Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This story based on the anime, not the manga.

Chapter 6: Dawn's Uncertain Light

He lay on his futon, eyes wide open in the darkness. Sleep refused to come, all the more frustrating since Ukyo would be meeting him in his dreams as soon as he did manage to leave the waking world behind. Over the course of the past several days, they'd established that that was one power she'd retained nearly untouched. Ukyo could still form any sort of dream she wanted, she could synchronize it with the real world to see what was happening there, and in dreams her power to shred dark emotions was as strong as ever. Outside the waking world, her abilities remained at nearly pre-Happosai levels.

The name danced across his mind, a snarl curved over his lips, and Ranma was farther from sleep than ever.

It was three days now since the confrontation with the ancient grandmaster. Ranma and Ukyo had spent the entirety of Sunday, the day after that disastrous battle, recovering physically and emotionally from the ordeal. They certainly hadn't finished the job in that one day, nor did Ranma have any illusions that either of them was really recovered even now, but at least they were capable of acting again.

The first real act Ukyo took was to contact Furinkan and officially withdraw from classes. As she put it to Ranma, "This business with Happosai was the last straw, Ranchan. I will stand before kings and kami and swear that I've endured ten times more crap in my seventeen years than should be spread across a whole lifetime. I'm not taking any more from Furinkan or its inmates."

Under other circumstances, Ranma might have worried, at least a little, that this act might lead to suspicion concerning his whereabouts. After all, Ukyo herself had pointed that possibility out to him some time earlier. But that was before Happosai struck, before the two of them skated so close to destruction. Before his girlfriend, his oldest friend, nearly lost everything for daring to try to help him take control of his own life.

He no longer had it in him to care who discovered what. Let them find out, and try to start the old familiar song again! Anyone who did would learn very quickly that he was calling a different tune from now on. As far as Ranma was concerned, anything before three days ago might as well have been in another lifetime. That grim afternoon had seen the finalization of changes which had begun earlier, but it had also been a turning point all by itself.

'If the freak were here right now, I really would break his neck.'

There wasn't even an extraordinary amount of bitterness associated with the thought anymore. He and Ukyo had had several 'drain the dregs of darkness away' sessions over the last few days, times when they'd sat down or flown in dreams and she'd taken away the latest recurrences of rage, hatred, and sorrow. Each time afterward those feelings had been a little slower to come back, and had been a bit less powerful. After all, knowing how flimsy they ultimately were in his life — remembering that they could and would be destroyed by Ukyo's will — meant they didn't ultimately matter so much.

What did matter was determination, comprehension, and acceptance of the lessons he'd had shoved so brutally in his face.

Happosai was only a part of that, albeit a large (so to speak) and ugly one. Probably — no, make that almost surely — the worst and most virulent symptom of the underlying problem, he was the one that Ranma would go furthest in combating. ' 'Anything Goes', all right,' the Saotome heir thought grimly. 'If… when I get the chance, I can't afford to hold back. He showed just how far he's gonna go, to make sure I don't step out of line. Showed he didn't give a damn about who he hurt. Who he could've… killed…'

Abandoning the fruitless position on the futon, he got quickly and silently to his feet, and hurried down the hall. Cracking open the door to Ukyo's room, he took a long, reassuring look at her. She was resting peacefully under the covers of her own futon, a faintly impatient expression on her face. Ranma puzzled over that for a moment, before realizing that she might well be getting tired of waiting for him to fall asleep. Since the logical next step on the chef's part would be to wake up and come see if he needed her waking-world company, Ranma eased the door shut again and slipped back to his room before he could be caught peeking.

Seeing her, even for that brief moment, had been reassuring. At least a little. She wasn't dead; the damned lech didn't kill or maim her. But there was nothing to say that the Anything Goes Grandmaster wouldn't sink to such depths the next time he wanted something bad enough, the next occasion in which he was determined to bend Ranma to his will. 'I'll kill him before I let it happen again,' Ranma thought grimly. 'Before I even risk it happening again. Be doing the whole world a favor as big as the old freak pretended he did, when he slaughtered all those other poor people who went ahead of Ucchan and me.'

He would go that far in a heartbeat, sending Happosai to his final rest without a shred of remorse, but Ranma knew very well that wouldn't fix the ultimate root of the troubles in his life.

He'd seen the pattern over and over again. Ranma wasn't proud that he hadn't really realized it, hadn't more than vaguely recognized the injustice while still living with the Tendos. Certainly he'd never sat down and thought about how many times it had happened before. Ukyo's messages to him, back when she'd been hiding her face in the darkness of his dreams, had started nudging him toward understanding, but not until his empowerment had he really seen. It had been blisteringly obvious then as he witnessed his whole life flashing back and forth before him, ripples and wavecrests, scattered images and coherent passages, the things he'd seen coming again in order and out of it, taking forever and yet over in a timeless heartbeat, glimpses not just of his past but also those of others who had featured significantly in his history, or himself in theirs.

Time and time again, he'd seen it. Watched as other people made the decisions for him as they thought best (best for him, sometimes, best for them far more often). In terms of frequency, Soun, Genma, and Akane were the worst offenders, though nothing they'd ever done (save possibly the Nekoken) had matched Happosai's worst excesses. The Amazons were by no means guiltless in this regard, though Ranma had also been forced to face the fact that if she had wanted to Cologne could easily have taken him to China by force. Still, there were numerous occasions when Cologne, Shampoo, or both had gone well beyond the boundaries of decent persuasion in trying to get him to see things their way.

Kaori and Kaede weren't so bad, but then they'd also been around for a much shorter total time. And he had seen enough hints of the same underlying theme there to be reasonably confident that it would've likely become a problem with them as well, had Ukyo not taken shelter from the rain when and where she did those three months back.

The core problem in his life was that other people wanted to run it, felt they had the right to make his decisions for him, and all too often didn't care who got hurt in the process.

Even when they weren't that ruthless, disaster could easily strike. He'd watched again as the rushing waters showed Akane take matters into her own hands following his mother's first visit to the Tendo home, deciding she knew best and telling Nodoka that her son would meet her that weekend. Ranma hadn't fought it, had gone along with it, had pretty much agreed with her at the time… but the fact remained that it hadn't been his decision. There had actually been some relief, that someone else had charted the course for him and all he had to do was follow it.

Another silent snarl in the darkness. Never again. No more. He was through letting other people make those decisions — hell, he was even through letting them think they knew what was best! Ranma Saotome was leading his own life from now on, and the only people who he was gonna trust to have at his side were those who proved they believed in that new path he was taking!

"Can't sleep, huh, Ranchan?"

He blinked, refocusing his eyes on reality rather than the future, finding that Ukyo had joined him in the room. "No, haven't been able to drop off yet. Got a lot on my mind, I guess." His girlfriend was wearing a modest set of pajamas, but Ranma resolutely kept his eyes on her face anyway. He didn't need any dangerous distractions at this point.

"Do you want to forget about this, then?" Ukyo asked.

"What, forget about meetin' up with you in a dream tonight? No way. What I want is to forget about all this junk and finally get to sleep," Ranma groused.

"Well, maybe I can help with that." She knelt down next to him. "Here, sugar, let me give you a neck-rub."

"Ah… that's… I'm not so…" Ranma's nervous babbling switched off like a light, as Ukyo pressed his Instant Unconsciousness point.

"Next time maybe you'll think to do that yourself, jackass," she remarked to the room at large, amusement warring with exasperation, her eyes carefully fixed on the window as she settled him down on his bedroll. "Better that than sticking me in a situation like this. There's only so much temptation I can shrug off."

"Gee, Ucchan, that was the best neck-rub I ever had," Ranma said sarcastically. "So incredibly relaxing. How do you do it?"

"Ancient secrets born from two hundred years of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki history," Ukyo replied. "Hmm. That doesn't sound all that impressive, does it? Guess I shouldn't try to steal Shampoo's granny's lines."

Ranma made a face. "Speaking of the Amazons, I wonder when they're gonna get back into town."

"Can't be far enough in the future for me," Ukyo replied. Then she blinked. "What's wrong, Ranchan? Why're you shaking your head like that?"

"Because… because I can't keep putting this stuff off." He took a deep breath, despite the fact that this was a dream and there was technically no need for that whatsoever. "I gotta deal with all the remaining problems. Kaori… Kaede… I ain't saying I know just what to do there, or how I'm gonna handle it… but if worst comes to worst the most I can do is hurt their feelings. Not something I'd be proud of or want to see happen, but it wouldn't smash anybody's life. I can handle Pop, and Mr. Tendo ain't got nothing to hold over my head anymore — he already threw me out, and that's the one and only thing that old coward could've done to hurt me.

"The only people left with any real threat potential are Happosai," the word escaped with enough venom to cause Ukyo to drain his anger, "and the Amazons. Not saying they're in his class or anything like it. But they do have the potential to be. At least, Cologne is powerful enough that if she seriously started trying to call the shots in my life, it'd be hell to fight it.

"So that's why I'm wondering. I need to talk to them, or maybe just her. Probably would be good to leave Shampoo out of it for a little while longer. But I need to sit down and have a good, long talk with the old ghoul."

"Maybe you can get some concessions from them, Ranchan. After all, Mousse has been dishonorable since day one, and they never did jack about it. They just let him go on and on, and in the end he nearly managed to bring off the sickest cheap trick I've seen in my life. As far as I'm concerned, they owe you a lot over that. More than they'll ever manage to pay back." Ukyo brooded for a few moments, then added, "Tell her that and see what she says."

