The Bat, The Bird, The Horse, and the Tomboy

Chapter 1 - Akane

Akane gazed at the kittens that were on display in the pet shop. Nodoka smiled as she stood beside her. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone except Kasumi, especially not that idiot husband of hers or Akane’s over reactive father, but she was worried about her future daughter-in-law. Akane had been putting up an extremely brave front for her family and friends, but Nodoka could tell that Ranma’s month-long absence was causing her a great deal of pain. She had come up with the idea of getting Akane a pet to give her something to focus on besides Ranma and his curses.

Akane picked up an adorable little kitten that had sapphire eyes and black fur. There was something about it, especially the indignant look on its face from being picked up, which reminded her of Ranma. She stroked the kitten’s head softly, giggling as it tried to swat her hand.

Nodoka’s face brightened as she heard Akane’s laugh. It was something that had been sorely missed in the Tendo household. “Would you like to keep it, Akane?” She asked with a soft smile on her face.

Akane’s smile fell some as she looked at the kitten. It stared back at her and gave an indignant meow at still being manhandled. Slowly she put the kitten back into its display area. Without looking at Nodoka, she spoke quietly. “No, that’s all right… I’d have to give it up when Ranma comes back.” Now that the cat was back in its home, Akane could swear that it was giving her a pleading look, begging her to pick it up again. She felt a small stab of pain in her heart.

That took Nodoka by surprise. ‘It’s good that she hasn’t given up hope yet,’ she thought to herself before sighing mentally. ‘Then again, I didn’t start saying ‘if he comes back’ until five years had passed. Oh, son… please hurry home.’ “Why would you have to give it up? Ranma likes cats, dear.”

Akane slowly turned to look at Ranma’s mother. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to figure out what she could say. ‘Damn you, Genma! How could you do that to your own son?’ “He… doesn’t like them any more,” she finally managed to say.

Nodoka frowned a little as she walked with Akane out of the pet shop. ‘Well, that had the opposite effect of what I hope for.’ She placed a hand on her future daughter’s shoulder. ‘Maybe two wrongs make a right.’ “Akane, would you please tell me about my son? Now that the whole ‘manliness’ issue has been taken care of, I’d like to hear about him without the cover stories.”

Akane’s face brightened some. “Sure. I’d be glad to. Everyone’s been so careful not to mention him around me that it was starting to get on my nerves. But I need you to make me a promise.”

‘So, I was right.’ “What promise, dear?”

“That after you hear everything, you will wait until Ranma comes back to do anything drastic to Genma.”

Nodoka frowned. “I am not going to like these stories, am I?”

Akane smiled. “Oh, most of them you will, but some of them… well, Ranma still loves Genma and would be heartbroken if you had him commit seppuku.”

Nodoka froze in place. “If I don’t make the promise?”

Akane hung her head in shame. “Then I can’t tell you. Ranma made me promise to make sure you wouldn’t hurt him.”

Nodoka shook her head slowly. “My son has surprised me so often, I sometimes wonder how it is that he was raised by Genma.” Straightening herself up, she adopted a more formal tone. “I promise that I will not take Genma’s life, no matter what I hear, until such time as I can speak to Ranma about it.”

Akane nodded and smiled. “Well, let me tell you about what he did for me when I was kidnapped by…”

Genma sat across from Soun while playing shogi with his old friend in the new Saotome home. His baby daughter lay on a blanket next to him.

“Ah, Saotome… these are truly wonderful days, are they not?”

Genma nodded but never took his eyes off of the shogi board. It was a long-standing rule between the two that if one of them looked away, then there were no rules. “Yes they are, Tendo old friend. I have my wife back and a beautiful baby daughter. What more could I ask for?” As he raised a teacup to his lips (his wife had forced him to quit drinking sake during the day because of the child), the cup broke, spilling hot tea into his lap. He started to jump up, but he caught sight of Soun’s hand moving for one of the pieces and he sat back down again, ignoring the pain.

“That was certainly bad luck, eh Saotome?”

Genma nodded while wearing a pained expression. “I agree, Tendo.” He started to move one of his pieces when it suddenly broke in two. “Eh? That’s strange. Tendo, you didn’t buy a cheap shogi set, did you?”

