It was a dark and stormy night.

The cliche was lost on Ranma as he ran down the streets of Nerima blindly. Or rather, as she ran down the streets given the cold rain that was falling.

After having been cursed by Jusenkyou for the past eight months, he still had not truly adjusted to it. It was still as surprising and curse-able as when he first got it.

Just as then, Ranma did not truly notice his curse activating, nor did he notice the tears of pain and betrayal that fell down her face, mixing with the rain.

It was just one month ago that the failed wedding had almost occurred. Since then, Ranma's life had been a roller coaster.

The first week after the failed wedding, Akane gave him the cold-shoulder, blaming him for ruining her wedding. Which was fine with him. Each of the parents and Kasumi tried to get him to apologize to Akane. But when pressed, none would explain to him what he needed to apologize for. When they could not get their way, they too gave him the cold-shoulder as well.

He had done nothing wrong. He was willing to do his duty as best he could, regardless of the damage and consequences it would have for the others.

After the first week, Akane seemed to go back to her old habits, as if nothing had happened. The status quo at the Tendo-ke resumed.

That was the calm before the storm.

The third week after the failed wedding, Akane got possessive.

At first, he had to spend all his time with her. When he wanted to spend time with his friends, she had something that they, as a couple, had to do together. When he wanted to train, he had to include her.

That was not so bad, after all, all couples spent all their time together. That was what marriage was about, right?

Then, she started to cook every meal for him, or worse, order for him, when the family went out on a rare occassion. But then, did not his mother do that for his father? Not that he needed to be on Genma's diet too.

When she tried to dicate what clothing he was going to wear for the day, he could not take it anymore. He ignored Akane and her choices and did his own thing. Very quickly all his clothes disappeared into the wash leaving only Akane's selection to wear. Fortunately, being Genma's son, he did have several emergency stashes, so he had his usual clothing. He could not understand how Akane could think he could wear the tight Boys Furinkan High Uniform, not with his curse.

The agrument that resulted was not pretty.

It got to the point where Ranma felt his temper was going to get the best of him. Something that had not happened since the earlier part of his martial arts training. So instead of striking at Akane, he left to cool down.

When he returned a bit calmer, the parents and Kasumi went on and on about how he was to treat his fiancee properly. When he asked what about Akane's duty as his fiance to him? Things really went ballistic.

It dawned on him that even his parents saw him as nothing more than a baby-maker just as the Amazons did.

He had to escape, before his temper exploded.

So he ran out of the Tendo-ke and into the night.

He was not paying any attention to where he was going. Only cared to put as much distance between himself and the Tendo-ke, the source of his pain.

Eventually, he grew tired and took in his surroundings.

He had no clue where he was. Or even if he was still in Nerima Ward anymore. The rain cut down on his visibility greatly. He really could not make out any of the buildings.

Save one.

He could sense a large group of people off to his left. So he headed in that direction. In a short amount of time, he found a building that was open. It seemed inviting, somehow.

Either way, it was out of the cold rain and, if nothing else, it was a place he could found out where he was.

He opened the door with only a slight hestiation, and walked in.

He was not sure what he was expecting, but the almost empty lounge was a disappointment. He could still feel a large group of people, but not here. They seemed to be in the back.

He noticed that there was a hallway towards the side, and two women were casually walking around it. At least, at first glance that was how it looked. He could sense they were... guards, for the lack of a better word, standing in front of a gate to somewhere.

He could hear various sounds and feel some warmth coming from beyond the hallway, so he headed there.

He noted that the two women gave him the once over, and he thought he heard one whisper to him, "Honey, just head up to the bar, and they'll take good care of you."

Ranma was unsure of what she meant, and the way she said it sent shivers down his spine. He walked slowly down the serpentine hallway. The hallway gave way to a large room, which had a bar in the middle. Various couches were strategically placed in orbit around the bar. Here there were many patrons, all relaxing and sipping various drinks.

Having never been to a bar before, he was at a loss as to what to do. The advice of just head up to the bar sounded best, and so he did.

The female bartender took one look at him, reached down for a chilled glass, poured three items into the glass, only the chocolate milk did he recognize, moved for him to seat down, and placed the drink in front of him saying, "On the house, honey. Looks like you could use some Dark Side of the Force[1]."

"Huh?" was Ranma's response.

The female bartender just said, "Just drink up, honey. It will make you feel better."

Ranma was too tired to agrue, and did so.

It had a chocolate flavor, and it was tasty. When asked if he would like another, he just nodded his head. After all, it had milk in it, how bad could it be?

After several of those drinks, a blonde woman in her thirties, took a stool next to him. In a gentle voice, she remarked, "You look like you could use a friend."

Ranma snorted, looked the woman over, and answered, "I donna know... My friends have this nasty habit of turning on me."

The blonde, apparently, was not expecting such a response.

Somehow, Ranma find himself in a talkative mood and added, "And don' get me started on family..."

Ranma's tone of voice held a warning, but also a bit of hope which the blonde picked up on. Expertly, the blonde known only as Doc extricated his life story from him over the next several hours. Hestiant at first, but like a tidal wave it all came pouring out. Most of the bar patrons politely ignored the conversation between the Doc and Ranma. They were quite used to it. Although, several did subtly listen in.

How long he talked, he did not know. But as the blonde said, it did help. It also helped that everyone believed him, even some of the more fantastic things that seemed to happen to him so often.

When he got to Jusenkyou, there were many exclamations, more for Genma's stupidity, then anything else. It was only then that he realized that he had been in his cursed form the entire time that he was there.

Not wanting another misunderstanding because of Jusenkyou, he tried to explain his curse and he demonstrated his curse with some hot and cold water. The hot water restored him, and gave him a bit of clarity of thought, to think what he had just did was a huge mistake. To which he took some more of that wonderful drink. Which he spilled upon himself, causing him to change into his curse form. He wanted for the rejections that he was sure would come.

The rejection he had been conditioned to expect did not come. Instead, he was gently hugged by the blonde. Strangely, he felt comfortable in the blone's embrace. So much so that he allowed himself to relax. With the Adrenalin rush over, his body crashed.

Ranma could tell he was in a strange place, as such, he was instantly awake and took an inventory of himself, what he had available, and his surrounding. It would not have been the first time that he found himself awaken in a strange place. After all, his father thought it was good training to just dump his somewhere while he slept. Although, that had not happened to him since China.

The room was basic. He was currently a she, wearing something more in keeping with Nabiki, being made from soft silk and a bit tight. Not uncomfortable, but form-hugging. He did feel well rested.

The bed he was on was soft and had satin sheets. Next to the bed was a night-stand. The night-stand had several bottles and a couple of silk scarfs sitting upon it. He could detect faint oders coming from them. He only recognized a few of the scents. The night-stand had several small drawers that were slightly open. Although curious, he got a feeling that he did not want to know what was held within.

He did also notice that several eye-bolts had been placed in the ceiling, as well as, around the bed. He had no clue as to their purpose.

There was a cabinet by the door. One side of the cabinet seemed to have a place to hang up clothes, and the other had seven drawers of varying size.

Nothing else was in the room.

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