[ranma][fanfic] Careful Destiny - Part One

[Todd Hill]

Hello all! I've finally got raac access! Here's the first part of my
story. I hope you enjoy it!

ShadowSoft Inc.
Presents:

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
side-story

Careful Destiny

Part One
"Ground Zero"

by:
Todd Hill
AKA Shadow Stalker

Based on:
Be Careful What You Wish For...
written by:
Richard Beaubien

Inspired by the "Ranma 1/2" Manga and Anime
by Rumiko Takahashi

A warm spring breeze blew through the streets of the Nerima
district shopping center. Today, like every other Saturday, it was
full of people looking for things to buy. Ranma Saotome was among the
crowd of shoppers, going to pick up some green onions for Kasumi. He
was approaching the grocer's shop when his attention suddenly was
diverted by a little junk shop at the corner.
Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Ranma approached the
little junk store and grabbed the door handle hesitantly. Pushing on
the handle, he entered the store. Melodic chimes hanging above the
door rang out, announcing a new customer. As he walked into the
store, he was immediately assailed by a strong odor of old books and
musty furniture. His eyes swept about the place, inspecting the rows
and corridors of items that crowded the store. Pictures of families
from the fifties, and some pre-World War Two clothing and other relics
littered the floor and walls in no discernible order. Ranma stepped
over and around items and he wandered about the store, not sure if
he'd find anything to suit his fancy.
A vendor dressed in a sparkling white leisure suit looked up from
his place behind the counter, and watched as Ranma disappeared behind
a rack of old clothes, heading towards the back of the store. Unseen
by Ranma, the vendor's eyes sparkled as his gaze fell on the young
martial artist. `Yes. This may be the one,' he thought to himself as
he walked around the counter to meet his customer at the back of the
store.
Ranma hadn't found anything of interest, and was beginning to
tire of the place. He turned around to leave when his hand bumped
against an old table with catalogs and dusty music books sitting on
top. Disinterestedly, he looked through the titles of the catalogs,
noting the dates on the covers. He turned his attention to a stack of
old manga sitting on one corner of the table, and was busy flipping
through them when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Yahhh!" Ranma yelled, startled by the quiet approach of the
vendor. His startled jolt caused several of the manga to spill to the
floor.
Undisturbed by his outburst, the vendor smiled, then bowed
slightly. "Anything I can help you with, kind sir?"
Ranma let his heart calm down before answering. He'd debated
asking the vendor how he could've snuck up behind him without him
knowing, but decided not to since the vendor appeared too spacy to be
an effective threat. He scratched his head, not really sure why he
was in the store to begin with. "Ummm... well, I was really just
looking ..."
"... for a gift, perhaps?" the vendor completed. "For your
girlfriend? We have plenty of those here," he said, gesturing to the
walls and aisles of junk in the store.
Ranma grimaced, not so sure that anyone would appreciate a gift
from this store. "Well... not really. To tell you the truth, I don't
even know why I came here," Ranma said distractedly. He began eyeing
the distant doorway, seeing if he had a viable escape path should he
need it.
Adopting a sly smile, the vendor said, "Ahh! It must've been a
magical attraction that brought you here, eh?" He chuckled slightly.
"Say, you like magic young man?"
The mention of magic had returned Ranma's attention to the
rambling vendor in the seventies getup. He frowned at the guy's
question. `No, of course I don't like magic,' he stated to himself.
After Jhusenkyo, and all of the magical ambush plans by Shampoo and
Cologne, he'd had his fill of magic. But instead of ranting about his
life, he merely replied, "Naah. I've never really thought about it."
Undeterred, the vendor continued his spiel. "Well, we have a few
items here that are `special,' " he said, gesturing to the glass
cabinet beneath the counter.
"Whattaya mean, *special?*" Ranma asked skeptically, his eyes
narrowing. Anything *special* usually meant trouble for him.
"Well, the whole lot of items in this cabinet are supposed to be
magical," he said, waving his hands about the display in a way that
would make Vanna White proud.
Ranma couldn't help but ask. He didn't want to believe the
vendor's claims, but something in his mind told him to listen.
"Really? How can you tell?"
The vendor shrugged. "I can't know for sure. I never really
thought to try them out. But I do have a history on a few of them."
Seeing Ranma's nod, he continued. "Well, this one," he indicated a
parasol from a mixed drink, "supposedly causes rain if you put it into
a Gin and Tonic while drinking it under a full moon." Ranma shuddered
at the thought of rain. That little gadget wouldn't give him anything
but trouble. Besides, he didn't drink.
Seeing Ranma shudder, the vendor continued on to the next one,
which happened to be a pair of plastic ear plugs. "This little gem is
supposed to be man's best friend. Apparently, it doesn't block out
all sounds. Instead it blocks out only the nagging voice of a
girlfriend or wife. Great for arguments." Ranma nodded his agreement
smirking at the idea of peace and quiet. But then feared his fate
should Akane discover him using them and find out what they were for.
Besides, Akane tended to use her fists more than her mouth when she
argued. He shook his head, and urged the vendor to continue.
"And this," he said, pointing to a rather unremarkable broach
sitting in the middle of the display case, "is the prize of the
collection."
Ranma snorted laughter, pointing at the dusty old broach. "That
old thing? You *must* be joking."
The vendor oiled his voice, smelling a sale. "Ahh, but sir, that
is no ordinary broach. The original owner said that every fifty
years, that broach will grant the owner two wishes."
THAT got Ranma's attention. "Wishes? Really? I mean, you're
kidding, right? It can really grant wishes!?" Ranma looked over his
shoulders suddenly, not wanting anyone to hear what either he or the
vendor were saying. "Yes, as I said, the previous owner said it can
grant 2 wishes." He turned away from the display and looked at Ranma
with a downcast expression on his face, trying hard to look
disappointed. "But you said that you don't really believe in magic,
so I guess that this broach wouldn't be of any interest to you."
Ranma caught the vendor's arm before he could walk away. "NONO!
I mean... I *could* give it to my gir.. ahh.. a friend of mine," he
said quickly.
`Bingo!' thought the vendor as he took the item from the shelf.
He handed it to Ranma, letting him feel it in his hands. Just as
Ranma was getting comfortable holding it, the vendor took it away and
replaced it in the cabinet. "Heyy..." Ranma yelled, indignant at
having the item taken away.
The vendor looked him square in the eye and said, "If you want
it, it'll cost you 5000 yen."
Ranma turned over the idea in his mind, grimacing at the cost.
5000 yen was a lot of money for an unemployed martial arts student.
Kasumi had given him some money for the onions, and he had some on him
from a rebate he got from Nabiki when she gave him bad information.
Totaling it up, he had about 6000 yen on him. `I hope Nabiki doesn't
find out about this!' he thought as he fished the wad of coins and
bills from his pants pocket. `She'd hound me endlessly if she found
out about this broach.' He shuddered to think of a wishing broach in
Nabiki's hands. "I'll take it," he said, quickly handing the money
over.
`All too easy,' the vendor thought as he exchanged the money for
the broach with Ranma. Ranma took the broach from the vendor's hands
and pocketed it quickly, suddenly protective of the item. "Okay, now
tell me how it works," he pressed once he made sure again that no-one
was around.
The vendor leaned forward over the counter, propping himself up
on his elbows. "Well, it's really simple. Before you go to bed, make
a wish and put the broach under your pillow. In the morning your wish
will come true." Ranma smiled. `Finally! A chance to be rid of his
curse, and walk around Nerima as a man among men. It's so easy!' he
thought to himself, triumphant. `Heck! If it doesn't work, I'll just
give it to Akane, or something. I can't lose!' Ranma turned to leave
the store when the vendor called out to him, "One word of warning,
though. I suggest saving the second wish to undo the first one just
in case the first one doesn't turn out the way you want."
Ranma looked up as he opened the door, smiling. "Yeah, sure.
I'll keep that in mind," he said as he exited the store.
The vendor smiled at the closed door, watching Ranma walk down
the sidewalk. He clapped himself on the knee in a celebratory fashion
once Ranma was out of sight. "Yes, I'm sure you will, Ranma Saotome!"
he said mirthfully, laughing deeply as if getting the punchline to
some cosmic joke. Then he snapped his fingers and vanished from the
store.

****

Ranma had managed to pick up the green onions for Kasumi with
what remaining money he'd had on him. He had to haggle with the
vendor a bit before he bought the large basket of onions, and was
proud of himself for doing it. Nabiki was usually the one to talk
pricing, so he'd never really done it before. So he took his success
with the grocer as a good omen that things would go well for him. He
picked up his vegetable burden and dashed off for the Tendo dojo. He
laid the basket of onions on the kitchen floor next to the eldest
Tendo daughter, shouting, "HereyougoKasumi!" as he bolted for his
room.
Once upstairs, he crept into his room, making sure that neither
Akane nor Nabiki was watching. He slid the door closed behind him,
and sat on his mat, keeping an eye on the door at all times as he
fished the arcane object from the junk store out of his pocket. `A
chance to be normal,' he thought, running his thumb across the rough
surface of the cheap jewelry. `If this *really* works, I can finally
enjoy my life.'
He smiled broadly, closing his eyes and imagining a life free of
the curse. He gripped the broach tightly in his hand, holding it to
his chest as he daydreamed about what a good life he'd have if the
wish were to work.
A small voice in the back of his mind raised an objection. He'd
been living with the curse long enough that a part of him had grown
used to being part woman. And as much as he hated to think of it, if
he kept the curse, he would have a unique perspective on life. But he
stopped dwelling on that, angrily shoving all thoughts of it from his
mind. How could he even think about keeping the damn curse?
As far as he was concerned, his manhood and pride were at stake.
He couldn't see far enough ahead to appreciate the benefits that he
could reap from his unique condition, seeing instead the assault on
his masculinity that his curse represented. `But haven't you needed
the girl's body before?' a part of him asked. `Yeah, but I wouldn't
have had half of the problems that led up to me needing my girl body
if I wasn't cursed in the *first* place,' he shouted back at his
conscience. Sure he'd exploited the babe factor of his female body
when needed, but he'd always regretted doing it afterward, since the
idea of acting female threatened to loosen the paranoid grip he kept
on his masculinity.
In short, Ranma was afraid that if he kept the curse much longer,
he'd start to enjoy being a girl, and would probably start behaving
like one, and finding guys attractive, etc...
His features contorted in agony as he imagined himself
*willingly* giggling like a girl, his hand clinging to some guy's arm.
He violently banished the thought from his mind. `The sooner I'm rid
of this curse, the sooner I can return to a normal life. I can't
handle the weird changes that seem to be happening to me.' He opened
his eyes to gaze on the broach once more. `And if what that guy at
the junk store told me was true, you have the power to fix my
problems,' he thought as he turned the broach over in his hand
absently.
He smiled lightly, tucking the broach in what he hoped was a
secure place. `I guess I'll find out tonight whether or not I'm
really done with this curse for good.' He laughed through his nose as
he imagined Akane's face when he told her tomorrow that he wasn't
cursed anymore. `Maybe she'll stop acting so angry,' he added
hopefully as he stood up and walked out of his room.
He headed back downstairs quickly, hoping that his extended
absence didn't raise any suspicions among either his father or Nabiki.
As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he knew that he had nothing to
fear. He noted, as he took his customary place on the porch outside,
that his father and Mr. Tendo were playing their customary game of Go.
Meanwhile Nabiki was lounging on the floor, watching the TV with a
passive interest, and Akane was making her standard training noises in
the dojo. He leaned back against the wall of the house, relaxing and
enjoying the feeling of the late afternoon sun as it played against
his skin.
The remainder of the evening passed swiftly for Ranma. Eating
dinner in silence, he'd managed to avoid giving anything about the
wish away to anyone at the dinner table, and he only fought once with
Akane. `We may finally be getting along,' he thought to himself as he
looked over at her again.
He smiled to her as their eyes met, but as usual she
misunderstood the intention behind his friendly smile and frowning
back at him. "What are *you* looking at, *pervert!*" she shouted
defensively, tearing her gaze from him. His smile quickly vanished
from his face, to be replaced by the anger he usually felt whenever
Akane did that. `Then again, maybe not,' he thought sullenly.
Looking about the room to get his mind off of Akane's attitude,
he spotted the clock and noted how late it was getting. "I'm going to
bed," he said softly, standing up and quietly making his way up the
stairs.
Akane couldn't miss the downcast tone in his voice, and realized
that she had once more stepped over the line with her knee-jerk
response to her fiancee's affection. "Ranma..." she said hesitantly,
holding her hand out to him. He didn't seem to hear her as he
continued out of sight up the staircase. She withdrew the hand and
held it against her pained heart, cursing herself all the while for
her misplaced anger. Although she'd die before ever admitting it to
anyone in the room, she wanted nothing more at the moment than to run
upstairs to Ranma, and have him hold her as she apologized for all of
the times she hurt him.
She made two hesitant attempts to get up and go after him, but
something caused her to stop saying or doing anything further. Akane
bigsweated as she felt every eye in the room lock onto her, awaiting
her next move. Stiffly she turned away from the staircase and faced
the TV again. `I'm sorry, Ranma,' she thought to herself sadly,
pretending to watch the show. Disappointed looks from the audience
turned away from her as she fixed her gaze on the screen. `Someday
we're going to have to stop behaving like idiots,' she promised
herself. She winced as she heard the door to his room slam shut.
`Someday soon, Ranma...'

****

An hour later, Ranma sat up in his futon, no longer pretending to
be asleep. "Finally," he said in a hushed and slightly exasperated
voice after hearing the last bedroom door close. It was late night at
the Tendo dojo, and the sound of the closing door signaled that the
last of the household had finally gone to bed. He looked over his
shoulder, making sure that Genma was already asleep. He nodded to
himself, hearing the blissful snoring of his father as he slept in his
panda form.
Now that everyone had turned in, he felt sure that no-one would
catch him trying to use the broach. Standing up quietly from his
sleeping mat, he walked over to where he hid the precious item.
Taking care not to make any noise, he pulled it from its secret
location and gripped it tightly with his hands, seemingly desperate.
`I sure hope this works,' he thought as he closed his eyes.
Any doubts about using the wish had been swept away the moment
Akane had snapped at him. `I can't believe she still calls me a
pervert. Why...' He broke off the question, wiping the argument from
his mind. It was a moot point as far as he was concerned. He was
very confident that the item in his hands would solve the problem.
`She'll finally respect me once I'm no longer cursed,' he told
himself, sure now of what he was about to do.
`Goodbye curse,' he thought as he pulled the broach to his chest.
He swept away a sudden pang of regret that he felt at losing his
female form, as he thought of the proper words to say for his wish.
After a moment's contemplation, the words rushed into his head and he
knew what he had to say. In a soft voice, Ranma said, "I wish I never
became cursed with a girl's body." His wish complete, he placed the
broach underneath his pillow. Yawning widely, he curled up on his
futon and went to sleep, optimistic about the morning to come.

****

Morning broke in Nerima (smash! ^_^). Rays of sunlight peeked
through the window and fell on the face of a blissfully sleeping, and
lightly snoring Ranma. The door slid open and a woman poked her head
in the room. "Ranma-chan, wake up!!!" she called out. A small frown
due to his lack of response marred an otherwise beautiful face.
Ranma recognized the voice, but in his sleep-induced torpor he
wasn't quite sure who was talking to him. Besides, he didn't know of
anyone that would call him `Ranma-chan' at the Tendo Dojo anyway. Too
tired to think about it, he mentally shrugged his shoulders and
assumed it was his kawaiikune iinazuke taunting him. Reluctant to
give up the cozy sleep he was in, he turned over on his bed, mumbling,
"...nnn... g'way Akane..." Soft snoring resumed shortly after that.
A sigh could be heard in the distance, followed by the sound of a
metallic rattling, causing Ranma to twitch occasionally. The clanking
sound grew louder, then was suddenly replaced by a splash as a deluge
of cold water hit Ranma in the face and cascaded down his body,
leaving him very alert and shivering.. "I said GET UP!" a tart voice
shouted at him from above. "Honestly! If you would at least get up
on time I wouldn't have to do this every morning."
A very angry Ranma shot back with, "That was cold!! Why did you
do that?! I'll get you, you ..." His words trailed off as he
realized in complete horror who it was he was talking to. Nodoka
Saotome. His mother! She knew who he was, and he was soaking wet
with cold water! This wasn't good!
"MOM?!?!?" he screamed, half hysterical. His hands were
instantly a blur as he searched himself for signs of breasts or other
incriminating female parts. But to his astonishment, he found that he
was still a male.
His face lost all expression. `It wasn't a dream?! I'm truly
not cursed anymore?!' Ranma jumped up, ran past his befuddled mother
to the bathroom (once he could find it), and splashed himself
repeatedly with cold water. After creating a small pool on the floor,
and confirming that he was no longer cursed, he ran back into his
room. `My mother!' Ranma thought blissfully as he moved through the
door to his room. `I don't have to hide from her anymore!' With that
he ran to his mother and hugged her tightly. "Oh Mom! I've missed
you so much!" he said, on the verge of tears.
"Dear, you must've had a bad dream. We were all together for
supper just last night, as usual. Don't you remember?" Nodoka said
soothingly. She was puzzled at his statement, but didn't argue with
the hug. She was all too willing to express her love for her only
son. She stroked his head gently as he broke down and cried on her
shoulder, holding onto her tightly.
A couple of silent moments passed before he stood back from the
hug, wiping his eyes and getting himself under control again. He
grinned widely as he remembered his cold water experiment. He started
dancing around the room, gleefully proclaiming, "I'm a MAN! YES! No
more Jhusenkyo!"
A *very* confused Nodoka watched as her son skipped about the
room doing high-fives with the wall and cheering wildly. Not
understanding his behavior, she walked over and grabbed hold of his
arm to stop his manic rantings. "Of course you're a man, Ranma.
Whatever gave you the idea that you weren't? And what's this jusu-
whatsis thing you mentioned?"
His mind scrambled to figure out why she'd asked that question.
`Duh! Of course! She never knew about the curse, or the training
grounds of Jhusenkyo.' Waving a hand at her, he casually replied,
"Ah, it's nothin' Mom! Just a weird dream."
She let it drop, although the look she gave him clearly stated
that she didn't quite believe that it was `nothing.' "Well, whatever
Ranma. You'd better get dressed soon. It's almost time for school,
and you don't want to be late again. Breakfast will be waiting for
you downstairs, so hurry up and get ready," she said as she walked out
of his room.
`Wow! Looks like the broach really worked! I'm no longer
cursed...' He stopped thinking and looked around, trying to get a
feel for where he was. `But it worked in a weird way. This isn't the
Tendo home. In fact, I have no idea where I am.' He scratched his
head, concern growing over the fact that he wasn't able to recognize
*anything* that he saw. Another concern he had was the broach. `I
wonder if it's here...' Ranma looked under his pillow, and to his
satisfaction saw that the broach had made the trip with him. Taking
it out from under his pillow, he hid it in what he felt was a secure
place underneath his dresser, the whole time making sure he wasn't
being watched.
His stomach growled, reminding him that breakfast was awaiting
him downstairs. Not one to argue with his appetite, he stood away
from the dresser and walked over to his closet. Opening the closet
revealed a host of dark pants and T-shirts, along with five sets of
men's school uniforms. Then his gaze swept past something he'd never
expect to see in his closet.
`A leather jacket?!' he thought incredulously. Turning the
expensive biker's jacket over in his hands, he saw English writing on
the back, but couldn't read past the "Harley-Davidson" emblem.
Grimacing at the selection (or lack thereof, depending on one's
perspective) of clothing, he turned back to his dresser, hoping the
outcome would be better. After rummaging through all of his dresser
drawers for a couple of moments, he sighed in relief when he found
what he wanted to wear. Smiling, he pulled out his customary Chinese
outfit, consisting of a red shirt and black pants. Thankful that he
wasn't going to wear that damned school uniform that other guys had to
wear, he put his clothes on with gusto.
Once dressed, he looked out his bedroom window. He was anxious
to see just how much his life had changed when a thought interrupted
him. `If I'm not at the Tendo hall, then I wonder where Akane is?'
He dropped the question for the moment as he heard his mother calling
him down to the breakfast table. He shrugged his shoulders, figuring
that he'd work on that little problem later.