"I definitely am planning to bring up Mousse when I talk to her," Ranma confirmed quietly.

Silence stretched for about a subjective minute before the pigtailed boy spoke again. "Anyway, enough of that stuff for now. You ready to get back to looking for the freak?"

"Huh?" Ukyo blinked, obviously startled out of some deep concentration. "What'd you say, Ranchan?"

"Are we ready to go?" he repeated. These last two nights' dreams might have been more work than play, since Ukyo attuned them to the real world and the teens spent them searching for a glut of Lust big enough to mark Happosai's whereabouts, but that didn't mean Ranma didn't still enjoy the "flying around Japan with Ucchan" part.

"Just a second," her attention wavered again, fading away from him, her eyes dimming as if she looked into some far distant vista. Then her gaze sharpened once more. "Okay, I was able to touch Shampoo's dreams lightly enough not to leave any traces. They're coming back tomorrow."

"What? Oh. Okay. Tomorrow, huh? That soon. Great," Ranma said. "C'mon, Ucchan, let's get outta here now."

Tap, tap, tap. Hop, skip, jump.

The rhythms of the two paces didn't come close to matching. Cologne's pogoing progress was steady and even, whereas Shampoo's was broken, the sequence between each two steps differing from the one before. Nonetheless the two Amazons moved forward at the same overall speed, with Cologne following a couple of yards behind her great-granddaughter. The Matriarch smiled fondly at her youngest descendant's exuberance, knowing that Shampoo's face still carried the same expression of proud, happy determination that she'd worn for most of two days now.

They'd spent a week in the mountains, the Matriarch cautioning, teaching, prodding, and hinting, Shampoo sweating and pushing herself hard in directions she'd never really understood existed before. The first thing she'd learned was a sloppy, imprecise, inefficient technique that drained her almost immediately while decimating the area in and around her target. Not a move ever to be used in battle, this was done to impress upon her the gravity of the lessons that would follow, to give her a sense of sober understanding of just how much damage she was really going to be able to do, both to an opponent and to herself.

That had taken two days. The rest of the time had been devoted to control and non-combat uses of chi. Shampoo's skipping pace now was merely further practice of one particular training technique, the one that had most intrigued her and that had taken the longest to earn a breakthrough. The hop — recovering from the previous step. The skip — building up for that upcoming jump. And the jump itself — only a foot into the air, merely a tiny fraction of the height she could leap at maximum… but as she descended she slowed her fall by burning chi, sending her drifting to earth at roughly half the normal speed.

The train station wasn't far from the Cat Café, but Cologne knew her great-granddaughter would have to push herself very hard indeed to maintain this all the way back home. Her chi reserves still had decades of growing to do before she would reach their full potential. Still, as Shampoo practiced this and the other training techniques she'd been shown, those reserves would expand along with her control. '<If Son-in-law doesn't hurry up and get his rear back here, he's going to find he's been knocked out of his vaunted position in first place,>' the ancient Amazon thought wryly.

A thought which reminded her that it had been a week since they were last in these parts; Ranma was likely already back in Nerima. Or at least Cologne hoped the boy had made his return by now. If not, if after all this time he was still seeking life's answers elsewhere, then it would be time to go after him.

They were now only a few blocks away from the Cat Café. Shampoo was beginning to show the strain of her exercise, the hop and skip lasting just a hair longer each time, and her face showing more determination than pleasure. Cologne closed her eyes, allowing her reflexes to carry her bouncing along without breaking pace, and engaged other senses. She touched the delicate web of energies that existed everywhere in the world, ignoring the ten thousand random impulses that had nothing to do with her quarry, seeking, searching…

Her eyes snapped open. "Like father, like son," she muttered with a relieved chuckle.

'Huh. This is panda fur,' Ranma realized. There was only a very small amount of it, but after the life he'd lived for the past year and more, he was quite familiar with the substance. 'Wonder if he was up here for something.'

"Up here" was a rooftop several streets over from the Nerima outpost of Chinese Amazon territory. Ranma's position afforded him the same excellent spying options it had provided to his father. From this height it was easy to catch sight of Cologne and Shampoo off in the distance and maintain a discreet surveillance on them. He wondered why Shampoo was moving at such a strange tempo; maybe she'd injured her ankle in training or something?

He hoped not, since that would make it a lot harder to catch Cologne alone. This confrontation was going to be difficult enough without Shampoo's presence as well.

Ranma remained where he was, maintaining his vigil over the restaurant. Thirty minutes later, he received the answer to at least one question — there was nothing wrong with Shampoo's ankles. The Amazon exited the building, climbed aboard her bicycle, and zipped away. He shook his head in mild bemusement, and reflected that if Shampoo ever wanted to make some extra cash she could do a heck of a job endorsing some bike line. Watching the Amazon blur from her innocuous street-level starting position onto a fencetop, then making her way over the roofs from there… Well, it would beat any commercial he'd ever seen, that was for sure.

Not that this was any time to get lost in such random thoughts, Ranma chided himself; this looked like the opportunity he'd been waiting for. He focused his awareness back on the immediate present. Was anybody else around? Kaori wasn't about to pop out into the street below him, was she? Had Kaede decided to come by and ask Shampoo for another match? Was Genma even now en route back to this spot, assuming those few wisps of panda fur really did mean he'd been here? At least he was reasonably sure Happosai wasn't anywhere nearby. He and Ucchan had all but assured that the lech wasn't even on this island any more.

After another minute of checking, Ranma decided the coast was as clear as he could ask for. He tensed, muscles clenching for the leap that would propel him into space and toward his destination…

"Well, well, son-in-law. It's been a long time."

At the sound of the dry voice, coming without warning from just behind him, Ranma tried to jump, whirl, and facefault all at the same time. He really only managed the last one.

Three centuries of skill and martial discipline gave Cologne enough strength to refrain from laughing at the sight. But she did burn the picture into her brain, to be taken out again the next time she needed a good cackle.

"Dammit, don't sneak up on me like that, ghoul!" Ranma demanded, scrambling back to his feet, coming the rest of the way around to face her, and getting his heart rate back under control. "How the hell did you know I was up here anyway?!"

"Oh, let an old woman keep one or two secrets," the Matriarch responded. "I will say that it might have been harder. Your father used this very spot for more than a week, spying on us, waiting for you, thinking his own presence went unnoticed. I suppose that after the two of you lost your old lodgings, he thought you would head for a place where you are more than welcome."

Ranma opted not to respond to the bait, certainly not with an explanation of where he did go. "Whatever. Listen, Granny — we need to talk."

"Very well. I'm listening."

"Yeah? Well, thanks for that. I'm sure you've got plenty to say. I don't have so much. Just the one big thing." Ranma pinned Cologne with the hardest, fiercest gaze he could muster. It would have been nice if she'd responded in some way, even with so much as a blink, but the Matriarch simply continued regarding him with the same hooded, neutral stare. "An' that is that I am through letting other people make the big decisions in my life!"

"Is that so?" Cologne said calmly.

"It is."

"Then I'd be interested in learning whatever happened to you so recently. There are tinges of something strange in your aura, along with signs of terrible turmoil. Those happened within the last few days, and from the look of things you were hurt then about as badly as you were by Miss Tendo's betrayal."

"It ain't important," Ranma growled, then realized that giving a little bit of information might actually help him here. "But I will say that what happened had to do with someone who didn't like me makin' my own choices. Who didn't care how much damage he did gettin' me back to what he thought I should do."

Happosai most likely, the Matriarch decided. After Akane's actions, there were very few individuals remaining who could deal out that kind of hurt to her reluctant son-in-law by themselves. As Ranma's father, Genma could probably manage it, but if Ranma had even seen him while the Amazons were away then surely this encounter would already have developed along different lines.

Aloud, she said, "Well, I can certainly understand how that would get under your skin. Some things never get much easier to bear, do they?"

Ranma refused to be drawn into the verbal dance. "You understand what I'm saying here, don't you?" he demanded. "I'm making my own choices in my life. Where I go, how I live, who I'm with. I ain't gonna marry Shampoo on your say-so. I don't care how many thousands of years of Amazon history are at stake here!"

"No, I don't suppose you do." Cologne allowed her voice to tighten ever so subtly, a harsh note becoming just barely detectable. "Of course, I have to wonder just how much moral ground you have to stand on, when you lash out at me like that. It was the Tendos, three of them at least, who have done the most of what you've been complaining about. Over and over and over again, you found yourself doing what they wanted, what they demanded of you. Even when you left them, it wasn't your own initiative, it was them throwing you out. And why did they do it? Because you dared to do something that Akane Tendo couldn't stomach. And because you were there, a target they could affect, whereas they had no real ability to strike back at Shampoo.

"Have I missed anything in this account, Son-in-law?"

"No, you did a real good job of throwing my mistakes in my face," Ranma snapped back. "An' that's what they are, and I'm not gonna keep on making them."

"Oh, I haven't even begun to list all your mistakes, boy," Cologne said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "And I don't think you want me running down a play-by-play list of them anyway.

"Do you think that you can just write them all off? Perhaps you're seeing the act of leaving the Tendos as a fresh, new start. That's certainly a good way to look at it, but you cannot simply shrug your shoulders and erase all the things that have gone before. The actions you yourself have taken."

"Like what?!" Ranma snarled. "I've told you over and over again that I ain't gonna abide by that stupid law of yours!"

"There was one time you didn't." Cologne drew on her chi, fed it into her voice until the roof beneath them thrummed at the power of her words. Despite himself Ranma staggered a few steps backward. "My great-granddaughter chanced upon a cursed brooch that made her love for you turn to hatred, and you were desperate to reverse that." She barked a short, humorless laugh that cracked glass in twenty windows. "You even issued what cannot possibly be considered anything other than a formal Amazon marriage challenge — and defeated her."

