Well, hello FFML members.  Only a couple of days ago I got an extremely
strange fanfic idea - What if Ryouga and Ranma were brothers?
   Bizarre, I'm sure you'll agree.
   Anyway, I wrote this rough piece very quickly, it's really just the
traditional retelling of the first episode where the characters and
curses are introduced.  I'm currently trying to work out how it would go
in the future, if this story idea would actually work, and if I should
totally redo this beginning.  I haven't even got a title or anything...
   I'd really like some comments and critism, please.  Note that I'm not
normally subscribed to the list so can you please respond to me via
direct e-mail, and not the list.
   Well, after all that, onto the actual story:




It was a beautiful early morning in Tokyo.  There were only a few wispy
clouds in the sky, allowing the sunlight to stream down and light up the
city.  The sun was nice and bright, but not so hot as to be
overbearing.  It was strange to think that, according to the weather
forecast, it was supposed to rain later in the day.
   "Tendo-san!  The mail!"
   Soun Tendo yawned and stretched, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes
he shuffled out to the main gate of the Tendo household.
   "Here you are, Tendo-san.  You have a lot of mail today, I see.  It's
a lovely day today, isn't it, Tendo-san?"
   "Yes, it certainly is.  Strange to think it's supposed to rain later
on today."
   "You know how the weather is, changing its mind from hour to hour and
accountable to no-one."
   "Yes."
   "Must go, lots more mail to deliver."
   As the postman walked off to deliver the rest of the morning mail,
Soun started rifling through his.  Some bills, nothing very exciting
about them.  A letter for his daughter Kasumi, some strange looking
parcels for his other daughter Nabiki that would best be left alone,
with her strange hobbies, and a postcard from China.
   It was the last one that really caught his attention.  Hands
trembling, and starting to sob quietly with tears of joy, he read the
simple, messily written message on it:

	Tendo,
	Bringing Ranma and Ryouga from China.
		- Saotome

	Mount Qinglang by mist and morning.

"Ra... Ranma?  And Ryouga?  Coming here?  Oh, how I've waited for this
day!"

This was news of the utmost importance.  Soun had to impart it to his
daughters as soon as he could.  Especially considering how drastically
it would affect their futures.
   His eldest daughter was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. 
"Kasumi!"
   "Yes, Daddy?"
   "I have very important news for all of you.  I'll just go and get
Nabiki and Akane, and then we'll talk in the living room."
   "Yes Daddy."
   Naibiki was in her room, reading what looked like one of her manga. 
"Nabiki!"
   "Hmm?"
   Once he'd finished talking to her, he went searching for his youngest
daughter.  "Akane!"  She wasn't in her room, she wasn't in the bath, and
she wasn't practicing in the dojo.  "Akane!  Where is that girl?"
   Only a few minutes later, Akane, a young girl with long hair tied
back with a ribbon, and dressed in running clothes came jogging through
the main gate.  "I'm hoooome!" she called.
   Inside, she went straight to the dojo and changed into a practice gi,
set up four concrete blocks on the supports, then with a shout and a
mighty blow, she drove downwards and smashed through all four blocks
with no difficulty.  "Ah," she said, wiping her forehead and with a
contenetd smile on her face.  "That was nice."
   "There you are, Akane."
   "Good morning Nabiki."
   Nabiki looked at the blocks and shook her head.  "And there you go
again.  No wonder all the boys think you're so weird."
   "Why should I care?  Not everyone thinks the world revolves around
boys, Nabiki."
   "No?  Then what Daddy has to tell us won't interest you."
   "What is it?"
   "Come along to the living room and find out."

***

It was a few minutes later.  Outside, the promised rain was just
starting to fall, and large dark ominous clouds were visible in the east
sky.  People muttered to themselves and thanked their lucky stars the
weather forecast had been right, and that they'd brought their
umbrellas.
   Inside, another storm was brewing.  The three girls and Soun were
seated at the table in the living room.
   "FIANCE?"
   "Yes.  The sons of a very good friend of mine.  Their names are Ranma
and Ryouga Saotome.  If one of you three girls were to marry one of
them, and carry on this dojo, then the Tendo family legacy would be
secure."
   "Wait a minute!" said Akane.  "Don't *we* have some say in who we
marry?"
   "Akane's right, Daddy," said Kasumi.  "We've never even met Ranma or
Ryouga."
   "Heh heh.  That's easily fixed.  They're coming here."

