Went back through and added a little here and there.  Hope it helps.

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All characters copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc. and
Viz Communications.

SINS OF THE FATHER

CHAPTER ONE
 
REVENGE FROM THE PAST

OR

GENMA GETS HIS!

by LPrior
(lprior@geocities.com)

Behind the Tendo Dojo lay a clear and small pool, surrounded by small rocks and boulders.  Sitting quietly on one was a young woman.  She was dressed like an American in jeans, a loose shirt and a leather jacket.  Her black hair was pulled back in a tight pigtail.  On closer examination there was something familiar about her features.

The sun’s first rays had touched the Tendo’s home and the first stirrings of the people within could be heard. Kasumi appeared at the kitchen window.  She mixed various ingredients for the family’s breakfast.  As usual, a wonderfully rich smell rose into the early morning air.  Next to stir was Akane Tendo.  She left her room and headed to the bath for her morning clean up.  Sounds could be heard from the other rooms as Nabiki, Mr. Tendo and the Saotomes awoke.  As usual, Ranma and Genma started their morning exercises.  Today they managed not to damage anything and to stay dry.  A very untypical day for them --  they did not yet know just how untypical.

Kasumi called for everyone to come to the table.  With a bit of bustle they got seated and the food was passed out and quickly consumed, faster by some than others.  Before a battle could break out over the last of the biscuits Mr. Tendo spoke.  “Well children, what do you have planned on this lovely spring day?”

“Business,” smiled Nabiki at Ranma who smiled back weakly.

“I thought I’d go shopping with friends today.”  Akane answered with a happy smile.  She was holding P-chan in her lap, feeding him bits of veggies from the table.

“Whatcha ya goina do, buy a new collar for P-chan?’  Ranma teased while poking at the little black pig.  He pulled back a finger with P-chan attached.  He started to shake him off as Akane prepared to hit him with her mallet.  Their argument escalated and ended as usual with Ranma landing in the pool.  As she got out, Ranma-chan noticed the girl who had been sitting patiently at the side of the pool.  “Hello there.  Who are . . . ?”

Before she could finish the girl stood up and spoke in a quiet voice.  “I am looking for Genma Saotome.  Can you tell me if he is here?”  She bowed slightly.  Her Japanese was good but contained a faint accent.  Ranma bowed back and called over his shoulder.

“Hey Pop!  There’s a girl back here who wants to see you!”

Genma and Kasumi came out the door into the backyard. Genma looked curious for a moment, then a bit sick.  Kasumi walked over to Ranma with a pot of hot water. Ranma took the pot , and poured it over his head, thanking Kasumi.  Ranma returned to his normal shape.  The strange girl did not react to the transformation,  her eyes glued to the older Saotome.

Genma swallowed and with a strong feeling of foreboding, spoke.  “Hello, I am Genma Saotome.  Can I help you?”

The girl took a few steps forward.  Out of nowhere she pulled a carved staff and took a guard stance.  “I challenge you in the name of Atsuko Fukushuu for the dishonor done to her seventeen years ago.”  Genma’s eyes widened as he took in what the girl had just said.  Everyone in the household looked first at Genma, then at the young woman.  After a few seconds every head turned from the young woman toward Ranma and back again.  Nabiki was the first to speak.

“Ranma,” she paused for a moment.

Ranma tore his eyes from the girl and turned to Nabiki.  “What?”

“Does she remind you of anyone?”

“What,” he repeated, a bit confused.  He turned back to the girl for a longer look, still puzzled.  Nabiki snorted and splashed him.  After Ranma-chan changed, everyone else caught on.  The girl was a dead ringer for Ranma in girl form.  The only difference was, the girl had black hair and green eyes.  Ranma now turned to her father.  “Pop, what’s going on here?”

Genma started to answer.  “Ranma, I...”

“Answer my challenge, you philanderer!”  Without waiting the girl moved in with lightning speed and landed a dozen or so blows with her staff before Genma could move. She stepped back and Genma looked dazed.  After a moment he slowly sunk to his knees and fell face down on the ground.

