Not mine, not mine, not mine. Reviews, comments, criticisms welcome.

=-=-=-=-

Chapter 5

"Welcome home, Father!" Kasumi greeted Soun Tendo at the front door with a bow as he slipped out of his shoes. Kasumi immediately launched into the new developments around the house, but faltered a bit as his expression became increasingly dark with an explanation of the new guest staying at the dojo.

=-=-=-

Rogue glanced nervously over at Ranma, who himself was glancing nervously at Soun Tendo. The patriarch was sitting at the head of the table, eyes flicking back and forth between the pigtailed martial artist and Rogue, a lit cigarette dangling forgotten from his fingers.

Soun's first reaction was not what she had expected. Rouge thought that Soun would have been overjoyed at the prospect of paying students coming to the Dojo. Rather, he sat at the head of the table, chain smoking cigarettes and interrogating Ranma at length. Or at least, Rogue assumed it was an interrogation. She really couldn't follow the conversation because she could only catch snippets; after all, she'd only been learning Japanese for a week now. But she had absorbed enough of Ranma's memories about the Tendo patriarch that she could tell that his gruff tone and body language signaled that all wasn't kosher between the two men at this moment.

Happosai sat at the head of the table on a stack of cushions. He didn't say anything. He simply watched the interaction, taking the occasional drag on his pipe and winking at Rogue.

She probably guessed what the problem was. Given Ranma's history with women and what she had culled from the memories of Soun from the time's she'd drained Ranma, the Tendo patriarch was probably worried about Rogue "stealing" Ranma from Akane.

Yeah right. Whatever.

The conversation continued for a bit. Kasumi brought tea and disappeared. Ranma seemed to be losing the discussion for a bit.

Then Happosai spoke up. She didn't know what he said, but it was short. It seemed to shock Soun, but he nodded slowly and turned to Ranma. He took an absent minded drag on his latest cigarette. He grunted, looked over at Rogue and narrowed his eyes. He muttered something at Ranma, who visibly sagged with relief. Happosai got up from his cushions and walked away. The grilling was over.

Rogue couldn't take it. "What did he say?" She whispered in Ranma's direction, in English.

"You can stay. Happosai told him to teach you."

"Really?"

Ranma nodded. He bowed low to Soun, who grunted and reached into his breast pocket for another cigarette. He pulled out the box but saw that it was empty, so he let out a sigh and waved the pair away.

Ranma took the hint and got up, heading towards the dojo. With nothing better to do, Rogue followed. She didn't want to do any more training, but if she let Ranma out of her sight, Happosai would be sure to show up.

The first week at the dojo had been interesting, to say the least. Happosai had done his best to be a perverted nuisance. Unfortunately, the old letch succeeded more than he failed, even with Ranma's intervention. The problem was, she just wasn't skilled enough to prevent him from taking advantage of her, and Ranma could only prevent those occasions he was aware of. Even then it was a fifty-fifty chance, even though Ranma was good, Happosai was still better.

Ranma had forced her to spend a lot of time in the dojo. His reasons were because it was to defend due to the wide open spaces and limited entries. With a sigh, she went into the dojo wondering if she could convince the Professor that this had been a bad idea after all. .

=-=-=-

Ranma was soaking in the tub later that evening when Soun came in through the bathroom door to take his own bath. He didn't say anything as he sat down on the bathing stool and filled a bucket with cold water. The older man poured the cold water over his head and began to lather up. Quietly, Ranma slid to the edge of the tub and prepared to leave.

Soun didn't turn to look at him. He simply instructed Ranma to stay put, but otherwise ignored him.

Ranma gulped and settled back into the tub. Seems Soun wasn't quite done yet, after all. The older man's scrubbing took a bit, as he still had quite long hair. He didn't take his time, but he didn't rush, either, methodically scrubbing his body after shampooing his hair. Even though he was no longer all that young or active in the martial arts, Ranma could help but notice that his back was rather muscular. It rippled every time Soun scrubbed something, the knots of muscles apparent under the skin.

He might not be all that active, but he kept in shape. And he still knew how to throw a punch.

Soun finished washing and rinsed off before climbing in the tub. Silence stretched as Ranma looked down at the water.

"Kasumi told me about her... condition."

Ranma nodded.

"I'm not happy about this at all."

"Why not?" Ranma looked up, genuinely puzzled. "Happosai wants me to teach her, and its about time the dojo had a student again."

"I'm only agreeing to it because of Master Happosai." Soun sighed. "Do you really want to know why I'm upset?"

Ranma nodded.

"Ranma, I thought your women problems were over. Now I find yet another young and incredibly attractive woman hanging around you, while my baby girl is nowhere in sight. Given your luck with ladies, it will only be a matter of time before the earlier craziness returns. Even if that girl herself can't get her claws into you, Xian Pu might use it as an excuse to start her antics again."

Ranma opened his mouth to protest, but Soun cut him off.

"I know it wasn't your fault initially, Ranma, but it was your fault it continued."

Ranma shrugged. He'd had this argument before. He also knew how to end it, too.

"There wasn't a way to end it without staining someone's honor. If you want to blame someone, blame my dad. I did my best."

And on cue, Soun changed topics, not wanting to go into the ugly ramifications of family honor.

"Will you continue staying at your apartment, then?"

Ranma paused. "I'd like to, but with Happosai..."

Soun grimaced and nodded. "I suppose you'll move back into your old room, then."

Ranma agreed. While it wasn't the best solution, he didn't mind the longer commute. Plus, he'd be saving a load of money, which was always a plus for him.

"What about Akane? Is she aware of this... arrangement? Is she okay with it?"

Ranma nodded quickly. Shit. He'd forgotten to tell Akane. First thing he needed to do when he got out of the tub was come up with a cover story with her.

Soun softened a bit. "How's she doing, anyway?"

Akane always told him that he couldn't lie to save his life. So, the rather than trying to make up something that would get him in trouble down the road, she'd always advised him to stick as close to the truth as possible. That way, you'd be less likely to mess up and blow the whole thing. With that in mind, Ranma looked Soun in the eyes and said, "She's really, really happy. She'd get married tomorrow if she was able, but I keep telling her she should wait until after graduation, at least."

