Copycat Ken fiddled with the little vial, laughing quietly. By now Akane should have opened his little package and soon, if not already, Ranma would be coming for the antidote. It was something he should have thought of long ago. He watched the vial twirl through the air one more time and laughed again. Even in the event that Ranma beat him, there was no way that he'd figure out how to use the antidote correctly. He was probably the only one in the world that knew about the substance. Copycat Ken was happy, there was no way for him to lose now. Ranma Saotome was doomed. He caught the vial looked beyond the soccer field’s fence. He saw the approaching glow of a large battle chi and smiled again, snickering. He secreted the vial away in a pocket somewhere as he walked out onto the soccer field. He looked around at the small gathering of people at the field, not as many as he had hoped for, but more would follow in Ranma’s wake. Everything was going his way, and nothing could go wrong. "How’s Akane doing?" Copycat Ken asked as he heard the fighter land behind him, he turned around in time to see the chi surrounded fist flashing towards him. He barely ducked the attack and jumped out of range, that wasn’t Ranma’s normal method of fighting. It took him less than a second to realize that his opponent was not Ranma. "Akane Tendo?" He asked laughing. "I take it this means that you didn’t get Ranma’s gift." The crowd was gossiping among themselves at what Akane’s presence meant for the battle. "I’m going to kill you," Akane promised from where she stood. Copycat Ken laughed as his leap peaked and he began to settle to the ground. "Damn it," Sayuki muttered. "We missed them again." "How do you know that they were ever here?" Yuka asked, a little bored. Sayuri pointed to the back of the restaurant, where it curved around out of the girl’s immediate line of sight. Yuka walked a few feet to the corner and looked around the bend. "Oh, I see," Yuka commented. The rear wall of the restaurant had a gaping hole in the wall. "Where should we try next?" A group of people ran by, moving towards Furinkan High School. "Hey, I want to place a bet," somebody shouted upon seeing Sayuri and Yuka. "Akane to win over Copycat Ken!" "Akane fighting Copycat Ken!" Sayuri and Yuka shouted together. They joined the rush, taking bets along the way as they did. "Ryouga," Ukyou said wearily. The bandanna-ed boy stopped his stride and turned to face her. "What?" he asked, honestly curious. Ukyou pointed a little to her left, where she stood about three feet behind him. He turned and saw the sign of the Tendo dojo. "We’re here," she told him. "Oh, heh," Ryouga said, embarrassed. "I guess so." Ukyou rolled her eyes and waited for Ryouga to get to her before walking to the door, dragging him along by the arm. "I don’t get lost that easy," he protested quietly, in some obscure language. She glared at him, but since she didn’t understand what he said, that was it. "HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!" the shout rang at just as Ukyou went to knock on the door. It was followed by a full Soun Tendo wail. Ryouga and Ukyou glanced at each other and then ran into the dojo. Ukyou had to grab Ryouga before he rushed into the kitchen, but otherwise they made it fairly easily to the source of the wailing. "What’s going on?" Ryouga demanded as they turned into Ranma’s room. "We’re ready to help if it’s…" Ukyou stopped when she saw the situation, Ryouga stopped only a stride later. She had expected Akane to be the one in trouble, instead she saw an unconscious Ranma surrounded by Soun, Genma and Kasumi. "Wait a minute where’s Akane?" Ukyou would have kicked Ryouga if she hadn’t been thinking the same thing. "Where’s your fiancee, Akane?" Ken asked snidely. He whirled the kerchief past his face and stood there in Ranma’s body. "Where’s the antidote you freak?" Akane demanded, rushing in at Ranma-Ken. Ken blocked and dodged the exchange easily. He jumped to the side and laughed snidely. "Let me guess," Ranma-Ken laughed. "He found the package first, right?" Akane growled at him. He smirked and drew out the antidote vial "I don’t seem to need this then, do I." Akane’s