Prologue:

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Ukyo was standing in front of her father's yatai, busy scanning the horizon for the daily attack. She gripped the over-sized battle spatula in her hand readying it for the eminent clash of her skill versus that boy's sneakiness.

She was a prodigy at her school's art, her father had said so on many occasions. He had been telling her often that if she kept up her training, she could become the best okonomiyaki chef martial artists ever.

She had taken all comers in her age group. Boy, girl, big, small, anyone that challenged her, she had been able to turn back flawlessly. Then he had to show up.

He made her look silly. He defeated her daily, and then acted like all it meant nothing.

If that wasn't bad enough, her father would chuckle and give the boy some food while ruffling his hair and praising him. The same praise that was supposed to be for her.

Her face was set aflame and she let out a low growl just thinking about that boy, Ranma.

"Ah, excuse me, miss."

"What!" she bellowed, turning to face two boys. She blinked twice, clearing her eyes of the anger that had been clouding them.

Standing before her were two boys her own age, almost identical in appearance, with long sandy blond hair, both looking at her askance.

"Um... Are you okay? You seem pretty upset," one of the boys asked.

"Ah... hahaha.... sorry. I mean, yes I'm fine. What can I get you two?" She did have a very important job to do here.

"What do you sell?" the other boy asked.

"The best Okonomiyaki you'll ever taste. My father is a master chef," she said as she indicated the older man looking on from behind the yatai. "Right, Dad?'

"That's right, Ukyo," her father replied with a smile.

"We'd like two of your best," the boy said cheerfully.

"Knives, we don't have any money..." the other boy said to Knives.

"Vash!" the other boy yelled.

Ukyo frowned. Damn idiots, didn't they know this was a business?

"Sorry then," she said rudely.

"Uccchann!" The scream ripped through the air, alerting her to her opponent. Forgetting the two boys, she gripped the spatula tightly and turned to face her charging nemesis.

"Ranma!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs, raising her weapon as she moved to vanquish her most fearsome foe.

She looked at the other boy as he swiftly closed the distance between her, she could see the joy in his face and vowed to wipe that smirk off of it.

They clashed a few feet away from the yatai. The fight was fierce and devastating. Ukyo used all the moves she had painstakingly prepared just for this day's battle, only to be humiliated again upon the field.

The boy had luckily dodged her every strike, seeming to anticipate her movements before quickly unarming her and knocking her to the ground.

Defeated again she stood up slowly and turned back to the yatai, while brushing herself off. She watched as her father heaped praise upon the boy and gave him some food. Ranma's father wasn't long in making his way to the food either.

She noticed the two boys, Knives and Vash if she remembered correctly, were still standing by the yatai, watching the spectacle unfold.

She sighed and walked back to her station. Even if she failed today, there was always tomorrow, and she had a job to do until then.

"How come he's not paying?" Knives asked. "If I beat you, do we get to eat for free also?"

"What? Is that a challenge?"

"Knives, that's okay. We can go without food tonight."

"Be quiet, Vash. I can do this," he waved Vash away as he spoke.

She watched as the boy took a fighting stance. She looked him over critically, estimating his skill to be novice level, she charged.

"Go, Ucchan!"

Ukyo ground her teeth and growled as she turned her attention to the pig-tailed boy for a split second. That was all the time Knives needed to land a solid blow to her jaw.

Ukyo reeled back a step or two, taking in her opponent for a second, before moving her wrists out of the way of his attempt at disarming her. She noticed it was a similar move to the one Ranma had disarmed her with earlier.

After she set her feet steady, she attacked using the same pattern she had used on Ranma, being fresh in her mind, but unfortunately with only a little more success. She eventually succeeded in winging the boy on the shoulder. His retreat from the stinging blow gave her a moment to access the situation. He appeared to be mimicking moves he had seen Ranma use earlier.

Deciding to test that theory she switched tactics, setting into a less intricate attack pattern.

Her new strategy began to show instant results as she began pounding on her less skilled opponent. If she had looked at things objectively, she might have appreciated the natural instincts and durability the youth displayed.

The fight didn't last much longer, as the continued pounding took it's toll. She seemingly obtained victory with a swift swat to the back of Knives's head.

Knives wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, as she stepped back from her handiwork.

"Yeah, Ucchan!"

She growled when she heard Ranma's encouragement, but this time kept her eye on her opponent who was slowly rising to his feet.

"That's enough, Knives!" Vash yelled, as he ran in-between the two combatants.

"She beat me..." Knives said shocked.

"Hey, we can get some food tomorrow. Let's go."

"Hey kid, you did pretty good." Her father called out. "Isn't that right, Saotome?"

Genma spouted out something unintelligible between bites of food.

"Yeah! You didn't do too badly," Ranma called out to the Knives. "A little more training and you could be pretty good."

Ukyo was getting pissed again. She had won, why was everyone paying attention to this boy?

"Sorry about my brother, miss." Vash said to her. "We're just getting a little hungry, we haven't eaten all day."

Ukyo took a second to digest that information, ignoring the others as they had fallen into a conversation with Knives.

"Where are your parents?"

