Ranma and his friends belong to Rumiko Takahashi. They're used here
without permission.

------------------------------
newRanma 13: Playing

by Chris Jones
------------------------------

	"Ranma, I think it's been fairly evident that your father
and I have been having... issues."

	Ranma started at her mother's statement. She had just come
in from school on a Friday afternoon to see her parents both sitting
at the table in the Tendou's front room. They both wore serious
expressions, and her father's back-pack was sitting out, stuffed
full and ready to go by the doorway.

	Ranma wondered what she would do if her parents told her
they were getting a divorce.

	"I... Yeah. I kinda noticed," Ranma said, swallowing.

	"It's been difficult for the both of us, boy," Genma said.
"I've never been good at figuring out what women... any woman wants.
I love your mother, however, and I'm doing my damndest to try to
keep us together. That's not a lot, I'll admit, but I'm trying."

	"Okay," Ranma acknowledged in a questioning tone. If Genma
wasn't trying to skip out, then why was his pack loaded?

	"Your father and I have been talking seriously for the last
several days," Nodoka said. "And we have concluded that despite our
efforts, our relationship is in very serious danger. We've begun to
hate each other more than anything else, and if we don't put a stop
to that, there won't be anything left."

	Ranma nodded. She wasn't sure she understood, and it was
sure as hell uncomfortable to hear her parents speak so frankly, but
it was oddly cathartic to hear them admit to the problems that had
been plaguing them the last several weeks.

	"That's pretty much what it boils down to," Genma agreed.
"The both of us figure that we have one chance left. I..." the man
gulped. "I lost a lot of time on our training trip, Ranma."

	"So why are you telling me this?" Ranma asked in a neutral
tone. "You were both pretty insistent that I keep my nose out of
your business a few days ago."

	"We're going away," Genma replied. He ducked slightly as
Nodoka slapped at him.

	"What your father means, Ranma, is that we're going on a
vacation. A training trip, if you will. We intend to try to learn
how to get along once again."

	Ranma winced at her mother's words. A traning trip? And she
wasn't invited? Still, she thought that her mother must have chosen
words that she thought Ranma would agree with. It sounded like they
were trying to convince her to let them go on a romantic honeymoon
together. If they were going to... do *that*... again, perhaps it
was better if Ranma didn't go. After a few seconds' thought, Ranma
smiled broadly.

	"Well, I hope you have a good time. How long do you plan to
be gone?"

	"Several weeks," Genma said. "Not more than a month."

	"We'll try to be back before your twelve weeks are up,"
Nodoka clarified. "We both very much want to see you change back
into a young man."

	"That's awkward," Soun said, when Nodoka and Genma announced
their plans to the Tendous. "I was just going to announce that I
have to leave this evening as well."

	"Hmm... both sets of parents are taking off. It must mean
that the old freak is about to show up," Ranma speculated.

	"Don't say that, Ranma," Soun said, sweating.

	Nabiki stared curiously at her father. "So where are *you*
going?"

	"Unfortuneately, I have to attend a funeral. It's in San
Francisco, so I'll probably be gone a couple weeks. I've already
informed the dojo's students that I'll be unable to teach until I
return."

	"Oh dear," Kasumi exclaimed.

	"San Francisco?" Akane asked. "In America?"

	Soun nodded. "It was a man I used to instruct in the art
when you girls were still little. He was only twenty-five. He was
strong when I taught him, but he eventually had to quit practicing
the art because of his illness. Apparantly it caught up with him.
It's a shame, because he showed real promise."

	Nabiki grimaced suspiciously at her father. "So are they
paying for you to fly there, or are we doing it?"

	"Nabiki!" Kasumi scolded.

	"The family is paying," Soun said. "I've been asked to act
as a pallbearer, so they're covering my costs. I'll be staying with
his uncle."

	"So, just us four for two whole weeks, then," Nabiki noted
out loud. "Hmmm..." She smiled wickedly.