****

Trying hard not to look like he was gawking, Ranma slowly panned
his gaze across the richly furnished house. He liked the look, but
thought that it was a bit much for a family of martial artists. `Not
that I'm complaining,' he was quick to add. Indeed, this is the kind
of house that he'd dreamed of living in for many years. `Pop must be
doing fairly well to be able to afford this getup,' he thought in
admiration. He leveled his gaze on the table again as Nodoka sat a
tray of food down in front of him, smiling warmly. "Eat up dear. You
don't have much time."
`God! This is so real!' Ranma thought, spellbound, as he wolfed
down the food Nodoka sat in front of him. `This stuff's better than
Kasumi's cooking,' Ranma noted in-between gulps. He slowed his
eating, savoring the taste. He'd told his Pop several times in the
past about how much he'd enjoy getting a home cooked meal from his
Mom, and he was right. `Not that Kasumi's cooking isn't good, but
this just tastes better to me.' He resumed his high-speed dining,
banishing his morning hunger.
As he ate, something else that had been nagging at him came to
mind, `I wonder why Pop didn't wake me up for our morning practice?'
Ranma finished eating and laid his empty bowl and chopsticks down on
the tray. "Mom?" he yelled out towards the kitchen
"Yes dear?" Nodoka returned.
"Where's Pop?"
"Out doing his morning training with Ranko before he goes to
work. Where else would he and your sister be?" With a puzzled look
on her face, Nodoka emerged from the kitchen and walked to the table.
With a mother's usual concern, she knelt down and put her hand on his
head. "Are you sure you're okay, Ranma-chan? You know, you're acting
awfully strange. Maybe you should stay home today."
Ranma was too stunned to respond to Nodoka's suggestion. He
couldn't believe that he had a sister! He was also taken aback by the
idea that his father actually *worked* for a living. He *blink-
blinked* several times in confusion before realizing that he'd taken
too long to answer his mother. He shoved aside his shock, struggling
to remember what it was she'd said to him. "No, Mom. That's okay.
I'll be fine," he finally said.
"My son, not wanting to stay home from school? You *must* be
sick, dear," she said mirthfully.
"MOOOOM!" Ranma said, flushing red with embarrassment.
"Calm down! I was just kidding, dear," she said, putting a hand
on his shoulder and squeezing lightly. Her eyes widened in pleasant
surprise as she noted the empty bowl. "Well, you must've been hungry
today. I guess you enjoyed your breakfast?"
"Yeah, it was good," Ranma replied cheerily.
Nodoka smiled as she glanced at her son. "Ah! I'm glad to see
that you're wearing the outfit I gave you last year. I had begun to
think that I'd wasted my money on it."
"Well..." he replied, uncomfortably. He was going to have to
watch himself around his mother. She had an attention to detail
similar to Nabiki's, and unless he was careful, he'd get into a lot of
trouble. He looked over at the wall clock and gasped. `Dammit, I'm
going to be late!'
Scrambling to his feet, he dashed over to the door stand. "Well,
I'm off to school," he said as he put on what he assumed were his
shoes.
Nodoka stood next to him to see him off, holding his bento in her
hands. She gave it and his books to him, saying, "Okay dear. Here's
your lunch." She kissed him on the forehead as he grabbed his stuff,
and then watched the dustcloud disappear into the distance as he ran
for school. `That's odd. I've never seen him run on fencetops
before,' she thought as she watched him disappear into the distance.

****

Less than two minutes into his run for school, Ranma had to stop.
He wasn't his normal self. During his run from `home' he'd noticed a
couple of odd things. One, he was unusually winded from his run,
almost as if he hadn't run in ages. Two, he had to stick to running
on the ground, as he had fallen thrice from fence railings after
losing his balance.
Pacing himself more carefully, he resumed running, although he
wasn't really sure where he was going. That was until he happened
upon the familiar landmark of the Tendo Dojo. `Good,' he thought
brightly to himself, happy to finally see something he recognized.
`I'll be able to walk Akane to school. She'll really flip when she
sees...'
His train of thought derailed at the sight of a limousine pulling
up to the front gates of the Tendo estate. `Huh? A Limousine? Ahh!
It must be for Nabiki,' he thought, dismissing the limousine for the
moment. Then he saw who stepped out of it.
A very smug and austere looking Kuno stepped out and walked to
the gates, calling out, "Akane-chan, time to go to school!" After a
couple of minutes, the gates opened and a somewhat depressed Akane
walked out. Ranma stepped back in complete confusion, not sure what
was going on. Akane let loose a tired sigh, replying simply, "Coming
dear."
`Coming dear?!?' Ranma tossed that one over in his head for a
moment. Anger rising to the fore, he walked over to Kuno. "Hey!!
You fool! Whattaya think you're doing!?!"
Kuno regarded Ranma as one would a household cockroach. "Who are
you, sniveling commoner, to be addressing the great Tatewaki Kuno in
such an insolent manner?" Before Ranma could answer, Kuno held up his
hand to stop any response. "Ahh, but it is not important that I know
who you are. And for your information, I am here to pick up my
fiancee for school. Now leave us, you insouciant miscreant!!"
Ranma stared open mouthed at Kuno, not believing what he was
hearing. "Fiancee?! How *dare* you claim such a thing about Akane?!
She's *my* fiancee!" he shouted. He was absolutely livid, and
couldn't get over Kuno's audacity. Sure that idiot had proclaimed his
lust for Akane before, but this was going too far! He approached the
kendoist menacingly, his hands flexing in preparation for battle.
Meanwhile, Akane gasped in shock. She looked from one man to the
other in silence, trying to figure out what was going on. Ranma's
proclamation of marriage stunned her, and she suddenly found a bit of
worry being mixed with her heavy depression.
"You'll take her over my dead body!!" Ranma declared angrily,
balling his hands into fists.
"That can be arranged, simpleton," Kuno replied, sighing as if
dreading a household chore.
"What's going on Kuno-chan?" Akane asked nervously. She had an
idea about what was going to happen, but she wasn't sure whether to
stop the two, or let this guy take a shot at Kuno. She turned to
Kuno, awaiting a response.
"Just get in the car, Akane," Kuno commanded grandly. "He's just
another fool who thinks he's worthy of your love. But fear not, my
dearest *wife*," Kuno emphasized the word, looking right at Ranma as
he said it. "I'll dispose of this wretch quickly. He won't be
bothering us again."
Akane disappeared inside the limousine, groaning in disgust and
muttering "Oh, brother!" just within earshot of the two.
"I'll make you suffer for this, Kuno!" he said as he got into a
fighting stance. "No-one else on this planet has the right to call
Akane his wife, you arrogant bastard!"
"You may address me as Upperclassman Kuno, or Sempai. You have
no right to call me by any other name," Kuno instructed calmly. "And
as for calling someone arrogant, I would say that you are such. But
enough! Name calling is beneath me, as are you. Prepare yourself,
for the heavens are about to decry my righteous claim to the fair
Akane Tendo." He raised his bokken, pointing it in Ranma's direction.
Preferring not to respond to Kuno's blathering, Ranma twisted his
hips slightly and launched into a jump kick.
What happened next shouldn't have.
Ranma fully expected to connect with Kuno's face, as what usually
happened when they fought However something in his body didn't seem
to be responding properly, and the unsure kick was deftly blocked by
the Kendo champion. "You really must think too highly of yourself if
you believe that such sloppy footwork will gain you victory, knave!
That attack was pathetic!!"
He panicked slightly. `Kuno shouldn't have been able to touch
that kick. What the hell's happened to me? Was the move telegraphed
or something?' He didn't get a chance to think any further on the
subject as Kuno's stance changed. "Now know the true meaning of pain,
mongrel! Shi-ne!!" he yelled, launching his attack. Swinging
outward, he slashed at Ranma with his bokken.
Ranma barely managed to dodge the initial attack, and noticed
that he was very slow to react to the strike. It was as if his mind
knew what to do, but his body wasn't coordinated enough to perform the
moves. And that lack of coordination was beginning to tell as Kuno's
attacks gained in intensity. Kuno grinned inwardly, sure of his
victory, as he yelled, "STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!
STRIKE! STRIKE!" with every thrust. His movements increased in
frequency to the point where they were a blur. Ranma was no longer
able to combat the force of Kuno's multiple swordstrokes and was
thrown into the wall, where he lost consciousness.
"Let us go, Akane," Kuno proclaimed as he entered the limousine,
leaving a knocked out Ranma lying in the garbage outside the Tendo
Hall.

****

Ranma's head was spinning and his body was aching. The pain was
reminiscent of the fights he'd had with Akane. But he didn't recall
fighting her recently. But he chalked his confusion up to his fuzzy
mind. He finally decided that he was dreaming. `Yeah, that has to be
it...'
But he dismissed that thought a moment later. He had to have
lost a fight to someone. How else could he explain the pain he felt?
He knew that he hadn't seen Ukyou, Shampoo, or even Ryouga today, so
who did this to him? Slowly his mind became aware of an annoying
smell. Wrinkling his nose, he moved his head away from it, only to
encounter more of the same. He brought a hand to his face, but jerked
it away quickly. He coughed at the terrible smell, trying not to gag.
Wherever he was, it stunk viciously. But his odor analysis faltered
suddenly as a sound dragged him away from his thoughts.
He slowly opened his eyes, the bright sunlight overwhelming his
field of vision and causing a stabbing pain to hit him in the back of
the eyes. Shielding his eyes with a distant hand, he slowly grew
accustomed to the light, and the pain subsided. Once he was able to
see without pain, he opened his eyes fully and turned them in the
direction of the noise.
Looking up, his eyes met with the deep blue eyes of a pretty,
young, dark-haired girl. She was standing over him, snapping her
fingers in front of his face, trying to get his attention. He blinked
his eyes a couple of times to clear away some of the blurriness still
in his vision. Looking about, he saw that he was ass high in a trash
pile.
Directly across from the trash pile he could see the gates of the
Tendo Hall. `Yup, Akane and I must've had another argument.' His
hands found stable supports in the garbage, and tried to sit up, only
to lurch drunkenly and stumble facefirst back into the refuse. He
settled for moving into a sitting position, although his body
protested painfully with every movement.
"Hey bro, wake up!! What the hell are you doing lying in a trash
heap, idiot!" She knelt down to look at his face. "Geez! If I
didn't know any better, Ranma, I'd swear you were in a fight. In
fact, you look like shit."
Ranma's mind cleared a little bit more. He could now remember
snippets of what had happened, but he couldn't get the whole picture
in his mind. He quit considering what happened to him as the young
lady's words caught up to him. `She's my *sister*?! Oh, boy...' He
looked at her closely, and to his shock saw that she looked exactly as
he did. Whenever he was hit with cold water that is. `Yeah, a
lifetime ago,' he added sourly.
It was as if he was looking into some sort of special mirror.
The only differences between the girl standing in front of him and
`his Ranko' was that she had dark hair, instead of red, and she was
wearing the customary Furinkan High School uniform. And even though
it was a school uniform, it still managed to do wonders for her
figure. And to top it all off, he saw that she had her hair in a pig-
tail. `This day is weird!,' he declared before standing up from the
rubbish.
"It looks like you were hit pretty hard," Ranko commented,
fingering the Ranma-shaped depression in the wall. "How'd this
happen?"
The question triggered his memory, as the fight flooded back into
his mind with complete clarity. "What the hell?!? I lost to Kuno!!"
he shouted, incredulous.
"Ranma?! You challenged Kuno-Sempai?" she yelled back, clapping
her hand against her forehead and groaning in disgust. "Whatever
possessed you to do something that stupid? Don't you realize that
he's the best fighter at Furinkan High?"
"Yeah, and I lost!!!" he spluttered, not paying attention to what
he was saying. `How could I have lost to Kuno?! That's
*impossible!*'
"Well of course you lost! You should know better than to
challenge an expert martial artist when you don't know any martial
arts yourself," she said tartly.
Ranma stood stock still, not wanting to believe what his sister
just told him. "What did you say?" he asked, hoping he heard her
wrong.
"I said ..."
"... I don't know martial arts?" he completed slowly.
"Yeah, you haven't trained a day in over 10 years," she replied
matter-of-factly. She stood back as Ranma stepped away from the
garbage heap he was still standing in.
"What!?! This can't be. How..." Ranma made a sudden decision
and took Ranko's hand in his. "Come with me, now!" he said in an
eerie monotone.
"Hey, what!?...Lemme go!" she said as she was dragged away,
forced to follow her brother to wherever he was going.

****

He had to get away from the dojo. His mind was clogged with
confusion and uncertainty over the morning's events, and he didn't
want to deal with Akane and Kuno right now. Sticking around her place
would only serve to remind him of what just happened, so he decided to
deal with them later. Right now, he had some questions about himself
he wanted answered, and decided that talking in the park would be
better for questioning his sister. They were a blur as he dragged his
sister behind him to the park. Once there, he found a bench and sat
down, pulling her down with him.
Winded and holding a hand against her chest, she squirmed to seat
herself comfortably on the bench. She had never seen her brother
behave like this before, and showed her confusion as she spoke.
"What's the big idea, bro? I mean, I don't mind missing class and
all, but..."
Ranma held up his hands to quiet her. Looking her straight in
the eye, he plunged ahead. "Sis, humor me for a moment, please. I
know this question's coming out of left field, but I need an
answer..." His look became desperate. "Please tell me about my
life," he said, almost pleading.
Ranko's face broke out in the beginnings of shocked laughter, but
she managed to contain herself. Seeing that he wasn't kidding, her
humor disappeared, and was replaced by concern and even a little
anger. "What!? Boy, Kuno must've hit you harder than I thought...
Just what the hell kind of question is that, anyway?" she asked,
placing her hands on her hips. Leaning forward a bit, she stared at
her brother.
Ranma wrung his hands, awaiting an answer from her. Her intense
staring wasn't helping him to calm down any. "Just tell me, please?!"
he finally shouted out.
"Well, the easy answer to that is that you don't have a life,"
she finally said, smiling wickedly at him.
Ranma's face flushed in anger, causing Ranko to push back
involuntarily. "RANKO! Dammit! That's not what I was talking about!
I want you to tell me about my past! Why don't I know martial arts?"
he yelled in exasperation.
"Okay, okay!" she said, holding her hands up to ward him off.
`Christ, he's really serious about this. I wonder if Kuno-Sempai
really hurt him...' Seeing his face turn purple, she wiped the grin
off of her face and regarded him seriously. "Whatever ..." she said
as she sat back on the bench, putting a finger against her lips in
apparent concentration. "Well, here's what I remember from the
stories Mom and Pop told me. You were Mom and Pop's first kid. So
Pop started to train you early on so you could carry on the Saotome
School of Martial Arts. When you were really young, he wanted to take
you on a training journey. Mom refused to let him take you unless you
wanted to go. When Pop asked you if you wanted to go, you said you
wanted to stay at home."
Ranma nodded to himself. `So that explains why I'm not cursed,
but not why I don't know martial arts.' He turned back to listen to
his sister.
"After that day Pop refused to train you any further, saying that
you weren't a real martial artist. When that happened he started to
train me to carry on the Saotome school of Martial arts in place of
you." She looked into her brother's eyes, "You were always okay about
this before. What's happened to you, man?"
Ranma couldn't answer. He was too shocked to. It was
unconscionable for him to think that his father would abandon him
simply because he wouldn't go on that damn trip. `My life seems to be
tied to that decision. I think I've lost more than I've gained by
getting rid of the curse...'
Ranko waved her hands in front of Ranma's eyes. "Hey, you want
me to continue?"
Ranma started as he realized something. `Waitaminute! I can
relearn Martial arts...' Some of his desperation fled as he thought
about this. `As long as I can relearn martial arts I can win Akane's
heart!! Yeah! If that's the only problem with this world, then it
could be better than the one I came from!' Ranma's mind returned to
the present as his eyes focused on Ranko's snapping fingers. Quickly,
he grabbed his sister's hands and held them close to his chest.
Looking into her eyes, he asked, "Hey Ranko! Do you think you can
train me? I wanna learn martial arts."
Ranko turned red at the question. "Why should I teach you
anything at all?" she snapped back at him. Ranma recoiled at the
unexpected anger in her voice. "You hate martial arts, Ranma! Stop
joking about it. And you know I hate it when you rag on me about
being a fighter!"
Ranma released her hands, and looked at her aghast. "Ranko, I'd
never tease you about that!"
"Kuno must've knocked your memory outta whack when he hit you.
Either that or you're being a smartass." She didn't try to hide her
bitter look. But even with the anger she felt, a part of her couldn't
help but believe him. Ranma's sincerity was too hard to dismiss as
mere acting.
"Ranko, I'm serious about this! I want... no I *need* to learn
martial arts. Please tell me you'll help me!" He squeezed her hands
lightly, hoping to sway her.
She glared at her brother for a moment, then relented. "Well, if
you're really serious about this, I can certainly try. What's the
sudden interest, Ranma?"
"Let's just say that I have some things to work out. I really
appreciate this, Sis!," he said, standing up. To himself he added,
`Great! Just you wait Akane! I'll put things back to normal and I
won't have that curse to make my life miserable!! Then we can have
the life that we were meant to have!'
Meanwhile Ranko looked over at her brother, smirking. `I'll see
just how much you appreciate my lessons after our first day's over,
Ranma.' She stopped herself, considering something. `Maybe Kuno
managed to knock some sense into big brother during that fight. Ranma
may finally be coming around...'