"We're orphans."

"Oh... Well how have you been living?"

"Ah, ah... Well... We usually find people who are nice enough to help us out for a day or two," he said with a shy smile.

"That sucks," she said quietly. "Come here." She walked up to the yatai and started cooking for the poor boys.

"You don't have to."

"Nonsense." She poured some batter onto the grill.

"Thanks a lot miss."

Ukyo's head shot up as she regarded the boy. "You can tell?"

"Tell what?"

"That I'm a girl, idiot."

"What else would you be, but a cute girl."

"You think I'm cute?"

"Yeah."

Ukyo turned her attention back to the grill to hide her blush.

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"So you've never fought before?" Mr. Kounji asked.

"No. I saw the kid do it and it looked easy." Knives pointed his thumb at Ranma. "I still don't know why I lost. I did the same moves as him."

"You have to tailor the moves you use to your owns skills and the opponent. You're not as quick as young Ranma, but a little taller. You should vary the attacks you use accordingly," Mr. Kounji explained.

"Heh. Like you could just copy me. I mean, I've been training since I could walk. I'm going to be the best," Ranma boasted.

"I could beat you if I had training."

"Could not!" Ranma stood from his seated position, puffing out his small chest.

"Who trains you? I bet if he trained me too; I could beat you."

"Pop trains me. And you could not."

Knives turned to look at Genma, fire and determination in his eyes.

"So you'll train me, right?"

Genma almost spit out his food, trying to hold in his laughter. He held it in long enough to finish swallowing.

"I can't boy. You're years behind Ranma and it's a family art anyway."

He stared at the boy, wondering how a mere child could cause the uneasiness that he felt.

"Can we go discuss it?" Knives asked, as he began to walk away from the group.

Genma shrugged and humored the boy by following.

They stopped after a short walk and Knives turned to face the older man. "I could be helpful to you in return for you teaching."

Genma chuckled. "I don't think there's anything a couple of homeless boys could do for me. I don't plan on taking care of you."

"Actually, I was thinking we could pool our resources and make some sort of arrangement." Knives held out his hand, displaying five 10,000 yen notes.

Genma instinctively reached for bills only to have the boy remove them from view.

"So... Do we have an arrangement?"

"Where did you get that money? If you had it, why'd you challenge Ukyo for the food?" Genam asked, now fully engaged in the conversation. Any conversation that concerned food or money obtained Genma's full attention.

"I obviously didn't have this when I challenged the girl," the boy sneered.

"Then how...?" Genma sputtered.

A feral grin came over the young boy. "The same place you obtained the 20,000 yen in your pocket."

"Well... It seems you do have a knack for the art," Genma replied with a gleam in his eye, matched in intensity by Knives. If the boy could steal so much from the unaware Kuonji, he just might be useful.

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Vash watched in horror as his friend was running after them, attempting to keep up with the surprisingly fast moving yatai. "Mr. Saotome, stop! We need to wait for Ukyo!"

"Don't worry about her son. She needs to stay with her father," Genma huffed.

"But why are we taking his cart, pops?" Ranma asked.

"Ah... It was gift to remember them by. Now stop worrying," Genma chuckled nervously between gasps for breath.

"You know that's not exactly true, Mr. Saotome," Knives said dryly.

"Close enough! Now be quiet, so I can pull," Genma snapped over his shoulder.

"What do you mean, not exactly true, Knives?" Vash asked.

"Well it seems this yatai is a dowry payment for Ukyo." Knives raised a spatula over his head as he spoke.

"Dowry?" Vash and Ranma said simultaneously, their faces lighting up with shock.

"Err... Ah..." Genma stuttered.

"Yes, Mr. Saotome traded one of you two for this yatai," Knives said as he flung the spatula into the ground in front of Genma's foot and jumped off of the moving vehicle.

Vash, seeing the impending disaster, grabbed onto Ranma's hand and followed his brother to the safety of the ground.

Genma tripped in front of the yatai, yelping in surprise as it's momentum carried it over the fallen martial artist. The martial artist and food cart rolled down the road together for a while before coming to a halt.

Vash and Ranma had landed awkwardly, both trying to steady themselves and the other during their descent. They both were up quickly, running towards Ukyo in tandem.

"You jackasses, what's the big idea leaving me behind?!?!"

"Um... We didn't know," Vash and Ranma explained lamely.

"That's right, miss Ukyo."

All three turned as Knives walked up to them.

"Mr. Saotome never told them about the engagement or the agreement to take you with us."

"Engagement?" Ranma had this completely confused look on his face. "What's an engagement?"

"Jerk, one of you has to marry me!"

"Why would anyone want to marry a guy?" Confusion evident on the young boys face.

"Ranma... Ukyo is a girl, you idiot."

"Shut up, Knives!" Ranma turned his full attention to the other youth, hostility evident in his features.

"Heh. You don't know anything do you?"

"Of course I do!"

"Stop it both of you," Vash yelled. Both guys turned to their sides, but kept their eyes glued to each other.

"Did you know about this, Ukyo?" Vash asked curiously He knew a little about engagements and marriage, consisting mostly of two people living together and having children.

