[FFML] [Ranma] [Love Hina] [Misc] [Xover] Two Steps Back, three Steps Forward. Ch 1; The First Step


Hi all! 

Here's the second revision of the first chapter of my first fic. I got lots of C & C about the weird time-loops and etc... I saw what they meant and I admit, I messed up. Sorry... Hopefully I fixed it already with this iteration. I also added a few scenes and a few hints for the following chapters. 

Chapter two is coming soon! To all those who sent in comments, suggestions and general C & C, THANKS A LOT!  I'm seeing some of the many, many flaws in my writing style and thanks to you guys, I'm slowly patchin up the holes! 

C & C welcome!

-rndbau


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Two Steps Back, Three Steps Forward (Rewrite v.1.2)

Chapter One; The first Step

 By: rndbau


The life of a fanfic writer is fraught with peril, paper cuts and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Standard disclaimers apply. None of the characters named below are mine. 


<sounds and actions>, (my inane comments), [thoughts]

It was a sunny morning in Nerima. Birds woke up twittering with their sounds of joy while basking in the light of a brand new day. The skies were an azure majesty that stretched across the horizon to kiss the faraway mountains. Crickets were chattering in the background and everything else was as serene as they could possibly be.

"Ranma, you pervert!"

The 'serenity' of the morning, just like the queen of the Silver Millenium, died a sudden and tragic death.

"How is it my fault this time you uncute tomboy?!" Ranma shouted back. "You walked in on me! What is it? Sixth time this month? I put the 'occupied' sign at the door this time too."

"That's not the point," rebutted an irate Akane. "You saw me naked again. You always do this Ranma."

"'I' always do this? Excuse me Akane, but it seems to me that every time this happens in the bathroom, you walk in on me. Makes me think you're the perverted one here. I mean, don't you even check the damn door for the sign anymore? Didn't you even see my clothes on the floor of the changing room? Jeez... Are you taking lessons from Happi now?"

"Don't you dare lecture me in my own house you idiot! You're just freeloading here with your useless father!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" yelled back Ranma. "Waitaminute, 'freeloading'? Did you just say 'freeloading'?" He was getting really tired of this routine and of the tomboy. "If it weren't for those pictures of me that your greedy, mercenary and shameless sister sold to that raving lunatic, Kuno, this whole family and house would have fallen into ruins by now! You don't help out at all. You just break bricks. Your father just sits in all day, doing nothing and if Kasumi wasn't here, youd've all starved by now!"

"'Starved'? I can feed myself, my sisters and my father. We don't need you, you jerk!"

"Did I hear right? Did you say 'feed'? Didn't you mean poison? Honestly Akane, have you ever tried your cooking? Get a reality check."

"Just get the hell out Ranma. We don't need you. We'll be much happier without you here."

"If it weren't for me saving your ass, to which I must add, is built like a brick, youd've been kidnapped or killed ten times over. I have no idea why they want you anyway. They must be as blind as Mousse! You think I want to be here? With you, that blackmailing, bitch pornographer you call a sister and that emotionally crippled, crybaby you call your dad? You have got to be kidding! The only person worth anything in this household is Kasumi, and she's too nice to do anything about any of you." Ranma was over the boiling point by this time and even the 'soul of ice' wasn't helping any.

Akane was silent for a few seconds, seemingly trying to absorb all the information that Ranma had just said. "Fine then. Just leave and don't come back," Akane said in a soft voice. Slowly turning around, she walked up the stairs and into her room, softly closing the door behind her.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Dammit! Do things have to be like this forever?" groused Ranma. After Akane had gone into her room in tears, Ranma had finished bathing, dressed up and tried knocking on her door. He didn't get any responses though so he gave up on the idea and went to his favorite thinking spot. He went up to the roof to think about what had just happened and was above Akane's room. Listening to the wracking sobs of the crying girl from the room below, he then realized that his actions might have gone a tad too far. He had hopes that things would be better after Jusendo, Saffron and the failed wedding attempt. Actually they did get better, for a while at least. He had a few relatively sane weeks following the fiasco and thought things would go on like that for quite some time. Boy, was he wrong.

Ranma had a grim recollection of events that took place almost a month ago.