	Akane's face suddenly went pale. She glanced at Ranma, but
quickly turn away again. Ranma wasn't sure, but she thought that the
girl's expression was almost terrified.

	"I can trust you girls not to destroy the house while I'm
gone, can't I?" Soun asked in a worried tone.

	"Of course you can, Daddy!" Nabiki assured him. Ranma
couldn't help but notice that the girl had her fingers crossed
behind her back.

	"Well, we almost certainly won't have any problems since
Ranma will stay a girl the entire time," Kasumi noted cheerfully.

	Ranma very nearly fell over. "What's that supposed to
mean?!"

* * *

	At Ucchan's, Hiroshi made a similiar announcement.

	"How long will you parents be gone?" Daisuke asked as he
picked over his okonomiyaki.

	"Just a few days. They may be back as early as Monday, but
that still leaves the weekend free."

	"You know what this means, don't you?" Daisuke asked, his
eyes wide with aniticipation.

	"Whoa! Slow down! We can't get away with too much. My sister
will be there, and she's almost certainly going to have a few
friends over.

	Daisuke rolled his eyes. "Lovely. A house full of giggling
eighth-graders. Y'know," he mused, gazing up at the ceiling.
"Ryouko-chan's pretty cute, even if she is an eighth-grader."

	"Don't even think it, Dai," Hiroshi said, brandishing his
okonomiyaki sauce-smeared knife. "If you so much as lay a finger on
my little sister..."

	"Hey! Don't hit me. I get the picture. So, anyway, what do
you wanna do?"

	"I dunno. Watch some dirty movies. Eat some greasy food,"
Hiroshi suggested. "My sister is going to be there, but we can still
probably get away with... I dunno... a few things."

	"Like maybe a few bottles of my grandfather's 'medicinal'
sake?" Daisuke suggested quietly.

	"Possibly. Possibly," Hiroshi replied in a conspiratorial
tone. "Ryouko's a blabber-mouth, so if we do *anything* that can
possibly get us in trouble, then..." he left the statement hanging.

	"Sounds fun. You think we should call Ranma and see if..."
Daisuke blinked, and trailed off.

	"I dunno if that's such a good idea," Hiroshi said after
several seconds of careful thought. "Even if Ranma does come, it
could turn out... bad. She might spaz out again or... or..."

	"Still, we should call at least,"  Daisuke said. "Ranma
probably won't even want to come, but we shouldn't leave her out
just because she's a girl right now instead of a guy."

	"Good point," Hiroshi said. "You call."

	Across the room, Ukyou paused for a second as she scraped
the grill. She hadn't heard all of the conversation, but she had
heard enough. Since his parents were going to be gone for the
weekend, Hiroshi and Daisuke were going to invite Ranma over to
Hiroshi's house to drink sake and watch naughty movies. What an
opportunity!

* * *

	"Spend the night?" Ranma asked. She listened intently to
Daisuke's description of what he and Hiroshi had planned for the
evening.

	Ranma was tempted. Just as soon as the adults had taken off,
things had gotten downright weird around the Tendou Dojo. Akane was
stepping around Ranma as if the redhead was going to attack her.
Nabiki had made a phone call, evidently intent on having a get-
together of some kind while her father was gone, but started
storming around the house angrily when it became apparent that
whomever she had called could not attend. Kasumi was dusting, but
Ranma thought that that was what Kasumi usually did for
entertainment, so it didn't worry her very much. What did worry her
were the occasionally speculative looks the older girl directed at
her from time to time.

	It would be great to get away from the tension, but at what
cost? Although they were friends, Hiroshi and Daisuke just simply
couldn't be trusted around her female body. They had gotten better
lately simply because Ranma had spent so much time as a girl, but
she didn't know if she wanted to put herself in a position where
anything could happen in the dark of night...

	Especially if she wasn't sure she could bring herself to say
'no' if anything did start to happen.

	"Maybe not, Dai. I'm still getting over my cold," she lied,
"so I probably need to stay home for a few more days."