eyes widened. "Give me that," she shouted. She leaped at him, kicking out with one foot, Ranma-Ken dodged to the side. "Uh, uh," the doppleganger tsked. "What if I were to drop this?" The smile on his face wasn’t anything Akane had ever seen before on Ranma’s face, and hoped to never see it again. "How’s this going to prove your better than Ranma?" Akane asked him. "Good point, but I don’t really care," he laughed. "Here, catch." He turned and tossed the vial across the field, with unerring aim straight for the far goal. "NOOO!!!!!" Akane momentarily ignored Ken as she rushed for the vial, and nearly reached it when something smashed into the back of her head and she fell to the ground. Akane rolled to her feet almost instantly, but the vial was already out of her reach. It was a mere foot from smashing against the goal’s metal frame when a blue ribbon snatched from the air. "Oo-hahahahahahahaha!!!!" They both turned to see Kodachi as she caught the retrieved vial. "Something tells me that you’re not my Ranma-Darling." The mildly disturbed gymnast asserted. "How’d you guess?" Ken asked, eyeing her angrily. "Saotome, for all his other faults, does not strike women," Mousse said as he landed next to Kodachi. "Need help Akane?" "This is my fight," Akane answered. "Just take that anidote to Ranma. I’ll handle Ken." Ranma-Ken laughed. "You’ll handle me?" the kerchief passed again and in Ranma-Ken’s face was another face Akane easily recognized. "Ranma almost lost to this one, how do you think you’ll fare?" Akane hesitated, looking at Saffron’s adult form, then she smiled viciously and took her stance. "Akane?" Mousse asked again. "GO!!!" Akane shouted. Mousse and Kodachi hesitated, and Akane turned to them again. "I can handle a fraud like him." Her aura flared around her as she said it. Saffron-Ken laughed and took his own stance. "As you wish," Mouse nodded and turned to Kodachi. "Good luck, Akane Tendo," Kodachi declared before laughing and leaping away. Mousse followed quickly behind. "They don’t know how to use it," Saffron-Ken laughed. "Ranma’s gone, get used to it." Akane growled and rushed forward. Mousse found Kodachi waiting just beyond the sight of the soccer field. "What are you doing here?" Mousse demanded. "This is your chance to win Ranma’s heart." "I’m going," Kodachi asserted. "But you’re not, Akane is going to lose. You know that as well as I, what would Shampoo think of you if you succeeded in defeating that crass shape-changer? Surely you must be a great warrior in order to do that." "I hadn’t thought of it that way, this is a good chance to impress Shampoo," Kodachi winced. "Just make sure its Ken you’re hitting and not some spectator," Kodachi sniped. "Well, try to miz your paralysis powders with that antidote," Mousse answered back. They glared at each other for a moment. "Be careful," Kodachi finally said, softly, glare fading to nothing. "I will." They stared for a moment longer in awkward silence before splitting up to accomplish their separate tasks. "How could I have missed that," Nabiki was thinking to herself, as she sat on the bench next to Shampoo. The park was oddly deserted for the time of day, but Nabiki had purposefully avoided people so she wasn’t sure why. It didn’t weigh much on her mind anyway. "How long have they been in town? What else have I missed?" "This sundae very good," Shampoo said. "Really?" Nabiki asked, pausing in her thoughts. "Can I try a bite?" "Sure," Shampoo scooped out a spoonful a directed it toward Nabiki, who leaned forward and accepted the ice cream. "Mmm, that is good," Nabiki agreed. Her thoughts continued on a different track, "I have been distracted recently. I know that, not been paying my affairs the proper attention." "Where everybody?" Shampoo asked, gesturing about the empty park. "That’s a good question," Nabiki noted. She scanned about the park as well and stopped on Shampoo’s face. "Hey Shampoo, you got some whipped cream on your face." "Oh," Shampoo wiped at her mouth a little. "I get it?" She asked after a moment. "No not yet," Nabiki said. "It started about a month or so ago." Then she rolled her eyes at Shampoo’s attempts to find the evasive spot of