***

In the nearby commercial district, running through the rain, there came
a strange looking party.  In the front there was a teenaged redhaired
girl, on her shoulder was a cute little black pig with a black and
yellow tigerstripes neckerchief, and just behind them was a giant panda.
   The panda had almost reached the girl and the pig.  It reared up,
raising its arms, then lunged forward and brought its arms together,
trying to catch the running girl.  She was too fast for it, though, and
jumped up out of the way, throwing the bags she was carrying to the
side.
   "HEY!" she yelled as she sprang out of the way, drawing her legs up
beneath her.  "Cut that OUT!"  And with that she lashed out with a
straight kick to the side of the panda's head.  The panda went flying
backwards, landed on its back, and slid backwards through the rain and
into the gathered crowd.
   "Say... that's a panda!" said an onlooker.
   "What's one doing here?" said another.
   The panda stodd up, growling, and wiped its mouth with the back of
its arm, spat over its shoulder, and settled into a battle stance.  The
girl had already gone into one, and the pig had jumped from her shoulder
and was standing beside her, squealing angrily.  Both had angry
expressions on their faces.
   "Your move," said the girl.
   The panda lunged forwards, making several rapid straight 'punches' to
the girl's face.  She easily dodged them all.
   "I still say this whole thing sucks," she yelled, as she moved her
head to the side to avoid the panda's arm.  "Picking a fiancee for us!" 
She grabbed the panda's arm and threw it hard into a road sign, which
broke free from the ground upon the impact.  "Without even asking!!"
   Panting from the exertion, she stood above the fallen panda, which
wasn't moving.  She flicked her pigtail back to behind her back.  "I'm
going back to China!  Suck on that, old man!"  She picked up the two
fallen bags, then the little pig.  "Come on, Ryouga.  Let's go."
  The pig jumped up to her, and she caught it with her free hand and set
in on her shoulder.  She turned her back on the panda and started to
walk away.
   She didn't see the panda standing up and picking up the fallen road
sign.  She did, however, feel the road sign as the panda smashed it
across the back of her head.  Knocked unconscious, she fell forwards.
   The pig squealed angrily, leaped up at the panda, and bit it. 
Unfortunately for the pig, its bite and teeth weren't very strong and
the panda had a lot of fur, so all that really happened was that he got
a mouthful of fur.
   The panda grunted angrily, reached up, and grabbed the pig by the
bandana around its neck, and pulled it away from its shoulder.  The pig
started squealing furiously, waving its little legs in a frenzied
furious motion, but it was helpless.
   The pig dealt with, the panda picked up the three bags that had been
dropped in the fight, slung the girl over its shoulder, and started to
walk away.  Around it the crowd was murmuring in amazement and
disbelief.  "That's a panda... A big one... Man... Unbelievable..."  The
panda growled and roared and showed its teeth, and the crowd turned and
started to disperse.

