Dress-up to Dress Down
Another public bathhouse was being destroyed:

Happosai in his bathing suit cackled, "Ha, HA! You used my
oasis's soap, Ranma!"

The redhead in nothing but her Juusenkyo suit cried,
"Oasis!?!!" Whatever he called that stuff she lathered
with, it was making her see multiple images; even her other
trained senses were confused. "You mean drunkard's soap!"

Happosai didn't like that, "If I had MEANT "drunkard's
soap", I would've SAID that!" That's it, Ranma thought,
keep talking. "But where would the sport be in that!? You
sleep like a log sober, anyway!"

The naked girl-Ranma attacked where she thought the Old
Fart was. She only ended up destroying more tiles. But
lucky for Ranma, there was a hot water pipe underneath
them.

Unluckily for guy-Ranma the women took the sudden
appearance of yet another man on their side the wrong way.
They screamed and threw whatever they could find. It was
one thing for a dirty, old but covered man to be intruding,
it was another for a perverted, naked young man!

(Nabiki, in a one piece, suggested to an old lady who
didn't have much strength that she use her towel as a
slingshot and a bottle of shampoo as ammunition.)

Akane, also in a bathing suit, yelled, "Ranma, jump over
the wall to the men's side!!"

The naked young man answered with, "Why don'tcha give out
my LAST name, too!" But the tomboy was right: He could use
the wall that didn't reach the ceiling as a fort, attacking
Happosai from behind it.

But the effects of the soap made it nearly impossible to
judge where the dividing wall began and ended. The wall
seemed to extend up past the ceiling.

Ranma misjudged, hit the ceiling too soon and broke through
the tiled wall coming down. (And splashing into hot pool on
the men's side.) Hearing the great crashing noise, the men
on the other side had to look at, then though the gaping
hole that. The women screamed, and ran for their locker
room.

When guy-Ranma jumped up onto gap of what remained of the
dividing wall, Happosai wept, "Now look what you did,
Ranma! You're mean! You chased all of the girls away!"

"Me!!?"

Happosai threw a pail of cold water on Ranma and attacked,
"At least I have you!!"

Then, just as the little gnome was about to glomp onto the
flesh of the buxom pigtailed girl, Akane directed the spray
of hot water from the broken pipe onto Ranma.

Overwhelmed by the essence of male, Happosai turned blue,
and slid off Ranma. That male body promptly stomped the
insect.

///

Like Ranma, most of the men in the bath had decided now was
a good time to leave. The authorities might not believe how
the bath got demolished. So Ranma had an audience when he
carried into the men's locker room the two wooden pails
tied together that Ranma had Happosai trapped in. Ever
since Juusenkyo, Ranma was uncomfortable when guys stare at
him, especially when he didn't even have a towel on. "I
oughta drown you in the women's bath! No, you'd LIKE that.
I'll drown you in the men's!!"

Ranma opened his locker, and started getting dressed.
Glaring down at the pails he had under his foot, he yelled,
"You have nothing to say, now?" Nothing. And when he looked
at what he was holding, he saw it was holding a lacy, satin
bra with water-filled balloons in the cups.

Happosai appeared from behind the low row of lockers with a
blow gun.

Pop! Pop! Ranma was a girl again.

The Old Pervert laughed, "Ha, HA! It worked like a charm! I
can see all of your charms!"

Ranma cried, "Why YOU!!"

The Old Freak leaped down, grabbing the bra. Ranma held on
tight, "I'm NOT lettin' go so you can put a bra on---"

The elastic stretched, and just when Ranma was afraid the
Evil Master would let go and let it snap her soft, exposed
body, Happosai yanked, and pulled Ranma off of her feet. In
a wink, the little gnome leaped into Ranma's locker and
brought out a pair of lacy, satin panties. With Ranma's
leg's still up in the air, Happosai had a clear shot at
slipping the unmentionable down onto the pigtailed girl.

Ranma closed her legs: With Happosai's neck between her
ankles. "Ghaakh!"

///

The pigtailed boy made sure he knew where the sicko was
this time as he walked home with the two Tendou sisters. He
was dangling him from a noose he had made with a couple of
towels.