By now he was on his knees, terrified realization surging through him like a wave breaking and curling through his guts, leaving his muscles feeling as if they had been turned to unmanipulable water. The roaring in his ears diminished the Matriarch's voice, making it sound as if coming from far away, but somehow didn't obscure any of what she said.

Cologne continued relentlessly. "You have many fiancées, but they were all arranged by your father. You have one wife, by nobody's actions other than your own. You reached out your hand and brazenly took all my great-granddaughter's honor and future, her heart, her very life, into your palm. The only reason I have not been more forceful about dealing with this matter is that you never really realized what you'd done.

"But the time for pretense is over, Son-in-law. You have created these circumstances yourself. The consequences are real, they cannot be ignored or wished away. If you forsake my great-granddaughter now, it becomes a question of whose future will be sacrificed to atone for the dishonor — yours, or hers. I think you can guess which choice I will make, if I'm forced to it."

The Matriarch paused then, giving him a minute of silence to recover. At the end of that time she spoke again, in a much less imposing voice. "I'm not trying to tell you to be at the church tomorrow at nine o'clock sharp to formalize your marriage. Just spend time with her, ask her what she's been up to these last few weeks. She has a lot to tell you, she is very proud of the things she's waiting to show you, and hopes you will be proud too."

Another minute passed before Ranma found his voice again. "This… I can't… it's too much, too fast…"

Cologne heaved a sigh. "Well, I suggest you start walking through life with your eyes open wider, Son-in-law. None of what I told you is anything like a new development.

"Fine, go sit under a bridge or on top of a skyscraper or something and think things over. After you've done that…" the Matriarch's voice sharpened again, ever so slightly, "you'd better speak to your father." She rattled off the address of a nearby hotel. "That's where he's staying. I'm sure he's anxious to talk to you after these weeks apart."

Ranma just stared at her for several long moments. The way she'd said it made it obvious that she had some sort of stake in whatever Genma would have to say, and then there was the fact that despite having been gone for a week and just now returned to Nerima, she still apparently knew that he hadn't seen his father yet. "Should I be even more scared now?" he managed to ask.

"Of course not," Cologne returned. "When have I ever done anything that didn't work out for your favor in the end?"

Genma tensed, ignoring the bead of sweat that trickled down one cheek, commanding his muscles to hold on the very edge of readiness. It had been a long time since he'd faced a challenge like this. In the old days on the road with Soun and the Master such circumstances had been far more common, but that was a long, long time ago. Still, the old skill and power lingered, Genma assured himself. They had to. Otherwise… no, he could do it. He would do it!

The Master of Saotome Anything Goes took one last long, deep breath, then launched his attack. His left hand came swooping forward, knocking the sake bottle into the air, sending the still-sealed container tumbling end-over-end. His other hand shot forward at just the right moment, slicing through the neck of the bottle with utmost precision. The blow also eliminated most of the bottle's spin, leaving just enough to tip half the quantity of sake into several waiting glasses without spilling a drop. Genma's left hand arced out once more and caught the half-emptied bottle, returning it to his side for his own consumption. The awestricken salarymen erupted into a fit of pleasantly buzzed applause and ponied up the yen they'd bet against this dark horse being able to follow through on his boast.

Genma took a long drink from the bottle and let out a sigh. This wasn't so bad an interlude, but he was getting ready for things to get moving again. It was a pain having to go out at night and wander around the less savory areas until someone tried to mug him, then shake them down for enough cash to cover the next few nights at the hotel. Such things ought to be beneath a martial artist of his dignity, along with the parlor trick he'd just pulled off to earn enough drinking funds for the afternoon.

'Surely it won't be too much longer,' he thought, trying to convince himself. 'Just how long does the boy plan to sulk anyway? I'm tired of this, tired of living in a hotel instead of a home. Tired of having to make an effort to meet with Tendo. I can understand that Ranma probably isn't looking forward to returning there yet, but he needs to come back and listen to his father's words of wisdom. He needs to let me tell him things aren't as bad as he thought.'

"Hey, old man." The words, quiet though they were, derailed Genma's train of thought as effectively as an unexpected ten-ton boulder across railroad tracks. He whirled around to find the very object of his thoughts standing just a few feet away, regarding him with an obviously troubled expression.

"Ranma!" he exclaimed. Genma got to his feet and stepped away from the bar with alacrity enough to surprise his heir, especially since the elder Saotome did so with no further attention to his drink. "Ha, good to see you again, son. I knew you wouldn't stay away much longer. No, let's not talk now," he continued, pre-empting Ranma's attempt to rejoin the conversation, "this isn't the place for that. Come on, let's go up to my room." Might as well get the packing done and check out as soon as they'd finished talking, after all.

True to Genma's request, Ranma kept quiet as the two of them left the bar and ascended through the hotel to the elder Saotome's room. Genma said nothing either, instead taking the time to mentally polish the things he was shortly going to have to say.

As the door swung shut behind them, he forced himself to spit out the worst of it. "Ranma… I'm sorry. For all this time that you were right and I was wrong."

This was enough of a surprise to temporarily make Ranma forget the trepidation lurking at the back of his mind. "Right and wrong about what, Pop?"

"About Akane," his father growled, "and her suitability as a fiancée." The older man let out a sigh. "I hope you can believe me, boy. Neither Soun or I wanted it to come to this. We honestly thought we were doing you a favor, that the match would be a good one. I know the two of you had your problems, but that's true for any couple. We were so caught up in the idea of honoring our promise and uniting the schools that we didn't let ourselves see things as anything more than typical lovers' spats."

"So it took you gettin' tossed out along with me before ya finally saw that, huh."

Genma inclined his head, not even trying to hide his rueful expression. "Yes, actually, that was a good part of it. Anyone who can get so angry at one person that they have to hurt multiple people to make up for it… that was enough to get it through even my thick head. Like I said, boy, I'm sorry. Tendo and I both are. You did your duty as a true martial artist, protecting Akane even in spite of herself. They should have been thanking you, not kicking the both of us out. It isn't going to happen again, Tendo and I both promise you that."

Ranma stared long and hard at his father. All the rest of the message had made sense, even if he hadn't expected to hear such words from his father. But that last sentence didn't seem to fit, somehow. Why would his father have mentioned Soun at all then, let alone with the emphasis he'd given? "You did say that the engagement to Akane is over and done with forever, right?"

His father nodded. "Yes, that's right. Things are going to be much better now, you can be sure of that."

"So you've finally given up on that whole 'unite the schools' thing?"

Genma blinked. "What? No, boy, don't be ridiculous. We've switched the engagement over to Kasumi." He chuckled. "Never let it be said Genma Saotome doesn't learn from his mistakes!"

That in itself was almost a mistake big enough to earn him a quick backfist from his son. However Ranma was just a little too puzzled at something else for his temper to really flare up. Was this what Cologne had wanted him to hear? That his father was still trying to make decisions like this for him? He could see how the Matriarch might think that would make him more amenable to the course she wanted him to take (to follow through on, one frightened piece of his mind reminded him), but that idea didn't seem to fit all that well with how their conversation had ended.

Before he could think up a way to bring the conversation round to the Amazons, Genma spoke again. "And that's not all, boy. I've done you one better than that. I had a talk with the old Amazon just before she took Shampoo off on a training trip." It had actually been Cologne who initiated things, but Genma didn't see a need to share any more of the credit for the good news he was about to give his son than he had to. "We talked about honor, and obligations, and opportunities, and cleaning up this tangled mess without anyone getting any more hurt."

"…And she's okay with you an' Soun trying to hitch me to Kasumi?" Ranma asked, still trying to figure out just what the heck was going on here.

"Yes, she is. Perhaps you didn't know this, Ranma, but under Amazon culture it's all right for a man to have several wives. According to the old woman, that's common for really exceptional men with lots of skill and strength and potential. She said that after the things Akane has done neither she nor Shampoo would accept her as a co-wife to you, but they have no problem with a sweet, gentle girl like Kasumi Tendo." Genma gave a satisfied grin. "How about that, boy? Starting to think a little better of your old man now, eh? I know Soun and I screwed up with Akane, but I've fixed things for you now! You get a wonderfully kind and supportive girl in one hand, and in the other a partner who opens the doors for you to get all the Amazon training you want! And both of them are excellent cooks to boot!" By now Genma's eyes were shining so brightly that there was no chance in the world for him to notice his son's expression. "What do you say to that, Ranma? Things aren't looking so grim anymore, are they?!"

"Pop, lemme ask you something." Ranma spoke sweetly, gently, in a tone that would've set off warning bells if Genma had been a little more alert. "Do you really think Kasumi deserves to get pushed into something like that?"

"Who said anything about pushing? Soun talked to her. He assured me she's perfectly willing to go along with it."

"What?! I… huh. And you think… Shampoo…" Ranma's protest ground to a complete halt. He had been going to bring up the threat Shampoo could pose to his proposed new fiancée, except that the idea of the Amazon (or anyone who knew Kasumi well) threatening the eldest Tendo daughter really was too absurd to contemplate. "You think she won't put up a fight?"

"Cologne didn't seem to think so," Genma answered with a shrug. "Why should she? She's been raised from birth to believe this sort of thing is okay. Of course she'd fight against sharing her husband with someone who mistreats him, but you and I both know Kasumi is as far from that as it's possible to get."

