Ukyou was irritable, after this morning she had a
good right to be.  The news had spread, it seemed.
This morning she had to deal with Genma.  He had not
seemed as happy about the accidental marriage as
Nodoka was.
*******************************************************
   "Oh great," Ukyou growled upon seeing them outside
her restaurant.  "What do you two want?"
   "I heard that Ranma is married!" Genma said.  Ukyou
laughed.
   "Not for long," she answered him.  "Some bureaucrat
screwed up.  Almost sounded like something you'd do to
him."
   "What are you talking about?  I would never stoop
to such a..."  he shut up at look both Ukyou was
giving him.
   "Anyway, THIS relationship isn't likely to last
more than the week for the clerk's office to open
again," Ukyou said.  "Too bad, I think they'd get
along."
   "Ukyou, please tell me you're not serious," Genma
pleaded, on his knees.  Ukyou was suddenly very
suspicious.
   "You didn't get this worked up when I dated him,"
Ukyou said, levely.  She started to walk away from her
restaurant, uncomfortable with where this was going.
   "Well, you're a martial artist," Genma said without
thinking.  "I don't want to see my boy married to some
frilly little girl that'll twist his mind away from
the Art."
   "Your son has spent the last four years like a
zombie..." Ukyou nearly shreiked.
   "Perfecting the Soul of Ice," Genma protested.
   "Perfecting LIFELESSNESS! Do you mean to say that
all you care about is if his wife will be a good
martial artist?!"  Ukyou slapped herself mentally, why
Genma have to look like everything as if it were a
training exercise of some kind?
   "Cologne not with standing, isn't a good female
martial artist a contradiction in terms?"
   "What?!!!"  The Neriman locals were then treated to
the site of Genma Saotome being hammered into the
ground.  "JACKASS!"  Ukyou couldn't wait to talk to
Nodoka again.
*******************************************************
   "Today just can't get any worse," Ukyou growled.
She glanced at a long abandoned building as she walked
along, then stopped and looked back.  "I may have been
wrong."  A small work crew was going over the old
building carefully.  Cleaning, inspecting, and
generally improving it.
   "Ukyou Kuonji?" Ukyou turned at her surprise and
looked up at a tall chinese man in white robes.
"Shampoo and Ran-Ran just left to pay their respects
to you."
   "And they left you here?"  Mousse laughed.
   "Somebody needs to be here to keep an eye on
things," Mousse gestured toward what he thought was
the work crew.
   "Why would you need to keep an eye on that shell
game?" Ukyou asked curiously.  Mousse squinted in the
general direction he had waved and growled.
   "You know what I meant," he snapped.  "At any rate,
I thought Shampoo should announce themselves to the
bride-to-be," Ukyou blushed.  "And offered to handle
the work of fixing up the Nekohanten."
   "In other words you thought she might just get in
the way of dealing with the contractors," Ukyou said.
~Great, I have competition again.  Wait a minute.~
   "Her intercultural skills could still use some
polishing," Mousse admitted diplomatically.
   "Who is Ran-Ran?" Ukyou asked.  Mousse got nervous.
   "She's one of Shampoo's little sisters."
   "I thought she was an only child," Ukyou said.
~This can't all be happening again, Ranma'll snap!~
   "Oh, they just call each other sisters," Mousse
said.  "Her blood-sister and husband will join us in a
few months."
   "What are you all doing, starting a colony?"
   "Actually, yes."
   "Ran-Ran is single, isn't she," Ukyou said.  Mousse
laughed nervously.  Ukyou sighed in frustration.
~This is definitely worse.~
*******************************************************
   Ryoko woke with a start, she'd been in the halls of
the Yagami again, trying to convince Tenchi not to go.
 Why couldn't he have just seen that his task was
impossible, he would be alive now.  Kagato had
defeated her without a fight, and overpowered even
Yosho and the knights.
   Ryoko sighed, and leaned forward trying to shake
off the dream.  At least she'd woken up before the
dream had gotten really bad.  Before she could again
start filling in the information she wasn't certain
of.  Being sober made it a little difficult, she
needed a distraction.
   She caught her reflection in one of the many
mirrors to shield against evil spirits, and groaned.
She had guessed as much by the general level of
discomfort she was feeling, but the pallor she was
developing proved it.
