Here's the reworked version of part 2 of "Twin Fists of Fury" under
the new title, for the same reasons as part 1.  Enjoy.

        Stoner 3:17 Presents

        Double or Nothing

        A "Ranma 1/2" Fanfiction Series

        Written by Jeremy Mullin (stoner317@hotmail.com)

        "Ranma 1/2" characters and situations created by Rumiko
Takahashi, all rights reserved, used without permission.  Please don't
sue, I have no money.

        PART 2: With Friends Like These...

     Ukyo Kuonji was a woman with a mission as she walked to the
Tendo Dojo.  She was worried about Ranma.  He hadn't been seen for
the last few days, not since he went on that date with Shampoo she'd
heard about.  She hoped that nothing had happened, like Ran-chan
opening his big mouth and earning a beating from the Amazon.  Or
worse, from Akane, for just going out with Shampoo.
     She really hoped that it had nothing to do with her.  She had worked
hard to win back Ranma's trust and friendship after her part in the
wedding fiasco.  He'd been quite angry that she had stooped to
Shampoo or Kodachi's level with the exploding okonomiyaki.  She
hadn't planned on hurting anyone, just scaring Akane, but it had got out
of hand.  Ranma didn't speak to her for several weeks before finally
excepting her apology, and her new "reputation" had hurt her business
as people were scared to come near her.  And she was now working
alone, as Konatsu was gone after she got mad and threw him out for
suggesting that Ranma would never love her the way she wanted.  He
never came back, and last she heard, he was working for some rich
family somewhere in Hokkaido.
     Finally approaching the dojo, Ukyo stopped in front of the gate
before entering and looked around.  Nothing seemed out of the
ordinary; no new damages or repairs to the house that she could see.
And she could hear shouting coming from the back, like someone
practicing martial arts.  And if she guessed correctly, it sounded like
Ranma-chan and Akane.  She smirked, wondering if Ranma was really
taking Akane seriously in training or if she was just jumping around
and dodging again.
     Getting back on track to why she was there, Ukyo walked through
the gate and up to the house.  She slid the door open and entered,
slipping on a pair of house slippers as she called out, "Hello?  Anybody
home?"
     A familiar voice answered, "Hmm, I wonder who that could b--
Oh."  Nodoka Saotome stepped out from the kitchen, wiping her hands
on  her cooking shawl.  She frowned slightly when she saw Ukyo, but
nonetheless bowed in proper greeting.  "Hello, Ukyo."
     Ukyo winced at the tone of Nodoka's voice as she returned the bow.
She wasn't exactly one of the older woman's favorite people, not after
she had helped in destroying the Saotome home and then the incident
at the wedding.  She had even declared that her engagement to Ranma
was never valid to begin with, since Ranma was already betrothed to
one of the Tendo girls and that Genma was probably only after her
father's cart, anyway.  At least Nodoka tolerated Ranma's friendship
with her, but only just barely.
     "Um, hello, Mrs. Saotome," she finally responded, returning the
greeting.  "I was just wondering--"
     "Akane and Ranko are training in the backyard," Nodoka said
simply, then returned to the kitchen without another word.
     Ukyo frowned at the other woman's attitude.  She hated being
treated like dirt, especially by the mother of her Ran-chan.  She was,
however, confused by Nodoka's reference of "Ranko".  She knew that
she was talking about Ranma, as that was the disguise Ranma used in
Nodoka's presence before she knew about the curse.  Then she recalled
Ranma telling her how Nodoka still called him Ranko while in female
form out of habit, so she shrugged it off.
     Ukyo stepped up into the house, then headed down the hall straight-
on to the living room.  There, she found Mr. Tendo sitting at the table
reading the paper and a bored-looking Nabiki reading a magazine.  Mr.
Tendo didn't look up at her as she walked by, but Nabiki raised a
curious eyebrow before shrugging in that disinterested way of hers.
Ukyo just went on ahead to the backyard and soon found who she was
looking for, doing something that surprised her and caused her quietly
giggle.
     Ranma, in female form, was indeed sparring with Akane, Ranma in
her usual Chinese garb and Akane in her yellow gi.  What surprised
Ukyo was that the two actually were sparring, Ranma actually trying to
attack Akane instead of just dodging.  It seemed to be simple basic
training that they were doing, leaving Ukyo to wonder if Akane had
finally gotten Ranma to take her seriously.  For some reason, though,
she couldn't shake the feeling that the one being trained was... Ranma?
     "Come on!  That's it!" Akane said with a grin as she and Ranma-
chan traded blows, dodging or blocking if whenever possible.  "Maybe
soon, you'll be able to take me on, again."
     Ukyo blinked in confusion at that.  What was going on, here?
     Ranma-chan growled through gritted teeth.  "You're enjoying this,
aren't you?!  I happen to already know all this!  And I could still take
you on any day of the week, if I wanted to!"
     Akane smirked again.  "Not really, you don't.  And until then, you're
the one learning here.  So there!"
     Ranma-chan growled again in response.  "Yeah?!  Well, just wait 'til
I'm put back together and a guy again!  Then I'll show you, Akane!"
