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Disclaimer: The characters of Ranma 1/2, of course, belong to Rumiko Takahashi (and lots of others). Sati Li, and any other strays that may appear, belong to me, unless otherwise noted.

A Werewolf in Nerima

By: USA Tiger

Author note: Thanks to my beta Silver-Tiamat from DeviantART.

Chapter 24

"What the hell?" Jasper tilted her head to the side as she looked at the spectacle at the front gate at Furinkan High. She had been headed back to her hotel after a night of following Taeko Kuno around as the man 'hunted' werewolves. Jasper rubbed her yellow eyes tiredly then looked back again. "Nope... still there," she muttered to herself.

At the gate was a huge group of boys, dressed in various states of sports equipment. They were all looking out of the gate as if waiting for something.

"Wow, they started that quicker than I thought they would," Nabiki said behind Jasper. The American turned toward the other girl, waving a hand at the group.

"What the fuck is that about?" she asked.

"Remember the stories I told you about before Ranma-baby showed up?" Nabiki asked.

"Vaguely," Jasper said. "Something about Akane fighting the fucker's cousin every day?"

"Yes, at the start of the school year Kuno told a school assembly that no one is allowed to date my baby sister unless they defeat her in a fight," Nabiki said. "So all the boys that liked Akane, we call them the Hentai Squad, gathered at the gate every morning and fight Akane as a group. She's quite good at fighting large groups but its soured Akane toward boys."

"I've passed by your school a lot since I've been here, this is the first time I've seen this," Jasper said.

"Well after Akane and Ranma were engaged and they saw how good Ranma is at his art, they decided to give up," Nabiki said. "The group is actually a lot smaller than it was in the past, I think a lot of the guys found themselves girlfriends since then."

"Ok then why are they starting up again?" Jasper asked.

"Ranma announced in front of school yesterday that Akane's free," Nabiki said.

"And these idiots are going to fight Nitro again," Jasper guessed. Nabiki nodded in agreement. "That is fucking nuts, you know that right?"

"Yes but I make a tidy sum off of it and it's not my fault the Hentai Squad doesn't learn," Nabiki said with a smirk. Jasper groaned and turned away.

"This whole place is a fucking nut house!" She said loudly as she walked away in the direction of her hotel. She could hear Nabiki laugh behind her as she left.

**

Ranma slowed from a run to a walk as he approached the gates of the school. All around the ground laid many of his classmates, most of them groaning in pain while in the middle stood his ex-fiancée. Akane's hands were clenched and she was breathing hard, face flushed with anger. Ranma looked around for a second and yep there was Kuno standing in the shadows of tress watching. Kuno notice Ranma as well, watching to see what his rival would do.

'As if I'm going to do anything,' Ranma thought with a snort, this was Akane's problem. She should have nipped all this in the bud even before he started school at Furinkan High instead of letting it get to the point that it had been. Ranma smirked, gave Kuno a flipping wave then jumped the wall of the gate as he heard Nabiki yell through the window,

"Come on Ranma or you'll be late!"

Akane startled, she hadn't know Ranma was there. She turned and watched as Ranma landed lightly on his feet and jogged toward the school doors, not even giving her a glance back.

'Jerk,' she thought to herself. 'This is all his fault.' She sighed and turned in time to catch the rose that Kuno threw to her.

"Truly, your beauty and passion in battle has not diminished in all this time Tendo Akane," Kuno said as he stepped out of the shadow. Ranma only glanced back once as he reached the door but knew Kuno would heavily pull back in his fight again Akane, allowing the other girl to win like he always had. He shook his head and headed inside to his classroom.

"Akane looked a bit pissed out there Sugar," Ukyo said as Ranma said down at his desk.

"I know, but it's her own fault," Ranma said with a shrug. "I'm not going to hold her hand or defend her 'honor' or whatever."

"Never said you had to," Ukyo said with a small laugh.

"Besides, Akane would have been pissed if I 'butted in' anyway. She was the first day I started school and ended up fighting Kuno, and that was before Nabiki let it slip we were engaged."

"I heard the stories but seeing it is something else," Ukyo said.

"Alright class, take your seats," Miss Hinako said as she walked up to the front of the class room. Ukyo quickly slid into her seat as the bell rang throughout the school. A few seconds later Akane slammed the door open out of breath. "So nice of you to join us Tendo-san," Hinako said, not even turning around as she wrote that day’s English lesson on the board.

"I'm... sorry... Ninomiya-sensei," Akane said between breaths.

"You're late, go stand out in the hall," Hinako said as she finished and turned from the board. Akane growled under her breath but stalked out back into the hallway, she had gotten out of practice in fighting the Hentai Squad and Kuno. At least Hinako didn't use her chi draining attack on her.

***

Ranma dropped to the ground beside Daisuke and Hiroshi, startling his two friends.

"Ranma!" Hiroshi yelped.

"Where have you been man?" Daisuke asked. "It's like you've been avoiding us."

