_Almost there._ thought Happosai as he jumped to clear the wall of the Tendo yard. He had just begun his upward arc when something grabbed his collar.
"I have you now!" said a voice.
Dangling, the old man looked up into the face of his captor. "Ah, Pantyhose, m'boy. How nice to see you again."
Tarou sneered. He gave his prisoner a little shake, almost making him drop something laced and silky. "I'm quite glad to see you too." He said sweetly. "Now you're going to start suffering for the humiliation you've caused me."
Happosai looked back at the woman who was following him. "Can't right now." He said nervously. "Perhaps later this evening we can sit around and discuss old times."
"Be quiet. If you don't give me a new name right now, I'm gonna-"
"Hiya! Shampoo catch you old pervert. Now you pay!"
Eyeing the Amazon distastefully, Tarou shook his head. "Get in line, little girl. I have business with the old man."
Shampoo frowned. She wasn't going to be robbed of her prey so easily. "Give old pervert to Shampoo." she said menacingly.
Tarou glowered "Hmph. He's busy. Run along now."
A low growling noise came from Shampoo's throat. "I teach you lesson too then." she threatened.
Getting into a defensive pose, The Pantyhose Boy smiled confidently. "Alright then." he said. "I accept your challenge."
Happosai smiled at his good fortune as he squirmed free and ran off unnoticed.
***
Brush past someone else. Smile and nod, smile and nod. Try to ignore Kuno as he went happily on and on about how Akane Tendo and the pig-tailed-girl were now free to date with him. Smile and nod.
All of this deviousness was new to Akane. Ordinarily, she'd just scream a lot and break things. She was fighting that urge now. She had to keep it up. She had to make them pay. She had to get even.
Looking around again, her eye caught Ranma's as he and Nabiki posed for those who had brought cameras. He frowned when he saw her. _How dare he frown at me?_ Or was that worry. No, of course not. Ranma didn't care about her feelings. He didn't care if she lived or died.
Drawing herself up to her full height, she turned away from her former fiancé and continued to push through the crowd towards Ryoga.
By the time she reached him, he had turned around and was looking dazedly in the direction he had come from. He blinked at the hole he'd made in the wall surrounding the yard. He'd known that sooner or later he'd get in trouble for using the Baksai Tenketsu so much to keep from getting turned around while traveling, but had never dreamed, even in his worst nightmares that that trouble would come in the form of an angry Akane Tendo coming after him for vandalizing her home. Maybe he could get away before she saw him. She'd never know that he was the one who did it.
"Hello Ryoga!" Akane said sweetly.
Ryoga's body jerked violently around, and he looked at Akane in fear. "I'm doomed." he whispered quietly to himself.
"It's so good to see you again. You haven't been around for a couple of weeks now, have you?" The cheerfulness seemed forced to Akane, but Ryoga didn't notice.
"H-h-h-hello Akane." he finally managed to stutter. "It's g-good to see you again as w-well."
Akane's smile broadened until it almost hurt to look at it. "I've missed you Ryoga-kun." Then her lips turned down into the tiniest of feminine pouts. "I hate it so when you're away."
"Y-you do?"
"Yes." She moved a little closer and touched his arm with one idly stroking finger. Her voice lilted and teased. "A girl always knows where she stands with you. You'd never play games with a woman's heart. You're a *real* friend Ryoga. The kind of man a girl can really count on." She looked down at the ground and frowned a bit, making sure that he saw it before hiding her mouth with a daintily curled hand.
Not quite sure exactly what was going on, but sure that it was all Ranma's fault, Ryoga stared at Akane. She sighed delicately. "Yes, I'm glad that you're back. Things have been so lonely here without someone to talk to."
***
A lot can happen in twenty seconds.
In twenty seconds, a fight can be won or lost.
In twenty seconds, a new love can be formed and an old love can crumble to dust.
In twenty seconds, you can pose for approximately eight photographs.
In twenty seconds, the starry-eyed love dreams of a young girl can turn into the bitter disappointment of a lonely woman.
In twenty seconds, you can make a life long friend, or an eternal enemy.
In twenty seconds, it is possible to completely ruin some poor sap's life.
In twenty seconds, new hope can be found that things will turn out alright in the end for someone that you love and have worried about.
In twenty seconds, you can lose consciousness due to massive blood loss.
In short, twenty seconds can change the world.