   "Great, withdrawal," she muttered.  So of course
that shivering wasn't because she was cold.
   Looking up and around she realized three things.
First, it was a lot earlier than she was used to
getting up.  Second, the shrine was in terrible
condition.  Third, there was this wonderful smell
drifting up from where the house should have been.
   "AH!  What are you doing there?"  Ranma shouted as
Ryoko appeared across from him, looking almost like a
ghost.  Ranma decided not to mention anything about
last night, after his third ride into the lake he
doubted she would want to talk about it.
   Ryoko was at first looking at the pot he had
suspended over the fire, and turned her face upward
towards him and smiled seductively.  Ranma blinked and
then narrowed his eyes.
   "Rannma, that smells so wonderful," she purred.  "I
was wondering, if I could maybe haave some?"
   "Are you feeling okay Ryoko?" Ranma asked flatly.
She wasn't, mentally or physically, but she had no
intention of dying by starvation.  She came around the
fire and leaned against him.  "Would you stop that
please?"  Ryoko blinked at the unenthused tone of
voice, and then sat back and crossed her arms.
   "All I want is a good home-cooked breakfast," she
pouted.  "Is that too much to ask?"  Ranma rolled his
eyes and sighed.
   "If I cook you some food will you leave me alone?"
   "Leave YOU alone?!" Ryoko snapped.  ~That's not
fair, most guys just melt at that.  And here HE wants
me to just leave him alone.~  "I live here!"
   "I'm not exactly here by choice, either," Ranma
snapped.  Oddly enough Ryoko was actually relieved by
his outburst.
   "How will they know where you were the entire
time," Ryoko asked.  "You can leave anytime you want
to."
   "You don't know much about honor, do you?" Ranma
asked as he handed her a bowl and started kicking
another serving for himself.  "I can't just leave or
I'd be nothing but some jerk that knows how to fight!"
   "You're right about the jerk part," Ryoko snapped
back as she poked at the rice and vegetables in the
bowl.  "Are these carrots?"
   "Yeah, I saved some from that rabbit-thing of
yours."
   "No meat?" Ryoko asked confused.  Ranma shuffled
uncomfortably.
   "I didn't bring any," he said.  "And I'm a little
nervous about just snatching animals out of the wild.
You look terrible."  Ryoko glared at him.
   "It's been more than a day since I had a drink,"
she reminded him.  "Ever hear of withdrawal?"
   "Isn't that where you ignore the world around you?"
   "No!" Ryoko snapped.  "It's what happens when you
suddenly stop taking a drug like...I don't
know...alchohol!"
   "Oh, how bad is it?" he asked, suddenly wondering
if tossing all the alcohol had been a bad idea.  He'd
heard giving up drinking was difficult, he'd never
bothered to ask why.
   "Not as bad as it's going to be," Ryoko muttered.
   "Miao!" Ryo-Ohki declared happily, surprising both
of them.  For once both Ryoko and Ranma had similar
reactions.  Ryoko nearly choked on her rice and Ranma
went for the trees again.
   "What did you say?" Ryoko demanded.
   "Miao!"  In response to Ryo-Ohki's second outburst,
Ranma jumped down and growled irritably.
   ~Shit, shit, shit!!~ Ryoko ate her rice with
something closer to her usual rate of speed.  ~I
didn't think she'd show up for another day or so!~
   "I wish that thing would let me see it BEFORE it
says something."  He sat down and returned to cooking
his breakfast.
   "Her name is Ryo-Ohki," Ryoko snapped irritably.
"Now, I'M going BACK up there and try to sleep through
the next twenty four hours."  ~Now there's an
impossible dream.~
   "Is this part of your withdrawal, or is it that
time of the month?" Ranma prepared himself for another
trip to the lake.
   "You..." Ryoko cut off her shout and smirked,
leaning forward with seductive grace only a little
ruined by her pallor and sweat.  "I don't know, Want
to risk it?"
   "Errr...not really."
   "Didn't think so," Ryoko said, a victorious look on
her face.  "Later jerk!"  She walked off.
   "Now she's trying to seduce me for food?" Ranma
blinked.  This was a quite a difference from "Don't
you even think about it," a couple of days ago.  He
turned to the cabbit, cricking his neck in preparation
for the response.  "Is she like this most of the
time?"