"Believe me, a lot of shit has been going on in my life lately," Ranma said as he pulled out the bento Kasumi was nice enough to make him this morning. "A lot of life changing stuff."

"We heard about you and Akane," Daisuke said.

"And Nabiki," Hiroshi added. He leaned over and poked Ranma in the arm. "Is it true you’re engaged to her now?"

"Yeah," Ranma said as he dug into his bento with gusto.

"So, you got her into bed yet?" Hiroshi asked half-jokingly. Ranma choked on his food, coughing and beating his chest as he tried to breathe again.

"Hiroshi!" Ranma yelled as he got his breath back. His face was scarlet red, something both of his perverted friends noticed.

"Oh Kami, you did!" Daisuke said. "You and the Ice Queen!?"

"SHHH!" Ranma said, waving his hands. He wasn't sure how Nabiki would feel about anyone really knowing they had slept together and he didn't really want it to spread around anyway.

"When did this happen?" Hiroshi asked in a whisper.

"How was it?" Daisuke added.

"That is going to cost you 200 yen to find that out," Nabiki said behind the group. Ranma gulped and turned to look at the older teen.

"Na-nabiki," He said. Hiroshi and Daisuke clamed up, looking down at their laps faces beet red.

"Telling stories are we Ranma-baby?" Nabiki teased as she sat down beside Ranma, two of her own friends/lackeys also sitting down, and teasingly kissed him on the cheek. Ranma sputtered and blushed again, trying to form some sort of excuse that wouldn't get him into trouble. "Oh don't worry Ranma, I know boys boost to their friends," she laughed as she sat back, Ranma was so cute as he blushed.

Ranma shook his head, sometimes he didn't think he would ever get use to Nabiki's teasing and seemingly openness. He opened his mouth to respond then snapped it shut as he heard something in the distance. It wasn't... it couldn't.... it was!

Ring Ring!

"Kuso!" Ranma cursed as he heard the dreaded 'Bell of Doom'. He twisted to the side to avoid Shampoo's front tire of her bike as the Amazon came in for a landing. He didn't quite make it, grumbling to himself as his face planted into the dirt as Shampoo and her bike rested on his back.

"Nihao!" Shampoo greeted brightly. "Bring too too good ramen!"

"Shampoo..." Ranma said, his voice muffled by the ground. "Get off!"

"Why Ranma under Shampoo's bike again?" Shampoo asked confused as she climbed off and rolled her bike off her fiancé. Ranma groaned as he sat up, brushing dirt and grass off of his shirt. How did she get him every time?

"What are you doing here Shampoo?" Ranma asked. Shampoo smiled brightly and took out two large to go boxes.

"Shampoo bring husband and friends ramen," she said in a sunny tone.

"I ordered the ramen," Nabiki said. "Sit down Shampoo, join us."

"Is good is Shampoo's break," Shampoo said, her way of agreeing. She sat down between Nabiki and Ranma, beaming happily as Ranma dug into his lunch. Across the school yard two different people watched the group.

**

Ukyo watched Ranma's group, biting her lip as she watched Nabiki kiss Ranma so easily on the cheek. She didn't like how easy Ranma was with Nabiki, she was even sitting with him at lunch with his friends, she had never seen Akane do that unless she wanted Ranma to eat something she made in Home Ec.

Then Shampoo showed up and Ukyo watched as Shampoo sat down beside her Ran-chan. She had to put a stop to this before the Amazon got too cozy with Ranma.

"Hey guys," Ukyo said as she walked up. "Looks like you're having quite the party."

"Just a little lunch between friends," Nabiki said with a slight smirk. Ukyo forced a smile on her face and dropped down on Ranma's other side. Shampoo gave her a mild glare which Ukyo returned. Ranma saw both of them and rolled his eyes, slurping up the noodles hanging from his mouth.

"Quit it you two," He said. "Can we get through a lunch without you two fighting?"

"Yeah, sure Ran-chan," Ukyo said as she resolved to ignore Shampoo and took out one of the last boxes of ramen to eat. Shampoo glared at Ukyo again then turned away as well. She got along well with Nabiki, the older girl wasn't going to stand in her way to Ranma and that made Nabiki acceptable in her mind but Ukyo was still an obstacle.

"You look like a pissed off kitten," Nabiki teased, poking Shampoo in the arm.

"Shampoo not kitten," Shampoo muttered and blushed.

In another part of the school yard Akane watched the group, a scowl on her face. She couldn't believe that purple hair hussy was here! Akane hated Shampoo and had since the other girl first showed up when she tried to feed Ranma her beloved P-chan then proceeded to make her life hell since then. Ukyo she could stand, they were even almost friends when it didn't come to Ranma, but Shampoo had never done anything to Akane that would make her like the Chinese girl.

Akane's two friends Yuka and Sayuri watched worriedly as Akane's teeth started to grind in anger.

