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Hit This City	By : cnakitny Category: +M to R > Ranma ½ Views: 7107 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ and I’m certainly not making any money writing about it.

Chapter List
- 1-Hit This City
- 2-2
- 3-3
- 2
- 3
Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Ranma 1/2. And you know what? I'm glad. I doubt I would enjoy it so much if I wrote it myself. And I know what you're thinking, But what about the money, fool? Enjoy some other series! No, I say to you. Money is not everything. There are other joys in life. Like Ranma 1/2. Which I do not own. End Disclaimer.

Ranma walked briskly toward the entrance, keeping Akane a few steps behind him. For the past twenty-four hours Akane felt like she had to drag him anywhere she wanted him to go, but now he was almost leaving her behind in his haste to get inside the big neon building. She decided to take it as a good sign and let him lead the way.

Ranma clenched his shaking hands in his coat pocket. There was no way he was nervous walking into a place that Akane managed to go into everyday. He was Ranma Saotome, a martial artist and a man among men. He repeated this mantra to himself as they arrived at the door.

"Are you ok?" Akane asked when she reached around him to swipe her card in the security slot. His face was sweaty and bright red. She slid her hand under his bangs and he jumped about four feet in the air. Akane laughed and he turned on her with a glare.

Akane held up her hand before he could say anything.

"It's ok to be nervous. I was when I came in for the first time. I thought they were going to force me into being a prostitute somehow."

Ranma opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Akane locked arms with him and continued.

"Believe me, this place is on the up and up. My boss, Soun, is what you could call... hyper vigilant about the business. He'd chop of both of his legs before he risked the neon palace." Akane twirled around and jerked the door open.

"Akane?" a voice called from across the empty lobby. Nibiki sat at the reception desk, clacking away on a super mini, super thin laptop.

"Yep! And I've brought my new hire," Akane said proudly, grabbing Ranma's wrist and yanking him foreword.

Nabiki didn't look up from her computer.

"Soun wants to talk to you in his office about your... business negotiations with Hashi-san."

"Oh, right. Then could you get Ranma sorted out? He needs to be fitted for costumes since I want him on the floor right away. I'll take him around and introduce him to everyone when I get back."



Nabiki finally looked up from her laptop. Her eyes locked on to Ranma, who was still busy taking in his surroundings.

"Good job, Akane. He's much better than those stupid no-necks. This place is actually getting a little interesting."

Ranma finally tuned in to the young woman sitting in front of him. Despite her small statue, there was something about her designer sleekness and gleaming eyes that seemed dangerous. Akane, however, seemed not to notice.

"Try to be nice," she told the young woman, and started toward the elevators. She gave Ranma a little wave as she stepped inside.

"See you in a few," she said as the doors closed. Nabiki grabbed the same wrist that Akane had moments before, but for some reason, it made him jump.

"So, you're really strong, right?" Nabiki said, standing up and leaning over the counter toward him. Involuntarily, Ranma found himself staring down her shirt and was met with an ample view of cleavage pushed up in a shiny red bra. Nabiki followed his gaze and smirked.

"Well, well. You're already better than that nose bleed boy. Come on, let's get you undressed."

Ranma gulped.

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Akane pulled a check out of her coat pocket and slid it across the desk toward Soun. He was turned around all the way around in his executive chair so only the elbow of his white suit was visible. There was enough dusk left in the sky that Soun's reflection didn't show in the window, but the neon lights of the "castle" were already tinting the office pink with their buzzing glow.

"Your blood money," she announced. Soun spun around in his chair slowly.

"Ah..." he said, picking up the check. "Well done. But you were still too kind. You probably could have gotten more."

Akane tried to keep her face hard. An additional twenty-thousand dollars was already on its way to Ukyo, but that was a separate matter. "Shaking him down for anything more than thirty was too..."

"Dirty?" Soun supplied.

Akane shrugged.

Soun sighed, "Sit. Let's talk about your new underlings."

"I'm really excited about the boy I found. He-"

"Boy? I thought you said it was a girl. A pretty girl."

"It's complicated," Akane said, and began to explain the curse, sure that he would think she had lost her mind, but at the end of her tale, Soun surprised her by nodding.

