Dew upon an Oaks Leaves: Condensation amongst the Blooms

by Jaqueline Zema



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As an aside, I somehow seem to have lost the edited version

of this, so I'll have to redo that.  At the moment I'm more

interested in working on my own projects though, so this

will go on the back burner.



If someone should read this, and has the last version that

was posted on the FFML, I would really appreciate being

sent a copy.



                                    --James M. Zema

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"I was right!  I was right!" Usagi started hopping up and

down laughing. "Woohoo!"  The Senshi made shushing noises

at her, trying to stop her from saying anything more while

Ranma and Akane just stared at her in bewilderment.



"What!" Usagi protested, "I never get to be the smart one,

I want my moment in the sun, it isn't fair.  I'm always the

klutz who's the last one to get to a fight and transform, I

don't always need you guys in order to moon dust a monster.

I have a brain."



"Yeah it's just on permanent vacation right now." Rei

growled at her, "That's just about the stupidest thing

you've done to date." Usagi's eyes opened wide as she

realized what they were talking about.



"Oh no, me and my big mouth, I'm such an odango atama,"

she moaned.



"It doesn't matter, I probably would have told him

anyway." Makoto said, trying to comfort her.



"Besides, going by the look on Ranma's face, he's too

shocked to have even noticed it." Minako giggled.  They

turned to Ranma, who looked to still be in shock from being

found out.  Slowly though he snapped out of it as Azusa

popped up in front of them, waving her hand in front of his

face.



"Oh, he's fainted, lets doodle on him!"  A marker

materialized into her previously empty hand.



"Hey get away!" Ranma flailed backwards trying to avoid

the tip of the marker.  At that moment, Rei's grandfather

came down the temple steps to see what all the commotion in

the last few minutes was about.



"Hey, what are all you pretty girls doing?" he asked. 

Azusa, distracted, peered at him.



"Oh so cute!  You must be Azusa's little Danielle!" she

squealed, pulling a leash from behind her back to snap

around his neck.



"Do you think she has a subspace pocket too?" Usagi asked

idly, watching the strange event.  Once the collar was

fastened Azusa started dragging Rei's grandfather down the

street.



"Hey get back, that's my grandfather!" Rei screamed,

pulling out a broom and chasing the figures quickly

retreating down the street.



"No he isn't, he's my little Danielle." Azusa answered

back. Hearing the commotion, Yuicchiruou popped over one of

the temple's walls.



"Oh no!  Rei you're supposed to chase me with the broom!

Please, chase me, tell me you don't like her more then me! 

Rei!" and he proceeded to chase after the small parade of

people.  The others stared after them, sweat drops hanging

from their foreheads.



"So you guys know about Nyannichuan?" Ranma asked

hesitantly, once the figures had faded from view.



"Nyannichuan" Usagi asked, her curiosity aroused, "What's

that?" The rest, except for Makoto, were still to busy

marveling over the strange girl to even notice what they

were saying.



"Wait, if you guys didn't know about Nyannichuan, why did

Usagi say she was right?" Akane asked.



"Oh, we had a couple of friends that transformed into

female fighters before.  We thought Ranma did as well." Ami

answered, once she snapped out of her daze.



"Oh."



"So what's Nyannichuan?" Usagi asked again, a little

impatiently.



Ranma sat glumly on the steps, "It's a curse." He

explained about Jusenkyo as well as the real reason Shampoo

had first started chasing him.



"This is terrific!" Makoto exclaimed, "I thought something

was horribly wrong."



"What do you mean!?" Ranma yelled, "This curse has messed

up my life for the past four years, and you call it no big

deal!?"



"Well, it took me a month to find out while you've been

here, I'd say that's pretty good." Makoto reasoned.



"It's more then just people knowing, it's my manhood!"

Ranma said, balling his hands into fists.



"Come on," Makoto argued, "Turning from a guy to a girl

isn't that bad."



"The Starlights are back?" asked a voice from above. 

Everyone looked up.



"Hi Michiru and Haruka," welcomed everyone other then Akane.



"No the Starlights aren't back, we were talking about

Ranma," Minako told them, and quickly gave them the

highlights of the story. About half way through Michiru

started to get a strange look on her face.  Instantly

noticing it and recognizing her thoughts Haruka started

looking distinctly uneasy.



"Listen tough break, we got to go, bye." and so saying she

quickly walked off, propelling Michiru in front of her. 

Just then Rei came back, having successfully retrieved her

grandfather.  After the group finished telling her

everything that she had missed Ranma changed back into a

guy and told them some stories about a few of the more

interesting parts of his life, such as Kuno and Kodachi, as

well as explaining who Azusa was.  Although he couldn't

explain why she was here.



In the middle of a story, Akane suddenly looked up

puzzled, "Hey guys, what were you talking about earlier?"

she asked, "You know, right after Usagi shouted, I'm right,

about fighting and...moon dusting?"



The scouts looked at each other, "Oh...umm...that.  You

see...eh...it's all...umm."  Their mumbles and attempted

explanations blended in together and they stood with their

hands behind their heads, laughing nervously.  Akane peered

at them, trying to figure out why they were acting like

that.



Ranma, who had remembered what they were talking about at

Akane's prompts, was scratching his chin trying to figure

out just why it rang a bell. By then the Senshi were

shuffling their feet and shifting their eyes, trying

straight out to pass the moment by without having to

directly answer the question.  Right then, Ranma's thoughts

cleared.  Looking up quickly he snapped his fingers and

slammed one fist into the palm of his hand. "That's it!" he

said.



"What is, Ranma?" Akane asked, her eyes showing how

dubious she was that he'd really have an answer.



"You guys must be those umm...Solar Skaters, no that's not

it...um...Salmon Stars....no hmm, don't tell me, I'll get

it." Akane sweat dropped.



"SAILOR SENSHI!" 	Rei shouted, extremely offended.



"Yeah, something like that!" Ranma agreed happily, smiling

widely and rapidly nodding his head in agreement.



"Who are they?" Akane asked, even more confused.



"Oh, well remember the monsters I told you about in my

last letter?"  Ranma asked her.  She nodded.  "Well these

Sailor Saints, or what ever they're called, fight them off

and explode stuff."



"SAILOR SENSHI!! WE ARE THE SAILOR SENSHI!" Rei shouted,

so mad that her face was flaming red and her hair was

standing on end. "We are the pretty suited defenders of

love and justice, we kill youma and protect the city."



"Hey!" Usagi shouted, "Those are my lines, as the leader I

get to say them you can't steal 'em!"



"I don't want to steal your stupid speeches, odango atama,

why would I want to sound that pathetic." After finishing

this Rei stuck out her tongue.



"Don't call me odango atama!" Usagi said, sticking her

tongue at Rei in return.  Everyone sweat dropped as a

tongue war started.



"Okay so how did you guys become Sailor Senshi?" Akane

asked, once they had stopped.



"Well, it all started around a thousand years ago.  Back

then we all lived on the moon," Ami said, starting the

complicated explanation. "Only one day it was attacked and

the grand civilization of the Silver Millennium was

destroyed in the battle, as were all of us."



"My mom, the queen, couldn't stand losing us so she sent

me, Ami, Rei, Minako, Makoto, Hotaru, Michiru, Haruka,

Setsuna and Mamoru to the future along with Luna and

Artemis.  This used the last of her strength and she wasn't

able to completely defeat the negaverse," Usagi added.  Ami

then picked the story up once more.



"However she was able to seal up the negaverse, and it

took them until we were fourteen to be able to attack. 

Luna and Artemis found us one by one and gave us our powers

as the battle progressed.  Since their defeat we've faced

aliens, evil time travelers, beings from parallel

dimensions, dream snatchers, and even a protector of the

galaxy who turned evil.  Now this."



"What ever this is." Rei tacked on.



"Who are Luna and Artemis?" Ranma asked.