"Akane-chan, are you ok?" Yuka asked. Akane didn't hear her friend as she watched Nabiki leaned over and teased Shampoo. Why was her older sister acting so easy around Shampoo? Why wasn't Nabiki scamming the younger girl for all her worth? Akane began to wonder if Shampoo was somehow behind her sister's actions.

'It's possible,' Akane thought to herself eyes narrowed. 'That stupid Amazon isn't above using potions and spells to get what she wants. I bet she used a potion on Nabiki, that's why she acting so weird. That's why she talked daddy into letting her be engaged to that pervert Ranma, just so Shampoo could get closer to Ranma.'

"Err, Akane-chan," Sayuri called, sharing a worried glance with Yuka. Akane had been ignoring them calling her name for the last few minutes, so focused on the group across the school yard.

"Akane!" Yuka yelled, touching Akane's shoulder.

"Huh?" Akane jerked in surprise and turned to look up at her friends.

"Akane, are you ok?" Yuka asked.

"Yes, why?" The blue hair girl asked.

"We've been calling your name for the last few minutes," Sayuri said. "Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine," She assured her friends. The bell that signaled the end of lunch hours rang out the grounds. "Let's head back in," Akane stood as she picked up her bento. Yuka and Sayuri exchanged looks again but followed her example. As she headed inside, Akane glanced over her shoulder and glared in Shampoo's direction as the purple hair teen jumped on her bike and left the school grounds.

'I won't let you get away with what you did to my sister,' Akane thought. 'I'll break the spell you have on her!'

***

Days later Ranma wondered what the hell was up with Akane. She always seemed to be watching Nabiki, something the older girl had noticed as well. It was kinda creepy in a way. Nabiki assured him that whatever it was, she would take care of it.

Today he had to put Akane out of his mind, today was his date with Ukyo. He had racked his brain where to take his best friend, he had been told by all the older women in his life to never take a girl to the same place you took others, at least not on the first date. In the end Ranma found a nice little fair to go to outside of Nermia to take Ukyo to.

As Ranma straightened his blue silk shirt he looked in the mirror as he got lost in through. He wasn't really excited about taking Ukyo on this date, not because he disliked Ukyo but he couldn't muster up the same feelings she had for him. Ranma still only saw her as a friend, a pretty friend yes but still just a friend.

He sighed and turned away from the mirror to leave. Who knew, maybe he would feel differently after the date.

At Ucchan's, Ukyo excitedly got ready for the date, picking out a pretty blue dress she bought just for the date. She was going to do everything she could to make this date go perfectly if it killed her. She couldn’t believe it, she was going to have Ran-chan all to herself! No Shampoo, no Akane and no Nabiki, just her and the boy she wanted to marry.

Ukyo hummed happily as she headed downstairs. The restaurant was closed for the day and she gave her only employee Konatsu the day off to enjoy himself.

"Ok girl, keep it together, you've got to make sure Ran-chan sees that you’re the best choice to marry," she said to herself. She fingered her battle spatula, wondering if she should take it. "No, this is going to be a fun day, no need for this," she muttered to herself as she put her weapon up. After a few seconds she did put a couple of her throwing spatulas in a hidden pocket in her dress... you never knew after all.

A few minutes after that the door to the restaurant opened as Ranma entered.

"Hey Ran-chan," Ukyo said as she quickly came around to meet him.

"Hey," Ranma said as he looked her over. "You look pretty," he said, the dress looked nice on her and she had her hair up in a high ponytail with a few strands framing her face. Ukyo blushed at the compliment and wrapped her arms around one of Ranma's.

"Thank you," she said. "Shall we then?" Ranma nodded and left the building with his best friend, stopping long enough for her to lock the door, and then headed for the train station.

***

Meanwhile in another part of Nerima, a tall 18 year old teen wearing a green sleeveless tunic shirt and loose pants with a pair of pantyhose tied around his waist walked down the street with only on designation on his mind.

'Today is the day I finally beat the shit out of you Happosai and have you change my name,' Pantyhose Taro, or just Taro as he really hated his first name, thought to himself as he headed for the Tendo Dojo. Taro was given his name by Happosai as the man had helped Taro's mother when he was born then bathed him in the Niuhomanmaorennichuan at Jusenkyo. Because of his village laws, Happosai was allowed to name him since he was the first to ever bath him and cursed Taro with the name 'Pantyhose' and thanks to another law he wasn't able to change his name only the person who named him could.

The few attempts to get Happosai to change his name hadn't worked but Taro was sure he would get what he wanted this time. Because he was so focused on his thoughts, he wasn't playing close attention to his surroundings and nearly knocked two female figures over.

"Watch where the fuck you're going!" Jasper yelled as she nearly dropped her drink.

"You make me spill my food I'm going to charge you double to replace it Taro," Nabiki added. Taro glared at Jasper as she glared back then glanced over at Nabiki.

"I would owe you noting Tendo," He said.

"Who the fuck is this anyway?" Jasper asked. Nabiki smirked while Taro shot her a look that said 'don't you dare'.

"Meet Pantyhose Taro," Nabiki said, smirking again as Taro scowled at her.

