Subject: [FFML] [Fic][Ranma][Alt] Complimenting Opposites ch01 [Revised]
From: "Tangent" <tangent@zbzoom.net>
Date: 8/8/2001, 10:58 AM
To: "FFML" <ffml@anifics.com>


Complimenting Opposites
A Ranma � fanfict by Tangent
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:
Lord Talon;
Nevrmore;
And some guy named Steve

     DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma �' and all characters therein 
belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty and 
Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced for my own 
enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters 
that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled 
from other sources (including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, 
anime, literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic 
books!).

     Revised: 08/07/2001

     A WORD FROM TANGENT: While Lord Talon has 
informed me that what I'm about to attempt has been 
done before, this in no way has dissuaded me from making 
my own version. For one thing, for better or for worse, in all 
of my other Ranma fanficts to date, Ranma either has or will 
end up with Akane. Well, to this I say "Wrong Tendo"
     What difference does the weather make? What difference 
indeed...?
 
     CHAPTER ONE: One Sunny Day

     Soun Tendo, a man in his early forties, with a strong, 
kind face, long black hair and a mustache, read through the 
morning mail. Among the various letters, packages, and 
postcards was a postcard that had a message for which he 
had been waiting for a long time. The postcard showed a 
scene with a panda, and turning it over, he noticed that it 
was post marked China. Tears started to come from his 
eyes as he read the message:

     Bringing Ranma home.

     On Soun's face were tears of happiness as he said, out 
loud and low to himself, "They are finally coming here...How 
I have waited for this day!" Tears of passion streamed down 
his face as he strained to keep his composure for a few 
moments longer.
     He decided to tell his daughters immediately.
     Soun called out, "Kasumi!  Nabiki!  Akane!"
     Not getting an immediate response, he went to look for 
them, first checking the kitchen that was his eldest daughter's 
domain. She was indeed there, as she seemed to nearly always 
be. A brief pang of sorrow revisited his heart as he thought about 
this last and strongest connection that she had with her mother. 
He collected himself. Today's news was to be joyous, not tragic, 
as his wife's death had been so many years ago.
     "Kasumi!" he exclaimed, happily, managing to expunge his 
grief, "We are expecting company. Please get ready to prepare 
some tea for our guests."
     "Oh? Who is it that is coming, Father?" Kasumi asked curiously.
     "An old friend of mine and his son," explained Soun. "I will 
explain everything when you, Nabiki, and Akane are all at the 
table." With that, he left to find his other two daughters.

     After a brief search of the rest of the first floor, Soun then 
went to check the bedrooms on the second floor of their family 
home, expecting to at least find his middle daughter there. As 
he had expected, he found Nabiki in her room, reading one of 
her manga books. Not that he minded. She studied and had 
good grades, so what she did in her spare time was her own 
concern.
     "Nabiki" he called out to get her attention.
     "Yes, Daddy?" Nabiki asked neutrally. Her father rarely 
interrupted her privacy, and when he did, it wasn't always with 
something that she considered worthwhile.
     "We are expecting guests today," Soun began again. "An 
old friend of mine is coming to visit, and he is bringing his son. 
Please go wait at the table and I will explain everything as soon 
as everyone is together." With that, he left the room to search 
for Akane.
     [So... he's going to introduce us to the son of an old friend 
of his, is he?] Nabiki pondered. Truth to tell, she had been 
expecting something like this for some time now. Japanese 
inheritance laws were steep, and it was unlikely that the family 
would retain the Tendo estate should Soun pass away unless a 
lot of money was involved... or the one other option that came to 
her mind happened. A small smile began to form on her lips.
     "I can't find Akane," Soun said, poking his head back into her 
room.
     "I'll find her, Daddy," Nabiki offered. [Now... what to wear? I 
know! Just the thing,] she thought. [I'll change right after I find 
Akane. She has enough boys after her already, even if she doesn't 
like any of them. Just once, I'd like to get a chance!]