Tendo tried breaking one of his own pieces in the same way, but it was still in solid shape. “Odd. I wonder if it’s an omen?”

Genma shook his head. “Nonsense. What could possibly go wrong?”

No sooner had he spoken those words than a sharp breaking sound was heard as the front door was slammed open with enough force to crack its frame. Thunderous footsteps approached the porch where the two men and a baby were sitting. Genma and Soun looked at the door to the house in fearful anticipation. Moments before the door opened, a powerful female voice yelled, “GENMA!”

It was remarkable how fast someone as large as Genma could move. It was also remarkable how much faster an angry woman like Nodoka could move. Genma hadn’t even made it five feet when he suddenly found the edge of a katana pressed against his throat. “N-N-N-Nodoka?”

“Two words, husband: Cat Fist. You are granted a three second head start. One…” And suddenly the space that had been previously occupied by the Saotome patriarch was empty. Two seconds later, Nodoka was chasing after him, swinging her katana wildly.

Soun watched them for a moment before looking at his daughter, who had just entered. “Akane?”

Akane just smiled wickedly for a moment as she watched the chase. “She just found out about a few things Genma did.”

Soun began crying, wailing about the loss of his friend. Akane sighed softly. He had been doing much better lately. “Dad, don’t worry about it. I made Auntie Nodoka promise not to kill him. But what he doesn’t know can amuse us.”

Soun stopped crying instantly and a small smile formed on his lips. “Well then, if he doesn’t ask, we shouldn’t tell.”

Akane hugged her father and helped him up. “I think your game is cancelled for today. Let’s take Nagi into the kitchen and get some food.” Before Soun could panic, Akane rolled her eyes. “Auntie Nodoka made the sandwiches. I’ll just be taking them out of the refrigerator.

Akane sighed as she read over the letter again. Ranma had stayed true to his promise, intermittently sending a letter letting her know how he was doing. She had received one a week so far. She had also taken to writing letters back, but she never mailed them. She knew he would be gone before they would arrive, but she had to write them anyway. It was as close to talking to Ranma that she could get.

She wrote about school, her friends, and how much she loved him. She wrote about how much she wanted him back and what she would do to him when he finally did show up. She reread both his letters and hers several times that night since she had nothing better to do. She had officially graduated from high school with good grades. She was trying to decide where to go to college, but something kept her from applying at any of them. She finally figured out that it was because she wanted Ranma to go with her. She wanted to share the rest of her life with him, and it seemed like a betrayal for her to go on without him.

She followed that train of thought for a long time, well into the night. At about four in the morning she made her decision. She quietly made her way to the telephone in the hall, grateful for the fact that she and her father were the only ones left in the house. Kasumi and Nabiki probably would have woken up when she moved around.

She dialed a certain number and waited, impatiently pleading for someone to please answer the phone. After two rings the phone clicked and a voice answered in English.

“<Nabiki Tendo speaking.>”

“Nabiki! Hi!”

“Akane?” Nabiki had switched to Japanese. “How are you?” There was a short pause. “Why are you calling me at four in the morning?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to wake you, but…”

“Akane, it’s two in the afternoon here. I meant ‘why aren’t YOU asleep’? Is something wrong?”

“No. Yes. I mean, nothing other than the fact that Ranma’s still gone. Uhm… sis…”

Nabiki’s sigh cut her off. “You want me to track him down?”

Akane nodded. Then she remembered that she was on the phone and said, “Yes.”

“Do you really know what you’re getting into?”

“Yes.”

“All right. I’ll call you at home as soon as I know anything. And Akane?”

“Yes, sis?”

“Try calling me sometime when you don’t need something from me. It makes me feel like a mercenary.” Akane caught the amused tones in her voice.

“I will. Thanks, sis. I love you.”

“I love you too, but don’t tell anyone or I’ll deny everything.”

Akane chuckled as she hung up the phone. She crept back to her room and gazed out the window at the stars. ‘Find him quickly, Nabiki.’

A week later then phone rang. Akane, as she had every time in the past week, seemed to teleport to the phone. “Hello?”

“Heaven hi.”

Akane blinked. “Huh? Nabiki?”

Nabiki laughed. “Yes, sis. It’s me.”

