"A contest for Ranma? Are you insane?" Akane shook her head as she hurried to escape her two stalkers, otherwise known as the cute fiancées. Ukyo rolled her eyes and quickly caught up to Akane, grabbing the back of her shirt to stop her from running off.

"It'll be a competition to see who gets to marry Ranma honey once and for all! We all know he won't make a choice on his own!" Shampoo nodded beside the chef.

"Spatula girl right, Airen no make decisions. Is up to us!"

Akane pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head again, frown apparent on her face. "It doesn't change the fact that it's his decision to make. What if whoever wins isn't the one he wants to be with? What about then, doesn't his happiness matter at all?"

Ukyo frowned herself, "Of course it does, but it's been what, four years now? He needs to choose and we can't sit around waiting for him our entire lives. At least with this competition, the losers give up their claim on Ranma honey."

Akane's frown deepened as she looked between the amazon and the chef, ignoring the feeling that they were up to something. "Fine, what're the terms?"

Opening the door to complete silence, Akane removed her shoes and set about her mission of finding her reluctant fiancée to tell him about what she had officially dubbed The Encounter of the Worst Kind, as most encounters with Ukyo and Shampoo were. Checking the dojo, living room, and kitchen, Akane decided to head upstairs to see if he was taking a nap in his room or on the roof. Seeing no sign of him, the blue haired girl headed back downstairs with a frustrated sigh to see if she missed a room. Mentally checking off all the rooms that Ranma could possibly be in, she wandered in the direction of the bathroom, coming to a halt in front of the door. Quietly opening the door to the changing room, Akane noted that his clothes were in the hamper and the occupied sign was hanging on the door. About to close the door and head to the living room to wait for him to finish, a sudden thought struck the girl as she halted in her movement.

'What if Shampoo or Ukyo have already told him and they tried to turn it against me?'

Slipping into the dressing area, Akane shut the door behind her and slowly inched towards the shoji in front of her. Swallowing the hard lump that suddenly appeared in her throat, she squared her shoulders and reached her arm out to the door. As her hand moved closer, the door suddenly opened wide and Akane found herself face to face with her fiancée. Her towel clad, dripping wet, surprised, practically naked, and ridiculously attractive fiancée. Silently cursing the lump that once again formed in her throat, Akane froze eyes wide and her face and neck turning impressive shade of red. Ranma for his part looked taken aback, not quiet sure what to make of what was happening. Checking to see if he had indeed put the sign up, Ranma looked at the girl in front of him in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on. Upon seeing the blush upon her face, Ranma couldn't help but smirk as he "figured out" his fiancée's motives. Leaning against the door jam, Ranma regarded his betrothed.

"Sneaking peeks now, 'Kane? I thought you were above that…" Akane's face flushed even more and seemed to glow as she felt her eyes betray her and check out his form. Ranma, of course, noticed and his smirk grew even more.

"B..baka, it wasn't like that! I had to tell you something!!!!" The pigtailed boy raised a brow and held out his arms, gesturing to himself.

"Like how badly you want to see me naked?" Laughing quietly, he watched as Akane's blush deepened and she shook her head furiously.

"NO!!! It has nothing to do with me wanting to see you naked!!!"

Just when she thought her face couldn't get any brighter, she realized what she had said and felt as if her face would explode. Apparently Ranma thought so too, and as soon as he got over his shock that of course led to falling onto the floor laughing, he stood up, brushed himself off and smiled at the girl in front of him, wiping a few stray tears away. Shaking his head, he smiled at his flustered fiancée that was currently living up to her name and decided to give her a bit of a break.

"What's the problem Akane? What did you need to tell me?"

Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down and to try to get her face back down to its original color, Akane began to tell Ranma about The Encounter. Judging by the look of pure surprise and disgust, she knew he knew he had no idea about the competition, omitting the fact that she agreed to compete and hoping he wouldn't ask. By the time the story had ended, she gave him a few moments to come to terms with all that he had just digested and decided to study her fingers intently. Frowning a bit, she stared at a freckle on the inside of her thumb and wondered how long it had been there. She was so busy contemplating what else she hadn't noticed, on her body and in her life, she only caught the end of Ranma's question. Snapping her head up, she looked at him in confusion and he just shook his head and repeated his question.

"What did you tell them? Did you agree to compete?" His frown was evident and she was reluctant to tell him the truth. She suddenly had the desire to study her fingers again, if only to have a reason not to look him in the eye.

"Well, you see…I maybe sort of agreed. But I can always back out!! I only agreed so that if I win, I could give you back your choice!! I know Shampoo and Ukyo wouldn't do that and would hold you to it, so I figured you might want someone on your side…" She was glaring at the mysterious freckle by the end of mini speech and started to chew on her lip intently, praying that he wouldn't be angry with her. She heard his sigh and was busy trying to decipher what it meant that she was startled when another hand was obscuring her view of her own. She barely had time to meet his eyes before he pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you, Akane. I…I'm glad you told me and that you'll be fightin' for me. I…thanks…" She merely nodded her head and wedged her arms free from between their chests, wrapping them around his waist.

It was around midnight by the time Akane found herself flopping back into her bed and ready to sleep. After talking to Ranma, she felt a bit better about the competition and but was still a bit hesitant. After dinner, Akane debated what to do and finally settled on calling Nabiki for advice. After running downstairs for the cordless phone, she found herself seated on her bed and staring at the phone before. Heaving a sigh, she picked up and dialed her sister's cell phone, hoping Nabiki wasn't on a date or in one of her late night classes she seemed so fond of. The phone rang three times before the slightly agitated voice of the middle Tendo picked up.

"Nabiki Tendo."

"Hey, it's Akane. Are you busy?" Akane crossed her fingers and silently chanted "don't be busy, don't be busy" to herself. She heard her sister's mutter to someone to get out before she returning her attention to Akane.

"Not anymore. What's up, baby sister?"

Akane released another sigh. "Ukyo and Shampoo. They want to have a competition…" It didn't take much for Nabiki to catch on.

"And the prize is Ranma, right? I was wondering how long those bimbos would let him lead them on when he is so obviously head over heels in love with you." Nabiki let out a laugh and Akane couldn't help but smile at the older girl's antics.

"Oi, but what do I do! I already agreed to compete and told Ranma about what was going on! I just wish there was a way to stop it!!!" She heard her sister make what sounded like "Hmm" and waited what she thought was patiently, but was really wasn't. Akane was about to ask what to do again when Nabiki spoke up.

"Does Aunty know? Because I doubt she'd let something like this go on, especially without her consent. All you have to do is tell her about the competition and let things go from there."

Akane blinked in surprise and wondered why she hadn't thought of that herself. Feeling a sudden rush a reassurance at the solution her sister had provided, she smiled and allowed Nabiki's change of subject.