***

Back at the Tendo household, Soun was telling his daughters more about
Ranma, Ryouga, and their father.  "Recently, it seems, they crossed into
China."
   "Wow!" said Nabiki.  "China!"
   "What's so great about training in China..." muttered Akane.  She was
still angry with her father for this whole arranged marriage business.
   "What are they like?" asked Nabiki.  "Are they cute?"
   "Eheheh."  Soun cleared his throat.  "I've no idea."
   "No idea?" asked Nabiki.
   "I've never met him."
   An angry voice came from their backyard.  "Leggo, you old fool!" 
Along with the voice there was an angry squealing.
   "Hmm?"
   "We have visitors!"
   "That must be them!"
   Nabiki and Soun ran out to the yard to meet them.
   "Saotome, my old friend!" started Soun.  "We've been waiting!"
   Akane and Kasumi were left behind, Kasumi hoping they'd be older than
her, and Akane depressed because this was all about boys.
   They didn't have long to think about things, though, for Nabiki and
Soun were running back in only ten seconds, pursued by a giant panda
holding both a redhead and a little black pig in its hand.
   "Hey!  Yo!  Cut it out!  You're scaring them shitless!" shouted the
redhead angrily.
   "Daddy, these... are your friends!"
   "Of course not!" said Soun, vehemently shaking his head.  "I've never
met any of them before in my life!"
   "Oh, so this panda just decided to visit!" shouted Naboki.  "It
happens all the time!"
   The panda set the redhead and then the pig down in front of Soun.  It
was as if the panda was... offering them to him?  Perhaps the redhead
was Ranma or Ryouga, and the other was supposed to be coming later? 
"You... you're..." he started.
   "I'm Ranma Saotome.  Sorry about this."
   He was overjoyed, and took Ranma in his hands.  "At last!  You've
come!"
   Behind him Nabiki squealed with delight.  "Ooo!  He's cute!"
   "But what about Ryouga?  And your father?"
   "They're... er... they're coming," said Ranma.
   "It's so good of you to come!" said Soun, hugging Ranma.  "So goo-" 
Then he stopped.  Something didn't feel right about Ranma, he felt
like... felt like a GIRL.  He held Ranma away from him, looking at him
closely.  Yes, Ranma was definitely female.  "You... you're a..."  He
stared, unbelivengly, his whole world collapsing.
   Nabiki looked closely at Ranma, specifically, at Ranma's chest. 
"Hmm?"  Nabiki poked Ranma on the breast.
   "Um... could you please stop that?" asked Ranma.
   "He," announced Nabiki, "is a girl."
   Soun fainted.

***

It was much much later.  The rain had stopped, the sky was clear, the
birds chirped, and a light breeze blew.
   Inside the Tendo household, Soun was lying down in the middle of the
living room, roughly where he had fell before.  He was conscious, but he
hadn't moved a muscle since he woke up.  He'd just laid there,
completely unmoving, tears streaming from his eyes.  Beside him sat all
three of his daughters, Ranma, the pig, and the panda.
   "Oh, poor Daddy," said Kasumi.  "He's so disappointed."  She dipped a
towel into a bowl of hot water, then placed it on his head.  "I can only
hope for better when Ryouga comes."
   "HE'S disppaointed?" said Nabiki.  "Some fiance this is!  I'd sure
hope that Ryouga is better than THIS!  This is all your fault, Daddy! 
You should have made SURE!"
   "Well, he said he had a SON!!"
   "Do you see a son here?"  Nabiki grabbed Ranma by the breast and
squeezed it.  "Huh?  Do you?"
   "Stop it!" said Akane.  "She's our guest!"  Akane turned to Ranma. 
"I'm Akane.  Do you want to be friends?"
   Ranma looked up at Akane, a smile on her face.  "Thanks.  I'd like
that."
   "Join me in the dojo?"
   Ranma leant over to the pig, picked him up, and set him on her
shoulder.  "Thanks."
   They walked over to the dojo.
   "That's such a cute little pig.  Pet of yours, is it?"
   "Um... yeah."
   "What do you call him?"
   "Nothing at the moment.  He's very new.  I only just got him."
   "Why don't you call him P-chan?"
   "Huh?"
   "You know, P for 'pig' in English."
   "Oh."
   By now they had arrived at the dojo.
   "You learnt Musabetsukakutouryuu from your father, right?"
   "Yeah.  Some"
   "Then let's have a sparring match, okay?  Just for fun.  I won't hurt
you."
   By this time they had arrived at the dojo.  Ranma set P-chan down on
the ground.  Akane went into her fighting stance, but Ranma just
continued to stand there, hands behind her back.
   "If you say so."
   They stood there for a moment, Akane waiting for Ranma to get into a
ready stance, but Ranma just kept standing there.  She very quickly grew
tired of waiting and suddenly ran forward and with a strong kiai she
punched straight at Ranma.  Ranma leaped straight up over her arm. 
Akane followed it up with a kick, but Ranma twisted in the air and
avoided it.  The match continued on like this for a while, with Akane
striking and Ranma just dodging, never attacking.
   "What's wrong?" panted Akane.  "Come on, swing at me!"
   Akane struck out again and again, but Ranma was never there.
   Why was she missing her?  Was she reading her moves?  Okay.  This
time, she'd attack for real.  She charged forward, exactly as before,
and then struck, this time putting all her weight and power into it. 
And she wasn't pulling this one.
   Ranma jumped over and avoided that one as well.  Akane's fist
continued on and smashed right into the wall.
   Behind her, Ranma landed and tapped Akane on the back of the head.
   This was... unbelievable.  She'd never been beaten like this before.
   Ranma chuckled, amused.  Akane, after a moment's stunned silence,
joined in.  She stopped and cleared her throat.  "You're pretty good." 
She adjusted and retied her jacket and belt.  "I'm just glad you're a
girl."
   "Huh?"
   "It's just... I'd really hate to lose to a boy."