****

Once they finished talking, Ranma and Ranko decided to haul ass
to school, even though they were both horribly late. Ranma had
originally protested Ranko's suggestion about going to school until
she said, "If Mom finds out we cut school, she'll kill us both!"
Ranma bowed to his sister's excellent logic and followed her to
Furinkan High. When they arrived, Ranma groaned in disgust. Their
teachers made them stand in the hall for an hour due to missing their
first classes.
Once he'd arrived in his classroom, he saw that Akane was in his
class. He'd brightened slightly when he first saw her. During one of
the breaks he was about to go over to her desk and talk to her, that
is until he noted that she wasn't returning his gaze. In fact, if he
had known any better, he would've sworn that she was deliberately
ignoring him. The shock of that was enough to stagger him.
He sat quietly for the remainder of class, a stony look on his
face. `She really doesn't know who I am!' he had thought to himself
at the time. He kept stealing glances at her from his position,
trying to record all of the things that were different about her. She
was sporting long hair, like she had when he first met her, previously
met her, `... whatever,' he thought disgustedly. The bell rang,
signifying the end of the class. Ranma took one last, lingering look
at Akane as she stood and walked from the classroom, and felt his
heart tear when she didn't even turn his way.
Lunchtime had been right after that, and he ate his meal without
even tasting it. A few people had come over to him, trying to talk,
but Ranma wasn't paying attention to anything but his churning mind.
`Man, what the hell am I going to do now? I have a sister who doesn't
like me. Akane doesn't even want to talk to me. Kuno managed to pull
a miracle out of his ass and beat me in combat.' His eyes scanned the
outside, as he noted the many students who were wolfing down their
lunches amidst the springtime sunshine. `None of the people here even
know me. It's like I'm going to be starting all over again.'
He packed his empty bento away, and reclined against the trunk of
a tree. `I hope that Ranko'll be able to re-train me. Otherwise I'll
have to use that other wish to reverse this one. There's no *way* I'm
gonna live without martial arts.' He clenched his fists in a show of
determination. `But at least that damned curse is gone.' He took
some heart in that. Ranma felt that as long as he was able to re-
learn Anything Goes, he'd be able to deal with the rest.
`I gotta figure out what the hell happened to Akane. Her being
engaged to Kuno was the last thing that I would've ever expected from
her.' He shook his head in disbelief. `Must've been something pretty
bad...'
His mind changed tracks, as he thought of the new sibling that
he'd suddenly inherited. `I have a sister.' He smiled slightly.
He'd always wanted to have a brother or sister. `But she's pissed at
me for some reason... If I'm gonna have any peace at `home', I'll
have to find out why she's so mad at me and fix it.' The ringing of
the clock ended the lunch period, and students scrambled to pick up
their things and head in for their next class.
The rest of school had been the usual drag, but with the added
agony of watching Akane ignore him for the rest of the day. Ranma's
disdain for school had apparently not changed when he made that wish.
By the end of school he had amassed a copious amount of chalk dust in
his hair from the erasers thrown at him for failing to pay attention.
Somehow, though, he had managed to survive to the end of the day.
The final straw for Ranma came when he saw Kuno fawning over
Akane as they left the school together, placing his arm across her
slight shoulder as they left the grounds and made for his limousine.
Noticeably depressed, he heaved a sigh and started walking from the
school building when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned his
head and saw his bouncy sister walking behind him. "Hey, you alive in
there bro?" she quipped as she advanced to walk beside him.
Ranma forced himself to smile slightly at his cute sister's dry
wit. Ranko's sarcastic behavior was annoying, but it was helping him
to banish the foul mood that had swept over him during class. Ranko
took a look at her brother and laughed out loud. Reaching her hand
up, she brushed at the front of Ranma's head, dislodging a minor snow-
drift's worth of chalk dust from his hair. He sneezed as some of the
dust entered his nose. "Didja fall asleep in class again, Ranma?" she
asked, chuckling slightly and clapping her hands together to get rid
of some of the chalk dust that had clung to her.
"Something like that," Ranma replied absently. He felt the
depression begin to creep up on him again, and sighed softly.
`Dammit, I hate feeling like this!' he shouted internally. `How can I
get rid of this depression?' He brightened as an idea came to him.
He turned to look at his sister. "Umm, Sis?"
"Yeah, what's up Ranma?" she asked as she continued to walk.
"You know that agreement we made in the park today? You know,
about training me?" he asked quickly. Ranko nodded her head. "Well,
do you think we can start today?" he asked, a hopeful tone in his
voice. Ranko turned to her brother. "Yeah, I guess I can do that.
What say we get suited up after I finish my homework and we'll work
out in dad's training hall. He should still be out of there then."
"Great!" Ranma replied, glad for the distraction. `A workout may
be just the thing to cure the blues,' he thought as he followed his
sister home.

****

Ranma frowned at the gi he was wearing. He again resisted the
temptation to take it off, and stood there with a slightly embarrassed
look on his face. His sister's giggling wasn't helping matters any.
He eyed her dangerously, trying to shut her up. "You can cut that out
anytime you want, Ranko," he said angrily. Since Ranma's `other self'
had never taken to martial arts, he didn't have a gi of his own. But
since he and Ranko were close to the same size, she had loaned him one
of her older spares.
He hadn't paid attention while putting it on. It didn't fit all
that well. The pants were a little small, and they were a little
uncomfortable around the hips. The top was the killer, however. It
fit fine, but it looked bad on Ranma. After all, how macho can a guy
be wearing a pink gi with `Hello Kitty' stickers on the back?
Ranko was nearly hysterical, pointing at Ranma and gasping for
air in-between gales of laughter. Ranma growled at her, cutting
through her laughter and calming her down. "I'm sorry, bro. I guess
I forgot that Mom had sewn on those patches. After all, I haven't
used that gi for awhile. We can fix that after we get through
practicing," she commiserated.
`Sure you forgot, Sis,' Ranma thought, allowing his ire to
dissipate slowly. He assumed a ready stance in the middle of the
training hall. It was a bit smaller than Mr. Tendo's dojo, he noted,
but it served its purpose.
After stretching for a few minutes, Ranko faced him. "Okay,
Ranma. I'm gonna assume that you've never had any training before."
Ranma nodded slowly. He'd decided during school today that he didn't
want to give away anything about his past, for the moment at least.
"That being the case, we'll start with some basic moves," she said,
adopting a teacher's stance. "Ranma, I'll be honest and tell you from
the beginning that I haven't ever trained anyone before, so I'm
playing it by ear."
Ranma looked at her squarely, saying, "That's okay Ranko. I have
faith in you."
Ranko breathed deeply, and exhaled slowly. "Okay Ranma, let's
start with defense. I want you to try and block my kick, okay?"
Ranma nodded, and Ranko launched into a simple kick that he blocked
deftly. She eyed her brother strangely, "Ranma, you sure you've never
had training before?"
His eyes widened as he realized that he wouldn't be able to hide
some aspects of his training. Scrambling to find an excuse, he
finally came up with something. "I guess it's from watching a lot of
kung fu movies," he suggested, smiling weakly.
Ranko's skeptical glance didn't quite leave her face. "Uhh,
yeah... right. Well anyway, I'm going to see just how much you do
know. Watch out, I'm gonna start to pick up the speed on my kicks.
Let me know when you want me to stop."
Ranma nodded without saying anything further. Ranko resumed her
attack stance again and launched a fusillade of faster and slightly
more complex kicks. He managed to block most of them, but the strain
was becoming evident as he struggled to keep up with his sister's
pace.
Ranko, meanwhile, was getting frustrated that all of her kicks so
far had not connected. Granted they were kicks that any martial
artist with a year's training could block, but her brother wasn't
supposed to know martial arts at all. She frowned inwardly, her
frustration having mounted to the point where she decided to up the
stakes a bit. She struck with a kick, hardly holding anything back,
and scored a direct hit to the chest. This time Ranma couldn't block
it, and was knocked on his butt on the mats.
Ranko was immediately on her knees next to Ranma, apologetic.
"Ranma, I'm sorry. Man, I should've been watching what I was doing."
Ranma was sucking in air, and grasping at his ribs where Ranko had
tagged him.
He regarded her with a determined look, raising his hands to cut
off her apology. "Hey, Sis! It's cool. Don't worry about it. I
should've seen it coming," he replied calmly. She stood back,
allowing him to come to his feet.
"Well, you seem to have some knowledge of defense," Ranko
observed. She couldn't stifle the bit of anger she felt. `I worked
my ass off for years to get where I am, and now he comes along out of
nowhere and in one day he's already well beyond a beginning student.
He'd better've had training elsewhere...' she thought bitterly. She
then swept her jealous anger from her mind, and concentrated instead
on instructing her brother. "I think what you need to do is practice
some more. You've got good form, but your actions are a little
sloppy. But let me try something else on you and see how well you
respond."
Ranma nodded and regained his ready stance on the mats. Ranko
launched a simple punch at him, which he easily avoided. Seeing how
ineffective the punch was, she threw a series of faster arm and fist
movements at him. Most of them he was able to dodge with little
effort. But as her tempo increased, he was finding it harder to block
them.
He swore to himself as he was tagged on the face with an elbow.
Every strike was forcing him to push himself harder to try to keep his
sister's swift punches at bay. The blows he took were also helping
him to get some idea of how far out of shape his `new self' was. But
even with the problems he was having with his body, he had to
grudgingly admit that while the `other Ranma' didn't exercise, he had
at least kept a modicum of fitness. Judging from the way he was
performing at the moment, he figured he had three weeks, maybe two if
he pushed it, before he was fighting close to par again.
Something else that was being drummed home to him with every
landed punch was that a girl was wiping the floor with him. He
couldn't understand why, even though she was his sister, he was
getting such punishment from a girl. `Even Akane wasn't this
relentless,' he thought before taking a fist on the chest. `But then
again, I did ask for this...' Thinking of his training reminded him
of what his goal was; to regain his old form. The idea of getting
back in shape energized him, helping him to renew his defense, as he
pushed himself harder and harder.
As he blocked her incoming fists, he couldn't help but respect
his little sister. With all of he punishment he'd endured this
session, it was easy for him to tell that she was one hell of a
martial artist. He found himself smirking at that, a small level of
pride working its way through him as they continued to spar.
Ranko noted the grin on her brother's face, and allowed a
slightly ugly grin to appear on her own. `Ranma's definitely got
potential, but he's getting cocky if he's going to grin like he's not
getting a challenge. Well, I guess I'll have to re-educate him,' she
thought as she allowed a full strength punch to fly. Caught unawares
in his reverie, the punch tagged Ranma square in the chest, and down
he went.
This time Ranko held her position instead of running to help him.
Ranma groaned as the pain stabbed at him, causing him to clutch his
hands tightly to his chest by reflex. Gritting his teeth, he slowly
worked himself into a sitting position on the mat, staring up at his
sister.
"Ouch! I guess I deserved that one, Sis. Sorry I wasn't paying
attention there," he said with the beginnings a smile. `Correction,'
he told himself. `She's an *excellent* martial artist.'
Ranko smirked and said, "That's better. Don't ignore your
teacher, that's what we call a *bad idea.*" She put her hand out for
her brother. He reached up and took his sister's proffered hand,
chuckling in spite of the pain.
Ranko regarded him as he stood upright. "You're doing pretty
well, bro. I wouldn't have expected you to last half an hour against
me, much less three hours fighting off what I've thrown at you." Her
brows furrowed. "I swear, you act more like a rusty martial artist
than a person who's never done Kenpo before."
Ranma blinked at that statement, and plowed his mind for a proper
response. "Heh, thanks for the compliment, Sis. I really appreciate
you doing this for me." She frowned, not completely satisfied that
Ranma was telling her the truth, but she decided not to press the
issue any further. She also wasn't used to her brother being this
polite and *considerate* to her. `Could be that he's finally grown
up,' she thought.
"Okay bro, this is what I need you to do..." She began rattling
off a regimen of repetitive exercises that he already knew by heart.
Ranma sighed, glad that he was able to deflect her suspicions.
`She's smart, I'll give her that,' he conceded. He crouched into an
attack stance, preparing to launch his first attack at Ranko, as she
had directed him to do. "Whenever you're ready..."

****

Nodoka Saotome hummed to herself as she cleaned the counter of
her kitchen. `Hmm, the kids should be home soon,' she thought as she
put the washtowel away. She looked up from her admiration of the
clean counter top, hearing a muffled noise coming from outside.
Curious, she walked to the back door of the house and stepped outside.
"I'll get you this time!" she heard coming from the training
hall. She frowned, recognizing Ranma's voice as the one shouting.
Quickly she made her way from the house to the hall. Bounding up the
steps, she whipped open the doors to the training hall, and gasped at
what she saw.
Nodoka's eyes flashed as she saw Ranma and Ranko mixing it up in
the middle of the training hall. Her son was setting himself up to
launch a jump kick at Ranko. Not wanting to watch any further, she
barged into the training hall, intent on stopping the brawling
siblings. "What the *hell* is going on here?!" she demanded.
Caught unawares, Ranko cringed in surprise at the sound of her
mother yelling, turning quickly to look at her. Her head whipped
quickly back to face Ranma, in time to see him hurtling out of control
at her.
"Oh *shiiiiiiiitt*!!," Ranma yelled as he careened towards his
ill-prepared sister, his arms waving wildly and his eyes wide open.
*CRUNCH!*
Nodoka winced as she watched her children become a tangled mess
of arms and legs. With effort, she managed to hide the smirk that
kept threatening to appear on her face. It was hard not to laugh at
the scene, especially knowing that neither Ranma nor Ranko were hurt.
`Now to find out what they were arguing about this time...' With a
stern look on her face, she marched over to the tangled teens.
"How many times have I told you two not to *FIGHT?*" Ranma and
Ranko winced at the volume of the last word. Motivated by their
mother's ire, they quickly untangled themselves and assumed standing
positions next to each other. Both started talking at the same time.
"Ranko wasn't ..."
"Mom, he and I weren't..."
Both blushed, and stared down at the floor, avoiding Nodoka's
critical gaze. Setting her hands on her hips, she began questioning
the two. "Alright, what started it this time?" She looked at Ranma.
"You didn't put her panties down the disposal again, did you Ranma?"
He *barely* managed to choke back a snicker after getting a visual on
that. He reminded himself to ask Ranko about that sometime in the
future. He shook his head `no' to answer his mother's question, but
said nothing.
Nodoka sighed, and looked at Ranko. "Then it must've been you,
Ranko." She leaned closer to Ranko, staring her in the eye. "Okay,
spill it young lady! What did you do to him this time?" She stood
back again, holding her hands in front of her, sighing impatiently.
"No. I'd rather not know what it was that started it." She regarded
Ranko sternly. "You ought to know better than to abuse Ranma like
this, young lady! Ranma's in no condition to defend himself from a
martial artist with your level of experience. Even if you were only
trained by your father."
Ranma and Ranko both winced inwardly at the barb against their
father. However, they both held their ground without protest, each
waiting for a chance to speak.
Nodoka continued to rant. "I can't believe you two! Constantly
fighting like cats and dogs." She began pacing in front of the two.
Ranko raised her hand uncertainly. "Uhh... Mom? ..."
Nodoka continued without even hearing her. "Maybe I should just
break down and give each of you a sword and let you two finish each
other off for good. Then I could finally have some peace and quiet
around here!" She continued pacing, wringing her hands angrily.
Ranma raised a finger and cleared his throat. `"Ummm... Yo...
Mom?..." he stammered.
Nodoka ignored him, continuing to pace and speak. "No, I
couldn't do that. The mess would be too big to clean up. Besides
it's hard to get blood stains out of clothes."
Ranma and Ranko bigsweated as they watched their mother blather
on about their fighting and wear a groove in the floor in front of
them. Finally, having enough, they both shouted "MOM!!" in perfect
unison.
Nodoka jumped at the shout. "What!?" she shouted with a heavy
dose of irritation.
Ranko took a deep breath, sighing loudly before launching into
her explanation. "Mom, we weren't fighting..."
"That's what it looked like to me," she retorted.
"I asked her to," Ranma chimed in.
Nodoka looked at Ranma askance. "Ranma, honey, ... why?"
"I felt it was time I did something new, so I asked Ranko to show
me a few moves. *That's* what we were doing, Mom," he answered
calmly.
Nodoka's face radiated shock. "Ranma, I don't believe this.
You've always shunned martial arts before, so what's with the sudden
interest?"
Ranma didn't know how to answer the question, so he improvised.
"I just wanted to try some new stuff. A lot of my friends seem to
like it." `Yeah, right...' he added to himself.
Nodoka's look hardened. She could see the potential trouble this
could cause, both between he and Ranko, and between he and her
husband. "Well, when your father hears about this, he's likely to get
very upset. You know how he likes to go on about honor and Kenpo and
all of that."
Ranma sighed tiredly. "Mom, could you please keep this from him.
I don't want any trouble for myself or Ranko because of this." His
look hardened as well. "I'm going to practice martial arts somewhere.
I'd prefer to do it here."
Nodoka's eyebrow swept up in response to Ranma's veiled threat,
and her respect for her son went up a notch. "Very well, Son, I'll
stay out of this. But should your father find out, I won't intervene
for you either. It'll be up to you to decide whether or not you want
to risk getting your father angry."
Ranma nodded. "Thanks Mom. I promise, Ranko and I'll be as
discreet as possible. Don't worry."
Nodoka sighed in resignation. "Alright, if that's what you want,
I'll abide by it." She turned to leave the training hall, looking
over her shoulder before stepping out. "You two better get inside.
Genma will be home soon." She walked back to the house quietly. `My
boy's growing up,' she thought with a smile. `As I always knew he
would.'

