Akane watched Ranma intently as he stood 
motionless before her. After what seemed like 
eternity, his fist flew straight toward her face 
without any apparent warning. She thought she could 
dodge it. Ranma thought she could dodge it. She 
tried to dodge it. She didn’t dodge it.
She flew backwards in a graceful arc. It was 
really quite perfect for a photograph. It was 
really quite sad that Nabiki wasn’t around with a 
camera. Ranma jumped and barely caught her before 
she hit the floor, rolling nimbly with her encased 
in his arms until they stopped several yards away. 
Ranma stared down at her dazed expression with a 
worried glint in his baby blues. Then he went 
flying. He lay motionless for several moments 
before slowly sitting up and rubbing his jaw.
She was biting her lip. Her shoulders shook 
once, twice, then she burst out with a triumphant 
cheer as she jumped to her feet.
“I did it!”
Sansha and her brother poked their heads into 
the dojo’s door. She cocked hers and asked in her 
heavy and unusual accent, “Vat did you do, Akane?”
Akane ran over and grabbed her friend’s hands, 
still bouncing. “I caught Ranma by surprise! I 
took the majority of a punch on purpose. Then, when 
he was leaning over me all worried and everything, I 
socked him!”
Sansha began hopping with Akane at this point as 
Ranma shrugged. “Geez, Akane. It ain’t that big of 
a deal.”
Akane sent Ranma a skeptical look. “Yeah, right 
Ranma. I suppose you think you’re easy to 
surprise?” 
He shook his head and stood easily in one fluid 
movement. “Nah, and to tell ya the truth, I 
wouldn’t recommend surprising me too often. 
Remember the soup incident?”
Akane sighed and Sansha looked very confused. 
“I know, but this was different. Your element is 
fighting, and I caught you off guard.”
He nodded, “Yes, and you learned something 
important from it too. You have to know when to 
take sacrifices in a fight. You took a blow, but 
you gave at least what you got. Good job. Now, 
what do you two need?”
Sansha, still grinning, opened her mouth a 
second behind her brother. He shot his cackling 
sister a disgraced glance before answering Ranma. 
“We were sent by zee lovely Miz Kah-zumi to tell you 
two of dinner.”
Ranma blinked once. “OH. We’ll be down once we 
clean up then.”
The twins nodded and scampered off, apparently 
to find Soun and Nabiki with the same message. 
Ranma turned and smiled down at Akane.
“I really am proud of you, Akane.”
She flushed a little and looked away. “Oh, it 
wasn’t that big of a deal. I just got carried away 
in the moment.”
Her eyes rolled over and up to meet his, her 
face still tilted away slightly from his own. Without 
thought, he reached out with a finger to tilt her face 
up to his. He leaned forward and kissed her.

Akane was shocked, but pleasantly, as he kissed 
her much deeper than he had the night of their date. 
She sighed as he pulled away, and they smiled at 
each other. Then he took a step back and his finger 
fell slowly, regretfully from her chin.
“We’d better get cleaned up. You can go first.” 
He gestured in the general direction of his private 
bathroom.
She nodded, her face adorably pink, and 
scampered from the room. Ranma watched her go with 
some regret, wanting to follow her. He sighed and 
turned to the wall lined with mirrors. It wasn’t 
very traditional, but it came in handy sometimes 
when you were training alone to be able to see 
yourself.
Now he studied his face and wondered what he 
should do with his life.

