Here's the second draft.  Basically the same, except that I wrote the first
draft too fast and some of the phrasing came out really bad.
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                        Ranma/Futaba #1: 100 Yen and Change
                                 by Ken Arromdee

Chronological note: Ranma characters are at their regular ages in this
story.  The Futaba characters have been aged 2 years, because most of them
were originally 14.

    Nabiki Tendo, age 17, sat at a table across from her date, a tall, handsome
man with light-colored hair.  He had met her only the day before, but she
figured that a date was harmless; he was going awfully fast, but if he went too
fast, she could just end it.  In the meantime, may as well have fun.
    "Well, what's college like, Futana-san?  Oh, and what's your major?" asked
Nabiki.  Not that she really needed to know this, but she couldn't gather
business information _all_ the time....
    "It's biology, but I minor in getting to know people like you.  And that's
a lovely dress you're wearing tonight."
    "Thank you."  She thought he was slightly reminiscent of Kunou, but a lot
more suave.  Not that she was falling head over heels for him, but she would
like to get to know him better.  "I'm not in college yet, but I'm going to go
into business administration.  It's really a pretty obvious choice for me."
He _was_ very handsome...  Nabiki shook her head once to clear it.  She
couldn't possibly be falling for some guy she hadn't even met two days ago.
This wasn't a business, but like a business, you don't just start something
without knowing what you're doing, and she knew _nothing_ about him.
    Futana continued "And I really like girls with their hair cut short like
that."  Nabiki thought that a gorgeous guy like that didn't need to use such
an obviously fake line...  Something about him was getting to her.  Well,
she decided, as long as he didn't ask her to his hotel room.
    "We can go to the love hotel down the street..."  At the sound of that,
Nabiki mind cleared and she returned to her usual demeanor, replying "I'm not
interested.  See you later, Futana-san."  Just what did he think she was?
    "Ah, just seeing how you'd respond."  Yeah, right.  She let herself be
convinced to sit down, and they finished the dinner--no use leaving someone
with the bill if they're paying anyway--but Nabiki wasn't very interested in
having him walk her home, though she did allow a goodnight kiss.

    "Kon'ban wa, Nabiki.  How did it go?" asked Kasumi.  
    "Not very well.  Guy wants to get into bed with every woman he meets, it
seems.  Like every girl with Ranma, except they want to marry him first."
    "Oh, my."
    "Hey, I heard that!"  Ranma's loud voice could be heard from inside the
dojo.  Ryouga, taking advantage of the sudden distraction, punched him through
the entrance; Ranma hurtled directly in front of Nabiki.  She stepped over him
and went to her room.

    Back in her room, Nabiki searched through her files.  Out of simple
courtesy, she would never research someone she's dating, but then they weren't
exactly dating at the moment.  The search produced nothing except a girl with
a similar name, and she decided to forget about it and go to sleep.  She needed
to get up early tomorrow to prepare for the snack sales at the Furinkan/
Komatane volleyball game, anyway.

    Everything was prepared, and Nabiki sat watching the game as her colleagues
sold hot dogs, soda, and chips.  She herself stayed seated, and the only
merchandise she planned to sell personally was a kettle of hot water; Ranma
and Ryouga were bound to be at the game as long as Akane was playing.  And if
not, she could always have some tea.
    Someone sat down next to Nabiki.  A familiar voice asked "Is anyone
sitting here?  Oh, it's you, Nabiki!  I'm sorry about last night...  can I
make it up to you?  How about I get you a soda?"  Futana, of course.
    She nodded.  "Sure."  Whether or not she really wanted to give him another
chance, having people buy the soda was good for business.  She absent-mindedly
sipped the soda that Futana gave her.  Odd taste for Pepsi, thought Nabiki.
She squinted at the cup, doing a double take...  this wasn't one of hers.
All thoughts of Futana, good or bad, left her head as Nabiki looked around
for the vendor; she spotted a girl wearing Komatane colors and selling bowls
of ramen in addition to hot dogs, soda, and chips.  "Wait just a moment, Futana-
san.  I have something to settle."
    It was easy to zero in on the ringleader, a freckled girl a bit younger
than herself who carried her own stack of hot dogs but was giving orders to
the others.  Nabiki approached her.  "Oneechan, that's a very nice refreshment
stand you're running there, but you did know that all profits in sales at
school functions have to go to educational purposes, didn't you?" Nabiki her-
self didn't have to worry about that.  The educational purpose of the Furinkan
business club was to let the students practice as many aspects of real busi-
ness as possible.  Nabiki, of course, had convinced the faculty that profits
were one of those aspects.
    The girl only smiled, in the way that Nabiki would had she just reminded
Ranma of an overdue loan.  "Well, the business world means competition!
Students at Komatane can only be educated about business if we get to
participate in all aspects, like competing with other groups that make
profits.  And to do that, we have to make profits of our own!"
    She was right, of course, thought Nabiki.  But there was always _something_.
"Have you got a license?"  The girl turned silently, exposing the license
glued to the front of her hot dog box, letting one Shuusendou Negiri sell
food.  Nabiki next looked among Negiri's girls to see if any of them owed her
money...  nope, they were all from Komatane.  Negiri suddenly began crying, an
act that would be convincing to anyone not as watchful as Nabiki.  "Stop
bullying me, sempai!  Here you are, an older student who should be helping
people like me and all you do is complain about my business!"  As if by magic,
several members of the Komatane women's volleyball team appeared and glared at
Nabiki.  Nabiki gave up and returned to her seat, but decided to talk with
Negiri later.

