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Blessed Curse

Author: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

Author note: Thanks to Blissfull Wulf for betaing this fic.

I hope everyone had a Happy New Year. And I know I’ve been really slow in updating this and my other fics, 2015 was just not a good year for me writing wise but here’s hoping 2016 will be better.

And to Satsubatsu Sentoryu, yes you’re right I did have kyandi spelt wrong, thank you for pointing that out to me.

Chapter 8

“Shampoo, why are you only wearing a towel?”

“Umm… Shampoo really dirty and took bath?” Shampoo said with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of her head. She did not want to reveal she was that weak little sugar glider, trying to hold that off as long as possible. “Not want sister see Shampoo so dirty.” Ranma gave her a look, something was off about Shampoo’s tone… or she was just seeing things that weren’t there because she was so tired.

“Sure, if you say so,” Ranma said with a yawn. “Just nick something from my closet to wear for now, I’ll take you to the Doc’s clinic where Mousse is on the way to school.” Shampoo got up and picked out one of Ranma’s red Chinese shirts to wear and borrowed a pair of her boxer shorts. Ranma just laid back down with a yawn, it was way too late in the evening, or too early really, to deal with this. Shampoo quickly got dressed and laid down beside Ranma, she was tried too, constantly running for her life from larger animals had that effect on a person.

****

“Akane-chan, can you go wake up Nabiki-chan and Ranma-chan?” Kasumi asked her youngest sister over her shoulder as she cooked. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Sure thing Nee-chan,” Akane said as she stood from the table and walked upstairs.

“Such a good girl,” Soun said fondly of his youngest daughter as he sipped his morning tea. Ah, he had such high hopes she would be the one Ranma wed, they got along so well after all.

Upstairs Akane stopped by Nabiki’s room first, knocking on the door then opening it.

“Nabiki, Kasumi said breakfast is almost ready,” she said. On the bed Nabiki groaned and shifted into a tight curled ball under the covers.

“Five more minutes,” she mumbled sleepily.

“I bet Nee-chan has coffee ready for you,” Akane bribed. The lump on the bed stayed still for a moment longer before Nabiki sighed and sat up. Her hair was mussed from sleep, sticking up in places, her eyes nearly closed as she squinted at her sister.

“Fine fine, I’m up,” she said with a yawn as she stumbled out of bed, picking up her cotton pj’s off the floor and switching out of the thin short night gown she liked to sleep in. Akane giggled softly, this was the only time anyone got to see Nabiki ruffled looking, looking very much unlike her usual ice queen self. She closed the door to let her sister get dressed and walked down toward the guest room. She stopped by the door to her room, frowning at the hole in the bottom of the door. Kyandi disappeared sometime during the night and had escaped her room. Hopefully the sugar glider was still somewhere in the house, maybe exploring her new home. She would ask Kasumi to keep an eye out for her pet.

“Ranma, time to get-“ Akane started to say as she opened the guest room door then cut herself off, staring at the bed. Ranma was in bed in her male form and with her was a girl with purple hair who had her head pillowed on Ranma’s shoulder and arm draped across Ranma’s stomach. Akane stepped back and closed her eyes, she was a little ashamed to admit her first instinct was to yell and call Ranma a pervert after seeing that. It was another case of her temper running away from her and took a deep breath to calm herself down. She needed to be calm, maybe it wasn’t what it looked like. Maybe the purple hair girl was some crazy drunk chick that had wandered in the night before without anyone realizing it…. ok that sounded crazy but this was Nerima, crazy was the norm.

Her temper under control again, Akane stepped back into the room and walked over to the bed. She shook Ranma’s shoulder, calling the other’s name.

“Ranma… Ranma wake up!”

Ranma grumbled and cracked open an eye to look at Akane.

“Akane?” she asked as she yawned and rubbed her eyes with a free hand. “What time is it?”

“It’s morning,” Akane said. “Ranma who is that?” she pointed at Shampoo who cutely mumbled in her sleep and curled up a little.

“Hmm?” Ranma blinked and looked down at the girl sprawled over her chest. It took her a second to remember what happened during the night. “This is my friend Shampoo. You know, the one from the village Mousse is from?”

“O-oh!” Akane said the last of her temper going away as she really studied Shampoo this time. The girl was pretty, with purple hair that was the same shade as her Kyandi, and a cute button nose set in a soft round face. “What is she doing here asleep in your bed?”

“She showed up last night, I couldn’t just kick her out,” Ranma said. “Come on Shampoo, I know you’re awake. I need to get up.” Shampoo grumbled and opened wide red eyes as she sat up, stretching her arms over her head as she yawned. Akane felt a flash of… something. She wasn’t sure what, admiration? Jealousy? Maybe a combination of both, Shampoo was very well… built. The purple hair girl had a bust size that rivaled Ranma’s female form’s and was very pretty and cute. Akane felt very… flat chested and boyish next to the other girl. She had always been a bit tomboyish, despite all that she did to be girly like her older sister.

