Subject: [fanfic][work in progress]Alternative Reality Ch 2.
From: Michael Chen
Date: 11/21/1996, 11:29 AM
To: fanfic@fanfic.com

This is a current copy of Chapter 2 which is not done.  I'm currently
writing very slowly, so people, tell me how chapter 2 is starting.  I wrote
this chapter 3 times already, and it has failed to meet me satisfaction.

Chapter 2: What?  The Saotomes?

      Nabiki shook her head as she walked home, almost feeling her purse
float along side her.  She bitterly thought about all of the money she had
lost.  '100,000 yen!  All because of the kendo match'  For some reason,
Nabiki managed to cheer herself up.  'Well, I can always make up my losses.
I still have plenty of cash.'  Nabiki continued walking, and seeing her
sister a ways ahead, she shouted.  "Hey Akane!  Wait up!"  Akane looked back
over her shoulder, and patiently stood.

      Akane had been walking home from Dr. Tofu, and a lot of things were
floating in her mind.  As she watched Nabiki slowly approaching her, she
thought about her impressions about Ranma Saotome.  He was rather polite,
since he did not dare strike Akane or Kodachi.  He was amazingly skilled in
martial arts, as shown by his easy victory over Akane, Kuno, and Kodachi.
He did have some manners, not like the brutes she knew in school.  She
sighed inaudibly to herself.

      "Hey Akane, what are you thinking about?"  Akane's eyes focused back
on the real world, and found Nabiki staring at her.  Akane rapidly combed
her fingers through her hair.

      "Nothing, nothing at all."  Akane said briefly.  However within
Nabiki's mind, klaxons were screaming, and Nabiki immediately felt
suspicious.  Akane turned and quickly walked of.  Nabiki shrugged her
shoulders, and walked quickly, trying to catch up with Akane.

      Eventually, Nabiki caught up with Akane, and both walked home
side-by-side.  Nabiki felt the sudden urge to break the silence.  "I was
wondering.  Ranma said that he was a student of the Anything Goes School of
Martial Arts.  I always thought that Father was the only one in that
school."  Akane shrugged her shoulders.

       "I don't know.  Maybe he is one of dad's students.  Maybe someone
else knows Anything Goes.  I don't know. We probably can ask Father when we
get home."

* * *

      Soun Tendo was standing in his backyard, his eyes closed, breathing
fully, focusing on the giant boulder that laid in front of him.  He pictured
the grey splotched with white color.  He visualized on the rough texture,
and imagined his hands feeling them.  Pausing for a moment, Soun did not
feel anything, and despite his preparations, felt unfocused as ever.  He
stared at the rock, as if it were some obstacle that blocked his success.
He tapped into his huge reservoir of fury.  He thought about his life, the
emotional pain that he had suffered.  He thought about his first love.  He
thought about the accursed man who had stolen her away from him for ever.
He thought about his dead wife.  

      Suddenly, Soun's eyes openned up.  With a loud, cold cry, he whipped
his right hand down the head of the rock, and it passed through, leaving a
clean split.  Soun Tendo was a motivated man, he was motivated to be the
master of the Anything Goes School, and his entire life had been devoted to
training, and perfecting his skills.  He exhaled slowly, allowing his anger
to die down.  After a brief moment, he stepped back and admired his handiwork.

       "Father!  We're home."  Soun smiled as he heard Akane shout out.  For
a man who carried a hidden bitterness, Soun always managed to hide this from
his daughters.  He loved his three daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane,
very dearly.  He paused in his smile, thinking about his wife.  Fighting
back a tear, Soun maintained his front of cheerfulness.

       "So Nabiki, Akane.  How was the Kendo match?  I trust it was very
interesting."  Soun clapped his hands to remove the dust, and then hugged
Akane and Nabiki.  Akane didn't mind her father's display of affection.
Nabiki on the other hand, rolled her eyes.

       "Really father, I hope no one sees this!  It would ruin my
reputation, you know.  Hey Akane!"  Akane frowned, and immediately elbowed
Nabiki lightly in the gut.  It still had the desired effect of preventing
Nabiki from ranting about her aversion to public displays.  Nabiki jovially
glared back at Akane, and decided to recount what happened at the Kendo match.

