Chapter Ten: Lost Virgin

"Oh my God…You've got to be joking with me...that can't possibly be the chapter title…"

"Ranma, Ranma, Ranma," Vega smirked insidiously as he wiggled a fat finger in delight, "It looks like the writer has given me a clear mandate to do it."

"No way…he wouldn't abandon me like this!"

"Well, considering all hentai references he's made so far…you're lucky I'm not a secret shokushu bakemono (Japanese for tentacle monster)," Vega gestured toward the tentacle monster in the corner, which made Ranma gag in disgust and shiver in repulse. The tentacle monster, having served its purpose of loitering pointlessly in the corner, then slid away and was no more a part of the story.

That shiver, of course, quickly turned to fury as Ranma cursed the heavens, for various reasons, in romanized Japanese, "Iya! Ano kuso no baka yaro! Naze koitsu no you no otaku tachi ga iyarashikuchau! Tsukereba, zettai ni kurosu!" Ranma turned to Vega, "and I'll kill you, too!"

"Keke, it's hot when they protest in Japanese," Vega chortled with giggling pleasure as naughty thoughts strip-danced in his thoughts. "it's time you gave it up, anyway (plus we should get started for the sake of the reader)."

"I'm warning you, you pervert!" Ranma snarled back equally coldly, "Touch me and I'll make you drink your blood, pee it out, then make you drink your pee – which would just be your blood with kidney juices on it."

But Vega, too busy advancing upon Ranma, was not listening.

[Space Here

Now, it has always been the practice of writers, great and mediocre, to suddenly shift the camera away from the action – rather it be violence, sex, or an erotic combination of both – to something suddenly much more mundane and irritable to the eyelid-twitching reader. And what could be more mundane and dull than the morning thoughts of a rather guilt-ridden girl? Many things: waiting for the doctor in the waiting room, going through the day without the internet, watching paint draw, playing Yu-Gi-Oh, and playing with Yu-Gi-Oh (and by Yu-Gi-Oh, I mean yourself).

That morning, after Spice flung Ranma out the window, she found, much to her dismay, sleep wouldn't come to her as she laid herself back down onto the bed. It wasn't because she was afraid she had hurt or killed Ranma – Spice had seen Ranma crash headfirst into solid concrete from a rather impressive height and walk away unscathed – no, it wasn't that. It wasn't even that she was afraid Ranma would return for revenge and beat her up later – no, Ranma did that anyway during sparing (except for such occasions when Spice fought the boy as a girl, and suddenly she was no longer good enough an opponent to fight against – that pretentious misogynistic douche-bag).

It was something internal. Every time Spice closed her eyes, she'd see that look on Ranma's face as she fell – that flash of reproach and hurt that cut Spice deeper than any of Ranma's kicks and punches. She tried to reason with herself – Ranma had been a jerk, he deserved it, he only thinks about himself – but to no avail. That last moment as Ranma was flying out the window and their eyes met, that quiver of her lips and that look of watery betrayal in Ranma's eyes had slice straight into Spice's heart.

Spice didn't even know what made her say those words: "I know it's hard for a no-talent dumb bimbo to find a job that doesn't involve being on her back, but you'll have to!" it just burst out of her mouth like vomit. And like vomit, it left a bad after taste and got on her hair.

Sighing most regretfully, Spice picked herself up and out of bed and dressed – she knew, in addition to getting breakfast, finishing math homework, and washing her laundry, she'd have to find Ranma and apologize for being such a jerk…but, of course, that was no easy task.

According to the few people that were up and about wondering the halls of the school, they've either never heard of Ranma, haven't seen her, or "…tore that damn red-haired slut to pieces!" (this one was contributed by Vega) this meant that Ranma was probably wandering the city. This, in turn, meant that Spice would have an incredibly hard time finding Ranma. Spice wasn't old enough to legally drive a car yet (cars were the primary vehicle of transportation in Aulis) – but she was determined to find Ranma anyway.