"I've heard of such things," he said simply.



"You have?" Akane gaped.

"Indeed. Well, since you vouch for him, I can still offer him a job as floor guard."

"Actually, I was thinking he could be directly under me so I could train him to use all of the equipment. It would be nice to have someone around that I could trust to keep this place running during an emergency... or if I ever want a vacation."

Soun quirked an eyebrow, "And you're sure that he can handle it? Is he as strong as you as well?"

"I've seen him fight with my own eyes. He's... strong," she admitted.

Soun leaned back in his chair. "Last night must have been a night for chance encounters, because I met someone too. After you left, Kiyosato Hibiki came in and then promptly passed out on the way to meet his companion. Ah, you recognize the name?"

"Hibiki as in the software company?"

"The very same. Well, when I went to check on him in Tofu's office, we got to talking. As it turns out, he has a son who's very bright and very strong and apparently looking for something to do. He had been traveling the world studying martial arts, but came home a month ago when his parents went through with their divorce. I thought the boy might be useful to you since you were complaining about the... inefficiency my last hires and Hibiki-san said he might cheer up if had a job that exercised his skills a bit."

Akane bit her lip. Whoever this Hibiki brat was, it sounded like he was more than qualified for the job she wanted for Ranma.

"But a spoiled little rich boy like that? He'll probably get tired of working after a week. He won't be as reliable as someone who really needs the job."

"There's no reason for us to believe that he is anything other than a nice, hard working young man. Apparently he lived under some pretty terrible conditions while he was studying martial arts. His father told me he once stayed for three months in a village in China where they did nothing but hurl boulders at him-"

"So what does this mean for Ranma?" Akane asked.

"Like I said, I would be glad to offer him a job on the floor, and on your recommendation, give him certain responsibilities. I'll even pay him...two-thousand a month."

"That's a fourth of what you pay me," Akane said, too surprised even for anger.

"Do you want me to give him your job?" Soun asked shrewdly, "I don't think you'll mind me mentioning that you're drastically over paid for your position-"

Akane stood up from her chair, "How dare-"

"But," Sound interrupted, his voice raised, "You go above and beyond for your paycheck. To be perfectly honest, I've begun to think of you as my right hand man. No one besides myself cares about this place as much as you do."

"I don't give a crap about this place. It's the girls I care about."

Soun waved away her remark, "It's the same. Believe me, if I didn't care about the girls, this place wouldn't be half so nice. Nabiki may work as hard as you do, but if this place went under tomorrow, she would be already be prowling for her next pay check while you and I were still picking up the pieces."

Akane sunk back into her chair, her brain working full stop. "I don't know what I'm going to tell him," she admitted.

"Did you actually promise him that much?" he asked.

Akane said nothing.

Soun sighed, "It's not like there won't be advancement opportunities if he proves useful. And Ryouga isn't getting much more than him. Just an extra five-hundred a month. I was actually surprised at how little a rich boy like that was willing to work for."

Akane stood. "I guess I better go break the news to Ranma."

"That's fine. I'll call you both when Ryouga arrives. It should be soon."

Akane left the left his office and got back on the elevator. Her finger automatically darted toward one, but then stopped short and hovered over seven, the button that would take her to Dr. Tofu's floor. She punched in the button before she could think about it.

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Ranma was beginning to wish he had stayed in his girl form for the job. Nibiki had shoved him into the men's dressing room, but that hadn't stopped her from following him inside to "get his measurements". Also, they seemed to have picked up a few strays on the way from the lobby to the dressing room.

A purple haired girl in black lingerie and a sheer robe stood in front of him, staring intently up at his face."Cute! Not like others."

Nabiki smiled as she snapped her measuring tape, "I know, right? This one might actually be fun to play with."

A scary looking girl with a side pony tail who seemed to be a wearing a dress made entirely of rubber was circling him like a vulture."I wouldn't mind showing him around my dungeon..."

"Widdle Azusa wants to make pigtails!" squealed another, and Ranma felt a sharp tug at the base of his skull.

"Hold it!" Ranma said, and darted out of the circle, not stopping until he was by the door, "No one's doing nothing to my hair, got it?"

But this show of bravado only made the girls react with a condescending, 'Oooooh.'