Silence fell. Ranma was struggling to find words of his own, words that would break a hole in the walls he could feel closing in around him. Part of him was angry — furious! — that his father and the old ghoul were still trying to set his future in stone like this. But another part refused to respond in anger, the part of him that had been touched the deepest by his father's words of apology, that clearly saw Genma was trying to do the right thing, what he honestly saw as best for his son. Beating some sense into his father just wasn't an option at this point. He needed to find a way to convince the old man that this plan wasn't the way to go about doing things.

"And there's something else, too," Genma said. He hadn't talked this over with Cologne, but it wasn't as if the old Amazon could reasonably protest, after all. Not when she had already okayed the inclusion of Kasumi — a girl about as un-Amazonian as it was possible to be — in her son-in-law's marriage. "There's no need to limit things to just Shampoo and Kasumi, is there? Kaori and Kaede both have plenty to offer as well. Heck, even Ukyo if she learned Akane threw her engagement away and changed her mind."

"You cannot seriously think they're all going to go along with this!" Ranma yelled.

"Actually, I don't." Genma was clearly even more satisfied at this, which made no sense whatsoever to his son. "But think about it, boy. What does it mean that we'll be giving them the chance, and they are the ones turning it down?"

"That they — unlike some people I could name — are thinking straight?"

"Wrong!" Genma wasn't annoyed at his son's slowness on the uptake; it had taken three days for this particular silver lining to occur to him, after all. "It goes back to what I said before, about learning from my mistakes. I know it hasn't been easy, being stuck in such a mess of honor-ties to all these different girls. But don't you see? If we're ready to keep our part of the bargain, and they are the ones who refuse to take part in the Amazon poly-marriage, then you get off scot-free without so much as a stain on your honor!"

The sensation of walls closing in was stronger now, with the added suspicion that a roof was swiftly descending too. Ranma took a few shuddering gasps of breath, trying to fight it, trying to find some way out of this crazy waking nightmare.

"Is something wrong, boy?" Genma inquired, puzzled at the look he'd finally paid enough attention to notice on his son's face. "I thought you'd be happy." Then he thought back over the number of days he had spent thinking through all this. "Is this just a little too much too fast?" he asked sympathetically. "Don't worry about it. Take the time you need to think about it. You'll see for yourself soon enough that this is the best thing that could have happened for us."

"Best thing? You think that, Pop? Nothing could be better?" Ranma's voice rasped.

"Of course," Genma reassured him. "You get great food, loving wives, advanced Amazon training, and you don't lose a shred of your honor!" For once Genma was glad his son put such a ridiculous emphasis on that last quality. Usually it worked against the boy, but now it would be in his favor, helping him see all the more clearly just what a tremendous gift his father had arranged for him. "What could be better than all that?"

Ranma turned and marched over to his father's pack. Sure enough, at least one habit from Genma's long years of travel on the road hadn't deserted him — there was a flask full of water secured there. He picked it up, unstoppered it, dumped the contents over his head, and turned back to stare his father in the eye. "How about freedom?" he asked quietly.

"We're home, Kasumi," Akane called as she and Nabiki stepped out of their shoes. They entered the house to find Kasumi was right there to greet them, as she was currently sweeping the front hallway.

"Welcome home, Akane, Nabiki." The eldest Tendo daughter smiled kindly at her sisters. Her expression dimmed slightly as she took note of the obvious dissatisfied looks on their faces. "Did you have a bad day at school?"

"Bad half-day, you mean?" Nabiki quipped. "Not really. It's just that the stupid repair crews are too good at their job. Today was the last day we got out early for them to work. Tomorrow classes go back to the normal full-day schedule."

"I see." Kasumi sent an oddly hesitant, speculative glance toward her youngest sister, before speaking to Nabiki again. "Did they ever find out anything more definite about the damage done to the school?"

"They didn't; I did." Nabiki fired off her own hesitant look, although this one was directed toward Kasumi, as if she was wondering whether her older sister really ought to have brought this up now. "Happosai was there for sure. There were scraps that had to have come from his Happo Fire Bombs. As to who else was involved… Well, I haven't seen any evidence of Breaking Point-type explosions, so probably not Ryoga. I never found any dried-up ramen or broken chopsticks, so it almost surely wasn't Kaori." A pity, too, Nabiki thought coldly. She would have liked to think of that Daikoku witch on the wrong side of one of Happosai's pleasure jaunts. "And of course the Amazons were out of town at the time, so—"

"Oh, for goodness' sake. Stop talking around the thing like I'm going to explode!" Akane exploded. "It was Ranma fighting Grandfather Happosai. You know it. I know it. The teachers are lucky any of the building is still standing." The youngest Tendo gave each sister a reproving look. "I'm not going to fall all to pieces if someone mentions that jerk's name. You don't have to treat me like I'm made out of glass or something."

"Oh, Akane, you make your father so happy!" Said girl's breath was forced out of her in a whoosh as Soun appeared out of nowhere and gave her a huge hug. "I've been waiting for you to get over this for so long now! It broke my poor heart to see you moping around and depressed." Soun let up on the pressure and pulled back enough to look Akane in the eyes. "You're really all better now? Truly over your anger and hurt? The thought of Ranma really doesn't pain you any more?"

"I… Yes," Akane responded, not entirely truthfully. It did still hurt, especially when she wasn't able to avoid thinking of the fact that Ranma had gotten his curse cured by Shampoo. But she was tired of letting it matter, tired of letting that jerk control her life. Let her sisters talk about Ranma Saotome if they wanted to! Akane Tendo wasn't about to shed any more tears on someone that was nothing more now than a piece of the dead past!

"I'm so glad to hear it," Soun gushed. "Then I can finally make this announcement." Ignoring or missing the concerned look and the warning grimace his two older daughters suddenly developed, the Tendo patriarch pushed on. "It's about what Genma and I really were talking about, those times when you thought we were planning to get you and Ranma back together."

"You better have meant it when you said that wasn't what you were planning," Akane broke in, her tone suddenly as sharp as a razor.

"Of course I meant it," Soun said, caught between indignant and sorrowful that his precious little girl apparently thought he might lie to her. "We were planning something completely different."

"Daddy, I really don't think—" Nabiki started.

"Planning what?" Akane demanded, fighting a sudden chill.

"Since the engagement between you and Ranma was such a mistake, we moved it," Soun replied. "Kasumi will be Ranma's Tendo fiancée from now on."

"WHAT?!" Akane screeched. Her mouth gaped open and closed for several seconds after that before she found words again. "Daddy, NO! You can't do this again! Ranma's a jerk and a pervert and an honorless womanizing bastard! He can't be trusted farther than Kasumi can throw his dad — how can you tell her she has to marry him? I'm not going to let you do this!"

"Akane, that's enough!" Very little could have shaken Akane out of her shocked anger at her father just then, but these words managed to do it. Her head whipped around, shock completely displacing anger as she stared at Kasumi. Her oldest sister was actually frowning… no, glaring at her!

"You're not going to let him?" Kasumi demanded. "What makes you think you can make that decision? Don't you have any respect for your family at all anymore, Akane? It was bad enough when you told Ranma he had to go. We shouldn't ever have let you do that. But we did, and we all had a part of hurting poor Ranma then. I'm not going to let it happen again! He is quite welcome back here, and when he comes back you aren't going to tell him any of these awful, wrong things you seem to believe so much!"

"K-Kasumi?" Akane gasped. "That's not… I'm trying to defend you!"

"No, you're not! You're trying to take something away from me. You haven't even asked how I feel about this!"

"How you feel? Wait. Did… did you already know about this?"

"Yes, I did. Daddy and I talked about it and I agreed to give this a chance." The glare was long gone now from Kasumi's face, but her gaze was still quite determined. "You're wrong about Ranma. I don't understand how you can still think such horrible things about him, after all the times he's risked himself to save you."

"That's just a martial artist's duty!" Akane snapped back. "It doesn't mean anything. He always treated me like dirt, calling me names and running around behind my back with those other girls! He'll do the same thing to you, Kasumi… I just don't want that… don't want you to have to wonder when your so-called 'fiancé' is sneaking around your back with Shampoo or something…"

"That's one thing she won't ever have to worry ab—" Soun cut off his reassurance with a gulp, his eyes going wide and panicked and no longer looking at Akane, staring rather at some point over her shoulder.

The response was strange enough that Akane reacted quickly, whirling around just in time to prevent Nabiki from hiding the sign she'd been holding up. " 'Daddy, for Kami-Sama's sake, don't tell her about Shampoo now!' " Akane read. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Um… well…" Soun was sweating bullets now, his rising anxiety obvious enough to clue Akane in that whatever this was, it was big.

Kasumi sighed. "Daddy, Nabiki… go away. I'll handle the rest of this talk."

Once her hair had quit blowing in the wind raised by Soun's and Nabiki's exit, Akane spoke up. "Well, Kasumi? What is it?"

"Come on up to my room. All right, little sister?"

"YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT?!"

Akane winced a bare second after the scream escaped her lips. She'd really put too much into that protest; it felt like she'd strained her vocal chords.

Kasumi rubbed at her ears, helping the ringing to subside, and stared mournfully at the crack that had shot across the frame of her most treasured family photograph. "Akane, nobody is forcing me to do this," she chided gently. "I agreed to it of my own choice."

"I don't believe you! This… this is some stupid trick, like Shampoo did on me with that shampoo! She made me forget Ranma, she's making you forget to stick up for yourself!"

"They were already gone on a training trip before Mr. Saotome even told Father about this. I don't even think they're back from it yet."