	"That's cool," Daisuke replied. "If you do decide to come,
we'll probably have some pizza or something. I'm going to try to
smuggle something in to drink, so..."

	That definitely meant Ranma wasn't going. "You guys have a
fun time and all, but I think I'll get to bed early."

	Instead of joining the festivities at Hiroshi's house, or
putting herself in the way of the Tendou girls, Ranma decided to
retreat to her room and reread her tankoubans. She spent a couple
hours on Dragonball Z, and then a little while longer on one of the
war-stories Hiroshi lent her earlier in the week. The story was
complex, but compelling. Before Ranma realized it, she had spent an
hour caught up in not only painstakingly recreated military design,
but a thrilling story of romance and intrigue that was set during
World War II.

	It was about nine in the evening when Ranma decided to read
her Utena tankouban for the fifth time. Unfortuneately she couldn't
find it anywhere in her room. After a fairly exhaustive search, she
decided that one of the girls must have borrowed it. She was loath
to step back out into the house, but Ranma was also starting to get
hungry.

	She went downstairs to see Nabiki and Kasumi watching a
documentary about jungle cats on television. Ranma shuddered in
revulsion and stepped past them into the kitchen.

	Kasumi had considerately left out a tray of sandwiches.
Ranma picked up several and poured herself a glass of soda. She went
back into the main room and saw that the program the two girls were
watching had changed. It was now talking about highly toxic snakes
and frogs, creatures with which Ranma had no problems.

	"Sit down, Ranma," Nabiki scolded. "Quit hovering over my
shoulder like that."

	"Okay." Ranma sat next to Nabiki and started to polish off
her sandwhiches while they watched the documentary.

	"Okay, who's the bigger pig?" Nabiki asked as the television
displayed a snake who was trying to swallow an entire monkey it had
just killed. "That thing or Ranma?"

	"Whaff?" Ranma said, trying to act like she hadn't just
stuffed an entire sandwhich into her mouth.

	Kasumi giggled cutely while Nabiki rolled her eyes.

	"What's so funny?" Ranma asked. "I'm an active guy. I need a
lot of food!"

	"You're priceless, Saotome!" Nabiki said, wrapping her arm
around Ranma's shoulder and squeezing the girl close to her.

	Ranma stared in horror at Nabiki's hand. She could feel the
girl's slender arm wrapped around her back. If Akane were to walk
downstairs just now...

	Then Ranma began to smell Nabiki's perfume. It mixed with
the scent of the shampoo she used as well as Nabiki's own subtle
fragrances. It was headily intoxicating. She could also feel the
warmth from Nabiki's body. Her soft breasts were pressed into
Ranma's side, and her breath began to play down Ranma's neck.

	Ranma's first reaction was to stiffen up in shock. She
wanted to allow herself to snuggle against Nabiki and inhale her
sweet aroma. She wanted to return Nabiki's embrace and let her own
hands close around the girl's body.

	Stiffly, Ranma stood up out of Nabiki's playful embrace. It
was a hard, hard thing to do, but Ranma was trying desperately to
keep her body from making her decisions for her.

	"Either of you seen my Utena book?" Ranma asked.

	"The first one?" Nabiki asked, her face somewhat sullen
after Ranma stood up. "Yeah. I was reading it yesterday. I think
Akane may have it now."

	"Okay."

	Before anyone could say anything else, Ranma ran back up the
stairs.

	"Akane?" she asked, opening the girl's bedroom door. "Do you
have my Utena book?"

	Akane actually yelped as Ranma opened her door, and quickly
thrust whatever she had been reading under her pillow.

	"Akane?"

	"It's not under my bed!" Akane said quickly.

	"Why would it be under your bed?" Ranma asked, unsure of
what Akane meant.

	"Nothing's under my bed!" Akane countered.

	"Akane?"

	"Don't you ever knock, Ranma?!" the dark-haired girl yelled
angrily.

	"Jeez, Akane! What's the deal? Have you or have you not seen
my Utena tankouban?"