Nabiki stepped forward with her tape measure held taunt.

"Now, now, Ranma, you just hold still and co-operate, or else."

Ranma snorted, "Or else, what?"

"Or else there's going to be trouble."

"Sorry girls. You're just going to have to find your trouble somewhere else," Ranma said with a wave, and ran out the door before any of them could blink.

The girls stared at the back of the door for a moment before Nabiki said, "I really do need to measure him for costumes."

"I get," Shampoo said, and ran after him. The others girls looked between each other a few seconds longer, then ran to the door to aid in the pursuit.

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"You stop!"

Ranma was already in the lobby, but the cry wasn't far away. He had to find Akane. He reached the elevator, but a screen above the buttons kept flashing PASSWORD. PASSWORD.

The purple haired girl appeared on the other end of the lobby. Ranma heard the others close behind her. He dashed toward for the front entrance as a boy walked through it.

"Ryouga-kun! Don't let him escape!" one of the girls shouted.

The boy who just walked in, who looked quite confused, stared at Ranma, who was still running full charge.

"Better get out of the way if you don't want to get hurt," Ranma shouted, not even thinking about slowing down.

The boy's face didn't change. He dropped his messenger bag, and let the door swing shut behind him. Ranma leaped over him gracefully... until a hand grabbed his ankle and tossed him forcefully back into the middle of the room like he weighed nothing.

Ranma rolled as he hit the ground and ended up on his feet, but there was some color to his cheeks.

"Listen buddy, if you don't want this to turn into a real fight, you'd better get out of my way."

"If you're trying to escape, you must be causing trouble. You had better just stay still unless you want me to restrain you."

"I think I'd like to see that," Ranma said.

The girls watched with silent interest as Ranma sprung into the air once more and Ryouga took a defensive posture.

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Akane didn't know why she fell for Dr. Tofu so fast. Before him, it didn't seem like she'd ever even thought about men. It happened shortly after she'd started working at Soun's. She had bumped into a low hanging shelf in the dressing room and gotten a wicked gash along her hair line. When the bleeding didn't stop, the other girls insisted that she get it bandaged. They pressed the button to the infirmary and shoved her in the elevator.

"You'll like the doc, Akane. He's a trip," Ukyo said, waving her off with curlers in her hair.

"A trip?" Akane said to herself, already suspicious. She hadn't been off of the streets long and the time she'd spent on her own made her distrustful of the entire male gender (a bias that working at Soun's hadn't helped).

Akane stepped into the office. A head popped up out of a pile of books and gasped.

"Oh dear."

Then, almost by magic, he was by her side.

Did he just ninja his way over here using those piles of books for cover?

"Let's fix you up," he said, snapping on a pair of rubber gloves that also seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Don't worry," he reassured her as he steered her by the shoulder past his library and into a room that looked more like a doctor's office, "Head wounds always bleed a lot. It's worse than it looks."

Normally Akane would have pulled away from a strange man who was touching her, but for some reason, she didn't want to. She let him sit her down and fuss around the room for bandages and antiseptic. When he had everything he needed, he sat down and started tending to her face. Akane closed her eyes.

"Does it hurt?” she heard him ask.

"No. I’m used to much worse.

“I see,” he said in a sad voice. It took her a second to figure out what he must have thought

“Oh! No,” Akane said, waving her hand in between them, “I'm Akane Tendo, the executive protection specialist."

"You're Akane Tendo? Wow! You're not quite what I was expecting. I'm familiar with your work. I've even taken a few pictures as mementos. I know good technique when I see it."

Akane felt herself blush, "What do you mean?"

"The clean fractures, the breaks, the bruises; all done by a human hand. It's very interesting to me."

Akane opened her eyes. He had a nice face, she decided, and something about him made her feel so at ease.

Ever since that day, Akane found excuses to go up to the medical wing, even though the visits left her feeling more melancholy than happy most of the time.

Today she hadn't even stepped into his office and she was already annoyed with herself.

Why do I waste my time like this? He's not interested. I should just take the hint.

She was about the close the door to the elevator and go down to the lobby when the doctor walked back through the adjoining door and saw her.

"Oh, hello Akane. I like your outfit. Is it new?"