"But… but… how?" Akane asked, her voice cracking painfully. "How can you… can you agree to…" She couldn't even manage to get the words out.

"Akane, do you have any idea just how many men in Japan have a mistress? And for most of our history it wasn't even as hidden as that. Many men have had more than one wife at the same time. Just because the modern day Western World values may frown on it is no reason to act as if our heritage is suddenly shameful or wrong."

"Heritage is one thing, but this is something different!"

"How?" Kasumi asked simply. "How is it different?"

"It… it just is… It's because it isn't your idea!" Akane exclaimed as she found inspiration. "This is Shampoo's stupid plot!"

"Don't be silly, Akane. Shampoo wouldn't have suggested this. It was her great-grandmother who first brought it up with Mr. Saotome."

"What the heck kind of difference is that supposed to make?"

"Honoring one's elders and respecting their wisdom, for one thing," Kasumi said soberly. "This compromise will satisfy our family's honor, the honor of the Saotomes, and Shampoo's honor as well. If someone had sat me down in a room and told me to come up with an idea that would do that, I don't know if I could have succeeded. But this will, and I respect and honor them for that."

"But is that enough? Enough for you to sacrifice yourself like this?!"

"Little sister, try and think back to what I just told you about a man having more than one wife. It's only a sacrifice if you think it is. And I don't."

A long moment of silence stretched between the two sisters. Akane broke it at last, saying in a small voice, "I don't understand you, Kasumi."

Kasumi chewed her lower lip in uncharacteristic indecision before responding, "Akane… do you really understand anyone? I mean, do you really understand that other people see things differently than you do, that things that seem one way to you might be completely different to others? That the things you heard when Ranma talked might not have been the things he was trying to say?"

Akane frowned bitterly, and brushed the accusation aside. "Look, Kasumi, I'm just trying to help you here. If you do this, sooner or later Ranma will hurt you. I don't want to see that happen! Promise… at least promise me you won't let Daddy make you marry him as soon as he gets back!"

"Don't worry about that. It isn't even certain that we will marry," Kasumi replied.

"Huh? B-but…"

"Akane, I believe that Ranma is a much better person than you've ever given him credit for. I know he has rough edges, and I hope I'll be able to help him get rid of them. But despite those things, he is strong, and honorable, he looks out for other people. He would rather accept pain himself than let someone else get hurt. He has all these good qualities, things that I think would be very good in a husband." Kasumi paused then, to let her words sink in, before continuing. "But it's also true that sometimes, two people are just plain incompatible. Only time and trying will tell that for sure between me and Ranma. So that is what I'm going to do, Akane, take that time and try to work things out with Ranma. And with Shampoo."

"You know how he is around her," Akane said tightly. She was aware that she was fighting a losing battle here, but she wasn't about to give up. "Even if some of this other stuff you've said is right, you can't ignore that. He'll just hang around you out of duty and save all his real feelings for her."

"I don't believe that either," Kasumi retorted, feeling the beginnings of a headache. "Little sister, you really need to try and see the positive side of this."

"Positive side! How can you say that, Kasumi? What positive side?!"

"Do you mean other than what I already said about everyone's honor being satisfied?" Akane nodded impatiently and Kasumi continued. "There won't be any real conflicts anymore. The Amazons will be our allies, not antagonists. Remember that, Akane — some of the trouble that has come down on this family, we've only escaped with their help. Ranma told me once that if Shampoo hadn't been there to help him, he might not have been able to get through to Prince Kirin in time to rescue you. They've been there when their strength and knowledge were needed… but it was only for Ranma's sake. After this, that won't be true anymore.

"Shampoo will literally be family. It isn't just Ranma who can learn exciting new Amazon techniques after that, Akane. Wouldn't you like some of that training yourself?"

"You have got to be kidding me!" Akane protested. "Learn? From Shampoo? After the way she treated me?! I don't think so! No matter what happens, she's never going to be family as far as I'm concerned."

"I expect better than that of you, little sister." The youngest Tendo flinched again as Kasumi mustered up another glare, this one colder and harder than before. "If this does happen, it won't happen anytime very soon. You can take time to get over these feelings. But I will not accept my sister hating someone for refusing to fight her."

"It's… it's not just that…" A thousand thoughts whirled through Akane's head, a mélange of unwelcome images. Memories of all the times Shampoo had shown her up, sometimes deliberately, many others without even trying or noticing, mixed in with freshly-painful thoughts of Ranma. But she couldn't bring herself to utter any of this, couldn't even find the words. "Kasumi… I'm telling you, this is a mistake… please, promise me you'll think about what I've said…"

"Of course I'll think about it. But you have to promise me the same thing." Kasumi smiled again at her little sister, hoping against hope that maybe this time the lessons really would sink in. That Akane wouldn't discard this promise as easily as the last important one Kasumi had extracted from her.

With a grunt of mingled exertion and frustration, Ranma leaped. This was no typical roof-hopping bounce, either; right now he wasn't about to settle for something as simple as that. He needed something challenging enough to take at least some of his attention away from recent developments. And so he stretched himself to the limit, exploding in a mighty jump that sent him four stories in the air, bouncing off the side of a building that stood half again as high as that, arcing higher in a new jump ninety degrees away from his original course. Another wall-bounce reversed that previous change of direction, and allowed him to touch down on the roof of the first building.

From this vantage point he could almost see the Cat Café. Ranma grimaced, reminded again of the trial toward which he was heading. 'I don't think she's gonna take this even as well as Pop did,' he thought gloomily. 'Damn it all, old man… would it have been too much to ask for you to back me up for once?'

He sighed. 'I wasn't even able to convince Pop that I've got a right to do this. Maybe he didn't keep on saying it, but I could tell he still thought he'd done the right thing.' It had even looked like Genma was hurt by his son's refusal to accept or acknowledge that, although Ranma wasn't ready to give that impression full credit. His old man was a master of sneaky tricks, bluffs, misdirection, and the like. And Genma had certainly sent plenty of pain his way over the years. No, his father's disappointment and potentially hurt feelings weren't anywhere near the most important things here.

'Pop's never in his life let honor push him into something he wasn't happy about,' Ranma thought grimly. 'At least, I sure never saw it. So why can't he see? Why can't he open his eyes and think about what this would do to me? Honor's not enough to make two people happy… or three or four or however the hell many fiancées I got out there,' he added with a mental growl. 'I'm not gonna settle for that kind of marriage. Not for anybody's idea of honor, not for any number of stupid promises he made and didn't intend to keep.'

He leaped again, his course carrying him unerringly toward the Cat Café, his body moving almost at cross-purposes to his mind. 'But if I couldn't even convince him, what chance do I have with Cologne? That stuff she said… about what'll happen if I don't at least go with Shampoo…' He clamped down hard on the thought, trying not to dwell on it for now. Trying not to remember that though he could bring himself to disregard his father's promises, there were some things that he could never accept.

That there were some prices he couldn't pay for freedom.

Cologne intercepted him when he was still several blocks away, descending out of the sky at an angle that almost suggested she'd flown in with her staff taking the place of the more traditional broomstick. Ranma let the gathered tension bleed out of his legs, discarding the energy that had been gathered for his next jump. Not quite all of it was willing to go, though… a significant portion of the tense readiness just migrated up to his chest. For a long moment neither spoke, simply regarding each other in the warm, deceptively calm afternoon sunlight.

"Hey, Granny," Ranma finally said. "I talked to Pop, just like you said."

"Well and good, Son-in-law. But you didn't do something else I suggested," Cologne returned. "You haven't taken any serious time to think over any of this. Go away and come back in a day or so."

"No. I've been thinking things over for the past three weeks," Ranma declared. "I know I didn't see everything I needed to. And that ain't changed yet. I don't have all the information I need, so wasting another day thinking doesn't sound like a good idea anymore."

"What more do you really need to hear?" the Matriarch wanted to know.

"You said if I don't marry Shampoo, then that dishonor means one of us doesn't have a future anymore. Or at least that's what you made it sound like. But you didn't give any specifics, Granny, you just pulled out another vague ominous warning that didn't really tell me anything concrete. That ain't good enough anymore."

"I told you something very concrete," Cologne countered. "I pointed out exactly what you did when Shampoo bore the Reversal Jewel. Exactly what you were saying when you issued and won that challenge."

Ranma glared. "That's not what I'm asking about."

"Why, exactly, do you need anything more?" Cologne fired back a glare significantly stronger than Ranma's. "I believe I mentioned one other concrete thing, Son-in-law… that I didn't expect you to formalize your marriage to my great-granddaughter within the immediate future. That I did expect you to spend time with her and get to know her better. I'll ask again: what more do you need to hear?"

The Saotome heir took a deep breath, drawing on all the courage and determination he could muster. "Right or wrong, no matter what you expect, I'm not gonna have anything to do with Shampoo until you answer my question. I'm through fumbling around in the dark screwing up, old ghoul. You told me yourself to walk forward with my eyes open."

"Very well. You have brought this on yourself, Ranma, in more ways than one." Cologne paused, then spoke again, her voice sharp enough to shave through stone. "You've eaten meals lovingly prepared by Shampoo for you dozens and dozens of times, availing yourself of our hospitality with only an occasional word of absentminded thanks. You've come to me for aid numerous times when facing a challenge. You knew that we would always be there when you needed us, whether it was aiding you in a quest for a cure, standing at your side against a dangerous foe, or helping you grow as a warrior.

"Where would you be now, without our aid? Remember when you learned the Hiryu Shoten Ha? Do you recall just what had happened then, the crisis and how it was resolved? You barely even thanked me for the secret I entrusted to you, and you said not a word for applying the cure after we recovered the last piece of the chart. That's how it's been, over and over again, you have simply accepted these things as if they were your due and your right.