Akane touched her fingers to her lips before 
entering the dining room a few minutes later. She’d 
changed out of her tank top and shorts, and into a 
simple blouse and skirt. With a pleased smile, she 
opened the door and walked in.
“Hello, every—“She stopped dead as she noticed 
Kasumi talking to the lavender haired woman. “—
one.”
The two women looked up and smiled. Kasumi 
cocked her head in her usual cheerful manner and 
said, “Good evening, Akane. Did you have a good 
work out with Ranma?”
The other woman raised a questioning and vaguely 
disapproving eyebrow at Akane; hinting that maybe 
She and Ranma had been engaged in some scandalous 
acts. Akane blushed, “Uh, yeah Kasumi, it was 
great. I managed to catch Ranma by surprise with a 
punch and sent him flying across the room. He 
almost hit the bedroom door.”
The woman had been relaxing, but had the nerve 
to look scandalized again at that last sentence. 
Akane blushed even more furiously as she realized 
her mistake. She was saved, however, as Nabiki came 
in.
“Hello everyone, if you’ll excuse me—“
Ranma was walking through the doorway behind 
her. He placed one hand on her back and steered her 
over to her usual seat at the table with a smile.
“You’ll be staying right here, Nabiki. I have 
an important message for the entire household.” He 
pulled out her chair and had gently guided her into 
it before she’d realized it and gathered herself 
enough to comment.
“I’m sure I can get the minutes from your 
secretary when I get home. I have a meeting with 
some people from school.”
Ranma waved a dismissive hand and took his own 
seat at the head of the table. “Actually Nabiki, my 
message pertains to your schooling. Now, who are we 
missing? He scanned the table, but Kasumi glided 
into the room with the last of the dishes. She took 
her seat, and Ranma smiled before resuming his scan 
of the table’s occupants. 
Soun, as head of his household, was to Ranma’s 
right. To Ranma’s left was Akane. Kasumi and 
Nabiki sat next to their father. Sansha was next to 
Akane, then Marco by her. Saya had taken the last 
chair, the one at the opposite end of the table from 
Ranma. Noting that everyone was here now, Ranma 
tapped his glass.
When everyone’s faces turned to him, he stood 
and smiled. “Everyone, I believe that most of you 
know Saya? For those of you who don’t, she was my 
private tutor for awhile when I was younger.” 
Akane blinked.
“I’ve told you all that there are certain 
dangers that come with living with and being around 
me. As a result, I thought that Nabiki and Akane 
continuing to go to a public school while some of 
Jaxom’s men are still on the loose is far too 
dangerous for my comfort.”
He smiled down the table Saya. She had her 
hands folded in her lap and a serene half smile on 
her lips. Akane wondered if her face was capable of 
stretching into a full smile.
“So, I’ve asked Saya to come here and give you 
girls the same education that she gave me.” He 
turned to the Keller twins, “And of course the two 
of you are included as well. It’s much safer if you 
all remain here where I can be sure of your safety. 
It will also be safer for Saya, since she worked for 
the Roses as well.”
There was a collective blink from everyone 
except Ranma, Saya, and of course, Kasumi. Nabiki 
stood stiffly and stared blankly at the wall before 
her for a moment. 
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my room making 
some very important phone calls.”
“Oh my,” Kasumi muttered.
They all watched her leave and Ranma sighed. 
“Don’t worry; I’ll have a talk with her after 
dinner. I’ve already had all of the paperwork done; 
you’ll be going back to your school tomorrow for the 
last time until Jaxom’s rings of hitmen have all 
been uncovered.”

As soon as it was politely excusable, Ranma 
wiped his mouth on his napkin and stood. “I’m going 
to go straighten a few things out with Nabiki.”
He was perfectly calm both inwardly and 
outwardly as he walked up the stairs and through the 
hallways to the room that Nabiki had claimed while 
he’d raced to China to save her sister. He paused 
in front of the door and heard a soft conversation.
He knocked on the door before opening it and walking 
in.
Nabiki was sitting in front of the vanity in a 
dark green robe. She stopped mid-sentence and 
turned to look coldly at him over her shoulder. She 
turned back to the vanity and scribbled a note on 
the notebook in front of her. “I’ll call you back.”
She turned around but remained on the stool. 
“Yes, how can I help you?”
Ranma looked around but the only seat was the 
bed. “I know why you’re mad.”
She glared coldly at him. “I told you how 
important my business at the school was to my 
family. Now we’ll have no income whatsoever.”
Ranma held up one finger and slowly shook his 
head once. “Not quite. Since our conversation in 
the Library I’ve done a little research on you. 
You’re good, Nabiki. You’re a natural with numbers. 
I thought, if you accept of course, that you would 
do much better handling my money than the three 
people I have currently under my employ for the 
job.”
Nabiki blinked and sat up a little taller than 
she had been. She quickly ran through the mental 
list she’d been keeping of the priceless antiques 
and artworks she’d managed to identify in the house. 
She cocked her head and drawled, “Please, go on . . 
.”

Akane had taken her time with dinner. After 
Ranma left, she and Kasumi had crossed gazes. With 
a nod, Akane had silently agreed to go check on 
Nabiki later. She waited patiently for three full 
minutes after Ranma left before she stood. Her 
father was crying over the generosity of his future 
son-in-law.
She walked slowly up the stairs, pausing on each 
step for half a heartbeat. She made her cautious 
way down the halls to Nabiki’s room. She froze as 
Ranma walked out of Nabiki’s room with a self-
satisfied smirk. He didn’t seem to notice Akane, 
going in the other direction as he left the room. 
Akane frowned in confusion, but was more worried 
about her sister at the moment.
She ran up to the door and thrust her head in. 
“Hey, sis!”
Nabiki waved casually, staring blissfully off 
into space. “Hi.”
Akane walked over and waved her hand in front of 
her sister’s face.