     Akane was just returning from her run, shouting "Hi! I'm home!" 
and then ran straight to the dojo, pausing only to throw off her 
running clothes and change into her practice uniform, as was 
appropriate for training in the dojo. She set up a quick array of 
concrete blocks and wood, then preceded to reduce said objects 
to rubble as she fantasized about doing the same thing to a certain 
upperclassman's head.
     "Ahhhh, good!" she sighed as she relaxed. Then she heard a 
small click. Turning around, she saw one of her older sisters, 
Nabiki, putting her camera away.
     "There you go again, Akane" she said as she shook her 
head, arms crossed in front of her. "No wonder all the boys at 
school think you're strange!"
     "Why should I care?" she demanded. "I'm not like you! 
Not everyone thinks the world revolves around boys, Nabiki!" 
Akane had had more than enough of the male half of her age 
group shortly after Kuno had made that stupid speech of his. 
All of the boys that she knew in school were either proving to 
be stereotypical hormone crazed immature idiots or were too 
afraid of said idiots to approach her in a reasonable manner. 
Especially after the first 'normal' boy got beaten up by the rest 
for trying to ask her out without attacking her. Was it any 
wonder that she broke cinder blocks or bricks nearly every 
morning?
     "No?" Nabiki replied, placing her hands behind her head, 
"Then I guess what father has to say to us would be of no 
interest to you would it?"
     Akane turned to look at her, "What are you talking about?"

     The sun was shining brightly over the Nerima district. In 
the Tendo Household, Akane's voice was raised in protest. 
"FIANCE?!?"
     Soun Tendo looked at Akane, "Yes, the son of a very good 
friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome" he stated. "If one 
of you were to marry him, and carry on this dojo, then the Tendo 
family legacy would be assured."
     Akane wasn't taking this well.
     "WAIT A MINUTE!" she shouted angrily. "Don't WE have 
some say in who we marry?"
     "Akane's correct, Father" Kasume interjected. "We have 
never even met him." 
     Mr. Tendo chuckled, "Well now, that is easily fixed!"

*     *     *

     The sun warmed the street as two figures wandered through 
Nerima.
     "Where are we going again?" demanded a young man wearing 
Chinese style fighting clothes. He was interrogating an older man 
wearing an off white gi, glasses, and a bandanna.
     "I told you Ranma," the older man explained once again. "We 
are going to visit an old friend of mine. One that I haven't seen in 
a long time." He thought about telling his son about the impending 
engagement, but thought that it would be nice to provide the boy 
with a pleasant surprise for once. A nice change of pace from all 
of the nasty surprises that had been plaguing them since about 
three weeks back. Or the other uncomfortable experiences that 
had occurred over the years that his son seemed to blame him 
for. The old man pushed that thought aside, falling back on his 
age-old practice of ignoring the problem until it went away.
     "You know someone from a long time ago who is still your 
friend?" the boy asked, incredulous. "I'll believe that when I see it."
     "You will, my boy, you will." It was getting harder not to blurt 
the real reason out to the boy, just to shut him up. Fortunately, 
he had the wonderful sunny weather to console his flagging 
spirits. Truly a beautiful day - the surprise about the engagement 
and his son's gratitude would be the absolute perfect cap to it...