“Do you-“

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. What am I going to get out of it?”

Akane’s temper flared until she caught the amused tones in Nabiki’s voice. “A happy sister?”

Nabiki hmmmed. “Tempting… throw in a visit to the States sometime and we’ve got a deal.”

“You’re on. So, what have you got?”

“Well, he’s on a regular pilgrimage. He’s been seen visiting every current and former temple he could find in Japan. He was last seen a few days ago boarding a freighter, the King Cobra, headed to Hong Kong. The freighter hasn’t arrived yet, so you might be able to beat it there if you take a plane.”

Akane felt a thrill of joy run through her for a moment. “That’s great! But I can’t afford a plane trip or the paperwork necessary to go to China right now.”

“I know, sis. Wait, who’s at the door?”

Akane blinked at the phone. No one was at… She was interrupted by a knock on the door. She opened it to find a deliveryman holding a box out to her. “Akane Tendo?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Sign here please.”

She took the package and signed. Feeling like a kid at a birthday party, she looked at the label. ‘Nabiki Tendo, Gotham City, USA.’ She tore open the box and found a check for a fair amount of travel money, a round-trip plane ticket, and all of the paperwork, already filled out, that she would need to visit China. She ran back to the phone. “How?”

Nabiki laughed for several moments. “Welcome to the digital world, sis. That internship I had has grown into a full-time position and it pays very well. Besides, you know I’d do anything for family. If you find the stupid lug and convince him to come back, call me and I’ll arrange for a ticket for him as well.”

Akane found herself crying. “Thanks, Nabiki. You’re the best.”

Nabiki just smirked over the phone. “Yeah, I know. But hey, I’m a Tendo. Of course I’m the best.”

Akane waited for the plane to reach the terminal in Hong Kong. The flight had been extremely dull. ‘Of course, Nabiki would get the cheapest tickets available.’ She glanced out her window and was grateful that the plane was still in one piece. It was a twin-engine prop plane that was older than she was. Actually, she suspected that it was older than her father, as well. Her heartbeat quickened as thoughts of seeing Ranma again entered her mind.

The paperwork Nabiki had sent her got her through customs easily and she immediately set off for the harbor. That was the last time that things went smoothly for her for quite some time.

She tried inquiring at a number of offices using what little Chinese she knew and her guidebook. The people either didn’t understand her or were pretending ignorance, which was quickly getting on her nerves. It wasn’t until the sun was beginning to set that she made any headway at all.

“Excuse me, miss.”

Akane whirled around to find a well-dressed Japanese man standing behind her. She felt a little relief at seeing one of her fellow countrymen.

“Could I speak with you for a moment?” He motioned towards an empty office near the harbor.

“About what?” Akane wasn’t stupid or trusting, especially when it came to the male of the species.

“About your inquiries. I have some information that should end your search.”

Eyeing him warily, she followed him into the office. He closed the door and the blinds over the window before turning towards her. “I can not tell you my name, but I can tell you that any further inquiries into the status of the ‘King Cobra’ could very likely end in your disappearance.”

“Why?” Akane blinked, completely caught off guard.

“You don’t know who owns that ship, do you?”

“No. I just thought it was a freighter.”

The man looked confused. “If you don’t know who owns it, then why are you asking about it?”

“My fiancé was seen boarding it in Japan and I wanted to meet him here.”

The man seemed surprised and he pulled out a notepad. “What was his name?”

“Ranma Saotome. And what do you mean ‘was’?”

The man adjusted his tie in a habitual manner. “There are two reasons I said was. The first is because that ship is owned by a certain criminal syndicate that shall remain nameless for your sake and mine. The second is because that ship blew up at sea yesterday.”

Akane stared in shock at the man. He turned to raise the blinds and opened the door. He gave her one last look over his shoulder as he said, “Go home, miss. There’s nothing more for you here.”

Akane sat in the room she had rented in a hotel in Hong Kong. She had spent several hours convincing herself that Ranma was all right before she realized that she didn’t really need to convince herself. She knew in her heart that he was fine.

She sighed and picked up the telephone to call Nabiki.

“<Nabiki Tendo speaking,>” her sister answered.

“Nabiki, it’s me.”

“Akane! What’s up? Ranma already show up?”