“Little sister talk too too much,” Shampoo said.

“If we were back in the village, you would have been up already, going through morning lessons with Cologne,” Ranma pointed out. Shampoo pouted cutely and crossed her arms over her chest, knowing it was true. “Anyway, Akane this is Shampoo my adopted sister from Joketsuzoku. Shampoo, this is my friend Tendo Akane.” Shampoo brightened greatly, this was her first chance to speak with the girl that saved her the day before.

“Shampoo too too pleased to meet Ranma friend,” She said with a sunny smile. Akane blinked then returned the smile, the other girl didn’t seem too bad after all.

“I’m pleased to meet you too Shampoo,” Akane said. “I came to tell you breakfast was almost ready Ranma. Shampoo you can join us too if you want, Nee-chan always makes extra.”

“Is okay?” Shampoo asked looking at Ranma.

“Of course, Kasumi is a great cook,” Ranma said. “And afterward we can drop you off at Doc Tofu’s, that’s where Mousse is staying, on the way to school.” Shampoo scowled slightly, she couldn’t believe that blind idiot found Ranma before she did and now she was going to have to stay in the same place as him until she spoke to her Great Grandmother.

‘That idiot better not try anything,’ she thought to herself. Shampoo wondered often what happened to the boy that had been her best friend as a child, one she didn’t have to beat senseless every time he tried to declare his love for her. Don’t get her wrong, Mousse was no slouch at his chosen art style and was easily one of the better male fighters in the village but he was nowhere near her level and Shampoo wanted a strong husband to father her children like her father. Not that Shampoo was looking for a husband right now, she dodged that bullet with Ranma thankfully.

“We should try to find a time to spar Shampoo,” Ranma said as she got off the bed, scratching at her stomach absently. “I need a good warm up before that challenge with Ryoga. Hopefully that idiot will be happy we finally had a decent fight and he’ll calm down.”

“Akane-chan, Ranma, breakfast is ready!” Kasumi’s voice drifted up the stairs.

“Great! I’m starving,” Ranma said as she bounded for the stairs. Shampoo laughed and looked at Akane.

“Little sister still eat too too much?” She asked.

“Yeah, she’s like a human vacuum cleaner sometimes,” Akane said then laughed at her joke. Shampoo laughed with her and headed downstairs with the bluenette.

**

After breakfast, which consisted of explaining who Shampoo was to the other Tendos and consuming Kasumi’s delicious cooking, Akane, Ranma and Nabiki got ready for another day of school. On the way Ranma and Akane stopped at Dr. Tofu’s office with Shampoo and explained her situation. Mousse brightened when he saw his fellow Amazon but refrained from flying at her with swinging fists and declarations of love. He and Tofu had spoken a bit about how Mousse acted and Tofu had suggested Mousse back off a bit as his actions might be one of the things that drove Shampoo away. And unlike Tofu, Mousse seemed to have better control over his body than Tofu did when Kasumi was around. Shampoo was surprised that Mousse didn’t act in his usual way but she wasn’t going to complain either!

Tofu was more than happy to help out the young Chinese teenage and offered his other guest room to her in exchange for helping out around the clinic which Shampoo agreed to until she heard back from the village.

A couple of days later Ranma, or Ranka as she was in her female form at the time, was walking the little outdoor market where she had first met Akane. Ranka had been trying to keep a look out for Ryoga, she didn’t know just when the lost boy would show up, it was hard to gauge with Ryoga as she remembered he had a habit of either not showing up until days afterward when he said he was going to be somewhere or could just as easily show up before hand. The day of Ryoga’s challenge had already passed so it was simply a waiting game to see when her former friend showed up. She hoped she could talk some sense into him, that maybe this fight would get whatever grudge he had against her other form out of his system and try to undo any damage from when they had been friends before as Ranka wanted to maybe get closer to the boy, show that she wasn’t the jerk that she had acted like before toward him.

Ranka also hadn’t seen hide nor fur of Genma, the soap she tricked him into using had long wore off by now and he would be able to change back into his normal human form. Where ever he was, if it was a zoo or not, he hadn’t discovered that yet it seemed.

/‘Good, that fat panda can stay wherever he is for all I care,’ /Ranka thought with a soft snort under her breath, she had long since found she liked being out from under Genma’s thumb and his constant words of ‘being a man-among-men!’ thrown at her. As if Genma even knew what that meant! He was certainly not man among men that was for sure.

Ranka’s stomach grumbled at that moment, reminding the girl that she hadn’t eaten since lunch. Rubbing her stomach absently Ranka looked around for who she might be able to scam out of a little food. Her eyes lit up as she spied a vendor selling Mochi ice cream and made a beeline for him.

