Two A.M. came to Nerima, Tokyo, and passed without much incident. It was raining again, this time in the dead of night for a change. The rainy season was well under way. What this translated to was the occasional chance of a shower anytime during the day - and dread for Ranma. With a Jhusenkyou curse, who wouldn't be afraid of a random downpour or two? Saotome Genma, perhaps. At the rate things were going it wouldn't have surprised anyone in the least if Genma actually liked being a panda. He certainly wasn't as paranoid about getting wet as Ranma was, even going to work in his cursed form. Apparently Tofu-sensei didn't mind. The elder Saotome would occasionally step out into the rain, putting up signs to taunt Ranma and dare her to come out after him... a move that usually ended with Ranma heaving the first heavy object within reach at him. Ranma was asleep underneath her covers inside the relative dryness of her room, unaware of the rain outside. A peal of thunder followed soon after lightning illuminated the skies. The girl seemed to react, burying herself further into her pillow. Ayumi, on the other hand, was not sleeping in his bed. Instead, he was out practicing in the dojo, having lost track of time. Every so often he would stop to either catch his breath or stare out the open doors at the rain or the sky beyond if lightning happened to flash while he was looking. The reason he was working out late at night in the dojo? All that confusion with Ryomi earlier in the week had proven to him that he needed to improve his skills and reaction time somewhat... and he wanted to do it at a time which he wouldn't have to worry about any interruptions. Best to get it out of the way. If Ryomi kept to a consistent timetable, she would return about a week or so after her last appearance. Hopefully, he would be ready to deal with Ryomi's brute-force tactics. He'd purposely avoided most of her attacks, until she made the mistake of calling him a girl. Ayumi hated it when people made fun of him that way. Just because more often than not, the name 'Ayumi' tended to be used as a girl's name. It had all started innocently enough... a crack here or there from Naka. But then other kids started making comments - Ayumi still believed Naka had had a hand in that - and then there were the practical jokes... Ranma didn't know about this. Naturally, neither did Ryomi. He hoped Ranma wouldn't find out... then, she would never let him hear the end of it. But enough of that. He was here to practice for the next time he might have to face off against Ryomi. From time to time he wondered if he should have asked Ranma to help. If he could match Ranma's speed, avoiding Ryomi's strikes should be easy. Ranma was confident that speed was what counted when it came to fighting Ryomi. And why not? They both had power, though it was foolish to attempt to use it when Ryomi broke into her straightforward power attacks. Ryomi's main concern was offense, not defense, and she happened to be a very formidable fighter. Highly vulnerable, but only if you made it past her attacks. Ayumi felt quite confident that he'd win the next match if there was one. Had he only known that Ryomi was, in fact, not as far away as he supposed, he would have felt less confident. Destiny's Wish Part Eight: Instant Confusion - Just Add Water written by Mike Koos ---------------------------------------------- She read the sign slowly, carefully... twice over to make absolutely sure she had not made a mistake. Ryomi stood perfectly still underneath her umbrella for a time, gleefully imagining what she was going to do to Ranma and Ayumi, the backlighting from the pale street lamps and occasional flashes of lightning giving her face an almost eerie quality, had anyone been around to see it. It was still raining. Oh, how she hated the rain! More now than ever before. Yet Ryomi's desire to make Ranma pay for all the suffering she had endured was far stronger. Now that she had found their home, not even what the rain brought would keep her from her goal! She hurdled the wall, taking care to keep her umbrella positioned so that the rain would not strike her unprotected head. Landing just short of the koi pond, she looked around. Lightning flared, and was gone. Her only alternative was to go into the house and search the rooms one by one. Fighters like Ranma and Ayumi had to sleep too, right? A hand reached for her shoulder, right before another thunderclap sounded. Maybe not. Ryomi bit back the scream that came to her throat. Hibiki Ryomi, show fear? Never! Still, the shock had been enough for her to almost lose her grip on her umbrella. That would have been an unfortunate mistake... "Ryomi," the voice behind the hand called her name. "What are you doing here?" She turned, and met Ayumi's gaze. "Oh, it's only you." Ryomi pulled away from him. Even in the rain there was something about that face... No, this wasn't the way to feel when confronting an opponent! Ryomi strengthened her resolve