“No. There were two things wrong with that ship. The first was that it was a stupid criminal ship. The second is that it blew up!”

“Oh, gods… Akane, do you think…”

Akane snorted. “Please, Nabiki… do you honestly think that Ranma would die just because the ship he was on blew up? The stupid jerk is probably the one who blew up the ship in the first place!”

Nabiki was quiet for a moment before a small chuckle escaped her. “You’ve got a point… property does have a tendency to devalue around him. So, are you going to go home now or wait for him there?”

Akane shook her head before remembering she was on the phone again. “No. Ranma’s coming this way and I think I know what he’s going to do. He’ll probably hit the temples here, as well as checking with all of the different people we’ve dealt with over the years. The Musk, the Amazons, and so on. I’ll just pick a place a wait for him there.”

“Are you sure about this, sis?”

“Nabiki, I want to share my life with Ranma. If he’s not in it, then I have to find him and make the stupid jerk stick around.”

“You know, I sure hope I find a husband as devoted as you are some day,” Nabiki commented with a chuckle. “Although I’d prefer someone a little richer than you are, less prone to violent displays of temper, more masculine… well, actually, I’m not sure anyone’s more masculine than you, so I’ll settle for ‘properly equipped’. Hmmm, maybe I should specify ‘generously equipped’. Yes, that will do.”

“NABIKI!”

“Akane, we already know full well that you know my name, and I know my name, so there’s no need to shout,” Nabiki teased her sister mercilessly.

“NABIKI!”

Nabiki sighed. “Akane.”

“What?”

“Well, you were just saying my name over and over again, so I figured I’d do the same thing.”

Akane considered crushing the phone in her hand, but she really didn’t feel like paying for it. “Look, just keep an eye out for Ranma, would you?”

Nabiki laughed. “Sure thing, sis. Good luck and good hunting.”

Akane shuddered as she stood at the entrance to the valley. She had actually been standing there for well over four hours, trying to work up the courage to enter. Every time she managed to do it, she would take a single step and stop. Then the process would repeat itself. ‘I’m terrified of this place,’ she admitted to herself. After all, one of these pools literally had her name on it, the Akaneniichuan. ‘But Ranma will probably come here looking for a cure. Or will he put that on hold while he’s trying to get rid of Kannon’s curse?’ That was the debate that caused her to hesitate.

She was bout to take another step when an angry voice stopped her. “What the hell are you doing here, girl?”

Akane slowly turned around and saw Pantyhose Taro standing a few feet away from her. “Whatever the hell I want, you stupid jerk!”

Taro smirked at her. “And where’s femboy?”

“That’s none of your business!” She had never liked Taro, especially since he was a member of the ‘I’ve Kidnapped Akane Club’.

“Well then, I think I’ll just make it my business. If I slap you around a bit, femboy’s going to show up and then I can beat the crap out of him.” Taro took one step forward and cracked his knuckles.

Akane put down her bags and glared at Taro as she took up a defensive stance. As Taro’s smirk widened, she shifted to a more aggressive stance. “You’re choice. I’ll warn you right now I’ve gotten a lot better.”

Taro shrugged as he stepped closer. “Not enough.”

Akane knew that if Taro landed a hit, it was going to hurt a lot. She had watched enough of Ranma’s fights with him to know that there was a lot of power in him. She also knew that in his human form, Taro was fast and skilled, but he couldn’t take a hit as well as his cursed form. Inversely, as a freakish minotaur, Taro could take hits that would cripple tanks and laugh them off, but his fighting skill seemed to drop to that of a common barroom brawler and his speed suffered as well. ‘Don’t let your opponent pick how the fight goes,’ she heard Ranma’s voice in her head. ‘Figure out how you want it and make sure it stays that way.’ Akane wasn’t confident in taking on the minotaur because she wasn’t even sure if she could hurt his monstrous body. She had seen him recover quickly from a combined hit by Ranma, Ryoga, Mousse, and Shampoo, so she had little reason to believe that her own strikes would do much to it. ‘So that means I have to keep him human.’ She spared a second for a quick glance around and felt relief that the only nearby water were the pools of Jusenkyo and the canteen that Taro always carried with him. ‘Now to take care of the canteen.’