     Ukyo gasped when she heard this, though she mainly only heard the
"guy again" part.  Her Ran-chan, trapped as a girl again?  Had
Shampoo done something to do so?  And why did it seem that he was
retraining in martial arts.  She needed answers, and she wasn't going to
get them standing around watching.
     "You wanna explain what you mean by that, Ran-chan?" she asked,
making her presence known.
     Akane and Ranma-chan's sparring session was brought to a halt
when they heard Ukyo's voice.  They turned to face her, blinking in
surprise and a scowl quickly appearing on Akane's face.
     "Uh, hey, Ucchan," Ranma said with a weak grin.
     "What do *you* want?" Akane asked with contempt in her voice.
Unlike Ranma, she hadn't completely forgiven the okonomiyaki chef.
     "Hey, lay off, Akane," Ukyo shot back as she tried to keep her cool.
"I said I was sorry for what happened at the wedding, so stay off my
back."
     Akane didn't reply, just continued to fume at her.  Ranma-chan just
shrugged, obviously not wanting to be included in the conversation and
be forced to take sides.
     Satisfied, Ukyo continued, "Now, I came by because I haven't seen
or heard from you guys for a few days and I was a little worried."
     "Worried about Ranma, you mean," Akane muttered under her
breath.
     "Nothing's wrong, Ucchan," Ranma-chan quickly replied nervously.
In a way that said that there *was* something wrong.
     "So how come Akane's training you in martial arts?  And what's this
about you being stuck as a girl?" Ukyo asked suspiciously.
     Akane and Ranma looked at each other nervously, adding to Ukyo's
suspicions.  But before either of them could give something of a reply,
there was a rather unexpected interruption.
     "C'mon, boy!  Work harder!" the booming voice of Genma Saotome
roared as he leapt over the wall of the dojo and landed in the yard.
"You've got to push it harder than that if you want to make up for
losing a whole year's worth of training!"
     If Genma's entrance didn't surprise Ukyo, what happened afterwards
did.
     "Aw, shut up, old man!" a familiar male voice yelled back as
another figure followed Genma into the yard.  "I can still kick your lazy
butt any day of the week, even if I lost ten years of training!  And with
these stupid weights on my arms and legs!"
     Ukyo gasped as she recognized the voice, and the person it belonged
to.  Though it was impossible since he should have been right there in
front of her in a female body.
     Ranma, in male form wearing a white gi and with his hair in his old
ponytail, went toe-to-toe with his father by the pond.  He lashed out
with punches and kicks the best he could wearing weighted bands on
his arms and legs.  Genma, in all his cockiness, grinned as he dodged
and weaved in front of Ranma.  Rarely did he throw any attacks of his
own in the match, but he suddenly threw a kick to an opening to
Ranma's mid-section that sent him into the pond.
     "See what I mean, boy?" Genma boasted in that smug way of his.
"You've gotten sloppy by losing that one year of training, while I've
been able to stay in proper form!"  He started to laugh that stupid laugh
of his, right before he was knocked into the pond by a kick from
behind.  In his boasting, he hadn't seen Ranma come out of the pond
and get around behind him.
     "Who you calling sloppy, Pop?!" the soaking wet and *still male*
martial artist shot back as he smirked at the scowling panda who
emerged from the water.
     "Wha... w-what's going on here...?" Ukyo gasped as she repeatedly
shifted her shocked gaze from Ranma to Ranma-chan.  She couldn't
believe what she was seeing.  Her question, however, drew a curious
Ranma's attention over to her and the other girls.
     "Oh, hey, guys," he said with that lopsided grin that was probably
the reason that Ranma had his "luck" with women.  Nodding his head
towards Ukyo, he asked, "Say, who's your friend?  I dunno why, but
she reminds me of somebody."
     A still-shocked Ukyo almost jumped when a hand came down on
her shoulder, and she spun around to see Ranma-chan giving her a
sympathetic look.  "C'mon, Ucchan," she said with a sigh as she began
to lead the other girl towards the house.  "We gotta talk."
     Ranma blinked in surprise.  "Ucchan?"

     Some time later, after Ranma, Akane, and Ranko, as Ukyo soon
discovered, had cleaned up and changed their clothes, the events of
what happened on Ranma's date with Shampoo were laid out.  There
was no other choice but to tell Ukyo the truth, since she had seen the
"twins" together after thinking Ranko was Ranma and she and Akane
went along with it.
     "...and that's pretty much how it happened, Ucchan," Ranko
concluded as she and Akane told the story while the four of them sat
around the low table in the living room.  She frowned in irritation when
she noticed that Ukyo wasn't paying attention to her, but was staring at
her "brother."
     "Aw, poor baby," the okonomiyaki chef said with a pout as she
stared tenderly at a shocked-appearing Ranma.  "You really seem to
have it rough all the time, don't you?"  While she had paid attention to
what she had been told about Ranma and Ranko's separation, there
were two particular facts that she was most interested in: Ranma being,
at long last, cured and a hundred percent male again, and his memory
loss of the last year.  That meant he didn't remember any of the other
"engagements", but still did remember their childhood friendship.
