"I like, err, ah ... never mind." Ryoga muttered, shaking his head. He was simply just about to say that he liked it that someone had actually stood up for him for once, but to say something nice like that to Ranma was more than she deserved. He really didn't want her to see the softer side of him; it would just be weird… Not to mention she was his enemy! To show any signs of weakness would certainly harm him in the future.

Ranma sighed in relief; there was something really off about him and her today. At that moment, she briefly considered calling this whole situation with Ryoga off, but then she remembered all the times Kuno had groped, and touched her, telling her all of his really lame poems, as well as all of the other stupid attempts the guy tried doing to get her to accept his love... even after she proved to him that she was actually the one he called "The Foul Sorcerer Saotome", he didn't let up. 'What the heck kinda' name is that, anyway?' She really hated having her proper male form being called something so stupid... she was a martial artist damn it, not some freaky wizard!

"O-okay...," she replied, then shook her head and turned to the direction of the Tendo Dojo. "Come on P-chan, Kasumi's makin' up something good tonight, and I don't think she'd mind having you over."

"I'm not going." Ryoga flatly said, glad that Ranma had given him enough time to calm down the redness in his face, and wipe his now formerly bloody nose.

"What...? But… Y-you have to come! I need you to get rid of Kuno!" she said, brow furrowing, all the while giving the lost boy an indignant look.

"I'm not doing this anymore, it's too damn weird! I don't want any part of this!" Ryoga shot back.

"Is your pig brain making you forget? You know you have to do this or I'll tell Akane about your little secret!' She retorted back.

Ryoga flinched; there she went again, threatening him. "Damn it Ranma, why the hell are you doing this to me?" He demanded, stepping forward and clenching his fist in front of the pigtailed martial artist.

"I already told you! It's because I'm not gonna' lose my shot at getting that Shakespeare-loving moron to leave me alone!" Ranma replied, taking a step forward as well, mimicking his action. The two seemed to be locked in a staring contest now, with both of them waiting for the other to make their move so they could strike.

Squinting a little, the lost boy turned his head away from Ranma, trying with all his might to hold back the intense feeling of wanting to send her flying into lower orbit, "Fine... you win, but can you at least tell me something..."

"Oh, here we go again... What's it this time?" Ranma said, crossing her arms, waiting.

"Just why the hell are you using me? Don't you got like, a thousand other people to choose from?" Ryoga asked in a stern tone.

"Well… well, it's cause you're the only one I could use without someone wanting somethin' outta me!..." She stopped for a second to catch her breath. "Mousse would want me to lose to him so he could get Shampoo all to himself… Ukyo would dress like a guy then ask me to marry her… and Kuno would just ignore any girl that I tried to use… With you, I could just threaten ta make ya lose Akane, and I'd have you wrapped around my little finger." she finished, rather dully.

While he certainly didn't like the last part of that statement, most of what she said was true, Ranma... and just about everyone else; except Akane, knew about the lost boy's feelings for the blue haired Tendo sister, "You're such a jerk...," Ryoga stated, then lowered his head with an annoyed look on his face. 'Somethin's up with this idiot… I get why she wants me to be around when Kuno's here, but Ranma's been spendin' an awful a lot of time in his girl form, I bet he's planning something! I gotta keep my guard up.'

Ranma sighed, moving over to him and placing her hand on his shoulder, "Ryoga, I need your help..." there was a moment of pause, where the bandana wearing boy just said nothing. At first, she hadn't understood why he was being so quiet until it hit her. What she had just said was way too suggestive... and she had her hand on his shoulder... 'Oh man, he thinks I'm hitting on him!... If someone were nearby they'd probably think that we were just a stupid little couple who had just had a huge argument. Geez, this is getting too weird.' With that, she quickly retracted her hand.

"W-what?" Ryoga stuttered, snapping out of his daze.

"Gwah!" Ranma said, starting to rub her hand as if it had just been burnt. "Get your head out of the gutter, pork butt, I didn't mean it like that! I was talkin' bout' helpin' me with Kuno!"