Taro misunderstood her glances at the environment. He figured she was looking for Ranma. Deciding to bring ‘femboy’ out early, Taro slipped across the short distance, dropping his arm in preparation for a rising gut shot. He was a bit surprised when Akane stepped into the hit and folded herself around it, negating almost all of the power.

Akane used her momentum from the hit to flip forward and land behind Taro. As the Chinese man turned to face her, she had a smug expression on her face. It took him a moment to realize that she was holding his canteen in her hand as she dodged further out of his reach. His eyes narrowed as she tore the cap off and dumped the water on ground. “Now we get to see if you really can ‘fight like a man’, Pantyhose Taro.”

Taro’s anger flared as he was reminded about his full name. He bolted towards Akane, angling a vicious kick at her smirking face. He wasn’t prepared for her to move fast enough to barely duck under his strike, nor was he quite expecting the nasty punch that landed between his legs. He hit the ground badly and bit back a groan of pain. ‘Damn, did femboy teach the little bitch how to fight?’ He wondered as he picked himself up.

Akane kept a neutral expression on her face, but inside she had warring emotions. She was glad to actually be winning in a real fight for once, instead of just being the victim or fighting unskilled opponents. She was also proud of how effective her use of the ‘Saotome Secret Technique: Insult of Doom’ was working. Taro had let his anger get the better of him, leaving him open to a surprise attack from what he considered an inferior opponent. But she was also a bit upset over the hit she had landed. She had not intended to strike him in the groin. She had aimed for the knee of his extended leg, but Taro moved a lot faster than she had expected and her punch was off-target.

Taro limped a little as he fought to get over the pain of the hit, but, unlike Ranma, he was used to dirty fighting. He just hadn’t expected it from Akane. Little did she know that his opinion of her was rising slowly. Taro threw the same kick at her head that he had used before, watching Akane’s movements. She ducked just in time, like she had before. Her eyes went wide for a moment as Taro’s kicking leg retracted and his other leg snapped out in a horizontal crescent kick that caught her full on the chin.

Akane’s head rocked back as pain exploded through her face. She failed to dodge the follow-up punch that slammed into her gut, knocking the wind out of her and throwing her back a fair distance. After a few moments she was able to see through the flashes of light that clouded her vision and she felt her anger grow. Taro was giving her a disdainful smirk.

“Come on, even femboy could get up after that little tap.”

Akane jumped to her feet, ignoring the pain in her stomach as she ran straight for him, her arms crossing her chest. Taro’s smirk widened as he anticipated a wild swing. He was completely caught off guard, however, when she suddenly yelled, “Fierce Tiger Opening Gates Blow!” Taro blinked in surprise as Akane’s hands glowed for a moment and her arms snapped out, blasting his own arms out of the way as a powerful kick rose up to slam into his jaw.

Taro saw stars for a moment as his head rocked back and he stumbled backwards a step. He didn’t know what to expect when he heard, “Poison Snake Deep Hole Blow!” His chest felt like it was on fire as the pain from Akane’s ki-amplified punch to his ribs slammed into him. Taro recovered a few moments later and glared at Akane, his respect for her growing a bit more. He put his hand to where she had hit and it came away bloody. Taro smirked at Akane. “Well, this just might be more fun than beating on the transgender bitch.”

Akane again kept a neutral expression on her face. She hadn’t realized how much damage the Poison Snake attack could do. She had only practiced it on wooden dummies, so the sight of Taro bleeding from the wound shook her a little. She remembered just how bruised and bloody most of Taro’s victims were, however, and what little sympathy she had been developing died a mangled death.

Taro smiled this time, instead of smirking. ‘The only thing she’s really doing wrong is she keeps letting up after a good hit. She needs to learn to follow through and keep pounding her enemy until he’s broken. Like this.’ Moving faster than he had before, Taro tackled Akane. She went down hard because she was not expecting such a brawler-like attack. Taro rammed his shoulder into her stomach before straddling her hips. He began pounding on her, sending punch after punch into her face and torso.

Akane had never been in quite this much pain. Her thoughts were jumbled as her head was rocked from side to side and occasionally slammed into the ground. It wasn’t until Taro started chuckling that her anger burned through her haze. Taro was not prepared for the sudden punch to his groin or for the left cross that nailed him on the chin. As he started to fall off of Akane, he found his groin being repeatedly kneed as punch after punch rained into his face, each hit followed by a curse.