And of course, as if compelled by fate and destiny (and certainly not Spice's wanton desires) she found herself, in a most unexpected accident, standing across the street from Tategami's coffee shop. Now, had Spice came a minute early, she would've, no doubt, witness a shinny red car running over a shinny red-haired girl, she may also have noticed a certain hatefully red-clad man step out of the car and hoist up the unconscious girl into his car. But, since Spice's timing was not so apropos, all she saw was a shinny but distastefully scratched red car – which she humored as belonging to Vega – speed off the street while its driver smirked most disturbingly. Unfortunately, Spice knew about Vega's dirty "yucky" habits, and consequently simply attributed his fervor to his acquisition of some new and disgusting piece of tentacle Sailor Moon hentai – Usagi sure had it hard in her world!

How right Spice was! Though, Vega won't just be staring at dirty pictures of helpless funky hair-colored girls get ripped up by tentacles, rods, shafts, and whatever else was long and hard – he'd be experiencing it first hand with poor Ranma. But Spice knew none of this.

Instead, she was too busy tugging at her shirt, twirling with her hair, shuffling her shorts, and nervously glancing for Tategami in his shop to be concerned with red-haired trouble-makers. While the passing stranger may have not given Spice's calm exterior composure a second glance – though they probably would've wondered why a beautiful marble statue of a girl was doing frozen on a sidewalk – Spice's heart, a woman's delicate and passionate heart, was roiling in turmoil.

"I'm going to tell him…" Spice muttered to herself as she clenched her fist in determination, "I'll walk into his shop and pour cold water on myself and show him what I really am…" Spice, swallowing, told herself with grave solemnity.

Spice's feet did not move.

"I'll just go over there and let him know I'm really a girl," Spice told herself quietly as she watched Tategami obliviously refill the cabinet with more tasty donuts, "Tategami -" the name made her heart jump, "Tategami's known me forever, he understands me…he won't hurt me. All I have to do is just go over there."

Spice's legs still refused to budge.

"C'mon, I can do this, all I have to do is tell him how I really feel," Spice clear her throat in a test run, "Tategami, I'm only a boy half the time…and I really like you…" Spice could feel herself blushing despite the fact she was whispering those embarrassing words to only herself, "and…would you take me to the dance at the Sacred ♥ next Friday?" Spice swallowed, "No…" she was absolutely amazed at just how stupid she could sound; had it been someone else, it might've even been funny.

"Sure, I'd love to!" A gruff oily voice answered.

Spice spun around, alarmed – apparently, she said the last part too loudly – a gruff, old, hairy sailor old enough to be one of Spice's weird uncles leered at her most inappropriately. Hurriedly and still blushing, Spice stuttered, "No, sorry, sir, I wasn't…uhh…"

"That's okay, young lad," the slimy-ball sailor sized Spice up and down; Spice felt the most interesting prickling sensation run up and down her spine as she had a distinct impression he was undressing her in his mind. Then, his eye caught onto the scar on Spice's cheek, and his lips twitched in excitement, "Ooh, young boys these days play rough, don't they?"

Spice blinked, "Huh?"

"No?" the sailor asked, disappointedly, "Oh well, then." And walked away without another word.

"Play rough?" unconsciously, her hand caressed against her face, her finger feeling against the ugly red scar on her cheek. By accident, her nail dug against the tender red skin and Spice winced in pain – even after all those years, the wound still hasn't healed…it hasn't even closed…it hasn't stop hurting either…stupid herbs. But then, this scar on her cheek was the only thing Spice had that reminded her of home; a home that, despite the pain and torment she had endured there, Spice, most inexplicably, still longed and missed.

But infinitely more disturbingly, the old sailor had said, "Young boy…" Spice's hand slid down her through and against her chest, an expression of infinite irritation and anxiety marked her features. "Friggin' stingy puberty fairy…" she muttered to herself bitterly. But no! Spice was not about to mire herself in this old trouble at this moment, besides, she thought to herself as her eyes glittered with hope, "I'm still young."

"Ahem," Spice clear her throat sheepishly, realizing random people were giving her weird stares and commenting on that crazy glittering in her eyes. Embarrassedly, Spice quickly picked up the remnants of her dignity.