A few minutes later a satisfied Ranka walked away with a few of the cold treats, happily eating one with mango filling. She decided to start heading back toward the Tendo’s as it seemed she wasn’t going to find Ryoga that day. As Ranka rounded the corner she came across a very strange sight. Three girls were standing across from a fourth on top of the grass hill above the market place. Ranka vaguely recognized the three girls from her class at school, they were even wearing the female gym clothes consisting of yellow shirts and short red shorts. All three were covered in bandages on their faces, legs, and arms and each were holding gymnast clubs. The fourth girl Ranka didn’t recognize at all and she was wearing a uniform from another school, had long black hair put up in a side pony tail and was looking at the other three girls coolly.

‘Hmm… wonder what this is all about?’ Ranka thought to herself as she shoved another Mochi ice cream ball into her mouth. ‘Three on one doesn’t seem fair at all. I wonder if the other girl is going to need help.’

“Why you must be from Furinkan High,” the fourth girl said. She knelt down, placing a yellow gym bag on the ground and pulling the zipper open. “I so am looking forward to next week. Sure, our schools may be rivals, well I do hope we’ll still be friends.” She reached into the bag and took out a purple gymnast ribbon, part of the ribbon held between her first two fingers of her left hand and the ribbons handle in her right as she stood back up. “After you lost I mean.”

“You’re such a liar!” One of Ranka’s school mates said.

“We’d never be friends with you,” a second one to the right of the first girl said.

“Don’t think we don’t know what you’re up to,” the first girl said.

“You’re trying to stop us from competing in the tournament!” the second girl yelled.

“Why else would you ambush us?” the third girl in the group asked.

“We’re going to give you a taste of your own medicine,” the first girl that acted as the leader said.

“Let’s get her!” All three yelled at the same time running forward with the clubs held high.

“Now now girls,” The fourth girl said as she started to whip the ribbon around so quickly that Ranka could barely see it, knocking the clubs out of the girls’ hands and started to hit them instead. The girl’s voice took on a hard edge as she continued speaking, “if I weren’t a lady!”

“Huh?” Ranka said in surprise as she watched. The fourth girl hadn’t needed any help at all it seemed, she completely defended herself from the attack and was now twirling the ribbon around her in a graceful spin. ‘Wow, she’s good with that ribbon.’

“If I weren’t a lady, I’d have to teach you a lesson!” The girl started whipping the girls again who screamed and cowered on the ground, covering their heads. “And then you’d really be in trouble! How lucky for you that I was reared better than that!”

Ranka scowled, shoved the last of her Mochi ice creams into her mouth and flicked the hat she was wearing off her head, jumping down into the middle of the group. It seemed it was her classmates that needed protecting, not the other girl. Self defense was one thing but now it had turned into assault.

The girl stared in shock as her ribbon attack was halted, looking at the red headed girl that had easily caught her ribbon within one hand.

“Come on, cut it out,” Ranka said. “I think you made your point already.”

“You stopped my ribbon, that’s never been done,” the girl said, just slightly impressed. “You’re not an ordinary girl are you.”

“Ah well yeah,” Ranka said with a slight grin. “I guess you could say that.” /‘I turn into a boy with hot water, of course I’m not an ordinary girl,’ /Ranka added in her thoughts. The other girl started to slow walk to the side, toward one of the clubs laying on the ground. She hooked her foot under the club and kicked it up toward her, dropping her ribbon as she caught the club as it flew into the air.

“It makes no difference to me,” the girl said. “Well then, I won’t go any easier on you!” She ran at Ranka with the club outstretched for an attack. Ranka easily ducked under the attack and let the other girl go over her head. Her foe’s mouth dropped open in shock as her attack was avoided and she quickly dropped the club and landed hands first on the grass then pushed off into a handspring back to her feet with a flip. Ranka twisted on her foot and quickly stood up, facing the other girl, her hands up and ready for another attack.

“Oh, you are quite formidable,” the girl said as she smiled. “Well done. I am the Flower of St. Hebereke High School, a rising star in Gymnastics. I’m Kodachi,” she took a black rose out of nowhere and held it up to her face as she closed her purple-ish gray eyes. “The Black Rose.”

Kodachi flicked the black rose she was holding at Ranka who easily caught the flower, stunned and confused just a tiny bit. She watched as Kodachi ran toward a nearby wall and jumped up onto it. Kodachi stopped and turned toward Ranka.

“You will keep that in mind, won’t you?” She asked with a chuckle under her breath then jumped onto a nearby light post, starting to cackle loudly and insanely, and slid done to the ground. Her laughter died away as Kodachi left the area.

‘Wow… what a loon,’ Ranka thought to herself. She turned as she heard the other three girls from her school starting to cry behind her. Each were holding their faces in their hands sobbing loudly. “Ah… don’t cry,” Ranka said then sighed, offering to take them back to the Tendo Dojo so they could be patched up.