Ryoga was relieved to hear her say that, though he couldn't understand why he had felt so… touched about being used in her crazy plan... maybe it was the way Ranma had said it, with him being the only one able to actually help her, but it made him feel… good. That; and the setting they were currently in certainly made things more awkward… They were in a park after all; this could easily be mistaken as a date. If that weren't enough, they had a beautiful sunset nearby. All they needed was some cheesy music to make it all picture perfect.

"Of course, it's not like that! I wasn't even thinkin' it!" Ryoga said leaning his head back and blushing, "I mean really, you're a guy!"

"Yeah, course I am... not to mention that if I were a girl, I wouldn't go for someone as gullible as you," Ranma smirked, trying to pass this as something they could laugh about.

Sadly, though, the redheaded girl had momentarily forgotten that Ryoga was quite easily enraged, "What do you mean, 'gullible'?" he demanded.

"Oh come on... you're easier to trick than a kid."

"Yea-yeah, well… at least I'm not some cross-dressing freak!" Ryoga mocked, glaring at her.

That caught Ranma off guard, although she was never one to back down from a challenge. "Whad'ya say, ya pervert?"

"Who're you calling a 'pervert'?" He said, taking one step forward, his fist raised.

"Oh come off it...," Ranma said, crossing her arms, then raising one of her hands, counting off fingers. "One, you use your curse to sleep in Akane's bed, two, you got a nosebleed when you saw me naked all those times, three, you yourself told me my curse was 'adorable'..." she put an overly cute amount of emphasis on the last word, with that she continued.

"And last but not least, think a how many times I dressed up and tricked you to think I was some girl who loved ya'? And each time ya fell head over heels!" she smirked.

Ryoga realized that all these points were at least partially true, not like he'd come to terms with them. "Yeah- w-well… at least I don't make out with guys!"

"At least someone would wanna' make out with me!" Ranma shouted, glaring.

The lost boy took a step back, now that was a little harsh. "That's it Ranma, it's time for you to die!"

"Bring it, Porky!"

They had been so busy charging after each other, that they hadn't noticed a certain entrepreneur in their midst's. Nabiki was standing but few yards away, chuckling at the scene before her. The two had been yelling so loudly that she didn't need to listen in closely to hear every word. 'Yeah, those two would definitely make a good couple; they already fight like one as is. And besides, if Ryoga ends up with Ranma, I'll rake in a killing on the little betting pool I having going on of who people think that dumb jock' will end up with.' she mentally schemed. 'Oh, Kuno-baby is just gonna' love this... once he pays for my services, of course.'

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Tendo Home

Genma (In human form now) and Soun were both staring each other down; wearing garish yellow headbands on their foreheads. Soun narrowed his eyes, as a single drop of sweat rolled down from his brow. What they were doing would require the utmost concentration… one slip and it was over.

"Ready to surrender, Saotome?"

"Not on your life, Tendo..."

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This continued for a bit longer, until Akane came into the room and slapped her forehead, "Are you two playing that stupid card game now?"

"Ah-ha!" Soun shouted, throwing down his mint condition first run Pikachu foil card.

Genma leaned back; shocked that his friend had gotten his hands on such a prized treasure. Although he was never one to let something like that scare him, he'd just have to use an equally good card to counter, "I never thought I'd have to do this, Tendo... but you've brought this upon yourself!" reaching into his hand he threw out a limited edition Charmander.

"I hadn't expected this from you Saotome... I let my guard down." Soun commented.

"Dad... are you really playing a game made for kids?" Akane asked, trying to reason with him. This had been getting out of hand, as she noticed that their headbands had the Pokémon logo on the side.

"Oh, Akane... let them play their little game, it's nice to see father do something other than mess around with that Shogi board.." Kasumi told Akane, while carrying a pot over to the stove.

The two smiled before returning to their game. The blue haired girl fearing she had mentally scarred for life. "Maybe Nabiki can talk some sense into them..."

"Actually Akane, your sister was the one that provided us with this neat new game!" Sound exclaimed back.

"And whatta' deal too..." Genma added.

Akane shook her head and, and let off a groan. "Kasumi... just where did Nabiki get off to, anyway?"

Having started chopping some carrots for the dinner she was making, the eldest Tendo daughter turned her head to Akane before turning her head upward, her mind trying to think up the proper answer. "I think she said something about meeting a friend of hers..." Kasumi said, bringing a finger up to her bottom lip.