     A little something that Ranma, dressed in a white T-shirt and
sweatpants as he'd never worn the Chinese outfits before and was not
used to them, had to be brought up to date about.
     "This... this is my old buddy Ucchan?" he said as he continued to
stare in shock at the goo-goo eyed Ukyo.  "But... she's a girl..."
     Ranko nodded.  "Yeah, turned out she really was the whole time.
You, and I, just thought she was a boy 'cause of how she looked and
acted."
     "Well, I was six..." Ranma replied in agreement, but that didn't
really make him feel better about the whole thing.
     "Oh, don't worry about, Ran-chan," Ukyo said as she suddenly
leaned over and took hold of Ranma's arm, surprising everybody with
her sudden forwardness, especially Ranma.  "I'm sure you'll have
plenty of time to get used to it before we get married."
     Ranma shot out of Ukyo's hold and to his feet like he had his seat set
on fire.  "What?!  M-married?!"
     Ranko nodded again, a smirk on her face.  "There's one advantage to
being stuck like this: no more fiancees," she muttered.  Raising her
voice, she explained, "Remember when you and Pop left Ucchan's to
go train some more and she was chasing after you?  While you were
tugging along their okonomiyaki cart?"
     "Yeah..." Ranma said warily, not taking his eyes off Ukyo.
     "Seems our idiot father went an engaged you to Ucchan, here, when
you were kids.  The cart was the dowry, and probably the only reason
he made the deal in the first place."
     "That's Pop.  Always thinking of his stomach," Ranma growled.  In
a louder voice, he added, "But I can't marry her.  I'm supposed to marry
Akane, aren't I?"
     This drew a collective gasp from the gathered females present, who
all stared in shock at Ranma's statement and how casually he said it.
Akane, in particular, suddenly got a tender look on her face.
"Ranma..."
     Ukyo, however, was a bit upset.  "Hey, that's not true!  I'm your real
fiancee!  You're supposed to marry me!"
     Akane quickly turned to glare at her rival.  "You are not!"
     "Our dads engaged us when we were six!"
     "It still doesn't count!  My dad and Mr. Saotome agreed to have
Ranma marry a Tendo to inherit the dojo around when he was born!
And like Ranko said, the only real reason Mr. Saotome agreed to
engage Ranma to you was so he could get your cart!"
     As the two girls argued back and forth, the Saotome "twins" stared
on in shock.  "Is it... always like this?" Ranma asked.
     "Ucchan and Shampoo, yeah," Ranko replied.  "But Akane's never
made any defense in her case.  She's always said the other girl could
have ya.  And let's not even discuss Kodachi."
     "How do you put up with it?" he asked her.  *How'm *I* gonna put
up with it?* he thought to himself.
     Ranko just shrugged in response before replying, "Well, if it's worth
becomin' a guy again, I'm gonna have to."
     "I'm afraid that's the least of your worries, Ranko."  The four teens,
including Akane and Ukyo whose argument was brought to a halt,
turned their heads to see Dr. Tofu enter the room, the other members of
the Tendo Dojo household following.  Kasumi, ever thoughtful as
usual, was carrying a tray of snacks, with Genma following closely
behind her like a faithful puppy.  Nodoka, carrying a tray with a
steaming tea kettle and some cups, frowned disapprovingly at him.
     As the others sat down, Ranko suddenly felt very worried at the
doctor's statement.  "What are you talking about, Doc?" she asked as
she grabbed a cookie off the tray and began to munch on it.  Ranma
and Genma were already fighting over the other snacks.
     Dr. Tofu almost started to reply, but stopped when he noticed Ukyo.
He, of course, didn't want anything to slip, but at Akane's nod realized
that it was okay.
     "Well," he finally began as he grabbed a cookie for himself, "I've
been doing some research in regards to Ranko and Ranma's separation
over the last few days, and..."  He paused to let out a brief sigh.
     It was an action that Ranko didn't like.  "Well?  C'mon, Doc, tell
me!  Can I become a guy again, or what?"
     With another sigh, the doctor answered, "What.  I'm afraid that it
seems that whatever caused you and your brother to separate is
permanent.  It can't be reversed."
     "WHAT?!"  Ranko shot to her feet and grabbed Dr. Tofu by the
front of his gi top, pulling him nose-to-nose with her.  "What the hell
do you mean?!  I'm stuck like this?!"
     Before Ranko could get anymore violent with the doctor, Nodoka
stepped in, taking a firm yet gentle grip on her daughter's wrist and
making her release the doctor.  "That's enough, young lady," she said
in chastising motherly tone.  "Overreacting like that isn't going to help
anything."
     Ranko, while taking some offense at being called a "lady", gave her
mother a sheepish look.  "Sorry."
     Dr. Tofu regained his composure, then continued now that he had
everyone's attention.  Genma and Ranma had even stopped their
fighting over the food.