whipped cream. "Here, just a moment." She reached forward with a napkin and wiped it away. "Thank you, Shampoo fine now?" Shampoo asked. "Yeah, I got i-" Nabiki’s voice cut off as her eyes connected with Shampoo’s merely inches away from her face. Her heart raced and her mind went blank as she became aware of the blue-haired Amazon’s closeness, the warmth of her body and the cheerfulness of her aura. "I….uh…I…ka…" "Nihao?" Nabiki blinked. Shampoo’s hand passed in front of Nabiki’s eyes a couple of times. "Nabiki okay?" "Uh, Shampoo, shouldn’t you be getting back to work?" Nabiki asked as she stood up suddenly. Shampoo looked confused and then leaped to her feet. "Aiya! You right, Shampoo late!" She started to run off towards the Cat Café. She paused a moment and hugged Nabiki quickly, it was almost becoming a habit with her. Nabiki’s breath caught as Shampoo’s arms encircled her. "See you later, okay? Bye bye." Then Shampoo was gone. Nabiki released her breath and collapsed to her knees. "What was that?" Then Kodachi landed on the fountain above her and dashed off with a jarring laugh towards Nabiki’s home. Nabiki shoved the other question to the back of her mind and immediately followed. "What is she up to?" Nabiki came home to a rather chaotic mess, which was normal. She entered the thick of it without anybody noticing that she was there. Of course, there was no telling whether Kasumi noticed her or not, its not like she would behave any differently either way. "This is very convenient for you," Ryouga pointed out. "Ken poisons Ranma, Akane fights Ken, probably loses, and you bring the cure for Ranma." "You are saying that I would ally myself with that creature?" Kodachi was livid. "I think you’re capable of doing anything to get poor ranchan to marry you," Ukyou agreed with Ryouga. "As if you two are any better," Kodachi snapped. "Always plotting together." "Well, I guess that was true," Ukyou admitted. "But I never poisoned anyone, that’s your game." "Plotting? When did we ever plot?" Ryouga was rewarded with a pair of blank stares from Ukyou and Kodachi. They blinked almost in unison at him. "Is he always like this?" Kodachi asked. "Am I always like what?" "You have no idea." Ryouga sweatdropped. "Shouldn’t you be giving Ranma the antidote?" Kasumi asked mildly. "Of course, it’s right…" Kodachi searched around. "WHERE’D IT GO!!?!" "Don’t play games girl," Genma lectured. "If you’re stalling…" Ukyou twiddled a pair of mini-spatulas. "I’m not playing games, where’d it go?" "You mean this?" Nabiki held up the open vial for all to see. "Give me a moment to finish mixing it." She took a small knife a sliced a thin cut alon Ranma’s arm, mixxing the blood into the vial. "Nabiki, you know this drug?" Soun asked her, pausing from his wailing. She had closed the vial again and was shaking it up. "Something mom taught me," it was Nabiki would say. "This is Copycat Ken’s work?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "I should have been paying more attention, he couldn’t have collected the ingredients for this without somebody giving me an alert." Then she started asking other questions of herself. "What is going on with me, I’m making all sorts of mistakes. And, why was I so out of it with Shampoo earlier?" "Excuse me, Nabiki-san," Kodachi asked sweetly. "But what exactly does this chemical do?" "Yeah, right," Ryouga snickered. "You’re going to get an answer out of her." "I saw those big purple eyes and it was like I couldn’t think anymore," Out loud Nabiki responded unconsciously to Kodachi’s question. "You drink it and takes your spirit to where ever the spirit of who’s ever blood is mixed with it." Nabiki was oblivious to the various shocked stares that were sent her way. "Oh is that it?" "Shampoo is very….what am I thinking?" then Kodachi snatched the vial from Nabiki’s hand. "Hey, what do you think you’re…" Then Kodachi opened the vial. "Aahhh!! Wait you don’t know…" The Kodachi drank the vial dry and her eyes rolled back as she fell to the ground unconscious. "…what you’re doing." Nabiki sighed. "That isn’t a good thing I’m guessing?" Genma said. Saffron-Ken wasn’t having the level of success he had hoped for in facing