Ranma 1/2:  Enter Perfume 
                                 Chapter One:   
 Pictures this:  Nerima, Japan...1996 (Or whenever the series took
place...) 
 
        Ranma stood in the training hall of the Tendo Dojo.  Sweat beads
had 
already formed on his brow and he hadn't even started practicing yet.  He  
had come to the hall to practice, but no, some people had another idea in 
mind.  Before him stood Soun, Genma, Ryoga, Kuno, Mousse, Cologne, Akane,  
Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi. 
 
        They were forcing him to make his decision about his fiancee, here,
 
now and forever.  He had to choose and there was no way around it.  If he 
didn't they would all pummel him.  But the way Ranma saw it, he'd be  
pummeled no matter who he chose.  The worst part was, he didn't want to  
choose...not necessarily because he didn't care, either. 
 
        A single bead of sweat rolled down his cheek.  He looked at Akane. 
If he chose her, Soun and his father would be certainly happy.  Akane,
well, 
who knows.  But he'd surely get his butt kicked by everyone else in the
room 
except maybe for Mousse. 
 
        He fixed his gaze on Ukyo.  His father wouldn't dare hit him for 
choosing her, since his being engaged to her was all Genma's fault to begin
 
with.  But, surely, Soun, Akane, Shampoo, Cologne and Kodachi would without
 
hesitation, he surmised. 
 
        He turned to Shampoo.  Hmm...he'd have to face Mousse, the Tendos, 

his father and Kodachi for this one.  Kodachi...No...definitely not her. 
He never had any real interest in her from the beginning, no matter what  
anyone else had to say about that. 
 
        Ranma's hair was soaking with sweat now.  His shirt stuck to his  
body, drenched as well.  Ranma kept moving his eyes from girl to girl, then

to the crowd off to the side, all welding their respective, typical
weapons.   
There was only one way out of this, he thought.  And that would have to be
a  
miracle. 
 
        "Ranma, be a man and take them all!"  Happosai suggested, as the
old 
man entered the hall. 
 
        "Come on, boy.  We're waiting..." Genma huffed.   
         
        "Oh, Ranma!  If only you'd married my Akane when you first met,
then 
this would never have happened," Soun bawled. 
 
        "Saotome," Kuno started.  "The vengence of heaven is sure, but
true. 
If you do not chose who you are to love, verily, you will be considered an 
enemy to women as well as your fellow men."  Everyone else muttered or  
thought along those same lines, or about what they'd do to Ranma if he  
didn't choose correctly, etc. 
 
        Ranma sighed, closed his eyes, raised his arm up, stuck out his
index 
finger and began to lower his arm.  "I...uhh...want..."  Before his arm  
lowered, and before he could finish, the door to the hall slammed open with

such force the door fell out of the track and landed on the floor. 
 
        The outside light blinded the entire crowd in the room.  As they  
turned to see who it was, a shadowed, shapely female figure stood there.
"How  
dare you even think of marrying anyone else!?!" she bellowed.  "I know you 

better than anyone else here in this room, and yet you dare try to marry  
someone else?"  Her voice eerily familiar. 
 
        "WHO?" everyone said in unison.  As their eyes adjusted to the
light, 
everyone gasped seeing who it was.  There she stood.  Red-haired and pig- 
tailed, Ranma's female form.  Ranma fell to the floor.  "WHA!?!  HOW!?!" 
Ranma-chan stormed in and grabbed Ranma-kun by the shirt collar. 
 
        "And to think that...that we even slept together..." she sobbed,  
gazing into Ranma-kun's eyes, tears flowing freely.  His jaw, like everyone
 
else's in the room, was on the floor...umm...make that *through* the floor.

 
        "B-b...WHAT ARE YOU TALKING AB--!!"  Before he could finish, Ranma-

chan kissed Ranma-kun passionately on the lips. 
 
                                   * * * 
 
        Ranma snapped awake, and sat up.  His breath was fast and raspy. 
His  
bed roll, like his clothes were drenched in sweat.  Ranma caught his breath
 
and reflected on his dream for a moment. 
 