***
It couldn't have been called the battle of the century. It wasn't even the most spectacular battle to take place that month in the Nerima District of Tokyo, but the battle between Pantyhose Tarou and the Amazon Shampoo was a turning point not just in their own lives, but in the lives of a few of the other locals as well.
If not for this battle, for example, Ranma and Nabiki's marriage would have been plagued by various love potions and the occasional murder attempt. It was lucky for them that circumstances combined to bring the two together in a fight.
At the moment, the dust from that fight was clearing and the cloaked figure was looking down at his defeated rival with a smirk on his delicate face.
"That'll teach you." he said to the still dizzy Shampoo. Then he turned and ran off in the direction Happosai had gone.
Shampoo blinked. She stood slowly and brushed off her clothes. She looked down the street and noticed Tarou's retreating shadow. Grunting in frustration, she began to run after him.
"Airen!" she shouted. "Airen!"
***
He had to endure it. No matter how much it embarrassed him, no matter how deeply it made him blush, Ranma had to put up with the attention and the good natured teasing about himself and Nabiki. There just wasn't a way out this time. Besides, Nabiki didn't seem to mind it, not the way Akane always had.
Akane.
He turned and saw that she was still with Ryoga. She was trying hard to look like she hadn't a care in the world as she pulled him gently toward the house. Ryoga just looked confused. Still, it was good to see the two of them getting along so well. Maybe if Ryoga played his cards right, there was a chance for he and Akane after all. The thought made Ranma smile. Even after all that Akane had done to him, he didn't want to see her alone. The same thing went for Ryoga. When this was all over, he hoped that the four of them could be friends.
They were heading towards the dining room.
Excusing himself from Nabiki (who smiled that secret smile at him, the one that he was beginning to really love) and the crowd of well wishers, he headed towards them.
***
Some people say that the beginning of romance means the end of friendship. There are many cases where this is absolutely not true, and in fact, most really strong romantic relationships are really just deep friendships with an added dimension. It is true in some cases, however.
***
Akane glanced back inconspicuously, just enough to make sure that Ranma had seen them come this way. He was following them. That was even better. She faced the house, not even trying to hide the smirk on her face. She knew he wouldn't be able to stand seeing her with another man. He was so predictable.
_He's jealous._ She thought smugly. She dragged Ryoga into the house and turned to face him. She smiled fetchingly as she held her free hand out to him. He took it slowly, a glazed look in his eyes. Funny, she'd seen that look before. She wondered what it meant.
They were alone in the dining room now. Timing was critical. She had to act fast.
"I want to give you something." she whispered, wishing that she'd spent more time developing ‘feminine whiles'. She hoped that it had come out sounding seductive.
"What is it?" Ryoga asked entranced.
_Hold on! Just a few more seconds!_ and then Ranma's form appeared in the doorway from the porch. _Now!_
"This." she whispered, grabbing the base of his shirt, and pulling his face down to hers. His arms went automatically around her waist for balance.
Akane had never kissed a boy before. It wasn't at all what she'd expected. She wasn't sure she was doing it right either. Ryoga just seemed to be standing there stiffly. Had she been wrong when she'd thought that he was kind of attracted to her? Desperate for revenge on Ranma, she held on to the kiss for a few more moments despite the slightly sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, the sense that something was very very wrong. She broke the kiss and tried to smile up at him, but her heart wasn't in it. Then she glanced over at Ranma, getting ready to pretend that she was surprised to see him there. She was gratified to see a horrified look on his face until she realized that he wasn't looking at her. He was looking towards the door across from...
A high pitched woman's scream from that direction interrupted that line of thought. Slowly, Akane turned toward the sound.
_Oh no. Akari._
Akari's usual cheerful face was twisted into the embodiment of shock, pain and betrayal. She stared at Akane and Ryoga unable to do anything but scream. That one scream seemed to stretch on forever, but inevitably, she ran out of breath, and the screaming gave way to silence. Two heartbeats later, she turned and ran.
Ranma jumped past the couple in the middle of the floor. Akane let go of Ryoga who had a strange parody of a smile on his face as he fell limply to the ground, a small pool of crimson collecting on the carpet beneath his nose. "Akari!" Ranma shouted, reaching the spot she'd been in, but she had already fled.
Akane looked around at Ranma's back in the doorway and at Ryoga's prone body and wondered what had happened. This wasn't what she'd planned at all.
***
"Airen! Airen!" yelled Shampoo as she ran past Ukyou and nearly knocked Mousse over. She didn't even slow down.