****

Sometime later at the Tendo Dojo, all four girls were up in Akane’s room. Kasumi had bandaged all three girl’s new wounds from Kodachi’s attack and brought up green tea for all of them to sooth their nerves. The three of them were still crying as they sat on the floor in front of Akane’s bed, Ranka was sitting on the bed with Akane.

“Akane, we were beat up,” one of the girls said, the original one that had started the fight with Kodachi.

“What?” Akane asked as she looked at her classmates. “The whole Gymnastic team?”

“She ambushed all of us in the middle of the night,” one of the other girls said.

“We were suppose to have a match with St. Hebereke in a week,” the third girl said.

“Wait, I thought the match was canceled,” Akane said. “Wasn’t that weeks ago?”

“The original match was canceled as most of the other school’s team had came down with the flu,” the first girl said. “The match was just recently rescheduled. But now we might have to cancel again, no one on the team will be able to fight!”

“Akane, you must avenge us,” the second girl said as she grabbed Akane’s hands.

“Take our place at the match,” the first girl said while the third agreed. Akane looked at the three girls, their faces so hopeful, and nodded her head in agreement.

“Alright, I’ll do it,” She said.

“Wait wait wait,” Ranka said holding up her hands. “Just what the heck are we talking about here?”

“Umm… who are you?” the first girl asked.

“Oh… I’m Saotome Ranka,” Ranka said.

“Saotome… are you related to Saotome Ranma?” the second girl asked. Ranka sweat dropped and scratched the side of her nose as she laughed nervously.

“Hee hee, yeah he’s my… umm… my cousin!” She said. “Yeah he’s my cousin. I go to a different school and I’m just visiting. Akane and I are really good friends.” She breathed a sigh of relief as the other girls seemed to accept the answer while Akane threw her an amused look. “So the match thing?”

“We’re part of the Rhythmic Gymnastics and Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts team,” The first girl said.

“Rhythmic Gymnastics /Martial Arts/?” Ranka repeated. The three girls nodded and Ranka blinked, she never heard of that school of martial arts before, and she’d seen some pretty strange ones over the years.

“Yes, and this was a Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts match,” the third girl informed Ranka. “We use all the tools from Rhythmic Gymnastics for the matches.”

“St. Hebereke High School for Girls has the best team in the area, and Kodachi is their best,” The first girl said. “But the reason St. Hebereke wins all their matches is because the other teams drop out before the match!”

“So this Kodachi girl has been attacking all the other teams?” Akane asked. When the other girls nodded she stood up and pounded her fist into her other hand. “Well that can’t go on, I’ll help you guys out.”

“Thanks you Akane!” All three girls said as they bowed.

******

“I think you might be in over your head here Akane,” Ranka said some time later. Both girls were now in the dojo, Akane dressed in a gymnastic leotard and surrounded by rhythm gymnastic tools that the girls from school had lent her. Ranka sat off to the side studying the pamphlet about the sport.

“How hard can it be?” Akane said as she picked up the ribbon and started to twirl it around. She made a startled noise as she managed to wrap herself up like a mummy and fell over onto the floor. Ranka snorted softly in laughter and got up to help Akane.

“I don’t think you’re suppose to wrap yourself up in it,” she said.

“T-that was just a fluke,” Akane said as she discarded the ribbon and picked up the hoop instead. She tried to tumble through it but came up too soon and broke the hoop.

“Akane, you’re just not that graceful,” Ranka said as she sat back down.

“I am too graceful!” Akane said as she picked up the clubs next and started to twirl them around. She tossed one up into the air then held her hand above her head ready to catch it…. only for it to land a few feet behind her. “Damn, I can do this!”

“Akane!” Ranka said loudly getting the other’s attention. “Just stop for a second and listen, your strength is in… well… your strength. I’m not sure if you can learn all this in just a week.”

“I can help her,” A voice said from the doorway. Both girls turned and saw Ryoga in the doorway of the dojo.

“Ryoga!” Ranka said as she quickly stood up grinning. “What are you doing here?”

‘Oh crap, don’t tell he’s already here for our match right in the middle of this other thing,’ Ranka thought to herself. Crap what bad timing, she had to help Akane with the gymnastics thing! Oh well, she could deal with it, Ranka wasn’t the best for nothing.

“You could help me Hibiki-san?” Akane asked. “How?”

“Well… I know Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts,” Ryoga admitted as he rubbed the back of his neck. “My mother, she’s a champion in the art. I’ve watched her all my life and she’s trained me in it.”

“That’s great!” Akane said.

“Yeah, she needs all the help she can get. I don’t know nothing about this art,” Ranka said. “It’s really nice of you to help us Ryoga-kun.” She smiled up at Ryoga who blushed and started to laugh nervously.

“S-sure thing Ranka-chan,” he said. He cleared his throat and leaned over to pick up the discard ribbon. When he did something let out a squeaking sound.

“What was that?” Ranka asked.

“Oh ummm…. I think this is yours,” Ryoga said as he reached into his pocket and took out a tiny bundle of purple fur, holding it out to Akane.

