Konnichi wa!  This is the second chapter of my alternate universe
'fic, The Ties That Bind.  As always, any C&C, either on the FFML or
privately, is appreciated.  Enjoy!


                     C&A Productions Presents

                  A Work of Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction


                        The Ties That Bind


          Part 2: Fiancees and Curses and Bears, Oh My!

                     Written by Chris McNeil

           Original Concept provided by Robert Morrison



     "I'll explain it once more," said Soun Tendo, gesturing at the 
three unfamiliar figures. He was a tall man, getting on in years but 
still in good shape, with long black hair and a neat moustache.  He 
wore a plain brown gi, and despite being rather excitable at most 
times, was reacting to all this with surprising calm.  "This is my 
dear old friend..."
     "Genma Saotome," a middle aged, balding man replied.  He was 
definitely rather portly, and wore a white gi, a bandanna to mask his 
baldness, and wire-rimmed glasses.  "And these are my sons."
     "Ranma," stated one.  He was fairly handsome, with black hair 
pulled back in a bobbed ponytail and clear blue eyes.  He wore red 
Chinese shirt, black pants, and sported studded, soft bracers on 
his wrists.  He looked down at the floor often, obviously 
uncomfortable.
     The other boy, if he was uncomfortable, showed little sign, 
meeting any looks delivered at him with a cool gaze from his piercing 
blue-grey eyes.  He was slightly shorter than the other but even 
leaner, and wore a vest and baggy pants, both dark green.  He also 
sported a dark orange sash around his waist, and tight black bracers 
on his forearms.  His hair was short yet stylish, and he was pretty 
almost to the point of being effeminate.  After a moment, Ranma 
elbowed him surreptitiously, and he rolled his eyes and said dryly, 
"And for those who have not figured it out yet, I'm Panma," before 
returning his gaze to the Tendos.
     "What the heck is going on here?" asked Nabiki with a touch of 
irritation.  The middle Tendo had short black hair, and despite 
casually wearing a tank top and shorts, she seemed to almost radiate 
cool composure...usually.  Nabiki always strove to be on top of every 
situation, but whatever was going on here had her completely in the 
dark, and it was obvious she didn't like it.
     "Are you really those two girls?" asked Kasumi, the faint 
confusion in her voice in sharp contrast to the acid annoyance of her 
younger sister.  She was fairly tall, and her long brown hair was tied 
back into a ponytail which fell over her shoulder.  If Nabiki almost 
seemed to ooze with her own competence, Kasumi was a peacemaker who 
acted with an almost motherly demeanour, calm and collected, taking 
everything in stride.  Yet the sheer weirdness of this situation had 
apparently ruffled even her placid calm.
     Akane, the youngest of the three girls, said nothing, merely 
glaring over at Ranma, who tried to avoid meeting her gaze.  She had 
changed into a modest dress and put the ribbon back in her long black 
hair before the explanations began, but it didn't detract much from 
the belligerence of her attitude.  At least she had left off trying to 
smash Ranma through the floor.
     Genma cleared his throat.  "Well...where to begin?"  Panma rolled 
