Gahh, this threatens to turn into a series.  Why is this a problem?  Read
this fanfic, then reflect on these two words:

Kasumi's Chance


[insert standard use-of-Ranmaverse disclaimers here]

Since this is a draft copy, please e-mail me before reposting in any
form, including MSTs.

This one does seem a bit short, but how does the basic concept sound?

******

As her judgement teetered on the sake-induced brink between rationality
and instinct, Ukyou asked herself again why she was doing what she was
doing.

The answer came like metal to a magnet: because she loved Ranma.

Even so, to do...this...to her friend, and to herself...

...but, if she did not, she might never be able to be with Ranma...

"Forgive me," she pleaded, unsure whether the one she spoke to was in any
condition to understand her.

It was ultimately unfortunate, for both their sakes, that no one else
heard what followed.

******

"Oh, MY!"

Akane slowly drug herself away from a dream which involved malleting her
pervert fiancee...no, husband, she corrected herself...until the spirit of
Happousai had been exorcized, leaving Ranma doting politely on her every
whim.  It had been an especially nice dream, but something about Kasumi's
voice triggered a warning instinct in Akane's mind that reality was
likely to be unpleasant.

Akane's pounding headache was her first clue that her intuition had been
correct.

Kasumi's worried stare was her second.

What her sister was staring at was her third.

Normally, upon seeing what else was in her bedroom, Akane would have
malleted the incongruency out of hand, then gotten angry.  Unfortunately,
her hangover took the surge of adrenaline that preceded both of these
events as a cue to shut Akane down.

Akane's last coherent thought as she fell back to slumber was that she
would get that pervert...

******

"Mrow."

Ranma bolted awake, covered in sweat.  She had thought his dream of
fleeing from a herd of alleycats was nothing more than a dream, but just
as he had been waking up, a cat had sounded nearby.  Desperately, she
looked around for the source of the voice...

...only to frown when she saw Nabiki trying to hide her smile inside an
open newspaper.

Her intended reply was cut off when a flash of pain accompanied her frown,
as if Akane had just spent a full hour practicing her Hammer Special on
Ranma's forehead.

"Good morning, Ranma," Nabiki chuckled.  "Finally awake, I see."

Ranma spent a full minute trying to center herself, and will the headache
to go away.

"Won't work," his tormentor supplied.  "All the martial arts in the world
won't save you from that hangover."

"Hangover?"  Ranma tried to remember the previous night, only to find her
memory of it somewhere between an unintelligible blur and a blank slate.

Nabiki rolled her eyes.  "Did you get *that* drunk?  I was hoping you'd
tell me why you crashed here rather than Akane's room, and in girl form at
that.  I mean, it *was* her birthday, so I thought you'd give your wife a
little...present."  She smiled seductively.

"That's our buisiness," Ranma snorted.  "And how come you aren't
suffering?"

Nabiki lifted her paper, to reveal three shot glasses filled with a clear
liquid.  "Nabiki's Near-Instant Hangover Cure.  For you, only 5,000 yen."

Ranma counted to herself.  "There's six of us.  Who's out?"

"I already gave Kasumi one, if she'd wake Akane and find Ukyou."

"Ukyou's here?"  Ranma absently counted the money out of her pocket.

"She never made it out last night.  I think she recognized that she was
too drunk to walk home."  Nabiki shook her head as she handed one of the
glasses to Ranma.  "The way she and Kasumi were pushing the sake...anyway,
I was wondering if you'd like to help me wake our fathers."

Ranma groaned at the thought of rousing Genma and Soun from their slumber,
then downed the cure.

Nabiki grinned.  "With a bullhorn."

Ranma paused, smiled, then jerked in surprise as the cure banished his
headache like magic.

"I don't call it Near-Instant for nothing."

The sight of Kasumi staggering down the staircase as she wiped her mouth
stopped their banter.

"Are you alright, Kasumi?"

"F-fine, Nabiki..."  She sucked in a breath to compose herself.  "Just
fine."  Her face betrayed her lie.

Nabiki stood up, and put a hand around her sister's shoulder.  "You don't
look so hot.  Did you find Ukyou?"