       Soun silently played shogi by himself as he heard Akane and Nabiki
retell the Kendo match.  He truly wasn't paying attention, but he
automatically nodded and said "uh huh," to pretend he was paying attention.
He didn't fool Nabiki.

      "Well, father, Kuno in the middle of the match, jumped on Akane, and
both had wild sex in front of the entire school."  Nabiki could barely keep
her straight face, while Akane started to turn red.

       "Uh huh," said Soun as he nodded thoughtfully.  He placed a white
stone on the game board.  Akane felt so angry, that she decided to get back
at her sister.

       "Well, father, that was the least of the problems.  Nabiki lost all
her money on one bet, and has resorted to her body.  On top of that, she
already sold all of us into slavery."  It was Nabiki's turn to turn red.
She glared at Akane.  Akane responded by sticking out her tongue.

       "That's very interesting, Nabiki."  Soun, after a moments thought,
placed a black stone on the shogi board.  Both Akane and Nabiki gave each
other an exasperated look.

       "You haven't been paying attention?"  Nabiki nudged her father with
her foot.

       Soun blinked innocently.  "Of course I have been paying attention.
By the way, who won the match?"   Soun picked up, a white shogi piece, and
moved to place it on the board.

       "St. Lawrence won, but it was a close tie, until Ranma Saotome
pounded Kuno."  Akane's eyes shined slightly as she savored the moment where
Kuno had his face smashed with Ranma's foot.  Kuno was such an insane
asshole, and he certainly deserved that.

       Soun froze slightly, his hand about to put the white shogi piece
down.  'Saotome?  Did Akane say Saotome?  Please do not be his son.  Please
do not be his son.'  Soun silently begged to the heavens.  

       "Father, he said that he was a student of Anything Goes Martial Arts.
Do you know anyone else who is in the school?  I always thought that you
were the only person who did Anything Goes."  Akane looked at her father
inquisitively, expecting an answer.  She never received an answer.  Instead,
she and Nabiki got a brief sample of the anger that laid suppressed with in
Soun.

       Soun dropped his shogi piece.  It dropped and bounced on the floor.
'How dare he move to Nerima!  How dare he!'  Soun stood up slowly, clenching
his fists, he shouted to the entire world.

       "Bastard!  I should have killed you years ago!  Saotome!  You will
pay for stealing my wife!  You will pay!"  Soun shouted so loud that his
voice echoed back.  Kasumi, who had been peacefully preparing dinner,
quickly walked out of the kitchen.  Her eyes showed her concern for her
father, and she layed her hands on his arm.

      "Father!  Father!  Are you alright?"  Somehow, Kasumi's presence
calmed Soun down from his anger, and he started to cry, ashamed of himself.
He hated himself.  He hated his world.  And of all of the things he hated,
he hated Genma Saotome the most.

      Looking at his concerned daughters, Soun felt a responsibility to tell
them his story.  The story about his hidden pain.  Drinking slowly from the
cup of tea that Kasumi miraculously pulled out of thin air, he began his tale.

      "It was a long time ago, when I was a young man and I roamed over
Japan searching for the mastery of martial arts.  My only companions were
'the master of Anything Goes' and my 'best' friend, a certain Genma
Saotome."  Soun's voice hardened slightly as soon as he mentioned Genma.

     "Well, Hap....."  Soun paled slightly, "ahem...our master had been
possessed by an evil demon, who made him do the most evil of acts.  By his
sheer power, he forced us to participate in these heinous crimes.  In the
beginning Genma rebelled, and sometimes attacked the old man.  However,
after many incidents with Master's Ultimate Technique, Genma reluctantly
participated in the old man's evil deeds."

      "While one of our master's raids, we came upon a hostile girl, no
woman.  She was strikingly beautiful, and had a body that was comparable to
a goddess.  Besides, she did have some fire in her personality.  Without
much effort, she pulled out a katana, and struck me across the face with the
flat of the blade.  See tried to do the same with that accursed Saotome, and
he had the audacity to dodge!"  Akane stopped, and thought about her
coincidental encounter with Ranma.

