"You sure you can use all this junk?" Ranma asked, twirling a club on his finger. Akane looked between the hoop and the ribbon calmly.
"Just you watch," she said. As for Ryoko.
"So its settled then," Ryoko said. "When Akane defeats your uptight little noble, I get Tenchi for a month."
"Hmph." Ayeka smirked. "As if one of your berserkers can compete with any of mine in such a contest of style and grace. Kodachi will dance around this Akane as if she were a rotund bear!"
"Oh, we'll see who's graceless after this, your divine highness," Ryoko growled.
And then I won't have to share either of you for a full month, both of them thought with a smirk.
"I don't get any say in this, do I?" Tenchi asked. The girls didn't seem to hear him and he sighed. "Didn't think so."
"Coo" The sound caught both Ranma's and Akane's attention. Both saw a familiar pigeon chickenwalking across the dojo floor towards them.
Ryouga, Akane's mouth quirked into a frown before it settled into a neutral expression. She glanced nervously at Ranma, wondering if he had been reading her mind when she identified the pigeon.
"Hey, Mr. P," Ranma said cheerfully, to which response the bird seemed to wince.
Apparently not, Akane thought.
Then Ryouga took to the wing. Ranma easily caught the bird before it reached him and watched as it started to peck at his hand.
"Hey, where you been?" Ranma asked, as if he couldn't feel the beak, which was pretty much the case.
"Mr. P?" Akane asked. Ranma gave her a suffering look that clearly said, "Do I really have to explain?"
"Yeah, Mister Pigeon, Mr. P," Ranma shrugged. The pigeon continued to peck at him.
"Isn't kind of feminine give a small animal a cutesy name like that?" Akane asked.
"What would you know about it?" Ranma asked sticking his tongue out.
"He doesn't even like you and you're falling all over him," Akane snapped. Ranma stared at her and blinked.
"Its just a bird, Akane," Ranma said, then he looked down and continued under his breath. "And most of them won't come near me. Anyway, ain't you supposed to be practicing?"
"Fine, don't come crying to me when you start having accidents," Akane huffed as she walked back to the tools. Ranma looked at the bird in his hand.
"Sheesh, jealous of a bird," Ranma rolled his eyes. Then a gymnastics club pounded him on the head.
"I am NOT jealous," Akane snapped. The priestess rose the clubs up in a starting stance. "Now watch this!" Akane leaped into the air, tossing the clubs, kicked her legs out and landed gracefully. The clubs landed several strides to either side of her. Ranma and Mr. P blinked.
"Are you supposed to let those drop?" Ranma asked, wondering if the clubs were supposed to hit a target of some sort.
"Very funny," Akane growled. Ranma blinked again and then smirked. "Let's try the ribbon." Moments later the ribbon was draped around Akane.
"Are you supposed to get yourself all tangled up like that?" Ranma asked. The pigeon in his hands cooed angrily and struggled to get free.
"Shut up!" Akane grumbled. The hoop was thrown up into the air, Akane followed it, easily catching it. She landed into an easy somersault and tried to pull herself through. Ranma, smirking, muttered under his breath, and the hoop broke in three places.
"Are you supposed to break the hoop?" Ranma asked, trying to keep from laughing. The distraction proved enough for Ryouga to get free and fly further into the building. Ranma glanced briefly in the direction of pigeon and slumped a little, before turning back to Akane.
"That does it!" Akane shouted, stomping her feet.
"Aren't you supposed to have just a little bit of grace?" Ranma asked, a little calmer. Akane continued to throw a temper-tantrum.
Soun was avoiding the chaos, sitting in the hot springs and relaxing. He barely blinked when a pigeon flapped into the room and dropped into the water. A moment later Ryouga rose up out of the water, without saying anything and walked out towards the dojo.
"I'm a klutz! I'm a klutz! I'm a klutz!" Akane cried at Ranma.
"Come on Akane," Ranma said in response, feeling guilty at his joke earlier. "You ain't that bad, I mean you're just gettin' started you know."
"I can instruct you." A voice said from the doorway. Akane stopped dead and turned around.
