Due to the demand for chapters 1-6 of AHR, I am reposting them to the ML.
Enjoy!
-- Nick
It is said that all that happens under the stars is known to
the
Kami, and that the Kami to some extent influence the decisions of all
who
live on the Earth. Weather or not this is true has only been
questioned a
few times by the peoples of Nihon, the rest knowing in their
hearts that
what the Kami saw and did was for the benefit of the humans.
In this
case, the Kami were interested in the life of one of the humans
occupying
a small house in Tokyo.
This particular house was
occupied by a man in his early forties.
He had a strong, kind face with
long black hair and a mustache. To look
at him, would have been to note
how handsome he was, and the strength of
character that was within him.
His Chi was very strong.
And he had raised three daughters, also
strong in their own way.
The eldest, who took after the kindness and
dedication to the family that
their mother had shown, his middle child, who
was a genius at figures and
numbers, sure to go on to the University,
perhaps even to the Todai, and
the youngest one a fighter in every sense of
the word, a warrior that any
of Samurai descent would be proud to call an
heir.
Of course, that did not mean that things were ever
easy,
especially since the family thought not only Kenpo and Bujutsu, but
a
highly specialized higher form of the martial arts. They were, in
fact,
the only ones who taught this particular style as there were
extremely few
people who could even attempt it. Somewhat of a detriment
unless the
school was kept in the family.
Such were Soun's thoughts
as he looked over the morning mail.
Sighing, he looked up from the
stack of packages, postcards, and
letters from individuals wanting to join
the school to those of Sensei's
offering to sponsor their students to his
school, and glanced guiltily
towards the kitchen. In it was his eldest
daughter, whom he knew had
given up her dreams and chances in order for the
family to survive. He
knew in his heart it wasn't fair to her, as she
should have been living
her own life by now, happy and free. From her
youth he knew how much she
had wanted to go to the university to become a
healer, moreso after her
mother had died. He also knew how much his family
needed his eldest.
If it could somehow work out better, somehow
happen that she could
make her dreams come true, he would be happier
himself. He knew she would
never listen to his pleas that she do something
more with her life if he
had ever voiced them. The problem was the matter
of giri.
There was no help for it, at least not at the moment, so
he went
back to sorting through the mail, going over all the various
envelopes and
separating them into inquiries, sponsorships, bills, and
catalogues.
It was when he got to one particular postcard that he
stopped.
The postcard was rather unusual, as the front of it showed
a scene
with a panda, and lettering that, while not precisely Japanese, was
very
close. Turning it over, he noticed the Panda stamp, one that came
from
China, and then he read who it was from. Tears started to come from
his
eyes as he read the message:
Bringing Ranma home.
On Soun's
face were tears of happiness as he said, out loud and
low to himself,
"Ranma is finally coming here...How I have waited for this
day."
An
Alternate History of Ranma 1/2:
Chapter One:
I'm supposed to
marry...???
A fan fiction based on Takahashi Rumiko's Manga series, Ranma
1/2
Saotome Ranma, Saotome Genma, Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo
Soun,
Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki, Kuonji Ukyou, Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan,
Shampoo,
Moose, Kuno Tatewaki, Kuno Kodachi, and Hinako Sensei are
copyright
1987,1996 by Takahashi Rumiko.
Publishing rights:
Japan:
Shogakukan Inc. Tokyo
Hong Kong: Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North
America: Viz Inc.
By Ichinohei Hitomi
Soun was excited, for
after half a lifetime of waiting, the wishes
and dreams he himself had so
many years ago would finally come true, for
it meant not only the
continuance of the School of Indiscriminate
Grappling, but also the
continuation of the family line, one that
stretched back several centuries.
It would mean that his descendants
would be taken care of.
He had
to tell his daughters immediately.
Soun started to shout, "Oi! Oi!
Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!"
Not getting an immediate response, he
went to look for them,
stepping first into the kitchen that was his eldest
daughters domain.
"Kasumi!" he exclaimed, happily.
Kasumi looked up
from the melon she was carving for a Sunday
evening snack and gazed over to
her father, "Yes father?"
"I have something that's very important
to discuss with the three
of you." Soun said as he indicated that she
should come out to the main
room as soon as she could, "It concerns the
future of our family."
He left looking for Nabiki and found her
looking over one of her
Manga books in her bedroom. "Nabiki. I need to
talk with you concerning
something about the family."
Nabiki raised
her eyes slightly, "Do you need money father?"
Smiling a bit, he
answered, "No, and there may no longer be need
to save up a lot of money to
keep the dojo in the family."
Nabiki's eyes narrowed, knowing the
inheritance laws of Japan.
"OK father, what's going on, and you better not
leave anything out."
"Can't it wait until I get Kasumi, Akane and
you together?"
"No it can't"
Soun sighed, "OK, there's a
boy coming here soon, and he's to be
the fiancee of one of you three."