"Pantyhose," Jasper asked with a note of disbelief in her voice. "What, is that a nickname or something?"

"Nope, that's his real name," Nabiki said.

"Not once I make Happosai change it," Taro said with a growl.

"Your name is really Pantyhose?" Jasper asked with a small laugh. "I thought shit like that only happen in cartoons. Is your last name Briefs? Or are you an angel? Or maybe a demon?" (1)

"I vote demon," Nabiki said with her own amused smirk.

"What the hell are you talking about woman?" Taro asked. "How dare you mock my cursed name!"

"I ain't mocking no one ya dumb ass," Jasper said. "Well not too much anyway."

"Maybe you should tone it down a bit," Nabiki cautioned Jasper softly, eyeing Taro. She knew what the older teen was capable of and if he tried to pick a fight with either of them they could be really hurt. It had been fun ruffling Taro's feathers at first but now Nabiki could see the other teen was starting to get angry and now getting dangerous to tease Taro. A werewolf Jasper may be but she was not a fighter the same way everyone else was.

"I don't have time for this," Taro growled, pushing past both girls again. Jasper growled as he made her spill her drink over her front and lobed the rest of her soda at the back of Taro's head.

"Err... Jasper I don't think you should have done that," Nabiki said worriedly, there was no way either of them could take on Taro in his cursed form when even Ranma had problems. The cold soda soaked Taro, trigging his Jusenkyo curse as he shot up in height while changing into a giant minotaur like creature with tiny wings, an eel like tail and octopus tentacles.

"Oh what the hell," Jasper said as she stepped back in alarm.

"We might want to run," Nabiki said as Taro turned around, snorting in anger as he glared down at Jasper. Taro roared in anger making Jasper squeak.

~Oh hell no!~ She yelled in English and turned to run. As she turned she shifted into her Hybrid form, not caring if people were watching since she was more concerned with being turned into paste by the angry Taro, and ran off on all fours as quickly as possible. Taro ignored Nabiki as he flew off after the fleeing werewolf.

"Oh shit," Nabiki said as she turned to run to the dojo to go get Sati. Happosai and Cologne were the only two able to easily beat Taro in his curse form and if Happosai was scared of Sati then she figured the elder werewolf could do something about Taro before he killed Jasper.

**

"Oh Ran-chan, let's go ride the Ferris wheel!" Ukyo said excitedly.

"Ok," Ranma said as he let Ukyo dragged him toward the ride. They had arrived not 10 minutes before to the small yet busy fair. Ranma had bought tickets for rides, not that there was many to ride, and as soon as they were in the fair Ukyo had spotted the Ferris wheel.

He found it to be very boring, it was slow and just went around in circles. Ukyo seemed to like it though, snuggling close to his side as they rode up to the top.

"Isn't this great Sugar?" Ukyo asked.

"I guess," Ranma said in a slightly bored tone. Ukyo caught the tone and looked up at Ranma, thinking on it and snickered a bit.

"Ok, I guess it's a little slow paced for you," She said. Ranma's life was fast and full of adventure, he didn't do slow. "How about we go on one of those fast rides down there next then. Oh wow! Look at the view!"

Ranma didn't much like the slow ride but he had to agree with Ukyo, the view was stunning. They had made it to the top and it gave a stunning view of all the fair grounds and the towns surround it. To the west he could see the mountains in the distance and just to the left of the fair was a decent sized park with a small lake in the middle.

"The view is nice," He said as he took it all in. Ukyo hummed in agreement and wrapped herself around Ranma's arm. She was disappointed that Ranma didn't do something like wrap his arm around her or other things guys supposedly did when on dates like in the movies. The wheel went around a few more times, both teens not really speaking as they rode. When it ended, they were the first ones off.

"Ok, let's ride one of the thrill rides then," Ukyo said thinking Ranma would enjoy that sort of ride better. On the edge of the fair was a roller coaster called the 'Dragon', the front car had a Asian dragon head painted on it while the sides of the rest of the cars had the dragon's long body painted on them. Ranma, who had never been on a roller coaster, had no idea what to except as he was strapped in.

"Is this it?" Ranma asked Ukyo loudly over the clanking of the roller coaster as it left the dock and climbed up the hill slowly.

"Just wait Sugar," Ukyo said with a laugh. Ranma gave her an unsure look which was wiped off his face as the coaster reached the crest of the hill and took off down the tracks at a break neck speed. A gasp escaped the pigtailed teen in surprise then quickly grinned, the ride was fast and raced around the tracks at speeds he only reached when running, maybe even faster.

A laugh escaped Ranma as they swung around a curve that almost put them sideways. Ukyo laughed as well, she knew Ranma would love this sort of ride.

"That was great!" Ranma said as they exited the ride a few moments later.