	"Oh, that? I got it from Nabiki yesterday." Akane gestured
to her dresser, where the book in question was lying on top of a
stack of some of Nabiki's shoujo manga. Ranma couldn't help but
notice that many of the titles in the stack were some of the more
racy stories Ranma had heard of. She glanced curiously at Akane, who
was staring back at Ranma with a challenging expression.

	"Thanks," Ranma said, stepping out of the room. "Geez, I
should have gone to Hiroshi's house," she muttered. "At least I'd
understand what was going on."

* * *

	Ukyou understood that one of her biggest obstacles to her
romance with Ranma was the fact that the martial artist lived with
Akane and her sisters. It was also one of the biggest boons to her
goals, since she knew that Ranma and Akane didn't get along very
well. Being cramped inside the same house all the time was certain
to get those tempers flaring. It balanced out. Ukyou made the
occasional attempt to get Ranma out of the house and into the tiny
apartment above Ucchan's, but even she had to admit that the
Tendou's home was much nicer than her own.

	Also, every time she had Ranma over for any duration, it
took her weeks to recoup the cost of the food her fiancee consumed.
Better to let the Tendous soak up that cost until Ukyou could more
easily afford it. In the meantime, it was better to supply lunches
and snacks to her true heart.

	Still, tonight's opportunity was not to be missed. Ranma
would be away from Akane, and probably slightly inebriated if what
Hiroshi and Daisuke had said was true. Now was the time to apply a
little bit of 'Tender, Loving Care', and let Ranma see how much she
loved him.

	Giving her hair and makeup one last breif glance before she
walked out of Ucchan's, Ukyou pulled a long coat over her shoulders
and began to make the short walk to Hiroshi's house, which was on
the other side of Furinkan High.

	She paused for a second near a park bench, thinking about
the fact that despite her fiancee's birth-gender, Ranma was still
stuck as a girl thanks to the surgery she had been through a couple
months ago. Ukyou viciously crushed the thought as she adjusted the
strap on one high-heeled shoe. She picked up grocery sack she had
been carrying back up off the park bench and resumed her trek.

	Ranma was a boy trapped in a girl's body. Ukyou had lived in
almost exactly the same situation for most of her life. Just because
the reason for her existence had breasts was no reason to deny her
the affection or love she craved. She was certain that Ranma was
still interested because she had actually caught the redhead looking
at her body several times. The fact that her fiancee was staring at
her body frightened her a little bit, but it also excited Ukyou
immensely. She was not sure she could return that same kind of
affection until Ranma managed to change back into a boy, but Ukyou
would be damned if she wasn't going to encourage Ranma to continue
to look. If letting Ranma see more of her body would encourage
deeper feelings then...

	Ukyou broke off her train of thought as she approached
Hiroshi's house. Her heart was burning with a determination to win
Ranma and show him how truly she loved him. She held on to that
thought firmly as she rang the doorbell.

	Hiroshi answered the door. He was smiling broadly, and Ukyou
caught the tiniest whiff of alcohol on his breath. Behind him,
Daisuke looked on curiously.

	"What's up, Ucchan?" Hiroshi greeted her familiarly.

	"Oh, a little bird told me that Ranchan was here, so I
thought I'd stop by with some goodies."

	"Okonomiyaki!" Daisuke cheered.

	"Hey! That's really nice, but Ranma's not here."

	"Oh, don't kid around with me!" Ukyou laughed, pushing past
Hiroshi. Her firm resolve wouldn't let anything like this stand in
her way. "I know my Ranchan is here somewhere."

	"Wait--" Daisuke said, trying to cut her off. "She's really
not--"

	Ukyou grinned broadly as she heard a feminine giggle. She
pulled a large bottle of sake, and several okonomiyaki take-out
boxes out of her sack. "Oh, Ranchan!"

	She followed the laughter down the hallway, ignoring Hiroshi
and Daisuke's attempts to stop her. All the while, she was carefully
working herself free of her coat while being careful not to drop the
presents of food and drink she had brought along.