Nabiki sighed, somehow knowing that would be the answer. It was
one of
the only ways to keep property and money by transferring most of it
to the
newly married couple. One of the few legal loopholes in the laws
that took
away seventy percent of all you inherited from a parent.
"OK, I get
it." She got up and followed her father from the room
as he went next
door. "Akane!" he said as he knocked on her door.
Getting no response, he
looked inside and asked the heavens, "Where is
that girl?"
Nabiki
hid a small smile, "I'll find her father."
***
At that moment
Akane was returning from her run, it being a bit
longer than usual since it
was a mild day. Truth to tell, her runs and
her time by herself kept her
relatively sane, especially since she chaffed
at the restriction put upon
her by society. She wanted to show everyone
that she could be one of the
best, the greatest.
And to that end she pushed herself hard in
Martial arts.
Getting back in the gate, she shouted, "Hi! I'm
home!" and then
ran straight to the women's changing rooms just off of the
Dojo. Once
inside, she immediately took off her running clothes and put on
her
practice uniform. Quickly heading outside, around the back of the
dojo,
she went to get five housing blocks and a long piece of wood. Piling
them
up, she focused herself, and the frustrations she normally had on
a
Sunday. Her one day of rest.
Using a closed fist technique, she
struck, letting out a yell to
strengthen her stomach muscles, something
that she would not actually do
in a fight. It was enough to calm and relax
her, the knowledge that she
was well able to defend herself sinking into
her mind. Akane looked down
at the rubble in front of her, a look of
satisfaction on her and sighed,
"Ahhhh, good!"
At that moment,
Nabiki came out from around the Dojo to confront
her younger sister.
"There you go again, Akane." she said as she shook
her head, arms crossed
in front of her. "No wonder all the boys at school
think you're strange!"
Akane's face got a slightly surprised look, one which changed to
a
look of annoyance as she was forcibly reminded of the problems she
had
with all the boys. Instinctively, she gave her usual reply, the
same
reply that she had been giving for the last few years whenever
anyone
asked if she wanted a boyfriend, "Why should I care?" She then
thought
about it and added for good measure, "I'm not like you, Not
everyone
thinks the world revolves around boys, Nabiki!"
Nabiki
turned, not showing her pleasure at getting to her younger
sister yet
again, "No?" She placed her hands behind her head, "Then I
guess what
father has to say to us would be of no interest to you would
it?
Akane turned to look at her, "What are you talking about?"
***
There was a rumble coming from outside and the rain began to fall
lightly
over the Nerima district when a voice could be heard
shouting,
"FIANCEE?!?"
Tendo Soun, owner and master of the Tendo
School of Indiscriminate
Grappling, looked at Akane, "Yes, to the son of a
very good friend of
mine, a person I spent a good part of my youth training
with. His son's
name is Saotome Ranma."
Carefully looking over the
three girls in front of him, he stated
calmly, "If one of you three girls
were to marry him and carry on this
school, then the Tendo family legacy
would continue."
Akane's eyes flashed in anger as she shouted at
her father,
getting up off her knees for a moment. "WAIT A MINUTE! don't
_WE_ have
some say in who we marry?"
Kasumi looked at her father,
in a calm, but resigned way.
"Akane's right father. We've never even met
this Ranma."</P>
Of the three of them, only Nabiki was taking this
calmly, sipping
her drink. She had actually expected that an arranged
marriage would take
place sooner or later, possibly for all of them. Being
somewhat wiser to
the financial realities, she knew that despite however
much money she
collected, she would not succeed in coming close to
achieving the amount
of money necessary to save the family home. Hoping
that this opportunity
for marriage was a good prospect, she accepted her
karma.
Soun answered Kasumi, chuckling a bit, "Well, that's
easily
fixed."
Nabiki hoped her father wasn't making a
mistake.
***
At that moment, not too far away, and at the edge
where the rain
was just leaving, the desperate sounds of running feet could
be heard,
making a 'tip-tip' sound which could be heard getting louder
along one of
the roads of the shopping district. Suddenly bursting around
a corner, a
young black haired girl with reddish highlights and trailing a
backpack
was being chased by a large black and white bear. A Panda.
People stared at this sight, since it was unusual for a Panda to
be found
outside of a zoo, they being very rare creatures.
As the Panda
grabbed for the girl, she let go of the backpack and
leaped up, kicking the
Panda away.
"STOP THAT!!!" she shouted at the Panda as it was
knocked on it
back and sent flying down the street.
The Panda
slowly got up, standing on it's hind legs and using it's
forelegs almost
like hands. People standing around could now get a good
look at the girl,
she was wearing a dark red top and pants, reminiscent of
ancient martial
arts patterns. The clothes had a definite Chinese look to
them, and the
armbands she wore were made of crushed velvet. Her hair was
done up into a
braid, a pig-tail, and looked as though it would reach down
past her
shoulder blades if she released it. However, it was the Panda
that was
drawing all the comments, people not really believing their
eyes.