(Flashback)

After the wedding attempt, everyone experienced three weeks of relative calm. Things weren't destined to stay that way though.

One afternoon, Uchan had come over, bearing boxes of okonomiyaki as a peace offering. Ranma had been hungry since he'd been training all morning and Kasumi hadn't even had lunch ready yet so seeing as he was a bottomless pit anyway, accepted the offer. This was of course, when Akane came home from a friend's house. Things had gotten progressively worse from then on.

Ranma was malletted for flirting with Ukyou and was yelled at by the two idiot parents for being unfaithful. Shampoo then showed up and glomped onto him just because she wanted to and this caused another hail of projectiles headed his way. Ryouga, for once, got to where he wanted to go when he saw the carnage and decided to join in to pound Ranma. Happosai saw the girls fighting and wanted to join in for other reasons, perverted, most assuredly. Mouse then arrived and shouted his trademark 'my darling Shampoo' and immediately hugged Genma. All of this ended with a pretty banged up Ranma from all the objects he tried, and failed, to dodge. Namely one stone lawn ornament, eleven spatulas, a couple of bandannas, nine shuriken and a training potty, a pair of bonbori, six happodaikirin from only god knows where, and a bouquet of black roses. Ranma was thinking of what could possibly compare to his day and suddenly realized that he could, in all honesty say that he had had worse. Not much worse, mind you, but yes, worse nonetheless. They all had the same circumstances, most of the same cast involved and the same arguments and opening lines. The only thing different here that made it less worse, was that the other, less insane Kuno was not in this equation. (Yes Tatewaki is hitting on more cylinders than Kodachi, but he certainly isn't hitting on them all.)

The arguments and fights were thankfully defused by a smiling Kasumi, who announced that lunch was ready and everyone 'playing' with Ranma was invited. So everyone ate in relative peace, though a heavy silence settled over the table as Ranma noticed a certain miasma of hostility in the air. He saw from the corner of his eye all of the girls glaring at each other, a lump of pork glaring his way and a Peking duck glaring at Kasumi thinking that she was Ranma, to which the oblivious girl merely smiled back in return. The meal ended when the pig-tailed boy got up after eating, muttered a hasty 'excuse me' and ran out the door to escape the hostilities of all those at the table.

(End flashback)

Back in the present, Ranma was trying to get out of his contemplative mood. This way of thinking wasn't helping his situation at all. He stood and gracefully jumped down from his perch on the peaked Tendo roof. Landing neatly in the yard after a triple somersault, he was suddenly confronted by a smiling Kasumi.

"Ranma, did you and Akane have a fight again?" asked the girl.

Sighing wistfully, Ranma nodded an affirmative. "It always ends up like this Kasumi. I hate it. I wish things could just be normal between us, between everyone here."

"Believe it or not Ranma, I understand how you feel. Sometimes I wish father would go out and live again. Maybe get a job and help out a bit instead of just smoking, drinking and playing shogi with your father all the time. Sometimes I wish Nabiki weren't as manipulative as she is but she helps pay the bills. We only get a small stipend from mother's pension after all. I wish Akane would be less violent but that's her way of coping with mother's death and working out her insecurities. They'll grow out of it soon, I hope. In the meantime, all we can do is try to help them along."

"It still doesn't mean that I have to suffer from all their problems though," grumbled Ranma. "Thanks Kasumi. I've never looked at it that way. I could always count on you. I feel a bit better now."

"That's nice. Lunch will be ready soon. You and all your friends finish playing and wash up so we can eat."

"'Friends'? What 'friends'?" asked a bewildered Ranma.

"Oh my, didn't you know? They're all standing behind you," said a sweetly smiling Kasumi.

Turning around in a flash of movement, he barely caught the sudden disappearance of several blunt, bladed, spiked and cloth weapons into secret compartments and pockets. Facing him was an angry mob of rivals and in the background, an equally angry and jealous group of fianc�es were snarling and getting ready to pound each other. "Uh, hi guys," stammered a very nervous Ranma.

"Now-now, we wouldn't want any of you to get dirty just before eating now would we? You can play later. All of you wash up and come in to eat."