    Futana was still sitting, watching the game and ogling the girls,
especially Akane.  "Forget it", said Nabiki as she returned.  "She's my
sister, and she's engaged."  She got a sudden instinctive flash of something
_very_ wrong about Futana.  Not the ogling, but...  she couldn't put a finger
on it.
    "I could tell, because she has good looks like yours, Nabiki."  Nabiki
sighed.
    Ranma and Ryouga were squaring off below, just outside the bleachers,
ready to fight each other for one of the usual reasons.  Nabiki pointed to
Ranma, whose punches had mostly missed Ryouga but which were destroying many
large objects as the spectators watched.  "He's her fiancee."  "Oh."  "He also
owes me a couple of favors if I ever need someone to fight for me..."  "Oh."
Futana moved his arm around Nabiki, apparently about to rest his hand on her
breasts.  Nabiki responded by drawing back her hand in preparation for a slap.
They stayed in that position for several seconds and then Nabiki got up.  "Was
that Futana guy taking lessons from Happosai?"  Too late, she realized she had
spoken that aloud.

    Putting Futana out of her mind, Nabiki casually asked some of her employees
about how well the business was going.  Sure enough, fewer sales than usual.
She would need to set things straight with that meddling competitor girl;
strictly by legal means, of course.  First, send one of her minions to contact
her so they could meet at a place of Nabiki's choosing, establishing who's in
charge....
    One of the Komatane salesgirls approached Nabiki directly.  "Hey, my boss
Negiri wants to speak to you.  She says it's a business problem, and she wants
to meet at Komatane.  Second floor, room B, 5:30 tomorrow."
    Nabiki grumbled and answered "I'm busy dealing with the bookkeeping.
Speak to Hiroko here," pointing to one of her own girls.  The two minions
chatted with one another, discussion quickly turning to boys, gossip, and
clothes, while Nabiki sat down to watch the game again.  Undisturbed.  Well,
except when Shampoo tried to share a bowl of ramen with Ranma, and Akane had
then soaked them both with a stray waterhose.  And then when Futana had ap-
proached the female Ranma and asked her out on a date.  Good *luck*, Futana,
thought Nabiki.

    It turned out that Nabiki's group had barely broken even.  The competition
had really hurt her; there just wasn't a big enough market at a volleyball
game for two vendors.  Financially, this was no big deal for Nabiki, who could
con more money from Kunou in a week than she could make from four weeks of
drinks and hot dogs, but she didn't like someone trying to beat her at her own
game.  Especially if her competitor was winning.  In her own way, she was as
upset at this Negiri girl as Ryouga constantly got at Ranma.

    Back at home, Nabiki consulted her records.  All the information she could
pull up on Negiri was that she was in the business club in Komatane, and that
she essentially owned the pro-wrestling club because she beat its president at
mahjongg.  Useless information.  "I have to get a computer someday", she
thought, but it _was_ more fun poring over sheets of paper trying to put to-
gether all the different bits and pieces of data together by herself.

    Nabiki's phone rang.  "Moshi moshi..."  "It's me..."  "Oh, hi, Hiroko-
chan.  Did you ever tell Negiri-san where at Furinkan we could meet?"  "No...
her friend seemed awfully insistent that you both meet at her school."  "I'm
not going to walk all the way to Komatane.  I'd be late for dinner.  See you!"
Minions, thought Nabiki as she hung up the phone, are useless.
    *Knock, knock*.  Nabiki opened the door.  Her younger sister stood,
earnestly asking "What would you like me to make for dinner, oneesan?
Kasumi's feeling a little sick tonight."  Then again, maybe Nabiki would walk
to Komatane after all.
    "Ah, er, Akane-chan...  I have an important business meeting tonight.  I
really have to go, even if I don't make it back for dinner.  Why not just ask
Ranma and Mr. Saotome what they would like?  Oh, and you can leave me some."
"Really?", asked Akane.  "I thought for sure you wouldn't want me to save any
of my cooking for you...."
    Nabiki could always give it to Ryouga, of course, and this way she could
stay on good terms with her family.