Swallowing the rest of this ridiculous shifty nervousness that zapped about her spine, Spice, after checking both sides of the street for cars, marched across the empty road and into the Tategami's shop as what she truly is – a girl. Her long black hair, silky and smooth from Herbal Essence, wafted gracefully in the gentle morning breeze. Her seifuku, liberated from the Sacred ♥ girl's academy during last year's Peace-ball, pressed against her lithe and girly figure as she strode toward destiny. Her eyes, alit with a sparkle of purpose, determination, and what can only be described as girlish excitement, were fixed upon the clueless Tategami as he busily stocked his shop through the window.

Of course, with her eyes fixed there, Spice wasn't aware of elsewhere. And, by chance, as she paused a final nervous moment in front of Tategami's shop, a bucketful of cold water flounced straight into her face from a window up on the third of fourth story (Spice wasn't sure). Immediately, the strange magic of the cursed fountains rushed in her blood streams, melting away the ironing board of her breasts, broadening her shoulders, and making her short-shorts look oddly disturbing.

"Oh shi-" Spice almost cursed under his breath, but suddenly Tategami spotted her and she bit her tongue.

"Spicy!" Tategami, a welcoming smile on his face, walked over and pushed open the glass door, "What's up? You need to dry off?" Tategami quickly invited the boy in.

"Tategami…" Spice began, determined not the chicken out like every time before, "I need to tell you something."

"Sure, let me get a towel," he said, shrugging lightly, as he fetched a towel from behind the counter, "I'm going to have a talk with those kids upstairs – they can't just be throwing water down on people!"

Spice took the towel and wiped some water off her face. "Tategami, can I just…" she glanced at her shoes and clutched at the soft fabric hesitantly. But upon staring downward toward her shoes, Spice noticed something else halfway between her eyes and her feet…it protruded in a most revoltingly repulsive manner. Why the hell is this so hard?! Spice couldn't help but mentally slap himself in disgust while quickly flinging herself down on a seat.

"…Can what?" Tategami prompted smilingly, then, getting the idea (albeit wrong one), "Have a donut? Sure: your usual?" Tategami went behind the counter and fetched a particular long Ligimi donut before handing it to Spice on a napkin, "Coffee's in the mug over there, help yourself," he gestured at the coffee maker merrily churning in the corner.

"No, Tategami, I need to tell you something…" Spice, awkwardly covering the protruding crotch with the towel (be more obvious, please, Spice mentally sarcastically sneered at it), took a nervous bite from the Ligimi; the donut was rock hard, but it melted into honey sweetness on the tongue.

"Okay, about…?"

"Umm…me…" Spice bit his lip, I've known Tategami almost all my life, why the hell am I quivering like some little girl?!

Tategami must've guessed at her thoughts, and prompted jokingly, "Well, stop fussing around like some woman, and just tell me! Be a man!"

"I…" Damn it! Spice balked, there's just no way he could just come out and say she's a girl now! Not after Tategami just explicitly told him to stop acting like a woman and be a man!

"Okay, how 'bout this," Tategami, being ever the nice guy, suggested, "I'll tell you something – that you don't know already – about me, and then you tell me this thing about you, 'kay?"

Spice hesitated but nodded in agreement anyway – although he's physical strong and financial capable (the perfect man), Tategami confided in Spice as if they were brothers as oppose to lovers as Spice often dreamt.

"Okay," Tategami mused for a second, then a light bulb went off, "Oh, this pretty young red-haired pigtailed girl came in earlier – she looked sort of strangely familiar –"

Red-haired pigtailed girl? Spice mused, maybe it was Ranma? Then, a most disturbing thought flashed in her head, What was she doing here?! Spice's mind raced with everything from accusing suspicions of harlotry to straight out accusations of infidel vaginal looseness.

Tategami continued, "And she's hungry and so she asks me for a food. And uhh," Tategami's smile grew wider and almost sheepish, "If I ever have a weakness, it's got to be pretty redheads!"