Though Nabiki thought the story was amusing, she couldn't
understand, "Why don't you just LET the old goat see you
wear lingerie? He's already seen you naked. The more you
make a big deal of it the bigger deal it becomes for the
old pervert to see in them."

Akane cried, "Nabiki!"

Ranma told the bobhaired girl, "I ain't wearin' girls'
underwear! I'm a guy! A guy can't wear girls' stuff and
stay a guy!!"

Nabiki didn't buy it, "Oh? Girl gymnastics tights, girl
skater's costume, the girl magician's costume, waitress
uniform, the one-piece SWIMSUIT..."

Ranma told her, "They weren't MY choice! And I ain't yet
worn a skirt! And I NEVER wore nothing but my OWN boxers!"

Nabiki said, "No? What about my purple negligee and
panties?"

"I had that Cat's-Tongue! You PUT me in them while I was
passed out! You're ALWAYS tryin' to play dress-up with me!"

Nabiki challenged him, "Name a time besides that."

Ranma had the answer, "The very first time I ever had on
ANY non-guy clothes was because of YOU!"

Nabiki said coolly, "And when was that?"

"That Saturday before Ryouga showed up! You BLACKMILED me
into puttin' on one of Akane's outfits!"

Akane remembered, "And YOU said I had a flat chest and was
fat!"

Ranma told her, "I did not! Do you have to get EVERYTHING
wrong, you stupid tomboy!"

Despite being swung around on the end of a noose as Ranma
gestured while arguing, Happosai got am evil smile.

///

Later that night in the Tendou living room that was now his
room, Happosai got out the Naban hand mirror from its
hiding place. It was a magic mirror he gotten on one of his
many adventures. He had forgotten how to use the souvenir
until his reunion with Cologne had reminded him of the days
of their youth. She had...well, he liked to think she had
given it to him...As a token from a grateful young maiden
to her dashing young lover. But now he had to hide it
because the dried up, old crone wanted to take it back from
him!

The little man knelt down and thought of the sad thought
that had moved his heart, something guaranteed to make him
cry. "Ranma...Ranma! Is that where you went wrong? Your
taste for the finer things was ruined by a traumatic
introduction? How tragic, how very tragic. If only I, your
thoughtful mentor, could have been there to ease your way
into the satin and taffeta world of female finery. By now
you would know the joy of living the soft and frilly life!
But I WASN'T there! It's enough to make a grown master cry
for his student!..."

More than one tear drop hit the looking glass.

///

There was a blinding light, and when it was gone, it was no
longer indoor lighting. Happosai judged it was afternoon by
the sun. And he was outside the familiar walls of the
Tendou compound.

"Ya, HA! What rapture! If this isn't the day that Ranma
starts dressing like a lady, it WILL be! And then...." he
cackled evilly. And he leaped over the wall, behind the
bushes and across the roof.

Hiding in a tree, he looked through the open garden door
into the family room, and assessed the situation.

///

The male Ranma only had on his boxer shorts. His only
concession to any possible indecency was a towel draped
around His neck. The TV was on, but he wasn't paying much
attention to it; he was thinking about something. He was
sitting at one end of the table, while Nabiki was sitting
down at the other end, folding laundry. It was obviously
something the middle sister was not used to doing, so she
let her irritation show when she complained when the
redhead popped in, "Why do guys have to be such slobs."

The pigtailed girl looked down at her cleavage, "Aw, geez!
I can't even have a drink of water without turin' into a
girl." She set the glass down on the table.

Continuing with her chore, Nabiki said, "If you were more
careful, you'd have something to wear right now. And I
wouldn't have to do so much laundry."

Wiping the narrow valley between her young hillocks with an
end of the towel, Ranma said, "Kasumi does the wash."

"And I'm folding," the teen in the halter, oversize
overshirt and white cutoffs said. "Kasumi has extra laundry
today as a favor to me, that's why I'm helping out. But the
question is, why aren't YOU doing something!?!"

"I'm thinking. There's GOT to be a way to stay a guy."