*     *     *

     Back at the Tendo residence, Soun continued to explain 
the situation to his daughters. Nabiki, he noted to himself, 
appeared to be particularly excited about the prospect, and 
had even gone as far as to change into a kimono for the 
occasion. Kasumi, whom he suspected of harboring feelings 
for Dr. Tofu even if she didn't seem to be aware of it herself 
yet, had just come in straight from the kitchen. Akane, on 
the other hand, was obviously irritated over the whole affair.
     "Ranma is returning from a long training journey with his 
father." Soun paused briefly to sip his tea. "Recently, it seems, 
they crossed into China."
     "Oooh! China!" exclaimed Nabiki, who was definitely warming 
up to the prospect of getting to know someone who could tell her 
first hand what other countries were like. That, and the fact that 
he had been on a training journey implied that he was at least 
built well. A nice enough body could make up for a plain or homely 
face. And a well-trained martial artist could do rather well in the 
world today, either as a sensei or in the entertainment industry 
no matter what he looked like.
     "What's so great about training in China" commented Akane 
sulkily. Her recent experience with the now daily fights with the 
boys at Furinkan High School had left her more than a little fed 
up with boys for the time being. While she knew that she wasn't 
being fair to the boy she hadn't even met yet, she did not really 
care at the moment. "It doesn't mean that he's any good."
     "Is he cute?" inquired Nabiki, ignoring her sister. Practicalities 
aside, she could still hope, couldn't she?
     "I do hope that he is older than me" commented a worried 
Kasumi. "Younger men are so... young." She really wished that 
she could have thought of a better objection than that. Not that 
she could really explain why, but she felt that her heart lay 
elsewhere already. Now if only she could figure out who was 
making her heart flutter so. He had glasses, she knew that much 
from her dreams, which narrowed the prospect to about nineteen 
people that she knew...
     "So, what is he like?" persisted Nabiki.
     Soun cleared his throat. "I have no idea," he admitted.
     "You have no idea" repeated Nabiki, glaring at her father. That 
sounded rather less than promising. She had assumed that her 
Father had met the boy at least once before, and had approved 
of him. Instead, it was beginning to sound like one of those 
'good deals' that he fell for every so often. One of the reasons 
that she became the 'Ice Queen' in the first place was to protect 
her family from those predators by being an even more dangerous 
predator herself. The other... well, she wasn't going to think on 
that just now. That problem was hopefully going to solve itself soon, 
and it wouldn't do to freeze it before she even gave the solution a 
chance...
     "I've never met him" he confessed.
     Just then, they heard a commotion at the door. "Aw, Pop, why 
can't we go home first?" complained a voice, which obviously 
belonged to a young man. Could it be them, Soun thought as he 
got up to greet his guests. Nabiki followed.
     "Oooo! It must be Ranma!" Nabiki thought excitedly, not realizing 
that she had said the thought aloud. Kasumi was happy for her sister, 
and relieved (although she did not just yet realize why). Akane decided 
that since Nabiki was so excited about this turn of events, her sister 
could have him.
      "I've already told you, Ranma," stated a voice belonging to an 
older man. "We will be staying here for a while, so you might as well 
get used to the idea." It was his friend... and his son. Soun joyously 
greeted them as they came in.
     "Saotome, my friend! We've been expecting you!" Soun quickly 
spotted the boy that his friend had been arguing with and concluded: 
"And you must be Ranma!" He gathered the boy into his arms for a 
manly embrace.
     By this time, all three daughters had gathered to see their guests. 
Nabiki, noticing that her father seemed disinclined to let the boy go, 
leaned closer to examine the subject of her father's attention. Hmmm, 
Ranma was as fine a specimen as she could ask for, handsome in a 
vaguely bishonen way. After a quick comparison between the features 
of the boy and his father, she decided that he must get his looks from 
his mother's side of the family. Not that his father was actually ugly. 
He was okay for an older man, and might have looked more attractive 
in his younger days, but she doubted that he could have matched his 
son's appearance. Nabiki wondered briefly what her own children 
would look like if she married the boy.
     After a moment, Soun herded everyone back into the sitting 