The gathered martial artists tried to resist. They put all their effort, will and ki into the attempt to resist, but it was all futile. The dreaded 'Kasumi Pacifist Lunch Invitation with Smile Combo' never failed to cow even the most dedicated martial artist, not to mention the occasional oni, Happosai, rude salesclerks and angry woodchucks. Her attack was akin to another familiar maneuver by a certain shoddily robed sensei. Something like 'these aren't the droids you're looking for, move along.'

All through the meal, Ranma was thinking. He was unused to the activity, subscribing to the Anything Goes philosophy of "when in battle, if you have the time to think, you're already dead". He was accustomed to just doing things based on instinct and familiarity. While this situation was indeed familiar, he wasn't enjoying any second of it. He thought of all the times the fights with Akane this morning were repeated and calculated that they happened at least three or four times a week. This was troubling to the martial artist since he didn't want this to be the pattern to his whole life. He had come to a decision. He would take control of his life immediately. Well, maybe as soon as he finished lunch, Kasumi's sukiyaki was to die for after all.

After dessert had been served and consumed, Ranma hesitantly stood up and cleared his throat dramatically. "I. I have an announcement to make," he nervously managed to squeak out. "As you all know, my life is as messed up as it could possibly be. I have been attacked almost every day of my life by either blind fools (while glaring at Mousse), idiot parents (staring at Soun and Genma), dishonorable, stupid pigs lacking a sense-of-direction (guess who/what he looked at), obsessive amazons and uncute tomboys."

Ukyou nearly swooned when her name wasn't mentioned.

"I have come to a decision," Ranma managed to blurt out with a little more conviction. What happened next though, was not in the plan.

"Oh happy days! The families will now be joined!" shouted a dancing Soun with the customary rising sun war-fans and confetti. Genma soon joined the dance and chant adding a beach ball and unicycle from his bag of panda tricks.

"Oh Ranma honey! Thank you! I accept. We can get married this afternoon," squealed an enthusiastic okonomiyaki chef.

"Wo ai ni, ailen! Wo hen kway le!" giggled a bouncing Shampoo who, in her excitement had reverted to her native Chinese. (Mandarin = Wo hen kway le = Me so happy)

The scenario was mostly universal, affecting everyone in the room with almost the same results. Kodachi clung onto his arm proclaiming that her Ranma-sama made her so happy by choosing her. Ryouga screamed out a standard 'Ranma, prepare to die', this time for agreeing to marry all of the girls. Mouse attacked with his fist of the white swan and several chain weapons while simultaneously shouting that Ranma would never have his Shampoo. Unfortunately, the myopic avian hit a water pitcher on the table. Needless to say, with all of them being the water magnets that they were, the Jusenkyo gang got wet. Instant zoo, just add water.

Ranma was stressed. He was angry. He was also a wee bit frustrated since he was now technically a she and a buxom redhead to boot. To make matters worse, he didn't even get to make his damn announcement! P-chan was biting down hard on his leg and Akane, apparently not noticing the pig transform, was swinging the table Ranma's way. Ukyou and Shampoo were trying to kill each other. The fathers had brought out the sake and were celebrating the wedding. Kasumi was pouring tea. Thank the Kami that Nabiki was out of town or else he'd have to pay for all this. Cologne was uncharacteristically hit with a fit of giggling and soon fell off her staff and ended up rolling around on the floor with tears of laughter. It suddenly dawned on the pig-tailed martial artist that Shampoo was clinging to his pant leg with her claws.

"Wait a minute. Shampoo + cold water, factor in claws and clinging to his leg. Hmm, what was this supposed to mean again?" Ranma internally mused. Shortly after, a startled but quiet "oh" was heard.

"Ca. Ca. CAAAAAAAAAAT! Get it off me! Get it off me! AAAGH!!!"

As we said before, Ranma was stressed, angry and frustrated. It only took stress and the presence of a c...c... feline to induce the cat fist state. Coupled with the other factors, he got there in record time.

"Rrrroowww," hissed an angry Ranma-neko. This was apparently enough to make everyone back off for a while. Akane, thinking that Ranma would, as per the old days, come to her and sit on her lap, went forward and knelt down near the bestial martial artist. The next phase of her strategy was to try and coax him closer. Unfortunately, calling him with a much louder voice than you're supposed to use when trying to cajole an angry and feral Ranma to calmness was a definite mistake on her part. With a feline yowl, Ranma attacked.