****

The two practiced for another half hour before answering Nodoka's
call for them to come in. Bushed, they both cleaned up the training
hall, then dragged themselves inside the house and crawled up the
stairs to their bedrooms.
A few minutes later, an exhausted Ranma shuffled into the
bathroom. Bone weary from the exercise and punishment he'd endured,
he slipped out of his gi and entered the bath. His mind in another
world, he'd slumped down automatically on a stool and started
scrubbing away when he heard someone gasp sharply. He turned to see
who made the noise when his eyes fell on a beet-red and very wet
Ranko. She had managed to cover all of the interesting parts with her
hands before Ranma could catch a glimpse of anything.
She sat on her stool, soap cascading down her side and back as
she stared wide-eyed at her naked brother, her mouth gaping slightly.
With an effort, she managed to collect her wits. "Ranma, you did see
the sign on the door, didn't you? I mean, aren't we a little old to
be bathing together?"
Ranma didn't answer, although his mortified look clearly told her
that he hadn't expected to find her in here. Covering himself by
reflex, he yelled in surprise and quickly scrambled out of the room,
closing the door behind him. "Sorry Sis!" he yelled behind the door.
Ranko eventually resumed her scrubbing, although she wasn't able to
lose her blush for the remainder of the night.
After bathing alone and eating, Ranma retired to his room. He
smacked himself on the forehead, cursing his ignorance for relying on
his old habits. It was crystal clear to him that he was in a
different Nerima, and that he'd have to adapt to his new environment
before he alienated everybody and wound up alone and miserable. Plus,
he had to prioritize. First and foremost, he had to find out how
others saw him. `I guess Ranko will be helping me out a lot on that
one. Later on, that is. There's no telling what she'd think of me if
I told her about the wish now. She'd probably accuse me of making fun
of her and stop training me...'
He also had to get the full story on Akane's behavior, and figure
out a way of fixing it before he lost any chance of being with her.
He smiled suddenly as he realized what else had been missing from the
day. Neither Shampoo nor Ukyou had ambushed him with either their own
version of love/lust or food today. `It's a good thing Mom cooks a
lot, otherwise I would've had to look for an extra meal,' he added.
Concentrating on his sister, he flushed in embarrassment as the
event in the bathroom replayed suddenly in his mind. He hadn't seen
anything of Ranko's body, but he was quite sure he'd given her an
unintentional eyeful of his. A small comfort was that she hadn't
reacted like Akane would've.
"Akane..." Ranma whispered mournfully, his thoughts and the
incident in the bathroom suddenly forgotten. Not able to stop the
overpowering flood of emotions that were weighing on his heart, he let
them wash through him. More depressed than he'd ever been in his
life, Ranma turned out the light, laid down, and cried himself to
sleep.

****

The next several days passed by more smoothly than the first,
with Ranma paying more attention to the teachers, and trying to pay
less to Akane. That was especially hard for him to do, though,
whenever he saw Akane and Kuno together either at lunch or when
arriving at and leaving school. Truth be told, he couldn't bear to
look at her at all.
Although he tried to console his broken heart by reminding
himself that Akane had never known him in this existence, her absence
from his life constantly stabbed at his heart. He kept his depression
at bay by drawing hope from his progress with his training; thinking
that maybe, just maybe, when he was in top form again they would be
together again. That helped to fire his determination, as every day
he would vow that he would make Akane his again, somehow...
He had taken that determination and used it to fuel his training
sessions with his sister. Each night saw his body becoming more and
more attuned to the movements that he visualized in his mind. The
physical conditioning he underwent in his training, and at school,
helped to attune his body. As the days had progressed, his confidence
in himself solidified, and Ranko's admiration of her brother grew by
leaps and bounds.
On the seventh day of training, he was capable of launching
*effective* offensive moves against her. Their sparring had become
less of an educational event and more of an endurance test for both.
Ranko was really appreciating the workout her brother was giving her,
but it seemed that he was pulling his punches a bit, almost as if he
didn't want to hit her at all. After a few more minutes of having to
tolerate his behavior, Ranko held her hand up to stop him. "Ranma,
what the hell are you doing?"
Ranma showed her a puzzled look. "I'm doing what you told me,
Sis," he replied simply.
"Not that! Why aren't you trying to hit me?" she demanded. "I
know you're strong Ranma, and you've improved a lot over the past
week, but you act like you're holding back, and I want to know why."
She stood in front of him, her arms crossed under her breasts,
awaiting an answer.
Ranma blushed slightly and coughed into his hand. "Well, I
ummm... You see, I can't... I can't hit girls." Ranko gave him a
dark look, and Ranma hurried to explain himself. "Honestly, I just
don't want to hurt you, Sis."
Ranko stood on her tiptoes so that she and Ranma were nose-to-
nose. "Let's get one thing straight big brother," she shouted into
his face, poking him in the chest as she said every word. "Yeah I'm a
girl, but I'm also a martial artist, and it's a Goddamn *insult* to me
when you hold yourself back." Ranma's eyes widened as she said that.
He'd never considered that what he was doing was an insult to girls.
`Did Akane feel the same way?' he asked himself quickly. He didn't
get a chance to think about much else as his angry sister continued.
"How *dare* you say that I can't defend myself from you, or any
guy, simply because I'm female? You make it sound like I haven't ever
taken martial arts seriously. What the hell gives you the right..."
A lone tear worked its way free from her reddened eyes, and wound its
way down her cheek. Angrily she swiped the tear from her face.
"Thanks a lot, Ranma," she spat viciously.
Ranma shook his head and berated himself for his poor choice of
words. Tentatively, he reached his hand out to her and grabbed her
gently by the arm. "Sis, please... don't cry. I didn't mean to say
you weren't good. I just..." He faltered in his explanation, trying
to find the proper words, but not coming up with any. "I'm sorry,
Ranko. I won't hold back anymore." Not sensing any resistance from
her, he pulled her to him and brought his other arm around her,
holding her tenderly. "I promise."
Ranko sniffled a bit. "Really?" she asked, laying her head
against his shoulder.
Ranma smiled. "Yeah, Ranko. Really. I'll even try to beat the
shit out of you if you want," he said with a smile.
Ranko couldn't help herself, and erupted with laughter. Her
anger gone, she stood away from her brother, wiping the moisture from
her cheeks on the sleeve of her gi. "You'd better Ranma, because from
now on I'm not gonna hold back either," she said with a smile.
Ranma winced inwardly, convinced that the number of bruises he
was going to get that night had just doubled. They resumed fighting,
with him pouring everything he had into his attacks and truly enjoying
his training with his sister.

****

The eleventh day marked a turning point for Ranma. For the first
time since his training had begun, he'd fought his sister to a
standstill. The fight ended in a draw, with both Saotome's very
winded. Ranma had pushed himself harder than he had ever done before,
and was rewarded with complete exhaustion, and a loud kiss on the
cheek from his sister, congratulating him on his good work.
"You're doing very well, Ranma. I've never seen anyone take to
martial arts like this before. In fact, you've done well enough that
I think I'll start showing you some of the higher level forms and
special techniques from Anything Goes tomorrow," she stated. Her face
clearly showed how blown away she was. It astounded her that he could
be doing so well in Anything Goes in so little time. She had to admit
that, against her better senses, she was starting to like her brother.
His change in behavior seemed genuine, and since that first day of
training, he had been going out of his way to make her feel
appreciated. After seeing the remarkable change wrought in him in a
mere two weeks, she couldn't help but praise him.
He blushed at the compliments, not used to hearing it from one of
his own family. Also, his ears perked up at Ranko's mention of
special techniques. `I guess I should really go all out tomorrow. If
she feels that I'm ready for special techniques, then perhaps it's
time I started trying to use them again,' he thought to himself as he
helped his sister clean the training hall. He smiled suddenly,
thinking how surprised his sister would be tomorrow when he finally
let loose.

****

A vibrant and smiling Ranma cracked his knuckles and adopted a
fighting stance. "You ready for me, Ranko?" he asked lightly.
A frazzled and flushed Ranko nodded wearily at him, grunting her
assent as she tiredly brought her hands up into an attack stance.
Ranma nodded back to her, signaling that she should initiate the
attack. As quickly as she could, Ranko lunged forward, her arms
snapping up with her palm aimed right at his nose. But to her
disgust, he was once again not there. At her first movement, Ranma
leapt up and vaulted *over* her, pivoting on her head with his index
finger. He then landed behind her, crouched down and swept her legs
out from under her, all before she could even turn around.
*Whump!* "Ouch!" she shouted in agony as her breath left her
body again. She noted absently that she never impacted with the mat
that many times before in single session. She'd stopped counting when
she reached thirty-seven. "Where the *hell* did he pick this stuff
up?" she muttered under her breath to no-one in particular.
She looked up to see Ranma holding his hand out for her. She
debated reaching for it, wondering if staying on the mats for the
moment wasn't the wiser course of action. `Geez! Even Pop's not this
good!' she lamented.
He jumped back from her, moving into a ready stance. He was
primed for action, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, and
flexing his arms. To Ranko it looked as though his body was almost
bursting at the seams with pent-up energy. He smiled down at the
sagging form of Ranko, motioning his hands toward himself in an effort
to try and encourage her into coming at him again. "Come on, Sis!
Just a couple more, okay? I have a thing or two that I haven't tried
yet."
She was too tired to even glare at him, so she instead waved him
off with a tired movement of her hand, concentrating instead on
breathing. "I don't think so, Ranma. I'm so exhausted, that I'm
having trouble standing up!" She paused to catch her breath again..
"Though I guess I understand why you're ready to go. After all, I was
the one doing all of the chasing, and I didn't even lay a *finger* on
you!" she griped. She sat up a bit, leaned to her left, and picked up
her towel. Tiredly she wiped the sweat from her brow and around her
neck as she propped herself against one of the walls of the training
hall.
"You know, it only took you two weeks to go from being a nobody
to whipping my ass soundly. Now I know for a fact that I'm not that
good a teacher, so..." Her gaze bored into him. "So I want you to
tell me where you learned all this stuff." She continued to stare,
awaiting an answer.
Ranma smiled enigmatically. "You wouldn't believe me if I told
you, Sis."
She hoped that her disappointed scowl told him that she didn't
like the answer. But she knew that she had to accept it. After all,
she couldn't beat the information out of him anymore. "Well, either
you're getting better, or I'm getting worse!" she said dejectedly.
Ranma chuckled and sat next to his sister, putting his arm around
her shoulders. "Hey! Don't worry about your skills. You're not a
bad martial artist, Sis. In fact, you're great! Especially for a
girl."
Ranko turned to her brother with an angry look on her face.
"Well thanks a lot! Geez, why are you acting so sexist?"
Ranma flushed, realizing he'd just insulted her. "Sorry, that
came out the wrong way. I meant to say that you fight as well as a
man, and I've never seen a woman do that before, that's all..."
Ranko nodded, somewhat satisfied with the apology.
Still eager to show his stuff, Ranma stood up and walked to the
door of the training hall. Releasing a beleaguered sigh, Ranko rose
to follow him. "Hey Ranma, wait up!" she called as she walked after
him, too tired to run. Once she made it to the door of the training
hall, she could see Ranma placing the last in a series of practice
dummies out in the yard.
After making sure that the last dummy was properly in place, he
walked over to her. "I need to practice some special moves, so I
figured that I'd set these up to practice on."
"We could've done that, bro. Why bring out the dummies?" She
adopted an air of feigned disappointment.
Ranma shook his head, laying his hands on her shoulders. "Not
this time, Sis. Even under the best control, I could seriously hurt
you with these moves. It's best that I use the practice dummies now."
He held his hand up to forestall any further comment from her. "Just
trust me on this one. Watch and you'll see for yourself."
Ranko sat on the steps leading to the training hall, reclining
against one of the roof supports as she awaited the demonstration from
her brother. He stood in front of the first dummy, and concentrated
on his attack. Imagining that the dummy was Ryouga helped his
concentration a bit. Bringing his hands up, he struck, shouting,
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" Ranko watched in awe as her `weakling'
brother's hands blurred into action, landing 479 punches in under 30
seconds. The head of the practice dummy was so much dust when he
stopped. `What the *hell* was *that*?' she thought in shock, her face
slack-jawed as she came to her feet and walked towards him.
Ranma didn't say anything, standing silent for a second and
admiring his handiwork. He flexed his fingers to alleviate the
numbness he felt, then rubbed his hands together to clean off some of
the dust. Although he didn't show it at the moment, it pleased him
greatly that he was regaining his old form. `In less than two weeks,
even!' he exulted. Calming his breathing and clearing his mind, he
concentrated on keeping himself cool as he walked to the next dummy,
which was sitting directly in the sunlight. `This one's for you,
Kuno!' he thought as he began to slowly orbit the practice dummy.
Remembering Ranko, he quickly looked over his shoulder, shouting,
"You might want to stand back a little more." After seeing that first
move, she was quick to agree, and regained her seat on the training
hall steps. "That's good!" he shouted before returning his attention
to the dummy. He increased his speed around the dummy, his eyes mere
slits as he concentrated on keeping himself calm. Then with a
flourish he completed the move, cupping his hands together and
thrusting them towards the dummy, shouting, "HI RYU SHO TEN HA!" A
column of blazing chi-energy launched from between Ranma and the
practice dummy, blasting it out of the yard.
As the tendrils of energy vanished, a panicked Ranko jumped up
from her seat and ran towards her brother. "Ranma, you alright?!" she
yelled in concern. She stopped short as she noted that Ranma was
untouched by the energy, and not even *breathing hard*. The grass
between him and the erstwhile target was flattened, and the practice
dummy was gone, but those were the only things she could find amiss.
He looked at her, smiling in satisfaction. "Nothin' to it, Sis!
Wow, what a way to work off stress!" He took a deep breath, very
pleased with the results of his last attack. And even though the last
attack had left him winded, he decided to press on. He had something
else he needed to try. "Now I only have one more thing to do before I
quit for the day," he announced to her as he walked away from target
number two's last known position.
Ranko's eyes widened, "One more? Geez, Ranma, you mean there's
more?!" `What else could there be?' she thought as she remained
standing this time, turning to watch as Ranma faced the final practice
dummy.
Standing in front of the doomed mannequin, he crouched into a
battle stance. He closed his eyes, focusing all of his attention on
the target. He stood like that for a few minutes, doing nothing.
Ranko was about to check on him to see if he had fallen asleep, or
something, when he moved in a lightning fast array of hand movements,
shouting, "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" A ball of chi-energy launched from his
hands and struck the dummy in the center of the chest area, burrowing
a hole completely through it. Exhaustion overcame him as he sank down
to one knee, his breathing labored. Ranko ran over to him, and held
onto him so he wouldn't fall over.
"Thanks Sis. I guess I overdid it a bit on that last one," he
said as he fought to a standing position again. He held onto her
shoulders, putting as much weight on her as he thought she could
stand, as he breathed deeply.
Ranko was too astounded by what she'd seen to notice her
brother's burden as she supported him. "Ranma, that was incredible!"
she shouted in amazement. "I had no idea you could do this kind of
stuff!" `Hell, I didn't know *anyone* could do this sort of stuff,'
she thought as she guided him to the steps of the training room and
had him sit down.
Once he was seated, she sat next to him and handed him his towel.
He accepted it with a nod, and began wiping away the sweat from his
brow. A few moments passed by as they sat in companionable silence,
allowing each of them a chance to rest and relax. Ranma merely sat
there, taking deep breaths and calming his racing heart. Ranko's
curiosity became uncontainable as she sat next to him, dwelling on
what she's seen him do.
"You know, we really need to talk," she blurted out suddenly. He
turned his head to look in her deep blue eyes. "You're not the same
person I knew two weeks ago, Ranma. I've been really patient with you
since you asked me to train you, but now I think it's high time you
told me what the hell's going on."
He considered this for a moment, not sure what kind of impact it
would have on him if he told people about his other, `former,' life.
He shrugged his shoulders, deciding that he should confide in her. He
felt that she deserved at least that much after all she'd done for
him. Plus he felt he could trust her to keep it to herself. "Okay
Ranko, I'll tell you everything. But let's get cleaned up first. I'm
exhausted, and could really use a bath right now."
"Okay, Bro. You can go first, while I'll clean up the training
room..." A sly grin made its way on her face, "... unless you're too
tired and need me to join you and scrub your back for you." She broke
out into a fit of cackling laughter at seeing Ranma blush clear to his
ears, the incident in the bathroom still very vivid in both of their
minds.
"Ha ha," he deadpanned. "No thanks Sis, I think I can manage by
myself," he said, wrapping his towel around his neck and standing up.
With that, he sprinted for the training hall doors, ran across
the yard and into the house. She watched him go, a newfound respect
for her older brother showing on her face as she put the last of the
practice items away.
Another figure, in a white leisure suit, watched as well from a
discreet distance. Hovering sixty feet above the back yard of the
Saotome residence, he smiled to himself. He had chosen well, he felt.
Ranma's greatest challenge was yet to happen, however, and that event
would be the one to decide Saotome's true fate. He snapped his
fingers, and disappeared.