“Pop!”  Ranma rushed over to check her father.  Genma was bruised and dazed but that was all.  Ranma looked up at the young woman.  “Why?”

“Ask your father,” she said, making the word sound like an insult.  She looked down at Genma with contempt and started to turn away.  Ranma jumped up, reaching out to stop her.  Before she could, the girl spun about, blocking Ranma’s hand with the staff.

“DO NOT TOUCH ME!” She began to glow a deep gold.  Ranma stepped back at the contained anger in those four words.  Even Akane could not have sounded that deadly.

Akane stepped toward the girl and asked the question on every mind in the yard.  “Who are you?”

Green eyes met hers for a moment and the girl spoke her name.  “Suteko Saotome.”  She then leapt to the top of the wall and said one last thing before she leapt away.  “Tell my father, I will return tomorrow at dawn to finish this.”  Then she was gone.  Ranma and Akane tried to follow but the girl had disappeared before they could get to the top of the wall.  They continued over and searched for a few blocks.  After several minutes they gave up and headed back to the Dojo.  As they walked back, the began to talk.
 
“Ranma, what did she mean by ‘my father’?  I thought you were an only child.”

“I am,” answered Ranma, puzzled.  She remembered no sister.  She kind of remembered the name the girl had challenged her father with.  She just couldn’t put her finger on it.  There was something from when her dad had been young.

			****************

Back at the Dojo Genma was still lying on the ground.  Soun walked over and was trying to get his friend to answer some questions.  “Who is that child?  I don’t remember any Atsuko.  When did you meet one of the Fukushuu clan?’

Genma lay staring up at the sky.  After a few minutes, he started to mumble.  Soun bent down to listen.  “Atsuko Fukushuu.  It can’t be.  It was only once.  Wasn’t it?  She said nothing happened.  What will I tell Nodoka?”  Still mumbling he got up and wandered off toward the house.  Soun stepped quickly to his side and guided his old friend into the Dojo.

“Kasumi, I think we’ll need something stronger than tea here.  Bring out the blue bottle please.”  Soun called over his shoulder to his eldest daughter.  For once he was acting like a man of his age.  The state his friend was in had surprised him.  This girl seemed to be no threat to his family.  Definitely no rival for Akane, like the other girls who had shown up out of the past.  After he settled Genma down on the couch, he thanked Kasumi for the small bottle and cup she had handed him.  He poured a small amount into the cup and placed it into Genma’s hands.  Genma stopped mumbling for a moment and lifted the cup to his lips.  Taking a quick swallow he closed his eyes.  The drink burned its way past the confusion and cleared his mind.  He took a deep breath.  “Thank you, Tendo.  I needed that.”

“Genma, what was that all about?”

“I’m not sure Tendo.  I have to think for a few minutes.”  Genma stood up and started toward the house.  “Can you send Ranma to me when he gets back?”  He wandered off, less dazed but with nothing forthcoming.  Soun looked after his friend with his confusion clear in his face.

********************************************************
********************************************************
CHAPTER TWO

Genma explains
or
How did you get in trouble this time?

Akane and Ranma returned to the Dojo to find a puzzled Soun sitting outside waiting for them.  “Ahh, Ranma.  Your father wishes to speak to you.  He said to go upstairs when you got back.”  Akane and Ranma exchanged glances and both headed for the stairs, with a quick stop in the kitchen for hot water.  They found Genma sitting on the neatly rolled up futon.  He was still in his human form.  He looked up when he heard the door open.

“Ranma, good.”  He waved for the teenagers to enter.  “You too, Akane.”

They sat on the floor facing Genma.  “So what’s up, Pop.  Who is that girl?”