off against Akane. The winged man frowned as he round-housed over Akane’s ducking form, and subsequently had to block a flurry of enraged attacks. "I don’t get." Mousse thought to himself, watching from a tree nearby. He could already tell that Akane had the edge in the battle. "Saffron was beyond any of us, only luck brought Saotome victory." "Enough playing around!" Saffron-Ken shouted using his wings to carry him out of Akane’s immediate range. The collected audience oo-ed and ahh-ed, but did nothing else. "I thought Saffron was supposed to be a lot more powerful than this," Sayuri noted. "I hope Akane wins," Yuka said, quietly. The false phoenix reared back his hands in preparation for an energy blast, he looked down in surprise as Akane leapt up toward him. Then through forward and…nothing happened. "She’s not fighting with any more skill than usual," Mousse commented. "She’s channeling an insane amount of battle chi, though, which explains the enhanced speed and strength. But why is Ken having so much trouble with the Saffron form?" "What-!?" Akane’s foot, wrapped in battle chi, snapped into his face bringing him downward back to earth. "Have you figured it out yet, Baka!!?" Akane shouted as she landed and smashed into the shape-changer. The dazed Saffron-Ken barely managed a half-effective defense against Akane’s attacks. "I’m going to kill you Ken, do you get it?" "Oh, I understand now," Mousse laughed. "You’d think Ken wouldn’t make such a mistake." "Saffron was the greatest warrior any of us have ever faced!" He dodged away, regrouping and made an attempt to regain the initiative. "No heat, no blasts," she caught a punch and twisted his arm, snapping it. "And I’m betting no regeneration. You. Never. Were. Anything. But. An. Image." Every word was punctuated with a punch, a kick, and finally a throw. "Your chi stays the same!" she shouted, following him. The battered Saffron-Ken, managed to roll out of his uncontrolled flight. Akane halted and watched the stumbling landing of the fake phoenix. "No phoenix chi, no phoenix power." She stalked forward, still glowing. "She really is going to kill him," Mousse realized suddenly. The kerchief came out again, and a beaten Ryouga was standing there. "Akane, stop!! You’ve won!" "I never did know where my limits where," Ryouga-Ken snickered. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" The ground in front of Ryouga-Ken exploded into a cloud of flying dirt. When it passed Ken was nowhere to be found. "Get back here, coward!!" Akane shouted. "You aren’t getting away with this." Mousse landed behind her, grabbed her arms. "Akane, he’s gone!" the boy shouted. "He’s gone!" Akane shrugged him off and punched into the ground. "I thought you were taking the antidote to Ranma!" "I came back in case you lost," Mousse explained. "Kodachi went on ahead, she should be there by now." "Kodachi is going to bring Ranma the antidote?" she shouted, grabbing the nearly blind martial artist "Akane," Mousse answered desparately. "you ordered her to." He sounded more than a little bitter. The battle aura faded from Akane as she calmed down. "You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m just a little upset," Akane said. "A little?" Mousse asked himself quietly, he looked to the mini-craters pock-marking the field. They had all been produced by Akane’s battle aura-enhanced footsteps. "So much has been happening recently, nothing makes sense. Look at this, usually I’m the one in trouble and Ranma saves me!" Her face became determined again. "Well, I’m going to be there when he wakes up!" She rushed off towards the dojo, running full speed. "Hey Mousse," the martial artist looked over after breathing a sigh of relief. "Kasumi Tendo? Miss Unryuu?" Yuka and Sayuri stared at each other, momentarily confused. "Not really," Yuka said. "It’s Sayuri and Yuka. You haven’t seen Shampoo and Nabiki around have you? We seem to have a lot of news for Nabiki." "You are late, Shampoo," Cologne lectured as Shampoo walked into the store. "Where have you been?" "I training, great-grandmother," Shampoo, lied. "Lose track of time. Where Mousse?" "He and the Kuno-girl left to follow Akane Tendo." Shampoo