***

Kasumi had heard the sounds of a match from the dojo.  Surmising that
Akane and Ranma would be all hot and sweaty after their workout, she had
run a hot bath, and then waited for the two to finish.
   As she passed the living room, she saw her father and a strange old
man sitting together.  They were just sitting there, not talking to each
other, just sitting there with tears streaming down their faces.  That
was odd.  She hadn't heard anyone new come in recently...
   She went on into the kitchen and quickly prepared something for the
two men and took it out to them.
   The dojo was now silent.  Ranma and Akane must have finished.
   "Ranma!"
   "Yes?"
   "Wouldn't you like to take a bath?"
   "Huh?  NO!  I mean... it's okay.  I don't need one."
   "It's not okay!  You must be all sweaty from your workout!"  She sent
Ranma on her way to the bathroom to clean up.
   "Oh, Akane.  The bath is ready!"
   "Thanks."  Akane headed off to the bathroom.
   "Ranma's in there."
   "That's okay."

***

It turned out to not be okay.  Intending to surprise Ranma in the bath,
Akane had quickly undressed, trying to be as quiet as possible, picked
up a towel, and had slid open the bathroom door.
   She opened the door just in time to see two boys starting to get out
of the bath.  One had his hair tied in a pigtail much like Ranma's.  In
fact, he looked very much like Ranma.  The other had shorter hair and a
yellow and black tigerstripes bandana, and as his mouth opened in
surprise and shock, she saw that he had cute little fangs.
   The boy with the bandana flushed and very quickly indeed dropped back
down into the water, squeezing his eyes shut and turning his head away,
all the time babbling "I'm sorry miss, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."  The
other one, however, just stood there, completely naked, looking at her
with surprise in his eyes.
   Her mind froze over, becoming numb.  This... this BOY was staring at
her, and, and... she looked down, he... he...  She looked down, really
embarassed.
   Completely quiet, she turned around and slid the door shut behind
her, and quickly changed back into her gi.  She stood there, completely
silent, trembling and biting her lower lip, for a few moments.
   The tension building inside her finally snapped.
   "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
she screamed.  She ran all the way through the house, out onto the porch
and into the yard, only dimly registering her sisters and her father
talking with some old guy.  If she had been in a more coherent frame of
mind she would have wondered why the old guy was here, but not right
now.  She had only one purpose in mind.  She had to kill that pervert.
   She spat on her hands, rubbed them together, and ripped the top off
an old ornamental lantern.  She could bash his head in with it, perhaps,
or maybe weigh him down and drown him in the bathtub.
   "Akane!  What's wrong?"
   "There's a... a... a PERVERT in the bathroom!  He looked at me!  I'M
GOING TO KILL HIM!"
   "That's odd, Ranma was supposed to be having a bath right now," said
Kasumi.
   "Maybe the pervert scared her off too," suggested Nabiki.
   "I don't care!"  With that, Akane stomped off towards the bathroom. 
She'd only gone a few stops before stopping dead.  There in the hallway,
not more than a few paces away, was the same boy who had looked at her -
in Ranma's clothes?  Beside him was the other boy who had been in the
bath, she'd temporarily forgotten about him.  He was wearing some black
pants and a yellow shirt.
   "Who..." started Kasumi.
   "...are you?" finished Nabiki.
   "Er..." started the pigtailed boy.  "I'm Ranma Saotome."
   "And I'm Ryouga Saotome," said the other one.  "We're very sorry
about all this."