Artemis poked his head out of Minako's backpack, and Luna

walked down to the step that the Senshi and others were on.

"Luna and Artemis are these cats," Usagi said, picking Luna

up and shoving her in Ranma's face.



"C-C-CA-CA-AT-T-T-S", Ranma stuttered, backing up the

temple steps with a horrified expression on his face, he

flailed backwards then turned and ran straight into the

temple, "CATS, I HATE C-C-CA-AT-TS!"



Usagi, surprised at this reaction to a harmless cat,

chased after him into the temple.



Akane sighed, putting her head in her hand, "That dolt.

Terrified of a couple of cats."  She shook her head, "You'd

think after all he's gone through with it since coming to

Nerima he would have gotten over it already."



"What are you talking about?" Ami asked staring in the

direction Ranma and Usagi had run off with a curious

expression upon her face.



"Ranma has a little phobia.  The basis of it is that if he

sees a cat he starts shaking like a little baby.  If he

gets near a whole bunch of them he goes into a state of..."

she paused trying to think of a suitable word, "catatonic

shock, he can't think like a human, he basically becomes a

cat.  It's really kind of a dangerous problem if I'm not

around."



"Why is it only if you're not around?" Makoto asked, her

eyes begining to narrow jealously.



"Because I'm the only one that can calm him down when he's

like that, everyone else he tries to attack." Akane

explained, "It's actually really embarrassing since he

insists on sitting on my lap while calming down."  She

blushed slightly recalling the first time he'd been in

Nekoken state around her.  Makoto eyes narrowed further.



"Isn't there any cure for this?  Psychiatrists have made

wonderful strides in curing phobias," Ami commented.



"Can you really see Ranma going to a psychiatrist?" Akane

asked dubiously.



Ami frowned, "I can see your point.  What caused such a

deep seated fear anyway?  I have never heard of such a

violent reaction to something in my life."  Her statement

proven as, Ranma, with Usagi still chasing him, ran

screaming around the yard for a third time.



"His irresponsible dolt of a father got his hands on a

manual that teaches a legendary technique when Ranma was

five.  The instructions say to fill a pit with starving

cats and wrap the trainee in fish sausages, then throw him

in.  His father unfortunately followed them to the letter. 

And of course he didn't bother reading the second page

before doing this, which states that the technique causes

deep psychological scarring. Not only that, but when he

found out it instilled a fear of cats into Ranma he threw

him back into the pit a three or four more times, trying to

cure him."



Ami stared at Akane, as did the rest of the scouts,  Ranma

ran past in the background screaming before heading into

the temple. Finally they gave the only real answer there

was to such a horrible act.



"Oh my!" Akane shrugged, frowning they all moved into the

temple, arriving to see Usagi on the floor where she had

tripped and Ranma in the corner cowering with Luna, who had

gotten thrown when Usagi fell, on his lap.  Ami walked over

and took Luna off his lap, hiding her in a closet so Ranma

couldn't see her.



Once he had calmed down, Ranma asked, "So, out of millions

of people on the moon to send, your mom chose...c-c-c-aa-

cats?"



The Senshi sweat dropped, "Out of reincarnation, time

travel, aliens, beings from parallel dimensions and people

powerful enough to destroy galaxies, you pick cats to

question." Makoto asked, incredulously.



"Yeah." Ranma said.



"Like I said before, after living with him, his friends

and his father, we tend not to find to many things weird."

Akane pointed out.



Luna, who had ventured out of the closet without anyone

noticing commented, "That is probably helpful if you're

going to be staying here."



Ranma promptly lost it, incoherent screams about demon

cats coming from the corner he had fled to, while Akane

flailed backwards, screaming.



"What's the matter?" Usagi asked her, slightly bemused.



"That cat just talked!" Akane answered her eyes wide in

amazement.



"Maybe it would be better if I transformed for the

moment." Luna suggested. Usagi nodded in agreement.  Once

she was done, Ranma quickly snapped out of his stupor and

ran over to Luna.  Grabbing her hands and saying, "You're

cursed, just like me, only, only you can transform without

water!  Could it be that I've finally found someone who can

give me a cure?!"  Ranma started dancing around chanting,

"never gonna be a girl again, never gonna be a girl

again..."  Then he quickly grabbed Luna once again, trying

to pull her along saying, "Come on, you have to teach me

that technique!"



"Technique, what technique?" Luna asked, flustered.



"You have to show me how to transform from a guy to a girl

without water.  Come on don't be stingy." Ranma said.



"I really have no idea what you're talking about." Luna

protested with a confused expression upon her face.



"Oh, Ranma, no, Luna can't help you turn from a guy to a

girl without water, it's a magic that only she can access

allowing her to change from a cat into a human.  She isn't

cursed."  Ami exclaimed, once she realized what was going

on.



"Well why'd she have to go and get my hopes up like that

anyway!" Ranma said, sullenly.



Luna looked at all of them confused, having missed out on

the story earlier.  "I'll explain later." Usagi promised.



Meanwhile, Akane was staring wide-eyed at Luna still. "The

cat talks, I heard it talk.  Plus I saw her transform into

a human, without aid of water."  She pinched herself,

"Nope, I'm not dreaming." She reassured herself.



"I thought you weren't surprised by much." Minako said to

her. "You certainly aren't taking this very well for

someone used to strange things."



"Yeah, well I've never seen an animal talk before." Akane

defended herself, "I mean even Mr. Saotome, Shampoo, and

Mousse can't talk."



"Who is Mousse?"



"Mr. Saotome and Shampoo are cursed too?" Usagi and Makoto

asked at the same time.



"Oh, umm, Mousse is a boy who's in love with Shampoo, who

turns into a cat.  Mousse turns into a duck and Pops is a

panda." Ranma explained.



"Oh, I guess that explains the panda waving signs that

make sense at your house," Usagi said, "Talk about a

strange collection of people." This was muttered to

herself, although everyone could hear.



"Yeah, but none of them talk." Akane pointed out again.



"Yeah, P-chan don't talk either." Ranma's voice was sly

and teasing again.



"P-chan's a pig, why would he talk!?" Akane demanded.



"The cat talks." Ranma protested, all innuendo gone from

his voice and his eyes widened in an unsuccessful attempt

at looking innocent.  Holding this look he started to back

up out of the room before she exploded.  Halfway across the

floor though, he tripped on a pile of unused water balloons

that had been left there earlier during the fight.



"Dolt." Akane muttered.



"And to answer your previous question, as the queen's

advisors, she felt it imperative we be here to advise the

princess." Luna explained, trying to get back to business.



"Wait, that's right, as the queens daughter you're

royalty, why don't you live in a palace?" Akane asked.



"Because, only the Senshi, you guys and the Starlights

know who I am."  Usagi replied, "and at the moment, we'd

like it kept that way." She tensed up until both Akane and

Ranma agreed to keep it a secret.



"Okay, now that you know about us, onto the million dollar

question.  Do you guys now who the enemy is?" Rei asked,

getting bored with all the chatter.



"Actually, I just found out during the last attack." Ranma

said.



"So who are they, and why are they here?" Ami asked.



"Well it's this guy we know from Nerima." Ranma said,

trying to approach it slowly.



"It's Ranma's perverted, ecchi old master, who he managed

to piss off again before he left, bringing him and his

wrath here." Akane said, cutting through the bush Ranma was

beating around, then adding as an after thought, "where he

probably became obsessed with your bodies and decided to

stay so he could see you more."



"SO I WASN'T JUST IMAGINING IT!" Rei yelled triumphantly.



"So how do we manage to stop him?" Ami asked.



"Well, me and Akane have been talking about it and we

thought that maybe a trap would be the best way to go."

Ranma said.



"You're right, in the long run, after we factor in all the

variables a trap, would seem the best and safest route."

Ami said, once Ranma and Akane explained just what it was

they were up against.