What came next was four minutes or flying cloth, fur, hair, blood, gore and other miscellaneous objects thrown up by the ripping claws and thrashing of the two bodies and was the most graphic, gratuitous, and gruesome display of Anime violence the world had ever witnessed. It was also rather therapeutic.

Akane was still. She was sprawled out in the middle of the Tendo dining room, lying almost naked, with her clothes all tattered and torn. Her stomach, arms, legs and face were crisscrossed with triple parallel lines, which were lightly bleeding. Her hair was a tangled mess with some of the severed locks lying several meters from where she lay, chopped off by a molecule thick ki-claw. In the room full of people (and animals), not a creature was stirring, not even a Mousse.

Ranma was wondering why everyone went still all of a sudden and were staring at him, so he decided to just look for a good place to rest and maybe take a catnap. Bounding over on all fours, he snuggled into a comfortable lap and began licking his 'paws', cleaning them of the blood and gore that now smeared them. [Hmm, taste. Not good. Mental cat-note; do not lick paws after attacking violent, short-haired girl. Almost as bad as her cooking.]

Kasumi looked at the body in the middle of the room. She saw that her little sister was still breathing so figured that she'd be okay. With Doctor Tofu out of town, she had to care for Ranma and the others when they were injured so she had considerable experience with tending and diagnosing injuries. This one wasn't so bad. She was jolted from her thoughts when a sudden weight pressed down on her legs from her kneeling position at one end of where the table used to be.

"Oh my," Kasumi breathed out. "Ranma, are you alright? You've never come to me before and this is the twenty-sixth time you've been in the cat-state already."

"You counted?" asked a bewildered and slightly jealous Ukyou.

"Well, yes. At least I think it was twenty-six. Let's see. There was the one at school, the one at the beach with Elder Cologne, one time at the market, once when Midori-chan form next door chased her cat here, once when..." counted Kasumi while ticking off the numbers on her fingers and moving on to her toes.

"We get the idea Kasumi," mumbled Ukyou while folding Kasumi's hands closed to stop her counting before she moved on to Ranma's hands for the next six instances.

"It seems that son-in-law no longer trusts Akane," stated Cologne. "He wouldn't come to Kasumi if that were the case. He must like this Tendo girl the most now among all of you."

"My Ranchan trusts me!" shouted an emphatic Ukyou. "I'll show you."

"Um. maybe not right now." mumbled a slightly pale Ukyou while holding what was left of the handle of her battle spatula.

"I would suggest you not make any quick and sudden movements right now Kuonji-san," advised Cologne.

"I agree," whispered Ukyou while backing away at the furious and unrelenting pace of glacier, which is like saying 'really slowly, but with great determination'.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Several hours later, a male and non-neko Ranma is in the dojo contemplating. "If all that chaos this afternoon happened before I even told them my decision, what would they have done if they actually heard it? Maybe I should just leave. The Saotome Secret Technique! I could use that and leave until I can get a better idea of what I want to do! This is perfect!"

While Ranma was lost in thought, Akane walked in carrying a sleeping P-chan and sat down beside him. After Kasumi finished tending to her wounds, she had calmed down a bit and uncharacteristically realized that Ranma wasn't to blame for this one incident. Deciding that she should find out what was bothering her fianc�e, she set out to look for him and found him contemplating in the dojo. She had changed into a gi and had one of Genma's spare toupees taped onto the now bare parts of her scalp so she looked a bit more presentable than her previous state.

"What were you going to tell us in there Ranma? You said you already had a decision." Akane was fidgeting nervously and clasping her hands together. Something seemed to be really interesting with her fingers and nails since she was just staring down at them and avoiding Ranma's gaze.

"Well Akane. It's like this, I've been thinking and."

"Oh, here you are Ranma. I've been looking for you. Here, drink this," ordered Kasumi while handing him a cup of tea. "It should make you feel better and a bit more calm after that incident before. "It's chamomile tea. Supposedly, it helps ease nervousness and stress. You too, Akane. They say it's better than se. <cough> better than. chocolates! Yes, chocolates. Not the Belgian kind though, or those cute little Reese's cups. Maybe slightly better than those Hershey's kisses though."