Genma nervously cleared his throat and started.  “Ranma, my boy, I’m not exactly sure who she is but I’ll tell you who I think she is.”  He looked up at the ceiling and took the traditional storyteller’s stance.  “When I was a young man, I was popular.  Not quite as popular as Ranma here, but I had my share of dates.”  Ranma snorted.  Akane jabbed him in the ribs and Genma ignored the two and continued.  “Six months before I married your mother, I was dating a young woman by the name of Atsuko Fukushuu.”  His face took on a slightly glazed look.  “She was lovely and sweet and a good martial artist.”  The glazed looked changed into a wince as the picture of the beautiful girl smiling at him changed into an enraged woman bashing him the head with a bokken.  He shook his head and continued.  “We were inseparable up until my parents reminded me of my engagement to Nodoka.”  Genma looked at his hands.  “One evening we attended a party held by some friends of her family from America.  It was a fun party with lots of games and one of those was a American drinking game.  We used Sake instead of the traditional beer.  After one too many cups of sake, I lost my wits.  Atsuko and I went off alone, and.. well... we...” Genma trailed off.

“‘We’ what?  Come on Pop, whatch ‘a do?”

“Umm, we let nature take it’s course.”  Genma face turned a bright red.

Ranma snorted.  “You let nature take it’s course!  Ha!”  Akane shushed Ranma with a shove.

Genma coughed and continued.  “The next morning we awoke with serious headaches and no clear memory of what happened.  We parted, ashamed, and went to our separate homes.  That very morning I met your mother face to face.” Genma eyes glazed over once more as he remembered that meeting.  “A few days later I broke the news of my engagement to her gently.  She took the news rather well, I think.”  Flash back to Genma being hit over the head.

“Did you ever hear from her again, Mr. Saotome?”

“No.  She and her family moved to America not long after the break up.  I heard her father had inherited some land from a distant relative in the northeastern part of the country.”  He paused a moment.  “I haven’t thought about her in the past seventeen years.”

“So there’s a good chance that this girl is really my sister then, Pop,” asked Ranma in a low, quiet voice.

Genma squirmed a bit before answering.  “Yes, Ramna, there’s a chance that she’s your sister.”

Ranma thought for a moment.  “Why does she look so much like me?”

“She looks a bit like her mother,” answered Genma.

“Really?”  Ranma asked.  “Was her mother related to Mom?”

Genma looked thoughtful for a moment.  “Yes, I believe they were fifth cousins or something like that.”

The room was quiet for a moment as the news settled into the minds of those sitting there.  “So your telling me that you were dating one girl and you were engaged to another?”  Ranma was starting to glow just a little.  Genma responded without thinking.

“Yes, that’s true.  I didn’t know at first that they had family in common.”

“But still you were dating one girl and ‘knew’ that you were engaged to mom, right.”

Genma looked a bit ashamed at that.  He knew where Ranma was going with this.  He tried to stall.  “I didn’t remember......”

Ranma leapt up and loomed over his father, his head sprouting horns like Soun’s would when he was mad.  “YOU FORGOT!!!!  YOU JERK!”  BAP!!!  Genma went soaring out of the house through the roof.   Akane looked at Ranma in surprise.  He sounded just like her when he said that.

“Ranma,” Akane started, “you didn’t let him finish.”  Ranma just stood there breathing fast.  Akane tried again, speaking softly.  “Ranma.”  She reached out a placed a calming hand on Ranma’s arm.  “Are you OK?”

After a few moments Ranma took a deep breath and turned to Akane.  “Do you believe that old fool.  Coming down on me all this time about you and the others and he did the same thing, only worse!  I never....”

“What do you mean only worse!  He only had two fiancées, you’ve got the gods know only how many.”  Akane started too pull back her arm to punch him.

“I have never, ever, had two girls from the same family or slept with one”  Ranma reminded Akane.

“I know,” Akane dropped her fist.  “Your right.  Let’s go find him and get the rest of this out of him.”  Akane pulled on Ramna’s arm to get him moving.

“When I find him he better explain everything or else.  How could he do that to that poor girl? What’s her name?  Atsuko?  I thought he was better than that.”

“I don’t know.  Maybe training with Happosai did it.  You know how much of a pervert he is.”

“Yeah, well maybe.”  Ranma replied as they set out to find out where Genma came down.

***********************************************

Genma came down from Ranma’s punch just outside of  DR Tofu’s clinic.  After he picked himself up he wandered inside.  Dr. Tofu was just coming out of his examining room with a patient.