Akane’s face was the epitome of a perplexed 
teenager. “Okay, so he’s paying for us to have a 
private tutor and for you to handle his money 
because he feels guilty for making us lose money by 
being engaged to me?”
Nabiki nodded, still in a state of dazed bliss. 
Akane threw her hands into the air. “That doesn’t 
make any sense!”
Finally coming back to her senses, Nabiki 
winked, “It does when you know the entire context. 
Look around you Akane, think about all of the money
he must have! I bet that’s why he made the 
stipulations.” She placed a thoughtful finger to her 
chin.
Akane frowned again. “What stipulations?”
Nabiki waved a distracted hand, “Oh, only that I 
couldn’t tell anyone how much he had, make any 
transactions over a million dollars without his 
approval, or see any of his records older than two 
years without his permission.”
Akane yelped. “Are you kidding me?”
Nabiki suddenly looked like a very content 
kitten with a gallon of cream and a pound of tuna. 
“Nope, isn’t it wonderful?”

Akane woke up feeling more rested than she had 
in months. She stretched happily, wondering how she 
felt so rested when Kasumi hadn’t even woken her up 
yet. She glanced over at the clock and yelped. She 
should have been up fifteen minutes ago!
She was bathed, dressed, and finishing drying 
her hair when she remembered. She was going to 
school today, but she wasn’t attending school. She 
wasn’t sure how she felt about having a private 
tutor, but she knew that she hated that tutor. Now 
frowning, she started to storm out of the room. 
Then an idea struck her faster than even Ranma 
could.
Akane scanned her reflection in the mirror, 
biting a contemplative lip. With a slow nod she ran 
to the bathroom.

Sansha growled as the knocking continued to 
disrupt her sleep. Grumbling to herself she was up 
and opening the door before she realized it. She 
flung the door open as a lock of hair fell over her 
right eye.
She blinked a few times before she noticed that 
Akane had swept into the room with an armful of 
stuff. Stuff was the perfect word for the hodge-
podge of miscellaneous objects in Akane’s arms. 
Sansha sighed as said stuff was flung in a pile onto 
her bed.
“Akane, my dear friend, eet eez far too early 
for you to be out of bed with such abounding 
energy.”
Akane giggled with a determined and yet blissful 
grin. “No, we need an early start. I have the 
perfect plan for getting Ranma’s attention.” She 
spun around and Sansha just now noticed that her 
hair was arranged carefully in loose curls with a 
bit pulled back from either side of her face.
“You look nice.”
Akane smiled, “Thanks, I tried to pay attention 
when you did it for that night out with Ranma. It 
took me a lot longer than it did you, though.”
Sansha, still half asleep, finally blinked and 
gasped in comprehension. With a gleam in her eyes 
she grabbed the brown mascara and a sheer pink 
lipstick.

Akane studied her reflection carefully. “I 
don’t know, you can barely tell a difference.”
Sansha giggled, “But Akane, that eez zee point!”
Akane turned a disbelieving eye to meet her 
friend’s eyes in the mirror. “I don’t quite follow 
you.”
Another giggle, “Akane, if you went miraculously 
from tomboy to supermodel overnight, people would 
notice. However, if you wear just enough natural 
looking make-up to enhance what is really you, 
you’ll just look like a natural beauty.”
Akane looked skeptical, but shrugged. “If you 
say so; but I’m really getting hungry.”
Sansha saw the girl stand and shook her head. 
“Not quite yet.”
Akane followed her friends gaze and blinked down 
in confusion. She glared down at her school 
uniform. “I suppose I should change, since this 
ruins the effect.”

Ranma left his room after his morning ritual of 
work out and bath. He went downstairs and into the 
dining room to his usual seat. Soun was reading the 
paper and Ranma smirked in triumph. He’d had to 
wait for Soun to finish with the paper everyday for 
weeks. Finally, he’d given in and ordered a second 
one to be delivered each morning.
Ranma picked up his copy and turned to the 
business section. He read the parts that were most 
relevant to his own business ventures before putting 
the paper aside to eat the food Kasumi was placing 
in front of him.
“Thank you, Kasumi.”
She smiled and bustled back to the kitchen as 
the door to the hallway opened up. Ranma looked up 
to see which of his guests was finally waking up. 
He started to mutter a greeting, but froze.
Akane was standing halfway through the door, one 
hand still on the frame. Her eyes caught him first; 
a playful, secretive gleam in them that called out 
to him. Her hair was curled slightly, exactly as it 
had been the night they went out. She was wearing a 
pale yellow silk blouse without sleeves and a crisp 
collar. She had two buttons undone, and wore the 
same gold chain she had the other night. She wore 
fine, tailored black slacks that were just tight 
enough to be alluring without appearing trashy, and 
black leather ankle boots.
He swallowed as she smiled sweetly at him. She 
looked more mature than she usually did as she 
walked comfortably to her seat. As she sat down, 
she shot him another smile. She started to eat as 
he studied her. He couldn’t place it, but something 
was definitely different about her. She was Akane, 
but she wasn’t. He smiled.
“Good morning, Akane. Did you sleep well? You 
look nice this morning.”
Her cheeks turned pink and she put down the 
glass she’d just sipped from. “Thank you, yes I did 
sleep well. And,” she shot him a glance, “Thank 
you.”
He smiled as she continued to blush. “I believe 
your sister is up in her room. Kasumi says that 
she’s already had breakfast, so we can head off as 
soon as you’re done.”
She nodded and took another bite of her food.