"That whore!" Spice swore under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nice store," Spice cleared his throat, "So what did you two do?" Spice swallowed a gulp of nervousness…Horrible scenes of Ranma wearing in tight black leather, knee-length leather high-heels, and cracking a whip appeared before Spice's eyes. "Service me, slave!" Ranma would snarl and crack her whip and Tategami, who would be chained for some reason, would reply, "Yes mistress." Then –

"God, I'm weird," Spice slapped herself mentally to clear the freaky thoughts out of her head.

"What else? I had wild hot sex with her on the spot!" Tategami smirked jokingly and elbowed Spice lightly.

Spice chocked on her donut, "What?!"

"Oh, I'm only joking, what's with the horrified expression, Spicy Boy?" Tategami smirked.

"Haha," Spice laughed forcibly; that Tategami! Even he can be a pervert sometimes! But then again, they do all attend a boys academy, "Okay, but seriously, what happened to her?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Tategami seemed downcast, "I tried to make a move on her, but she just bolted outside and disappeared around Vega's car down over there," Tategami pointed out the window, "Hmm…she was so feisty and pretty…and I don't even know her name."

Spice fumed, but kept her voice pleasant, "Maybe you can just call her the 'Pigtailed Girl.' Like that Kuno guy in the manga…god, I can't believe I have a crush on Kuno." She didn't actually say the last part since none of the characters in this Ranma fan-fic should know that they've been suckered into this Ranma fan-fic. Hell, she didn't even think it since…well, same reasoning and logic  Q.E.D (ketsuron).

"Nah, I wanna find out just who she is," Tategami said, not even looking at Spice but instead at where that whore Ranma had last disappeared, "she's got to be the prettiest girl I've seen in a long time...Probably even prettier than that girl I met back at that village in China."

Slap! Tategami's words, like a speeding backhand, left a red mark on Spice's pale cheeks in much the same way a pimp would slap an uppity ho. I'm from China…most notably that village in China…that Ranma can't be prettier than me just because that cow has bigger breasts!! "Well, I'm sure you and Ranma will be very happy together! I'm going back to school." Spice said through biting her lip as she stood up and bolted out the door.

"Spice?" Tategami called after him, but Spice had already disappeared around the corner. Tategami would've gone after him – Spice rarely got upset for no reason (but he does exhibit unusual moodiness on a monthly basis for some odd reason) – but merry customers quickly began to flood into the shop. So instead, Tategami simply mused over Spice's words, "Ranma? The new kid? Oh right, the girl was his younger sister…I'll deal with Ranma on my good time."

Meanwhile, Spice was not pleased as he cursed to nobody in particular under his breath, "Ranma, you bastard! I'm going to pound your transsexual ass into the ground!" Spice clenched his fists, determined to pound them into, as her words would apparently indicate, Ranma's ass.

He was determined to scour the city – burn it to the ground if necessary – to find this most foul red-haired bimbo.

[Space Here

The "red-haired bimbo," unfortunately, was already having her own problems back at Vega's shack.

"I'm warning you, Vega," Ranma's eyes flashed as her wrists strained against the hard cuffs that held her down, "back off and let me go now and I promise to only rip you one (as oppose to two) new asshole."

"Oh really?" Vega, feeling smug in his victory, hovered out a grimy hand directly over Ranma's boobs, "and what if I don't? Huh, Miss Pigtails?"

"If you," Ranma breathed a furious quivering breath, "move that hand any closer, I'll rip it off and then beat your face in with it so hard, you'll crap your nose out of your ass, you pervert." As is to emphasis her point, Ranma forcefully rattled in her chains; they didn't budge.

"Let's see you try," Vega's greasy hand closed onto Ranma's chest, and he gave her a painful squeeze, "Ooh soft."

"Ack!" Ranma couldn't help but gasp – damn this weakling girly body!

"Hmm? Am I hurting you?" Vega asked, smirking darkly, "How 'bout now?" Vega did something with Ranma's boobies that loses all its meaning when analyzed through words.

Ranma had to bite her lips from letting out another surprised gasp, "What the hell are you doing?! You pervert! Don't!"

"Buawahahahaha! Ue no guchi wa 'yada' tte iu noni, karada ga jitsu ni ore to hametai ne!"