“Now just relax today.  Your shoulder should be fine.  Just try to stretch more before doing those pitches next time.  Check back with me if it doesn’t feel better.”  Dr. Tofu patted the baseball player on the back and turned to see who is next patient was.  He smiled when he saw Genma standing, well leaning against the wall.  “Good day Mr. Saotome.  Having trouble with your neck today?”  Genma just winced and followed him into the examination room.

*******************************************

Suteko stopped running after a few blocks.  “Lost them, easily enough.  Time to check in.”  She walked around until she spotted a pay phone outside a small store.  As she walked up she pulled a phone card out of her pocket and punched in a long series of numbers.  After a few minutes she spoke.  “Hi, mom. Found him.”  She listened for a moment.  “Nerima.  Tomorrow morning.  OK.  See you then.  Bye”  She smiled and hung up the phone.  Genma Satome was going to get more than he expected tomorrow morning.

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************************************************************************

CHAPTER THREE

LUNCH AT UKYO’S

OR

A LITTLE EXPLANATION

Later that morning at Ucchan’s. 

Ukyo had been busy preparing for the lunch rush  --  mixing up batter, preparing the grill, setting up spatulas, all the usual things.  She quietly hummed a happy song as she knew that she would see Ranma sometime today.  He had promised to stop by for dinner.  She heard a customer enter the restaurant as she turned away from the door, and called over her shoulder, “Good morning and welcome to Ucchan’s.”

Suteko slid into a seat at the counter and looked over the menu board.  “I’d like a number one please.”

“Coming right up.”  Ukyo quickly prepared the okonomiyaki and slid it onto a plate.  She gracefully placed it in front of the customer and smiled.  “There you go, a number one fresh from the grill, that will be.....”  Ukyo stopped in mid speech and stared.  Who was this girl.  She looked an awful lot like, “Ran-chan?”

The young woman looked up, “What did you call me?”

The voice was different.  It had just a hint of a English accent.  Maybe Ranma was working on someway of hiding out from Akane.  “Ran-chan, what I usually call you.”  Ukyo smiled weakly at the person she thought was her fiancé.  “That’s a different look of you.  Trying out the American styles now?”

Suteko looked at the girl behind the counter with confusion.  “Who’s Ran-chan?  My name is Suteko.”

Ukyo took a closer look.  There were differences.  This girl had black hair and green eyes.  Ranma-chan had red hair and blue eyes.  Maybe this wasn’t Ranma.  “I’m sorry.  You look just like my fiancé.”

Suteko, if it was possible, looked even more confused.  “Excuse me, did you just say your fiancé looks like me?”

“Um, it’s a long story.  He had a few things happen and well...”

Suteko listened with half an ear.  This girl was sure hooked on this Ran-chan.  “Sounds interesting.”  Suteko responded absently.   From all this girl was saying Ran-chan was Romeo, Van Damme and a boy scout all wrapped up in one.  She took a bite of the Okonomiyaki in front of her and smiled.  “Hey, this is good!”  She quickly but daintily ate the entire thing and pushed the plate away.  “They don’t make anything like that where I come from.”

Ukyo came out of her daydream about being alone with Ranma at the compliment to her cooking.  “Thank you.”  Intrigued about this girl who looked so much like Ranma, Ukyo stayed and talked with her only customer.  “Where’s that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Boston, Mass in the US.”

Ukyo let out a low whistle.  “You’re a long way from home.  What brings you here?  You a transfer student?”

Suteko grimaced for a moment and then answered.  “No, I’m taking time off from school.  I’m here to restore my mother’s honor and get revenge on the man who took it from her.”

“And...”

Suteko debated internally for a few moments about telling family secrets but she was a bit sad and lonely after all this time and the girl in front of her seemed truly to be interested, so she spoke.  “I’ve spent the last year tracking all over Asia looking for him.  I finally found him this morning, right here in Nerima, where I started.  I offered him a challenge and by tomorrow my mother’s honor should be restored and my life can go back to normal.”