“Kyandi!” Akane said as she took the sugar glider from Ryoga. “Where did you find her?” She asked, not even questioning how Ryoga knew Kyandi ‘belonged’ to her. Shampoo chirped and glared at Ryoga from the safety of Akane’s hands, how dare he just stick her inside a pocket like that!

“Outside… somewhere,” Ryoga said a bit vaguely, he couldn’t even begin to tell Akane where he had found the sugar glider. “She was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, somebody had poured water on her I guess, her fur was drenched.” Ryoga had completely missed the pile of wet clothing only a few feet away from the changed Shampoo when he picked her up.

“Thank you for bringing her home,” Akane said with a thankful smile as she cuddled Kyandi whose angry chatters died down. Ryoga was struck again that he knew the blue hair girl from somewhere, before the shopping trip that is.

“Hey wait…. Weren’t you the girl that was with Saotome?” He asked pointing at Akane. “At that school I mean.”

“What? Oh yeah, I’m Tendo Akane,” Akane said with a bow.

“Why do you hang out with Saotome?” He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You know he’s a jerk right? No good?” He didn’t see the wince Ranka gave him behind his back. Akane bit her lip to keep the amused smile off her face.

“Ranma can be a jerk sometimes,” Akane agreed. “But he really isn’t that bad.”

“Why do you hate this Ranma guy so much?” Ranka asked, curious to hear what Ryoga really had to say about her without him knowing she was Ranma. If she knew then she would know what it was she had to do to fix things.

“Well… he’s a jerk like I said. And a coward,” Ryoga said rubbing his neck. “He steals things and… well he backs out of his promises… look it’s really between me and him so let’s focus on teaching you Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts.” He leaned down again and this time was able to pick up the ribbon. “First thing, in Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts you are only allowed to use tools to fight. If you use any part of your body to fight, it will count against you. So no punches or kicks are allowed.”

Akane handed Ranka Kyandi, who rushed up to sit on top of Ranka’s head nestled in her red hair to watch. Ranka sat down against the far wall thinking about what Ryoga had said.

“So I can’t just punch this girl and be done with it,” she said as she picked up the clubs.

“No,” Ryoga agreed. “That would disqualify you from the match. Now anything can be used as a tool, anything at all.” He pointed at the training dummy over by the far wall. “Even that. Most judges would prefer if you use the gymnastic tools; the ribbon, clubs, ball, hoop, anything like that, but you can use anything against your opponent as long as you don’t make body to body contact.”

“That’s allowed?” Ranka asked surprise.

“Yeah,” Ryoga agreed. “Strictly speaking it shouldn’t be, and on the professional circuits only the tools inside the rings are allowed, but for school matches most judges would allow anything to be used. Pretty much in small time matches anything goes.”

“What, like attacking your opponents before the match?” Akane asked half sarcastically as she remembered what her school mates told her and Ranka. When Ryoga scowled but nodded the girls’ mouths dropped open.

“They allow that?!” Ranka asked.

“Sadly yes, but they shouldn’t,” Ryoga said in anger. “That sort of thing would have never gone on when my kaa-san was in school and to sabotage your opponent before the match is strictly not allowed on the professional circuit. But in school matches things are a lot more relaxed and in some schools cheating is even allowed as long as the number one rule isn’t broken.”

“No hand to hand,” Akane said with a groan.

“Right, as long as there aren’t serious long lasting injuries or death, it’s allowed,” Ryoga said. “What school is this up against?”

“St. Hebereke High School,” Ranka said remembering what that Kodachi girl had said. Ryoga huffed and scowled.

“I’ve heard of it, it’s an all girls school and it has one of the best Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts teams but it also has a rep for being one of the worst about cheating,” Ryoga said. “My kaa-san keeps up with that sorta stuff. Their number one star on the team is Kuno Kodachi.”

“Kuno!?” Ranka and Akane yelled at the same time. Ryoga blinked and looked at them confused.

“Yeah, why?” Ryoga asked.

“No wonder she was nutso,” Ranka said with a groan while Akane growled and tightened her grip on the clubs.

“There’s an upper-class man at our school whose family name is Kuno,” Akane explained.

“He got most of the boys at the school to fight Akane-chan every morning for a chance to ‘date’ her,” Ranka said. “And he keeps calling Akane and me his ‘loves’ and doesn’t back off after we beat the crap out of him.”

Ryoga’s face was blank for a moment, letting that information swirl in his head then his face became hard, hazel green eyes burning a fiery hate. This Kuno guy kept bothering his sweet Ranka, even when Ranka made it clear she didn’t want anything to do with the boy.

“I’ll kill him,” He said.

“Hey hey, it’s ok,” Ranka said as she hopped up and put a hand on Ryoga’s arm. Ryoga instantly relaxed, looking at Ranka with wide green eyes. “Kuno is an idiot, we can take care of him. Right now let’s just get Akane-chan through this match and beat his little sister.” Ryoga took a deep breath, held it then let it out slowly then nodded.