his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but swallowed it in 
surprise as Genma seized his arm and hurled him over his shoulder...
straight towards the ornamental pond in the back yard.  
     The boy's eyes widened, but he had no time to do more than cry 
out in surprise before he fell into the water with a loud splash.  
There were only a few bubbles for a moment, but then a...figure burst 
out of the water.  The three girls stared, because this was NOT Panma, 
despite the fact it was wearing his clothes.  In fact, it was a girl, 
with blonde hair and...attributes that made her gender painfully 
apparent with the tight vest despite her somewhat boyish looks.  Her 
fists were clenched, and she seemed to shake slightly with anger as 
Genma calmly walked towards her.
     "As you can understand," he said sadly, "it's very humiliating to 
me."
     "Humiliating...to you?" repeated the girl softly.  Back in the 
dining room, Ranma sighed.  "HUMILIATING TO _YOU_!?"  With an 
inarticulate snarl, the girl leaped from the pond.  Genma hastily 
sidestepped her dropkick, but the girl twisted to grab his gi in 
midair, and as she landed, viciously hurled him into the pond.  After a 
moment, a huge panda emerged from the water, and the two immediately 
started fighting as the three girls gaped.
     "Now he's a...a panda." said Kasumi unnecessarily.  "Father, I 
must say you have rather strange friends."
     Soun sighed.  "They weren't always like this.  It was only after 
they went to China...and undertook a terrifying training exercise."
     Ranma looked over at Kasumi.  "Umm...could you go get that kettle 
of hot water?"  The eldest Tendo sister blinked, but quickly got up 
and went into the kitchen.  Meanwhile, Ranma got up and walked over to 
the rapidly escalating conflict.  "Okay you guys, break it _up_!" he 
yelled, shoving the two...or the girl, at least...apart.  "This won't 
help anything."  The blonde girl scowled furiously, but turned her 
back and stalked back up to the house.  As Kasumi emerged, she grabbed 
the kettle from her hands with a mutter that might have been a thank 
you, and poured some of the steaming water within over her head.  Then 
it was time for another round of gasps, for as the hot water poured 
over her, she...changed.  Her chest retreated and became merely 
muscular, her hair changed from blonde to a glossy blue-black, and her 
features altered until she was identical to the boy who had dropped 
into the pond a moment ago.  The panda walked up too, holding out its 
paw, but Panma gave it a dark look and kicked the kettle over its 
head, where it landed in the pond with a hiss.
     "Stay like that forever for all I care!" he snapped, before 
sitting down with his back deliberately turned to the indignant 
animal.  Ranma sat down too, and finally the panda also approximated 
sitting down on the porch with a growl, causing the boards to creak 
ominously.  There was silence for a moment as the three girls tried to 
assimilate what happened and stop goggling.
     Nabiki recovered first.  "Ooooooookay...so what exactly HAPPENED 
on this training trip?"
     Ranma looked at his brother, but Panma was staring at the floor, 
growling something under his breath and obviously ignoring them.  With 
a sigh, he cleared his throat.  "Well, it all started about two weeks 
ago..."