        "Wha-what was that all about?" he wondered out loud.  He stood up, 

rolled up his bed and grabbed his bathing pan.  As he entered the bathroom,

he looked in the mirror.  He looked as if he hadn't slept for a week. 
Ranma 
sighed, removed his clothes and stepped into the bathtub. 
 
                                   * * * 
 
        Akane entered the dining room, carrying P-chan and yawning.  Ranma 
sat at the table, staring off into space.  Genma was eating his and Ranma's
 
food, while everyone else ate their's, respectively. 
 
        "Good morning, Akane," Kasumi piped, happily. 
 
        "Good morning, everyone," she replied, sounding a little fatigued, 

sitting down next to Ranma.  She looked at him, his eyes were rather glazed
 
over and he was definitely out of it.  "Ranma, are you okay?"  No response.
  
She waved her hand in front of his face. 
 
        "He's been like that all morning," Nabiki commented, reaching for  
some more rice.  P-chan grinned evilly, walked over to Ranma and bit his
leg.   
No response.  P-chan's went wide and he backed away slowly, this was weird,
 
even for Ranma, he thought. 
 
        After breakfast, Akane grabbed her books and returned to the dining

room.  "Come on, Ranma, we're going to be late."  Still no response. 
"HEY!  RANMA!" she cried.  Akane sighed, and booted Ranma into the pond. 
 
        "What'd you do that for, you un-cute tom-boy!!" Ranma-chan cried,
as 
she emerged from the water, only to be shoved back in, by the force of her 
book satchel, courtesy of one irate Akane. 
 
        "EXCUSE ME FOR WORRYING ABOUT YOU!!" she screamed as she dashed off
 
for school.  Ranma-chan crawled out of the pond muttering something about 
how un-cute Akane was.  She walked into the kitchen, grabbed the hot water 

off the stove and poured it on herself. 
 
        A few minutes later, Ranma caught up with Akane.  "Yo, Akane!" 
 
        "What do you want?" she demanded, trying not to sound hurt. 
 
        "Look...I just wanted to say I'm sorry and thanks for being
concerned 
about me," he said, hoping he sounded sincere enough.  Akane stopped and  
looked up at him. 
 
        "What's wrong with you, this morning?" she asked.  Ranma jumped off
 
the fence, stood next to Akane, and began to walk toward to school. 
 
        "I...I guess I'll tell you as we go," he stuttered.  As they
walked, 
Ranma explained the weird dream he had, and that it had really upset him,
but 
the worst part was that he couldn't understand why.  Akane listened, and
for  
once didn't call him a pervert for even thinking it.  She suggested that
all  
this fiancee thing and his curse was finally getting to him
psychologically. 
 
        "I don't know.  It seemed like so much more than that.  Almost as  
if...it were an omen," he said. 
 
        "An omen?  I never thought you the superstitious-type, Ranma,"
Akane 
joked. 
 
        "That's just it...I'm not..." 
 
        As Akane and Ranma walked on, a Chinese cat, purplish-white, with 
darker purple markings on its legs, ears and tail watched.  She sat there, 
mewed quietly to herself and walked on.  As she did, a young girl with  
with purple hair rode her bike past her.  The young girl stopped at a house

to make a delivery.  As she waited on the porch her eyes fell upon the cat 
she had passed by earlier. 
 
        _That cat look familiar,_ Shampoo thought.  Just then, the door 
opened.  "Nihao!  Ramen delivery!" she piped, happily as her customer  
paid her and took the ramen.  Shampoo jumped on her bike and headed back to

Neko-hanten.  To everyone, it seemed just a normal day, in a "normal" 
Nerima, Japan. 
 
End Chapter Oni...err...One  :P 
 
-- 
 
Craig Vincent a.k.a. Greg Thompson <AkoMagami@usa.pipeline.com> 
 
Member, Red-Head Anime Girls Fan Club 
Co-Founder and High Priest of The Holy Order of A-ko 
            -----Folder of the Holy Fuku----- 
Co-author of Project A-ko:  The College Years