Nabiki was first out the door that morning as 
she and her sister were heading out to the drive 
where Ranma was waiting with the car. He was 
standing in the open driver’s side door. He watched 
as Nabiki walked to the car and grabbed the 
passenger side handle. Their eyes met and he raised 
one eyebrow slightly. She smirked and climbed into 
the backseat. Ranma shook his head with a grin as 
Akane sprang down the steps. She smiled at Ranma 
and hopped into the front seat.
Ranma grinned and sat down himself. He turned 
the car on and started to put it in gear when he 
paused. 
Turning to smile at the girls he said, “How 
about we put the top down?”
Akane laughed but Nabiki just rolled her eyes. 
Ranma smirked and hit the switch. A few minutes 
later, they were zooming down the road with the top 
of the sportscar down. They pulled into the school 
gates a little bit later. Ranma shut the car off 
and jumped across the hood to open the door for the 
girls.
Akane shot him another alluring smile and he 
shook his head slightly to clear it as she started 
waling toward the school. Nabiki gave his 
expression a quick look before chuckling and 
following her younger sister. Ranma slammed the 
door and followed after them, locking the doors with 
the keychain remote over his shoulder as he schooled 
his expression and caught up with them. He paused 
only slightly when he realized that he was angry. 
He blinked once. How could he be angry with himself 
for finding his fiancée a little attractive?
Akane looked over her shoulder. When she caught 
his eyes she giggled a little and held back to grab 
his arm, “C’mon, silly, let’s get this over with.”
He groaned mentally, okay, he found her very 
attractive. He followed the Tendo girls inside and 
they went through the formalities of withdrawing the 
two girls from the school. He spent the majority of 
the time standing back with his hands in his pockets 
and keeping a bored outward expression while he 
tried not to stare at Akane. He couldn’t put a 
finger on the change. Sure, she was dressed 
differently and her hair was fixed, but that wasn’t 
enough to explain his sudden notice of her.
After a little paper signing and records 
exchanging, the girls were told that they could go 
up to their classrooms to gather any belongings 
there. Nabiki and Akane split off and Ranma 
followed Akane with a shrug. He kept his eyes on 
her, er, back until she knocked on her classroom 
door. His eyes jerked up as the teacher called for 
them to enter.
Akane seemed a little puzzled by the female 
voice. Ranma thought it sounded like a typical 
woman’s voice, but he didn’t know what her teacher 
usually sounded like. Akane opened the door and 
stepped in to see a woman with long brown hair in a 
short yellow dress. The woman was standing at the 
desk with a frown of annoyance at her class being 
interrupted.
“Yes, are you two new students? I haven’t heard 
anything about getting two new students.”
Akane smiled and Ranma noticed that every boy in 
the class was drooling. A few of them even fainted. 
“Actually, I’m Akane Tendo. I withdrew a few 
minutes ago and I’ve been sent to get my stuff from 
my desk.”
The woman was glowing with barely-checked rage. 
“Are you some delinquent drop out?”
Ranma’s eyes narrowed as the woman started to 
reach for something. He noted that a few students 
cringed.
Akane shook her head with a confused frown. 
“No, I’m going to have a tutor at home, now. Ranma 
here—“
The woman’s disbelieving eyes turned to Ranma. 
“You are a tutor? You can’t even have finished high 
school yet!”
Ranma was a world famous martial artist with 
millions of fans and dozens of rivals that were 
regularly making tries on his life. He’d survived 
on his own for years in the wild, in the streets, 
and in the clutches of the greatest crime boss on 
this side of the planet. He did not like the scorn 
in her voice, nor the way she said it while looking 
down her nose at him.
He smirked.
“Actually miss, I probably have more education 
than you do. I’m Ranma Soatome, also known as Ryo 
Tome.” He snorted, “I was also known as another 
name, but I won’t share that in front of the 
children. I have to my credit degrees in 
engineering and computer programming. However, I 
will not be the tutor for the Tendo sisters; I am 
merely paying for the tutor.”
The woman just stared blankly at him for a 
moment. Ranma used the break to gesture to a 
stunned Akane to go get her belongings. Before the 
teacher, he never did learn her name, could question 
him again Ranma and Akane were walking down the 
hallway. They met up with Nabiki, who was puzzled 
by the pair of them. They ignored her, however.