Kasumi shuddered, then nodded.  Nabiki felt a dry heave pass through her
sister, and smelled vomit on her breath.

Any further questions were cut off by the sound of a door slamming open.
Ukyou burst into view, flew down the stairs, and curled into a fetal
position behind Ranma.

Only after Ukyou had stopped did Ranma notice that she was naked.

"Ranmayou'vegottahidemepleasepleasepleasedon'tlethergetme..."

"Ukyou?"  Ranma blinked.

"OhRanmaI'msorryI'msorryIdon'tknowwhyIdiditbutI'msorry..."

"Calm down, please."  She picked up Ukyou and absently stroked her hair,
which seemed to quell the worst of Ukyou's jitters.  "Now, what happened?"

Ukyou took a few deep breaths, not noticing the glares that Kasumi was
sending her way.

Kasumi had seen others get angry, but the concept just seemed foreign to
her mind.  She could never intimidate anyone.  Even so, she knew there was
a first time for everything, and Kasumi figured that she had a very good
reason to let Ukyou know how she felt.

"She tricked me."

Unfortunately, Kasumi's attempt at imitating her father's anger projection
fell flat.

Ukyou sighed.  "I'm sorry.  I needed everyone drunk...myself and Akane
especially.  I couldn't have gotten her to go along with it any other way.
Same for myself."

"You told me you wanted everyone to get drunk.  Had I known why..."
Kasumi shuddered again.  "...I would never have served that cake you
brought."

Nabiki licked the inside of her mouth.  The cake had had a lot of rum in
it; at least half of the alcohol she had consumed that evening had
probably come from it.

"Ukyou..."  Akane's call attracted everyone's attention.

Ranma took slightly less time to notice that the only thing on her was a
kimono, her largest mallet, and her battle aura more intense than Ranma
had ever seen it.

"STOP!"  Kasumi's yell caused Akane to drop her weapon.  Both Akane and
Ukyou clutched their heads.

"Kasumi..."  Akane reached for her mallet.

"DON'T DO THIS!"

Akane curled up, her fingers threatening to dig gouges in her skull.
"...she raped me..."

"I KNOW!"  Kasumi blinked, then lowered her voice.  "I know, sister.  But
if you attack her, you will kill her, and then you will regret it.  Maybe
not now, but soon, and for the rest of your life.  I can not let you do
that."

Ranma and Nabiki were speechless.

"I'm sorry," Ukyou repeated, as if saying a mantra.

"Ukyou..." Nabiki snarled.  "Tell us what happened.  Please."  Only rarely
had her smile ever been as blatantly insincere as it was now.

"I thought..."  Ukyou choked back a sob.  "I thought, since Ranma loves
Akane, the only way to get him to love me would be if I loved Akane, too."

"That wasn't love," Akane protested.

"I know," Ukyou quietly replied.  "I...I didn't have the courage to just
ask you, and I knew you'd refuse if you were sober, so..."

Akane's eyes narrowed.  "And after I said no?"

Ukyou studied the floor.  "I was too far gone to care.  I'm sorry..."

Akane began reaching for her mallet again.  "You're going to be a lot more
than sorry..."

"STOP!"  Kasumi folded her arms.  "Let us take care of this, sister.  You
stay there."

Before Akane could do more than protest in obscenities, Kasumi lead Nabiki
and Ranma, who was still carrying Ukyou, to the dojo.

******

"Ranma, please.  I will not live if I can't be with you."

Ukyou's plea fell on unsympathetic ears.  "You hurt Akane to get to me,"
Ranma spat.  "I thought you were my friend."

"Ranma..."

"Save it.  I don't ever want to see you again."  With that, he roughly
dropped Ukyou, turned around, and went back inside, not even having
reached the dojo.

Kasumi shook her head.  "Wait here.  I'll get your clothes."  She followed
Ranma.

Nabiki sighed.  "Too bad.  You still had a chance with him."

"Nabiki, there is one last thing I would like to purchase from you."

"You think I'm going to sell you anything after you hurt Akane?"

"I think you'll sell me this..."

******

When Kasumi returned, she saw that Ukyou had kept her promise to Ranma.