tied the waitress apron around her waist. "They hurt Nabiki-sister?" Shampoo asked, concerned. Cologne eyed her granddaughter carefully. "And you are worried about your rival for Ranma’s affections?" "Nabiki not like people mess with her family," Shampoo said. "Other than her any way." "Have you been with the Tendo girl again," Cologne asked. Shampoo sweated a little. "Great-grandma say no see Nabiki again," Shampoo answered. "I see," Cologne said. "I may have to speak to the Tendo girl myself. Shampoo, I can handle the café for now, perhaps you should see what’s happening at the Tendo dojo. I think my son-in-law might be in trouble." "Yes great-grandmother," Shampoo said happily. Cologne was no longer sure that her daughter was thinking of Ranma. Ranma groaned as he saw another world come into focus. He hadn’t yet found a way out of this mess. Every world that came up was another disaster. Each time he had lost Akane in some way, and virtually any other chance of happiness as well. In one dream he’d been stuck as a girl forever, and Akane of course left him. Then he was cured, and Akane still left him. His two forms were split twice, with Ranma stuck in one or the other. Once Akane chose Ranma’s male form over the female, and the other time it was Ranma’s female form over the male. She’d been poisoned by Kodachi, killed by Shampoo, Ukyou, and even Akari’s pig! She had married Ryouga, Kuno, Sanzenin, Mousse, and the list went on. Ranma had ended up in any a number of situations ranging from prison to, he shuddered, married to Kodachi. Every new dream was a nightmare waiting to happen, and Ranma was by now very tired of it. The individual dreams didn’t effect him much anymore, but the idea of being asleep forever was starting to take hold. He half wondered if killing himself in this dream would do any good. "Great, Kodachi again," he grumbled as he saw the gymnast sort of stumble around the corner down the imaginary street. He ended the dream early, not wanting to deal with her just at the moment. When next the world reformed he saw two Kodachi’s, one of them was the leering psychopath that he had seen in all the previous dreams. The other was more like the real Kodachi, which Ranma had to admit was much less extreme than the nightmare versions. "Is this the way you see me?" the "normal" Kodachi asked dryly. "Who are you, woman, that you dare to mock the noble beauty of I the Black Rose of St. Hebereke?" the psychotic Kodachi shouted, hissingly. The dream world fluctuated suddenly and the psychotic Kodachi vanished with a wailing shriek. Ranma arched an eyebrow, this was different. "Okay, so what’s the game this time?" Ranma demanded. "Poison Akane, slip some sort of love potion in her soup, have her family sent to debtor’s prison?" The scenery began to solidify as Kodachi’s less protected mind began to vent a variety of worries that lay in the back of her head. "Whatever are you talking about?" Kodachi demanded. "I’m here to rescue you, my beloved." "Rescue me…yeah, I believe that…sure…" "Well, well, Saotome and the lady Kuno," both turned to face a demonically leering Copycat Ken. "I guess the noble bitch delivered the antidote after all." Ranma was confused, so far there was nothing directly related to his problems. "But Mousse stayed to fight you," Kodachi stammered in denial. "Wait a minute," Ranma muttered. "Yes, he did," Ken agreed. "Did you think either he or the Tendo girl could actually stop me." Ranma had assumed all this time that he was trapped in his own mind. "That isn’t a fake Kodachi," he realized. "And this is her nightmare. I’ve been going about this all wrong." He watched as the fake ken tossed a shattered pair of glasses at Kodachi’s feet. "Nooo!!!!" "Great, I’m stuck in the spirit world with a lunatic," Ranma muttered. "You are pathetic sister, perhaps you should train harder." "Kodachi, Mousse is fine," Ranma said. "Your brother is in hiding. This is a dream." "But, but…." "It’s no dream Saotome," the dream Ken asserted. Ranma rolled his eyes. "You came here voluntarily, right? You’ve haven’t woke up yet have you?" Ranma slashed his hand back and it passed through Kodachi’s dream-Ken. "It’s not real." We walked over and grabbed Kodachi by the shoulders. She didn’t even try and glomp him, which told him exactly how scared she was. "Say it." "It’s not real," Kodachi repeated, shakily. Ranma swallowed, there was no way Kodachi would have lasted long in what ever place this was. "Mousse is fine," Ranma said patiently. "Mousse is fine," Kodachi repeated. Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, here’s where he hit the experimental part of his plan. "There is nothing here," Ranma said, imagining nothing. "There is nothing here," Kodachi repeated. The scenery vanished around them, shattering into darkness. Ranma was no longer running story variations in his head, and he was doing his best to keep Kodachi’s mind blank as well. "Okay, I have a plan," Kodachi groaned in the darkness. "This one’s a good plan!" he protested. "I should not have taken that drug away from Nabiki, ne?" She asked, calming down. "Never a good idea to get in Nabiki’s way," Ranma agreed with a laugh. Then he was serious again. "Okay, now getting back. Uh, think of home." The scenery began to shift around him, into the Kuno estate. "Stop! Stop! Nothing here, nothing here." The area settled again into darkness. "What was that supposed to accomplish," Kodachi demanded irritably. "Hey, I’m doing the best I can okay!" Ranma retorted. "Okay, other ways to possibly describe going home." "Ranma-darling," Kodachi asked shakily. "What is it, Kodachi?" Ranma asked, resignedly as he tried to ignore her clinging to him. "What is that?" Ranma turned around and saw something moving through the darkness. He could barely discern it was there, as if it was invisible or something. "Nothing there," he said to himself. "Nothing there." "Fortunately for you there is," the figure moved and then a head appeared, floating in the nothing. The head seemed familiar to Ranma, but he couldn’t quite place it. "Who are you?" "Someone who can lead you home." "So now we have two comatose martial artists," Ryoga shouted. "It’s not my fault!" Nabiki countered. "It’s the same as before," Kasumi sighed. Her father was sitting to the side wailing. "They’re bodies will just waste away." "You always know what’s going on around here," Ukyou snarled. "Everything follows some plan of yours." "I didn’t want this, why would I want this?" "Oh my son, how could you have fallen so low?" Genma shouted to nobody in particular. "There’s probably some money it for you somewhere." "You think I’d do this for money?" "Sugar, you’d do anything for money, don’t deny it." "Where’s the money in this?" "Then what’s your explanation? How’d this slip past the great Nabiki Tendo?" "I don’t know," Nabiki shouted. "I don’t know. I’ve missed a lot of things recently. I’ve been distracted." She winced, wrong thing to say to two people that thought she was dating Shampoo. "Oh I get it now," Ukyou steamed. "Ukyou…" Ryouga tried to verbally restrain the chef without much success. "What do you get?" Nabiki demanded quietly and dangerously. "You’re too busy going to the movies…" "Ukyou, we promised not to say anything." "You promised, I never did." "That again?" Nabiki shouted. "Get it through your head, Shampoo is a client! She hired me to get Mousse off her back! She’s not even a friend, got it? I don’t have friends, if I went looking do you think I’d start with an air-headed bimbo like…" "Nihao?" Nabiki suddenly choked, she turned around slowly. "Sh-Shampoo? I didn’t mean…" "What Shampoo care?" Shampoo snapped angrily. "Shampoo only here to check on Airen." The Amazon glared at Nabiki with that word, she hadn’t even turned to look at Ranma yet. "Great-grandmother say something might happened to him. What you know about it?" Nabiki backed off a few steps and then slumped, staring at the floor. "I’m sorry, Shampoo," she whispered, Shampoo flinched in surprise when she saw the other girl’s shoulders begin to shake. "I…" "Mousse!!" everybody leaped as Kodachi woke up with a scream. "Where’s Mousse?" "She’s awake!!" somebody shouted. "I heard Akane went to fight Ken," Everybody turned their attention to Ranma who was sitting up and working the crinks out of his joints. "Where?" He still wasn’t certain this wasn’t another