Nabiki was waiting by the door for her sister 
and her fiancé. When the two of them came around 
the corner, Nabiki blinked. Ranma was genuinely 
laughing and Akane was giggling ecstatically as she 
hung off his arm. Akane threw back her head and 
gave a brilliant blast of laughter as Ranma smiled 
down at her with sparkling eyes.
They laughed together once more before settling 
down as their eyes fell on Nabiki, her right eyebrow 
raised slightly. They shared a conspiring glance 
before erasing their expressions and calmly walking 
out to the car. Nabiki rolled her eyes and 
followed.

Ranma and the two girls returned home after a 
little grocery shopping to help Kasumi make lunch. 
Nabiki expertly hinted that perhaps Ranma and Akane 
would like a light workout before lunch. Ranma was 
inwardly a little confused that Nabiki was so intent 
on sending her little sister away, but the two elder 
Tendo girls would easily be able to handle a little 
lunch for six, and he did want a little exercise.
So Akane smiled and ran off to change. Ranma 
paused and shot Nabiki a questioning glance. She 
mouthed, “I’ll explain later,” and turned to chop 
vegetables. Ranma shrugged one shoulder and 
strolled up to his room to change. He went into his 
rather large closet and grabbed the a set of Chinese 
clothes he found and stripped. He had his pants on 
when his bedroom door flew open.
“Ranma, I—“
She stopped and stared at him. He was 
tightening the drawstring of his pants and didn’t 
have a shirt on. She turned bright red and took a 
step backward.
Ranma exhaled slowly through teeth that were 
grinding in an attempt to reign in his emotions. 
Her hair was in its usual loose ponytail, the curled 
ends making the dark strands harder to restrain, so 
a few locks had fallen loose to curl around her 
face. He couldn’t help but notice that her gi’s top 
was gaping open just enough to make him want to peek 
like a naïve little boy. He fought to keep from 
frowning at his own odd behavior and smiled at her.
“Perfect timing, Akane, c’mon in.” 
She looked up hesitantly as he slipped the shirt 
on, leaving it unfastened. She took a cautious step 
into the room and closed the door. She gave a 
small, strained smile and he wanted nothing more at 
the moment than to walk over and kiss her until she 
couldn’t not smile.
Instead, he kept his smile on and walked over to 
her. He gave his cocky half-smile and he was 
secretly amused that she seemed unable to draw her 
eyes from his bare chest. He kept walking closer 
until she looked ready to bolt. At that exact point 
he stopped and studied her face for a moment.
“You know, I wasn’t kidding this morning. You 
look absolutely stunning today. Not to say that you 
usually don’t.” He paused and cocked his head. 
“Actually, I would say that you usually look more 
‘cute’ than anything; especially when you smile.”
She blushed and looked away, “Oh, I just wore a 
little make-up today, that’s all.”
He smiled and held a finger to her cheek. 
“Well, you should do it every day. It really 
emphasizes your wonderful features. Just don’t do 
what most girls do and cake on layers of bright 
colors that just hide their faces.”
She blushed again and Ranma was charmed. She 
smiled and glanced quickly to him and away. “Thank 
you, Ranma.”
He nodded his head and caressed her cheek before 
drawing his hand away. “No problem. You know, 
you’re so different from most of the women I’ve 
known.”
She looked up questioningly and he sighed. “I 
suppose you want to hear all about it, don’t you? 
All women are alike in a few ways I suppose. Well, 
have a seat.” He gestured to the couch that was 
against one wall. She giggled and ran over to it. 
She leaned against one armrest and pulled her legs 
beneath her.
He smiled at her and sat next to her. “Well, 
take Lilly for example. She was one of my trainers 
when I went to work for Chad. She was supposed to 
teach me how to shoot. I told Chad that I hadn’t 
used guns very much so he assumed that I didn’t know 
how to shoot. So when I showed up to my first day 
of job training, in walked Lilly with a few big guys 
following her with big crates of guns. She told me 
to pick one and fire at a target.”
Akane giggled at his smirk. “How’d you do?”
“Well, Nishiguchi’s men had made sure I was an 
excellent shot. I just prefer fists or daggers to 
guns so I never use them. So I picked some handgun 
that looked just like the ones I was used to (I have 
no idea what it’s called) and after a score of 
perfect bull’s eyes, she got miffed and tried me at 
some moving targets. Of course, a hitman is no good 
if he can’t pick off a moving target so I got those 
too. I eventually explained everything to her, and 
we became friends.”
Akane laughed as she pictured Lilly glaring at a 
big red and white target with a hole in the exact 
center. “Who else do you know?”
He smiled and decided he should humor her more 
often if she would laugh like that. “Well, there 
are dozens of beautiful women with too perfect 
figures, painted faces, and a doze plastic surgeons 
in their address books. When I was around twelve of 
course I loved beautiful older women flinging 
themselves at me. After awhile though, you get so 
used to outward beauty concealing women so stupid 
that they can’t hold a conversation, or even worse.”
She frowned and grabbed a throw pillow to hug to 
her chest. “What do you mean, ‘worse’?”
He waved a hand and stretched his legs out in 
front of him; his body angled toward Akane and his 
legs crossed at the ankles. “Well, when I was 
almost fourteen this beauty I met at a club came on 
pretty strong. Things were getting pretty heated 
when she pulled a knife on me.”
Akane reached out a comforting hand at his 
obviously pained expression. “I’m sorry Ranma, you 
don’t have to tell me these things if you don’t want 
to.”
“Oh, it’s okay. It just taught me to look for 
more in a woman than a pretty face.” He turned and 
scanned her up and down once quickly, “Of course, 
that helps.”
She looked down at herself, her sad expression 
searching for whatever flaw he apparently saw. 
“Ranma, am I ugly?”
Ranma blinked and asked in a startled tone, 
“What ever made you ask that?”
“Well, you’re a lot wiser about the world than 
the stupid little boys in Nerima. What do they 
know? Just because a few of them have a little 
crush on me—“
He held up a hand and she stopped. He smiled 
and shook his head before reaching out and grabbing 
her hand. He looked deeply into her eyes and said 
softly, “Akane, you are pretty. In a couple of 
years you’re going to be a knockout. You’re 
different than the girls I’ve had previous 
relationships with, but you’re also a few years 
younger than most of them. But, you have things 
they never did.”
She looked a little unsure about whether or not 
she should believe him. “Like what?”
He smirked, “Well, first of all, you have a 
personality. When you walk into a room, you get a 
glance because you’re pretty. But then the eyes 
stay on you because you have a fire of life in you.”
He froze and leaned toward her with concern 
troubling his eyes when he noticed her eyes 
sparkling with tears.
“Oh, Ranma, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever 
heard!”
She threw herself at him and flung her arms 
around his neck. He turned his head slowly in 
confusion to study her ear as she cried softly into 
his shoulder. He wondered how he managed to go from 
a friendly chat with his student/friend to having a 
pretty young girl wrapping her arms around him and 
sitting on his lap.
He cleared his throat and gently put his arms 
around her. “Uh, are you okay?”
She pulled back to look into his eyes, but kept 
her hands clasped loosely behind his neck. “Ranma, 
I’ve never been happier. Do you really mean it?”
“Well, yeah.”
She sighed, “That was so beautiful.”
“What, that? You should hear me when I’m trying 
to be poetic.”
She giggled and then froze. She blushed 
slightly, and tried to pull away. However, he had 
different ideas and leaned forward for a kiss. She 
was startled at first, but gave in with very little 
encouragement.
It was several moments later that they came up 
for air. She had a very dazed expression and she 
melted against his chest. “Ranma, do you like me?”
He snorted, “I kissed you, didn’t I?”
“No, I mean do you like me.” She looked up at 
him with an expression so blank that Ranma could 
have learned from it.
Ranma sighed and gently pressed her head back to 
his chest where he began to stroke her hair. 
“Akane, I don’t know if I want to marry you, but I 
would love it if you would continue to go out on a 
few dates with me.”
He felt her tense slightly and was afraid that 
he’d said something wrong. Then she looked back up 
at him again with tears.
“Ranma, you don’t have to do that. I’m not 
going to be insulted if you want to dump my family 
back off on our front stoop as soon as it’s safe. 
You’ve done more than you needed to already. But I 
will not let you lead me on. If you think I’m 
beneath you or just plain don’t want to date me, 
please tell me.” 
She pulled back a little from him, but he didn’t 
let her go. “Akane, I’m not exactly sure what it is 
about you, but you’re the most interesting person 
I’ve ever met. I would be honored to take you out 
again.”
After another kiss and a few soft words, they 
split and went downstairs for lunch.