"For a family member, that is perfectly acceptable, even if it is rather rude. But for someone who is not family to claim such things as though he were…" Cologne let her voice trail off. "Do I really need to go any further, Son-in-law?"

"Yes," Ranma forced out. His eyes were shut, and he was trembling slightly. Nonetheless he forced himself to stick with this. "I do need to hear it all."

"Very well. For someone to take such liberties, to use an Amazon so heartlessly and then discard her when he has no more need or desire for the resources she represents, that is an insult beyond forgiveness. In effect, you would be declaring to all the world that my great-granddaughter was worthless in and of herself, only valuable for what you could wring from her. To give an insult like that… her only choice would be to kill you to redress it, or end her own life. Because sparing you would be saying that she agreed with what your actions had said.

"That, of course, is only when we consider Shampoo herself. As the head of Shampoo's family and one who has been involved in these matters, I can choose to take matters into my own hands. That is what I meant when I said I would not allow my great-granddaughter's future to be sacrificed for your sake. Your death would be swift and painless, at least.

"Have I answered your question sufficiently… Son-in-law?"

Relative silence greeted her, broken only by Ranma's gasping breaths. The pigtailed teen was on his knees, his eyes clenched tightly shut. There weren't actually any tears trickling down his cheeks, but the Matriarch suspected that was more a testament to Ranma's willpower than his equanimity. Cologne waited a few moments, then spoke more kindly. "There really was no need to go to such painful lengths just now. Next time, maybe you'll be a little more ready to take my word for something. I'll leave you alone to consider these things for now."

She turned and vaulted to the top of her staff. But before she could take her first pogoing leap, Ranma found control and strength and breath enough to utter one word.

"Hypocrite."

For the first time in Neriman memory, Cologne actually lost her balance sufficiently to tumble from the top of her staff. She caught herself almost immediately, whirling in midair, catching hold of the base of the weapon, bringing it into a ready position as she landed. "What did you say, boy?" she hissed.

"You heard me." Ranma stared bleakly back at her, and the Matriarch could clearly see despair in his eyes. But he spoke clearly and calmly, seeming to find some odd form of strength in the middle of that pit of hopelessness. "You know good and damn well that I didn't mean it. That what you said is true. That I didn't ever think of all that help you were giving me as coming from family to family. That I didn't even stop to consider honor or what it would mean when I challenged Shampoo that time. You know that I haven't even come close to the standard you say I should've kept to all this time, Granny. But you're also saying it'll all be okay if I put that crap behind me and go to Shampoo for real?"

Cologne gaped at him, her initial fury forgotten. "Do you have some sort of problem with that? That I should help you realize you were making a mistake and forgive you for it?!"

"It ain't like that would erase the fact that I did make those mistakes."

The Matriarch opted not to respond at first, fixing a calm, evaluating stare on Ranma for several moments of silence. "You're not making the right distinction here, Son-in-law," she said at last. "Remember what I said earlier today? The reason we're having this conversation now, rather than a year ago, is that you never really understood what was happening. Certainly it was a mistake, but it was not the same thing as the actions I described earlier. You were acting thoughtlessly, not heartlessly."

"And that's any better?"

Cologne decided that was as good a cue as any to bop him over the head. She did so lightly, though, just enough to punctuate the fact that he'd asked an extraordinarily stupid question. "Of course it is. Ranma, look at me, and think of all the 'mummy' or 'old ghoul' jokes you have made. I have seen three centuries pass, and you have not yet reached your eighteenth birthday. Childhood is a time to make mistakes and grow from them, and whether you like it or not I can clearly see you haven't completely left that time behind yet. Not you, not my Shampoo, not almost any of the people who are caught up in this whirl of chaos, challenges, and dreams. You all still have growing to do. It's part of why our people usually marry so young — it means wife and husband can grow together more easily, can have something stable to stand on in the middle of adolescent changes."

"Well, damn. I guess you got all the answers, huh Granny?" The fact that Ranma showed no signs yet of having been comforted or reassured by her words was beginning to worry Cologne. "All you ever really had to do was play this trump card, and there'd be no way out for me. Right? I chained myself down and tied off all the loose ends of my future without even realizing I was doing it. No way could I argue with you anymore, once I knew what would happen to Shampoo if I did fight my way free."

"I'm beginning to lose my patience here," Cologne said in a warning tone that did a fine job of masking the increasing concern she was feeling. "What on earth do you think you have to complain about? Tell me what is so horribly objectionable in the future you have earned, if it's not too much to ask. Enlighten me as to what is so bad about a loving wife who can stand by your side as an equal in the Art you live for, and a family who can teach you things you will never learn anywhere else in the world. Give me one good reason why you don't think this is something to celebrate, Son-in-law."

Ranma stared back at her, no longer really affected by the Matriarch's gimlet gaze. "As soon as I go along with this, BOOM! That's the last real choice I get to make, isn't it? Once I really am family, that means I'm part of Three Thousand Years of Amazon Law. And if I ever step out of line, I get pushed right back into it or taken down for the count. Just like Mousse."

Cologne let out a sigh of relief, which did manage to dilute Ranma's bitterness with a bit of confusion. She had wondered whether her great-granddaughter's husband was really going to be able to understand the disciplinary action she'd taken. After all, Ranma himself was far too forgiving at times, allowing himself to become the victim of others' repeated abuses, unwilling to face any conflict that wasn't grounded in martial arts. He hadn't even been able to stomach the responsibility of preventing his rival Ryoga from using his cursed form to sleep in Akane's bed.

"I'm certain I didn't hear that right," the ancient Amazon said kindly. "You and I both know you would never stoop to such dishonorable lengths as Mousse did. Right?"

"That ain't what I'm saying here. It's the principal of the thing! You took everything away from him, Granny. Didn't even give him a chance to defend himself, from what Shampoo told me!"

"That's not true at all," Cologne replied. "Neither of the things you said, actually. I certainly did give him a chance to defend himself; what I did not do was allow him to lie to me. He stood or fell based on the truth of his actions and his motivations. Perhaps Shampoo didn't tell you what the last question I asked him was?" When Ranma shook his head, the Matriarch continued, "It was whether he would make another attempt on your life if given the chance. And his answer was 'Yes'."

"But… still, you…"

"Took everything away from him? Not hardly, sonny-boy. Only death would have done that. What I did was remove his ability to be a warrior, since he had completely and utterly proved that he could not be trusted with such power.

"I will admit that my judgment ended Mousse's old life. Any of my fellow elders would have done the same or worse, I promise you that. And since I doubt you really understand how important that statement is, let me explain it a little further.

"For the past year and more, I have put up with Mousse and his disrespect, his half-hearted assistance, the insults he muttered thinking I was unable to hear, the times in which his interference has made my great-granddaughter's own honor-bound course more difficult. The boy even threatened customers for daring to show interest and appreciation for Shampoo, something that he did back in the village as well. The rest of the Council of Elders know very well that enduring Mousse's presence as I have would be a strain on anyone's tolerance or patience.

"That being said, those on the Council who would prefer to see the Matriarchy pass from my family would certainly not miss an opportunity such as misuse of my authority. I had to be certain beyond any doubt that the actions I took could be justified, lest I undermine my own great-granddaughter back home who currently holds the role of Matriarch-in-training."

"Wait a minute," Ranma broke in. "I thought Shampoo was supposed to be your heir."

"Heir to the Matriarchy? Of course not, boy. Don't be absurd. She doesn't have anything like the mentality or temperament for it. Shampoo is a Warrior, which is what makes her such a fitting match for you."

"So all the other old ghouls will agree with what you did, even the ones that don't really like you. Fine. That just means what happened really was about Amazon law, not you, and far as I can remember that was what I was complaining about in the first place."

"Yes, yes, and you also babbled something about destroying Mousse's life. That certainly isn't true; he simply cannot be a fighter anymore. While that is the most highly respected caste among the Amazons, healers are only slightly less revered. Mousse can still follow that path. In fact, the most recent letter I received from my great-granddaughter back home indicates that he has already begun training for such."

Cologne paused, in order to pin Ranma with a meaning-filled stare. "So that is that. I think I'd like to hear you admit it now, that you were wrong to think Mousse had been treated too harshly."

"Just because you maybe didn't do as much as I thought ain't no reason to admit that!" Ranma protested. "Like it or not, you still took away a huge chunk of his free will."

"I fail to see how… Oh, there was one other thing I probably should have mentioned," Cologne admitted, smiling as she administered the coup-de-grace. "Mousse could have refused to abide by this judgment. All he had to do was appear before the Council of Elders and swear to that. The Xi Fang Gao would have been undone, and his strength unsealed.

"That refusal would have its own consequences, of course; he would have forfeited his place in the tribe. He would be given three days to leave our lands, and at the end of that time any Amazon who saw him would know him for a blood enemy and treat him accordingly." The Matriarch paused to consider the effects of her revelation on Ranma. "He had that choice, and he made it as seemed best to him. There are rules for living in any society, boy. Surely you know that. Your own land of Japan has a fine and glorious tradition," she spoke the words quite sourly indeed, "of demanding those who have dishonored themselves to pay for it by taking their own lives — at times for terrifyingly trivial reasons. Do you catch my drift, Ranma son of Nodoka?" He grimaced at the reminder, though not as bitterly as Cologne had expected. "If you can accept that, how can you possibly argue with my actions regarding Mousse? Just because he didn't have enough honor even to admit how thoroughly he dishonored himself?"