"Hey!" shouted Ukyou, annoyed that that... that... *Amazon*... had the gaul to be chasing after Ranchan *again*! And on the day of his official engagement no less. It was intolerable. And the way she'd treated Mousse... Someone should really teach her a lesson in-
At that moment, Ranma came out through the open gate and looked down the street in both directions.
"Ra-Ranchan?"
He looked directly at her at last, and smiled cautiously. "Hi Ucchan. Mousse. Did Akari come this way?"
"Akari? No. Shampoo just ran by though. I thought she was chasing after you."
Ranma shook his head. "Haven't seen Shampoo in a couple of days. Akari and Ryoga had a little... misunderstanding and I was worried about her. You sure ya haven't seen'er?"
"Sorry." She sighed and tried to remember all the things that she'd wanted to say to him. With a great effort, she lifted her chin and looked him in the eye. "Ranma, we should talk."
***
"Who is it?" said Akane as she lay on her bed pretending to study. The events of the last two days were going around and around in her head. She was torn between shock over Ranma and Nabiki, and guilt over what had happened with Ryoga and Akari.
They were such a cute couple. She hoped that they wouldn't break up over this.
The worst thing was that Ranma had seemed more upset about Akari than anything else. Didn't he care about her at all? She'd thought once that he did.
The whole thing was just a great big mess.
For hours now, strange thoughts had been coming into her head. Unfamiliar painful thoughts that told her that she shouldn't be so surprised. That she never did anything to tell him that she wanted him to stay, to protect her, to love her, so why did she believe that he would know how she felt. Strange how quickly she'd stopped denying how much she *did* want those things when the voices started. Memories had flooded through her. Moments they'd spent together. Violent, unhappy memories that pointed accusing fingers at her, soft, peaceful, happy memories that always seemed to end in disaster. Most of all, she thought of all the times when she could have told him, when she'd wanted to tell him, but the words wouldn't come.
_Did you really need words?_ some part of her asked in a nasty voice. _Couldn't you have *shown* him. Couldn't you have made him understand. No. You couldn't. And now it really is too late._
"It's Ukyou. Can I come in?"
Akane's heart sank. She'd thought for a moment that Ranma had finally come to make up with her. She was still waiting for him to say that it was all just a scam, that he was paying Nabiki to play along so that he could get her angry or jealous or something. What was Ukyou doing here anyway?
"Come in."
Akane hardly recognized the Ukyou that walked through her door. The cheerful but defiant career girl that she'd come to love and hate over the last few months looked strangely tired. Her usual bubbliness seemed strained, but she smiled at her former rival with a warm, empathetic expression.
"You look like you could use a friend." she said, closing the door behind her.
Akane smirked. "So do you." she said, humorlessly.
"True." As Ukyou got closer, Akane noticed something else. Ukyou didn't just look tired, she looked defeated. Something was tearing her apart inside.
And then the realization struck. In all the confusion, she'd forgotten to consider what all of this might do to Ukyou. Of all the people who chased after Ranma one way or the other, Ukyou seemed like the most genuine. She had plenty of reasons to hate him, and yet she loved him. She saw ... something in him that, for her at least, made up for all the arrogance, the insults, the thoughtlessness. Ukyou was the one person that had the most to lose by loving Ranma. She'd never made a secret of her feelings which made this final rejection nothing short of a public humiliation.
Akane's last hope that this was all just a hoax went out the window. Ranma had broken up with Ukyou. He'd gone to her and officially ended their engagement. He'd never have done that as part of a scheme. He really cared about her and wouldn't have wanted to hurt her like this just to play one of his perverted games. Ranma was serious about this engagement to Nabiki. Akane looked away from Ukyou's eyes. She couldn't deal with any one else's pain right now. She could barely deal with her own.
Sighing, Ukyou sat on the bed. "It's not fair, is it?"
A sound that suspiciously resembled a whimper came from Akane's throat. Then again, it could have been the wind against the window glass.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Don't you?"
Akane looked down at her text book again. Funny, she didn't remember the print being so blurry. "No."
"Akane, I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth, but somehow, I don't believe it." She leaned a little closer, studying her, the tremor in her hand, the slump of her shoulder. "I do know that it helps to talk to someone about it. If you don't want me to be that someone, I understand, but I hope that you'll find somebody."
Akane felt the mattress shift as Ukyou got up to leave. "Call me if you change your mind."
Before she could stand, Akane's hand grabbed her wrist tightly. The break in momentum brought her back onto the bed, and then Akane was hugging her tightly and sobbing.
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