“You! Fucking! Bastard!” Akane was almost completely lost in her rage. She finally moved her target from Taro’s groin to his stomach, repeatedly sending knee strikes into his pain-wracked body. She had stopped punching in order to grip his shoulders and add more ‘oomph’ to her strikes. It proved to be a mistake as Taro finally managed to grab one of her knees and twist viciously, throwing her to the ground. He stepped back a good distance as Akane picked herself up slowly. Her knee was on fire and she found herself limping as she turned to face him.

“You’ve gotten good, girl, but this fight is over.” He reached into the back of the sash he wore and pulled out a small canteen. “After dealing with femboy so often, I’ve started packing a spare.” He started to twist the cap off when he received a rude surprise.

Hoping her aim was good despite the fact that one eye was swollen shut and the other was starting to close some, Akane focused her attention on the canteen. “Demon God Assault Bomb!” She threw her arms wide.

Taro watched in shock as a vacuum blade shot from Akane and sliced the canteen in two, spilling the water on the ground. His arm caught the edge of the blade and a long gash appeared.

“Not this time, asshole. If you really want to change, Jusenkyo’s over there.”

Taro glared for at Akane for a moment before he started chuckling. Akane’s eyes narrowed as the chuckle became outright laughter. After a moment, Taro waved his hand and stood up straight. “This fight’s over.” He eyed her up and down for a moment. “You look like hell, but you’re also a hell of a fighter.”

Akane stayed in her ready stance as best she could. “What do you mean, this fight’s over?”

“Simple. I underestimated you way too early in the match. Without being able to change, the best we can manage is to tie off and beat the both of us black and blue.” He took a look at his arms and smirked. “More than we are now. I think it’s safe to just call this a draw, shall we?”

Akane started to protest, but the general pain she was feeling from all of her injuries made her change her mind. “All right. Fine.” She slowly relaxed her stance some.

Taro rubbed the back of his neck as he stretched some. “You sure got a lot better since the last time I kidnapped you. Where the hell did you learn that stuff?”

Akane sat down and started feeling her injured leg. ‘Damn, I think he sprained my knee.’ “Ranma taught me.”

“Femboy?” Taro looked around again. “Where the hell is he, anyway? Normally he shows up pretty quick when you’re in trouble.”

Akane thought for a minute before answering. She told Taro about the curse and Ranma’s goal to somehow get rid of it. When she was done, Taro was shaking his head. “What?”

“You know, you really don’t deserve him.” Akane’s glare intensified and she started to move towards the arrogant martial artist. Taro just smirked. “What I mean is that you’re too good for him.”

“Huh?”

“Femboy’s got this whole ‘noble warrior’ bit going, and I’ll tell you right now it pisses me off. There’s nothing noble in fighting. Fighting is how the strong prove themselves and dominate the weak. There’s no room for concepts like ‘mercy’ and ‘honor’. All those do is give you a handicap and piss off the real fighters. There’s no reason to drag out a fight. Just finish it using whatever means necessary and use anything at your disposal. You’ve got a knack for brutal fighting, the way it’s supposed to be. I pissed you off, so you made me hurt. That’s the right way to do things.”

“I don’t _like_ hurting people, Taro.” Akane was pretty sure she meant it, but a nagging voice in the back of her mind reminded her of the satisfaction she always got from beating up on Kuno and the pervert crowd.

“Bullshit, Akane. I’ve got the sore balls to prove it, too. Damn, but I haven’t gotten multi-wracked like that in a long time. My point is, Ranma wouldn’t have gone for that target, no matter how quickly it would have ended the fight. He’d rather dance around and try to make himself look good instead of ending the fight as quick as possible. Answer me honestly, how often have things been broken or people been hurt around Ranma because he dragged out his battles?”

Akane didn’t answer him. She was too busy thinking about what he said. She was also still a little bit high on adrenaline and the feeling of having been taken seriously in a fight for once, instead of being treated like a china doll.