“Alright then…. First, the ribbon.”

******

Akane groaned softly as she made her way into her room, Kyandi sitting in the top pocket of her yellow p.j’s. She was using a towel to dry off her long hair from her bath. Ryoga was a hard task master, but he really did know his stuff. She was sure she would be a bit sore in the morning, but not as sore as she would have been if she hadn’t been training with Ranma every day. Ranma pushed Akane to her limits in an effort to help her get better.

And even then Akane was nowhere in Ranma’s league. Not after watching Ranma spar/fight against Mousse and Ryoga, and her talks of her spars with Shampoo who was the best young fighter in her village. It did leave a sour taste in Akane’s mouth, she was use to being the best in Nerima and being praised for it. To see how she didn’t stack up as well as she thought she did against other martial artist… well Akane could be bitter and in denial over it or she could take a chance to improve herself and prove she was worthy of being called one of the best. She chose the second option.

“Man, what a day,” Akane said as she tossed the towel by the door and flopped down on her bed with her eyes closed, one hand held over Kyandi. Something tickled at the back of her mind, something was… wrong.

‘Look out!’ Shampoo chattered in warning. Akane’s eyes snapped open, above her bed on the ceiling was a girl her age with black hair pulled into a side ponytail and wearing a black leotard. She also had a mallet clenched in between her teeth.

Akane rolled off the bed and to her feet at the same time the girl dropped down from the ceiling and crashed into her bed mallet first breaking the bed. Akane’s hands came up ready for an attack.

“Who are you?! What do you think you’re doing!?” Akane yelled then narrowed her eyes. “Wait, you’re Kuno Kodachi aren’t you. Trying to take me out before the match?”

Kodachi stood and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“Take you out? No no, that would be improper,” Kodachi said. “I merely wanted to meet with my opponent before our little match next week.”

“And that involved trying to smash me with a mallet?” Akane asked with a snort. Shampoo growled at Kodachi as she climbed out of Akane’s pocket up to her shoulder, purple fur puffing out. “You might have gotten the drop on the other girls but I’m not so easily taken down. I’m going to destroy you at our match.”

“No need for such harsh words,” Kodachi said as she swung her mallet at Akane. Akane ducked and rolled to the side, Shampoo leaping at Kodachi at the same time and landing on her face, biting and scratching. Kodachi let out a scream of surprise and dropped her mallet. Akane took her chance and grabbed one of her dumbbells, throwing it at Kodachi while yelling,

“Kyandi!” Shampoo heard the warning and leapt off Kodachi gliding over to the bookshelf while the dumbbell hit Kodachi in the head.

“Oh you will pay for that!” Kodachi said as she held her head.

“Ah but what I did wasn’t against the rules,” Akane said. “After all I used a ‘tool’ to hit you.”

“Hmmf, indeed,” Kodachi said as she gave Akane an appraising look. “I look forward to our match next week.” Kodachi sent a shower of black flower petals that blinded Shampoo and Akane long enough for her to leap out the window with an ‘Hohohoho!’

“What a loon,” Akane said with a shake of her head then looked around her room. “Wait, who’s going to clean up this mess!?” She asked as she took in her broken bed and the black rose petals covering her room. Kyandi squeaked and chattered as Akane sighed.

“Oh my Akane are you alright, what was all that noise?” Kasumi asked as she opened the door.

“Wow, what happen here?” Nabiki asked from behind their older sister. Ranma also peered in over Kasumi’s other shoulder.

“Oh I just had a visitor,” Akane said with a sigh as she picked up Kyandi and cradled the sugar glider against her chest. “Kuno’s younger sister Kodachi. I’m going to need a new bed.”

“Oh dear,” Kasumi said as she took in the mess. “Let me get my broom.”

“Leave it for now Nee-chan,” Akane said with a sigh.

“I’ll order a new bed tomorrow,” Nabiki said with a yawn. “Kuno-baby can pay for it since it’s his baby sister that caused the damage.”

“Kodachi tried to take you out before the match huh?” Ranma asked as she slipped into the room. “This doesn’t seem like a normal gymnastics thing,” she added as she hefted up the mallet that Kodachi left behind.

“She tried, but I got her good and so did my little Kyandi,” Akane said as she held up Shampoo and kissed the cursed girl’s head. Shampoo blushed hotly under her fur. “My little Kyandi was so brave.”

“Well, she seems gone for now,” Ranma said as she looked out the window.

“Good,” Akane said. “I’ll sleep in Kasumi’s room tonight I guess. Goodnight Ranma.”

“Night Akane,” Ranma said with a yawn as they left the room, Akane shutting off the light on the way out.