Soun's eyes lit up. "Good, good. That's a good plan. Glad to hear it. Very sensible, after all..." After that, the ice was broken a bit. They chatted about Akane's studies and how she was enjoying school. Ranma was completely honest. He had no reason to lie, after all. Akane loved school, loved acting, and loved her partner.

He just never told Soun her partner wasn't him.

=-=-=-=

"Akane?"

"Wha... Ranma? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Yeah, 3:30 a.m. I need to talk with you." He explained the situation, in detail. This was the first chance he had to slip away undetected to make the phone call. Akane quickly realized how important it was woke up fairly quickly as he laid out, in painful detail, just what was going on at the dojo. She mostly listened, asking a few questions every now and then. The line grew silent. Ranma nervously looked around from his perch on top of the Tendo Dojo roof, hoping that Happosai didn't discover he was out of the room and use that as a chance to molest Rogue.

At the end of his explanation, Akane laughed. Indignant, he demanded to know what was so funny, using the quietest voice possible that could convey his anger.

"Nothing, you big dummy. I just don't know how you keep getting into these situations. Seriously, it's like somebody up there has it out for you."

"Well yuck it up, tomboy. I need your help, or you want me to go ahead and tell your dad we ain't uniting the schools any time soon?"

"Yeah... Okay. Listen, this is what we'll do..."

Ranma's sense of unease increased dramatically as Akane laid out her plan. "I don't know 'bout this, tomboy."

"Ranma, trust me."

"Last time you said that, you pulled out that strap on. I still haven't forgiven you for that."

"I'm not sorry about it, though. You enjoyed it."

Ranma grunted. "I'll never admit it."

Akane sighed on the other end of the phone. "Do you think this will work?"

"No. But we'll do our best, right? We can't keep it a secret for ever. The longer we wait, the harder it will be. Maybe it's time to tell them."

"You're right, of course. I just... anyway, I'm going back to sleep, alright? Give my best to Kasumi and Daddy. Lots of love."

"Love back at you, tomboy. I will. Say hi to your girlfriend for me."

"Rezu's awake and shooting me nasty looks right now. You want to talk to her?"

He laughed. "No, I'm good. Night, Akane."

"Night Ranma."

He hung up, not in the least bit relieved. Sure, it was easy for Akane to avoid the reckoning, but he was the one actually here at the Dojo, trying to keep the deception up with her father. His pensive mood wasn't relieved in the slightest as he slipped back into Akane's old room, no Rogue's room now, to stand silent vigil over the sleeping brunette. He sat cross legged on the floor and began running through as many ki exercise as he could, stopping every once in a while to consult the notes he'd picked up from Doctor Tofu earlier.

He settled in for yet another long night.

=-=-=-

The next morning, the family sat around the dining room table, idly chatting as they picked at the food Kasumi had served. Soun read a newspaper at the corner of the table, effectively shutting out the crowd and the noise. Dr. Tofu, Kasumi's husband, sat next to her and smiled appreciatively at her as she served. Ranma was already eating, nodding his thanks, too tired from another all night vigil to really be social.

Happosai sat beaming at the other end of the table, watched warily by both Ranma and Rogue, but he ignored them both in order to play with the newest pair of underwear he'd acquired from Rogue's wardrobe somehow last night. She shuddered. At least it wasn't the pair she'd been wearing.

And that just left Rogue the odd man out. She couldn't effectively converse with them, as Ranma's English was limited. Kasumi's English was great, but she couldn't continue to rely on the woman to act as her interpreter. She basically refused to talk to Happosai, and while Tofu never really hung around long enough to struggle through a conversation. Rogue's Japanese was still pretty horrible, and even though she tried to follow conversations, she could only to pick out a few words.

On top of that, she was incredibly sore. It was a struggle to do more than lift her chopsticks to her mouth, and the infernal devices seemed to be conspiring to keep her from eating since she could barely close her hands into a fist. She'd just undergone her first "real" training session with Ranma as her martial arts instructor.

He made the Danger Room seem like a day spa.

At first she had really not been happy about the marital arts classes. As little as she wanted to, Rogue was forced to agree with Ranma's reasoning. She couldn't protect herself from the letch, and until she could, she'd be a target. Plus, considering how much time they'd be forced to spend together anyway, that time might as well be productive. Professor Xavier also wanted her to keep her combat edge, and hand-to-hand training would help maintain the skills she had learned fighting with the X-men. Since Happosai wanted Ranma to start training her in his family style, they began immediately after her introduction to Soun.

It was brutal. Ranma was patient and a good teacher, but he allowed her no slack. He could tell she had the rudiments of combat training, and he hit hard. She knew he was still pulling his punches, but no matter how in shape she might have been, she wasn't prepared for the intensity of the lessons under him, with Soun and Happosai's supervision.

Tofu got up to head to the office. She couldn't follow the conversation at all, which was almost as frustrating as her morning class with Ranma. Her language ability would improve -slowly, to be sure - but after a week of living with this family, she still could express her only her basic needs - water, food, bathroom, and pervert groping me.

Unfortunately, the last phrase had become far more useful and frequently used than she wished. Happosai continued to be a nuisance, taking every opportunity to exploit her vulnerability that he could. Rogue quickly realized that until she could defend herself against Happosai's predations, she'd basically have no privacy. The moment she was alone - be it in the bath, the toilet, or asleep - Happosai somehow managed to find out and take advantage of it.

Neither of them anticipated what a full time job it would be. Ranma had to accompany her everywhere to make sure it didn't happen, or at least, mitigate the damage when he could. He had basically taken to sleeping in the same room as her - on the floor, of course- so he could react faster to the old letch. He sat outside the bathroom as she bathed to prevent incursions.

Hell, he even walked her to the toilet. She'd put her foot down when he tried to accompany her inside. She'd changed her mind though, the first time she sat down on the commode and felt Happosai caressing her bottom from inside the bowl.