“Here in Nerima?”

“Yes, he’s staying at a local dojo.”  Suteko looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember the name of the place she found her father.  “Um, the name was something like Tenso, Tenko or something like that.”

Ukyo was shocked for a moment.  Someone staying at the Tendo dojo had damaged the honor of some woman from America.  She had to ask.  It couldn’t have been Ran-chan.  Could it?  “The Tendo Dojo?”

“Ya, that’s the place.  He was surprised, to say the least.”  Suteko’s eyes looked  inward for a moment, remembering Genma’s reaction at Atsuko’s name.  “He didn’t expect to have anyone come after him, after seventeen years.”

Ukyo was getting confused.  After seventeen  years.  Well, that meant it wasn’t Ranma, he was only sixteen.  Could she be referring to Mr. Tendo or Mr. Saotome or maybe even Happosai?  The only way to find out was to ask.  “Who didn’t expect you?”

Suteko looked back at Ukyo.  “Oh, sorry, I didn’t tell you.  I’ve been looking for my father.  Genma Saotome.”

Ukyo’s face fell in shock.  “Your father?”

“Yep.  A little over seventeen and a half years ago Genma Saotome was dating a young woman by the name of Atsuko Fukusuu.  They got very close one night and nine months later, I was born.”  Suteko’s face hardened as she remembered her mother’s story about how he had dumped her.

“Wait a minute. You’re telling me that Mr. Saotome fathered a child and then dumped the mother, seventeen years ago?”

“Close.  The day after he spent the night with my mom, he broke up with her.  He told her some crap about being engaged to a.... how did mom put it ... oh yeah, ‘a prettier, richer and more womanly girl than mom.’  Then she bashed him one good.  She left him sitting, nursing a sore head.  She told me she never wanted to see his sorry face again!”  Suteko had started to glow just a little around the edges.  Her anger was beginning to build.  “That was before she realized that she was pregnant with me.  By the time she knew, her family was in the US and, well, Uncle Jackie said he’d track down my father and make him marry her.  Of course, by the time they found him, it was too late.  He had married the other poor girl his family had chosen and mom was stuck an unwed mother.  She had a long fight with her parents but she told them she was going to keep me, and Uncle Jackie agreed with her.  He told them that he would take care of her and me.  Well, he was the head of the clan in America, so that was that.”

“That must have been tough on your mom, being alone and all.”  Ukyo was feeling very sympathetic.  She understood feeling abandoned -- and by the same man.  Mr. Saotome seemed to be a real student of Happosai.  He didn’t care whom he hurt.

“Actually, it was probably the best thing for her.  She got to tell grandfather where to shove it and live her life the way she wanted.”  The glow around Suteko died down as she smiled.  “Grandfather didn’t believe in women running businesses, like a dojo.  He trained mom when she was little, just for practice.  He wanted a male heir for the place and hoped having a daughter trained in the Fukusuu staff work would attract a good husband.   He never could admit that mom was better at it than he was.”

“You know, I’m not surprised.  Genma always seems to wiggle out of things.  He’s such a jackass.”

Suteko looked back at Ukyo.  “What do you mean?  What did he do to you?”  Suteko was very interested in hearing what the girl had to say now.   Had she found an ally here, so far away from home?  First rule of the Fukusuu clan;  Find someone with a like grievance to work with.  (Someone to help get the revenge or to take the blame if it failed.)  Uncle Jackie had loads rules.  Suteko didn’t always agree with them but they were helpful sometimes.   She turned her attention back to what the girl was saying.

“..... when Ranma and I were small, we were good friends.  There was finally a day when our fathers talked, and my father offered me to Genma as a bride for Ranma.  Dad even threw in our okonomiyaki cart.”  Ukyo spoke quietly, remembering.  “Genma took the cart but left me behind --  abandoned me by the side of the road.  I vowed that I would never fall in love and spent my life training as the best okonomiyaki chef in the world.  After ten years, I tracked down Genma and Ranma and challenged them.  He is such a jackass.”