Nabiki dressed quickly the next day and padded 
barefoot down the hall to the room that had been 
designated the new school room. She stretched her 
arms over her head and walked in to find Akane 
sitting at a table with schoolbooks in front of her. 
Akane had a dazed but happy expression as she stared 
at the globe in front of her.
“Hey, sis, what’s up?”
Akane looked up, “Oh, not much, but Ranma and I 
are going out again tomorrow night.”
“That’s nice.” Akane and Nabiki both looked up 
to see a smiling Saya in the doorway. “I’m glad you 
two are getting along well. Ranma’s always been 
like a son to me, and I’m happy that he’s found 
someone he can enjoy being with.” 
Akane didn’t seem to thrilled to hear that she 
had the other woman’s blessing, which Nabiki filed 
away. In the mean time, she mentally prepared the 
perfect wording to a sentence that she then sent 
toward her new tutor.
“I’m sure that Ranma’s mother would be glad to 
hear that.” 
Saya blinked, and then looked quite sincerely 
sad. “I know I could never be a true substitute for 
his late mother, but I tried to be a good influence 
on him.”
Now Nabiki was a little confused, but she didn’t 
show it. “Why, whatever do you mean? Mrs. Soatome 
is still quite living.”
Saya froze and turned her tense face slowly to 
study the middle Tendo daughter. “I think you need 
to explain.”
Akane stood and her chair went flying from her 
sudden movement. “Wait a second, you mean Ranma 
hasn’t even talked to his Mom this whole time he’s 
been holed up here in the house hiding from Jaxom?”
Saya blinked and looked extra flustered. “Ranma 
told me years ago that his mother was dead!”
Nabiki shook her head. “No, Daddy and Auntie 
Nodoka have talked a few times over the years since 
they found out that Genma—well, you know.”
Saya bit her cheek and studied Nabiki for a 
moment. “I think we need to have a long talk with 
Ranma.”