"Oh, um, yes, um-" The doctor was looking at her with a kind smile. Akane pulled herself together, "Actually, I was just wondering... if you had history with weird... Chinese... medical occurrences," she said awkwardly.

"I traveled through China on a charity trip when I first got my license. Try me."

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"Wow. That's an interesting curse," Tofu said, cleaning his glasses thoughtfully.

"So you're familiar with curses then?" Akane asked, truly interested in anyone who could shed some light on her strange new roommate.

"Maybe. Even in these modern times, China is still a vast country with plenty of medical discoveries to be made and mysteries to be solved. I'd like to take a look at this boy."

"He's down stairs now. He's a little shy... sorta, but I know he'd appreciate any help you could give him."

Dr. Tofu stood up, "Lead the way."

Akane flounced to the elevator doors in front of him. She was doing so many good deeds lately. It was ok to flirt with the doctor every now and then, even if she didn't think anything would come out of it. She stood close to him in the elevator. He smiled down at her and for a moment she got lost in the thought of pressing the emergency stop button, shoving the good doctor against the wall, and crawling up his body until they were face to face, groin to groin. She bet his shocked expression would be priceless, but would he stop her? How far would she go if he didn't?

God, working at this place is turning me into a pervert. Do you really want to lose your virginity on the floor of an elevator?

Well, it didn't have to be on the floor. The handle bar ridden walls also looked pretty sturdy.

Stop! Stop it mind!

By the time the elevator doors opened up, Akane was sure she was beet red, but soon all the color drained from her face.

"Oh my... stop! Stop!" she yelled, running into the lobby. Some muscular boy in a bandana had just used his messenger bag as a projectile and hit Ranma square in the face with a loud crack. Akane was sure they'd find the splintered remains of a laptop in that bag. Ranma stumbled back a few steps before taking a giant leap back and perching wobbly on the reception desk. He was already rearing up for his next attack when Akane ran in front of him heading directly toward the stranger.

"Akane! Stay out of the way!" he yelled, but she had already cleared the distance between them.

At the sight of the girl charging him, Ryouga frowned, "Um..."

Akane threw her first punch into the pit of his stomach. It felt like punching a bronze statue. Akane landed five punches before she realized that he hadn't even flinched.

So? Even someone with abs of steel can have a glass jaw!

Akane went for an upper cut, but the boy caught her hand with an open palm. He looked down at her with a slight smile.

"I wouldn't do that. I've had people fracture their hands on my jaw."

With renewed anger, Akane flung her knee as hard as she could into the pit of his stomach and had the satisfaction of hearing him grunt with pain before a set of hands grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

"Don’t butt in," Ranma said, but as soon as he pulled her away, Dr. Tofu appeared at the boy's side. The doctor poked him in the neck with no particular show of force. The bandana boy's knees buckled and he fell straight back with a thud.

"Everyone stop!" boomed Soun's voice over the intercom, "Akane! Why are you beating up Hibiki-chan?"

Akane looked at Ranma. There was some slight bruising already forming across the bridge of his nose where the other boy's bag had cracked him in the face.

"He was attacking one of our employees," Akane yelled back, glaring daggers at the still body across the room.

"Actually, pigtail attack first," Shampoo said from the sidelines.

"I wasn't going to attack him!"

"It was all a misunderstanding," Nabiki said with a sigh, "We were teasing Ranma and he ran away. We tried to get Ryou-kun to stop him and things got a little out of hand."

"A little out of hand?" Akane and Soun said at the same time.

"At least there isn't much to clean up," Nabiki said and turned to the reception desk, apparently done contributing to the conversation.

"Fine. Everyone, keep getting ready. We're officially open in thirty minutes and that's if no one is early. Akane, help Tofu take Hibiki-chan up to the infirmary and try to bring him around."

Akane rolled her eyes and began lifting the boy's legs with a sigh, intending to drag him into the elevator, but Ranma lifted him off the ground and began carrying him over his shoulder with ease. Tofu looked to Akane with raised brows and escorted Ranma to the elevator. Akane ran to catch up to the as the doors were closing.

"We have to put something on that," Akane said, sadly eyeing Ranma's face, where fresh bruises had begun to blossom around the inner corners of his eyes.