and glared at him anew. "I'll say it again, Ryomi. What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night!" "Hmph," snorted Ryomi. "You know exactly why I'm here. Vengeance does not wait for morning." "Oh, good! So you decided to come here and kill us in our sleep?" That face... "I..." Somehow, she couldn't finish her sentence. *Had* she come to kill them? ...Not quite. True, she was seeking vengeance against Ranma for all her suffering... but did that mean she would kill Ranma in cold blood? There was one point she was overlooking here. What did Ayumi believe? "I'm not going to let you kill anybody! If you want to hurt Ranma, you'll have to go through me!" She saw in his eyes that Ayumi stood behind his words. Such power... such determination... all for Ranma. Why? Ranma wasn't worthy of all this... Ryomi readied her free fist. There was no choice left but to fight Ayumi. "I must have my revenge," she said, unable to keep a hint of reluctance from showing through. "Enough, already!" Ayumi prepared himself as well. "I'm tired of this! Can't you at least tell me WHY you want revenge? What did Ranma ever do to you?" More lightning. Ryomi's expression hardened. "I followed Ranma and her father to China after she chickened out on our fight." The news caused Ayumi to pause. "China? But then......... you didn't go to Jhusenkyou, did you?" "Shut up!" Ryomi's anger was finally re-emerging. Ah, so she *had* gone to Jhusenkyou! That would explain it, if... "You fell in one of the ponds, and now you change into something else when you're hit with water--" "Enough talk! I've been humiliated enough!" The Lost Girl leapt in toward him with a flying drop kick. She didn't want to get wet, all right! Why else would she be so careful to position her umbrella to keep the water away from her face and neck? Unless she was tremendously more vain than anyone had figured... It would be foolish to misjudge Ryomi. Though she was limiting her attacks to her feet - she needed both hands free to insure her umbrella stayed where she wanted it - Ryomi's power hadn't diminished in the least. Whether or not she had been cursed at Jhusenkyou she felt strongly enough about her secret that it fueled her anger. To her, anger was power. Ayumi narrowly avoided each of her midair kicks. Would he have been able to do the same on his last encounter with her? Or had his training actually helped? The sounds of a struggle out in the yard woke Ranma from her sleep. Her covers were too warm to leave; she lay there for a while trying to figure out exactly what the noises were. It was raining outside, but that wasn't it. What time was it? Who gave the rain permission to come at *this* time of night? A fight. That's what the noises, those noises coming from outside, sounded like. Now who would be fighting outside in the rain at this hour? Two-twenty-four in the morning... She dragged herself to the window. No luck - she couldn't see a thing. Someone gently knocked on her door and then opened it. "Ranma? Did those noises wake you up?" "Kasuga..." Ranma recognized the voice before the face. "...Yeah. What's going on? Sounds like a fight." "I... I don't know. It could be a burglar." "Well, I was about t'go down and check it out." "I'm coming with you," said Kasuga. "I really hope it's not a burglar." As he followed Ranma down the stairs, Kasuga shuddered underneath the shirt he'd thrown on before leaving his room. While Kasuga did have a small amount of martial-arts training he had never put any of that training to practical use. Besides, he didn't really want to be a fighter. "If it is, why would he make all this noise?" "Maybe he's not afraid of anything." That was a possibility. Ranma peripherally glanced back at Kasuga. "Maybe we should find out who it is, first." "...Good idea." They walked into the family room to find the large door looking out over the yard wide open; some of the floor inside the doorway was soaking wet from the rain. Ayumi had left the door open well before the rain began and forgotten all about it. "W-why is this door open?" Armed only with an abundance of self-confidence, Ranma headed for the doorway. "I'm gonna find out," she whispered. What they saw outside gave them an answer. A flash of lightning revealed a figure with an umbrella, sailing through the air... "A-a burglar! I knew it! And he's got a big pack, too!" Kasuga cowered behind Ranma. Ranma steeled herself. "Don't worry. I'll take care of him!" She prepared to step out into the yard. "You mustn't!" exclaimed Kasuga. "He might have a gun! And besides, you'll get wet!" Oh, right, it was raining. Could she stand up to a burglar armed with a gun as a guy? Ah, and she'd probably ruin her pajamas, too. Fighting a burglar in a rainstorm as a guy without much clothes to speak of... but she couldn't let the bad guy get away with whatever he was up to! Kasuga rummaged around the floor of the family room and came up with something. "Use this," he placed the object in Ranma's hand. The