Taro smirked. “Thought so.” He walked over to her and put his hand under her chin. He tilted her head from side to side with a nod. He also knelt down to check her leg. “You’ll want to get that looked at. That black eye looks pretty nasty and you’ve got a strained knee. If you think you can handle them, the Amazons are over that way.” Taro jerked his thumb in the direction of Shampoo’s village.

Akane reached up and touched her face, wincing at the pain it caused. “Thanks.” She took a calming breath and noticed how beaten he looked. “Are you going to be okay?”

Taro snorted. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ve been in enough tournaments to have taken plenty worse.” He reached up to touch the spot on his chest where she had nearly broken a rib. “Although this one caught me completely off guard.” Akane started to open her mouth and Taro shot her a look. “If you even consider apologizing, you’ll lose all of the respect you just earned from me.”

Akane’s mouth slammed shut as his words echoed in her head. ‘He respects me? Even if only a little? No one ever _respected_ me before. Feared, yes. Liked, yes. Respected? Ranma is about the only one who came close to respecting me…’ “Thank you… Taro.”

Taro snorted and walked away, trying to hide the stagger the pain in his groin was causing. Akane watched him go for a while before picking herself up, gathering her things, and limping in the direction he indicated. After a few yards the pain in her knee forced her to stop and use a broken tree branch as a makeshift crutch. She continued on towards the Amazon village, but unfortunately her injuries and the unfamiliar terrain caused her to go off course. She didn’t realize that she was slowly heading into Musk territory.

After a few hours, she had the feeling that she was being watched. Her suspicions were confirmed when a pair of strange men seemed to appear out of the tall grass around her. One apparently had feline ancestry while the other looked to be vaguely serpentine. They started rattling off Chinese at her, but with her extremely limited grasp on the language she was unable to follow anything that they said. Mistaking her silence as arrogance, the cat-like warrior stepped up and went to grab her arm. She slapped his hand away, which earned a laugh from the snake-like man. The catman growled in a feral manner and pounced at her.

Akane grimaced as she was forced to put weight on her injured knee, but she managed to bring her makeshift crutch up to catch the catman in mid-pounce. The wood cracked in two as the Musk warrior was knocked away into the grass. Akane turned to face the snakeman, but she hesitated when she saw that he hadn’t made a move yet. Her warning instincts kicked in a moment too late as the catman recovered from the hit and slashed at her with his claw-like fingernails.

Akane’s back felt like it was on fire as she tried to track her opponent with her only good eye. She managed to catch sight of him again just as he struck her across the face. Akane was knocked to the ground by the blow and she found it difficult to regain her balance. She worked her way up to her knees just in time to catch a solid kick to the chest that knocked her onto her back. She coughed harshly as she tried to catch her breath, but a clawed hand began to squeeze her throat. Two powerful punches to her head rendered her senseless. She didn’t feel her shirt being ripped off as her mind struggled to deal with the pain of several kicks being directed into her ribs.

Akane and the two Musk never noticed the figure in the trees a fair distance away, nor did they notice the arrow that was knocked and pulled back. The serpentine Musk did notice the shaft that suddenly grew out of the dirt near his toes. The feline Musk paid careful attention to the arrow that was now lodged in the ground between his legs. Unable to see where the arrows had come from, the two warriors decided that it would be best for them to simply continue on with their patrol in the quickest possible manner.

Once the two Musk were long gone, the figure slipped from the trees, revealing an athletic female dressed in old, Chinese Amazon battle armor. After checking Akane’s injuries, the Amazon warrior wrapped a blanket around her and carried her to the safety of the trees and Amazon territory.

Akane woke up lying on her chest to a world of darkness and pain. A groan escaped her before she could stop it. In response came a voice that she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to hear again.

“Aiyah, violent pervert girl finally wake up!”

‘Oh, by the gods… Shampoo…’ she cursed under her breath as she tried to get up. Fiery pain raced across her back, reminding her of her injuries.

“Don’t move, child. You’ve been unconscious for over a day. You were found at the edge of Musk territory by one of our warriors.” Akane recognized Cologne’s voice instantly.

Akane tried to growl, but it turned into a wracking cough. “Thanks, I guess.” She gripped her ribs with her arm as pain shot through them. “I don’t remember some of these injuries.”