       "She swung, she thrusted, and she never seemed able to hit Genma.
Meanwhile, Genma tore the clothes that Master had stolen, and tossed them
back at the girl.  He then said, 'Here, wear these!  You can scare someone
to death with a body like that....'"  Soun clenched his fists, and his eyes
narrowed down to slits.  "How dare he speak like that to Nodoka!  By then, I
had struggled to my feet, and run off.  Genma after his parting words,
turned and ran."

       "Then Nodoka did the most amazing thing.  She chased us.  She
constantly followed us across Japan, and whenever she saw us, she attacked
Genma, first.  And Genma, time after time, successfully defeated her,
whether by technique or by trickery.  However, in the end, something was
bound to happen, and it did."

      "While dueling in at night, Genma and Nodoka finally resorted to
aerial combat among trees at night.  By some quirk of fate, Nodoka lost her
footing, and fell.  Genma, who had some knack for aerial combat, saved her,
completely surprising all of us.  I mean, it was Genma who insulted her
first.  Genma who constantly beated her spoke such evil words to her.  Yet
he saved her."  Soun shook his head.

      "Well, after that, things calmed down slightly, and Nodoka started to
travel with us.  And as the days passed, we all tired of her constant
bickering with Genma.  And despite their constant fighting, those two were
inseparable.  I tried to voice my emotions to Nodoka, but as soon as I saw
her, my determination crumbled.  At the conclusion of our training, I
finally nerved my self up, and prepared to ask Nodoka.  She finally spoke
words that chilled my heart. 'Soun!  Genma finally proposed to me!'"  

     Soun sat silent, his tears streaming down his face.  Akane, Nabiki, and
Kasumi sat, stunned by the incident.  To them, their father had always
seemed so positive, the only times he cried were when he thought about their
mother.  Somehow, each decided to help their father.  Kasumi tried to
comfort her father, by treating him kindly and giving him extra support.
Akane chimmed in with Kasumi.  The only person left was Nabiki, and she had
her own methods.

     "Where are you going?" asked Akane, who left father's side to speak
privately with Nabiki.  "Are you planning to abandon Father?"

      For once, Nabiki's voice betrayed her anger.  "No!  I'm not.  I'm
going to go dig up some information of the Saotomes.  Maybe I can find
something to help Father."  Akane relaxed a bit when she heard this.  Akane
smiled briefly at Nabiki, and returned to Soun, who was lying on a makeshift
cot, his eyes wet with tears.

* * *

      Nabiki was satisfied with the preliminary information.  According to
her usual sources, Ranma Saotome was very active in a club that
coincidentally met on Saturdays.  Nabiki glanced at her watch, and right as
scheduled, Ranma Saotome burst out of the main gates of St. Lawrence
Academy, and took off down the street.  Nabiki ran after him.

      Ranma was humming to himself an old Chinese song he learned on one of
his mini-training trips.  As his legs settled into a rhythm, his mind went
over the various things that happened at the club.  Ranma was so focused,
that he didn't notice Kodachi appear right in front of him, carrying a
notebook and a couple other non-descript books.

      Ranma plowed straight into her, sending various materials flying all
over the place.  Ranma hastily started picking up stuff for Kodachi.  As
Ranma picked up and arranged some of the papers, he couldn't help but read a
couple lines.  It was beautiful poetry that evoked a smile.  Nabiki stopped
running, and ducked behind a corner.  

      "I'm sorry.  I should have been watching where I was running."  Ranma
stammered out.  Kodachi laughed to herself, 'Oh the pleasure was mine.'
Combing back her hair with her left hand, she graciously accepted the
hastily constructed pile of books and papers.  "Did you write that?"

      Kodachi blushed slightly.  "Well, yes, but it's nothing really."
Ranma walked along side her, and both walked off carrying on a conversation.

      "Nothing?  I think it's absolutely great!  I sometimes feel that way!"
Ranma's comment, although he didn't see it, made Kodachi react, slightly.
For the first time in her life, here was a person who actually took her
poetry seriously.     

M O R E    T O   C O M E

And it's not going to be serious :)

I warned ya, this fic would have serious and non-serious moments....

Remember Chapter 2's not finished.