****

Ranko exited the bath, a towel draped loosely across her breasts
as she hurried to her bedroom. As she walked down the hall, a hand
suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder. She whirled around in an attack
stance, somehow managing to keep the towel over her front as she
brought her free hand up to face her attacker. She deflated as she
saw a smirking Ranma holding onto her shoulder.
"Gotcha!" he said with a smile.
She flushed red, embarrassed at being caught unawares. "Get your
hand offa me, pervert!" she said with mock anger. Ranma released his
grip on her, still smiling. He turned to leave when she called out to
him, "Hey bro! When are we gonna have that talk?"
He turned back to her and said, "We'll talk in my room, once
you're dressed that is."
Ranko's voice gained a teasing tone as she tugged at her towel.
"What's wrong, Ranma? You think this outfit's a little too flimsy?"
Ranma's red face was all she'd hoped for. "Gotcha back!" she yelled,
giggling. She stuck her tongue out, then ran for her room before
Ranma could recover. Flustered, he decided not to shout a comeback to
that and simply walked to his room instead, awaiting her arrival.
A few minutes later, she knocked on his door. "Come in!" he said
softly as she opened the door and walked through.
She saw him sitting on his bed, his eyes half-closed and his
hands behind his head in a comfortable repose. She sat next to him on
his bed, watching his face for any clue as to what he was thinking.
He appeared to be somewhere else, if his eyes were any indication.
"So, what's up Ranma?"
Ranma opened his eyes fully and sat up a bit , facing his sister.
A warm smile slowly appeared on his face, which was slowly mirrored by
one of her own. He'd continued to debate the wisdom of telling her
about the wish. But, in the end, he felt that if he couldn't tell his
own flesh and blood, he wouldn't be able to tell anyone. And he felt
that at some point down the line he'd have to tell this story several
times. "Well, Ranko. What I have to say will definitely sound
strange. But I need you to believe me, because it really happened."
`Great! A cheesy sci-fi opening for his story.' she deadpanned
to herself. "Geez, Ranma! You're making this sound like an episode of
`Unsolved Mysteries'..." She eyed her brother suspiciously, not sure
that he was going to tell her the truth. "Try being serious, okay? I
don't need you wasting my time."
He got the point, and decided to plow ahead instead of
embroidering the truth. `Well, here goes nothing,' he thought as he
gathered the story together in his mind. He then launched into the
story of his `other' life, occasionally stumbling over certain
details, and omitting others he felt weren't important. Ranko's eyes
grew larger and larger as he continued spinning his tale until she
felt she couldn't take it anymore. Her head throbbing, she held one
hand up to stop him, while the other hand went to her head. "Whoa,
whoa, whoa, bro! You're giving me a headache!"
"But it's all true!" Ranma said loudly, holding his hands out
imploringly. `She doesn't believe me!' he thought in a panic. `How
the hell do I convince her that I'm not lying?' He leaned towards her
a bit, bringing his face directly in front of hers. "I wouldn't lie
about something like this!" he hissed, his fists clenched in
frustration.
Ranko had to admit that while the story sounded like something
out of an Anime show, it held a ring of truth to it. Besides,
impossible as it seemed, it was the only plausible explanation that
she would accept for how he learned all of those intricate fighting
forms. Sighing, she decided that it was best to believe him, for now.
"It's okay bro. If you say it's true, I believe you." She took a few
moments to run through the story again, then decided to ask some
questions.
"Okay Ranma, lemme get this straight." She held up her hand to
tick points off on her fingers. "You were granted a wish, and that
wish made you what you are right now." Ranma nodded. "And in your
`other life' you never had a sister?"
He nodded again. "I have a theory about that. It seems that the
Saotome family was always destined to have a daughter. And since I
was cursed in the other life, I also acted as that daughter," he said
by way of explanation. Seeing the skeptical look on her face, he
added, "Hey, it's just a theory!"
"Whatever, bro," she said, dismissing that for the moment. "You
mentioned the curse again. You and Pop went to this Ginseng..."
"Jhusenkyo," he corrected.
"Yeah, whatever. Jhusenkyo. And this place held a bunch of
cursed springs. You both fell into the springs, right?" Another nod.
"Pop became a panda..." she chuckled again at the image. Her father,
a cute fuzzy bear playing with a tire. Recovering quickly, she
continued, "...and you became a girl?"
Ranma nodded slowly, "Yeah. Cold water activated the curses, and
hot water reversed them."
"So you weren't a girl all the time?" she pressed.
Ranma shook his head. "No, thank God! I only became a girl
whenever I got hit with cold water."
"Still, you know what it's like to be a girl, right?" she asked,
wondering what it was like to be a magical gender-bender.
"Yeah, I feel like I've been through it all," he replied, sighing
like a war-weary veteran.
"What did you look like?"
"Well to tell you the truth, I looked exactly like you do, except
I had red hair instead of black."
That earned a stare from his sister. "You looked exactly like
me? How would you know what I look like?"
"Well, there was that time in the bathroom a couple of weeks ago.
Plus you *did* flash me with the towel just a few minutes ago. It was
kinda hard not to notice, Ranko." Now it was her turn to blush deep
crimson. She didn't think that she'd exposed herself to him.
Shuffling uncomfortably, she decided to press on.
"So, did you ever date a guy, Ranma?"
Ranma flushed, "Gaah! No! Of course not. Yuck!" His body went
through various gyrations as he expressed his distaste at the
question. "I only had the body of a girl. My mind never changed," he
said, as he tried to explain the weird curse to her.
"Ahhh! Now I see. That must've been an interesting curse to
live with," she said wryly, once he completed his explanation of the
Spring of Drowned Girl.
"More than you'll ever know. Why did you think I wished to be
rid of the curse?" He told her about all of the problems he'd had to
endure, some of them as a direct result of his curse.
"Multiple engagements? And Kuno chasing after you? Heh, my
brother the gigolo!" she said, a fit of giggling overcoming her.
"Hey, cut that out Ranko! I'm not done telling the story yet!"
Bringing herself under control, she quieted down and allowed him
to continue his life story. "Anyway, Pop made a few promises to some
people both before and while we were on that training trip. The first
one concerned the trip itself. Pop had to promise to make me a man
among men before Mom would allow me to go with him. If Pop failed,
Mom would have forced both of us to commit seppuku." Ranko's eyes
widened in horror as she got a visual of Ranma and her dad
disemboweling themselves. Ranma continued. "That was the last time I
saw Mom for many years."
"Ahh, now I understand why you're so happy whenever Mom's around.
I guess you had to hide from her after you were cursed," Ranko
replied. Ranma nodded, a sad look on his face. She sighed, silently
thanking God that she'd not been dragged around on a training trip
with her father. He sounded no different from the one her brother had
been forced to contend with in his other life. Ranma shook his head
to clear it, and then continued.
"Another promise was the one I already told you about, where Pop
promised to marry me to Ukyou. And finally, before I was born, Pop
made a promise to his lifelong friend, Soun Tendo, that should Pop
have a boy and Mr. Tendo have a girl; they would marry the kids so
they could carry on the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Well,
after we went to Jhusenkyo, Pop finally told me about the arranged
marriage. Actually, he waited until we were a block from the Tendo
Dojo before he told me." Ranma's fists clenched at the memory.
"Anyway, when we arrived, Pop and I found out that Mr. Tendo had three
daughters. Kasumi, who was nineteen, Nabiki, who was seventeen, and
Akane, who was sixteen. Akane was chosen as the one to marry me by
the other two after they found out about my curse.
Ranma winced involuntarily as he remembered how well he and
Akane, literally, hit it off when they first met. `She didn't have to
hit me so hard with that table...' he thought absently. With an
effort he brought his mind back to the present. "Akane and I never
made the engagement official. I mean, how could I get married to a
girl in the condition I was in? Although, come to think of it, she
didn't seem to mind the curse that much," he dismissed a sudden
feeling of misgiving he felt about making the wish.
"But anyway, another reason we didn't make the engagement
official was that we argued all the time." He smiled wanly, adding,
"I have to admit, though, that she had begun to grow on me recently.
If only she wasn't such a ..." He broke off, his sorrow making it
impossible for him to complete the sentence.
Ranko looked at her brother closely, her eyes narrowing as she
guessed at what he wasn't able to say. "You loved her, didn't you?"
she demanded. It was a shock to her that even after suffering through
all of the bad things that he said happened between them, he still
managed to fall in love with her. She could tell that by just looking
at him, and she had to admire her brother for his tolerance.
Ranma's head snapped up, as his old defense instincts kicked in.
"No! That tomboy?! That uncute macho chick is ..."
Ranko held her hand up, the expression on her face telling Ranma
he should stop. "Remember who you're talking to, bro. I may be a
girl to you..." Ranma flushed at the comment. "...but I'm also a
Saotome. I recognize that look on your face. You don't have to lie
to me, so just admit it," Ranko admonished, wagging her finger in a
lecturing fashion.
Ranma relaxed, deciding that denying the obvious wouldn't help
him anymore. "Yeah, you're right, I do." His relaxed posture changed
to one of anger. "But we could never seem to get anywhere with all of
the interference from Ryouga, Mousse, Kuno, and other wanna-be
fiancees!" he hissed, his fists balled up. Then his hands fell to his
sides, and his eyes lit up as he realized something. "But that's not
the case anymore! Shampoo, Mousse, and that old ghoul aren't here
because I never went to the village of the Amazons. Same thing with
Ukyou! Pop and I never met her father, so she has no reason to be
here, either. Plus, I haven't met Ryouga or Kodachi, yet, thank God!"
Ranko stopped trying to follow his ranting after `But that's' and
calmly watched him go on. Once he'd finished, she asked, "What are
you babbling about, Ranma?"
"Don't you see, Ranko? I can start over with Akane, and not have
any interference. It may actually work this time!" He jumped up, a
big smile on his face. Ranko stood up from his bed and backed away
from her brother, watching him from a distance.
"Bro, lemme get something straight here. You're going to chase
after her? After everything that's happened to you?"
"Yeah, why not? After all, she could do worse." `Correction,
she *is* doing worse,' he thought evilly as Akane and Kuno came to
mind again.
Ranko shook her head, not sure that she wanted to get involved in
this at all, but deciding that her brother could be getting in over
his head. "You said yourself that she doesn't know you, so what are
you going to do now? I don't know who this Akane person is. If she's
at Furinkan High, I haven't seen her."
"Oh she's there alright. She's in my classes, although she acts
like she doesn't even know who I am," he said evasively.
"So how are you going to get her attention?"
"Getting her attention isn't the real problem, Ranko. I have to
get her away from that idiot, Kuno." Ranma recalled what he saw
outside of the Tendo Dojo that day, and all of the times since at
Furinkan High. "Why she's even hanging out with that jerk is beyond
me," he said sullenly.
"Well, you'd better have a lot of life insurance if you're going
to go after Kuno. The `Blue Thunder of Furinkan High' is good. I've
never fought him myself, but I've seen the results of his fights many
times before."
Ranma cracked his knuckles and smirked. "Now that I have my
fighting abilities back, Kuno's going to become the new doormat of the
high school."
Ranko chuckled lightly and patted him on the back, saying, "Well
I wish you luck Ranma. Just let me know if you need any help with
him."
Ranma turned to face her. "You know, before, I'd always wondered
what it would be like to have a brother or a sister. I was surprised
when Mom said that we didn't get along before." Ranko's head turned
away from him. "What were we like together, Sis?"
She didn't know where to begin. All of the little stunts that
they'd pulled on each other over time had given way to the angry
relationship that this Ranma had wished himself into the middle of.
"A lot of petty arguing, Ranma," she stated simply. She blew out her
breath as she explained herself. "You were always so jealous of the
attention Pop paid to me because of my training. You would get back
at me by teasing me about being too butch, or being a tomboy, or
saying that martial arts was turning me into a man..." she broke off,
hoping to contain her anger before it erupted. She reminded herself
that this Ranma claimed that he wasn't the same one that did those
things to her so long ago.
"I'd normally get back at you by destroying your toys. When we
were older, I'd find some of your choice Anime and flatten it, or find
one of your manga and rip it to shreds. You kept on teasing me about
being a man, tearing up my underwear and leaving the pieces on the
bed, saying that a man shouldn't be wearing a bra or panties." Her
lower lip quivered slightly; the emotions of all those previous fights
overwhelming her self-control. "In short Ranma, we hated each other."
She lowered her head, tears streaming down her face as she wept
quietly.
"I tried many times to be nice to you," she said, cutting through
her sorrow as she forced herself to go on. "But you were always angry
with me. Jealous, I guess, because Pop rejected you and took me
instead for the heir to the Saotome school." In her emotional haze,
she didn't notice as her brother inched closer to her on the bed, his
hand hovering at her back. The look on his face clearly showed that
he was disgusted with his other self. He was sure that Ranko was only
telling her side of the events, but he didn't doubt that most of what
she was saying was true.
"When we both went into high school this year, you weren't as
ugly to me as you used to be. It was as if you'd given up on fighting
with me..." Ranko stopped speaking as she felt his arm go around her
shoulders. She responded to the gesture by laying her head against
his chest.
"Sis, why didn't you just knock the hell out of me?" he asked
softly.
She laughed derisively. "Oh, believe me, I wanted to. There
were a couple of times in the past where I was so angry with you that
I wanted to knock you into Lower Earth Orbit." She ground her teeth
in frustration. "But Mom always managed to catch us before we came to
blows, and threatened me with `severe consequences' if I ever knocked
you around. So I had to keep martial arts out of our arguments." She
laughed suddenly. "But I did enjoy watching Mom or Pop punish you
whenever they learned that the argument was your fault. At least then
I knew you weren't going to get away with it."
Ranma held on to his angry sister, feeling the tension working
its way through the corded muscles of her arms and back. `I deserved
it too, if what she said was true.' "Ranko, I know I didn't have
anything to do with that, but I... I'm so sorry. I..." He stopped
for a moment, unsure of what to say next. Fumbling for words, he
finally managed to say, "Well, I'm glad you're here with me now, Sis.
And you can be sure that I won't ever do anything like that again."
He wrapped her up in a tight hug, mussing her hair.
Ranko returned the hug, dismissing her anger as being misplaced.
She was certain now that this wasn't the same person who only last
month cut her bra into small pieces for throwing away one of his manga
books.
"Hey Ranko, I was wondering," he said brightly, changing the
subject to lighten the mood.
They disengaged from the hug, Ranma keeping an arm around the
slight shoulders of his sister. "Yeah, what is it?"
"How old are you? I mean, you look like you're the same age I
am."
"I'm fifteen. I was born eleven months after you were."
"Oh. Well, that being the case, I should be able to teach you
some of the special moves you saw me do today. That is, if you want
me to."
Ranko smiled evilly. "Yeah. I'd like that. It'd help me keep
those hentai freshmen away from me."
Ranma gave her a big grin and said, "Lemme know if you ever want
any help in that department. I can be quite persuasive." They both
laughed at that.
Both heads turned at the sound of their mother calling them to
the dinner table.
"Oh, by the way Ranko. Please keep our conversation between us.
I don't want Mom or Pop to think that I'm crazy."
"Ok Ranma. I'll keep this between us. Just make sure that you
don't slip and mention it yourself." Ranma nodded, then they both
turned to go downstairs.

****

Flipping idly through all of the channels on the set, Genma
Saotome dropped the remote on the table disgustedly. Settling for the
American edition of Cable News Network, he crossed his legs and stared
at the TV, trying to guess what the anchors were saying. A part of
his mind shouted that he'd almost kill for a nice, friendly game of Go
right about now.
After becoming thoroughly bored with the set, he let his mind
wander. He wasn't thinking about anything in particular until his
gaze landed at the places where Ranma and Ranko usually sat at the
table. `Hmmm. Those two have been awfully quiet recently. I wonder
what Nodoka said to them to get them to behave so well?'
He was about to dismiss the thought when he realized something
else. `Come to think of it, Ranma's been quite different lately.
He's been doing better in school, and every day for the past two weeks
I've gotten home from work to find him dead tired in front of the TV.
I swear, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that he's been
exercising. Or could it be something else..." he half-suggested to
himself. He scoffed at the notion as soon as he thought of it.
`Ranma can't stand Martial Arts. Besides, he knows what I'd do to him
if I caught him practicing it.'
Not sure what to think, he decided to get to the bottom of it
immediately. He sat up and turned his head towards the kitchen.
"Nodoka?" he called to her from the living room.
She popped her head into the `den' from the kitchen. "Yes dear?"
"Could you come here and sit by me for a moment?" Genma asked,
patting the seat next to him at the table.
"Sure honey," she said, with a cheerful/puzzled look on her face.
She walked from the kitchen and sat down next to her husband. "What's
the matter?" she asked as she adjusted her posture.
"You haven't noticed anything... different... about Ranma, have
you dear?" he asked as carefully as he could.
Nodoka acted as if she were actually considering the question.
She didn't want to give Ranma's secret away, but she didn't want to
lie to her husband either. "Well, actually, yes I have."
"What about him struck you as being different?" he pressed.
"Why are you asking me this, Genma? Is there something wrong?"
she asked with alarm. `Has he already figured it out?' she worried to
herself.
Genma quickly brought his hand up to silence and comfort his
wife. "Nonono. Nothing like that. I just think that he's been
behaving differently recently, that's all. I just wanted to know if
you noticed it too. All I want is your impression of his behavior,"
he said soothingly.
Nodoka appeared mollified by Genma's response, and answered his
question. "Well, if anything, I'd say his behavior has improved."
He seemed to consider this. "Improved, how?"
"Well he seems to be a lot more motivated than he used to be.
Almost as if he has a goal he's reaching for. Also, he seems to
behave more athletically. I thought he hated sports and exerting
himself. Especially martial arts." `Oops!' Nodoka winced internally
at the slip. `If Genma wasn't sure before, he is now...'
Genma's eyes flashed angrily at her mention of martial arts.
"Martial arts? You've seen him performing the arts?"
"Not really... I'm just guessing," she added weakly, hoping that
he wouldn't go ballistic.
He stared at her blankly, wondering if that was all she knew.
"Was there anything else you noticed, dear?" he pressed.
"Well..." she began, then stopped as her ears registered a noise
coming from the kitchen. `Thank goodness for small favors,' she
thought as she stood up. A sizzling sound had reminded her about
dinner. "Oh no! The meal's going to burn if I don't hurry!" And
with that she dashed back into the kitchen.
Genma smiled to his departing wife, then frowned deeply as she
turned the corner. `If my suspicions are right, Ranma and I are going
to have to have a discussion...' he thought, his anger stirring inside
him.
He turned to the stairs as he heard his wife call the children to
the table. `Yes, after dinner Ranma and I are going to come to an
understanding,' he thought darkly, his knuckles cracking under the
table.