"It was fun," Ukyo agreed but inside she seethed, Ryoga had warned her Genma had done worse to Ranma than he had ever done to her but to never let him go to a fair or an amusement park? It was clear this was Ranma's first time on a ride like this, who did that to their kids?! Her dad took her to fairs when she was little. "Come on, you need to try some fair food then we can play some games," she said, dragging Ranma toward the food booths, she was going to show Ranma how fun a fair could be and what he missed out on!

***

'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit-' this thought ran through Jasper's head as she ran as quickly as she could away from Taro. She dodged to the side as a chunk of wall came flying at her and ducked under a swipe from Taro's fist. She heard a roar of outrage behind her as the large cursed teen missed her and really wished she had listened to Nabiki when the other girl told her to stop. She was very close to transforming into her full wolf form in hopes it would give her the extra burst of speed and if it came down to fighting it might give her an advantage.

"AAHH!" Jasper didn't get the chance, Taro landed in front of her causing Jasper to skid to a stop that had her tumbling into a heap. Taro grabbed the werewolf off the ground before she could run away again and pulled her up. ~Fuckfuckfuck!~ Jasper yelped in pain, Taro's grip was tight around her torso. Thinking fast, Jasper dug into the messenger bag that thankfully escaped Taro's grip and quickly took out her trusty air horn. Holding it out in front of her in front of the monster formed Chinese youth, Jasper pressed down on the button.

BBBLLLLAAAERRR!!!

Taro roared in pain, letting go of Jasper who fell to the group as he brought both of his hands up to cover his ringing ears. Jasper gasped in pain as she hit the ground, her arms wrapped around her chest as she instinctively curled up into a ball. She didn't think her ribs were broken, if she had been a human she was sure they would have been thanks to Taro's monsterish grip, but the werewolf wouldn't be surprised if they were heavily bruised.

The pain faded away in Taro's ears after a few seconds though they still rang from the air horn. He growled loudly in anger as he reached for Jasper again.

"Crap!" Jasper cursed as she tried to scramble back to her feet, whimpering from the pain in her ribs.

"HEEYY!" A yell from above both transformed teens caught their attention. Taro looked up in surprise, nearly blinded by the sun as a dark figure flew down at him. A foot connected with Taro's head, catching him by surprise as it was knocked to the side.

"Get out of here cub," Sati said as she landed on the ground lightly on her feet, standing protectively in front of Jasper. Jasper grunted in agreement, staggering to her feet, a hand pressed to her ribs. "I suggest you cool your jets boy," Sati said up to Taro as Jasper made her get away.

"Jasper!" Nabiki hissed from an alleyway.

"Fuck Nabiki," Jasper said as she stumbled over to the human girl. "You could have warned me he turned into a winged Minotaur."

"Didn't have time and I did try to warn you not to piss him off anymore than you did," Nabiki pointed out as she draped Jasper's other arm over her shoulder and quickly helped her friend out of the area.

Taro roared loudly at Sati who looked back at Taro like a mother-wolf pissed off at one of her cubs. Taro swung a hand at Sati, and was greatly surprised when the werewolf caught it by the first finger, his eyes wide in disbelief as she halted his movement.

"Calm down cub or you're just going to get hurt," Sati said evenly. She held up her pinky finger of the hand holding Taro's in warning. "Are you?"

Taro roared and tried to jerk his hand out of Sati's grip while his octopus tentacles reached out to grab the woman. She sighed in disappointment and shook her head.

"I did warn you," She said then tapped Taro with her pinky, using the Wuxi Finger Hold to channel a burst of chi into Taro. (2)

A startled sound escaped Taro as the wave of chi hit him, overwhelming the cursed teen and knocking him unconscious. The wave of chi spread out around Taro and Sati, windows rattling slightly then settled down at the chi dissipated. Taro crashed to the ground, making it shake under Sati's feet. She sighed and shook her head again as she looked at Taro.

"So this is another one of Happosai's victims," She said to herself as she pulled a kettle of hot water from her weapon-space pocket and poured it over Taro. The yeti-riding-bull-carrying-crane-and-eel mixed with -octopus teen shifted back to his human form. "Pantyhose is a horrible name, can't say I blame him for his anger." Sati mused as she draped a cloth over the naked Taro then slugged him over her shoulder.

The immortal quickly caught up with Nabiki and Jasper, the pair eyeing the unconscious Taro over her shoulder.

"What are you going to do with him?" Nabiki asked.

"For now, take him back to the Dojo," Sati said. Nabiki opened her mouth to protest. "I will make sure he will stay calm, a few good pressure points will keep him in line."

"Fine," Nabiki said with a sigh, she saw Sati's point, better to have him close by to keep an eye on him then let him wander around plotting his revenge.

***

"Come right up and test your strength," A barker running a High Striker game called to the people walking around the fair. "Hit the bell, win a prize!"

"What is that?" Ranma asked with a confused look.

"It's a game, you hit that big button at the bottom with a hammer and send that little black thing up the scale," Ukyo explained. "If you hit it hard enough, it'll hit the bell at the top." The pair of teens had been having a grand time at the fair. They had ridden almost all the rides at the fair, skipping the 'Tunnel of Love' since it involved water. Ranma liked the thrill rides the best and Ukyo couldn't help but smile at the almost childish glee on her best friend's face.