The girl relaxed back into a soft move stance, both hands open and
pointed
slightly down, ready to take advantage of virtually any strike
coming her
way. "Your move..." she commented.
The Panda wasted no time,
immediately coming in with multiple
strikes which the girl immediately
evaded, waiting for an opening.
She saw one, and as the Panda
struck near her ear, she shouted as
she grabbed the front leg, "Well I
still say this whole situation is bad!
Picking my fiancee for me _WITHOUT_
_EVEN_ _ASKING_!!!"
The girl threw the panda hard into the ground
and against a street
sign, literally knocking it out of the ground. She
spent a few minutes
recovering herself, her body trembling, and her breath
slightly raged,
staring at the cause of all her troubles. Knocking the
braid, which had
ended up in front of her to her back and she said calmly,
but with some
menace, "I'm going back to China! Take that in Old Man."
Turning away,
she grabbed her backpack and slippers, and started walking
away, her head
held down.
Thinking of China, and how she wanted to
get back to the springs,
the girl failed to notice the Panda get up and
lift the street sign.
Wielding it almost as though it was a Katana, the
Panda used the sign to
knock the girl out. It then picked her up, standing
almost as if human,
and putting her across one shoulder. It then picked up
the girls backpack
and shoes.
In the meantime, the crowd was
starting to get anxious, some
saying how big the Panda was, others
commenting on how much it acted like
a man. Seeing this the Panda got a
little nervous and then growled in all
directions. The crowd quickly
turned away and let the Panda go on it's
way.
***
Soun had
started to explain the situation to his daughters, and
was bringing them up
to date with Ranma's history, or at least what he
knew of it. "Ranma and
his father have been on a training voyage for some
time now. Recently, it
seems, they crossed into China in search of some
of the older secrets of
the Martial Arts."
Nabiki couldn't keep the excitement from her
voice as she realized
that this possible fiancee was a world traveler, he'd
be able to tell her
all sorts of things about other lands, other customs.
"Wow! China!!"
Immediately, the three girls showed their
preferences, although
they did not realize how they were expressing
themselves at the time.
Kasumi frowned a little, putting her hand
to her chin, "How old is
he? I'm not really interested in younger men."
Nabiki concentrated on the important information, "Is he cute?"
Akane just turned away, disgusted at the tone of the conversation,
"What's
so great about going to China?"
Meanwhile, Nabiki's excitement and
Kasumi's curiosity had them ask
in unison, "What kind of man is this
Ranma?"
Soun laughed, happy that two of his daughters were at
least
accepting this idea. He then turned serious, "No idea."
Nabiki's eyes narrowed suddenly as she leaned across looking at
her father,
"'No idea'?"
Soun stared back at her, "I've never actually met
him."
Before Nabiki could say anything more a commotion was going
on
outside. Sounds of the gate opening and closing was followed by a
young
voice screaming, "LET GO YOU IDIOT!"
The three girls turned
to the entrance, with Kasumi saying, "We
have visitors."
Immediately, Nabiki started running, an excited look on her face,
"It must
be Ranma!"
Soun wasn't too far behind her, his feet
making
uncharacteristically loud noise as the shouted, "Saotome, old
friend.
We've been waiting for you!"
As the other two left, Kasumi,
older and wiser, patted her hair
into place and thought to herself, *I hope
he's older...*
Akane had other ideas as she moped along behind,
*How disgusting.
Boys.*
That was when Soun and Nabiki came running
inside, Soun's face, a
mask of calmness, and Nabiki's face showing her
utter fear, especially
since she had seen the body that the huge bear
running behind them had
been carrying. Said body was struggling with the
Panda, trying to turn
around, "Hey...OI!" the girl shouted, "STOP THAT!
Put me down will ya?
You're scaring them!"
The Panda stopped, and
Soun turned to stand in front of his
daughters, not quite sure what to do.
Kasumi asked a question that was unusual, but given
the
circumstances, logical, "Father...This...is your friend?"
Unable to answer verbally, Soun shook his head no.
Meanwhile,
Nabiki who hadn't been that scared in a very long time
shouted, "Oh. So a
Panda just decides to drop in for a visit! Happens
all the time around
here!"
Not even Nabiki would realize how much of a prophecy that
would be
until a couple of months later.
In the meantime, the Panda
had put the girl he was carrying down
in front of Soun. She was young, and
small, being a couple of inches
shorter than Akane. She looked up
nervously into Soun's face, her large
eyes nervous as she watched him
carefully.
Realizing how nervous his young guest was, and guessing
him to be
no older than fourteen or fifteen, Soun bent down and looked at
him,
"You...wouldn't happen to be..."