     "I'm sorry, Ranko.  I've looked through every piece of text I have
regarding Jusenkyo and its workings, and there isn't any record of a
victim's forms being separated after being struck by lightning.  And
since we don't really know what caused you and Ranma to separate
anyway, other than my theory, I don't think we can take a chance as to
trying a cure without causing harm to the two of you."
     Ranko took a moment to digest the information.  "So," she slowly
began to reply.  "I'm stuck like this.  For life."
     Dr. Tofu didn't reply, but instead just nodded.  Ranko sighed and
slumped into her seat and began to mope, radiating an aura of
depression that would've made Ryoga proud.
     "Oh, my," Kasumi finally said, finally breaking the long moment of
silence that had fallen.  "Dr. Tofu, are you sure there isn't anything you
can do?"
     He shook his head.  "Like I said, not without possible risk to Ranma
or Ranko.  I don't even think we can risk an attempt to repeat what
happened, either."
     Genma suddenly spit out the tea he had been drinking.  "WHAT?!"
     Dr. Tofu shrugged.  "Sorry, Mr. Saotome.  But since we don't really
know what caused Ranma and Ranko to separate, I'm afraid there's too
great a risk in repeating what happened.  For all we know, there were
certain elements involved in either the water, the powder, the lightning,
or even Ranma himself or his curse.  In any event, it's all too possible
that repeating the event would result in serious harm to the person
trying it.  Maybe even fatal."
     "Besides, where would we get the powder?" Nabiki added with a
smirk.
     "But... what about *my* cure?" Genma whined.
     "What about it?" Nodoka said in a stern voice.  "In case you forgot,
husband, you are forbidden from attempting any possible cure for your
curse.  Your punishment for taking my son to Jusenkyo in the first
place, and for trying to steal the Nanniichuan water at the wedding."
She ran her finger along the hilt of her ever-present katana.  "Have you
forgotten, Genma?"
     The Saotome patriarch gulped loudly and shook his head, then fell
into his own state of depression.
     "Ah, don't feel too bad, Saotome," Soun said with a grin as he
slapped his long-time friend on the back, trying to comfort him.  "You
spend more time as a panda, anyway, so it shouldn't be that much of a
problem, eh?"
     A grumpy Genma glared at Soun.  "Tendo, quit trying to cheer me
up."
     "Okay, so now what do we do?" Nabiki asked.  "We're now stuck
with two Ranmas, with no way to put them back together."
     "Well, we obviously can't go around saying *how* Ranma got
'cured'," Akane pointed out.  "We can't risk anyone else trying to
attempt what happened.  And then there's Shampoo..."
     "What?  You mean that girl with the goofy name?" Ranma asked.
"What about her?"
     Nabiki rolled her eyes back.  "Ranma, you can be so dense.  If
Shampoo found out about this, she'd use it as some kind of leverage to
get you to marry her according to her Amazon law.  Which, as we
explained to you, says that since you beat her in combat, you have to
marry her."
     "But I don't remember doin' it!" Ranma protested.
     "Try telling her that," Akane snorted.  She then gasped as she
realized something.  "But then that would also mean that..."
     Everyone turned their heads to look at Ranko.
     "What?" the red-head snapped, still in a rather foul mood.  "What's
everyone lookin' at me for?"
     "Somebody wasn't paying attention," Nabiki dryly commented.
"Ranko-baby, have you forgotten that other little part of the Amazon
law that says your brother has to marry Shampoo?  And why she came
to Japan looking for you in the first place?"
     Ranko continued to glare at Nabiki for a moment before realizing
what the other girl was talking about.  Her eyes widened and she let out
a loud gasp.
     "Uh, doesn't that part of the law say that if a girl beats an Amazon,
she gets killed?" Ranma asked.
     In response, Ranko screamed.  "AAAAAHHHHH!  Dammit!  I'm
dead!  And this time there's no stoppin' her from killin' me!"
     Her ranting was stopped by her mother's hand being placed on her
shoulder.  "Calm down, young lady," Nodoka said sternly.  "And watch
your language.  You're not going to die, especially not at the hands of
that... girl.  Not so long as we stick to our cover story."
     Everyone nodded in agreement.  Dr. Tofu added, "It'll take some
work.  We'll need the proper documents to prove Ranko's existence,
especially if she'd been living with her mother her whole life.  I can
handle that, if Nabiki could help me."
     The middle Tendo girl nodded with a sly grin.
     "We'll also have to change her appearance some to make her look a
daughter I may have raised," Nodoka continued.  She was beaming
inside with the thought of having someone to pamper.  "And, of course,
she'll have to learn to behave more like a girl."
     "If you think I'm gettin' into a dress, you're nuts," Ranko muttered,
glaring at her mother out of the corner of her eye.
     Before any new argument could start, Ukyo asked, "So where does
that leave Ran-chan?  I mean, people are gonna notice he's not
changing anymore and that he can't remember anything."
     "Simple.  We just don't tell the entire truth," Dr. Tofu replied.
"We'll just say that Ranma was somehow cured, but we don't exactly
know how because he lost his memory of everything that happened
after he was cursed in the process."