"Hey, what happened to the pigeon?" she asked dryly. The low growling behind her attracted her attention quickly though.
"Ry.Ou.Ga..." Ranma growled out while getting ready to launch. There was a flash of red light as Akane invoked her goddess's gifts to intercept Ranma before he could attack Ryouga. "Let me go! I'm going to kill him!!"
"You're welcome to try, Ranma," Ryouga smirked. "If you can get past her that is." Akane was tempted to let Ranma go after that comment.
"I thought you were supposed to protect me," Akane reminded him. Ranma stopped struggling at that comment. "Not the other way...Ranma are you okay?" The pig-tailed boy looked from Akane to Ryouga and back.
"Yeah," Ranma said quietly. Then he growled and snapped angrily. "Just fine!" In the next moment Akane was holding nothing as Ranma vanished from her grip.
"Ranma!" Akane shouted, standing up straight and looking around. "What was that about?" She glanced at Ryouga speculatively, who blushed under the scrutiny. He couldn't have been jealous...could he?
"Well, uh....shall we get started?" he asked. Akane shook herself back to reality.
"Yeah, but we really should..." Akane was interrupted as Ryoko appeared in the dojo.
"Are you still just hanging around?" Ryoko asked, she noted Ryouga and frowned as she recognized him. There was something relating to Ryouga that she couldn't quite grab hold of, a favor she had asked of his aunt or something. The problem was almost everytime she was around Urd she got almost blind drunk so remembering the exact conversation was somewhat difficult.
"Lady Ryoko," Akane sputtered. "Ryouga was just offering to teach me how to use the tools."
Ahh, maybe that was it, Ryoko said, not yet realizing that she hadn't talked to Urd in the hour since the challenge was decided. "That's good, where's your fiance?"
"He..left," Akane said. Ryoko arched an eyebrow and floated in front of Ryouga. After a moment's investigation she knocked the celestial on the head and received no response.
"Hey, this guy's worse than you," Ryoko said.
Kasumi turned to see Ranma appear in the doorway behind her. She smiled at the half-demon as he walked in next to her. Ranma stared at the dirty dishes for a moment.
"Is there something I can help you with, Ranma," Kasumi asked encouragingly.
"Do ya need help with the dishes?" he asked in response. Kasumi smiled and moved to a small closet to get a smock for Ranma.
"I could always use more help," Kasumi said. She handed him the smock and a rag. "Why don't you dry them?" Ranma nodded and slipped the protective smock over his clothes before taking a dish from Kasumi and drying it.
Kasumi noticed Ranma become noticeably more tense after a few moments and almost frowned.
"Did you have another fight with Akane?" Kasumi asked.
"Ryouga's in there," Ranma said simply.
"Oh, I see," Kasumi said. "I shouldn't worry if I were you. Lady Ryoko is there as well." Ranma nodded and continued drying dishes, glancing towards the dojo.
So this is the dwelling of the little barbarian that the Demon has sent to challenge me, Kodachi thought as she stood outside the Tendo monastery.
"Akane Tendo!" Kodachi shouted, causing a couple of people to glance at her nervously and shuffle away. "Tonight, Kodachi the Black Rose, will cripple you!" She paused for a moment.
"Heh," Ryoko snickered holding a ribbon. "I can see where one of Ayeka's kids would like a 'combat..."
Ryoko's eye started twitching for apparently no reason. Ryouga swallowed nervously. After all, he was certain that Ryoko was the one that had arranged for him to come down here. The fact that he was currently attempting to speed teach Akane Acrobatic Martial Arts, and, in the process, making her look like a clumsy fool, did not escape him.
"Uh, that's enough special..." Ryouga started
"Keep training, there's a small problem," Ryoko said. "Its being taken care of."
Yeah, I got it covered, Ranma thought in response to Ryoko's request. He turned to Kasumi. "Sorry, Kasumi, I gotta do something for Auntie."
"Oh, that is quite all right," Kasumi said smiling. There was an explosion and an irritated scream. Ranma and Kasumi looked in that direction for a moment. "Incidentally, how well do you know Lady Lina?"