"Then it's settled, we work together and give this old

geezer exactly what he deserves." Usagi agreed.  They

called the outers and Mamoru to explain what was being set

up, and for the rest of the day they worked on a plan to

capture Happosai--and more importantly what they would do

to, or with, him afterwards.



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Later that night as Ranma and Makoto were heading out for

a moonlight picnic, Ranma noticed Makoto seemed more quiet

than usual, or in other words she wasn't yapping his ear

off tonight like she usually did.  After trying to start a

conversation with her and only getting one syllable

answers, he decided to leave her be. At least until she was

ready.



They had reached the picnic spot and set everything up by

the time that happened.



Makoto sat slightly apart from Ranma gazing at the moon

with a frown, "Your life has been a lot more difficult then

I imagined," she finally commented, still frowning.



Ranma watched her carefully, recognizing that this wasn't

her usual conversation. "Oh, I dunno, it's been weird at

times, but you adapt.  Sides, yours hasn't seemed to be

much easier. Fighting super strong armies daily."  He

watched as Makoto's eyes grew slightly distant.  He'd

noticed them doing that occasionally before when he'd made

off hand comments about certain things, he'd just thought

she had a lot on her mind and brushed it off, but now he

wondered if it was something deeper.  When he thought about

it, it seemed to happen to the rest of the girls too.  He

thought back, realizing that none of them had gone into

much depth on the subject of their other halves and what

they had gone through.  Usagi had seemed to try and brush

it off as much as possible in fact, just glossing over most

of it. "Tell me about it." He requested, trying to place as

much care as he could in the simple words.



Makoto laughed nervously, "I'm sure you don't want to know

about that," she told him, hands clasped nervously, "It's

not that interesting, really, monster attacks, Senshi

transform and we defeat it." she shrugged quickly, trying

but not succeeding in hiding the slight tremors Ranma could

see rolling through her body.



He frowned not liking that she was so upset, or that she

wouldn't tell him about a large part of her life. "Come on,

tell me, how bad could it be?"



Makoto stared at him, "Leave it alone Ranma, please, I

don't like remembering and I especially don't like talking

about it." Her voice was low, pleading with him, begging

him to stop stirring up old memories.



Ranma frowned, upset that she was blocking him out but

unwilling to cause her discomfort.



They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Makoto, tired

of the quiet, suggested, "Why don't we take a walk to get

an appetite up."  Ranma nodded in agreement and stood up,

watching her all the while with troubled eyes.  He helped

her up and kept holding her hand as they walked, glancing

over at her occasionally, trying to think of a way to snap

her out of her mood.



"Okay, if you won't tell me about most of your life,

answer me this."  Makoto glanced at him out of the corner

of her eye, "What's your best memory?  What thought makes

you smile no matter how upset you are."



Makoto turned to stare at him, "My best memory?" she

asked, Ranma nodded, proud of himself for finding a way to

change the subject.  Makoto thought, remembering the first

time she'd met Usagi and Ami, or a time when all the Senshi

were laughing about a tongue war between Rei and Usagi. 

She thought to times when she and Minako had hung out

together, or group parties, trying to pick a favorite. 

Slowly she started to chuckle as she recalled one

particularly fun memory.



Ranma watched her face slowly brighten, "Well, are you

gonna tell me?" he asked.



"My favorite memory would have to be the time Chibi-Usa

went and messed up gravity and all of the Senshi were

trapped in the air at an ice-cream parlor, we had to watch

while Usagi tried to fight a monster without the help of

gravity."  She giggled slightly. "Ami was stuck upside down

for about ten minutes before it came back.  Once it did we

all fell to a big pile." she laughed, then turned to Ranma,

"What's your favorite memory".



"Uh..." Ranma tried to think of one, "Well, it would have

to be the time....no, that turned out bad.  Hmm...how about

when Ryouga...no that was just a bunch of trouble, maybe

the first time my mom....no, no, no to many lies involved

for that to be a good memory." Makoto sweat dropped as she

watched Ranma struggle to recall a good memory, untainted

by trouble.



"How about the time when we fought the seven lucky...no

all that water...or there was surfing on that

abandoned......no the old pervert ruined that....or how

about when I first started school..." Ranma shook his head

violently, "What am I saying, there was nothing good about

that!" Ranma cocked his head and frowned making various

noises of dissatisfaction.



"Uh...that's okay Ranma, we'll get back to it." Makoto

said, looking at him nervously out of the corner of her eye

as he started glowing with chi, trying desperately to

recall a good memory.



"Okay." Ranma agreed quickly, glad to abandon this

depressing train of thought.



"They had reached the lake by this point and were circling

it quietly holding hands and enjoying the absolute

isolation from the busy streets of Tokyo.



"It's very peaceful here." Ranma said a slight smile on

his face, thinking that if he was in Nerima right now, Kuno

would pop up here with a bouquet of flowers for him.



"Yeah, that's one of the things I love about Jubaan, the

silence, at least, the silence that exists when theirs no

monsters trying to drain energy or destroy the world, or

take over the future in the past." Makoto joked.



Ranma laughed, "Sounds like you've had your share of

excitement."



"Hey, you know, school, friends, dates, evil monsters

intent on destruction, all a normal days work for someone

as wonderful as me." She struck a joking pose.



Ranma smiled.  "Definitely wonderful," he said, and then

winced at how lame the line had sounded, despite the

fiancees he still hadn't had much experience with romance. 

Makoto blushed and clasped her hands in front of her,

bowing her head to study the intertwined fingers nervously.

Then immediately raising it again when Ranma yelled, "DUCK"

before launching himself at Makoto, just in time to receive

a bonbori to the head in her place.



"Girl get too too annoying, time to get rid of, Airen no

love her!"  Shampoo shouted, apologizing to Ranma and

tossing her now cracked bonbori to the side before pulling

out a sword.



"Arrgghh!" Makoto screamed, "I'm getting really fed up

with you!"



She was busily trying to escape a sword at this point,

"Ranma, what's, pant, the diff, gasp, ernce between this

and, and, pant, the kiss of death, gaaasp!?"



A rather muffled, and more than a bit incoherent, mumble

came from where Ranma was striving to pull his head from

the ground.



Taking a guess that he would have confirmed her thought

that there wasn't much in the way of a difference she

quickly started retreating, a quick yelp snapping Ranma out

of his daze.



"Sorry." He quickly jumped back into the fight, trying to

keep Shampoo away from Makoto so she could escape.  Makoto

however just ducked behind a tree and shouted out her

transformation phrase before jumping back out.



"Hey you, you, you...Amazon slut!  I want you to stay away

from _my_ Ranma!"



Shampoo turned around to face this new threat. "What you

mean your Ranma?!" she questioned furiously. "Ranma is

Shampoo husband, not some funny outfit girls."



"Oh yeah!" Sailor Jupiter laughed. "I challenge you then,

winner gets Ranma!"



"Well gladly beat you, stupid costume girl, should no take

Amazon so lightly, I not easy to beat!" Shampoo charged

her. Jupiter crossed her arms in front of her and yelled,

"Jupiter thunder Crash!" A bolt of electricity shot out of

the rod upon her tiara and struck Shampoo right before she

could hit her.  She fell to the ground unconscious.



"Oh my god!"  Ranma exclaimed, "Is she dead?"



"Oh! No!" Makoto exclaimed sounding horrified just at the

thought. "She's just lightly stunned, it wasn't a very

powerful bolt, just enough to knock her out, she should

wake up any minute." However as several minutes passed

without any signs of the young Amazon awakening she seemed

slightly less confident about her statement.



"Why'd you do that?" Ranma asked, "Now she'll really be

after you."



"Well she was already trying to kill me."