*****

‘So that was Tendo Akane…. She is not what I expected,’ Kodachi thought to herself as she leapt out the window and twisted herself up to the roof of the Tendo household. The way her older brother waxed on and on about the girl, Kodachi thought Akane would be some sort of super model beauty. Some sort of goddess in human guise. Instead she found a plain little girl. Oh she supposed Tendo Akane could be considered pretty to a normal person but she was way below the standard that a Kuno should have.

When she heard that Akane would be her new challenge from Furinkan High School, Kodachi had been eager to seek the girl out, not only to defeat her before the school match even started but to rub in her brother dear’s face that she had taken out his ‘Beloved Tendo Akane’. Again, Akane was not what she expected her to be at all. She was a little disappointed.

The girl was no threat to her title at all Kodachi decided. The girl had no training whatsoever in Rhythmic Gymnastics and would never be ready within a week, not against the lifetime of training Kodachi had. Yes, she would let Tendo Akane make it to the match she decided so she could deal the girl a humiliating defeat not only in front of her own school but in front of her darling brother Tatewaki. And to pay her back for that hit that Akane managed to get in, Kodachi could feel a bruise forming on her forehead, marring her perfect skin! Oh yes, Tendo would pay for that!

Kodachi could feel a laugh bubbling in her throat and a grin stretched over her face. Oh yes, she hadn’t been this entertained in a while. But as she opened her mouth to let the laugh loose, something slammed into her temple and knocking her out of the air. For a moment… everything went black as she felt herself fall.

And, just faintly, she heard someone call “I’ll save you!”

****

Mousse cursed under his breath as he jumped over the rooftops toward the Tendo Dojo. Shampoo was missing and all he could find of her was her clothing when he went out looking for her. Shampoo’s cursed form was so tiny and helpless and Mousse couldn’t stand it if something happened to her! He was rushing to the dojo to get Ranma’s help looking for the purple hair girl, or if he was lucky Shampoo had headed to the dojo herself to get to safety and hot water.

As he leapt off one rooftop, wasn’t that the Tendo house there, his foot connected with something that nearly sent him sprawling but he managed to correct his fall mid air and land lightly on his feet. He looked down to see what it was he hit and saw a figure falling to the ground. Was it Shampoo?

“I’ll save you!” He called as he quickly followed the falling body and scooped it up princess style before the form could hit the ground. Mousse landed lightly on his feet on the ground, bending his knees to soften the impact, with the woman he saved in his arms.

Kodachi blinked up at her savior, this… this man had saved her. This very handsome man, tall with long black hair and majestic white robes!

“Are you alright?” Mousse asked. Kodachi swooned, even his voice was perfect!

‘Ohhh, I never thought I would find a man, not like this,’ she thought as she held her cheeks blushing and looking away. What luck that this handsome knight in shining armor would be there to catch her!

“Hello?” Mousse frowned, this didn’t feel like Shampoo. The body was smaller than his beloved and wasn’t as muscular. Plus they weren’t trying to beat him to death, as much as he wished it he doubted just saving Shampoo from a fall would have the girl swooning in his arms. Reaching up Mousse pulled down his thick glasses and saw that yes, this was not Shampoo at all. It was some other girl. “Excuse me but I need to put you down now,” Mousse said as he started to put Kodachi on her feet.

Kodachi reacted quickly wrapping her arms around Mousse’s shoulders tightly.

“I w-was so scared!” She said as she clung to her savior.

“O-oh… well you’re fine now,” Mousse said as he awkwardly patted her back. How in the world did you comfort a crying female?

“Thank you,” Kodachi said as she pulled back to look at Mousse again, mentally frowning as she saw the glasses that hadn’t been there a moment ago. They were thick and covered up those pretty green eyes she saw before. Oh well, nothing laser eye surgery couldn’t fix. She was a Kuno after all and could afford to get his eyes fixed. “Might I know my savior’s name?”

Mousse frowned as he finally got Kodachi to get down and stand on her own two feet though she still clung to him.

“Mu Tsu,” he said as he tried to get his arm out of her grip.

‘Ms Tsu,’ Kodachi let the name roll around in her mind for a moment, foreign name. Chinese maybe? Pity Kodachi didn’t know any Chinese, she was schooled in the languages of English, French and some Latin. Still it sounded exotic.

Finally letting go of Mousse and leaping to the other side of the yard, Kodachi gave him what she thought was a coy smile.

“I am Kodachi, the Black Rose,” She said as she took out a bouquet of her beloved black roses. “Please allow me to thank you properly.” She tossed bouquet of roses to Mousse who caught them.

As he did, his nose twitched as he quickly took in the scents on the roses then quickly tossed them up and away from him where they explode in a shower of petals and dust.

“Paralyzing powder,” he said in a musing tone. “Pretty powerful too, would have kept me from moving for hours before wearing off. Impressive.”

Kodachi blinked at Mousse and her mouth dropped open.

“H-how…” she couldn’t get the words out, how did he know? No one had ever escaped one of her rose attacks so neatly before!