"Well enough not to tell her 'that...is a secret,'" Ranma said, heading out the door.
Kodachi padded across the roof of the Tendo dojo smiling madly as she tried to ascertain where her enemy's room was. She had already ruled out several rooms and she was quick on her way to eliminating all but the beserker's dwelling. Then all she had to do was...be sent flying through the air on a rush of burning air.
What....was that? Kodachi asked herself, staring up at the growing stars in a daze. Then the stars started to shrink again.
"Wasn't there supposed to be someone out here for me to send away," Ranma asked as he stepped out into the courtyard. He glanced up and saw a swiftly descending form, not bracing itself for a fall. "Uh oh."
He leapt up from the ground and intercepted the falling figure before she could hit the ground. Ranma looked to see who he had caught and winced as he landed.
"Well, this was easy," Ranma muttered. The woman was apparently still staring off into space, but her eyes were fluttering. Ranma took a moment to read what she was thinking.
Oh! Kodachi thought as she came to. He's gorgeous! Ranma paled and tried to set her down before...Kodachi latched onto him solidly.
"Hold on here," Ranma said shakily, though he could tell Kodachi wasn't paying attention. Kiss her, don't kiss her. If I do that I have to change. Ranma grimaced, wishing that he could feed without dropping the disguise like a full blooded demon could.
Oh, the grey dreary life of a Jurain novice cloistered away, Kodachi ranted internally, unaware that her thoughts had an audience. I'd given up any hope of finding a man to love! Ohh! To think that such a wonderful encounter was awaiting me. She took turned to face him, after drying her face of the tears of happiness that had been shed. "Please sir, may I ask your name?"
"R-r-r.Ranma Saotome," Ranma answered nervously. He paled suddenly as he caught a glimpse of her thoughts. Okay, she goes down.
"For you," Kodachi said as she produced a bouquet of roses. "My...Ranma?" Ranma stepped back away from the flowers letting them fall to the ground. A puff of enchanted smoke rose from the roses and dissipated harmlessly.
"You don't need that," Ranma said, smirking. Kodachi watched, rapt as he slipped out of his upper jacket and tunic, revealing his well-muscled chest and firm abdomen.
"Oh, Ranma," Kodachi sighed. "Take these lips of...mmph!?" She didn't get to finish her spiel as Ranma quickly embraced her. She caught sight, however, of the great bat wings rising out of her new loves back before the ecstacy hit. A couple of seconds later she slumped to the roof, mind completely blank from the pleasure.
Ranma returned to human form, not bothering to listen to Kodachi's currently jumbled thoughts. With any luck she'd think it was a dream. He slipped back into his tunic and jumped down through the hole in the roof.
"Wait!" Ryouga snapped. "I feel the presence of demonic power!" Ryoko narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms as Ryouga dashed out of the dojo before she could respond.
"Demonic power," Ryoko repeated. "Imagine that. Akane-chan, do you know of anyone in this room that could be a 'presence of demonic power?'"
"I am sorry Lady Ryoko," Akane said. "What do you mean?"
"It wasn't anything important," Ryoko looked Akane up and down and smirked. "Are you supposed to tie yourself up like that?" Akane twitched, the words sparked a memory of Ranma teasing her earlier.
"No, I don't think so, Lady Ryoko," Akane said respectfully. Ryoko snickered. "I'm going to make sure he doesn't get lost." She carefully disengaged herself from the ribbon and followed Ryouga. Curiously she lost him almost immediately.
"Good idea," Ryoko said. She continued, muttering as Akane left, "I wonder if Urd ever mentioned to Skuld who's fault that was."
"Saotome," Nabiki growled behind him. "My ceiling is not a door." Ranma turned around to look at the soot covered Nabiki and struggled to keep from laughing, then had a horrid thought.
"Umm, how much did you see of...?" he started.
"You getting a little snack off the flower girl?" Nabiki asked.
"Errr, yeah," Ranma said paling. Nabiki smirked.
"Let's talk deal here, Ranma," Nabiki said.