"She was probably only going to seriously maim you."

inserted Ranma.  "Whatever," continued Makoto, "anyway, I

figured, how much worse could the kiss of death be?" Makoto

said reasonably, Ranma shrugged unable to think of an

argument to that statement. "And anyways, this way she'll

be after my Scout form, not my human one.  You said that

she has to chase me to the ends of the earth and kill me if

she's beaten, well this way she'll be chasing someone who

for large periods doesn't even exist." Ranma brightened at

this realization.  However before he could comment Shampoo

rustled, then slowly stood. "Do you admit defeat, Amazon?"

Jupiter asked harshly.



"Hai, you beat Shampoo."



"Then Ranma is mine?" Jupiter pressed.



"Ranma is yours so long as Shampoo stay beaten by you."

Shampoo agreed again, then she moved over to her and took

Jupiter's face in her hands and kissed her cheek. "Now

Shampoo really kill!" Another bonbori and sword appeared in

her hands. "Aiyaaaa!!"



Jupiter leapt off, followed closely by Shampoo.  Ranma

wandered off to the picnic and sat nibbling a squid on a

stick, waiting for her to come back.  Thirty minutes later

she was back, she sat beside him and leaned her head on his

shoulder tiredly.



"So how'd it go?" Ranma asked, gazing at her with the

closest expression he had to tenderness.



"She's gone chasing me on the other side of town." Makoto

smiled and bit off the rest of his squid, as he was about

to pop it into his mouth.  They sat smiling at the stars,

more grateful then ever for the silent reprieve.



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The next morning found nine Senshi, Mamoru, Akane and

Ranma in the courtyard of Rei's temple, Usagi was half

asleep cradled in Mamoru's arms, Makoto, although awake,

was also cradled in Ranma's arms, Michiru and Haruka were

merely holding hands.



"Okay, lets just start a tournament going, until we have a

victor." Ranma said, "Then I'll work with you guys to train

your strengths and weaknesses.  Ranma looked at them trying

to decide whom to set whom against. "Umm...lets have the

first match be between Haruka and Usagi." Everyone looked

up amazed at the choice, well everyone except Ami and

Usagi.  Of course the only reason Usagi didn't was that she

was lightly snoring and hadn't heard, the reason Ami wasn't

surprised was because she knew about the lessons Usagi had

asked Ranma to give her, she'd also participated in them.



"Are you sure that's a good idea, I mean, well...give her

a chance, pit her against Ami or Hotaru." Rei protested. 

Ami flushed with anger at being grouped with a thirteen

year old but kept quiet.



"I know what I'm doing." Ranma said, and ignoring Akane's

raised eyebrow, went over to Usagi, who Mamoru had woken

up. Usagi let Ranma lead her off to the corner where Ami

was standing and started doing stretches; Ranma bent down

and started doing them with her, making it look as though

he was leading her through them.  Although after a month of

doing them daily she new them well enough to do them by

herself.



"Ranma?" she asked worriedly, "are you sure this is a good

idea?" she was frowning and looked incredibly nervous. 

Ranma looked at her worried face, he'd been surprised when

after the third day of classes she and Ami had come up to

him after he a demonstration of what he could do, asking

for him to train them both in secret, telling no one.  At

first he had thought it was another of their schemes to set

him up, but he had had that thought proven untrue quickly. 

Even so it had seemed hopeless, since fighting didn't seem

to be either of their strong points, heck walking didn't

seem to be a strong point of Usagi.  However after about a

week of training without any results, Ranma had come up

with the perfect techniques to train both of them.  After

that it had just been perfecting the details and Ranma now

had every confidence that Usagi could hold her own if not

beat Haruka.  However if Usagi didn't get some confidence

that would never happen.



Ranma stood up after saying some meaningless words that

hadn't calmed Usagi at all, and led her towards the blocked

out rink, coincidentally taking her right past Mamoru.



Mamoru pulled Usagi aside, as they passed, "Don't worry

Usako, just try and dodge her punches I'm sure she'll go

easy on you." Usagi's eyes flared and she turned towards

Ranma once again, a look of determination on her face. 

Ranma gave a satisfied smile, it was exactly what he had

hoped would happen, they had explained when questioned that

they were tired of being the weakest of their friends, a

statement that made a lot more sense now that he knew about

there secret identities, he knew a comment like that would

be the exact thing she needed.



Ranma patted her shoulder, "You'll do fine, you're more

then ready."  Usagi nodded and moved to stand in front of

Haruka.



Ami's hands clenched and she silently encouraged Usagi to

beat Haruka, not that Ami had anything against the girl,

but she _had_ been nodding along with everyone else when

Rei had made that Hotaru comment, and a girl couldn't

always be forgiving.  She watched as Akane called for

starting positions, Haruka's was a tight, if relaxed one,

she was giving no openings and seemed entirely confident. 

Usagi on the other hand, was seemingly nervous and stiff,

for that reason, her stance seemed sloppy in the extreme to

the inattentive, however Ami had never been accused of

being that.  When Ranma had first explained his idea of the

perfect fighting style for Usagi, Ami had been positive it

wouldn't work out in a million years, and after hearing

where he got the idea in the first place, she had raised

that to three million.  Drunk fu, to her hadn't sounded all

that promising as a martial arts style, however revised, to

klutz fu, so dubbed by Ranma, the style was surprisingly

effective.  The best thing about drunk fu was the ability

to cloak the fighter's moves, which mainly came about due

to the fact that the fighter didn't truly know them

himself.  Ranma had taken this part of the style and

trained Usagi to use her natural tendencies towards sudden

spills and other mishaps to cover attacks.  It also had the

added benefit of making most people positive the hits she

scored were accidental, in fact the first two times Ami had

fought her, even she had been fooled and she'd watched

Usagi training.



Akane called the start and Haruka and Usagi bowed to each

other then stood for a moment, each waiting for the other

to move first.  Finally Haruka rushed towards Usagi, who

moved to meet her, around halfway there, she slipped and as

she fell braced her arms, using them to catch herself, she

then swept her leg around and knocked Haruka's feet out

from under her, causing her to tumble to the ground. 

Immediately after Usagi tried to regain her feet, however

she didn't quite make it and as she scrambled uselessly for

some ground wrapped both of her hands together, bringing

them down onto her opponent's head as she fell.



Everyone winced as they watched Haruka fall flat, and

Usagi crash to her knees, hitting her chin as she did so. 

Both fighters managed to get to their feet, with Haruka

once again rushing Usagi.  However this time Usagi

backpedaled away from her, quickly losing ground until she

slipped on a patch of mud. As she fell backwards, Haruka

lunged forward at her with a fist stretched out, however

when it met nothing she lost her balance.



Usagi recovered quickly, waiting until Haruka was about to

stumble and then lashing out with her leg, pushing herself

up with her arms to cover the extra foot of space between

them that she couldn't reach otherwise.  Her foot proved to

be right on target as it hit Haruka's jaw with a crunch. 

However Haruka, not to be distracted, tried a repeat of her

previous blow as she fell and managed to catch Usagi's

temple.  Usagi's arms slipped out from under her and she

sat with her hand on her head, shaking it lightly to try

and clear it.  Haruka fell to her side and lay trying to

get her breath back while watching Usagi through narrowed

eyes.



Usagi climbed to her feet, getting into her defensive pose

once again, with Haruka doing the same, although a tad more

cautious this time.  Instead of rushing Usagi she backed

up, encouraging Usagi to rush her.  Usagi circled her

warily, before trying a crescent kick into Haruka's

stomach; Haruka blocked it easily with her forearm,

continuing to move her arm outwards until it hit Usagi's

stomach.  Usagi winced then rushed forward, pretending to

slip again allowing her to slide under Haruka's next punch

and tackle her.  A few moments later Haruka tumbled out of

the ring.



"Winner, Usagi!" Akane called before turning to Ranma, who

had moved to stand by her, "Drunk fu?" she asked, with a

snicker and laughing eyes.



Ranma shrugged, "You work with what you have," he

whispered back, looking proudly at Usagi, a girl who a

month ago could barely block a simple kick.