room. Nabiki sat carefully down almost exactly opposite of Ranma. 
Akane, glaring at the boy who was about to decide her future, 
angrily plunked herself down to Nabiki's left. Kasumi served tea 
to everyone and then sat down gently on the other side of Nabiki. 
Genma smiled at this, but Ranma failed to recognize the 
significance of it all.
     "Well, Ranma," Soun began. "These are my daughters. Kasumi, 
age nineteen, the oldest; Nabiki, age seventeen; and Akane, age 
sixteen, the youngest. Pick anyone you like and she will be your 
fianc�e." Soun's beaming smile faltered as he noticed that the 
boy seemed shocked. After a moment, Ranma massaged his 
temple with the fingers of his right hand, as if staving off a headache.
     "Excuse me for a moment," Ranma said to the Tendos before 
glaring at his own father. "Is there something that you forgot to tell 
me, Pop?" His tone was low and dangerous, reflecting a wild temper 
that Genma had seen all too much of for the past month or so.
     "Heh, heh... I guess in the heat of the moment, I forgot to tell 
you..." Genma was nervous to say the least. After... the incident... 
Ranma had proved that he was quite formidable when he truly lost 
his temper. While not as scary as when he was dealing with his... 
cat problem... he was as easily as scary as his mother was at 
times. This looked like it was becoming another such time. And 
here he had thought that Ranma would like the surprise...
     "Forgot to tell me..." Ranma stated darkly. "Forgot to tell me, 
like you forgot to tell me that you couldn't read Chinese when you 
decided that Jusenkyo would be a good place to train? Or like 
when you decided that it was okay to eat the food on that table 
in Joketsuzoku?"
     "But I was starving..." Genma protested.
     "STARVING!?!" Ranma shouted, causing his father to back 
away in fear. "BECAUSE OF YOU, I GOT INTO A FIGHT THAT 
ENDED UP WITH AN AMAZON SWEARING TO HUNT ME 
DOWN AND KILL ME, AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS THAT YOU 
WERE STARVING!?!" The Tendos stared as an angry blue chi 
aura manifested itself around Ranma. Genma wanted to make a 
break for it, but the thought of what his wife would do to him after 
what he had already done held him back. While it didn't exactly 
give him courage, it did balance out his fear with another fear.
     "How was I supposed to know that she would give you the 
kiss of death if you won?" asked Genma, trying his version of 
reason for the umpteenth time.
     "How...?" Ranma's left eye twitched for a moment, which was 
all the warning his father received. Genma spotted it, but it didn't 
help him in the slightest. Almost faster that the eye could follow, 
Ranma had stood up, grabbed the front of his father's gi, and was 
screaming in his face at the top of his lungs. "GET OUT OF MY 
LIFE, YOU PANDA, BEFORE YOU DESTROY ANY MORE OF 
IT!!!" With that, he flung his father into the koi pond in the Tendo's 
yard.
     Ranma calmed himself down and settled at the table once 
again as he tried to remember what little he knew of formalities 
and manners. He took a deep breath and timed himself carefully. 
"Please excuse my unseemly outburst just now, but there are 
some things that you have a right to know before we decide to 
uphold the marriage agreement between our clans." Ranma 
subtly braced himself for the next phrase, hoping that he had 
predicted his father's reaction correctly. "And this..." The Tendos 
facefaulted as a giant panda rose out of the koi pond, grabbed 
a wash basin, and threw some water at the young man seated 
before them. In an instant, a cute redheaded girl replaced him. 
"...Is one of them."
     "Nani?" Soun and Akane stated in surprised stereo.
     "Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi in wonder. A real magical girl 
and her mascot! No, wait. That was just silly. Whoever heard 
of an overweight panda as a magical girl's mascot? Hmmm... 
maybe her dreams were about a long lost love from a past life 
about to be renewed, just like in those shows. Did this mean that 
Kasumi was about to become part of a bishojo senshi team? 
That would certainly be a change of pace, even if she was just a 
little too old for that sort of thing according to the anime...
     "Well now, this is interesting," stated Nabiki neutrally. She 
really didn't know how to take the fact that her prospective 
fiancee had just turned into a girl.
     "Perhaps an explanation is in order," Ranma offered.
     "This I've got to hear," replied Nabiki dryly.
     As everyone settled down, Ranma began her tale:
     "It all started about three weeks ago, on Mt. Quanjing, in 
the Bayankala Range, Qinghai Province, China..." 