girl smirked. Apparently she or Ayumi had left one of their training weights in the family room for Kasuga to find. Score one point for forgetfulness, then! In the yard, Ayumi launched himself upward, hoping to knock Ryomi's umbrella out of her hands with a vertical kick Ryomi brought her closest foot around to counter and sweep him out of the sky... and in the next instant a training weight bounced off the back of her head. The pain was enough that Ryomi dropped her umbrella as a result. Both she and Ayumi remained frozen in midair. She felt the rain hit her unprotected skin. Desperately she wrapped her arms around her face to shield it - but she knew it was too late. She hopped over the gate and was gone. "Ryomi!" yelled Ayumi. "Ryomi...?" Ranma echoed. *That* was who the intruder had been? Kasuga was relieved to hear the news. "It was just that friend of yours. What was she doing here at this time of night?" "I don't know." Ranma looked out into the rain. "We'll have to ask Ayumi what *he's* doing out there, too." At that very moment Ayumi was trying to pursue Ryomi. In her state of mind, she had most likely run in a straight line. A dark pile of items near a lamppost caught his eye. He felt a presence. The growling of an animal, behind him. "...Ryomi...?" he asked, turning. Ranma yawned, shutting her bedroom door behind her. As she checked the clock to see just how early in the morning it was, it came... the sense of something - or *someone* - else in the room with her. Ryomi... could it be her? No... not many places for a person to hide in this room. "I know you're here," she warned. "Show yourself!" She was definitely *not* in the mood to play this game this late at night. Something skittered - an animal? She couldn't tell - and then a small black shape with glowing eyes exploded out at her. "Kyaa!" Ranma yelped, recoiling instinctively. Acting on that same reflex she slapped whatever it was attacking her out of the air... Ranma searched for her breath. She hadn't realized she'd left it behind. Whatever had attacked her was too small to be a Human. An animal? Why would an animal come to her bedroom and attack her? There. On the floor about two and a half feet away, was her attacker. It glared up at her through angry, nervous, suspicious eyes. It was a little black pig with a bandanna tied around its neck. Ranma dropped to her knees. The pig backed away. She held her hand out for the pig to sniff. "Come here," she gestured, eyes softening. "I won't hurt you. It's okay... there. Nothing to be scared of..." Against its better judgment, the pig let her take it into her arms. "You're soaking wet!" It was, after all. Good thing the water wasn't enough to change her - she wondered how the little pig might take the sight of her transforming from one body to another. "You must've just come out of that rain, right?" Ranma patted the pig's head. "There, there. It's all right... eh?" Her fingers found a bump. "You're hurt!" "Ryomi... I'm sorry you're cursed and all, but you can't come around here in the middle of the night looking for a fight! Don't you ever sleep?" The dog stared at him blankly. Ayumi sighed. He just wasn't getting through to her. After finding the dog near Ryomi's gear, Ayumi had brought her home with him. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. Cute act, her pretending not to know where she was or what was going on. "Ayumi?" Ranma said from the hall. "There you are... What happened to Ryomi? And what's that dog doing here?" Ayumi toweling himself off after coming in out of the rain she could understand. A wet dog on newspapers in the middle of the family room required a little more explanation. "Ranma!" The dog was surprised to see her as well. "I could ask you the same thing. What're you doing with that weird little pig?" Strangely enough, the comment seemed to anger the little pig. It flailed its front legs in an attempt to get loose from Ranma's grip and go after Ayumi. "Calm down. There's nothing to be angry about. C'mon," she held the pig close. "Let's do something about that bump." Ayumi moved in for a closer look. "Is it just me, or is that pig blushing?" "It's just you." Ayumi took the pig from her arms. "Hey, this is a girl pig. Guess I've got nothing to worry about." The pig frowned at him. Ranma returned with a first-aid kit and took the pig back. "Nee, Ayumi... why *is* that dog here?" She sat at the table and dabbed a touch of medicine on the bump on the pig's head - which struck Ayumi as being a bit silly. He decided to turn his attention back to the dog instead. "I think I know that dog," persisted Ranma. "That's the Yamada family's dog, Bess, isn't it?" She patted the dog's head. Bess yipped and wagged her tail. "See? Her tags prove it." Still not convinced, Ayumi ran to the kitchen to grab the kettle of water Kasuga was preparing for a round of hot tea, since half of the people in the house were awake and not likely to get back to sleep anytime soon. He returned to the