"Uh. thanks Kasumi," replied Ranma while taking the offered cup and wondering what was wrong with Kasumi these days. She just seemed a little 'off' to him lately and was making him quite nervous. "I think I'll need this and maybe a lot more for today."

"You're welcome Ranma."

"Thanks oneesan. I'll bring the cups back to the kitchen later," said Akane. "What were you saying before Ranma?"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Many miles away, at the Nerima Mall;

"Hey Yuka! Won't that just look great on Akane?"

"Ugh! Yellow again? Doesn't she have enough yellow sundresses Sayuri? Honestly, It seems like she just has five different outfits, and that includes our uniform. Maybe we should get her something in green or purple, maybe even black. Just as long as it's different."

"Ooh! I know! Let's get her a leather bustier!"

"Like the one Daisuke got you? Get real girl! Akane would never go for that. Besides, she sweats a lot," argued Yuka. "Not good for the leather."

"Eew! You may be right. That's just like falling asleep on a leather couch. naked. in summer!"

Back in the Tendo Dojo;

Being an anime world, the inevitable happened.

A-choo!

"Gesundheit, Akane," Ranma automatically replied.

"Ooh! Someone must be talking about me," Akane giggled after the forceful sneeze. She looked at Ranma and noticed that his eyes had gone wide and were staring at her frontal area. [Why that pervert! He's staring at my breasts! Wait... Ranma's staring? At MY breasts? Hotcha!!! This is so cool! I have to act angry now or he'll think I'm enjoying it.]

What Akane missed (being quite oblivious) was that when she sneezed, her toupee slipped off, showing an ugly bald patch and more importantly, she spilled her tea. Chamomile tea is best served really hot. Really hot tea means really hot water. Akane sneezed. Water spilled. Akane was carrying P-chan. Guess what happened.

"R... R... Ryouga?" stammered a wide-eyed, short haired, uncute, tomboy.

"A... hehe... he," chuckled Ryouga while scratching the back of his head. [Something wasn't right here. A minute ago I was taking a nice nap in Akane's arms. Now I'm sitting on her lap and looking up into her angelic face. Strange, I'm also feeling a bit damp all of a sudden. There's a draft here too. Wait. where are my clothes??? "Ranma! This is all your fault!"

"You... you... YOU PIG!" screamed the aforementioned tomboy.

"Akane! Stop! No, don't! It's not what it looks like! I can explain!"

"Ryouga, you pervert! Not only are you P-chan, you also peeped at me, lied to me and worst of all, YOU BROKE MY FAVORITE MALLET!!! AAAAARGHHH!"

"Good thing I had a spare," finished Akane after bouncing the porcine youth off the compound wall and into the koi pond where the fanged boy transformed into fanged bacon.

Ranma was looking wide-eyed at all the destruction and mayhem in the Tendo Dojo extending out into the yard. He knew Ryouga was tough, he learned the Bakusai Tenketsu after all. Hmm, maybe the old ghoul could give Ryouga the advanced course.

"RAAAAAAANNMAAAA!!! You jerk! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Uh-oh," said a certain pig-tailed full-time martial artist and part-time projectile.

<WHAM>

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Hmm, I wonder where I'm gonna land this time?" He calculated his velocity, angle of launch, glanced at a small compass he intended to give to the pig, licked the tip of his index finger, held it up and guessed his approximate landing point. He saw that he was heading for the NFPF, or the Nerima Fluffy Pillows Factory. He breathed a sigh of relief since there was a chance that he would land in something soft. Unfortunately, Ranma had a guardian angel and his name is Murphy. There was a sudden gust of wind and he was thrown a few meters to the right. He verified his trajectory again and saw his new landing spot. "Oh no." He had been saying this a lot as of late, but he had a very good reason now. The factory to the right of NFPF was the NFMC. Yup, the Nerima Fireworks Manufacturing Co.

"This is gonna hurt."