"Okay, okay!" Ranma shouted. "Fine. You were right an' I was wrong. Guess I better get used to that, since it looks like it's gonna be par for the course from now on. Seein' as how my whole life's been pinned down in the pattern you want."

"I'm still waiting for you to tell me just what's so terrible about that pattern," Cologne retorted, "especially since it was you yourself who really nailed it down. Give me one good reason why you aren't willing to do what I asked. Why for now you won't put aside questions about all the rest of your life, and just spend time with my great-granddaughter. Date her and get to know her and build a life with her slowly, at your own pace."

"Ain't you forgettin' Kasumi in that outline?" Ranma wanted to know.

"That's your business completely. My agreement with Genma is that he will acknowledge Shampoo's marriage to you as long as I do the same for Kasumi. That doesn't mean I have any reason to try and push you into taking her as a second wife, any more than Genma would push for Shampoo."

"Well, you got better than your money's worth from Pop. He was pushing Shampoo just as hard as Kasumi."

Cologne blinked, then smiled. "Then he did so merely because he believed in the match, Son-in-law. I certainly didn't require it of him. And you know, although your father has made his share of mistakes, perhaps this is one time you should give him a little credit? Think about it, after all. Shampoo and Kasumi can support you in different ways, each of them bringing different skills to the household. The two of them would complement each other nicely as companions in your life.

"But as I said before, the matter of Kasumi Tendo is your choice. This is hardly the terrible scenario you were thinking about, now is it? All that's really happening is that you're working out the consequences of choices you already made. They certainly haven't set every aspect of your future in stone. You still have plenty of choices to make in your life, plenty of freedom to determine its direction." Cologne noted with satisfaction that this last speech had wiped away most of the darkness in her reluctant son-in-law's eyes. He still was registering some fear, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been.

Ranma took a deep breath. "Okay… about that, about choices and stuff… Pop said something like that too, said that… that we could solve more honor problems, if maybe one of the other girls wanted in on that whole 'Amazon marriages let a whole buncha girls grab the same guy' thing…"

The Matriarch frowned. "He said that, did he? Well, your boneheaded father just used up most of the credit he earned by supporting Shampoo more than I expected. Perhaps it slipped Genma's notice, but including other girls affects your other wives as greatly as it does yourself. Shampoo was willing to accept Kasumi after only a few days of persuasion from me. Kaede Hayashibara might possibly be an option as well. But I suggest you forget any idea you had of including your other suitors in this arrangement, Son-in-law… as things are now, you'd have to ask me to break out Xi Fang Gao techniques that are fifty years beyond Shampoo's level in order to make something like that work."

"So that's it." Ranma's countenance had fallen again, hope dying far more quickly than it had been reborn. "That's my choice. Shampoo, or Shampoo and Kasumi, or maybe Shampoo an' Kasumi and/or Kaede. No other options that don't involve either killing Shampoo, which I'd never do, or myself."

A cold, hard, evaluating silence followed on the heels of his words. Cologne stared at Ranma, her gaze probing mercilessly, her eyes glinting as if they strove to pierce the veil of his flesh and stare directly into the pigtailed teen's soul. At last she spoke, in a tone that carried more intensity than she had yet used in this conversation. "There is a possible way out, Son-in-law. One way in which you might earn an honorable end to your tie to Shampoo, one that would not end in anyone's death or destruction.

"Even telling you this much is more of a concession than I really ought to have made. I'm doing it because your reaction so far does not make sense. You have exactly one chance now to convince me I should tell you more, should provide this opportunity for you. And let me warn you ahead of time — saying that you don't love Shampoo isn't even close to a good enough reason. You've never tried to get to know her, never given love a chance to truly bloom in your own life. Without even trying that, I see no reason to make such provision for you. Still, I will give you the chance to prove me wrong. State your case, and make it good."

Ranma closed his eyes, clamping down hard on the sudden mingled surge of hope and fear. This was harder than the last real battle he'd fought against Cologne, the stakes were just as high, and the Cat Fist wouldn't save him now. He had to do this on his own, using the skills that were among his weakest.

He opened his eyes once more, and looked up into the sky, staring with intensity enough to cause Cologne to glance up as well. There were a few puffy clouds to be seen, but other than that nothing marred the blue of the heavens. "Don't really look like rain up there, does it, Granny?" Ranma said quietly. "And there aren't any taller buildings near this one we're on top of, so nobody's gonna dump their used washwater on me outta the blue. Right now there's no chance at all of my Jusenkyo curse getting triggered."

Some of Cologne's wrinkles smoothed themselves out, as she suddenly saw where he was probably going with this. Of course Shampoo's curse must still seem to Ranma to be a huge stumbling block. As soon as he came out and admitted it, she would be more than happy to inform him that once Shampoo was no longer in violation of Amazon law, once she had landed her lawful husband, the both of them would be given their cures as a wedding present.

"And I mean no chance," Ranma continued, his voice picking up speed. "Not even if one of those firefighting planes flew overhead an' the pilot hit the wrong button, and dumped his payload all over us."

"True, since those planes usually carry chemicals, not water. Get to the point already, Son-in-law."

"Just hang in there a few more seconds, Granny. I'll be right back." And with that Ranma moved. Cologne's gaze tracked him as he leaped from the rooftop to the street below, grabbed a bowl from a passing goldfish vendor, flicked the fish out of it into one of the man's other bowls, then upended the one he'd snagged over his head.

He jumped back to the rooftop, ignoring the vendor's angry shouts and brandished fist. "I can't deny that you and Shampoo have given me a hell of a lot," he said quietly. "But you ain't the only ones—"

"Where have you been these past three weeks?!" Cologne snarled, cutting him off and invoking the technique she'd used earlier in the day, infusing her voice with chi enough to shake the air around them. "It begins to make sense now. Someone seized the opportunity when you were hurt, when we allowed you space to make your own choice. She handed you a cure, encouraged you to stay with her hidden from everyone else, drove her claws well and truly into your soul? Is that more or less how it happened, Son-in-law?"

"No, it's not!" Ranma yelled. "Damn you, you got no clue what she had to go through to do this for me! You talk about the choices you will let me make, but Ucchan didn't ask anything out of me! She gave me a cure, and a gift, and the right to decide for myself about how to live my life. Well, the gift didn't last too long before your old pal Happosai came along an' shattered it. You wanna take a page out of his book, ghoul? Gonna take away another thing she had to go through hell to get for me?!"

"I suggest you curb your tongue, boy," the Matriarch warned, glaring bitterly at him. "I've said it over and over again, reminded you I don't know how many times that what's happening now is the result of your own actions. If you can't even admit that except when it suits your purposes, can only acknowledge your debt when it isn't a question of paying it, then we're getting into some very dangerous territory."

"You asked me a question and I answered it," Ranma retorted, refusing to be cowed any longer. "You wanted to know why I might wanna make some other future than the one with Shampoo." He took a deep breath, let it out again, then said, "I do owe you. If it weren't for Ucchan, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. I'd be off giving Shampoo the chance…" his voice faltered, "the chance she deserves… but you said yourself it's a question of either-or, Granny. I can't abandon Ucchan anymore, at least not for anything short of somebody's whole future being at stake."

"Can't you?" Cologne asked after a long pause. "We shall see. I'm still not sure I should go any further with this. Frankly, I don't think now is the time. If you want me to tell you how to earn your freedom from Amazon marriage law without actually honoring your marriage, you need to prove your desire for Miss Kuonji is really that strong and enduring. That it is more than just obligation, since you've already shown you have no problems weaseling out of those.

"This isn't just a question of Shampoo and Ukyo, after all. Kaede Hayashibara, Kaori Daikoku, Kasumi Tendo… with the agreement I gave Genma, I can't say anything about that last one. But if you want a chance to walk away from my great-granddaughter, then you must first end things with Kaede and Kaori. Feel free to ask Ukyo for her help; in fact, I insist on it. I will be watching, to see how the two of you manage such a trial. If you do it and do it well, then I'll reveal the path you can take to free yourself from the marriage law.

"One more thing." Cologne paused for emphasis before saying, "Have you spent all this time with her? Did you even leave Nerima at all?"

"I was only gone for less than a day," Ranma replied. "Yeah, I've been with her."

"Then instruct Miss Kuonji to remove whatever countermeasure blocked you from my senses when you were in her restaurant."

"You don't have to worry about that." He bit the words out. "It's been gone ever since Happosai nearly killed her."

Ranma picked up a stone from the pile beside him. He concentrated a moment, applying the technique he'd learned from Kaori and charging the rock with chi, then sent it flying forward to skip along the surface of the water. The missile's path changed direction by ninety degrees the first time it struck, leaving it skipping along parallel to the canal's course rather than heading toward the far bank. The stone sailed along for quite a respectable distance, far farther than it could have gone had it held to its original direction, before losing velocity and sinking out of sight.

He was seated underneath the bridge, as near to the center of the short tunnel as he could manage. It didn't provide anything like full shelter from the light spilling in at either end. The shadows were thin, attenuated, powerless, and the water flowed calmly through its channel. It might manage to raise a temporary protest when there was a big enough storm, but that didn't change the ultimate truth — that it had been tamed. Controlled.

He grabbed another, larger rock. "I," the word was a growl barely discernable as speech, "will not," the words coming clearer and quicker now, "let this happen," anger burning bright, hot, and fierce, "to me!"

The pigtailed teen threw the rock with all the strength he could muster, straight into the center of the water. It kicked up a huge volley of spray, splashing everywhere. He reached out, tried to sense it, tried to alter even the path of one single droplet through will alone.