family room. "Wouldja turn away for a second?" he insisted. Not that Ranma had much of a choice; Ayumi turned her head away for her while he poured some of the hot water on Bess. Who *didn't* change into Ryomi. "Huh?" Bess was also quite confused - and even more wet. "What's going on?" Ayumi walked over to the door. If the dog *was* Bess and not Ryomi, as he'd originally thought, then where had Ryomi gone? Jhusenkyou curses were not to be taken lightly. Knowing Ryomi, he bet whatever it was she turned into, she despised a lot more than the fact that she suffered from the curse in the first place. Ranma believed that being cursed was bad enough. Ryomi probably didn't. Wherever she was, she was long gone, and not likely to come back tonight. "'Night," Ayumi told Ranma. "I'm gonna take a hot bath and go to bed. All that running around after Ryomi's made me tired." The little pig in Ranma's arms sneezed. "Hey, could you take this pig with you in the bath? I'm afraid she's gonna catch cold - she was out in the rain, too." A look of surprise turned up on the pig's face. And Ayumi's face as well. "You want me to go in the bath with a pig? A *girl* pig?" Fortunately for him Ranma didn't make the connection. The evening they'd met, Ayumi had inadvertently walked in on her - *twice*, no less - while she was getting out of the bathtub. As far as he knew Ranma had never forgiven him for that. "Oh, all right. Here, give her to me." After eight minutes, Ayumi was in the bathroom, removing the top half of his gi in preparation for a bath. He still wasn't comfortable with the idea of taking a pig into the bath with him, so he kept the protesting pig in place under his foot while he went from a gi to a towel wrapped around his waist. "I don't get it," murmured Ayumi, concerned. "Where did she go? I hope she's all right." Suddenly, the pig cut its squealings short and tried to look up at him. Ayumi was too lost in his own thoughts to notice this. "C'mon, piggy," Ayumi bent down to pick up the pig. "You're goin' in first." The pig didn't want to take a hot bath. She nearly succeeded in getting away from him, until Ayumi managed to work his fingers into the bandanna tied around her neck. If not for that, he never would have been able to catch the small animal again. And the tomboy wouldn't like that at all. "Don't make this hard! I don't like this idea either, but you're going to take a bath! So *get in there*!" Ayumi lowered the pig into the bathwater. There! Now he could... wait. The water was beginning to froth and agitate. Was bathwater supposed to do that? Or had the pig done something to the water...? He had absolutely no idea where the thing had been... Ayumi peered over the side of the tub - straight into the eyes of Hibiki Ryomi. Outside, the rain had finally moved on. Inside, however, Ayumi was preparing for a different kind of storm. He had placed a little black pig into a bathtub of hot water only to find out that the pig was Ryomi in her Jhusenkyou-cursed form. This whole predicament was only a few steps away from being a mirror of the couple of times he'd walked in on Ranma when she was getting out of the bath. At least Ryomi knew he was there and wasn't about to kill him for being there. She was definitely embarrassed, whether that had to do with the fact that she was in a bathtub and not wearing anything or her curse, or both... he couldn't completely tell. Ryomi kept herself under the water at the edge of the tub where all Ayumi could see was the part of her body from the shoulders up. "Ryomi?" Ayumi broke the uncomfortable silence at last. "That pig was *you*?" "I ought to kill you for this!" seethed Ryomi. Ayumi backed away. "Then you did visit Jhusenkyou." She nodded, lowering herself further into the water. "I followed Ranma and her father for days on their journey through China. If not for them, I probably would've been lost forever in that vast land! And then, once I tracked them to Jhusenkyou..." It was a memory Ryomi would not soon forget. She had arrived at a cliff overlooking Jhusenkyou and was about to survey the cursed training grounds for a sign of Ranma when she heard the sounds of running footsteps grow louder and louder... And then all of a sudden a giant panda stampeded through a wall of bamboo straight toward her. Startled, she jumped into the air, hoping that the panda missed her. Thankfully, it did. Another figure leapt into the air - a boy. "Wait up, Dad! I wanna *talk* to you!" A strange boy, speaking Japanese... The boy was too furious and intent on catching the panda that he failed to notice when his knee tagged Ryomi and sent her falling from the cliff to the ponds below. The panda reached the edge of the cliff, turned, and ran in a new direction. Ryomi fell headfirst into the middle of one of the ponds. It was deeper than she'd thought... In well over her head, she felt her own body changing... The next thing she knew, she had blacked out temporarily and when she recovered, she was floating atop