"It's nothing," he said, "I would have had him if you hadn't run in when you did."

Akane ignored his remark and asked, "What happened?"

Ranma managed to look embarrassed, "It's like that girl said. I was running away, he was blocking me. I tried to get around him, but he wouldn't let me, so we started fighting."

"Maybe it would be best if the two of you weren't in the same room when he woke up," Dr. Tofu interjected.

"That's probably a good idea," Ranma said as the elevator door opened. Ranma took the unconscious boy to the back room and tossed him down on top of a cot.

"He'll be around in a few minutes. You can finish up your duties, Akane. I'll take care of him," the doctor said.

"Alright," Akane said, and steered Ranma to the door.

"Ranma, it is Ranma, isn't it? We'll have to find some time to talk later," Dr. Tofu said with a smile.

"Um, ok."

"Enjoy your first day of work."

"He seems happy," Ranma said as the elevator doors shut on them again.

"Ah, he's just like that," Akane said.

Ranma narrowed his eyes and jabbed Akane playfully in the side, "You seem pretty happy too."

The smile fell off Akane's face in an instant.

"I can assure you I'm not. I can't believe some new guy would pick a fight with you like that."

Ranma blinked a few times, then smiled, deciding not to point out that he was technically a new guy too, "Heh heh, yeah, I guess it is kind of weird. But I'm used to it, so I didn't really take offence or anything-"

"Well I did. If that creepy Hibiki punk tries to mess with you again, I'm gonna take him down."

"What? You don't stand a chance against that guy. He's a beast. Even I was having some trouble-" Akane cut Ranma off with a vicious punch to the wall of the elevator.

"Uh, I wouldn't dew that. I've had people break their hands on my jaw," Akane said mockingly before punching the wall again. The elevator trembled dangerously.

"Woah," Ranma said, his eyes wide.

"Just leave that freak to me, Ranma. I swear I'll get strong enough to put a dent in that bastard's defense. Will you help me train?"

"Uh, sure."

That seemed to appease her a bit, enough to stop her from breaking the elevator anyway. By the time they had made it back to the dressing rooms, Akane seemed to have cheered up completely.

"I'll be out in five seconds with some clothes you can work in. Just stay right there."

True to her word, Akane came back quickly, already changed into a loose black t-shirt that read Security in thick white letters and loose black pants similar to the ones Ranma was wearing when they met.

"Here," she said, handing him a shirt and pants set that was identical to hers, "It's the biggest size I could find. It should work. Normally we'd be in costume out on the floor, but Nabiki's gonna run the desk for me today so I can show you how everything works in the security wing. We'll have to measure you for costumes before we go home though so we can get the order in."

"What's that, uh, Hibiki guy gonna do?"

Akane's lip curled at the mention of his name.

"More than likely, that privileged little douchebag already knows how to use all the software and surveillance crap. All he'll need is the passwords. And since he came in earlier today, he'll probably already be out on the floor flexing his muscles at the guests."

Akane led Ranma to the room where the other girls cornered him before, "Go change in there. I'll guard the door and make sure no one bothers you."

"Akane Tendo, truly a knight in shining armor... or should I say pajamas?" Tsubasa Kurenai said, flipping her long sand colored hair at Ranma as she sauntered by in a super short nurse's costume.

"Ha-ha," Akane said without turning around. Ranma looked a little paler. Akane smiled at him, "It'll be fine. Hurry up."

He was in and out of the dressing room faster than a quick change artist. Akane spent the night as planned, ushering him around, trying to avoid the other girls as much as possible. Akane felt his interest begin to wane as she explained some of the basic software functions to him in the security wing, but he held up pretty well and was happy to zoom in and out with the camera and set off alarms in empty rooms. Akane wasn't sure he could handle seeing any of the girls he just met going at it with some random dude yet.

Or maybe you're just afraid he'll like what he sees, said a small voice in her head, but she shook it off. There was no point worrying about it yet.

Around midnight they went over daily and emergency protocol, at one Akane taught him how to disable the electric charges and booby traps she occasionally set around the equipment ("But I doubt I'll need to use them anymore, now that you're working for me," she beamed. A rather large sweat drop formed on the back on Ranma's head.) By two in the morning, Akane felt like they'd established a good foundation, although Ranma was looking a little tired.