Suteko looked surprised.  Ukyo challenged her father but she was engaged to his son?  Who was this Ranma?  Was she engaged to two guys?  What was going on here?

“When I found them, I challenged Genma but he put off the blame on Ranma.  So I challenged Ranma to combat.”  She stopped for a minute.  “The funny thing about the whole thing was, Ranma had no idea I was a girl.  So when his dad asked him if he loved me or okonomiyaki better, he picked the okonomiyaki.”  She smiled.  “You should have seen his face when he realized I was a girl.”

Suteko sat very still for a moment.  Had she heard right?  Did Genma have a son?  Did she have a ...?  She took a small breath and asked quietly.  “So, this Ranma is Genma’s son?”

“That’s right.”

“OK.”  Inwardly she smiled.  A brother, after all these years growing up an only child.  All her friends had siblings but she had stood out.  Being an only was one of the things that put off the kids back home.  She spoke up after something hit her as strange.  “But I thought Ran-chan was your fiancé?”

“He is.  Ran-chan’s what I call Ranma.”  Ukyo looked a little embarrassed.  “It’s a pet name from when we were kids.”

“OK, Ranma is Ran-chan.  Ran-chan is the girl I look like, right?”

“Yep.”  Ukyo was getting a kick out of watching the emotions chasing across Suteko’s face.

After another minute Suteko spoke up.  “Ukyo, do you know if Ranma and Genma stopped at a place in 
China called Jusenko?”

Ukyo was surprised.  “How’d you know that?”

Suteko looked down,  “Got some water?”

Ukyo’s jaw dropped.  She got a pot of water and splashed Suteko.  The girl transformed.  One moment she was a woman, the next she was a blonde, muscular young man.  An American version of Ranma.  The clothes she was wearing got pretty tight where they had been loose before.  With a voice an octave lower she spoke.  “I followed Genma around Asia.  I always seemed to get were he had been a month or more after he was there.  About six months ago, I stopped at this tourist attraction call Jusenko.  I speak a little Chinese and the guide told me about the pools.  I thought he was kidding.”

“Kidding?”

“Yeah, we have places like it all over the US.  Places claiming to be magic, you know, to bring in the bucks.”  She shook her head.  “To prove to him that he was lying I - um - “

Ukyo stood behind the counter in shock.  “Don’t tell me you...”

“Yes, I jumped in.”  Suteko looked, if possible, more embarrassed.  “I was such a jerk.  Mom always told me my tendency to jump without looking was going to get me into trouble.”

“That’s an understatement.”  Ukyo turned and grabbed up a hot kettle and poured it over Suteko’s head.  “Boy, your as bad as Ran-chan.”

Suteko rung out her shirt.  “Well...,”  She looked up.  “Why don’t you tell me about my brother.   I wasn’t paying much attention at the Dojo.  I, um, have a tendency to be a bit single-minded.”

“Really?”  Ukyo cocked a brow at that.  “Interesting,” she thought.  Aloud, she said  “Well, do you remember much besides Genma from this morning?”

“Let’s see.  Before I challenged Genma, there was a boy.  He landed in the pool behind the house.” She snapped her fingers.  “Wait a minute!  He changed into the girl!  So that’s Ranma.”

“Yep, anything else?”

“Well, after I challenged Genma there was this girl who tried to stop me.”  Suteko crunched up her face in thought.  “That must have been Ranma in girl form.  There were, let’s see, three other girls and another man.  One of the girls and Ranma tried to follow me when I left but they couldn’t find me, of course.”  Suteko looked smug at that comment.

“Of course.”  What did she mean by of course?  Ukyo could see the resemblance to Ranma clearly with that comment.  The girl was sure of her ability.

Suteko heard the touch of question in the other girl’s voice.  She sighed.  “Sorry, Ukyo.  One of my family’s secrets is how to disappear from sight.  No one from the Dojo could have followed me unless I had wanted them to.”

“If you say so.”  Well this girl was like Ranma but she was a little less full of herself it seemed.

Suteko laughed.  “So, Ukyo, who were the other people?  Like the girl who followed me.”