Ranma stared blankly at Soun’s face for a long 
moment. “My mother is . . . alive?”
Soun nodded gravely, “Yes, my boy, I would have 
told you earlier except that, well, I assumed that 
you knew.”
Ranma reached into his desk drawer and pulled 
out a pad of paper and a pen. “Do you know her 
address?”
He scribbled a few precious lines before running 
to the front door. He had his hand on the knob when 
he looked down at himself. He’d been working out 
when Saya had knocked on the dojo door. He was 
mussed and sweaty. He wanted to see his mother, but 
he wanted to make a good impression even more. He 
was running upstairs to his room before he could 
form a single other word or thought. 
He flung open his closet door and ran a questing 
hand down each rack. He heard a knock on the hall 
door and answered without thought. A moment later, 
Akane poked her head into the closet door.
“Ranma, what are you doing?”
“Making a good impression, that’s what, is a 
suit too much? No, it will show that I’ve grown up 
and that I’m mature, I think.” 
A moment later, Akane was rushing from the room 
with a bright red face. Only then did he realize 
that he’d started undressing in front of her. He 
shrugged and slipped into a navy pinstriped suit 
that he particularly liked. He grabbed a red rose 
from the arrangement in the front hall and tucked it 
into his lapel. Then he grabbed the rest and tied a 
piece of stray twine around the stems.
The next thing he knew, he was pulling up to a 
small house. He got out of the convertible and 
clutched the bouquet tightly. He started walking to 
the door but paused and looked to the corner of the 
house just before a pretty woman in a kimono walked 
around it with a basket of fresh vegetables. She 
was humming and looked up at him with a slight 
start.

Nodoka scanned the garden once more for any 
stray vegetables that were ripe enough for picking. 
Seeing none, she grabbed the basket and straightened 
the sword strapped to her back. She began to hum 
softly to herself and made her way around to the 
front of the house. She turned the corner and was 
surprised to see a young man standing there with a 
large arrangement of beautiful roses.
He was quite handsome, and dressed nicely in a 
tailored suit. His dark shades hid his eyes, but 
there was something very familiar about him . . .
“Can I help you, young man?”
He swallowed and turned to face her fully. He 
cocked his head as if studying her for something 
unknown. “I’m sorry, but are you Nodoka, Genma 
Soatome’s widow?”
Her throat tightened. She hadn’t heard her 
husband’s name in years. Her hands clenched around 
the handle of the basket. Numbly, she nodded, “Why 
yes, but I haven’t heard that name in years. Can I 
ask what brings you here?”
An exultant smile slowly spread across the young 
man’s face and he took a halting step toward her. 
She nearly shrank back, but told herself that was 
silly. He reached up and took his shades off and 
she was surprised to see that he was crying. Then 
she noticed the deep blue of his eyes.
He smiled so sweetly, “There are some who have 
called me the White Dragon, others have called me 
Ryo Tome, but you and father named me Ranma Soatome 
over sixteen years ago. Mother, I’m home.”