As the day wore on, Ukyo almost seemed to forget that this was a date with her fiancé as it felt more like a fun outing with her friend. They had stuffed themselves with fair foods like funnel cakes and large corn dogs and cotton candy. Now waiting for the food in Ukyo's stomach to settle the pair was walking through the pair of the fair that held the carnie games.

"It doesn't look that hard," Ranma said, just loud enough for the barker to hear him.

"Is that so?" the barker said. "Well come right up young man, test your strength! Win the little lady a prize."

Ranma shrugged his shoulders and took the hammer after paying for the game. He eyed the bell at the top then the large button he had to hit at the bottom. A large crowd gathered around, a lot of large muscled men started to point and laugh not believing the much smaller Ranma would be able to send the weight all the way up to the bell.

Ranma barely grunted as he swung the hammer down, hitting the button in the middle and sending the weight flying up to the bell.

DING!

The men who had been laughing at Ranma fell silent in a hurry, staring at him in disbelief.

"Geee, that wasn't hard at all," Ranma commented as he handed the hammer back to the barker who just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"Yer game is rigged if this little runt was able to hit that bell!" One of the men in the crowd yelled. The barker scowled and turned to face the crowd.

"It is not!" he yelled back. "I run an honest game! You think that it's so easy, you come up and test it yourself!"

"Fine!" The crowd parted as a tall man who was built like an American wrestler came forward. He grabbed the hammer from the barker and stood in front of the game. The man smirked as he rubbed his hands together then gripped the handle of the hammer tightly before swinging it in an arch. The hammer smacked the button, causing the weight to fly up. The muscled man placed the hammer down head first and leaned against it with a smirk only the look in disbelief as the weight stopped a foot under the bell and fell back down.

"Oh too bad sir, it looks like you didn't hit the bell," the barker said with a touch of smugness. "You are welcome to pick a prize from the lower shelves. And you sir are allowed to pick one of the top prizes," he added, looking at Ranma.

"Oh Ran-chan, get the bear with the bow!" Ukyo said as she pointed at the bear she wanted. Ranma shrugged and pointed at the bear.

"The game is rigged!" the teens could hear the muscled man yell as they walked away.

"Or he's just not as strong at you Ran-chan," Ukyo said with a smirk.

"Ucchan, you could have hit that bell it was that easy," Ranma pointed out.

"For you and me, yeah it would be," Ukyo agreed. "Even the others it would be really easy though if Ryoga tried I bet the bell would have flew off." Ranma laughed and agreed thought privately he thought if he had used his full power the bell would have flown off when he hit the game with the hammer as well.

Ukyo smiled as she nuzzled her bear, she hadn't had a stuffed animal in years, giving up her womanhood after the Saotome’s had left her behind Ukyo had to get rid of her stuffed toys since 'boys' didn't play with those sort of toys once they reached a certain age.

"Hurry hurry hurry," another barker running a booth called out to the people passing by. "You there, care for a game! Just 512 yen, throw the ball and try to knock over the bottles. You get three tries!" The man who ran this gave was a lot sleazier looking than the previous one. He had greasy black hair slicked back and beady looking eyes.

"That doesn't look that impressive," Ranma said in a bored tone as he and Ukyo stopped to watch. "Just to knock over a bunch of bottles?" Ukyo narrowed her eyes as a young boy ran up and paid to play. The sleazy barker had a smirk on his face as he handed three balls to the boy. All three times the boy tossed the ball, he only managed to knock off one, maybe two bottles.

"That's weird, that kid hit dead center the last time," Ranma said softly with narrowed eyes. "That should have knocked off more than one bottle."

"Ran-chan, I think that game is rigged," Ukyo said. "Here, hold this." She pushed her stuffed bear into Ranma's hands then walked up to the booth.

'Heh, here comes another sucker,' the sleazy man running the game thought with glee. "Care to try your luck? Just 512 yen for three throws."

"Sure," Ukyo said with a fake sweet, innocent smile. She slid the yen across the counter to the barker and took the throwing balls.

'Sucker!' The man thought. 'Still, she's pretty. Maybe I'll ask for her number later.'

Ukyo carefully aimed her ball and purposely tossed the ball so it would only knock off one bottle. The second ball missed the stack completely.

"Just one more ball," The barker said with a smirk. A glint entered Ukyo's brown eyes as she straightened up, her eye on the stack. Rearing back, she tossed the ball with all her might and with an accuracy that she used on her throwing spatulas hit the middle of the bottle stack. The ball hit the stack and shattered the bottles as the ball smashed through the middle. The barker's mouth dropped open as his rigged stack of bottles was destroyed and Ukyo smirked.

"I'll take this," Ukyo said as she picked up a stuffed monkey off the shelf and walked over to the boy who had played before her. "Here you go Sugar."