the water. As *what*, she didn't know. She wasn't in a position to see what she looked like. An attempt to talk instead came out as a squeal. A pig's squeal. "That was the beginning of my trip through Hell." Something took hold of her headband - which was now around her neck - and used it to lift her out of the pond. As she coughed the last of the water out of her system she saw the face of her rescuer. The panda warily studied her. It carried her inside a small cabin. Was this the same panda who had nearly run her over, she wondered, or were all pandas in this area specially trained? Another time, she might have laughed... after all, wasn't she an undersized pig now? "Oh, what a lovely pig you have found!" said the uniformed man - a guide, Ryomi guessed - who greeted them. "Yes, yes! We shall have great feast tonight!" <*Feast*!?> Oh, dear, *no*! Unfortunately, all she could do was let out a frantic pig squeal. She struggled, but the panda held her tight. The guide opened a handcrafted wooden box of knives and lifted out the largest one. He began sharpening it with pride. "One of ponds in Jhusenkyou is named 'Ei-Ton-Nii-Chuan.'" They'd tied Ryomi the pig to a line directly over a large pot of boiling water. Apparently they thought the steam from the pot and the fire the panda was lighting underneath it would soften her up or something - or that she would tire herself out struggling and provide little resistance when it came time to chop her up or dump her in the boiling water. What a strange panda, too - first one she'd ever seen tying on one of those 'Piyo Piyo' bibs... "One thousand and two hundred years ago, a little black piglet drown a tragic death in that pond. Now anyone who fall in, cursed to become little black piglet!" The guide smiled, looking into Ryomi's eyes. "Hmm, perhaps this pig someone who come from that pond?" Ryomi nodded. She was afraid she was going to throw out her neck doing so, but so what? She didn't want to be boiled alive! The guide broke into laughter. "Ha ha, only kidding! Only kidding!" He dropped Ryomi into the pot. To her surprise, the hot water changed Ryomi back to Human form. She scrambled out of the pot, spilling water everywhere in the process, and fled from the cabin. "Oh, my..." the guide gasped. "Looks like joke on me. We cannot eat cursed girl." Ryomi closed her eyes. Reliving past horrors was never supposed to be a good thing, was it? "That was only the first time I was almost cooked and eaten because of my cursed body! And all of it thanks to Ranma!" Ayumi sighed. This, again? "Don't you ever get tired of blaming all your problems on Ranma?" "What?" "Was it Ranma's fault you got kicked into one of those ponds by a boy and then nearly eaten by a panda? Why don't you blame the boy and panda instead--" The words he'd intended to say after that hardened into a lump in his throat. A boy and a panda, at Jhusenkyou. Ryomi stared at him, waiting for him to finish making his point. The door to the bath opened. They watched as a panda lumbered through the frame, a towel slung over his shoulder. [I'm sorry,] the panda realized his mistake. [I'll come back later.] The door slammed shut. "A boy and a panda!" Ryomi exclaimed. "How stupid of me! All this time I've been blaming the WRONG PEOPLE!" A nervous laugh broke through the lump in Ayumi's throat. Ryomi rose from the tub in fury. "I'll KILL her!" "Hold it!" Ayumi dived out of her path, forgetting to be embarrassed. "I told you, I can't let you do that!" The anger was wholly evident in Ryomi's eyes. "Then I'll kill you too!!" She lunged at him. Ayumi's hands found the shower controls. He grasped what he hoped was the right control and turned it... "Waah!" Ryomi screamed as the water hit her. "*Cold*...!" In the seconds that followed a small black pig landed on Ayumi's back. "Just chill, Ryomi." An incredibly stupid thing for him to say, yes, but it was the only thing that came to mind. "We'll talk about this after you've calmed down, okay?" Ryomi latched onto his shoulder with her teeth and bit down. Ranma heard Ayumi's scream of pain. "Huh?" She peered into the hallway from her room. Ayumi ran into the hall, chasing the pig Ranma had found in her bedroom. "C'mere, you stupid pig! So this is how you repay me for my kindness!?" He threw the metal washbasin he had been saving. It bounced off the pig's head. Ranma moved in and snatched the pig up, hiding it behind her. "What d'you think you're doing, Ayumi?" "Stay out of this! This is between the pig and me!" Behind her, the pig arched its back and hissed like a cat at Ayumi. It leaped to attack, but Ayumi intervened and forced it to the floor, where it lay momentarily stunned. "I told you, we're gonna settle this by talking!" He drew back a fist to punch the pig... Until Ranma punched *him* in the face instead. "Cut it *out*!" She knelt down to pick up the pig. "Poor thing... there, it's okay. I won't let him hurt you." Odd... was the pig actually *crying*? "Hey!" said a recovered