dream, but he decided to chance it. "The fight is over Saotome," Mousse stood in the doorway. "Mousse!!" The master of hidden weapons blinked in surprise as Kodachi clutched at him. "I thought that freak had killed you!" "Ranma!!" Akane rushed across the room and nearly engulfed him in a hug of her own. "You’re awake." "Shampoo?" "I’m Kodachi you sightless idiot!" *thwack* "Akane?" Ranma answered. "It is you, right, Not another dream or something." "Baka," Akane responded playfully. "Kawaiikune," Ranma answered, happy to be out of that nothingness. They snuggled, oblivous of the others around them. "But what happened?" Genma asked. "Did Kodachi bring you back?" "Some woman in black led us back," Kodachi answered, Mousse dizzily stood up behind her. "A woman in black," Kasumi gasped. Soun looked up as well. "You actually saw her," he said. "Yeah, there was something familiar about her," Ranma said, him and Akane disengaging and trying to recover a little dignity. "Wanted to warn Nabiki, said Nabiki’d get lost if she ‘projected’ right now." Kodachi watched them restraining themselves and left, Mousse looked from where Kodachi exited to Ranma, confused. Then he followed the noblewoman. "Wait, Kodachi!" "Does that mean anything to…" Akane paused as she looked for her sister. "I thought Nabiki was here before." "She was," Ryouga answered. "Did anybody see where she went?" "No care where money-girl went," Shampoo hmphed. "She must have slipped out while we were busy with the four of you," Ukyou decided. Kasumi left and soon walked back in carrying a note. "I have things to do, I hope to be back. – N." "Intentionally uninformative and vaguely threatening," Genma said. "This is definitely from Nabiki." "There’s more, here on the other side," Kasumi said. "Shampoo – Gomen nasai, you didn’t deserve that." Shampoo stared at the eldest Tendo and then walked through the wall, heading home. The sound of the wall collapsing was pretty much ignored by everyone else. "What was that in there?" Mousse demanded. "You’re supposed to be getting into Ranma’s good graces." Kodachi stared blankly for a very brief moment, then laughed. "He’s was too concerned with Akane," Kodachi said quickly. "Perhaps a little jealousy would help?" "So you just used me then?" "I thought maybe it would work for Shampoo as well," Kodachi mumbled. "Oh," Mousse muttered. "You didn’t really think I was worried about you," Kodachi asked. "I knew you could beat that fraud." "Actually, Akane beat him." Kodachi blinked. "She…did?" Kodachi blinked, a bead of sweat rolled down from her forehead. No one seemed to pay him much attention as he stepped onto the plane, probably noticing the sling he had his arm in, but that wasn’t very surprising. Lots of people took advantage of recovering from such injuries by going on vacation. He glanced about cautiously from behind a pair of black sunglasses. "Damn that girl," he thought to himself. "Damn Saotome, damn all of Nerima!" He decided that this place was his curse. When the fighters had used more traditional techniques he'd been fine. Now, however, Akane Tendo was correct, the abundance of chi attacks left him vulnerable. He needed to do some actual training if he wanted to even think about taking on the Nerima elites again. He sat in his assigned seat and continued to grumble. "Excuse me," he looked up to see a tall girl with streaks of dyed blonde and an incredibly dark tan. She looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her. "This is aisle 24, right?" "Yeah, what of it?" he asked. The girl arched an eyebrow at him. "I’m not in the mood, that’s my seat over there," she pointed at the window seat. "I apologize, apparently we’ve both had a bad day," Ken stood up and let her past. He was suspicious, there was something dangerous about this girl. He sat back down eyeing her carefully. "So what’s your story?" She glared at him for a moment and then shrugged. "I just discovered the love of my life," she said nonchalantly. "But there’s no way they’ll ever notice me." "Uh…okay," Ken shrugged, and leaned back, keeping a suspicious eye on her, but avoiding further conversation.
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