"Eww…who the hell would actually say that?" Ranma spat in disgust, "the moment I free myself from these chains, I'm snapping your ass in half, Vega."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

For the past year before being sent off to Aulis, Ranma had often fought against his old rival Ryoga. Naturally, when one hangs about another long enough, one picks up certain habits, skills, and such from the other. Ranma was no exception. In a strangely calm voice, Ranma looked up straight at Vega and smiled darkly, "You see I'm tied onto? It has a breaking point right underneath my left hand."

"Whaa-?"

Boom! In an instant, the thick wood behind Ranma shattered into a million shards with a large crack and Ranma gracefully landed on her feet with the steel rings still around her wrists.

"Oh shi-" Vega was taken aback first by surprise then by a forceful kick to the face from an enraged Ranma.

"Oof!" Vega stumbled backwards and crashed into a wall, "you bitch! How dare you try –"

"How dare you try to rape me, you ass!" Ranma, full of humiliation driven rage, cried back, "go to hell!" Ranma burst forward with incredible wind-snapping speed.

But this time, Vega was ready, "Psycho-punch!" his fist, funneled with evil purple energy, plummeted straight toward Ranma's face, shattering bone and drawing blood…

Or at least, that's what should've happened, but instead, Vega's hand burst through nothing but an ephemeral Ranma after-image and the big man stumbled forward. "Ooof!" suddenly, a heavy weight slammed right on top of Vega's head.

"Be slower, please," Ranma scoffed sarcastically as he pressed Vega's ugly face into the dirty uncarpeted floor. Then, with a powerful flip kick, Ranma's shoe slammed into Vega's face, sending him flying backward into the wall. "You son of bitch! You should've quit while you were ahead!" Ranma burst-charged in, somewhere, the announcer prepared to cry, "FATALITY!"

"Wait!" Vega cried, holding up a defensive hand, "you wouldn't kill your brother, would you?"

Ranma froze, "What?! You're not my brother…" in the back of her head, Ranma suspected this to be some sort of trick, "I have no brother."

Vega inwardly smirked at the stupid confused expression on Ranma's face, he could hardly believe such a lame strategy was working...but it did give him time to channel a psycho crusher charge and that's all that matters. "Yes, a brother, could you truly bring yourself to kill your own brother?"

"Just die…" Ranma continued beating the crap out of Vega, "God, do you seriously think I'm some kind of idiot?"

"Auuhieuha…" Vega groaned, laced with horrible pain, "If you could get out so easily, why did you wait so long to do it?"

"Ranma!" Suddenly, the door burst open from behind and a flood of outside lights cascaded into the room along with a voice furrowed in bloodlust rage, "Don't you hide from me!"

"Oh my god!" Ranma jumped in sudden surprise, "Two boss fights without a save-point in between?! What is this bull –" then seeing it was Spice, coolly folded her arms across her chest and snorted, "Hmph! If you're here to apologize, do it quickly, otherwise, don't bother me now, ugly," Ranma called over his shoulder curtly and impatiently, "but you can thank me later for taking down your archenemy who your weak ass could never defeat."

"Shut up, you whore!" Spice screamed furiously, her long dark hair seemed to burn red around her cheeks, "How could you, you slut?! Chi burst!" Immediately, a rainbow of furious energy armored itself around Spice's body in the shape of a large bullet. In a burst of fury and speed, Spice dashed forward like a light speed cannon ball.

"Oh shoot!" Ranma, quick and lithe on her feet, skillfully evaded Spice with a dexterous jump..."What the hell is your problem?!" Ranma shouted angrily.

"Ugh…" Vega's low throaty moan sounded behind Ranma, "I think my spleen is coming out…"

"You!" Spice replied furiously as she doubled back. Using kicking off the opposite wall, Spice flew through Ranma, shaping her chi into fist, "You screw me over yet again!"

"Oh god…" Vega moaned in protest as Spice flew straight at him to get to Ranma, "Wait! I - " his voice was cut off as Spice's chi fist smashed into him and launched him forward toward Ranma.