   "Miao," Ryo-Ohki responded with a long suffering
nod.
*******************************************************
   Ryouga looked about and tried to figure out where
he was.  He was at what seemed to be a shrine of some
kind.  That was moderately surprising, the blue haired
woman he'd been following didn't seem to be the type
that's very interested in religion.
   Then he saw Ryoko walk up to the top of the stairs
appearing rather tired and sick.  Ryouga stopped and
sighed, he was right.  This woman was connected to
Ryoko, considering their similar tastes in pets it
seemed likely.  Then there was that hair, maybe they
were sisters or something.
   "You're even more pathetic than last time Ryoko,"
the blue haired woman said quietly.  Ryoko stopped and
looked as the woman Ryouga had followed stepped out of
the shadows.
   "Nagi," Ryoko said, and smiled.  "Come to take the
bounty?"
   ~Bounty?~ Ryouga sweatdropped.  ~She's a
criminal!?~
   "Haven't you seen the news yet Ryoko?" Nagi asked
quietly.  "It has been more than a month since the
battle."
   "I saw enough.  Tenchi's dead, what else do I need
to know." Ryoko growled.  She dropped into a sloppy
stance and glared at the other woman.  "Now, are we
going to have this fight or not?"  Nagi smirked and
reached out with her weapon to jab Ryoko in the side.
Ryoko gritted her teeth and dropped to one knee.
   "You still haven't gotten that healed?" she tsked.
"What do you do, open it every couple of days."
   "Get out of my face Nagi," Ryoko lunged forward
with a punch that Nagi dodged.
   ~Call for Ranma idiot!~ Ryouga thought.  ~You
almost act like...~  The martial-artist in pig form
took a closer look at the silver-haired woman.
~Kami-Sama, we set RANMA as a suicide watch?!~
   "You are in NO shape to give me the fight I want,"
Nagi said laughing sarcastically.  "Don't you even
have your powers?"
   "Shut up and fight!" Ryoko growled, she snapped a
kick, a forward thrust made sloppy by the pull on her
injury.  Nagi easily blocked the kick and used Ryoko's
leg to shove her away.
   "BWWEEE!!!" Ryouga ran past the fighters in the
direction Ryoko had come from, both ignored him.
   "I'm not going to kill some one that wants to die,"
Nagi told Ryoko, quietly.  "Even if that weren't the
case, you're powers are gone, you're still injured,
and you look sick.  When I fight you it will be at
your best.  As you are now I haven't even used my
weapon and I'm winning."
   "You'll fight me now," Ryoko said, standing up.
"Or you won't ever get the chance again."  She
returned to battle stance and waited.
   "Oh, I think I can give you a reason to live," Nagi
smiled.  "You know it was really a shame that the
Yagami got caught in my starburst."  Ryoko's eyes
widened and narrowed again.  "It really was lucky that
Washu managed to save the cabin, I didn't expect
that."
   "You, you..." Ryoko gasped.  "You're supposed to be
after ME!!  I'M the one that escaped you, I'M your
enemey!!"  Ryoko dropped to her knees.  Nagi walked up
and leaned down arrogantly.
   "Oh, don't worry, the girls, and I think Tenchi's
father, survived.  Ayeka didn't, of course, the
starburst was close to the planet, and I understand a
lot of the debris hit the palace, it looks almost as
in good a shape as you do,"  Ryoko looked up and
narrowed her eyes to slits, glaring at the bounty
hunter.  "Did you know that sweet little girl has
placed a bounty on MY head."
   "I'm going to kill you," Ryoko said quietly.
   "Now that's more like the Ryoko I'm used to," Nagi
said.  "When I come back I expect you to be healthy,
after all this time I deserve a great battle before
you die."
   "Excuse me!" They turned to see Ranma standing
there.  "But you shouldn't bully the weak."
   "Another one of these Earth weaklings, Ryoko?  You
don't waste much time mourning do you?"  Nagi asked
laughing as she stood to face Ranma.  She turned to
face Ranma snapped an order.  "Stay out of my way boy,
this isn't your fight."
   "Ranma stay out of this, she's my problem!"
   "How many times do I have to keep explaining
things?" Ranma demanded.  "For the next week you're my
responsibility, so your problems are my problems."