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Alleyway

In retrospect, both Ranma and Ryoga realized that fighting before making their way home probably wasn't the smartest idea around. What both of them certainly didn't like either was the fact that Ranma had to hold Ryoga's hand while they were walking back, though this time, with even more ruined and wrecked clothes. The reason she had to hold his hand was because she knew that when Ryoga was annoyed, or depressed, or really just doing anything, he tended to not watch where he was going, and it usually ended up with him getting lost.

Ryoga personally felt mortified, he was completely being treated like a baby!... But he figured that if Ranma hadn't been leading him, He would've probably ended somewhere in Eastern Europe again. 'Why are Transylvanians so mean?' He absently wondered, continuing to follow the pigtailed girl's lead.

There was a strange silence between the two of them along the way, after finally finding themselves at the entrance to the Tendo abode, Ranma looked directly at the front door, and knew she couldn't simply go in there while Ryoga was present. 'I really don't want Akane on my case or anythin'.' So, with that reasoning in mind, she turned to Ryoga. "Look... we can't go through the front door, so just follow me, okay?" she said.

Ryoga only nodded his head once and shrugged, he really didn't want to be seen like this either. "You can just let go..."

"No way... you'd lose your way just by jumping up over the fence," Ranma said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not that bad!" Ryoga replied.

"Prove it." she stated.

Ryoga paused for a moment, but then, fearing that she was on to something, lowered his head again before sighing, "Fine..."

From there they managed to jump up to the roof and sneak their way in through the front of Genma and Ranma's room. "Okay... put some clean clothes on, and if they ask anything, just say we're training together, 'kay?" she told him with a smile, watching as Ryoga took out his backpack, and plopped his umbrella down near Ranma's futon.

"Whatever," Ryoga replied, he was being forced to listen to Ranma... was there a reason for him to be happy? 'I bet the jerk won't let me talk to Akane while I'm here...'

Ranma rolled her eyes and placed her hands at the edges of her red Chinese silk shirt.

Ryoga found his eyes drifting over to the red headed girl, but then quickly looked away, "Do-do that somewhere else!" he exclaimed, blushing furiously.

The redheaded girl raised an eyebrow but then looked down at herself. "Oh yeah, I forgot, you get happy when you see me like this..." She smirked coyly after saying so.

"J-just turn away from me!" Ryoga cried out, not that he hadn't wanted to see a girl naked or anything see that, he was a growing boy, after all, it's just the whole idea of seeing Ranma, his sworn enemy, naked, left an odd feeling in his gut.

"Sure, whatever you say, P-chan..." she said, getting out her new set of clothes and turning back to him.

Ryoga had to keep himself from trying to sneak a peek at Ranma's girl side; the idea crossed his mind several times. Simply knowing that made him almost physically ill, he made a mental note to go see doctor Tofu after this whole mess was dealt with.

"Hey, ya' ready?' she asked.

Ryoga had finished putting his shirt on, then nodded his head once, "Ready."

They both went off to greet the others when they were asked why they didn't use the front door, they lamely replied with... "We were already here. You must've missed us coming back in!" most of them bought it, but Akane found that it was a little odd that she hadn't seen them at all. She figured it must've been when she was away doing some homework... Though she reminded Ranma of her uncertainty over and over gain, with her prodding.

During the short period of time before dinner, and after their arrival, Ryoga tried his best to keep his mouth shut, but still politely responded to Kasumi's and the other's greetings, and, like always, became giddy and incoherent when Akane started to speak to him. Though when that happened, Ranma gave him a look, that told him to stop, or she'd have to do something Ryoga wouldn't like. Being quite afraid that she mightlet slip his little secret, or the fact that he had actually kissed her, he forced his self to shy away from the blue haired girl to the best of his abilities, although it didn't stop from shooting daggers at his pigtailed nemesis whenever he got the chance.

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Dining Room

Everyone at the table ate quietly, little conversation going on, though it appeared as that Ryoga was silently screaming at Ranma with the dirty looks he was giving her.

"So, Ryoga please tell me... what're you and Ranma working on?" Kasumi asked, holding up her rice bowl.