She hadn't been able to sleep for almost two nights after that.

So while Ranma didn't actually stand in the bathroom while she was doing her business, she did have him search the room beforehand and stand outside while using the facilities.

The lack of privacy was slowly driving her insane. But she needed an out. The Xavier institute provided her a stipend for spending money in addition to sending a check to the dojo to pay for her lodging and food. It was supposed to be for incidentals and other expenses. But there were other ways she could spend the money and give her some private time as well.

"Kasumi?"

The older woman looked up from where she was serving a bowl of rice to Soun.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where I could take some Japanese classes?"

Kasumi cocked her head, and then asked some the rest of the family. It was clear that the idea interested the rest of the table, and after breakfast Kasumi left the table to go make some phone calls. Eventually, Kasumi found a private tutor at from the same university Akane attended. She was eager to start right away, both to get away from Happosai and, as nice as a guy as Ranma was, some alone time for herself.

However, going to language classes at Akane's university meant she couldn't escape Ranma completely. He was obliged to come along, playing the role of the dutiful finance and visiting with Akane while Rogue was in class.

Time passed quickly as she fell into a routine at the dojo. The mornings were filled with martial arts classes supervised by Soun and taught by Ranma. While he hadn't been happy to have her there, Soun still took teaching seriously. After classes, Ranma would often walk Rogue to where she'd be taking lessons and then depart for his own classes at his university.

She eventually got used to the grueling schedule, but she had expected Ranma to taper off as she got in shape. In retrospect, she should have known better. Ranma was serious about few things, and the Art was one of them. He forced her to be as serious about it as he was, but it was a struggle. Ranma had some weird ideas about what was considered light training. He woke her up every morning at 5:30 and put her through several hours of rigorous training, including some light sparring. She wasn't exactly a slouch, but she couldn't hold a candle to Ranma.

There had been several times, particularly in the first couple of months, when she really wanted to quit and go home. But she stuck with it, mostly because she started to notice the subtle changes in her own body that made her reevaluate her initial reluctance. She felt and looked stronger, and managed to lose that last five pounds that had always been bothering her. While Rogue approved of the changes that were happening to her body, she also struggled to maintain some sense of normalcy in her life. The fact that she was a mutant with the powers to steal memories wasn't enough; Ranma wanted her to train every day until she could hardly move.

Increasingly, her language classes gave her a chance to be a "normal" girl for once. She'd been introduced to Ranma's ex the day she started classes at the same university. Akane became her lifeline, because she understood what it was like to be around Ranma, caught up in the chaos that always surrounded him. Rogue ended up hanging out with Akane and her girlfriend quite a bit, if only to avoid going back to the dojo. She liked Akane - the girl was spunky, smart, and wasn't afraid to put Ranma in his place when he stepped out of line.

Rogue felt a kinship to the short haired girl, and they got along well. Rezu, her girlfriend, had been a bit wary at first, as most things dealing with Ranma tended to end up taking a turn for the crazy. But she eventually thawed when she revealed her abilities to the couple, relaxed by the fact that she wasn't gunning for Akane.

Akane proved to be a great source of entertainment for Rogue. Akane and her girlfriend even took her under their collective wings, taking her out shopping, drinking, and to karaoke bars and clubs when she needed a break from the dojo. And, the other thing that was great is that Akane knew martial arts. She wasn't as good as Ranma, but she could help Rogue understand concepts that Ranma couldn't explain. It also gave them common ground to talk about besides Japanese and movies. The other topic they drifted to frequently was boys.

Even though Akane was a dyed-in-the-wool lesbian at this point, that didn't mean she didn't have some rather choice bits to share about her former fiancé. Even though Akane would never admit it, she was a huge pervert and took a special delight in sharing tales of her sexcapades with Ranma while when the boy wasn't there. Rogue knew she wasn't exaggerating, either, because she only had to look at Ranma's blushes when she asked him about it or drain his memories to confirm it.

No matter how much fun she had with the Tendo girl, eventually she always had to come home for the evening lessons. If the morning lessons with Ranma were hard, the evening classes with Happosai were even worse. Skipping them weren't an option, because Happosai always seemed to be able to find her, no matter where she went. If he hunted her down, he subjected her to degradations that left her feeling dirty for hours. It was better to be home for dinner and then head out to the dojo. The evening classes were focused mostly on meditation and manipulating ki. Rogue couldn't do it at all, of course, which is why it sucked so much. It was frustrating and humiliating to be helpless, trapped in the dojo with the old letcher as Ranma did his best to minimize the amount of perversion she was subjected to.

At least Ranma seemed to get a good workout from it. It usually devolved into a full out brawl between Ranma and the old goat within fifteen minutes. She inevitably ended up caught between the two, and left the dojo thoroughly rumpled, groped, and disgruntled. She stopped wearing underwear at all during these sessions, as she knew she'd never get it back. Instead, she simply wore a binding around her chest to minimize the discomfort.

But, that still meant she was subjected to repeat groping from the old letch. After her bath, she crawled up to her room, too exhausted to do much more than fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

=-=-=-=-

Rogue flew through the air, only managing to flip just in time to land flat on her back in the koi pound. She growled and leapt out of the water, ignoring the way her wet night clothes currently clung to her body.

Six damn months! Every single day for the last six god damned months, that infuriating punk managed to send her into the pond no matter how hard she tried to prevent it. She slid forward, intent on wiping that smirk off his face. She'd learned to wear sensible clothing to bed after the first couple of times, but it didn't mean she liked it. Waking up wet and soaking, no matter what time of the year, wasn't pleasant. Tokyo winters could be cold.

Happosai waggled his eyebrows suggestively as she charged at him, intent on murder. Of course she failed to catch him; she failed to even touch him. But that wasn't the point. He led her deeper into the house until they arrived at the dojo, where Ranma was waiting. He moved to engage, and sparring started.

Her abilities were a curse, but the old saw that every cloud has a silver lining rang true in this case. Six months of draining Ranma, both to learn Japanese and defend herself against Happosai, had left something behind.