   "Are all you Earth boys so stubborn?"  Ranma
shrugged and a cautiously circled Nagi.
   "I am Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of
Martial Arts," Ranma said evenly.  "And I ain't going
to stand around and let nobody die."
   "Have it your way then," Nagi lashed out with her
energy whip, and watched as Ranma seemed to blur
around it.
   Nagi backpedalled in near-shock trying to get the
martial artist back into the effective range of her
whip.  She caught a flash of red before leaning
forward and reversing direction.  Ranma was surprised
as she ran past him, he hadn't expected that.
   "You're better than I thought," Nagi said in a low
appreciative voice.  Both fighters faced each other
across the shrine's courtyard.  Nagi took a closer
look at Ranma.
   "I could be better," Ranma said, he certainly
hadn't been good enough four years ago.
   "You're leaps and bounds ahead of Ryoko's last
choice."  Ryoko growled and lunged at Nagi.
   The bounty hunter intercepted the attack and turned
it into a hold.
   "What are you doing idiot!?" Ranma shouted.  "You
can't fight right now!"
   "She's mine!" Ryoko shrieked, despite the fact that
Nagi currently had her under control.
   "Rest a little first, Ryoko," Nagi said.  The
bounty hunter's next move was to reach under Ryoko's
blouse and tunic and rip out the stitches on her
wound.  Ryoko gritted her teeth at the pain as Nagi
dropped her.
   "Damn it!!" Ranma rushed forward and clapped a hand
over the wound as Nagi made distance between them.
Ryoko glared at her hatefully as she faded back into
unconsciousness.
   "KEN-OHKI!!"
   "Miao," Ken-Ohki answered hesitantly.  As Ranma
watched the white cabbit leaped into the air and
transformed into a huge spiny space ship.  Seeing the
transformation kept thoughts of cats out of his head
as the cabbit screeched in mid-transformation.
   "I'm counting on you to keep her alive until I come
back, Saotome," Nagi shouted as she faded away,
shortly before the cabbit-ship vanished into the sky.
   "Miao?" Ranma gritted his teeth and turned toward
the worried-sounding cabbit.
   "Do you do that?" Ranma asked, nodding towards
where Ken-Ohki had been.  The cabbit nodded.  "Do you
remember where Dr. Tofu's is?"  The cabbit nodded.
"How about that black pig?"  The cabbit looked
confused, but nodded.  "Okay, then get all of us to
Dr. Tofu's!"
   "Miao!"  Ryo-Ohki still didn't know what the big
deal about that little pig was, but it had warned
them, well Ranma anyway, about Nagi.  Though Ryo-Ohki
didn't understand how you could talk to a pig.
*******************************************************
   Dr. Tofu felt an immense feeling of deja vu as
Ranma rushed into his clinic/house with an unconscious
Ryoko for the second time that week.  He was not,
however totally unprepared.  After Ranma said
something about withdrawal they took Ryoko back into
the clinic's examination room to again close the
wound.
Ranma, meanwhile, took the chance to revert Ryouga to
his human form.
   "Okay, Ryouga, you heard more than I did," Ranma
said as he dropped the pig into Kasumi and Tofu's
furo.  "Who was that?"
   "A bounty hunter, I think," Ryouga said.  "You
didn't say anything about Ryoko having a death wish."
   "Not your business," Ranma said, levelly.  "What do
you mean she's a bounty hunter?"
   "Your wife asked her if she was there for 'the
bounty'," Ryouga said.  "I don't think that's why she
was there, though."
   "There's a bounty on Ryoko?" Ranma blinked.
"Actually, that makes sense, she couldn't just be some
magical race from Earth.  She has to be a criminal
from outerspace."
   "Huh?"
   "Nevermind, Where were you trying to go anyway?"
   "I think I was trying to find the closet," Ryouga
said sheepishly.  "Am I going to have to go around
naked?"
   "No, you're going to be a pig until Ukyou gets here
with some clothes," Ranma said.  "How did you turn
into a pig anyway?"
   "It started raining sake bottles," Ryouga said,
embarrassed and irritated.  Ranma sweatdropped.
   "Ahh...that's weird," Ranma said.
   "Ranma," Kasumi called.  "Ukyou wants you to know
that your mother is on the way."  Ranma rolled his
eyes and smacked his head.  The last few days had had
a lot more stress than he liked.