	'Ukyou, wait!" Hiroshi warned.

	Ukyou threw open a bedroom door, and yanked her coat off at
the same time. "Konnichiwa, Ranchaa...."

	She froze, absolutely certain that none of the three girls
sitting in the bedroom watching a sappy romance movie was Ranma. She
shivered a little bit, suddenly realizing how little of her body the
bunny costume she was wearing actually covered.

	The three girls inside the room stared at Ukyou in shock,
their mouths open in disbeleif. Behind them, the movie continued to
play.

	"Oniichan?" One of the girls asked quietly. "Is this a
joke?"

	Ukyou whirled on Hiroshi, who was grinning broadly at her,
his eyes unmovably fixed on her cleavage.

	"Wow," he murmured. "I'll never understand why you keep
*those* bound up all the time.

	Daisuke was doing his best to keep from drooling.

	"Where is Ranma?!" Ukyou demanded, half in anger, half in
embarassment.

	"I told you," Hiroshi said. He was still grinning, but
started to back up and make placating gestures. "She's not here. She
said she was still getting over her cold."

	"You're perfectly welcome to stay," Daisuke said.

	Ukyou glared darkly at him, her eyes promising death and
dismemberment.

	"Maybe not," he hastily ammended.

	Hiroshi looked over Ukyou's shoulder into the bedroom she
had just invaded. "Sorry, Ryouko. Ukyou's one of Ranma's friends."

	"Ohhh..." The younger girl's tone was understanding.

	Ukyou's murderous glare increased in intensity. Hiroshi
began to fear for his life. "I tried to warn you," he said weakly.

	Ukyou put the food she had brought down on a nearby shelf
and, gathering up as much of her shredded dignity as she could
muster, pulled her coat back on over her bare shoulders.

	She stormed past Hiroshi and back toward the front door of
the house.

	"Really Ukyou," Hiroshi said. "You don't have to go if you
don't want to. Ranma's not here, but we were just about to put on a
movie. You want some pizza?"

	"Thank you," Ukyou said coldly, "but no." She turned and
left, letting the front door slam behind her.

	"Weird friends you got, Hiroshi," Ryouko said in a sarcastic
tone.

	Daisuke shook his head sadly. "You have *no* idea. What a
hottie, though. Can you beleive she wears a boy's uniform to school
all the time?"

	"Pervert."

	Daisuke wasn't sure if Hiroshi's sister had directed her
accusation at him or the girl in the bunny suit who had just visited
them.

	"Damn damn damn damn damn..." Hiroshi muttered. "You have no
idea how close we came to getting our asses beat."

	"Good point," Daisuke seconded. "Ukyou can be, well,
tempremental. I wouldn't say anything about this," he hinted to the
girls. "Let's not make a bad situation any worse."

* * *

	"We're going to play a board game, Ranma-chan. Do you want
to play?"

	Ranma considered Kasumi's suggestion. Maybe it would give
everyone a chance to blow off a little steam. Also, if Ranma was
concentrating on trying to keep from losing, she wouldn't think so
much about Nabiki's long legs, or her firm, slender body, or...

	"Sure," Ranma agreed. It was that, or go take another 'long
bath'.

	Downstairs, Nabiki was busy sorting play-money into stacks.
Akane looked up from where she was setting up the playing board and
shuffling the cards that went with it. Ranma thought her expression
was slightly guilty, but couldn't for the life of her think why.

	After a few minutes, the game was set up and ready to go.
Kasumi rolled two fives, and went first. She rolled again to move
and immediately bought Oriental Avenue. Akane landed on it and had
to pay rent on her first roll.

	The game was fairly typical. Nabiki was ruthless when it
came to extracting rent and business deals with the other players,
while Kasumi had no problem at all making all the rolls that were
necessary to avoid landing on her high-rent spaces. Akane landed on
and bought several of the high-rent properties, but had horrible
luck assembling a monopoly.