"Shut up!" Ranma shouted back, her anger rising to match Spice's, "You have no idea what you put me through!" Furiously, Ranma wound up a kick, "Here's something I learned recently! Gomu gomu no…[copy-right violation!" and launched herself forward in a powerful energy kick.

The two of them collided with spectacular force with Vega in the mid in midair. A brilliant explosion blasted across the room. When the dust settled, Ranma and Spice stood facing each other in what could only be described as that-talking-scene-a-moment-before-the-final-boss-fight-which-you'll-have-to-watch-again-if-you-lose.

Nearby, Vega, smashed painfully against a wall, pleaded, "Someone please call the ambulance." As usual, he was ignored.

"What is your problem, Spice?" Ranma finally broke the silence, "You threw me out the window, call me a worthless bimbo, and now you're somehow angry at me?!"

"You!" Spice shouted back, but had little to say after that, "Well, you're." Ranma had a very valid point and, had she been within the realms of reason, would've stopped, but pride and adrenaline was pumping madly in her blood, "You tricked Tategami!"

"Someone…" Vega moaned weakly from the background, "Oh my god, I see a long tunnel with a light at the end…"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Ranma demanded, "I'll pay him for the donuts later if he asks, but I tricked him out of nothing!"

"No!" Spice insisted angrily and reasonless as people were prone to do when angry, "You tricked him into liking you and...and…"

"Why the hell would I?!" Ranma shouted back, "I'm a guy, you pervert, why would I want a guy to like me?"

"Oh crap, there's Jesus," Vega croaked from his corner as he continued to be ignored, "holy crap, he does look that…"

Spice said nothing, she only stared at Ranma in furious speechlessness.

"Think about it!" Ranma continued her attack, "just calm down and think about it, and you're realize you're the one who is being stupid."

Spice's eyes flared, "You're the one being stupid! And I am calm! You're just being –"

Ranma cut her off with a quick hand, "What, reasonable? Realistic? Not an idiot? Not a jerk? C'mon, at least have a better personality if you don't have the looks. No wonder Tategami already likes me better even though he just met me."

Spice blinked furiously, obviously fighting tears. "Ranma…you…" even as she spoke, her voice cracked. "Ranma…" desperately, she tried to keep Ranma from seeing her cry. That stupid jerk would probably laugh at her. Drawing a huge sigh to push down her gasping breaths, Spice screamed loudly, "I hate you, Ranma!" before spinning on her heels and bolting out the door.

"Well fine!" Ranma shouted after her as the echoes of Spice's footsteps reverberated about the building and eventually disappeared. Ranma then went to work properly dressing herself, "sonna ni baka na hito ga kuruma ni butsukararete mo ii da ze." After a little, Ranma too left the room.

"Umm…" Vega mumbled to no one, "If I die, those Street Fighter Movies would have even less of a plot…"

[Space Here

It was sundown by the time Ranma began heading home. The sun, now a large ball of wavering fiery red, hovered in the distant horizon between the wavering crimson sea and the autumn-leaved sky. Overhead, the first stars and a wintry moon began to shine coldly in the night. The fragrant scents of various kitchens bloomed with the culinary flavors of favorite Aulisian dishes as families gathered about dinner tables to enjoy the home-prepared meals and each other's company.

Perhaps somewhere out there in the far distance, Akane and the others were also doing the same. Perhaps, Akane and her family are sitting about the dinner table right now, sipping tea and chatting breezily about the events at school. Perhaps Nibiki finally found an awesomely rich boyfriend. Perhaps Kasumi discovered a new recipe to make curry. Perhaps Akane even learned to cook – not bloody likely. Or…

Ranma bit her lip as she looked skyward; perhaps, just as she was thinking about them, they were thinking of her as well.

Ranma blinked and looked away from the cool and distant sky. She missed them all, yes, but that's no reason for a warrior to succumb to such weakness. After all, she still had the job of showing up Dad, and make him regret his stupid decision to send her to this hellhole.

"Hmph!" Ranma smirked to herself, as she practically flew across the tops of walls and fences heading back to her dorm, "I'll show them all!"