"Well, in the meantime you're a girl. Do you know what it's
like to have to see you that way? Not to MENTION what it
does to poor Daddy!?"

Ranma said, "Look at the TV, not at me," but her hand made
sure the towel was hiding all that it could.

Nabiki picked up Akane's purple blouse, "Here! At least put
this on!" and tossed it at her.

As soon as it touched her, Ranma scooted on her cute butt
away from it, "Hey!"

"Oh, come now, Ranma, it won't bite!" And Nabiki tossed her
pink halter at her. "It's made of a cotton blend!"

The redhead butt-hopped away from that, too "Stop that!"

Nabiki tossed one item of clothing after another at her.

Ranma leaped to her feet. The only thing between her and
escape through the door to inner hall were folded clothes.

But behind her was the open door to the garden!

Up on her feet, the girl showing her legs challenged her,
"Go ahead: You like flashing! Perhaps it'll be more than
the neighbors looking over our walls on their second floors
who will see you doing it this time."

(Happosai silently pleaded, No, don't come out here! It's
taking all of my will power to keep from burying my face
between those sweet melons as it is!)

Ranma feinted in that direction, then leaped. Nabiki lifted
Akane's pink skirt to trip her up with--Only to step in the
folded clothes herself!

Nabiki cried, "That DID it, Ranma!" and turned in time to
see Ranma land on her feet near the door to the inner hall.

There came a sudden breeze, and Nabiki suddenly collapsed.

Ranma cried, "Nabiki!" and reversed her leap to catch her
before she hit the floor.

Nabiki looked up into her blue eyes, and asked, "Ranma?"

Ranma said, "You suddenly went limp, like a rag doll. Do
you know what happened?"

Nabiki asked as from a sickbed, "Ranma, will you do me a
favor?"

"What, Nabiki?"

She thrust the pink skirt at her, "Put this on!"

"No way!!" she cried, letting her fall.

(Happosai cursed to himself. Making Nabiki's nerves
momentarily relaxed hadn't apparently changed any history!
If he did anything worse, he was sure to be noticed!)

The chase had begun, with Nabiki yelling, "Come back here,
Ranma! You can't go around looking like a girl looking like
that!"

As Ranma ran into the inner hall, she yelled, "I ain't a
girl! I AIN'T gonna look like one!!" The kitchen was the
next door in the hall. Once she got the teakettle, and
LOOKED like himself, THEN Nabiki will know she can't put a
dress on a guy!

But Kasumi was just coming out of the kitchen to see what
the disturbance was all about. Ranma almost ran her down.
"Oh, my!!"

Nabiki was within reach of the pigtailed girl, "I've got
you, now, Ranma!"

Working her thighs, Ranma sped down the hall. Where to
next? The door to the dojo? There were fewer neighbors to
peep. Nabiki anticipated that move, "I'll get you dressed,
even if I have to FIGHT you! Martial Arts Stage Dresser
Technique!" Or the Nabiki Bluff Technique.

Ranma veered for the stairs. Nabiki yelled, "Trying to hide
in 'your' room!? Our GUEST room?! A part of MY house!"

"Leave me alone!" Ranma found that that way, too, was
blocked. Akane was in the middle of going up the narrow
stairs.

Nabiki cried gleefully, "Ah, Ha! See!? You were MEANT to
wear things that go with that body!"

Ranma raced for the outer hall, "Now way! Unh, uh! I ain't
gonna let nothing touch me that don't belong on a GUY!!"

(Akane paused on the stairs, "Honestly! They're acting like
they're brother and sister!")

The towel around Ranma's neck had moved away from covering
her loving cups when she turned the corner. Happosai
standing in the middle of the outer hall cried, "Hotcha!"
But Ranma was too busy too see him. The little Freak was
sent flying out into the garden.

Nabiki was right behind Ranma, "Ranma! Come back here! Come
back here, I say!"

"Go away!! Unh, uh! Absolutely not!!"

"You can't go running around the house half naked, you
know!!"

Ranma had turned into the back hall. Where to, now!? Mr.
Tendou's bedroom? If mention of Ranma's room being the
guest room had momentarily broken her pace, then the
thought of going into the dojo master's bedroom was out of
the question. The bath room? Too many bad things happened
in there in this house. --The lav!