****

The family sat down to the evening meal. Ranma and Ranko looked
like matching bookends at their end of the table. Nodoka served the
meal and all ate heartily, but quietly. During the meal, Genma kept
looking at Ranma out of the corner of his eye. Ranma was too busy
practicing the shovel method of chopstick use to notice the scrutiny.
Moments later the two siblings put their bowls down on the table,
having inhaled their food rather rapidly. Ranko stood from the table,
saying, "I have some homework to finish. I'll be up in my room." She
turned and walked up the stairs. Ranma turned to follow when Genma
caught his hand.
"Ranma, I need to talk to you about something." He laid his
chopsticks down and stood up. "Let's go to the training hall, shall
we?" Ranma smiled and said, "Sure Pop." He turned to his mother,
"Thanks for the meal Mom. It was great!" The two men walked outside
to the training hall, with Nodoka eyeing the departing Genma warily.
They entered the training hall and stood in the middle of the
room. Genma faced away from Ranma, apparently doing something, while
Ranma looked about the place nervously. "So Pop, what did you...
HEY!" he said as he dodged an uppercut that had been aimed directly
for his chin. "What the *hell's* goin' on here?" he demanded, getting
into a combat stance out of reflex.
Genma didn't answer, but launched into a series of complex forms
from Anything Goes. Ranma had a difficult time avoiding what Genma
was dishing out, but was able to keep away from anything being
launched at him. After a couple of minutes, a breathless Genma halted
his assault. "So I *WAS* right! You've learned to fight! Only a
*seasoned* martial artist could've avoided that!"
"So, what's the big deal, old man?" Ranma retorted hotly.
Genma's face was a mask of pure rage. "The big deal is that you
were never *supposed* to learn martial arts in the first place, boy!
Ever since the day you refused to go with me on that training trip, I
found you unworthy to carry on the Saotome name! No son of mine
should have refused to join me on that training journey. You were
weak then, and you're weak now!"
Now Ranma's rage showed, his face turning a brilliant red. "Now
just a Goddamned minute! There are a few things that you're going to
have to get straight before you start giving me that `unworthy' crap.
I can't even believe I'm hearing this from you!" He put his hands to
his temples, trying to calm himself. It wasn't having any effect,
however, as fresh waves of anger kept assailing his senses. "You have
*no* idea what I've been through old man!" Ranma shot back, anger
quickly overtaking him.
Genma continued to yell, undaunted by Ranma's sudden display of
backbone. "All I know for sure is that you're a disgrace boy! A
stain on our family name!" he shouted in a very angry voice, pointing
at his son in an accusatory manner. "You refused to learn the Saotome
School of Anything Goes Martial Arts when you refused to go on that
trip. And now I see that you've gone out and learned it from someone
else! This is a shame that our family should *not* have to endure!"
Genma launched another attack, trying to take Ranma down and show him
that he wasn't a martial artist. His punches were striking air,
however, as Ranma neatly dodged everything his father could throw at
him. And his father wasn't merely sparring, either.
"Pop, cut this out! You can't hit me, so stop trying!" Ranma
shouted as he kept blocking the kicks and punches that his father was
throwing at him. His mind scrambled for a way to get his father to
stop without having to resort to hitting him, although a part of him
was wondering whether or not he'd be better off knocking the old fart
out. He thought of a possibile way out of this mess, and gave it a
shot. "You're a fine one to talk about honor, old man! If you're so
damn honorable, then why am I not engaged to one of Soun Tendo's
daughters?"
Nothing else would've stopped Genma the way that question did.
Genma quit fighting and collapsed to his knees, placed his face in his
hands, and started weeping. When Ranma approached him, Genma swiped
at him with one of his hands, shouting in almost a half-sob, "Get away
from me, boy!" After a short time Genma's sobs ended, and he looked
up angrily at his son. "How did you find out about that, Ranma? No-
one was supposed to know. Who told you!?" he demanded.
Ranma decided to be evasive. He couldn't tell his father about
the wish or his `other life'. His life now was chaotic enough without
freaking his parents out, so he decided to do some artful
storytelling. "I learned it from the person who trained me."
Genma stared hard at his son. "Oh, and who would THAT be?"
Ranma smiled inwardly, awaiting his father's reaction to his
answer. "Why Pop, it was the same person who trained you and Mr.
Tendo. Happosai, of course."
All of the color drained from Genma's face, and he twitched
violently at the mention of his master's name. Very quickly, he leapt
up and put his hand over Ranma's mouth. "Shh, boy! Don't say that
name too loud. He may hear you." Genma looked around suspiciously,
making sure that MegaHentai didn't make an entrance. Ranma likewise
hoped that Happosai was still sealed in that mountain cave that his
father and Mr. Tendo had trapped him in all those years ago.
He then glared at his father, breaking free of his grip and
shouting, "I've made a man out of myself through a lot of effort and a
whole lot of suffering, old man. I deserve everything I've got
because I fought *hard* for it, and there's no way I'm going to let
you devalue that effort by calling me unworthy! If you want to look
at the person who dishonored the family, look at yourself!" Genma
didn't speak, choosing instead to simply stare up at his son as he
continued to rant. "Had you asked, I would have loved to train *here*
with you, instead of going off on some damned fool idealistic crusade.
Obviously training here was good enough for Ranko, so it should've
been good enough for me!" Ranma gestured to himself with his open
hands. "Obviously I like martial arts. I've trained for awhile in
it, and I know I'm good! So don't think that I'm gonna take any crap
from you about my skill. Martial Arts is my life, whether you like it
or not!"
"Ranma, I never knew. Why didn't you tell me, boy?" Genma asked,
dumbfounded.
Ranma searched his mind frantically for an answer. Obviously
*he* couldn't have told his father sooner. Technically, he just got
here, so he decided to guess. "Well, if you hadn't been so dead set
against me being a martial artist, and listened to me instead of
playing injured soldier, then this wouldn't have happened."
Genma sat still for several long minutes, his face mirroring the
war of emotions that was playing out within him. "I ... don't know
what to say, boy. I guess I've been wrong about you all these years.
You have grown up to be a man among men, as I always hoped you would,"
Genma declared, looking at his son anew, a smile slowly forming on his
face. "You do your father, indeed the whole family, proud." He stood
up. "I'm sorry for striking at you like that, son. You and your
sister are both great successors to the Saotome School." He extended
his hand, which Ranma slowly accepted. The handshake turned into a
hug, as Genma pulled his son to him. Soon both men were pounding the
hell out of each other on the back.

****

Ranko bounded down the stairs as fast as her young legs would
carry her, yelling as she descended. "MOM! Pop and Ranma are
fighting!" Nodoka rounded the corner separating the kitchen from the
dining area and collided with Ranko as she reached the bottom of the
staircase. She grabbed Ranko by the shoulders and looked at her
calmly. "Calm down, dear. Now tell me again what you were saying."
Ranko pointed to the training hall. "Didn't you hear them?
They're fighting!"
Nodoka sighed before answering. "Yes Ranko, I heard them."
"Why aren't you doing anything about it?!" she shrieked.
"Ranko. I already told your brother that he would have to suffer
the consequences of practicing martial arts behind his father's back.
I told him that I wouldn't intervene, and I'm not going to," she said
sternly. Nodoka wasn't feeling what she was saying, however. She was
torn between honoring a promise she made to her son, and making sure
that her little boy was alright.
Ranko shook her head. "Mom! It's not Ranma that I'm worried
about."
That got Nodoka's attention. "What? I don't understand..."
Ranko grabbed her mother's hands and took them off of her
shoulders. "Listen, mom. Ranma's a LOT better at martial arts than
you think he is. I can't really explain why he's as good as he is,
but that's the case. And if he and Pop are really fighting out there,
then I have a bad feeling that Pop could be in a lot of danger if
Ranma gets mad."
"Now Ranko, I know you feel that you're good at martial arts,
but..." Nodoka said in a condescending voice.
"Mom! Stop that! Yes, I'm proud of the training I gave Ranma,
but what I'm trying to tell you is that he already knew martial arts
in the first place. What I did was no more than spar with him and
teach him what tricks I knew."
Nodoka's eyes widened. Ranko may have had a reason to deceive
her concerning Ranma's abilities, but she doubted that her daughter
was lying to her. Genma might really be in danger if Ranma was as
skilled as Ranko was hinting at. And knowing her husband's penchant
for pissing her son off, she made a quick decision. "Alright, let's
go see what they're doing." The two women rushed for the back door,
hoping to avert a disaster.

****

Both Saotome men stood in silence for a few moments.
"Pop, I gotta tell you something," Ranma finally said, breaking
the tension.
"What is it, boy?"
`Here goes everything. I sure hope he takes *this* part better
than the last part about my training...' Ranma took a deep breath
before he continued. "I'm going to the Tendo Dojo. I intend to keep
intact the promise you made to Mr. Tendo," Ranma proclaimed proudly.
He turned to walk from the training hall.
Genma held his arm out, stopping Ranma from leaving. "Ranma, I'm
afraid I can't let you do that."
Impatience showed on Ranma's face as he turned back to face his
father. "POP?! Why not? It's something that I *want* to do," Ranma
yelled. `Why the hell is Pop trying to stop me from going?' he asked
himself incredulously.
"Well Ranma, I understand why you don't know this part of the
story. It's a family secret, one that only your mother and I know."
He sat on the mats, and urged Ranma to do the same. "Just hear me out
boy," he said, noting Ranma's reluctance to sit. Ranma nodded then
slowly sat down, facing Genma.
Genma breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. He paused for
awhile, then spoke. "You see, you were right when you said that Soun
and I made that promise all those years ago. However, when you made
that decision not to go on that training journey with me, I broke off
the agreement with him, claiming that I had no son worthy of marrying
off. He took offense with me for doing it, and claimed that I had
soiled the Tendo name by acting so dishonorably as to break an
agreement between friends."
Genma sighed, hating to have to dredge up such painful memories.
"Ever since that day he has refused to speak to any of us. He's even
pushed me away violently on the occasions when I came in person to try
and make amends." Genma's look darkened as he continued. "And if I
know Soun, he's probably already made other arrangements to keep his
family honor intact. You're probably too late, boy. I'm sorry."
Ranma's face flushed with white hot rage as parts of the puzzle
finally clicked into place. "Kuno, of course! *God Dammit!* Why
didn't I see it before?! No wonder Akane was so depressed! Pop, I
gotta get over there, before it's too late!" Ranma bit out, clenching
his fists in frustration. He looked to the training hall door in
desperation. He *HAD* to get to Akane!
Genma leaned forward and grabbed his son by the arms, shaking him
slightly. "Ranma, didn't you just hear me? If he finds out you're my
son, he'll probably try to kill you!" he said, hoping to reason with
him.
"Pop, it's a risk I've gotta take. You're gonna have to trust me
on this one," Ranma said as he wriggled out of his father's grasp and
sprinted out of the training hall.
Genma ran to the door of the training hall in time to see his son
effortlessly *vault* to the roof of the house. Unable to stop him, he
decided to encourage him. "Good luck son!" he shouted to his
departing shadow, watching him leap from rooftop to rooftop.

****

Nodoka watched in consternation as she saw Ranma being chased by
Genma out of the training hall. `Damn! Well at least they look
okay...' She and Ranko then abruptly stopped running and stood in the
yard, slack jawed. Both women craned their necks as they watched
Ranma *vault* up to the roof of the house and then sprint out of view,
jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
"You weren't kidding about Ranma's abilities, were you dear?"
Nodoka deadpanned as she continued to stare at where her son had just
been.
Ranko ignored the question as she closed her gaping mouth, and
turned her angry gaze on her father. She advanced angrily on him,
clocking him on the head as she yelled, "What did you do to Ranma?!"
His face showed an honestly surprised look as he regarded his
daughter. "Uhh... what Ranko?"
"PAY ATTENTION!" she yelled, clouting him on the head again.
"What did you do to *Ranma*?!" she yelled, balling her hands into
fists and adopting a fighting stance. She'd just gotten to like her
brother, and she wasn't about to let her father get away with running
him off.
"Oh no you two! One fight a night is quite enough," Nodoka
commanded sternly from behind Ranko, placing a hand on her daughter's
shoulder. The look she gave them brooked no contradiction, causing
them to subside quickly.
"Yes mom..."
"Yes dear..."
"There, that's better." She turned to look at her husband.
"Now, could you tell me what just happened here, Genma?"
Genma frowned, knowing that Nodoka wasn't going to like what he
had to say. "Let's go inside, first. You'll need to be sitting down
when you hear this." He guided the two women from the training hall,
closing the doors to the hall before following them into the house.

****

Ranma jumped down from his rooftop sprinting, having lost his
way. `Damn, I'm beginning to feel like Ryouga,' he thought as he
approached a street vendor selling okonomiyaki from a dingy yatai. He
wasn't able to find a street sign or any other discernible landmark,
so he decided to approach the street cook and ask him where he was.
"Ahh, excuse me?" Ranma asked.
The cook finished flipping the okonomiyaki on his griddle before
turning to speak to Ranma. "Yes sir, can I help you?"
Ranma had to concentrate hard on ignoring the smell of the
cooking treats. They were calling back memories of Ucchan, and he
didn't need that sort of distraction at the moment. "Uhh, yeah. I'm
trying to find out what street this is."
The cook chuckled slightly, saying, "Well sir, I doubt I can help
you there. I know my routes by way of landmarks, so I don't know what
street this is since I don't pay attention to street signs."
Crestfallen, Ranma looked for another person to talk to on the
street, but wasn't able to see anyone else nearby. The cook served up
the completed okonomiyaki on a plate and pushed it in Ranma's
direction. "Here you go son, on the house."
"Oh sir, thank you but I couldn't..." Ranma said, smiling at the
offer.
"That's alright, son. Take it. I have to cook one every once in
awhile to keep the griddle properly seasoned. If you don't eat it,
I'll have to throw it out."
Ranma acquiesced and accepted the offered food. The cook smiled
as Ranma ate. "So, what brings you out at this time of the night,
sir?"
Ranma swallowed, then answered. "I'm trying to get to someone.
The damn thing is that I thought I knew the way to her place."
The cook cocked an eyebrow and smiled. "Her, eh? You meeting a
girlfriend?"
Ranma flushed, having not intended to let that slip. "Yeah, I
guess you can call her that."
"Oh, you having problems with the young lady?" the cook asked
inquisitively.
Ranma didn't really want to say anything more, but he decided
that he'd feel better if he discussed it with someone. "Well, yeah I
guess. She acts like I'm not around, you know?" The cook nodded his
head. "Besides, I think she's already involved with someone else."
Ranma took another bite of the okonomiyaki. The cook smiled and
said, "Well, that sounds like a lot for someone so young to be worried
about. Is this ladyfriend of yours worth all of the trouble you're
going through?"
"Yes, she is. She has no idea what I would do for her." Ranma
fumbled about his cobwebbed mind, trying to find the right way to say
what he felt. "You see, it's not my desire that I'm worried about. I
can't seem to find the proper way to approach her." He sighed, "And
there's her father to worry about, too. Something tells me that he
and I aren't going to exactly hit it off."
"Well, if you want my honest opinion sir, I feel that anything is
possible if a person's commitment is true and his intentions are both
honest and honorable. You strike me as being that type of person, so
you shouldn't worry. Just let things happen and react to them,
instead of anticipating every possibility. Life's too short for
someone so young to have so much troubling him." He patted Ranma on
the shoulder, smiling. "You'll see what I mean someday."
Ranma guessed he did, and felt better for the discussion. He
also felt a *lot* more determined and focused. He finished off the
okonomiyaki and thanked the cook. "You've been a big help. Now if
only I could find the Tendo dojo from here," he said to himself.
The cook pointed over Ranma's shoulder and said, "It's two blocks
in that direction."
"How?! ... " he asked, an incredulous look on his face.
"I pass by it every day," the cook said by way of explanation as
he began packing things up. "And now, I have to go to another
location. It's almost time for the shift change at the factory. Have
a good evening sir. And good luck with the ladyfriend!"
"Thanks!" Ranma shouted as he headed in the direction indicated
by the cook. As Ranma faded out of view, the cook smiled to himself.
"You're almost there Saotome. Don't blow it now," the cook said,
snapping his fingers to reveal a white leisure suit. Another snap of
the fingers and both he and the yatai disappeared from the
streetcorner.

****

Genma sat at the opposite end of the table from Nodoka and Ranko.
Both women had slightly angered expressions on their faces, and were
growing impatient with his stalling. "Well, we're waiting," Nodoka
finally said.
Genma sighed, accepting his fate. "Well, it went like this... I
confronted Ranma about his use of Anything Goes. He told me that not
only did he know Anything Goes, but he had been practicing it for
quite a while. Naturally I was shocked, so I asked him who taught
him."
Nodoka blanched, knowing that Genma was one of only two people
that could readily teach Ranma the style of Anything Goes martial
arts. "Genma, it *couldn't* have been Soun, could it?" She could
hardly believe she was even saying it.
Genma shook his head slowly, and leaned forward on the table a
bit. Carefully he mouthed the word `Happosai.' He fell backwards
from the table as Nodoka reacted to his answer.
Nodoka's eyes widened considerably as she read the name from
Genma's lips. "HAPPOSAI?!!" she yelled in a pained voice. "How
the... mmmf!" She couldn't get another word out of her mouth as Genma
had rather quickly crawled around the table and covered it with his
hands.
Ranko had been watching the exchange as if it were a tennis
match. She quickly pushed herself out of her mother's way as she
yelled, then watched with a mixture of confusion and humor as Genma
tried to gag his wife with one of his hands. Seeing a lull in the
proceedings, she raised her hand. "Mom, who are you talking about.
Who's this `Soun' person? And who is Happosai?" Ranko already knew
from Ranma who Soun was, but wasn't going to give that away to her
parents.
Both Genma and Nodoka stared wide-eyed at Ranko. She shrank back
a bit from their intense scrutiny. "SHHHHHH!!!!!" they both said
quickly.
"Geez folks! All I said was `Happosai!' " Ranko shot back with
some irritation.
"DON'T SAY THAT AGAIN!!" both parents shot back in unison.
Nodoka calmed herself before continuing. "Ranko, trust us when we
tell you this. That word is *very* bad, and we don't want to hear you
say it *ever* again," she commanded sternly, staring Ranko in the eye.
Ranko held her hands up. "Okay okay okay. Geez!"
Nodoka sat back and swiveled her position to look directly at
Genma. "Now then, you were saying, dear."
Genma sweat nervously, realizing that he was now within easy
strangling distance of his wife. Deciding that not moving was
infinitely safer than trying to get away from his wife at the moment,
he slumped his shoulders in defeat and plunged ahead with his story.
"Ranma knows about the promise..."
Nodoka thought for a moment. "Which pro..." Her gaze hardened
as she realized what Genma was talking about. "You mean that damned
promise you and Soun made before Ranma was born?!" Genma nodded, and
she rolled her eyes in disgust. "How did he find out about... No,
nevermind; let me guess. That hentai, right?"
Genma nodded. "That's what he told me."
"Well, now Ranma knows. What does that have to do with
anything?" she asked dismissively.
Genma swallowed. "Well, that's why Ranma left..." he began
weakly.
Nodoka slapped her hand on the table, startling both her husband
and her daughter. "Dammit Genma, stop being evasive and tell me what
in the *hell's* going on!" she demanded angrily.
"Ranma said that he knew about the promise to marry him to one of
Soun's daughters..."
"and..." Nodoka prodded.
"And he's gone over to the Tendo dojo to talk to Soun about it.
That's where he was going just as you two walked out into the yard."
Nodoka's eyes flashed as she tried to contain the combination of
worry, confusion, and anger that suddenly struck her. Genma noted the
agitated look in her eyes and grabbed her arms, turning her to face
him eye to eye. "Nodoka, dear. I tried to talk sense into him. I
even tried to stop him from leaving the training hall, but he wouldn't
hear of it. He kept saying that he had to get over there immediately,
and wouldn't listen to me."
Unseen by either parent, Ranko's eyes widened. `Damn! I didn't
think that Ranma would try to do this *tonight!*' Saying nothing, she
resumed watching her parents argue.
"Well, we have no choice. We'll have to go to Soun's place and
stop Ranma..." she stated flatly.
"No we won't!" Genma yelled angrily, interrupting her as he
released her arms. "Ranma has made his choice, and it's our duty as
parents to respect that choice," he declared.
"Genma, now is *not* the time to start prattling on about that.
You know that Ranma's no match for Soun. How could you just let him
go over there like that?" Nodoka spat angrily.
Genma's expression softened. "Nodoka, if we *didn't* let him go,
he'd never have forgiven us."
"Well that may be the case, but at least he'd still be alive!"
she shouted back in frustration.
"WHAT?!" Ranko shrieked. "What do you mean, `still alive?' What
the hell's happening to Ranma?"
Nodoka groaned, forgetting that her daughter was still sitting
next to her. Genma looked to his daughter, his voice growing
comforting. "Don't worry about Ranma, honey. I have faith in him..."
He turned to look at his wife. "..and so should you," he ground out,
directing the last part of the statement to his wife. "There's
nothing we can do to help. All we can do is wait," he declared
finally.
The Saotome women sighed, acknowledging Genma's point. "Fine
we'll wait. But Ranma'd better come back safely."
Genma took his upset wife in his arms, cradling her to him.
"Don't worry dear. He'll be just fine." He kissed her lightly on the
forehead, and squeezed her shoulders comfortingly.
Ranko stood up and ran to her room, not bothering to hide her
tears. She felt sure that Ranma knew what he was doing, but even with
that she couldn't shake the feeling that he was in real danger. She
entered her room and slid the door shut behind her. Flopping down on
her bed, she gathered the pillows up in her arms and cried into them,
hoping that her brother would be okay.