<BOOM>

Once again airborne, though not as high as the last time, Ranma saw that he was heading further out of Nerima. "I thought a ton of black powder would hurt more than that. Oh well. Waitaminute, where am I headed now anyway?" Searching the landscape for familiar landmarks, he saw some he immediately recognized. "Hey! That's the impact crater I made last week. Perfect! Juuban Park and I'm headed right for the fountain. The water should break my fall even if it does turn me into a girl. Hey, who's that walking down there." <splash> <glub glub>

Residents of Juuban are well inured to the dangers of daemons, cardians and the assorted mix of monsters seen daily in the district. A red and black meteor falling into fountains on a sunny day was something new though. Rising from the churning waters of the fountain, Ranma was confronted by a dark shadow. The sun was behind the imposing figure and he couldn't see its face. All he could distinguish from the blotch of grays and blacks was a drawn katana, it's fine tempered blade glinting in the sun and it's sharp, keen edge lying against the sensitive skin of his exposed throat. "Don't move!" commanded the silhouette.

"Uh oh."

"Ranma? Is that you?" asked a familiar voice.

"Mom?" Ranma couldn't believe his luck. His mom was just the person he wanted to see right now.

"Ranma, or should I call you Ranko for now? Why are you playing in fountains at your age? That isn't manly you know. In girl form no less."

"Uh oh." <Gulp> "Uh mom. never mind. I'll explain later. Can we go to your place? I need to talk to you."

"That would be fine my son. I need a favor from you also. We can speak as we walk."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Several dry towels and four cups of tea later (Earl Grey this time), a restored male Ranma was sitting calmly in the Urashima ancestral home, wrapping up the story of his recent adventures at the dojo.

"So that's what happened mom, and that was just the past few weeks."

"That... that... that's absolutely insane!" exclaimed a shocked Nodoka. "Wait, we are talking about your friends. I guess it's normal enough, and it is Nerima after all."

"Yeah, too normal. It happens every other day! It's getting to me, mom. I'm afraid if it doesn't stop I'm really gonna hurt someone. I nearly maimed Akane this morning while in the catfist. I've never done that before, to Akane at least. She was always the one I went to when I was neko-fied. They said I went to Kasumi this time. I'm scar... afra... I'm.... I'm worried mom."

"Hmm. This might not be so bad Ranma. Remember what I said before about needing a favor?"

"Yeah, but what does this hafta do with."

"Hush child and watch your language. My sister, Haruka, over at Hinata Springs is the caretaker of an inn there. Our mother left it to us when she disappeared several years ago while travelling the world's hot springs. Your great-grandmother used to be the kanrinin but she's decided to retire and maybe look for our wayward mother. Haruka can't take the job since she's busy attending to her restaurant so she needs someone to take care of the place as a kanrinin for the summer. Your summer vacation has just started so I told her I would inquire if you were willing. I realize that this will take you away from all your fianc�es, your father, Ryouga and all your friends, but please consider this request. You don't have to answer right now. Think about it fir..."

Nodoka's words were cut off abruptly as she found herself being swung around the room by an enthusiastic Ranma.

"YES! YES! I'll do it mother! When do I leave? Is tonight early enough? I can pack real fast! What'll I wear? Should I take my long-sleeved Chinese shirts? The silk might shrink in the hot water. I need to buy a new toothbrush. Maybe the blue one with Pikachu on the handle, or should I get the red one with Bulbasaur? Oh no! However shall I choose? I must have them both!"

<SLAP>

"Ranma! Control yourself," scolded Nodoka putting her hand down.

"Gomen mother," said Ranma as he snapped out of his reverie. He then made a mental note to himself; break Kuno's jaw at the earliest opportunity. "Akane and her damn Pokemon. stupid yellow rat," grumbled the disconcerted boy.

"I believe tomorrow will be soon enough, my son. I'm quite sure that you'll like it there. We stayed there a few times when you were little. I'm not sure if your friends are still there though."

"I had friends there?" wondered Ranma. "How long ago was that?"

"It was thirteen years ago I believe, I think you had just turned four at the time. We stayed there with my mother, your uncle Nobuyuki, your other aunt Kaori and Haruka for the summers when I wasn't teaching at Juuban High. You made a lot of friends there and played with your cousins as well. Maybe those friends you made still live over at Hinata Springs."