But the door wouldn't open!

Ranma backed up...and against the end wall. Trapped!

"I'm a guy, okay!?!" Ranma said, inching across the wall,
looking for an opening past her. "There's no way I'm gonna
let you dress me up like a girl! So forget it!"

Nabiki briefly let her gloat show. "All your clothes are in
the wash." And she held up the skirt. "It'll only be for a
little while, Ranma."

Kasumi, in her usual attire, said from behind her sister,
"I'm sorry, Ranma! I'll draw you a bath."

Ranma had only made it to the corner, when Nabiki went nose
to nose with him. "Listen, Ranma, remember: You're a guest
in our house."

"Uh..., er..." She, the shorter one, looked up into her
eyes.

Nabiki said with some feeling, "Your hot baths are heating
us out of house and home. We can't pay the gas bills. You
see what I'm saying?"

"Uh, yeah...." When had she become a 'naughty child'?

Nabiki smiled, "So you'll wear this, right?"

Ranma-chan hung her head in shamed defeat. "Okay...."

Nabiki triumphed! She held up the skirt in front of him,
seeing how he'd look in it. "Fetching."

Kasumi turned away from the bathroom door. Her assistance
was needed out here.

Ranma mumbled, "Does it have to be pink?"

Nabiki reminded her, "I have a whole roomful of dresses."

Kasumi protested, "Oh, Nabiki, I don't think it's right."
Then she said why, "I know *I* wouldn't feel right knowing
somebody else had worn my clothes!"

His eyes turning away in a bent frown, Ranma-chan said,
"Why do you girls always gotta wear dresses, anyway?"

Nabiki said, "Maybe you'd know if you tried them."

Kasumi said sincerely, "Yes, Nabiki, I wish you'd wear
dresses more often."

Ranma said, "Hey, that's right. She doesn't wear dresses
much, does she!?" Looking at Nabiki sideways, Ranma crossed
her arms. "Runs in the family, doesn't it?!" she smirked.

Nabiki said, "Look who's talking!" apparently unphased.
"Hey," she said to Kasumi. "Let's get Akane in on the fun!"
she grinned.

As they turned to go to her room, they saw clothes that
should have been in the family room dancing seductively in
air. There was Akane's sunflower sundress, one of Kasumi's
nicest blouse and skirt set, and there was even the last
dress Nabiki had worn, the one she gone to a party in.
There were also the black, lacy bra and panties she'd worn
then.

Nabiki said, "What the--!?"

Kasumi cried, "Oh, my!"

Ranma asked, "How in the world?" When she examined the
trick, she found they were held up like puppets by,
"Spider's thread!"

Kasumi said, "But I keep such a clean house!"

Nabiki pulled down the clothes, "I now spiders were the
original weavers, but I DOUBT they're responsible for these
clothes."

Ranma narrowed her eyes, "Are you sure YOU didn't have
something to do with this?"

Nabiki said, "Go ahead and believe that. It's always good
to have the other guy wondering."

///

All of them were in Akane's room. Nabiki and Kasumi were on
the carpet, going through the things they'd pulled from her
closet.

Nabiki had picked up a pink blouse, but she was looking at
the one Kasumi had selected, "I think not, Kasumi."

"But the frills on this look so sweet."/ Sweet!? Ranma-
chan thought.

"I don't know. I really think this one is better."/
Pink!!?

In her long pink jumper and white blouse, Akane was sitting
on her bed, not enjoying the 'fun' at all, "Hey! You guys:
Why does Ranma have to borrow MY clothes, anyway?!"

Near her feet, Ranma-chan was sitting boy-style on the
carpet, still dressed in only the towel and boxers. He had
his arms crossed, boy-style as well, for he was in full
stubborn again. "Forget it! I ain't wearin' no skirt. No
way!"