Ayumi. "Where do you think you're going with that stupid pig?" "I'm letting her sleep in my room. I obviously can't leave her out here with *you*!" "You can't do that! That's--" Ranma gave the pig a quick kiss on the forehead. "You're a good little pig. There's no need to cry." Of course, Ayumi was none too thrilled by this turn of events. "What's wrong?" Ranma asked, taking her eyes from the confused pig to look at Ayumi. "*Fine*!" Ayumi spat. "Go ahead and keep her for a pet for all I care!" He wheeled about on his heels and ran away in a huff. Ranma shrugged and went back into her room with the pig. "Sheesh, why's he so upset?" She climbed into bed, placing the pig next to her on the pillow, and carefully drew the covers over them both. Ranma watched the little pig lie still on the pillow near her. She yawned. "Good night, little pig." A quarter of an hour later, Ayumi tried to peer into Ranma's room through an opening in her curtains. Stupid tomboy... welcoming a potential killer into her bedroom and not even knowing it! True, maybe Ryomi wouldn't be able to do as much to kill Ranma as a pig, but Ayumi was not willing to take that risk. He had to save Ranma from her own poor judgment. To do that, he needed to remove Ryomi from Ranma's room... without her finding out. Most people might have tried to use the direct route - go in through the bedroom door. Ayumi had, in fact; but Ranma had locked her door. So now here he was, hanging upside-down from the gutters outside her room with a kettle of hot water in hand. Thank goodness Ranma was leaving her window open an inch or two at night to keep her room cool. Ayumi eased the window open and stealthily entered the room. Ryomi woke up, becoming aware that something was going on. After her pig eyes adjusted she saw Ayumi sneaking toward her. She growled, going on the defensive. What was the Tendo boy up to? Ayumi brought the kettle of hot water close to her snout. "If you don't keep quiet, I'll change you back right here!" When Ryomi relented, he set the kettle down and picked her up by the bandanna. But Ranma chose that moment to stir, and in her restlessness snatched Ryomi away from Ayumi, holding the pig close. thought Ayumi. He waited a few tense seconds. Ranma didn't wake, so he grabbed Ryomi's bandanna one more time, plucking her out of Ranma's arms. Ryomi bit him again. Ayumi retaliated by throwing her against one of the walls. She rebounded, zipping back toward him. This time, she wasn't about to let him catch her. In an unusual game of cat-and-mouse she bounced all over the room while Ayumi tried to pounce on her and grab her. Ayumi played along with the game - until one pounce left him about to fall on top of Ranma. He shifted his balance so that he wouldn't. Then Ryomi cannonballed into his back, and he lost his balance... Jolted awake, Ranma slowly blinked her eyes open to find Ayumi's face not two inches from her own. "Ah... it's not... it's not what you think!" He was turning a shade of bright red, Ranma saw, wasting no time in pulling himself away from her. She slapped him without giving him a chance to explain. "B-but... Ryomi is..." he managed. A thoroughly embarrassed Ranma had taken to hitting him with a Kendo practice sword. "Do you see Ryomi here? DO YOU!?" Ranma was angry enough that she visibly shook. "YOU SEX-CRAZED HENTAI PERVERT!!!" And with that she sent him flying through her bedroom window. The last thing Ayumi saw before leaving the room was Ryomi, sticking her tongue out at him. ** ** ** The family - which included Genma and Ranma - gathered for breakfast the following morning. "Ayumi." Naka, as usual, was wolfing down his food. "I don't care if you wanna have a late-night tryst with a girl, but next time, could you be a little more *quiet*?" "Call me old-fashioned, Naka, but I believe they shouldn't be doing things like that. They *are* engaged, after all," Kasuga admonished. Naka raised an eyebrow. "He's eager," Soun said. "That's good." Both Soun and Genma took small bites from their breakfasts in perfect unison. Ayumi buried his head in his arms. "It's not true! NOT true at all!" Ranma fed another bite-sized piece of fish to the little pig resting comfortably in her arms. (end) ---------- Credits: Written by: Mike Koos Prereaders: Richard Beaubien, Tom Williams, David Wills With apologies to Rumiko Takahashi... (Note: I know, I know, I accidentally left the title out of part 7 when I posted it. For those of you who only have the version posted to RAAC, the title is "Cute, Not Cute - What's the Difference?". Not that it makes much difference. :) All parts of this series are available at the RAAC archives at ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works or from my WWW pages at http://www.fanfic.net/~makoto/ Comments and questions welcome. * Mike ('Kino Makoto') Koos: makoto@cal.net * http://www.fanfic.net/~makoto * * "I can do nothing to stop you. Your background music is too strong * for me." - Sam Johnson, Whose Line is it Anyway?