"Wow, thanks!" The boy said with a laugh. "Mom, Mom! Look!" The boy ran off with his new toy, making Ukyo smile. Then with a hard glint in her eye, she turned and tossed one of her razor sharp spatulas at the sleazy barker, snagging him by the shoulder of his shirt and pinning him to the side of his booth.

"H-hey!" The man said, reaching to try and get free. Ukyo fisted her hand in the front of his shirt, pulling him down to her level. His shirt ripped free of the spatula and he gulped in fright.

"Look here jackass," Ukyo hissed. "I ever hear that you been ripping off kids, or anyone else, ever again that ball is going through your teeth next time. Got it?"

"Y-y-yes mam!" The man said.

"Good," Ukyo said. She tossed him to the side and reached up, grabbing her spatula and yanking it out of the wall.

"What was that about?" Ranma asked as she walked back over to him.

"Just teaching him a lesson," Ukyo said as she tossed her ponytail over her shoulder with a smirk. "Come one Ranma-honey, let's go ride the roller coaster one more time before we head back home."

**

That evening Ranma returned to the Tendo Dojo in high spirits. He had a good time with Ukyo at the fair; they had a lot of fun on the rides and playing the games. Having never been to a fair before, it was a fun novel experience for him.

Whistling to himself as he entered the house, he stopped up short at the scene he came up on in the living room.

"What the hell is going on?" Ranma asked. Jasper, in hybrid form, was sitting topless at the low table as Kasumi wrapped bandages around her torso. Nabiki sat next to them with Akane on her other side. Akane had a scowl on her face as she glared in Jasper's direction, mutter under her breath how she just knew that the other girl had been a 'demon' like Sati.

"We have a visitor," Nabiki said in a dry tone, pointing to the other side of the room. Ranma turned his gaze to where she was pointing and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"What's Pantyhose Freak doing here?" He asked.

"Ranma," Sati warned softly. "Don't be insulting."

"I think it's the perfect nickname for him," Jasper grumbled. "Ow!" Kasumi pulled tight on the bandage and tied it off.

"What happen to her?" Ranma asked as he sat down.

"Taro ran into us earlier this afternoon and these two got into a pissing match," Nabiki explained. "Jasper threw a cup of soda at him and then he chased her all over Nerima."

"He did catch her but she escaped his grip," Sati added. "Then I had to knock him out as he refused to calm down."

"How badly did you get hurt," Ranma asked as he watched Kasumi and Nabiki help the American back into her top.

"Her ribs are bruised," Sati answered for her. "If she had been a human he likely would have killed her with his grip. She'll heal fully in a day or two."

"Why the hell would you get into a fight with Taro?" Ranma asked.

"I didn't know he was gonna turn into that Minotaur thing," Jasper said. "I was just messing with him about his name but the fucker just got all prissy."

"I fraught against Taro before, you're lucky you wasn't killed," Ranma said. Taro was one of the few people he couldn't defeat, at least not while the older teen was in his curse form.

"No shit Sherlock," Jasper said, hissing as she stood up. "I kinda figured that out on my own. I'm going back to my hotel."

"I'm coming with you, you're in no shape to go up against Kuno Taeko if he's out tonight," Sati said as she got up as well. Jasper just waved her hand in agreement then left out with Sati.

"I can't believe that... that demon as been hanging around our house like that," Akane said as soon as they left. "Both of them!"

"Oh please, like you haven’t already figured out that Jasper was a werewolf," Ranma said with a roll of his eyes.

"He's right little sister, she all but flaunts what she is," Nabiki agreed.

"You would be on those demons side," Akane said as she stood up and angrily left the room.

"Werewolf Akane, not demons," Nabiki called behind her as she heard Akane stomp up the stairs. "They're two different races!" Ranma snorted and shook his head.

"She's not going to let up on that," he pointed out.

"I know," Nabiki said with a shrug. "But I can hope that she'll mellow out. So, how did your date with Kuonji go?"

"We had fun, I've never been to a fair before or been on any rides before," Ranma said as he leaned his chin on his hand. Nabiki thought in the back of her mind that she should arrange for Ranma to visit a real amusement park, maybe not as a date but maybe as a group. She wasn't much for thrill rides herself but maybe she could put up with it this one time. "But... it didn't feel much like a /date/."

"What was the problem?" Nabiki asked. Ranma sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"It was like hanging out with my best friend," Ranma said with a groan as he lay back on the floor. "I try and try to see her as anything else but I can't get past that I see her as a sibling as best. Don't get me wrong, she's cute but I don't see her as a future wife."

"Have you told Kuonji that?" Nabiki asked.

"Yes, I have several times told her that I don't see her as my fiancée but she just tells me not to be silly," Ranma said with a sigh. "I'm trying to see her as what she wants but I can't see her as the same as you or hell even Shampoo."

"I'm flattered," Nabiki said with a smirk. Ranma blushed as he realized what he confessed to her. "Look Ranma-baby, only thing I can suggest is either try again or sit down with her and tell her what you feel."