                             ********

     "Here, sirs."  The Chinese guide was a short, portly man, dressed 
in a plain brown Maoist outfit and cap.  His Japanese was 
understandable, if heavily accented.  "We have come to legendary 
training ground of cursed springs, Jyusenkyou."
     The three martial artists surveyed the area with interest.  
Nestled in the shadow of Mount Quanjing, in the Bayankala range of 
Qinghai province, Jyusenkyou was certainly as obscure and difficult 
to find as the tales proclaimed.  It had taken them weeks of 
talking-especially with their extremely limited Chinese-and searching 
to find it, but now that they actually were there, the two boys 
couldn't help but feel a bit of disappointment.  There were no 
powerful guardians to fight, no ruins showing a thousand battles, just 
a fairly large valley dotted with hundreds of tiny springs, all 
containing two or three bamboo poles which stuck in the air.
     "Are you two prepared?" Genma asked.
     Panma snorted.  "_This_ is the fearsome legendary training 
grounds?" he said in disbelief.  "I've seen scarier stuff when Ranma 
does the cooking."
     "Ahh, I knew those old legends had to be overblown," added Ranma.  
"I mean, an evil curse?  Yeah, right."  He rolled his eyes.
     "Ah sirs," said the guide, "you very strange ones.  This place 
very, _very_ dangerous.  That why nobody use it anymore.  All spring 
have very tragic..."
     "Well," interrupted Genma, "as long as we've arrived we should 
get some use out of it.  Let's go, Ranma, you and I will spar first."  
With that, the two of them leaped into the training grounds, each 
expertly balancing on one of the bamboo poles.
     "Ah sirs, what are you doing?" cried the guide.
     "I won't go easy on you, Ranma!" threatened Genma.
     "That's just the way I like it," retorted the boy.
     "Please, sirs!" called the guide.  "Very bad you fall in spring!"
     "What's your problem?" asked Panma, looking over.  "What is 
there, monsters in the springs or something?"
     "Oh no, sir, far worse..."  Suddenly there was a loud cry, and 
both the guide and Panma looked over to see Genma and Ranma fly 
towards each other.  The older man snapped out a dropkick, but with a 
deft twist in the air, Ranma flipped over and caught him from behind, 
sending him flying into the nearest spring as Ranma landed safely on 
a nearby pole.
     "Way to go, bro!" cheered Panma, as Ranma grinned and gave him 
the "V" sign.  The brothers always cheered when one of them got the 
best of their father.  Smirking, Ranma looked down at the spring, 
where a few bubbles were coming up.  
     "What's wrong, pop?" he taunted.  "We done already?"
     The pond bubbled...and then a huge...thing emerged from it, 
causing Ranma to gape even as Panma started.  As the thing completed 
its leap to balance on another pole, they saw it was...a panda.  A 
huge, black and white panda...who wore the top of their vanished 
father's gi, and had his glasses hooked over one ear.  Ranma pointed 
at it with a shaking finger, stammering "Whu..." over and over again.  
     "That is Shonmaoniichuan, the spring of drowned panda!" explained 
the guide.  "Very tragic legend of panda who drown there two thousand 
year ago!  Now, whoever fall in spring take body of panda!"
     Ranma stared.  "Oh no." 
     Panma was less calm.  "WHAT!?" he snarled, grabbing the guide by 
the front of his shirt.  "Why didn't you tell us that _earlier_, you 
old..."
     Suddenly he was distracted by a cry of surprise, and both he and 
the guide turned to see a furious Genma-panda swiping at Ranma.  
Dropping the guide, Panma turned to them.  "You IDIOT!" he almost 
screamed.  "Don't..."  But it was too late.  Ranma, still stunned by 
the events, was easy prey, and with a powerful swipe, the animal Genma 
had become sent him hurtling from the pole...and to another spring.  
     In an instant, Panma's expression went from rage to horror.  
"RANMA!" he cried, already in motion.  Leaping into the air, he 
reached out and grasped his brother's outstretched wrist, and with his 
other hand, caught the nearest pole.  Panma grimaced in pain as 
Ranma's halted descent threatened to jerk his arm out of its socket, 
but grimly held on, white-knuckled, to both Ranma and the pole.  The 
moment passed, and Ranma, dangling a few inches above the water, 
breathed a sigh of relief...just before the bamboo snapped in two from 
the strain and dumped them both into the water. 
     "Aiya!" cried the guide.  "That Nyannichuan, spring of drowned 
girl!  There is tragic legend, very tragic, of young girl what drown 
in spring one thousand five hundred year ago!  Now, whoever fall into 
spring," he continued, as two figures erupted from the water with 
sprays and splutters, "take body of young girl."  But as they emerged, 
it became obvious the two boys had...changed.    For one, Ranma's hair 
had turned a bright crimson, and as they stood, Ranma seemed to now 
be considerably shorter than his brother for some reason.  Panma's 
short, glossy blue-black hair was now blonde, and while Ranma's 
features had softened and become more delicate, Panma's-ironically-
now seemed somewhat less feminine than before.  However, the biggest 
change of all was identical, and realized as the brothers 
simultaneously swallowed, loosened their gi tops and looked down. 
"You see?" the guide said.  There was a moment of profound silence, as 
even the panda simply stared.  Then twin screams rang throughout the 
valley.