****

Ranma finally arrived at the gates of the Tendo Hall. He looked
over his shoulder, and saw that the damaged wall from his last
encounter with Kuno had been repaired. Twice he tried to bring his
hand up to open the gate and approach the house. `Dammit! I can't be
nervous now!' he thought angrily. He steeled himself and bravely
marched through the gate and approached the house. Seeing lights on,
he knocked at the front door and awaited an answer.
Kasumi opened the door and regarded Ranma with a smile. "Yes,
may I help you?"
Ranma decided to act like he didn't know any of them, and merely
replied. "Yes ma'am. I'm looking for a Mr. Soun Tendo. Is he here?"
Kasumi smiled and said, "Yes he is. He's in our dojo. You can
wait in the den to speak with him, or go to the dojo if you wish."
She indicated the dojo entrance with her hand.
Ranma smiled and said, "Thank you. I'll talk with him in the
dojo. You've been most helpful..."
"Kasumi," she answered, bowing slightly.
"Thank you, Kasumi." He turned and walked in the direction of
the dojo, leaving Kasumi at the door.
"My, what a nice young man," she commented as she slid the door
closed and returned to the kitchen.

****

Ranma approached the dojo. Once at the entrance, he concealed
himself from view, and watched in amazement as Soun went through a few
katas. `Wow! I never knew Akane's old man had it in him. He's
really good at this,' Ranma thought as he watched the Kenpo instructor
go through his moves. When Soun finished, Ranma stepped up to the
entrance of the dojo and cleared his throat.
Soun looked up and waved for Ranma to enter the dojo. "Hello
son. Are you interested in taking a course?"
"Not really, Mr. Tendo. I needed to see you about something
really important," Ranma said cautiously, making sure he stayed on his
guard as he walked into the dojo.
"Well, what can I help you with son?" Soun asked, folding his
arms in front of his chest.
Ranma decided to plunge on ahead, consequences be damned. "Well,
I'm here to honor a debt to your family, Mr. Tendo. You see, my name
is Ranma Saotome..."
Soun's face grew severe, and his arms dropped to his sides.
"Ranma Saotome? Not Saotome as in Genma Saotome?"
"Yes sir, one and the same," Ranma replied simply.
Soun's cold look turned to a mask of iron-hot rage. "How DARE a
Saotome disgrace my dojo with his presence?" he spluttered, assuming
an attack stance. "Get the hell out of here before I hurt you, boy!"
Ranma was going to play it cool, right up to the point where Soun
used the words `Saotome' and `disgrace' in the same sentence. Now he
was pissed, and he showed it. "Shelve the attitude, Mr. Tendo. I
didn't come here to fight with you, only to talk," Ranma spat.
"Well a fight's what you're gonna get if you don't leave, *now!*"
Soun shouted, his fists shaking in rage.
"I have no intention of leaving until we talk, Mr. Tendo," Ranma
said coldly, resigning himself to a fight with his former, and
possibly future, father-in-law.
Soun eyed his opponent, a sneer forming on his face. "Well, if
you're so eager to fight, I'll oblige you. HA!" And with that he
charged at the shocked youth.
Ranma swore to himself. He had a lot of respect for Mr. Tendo,
and didn't like the idea of having to fight him. However, if it was
the only way that he'd be able to get to the bottom of this, then it
was something that he had to do. Ranma lifted his arms up in a
defensive stance at Soun's battle cry, and the battle was joined.

****

The two combatants had fought for twenty hard minutes, and the
dojo was suffering for it. Soun had not been able to land any real
blows on Ranma, and on occasion missed him altogether to hit the wall
or ceiling instead. Holes in wall panels, and cracked building
supports gave evidence of a fierce battle that, should it continue
much further, would literally bring the house down.
Ranma wasn't able to concentrate on the condition of the dojo at
the moment, as he was fighting harder than he ever thought he'd have
to. Soun's prowess was surprising, and much more advanced than what
Ranma had encountered in his `other existence.' As he dodged punch
after punch, his ears detected a faint creaking. Looking up, he saw a
thick section of the rafter break loose and fall directly towards
Soun's position. Not wanting anything to happen to Mr. Tendo, Ranma
blocked a final punch from Soun, then landed one of his own, sending
him sprawling out of harm's way.
Then he concentrated with all of his might on the plummeting
beam. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" he yelled, lashing out at the beam with a
powerful burst of chi energy. The force of the energy burst emitted
from his hands turned the beam into sawdust, and soon it was snowing
wood flakes in the dojo. Ranma collapsed to his knees, gasping in the
dusty air.
Soun sat with his mouth open. Never had he seen someone so
accomplished in Anything Goes before. `Genma has indeed trained his
son well,' he thought, before his anger caught up with his admiration
of Ranma's prowess. `Genma! How dare he say that he has no son
worthy to marry one of my daughters, and then train his boy to this
level of expertise!? This is an absolute insult!' Soun thought as he
stood, an indignant look on his face. He wasn't going to fight Ranma
again, not after seeing what he was capable of doing. But that didn't
mean that he had to share the same floorspace with the boy.

****

Kasumi was chopping some vegetables for the evening meal when she
thought she heard some shouting coming from the dojo.
Unsure, she lay her utensils down on the counter and walked to
the window and listened. Not hearing anything, she went up to
Nabiki's room. She knocked. Getting no response, she slid the door
open. Peeking her head inside, Kasumi could see her younger sister
laying on her bed, reading and listening to her stereo with
headphones. "Nabiki!" she shouted. Nabiki started at Kasumi's shout,
and pulled her headphones off of her head. "Yeah, what is it Kasumi?"
"You didn't hear anyone shouting just a moment ago, did you?"
"Nope. I've been in here, reading. Why? Is there a problem?"
Nabiki looked at her older sister, not getting anything from her body
language. It was so hard trying to read Kasumi, that Nabiki had given
up on it long ago.
"No, not really. I probably imagined it, that's all. Don't
worry about it," Kasumi said cheerily, smiling her beautiful smile.
Nabiki shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, Sis. By the way, is Akane
home yet?"
"No, she hasn't returned from her date with Kuno yet."
Nabiki grimaced. "Kasumi, do you really have to call it a date?"
Kasumi frowned uncharacteristically. "I suppose not, although
that is what Kuno was calling it."
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Torture's more like it." She sighed.
"Poor little sister. She sure looked sad when she left."
"Well, it *was* her choice."
"It still stinks, Kasumi."
"We shouldn't worry. I have a feeling that Akane will be
alright."
Nabiki snorted. "Yeah, only if a miracle happens." She then
donned her earphones again and resumed her reading of Malcolm Forbes'
biography.
Kasumi left Nabiki's room and returned to the kitchen to finish
the meal. She tried to resume cooking, but kept getting distracted by
worrying over her youngest sister. Dropping her utensils to the side,
she wiped her hands on her apron and sighed. `I hope Akane's going to
be okay.'

****

Seeing Soun turn to leave, Ranma turned to him and said, "Mr.
Tendo, wait! We have to talk!"
"Why should I listen to you, after all that your family has done
to me?" Soun yelled, half wailing.
Ranma decided to call in a debt, "Because I saved your life."
Seeing Soun's incredulous look, Ranma nodded. "Yup! You would've
died if I hadn't taken out that beam, Mr. Tendo." Ranma's look
softened a bit, "Look Mr. Tendo, all I ask is that you listen to me."
Soun's shoulders slumped in defeat. He'd have to honor the boy's
request, so he sat on the floor of the dojo, and stared at Ranma with
a blank expression on his face, "Very well, go ahead."
Ranma turned the creative engine on again, as he pieced together
a story that Soun would believe. "Well, you see Mr. Tendo, my father
was correct in what he told you. At the time he broke off the
engagement, I wasn't really worthy of marrying any of your daughters
and carrying on the Anything Goes school. However when I grew older I
trained hard and quickly, and learned the art. I realized that I
wanted to make my family proud of me." Which was mostly true,
although the facts were twisted a bit.
Soun looked at him and asked, "So when did Genma start to train
you, Ranma?"
Ranma decided to stick with the same story he told his dad.
"Actually, Mr. Tendo, Pop didn't train me."
Soun's eyes widened, "Really? Then who trained you?"
"Well, you see, until recently, Pop and I weren't really getting
along. He thought me a disgrace to the family, and refused to train
me. He trained my sister Ranko instead. So I turned to the only
other person skilled at Anything Goes." Seeing Soun blanch, he
nodded, "Yup, that's right. I got my training from Happosa...mfff!"
Soun jumped over to Ranma, and in an imitation of Genma's
reaction to Nodoka, whipped his hand over Ranma's mouth. He struggled
for a bit under Soun's grasp before relenting. "Don't say that name
around here, Ranma. You might draw him to the dojo," he hissed
hysterically, then released him.
"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Mr. Tendo. I have a
feeling that he's safely sealed away, for the moment at least. You
shouldn't have any problems with him." `I hope,' Ranma added to
himself.
Soun exhaled loudly, obviously relieved. Suddenly he eyed Ranma,
asking, "Just what all did you learn from Hap... the master?"
Ranma's eyes narrowed at the question. "Well I didn't pick up
that hentai's appetite for panties and bras, if that's your concern,"
he deadpanned.
Soun sighed in relief again and stood away from Ranma. "Was that
all you wanted to tell me, Ranma Saotome?" he asked formally.
Ranma sighed in relief, believing the worst was over. He
collected his wits for the next part. "No Mr. Tendo, there's more.
As I've already told you, I know about the promise that you and Pop
had concerning marrying me to one of your daughters."
"I'm sure Genma told you this, right?" Soun asked acidly.
Again sticking to the story he told his father, "No sir, I found
this out from Hap... the master while training." Ranma stood and
began pacing the floor of the trashed dojo, kicking up sawdust with
every step. "I will admit that I was honestly upset that a marriage
had been arranged for me without my consent. But I was equally
shocked to learn that the agreement had been broken. In fact, it
wasn't until this evening that I learned of why the engagement was
broken."
Soun hung his head low, tears streaming down his face. "It was a
great shame to my family the day your father broke that agreement. I
had such plans for the both of our families. I had really looked
forward to the day when our families would be joined."
A large bead of sweat hung from his head, as Ranma realized that
his wish had caused all of this to happen (or not happen, depending on
your perspective). Ranma tried to make the best of the situation. In
Soun Tendo's words he saw a possibility to mend the rift between the
two families, and proceeded with caution. "Mr. Tendo, my father has
regretted that day, and has wanted to apologize to you for it on
several occasions."
Soun looked over at him, and laughed with a touch of bitterness.
"Well, Ranma. You see, it's not that simple. A simple apology just
won't do. It'll take a lot more than that to satisfy the honor of the
Tendo family. For example, when your father broke off the marriage
plans, I had to keep the Tendo family honor intact. So I scouted
Nerima for many years looking for a substitute of good ability who
would be willing to marry one of my daughters. Only recently was I
able to find someone who took an interest in my youngest daughter,
Akane."
"Tatewaki Kuno," Ranma ground out, his hands balling into fists.
"Ahh, so you've heard of him. Well, while no formal announcement
of their engagement has been made, the proposal was accepted by him on
behalf of his family." Soun sighed, knowing that the arrangement was
of little comfort.
Ranma shook his head, not wanting to hear it. "But don't you
see, Mr. Tendo, that's why I've come here!" Ranma spread his arms
out, almost preaching. "I want to keep the promise you and my Pop
made. I *want* to marry one of your daughters!"
Soun's eyes lit up, and the beginnings of a desperate smile
creased his face. "You aren't joking about this, are you son?"
Ranma gave him his most solemn look, "No sir, it's no joke. But
there is a complication."
"Complication?" Soun asked, getting upset again.
"Well, you see, I'm familiar with all three of your daughters.
I've been keeping my eye on them for awhile now. And while I'd be
very happy with Kasumi, and Nabiki would be an ... interesting wife,
it's Akane who really interests me." Ranma looked Soun in the eye.
"Please Mr. Tendo! You *have* to tell me that there's a way to break
off that arrangement between Akane and Kuno!" he shouted, a touch of
desperation creeping into his voice.
Soun's brow creased as he registered the distaste he felt over
the agreement, replying with, "The arrangement between the Kuno family
and ours has always been on shaky ground. Plus, Akane isn't too happy
with the arrangement herself. Kuno has even made it worse by boasting
that anyone who bests him in combat will win Akane from him. That
arrogant bastard..." Looking towards the house and his daughters, he
continued. "Ranma, if you were to defeat Kuno, and rescue Akane from
that arrangement, I would happily consent to your engagement."
Ranma's mind backpedaled. `Whoa! Why am I feeling so resistant
all of a sudden? Isn't this what I've been wanting since I got here?'
he thought as he tried to come up with something to say. Finally he
forced a smile on his face, saying, "Let's take things one step at a
time, Mr. Tendo. I like Akane, but I feel it's better if she knows me
before another engagement is sprung on her. Besides, she might not...
like ... me." Ranma paused, having not ever considered that before.
`What if she doesn't like me? It'd kill me to be chasing after her,
only to find out that I'm not wanted.' He banished the thought from
his mind, not wanting to dwell on something as depressing as that.
Soun put his hand on Ranma's shoulder, watching the emotions
warring across the young man's face. "You're right, of course. We'll
worry about getting Kuno out of the way first. The rest can come
later."
"Mr. Tendo, one more thing. Will you promise to sit down and
talk to my father if I beat Kuno?" Ranma pressed, hoping to reunite
the two families.
Soun `hmmmed' for a bit, considering his response. His hopes
were being raised by some kid who came out of nowhere and was
promising him more than he'd ever hoped for; so he was still a little
wary. "Very well," he said at length." "I'll talk to Genma if you
win... It's a deal." He shook Ranma's hand hesitantly. "We'll keep
this to ourselves for now, son. I don't want to risk getting my
little girls upset with me."
Ranma snorted, knowing how bad upsetting the Tendo sisters can
be. "Yes, Mr. Tendo. I understand." Ranma looked around, noticing
the damage for the first time. "Oops! Sorry I made such a mess of
the place."
"Quite alright, Ranma. If everything works out as you and I have
planned, the damage to the dojo would have been well worth it." More
creaking coming from the beams in the walls and roof caught their
attention, and both looked to the door.
Ranma took that as his cue to leave. "Good night, Mr. Tendo. I
won't disappoint you." And with that he sprinted out of the dojo,
through the gate, and headed homeward.
Soun watched the departing youth with a nostalgic smile, Ranma's
enthusiasm dampening down years of bitterness and anger.. `Ahh,
Genma. You should be very proud of your son. I've missed you, old
friend, and hope we get the chance to regain our friendship.' And
with that, Soun got out a broom and swept up what he could. He and
Nabiki could tally up the damage cost in the morning, he thought
absently.