It had left the basics of the Anything Goes Style.

Happosai had been the first to notice it. His usual methods of groping countered unconsciously, or the way she held her chopsticks, optimized for both attack and defense. Over time, the repeated draining had left an imprint of the style on her psyche, augmenting the training in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat she'd received from the X-men.

It was weird how time had changed her perception about the training. She had hated it when she started. Then, after a couple of months, she didn't mind it anymore. Now, though, she rather enjoyed it. Okay, that was an understatement. She loved it. She could let lose, take of her gloves (both figuratively and literally) and really enjoy the act of physically touching someone. She found that she genuinely loved marital arts. Ranma said that it was probably because her ki was becoming aligned very closely to his, since she stole more of his than anyone else's. Happosai had another theory, but it was too lecherous to entertain. Soun, on the other hand, said that it was because she was gifted, and had found an outlet for her gift.

She didn't know, or care. All she cared about was that she'd had more fun here than she ever dreamed possible. It wasn't fun getting thrown in the pond every morning, but she had a caring mother figure in Kasumi, an intelligent doctor intent on helping her in Tofu, a kind father figure in Soun, and a good friend in Akane. Her Japanese was getting better every day, and while she was still learning, it no longer was the barrier it had been to by in the country.

And in Ranma...

If she could just forget Happosai, this place would have been perfect. It was becoming a home in the way the Xavier Institute never had. No missions, just school, sparring, and working on her abilities. If Logan has said six month's ago she'd love hand-to-hand combat, she would have laughed in his face. But now, she could see the thrill in it, loved it for how it focused her mind and body on the act of committing to a strike, lost in the rhythm of attacking, countering, and defending.

The sparring was mostly for her benefit, but Ranma got practice teaching Anything Goes, coaching and correcting. It also gave him opportunities to practice the various ki techniques he was trying to develop to either block her ability or quickly replace the ki lost through other means. Nothing had worked so far, but Ranma seemed satisfied with his progress. Or, at least, he had until recently. He had confided that he recently had been stumped on her problem. He had thought that, like with the ki draining techniques used by Hinomiya, she needed some kind of focus and it could be stopped once found.

It hadn't been the case, though. She was the focus - there was nothing to block except her touch. Tofu had been helping considerably by contributing research and suggestions on possible counters, but unfortunately, everything they had tried so far turned out to be a dead end. After each attempt, they'd try another theory and experiment, but she could tell that Ranma was getting frustrated. It was usually so easy for him to figure stuff like this out. However, he kept at it, trying approach after approach, even if each one was doomed to fail.

Happosai watched their efforts with amused superiority. He hadn't once bothered to explain how he was able to block the effects of her touch. His immunity meant she couldn't pull the answer out of him, either.

But she was able to take the memories of everyone else. Even if Ranma hadn't been able to figure out Happosai's technique yet, she'd been working on ki and meditation exercises every night for the past six months.

On top of her practice, she'd absorbed a considerable bit of Ranma's knowledge on the subject over that same time, meaning she had the theoretical knowledge. Now she just needed to practice. It was getting easier. She couldn't manifest her ki yet, but she was getting better about sensing how it flowed from her target's body into hers, and how that influx of ki would shift her center. She now knew enough to absorb ki without it affecting her personality, a problem she'd had in the past when she'd drained a target.

She was getting better. She could clearly feel the improvement. Her condition still prevented her from touching anyone, but she had hope that one day, with continued practice, she'd get it. What she wouldn't admit to anyone else, though, is that she enjoyed the memories that came with the ki she stole the most. It was kind of like being a voyeur - the images were often fleeting, but they had no filter, captured raw and in a vulnerable state. They were more impressions than anything else. More than anyone else's memories, she cherished Ranma's. He was reluctant to talk about his past, but she was able to reconstruct his life history, touch by touch, until she felt like she knew him better than anyone else.

Hell, she probably knew him better than he knew himself.

And that scared her and exhilarated her at the same time. Because she found that the more she learned about Ranma Saotome, the more she wanted to know. He was cocky, egotistical, sex changing martial arts god, who just happened to be one of the nicests, sweetest, closet romantics she'd ever met.

Akane had teased her about it when she confessed, and Rezu had just smirked and said "I told you so!"

But they were both right. Rogue was afraid she was falling in love.

=-=-=-

Ranma wiped his forehead on his gi, feeling more tired than he let on. These daily sessions weren't great for his technique, but they were a gold mine when it came to working on ki manipulation techniques. Plus, he had to admit, Rogue had gotten pretty damn good. Not as good as he was, but in six months she was already not far below where Akane had been when he had met her. Give her five or six years, and she'd be as good as he was now.

He'd just be that much better, of course.

He smirked and called an end to the sparring match. "Good workout!"

Rogue collapsed and grunted from where she had collapsed on the floor, exhausted from the sparring session. He sat down beside her in a comfortable cross-legged position. He cajoled her to sit up and start moving through some cool down stretches. She grumbled and complained, but he could tell she was just doing it out of habit, not because she didn't want to. After stretching, she got up to get ready for school. He was amazed at how quickly she was learning Japanese, but then again, she was also a pretty bright girl. She was smarter than he was, certainly.

They flipped a coin for first bath. This was really a formality, done merely to keep up appearances for Soun. Six months of living together in the dojo had taught Ranma that it didn't really matter who won because they both knew that as soon as Rogue started undressing to take her bath, Happosai would inevitably find some way to try and worm his way into the room. Ranma'd be forced to intervene, and he'd end up in the bathroom with a naked Rogue anyway.

It would have saved a lot of time for them just to bath together, as that was really the only way to keep Happosai out. But, they couldn't risk offending Soun, who was alternately amused and angry that he seemed to find them naked together on a nearly daily basis. He knew it was Happosai's fault as well, but it didn't mean he liked seeing his daughter's fiancé naked with another woman in his bathtub. Soun's initial anger towards Rogue had faded, and he really enjoyed teaching her his art. Through her Mr. Tendo rediscovered his love of teaching, and had announced, with much fanfare, that he'd be re-opening the dojo to students after she finished her training.