"You're giving me advice for free?" Ranma asked amused.

"Well... maybe not free," Nabiki said as she moved so she was above Ranma with a smirk. "But I have a new type of payment in mind."

"Oh, what's that and I can I afford it?" Ranma asked.

"I think you can," Nabiki said with a laugh then leaned down to steal a kiss from her fiancé. Ranma growled softly and reached up to tangle one hand into Nabiki's brown hair as he deepened the kiss. His other hand reached up under Nabiki's shirt and started to slid up her back.

"Groan"

Ranma and Nabiki startled at the groan and broke apart; they had forgotten that Taro was still in the room. Sitting up, they looked over at the Chinese teen as Taro sat up rubbing his head.

~Who the hell was that woman?~ Taro asked to himself in Chinese. His whole body ached like a herd of elephants had stomped on him.

"Well, look who woke up," Nabiki's voice cut through the headache he was sporting. Pantyhose looked over in her direction, scowling as he noticed Saotome was there as well.

"Saotome, Tendo," Taro bit out. "How did I get here? And where is that woman?"

"You got your ass handed to you by Sati and she dragged your sorry ass back here," Nabiki explained. "You're lucky the girl you attacked wasn't a human, if you killed her you would be in jail by now."

"As if any jail could hold me," Taro said with a snort. "Well since this was where I wanted to be anyway, where is Happosai?"

"Not here," Ranma said.

"Coward," Taro grumbled then shrugged his shoulders. "I'll just wait until he returns then."

"You'll be waiting for a while then," Ranma said. "The old freak ain't here."

"You're lying," Taro said with narrowed eyes.

"He's right, Happosai took off and we haven’t seen him since," Nabiki said coldly as she remembered that little perverted freak feeling her up, shivering in disgust as she remembered those wrinkled little hands touching her. Ranma touched her back gently in comfort. "So there's no reason for you to stick around."

"You're just trying to hide 'godfather' from me," Taro said, not believing either of the other two teens. Ranma groaned and leaned his head back while Nabiki rolled her eyes.

"You'll see, he's not here," Nabiki said. "I think I'm done for the night, see you in the morning Ranma-baby." The middle Tendo daughter stood up and quickly left the room.

"What the hell is her problem?" Taro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Happosai didn't part on very good terms," Ranma said as he stood as well. "Stick around if that what gets your rocks off Baggy Pantyhose but you'll see a lot has changed around here. Hopefully next time I'll get to see Auntie kick your ass." Ranma laughed as he left toward the furo for a bath. Taro growled and started to get up but was stopped as Kasumi was suddenly standing in front of him, a pleasant smile on her face.

"Are you staying the night Taro-san?" Kasumi asked sweetly. "I can set up a bed roll for you in the guest room."

"Errr..." Taro leaned back slightly, he had never gotten use to the niceness that was Kasumi.

"Wonderful," Kasumi said as if he had said 'Yes'. "I'll go set you up one now." Taro blinked, wondering was just happen as Kasumi swept out of the room.

On the way to the hallway closet to get down a bedroll and some extra blankets, Kasumi knocked on the bathroom door.

"Ranma-chan?" She asked softly.

"Yea Kasumi?" Ranma's voice drifted out.

"Taro-san is going to stay the night in the guest room, you may want to stay the night with Nabiki again," Kasumi smiled as she heard a splash of water and a bucket fall to the floor followed by Ranma cursing. Giggling she left Ranma to his bath and continued her way to the hallway closet.

**

Nabiki opened her bedroom door, raising an eyebrow at seeing Ranma on the other side dressed in boxers and his muscle shirt.

"Kasumi put Taro in my room," he said. "She told me to sleep here instead."

"Damn, I can't get anything pass Nee-chan," Nabiki muttered to herself. How the hell did her sister find out? "Well, come on in then Ranma-baby, you can keep me warm," she said, grabbing Ranma by the pigtail and dragging him into her room.

After all, there was no reason not to take advantage of the situation.

A couple of hours later, Akane yawned as she left her room to go get a glass of water. As she passed Nabiki's room on the way to the stairs, she froze as she heard a soft moan from inside. Brown eyes wide, Akane turned to look at the door. This reminded her of the vivid dream she had a few nights ago. Hand trembling, Akane reached out and opened the door peeking inside.

"Eep!" Akane quickly shut the door and quickly ran back to her room, she still had to be dreaming!

"What was that?" Ranma asked, looking toward the door.

"Who cares," Nabiki said. "Get back to work," she added, pushing his head back down.

***

(1) The first of course is referring to the DragonBall series with Bulma, Trunks (both versions) and Bra Briefs. The second reference is from the anime Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Very funny show, I high recommend it.

(2) I pulled a Kung Fu Panda (so said move belongs to DreamWorks, I no own.)

Edit 6-8-14: Fixed several mistakes and changed the yen amount above during the bottle game scene as it was way, way low using a American dollar to yen convertor so hopefully now it’s a lot more realistic.