"What happened?" Rei demanded of Haruka, "How'd _Usagi_

manage to beat you?"



"I don't know, I'd almost swear that all those hits were

an accident, but that last maneuver was planned, I was

totally prepared." Haruka frowned, "It's almost like she

knew what she was doing."



"Well she has been taking self defense classes for over

two months at school." Minako pointed out.



"So have you, do you think you can beat me?" Haruka

challenged, Minako quickly shook her head.



"I can't believe I beat Haruka!" Usagi whispered excitedly

to Ami over in their corner.



"Yeah, Ranma's training really paid off." Ami said, "I

just hope I can do as good."



"Oh, come on, I've seen you during training," Usagi

breezed, "Trust me, you're totally up to any of their skill

levels."  Ami, naturally rather weak, hadn't seemed to have

any natural fighting advantages, just like Usagi.  However,

once Ranma found out how smart she was, he got in touch

with Dr. Tofu and taught her as many pressure points and

weak spots on the body as they could come up with.  He then

worked on her speed so she could hit them enough times to

knock out an opponent before they had the chance to block

or land any attacks.



"Next match Ami vs. Mamoru." Ranma called, at this

everyone sweat dropped.



"Nani!?" Rei screamed, "Are you out of your mind, no way

Ami against Mamoru is a fair fight!"  The rest of the gang

nodded in agreement, including Usagi.



"I have to agree." She said, then paused until everyone

was focused on her. "Mamoru would never have a chance

against Ami." Everyone's sweat drops grew.



"I know you're mad about that comment I made earlier

Usako." Mamoru protested, "but it's not necessary to insult

me."



"Oh I'm not trying to insult you Mamoru, "Usagi said,

while thinking, 'Although that is a nice side perk.' "I

just don't want to insult Ami." Ranma shook his head, and

worked his way over to them.



"Okay Ami, are you ready?" he asked, Ami shook her head.



"Oh come on Ami, you can so totally beat him!" Usagi

cheered.



Ranma ignored both of their answers. "Okay, right now,

Mamoru is stronger and probably as fast, if not faster then

you," he assessed.



"You were born to make these pep talks, weren't you?"

Usagi said sarcastically, this time Ranma took the time to

glare at her.



"Not only that, but you aren't strong enough to block his

punches." He continued, listing her weaknesses, "However

you do have enough power in your punches to hit some

pressure points hard enough to get a reaction, so I want

you to take out his legs first.  Immobilizing him will give

you a chance to dodge in and out again fast enough so you

don't get hurt." Ami nodded, "After that concentrate on the

neck and his bottom row of ribs."  He squeezed her

shoulder.  "Don't worry, you can do it," he told her.  She

nodded again, a look of determination on her face.



She moved into the rink, opposite of Mamoru, her starting

posture tight, without any openings.  Akane called the

fight and Ami sprang into the air, attempting a kick to

start off.  Mamoru reached forward and blocked it

effortlessly, by sweeping upward with one arm, a move

intended to knock her off balance.  However, Ami, who had

studied all of their fights, was expecting this move and

she used it to flip over his head.  She landed awkwardly,

almost tripping over her feet in the process.  Once steady

she quickly gathered her strength and hit the small of his

back as hard as she could, springing back almost

immediately afterwards, putting as much distance between

them as she could while she waited for it to work.



Mamoru spun around, ignoring the strange tingle in his

legs as he ran after Ami, almost catching her.  Right as he

was about to grab her though his legs buckled.  Ami spun

around at the sound of his falling, while he was distracted

trying to figure out what happened she darted in, with a

quick kick to his floating ribs, and then another to his

collar bone.  She then executed a punch to his neck in a

move that would hopefully leave him short of breath for a

moment.



Mamoru reached out to grab her, and she backpedaled to a

safer distance, waiting for an opening while trying to

decide on her next move.  Mamoru watched her closely, he

didn't know what she'd done to his legs but he wasn't going

to give her a chance to do it again, and he _wasn't_ going

to be beaten by a girl half his size.



Ami finally decided on a move that would send his body

into convulsions, and darted in preparing to strike his

neck.  However as she got within reach, Mamoru grabbed her

and flipped her over his head.  As she felt herself being

lifted she desperately punched out, managing to hit the

nerve before being flung over his head, out of the ring and

into a tree.  She quickly climbed to her feet and moved by

the ring again, right as Mamoru's spasms ended, and he

choked out, "I give up!" not realizing he'd already won, "I

give up, just promise to never do that to me again!"



Ami smiled at the small victory, she might have

technically lost but she had still forced someone two times

her size to claim defeat.  She giggled lightly.



Akane called the winner and Usagi ran over to Ami. "Are

you okay?" she asked anxiously, Ami nodded, "That's was

terrific, what in the world did you do to him?"



"I struck a nerve in his neck that makes your whole body

go into intense convulsions, it's like having a calf cramp

throughout your whole body, over and over and over.  If

struck with enough force they can last indefinitely until,

another nerve point is pressed, but I can only manage to

make them last for thirty seconds."



Usagi smiled, "Cool, I'm going to gloat, good job!"  She

skipped over to her boyfriend giggling.



"Where in the world did you learn that?"  Haruka asked

Ami, having listened in on her conversation, "Did Ranma

teach you?"



"Kind of, you'll learn the whole story in a little while,"

Ami said, before hurrying over to where Usagi was sitting

with Mamoru's head in her lap.



After Mamoru regained use of his legs, the rest of the

fights quickly started, first Minako went against Setsuna

and lost, then Rei fought Hotaru, after complaining about

getting a weak opponent.  Makoto fought Michiru, and won,

then went against Rei for a second victory, Usagi fought

Mamoru and lost, partially because she had a hard time, as

always, fighting him.  Setsuna then beat both Mamoru and

Makoto.



"Good," Ranma looked at Setsuna with respect.  He'd had a

hard time believing their stories about her being extremely

old and observing most of the earth's history, but some of

the moves she'd used had been from ancient fighting styles

he'd only heard of. "I now want you guys to all attack

Akane."  This time no one bothered protesting, although he

did get several weird looks. They all moved into the middle

of the ring where Akane was standing to surround her. 

Ranma called the fight and they all rushed in.  A minute

later he walked over to the pile of people on the ground

and asked if anyone was hurt.



Akane pushed a hand through her hair to straighten it,

"That was pretty good, I haven't had any light sparring

matches that good since before Ranma came, when I was still

having warm-up fights before school everyday."



"We all just rushed you and you call it a nice warm up

like a sparring match before school!" Haruka protested,

from her position on the bottom of the pile.



"Relax, she just compared fighting you ten to fighting

more then fifty boys." Ranma explained.



Rei turned to stare at Akane, "You used to fight more then

fifty guys everyday before school!?  Jeeze, what a tomboy!"

she exclaimed.



Akane's eyes started to glow and she pulled a large rock

out of the ground and shouted, "Shut up, you don't know

what you're talking about!"  She prepared to throw the rock

at Rei, but before she could, felt a tap on her shoulder.



"Why did you have to fight all of them every day?" Usagi

asked with a friendly smile.



Akane dropped the rock; the sound causing most of the

Senshi to step away from her.  "Well it's like this. 

Before Ranma came and got engaged to me, a boy from our

school announced to everyone that if they wanted to date me

they had to defeat me in combat. They attacked every

morning and didn't stop until Ranma came and totally

clobbered their leader.  Once that happened they realized

they'd never win and gave up."



"Wow!  You had more then fifty guys who wanted to date

you." Minako exclaimed, "You're so lucky!"



Akane moved away from Minako, eyeing her warily before

sidling up to Ranma and motioning for him to continue. 

"Okay, now I want everyone to transform and attack me, no

magic or ki attacks," Ranma announced.



Haruka, who was slightly mad at being beaten by Usagi

asked, "Can I use my sword?"



"Sure weapons are fine." Ranma agreed.  Everyone

transformed and rushed him when Akane called the fight. 