***

It was only a few short minutes later.  Ranma, Ryouga, and their father
were seated at one end of the living room, just in front of the door
outside to the yard.  Sitting around them were Souun and his daughters,
watching them curiously.
   "Are you really her?" asked Kasumi of Ranma.  "That same girl?"
   "Where did you two come from, anyway?" asked Nabiki of Genma and
Ryouga.
   Akane was just watching the three of them suspiciously.  And angrily.
   Mr. Saotome cleared his throat.  "Where shall I begin?"
   "How about from the beginning?" growled Akane.
   Mr. Saotome blanched.  "Well, I suppose so.  Hmmm."  He cleared his
throat.  "Let me begin... with this demonstration."  With that he
quickly grabbed his sons Ranma and Ryouga and tossed them through the
open doorway into the carp pond.
   The same redheaded girl from before broke the surface.  "What did you
do that for, old man?" she yelled, spitting water.
   The same little pig from before, with the yellow and black
neckerchief, dragged itself ashore, squealing angrily.
   "Oh look, now he's a girl!" said Kasumi.
   "And Ryouga's turned into a pig," said Nabiki.
   Akane just stared.
   "Oh, my own sons.  How humiliating... how humiliating."  Genma stood
at the edge of the porch and sobbed mightily.
   Ranma leaped from the pond to the porch and threw Genma into the
pond.  He turned into a giant panda with one of the loops of his glasses
around one ear and the jacket of his gi stretched across his body. 
   Glaring defiantly at her father, Ranma said "Who are you to talk?"
   Ryouga jumped from the ground onto Genma and chomped him viciously on
the shoulder.  The panda started waving his arm about wildly trying to
dislodge the pig.
   "Daddy, why are you friends with them?"
   "They weren't like this before!  Not before they went to China, and
Jusenkyo..."
   "Jusenkyo?"
   "Yes," spat Ranma, "Jusenkyo.  The valley of cursed springs."
   "Cursed springs?"
   "Yeah.  There are hundreds of pools there, and something drowned in
each one.  Like a young girl, or a pig, or a panda, or a snake, or
whatever.  Whoever falls into a pool takes the form of whatever drowned
there."
   "So you," started Nabiki, "fell into a pool where a young girl
drowned."
   "Yeah, the Nyannichuan."
   "He," she indicated Ryouga, "fell into a pool where a little black
pig drowned, and your father in a pool where a panda drowned."
   "Yeah."
   "Whatever made you go to a place so dangerous?" asked Kasumi.
   "It seems this idiot," she said, indicating the panda, "read about it
in this..."  She produced a guide book in Chinese.  The title looked
like it was something about training grounds.  "...and decided it would
be a good place to go.  Because he can't read Chinese, he didn't get the
full story until it was too late."
   "And cold water turns you into your cursed form," finished Nabiki. 
"That's almost everything, except for one thing.  We know the background
of and how you got the curses, and what activates the curses, but we
don't know how you change back."
   "Hot water changes us back."
   From the kitchen could be heard the sound of the kettle boiling.
   "I'll just get that," said Souun and went out the door.  In just a
moment he was back with an obviously very hot kettle.  "Hot water turns
you back, you say?"  And with that, he poured some hot water over the
panda.  Some spilled over the pig, which was still ineffectually
attacking the panda.
   In an instant the panda was replaced with a thoroughly scalded Genma
and the pig with a not quite as burned Ryouga.  Mysteriously, Genma had
somehow managed to retain his clothes, but Ryouga hadn't.  Ryouga
flushed a beet red and tried to hide himself behind his now human
father.
   Ranma picked up Ryouga's clothes that she'd retrieved from the pond
and threw them at her brother.  "Oh, put these on, for crying out loud."
   "Thanks bro," muttered Ryouga, moving over next to his 'sister.'
   "And now for you."  Souun tried to pour some hot water over Ranma,
but she dodged it.
   "Woah!  Hot water, not boiling!"
   Souun tried again, but the kettle had run out of water.  Defeated, he
set the kettle down and set an arm around both Ranma and Ryouga.  "Your
curse problems aren't so bad after all!" he said heartily.