Ukyo debated internally for a moment but she decided to tell the girl the truth.  “The girl with Ranma would have been Akane, his other fiancée.”

Suteko interrupted.  “His other fiancée?  Are you telling me Ranma has two fiancées?”

“Actually, that depends on who you talk to.  There are arguments about two others.”

“Four!”

“Yep, makes life real interesting.”

Suteko shook her head.  Poor kid.  Four girls.  What did Genma think he was doing?  One fiancée was bad enough but put the attentions of four girls on one guy and all hell would break loose.  “How did that happen?  Is Ranma some type of Casanova?”

Ukyo spoke up quickly in Ranma’s defense.  “No!  He isn’t.  It’s not his fault!  It’s all that jackass Genma’s fault.”

Suteko looked aslant at Ukyo.

“No, really.  You see Ranma was engaged to Akane before they were born.  Then he met this amazon named Shampoo and defeated her and according to their traditions that makes them engaged.  And then there’s Kodachi, but she’s just crazy.”

“Along with you that makes four.  Any others?”

“Not at the moment.”

Suteko was sure how to take that answer.  Not at the moment.  “So which one of you does this Ranma kid want?”

“Kid?” thought Ukyo.  “She can’t be more than six or eight months older than Ranma.  “Well that’s the problem.  Ranma hasn’t decided yet.”

“Oh, boy.  Now that’s got to be interesting,”  Suteko responded.  “Not that I really care about that,” she thought.  “Ukyo, I have a serious question for you.  I want you to answer me truthfully, OK?”

Ukyo looked a bit surprised.  “Why would she make a point about truthfulness now?  Haven’t we been pouring out our hearts here?”  After a minute’s thought Ukyo realized that they were talking like old friends even though they had just met.  Strange.  She gave her head a little shake and answered the question.  “OK.”

“Do you think that Ranma will give me any problems with my challenge of his father?”

Ukyo started to answer but stopped.  That was a good question.  “If you explain to him why your challenging him I think not.  But that depends on what exactly you plan on doing to Genma.  Are you planning on more than just shaming him?”

Suteko sat looking at the girl behind the counter.  She hadn’t thought about that in quite a while.  The past year had been taken up just tracking down her father.  No one had ever asked her what she would do once she found him.  “Ukyo, I don’t plan on killing him, if that’s what you mean.”  Ukyo let out her breath.  “I never planned on killing him.  Mother and I knew from the beginning that he had to be taught a lesson, but she never wanted to hurt him.  She really cared for the bastard.  She’s all for defending yourself but she doesn’t believe in hurting people.  I guess I’m not either.  It’s against all I have been taught to do such a thing.”

“Than just what are you going to do to him?”

Suteko looked crafty.  “That, my new friend, I can’t tell you.  It has to be a surprise to all around.”  Just as she said that the first of the noon customers came in.  She looked up.  “Whoa, is it that late?  I’ve got to go find a place to crash tonight.”  She got up from the counter and placed some money on the counter.  “You know any place good, clean and cheap?”

Ukyo made a quick decision.  She didn’t know why she liked this girl but she wanted her around so that she could figure it out and so she could be in on what happened to Genma.  “You could stay here.  I’ve got a spare room.  It’s not much, but it’s dry.”

Suteko smiled.  “Are you sure?  I wouldn’t want to be an inconvenience.”

“No problem.”

“Thanks.  I’ll just go get my pack.  I left it at the airport.”

“OK, see you later.”  Ukyo responded absently.  She was already working on the orders coming from the customers.

Suteko pushed away from the counter, smiling.  She was surprised that the old family magic of finding help when needed worked for her.  Grandfather said that it wouldn’t because she wasn’t a true Fukusuu.  Lot he knew.  As long as she didn’t push it her luck would hold.

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As usual C&C is happily received.  Thanks so far to those who have sent me some.  I keep every note and try to use what help they give.



Lisa
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check out my web page at www.geocities.com/athens/2968
writer of fanfiction, fantasy, science fiction and other wierdness