After a short fight Ranma was announced the victor and they

moved to sit in the temple while Ranma explained his

reasons for the morning session.



"Okay, I'm sure you're wondering why I did that." he

said," It had two purposes actually, first I wanted to

prove a point, yesterday, you guys set up the trap and were

talking like it'd be easy to get him into it.  However

although Happosai has a very large weakness we can exploit,

that will only get us so far with him, if I fought him at

the speed I took you guys out at today, he'd clobber me, I

wouldn't even get a halfway decent shot in." Akane nodded

in agreement.



"The second point of this was for me to see what level

you're at.  If you'll let me, I'd like to train you, like

I've been doing with Usagi and Ami so that this trap idea

works.  By having you guys all fight and fight both me and

Akane I can see where you stand and what methods would be

most effective."



"You're forgetting one detail, we weren't using our

magic!" Haruka pointed out, "You wouldn't have done half as

well as you did if we hadn't been holding back. Besides I

don't want to take lessons from a runt like you." She

muttered the last part.



Ranma moved over to a tree and executed the Kachu Tenshin

Amiguriken before throwing a Mouko Takabishi at a rock.  He

turned to Haruka, "Those were light attacks compared to

what Happosai can dish out by himself.  Plus this time he's

apparently surrounded himself with Youma.  Chances are your

magic attacks will be able to be dodged by him or else

they're going to be exhausted fighting the Youma, I don't

want you guys to have to rely on them.



Haruka considered this for a moment then turned around

with her arms crossed stubbornly, "I'll train by myself

then, I refuse to be trained by a runt like you."



><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>



Forty minutes later Haruka found herself jogging down a

street in Tokyo along with the other Senshi.  Ranma was in

the lead followed by Akane, Ami and Usagi.  The rest were

in a small group a little ways behind.  All of them except

for those three had five pound weights on their feet. 

Akane and Ami had higher amounts as well as Usagi, who was

busy with special training of her own.  The basis of it

was, Ranma dumping objects in her path that she was

required to dodge and pick up along the way.  If she

tripped, which happened often, she needed to incorporate a

kick or a punch into the movement.  Everyone was currently

chanting after Ranma.



"I don't know but I've been told!" Ranma shouted.



"I don't know but I've been told!" the rest responded.



"Ami's brain's getting pretty slow!"



"Ami's brain's getting pretty slow!"



"Sound off!"



"Sound off!"



"One, Two!"



"One, Two!"



Twenty minutes later, all the scouts except Haruka,

Mamoru, Makoto and Ami and Usagi were twenty feet behind

and starting to show signs of exhaustion.



"I'm not sure but I have found!" Ranma said jumping around

energetically.



"I'm not sure but I have found!" most of them managed to

gasp out.



"Usagi's getting pretty round!" Usagi growled at this and

sped up, almost managing to hit Ranma before he danced out

of the way.



"Usagi's getting pretty round." the others droned.



After another ten minutes Haruka and Mamoru were twenty-

five feet behind, while the rest of the Senshi were around

fifty and just barely in hearing distance.  Ranma was still

hopping about easily, while Ami and Usagi, who were still

slightly mad, were tripping along behind him.



"Eat your minerals eat your soy!" general mumbling

accompanied this as the Senshi tried to make a sound.  Only

Ami, Akane, Usagi and Mamoru were really able to repeat it.



"Haruka wants to be a boy!" Ranma finished snickering.

Haruka's eyes flashed and she shot out at him, managing to

get within five feet of Ami.



"I don't know but I've been told!"  Ranma shouted thirty

minutes later, right after most of the scouts quit. 

"Mamoru's a perverted letch, dating a thirteen year old!" 

The second part was squeezed together and rushed to fit it

all within the chant parameters.



Both Mamoru and Usagi sped up at that one, managing to

keep up for about fifteen minutes, before Mamoru started

lagging again.



"She can't kick and she can't hit!" Ranma said after

slowing down from the required speed boost. "Akane's built

just like a brick!"  While Ranma continued with his rousing

song, Usagi decided to drop back to talk with Haruka.



"I don't know, I think he's enjoying this way too much."

Haruka muttered.  "The first seven were funny, then they

started to get annoying."



"So in other words they didn't get annoying until he

started on you," Mamoru pointed out.



"I still don't think it's fair that the worst he said

about Makoto was that she was thin, I mean he ripped the

rest of us to shreds."  Usagi complained, looking up to

stick her tongue out at Ranma just in time to see Akane

break her weights' chains and start to swing them around

her head eventually chasing him out of sight.



Ami dropped back to talk to them as well as they all

slowed down and sat on the grass.  After panting for around

ten minutes, Usagi popped up off the grass. "Well what are

we waiting for, bet Makoto's at her apartment cooking

breakfast! Race you!"



Mamoru gaped up at her, "You really want to run after that

torture session?!" he asked.



"No, dummy, I want food." Usagi pointed out, with a look

that said, I'd think that'd be perfectly obvious.



"You actually have the energy to move after that?" Haruka

asked, "I don't even know how _you_ managed to keep up for

so long."



Ami stood up, "If you walk I'll come.  And actually," she

turned to address Mamoru and Haruka, "That was only a light

jog compared to what he usually has us do, I'm only

fatigued, not worn out and I bet Usagi's barely even tired."



"How can you not be tired?" Mamoru asked, "You were doing

more work then any of us, what with having to dodge al that

stuff."



"Oh well see," Usagi started as they all got up to walk,

"First of all, since I'm always late I run everywhere, this

gave me an amazing amount of endurance, at least I think

that's the word Ranma used." Usagi said, wrinkling her nose

and turning to check with Ami. "Plus I've been doing it for

a month now for two hours at a time, we only stayed at

under an hours running for the first week.  Ami wouldn't be

so tired either, except Ranma just increased her weights."



"You're carrying more weight then us!" Haruka demanded

incredulously of Ami.  She frowned as Ami nodded.  Walking

beside them silently the rest of the way there.



Before this when she had met Ranma, she had thought he

seemed kind of cocky and a little insolent, which hadn't

rubbed well at all.  And that had just gotten worse when he

decided to announce he was going to train them.  It had

seemed ludicrous to her that he thought he was that much

better then the Senshi, no matter what little light shows

he decided to put on.  But this new fact as well as the

display in the ring today did back up his attitude a bit.



'Hmm, I wonder if I was wrong about him.' Haruka thought.



They finally reached Makoto's place where everyone was

passed out on cushions and breakfast was almost ready. 

Usagi immediately raced to the kitchen to see what she

could beg out of Makoto.   However one look at her face

immediately cut off that train of thought.  For the time

being.



"What's the matter?" Usagi asked Makoto. "I thought you'd

be happy you and Ranma get to spend even more time

together, plus he showed how much he cared about you to all

of us!" Usagi eyes turned into hearts, "He said you were

too thin!  What a terrific compliment, it was so romantic,

how he put all of us down just to make you look good."

Makoto giggled at that unique spin on things.



"I'm not sure if that's the real reason he insulted you, I

mean he was pretty on target with most of those chants

about you, Usagi." she teased.



"HEY!" Usagi pouted for a moment, then turned serious

again. "No really, what's bothering you?"



"Where are Ranma and Akane?" Makoto asked in an apparent

change of subject.



"Oh he said something insulting to her and she chased him

off, why?" Usagi asked.



"Because I just realized something, I noticed something

odd a couple of days ago, but couldn't put my finger on it

till now." Makoto paused then looked up with worried eyes,

"Last Wednesday after the dinner at the hospital we went to

Ranma's house first, since it was on the way.  Not only did

he not invite me in, but the light was on."



"So he forgot to turn it off when he left, I do the same

thing lots." Usagi said frowning.



"That's what I thought to, but I realized something when

Ranma picked me up today." Usagi looked at her intently,

but Makoto didn't continue.