                             ********

     As Ranma completed his story, everyone stared for a moment.  
Panma, who had looked up and begun paying attention about halfway 
through, had obviously been infuriated by the memories, scowling 
furiously.  Finally, Soun spoke.  "The legendary training ground of 
accursed springs," he said quietly.  "Its true horror has always been 
shrouded in mystery.  But now..."
     "True horror?" repeated Panma incredulously.  He turned and 
smashed the panda over the head, leaped back a bit to avoid its 
counter, and pivoted to face the group again.  "The guide showed us 
the section about Jyusenkyou in our map and guide book, which quite 
clearly showed the danger...except this IMBECILE can't read Chinese 
and didn't bother to ask!"  He looked back at the panda and almost 
seemed about to attack again, but then growled something inarticulate-
and almost certainly impolite-and sat down again in a huff.  For his 
part, Ranma had done his share of glaring at the panda, although he 
seemed a bit less enraged over the whole situation than his brother.
     "We found out later that the Nannichuan, the Spring of Drowned 
Man, would cure us," Ranma continued, " but something...came up, and 
we had to leave China quickly.  On the way, Pop decided to come here, 
and, well, you know the rest."  Panma's scowl darkened even further, 
if that was possible, at the mention of them having to leave China.
     "So let me get this straight," nabiki said, leaning forward.  
"You three have these curses, and cold water activates them, but hot 
water turns you back?"  Ranma nodded, and suddenly Soun was all 
smiles, helping the boy up and patting him on the shoulder.
     "Well, then, your problem isn't so terrible after all!" he said.
     "That's _your_ opinion," growled Panma, while Ranma looked 
confused, but Soun ignored both and turned him to look at the three 
girls.
     "These are my daughters.  Kasumi, nineteen; Nabiki, seventeen, 
and Akane, sixteen.  Pick the one you want, and she'll be your new 
fiancee."
     Before Ranma and Panma could stop gaping at this sudden shift in 
subject, Kasumi and Nabiki had both backed up and were looking at 
Akane.  "Oh he wants Akane!" said Kasumi.
     "Definitely," agreed Nabiki.
     "You must be joking!" protested Akane, looking angrily back and 
forth at them.  "Why would _I_ be..."
     "Well you hate boys, don't you?" interrupted Nabiki.
     "So then you're in luck!" added Kasumi happily.  "Ranma's half 
girl!"
     "Me?  Marry that _pervert_!?" retorted Akane.  "No way!"
     Ranma had been ready to protest himself, but at Akane's words, he 
swallowed what he had been about to say and stalked over.  "Whaddaya 
mean,  pervert'?" he demanded.
     "You saw me in the nude, you hentai!" she almost shouted.
     "In case you haven't forgotten," he retorted, "you saw ME.  And 
you walked in on me, to boot!"
     "It's different for a girl to see a boy!"
     Ranma seemed about to answer hotly, but he was caught off-guard 
as Panma laughed.  Looking over, he saw his brother grinning, his bad 
humour at least temporarily eclipsed.  "Looks like you two are the 
perfect couple already," he said dryly.
     "Very funny," growled Ranma.
     Panma chuckled, and Ranma reddened a bit in embarrassment, but 
the anger came back as Akane angrily said "He's a couple by 
_himself_!"  
     "Listen, you..." Ranma began, but he was cut off as Soun swept 
past him to walk over and pat Panma on the shoulder, causing the other 
Saotome sibling to give him a quizzical look.
     "And you, Panma," he said good-naturedly, "which one would you 
like?"  Panma's eyes widened, even as Ranma let loose a loud snicker 
and the three girls stared.  Genma, however, had the strangest 
reaction, as his eyes widened farther than most would believe possible 
and he frantically waved his arms.  Ignoring his anthropomorphic 
friend, Soun prompted, "Well, son?"
     "Uh..." Panma began uncertainly.
     "Well," said Kasumi, "I wouldn't want to insult you, Panma, but 
you and your brother are really a little too young for me."
     Akane suddenly smiled, the first smile anyone had seen on her 
since she had found out that the two new guests weren't girls after 
all. "Well, oneechan," she said sweetly to Nabiki, "I guess that means 
you're the only one left."  
     Nabiki gaped for a moment, then swallowed audibly and got control 
of herself.  The panda, its arms still up in the air, stared for a 
moment and then let them drop to its sides limply, making a resigned 
sound.  Panma stared at his newly-chosen fiancee, and received a cold 
glare in return, which immediately caused his own face to harden, so 
that their staredown was almost as hostile as the one Ranma and Akane 
had resumed giving each other.  This went on for a few minutes, the 
two fathers clearly more than a little nervous about interfering or in 
any way making their presence noticed, until Kasumi sweetly said that 
she should show them their new rooms and led the boys upstairs.  After 
a moment, Akane and Nabiki exchanged glances and also headed upstairs.  
Soun breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to sit by the panda, 
who was staring forlornly at the stairwell.
     "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it, Saotome-kun?"
     "Gworph."
     "That's what I thought too..."