"The time won't pass so slowly once you know how to do everything. I promise it's not so bad."

"Can't you just point me at the people I need to beat up?" Ranma asked with a yawn.

Akane took him to the restaurant where they both sat in a corner of the bustling kitchen and Akari let them eat their fill of grilled cheese sandwiches and sorbet.

That's where Soun finally tracked Akane down over the T.V. intercom. Akane abandoned her plate with a sigh and walked over to the monitor.

"A-ka-ne-chan, don't you think it's a little mean for you to ignore Hibiki-chan for so long on his first day? He's had to work with Nabiki all night and frankly, I think she's scaring him."

"Good," Akane said. Ranma appeared behind her.

"Ah, cut him a break, Akane. I'm sure he's sorry."

"You are my top priority tonight, not that prissy usurper."

"Who knows? Maybe if you make friends with him, we can steal a technique or two. You might even learn the trick to taking him down," Ranma immediately regretted his words as he saw her eyes light up.

"That's the right attitude, Ranma, my boy. What do you say, Akane?"

"Oh, fine. Where is he?" she relented.

"He should be on his way out of Nabiki's office. I think she has him rearranging her furniture."

Akane sighed and escorted Ranma back to the men's dressing room. They covertly peeked around corners before dashing up the long hallway.

Soun shook his head at the screen as he watched them laughing and shoving each other in their juvenile attempt at stealth.

"Oh my little Akane. I'd be less worried if you'd taken up drugs."

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Akane found Ryouga pacing the corridor in front of Nabiki's office. He seemed a little nervous and high strung, so Akane switched off her internal hatred for the boy for a moment and politely asked him to follow her to the dressing room.

As much as it galled her, she couldn't help but think about what how valuable his skills could be. Despite a difference in salary, there was no reason she couldn't train both boys to take a leadership type position... of course, Ranma would take a little longer, but with a team like that, she might never have to work with mindless perverted body builder types again. Between Ranma, Ryouga, and herself, they could turn Soun's into a safe environment, at least, as safe as it could be.

Akane lead Ryouga into the dressing room where Ranma had sprawled out comfortably on a couch. The boys eyes met; Ranma's expression was that of wary friendliness. Akane felt the tension rising from Ryouga, but he said nothing, so she decided to let things stand as they were.

"Alright you two. Up on the stands," Akane said, pulling out Nabiki's measuring tape and writing down their height and arm length. "Um... I don't quite know what to put at torso length. Where does your torso end?" Akane asked, holding the tape at Ranma's neck.

"How should I know?"

"You know, it might be easier if they take off their shirts," Nabiki said, appearing at the door.

"Ah! Get out of here, you!" Ranma cried.

But Ryouga, after staring back and forth between Akane and Nabiki for a few moments, shed his shirt immediately.

If Akane had a thing for muscles, she would definitely have a hard time looking away from Ryouga. The guy suddenly became a tan, rippling, Spartan warrior with his shirt off. Akane forced herself to look away, only to meet Ranma's unamused gaze.

"A couple prudes, eh, Ryou-kun?" Nabiki said, smirking at Akane's reaction to the well defined youth in front of her.

Ranma quickly threw off his shirt in retaliation, but while his naked chest was lovely and well defined in its own right, there was no denying that Ryouga was just... bigger. Akane thought she should say something to show loyalty to her friend, but she couldn't think of anything that wasn't pervy or couldn't also be taken as a back handed insult.

"S-since your here Nabiki, can you finish up Ryouga so we can get out of here? I think Ranma's tired after his first day."

"I'm fine," Ranma said a tad icily. Akane glared at him.

"Well it has been a busy day," Nabiki said, staring unabashedly at Ryouga's broad shoulders and chest, "I'd be tired after being thrown around by a big strong guy like Ryou-kun too."

To Akane's amusement, Ryouga actually did look a little scared of the devious girl. Ranma, however, was not happy.

"I may have been thrown around a couple of times, but I was winning the fight before Akane got there," Ranma said.