"Well!  What did you notice!" she pressed finally.



"I noticed that whenever Ranma comes from his apartment,

Akane's always with him!" Makoto said triumphantly. 

Usagi's face developed a blank look.



"Don't you see, whenever they come to school, Akane's

always with him when he picks me up or when they're late,

and when we meet on the weekends, she's with him when he

arrives!"



"I still don't see what this has to do with your being

upset, do you think he's spending too much time with her?"

Usagi asked frowning.



"NO! Well, actually, yes--but that's not what this is

about!" Makoto said slamming her fist onto the counter. "I

think they're living together!"



"What!" Minako, Rei and Ami shouted, as the door burst

under the pressure of the combined Senshi's weight.



"You have to be kidding, you think Ranma's pulling you

along, as well as Akane?" Haruka asked from behind the

Inner Senshi.



"That can't be right, Akane knows Ranma's dating you." Ami

pointed out.



"Yeah and she _really_ doesn't seem the type to be to

tolerant about that sorta thing." Minako tacked on.



"Maybe, but it still seems weird, and for that matter-"

Makoto said, flipping the last of the pancakes onto a plate.



"I wouldn't worry about it." Setsuna commented, "I really

don't think he's been cheating on you." Makoto looked over

at her, trying to decide whether that was just intuition

talking or actual knowledge, but had to give up before

deciding when the door opened.



They watched as Akane dragged in a severely beaten Ranma. 

At the sight Usagi nudged Makoto and whispered, "Besides

unless Ranma's into bondage and beatings I don't think

they'd be that great a couple."  She then raised her voice

as Makoto started to protest Akane's treatment of Ranma. 

"So since we're all here can we start eating?"



"Usagi how can you think about eating pancakes when

Ranma's so hur-" Makoto cut herself off as at the mention

of breakfast and pancakes Ranma untwisted himself from the

knot he was in and jumped up, completely healed.



"Breakfast?  All right!  I'm starved!" They watched him

bound over everyone and sit at the table.  Slowly everyone

else followed shaking there heads at the strangeness. 

After having quickly devoured the food they set about

training for another couple of hours, only pausing as the

heat became too much to work in.



><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><



"So what do you guys want to do now?" Makoto asked, once

back at her apartment.



"We could start a game of baseball." Rei suggested

enthusiastically.



"No way!"  Minako protested.  Usagi nodded in agreement,

only to shake her head as she continued, "If we're going to

play a sport I want to volleyball."



"Come on, no one other then you likes that stupid game!"

Rei yelled.



"Hey! I happen to be on my schools volleyball team, I

think it'd be fun." Akane protested.



Seeing the argument start to heat up, Makoto broke in.

"Come on, we don't want to play a sport, that's to much

work, we're supposed to be relaxing, and you know that's

not going to happen if we break into teams and start trying

to beat each other."



"Yeah," Usagi agreed, "You know you're both way to

competitive for that."



"Us?" Rei and Minako asked together, "What about you?"



"Me?"  Usagi strived to look innocent.  "You know I never

get competitive over anything!"



"Oh yeah, what about that skiing contest?" Rei challenged,

and before Usagi could protest continued. "And there was

the ice skating incident, and the fight with Ann over

Mamoru, and there was the fight over the role of snow

white.  And just who refuses to ever lose any argument?"



Everyone started laughing at Usagi's red face, finally she

clamped a hand over Rei's mouth and muttered, and "I think

you've made your point, don't you?"



"How about an amusement park?" Michiru asked loudly,

trying to get them back on track.



"Yeah that sounds fun." Makoto agreed.



"But I've been to the amusement park three times this

month, isn't there something new to do?" Usagi whined.



"I know," Haruka said with a small smirk and a mean glint

in her eye, "We could go to that new water park that just

opened, didn't you say you and Ranma used to love them when

you were younger? Think of it as reliving old memories."



"Maybe you forgot, but water parks are out for me." Ranma

growled, "Remember?  Ancient Chinese curse plus cold water

equals girl?"



Just then, Makoto, who had gone to the kitchen after

hearing Haruka's suggestion, came back out and stood over

Ranma, "No problem." she said, then dumped a glass of water

on him, "Just go as a girl."



Haruka started to snicker, "Hey, it's just like ramen

commercials: want instant soup, add a cup of hot water and

you have it, only this time it's want buxom girl, just add

a cup of cold water and instant Ranma-chan!" she doubled

over laughing, until Michiru reached over and lightly hit

her over the head.



"Behave!"



Meanwhile Ranma was arguing with Makoto, "No way am I

dressing up in some girls bathing suit, I'm not going to go

outside as a girl! I'm a guy damnit!"



"Oh come on, it's not like anyone'll ever know! We'll have

fun!" Makoto persuaded.



"Yeah, and look, I have this old bathing suit, it's too

large in the top and real stretchy so it should fit you

fine!" Usagi said cheerfully, waving a bikini above her

head.



"No way I'm wearing that! Ugh, find yourself another guy!"

Ranma said, backing away from them.



"Well I'd put it on Mamo-chan, but I don't think even this

is stretchy enough to fit." Usagi said, getting weird looks

from Mamoru and causing Minako and Rei to start laughing.

"So since that's the case, guess it'll have to be you."



"No, no, no, nonononono! I'm not wearing it!" Ranma said

crossing his arms.



"Oh come on Ranma, it's not like it'll be the first time,

and this ones a lot better then some you've worn." Akane

pitched in. The Senshi all turned to look at Ranma with odd

expressions.



><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><



Twenty minutes later, several cheerful girls, a relatively

happy Mamoru and one slightly glum Ranma arrived at the

park.



"What ride should we go on first?" Usagi asked jumping up

and down.



"That double water slide looks fun." Mamoru pointed.



"Cool, lets team up, I call Mamo-chan!" Usagi squealed,

hugging him.



"I'll take Michiru." Haruka said, doing the same.



"I'll ride with Ranma-chan!" called Makoto before pulling

him into a tight hug, showing no sign of embarassment, and

kissing his cheek.



Ranma-chan pushed against her, "Hey, I _am_ a girl right

now you know."



"Oh, so what, it's not like your preferences switch."

Makoto argued, and then turned a little doubtful, "Do they?"



"No! I'm always a guy, my thoughts don't change!" Ranma-

chan yelled.



"Well, see, there's your answer!"



Rei turned to Minako, "I'll ride with you, but don't

expect any hugs."



Minako laughed, "I'd be worried if I was."



Ami turned to Akane, "Guess that means you and I'll be

riding together."



They were walking towards the ride when Ami noticed Akane

looking at Makoto who was hanging on Ranma strangely. "Is

anything wrong?" she asked her, wondering if maybe she was

jealous, her and Ranma were technically engaged after all,

and to all appearances appeared to be living together.



"I can't understand how Makoto can be so open with Ranma's

female form.  I mean she doesn't seem to care which form

he's in at all," Akane said.



"Well don't forget, we've had friends who switch genders

before, it wasn't all that surprising for us at all, plus

we had already figured it out so she's had some time to get

used to the idea. Besides Ukyou and Shampoo both know and

they both still like him right?" Ami questioned.



"Well yes, but both of them were a bit put off when they

found out, and neither deliberately turned him into a girl

before going on a date, they'd never consider it if they

knew they could go on a date with him in male form even

easier."



Minako and Rei, who had been eavesdropping on their

conversation, fell back to where they were walking. "Well,

you know, you do have to consider the fact that Makoto was

flirting with Haruka even after she found out that she

wasn't a guy." Rei said, with a devilish glint in her eyes.



"You mean she's gay!" Akane asked.



Minako hit the back of Rei's head. "No of course she

isn't, trust me Mako-chan is anything but gay, however, I

really don't think she's as disturbed by that kinda thing

as most people. Maybe because she lived on the street for a

while, I'm sure that would really lower the amount of

things you have trouble with." At that moment Usagi came

back to them and tugged on their arms, telling them to

hurry up.