“You likely received them after the Musk warrior rendered you unconscious.” Cologne pulled a chair over next to the bed that Akane was lying on. “Now, would you like to explain what you are doing in China, or more specifically in Musk territory?”

Akane turned her head so she could glare at the old woman. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your interference.”

Though she did not let it show, Cologne still agonized over that mistake. It had cost the village a fine physical specimen and had been caused by her simply not thinking things through. ‘I was acting more like my great-granddaughter.’. “And what are you doing here?” Hope seemed to appear in the woman’s eyes. “Is Ranma here as well?” She regretted the question the moment she asked it. She would have slapped herself if it weren’t for the fact that it wouldn’t be very Matriarchal of her. ‘If Ranma were here, Akane would never have ended up in this condition.’

Akane sighed carefully. “No, at least not as far as I’m aware.” She told Cologne and Shampoo about Ranma’s decision and hers. Cologne was silent for quite some time. It was during this silence that Akane noticed something odd about the younger Amazon. ‘It looks like Shampoo’s putting on weight.’ As realization dawned on her, her eyes went wide. “Shampoo! Are you pregnant?”

Shampoo beamed happily and nodded. Akane was about to ask if Mousse was the father when Cologne put a warning finger over her mouth. Akane stared in confusion at the elderly Amazon for a moment. “Must be nice,” she finally growled under her breath. She missed the look of hurt that crossed both Amazons’ faces.

“I think so.” Akane’s head turned so fast that she aggravated some of her injuries, eliciting a yelp of pain. One of the last people she expected to see stood in the doorway to the hut.

“Ryuu?!” Akane hissed angrily. Though Ranma had forgiven him for the most part, Akane had never forgiven the man who had tried to steal Ranma’s name, his school, and his mother.

Ryuu whistled appreciatively as he examined Akane’s back. “Damn, you got worked over, girl. What happened, Ranma not there to save you?”

Injuries or not, there was no way Akane was going to let him get away with that kind of insult. Before she could rise, there was a loud smack and she witnessed Kumon Ryuu flying across the hut before becoming embedded headfirst into a wall. Shampoo’s fist slowly came back down and Cologne lowered her staff from its striking position. “Shampoo sorry for airen being stupid. Shampoo still try teach husband more respect.”

Akane let a small smirk emerge on her face. “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”

Cologne nodded in agreement. Though Ryuu was a fine physical specimen, his attitude was almost as grating as Ranma’s had been. “But he does raise a point, child. This really is a dangerous part of the world for one of your skill level. You should not be traveling alone.”

Akane glared at the old woman. “I would have been perfectly fine if I hadn’t gotten into a fight with Taro earlier today. He’s the reason I couldn’t fight those Musk jerks very well.”

“Taro attacked you?”

Akane nodded. “He figured it would draw Ranma out. He didn’t know that Ranma is missing.”

“That just confirms what I said, child. You are not skilled enough to travel away from your home.”

Akane sat up angrily, ignoring the pain it caused. “I’ll have you know that I beat Taro black and blue, you old ghoul!”

Cologne and Shampoo both blinked in surprise. Shampoo leaned close to her great-grandmother and whispered, “Shampoo think violent pervert girl get hit on head too too many times.”

Akane began to glow with anger. “Why does everyone assume I’m a weakling? Ranma was secretly training me for several months before you pulled that stupid stunt of yours! I was almost ready to challenge you and beat you! And he’s been training me for a year after that, so I am perfectly capable of handling myself, you bubble-headed bimbo!” Akane started to lunge at the Amazon, but her vision became blurry and she lost her balance. Cologne barely managed to catch her before she fell out of the bed.

“Rest, child. We will talk more later.” Cologne struck a pressure point that helped Akane go to sleep. As she watched the resting girl, she considered possibilities. ‘Perhaps I can repay a small part of the mistake I made. If Ranma truly has been helping her train, then perhaps she is ready for me to train her as well. And if anyone raises hell over it, I’ll offer her adoption into the Amazon tribe. And if Ranma can overcome that curse, then we may still be able to get him into the tribe through her. If not, Akane would still make a good addition to our village. I do believe that this could be a win-win situation.’ A plan forming in her mind, Cologne pogoed on her staff to fetch the healer again.