"This sounds just like what I need mom. Imagine that; two whole months without being threatened, attacked, malletted, poisoned and etc. Two months with nothing but HOT WATER around me. Two months without baka-oyaji! This is gonna be great!" exclaimed an obviously jubilant Ranma.

"Don't call your father that Ranma, even if it is true."

"Gomen."

"It's settled then. I'll just call your Aunt Haruka and confirm that you'll do it. She said she wanted to see you since she missed you so much. She was often your nanny you know."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hinata-sou

<ring-ring>

"Oy Naru! Could you tell Kitsune to turn down her radio for a minute. I can't hear a damn thing!

"Sure thing Haruka-san!" called back a cute redhead.

<ring-ring>

"Hello, Hinata-sou. Haruka speaking."

"Haru-chan, this is Nodoka. I'm just calling about that job you had for Ranma."

"Doki-chan! Did he accept? I was just about to call Kaori to ask if Keitaro would like to volunteer. I asked Nobuyuki too but he said that Tenchi is quite busy with some stuff."

"'Stuff'? How typical of the brat, Nobuyuki I mean. No need for that sis. Ranma's agreed. He'll be there tomorrow. How's the little pest by the way?"

"Do you mean Tenchi, Nobuyuki, Keitaro or Kaori?" chuckled Haruka.

"You're still the same Haru-chan," replied Nodoka while laughing wistfully. "I meant Keitaro of course, but I guess it does apply to our little sister and brother as well. Tenchi isn't that much of a brat according to Uncle Katsuhito. I heard he let Ryouko out though."

"I heard the same thing from him, said something about an engagement too and that we shouldn't worry about Ryouko. They're all okay though. Kaori said that Keitaro was still pushing for Todai but he flunked the past three entrance exams. She's losing hope that he'd ever get in but is still pestering him to find a job first."

"That's our sister. Impractical as ever. I just hope poor Keitaro doesn't suffer too much because of it."

"Let's get together sometime, just the four of us. The Urashima children's reunion or something like that. No husbands and no kids, okay? I don't want to feel left out. Seta-san and I didn't actually part on happy terms you know. Though I still see his sister's family once in a while, Seta hasn't called me in over a year. A friend of mine called me the other day, said she saw him riding around Tokyo in a van with a little blonde, gaijin girl."

"Are you jealous, Haru-chan? <Soft chuckle> Don't worry dear, we'll get together soon. Anyway, I've got to go. We still need to get Ranma packed and ready for tomorrow. I wish I could accompany him but I have work in the morning, so you'll just have to greet him. Don't worry, he's hard to miss."

"Really? And why is that my dear sister?"

"His hairstyle, for one. The pigtail is a dead-giveaway. He'll probably be wearing a red Chinese, silk shirt and black pants. Take care of him, okay? He has some. special requirements. He'll explain once he gets there. I really have to go. See you soon!"

"Alright, I remember. Bye Doki-chan! I'll call Kaori to tell her that the position's already filled."

"I told you not to call me that, Haru-chan. I hated that nickname. Tell Kaori I said "hi" and thanks sis! Goodbye and take care!"

<Click>

"Alright, Ranma. That was your auntie. Everything's arranged. You're to go straight to Hinata-sou and your Aunt Haruka will meet you there in the afternoon. If you take the eight-o-clock Express Rail, you'll be there right on time."

"Meet me there? Doesn't she live there too?"

"Yes, she does. She mostly stays at her restaurant though. You'll be the manager and handyman of the inn so you'll be alone most of the time, unless the inn gets some guests. I think she has a couple of residents at present' but I'm sure you'll get along with them as well."

"Okay. I can handle that. It gives me more time to train and practice. The repairs are easy enough to handle since I've got a lot of experience at the Tendo's place. This'll be great! Thanks mom."

"You're welcome my son. Now let's head to the Tendo Dojo and pack your things. You need to catch the train early tomorrow morning."

"Alright. Let's go!"

"By the way Ranma, I think you should tell your aunt about your. condition. I might have mentioned something beforehand but I gave no specifics. It may be a hot spring resort, but knowing you, anything can happen."

"I guess so, mom. Okay, I'll tell her as soon as I can."

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End Part One