Of course, the enormous difficulty of her task didn't quite don upon her until she was standing right outside her dorm room with her dorm key in her hands facing the very person she wanted to see least at this very moment – Spice.

Irony, bastardly wicked irony, sure had its way of sticking its ugly head into unwelcome places. And the two girls, and they were both girls at this moment, simply stared at each other in silent irritation. Neither of them made an attempt to say a word or open the door for the other until the other decided to apologize for whatever.

Ranma had no idea exactly how long they stood there just glaring at each other, but it was Ranma, who was a man at heart, who made the first move. She jammed her key into the doorknob, pushed it open, and went inside.

Spice stood at the door, unmoving except for a foot which she used to keep the door from shutting in her face.

"Did you calm down and think for a bit?" Ranma asked at last as she sat down on her chair and faced the other, "If so, perhaps you're ready to apologize."

Spice ignored Ranma and went to her side of the room. "Don't talk to me."

Ranma scoffed, "Screw you, I'll talk to you if I want!"

Spice didn't reply.

"You're wrong and you know it. You were unreasonable, but you refuse to accept it."

Spice pulled open a desk drawer, removed her homework, and began to figure out exactly how the curvature of a curve is related to the tangent and normal vectors of the given equation.

Ranma, being persistent and insistent on defeating Spice at her own game, refused to give up pestering her and plagued her with endless verbal torment. And, though Spice tried to do her homework in peace, no one truly had the ability to sit through hours upon hours of "It's your fault for being so stupid", "Why don't you think before you say anything?", "Not talking just means you've got nothing of value to say", "you smell", and "if you were smarter, you'd have a comeback."

The whole thing was a powdered keg waiting to explode.

And explode it did, though in the catastrophic way a nuclear bomb would, it exploded nevertheless when Spice, her eyelids twitching with irritation, pull out of her desk drawer a small questionable brown bottle and a rag. She poured some of the liquid content of the brown bottle onto the rag, being careful to keep it at a distance from her face, recapped the bottle and stood up from her seat.

"Oh!" Ranma snorted at Spice, "Going to run away again? Huh? Why don't you just say something and deal with it instead of run like some worthless little girl?"

Spice said nothing as she loomed over Ranma, though her face was tinged red with indignation.

Ranma, not to be cowed by the other girl, rose to her own feet, "What? You want fight? Don't think I'm in a mood to go easy on you just because you're a girl."

"Shut the f-" Spice, her rage snapping within her, flung the chloroform-soaked rag straight at Ranma, who dexterously caught it mere milliseconds before it could slap onto her face.

The fumes, however, nevertheless worked its way into Ranma's nostrils and instantly, the world began spinning about her in whirls of black and blue. "Whoa!" Ranma coughed, dizzily lurching forward, lunging at Spice.

But Spice was burning with anger and didn't back down as she should have, instead, she shouted at the incoming Ranma with pent-up rage, "I don't say anything because there's nothing to say, you idiot! I might have been wrong to say what I did in the morning, but that still gives you no right to say about me what you did! You're not any – wha!"

Ranma, with her last ounce of strength, pounced onto Spice, who was too slow to move out of the way. Ranma slapped the rag up against Spice's face just as she collapsed into the other girl, who, knocked off balance, barely managed to land herself and Ranma onto the big bed. Within seconds, the black unconsciousness of drug-induced stupor set in and the two of them were reduced to quiet little sleeping mice as oppose to the ferocious lions hungering for blood. Well, for a few hours anyway.

Author's Note: Wow. Having not updated this thing for so long, even I must've thought I was dead. In truth, I'd been very much alive, although usually distracted by other things ranging from school to (OMG I have one) a social life – I had pretty much abandoned the idea of ever updating the story. Then college rolled along and I became even busier; I barely had time to think about Ranma. But then, as fate would have it, no humanities courses ended up on my schedule this semester so I decided to pick up again this old story to fill with ink and paper (technically finger and keyboard) the void in my heart carved out by my voracious imagination and creative desires. Anyway, see you on the next update.