     Nodoka nodded.  "Good idea.  Same story, only Ranko is left out of
it.  And no one will try to attempt the cure themselves."
     "Just beat it out of him," Nabiki said with a smirk.
     "Now all we have to do is keep certain people off Ranma's back,"
Akane said sarcastically.  "I know a few who just might take advantage
of his memory loss."
     All eyes went over to Ukyo.
     "What?" she asked with a shocked frown.  "Is it my fault I wanna
help my Ranma honey get certain facts straight?"  With that, she started
to cuddle up closer to him, much to the shock and dismay of certain
people.
     Ranma, however, quickly shot up to his feet.  "Um, I'm, ah, gonna
be in the dojo if, er, anyone needs me," he said quickly, and dashed out
the door.
     Everyone stared in surprise at Ranma's abrupt departure, most
noticeably Ukyo.  Finally, a frowning Ranko got up and followed her
brother.  She found him hurriedly doing old katas that she hadn't used
in a long time, not since...  She decided not to dwell on that and instead
focus on the task at hand.
     "Alright, just what the hell is your problem?" she growled with
irritation.
     Ranma halted his kata in surprise and turned to Ranko with a
confused look on his face.  "Huh?  What're talking about?"
     "You know damn well what I'm talking about!" she nearly shouted,
stomping right up to him and grabbing his shirt to pull him up-close to
her.  "You've been acting like Ucchan's got the plague the whole time
she's been here!"
     Squirming his way out of his sister's grip, Ranma gave her his own
irritated look.  "I couldn't help it!  She gives me the creeps, alright!  I
just found out one of my best friends isn't who I thought he... she...
*whoever* was, and it turns out we're engaged, too!  I mean, how
would you feel?"
     "That's not the point!" she shouted back.  After taking a moment to
calm herself, she continued, "Okay, maybe it did take me awhile to get
used to it, but you don't have to just treat her like crap.  Ever try
listening to her side of the story?"  *Where have I heard that before?*
she thought in surprise.
     Ranma just snorted.  "Yeah, right.  Next you'll be telling me it'll be
almost like it used to be when we were kids.  Not if one of us was
really some tomboy who couldn't figure out if she was a girl or not.
I mean, who knows what she does when no one else is around?"
     Before Ranko could say anything back in Ukyo's defense, a new
voice said in a quiet tone, "Is that so?"
     Ranma and Ranko both froze, then slowly turned to see Ukyo
standing in the doorway to the dojo.  She had one hand on the
doorframe, seeming to grip it with almost crushing intensity while she
kept her head low, her bangs obscuring her eyes.  She seemed totally
emotionless, almost cold.
     "Is that how you feel, 'Ran-chan'?" she continued.  She finally raised
her head to look at them, and they could now see the angry look
accompanied by the tears streaking down her face.
     Ranko noticed a familiar expression on Ranma's face, one that she
had used herself quite often.  The one that came whenever she had put
her foot in her mouth.  "Ah... um, Ukyo... Ucchan..." he began
stammering.  "That isn't... I don't... what I mean is..."
     *Yikes, am I really like that?* Ranko thought with surprise and
disgust.
     Ranma didn't get to say anything further, as Ukyo suddenly stomped
her way over to him and gave him a slap that seemed to echo in the
dojo.  Both Ranko and Ranma looked shocked at this sudden action.
     "Fine, then!" Ukyo cried.  "If that's the way you feel, then the
engagement's off!  In fact, you can forget about the whole friendship!"
     With that, she turned and ran out of the dojo, sobbing the whole
way out.
     "Hey, wait!  Ucchan!" Ranko called after her.  Taking a moment to
glare at Ranma, she ran off after the okonomiyaki chef.  She ran past
Akane, who had caught the tail end of what had happened.
     Turning to look at the still-surprised Ranma, she shook her head and
tsked.  "You just can't stop from opening your big mouth, can you?"
     Ranma turned to look at Akane in surprise at seeing her and a little
disturbance at her comment.  "What's that supposed to mean?"
     "I mean you have to think before you act.  People do have feelings,
you know.  And you can't just go around saying things that hurt them
whenever you want," Akane replied, hoping that Ranma would get the
idea.  With luck, this could be her opportunity to try and change some
of his bad habits, no longer fueled by the over-machoness he got from
getting his curse.
     Unfortunately, what she got was that same snide look on his face as
he came back with, "Some fiancee you are.  I thought that of all people,
you'd be the one most on my side about this whole thing."
     "Excuse me?!  Are you saying that just because I'm your fiancee I
have to agree with everything stupid thing you say?!" she asked
angrily.
     "Well, isn't that how it works?" he asked.
     That did it.  Akane began to glow with her usual blue battle aura,
surprising Ranma as she growled, "Why you..."  She pulled out her
mallet and lunged forward to give him a well-deserved bash on the
head.
     However, she never got that far.  As soon as she was in range,
Ranma quickly dodged the attack and grabbed her wrist, throwing her
across the room.  She landed face-first with her chin hitting the floor
and her sliding across a bit.