   "Huh?"
   "Wha?"
   "Here, my daughters.  Kasumi, aged nineteen.  Nabiki, she's
seventeen.  And Akane, sixteen.  Now boys, wouldn't one of you want to
marry one of them?"
   This sparked outrage from all five children:
   "WHAT?"
   "NO!"
   "No way, Daddy!"
   "Father, that's a little..."
   "Huh?"
   "I'm not marrying someone who's a GIRL half the time!  And the pig
isn't much better!"
   "Who's a pig?"
   "WHO'S A GIRL!?"
   "You are!" shouted Akane.
   "OH YEAH?" shouted Ranma.  "Well, you're just a violent uncute
tomboy!"
   "WHAT?!" screamed Akane.
   "You heard me!  A violent uncute tomboy!"
   "WHY YOU... IDIOT!"  Akane started viciously attacking Ranma but he
easily dodged all of her attacks.
   "Ranma, you jerk!  Be nice to her!  We're their guests!"
   "Be nice to that macho chick?"
   At this, both Akane and Ryouga growled "Why you..." in perfect
unison.  They stared at each other for a moment, and then both started
attacking Ranma.  Ranma had her work cut out for him, trying to dodge
two attackers now.  Occasionally she'd try to hit Ryouga but then Akane
had a clear shot at her, and she'd end up more more distratced than
either of them.  In the end she just dodged.  And she was a good dodger
- neither of them could land a blow.
   The others stood aside, watching the little scuffle play out.
   "Incredible, Saotome.  Ranma is avoiding everything BOTH Akane and
Ryouga are throwing at him."
   "Ryouga's speed is not very good, and Ranma's is.  Mind you, Ryouga's
real strength is his raw physical power...  One hit from him can break
boulders."
   "Oh?"
   Back at the battle, Ryouga missed Ranma and hit the wall instead.  He
smashed right through it.  Souun winced.
   "All right, stop this foolishness, children!"
   "What?"
   "I told you, stop.  I don't want my house broken beyond repair."
   "Oh..." said Ryouga, looking guiltily at the hole he'd made in the
wall.  "Eheheh...  I'm sorry about that, Tendo-san.  I was aiming," and
his voice rose a notch in anger, "for Ranma."
   "You shouldn't fight with your brother, anyway, Ryouga."
   "Why not?" asked both Ranma and Ryouga in unison.  "We do it all the
time."
   "That they do," said Genma.
   "Well you should fight less, especially when in the house, hmm?"
   "What do you mean, 'when we're in the house'?  You don't mean we're
actually going to STAY here?"
   "Yes boy!" snapped Genma.  "Tendo is an old friend of mine, and
either you or Ryouga will marry one of his daughters.  That is final!"
   "I'm not getting married to ANYONE, especially not now.  This is NOT
the time for a fiancee."  Ranma spun on his heel and started walking for
the door.  "Come on Ryouga, we're leaving."  Ryouga followed him without
a word.
   "Where are you going, boys!"
   "Back to China!  We're going to fix these damn curses or die trying!"
   At the door, Ranma turned around and faced Akane.  "By the way...
back there in the bath, you took a good look at me, too.  I'm not the
only pervert in this house."
   "Why, you..."
   "And why should I want to look at a naked girl?  I mean, I've seen
myself plenty of times, right?"
   Akane hissed, sucking air backwards through her teeth,
   "Ranma, leave her alone," said Ryouga.
   "Why?  You couldn't possibly... gasp!  You couldn't possibly LIKE
that macho chick, could you?"
   "I am NOT a macho chick!"
   "Stop insulting her!"
   "Why?  She's a violent, crazy tomboy!  I don't see why you like her
so mu-  Urk."
   Ryouga and Akane had finally had enough.  Ryouga had punched Ranma in
the face, and at the same time Akane hit Ranma.  Ranma stood there,
caught between two fists, and then collapsed very slowly.
   "He's my brother and I suppose I do love him just because we're
brothers but I really hate him sometimes.  He can just get so damn
arrogant and horrible.  I'm sorry about him Akane, you seem to have got
on his bad side."
   "Hmph.  Why should I care?"  So saying, Akane went over to the dojo
to smash some bricks and vent some anger.

-- 
Steven Scougall
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/7196

PS I have written some fanfic before, but it's all pretty depressing
darkfic stuff.  If you want to read any of it, I have them all on my
homepage.  Along with other stuff.