****

Forty minutes later Ranma ran through the front door of his home.
`At least I'm getting better at finding my way around this side of
town. Geez! Why did Pop have to find a place so far from the Tendo
Dojo?' he thought as he removed his shoes and stepped into the living
room. "Tadaima!" he shouted triumphantly as he entered.
Ranma staggered backwards a bit as he got hammered by a double-
barreled hug from his mother and Ranko. He put his arms around the
women and returned the hug as best he could. Nodoka stood away from
Ranma a bit and put a hand up, caressing his face in a motherly
fashion. "Oh thank God my baby's safe!" she said in a half-sighing,
half-proud voice.
Ranma smiled. "Yeah, Mom. I'm okay." He put his free arm
around the shaking form of his younger sister. "Hey Ranko, you okay?"
Ranko looked up at her brother with eyes red from crying. "You
had us all worried, Ranma!" she yelled, not unkindly. "Pop told me
all about the Tendos and what you were up against. I... I was afraid
you weren't coming back..." She started crying again, burying her
head in his chest and wrapping him in a crushing hug.
Uncomfortable with his sister crying, Ranma simply put his hand
on her head, stroked her hair and held onto her while she cried on his
chest. Nodoka's look became reprimanding as Ranma faced her again.
"Why did you do something as reckless as that, Ranma? Your father
told you the risks, and yet you went ahead and did it anyway. Why?
And how many more surprises were you planning on springing on the
family today, anyway?"
Ranma regarded her with a no-nonsense look on his face. "Mom, I
already explained myself to Pop concerning the martial arts. I am a
martial artist, and I'm proud of it. I intend to make my mark with
the Saotome name. As for going to the Tendo Dojo, well it was
something that I had to do. Besides, I know I can take care of
myself. Mr. Tendo wasn't a problem once I convinced him that fighting
me was a bad thing." Ranma winced at the memory of the marathon
fight. "He decided to listen to me, and we talked for awhile."
"Well we never had to concern ourselves with you getting into
fights before," Nodoka chided. "We were worried, son."
"Yeah, well I'm sorry if I worried you, but I felt that this had
gone on long enough. Something had to be done, so I did it," Ranma
said simply.
Genma looked at him expectantly, hope in his eyes. "You said you
talked with Soun. What did he say, Ranma?"
"Well Pop, he told me pretty much the same thing you did
concerning the promise you two made. He said he was upset that the
promise had been broken, and didn't want to see another Saotome ever
again. I told him that I was there to try to set things right between
the two families. At first he didn't want to believe me, and I had a
terrible time trying to convince him that I wasn't kidding. He didn't
start taking me seriously until I told him that I wanted to marry one
of his three daughters."
Nodoka gasped in shock when she heard Ranma's proclamation.
"Ranma, you didn't?!" she asked in a shocked voice.
Ranma would've answered, but Ranko's grip on him had tightened.
"Ranma, you're getting *married?* That's so cool!" Her face was
split by a wide grin. She released him, which allowed him to breathe
again. "So when's the wedding date?"
Ranma placed a hand against his aching ribs, quickly developing a
new appreciation for his sister's strength. "Don't get upset Mom! No
wedding date has been set. I haven't even *proposed* to anyone yet!"
Nodoka breathed a *big* sigh of relief after hearing that.
Ranko's brow furrowed as she listened to her older brother. "I
don't get it. You said you wanted to marry one of Mr. Tendo's
daughters, and now you're backing off? Do you at least have any idea
who it is you're interested in?"
Ranma smiled inwardly, grateful that his sister wasn't spilling
anything from their previous conversation. "Well, I know which girl
it is that I prefer. There's a catch, of course. Mr. Tendo had her
betrothed to Tatewaki Kuno in order to return honor to the Tendo
family." Ranma regarded Genma, "I guess you were right about Mr.
Tendo, Pop. He told me that if I was going to have any chance at
Akane being my fiancee, I'd have to have to defeat Kuno in an open
challenge."
Nodoka gasped, not wanting her son to have to fight again.
"Ranma, if you're so set on marrying one of Soun's daughters, why go
through all of the trouble of fighting for one of them when there are
two others that are still available? What's so special about Akane,
son?"
Ranma considered the question. Indeed, why was Akane so special
to him? He couldn't give a hard and fast answer. But he knew, in his
heart, that life wouldn't be complete without her. He chuckled to
himself. `Man, this is weird! Only a month or so ago I would've
denied everything I just thought and said. I guess I really do love
her.' "Mom, you're going to have to trust me on this one. I know a
lot more about Akane than I do Nabiki or Kasumi. I'd feel most
comfortable being with her."
Nodoka shelved the question she had about how he knew the Tendo
daughters, and how he had been able to make a decision about them.
Instead, she put her hand to her head and sighed, "Oh God... I have
to sit down." Genma directed her to a mat where she could sit. After
seating herself, she looked up to her son with a slightly pleading
look. "Ranma, why did you make this sudden decision to pursue Akane
Tendo? I mean, I'm glad you've taken an interest in women, but don't
you think you're rushing things a bit? Marriage is an awfully big
step for you to be taking, son."
"Mom, I'll tell you the same thing I told Mr. Tendo. I'm not
looking for an immediate marriage to Akane. Besides, I'm not even
sure that she'll like me at all, much less want to marry me. In fact,
that is one of the conditions I placed on the engagement." Seeing the
puzzled faces, he continued to explain. "I told Mr. Tendo that I
wasn't about to force Akane into another engagement. She's already
upset that she was pushed into marrying Kuno. I told him, and he
agreed, that Akane and I should date and see if we had anything in
common before anything became final. I also told him that we
shouldn't tell Akane about our conversation for a while."
"But you still haven't told me *why* you chose now to do this, or
why you wanted to do it at all," Nodoka pushed. "Genma didn't put you
up to doing this, did he?" she asked, a suspicious glint in her eyes.
Genma spluttered indignantly, but didn't say anything. "Of
course he didn't, Mom," Ranma said, coming to his father's rescue.
"I'm sixteen now. For a while now I've been thinking that I should be
doing something more with my life than playing with my friends. After
I was trained by Hap.." Genma and Nodoka eyed him harshly, "err...
the master in Anything Goes, I felt that I was ready to make a name
for myself."
Ranma's eyes widened as he looked at a clock on the wall,
realizing that he was going to have to get to bed now if he wanted to
be in shape for the challenge tomorrow. "Mom, Dad, thanks for waiting
up for me. I need to get to bed now; I'm tired." He ran upstairs to
his room, leaving a speechless family in his wake.
"Yeah, Ranma's right. I'd better get to bed too. I've got
school tomorrow. G'nite Mom. G'nite Pop," Ranko said, kissing each
parent before bounding up the stairs.
After Ranko disappeared upstairs, Genma came up behind his wife,
embracing her and kissing her on the back of the neck. "This has
certainly been a day for surprises, hasn't it Hon?" he asked, a
whimsical smile on his face.
Nodoka smiled and placed her hands over her husband's. "Yes it
has, dear." She leaned back, pressing herself deeper into his arms.
"Genma. How do you think Ranma managed to find that old lech?"
Genma scowled at the question. "Nodoka, that's one question I
would rather never hear the answer to. Some things are better left
unsaid. The less we speak about him, the better off the world will
be."
Nodoka got a sly smile on her face, thinking about the past and
some of the influence Happosai had on her husband. "Genma, dear. Do
you think you could show me again that `special technique' that Happy
taught you?"
Genma could hear the quotation marks around those words, and
grinned broadly. "Absolutely! But we'd better make sure the children
are asleep first." They both laughed softly. Nodoka turned in his
arms, kissing her husband on the lips. "I love you, dear," she said,
kissing him again. Genma merely tightened his hold on his wife,
happily returning the kiss.
A few moments later they turned out the lights and headed
upstairs.

****

At that moment, somewhere in a dark, dank cave, a sneeze was
heard. The sneeze reverberated through the confines of the cave,
causing small bits of dust and rock to fall from the roof. Somewhere
within the cave a shifting occurred. A shaft of light pierced through
the oppressive darkness, emanating from the source of the shifting.
Two eyes widened in realization. "FREEDOM!!!" the form screamed, as
it ran towards the light. Just shy of the light's origin, a loud
*smack* was heard as the creature struck its head on a stalactite.
Reaching an arm to the light, the creature managed to say one word
before it passed out. "ppp...pantiessss..."

****

Ranma was preparing for bed when he heard a knock at his door.
"Come in," he said brightly. The door slid open, and Ranko walked in,
closing the door behind her. Seeing who it was, Ranma blushed and
quickly whipped his pants in front of him, wishing he'd left his
boxers on. He'd taken them off along with his pants, not really
thinking about what he was doing. He castigated himself for doing it,
having forgotten again that he had a sister. Ranko apparently saw
everything, blushing deep red from her toes to her eyes, and her mouth
was gaping open. "Oops, sorry about that Sis. I forgot."
Ranko recovered quickly, smiling slightly and allowing an
embarrassed chuckle to work its way free. "S'okay Ranma. It's not
like I haven't seen you before. Although you look a bit different
since the last time I saw..." Ranko quickly dropped her gaze to the
floor, stopping herself. "Sorry, didn't realize what I was saying."
Ranma blushed this time, realizing that his sister didn't mind looking
at him. Changing the subject, she said, "I just wanted to tell you
that I'm worried about you fighting Kuno tomorrow. Are you sure you
can handle him?"
Ranma smiled confidently. "Yeah, Ranko. He shouldn't be any
problem. I feel like I've gotten my old form back. And when I lived
in the other existence, I beat Kuno daily." Ranko's eyes widened when
she heard that, realizing just how *good* her brother was. `That is,
if he's telling the truth,' she thought suddenly.
"You're pulling my chain, Ranma. No-one's that good," she
challenged.
Ranma's face lost some of its cheer. "I'm not lying about this,
Ranko! You're just going to have to trust me on this one."
Ranko's stomach churned. Lately she had been feeling nervous
whenever Ranma said `trust me.' "I do trust you, Ranma. But you have
to realize that this isn't the same Nerima you were living in before.
So far you've managed to succeed by doing things the way you've always
done them. The problem with that is that you're acting too confident,
and I'm afraid that something's going to happen to you if you don't
watch out. Just because some things look the same to you doesn't mean
that they are."
Ranma hadn't expected the lecture, from his younger sister, no
less. But he had to hand it to her, she was right. He'd been doing
everything so far believing that he was the only one who had really
changed. Indeed, if he wasn't careful, then Ranko's worrying would be
justified. He walked to her, and put a hand on her shoulder, which
was kind of hard to do while holding a pair of pants in front of him.
"You're right, Ranko. I should've realized that when I saw Mr. Tendo
tonight. He wasn't the same man I knew from before." He smiled.
"What would I do without you?" he asked rhetorically, wrapping his
arms around her.
Ranko returned the hug, saying "I'm just worried about you,
that's all. Don't forget, you're the only brother I have." He
laughed at that. Ranko suddenly felt something pressing against her
stomach, and realizing what it was, turned red again. "RANMA! Put
some clothes on, for chrissakes!" she yelled, turning away from him,
blushing scarlet.
Ranma's eyes bugged out. "Shit!" he yelled, realizing that he
had pulled his pants away from himself when he'd hugged her. While
her back was turned he quickly put them on. `I'm gonna have to get
used to having a girl around all the time,' he thought wearily to
himself, embarrassment plain on his face. "Sorry about that Sis.
Looks like I'm gonna have to learn some new habits," Ranma said
sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in total embarrassment.
Ranko turned back around, and sighed, relieved that Ranma wasn't
`showing off' again. Although she couldn't help but admire how
`outstanding' her brother was. She blushed deeply, and tried to force
those particular thoughts of him from her mind. "Did you normally
expose yourself like that in front of the Tendos?" she asked, trying
to keep herself from staring at him.
Ranma blushed deeper than he ever had before in his entire life.
Ranko took one look at his face and doubled over in laughter, her
whole body shaking. Ranma stood there in his pants, an indignant look
on his face. "First of all, I never thought I looked that bad.
Secondly; Akane, Nabiki, and especially Kasumi, hardly ever came into
my room at the Tendo place. So I never had to worry about `exposing
myself.' Besides, I was a girl half the time I was there. It wasn't
a big deal for a girl to see another girl ..." Ranma broke off his
explanation, as it was only adding fuel to Ranko's laughter. "I give
up..." he finally said, disgusted.
Ranko sank to her knees, unable to remain standing while she
laughed. Ranma sat on his bed, crossing his arms and tapping his foot
impatiently as he waited for her to calm down. A couple of minutes
later, her laughter subsided. Wiping tears from her face, she crawled
on her knees over to Ranma. "I'm sorry, I just got all of these
mental pictures and ..." She broke out again, but managed to subdue
it quickly. "Life's definitely going to be fun with you around,
Ranma."
"Yeah yeah...," Ranma replied, rolling his eyes. Ranko hooked an
arm around his neck, kissed him on the cheek, and mussed his hair with
her other hand.
"Good night, Ranma. And good luck tomorrow. I'll be keeping my
eye on you," she said coyly, sticking her tongue out at him. She
stood and headed towards the door.
Ranma held his hand to his face where Ranko had kissed him.
`Uhh... yeah... Thanks Sis," he said to her departing figure. As the
door closed, he asked aloud to no-one in particular, "Do all brothers
and sisters act this crazy?" He remembered Kodachi and Kuno, and
shuddered. `Thank God Ranko's not like her... Ugh!'
He shook his head to banish the thought of Kodachi. Taking his
pants off, he put on some shorts and a T-shirt, turned off the light
and went to sleep.

****

Author's notes:

Well, here I go again. ^_^ (those of you who've read "The
Prince and the Lecher" will understand that remark...) I was simply
minding my own business, and reading the first two sections of the
story "Be Careful What you Wish For" by Richard Beaubien. After
completing that, I re-read part one, and said to myself "What if
*this* happened instead of *that.*" Well I shouldn't have done that,
because here I am clattering away at my IBM keyboard like a man
possessed. Two days have seen me crank out 21 pages in Word for
Windows, and I've still got a lot of ideas floating around in the old
bean.
Some people may wonder about the content (boy *that* was
obtuse!). Well, as of this writing:

(1/30/96):
I've only gotten the groundwork laid down for this unintentional
project. Ranma has made his wish, and has awakened to a strange
version of his previous existence. As the writer, I made a couple of
decisions as to how the wish affected him:
Ranma's wish caused his environment to change. Lives were re-
written and locations changed to accommodate his wish. This means
that he did NOT jump to an alternate universe/dimension/plane of
thought/etc. Therefore his means of escape from that existence are
reduced to one, which is the second wish. The wish is supposed to be
very powerful, and the intention behind the character of the vendor
was that he was to be very VERY selective in who gets the wishing
broach, almost as a guardian or keeper of the artifact.
Another effect of the wish was that Ranma's mind was supposed to
have been altered so that he wasn't so damned infuriating and quick to
fire off his mouth. A higher level of maturity was something I was
trying to add into Ranma's character for this story, to help make his
living in this dimension more sane. I'm debating, however, the merit
of continuing to do so, as the humorous content of the story is
obviously diminished when I do that. I may have him mellow out once
he hits stable ground in this existence.
The second wish: I'm really against him using that second wish
for right now. He's got a lot of potential in this existence
considering that about 85 to 90% of his antagonists and <for the
moment ^_^ > extra fiancee's aren't around to punish him. I'm hoping
for a more solid and romantic `second chance' between Ranma and Akane.
Although I will also admit that a love triangle is inevitable. In
fact, the gears are already turning <muahahahaha!>.
Incidentally, should Ranma have to use the second wish to return
himself to his cursed state (and hence everything around him revert to
normal), he will retain full knowledge of everything that had occurred
during the first wish. If I write it past that point, I would have a
fertile bed to plant new ideas for that existence as well.

(2/3/96):

Based on all of the excellent suggestions from the readers on the
Fanfic ML, I have *slightly* (yeah, right!) expanded on the training
footage between Ranma and Ranko. Expanding the fight between Kuno and
Ranma is my next big project. I also corrected some small errors in
the story that were pointed out in e-mail.

(2/8/96):

Well, since my last posting, something good has happened to me.
After over three months of unemployment courtesy of AT&T, I now have a
job! <insert applause and self-patting-back noises here> I am
working as a Systems Admin. for Newberry College. That being the
case, my work on "Careful Destiny" has been lacking in volume. But
fear not, dearest reader, for I have not been idle. In this
iteration:
* Intrigue inserted (well, I hope it's intriguing ^_^;; )
* Fixed some more errors pointed out by my valued readers
* Typed this section up at the end of the Fanfic
* Split the document into two sections to make it easier to send
across the net. I have a 14.4 connection, and big chunk posts are a
pain to download.

(2/16/96):

Well, Wing/Nagisa get the heads up award for this corrected
version. `They' agreed to help me with smoothing out the content of
the story, and boy did they find some stuff. I retooled a fair
portion of the story in accordance with their suggestions (the
addition of Nodoka to Ranma's and Ranko's first day of workout being
the biggest part of the update to part one).
Also, I added the part about Genma explaining to Nodoka and Ranko
what Ranma was doing. Furthermore, I added a small blurb to explain
why none of the Tendo girls had walked in on the fight between Soun
and Ranma, or had otherwise been drawn to it.
Even though I've polished the scenes and dialogue, I still think
it needs some smoothing out in places, but I can't really decide
where. Another corrected version may be coming out as a result.
I've decided to keep running tracks of my upgrades to each part
of the story by establishing time-stamped author's notes for each
part. I hope it helps to clear up any questions you, the reader,
might have about the content.

(2/22/96):

And I thought I was finished... I have say that the ML's got
some eagle-eyed people subscribed to it. Three people e-mailed me to
point out various and sundry grammar, continuity, and character-
relation problems. I believe that this should be the final revision
for part one. I'd like to thank the following for their suggestions:
Harold Ancell - He gave me a lot of information on areas that had
glaring inconsistencies (problems that I didn't see until they were
pointed out to me). The biggest change was to return Ranma's second
practice attack on his 12th day of training to HI RYU SHO TEN HA. I'd
had a lot of people questioning why I had changed it from that to SHI
SHI HOUKODAN. I had changed it because I couldn't think of a way to
anger a dummy so it'd get hot. But I changed it back anyway.
Robin Page and Trisha L. Sebastian (AKA Foxtrot the Furryous -
English Teacher in Waiting ^_^) - Both pointed out grammar problems
that I had managed to overlook after my multitude of read-throughs.
And I look forward to future `correction collaborations' from both of
them.
David Bateson - He pointed out that Ranko's attitude towards her
brother was too sweet in part one for a girl who very much disliked
her brother. I changed her to make her more surly towards Ranma
during the initial stage of Part One (although not too much of a
change. She may dislike Ranma, but she's not out for blood).
All in all, it feels very solid now. Any more suggestions will
be accepted, although I think we've just about done all we can to this
part. ^_^
And I have finally added a title to this part. (I never title
the sections until I feel they're complete.) Part One - "Ground Zero"
(Other title suggestions welcomed)

(4/4/96):

Began an update of certain sections of the story. I was trying
to pay particular attention to the details of the sparring between
Ranko and Ranma, and their discussion as Ranma told her everything he
felt was important. I finally included a scene that I'd been meaning
to add since the first beta release of part one, with Ranko telling
Ranma about some of the fighting that went on between the two in the
`past.' I also expanded other scenes in general, trying to make them
more palatable.
I feel that I'm now ninety percent done on this one. I'm not
sure what kind of C&C I'll get, but it'll sure be appreciated.
Reader's participation is what has helped to make this story flourish.
I thank you all for your work, especially the editor's continuum.
They've suffered through excess postings of my story, and can probably
recite the dialogue by heart. ^_^;;
I now jump to part two, to see what corrective measures I can
work out in that one. Hopefully that one won't take me ten days like
this one did... (today is 4/14/96)

(4/17/96):

I didn't get too many e-mails about problems with part one of the
story. Zeitgeist and Fox-chan get the heads up thanks for pointing
out grammar errors in the story and sending them to me. I corrected
all the grammar stuff, but am holding off on a couple of the content-
based suggestions, as they were rather subjective.
Thanks for the continued support folks!

(10/22/96):

Submitted Part One to R.A.A.C. (finally!) ^_^;;

Acknowledgments:
I'd like to thank Richard Beaubien first and foremost for
granting me the permission to write this side-story based on his.
Prior to writing this thing, he's never even heard of me. I
understand that he's continuing the mother-story from which this one
is based. All I have to say is, "Go for it man!" ^_^ It's been a
real treat writing this thing and playing around in his dimension (so
to speak). It wouldn't have been possible without his work as the
base. So to him, I say Domo Arigato Gozaimashita! <author bows
deeply, *CLUNK* hits head on keyboard>
Bert Van Vliet. You're the one who gave me the writing bug
<bzzzzz... *smack*>. Prior to picking up my first BubbleGum Zone
printout, I was clueless as to the ways of writing Fanfic. What a
difference a year makes. You're a good friend, and I thank you for
the support. Hail SkyKnight! ^_^
Izzy-chan, for the idea about the bathroom scene between Ranma
and Ranko following their first day of training.
Thank You <yes you, the one staring at the monitor> for
tolerating my unusual style of writing. I'll get better, I promise
^_^

And now for my .sig!

Later,
Shadow Stalker
(Protoculture Addict)
(Moderator: The Robotech Echo)

ssta...@delphi.com
-or-
sy...@newberry.edu <--- try this address first!

Careful Destiny Web Page:
http://www.newberry.edu/sstalker/rancar.htm