(Happosai noted they weren't picking out any lingerie. He
knew Ranma had to get by the first hurdle of wearing
outerwear before she would consider underwear, but she DID
need to get the idea that's what girls also wore. That's
what HE most wanted to see her in, anyway. He had retrieved
Nabiki's satiny, black set. Happosai preferred his darlings
to be more sweet and virginal white or pink, but he knew
that Ranma always had a problem with those. Perhaps Ranma
would have been more amenable to the idea of having her
wonderful mammories lovingly held by the smooth, snuggly(so
SATINY) emblem of womanhood if they had started out in a
type more blatantly sexual.

(Using all of his ninja skills, he slipped out from under
the bed and into the closet, where he sneaked the lacy,
black bra and panties into the pile on the floor.)

Sorting through the things, Nabiki picked them up, "Akane,
I wouldn't have thought you owned any like these."

"What!? Those aren't mine!"

Kasumi said, "Oh, no, those can't be Akane's! Hers are
white, or some other pastel color."

Nabiki nodded, "Virginal." She tossed them back in pile.
Nabiki hadn't worn the pair herself enough to recognize
them as her own. She said, "Well, Ranma can't wear any like
this, either." She smiled, "But Ranma CAN wear Akane's."

Ranma told her, "No I can't!"

Akane told her, "No he can't!"

Kasumi told her, "No, Ranma, can't, Nabiki." Then she said
why, "Ranma's cup size is larger."

(Happosai quietly threw a tantrum inside the closet.)

///

Ignoring Ranma's and Akane's differences, the two older
sisters continued to select just the right outfit. Akane,
also feeling ignored, finally had to make her differences
known, "No, Kasumi. Ranma's a BOY. How would you like it if
YOUR so-called fiancé were caught in a dress!?" She was
still sitting on her bed, but was matching Ranma by having
HER arms crossed, though, girl-style.

"Oh, my!"

Nabiki said, "She's right, Sis. We must think of Akane.
Here! This is cute."

Kasumi smiled, pleased, "Oh, my, yes. And so in keeping
with the theme of the rest of Ranma's wardrobe."

///

Ranma couldn't believe she'd let them put her in a pale
pink jumpsuit. (Pink! Very pink!) And to top it ALL off,
written in red roman letters, was the cursed word "China"
(!!!), with a cutesy heart dotting the "I", of course.

Nabiki said, "We, at least, got to pick the color."

Kasumi said, "Boys have no sense of fashion."

Akane said, "Look at that," sounding as if she were lending
clothes to a girl friend. "It's a perfect fit."

Nabiki leaned down and inspected the "fit". "Well...?"

Ranma wasn't happy. "It's TOO tight," she told them, and
pulled on the shoulder straps. "It pinches my chest!" she
demonstrated.

With THAT Akane went from looking to glaring. But Ranma-
chan was only looking down on the outfit. Nabiki asked,
"What about the waist?"

"TOO baggy," Ranma demonstrated that too.

Nabiki exclaimed, "Uh-oh...!"

Akane growled, "Oooorrr!!" running for her split bamboo
sword.

"Aaaaa!!" she roared when she came back with the shinai
sword. "Aaarr! Die, Ranma!!" she cried as she attacked him.

Nabiki to the rescue again, "Girls! Girls! Let's not
fight!"

Girl-Ranma yelled, "I told you—-I'm, a, GUY!!!"

Play mind games with Ranma Saotome!! She used her martial
arts reflexes to shed the girly things.

Akane yelled, "Ranma!! You, you --Exhibitionist!!" renewing
her efforts, putting more power into her swings--trying to
hit any of his many exposed parts.

Kasumi said, "Oh, Ranma! Do you really think you should be
doing that!?" All he had on NOW were the boxers.

Ranma told them all to, "Go play dress-up with somebody
else!" as she leaped away.

Akane was able to get one good hit on him: Right on the
that too perfect butt!! Whack!

The redhead cried foul, "Hey!! Off limits! Whoever heard of
martial arts spanking!?"

Nabiki told him, "That's what you get for acting like a
brat!"

Happosai used the confusion as the opportunity to call out,
"What does Nabiki have in HER closet?!"

Ranma cried, "Yeah! Do YOU have anything pink or sappy,
Nabiki!? Let's see just what you have in YOUR closet!"