* * * FLASHBACK * * *

     "Here, Sirs, is legendary training ground of accursed 
springs, Jusenkyo," the guide said with a mix of pride and 
caution in his voice. He was seldom asked to lead anyone 
to Jusenkyo, as it was one of the more obscure tourist spots 
available. Personally, he felt it was some sort of bureaucratic 
error that the accursed springs were a tourist spot to begin with. 
Nearly every time he brought someone here, they managed to 
somehow fall into one of the springs.
     "Are you prepared, boy?" asked Genma as he set down 
his pack. Truth to tell, he was a little disappointed in how this 
was turning out. While not exactly the same setup, Jusenkyo 
looked very similar to something he had Ranma do last year. 
Now where had that been? America... Australia?
     Ranma was less than impressed. "Aw.. this place don't 
look so tough."
     "You very strange ones, Sirs" commented the guide, 
wishing he could speak Japanese more fluently. "This place 
very dangerous. Nobody use now." [There!] he thought [I've 
actually managed to start my explanation before anyone got 
ahead of themselves]. "Is more than one hundred springs here, 
and every one have own tragic legend." The guide was snapped 
out of his reverie by Genma's cry.
     "Ranma! Follow me!" called out Genma as he leaped to 
one of the poles. The boy jumped to one of his own and 
assumed a ready stance.
     "Ah! Sirs!" the alarmed guide exclaimed. "What you 
doing?" [I have got to start earlier on the explanation! Well... 
At least they paid in advance.]
     "I won't go easy on you" cautioned Genma.
     "That's just the way I like it!" replied Ranma confidently.
     "Please, Sirs!" pleaded the guide. "It very bad you fall in 
spring!" Unfortunately, the two paid no attention to him.
     Genma picked a moment at random, and attacked. Ranma, 
for his part, met Genma in mid-air and knocked him into one of 
the pools. [Well, that was quick] the boy thought.
     "What's up, Pop?" asked Ranma, pleased to have got the 
first strike in. "We done already?"
     There was quiet. Ranma jumped to a closer pole, concerned. 
When a panda leaped out of the spring, the event took Ranma 
completely by surprise.  [Well, there goes my holiday bonus] 
thought the guide. The giant panda took a place on another pole. 
     "Wha... wha... wha..." stammered Ranma.
     "That is Shonmaoniichuan!" shouted the guide, explaining 
what had happened. "There is very tragic legend of panda that 
fall in and drown two thousand year ago!" the guide continued 
as Ranma dodged the panda time and time again
     "Well, why didn't you tell us sooner?!" demanded Ranma. 
At about that moment, the panda had managed to strike him, 
knocking him into another spring. Ranma barely felt the change, 
which he later found out was another aspect of the curse. Only 
the fact that he was wondering what he would turn into allowed 
him to notice his first transition into female form. She surfaced, 
opened her gi to confirm her suspicions, and then screamed. 
After that, the events became a little hazy in Ranma's memory.

* * * END FLASHBACK * * *

     "After that, I chased Pop around Jusenkyo a few times 
before I lost track of him," Ranma continued. "You wouldn't 
think that a fat panda could move so fast." The panda that 
had been Genma growlfed at this, but Ranma wasn't having 
any of its back talk. "Shut up you, before I decide to sell ya 
to a zoo or somethin'. I should have let the amazons make a 
rug out of you, but nooo! I had to save your sorry behind!" 
Ranma regained control of her temper and calmed down.
     "Look, Pop," the redhead continued tiredly. "I'm your son," 
(small twitch) "and I love you," (this time the twitch was from 
the panda) "but you can be so aggravating at times!" She sighed. 
"Look... go change back, and I'll try to calm down and explain 
things to the Tendos." As the Panda got up to head for the furo 
(he had been here before, even if it was over a decade ago), a 
thought occurred to Ranma. "Don't forget to change back 
before you use up all the shampoo again. It might not be 
expensive, but it adds up and we're guests now!"
     Genma paused for a moment, irritated for being treated 
like a little kid by his own son as well as the fact that he had 
indeed forgotten about changing back first. He sighed in 
resignation, then nodded, not willing to provoke his son again 
at this time.
     "Do you really think that you should talk to your father like 
that?" Kasumi asked once the elder Saotome was gone, 
echoing her own father's sentiments. Magical girls should 
really have better manners than that, even if they really were 
boys. Not that Soun had any idea that Kasumi's reasons for 
inquiring about Ranma's actions were a bit... stranger... than 
his own.
     "Maybe not," Ranma conceded. "But the curse changed 
him somehow. More than just turning him into a panda when 
hit with cold water, I mean." She looked into her tea sadly as 
she continued. "We used to get along fairly well, just two guys, 
father and son, on the open road, training in the Martial Arts. 
He used to be a great sensei, and I really respected him, even 
if he did have the occasional truly stupid idea that would turn 
my life into hell..." She paused, trying to reign in her anger over 
certain memories.
     "And since the curse?" Nabiki prompted.
     "Since the curse, he's been acting more and more irresponsible, 
just doing things and not thinking about the consequences, or 
possibly just ignoring them," Ranma sighed again. "It's as if he's 
forgetting that there are rules that he should go by if he wants to 
interact with people. He used to only act like that occasionally, 
but now it's unusual for him not to do something aggravatingly 
stupid at least once a week, if not more often. Jusenkyo changed 
him somehow, and that scares me."
     "Take what happened in Joketsuzoku for example," Ranma 
went on...