*******************************************************
   "Mom, I just met her a couple of days ago!"  Ryouga
sat still and watching the conversation.  Ukyou hadn't
shown up, but Nodoka had brought his clothes.
Apparently his fiancee was running interference with
the returned Amazons.  This was a fact that they had
not told Ranma about yet.
   "Then why did you marry her?"
   "It was an ACCIDENT!  We were arguing, we got in
the wrong line."
   "You certainly seem to have regained something of
your way with women again," Nodoka said.  "So what is
my daughter-in-law like?"
   "This isn't going to last long," Ranma countered.
"Four more days and its anulled."
   "There is such a thing as being TOO manly, Ranma"
Nodoka lectured.  "You shouldn't play games with
marriage."
   "Might I have some attention please?" Dr Tofu
called.
   "YES!!" Ranma shouted in frustration.  "How is she
doc?"
   "Miao? Miao??"  The cabbit cried piteously at the
Doctor.
   "Yes, how is my daughter-in-law?"  Dr. Tofu
sweatdropped.
   "Well, I think she passed out mostly from a
combination of factors than the wound itself," the
doctor said.  "Again, given time and rest, she should
be fine.  That doesn't appear to be happening."
   "This wasn't her fault Doc," Ranma said.  "It was a
blue-haired woman with some sort of Star Wars whip."
   "Ranma, why does this sort of thing always happen
to you?" Nodoka asked.
   "I don't know?" Ranma sighed.  He couldn't wait for
this to get over with so he could get back in control
of his life.
   "The withdrawal is more serious," Dr. Tofu said.
"Or it would be if she weren't here."
   "Withdrawal?  What kind of woman is this Ryoko?"
   "Mom, its not your business." Ranma said.  Her
mother arched an eyebrow.
   "Ranma, can I talk to you privately?" Dr. Tofu
asked.  Ranma shrugged, at least this set of questions
would probably be less aggravting.  Ranma and the
Doctor left the lobby and entered the hallway.  "Have
you found anything out about her?"  Ranma hesitated,
these weren't his secrets to give, but he trusted Tofu
to be discreet.
   "I don't think she was born on Earth.  She started
acting like Shampoo just to get some food.  She is an
annoying, irresponsible, drunkard, and....she....lost
someone recently.  You know, like me with Akane?"
   ~Good thing you weren't as active as she is,~ Tofu
thought to himself.  Kasumi entered the hallway from
the examination room and saw them.
   "She's awake," Kasumi said.  "She seems to heal as
fast as the rest of you."
   "Ranma, perhaps you should talk to her," Dr. Tofu
suggested.  "You're the only one that she's talked to
at all."
   "Yeah, yeah," Ranma muttered.  "You're not trying
to set me up at all."  He walked off to the
examination room where he could already here Ryoko.
   "I don't want these herbs!" she shouted.  "I want a
DRINK!  We have to be somewhere around a liquor store
now!  Oh, its YOU!  What are you doing getting mixed
up in MY fight?"  Ranma growled in reaction to the
familiar sensation of an insult match.
   "Hey, you want to take her, take her," Ranma said.
"But not while you're in THIS condition."
   "THIS condition is your fault!" Ryoko snapped, also
glad for the distraction of a good fight.  She had
missed Ayeka this last month.  With Ranma it was
almost like she had them both at...Ryoko smashed that
thought.
   "As fun as this is," Ranma said, calming down.  "We
need to talk about that woman."
   "She won't come for me until she thinks I'm ready,"
Ryoko said.
   "She's a bounty hunter," Ranma said.
   "Yeah, and I'm the only one to ever escape her,"
Ryoko said.  "She's been hunting me to exclusion since
then."
   "Will she keep her word?" Ranma asked.
   "Yes," Ryoko said angrily.
   "Well that's lucky," Ranma said.  "You can prepare
to fight her over that time."
   "When I get my powers back," Ryoko growled.
"You'll see a fight."  Ranma paused a moment
   "That woman's the one that did it, right?"  Ryoko
narrowed her eyes, she knew what he was talking about.
   "She claims so," Ryoko said.
   "I'll give you some help if I can," Ranma said.
   "NIHAO!!" Ranma froze.
   "I did not just hear that," Ranma sighed.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender?  What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom

Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html