     Akane took a moment to recompose herself as she turned to stare at
Ranma in shock.  He had fought back, something he had never done
before because he never fought girls.  Was this another thing that was
different about Ranma before he was cursed?
     "Well?" he asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.  "You still
wanna go at it?"
     Akane scowled darkly and picked herself up.  If he wanted a fight,
then she was more than willing to give it to him.  She still owed him a
good sense-knocking-into, and there was no way she was going to back
down from a chance at an actual fight with Ranma.  Taking a moment
to focus her energies, she lunged into the attack.
     The fight was more than Akane expected.  It was mostly her
attacking, as usual, with Ranma dodging like she remembered but also
using throws and submission holds on her.  Occasionally, he would
give an attack, but mostly a sweep or a light push to the back, not even
going completely all out.  At least he was fighting back, but Akane
wasn't satisfied and she kept at it.
     Ranma, on the other hand, felt a struggle within him.  He had hoped
that a little tussle with Akane would help him work out some of the
frustration he had been feeling.  He didn't like to fight girls, but if he
had to he would defend himself and try not to hurt them too seriously.
Akane, however, was different than anyone else he'd faced and her
continued attacking only seemed to fuel his frustration rather than
release it.  He could feel something build within him, something he'd
felt before over the last few days during sparring sessions with his old
man, only this time it was much worse.
     Focusing himself, Ranma made a move to deliver another shove to a
rushing Akane's shoulders.  A big flash erupted from his hands, and his
vision was obscured by an intense ball of light.

                *               *               *

     It didn't take long for Ranko to catch up to Ukyo.  Even though she
had all but lost her martial arts training, she was still in pretty good
shape and still had her speed.  Still, Ukyo gave her quite the run for her
money, and they were about a couple blocks away before Ranko finally
caught up with her.
     "Whoa!  Hold it, there!" Ranko called as she grabbed the other girl's
shoulder to bring her to a halt.  As she began to catch her breath, she
began to add, "Just wait a--"
     She was cut off by Ukyo spinning around and smacking Ranko's
hand off her shoulder.  The angry glare she gave was almost enough to
put Akane to shame.  "What do you want, Ran*ma*?" she sneered,
putting emphasis on the name and obviously trying hard not to say
"Ran-chan".
     "Hey, it's Ran*ko* right now.  Remember?" the red-head reminded
her with a bit of annoyance.  At herself as well as Ukyo.  She couldn't
believe she was going along with the whole thing, but it wasn't like she
had much of a choice.  "As much as I hate to admit it, Ranma's the guy,
my idiot brother who treated you like crap."
     Ukyo's glare was quickly replaced by a confused, quizzical look.
"You actually think of him as your brother?  Aren't you two the same
person pulled apart?  Or something?"
     Ranko shrugged with a deep sigh.  "Yeah, we are.  But to tell ya the
truth, it's actually easier to think of him as my brother than as my 'male
self.'  And he kinda is my brother, too, when ya think about it."
     "Yeah, I guess you're right," Ukyo sighed back, then scowled again.
"Too bad your brother's such a jerk!"  She suddenly flared with anger.
"I can't believe he said those things about me!  I'm his friend!"
     "And he also thought  you were a guy, remember?" Ranko pointed
out.  "We didn't know you were a girl until you showed up on your
revenge kick.  *After* the curse."
     Ukyo's eyes widened with realization, then she slapped her forehead
as she let out a groan of despair.  "Aw, jeez!  I'm such an idiot!  How
could I have been so stupid?!"
     "You saw a shot at getting Ranma but forgot one little detail?"
Ranko suggested with a grin.
     "You're not helping, you know that?" Ukyo growled.  She then
became somewhat depressed.  "Man, I really screwed up, didn't I?"
She sniffled back a tear.
     Ranko patted Ukyo on the shoulder.  "Hey, don't be like that.  Just
give him some time to get used to the idea that you're a girl.  I know I
needed it.  Just don't mention the fiancee part."
     Ukyo sniffled again as she smile at the red-head, then grabbed her in
a hug.  "Thanks, Ranko."
     Ranko stiffened for a moment, then awkwardly returned the hug.
"Hey, no problem.  Now c'mon.  Let's go see if we can knock some
sense into my idiot brother."
     Ukyo nodded with a giggle, and the two began to head back to the
dojo.  They didn't get very far when a sudden explosion boomed into
the air, and they saw a flash of light.  Like a ki-blast.
     And it had come from the Tendo Dojo.

                *               *               *

     When the girls got back to the dojo, running in record speed, they
were shocked by the sight of a hole blasted into the wall of the dojo.
Running inside, they found everyone inside gathered around a dazed-
looking Akane.  Soun was crying as usual while Nodoka and Kasumi
consoled Akane as Dr. Tofu examined her, with Genma and Nabiki
standing about looking serious.  Thankfully, no one else had shown up
to see what had happened.
     "What the hell happened?!" Ranko demanded as she ran up to
Akane.  Looking around, she noticed that there was someone missing.
"Where's Ranma?!"