"Oh... uh... we're..." Ryoga looked to the side, then to Ranma. She didn't seem to know what to say either. "J-just training... we figured by fighting each other we could, ya know…"

"Get better!" Ranma finished for him, "So, it's nothing big..."

"Huh... that's weird; you two aren't usually this calm around each other." Akane wondered, raising a brow. Now she was getting suspicious, this wasn't like them at all. She'd have to ask Nabiki, she was always on the up and up.

Soun and Genma were too busy thinking about their next moves for an important upcoming fight... a card fight, to be specific. They had of course, at this point, completely lost their minds, and the others essentially just ignored them now. Except seemingly Kasumi, who would cheer them both on.

That brought up another issue, 'Just where is Nabiki at?' Akane wondered, maybe this friend of hers' was having a party or something... not many things that involved the scheming girl lasted this long… unless she was at a sleepover, but if that had been true she would probably be missing her pajama's; her sister did tend to borrow her things more often than she liked.

Ryoga was glad that Akane had lost interest in trying to figure out what they had been really doing, he was just hoped this lack of interest would last for a bit longer. Turning to Ranma, he glared once more and placed a shrimp up to his mouth.

"What's got your eye, handsome...?' Ranma whispered to him with a wink.

Ryoga's eyes widened as he was about to swallow, his great surprise causing him to begin to choke. "Gha!" he cried, placing his hands around his throat.

"Ranma! You know you shouldn't tease Ryoga like that!" Akane warned.

What followed next was Akane trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver on him, all the while Ranma laughing her head off.

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Kuno Manor

Nabiki was currently standing outside the door of the Kuno manor, waiting to be buzzed in. To her great joy, she was greeted by the face of none other than the Kuno's loyal bodyguard, Sasuke.

"Who's there?" a small speaker asked.

Nabiki rolled her eyes, "It's me..." she said.

"Oh... I love Knock, knock jokes! Who's there?"

"I'm not playing any sort of games here." she replied, getting annoyed.

"That's not very funny... maybe you should try again, perhaps starting with Banana, that'll make it fun-"

"Even if you're just fooling around, Sasuke, Ms. Tendo is obviously here to relay some important information to me... that or wish for me to date with her." Kuno's voice said, making his way metaphysically on to the scene. With a sighing sound, Nabiki noted that Sasuke could be heard sullenly walking away through the speaker.

"Now... what do you wish to speak to me about Nabiki? But please... if it doesn't truly involve any concern of mine, I shall not bother-"

"It's about the Pigtailed girl," Nabiki said.

Suddenly the gates to the Kuno estate flung open with Kuno standing right there at the forefront. "Yes, please enter my dearest friend Nabiki Tendo... you must have much to discuss with me, I'm sure."

Nabiki crossed her arms; this was easier than she had first thought. When she was finished being lead inside, she noticed that Kuno had already set up a table for them to enjoy tea while they'd talked... well, actually, to be perfectly correct, it was Sasuke had done the prepping; Kuno just took most of the credit.

"Please sit..." he offered, and then took a seat on the side of the table nearest to the wall.

Nabiki was of course seated opposite of where Kuno was.

"Now, please... do tell me all the things I need to know," Kuno said, taking a sip of his green tea. That, of course, was to keep him calm about this; he had been feeling so anxious, wanting to hear any pleasant news about the pigtailed girl.

"Kuno-baby... you should know me well enough by now, I don't talk unless you show me the money." she replied, calmly taking her cup and bringing it to her lips.

The bokken wielder stared at her for a moment before he raised one of his hands and snapped his fingers, "Sasuke! Please bring Nabiki Tendo her usual payment..." from there something strange started to happen. They felt the ground shuffle a bit… or was that the ceiling? They weren't sure.

That was until a thumping sound could clearly be heard; the two turned their heads in the direction of it and saw that Sasuke was on the ground, with anime styled knock out eyes adorned on his face. "Uh... here ya Master Kuno..." the buck tooth ninja said, handing him a large stack of bills.

Taking it from his hands, he passed it forward to Nabiki, "I believe this shall cover any of your needed expenses..."

The middle Tendo sister reached out and took it, with that she placed her head near it as one finger was at the top of the stack. She slid her digits across them all, instantly knowing how to count them just by flipping through it.

"Kuno... you just enlisted some strong help."