                             ********

     "I can't _believe_ this!" Akane hissed, as she stalked back and 
forth across the room.  "The whole engagement business was stupid to 
begin with, but for Dad to do it even after we found out about...about 
those two PERVERTS..."
     "Personally, I think it's kind of cool they can change into 
girls," Nabiki said calmly from her position on the bed.  Then she 
grimaced, and added, "I _don't_ particularly want to be engaged to one 
of them, though."
     "So what do we DO!?" Akane raged.
     "Well first, you can sit down before you wear a hole in the 
floor."  Akane glared, but finally threw herself down in a chair.  
Nabiki smiled slightly, and said, "Good.  Now we decide what to do.  I 
think Daddy's dead-set on this engagement thing, and that means Mr. 
Saotome probably is too."
     "So what does _that_ mean?" snarled Akane.  "All it means is we 
can't do ANYTHING!"
     Nabiki held up a finger.  "Ah-ah-ah, I didn't say that.  The 
parents-both of them-may be big on this whole fiancee business, but 
Ranma and Panma themselves aren't."
     Akane's brow furrowed, but at least she had calmed down slightly.  
"So what?"
     "So all we have to do is...arrange a few things to make sure they 
_really_ aren't enthusiastic about staying around.  Nothing that can 
be traced to us directly, of course, but if we pull strings to make 
their lives hell for a week or two, I bet they go back to China no 
matter what ran them out or what the parents say."  Especially Panma, 
she thought.  Ranma didn't like his curse, but her 'fiancee' obviously 
despised it.  It wouldn't take much to get him to leave. 
     Akane nodded, catching on.  "Then, when they're gone, we can talk 
Dad out of this whole stupid business."
     "Exactly.  Especially if we make it look like they've deserted 
us.  You know Daddy...he'll get over it, but by that time, we won't 
have to worry about marrying either of them."
     "So what do we do?"
     "Well, first I think we can spread a few things at school..."

                             ********

     "Now, you two don't stay up too long," Kasumi cautioned.  "You've 
had a hard day, and I'm sure it's been ages since you've even been in 
a proper futon."  With that, she left.  As the door closed, Panma gave 
his brother a disgusted look.
     "I'm almost glad I got Nabiki instead.  She isn't his daughter, 
she's a mother of three."
     "Yeah, well I don't want _any_ of  em," growled Ranma, throwing 
himself down on his futon.  "Especially not the one I got.  'Pervert', 
she says...like I'd _want_ to stare at a tomboy like that..."
     Panma also lay down, though more casually.  "Ah, it's not such a 
big deal."
     "How do you figure?"
     "This is the modern era, bro.  We're not _obligated_ to marry 
anyone they put in front of us, only to consider it.  Well, consider 
them considered and rejected.  They can't force us to marry anyone, 
and in a month or so, things'll haveve cooled down in China and we'll 
head back and get cured."
     "You think it's really that simple?" said Ranma dubiously.
     "Of course.  You think those two numbskulls can come up with 
anything more complicated?  They probably got drunk one night and 
agreed on it, thinking we'd fall in love at first sight."  He snorted, 
and continued, "There's nothing they can do to stop us, and when we 
come back, old man Tendo will eventually figure out we're not going to 
do it.  
     "Then he'll probably toss Pop and us out, and we'll be on our way 
again like nothing ever happened?"
     "You got it," Panma grinned, then frowned as a thought occured to 
him.  "Let's not tell the girls about it.  If one of them mentions it 
where the parents can hear, or worse, if one actually gets ideas about 
going through with this load of manure, we may never get away."  He 
paused, then added, "We should try to be civil, though.  No use 
picking fights, and I'll bet yours, at least, will be okay once she 
calms down."
     "Yeah, right."
     "Don't be so sure.  Remember what she was like when she thought 
we were girls?  She's probably just high strung about that sort of 
thing."
     Ranma considered it for a moment, frowning as if trying to find a 
reason to object.  Finally, he sighed and nodded.  "You're probably 
right."
     "Aren't I always?"
     "Only in your dreams, bro."
     "And speaking of dreams, I don't know about you, but the little 
mother had some good advice if you ask me."  Sitting up, Panma jerked 
the light cord, and then lay down in the cool darkness.  "So I'm going 
to get some rest.  Goodnight, bro."
     "Night."  As both lay back, Panma's breathing became even fairly 
quickly, but Ranma lay awake for a long time, staring up at the 
ceiling.  His brother _seemed_ to have all bases covered, but Ranma 
couldn't shake the gut feeling that this wasn't going to be so simple.  
Finally, he shook his head in disgust.  He was just getting paranoid 
after the past few weeks.  Closing his eyes, Ranma drifted to sleep...

Blade
*********
High Priest of the Goddess Ukyou 
Official Fanboy of Pantyhose Tarou
Founding member of the Viz-basher-bashing Club
Author of unbelieveable talent
Debater beyond compare
Really humble guy  

"Reality is for those who cannot handle fantasy."






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