    Halfway to Komatane, she spotted Negiri walking in the other direction.
"Wait up!  What are you doing here?  I thought you wanted to meet at your
school."  "I thought you didn't want to meet at all.  I'm just out because
my friend Misaki-chan invited me for dinner tonight and I needed to be absent.
Sweet person, but her cooking poisons the soul."
    "That sounds familiar.  Say, why don't we go for some pizza?"
    "Great, sempai."
    "You can call me Nabiki."
    "Yes, Nabiki-sempai."
    They bowed, exchanged meishi (business cards), and went to a recently
opened restaurant, "Iowa New Style Pizza".

    Nabiki ordered a slice with corn and pepperoni, and Negiri with corn and
mushrooms.  Much to her relief, the girl had stopped calling her 'sempai' at
the table, where there was no audience around.
    "Were you serious, about not wanting to eat somebody's food?  Because
that just happened to me."
    "Yeah, I can't explain it, Nabiki.  It seems like a rule of the universe.
Everyone knows one girl who can't cook."
    "That's the least of the problems that my family has.  My sister who can't
cook is engaged at the age of 16 to a hotshot martial artist who is chased by
three other girls, one of whom he's already engaged to."  No need to mention
the curse, thought Nabiki; she had to keep some information in reserve.
    "So I've heard, but I didn't know she was your sister."
    "Heard?"
    "At the volleyball game!  Nobody could ignore a disturbance like that.  So
I checked up on them a bit.
    Nabiki looked a little skeptical.
    "Okay, Nabiki.  Well, the truth is, I only talked to some Furinkan stu-
dents.  So many people at your school discuss Ranma and Akane that it hard-
ly even deserves to be called gossip.  Must be hectic...  everyone in your
family and neighborhood fighting all the time.  And your principal is nuts!
But Furinkan's repair company is a _great_ investment."
    "Yes, I know.  I own it.  My ownership is just concealed until I turn 18."
    "Well, I own the Komatane wrestling club.  Sort of.  Say, do you play
mahjongg?"
    "Nope.  I do play cards a little, but that's it."
    "Do you do fighting?  Like wrestling, or martial arts?"
    "Dad once wanted me to learn martial arts.  I told him I'd only do it if
it was martial arts stockbrokering."
    "You have your friends who do martial arts, though, right?  How does a
tournament with Komatane sound?  I could put up the wrestling team on my
side, and you could get Ranma and Akane and everyone else."
    Nabiki considered.  It wasn't a bad idea.  She hadn't meant to make a new
business plan tonight, but if one turns up, she was quite willing to grab it.
Besides, it would be much better to have this girl as a friend rather than an
enemy.  "On one condition.  You don't sell any food.  No, make that two
conditions.  You don't sell any food, and you tell me what you can about a
person named Shimeru Futana."
    Negiri countered.  "My business did as badly as yours!"  Nabiki didn't ask
how Negiri knew how badly Nabiki's business did.  Negiri continued "Here's a
counterproposal.  We each have exclusive business operations on alternate
event days.  And I get you your information, but anything you find out about
weird happenings in the Komatane district, you tell me.  Oh, and you get me a
date with Kunou."
    Nabiki hadn't expected Negiri _not_ to make a counterproposal, and would
have thought less of her if she hadn't.  "Okay, if you strike the Kunou
clause, it's a deal.  He's fixated on Ranma and Akane."  Negiri readily agreed;
besides, if she had really wanted a date with Kunou, even a child could con it
out of him.  "And, Negiri, I have one last idea...."

    Two weeks later, came the tournament between the Komatane pro-wrestling
club and the Furinkan martial artists.  A bell rang, indicating intermission.
"I'm thirsty, going to go get a drink", thought one of the participants.  He
handed 100 yen to the salesgirl.  "Sorry, it's 150 yen." "150 yen?"  "Yeah, we
have an agreement with the other school's business club.  We need to pay them
a small fee to let our own school have exclusive rights to this tournament.
You have to pay a little extra, but you know your money is going to support
_your_ school and not someone else's...." He grumbled, but paid for the drink.

Epilogue:
    Shimeru Futana was speaking to an old, wizened, bald, and perverted
martial arts master.  "So you're the famous Happosai.  I've come to you
because I'm interested in the girls who hang around the Tendo Dojo...."

Author's Note: Since many of you haven't read Futaba-kun Change, here's a
rundown on the characters I've used:

Shimeru Futaba: Main character.  Not used here, really.  He has an inherited
condition which makes him change gender when excited.

Shimeru Futana: Futaba's sister.  Like Futaba, changes sex, but relishes being
male a lot more than Futaba does female.

The sex-changing characters in the series, when changed, give off (at least
some of the time) pheromones which attract the opposite sex.  For Futaba, it
happens once every 28 days (when he also has other problems); it's not clear
exactly when this happens for the females-turned-male, so I've assumed it's a
constant low level.

Shuusendou Negiri: Classmate, friend of Futaba's girlfriend Misaki.  Quite a
bit like Nabiki, in fact.