At first Akane thought Ryouga was about to let the comment go, but it seems he was only calculating the reaction that would piss Ranma off the most.

"If you said so," Ryouga said with a gentle smirk.

Ranma hopped down off the platform and Ryouga immediately dropped into a fighting stance.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Akane said, putting her hands against Ranma's chest and backing him into the corner, "You two cannot do this here. If you want to fight, you have to make it a traditional battle, that way Soun won't be able to say anything about employees fighting or whatever. It will be a spat between martial artists."

"What about all those poor bouncer types that you beat up on the job?" Nabiki drawled.

"This is different! I was obviously in the right."

"That's fine with me, that is, if you're up to it," Ryouga said.

Akane and Ranma both glared at the bandana clad boy.

"It's fine by me too. How about whoever loses has to quit working here?" Ranma said, almost tingling with excitement.

"Deal!"

"No! Wait! I need the two of you here. I take it back. You can't fight," Akane sputtered, remembering her dream. As much as she wanted to challenge him herself or even see Ranma give him a good beating, she realized the dynamic of her perfect team would dissolve if they didn't stop fighting.

"But he-" Ranma began.

"Nope!" Akane shook her head back and forth.

"Well, as much fun as this has been, I'd really like to go home. So if you boys could stand still for a few seconds while I jot down this info, that would be great," Nabiki said, shoving Ryouga into a standing position and kneeing by his crotch. The boy immediately froze.

"Inseam," Nabiki said in a sing song voice.

"Fine. Ranma, stand still," Akane said, doing the same.

By the time they all got out of that room, they were all nearly buckled with tension. Akane and Ranma picked up their clothes in silence, put on their jackets, and headed straight for the front doors.

"I've got to find a way to challenge that guy," Ranma said as soon as they were outside.

"I know...hey... what about the girl?"

"What girl?"

"You girl! You could fight him in your girl form! That way we'd both win!"

Ranma snorted, "How do we both win from that?"

"Because you get to beat him and I get the satisfaction of seeing him publically shamed by a woman," Akane said, pumping her fist.

"I don't know if that'll work, Akane. I'm weaker in my girl form and that guy is tough. Not to mention, I don't think he's the type to fight a girl. You charged at him today and he just let you hit him."

"Then we'll have to make him want to fight."

"How are we gonna do that?"

"Hmm..." Akane said, peering down at the sidewalk.

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"Going home for the day, Hibiki-chan?" Soun asked as he waved goodbye to the last guests of the evening.

"Yes, sir. I'm just waiting for a cab."

"You look a little down. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Ryouga sighed. He'd always been a magnet for bad luck. It seemed like as soon as someone knew his name, they immediately wanted to punish him for being born into a rich family. He thought he could escape all that by traveling to China, but his luck only got worse as he continually got lost, then kicked around from village to village while girls nearly tore him apart trying to get him to marry them. And there were lots of small things too, like the time he fell in that mine shaft and got blocked in for days or the time when a crazy old man drew a face on his stomach that didn't come off until a group of violent amazons came across him washing in the river. Then his parents finally tracked down, only to tell him they were getting a divorce. So really, the fact that his new boss hated him and his coworker was an egotistical jerk didn't really seem to tip the scales one way or another.

"No, sir."

"Good boy, Ryouga-kun. I'm sure you'll fit in here before you know it. And who knows? Tomorrow you may even get to see some of my business in action, if you know what I mean," Soun nudged the boy with a grin.

“Ah heh…um…”

Soun watched the boy leave in a daze, completely by passing the taxi as he ambled up the street. Something wasn’t right with those Hibiki’s, Soun thought, but if he and the other new hire could keep Akane distracted for awhile he might actually be able to make some progress on a few of his side projects that she wouldn’t quite agree with. Soun sighed and returned to his office to burn the early morning oil. Why is it so hard to be the boss?

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AN: Bad luck with my internet makes it hard to update, but I struggle onward! Fuu! I feel like this chapter is a little slow, but thanks if you hung in there with me! In the next chapter I'd like to work with more of the other character view points (even if only for the sake of having some sexy sexy time! I can't help that Akane and Ranma have a super slow burn o.o;) In the mean time, I'd love to hear your reviews (I promise I won't be afraid, lol.)
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