	Ranma did better than usual, concentrating like hell on the
game instead of Nabiki's thighs or Akane's pert, firm breasts. Her
mercurial face didn't give her away as badly as it would have if
they were playing something like poker. After a little bit, she was
able to forget about what had happened with Nabiki earlier in the
evening. She landed on one of Nabiki's monopolies, but actually had
accumulated enough money from passing 'GO' to afford the exorbitent
rent.

	"Oh, my!" Kasumi exclaimed after an hour or so of play. It's
getting so late. I really should get to bed."

	"Do you want to sell me all your property before you go?"
Nabiki suggested.

	"That wouldn't be fair to Ranma and Akane, would it?" Kasumi
quickly sorted her assets and put them back onto the 'bank' tray.
Nabiki grimaced, but handed the dice to Ranma since it was her turn.

	Ranma rolled two sixes, enabling her to jump Boardwalk,
which Akane owned, pass 'GO' and collect 200 dollars and land on
Oriental avenue. Ranma glanced down, not beleiving her luck. Kasumi
had just put Oriental back in the bank, and Ranma had both the other
ligh-blue properties! She quickly put down enough money to buy the
card and several houses. It was all the money she had in the game,
but both Akane and Nabiki were closing on her. This was her chance
to win! She grinned madly at both the other girls.

	Glaring darkly at the red-head, Nabiki rolled the dice.

	"Heeee!" Ranma squealed in exultation.

	Nabiki's face was stricken. Almost sickly, she advanced her
token to Vermont Avenue.

	Ranma was rolling in the floor, a wicked, joyful expression
on her face.

	"She got you," Akane said, trying to hide her own smile.

	"Thank you, Akane. I would have completely missed that if
you hadn't pointed it out."

	Akane clenched her eyes shut and did her best to keep from
laughing out loud.

	"Wonderful... I had just about everything sunk into housing,
too. You'll pay for this, Ranma."

	"It's only a game, Nabiki!" Ranma said, her eyes sparkling
with innocence and light.

	"Houses sell for three-quarters puchase value--"

	"Half," Akane corrected her sister.

	In the end, Nabiki ended up having to sell most of the
houses she owned in order to pay off Ranma. She still had quite a
few hotels on various properties, but the wounded, angry expression
on her face let Ranma know that she had scored a fairly major hit.

	Akane rolled, and promptly landed on Park Place, which she
had been trying to get the entire game so that she could make a
monopoly. Despite landing on high-rent properties a few times, the
girl had enough cash saved up to put four houses Park Place and a
hotel on Boardwalk.

	As Nabiki limped around the board, Ranma managed to avoid
her hotels. She rolled a nine after landing on Pacific Avenue, and
promptly landed herself on Boardwalk.

	"Well, the shoe's on the other foot, isn't it Ranma."

	"Yeah, but what a ride. How much do I owe you, Akane?"

	Akane told her. Ranma began slowly counting the small pile
of cash she had, but Nabiki took it from her and began leafing
through it.

	"It's not enough, Ranma. You'll have to sell those hotels."

	"Awww..."

	"As a mater of fact, you'll have to mortgage most of your
property. This looks bad, Saotome. At this rate, you've already
lost."

	"Damn."

	"But," Nabiki said, "I think you may have an alternative."

	"Oh?"

	"Yes. I think that maybe, if you're lucky, Akane will let
you slide on that rent payment if you give her a kiss." Nabiki's
eyes were wide, and full of mischeif. Her lips were pursed.

	Akane's eyes widened in shock at Nabiki's statement. She
blushed and began to stammer.

	"Really?" Ranma asked, unsure of Nabiki's words. She was
certain that Nabiki was teasing her, but wasn't sure how. Did Nabiki
think that Akane really wanted Ranma to kiss her?

	"No!" Akane shouted. "We're both girls! I can't kiss another
girl!"

	"Ranma doesn't seem to think so. Do you, Ranma?"