"Yeah. My dad told me." Her earlier anger missing.

"Isn't marriage something you decide when we're older?"

"What? You don't want me?" Ukyo hollered in his face.

"I... a ... didn't say that," Vash stammered, while waving his hands and backing away.

"Then what?"

"Well---"

"Ukyo, what my brother is saying is that you're a beautiful young woman. He just feels that you're both too young for marriage right now. Isn't that right, Vash?"

Vash was staring open-mouthed at Knives, the word marriage ping-ponging around his brain. A sharp elbow to his side cleared his mind and he turned on his brother. "What?"

"Answer my question."

"Oh yeah. We're too young to marry now." He glared at Knives after he had said the words.

"Alright, let's get going kids," Genma bellowed, having extracted himself from the yatai. "We're not taking you with us, Ukyo. This is a training voyage. A woman would only hamper that."

Genma reeled under the onslaught of all four children. He never stood a chance.

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Ranma and Knives were fighting around the Tendo Koi pond. It was an intense battle, neither combatant giving an inch. The two fighting had become a common event at the dojo, taking place almost every day since the arrival of the Saotomes and company a few months ago.

Nabiki thought Knives currently held the edge, but she had learned the hard way that appearances in a fight were deceiving, especially when Ranma was a participant. This knowledge about her fiancee and fighting she had learned the hard way, through her pocketbook.

Although it looked like Knives was winning, Ranma was smirking. If he was smirking or laughing, she knew he felt he had the upper hand, even if her impressions of the fight said otherwise.

Knives was grinning with determination, satisfaction, and she thought hate. She was normally a good judge of character and she felt Knives actually hated the pig-tailed boy, no matter what Kasumi or the others said.

She saw the way he looked at Ranma, the way he spoke to her fiancé when he thought others weren't around. The most frustrating thing was Ranma didn't seem to believe it, or care if he did believe it.

"Geez, you would think that jackass would learn." Ukyo had walked into the doorway, shaking her head and watching the fight. Vash was with her as always. Nabiki would never admit it, but she was a little jealous of the two. They were constantly together talking, exchanging looks, and acting like two love-sick puppies. She wanted someone in her life like that.

She liked Ranma, but there was no desire to spend her life with the boy. She was planning on walking out of the engagement or getting Ranma to do it at some later date. He possessed a lot of qualities that made him likeable, and some that she even respected him for, but he wasn't close to being the 'one.'

He wasn't intelligent enough, he wasn't driven in anything other than the 'Art', and most importantly, he had no appreciation for money. He had his uses, and he had actually become a friend, but he wasn't 'marriage material.'

"Has Knives ever won?" Nabiki asked the girl. Ranma had answered that before, but his views had proven to be somewhat suspect in certain areas. He didn't lie much, but he had on occasion covered up some less than flattering occurrences.

"Twice. Right, Sugar?"

"Ah. Yup, twice." Vash agreed.

"Both times Knives had come up with some surprise special move, but Ranma ended up beating him the next day."

"I bet Knives was thrilled?" Nabiki knew that at times Knives acted like beating Ranma was the only thing in the world that he cared about.

"Heh. You can say that again. It seems his personal mission in life is to beat Ranma at the art. The funny thing is, Knives actually learns faster, but when they get into a fight, Ranma just seems to adapt in the middle and throw something new at the Knives to pull-out the victory."

Nabiki was happy with the information. It only corroborated what she had already known, but that was almost as important as knowing it at all.

She watched in awe as Ranma got beaten back into the pond, where Knives followed quickly, not wanting to give up his advantage. They splashed around for a minute with Ranma on the defensive one moment, and the next moment, Knives was being sent into the Dojo wall, where he proceeded to slide down the wall and stay there.

She smiled, unconsciously reflecting the smile Ranma displayed as he sloshed out of the pond.

"I'll go check on Knives," Vash said as he walked over to his brother, Ukyo joined at his hip.

Ranma walked up to Nabiki with a big grin on his face.

"That looked close," Nabiki greeted him.

"Feh. He keeps getting better, but not good enough."

"Well, just keep it that way." She couldn't help but smirk at his embarrassed look from her slight praise.

"Oh, My! Everyone get in here."

The shout startled the two and they quickly rushed into the house, both thinking that Kasumi never yelled.

"What's up sis?" Nabiki asked, as she walked into the room.

"It's horrible." Kasumi replied without turning around. Everyone's eyes were glued to the television as Nabiki and Ranma make it around the side to catch an unobstructed view of what was being shown.

"We repeat again! This is not a drill! Please evacuate Tokyo immediate and go to the fall-out shelter assigned to you! This is not a drill!"

End of prologue.^_^

Author's rant: Blame or Praise Merc for me actually getting around to writing this. Also, thanks to Corwin and Mads for suggestions and help. Chapter one will pick-up after the Nuclear war is over and we slowly find out what tragedies hit out characters and what nefarius things Knives has done in his quest to best Ranma and Humanity. ^_^

This and other stories can be found at my place:

http://kpjam.anifics.com

Email: Noirchloe@nyc.rr.com