"Saotome!!" But it was too late, he'd already used that
blasted speed of his. "Saotome, come back here!!!" she
yelled, taking off after him.

Akane yelled, too, "Ranma! Stay out of Nabiki's room!!"
joining the chase.

Kasumi sighed, "Oh, my...." before turning to pick up
Akane's things.

///

Ranma was startled by the amount of clothes Nabiki could
get in her stand-up wardrobe. And she was puzzled that most
of them had a label on them that said [Ugasi's Tuxedo and
Mask Shop]. She remembered, now, that the extra laundry
Kasumi was doing had the same label.

But Ranma didn't have the time to take anything out. It was
a quick skirmish, and she was forced to retreat out the
window.

Ranma DID end up wearing girl's clothes. Needing SOMETHING
to wear in public, she had taken a pair of her slacks and a
blouse Nabiki had laying about. At least they were pants.
Now, in the nearby vacant lot, Ranma was tending to her
wounded male psyche as well as her bruises, "Play dress-up
with me, will they! I kept tellin' them I was a guy! They
KNOW I'm a guy!! But as long as I don't LOOK like a guy,
they think it's alright for me to be a GIRL!

"They don't respect me."

Then she heard a small, hallow voice, "That's right, Ranma.
They don't respect you."

Ranma looked up from her sulk, and saw nobody. But she
still heard the voice: "And they WON'T respect you until
you respect yourself!"

Ranma got up, to find where it was coming from, "I already
respect myself! If I don't, nobody else is certainly gonna
do it!"

"You DON'T respect yourself! If you DID, it wouldn't matter
WHAT'S on the outside! Show them you don't care if you are
seen in girl's garments! (Especially the lacy, silky
kind.)"

Ranma walked over to a stack of large concrete pipes,
"That's stupid! Who respects a crossdresser?"

"You're not a crossdresser if you're a girl! A girl can get
away with wearing anything, even (gag me) men's clothes!"

Ranma talked just keep the voice talking, "Not anything.
But I, uh, think I know what you mean. ...You're sayin' if
I do, I won't have to go around in my underwear while
Kasumi's doin' the washin'." The voice seemed to be coming
from one of the bottom ones; she looked. "I can wear their
old, ugly, guy-like stuff. Once *I* stop carin', they'll
stop carin', and leave me alone!"

"You have to CARE what you look like!! A girl has to look
pretty!" Happosai crawled up into the pipe on top while
Ranma was checking out the bottoms ones.

Ranma looked in the top pipe, "I don't WANT to look
pretty!"

Happosai had ducked down to the third pipe, "Er, you'll
look prettier than THEM!"

Inspired, Ranma suddenly straightened up, "Yeah! That WOULD
show them! They won't wanna dress me up, if I look PRETTIER
than them!" He got a wicked gleam in his eyes, "They won't
WANT to see me as nothing but a guy."

///

Mr. Saotome said, "Hmm. Not up to Kasumi's usual
standards," shoveling the breakfast into his mouth.

Putting hers down, Akane said, "She used salt instead of
sugar!" And too much of it.

Pushing his away, her father said, "Something must be
upsetting her again." Kasumi seldom made mistakes like
that, but she DID make them.

Saotome asked, pointing to this friend's bowl with his
chopsticks, "Are you going to eat that?"

Nabiki sat with her arms crossed, "At least she has all HER
clothes." She hadn't even bothered to touch her breakfast.

Her father asked, "Hunh? Is that suppose to mean
something?" He noticed what his daughters were wearing, but
forgot how many days they had worn the same things. (They
did smell different.)

Akane said, "Oh, nothing, Dad! Nothing, really (Ha, ha!)."
Noticing Mr. Saotome glancing over at her bowl, she shoved
it towards him. Her dad looked from her to him, as he
accepted her offering.

"Hmf!" Nabiki snorted. "Ranma didn't sleep in his bed last
night, did he?"

Saotome said, "No," starting on Akane's meal. "And he still
hasn't shown up for our morning workout."

Akane swore, "He'd better show up!"

Splash!