However as they passed her she got a thoughtful frown on

her face, 'I wonder why Makoto is like this, maybe....'

then Usagi shook her head, 'no I'm sure it's not that.  But

still, I need to talk with her about this.'  She nodded

once and then completely forgot about the matter as they

got to the line for the ride.



After about two hours of running, getting wet, and

yelling, even Ranma was having a good time, and everyone

was laughing as they moved to the picnic area to enjoy the

lunch Makoto had packed.



Once everyone was settled with some food, they started to

discuss where to go next. "I say lets go on that big raft

ride." Mamoru said.



"No I think we should go on the lazy river." Minako

suggested.



"What about that wave pool decorated like a cove, I

thought that looked fun."  Makoto said.  Once they realized

they couldn't agree they decided to split up.  Mamoru, Rei,

Haruka and Michiru went on the raft ride, while Usagi,

Minako, Ami and Akane decided to try the lazy river.  Only

Ranma and Makoto wanted to try the wave pool, which suited

them just fine.



"This has been so much fun!" Makoto enthused once they

were in the pool by a cave where there was some privacy.



"Yeah," agreed Ranma, "I really missed water parks, there

aren't any by the Tendo's, and last time I had this much

fun in the water was on vacation last year and that trip

ended up being sorta a disaster."



"What happened?" Makoto asked, so Ranma went and told the

story, by the time he got halfway through the story of the

search for Kasumi Makoto was howling with laughter.



"--and then, later my old man told me that when he and

Ryouga were searching for her he told him that man eating

squid had probably kidnapped her and the moron believed

him!"  Makoto doubled over in laughter, almost falling off

the ledge she was sitting on.



"Your dad always was good at saying the most ridiculous

things with a totally straight face."  Makoto reminisced. 

"Remember the time he found out my friend Azusa liked you

so he made you work in that vineyard then told her that the

berry juice on your feet was a deadly disease that was

spread from eye contact!"



Ranma started laughing, "Oh yeah! She'd been chasing me

and Pops didn't approve of her for some reason or another."



"She started wearing huge hats and sunglasses around you

remember?" Makoto reminded him, "I'd never really

understood just why you didn't want him to know we were

dating till then."



"Yeah, no telling what he'd have done if he knew we were

dating," Ranma agreed.  They sat laughing lightly for a

minute before Makoto prompted Ranma to finish his story. 

By the time he was finished, she was stretched out on the

ledge holding her sides, which were aching from laughter.



"That was a great story," Makoto said, leaning her head on

Ranma's shoulder, "it sounds like you've had some really

amazing adventures."



"We sure have, if you thought that story was funny though

you should hear about the time Akane was kidnapped."



"She was kidnapped _again_?" Makoto asked incredulously,

raising her head from his shoulder.



"Mmm hmm." Ranma said noncommittally.



"Well tell me what happened!" Makoto said grabbing his

bathing suit straps and shaking him lightly.



"This prince of the seven lucky gods martial artists came

looking for a scroll that Akane just happened to be holding

at that moment.  The deal with the scroll though was that

whoever was holding it had to marry him.  So the prince

kidnapped her and we all went to save her only to find that

by the time we got there she'd almost killed him

herself...with her cooking!" Makoto started giggling.



"Really, you have to be exager--"she started only to be

interrupted by a glowing Akane.



"So I'm not the worlds best cook, so what if I'm not

exactly Delicate! That doesn't mean anything!" Akane

yelled, using her mallet to blast him into the wall on the

opposite side of where they had been sitting.  Rei and

Usagi peeked out from behind a tree.



"Are you sure that was necessary?" asked Usagi, only to

fall back waving her hands in front of her face and

babbling calming things as Akane turned to her growling.



"Apparently so." Rei said idly watching as gravity slowly

peeled Ranma from the crater in the wall where he had hit.



Makoto, who had finally realized, after spending the day

with them and listening to Ranma's stories that a hit like

that wouldn't hurt him, simply turned to look at Akane.



"So, sounds like your vacations are usually pretty

interesting, guess we don't have to worry about you finding

this one strange, huh?"



Akane laughed.  "Just what has he been telling you?" she

asked, they'd only gotten there in time to hear his comment

about her cooking.



"Oh he was telling me about how you guys got trapped on

that island and kidnapped, and how he came and rescued you,

it sounded really romantic." she said, with only a little

jealousy in her last comment.



"_Romantic_?  After the way that jerk acted when we were

in the bridal contest?" Akane asked scornfully.



Makoto's eyes widened, "What do you mean after the way he

acted?" she asked.



"Just what _did_ he tell you about the contest?" Akane's

eyes slitted suspiciously.



"Only that he went into the palace undercover and rescued

you when you won after slapping the prince for some

reason." Akane's eyes opened and she pulled Makoto to her

feet.



"That rat, he totally left out all of the embarrassing

stuff he did!"  Her mouth turned up in a crafty smile. "Boy

do I have a story for you.  Come on Rei, Usagi, Minako, I

think you'll enjoy this too." So saying she pulled them

away to a small fast food stand and told them the real

story of the bridal contest.



By the time Ranma found them a half hour later, the story

and several others had been told, much to the Senshi's

amusement.



"Hey Ranma, bet you looked real good in turquoise!" Usagi

yelled at him as he walked up.



"Oh I don't know I really think he would've looked better

in something purple." Minako said, "I really don't see him

being a summer."  Ranma felt his face heat up and he turned

to Akane.



"You told them!" he protested.



"You told them about my cooking, _besides_ Ranma it's not

like they really care." Akane pointed out.  Ranma looked at

them carefully, he'd gotten used to being disliked because

of his curse, but could only see amusement on their faces. 

He took a deep breath of relief, he'd actually been afraid

about losing their friendship.



"My favorite part was when you jumped up to the prince and

told him you'd been saving yourself for him!" Makoto said

laughing, just as the rest of there group walked up.



"Hey, what's so funny?" Mamoru asked leaning over Usagi's

chair.



"Nothing!" she answered giggling.



"Long story, we'll tell you later." Minako added.  Ranma

rolled his eyes.



"Okay, anyways Usagi, we better get going, your parents

have that dinner thing in an hour and a half and we still

have to get ready." Mamoru said, deciding it'd be easier to

just ignore it for the time being.



"Oh right! I totally forgot about that!" Usagi said

jumping up and quickly herding everyone towards the parking

lot.



"Oh, so you're actually going to be on time for once in

your life?" Rei jeered, prompting Usagi to stick out her

tongue at her.



"Shut up pyro!" she yelled, Akane giggled.



"I'm just going to walk home." Makoto announced as they

reached the cars, "there's a gourmet store near here I

wanted to stop at." she paused turning to Ranma, "Want to

come?" she asked.  Ranma nodded, drool leaking out of the

corner of his mouth at the thought of her cooking.



Usagi giggled, "Boy Ranma, you eat even more then me, I

bet you've never turned down anyone's food in your life!"



Makoto laughed as well, "That's just cause everyone who

wants to cook for him is a gourmet chef."



"That's not true," Ranma protested, everyone paused as

they waited for him to say something sweet and romantic

about Makoto's cooking. "I always turn down Akane's

cooking, there's no way anything she makes could be

considered gourmet, it's more like toxic waste!"



Akane started to glow blue. "Ranma!" she growled, before

taking out her mallet and proceeding to make an extremely

rare gourmet dish, served by a very small select group of

female cooks only. Ranma Pancakes.



				The End of Chapter Two



	Gomen Nasai, I never thought chapter two would take so

long to write.  It seemed I got writers block every time I

picked up the pen.  However on the plus side, it seems to

have totally disappeared and I have the next chapter, the

last one, all planned out.  Now all I have to do is beef it

up and type it out. I'll try and hurry.



						--Jaqueline Nicole Zema