	Ranma began to stammer, now certain that this was a trap.
She wanted to kiss Akane, but the girl's face was contorted in fear
and embarassment.

	"Ranma is your fiancee, Akane," Nabiki said in a teasing
tone. "Shouldn't you be able to kiss the person your going to
marry?"

	"It's not like that!"

	"Oh?"

	Ranma was about to say something, but Nabiki held up her
hand to silence her.

	"What is it, Akane?" she asked, an evil, sadistic smile on
her face. "Are you afraid of something? Admitting something maybe?
Maybe you want to kiss Ranma, but don't want her to think that you
like kissing girls. Hmm?"

	"Shut up, Nabiki!" Ranma yelled.

	"If he's really a guy, Akane, why do you have any problem
kissing him?" Nabiki pressed. "You do you like boys, don't you?"

	"OF COURSE, I LIKE BOYS!" Akane shouted.

	"Well, you say you do, but you've been engaged for a year
and I bet you've never once kissed your fiancee. Has she, Ranma?"

	Ranma was silent, but she was certain that the chagrined
expression on her face answered Nabiki's question.

	Akane was standing now. Her fists were clenched in anger,
but there was a panicked, horrified look on her face.

	"How long is Ranma supposed to wait, Akane?" Nabiki said in
a calm, rational tone. "Would Shampoo or Ukyou hesitate to kiss him,
even if he is a girl?"

	"Nabiki..." Ranma interrupted.

	"I bet they wouldn't, would they, Akane? Don't you want to
kiss your fiancee?"

	There were tears standing in the corners of Akane's eyes,
and she was visibly shaking.

	"Nabiki, you should stop," Ranma urged her. "This is mean."

	"It's not mean, Ranma. It's the truth. Isn't it, Akane? How
about this-- I'll give you a more immediate scenario. If you don't
kiss Ranma to end the game, I'll kiss him instead and win."

	"What?!" Ranma shouted.

	Akane was frozen. So was Ranma for that matter. Sitting
stock-still, she had absolutely no defense to offer when Nabiki
leaned over and pressed her lips to Ranma's.

	The redhead's eyes were wide with horror, but her mouth
opened almost of its own volition when she felt Nabiki's toungue
probing against her lips. Nabiki's mouth moved against hers. She
could feel Nabiki's hand trailing up her back and Nabiki's fingers
tangling themselves in her short hair. She could feel Nabiki's other
hand on her cheek.

	Ranma heard a quiet moan, and realized it came from her own
throat.

	Dimly, as the world turned pink and hazy around her, Ranma
heard Akane's footsteps as the girl ran from the room. She had a
hard time thinking about anything but the way Nabiki's toungue felt
as it slid across the roof of her mouth.

	After a few seconds, realizing that her own arms were
wrapped around Nabiki's back, and that she was kissing back almost
as forcefully as Nabiki was.

	Nabiki broke away from Ranma and took a deep breath. "Well,
you may be a boy on the inside, but you're certainly female on the
outside, Ranma. Oh, by the way... I win." She stood and stepped away
from Ranma. The red-head watched her walk slowly to the stairs. She
looked back once at Ranma. The girl wasn't sure what to make of her
heavy-lidded, smoky expression. It was dangerous, certainly, but was
there also a hint of invitation in it?

	The rosy sensations fading, Ranma realized that she would
very probably not survive the next fourteen days.

	"I am so dead. Akane's gonna kill me!"

	She got up and ran like hell.

* * *

	After a long walk, Ukyou had blown off most of her steam at
both Hiroshi and Daisuke, whom she understand didn't mean to
humiliate her in so thourough a fashion, and Ranma, who wasn't where
she was supposed to be when she was supposed to be there.

	Of course, Ukyou noted sourly as she began to unlock the
front door of Ucchan's, the knuckles on her left hand were bloody
where she had taken a great deal of her anger out on a convenient
brick wall. Ukyou was pragmatic enough to realize that she had set
herself up for the long fall. It wasn't Ranma's fault. She kept
telling herself that. It wasn't Ranma's fault.