Everybody but Mr. Saotome looked to the pond. Ranma had
jumped in the koi pond--on purpose!

Mr. Tendou said, "There he is. Ready for his workout."

Ranma's pop said, still eating, "He knows I don't like to
fight on a full stomach."

Nabiki glared at him, "I told you he couldn't go a morning
without becoming a girl."

Akane scowled at him, "Ooorr!"

Mr. Tendou looked at his daughters. "Er..., perhaps you'd
like to practice with the lad today," he suggested, stating
what was becoming obvious.

Ranma was striding slowly, deliberately towards the front
of the house, around to the dojo. It was a challenge.

Akane said, getting up, "I'll do MORE than just
'Prac,tice'!"

Nabiki said, "I hope I'm not too rusty," cracking her
knuckles.

Mr. Tendou watched two of his children hurry out, Akane to
the garden; Nabiki through the house. "Maybe I should take
a look in on them. I AM the dojo master, after all."

Bringing Nabiki's bowl over to himself, Saotome said,
"Leave them be, Tendou. It's been two weeks since Ranma's
arrival; and you know what they say about house guests and
fish."

"Yes, they SAY they "both start to go bad after two DAYS"."

Saotome had thick skin, "So you can see how bad things are
now. This is the make-or-break time in their relationship;
and they must find their own way of living together."

Tendou nodded, "Yes, Saotome. How wise..." But his praise
trailed off as he watched the man pour soy sauce on the
already overly salted food. Then start eating again.

"Water!!! Waterrr!!"

///

Later that day, Soun Tendo said, "I don't remember that
being there!" looking down at one of the game tiles on the
shogi table. "You haven't been cheating, have you,
Saotome?!"

The panda looked up and away, as if it felt insulted.

Soun bowed his head. "I'm sorry, old friend. The strain of
having to learn to live with you all over again must be
getting to me." While the man's eyes were closed, the panda
used the opportunity to move the piece back.

Soun looked up, smiling broadly, "Ahh, remember the good
old days when we had a common enemy to unite us?"

The panda held up a sign, [Now we have a common MISSION!]

"Yes, so true! UNITED in our common mission! Ah! There's my
move."

Then they heard Akane yelling: "Just you wait, Ranma!!" and
the sounds of running coming down the outer hall.

Ranma answered with, "No way!" It was mid-morning, now, and
the boy was still a girl?

Then, framed by the garden, the two fathers SAW their
Anything-Goes heir: Dressed in a girl's white-gold-and-
purple kimono!?!

"Ha; ha!" Ranma-chan giggled, and spun to see how close her
pursuers were to her. "Leave me alone!!" he said, turning
back around, and continuing to give them a chase.

Nabiki appeared next, close on the Japanese maiden's tabi
socked heels, "Stop running!!" She was caring a cape.

Akane then came by, her split bamboo shinai ready, "Hold
it!!"

Ranma-chan came back. THIS time in a purple bustier, g-
string, fishnet hose, and pink garter belt!! "(Ha, uh) Cut
it out!!" the full-chested petit girl simpered, as she
capered away.

Nabiki cried, "Give it up, Saotome!!" running in a
captain's hat, and carrying a... Furled Whip!??

Akane was using her bamboo sword as if were a lance.
"Wait!!"

How did the--that is LAD(!) keep getting by them dressed
like –-Now like a Showgirl!!! "I told you!!" the one in the
shocking pink, nearly two-piece costume over lavender
tights stopped long enough to put her pumps down at the two
girls still on her tail. "I'm, a, GUY!!"

Ranma ran, not touching the heels to the polished floor,
backwards, with Nabiki following, collecting the feathers
chorine was molting, and Akane trying to use the shinai as
a bat.

Tendo felt weak. But when he leaned on the Japanese chess
table for support, he slid right off of it, and onto the
floor: Thun-dum! "Who's crackpot idea was THAT!?"

(Happosai wept onto the Naban mirror, "A "GUY", she said!
And after she wore that truly lovely, purple lingerie set!
That's not the way it was supposed to be! I want to go
home!")
The End...

[Now you know why the last scene was in the anime but not
the manga.]