     "Gone," Nabiki replied in a bitter tone.  "Took off after he nearly
took my sister's head off with a ki-blast."
     "WHAT?!?!"  Ranko's eyes flashed with anger at this bit of news.
     "Calm down, Ranko.  I don't think it was intentional," Dr. Tofu said
in a rational voice.  "From what I can guess, he must become so worked
up and frustrated that his ki built up and he fired."
     "So what happened?" Ukyo asked as Ranko did her best to calm
down.
     "After you and Ranko left, Ranma and Akane got into another
fight," Kasumi explained, and everyone had a "Figures" look on their
faces.  "But was really strange was that Ranma actually fought back
instead of just dodging Akane's attacks."
     Genma nodded.  "Yes, before Jusenkyo, Ranma didn't have much
problem fighting girls.  He just went a little easier on them.  Of course,
it was after that and the visit to the Amazon village that he changed his
attitude."
     "I suppose that the curse and meeting Shampoo was good for
something," Nodoka sighed.  "At least Ranma learned somewhat how
to better behave around women."
     Kasumi continued.  "Anyway, Akane just kept at it, attacking
Ranma, he snapped and...  Well, I think you can guess the rest."
     "Whoa.  Wait a minute," Ukyo cut in.  "Ranma fired off a ki-blast?
How could he if he doesn't remember how to do it?"
     "Apparently, though Ranma's mind has forgotten what he's learned
the past year, his body hasn't," Dr. Tofu explained.  "The more the fight
went on, the more ki he involuntarily built and when he tried to attack
normally, he let off a blast."
     "So where is he, now?" Ranko asked slowly.  She hadn't felt this
mad since Mount Phoenix when she thought Akane had died during the
battle with Saffron.  When she got her hands on that idiot brother of
hers...
     Nabiki shrugged.  "Who knows?  He took off so fast we couldn't see
which way he went.  He could be anywhere by now."
     "I think that we had better leave him be," Nodoka suggested as she
and Kasumi began to escort Akane out of the dojo, heading for the
house.  "In his state, confronting him might not be such a good idea.
Maybe some cooling off time will do him some good."
     Not everyone was happy with the suggestion, but they nodded with
agreement, anyway.
     The rest of the day went by, but there was still no sign or word from
Ranma.  Night fell and still nothing, and no one was able to stay up to
continue the vigil.  When morning finally came, it was Kasumi who
woke everyone up with the announcement of a note she had found in
Ranma's room, along with some of his things missing.
     It read, "Gone to do some training to clear my head.  Hope to be
back soon.  Don't worry.  Ranma."
     "Stupid ingrate," Genma grumbled as Soun cried about how his
dojo would now collapse.  They were all gathered around the table in
the living room, the note laying in the center.  "Running away from his
problems rather than facing them like a man.  Ranma, you break your
father's heart with--"
     *Splash!*  Ranko set the glass of water down as the panda let out a
growl of confusion at the loss of its voice.  "Shut up, old man.  You're
in no place to talk."  She ignored the panda's glare as she sat and
scowled.
     "Well, I for one am not surprised one bit that he took off," Nabiki
declared, doing her best to hide her anger.  She was still quite upset
about what had happened yesterday, and now she was even more so in
that he did the apparent Saotome trait of running in the face of danger.
She stole a glance at her sister out of the corner of her eye to see any
reaction, but Akane just sat staring at a spot on the table with a blank
expression on her face, not saying anything.
     Nodoka nodded with Nabiki in agreement.  "Nor am I.  With what's
happened to Ranma and having so much of his life forced on him in
such little time, I wouldn't blame him for wanting some time alone.
Though I wish he had told us he was going rather than run off in the
middle of the night."
     "But... but shouldn't we go look for him?" Soun blubbered.  "What
if he doesn't come back?  What'll happen to my p-p-poor Akane?"
     Nodoka took a deep breath before replying, a stern look on her face
that was directed at everyone.  "If we force Ranma to return, we aren't
helping him.  For once, I think that we should just let him work things
out on his own rather than force a decision for him.  That's probably
what has caused much of his troubles to begin with.  When he's ready
to return, he will.  Until then, all we can do is sit and wait."
     Reluctantly, everyone nodded in agreement.  With the family
meeting closed, everyone left the table to go do their different things
before breakfast.  Soun and the panda went to play yet another game of
shogi, Nabiki headed upstairs to her room, and Ranko headed for the
dojo to train.
     Nodoka and Kasumi headed for the kitchen to begin making
breakfast, but Nodoka stopped when she noticed Akane had not yet left
the table.  The youngest Tendo continued to sit with the same blank
expression, not moving an inch.  Allowing Kasumi to go on ahead, the
Saotome matriarch returned to the table and knelt down by Akane.
     "Akane?"  Nodoka placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, startling her
back into reality.  As Akane looked up at her in surprise, she asked, "Is
there something wrong?"
     Akane shook her head.  "N-no, Auntie...  I'm alright."  A frown, just
a little one, appeared then.  "And in case you're asking, no, I'm not
worried about that jerk, Ranma."