	Ranma... who was running just as fast as she could towards
Ucchan's.

	When Ranma saw her childhood friend outside her restaurant,
she was releived. For the last quarter hour, she had been running in
circles desperately trying to figure out what had just happened to
her.

	Her first instinct had been to contact Makuna-sensei to see
what he thought of the whole mess. Unfortuneately, the man was still
in a coma. Ranma remembered saying that most of what the doctor did
was ask questions and explain their answers, so Ranma tried asking
herself questions.

	Why did Nabiki kiss her? Ranma didn't know. It was all part
of a scheme to win the game, she thought, but Ranma was certain that
wasn't the answer. There was some sort of elemental contest going on
between the two youngest Tendou sister that Ranma just couldn't
fathom.

	Okay, what *made* Nabiki kiss her? Akane had been right
about one thing, Ranma thought. Girls didn't usually kiss other
girls, and Nabiki made a point of saying that Ranma was female, at
least on the outside.

	Makuna sensei once said that Nabiki might genuinely be
attracted to Ranma. Was that true? Had Nabiki kissed her because...
she wanted to? Because she was attracted to Ranma? Or was it just
some scheme to get back at Akane?

	She said Ranma was a boy on the inside, but a girl on the
outside. If Nabiki was attracted to Ranma, which of those two was
Nabiki attracted to?

	Her mind looped in circles going over and over those same
questions. Compounding Ranma's frantic desperation was the intense
excitement inside her that was still building as memories of the
kiss played over and over in her head. Also was the guilt she felt
for doing something like that right in front of Akane. Of course,
she could always argue that Nabiki had kissed her, but Ranma knew
she had kissed back. There was no doubt in her mind that Akane had
seen that.

	The doubt stopped when she saw Ukyou. Surely good ol' Ucchan
would never betray her, or try to trip her up like Nabiki had. Ranma
was certain that she could trust Ukyou, and maybe even get her to
help Ranma understand what was really going on.

	Then she realized that Ukyou wasn't wearing her normal garb,
nor the conservative feminine garb she sometimes wore when not
working. Ukyou had on a long coat, but Ranma could clearly see the
chef's legs, which were covered in sheer nylons. She was wearing
high-heeled shooes. Ranma never really understood the significance
of shoes like that before, until she realized what the peculiar
angle did to Ukyou's posture. She noted the changes to her friend's
backside even through the coat.

	"Uhh... Hi, Ucchan," Ranma greeted her, her eyes
unconciously drawn to the deep cleavage that was visible under the
coat.

	"Ranchan?" Ukyou's voice was irritated. "Are you wearing...
lipstick?"

	An expression of panic decorating her face, Ranma roughly
wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She came away with a
long, pink smear.

	"Oh, shit! She was wearing lipstick?!" Ranma exclaimed.

	Ukyou's calm expression narrowed. Her left eye began to
twitch. "Who was wearing lipstick, Ranma?"

	"Uhh... I said that out loud, didn't I. Ah, dammit..." The
dread Saotome foot-in-mouth had struck again.

	"WHO WAS IT, RANMA?!" Ukyou screamed.

	"Uhhh..."

	"Wait here just a second," she said, unlocking the door.
Ukyou stepped inside. Ranma glanced in the window, but she really
couldn't see anything. Ukyou stepped back outside, carrying her
large battle spatula and a bandoleer-full of spatula shuriken.

	Ranma gulped, Her friend's coat had fallen open to display a
strapless leotard. The combination of beauty, naughtiness, and
deadly intent was almost too much for her.

	"I guess saying that you look really great isn't going to
help me, is it?"

	"DIE, RANMA!"

	"The head! The head! Watch the head!"

	Ranma was in for a long night. She was in for an even longer
couple weeks.

-----
~to be continued

Oh boy. This is the part where all the Ukyou fanboys accuse me of
wanton character-bashing again. Take a number guys...

Really, I wouldn't be so mean to her if I didn't love her.

Really.