Rogue won the toss, as usual. He knew she knew that he rigged the toss so she'd go first. It was less awkward for him to stand guard while she scrubbed than the other way around. Besides, they could preserve a shred more modesty that way.

But, he had to admit to himself, he didn't he didn't minded looking. Akane had been hot. Rogue was... to say she was attractive just didn't do it justice. He'd seen a lot of beautiful women in his life. Hell, he turned into one with a splash of cold water. And in his opinion, Rogue had a body that could give his female half a run for the money. But it was her personality that did it for him. Plus, she didn't seem to mind him looking. She definitely looked at his male half, if her lingering gazes during bath time were any indication.

Soun had been right. Ranma plus any attractive female equaled trouble. He sighed. How did he get into these messes?

Thank god he couldn't touch her, or there would be real problems. He wasn't sure he'd be able to control himself anymore. When he was a teenager, he didn't know what sex was, and so had been able to resist a temptation because he just didn't know what he was missing. Akane had introduced him into the world of physical intimacy, and now that he knew he was missing, it was a bit more of a challenge. Ranma was dense, but even he could feel the sexual tension between them.

He came into the changing room with her and turned to face the door, the sibilant whisperings of her undressing behind his back tempting him to look over his shoulder. Ranma wrapped himself in the soul of ice and resolutely kept his eyes front until he heard the inner door to the bath slide open and shut behind him.

He sagged with relief and pulled out a little stool to sit on while he waited.

He didn't have to wait long. Happosai opened the outer door to the bathroom bathing supplies in hand and a towel slung over his shoulder.

"Can't you give it a rest for one day, old man?" Ranma sighed and stood up.

"Hmm? What?" Happosai turned around. "Oh, Ranma! I thought the bath was empty!"

"I didn't fall for it the first hundred times. What makes you think I'd fall for it now?"

Happosai shrugged. "Always worth a try, I suppose."

Ranma cracked his knuckles. "We can do this the hard way, or the easy way."

=-=-=-=-

Rogue was pouring the last bucket of water over her head when the commotion started outside. Quickly wrapping her bathing towel around her body, she stepped into the tub and sank down right as Ranma barreled through the door, the old pervert locked in a headlock. They both crashed to the ground on the slippery tile, but Ranma managed to maneuver himself so the old pervert took the brunt of the fall.

Rogue cleared her throat. Happosai looked up from where he was pinned beneath Ranma, eyes full of hope. That hope was dashed a moment later when he saw she was already in the tub, with a towel wrapped around her body. She merely arched an eyebrow at him and pointed out the open door.

Happosai sighed. "Could I just..."

"NO!" came the resounding chorus from both Ranma and Rogue.

"Not even a little?"

"Happosai..."

Defeated, the old man sighed and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door slowly behind him. Ranma watched him go with some satisfaction. He was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of Rogue in the bath tub.

"Will you leave so I can finish?"

"What? Oh! Right!" Ranma blushed and opened the door, closing it quickly behind him as he left.

Rogue smiled. She could tell by the way he left that Ranma'd been disappointed, too. She slipped deeper in the tub, allowing her mind to wander as she thought about a certain pigtailed martial artist. Her hands soon joined her mind in their wandering.

=-=-=-

Ranma looked up as Rogue exited the bath, her face flushed and a slight grin on her face.

"Good bath?"

She smiled at him. "Great." She brushed by him with a wink and dropped her towel on the way over to the bench where her clothes we laid out. She stood there in all her glory, ignoring his presence as she started to dress. He stared. She turned to look at him as she put on her underwear and arched an eyebrow. "It's rude to stare, you know."

He flushed and turned around. Her giggles followed him into the bathroom. After his bath, he sought out Happosai in his room. The old man was ironing his collection again. Ranma didn't bother knocking. He sat down next to the old man and watched in disgust as he saw all the underwear spread out before him. His eyebrows narrowed a bit, and he reached into the pile and pulled out a pair of Rogue's underpants.

"I thought you said you'd stop stealing from her."

"I never agreed to that!" The old man swiped at it, but Ranma pulled them back.

Happosai glared at him for a bit, and then turned back to his pile with a harrumph.

Ranma dangled the panties just out of reach. "I'll give 'em back if you tell me."

Happosai didn't look up. "You can keep 'em. I've got others." To demonstrate, he rooted around in the pile and pulled out a different pair. Happosai frowned. "Actually, these are yours. Take 'em."

He flung the pair at Ranma's face. Ranma snatched them out of the air and threw them back at him, but Happosai just shrugged when they hit him. "Don't say I didn't offer."

"Come on, ya old fart! Just some clue!" Ranma practically growled. "I feel like I'm close to figuring it out."

Happosai snorted. "About the only thing you're close to is getting into her panties."

"Happosai!"

"Ranma!"

Ranma threw up his hands in frustration. "Come on. Just give me a hint, already."

Happosai shook his head melodramatically. "If you need a clue that the girl's hot for you, you're beyond helping."

Ranma visibly retrained himself to avoid lashing out at the pervert. "It ain't like that, you old goat. I want to help her."

"You want to hump her, don't deny it. Anyway, my answer's still no." He paused in his ironing. "Of course, if you would just agree to be my student, I'll teach you in no time."

Ranma growled, and stuffed the panties into his pocket. "Fuck you, old man. I'll figure it out on my own."

"Really?" Happosai just chuckled. "How are those ki exercises working for you? Still practicing that 'Soul of Ice' technique? Feel like you're making any progress?"

Ranma didn't say anything, knowing that he wouldn't get the better of this exchange.

Happosai snorted. "Thought so." He changed tactics. "Do you like having a student?"

Ranma was a little taken aback in the change of topic. He wasn't sure which angle Happosai was pursuing, so he answered cautiously. "Yeah, I guess."

"I can see that. She's a better student than Akane, certainly."

Ranma shrugged. "I guess."