* * * FLASHBACK * * *

     The two cursed individuals and their guide approached the 
village of Joketsuzoku. The Saotomes were currently in their 
cursed forms, as the lack of readily available hot water and the 
mercy of the weather dictated. Ranma was still in a wild frenzy 
of mixed emotions, but she had reigned them in and forced 
herself to try to find her center. Unfortunately, what she was 
finding was hunger. While this did distract her from her inner 
storm of conflicting emotions, it provided an unpleasant 
reminder of other times she had gone without food before.  
No help for it but to hold it in and endure the condition until 
some food was found.
     This, however, did not keep her stomach from growling.
     "Oh... I'm so hungry..." she complained under her breath. 
The Panda who was Genma nodded his agreement as he 
plodded along behind her. The guide said nothing, not having 
heard enough of the statement to translate it to himself with 
any accuracy.
     After a bit, the three reached the village and were drawn 
towards the sounds of activity coming from the crowd surrounding 
two poles in the center of the village. Ranma hoped that the guide 
would find someone willing to sell them some food there, and 
indicated her desires to the guide. Genma, unable to speak in 
panda form, and not wanting to be fed bamboo again (it was 
okay, but he was beginning to get a little tired of it), spotted 
something and wandered off. Ranma would have joined him, but 
the guide seemed to have found somebody to talk to, so she 
waited hopefully.
     The guide, after a brief talk with one of the villagers, started 
to explain to his younger client that nobody was selling anything 
until after the tournament, but spotted what the panda was doing. 
"Ah! Sir! What you doing?"
     Ranma turned around and groaned as she saw her pandafied 
father rapidly eating food that had been placed on a table off to 
the side of the tournament. She finally noticed a prominent sign 
leaning against the table, and wondered briefly how she had 
failed to spot it moments ago. It was a fancy, important looking 
sign that she couldn't read, but it told her that her father (and 
possibly the guide and herself) was in a lot of trouble...