     Nodoka, however, was not convinced.  Looking the youngest Tendo
in the eye, she simply said, "Akane."
     She didn't need to say anything further, as Akane began to lose her
control, tears welling up in her eyes and her body trembling slightly
before she finally lost it and threw herself at Nodoka, crying into her
shoulder.
     Not all that surprised by such an action, Nodoka simply held Akane
in a tender, motherly way and stroked her hair.  Taking notice of Soun
and the panda looking over with interest—and quickly looking away
when they were caught—she brought the girl to her feet and began to
take her upstairs.  Once in Akane's bedroom, they sat down on the bed,
Nodoka continuing to comfort Akane.
     "Now, then," she began in a soothing voice, "tell Auntie what's
wrong."
     Akane sniffled as she continued to bawl slightly, calming down a
little.  "Oh, Auntie...  It... it's all my fault!  I should've been more
patient with him about Ukyo, but instead I get mad again and pick a
fight with him, making him run away!"  She began to sob harder again.
"Now he hates me and he's never going to come back!"
     Gently but firmly, Nodoka took Akane by the shoulders and brought
them face-to-face with each other.  "Akane, that's not true and you
know it.  You can't blame yourself for this, no matter what happened.
Maybe you didn't give Ranma much of a chance when you should
have, considering his memory loss.  But then remember that he didn't
exactly handle things any better, either."
     Akane sniffled as she stared at Nodoka with surprise and
amazement.  "R-really?"
     Nodoka nodded.  "He could have tried to calm you down to talk
things out, but instead he fought back and nearly hurt you.  That's what
made him leave, Akane, not anything that you did.  If anything, I would
have to say that this has taught my son that he needs to gain some
control of himself as well as his skills.  Maybe some time away from
here, especially his father's influence, will help him.  Don't you think
so?"
     Feeling a little relieved, Akane gave a small smile and nodded.  It
amazed her how Nodoka could bring a silver lining to a bad situation
and make everyone feel better about themselves.  Hard to believe that
she was Ranma's mother.
     Smiling back in satisfaction, Nodoka gave the girl a hug before
getting up to leave.  "You look tired, dear.  Why don't you get some
rest and I'll call you when breakfast is ready?"  At Akane's nod, she
then left the room, closing the door behind her.
     Akane lay down on her bed on her side, cuddled up against her
pillow.  She began to think about what Nodoka had said.  While she
had been right about Ranma, Akane knew that she was no better and
that part of what happened was still her fault.  After all, how many
times had she jumped to conclusions and let her anger cloud her
judgement?  She seemed to add to the wedge that would drive her and
Ranma apart on many an occasion.  She was just as bad as his other
suitors.  And how many times had they used her anger and jealousy to
their own advantage to get Ranma for themselves?  Too many to count.
     She sat up in her bed, a determined look on her face.  "That settles
it, then," she said to the empty room, thinking aloud.  "I have to learn to
control my temper, how to listen and think before I act.  And I have to
learn to be the proper fiancee and wife for Ranma when he comes back.
I'll show everyone!  Ranma loves me, even if he doesn't remember,
and he *will* be mine!"
     Her new determination giving her an energy boost, Akane got up
and dashed over to her closet, getting out her gi to begin the first step of
her training.

        End of Part Two...

     Okay, some of you might think that Akane caves in to Nodoka a
little too easily (as quoted by one of my pre-readers).  However, let me
point out to you the first half of the "Like Water for Ranma" OAV,
more precisely the end after the dinner is ruined and Nodoka consoles
an upset Akane.  I think I proved my point.  Besides, given the
situation, Akane might just react that way and make such a decision.
As Owen Hart might say, enough is enough, and it's time for a change.
     Besides, it was the best I could come up with.
     This is getting out a little later than I had planned, but response from
my pre-readers was a bit slow.  I only got word back from two of them,
and since school's going to be closing for the semester and I won't
have access to the labs, I couldn't wait and had to go with what I got.
To James Lee and Lord Archive, sorry guys.  Maybe next time.  To
Darren Demaine and Andy Wennersten, thanks for the help, guys!
     In revising this one, I had to practically redo the whole thing from
scratch.  The original version was totally screwed up in my mind and
needed more help than the first part.  Some of you may think I was a
little harsh on Ukyo in this chapter, but before anyone flames me,
gimme a chance to explain myself.  I like Ukyo, too, and she's a good
second in my choice for Ranma's bride-to-be.  However, she strikes me
as the type who might just try to get her own elbow in concerning
Ranma's memory loss, and Ranma's reactions, I think, are rather
justified and in-character for him.  Luckily, I managed to bring a happy
ending for Ukyo in her new friendship with Ranko.  And no, nothing
hentai is going to happen with them, so don't bother asking.  As for
how Ranma and Nodoka act around Akane and Ukyo, respectively, in
the obvious situations, I think that they're about right considering the
circumstances.
     See you next chapter, in which Ranma returns, and there's a lot of
changes going around.  I'll work on it during the break and get it out
when school gets back in.  I promise this won't be like last time and not
put everyone in suspense for two years.  Until then, see ya!