"You guess?" Happosai sat back on his haunches as he raised his voice. "You guess? You idiot. Most masters would kill to have a student like her." He raised a gnarled finger and pointed it in Ranma's direction. "Don't fuck this up, boy."

"What do you mean?"

Happosai turned back to his pile of stolen underwear. "You'll figure it out, eventually. Good luck. You're gonna need it!"

Happosai proceeded to ignore him until he grew frustrated and left.

=-=-=-=-

Ranma wandered that afternoon, lost in thought. Partly, he was mulling over Happosai's last couple of statements before he left, and at the same time trying to think of news ways to approach the problem. He was coming up short of ideas on how to duplicate Happosai's technique. He didn't even know what the technique was. He couldn't feel anything from the old man when he touched Rogue. It was infuriating. Trying to construct a technique from scratch was much harder than he thought, particularly when the master of that technique was actively sabotaging his attempts.

His wandering took him to a park, and not really paying attention to his surroundings, he sat down with a sigh on a park bench. He leaned back and relaxed, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stretched his legs out and crossed his legs at the ankles. He was tired, but his mind was racing as he tried to tackle the problem of Rogue's vampirism once again.

To give his hands something to do he started trying some ki exercises with his hand. His mind was occupied with thoughts of Rogue's condition, because it was safer to thing about that than to think about the girl. Together with Dr. Tofu, he'd been trying exercise after exercise to improve his control and understanding of ki, but he still hadn't been able to solve Rogue's problem. However, it wasn't all bad, as he could now split his ki into multiple independent streams, which was the whole point of this exercise. He began to make a small ball of ki hover over each finger in his right hand.

It was mentally and physically exhausting work, compounded by the constant draining he suffered during his sparring matches. He felt like he was constantly sleep deprived and battling an iron deficiency. But he persevered, if mainly to avoid having to cave to Happosai. Ranma was so wrapped up in his exercises that he missed the sound of a delivery bicycle bell rapidly crossing the park. It only registered on his conscious when it was already too late to do anything about it.

He dove to the side and narrowly missed being flattened by the front tire of Xian Pu's bike. He stood up slowly, brushing the knees of his pants off as he cautiously took in his surrounds. Well, at least she was alone, as far as he could tell.

"Aiya! Airen!" Suddenly his arms were full of buxom bouncy Chinese delivery girl. He delicately looked for a place to put his hands that wouldn't be seen as leading her on, and with a firm push, extricated himself from her glomp.

"I'm not your airen, Xian Pu."

She pouted, batting her eyelashes at him.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Where's Mousse? I don't see him around."

"He chained to bed."

Ranma just grunted. "So he finally convinced you to forget about me?"

Xian Pu giggled. "No, silly! Xian Pu get him all excited, make him get naked, promise him he could have my body, then chain him to bed with his own weapons once he take off glasses. Stupid duck boy not worthy of this body." She posed suggestively, her generous proportions straining the silk of the tight cheongsam she wore.

Ranma's brain caught up with her statement. "Wait. You chained him to a bed?

Xian Pu nodded vigorously.

"Naked?"

Again, she nodded, clearly pleased with herself.

"When was this?"

She cocked her head. "Oh, thirty minutes ago?"

Ranma swore under his breath. He didn't think; he reacted. He bent backwards and swiveled his hips, whipping his head out of the way of a vicious sword swing that would have decapitated him had he been a fraction of a second slower. He continued to dodge, relying on his senses to guide him through the flurry of thrown weapons that were flung his way by the master of the hidden weapons technique. He dodged a fraction too late because he felt a slight tug on his pants pocket, heard the sound of ripping cloth, and then felt a breeze on his hip.

He looked down at where he had been standing to see a flutter of cloth pinned to the concrete by a rather nasty looking trident. Besides just the pocket of his pants, the pair of underwear he'd snagged from Happosai stood out prominently. He heard a pair of feet landing on the bench behind him. He didn't have to look to know it was Mousse, the owner of the trident that had tried to impale him.

Mousse adjusted his glasses with a growl, muttering Ranma's name and grinding his teeth at the same time, clearly assuming the worst between him and Xian Pu. Ranma backed away slowly, holding up his hands. "Heya, Mousse. Good to see ya. Um..." he gestured between him and Xian Pu. "It ain't like you think, Mousse. I didn't know she'd be here. Honest."

Xian Pu frowned and ripped the panties free of the trident and looked at the remains. "These no Akane's."

Mousse pulled out another sword. Xian Pu pulled out a pair of maces. Ranma pulled out his best technique - the Saotome secret technique founded on the notions of motion, contemplation, and opposition.

He ran like crazy.

=-=-=-=

"SHIIIIIIIIIT!" Ranma dodged a few of the throwing stars hurtled in his direction, confident they wouldn't hurt anyone. The others he plucked out of mid-air, trying to minimize the damage the two rampaging Amazons behind him were causing. He kept up on the roofs of the buildings, making himself a more visible target to the pursuing Amazons. Mousse chased after him intending to inflict grievous bodily harm to his person; Xian Pu chased him to find out who the underwear she'd picked up belonged to, and if it wasn't Akane, why wasn't it her?

This only served to infuriate Mousse more, and the projectile weapons came faster with each question. Ranma did his best to make sure most of them weren't going to harm some innocent bystander, but when chased by Amazons, there was only so much he could do.

In either case, it was bad news for property owners around. He wasn't afraid of either of them, but he also didn't want to have to fight them if he could avoid it. He looked around frantically, taking stock of where he was. He was close to Akane's university. He spied her distinctive hair in the crowd walking with Rogue as she wrapped up for the day.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, he turned on the speed and ran behind her, putting her body between his and the charging Amazons. His sudden appearance startled her, and both she and Rogue blinked a couple times before it really registered.

"Ranma?"

"AMAZONS!" He pointed over her shoulder. Akane dropped her books and whirled just in time to see that she had stepped into the path of a thrown Chinese mace. It was heading right for her, but before it impacted, Mousse pulled the weapon aside with a carefully thrown chain, yanking on it viciously to send careening into the concrete building nearby, cracking the masonry.