Within four hours, Nodoka had been told all 
about her son’s life. Now he was comforting her, 
and she him, and they were crying their final tears. 
He pulled back and smiled lovingly into her face.
“I always thought you were dead. I never had 
any reason to think otherwise—“ She watched doubt, 
then anger cloud his expression. “That scoundrel 
must have known . . .”
“Ranma, what do you mean?”
He sighed, “Never mind, mother, I’ll explain 
later. Now, how long will it take you to pack 
enough to last you a couple of days?” 
She blinked once, “What do you mean, son?”
He smiled proudly, “Mother, you’re moving in 
with me.”
She blinked, “Oh Ranma, I can’t just yet. I 
have a dear old friend coming to see me tomorrow. 
Besides, I couldn’t dare impose on you.” 
Ranma glanced around the adequate, yet sparse 
accommodations. “Mother, this place is far beneath 
you. Trust me, I can more than afford one more 
houseguest.” 
She cocked her head, “What do you mean, one 
more? Who is living with you, son?”
He slapped his forehead, “Oh yeah! Apparently 
you know the Tendos?” She nodded mutely, so he 
continued, “Well I found out that Pop had engaged me 
to one of them, so they’re staying with me. I can 
explain everything else later, but that’s the basic 
story.”
“Oh, dear me, the whole family is staying with 
you?”
“Yup, now c’mon, come live with me.”
She smiled and cupped his face with one of her 
hands. “My son, I have a few loose ends to tie up. 
Tomorrow evening I will come see your home. If I’m 
satisfied that you can afford for me to live with 
you, I’ll come. Can you come pick me up at this 
time tomorrow evening?”
He nodded, but wasn’t happy. “Fine, but go 
ahead and have an overnight bag ready. Then I’ll 
have some people sent over the next day to get all 
of your things. You can choose what you want to 
keep and throw away once it’s all at my place. I 
want you safe at my place as soon as possible.”
She chuckled, “Oh, Ranma, it is so good to have 
you back.” 
It was very late indeed when Ranma got into his 
car and drove back to his place.

Nodoka had just finished packing her overnight 
bag the next morning when she heard a knock on the 
front door. She was humming happily as she took the 
bag with her. She dropped against the wall as she 
opened the door. A man with black hair and a silver 
streak smiled serenely at her.
“Hello, Nodoka, it’s been too long.”
She smiled, “Oh, Chad, it’s only been a week. 
Come in, I have good news!”
He followed her in and sat across the table from 
her. “That’s nice, what’s your news?”
She smiled and turned to gather the tea 
implements. “I just learned that my son is alive 
and I’m going to see him again tonight! He just 
showed up last night without warning!”
By the time she had turned to set those things 
on the table, he’d schooled his features into a 
suitably happy smile.

Ranma showed up at his mother’s house just after 
she’d eaten dinner. She’d let him in happily and 
excused herself to put up her dishes. He picked up 
her overnight bag and took it out to put in the 
trunk. By the time he made it back to the front 
door, she was opening it to come out and meet him.
He smiled at her, recognizing her features from 
his own. She smiled sweetly up at him and started 
to open the passenger door. He grabbed her hand and 
smirked.
“Not yet, mother, I want it to be a surprise.” 
He pulled out a black blindfold and she laughingly 
allowed him to tie it snugly around her eyes. Then 
he carefully helped her into her seat. He didn’t 
feel self-conscious driving so fast either if she 
couldn’t see it.
He made it back home quickly, smiling the whole 
time. As he parked, he saw a face disappear from a 
window. He ran around the car and helped his 
stumbling mother from the car. He turned her to 
face the house and prepared to take the blindfold 
off.
“It’s nothing compared to my bosses house, but 
I’m kinda proud of it.” He removed the cloth with a 
flourish.

Nabiki strolled into the parlor where the entire 
household was waiting. “They’re here.” She sat on 
the couch between Kasumi and her father. Akane and 
Sansha were on the other couch, with Marco sitting 
next to Saya on the loveseat. It was a few minutes 
before Ranma opened the parlor door.
Nodoka Soatome was in a formal Kimono with a 
Katana strapped to her back. She was smiling up at 
her son and saying something about the house when 
she noticed the people in the room.
“Oh, are all of these people your guests, 
Ranma?”
He smiled and everyone stood to be introduced. 
“Well, I believe you know Mr. Tendo. These are his 
older daughters, Kasumi and Nabiki. Sansha and 
Loren Keller here are the children of an old friend 
of mine; and I’m training them right now. This is 
my childhood tutor, Saya Nishiguchi.” The two women 
smiled and clasped hands, somehow feeling an instant 
kinship.
Ranma turned and gestured for Akane to come 
over. She did slowly, blushing slightly when she 
realized what was coming. Ranma put an arm loosely 
around her waist and smiled at his mother. 
“This is Akane Tendo, my fiancée.”
Author's Notes:

Whoo, what a relief. Okay, first off, I want to send my deepest thanks to everyone that reviewed/emailed me. I never expected such a response. I tried to email a few of you back, but I've been pretty swamped lately, and thought it would be a better use of my time to just buckle down and make a couple changes that were requested.

I have more chapters up on my website, but I've been having problems withe insufficient bandwith lately, as I'm sure some of you know. They haven't been revised yet though. I went back in and tried to add some more in about the curse, without it looking like I was adding stuff in. Not easy, and this means I'm now even further behind on my homework, but what's a girl to do? Next line of business, rework the last couple of chapters. They'll be a lot more involved, cause that's where most of the plot is, but I've been wanting to do it for ages anyway.

To those of you who've reviewed, thanks again! To everyone else, keep 'em coming!!