“My mother is an herbalist,” Mousse said with a shrug of his shoulders. His mother had grown up in Yakusai, one of Joketsuzoku’s sister villages that was well known for its herbalists. She had moved to Joketsuzoku when she and his father had fallen in love and he had ‘defeated’ her in combat. He had grown up around his mother’s herbs, since his eyesight started to go he learned to rely on his ears and nose to tell him what was going on in the world. There for he had smelt the herbs in the roses and had known what the mixture would do. “You must tell me your recipe for your mixture, my mother would love to know it.”

Kodachi blinked then slowly grinned, oh this man was even more interesting and wonderful that she hoped!

“We shall meet again Ms Tsu,” She said then leapt away back toward the Kuno estate laughing in delight. What a man!

“What a strange girl,” Mousse said with a shake of his head as he tucked his hands into the wide sleeves of his robes. He heard a sound from above and turned to see that Nabiki girl leaning out her window. She smirked a little when she noticed he had saw her then backed up out of the window and shut it. “Both of them, just strange.”

*******

Nabiki yawned as she entered her room, one hand over her mouth and the other scratching her stomach. She couldn’t believe how much damage that Kodachi girl made to Akane’s room.

“Uhg, and I thought Akane was destructive,” Nabiki said with another yawn. “Still, I’ll be able to charge Kuno an arm and a leg over this, replace Akane’s bed and make some money on the side. All in all, a good turn around.” She flipped off her ceiling light and started to unbutton her PJ top so she could sleep in her skimpy nightgown under the top and pants then stopped as she heard voices outside her window.

Curious Nabiki slowly pushed the window open wider and leaned against the sill, one of her eyebrows rising as she saw Mousse holding Kodachi. Leaning further out to hear, Nabiki watched as Mousse set Kodachi down and how the girl acted so lovesick. It made Nabiki narrow her eyes, she had already decided Mousse was her’s to play with. She was impressed when Mousse deflected the bouquet of black roses then jumped a bit when they exploded in a shower of dust and petals, Mousse declaring the dust to be paralyzing powder.

‘And he could tell that just by smell alone,’ Nabiki thought, happy when Kodachi finally left her family’s yard. She winced a bit as the high pitched annoying laugh rang through the air. Glancing down again, she saw that Mousse had finally noticed her. Nabiki smirked a bit at him before exiting the window back into her room and shutting it. “So Kuno Kodachi, you think you can just take my plaything? Well you’ve got another thing coming.”

Nabiki didn’t know all that much about Kodachi, she never really pegged the younger Kuno sibling as all that important. Oh she knew Kuno had a sister of course, and that she went to an all girls school but that was about it. Since she never thought she would have a reason to interact with the younger girl as Kodachi was rarely seen anywhere near her brother. But Nabiki planned on fixing that mistake as soon as possible and by tomorrow afternoon she planned on knowing as much about Kodachi as possible.

*****

“So how is this plan supposed to work again?” Akane asked as she and Ranma walked to school, Ranma walking along the top of the chain-link fence and Akane on the sidewalk.

“Just take Ryoga to the field he wanted to fight at after school so I can try to patch up things between us. Maybe if he finally has this fight with me he might listen to reason,” Ranma said. “He really hates my guy form and that’s something I really don’t want.”

“Why does he seem to hate you so much, as a boy I mean? He kept going on about your ‘man to man’ fight,” Akane asked. Ranma sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“That wasn’t my fault, I didn’t intend on leaving until after our spar. It’s all Pops fault,” she said.

“How is it your father’s fault?” Akane asked.

Ranma leaped down onto the sidewalk as the fence ended and walked beside Akane. “Ok, you were there when I said I waited three days for him and Ryoga showed up on the fourth and I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there cause Pops carted me off to China. See I stayed up all three days and nights waiting on Ryoga and I sorta passed out the third day.”

“Ranma! Why in the world would you stay up all that time?” Akane asked.

“Well you’ve seen how his sense of direction works,” Ranma pointed out. “I had no idea when he would show up so I stayed awake. When I woke up again it was a couple of days later, Pops had picked me up and left after I passed out. I pointed out to him he promised we would stay until after Ryoga and me had that final spar, and it was always going to be a spar to me I had no idea Ryoga saw it as a ‘man to man’ fight, but Pops claimed that since Ryoga didn’t show up the day we were going to originally fight I won by default.”

“And Ryoga is upset because he thinks you broke your promise,” Akane said.

“Yeah but I don’t want him to hate me like that,” Ranma said. “I mean, we get along in my girl form but he doesn’t know both my forms are the same person. It’s kinda stressful to have him hate me in one form but like me in another. And I want us to be friends.”

“Friends…. Or more than just friends?” Akane asked teasingly, poking Ranma in the arm. Ranma’s face flushed almost as red as her hair in her female form making Akane laugh.

“S-shut up!” Ranma said, her face becoming redder as Akane laughed even harder.