Xian Pu cursed and hopped back. Mousse pulled up along side her, his eyes, even through his coke-bottle glasses, betraying his disappointment. Nobody made any moves, and Rogue took the whole scene in with a sense of dread. She knew who these two were, and knew why they didn't do anything else. Ranma had promised he wouldn't fight them again, provided they left Akane alone. If either of them hurt one hair on her head, Ranma had vowed, before Ku Lon, an elder of their tribe, to hunt down and kill every last Amazon on the Earth, starting with them.

Both of them knew that Ranma could easily kill them if he wanted. Both also knew that Ranma would probably die trying to wipe out the Amazon nation. Probably. But, they had both been there when he'd taken out Saffron, and they held enough fear of his potential to do as he claimed that they didn't want to risk it. Ku Lon had forbidden them from even putting themselves in a position where they might accidentally harm Akane, which had worked out great for Ranma as long as they had been together. But, since Kasumi's marriage, he hadn't really run into either of the pair.

It occurred to him that they might not know that he and Akane were no longer an item. He immediately wrapped his arms around her stomach and pulled her close. Akane stiffened for a moment before she relaxed, aware of what he was doing. Given how close he was standing to her, there was no way either of the Amazons could reliably attack him without collateral damage - namely, Akane.

Neither was willing to risk it and eventually the stalemate ended. Xian Pu walked away and pulled her mace out of the building where it was embedded in the concrete, and putting it on her shoulder, walked back to face the pair. She held up the mangled remains of the panties she found in the park.

"Is... Akane's?"

Akane picked up the shredded underwear and briefly glanced at it. She turned on Ranma. "Damnit, Ranma! How many times have I told you to stop taking my underwear?"

Ranma hung his head. "Sorry."

"You're buying me a new set."

"Got it."

Xian Pu glanced at the pair suspiciously. Mousse simply wrinkled his nose in disgust, muttering something about the Anything Goes School of pervertry. Akane arched an eyebrow.

Eventually, the Amazons slinked off, but Ranma knew that this wouldn't be the last of it.

Akane shoved the useless garment in her bag, and continued walking the way she had been before Ranma interrupted her. Both he and Rogue fell into step on the each side of her, neither saying anything.

"Rough day?" she asked.

Ranma grunted.

She pulled out the underwear. "Happosai?"

Ranma grunted again.

She turned to Rogue. "Yours, I take it?"

Rogue nodded. "Been searching for those for a month."

"I forgot to warn you about Ranma. He likes to keep the underwear of girls he's deflowered."

Akane laughed as Ranma spluttered and Rogue blushed. Akane didn't want to risk the Amazons seeing a transfer of underwear. She put it back in her bag with promises of handing over the torn remains later. Rouge didn't care, and in the end they ended up tossing them in a trash can as they walked past.

Ranma glanced around nervously. He indicated that the Amazons were still following, hanging back just out of sight. This wasn't how he had planned to spend his afternoon, and it was obvious that Akane was a bit miffed about it as well. She'd been on her way to meet her girlfriend, as they had a karaoke date tonight. Unfortunately, with the Amazons following, there was little for him to do but follow along and act the part of the loving fiancé, at least until they got bored and left.

Rezu was less than happy with the change of plans. She knew that she had to play the part of a close friend; she'd seen enough of the stuff that had happened when Ranma and Akane were still together to know that she didn't stand a chance of surviving if she got wrapped up in the chaos. So, instead of being an intimate date for two, the four of them crowded into a small Karaoke room in the entertainment district with cheap beer and loud music, knowing the Amazons would give up after a while.

Nervous and distracted, Ranma downed a couple of drinks in rapid succession. Somehow, it went from Karaoke to a straight out drinking contest. At some time during the night, a thought occurred to him about Happosai's technique, but he was too many drinks into the evening to articulate it coherently. Ranma was still a light weight, and quickly lost count of how many drinks Akane forced him to down. He really couldn't say no, since she'd pulled his bacon from the fire earlier. She was always the one pushing him to do stuff like that. Rogue, to his surprise, kept pace easily, seemingly less affected by the booze than he was. He slurred badly when he asked about it, but she just shrugged and blamed it on her Irish blood.

The party went from the karaoke booth to a cheap izakaya, and from there to yet another bar. Things blurred after that as the alcohol obliterated all conscious thought.

=-=-=-

Ranma awoke the next morning and instantly regretted it. His body was telling him three things. First, he had a huge hangover. He hated drinking with Akane, because it was one contest he always lost. Second, his mouth tasted like ass. Or at least, female genitalia. He knew that taste all too well, and didn't even want to think about what it meant. He hoped he hoped he hoped that he didn't end up in bed with Akane after last night, because that would just make things really awkward between them. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure he had, considering that the third, and probably scariest thing, his body was telling him was that someone female was draped across his naked body, her hair spilling across his chest.

Ranma willed himself to open his eyes. Fearing what he would see, but knowing he had to do it anyway, he looked down fully expecting to see Akane with one arm slung haphazardly across his chest and her leg wrapped around his waist. Man, Rezu'd be pissed about this.

He gasped instead when he saw that it was Rogue's hair on his torso.

His gasp must have woken her up, because she started and jerked her head up, her arm and leg still around his body. He immediately felt the familiar drain that came from having his ki stolen.

"Rogue... you need to..." He wasn't able to tell her to stop, though, because he quickly blacked out.

=-=-=-

He came to much later. His head was swimming and his body felt incredibly abused.

"Here."

He cracked one eye open to see Rogue holding a glass of water out to him. He accepted it gingerly, and sitting up, drank it down in one long gulp. "More," he croaked.

Rogue nodded and poured him another glass from a plastic bottle. He noticed that she was fully dressed, while he was still naked. He drank this glass down too, and held out the glass for another refill. He just watched her as she poured. She didn't meet his eyes, staring at the glass intently as she filled it near the brim.

"How much do you remember?" She asked.