"For what?" Ranma asked nervously.
"If I go to Lord Xellos for help with Lina," she stated plainly. "Well, it wouldn't be against the rules, but it would be terribly disappointing."
"Umm, what's that got to do with me?" Ranma asked.
"I need a middleman," she smirked. "In a manner of speaking, to talk to Lina, understand?" Ranma slumped with a sigh
"Yeah," Ranma said. "I'll see what I can do. Now, how do we get her out of here so wakes up at home and thinks this was a dream." They both felt magic of some sort above them. Ranma sighed resignedly. "Maybe she has one of those rings too."
Ryouga, flying about the Tendo household, was fortunate enough to spot the girl on top of the house right away. Otherwise he might have wandered for ages before finding anything. He swooped down, landing lightly on the roof next to the dazedly staring girl.
And now angels fall from the heavens to attend to my greatness, a semi-delusional Kodachi thought.
"Hey, miss," Ryouga said leaning over. Her life force has been drained, oh that villian, Ranma! To attack an innocent woman and leave her out in the cold. He reached out, calling on his celestial nature to heal the girl.
Down in the courtyard Akane turned toward the roof as she sensed magic. Sure enough there was a bright white glow coming from up on the roof. She hopped up to the roof to see Ryouga leaning over some girl in a black acrobat's outfit, emblazoned with roses.
"RYOUGA!! What do you think you're DOING!" Ranma yelled as he joined the party on the roof again.
"Fixxing whatever evil you did to this poor inno..." Ryouga started angrily.
"That's Kodachi the Black Rose you jerk!" Ranma snapped. Akane glanced at the girl again, and this time recognized her.
"Oh my," Kodachi said again. "I must thank you, oh divine one, for bringing me to my senses. Here, a token of my esteem." A bouquet of roses appeared from nothing, and everybody felt the magic in them.
"Oh....uh...th..th.thank you," Ryouga stammered accepting the roses.
"No wait!!" Ranma leaped across to try to knock the roses away from Ryouga. He managed to reach there just as the spell went off. "Binding spell in the flowers." Ranma muttered weakly as he and Ryouga were both bound by an ephemeral chain of roses.
"How was I to know?" Ryouga protested.
"Mind-reading," Ranma suggested irritably.
"Oh, my dark knight and divine saviour," Kodachi sighed. "They are both so gorgeous, a pity that they should be of such opposing factions. Whichever shall I choose?"
Kodachi paused for a moment, and Akane's eye twitched angrily as she guessed what was coming next. Ranma, on the other hand, looked pale as Kodachi herself. Ryouga was clueless.
"I must have them both!" Kodachi shouted. She started forward to kiss one of the trapped men when something seemed to appear out of nowhere and kick her away.
"Right over my bedroom no less!" Akane shouted angrily.
"Oh, what tragic timing," Kodachi sighed irritably. "My immortal loves, let us meet again!"
"Feh," Akane grumbled. "Ridiculous. And YOU!"
Akane whirled on the two bound men. A flash of red burst between her hands and suddenly she was holding a red mallet. The berserker rushed at them angrily.
"YOU are supposed to be training me, not flirting with the enemy!" Akane swung her mallet and Ryouga flew backwards into the pool. She angrily noted that, of course, Ranma was stuck looking the wrong way.
Ranma felt the waves of jealousy off of Akane and felt depressed. Of course she would get jealous over Ryouga and Kodachi. The jerk didn't even bother to hide it, just rubbed it right in your face. He was thinking along those lines when Akane pushed him over so that he fell to the roof on his face. When he hit his thoughts sounded more like This is going to be an uncomfortable night.
Jerk, Akane thought behind a shield of limmericks. He's supposed to be my fiance, not flirting around with Ryouga and Kodachi.
Akane jumped off the roof and headed angrily for the pool dragging out the paralyzed pigeon. She got to bed and set the pigeon in a box before settling for bed.
There's no way I'm losing to her! Akane declared to herself.
Ryoko looked around the empty dojo and blinked
"This party sure died fast," she said to nobody in particular.