If he succeeded, there was no sign of it.

Once more he tried, heaving the largest rock at hand, this time with his eyes closed and his hand left outstretched, palm up, trying his best to sense the water at all. It had been so clear once; the fluid had almost felt like part of him, something that was as integral as an arm or a leg and could be manipulated as easily. Now, he wasn't sure he had any of that awareness anymore. It felt more like he was remembering how it once would have been, instead of retaining even a little of the gift Ukyo had given him.

Still he tried, closing his eyes and attempting to feel the shower from his latest throw, trying to guide any of the spray, even a single drop, into his outstretched palm. Of course, one or two droplets landing there wouldn't have proved anything, since that much could easily have flown on such a trajectory by chance.

The fact that no water at all touched his skin seemed to prove something quite clearly.

Ranma opened his eyes, stared at his dry palm for several long moments, then closed them again with a sigh. "Guess I shouldn't have listened to the freak even that much. No scraps, no fragments, no nothing. Nothin' at all left of the best gift anyone ever gave me," he muttered sadly, angrily, and incorrectly.

He sat there in silence, trying to push past that thought, reaching for the determination he needed. This didn't really change things, after all. What difference would it have made if he'd still had enough power to affect a measly few milliliters of water? What help would that have been in facing the trials ahead of him? None at all, that's what. His situation wouldn't have been improved one iota. This didn't mean anything, not really. It sure didn't make him any less able to fight the battles he was facing. He was Ranma Saotome, and this was important, and he wasn't going to lose!

Ranma's eyes opened wide in recognition. His level of angst and anger shouldn't have dropped this quickly.

Sure enough, Ukyo was standing a little ways down the tunnel, looking at him with a troubled expression. "Hey, Ucchan," he said quietly.

"Hey yourself." She walked over and sat down next to him, saying nothing else, looking expectantly at him as if waiting for him to say more. Before he could decide how to proceed, she ran out of patience. "I was kind of hoping you… you wouldn't be this down after talking to the old ghoul." She gulped, then asked, "How'd it go?"

Silence stretched for another long moment, before Ranma looked away. "Okay. Good news-bad news time. I'll start with the good news. There's some way of getting out of Amazon marriage law without messin' up Shampoo's or my life anymore. Cologne told me that once I tell Kaori an' Kaede that I ain't going through with their engagements, she'll tell me what it is." He took a deep breath. "She knows about you and isn't protesting. Never made anything like a threat to you. In fact she told me that you and I needed to work together on this."

"That is good news," Ukyo agreed cautiously. In fact it sounded like better than just plain "good" news to her. Ever since the lessening of her powers, it had become inevitable that sooner or later other people would find out that Ranma was staying with her. That the Matriarch knew this and not only wasn't protesting, but was actually requesting Ukyo aid Ranma in winning freedom from Shampoo… She thought about this, then contrasted it with the mood Ranma had been in when she arrived. Bracing herself, Ukyo asked, "What's the bad?"

For another long interval he was silent, trying to figure out some way, any way to say it without it being such a blow to Ukyo. At last he gave up. If there were such words, they were beyond his ability in this moment. Grimacing, Ranma forced himself just to spit it out. "If… if we can't win through this… I'm gonna have to marry Shampoo."

"What exactly did she say to you, that you think you can't fight any more than that?" Ukyo asked in a tone Death himself might have envied. "Or should I ask, what did she do?"

"She didn't do anything. She just reminded me of something you already had, the single thing I'm most ashamed of. That when Shampoo was under the curse of the Reversal Jewel and I wanted her to be nice to me again, I even went so far as to fight—" he cut himself off. "No, it's worse than that. I challenged her and flat-out told her that according to her law she had to marry a guy who defeated her in battle, an' then I did just that.

"That… that's what she reminded me about… told me that after all the stuff I've done, all the times I've gone to them for help and free food and whatever, if I just throw Shampoo away then it's either me or her who dies to make up for the dishonor."

Ranma drew his knees up to his chest and curved his arms around them, eyes still tightly closed. "You know how I saw all that stuff from my life when I was getting my Water empowerment, Ucchan? You remember how I told you I wasn't able to hold onto all of it, but I kept the most important stuff? I thought that was all the hard lessons I was gonna have to learn anytime soon. For damn sure I was wrong about that. This hurts… hurts so much… and I never saw it comin'."

"What hard lessons did you learn back then, Ranma?" Ukyo demanded. She only just managed to keep from going further, from lashing out with her own hurt. There was no way he'd endured the kind of pain she did to earn this rebirth, this shot at a new life. Ukyo had thought her own agony was an acceptable price to pay to give her beloved Ranchan a chance at a better life. Hearing him talk now about letting the Amazons force him into marriage with Shampoo made her feel like pure molten Darkness was bubbling up in her soul.

Not really aware that his girlfriend was teetering on a knife's edge, fighting to keep from scourging him with words as painful as anything Cologne had said, Ranma explained. "I saw the mistakes I'd made, and that Pop had made. I had to face the fact that the Saotome family honor has been dead for a long time, and that I've made my own fair share of mistakes too. Like letting Ryoga sleep in Akane's bed as P-chan. I didn't try near hard enough to stop that, and it's not the only time I've made a dishonorable mistake. I can't do anything to fix that, there's no way I can 'honorably' resolve all the stuff in my life. Not without seppuku, anyway, and I refuse to throw my life away. So all I can do is try and do what's right from now on, not worry about honor or agreements made for me by Pop.

"That's why I told you what I did, back when I said I was ending the engagements, and… and that I'd like to try something real with you…" Ranma took a deep, shuddering breath. "I can say 'screw honor, I'm only going to do what I think is right', but that don't get me out of Amazon trouble. I've used Shampoo an' her granny for my own selfish benefit time and time again, almost never giving anything back, and by their laws if I just walk away from her after that then either they have to kill me for sayin' she's worthless, or she has to die for agreeing to it."

That little revelation displaced a significant portion of Ukyo's hurt, replacing it with desperation. "But… that can't… there must be a way out!"

"I already told you there is. Cologne's gonna tell me about it, remember?" Ranma reminded her. Ukyo smacked her forehead and muttered "Pay better attention, idiot!" under her breath. "As soon as we deal with Kaori and Kaede. That is," he took another deep breath, "she said if we do a good job of ending things with the other two girls, she'll tell me what I can do to get out of marrying Shampoo without hurting her." He looked away, eyes not really focused as he stared off into the distance. "Or at least without destroying her life."

"She'll only tell you what you can do if she decides she's satisfied with how you ended things with those other two?! Y'know, Ranma, that seems awfully fishy if you ask me. It ain't exactly like you can try again if she said your first attempt wasn't good enough!" Ukyo declared. "This sounds like a trick to me."

"If you got any ideas on how to handle this any better, I'm all ears. It ain't exactly like we can beat the truth out of her," Ranma said sarcastically. Ukyo grimaced, recognizing the essential truth of those words. And now that the Amazons were back within the safety of the Cat Café and whatever safeguards lurked there, she didn't dare try touching Cologne's dreams to see for herself.

"And anyway," he continued, "I think we can trust her. She may have tricked me a couple of times in the past, but she's never outright told me something that wasn't true. She did say that she'd tell us what to do if we did a good enough job with Kaori and Kaede. I think…" he swallowed nervously. "I think she's mainly trying to figure out how serious I am about stickin' with you. Because I had to tell her that was why I didn't want to do what she said."

"You'd think the old mummy would be a little more reasonable, then," Ukyo growled, fighting an unexpected surge of embarrassment. "It's not that hard to understand that you might rather date one girl than go ahead and immediately marry another."

"That's not what she was telling me to do," Ranma responded quietly. "What she told me she expected me to do with Shampoo is basically what we're doing. Dating, getting to know each other better, not going too fast…" He closed his eyes. "I have never treated her how she deserves, and even now I'm fighting for the privilege of keepin' on doing that. And as long as I can fight I'll keep on trying, trying to get out of doing what I honorably should. If… if you're gonna stick with me, Ucchan, you better understand that. I'm not anywhere near as perfect as I once thought I was. Got a whole lot more of Pop in me than I ever wanted to admit."

"Well, if I was a saint, I'd bite my lip, struggle for a few moments, then bravely tell you that instead of all this you first ought to try what Cologne said. Spend as much time with Shampoo as you do with me, see if you might decide you'd rather go with her. But I'm not going to say anything like that," Ukyo said.

Ranma turned and looked at her. All he could see was the back of her head, as she had turned away to face towards the opposite end of the tunnel. For a moment he wondered whether that had really been a back-handed offer to let him do just that, made in the only way she could bring herself to do, or whether it truly was Ukyo lamenting, as he had, that she couldn't find the heart to do what she felt like she really ought to.

Either way it didn't matter. He shrugged. "So you're doing the same thing I am. What you want to."

"I… guess so…" Ukyo said, trembling as she turned back to face him. "If there's any chance… as long as you want me, I'll fight through hell itself to be with you, honor and obligation be damned…"

"I do want you," Ranma whispered, unable to find breath enough to proclaim it more firmly.

He was fairly sure, afterward, that she was the one who made the first move. But it didn't matter much, not later, certainly not in that moment. Ranma closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, thoughts dissolving with one last coherent phrase, 'Honor and obligation be damned indeed.'

'This is really going to hurt,' Akane thought bitterly.

The thought had been lurking at the back of her mind ever since she'd set out on her current task. She had tried to deny it, tried to push it away, tried to ignore it — none of those attempt