He shook his head and winced. The pounding in his temples didn't help any. He held the water glass carefully in his hand. "Nothing, really." He took a sip. "Last thing I remember is you and Rezu doing some duet on an Beatles number, then Akane lining up a bunch of beer and sake shots."

She looked glum. "Nothing after that?"

Ranma shook his head. He looked around the room, and recognized the setting for what it was. A cheap room with a big bed, some crazy decoration scheme with lots of red, and a basket of condoms on the night stand. He also saw three open wrappers on the night stand next to the basket. He gulped. He was in a love hotel. "Did we...?" He trailed off, nodding towards the basket of prophylactics.

She nodded, blushing lightly.

Ranma blinked. "Really?"

She blushed a bit deeper, but nodded again.

He felt guilty and looked away. "I'm sorry."

She grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled his head around so he could look into his eyes. "Don't be. I WANTED it, Ranma."

He nodded and let out a breath. He cracked a small smile. "Yeah. Me too. Just wish I could remember it." He tried to move his head. "Will you let go of my hair?"

She did, causing him to spill the glass of water on himself, instantly transforming him into a girl.

Rogue blinked.

Ranma was instantly wary, gauging her reaction.

To his relief, she laughed. "Okay..." She shook her head. "I mean, I've seen it enough, but it never really occurred to me how this would affect things..."

"You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I mean, don't expect me to go all Akane on you, but..." she trailed off, eyes roaming over his, now her, naked body. "It will just take getting used to, I guess."

Conversation reached a lull.

"So... I mean..."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Go ahead. I know you're dying to ask."

"How was it?"

"It was everything I was hoping it would be." She smiled, a genuine smile, then leaned forward to kiss Ranma lightly on the lips. She immediately pulled back, though, because she started draining Ranma's ki on contact.

"Really?" She scratched the back of his head, oddly embarrassed.

She nodded.

"Huh." Ranma held out her glass for a bit more water. Rogue obligingly refilled it, and she grunted and downed the whole thing in a gulp. Ranma didn't know what to say, so in true Saotome fashion, said the first thing that came to his mind. "How? I mean... with your condition..."

She shrugged. "I don't know. You said there was something you wanted to try, and you took me here. After that..." She grinned. "What ever you did, it worked." She got a glazed expression on her face as she thought back. "Did it ever work. I haven't experienced something like that, in like... well, ever."

Ranma was still too out of it to think much. He put the glass down and flopped back on the bed.

"Rogue?"

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'm going to pass out now."

=-=-=-

The next time Ranma woke up she was feeling good enough to actually be embarrassed. She sat up and pushed the thin sheet down to her waist. Her mind was functioning a bit better, and everything that had happened caught up with her, even if he couldn't remember. Rogue wasn't in the bed, and judging from the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, she was cleaning up. Rogue came out of the bathroom shortly afterwards, wrapped in a towel and carrying a glass of hot water.

She walked over to the bed and pulled the sheet down to Ranma's ankles. Then, without ceremony, she dumped the glass of hot water on Ranma, turning her into a him. Rogue then pulled her towel off, gave him a cursory dry off, she pushed on his shoulder with her bare hand. Immediately, he could feel the ki being drained by her. His strength left his body and he collapsed backwards onto the bed. Calmly, she reached down to his feet and pulled the sheet up to his chin so that she covered most of his skin. Then, she climbed climbed on top of him, the sheet the only thing separating their naked bodies.

He gulped. "Rogue?"

"Ranma, I like you. A lot. And I know you like me." She tapped her head. "You can't hide it from me, because I know. So I'm tired of messing around. We both wanted this to happen, and I'm glad it did." She crawled on the bed and straddled his sheet clad hips. "Last night was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced." She leaned forward until her nose was right above his. Her gaze bore into his eyes. She slowly started to grind on his hips, rubbing herself on his rapidly expanding manhood through the sheet. "Now that I know it's possible, you'd better figure out what you did, because I want that again." She smiled, but didn't stop her rocking. "So if you don't want me to drain your ki dry, you'd better figure it out soon. Because I want you, and I'm gonna have you. Got it?"

He nodded.

"Rogue?"

"Hmn?"

"You might want to stop..."

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid I might not be able to stop myself." he trailed off.

"Good." She smirked and kept moving. "I'm glad we agree, then."

=-=-=-=-

It was kind of a relief in a way. Rogue knew how he felt because his memories didn't lie. Freed from the terror of having to actually express himself verbally, he was able to relax a bit and enjoy the situation for what it was.

He was alone with a girl he like a whole lot, and they had a hotel room alone to themselves. They tried a lot of different things, but he wasn't able to figure it out. Every time she touched him, she still drained his ki. It made physical intimacy impossible, but that didn't mean they didn't enjoy themselves.

Pissed at the situation, he stumbled to the bathroom and into the shower, turning the water on as hot as it would go and just sat under the flow, allowing the heat to sooth his alcohol abused body as he tried desperately to remember what had occurred.

He was so distracted he practically yelped when Rogue joined him in the shower. She was very naked. His body reacted accordingly which caused her to smile.

"Someone's happy to see me!" She reached forward and gently caressed him, but unfortunately, whatever technique he might have used last night he didn't work. He felt the drain through a rather peculiar part of his body, and while pleasurable, quickly caused his knees to weaken as he collapsed on the floor.

Rogue looked pissed. "Well shit!"

=-=-=-

Much later, Ranma was on his back staring at the ceiling. Rogue was lying beside him, both of them worn out from their experimentation. "You know what this means, right?"

Rogue rolled over, allowing her eyes to linger on his body. "What?"

"If something this good happens to me, it means something horrible has to happen to balance it out. It's the law."

Rogue laughed. "Oh Ranma. You're just being paranoid."

He grunted. "You've got a lot of my memories. You tell me if I'm being paranoid."

Rogue opened her mouth to say something, and shut it with a click. She paled. "We're screwed, aren't we?"

He didn't say anything, but the unsettled feeling in his stomach just wouldn't go away.

End Chapter 5.

Again, not my characters. Questions, comments, and reviews welcome.