a rather nice
view of the swell of her breasts within her Chinese-style shirt as she
moved.  A measuring look was in her eyes as she gazed at him, as well
as a slight smirk on her lips.  She then went back to focussing

focusing

Kodachi was the first to find her voice.  "It would be an honor to be
able to study with Master Lee, of course."

Jun Fan: Don't make me laugh. I'm interested in the other two.

"Yeah, like you'd be his first choice for a student, Kodachi," Nabiki
drawled in an aside to the young noblewoman.  "It's pretty obvious who
among us would be the best choice."

Ranma; But Utena isn't here.

Nabby: Oh, shut up, you.

Nabiki found herself eager to begin.  She felt a tingling in the back
of her brain, like a foretaste of a buzzing,

foretaste of buzzing? Not sure if that's a good phrase or not.

Master Lee cocked his head slightly to one side as he watched the two

young fighters engage each other.  Neither of them had managed to hit
with any serious force into the other yet, stymied for the moment by
their roughly equal level of skill.  But that wasn't the most amazing
thing about their battle.  No, what amazed Master Lee the most was the
core style they were using, buried under maneuvers gleaned from dozens
of other styles: the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts.

Oh? He knows it? How interesting.

"You fought well," Master Lee said calmly.  He looked over at Ranma's
fallen form.  "Both of you did."  With a nod at Dean Fuyutsuki, he
stepped away from Nabiki and said, "I will teach the boy."

Heh. He has more room to learn. :)

Master Lee looked mildly at Nabiki.  "You are also arrogant, and I did
not necessarily say that I would instruct the victor."

Lee: So by winning, you lose. There as an ancient Chinese Proverb which
applies here. It says 'It sucks to be you.'

Kodachi helped the coach pick up Ranma, and then she followed Nabiki
back to the locker room.  Maybe now that Ranma had weakened the other
girl, she could take advantage and deal her nemesis some vengeance for
Saotome-kun's sake.  She almost purred as she looked forward to it.

Hmm. Could be interesting.

As they walked out of the main building of the Academy, Genma glanced
over at Ranma.  "By the way, tomorrow night, you've got a date with
Tendo-kun's daughter, Nabiki.  I arranged it with Tendo-kun, so I don't
want you screwing it up.  Got me?"

Ranma's mood darkened even more.  It sounded like the fake was getting
along quite well with the other fathers.

Which would actually be a good thing, in Ranma's eyes, since he likes the
girls.

"I'm not going on any date with Nabiki," Ranma declared, mentally
digging in his heels.

Genma smirked.  "Afraid she'll beat you up again, if you two are left
alone together?"

Heh. Ranma can get predictible at times.

Stay tuned for the next chapter: "Signal to Noise Ratio"

It will be coming much sooner than this one did.

Cool. Really looking forward to it. Nice chapter on reintroducing
everything. Kinnosuke should make his move soon, which should also help move
things along.

D.B. Sommer

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