* * * END FLASHBACK * * *

     "It turned out that the food was the first prize of the 
tournament," Ranma went on. "The winner, an amazon girl 
named Shampoo, was pretty mad at us, and demanded the 
panda as compensation. I think she wanted to make a panda 
skin rug or somethin'... The guide wasn't too clear when he 
translated, and we didn't get a chance to ask him later." Ranma 
paused to sip her tea.
     Soun reflected on what Ranma was telling them, taking it all in 
stoically as silent tears began to flow down his cheek. Such a 
tragic story, and there was a serious chance that the marriage 
agreement would be canceled. Maybe he could talk Akane into 
accepting the young Saotome. Unlike his other daughters, she 
had kept up in her studies in the Tendo Anything Goes School 
of Martial Arts. She might be willing to do this for the sake of 
the dojo.
     Unfortunately for Soun, Akane had other ideas. She still 
glared at Ranma, relieved that a way out of the engagement 
was being offered, but not willing to show it to this... this... 
pervert. What else could Ranma be? She was really a guy who 
turned into a girl so of course she had to be taking advantage 
of it! The hentai probably stared at herself in the mirror or... or... 
something! Akane fumed on...
     Kasumi just listened to the story, feeling compassion for 
the emotional pain that Ranma and her father must be going 
through. She wanted to help the Saotomes, particularly the 
child who sat before them. She had no desire to marry the girl, 
however, as Ranma was too young for her tastes. Besides, she 
wouldn't be able to provide the kind of help that Ranma needed 
as a magical girl if they were to be married to each other...
     "So," Nabiki prompted. "What happened next?" While she 
had been a little taken aback at first when she found out about 
Ranma's curse, she still felt somewhat attracted to the boy who 
was now a girl. It wasn't as if Ranma had attempted, even 
inadvertently, to deceive them after all. The sense of adventure 
drew her somehow, like a moth to a flame. Her life was calm, 
ordered, and... well... a little boring, while Ranma's was... was... 
chaotic, adventurous, and exciting.
     "What else could I do?" Ranma asked rhetorically. "The girl 
wanted to kill my Pop, or at least make him a pet or somethin' 
If I didn't do somethin' quick, the matter would be taken out of 
my hands, so I did the first thing to come to my mind. I challenged 
her for the first prize." Ranma sipped her tea again. "I shoulda 
known that somethin' was up when she just smirked at me and 
accepted when the guide translated for her. The two of us took 
positions on this log that had been suspended between the pillars 
by ropes. She attacked me with a couple of bonbori, but I just 
kicked her off the log before she could get a hit in. Next thing I 
know, she kisses me on the cheek and the guide is screaming 
somethin' about some kiss of death."
     "Kiss of death?" Soun asked. Despite what Ranma had yelled 
to her father earlier, Soun had not taken it to be meant as literally 
true, so he was more than a little surprised.
     "Yeah," Ranma explained. "The amazons of Joketsuzoku 
aren't real keen on losing to outsiders. The 'Kiss of Death' is their 
little way of expressing their displeasure with such events." The 
bitterness was evident in her voice, despite her attempts to calm 
herself. "Would it have been too much to ask for the match to end 
in mutual respect no matter who won? That's the way Pop always 
said it was suppose to work." Ranma's bitterness had turned into 
real tears, but she hadn't noticed. "Too bad it never does... I never 
get to have any friends..." This last was said with such quiet 
remorse that even Akane began to feel a little sympathy for the 
girl (just a little though, and only for the girl-half... the boy-half was 
still a hentai to her way of thinking).
     "Well, I won't force the issue," Soun started. "But should one of 
my daughters agree to become engaged to you, you will honor the 
arrangement?"
     "Of course, Tendo-San. They're all attractive and they seem 
nice..." Ranma-chan stated, choosing to ignore the fact that 
Akane was glaring at her with renewed hostility after that statement.
     "Well then," began Nabiki, before her father could derail either 
her plan or Akane's by trying to hook the two martial artists 
together out of some sense of obligation or duty. "I'd like to give 
this engagement a chance." Nabiki smiled dryly at Ranma-chan. 
"That is... if you'll have me."
     "Umm... ah... yes," Ranma-chan stammered before regaining 
her bearings. "I mean yes! I will agree to become engaged to you, 
Nabiki Tendo. I am happy and honored that you will have me!"
     "Well then," Soun stated, a little surprised by this turn of 
events, but not at all unhappy. If Nabiki wanted to marry Ranma, 
and neither of them seemed to be upset, then all was right with 
the world regardless of the curse and the other complications. "It's 
settled. Ranma, Nabiki is now your fianc�e."

END.

Aheh-heh... I really don't know where Kasumi's obsession 
about magical girls came from while I was revising this chapter...

^_^;;

     C&C Welcome
     Flames will be used to Raost Marshmallows
~~~

When given the constants a, b and c, and the variables x, y and z...
I often find it helpful to concentrate on point q

Tangent
tangent@zbzoom.net

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