The girl suddenly looked away
and clutched her hands in front of
her chest. "Saotome Ranma. Excuse
me."
Soun grabbed his shoulders, excited about the fact that
he'd
finally arrived while the young mans face reflected an extreme calm.
"At
last! You've come at last!"
Nabiki looked around her fathers
shoulders, seeing him for the
first time. He looked younger than her, that
was true, and he had a small
thin frame. His face was a bit rounded and
had delicate features, still
having a little bit of baby fat, but there was
also a quiet sort of
strength there. He would be perfect as a fiancee, and
if their children
had his looks...."He's cute!"
Soun in the mean
time pulled him into a hug, happy and glad to see
the child, the son that
would take over the school and become part of the
Tendo clan. "It's so
good of you to come, so...."
Soun stopped in mid sentence, feeling
something he shouldn't have
felt on the body of this young man, feeling
something he had only felt
when he had hugged his daughters. Not wanting
to believe it, but not
really having much choice since he had experience
with this, he pushed the
boy back and got a good look at him.
Raising a hand, and unable to speak, he stood there, mouth
slightly open.
Kasumi looked on, not quite sure what to say, while Nabiki
narrowed
her eyes after her fathers reaction and took a closer, more
careful look at
their guest. Looking at his chest, she noticed something,
something that
should not have been on a young man. Getting closer, she
tested her theory
by poking Ranma in the breast. Her suspicions
confirmed, she started to
look back up, her enthusiasm over a fiancee now
dead and buried.
Ranma, in the meantime, just closed her eyes as she embarrassly
asked,
"uhhh.....Could you stop that please?"
Nabiki continued, looking
straight at her father. "'He'....is a
girl."
Soun fainted.
***
A short time later, Soun slowly awoke to the sound of a wind
chime,
the normally soothing sound bring back the unfortunate memory of
what had
happened. He couldn't quite bring himself to move yet, and he
knew that he
was lying down on his own futon, his comforter pulled up
around him, and
the sound of someone dipping a cloth into a bowl and
squeezing it.
Unbidden, tears started to leak from the corner of his
eyes, and he thought
about how cruel life could be. He now knew why his
old friend Genma hadn't
shown up and had sent a protector for the girl in
the form of a Giant
Panda.
Kasumi noticed when her fathers eyes opened slightly, enough
so
that he could see. She knew that he was still in shock over what
had
happened, pinning his hopes and dreams on a future son in law only to
have
had that snatched away. "Poor father. He's so disappointed."
Nabiki couldn't keep her temper at that. Listening to her father,
she had
come to hope that perhaps she would have been Ranma's choice for a
wife.
Not so much so that the Dojo could be retained within the family,
but more
so that she could finally have someone for herself. "HE'S
disappointed!
Some fiancee this is!"
Akane, who had been fairly silent up to now
got angry herself.
She quickly glanced at the girl who was beside her with
her guardian Panda
sitting quietly in back of her. She noticed that Ranma
was still
embarrassed over what had happened, and that she had remained
very silent.
She could also see the emotions that the pig-tailed girl had
and that she
was now in a position where she had no friends, no family, and
had been
literally dumped upon people who now acted like she was a problem.
"Stop
it, you two. He...she is our guest!" she said and stressed the
word
guest.
Nabiki was having none of it. Unlike her two sisters,
no-one had
really wanted her or had gone after her in a very, very long
time. She
had thought that this was her chance to finally have _someone_.
"This is
all your fault father. You should have made sure."
That
was finally enough to get Soun to talk, although the rest of
his body still
refused to function properly. "Saotome-san said he had a
son!!"
That made Nabiki angrier than ever with her father. Unlike him,
she had
seen too much of the modern world. While men like her father
still lived
in a dream world where rigid rules of honour were respected
and expected,
she had seen the politicians, businesses, and others who
had, to her way of
reasoning, no honour.
She suddenly grabbed Ranma by the back and
used her free hand to
squeeze Ranma's breast, causing the young girl to
blush again. "Do you
see a son here? eh...? Do you?!"
Akane
noticed Ranma's face becoming a brighter red, although she
refused to raise
her hands to stop it. Instead the pig-tailed girl only
said, "Could you
please stop that?"
Akane had finally had enough, and she also had
to get the girl out
of there. It was obvious that she was much too polite
for her own good.
Getting up, she asked Ranma, "Say, would you like to join
me out in the
Dojo?"
Ranma looked up, a look of surprise clearly
evident on her face,
and her expressive turquoise eyes showing her
emotions. She was obviously
a girl that had never learned to hide her
emotions, and Ranma didn't even
realize how cute she looked with that
expression. Still cautious, she
nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Akane noticed, and almost giggled at how innocent Ranma seemed.
She
certainly was brought up to be extremely polite however, just the sort
of
girl that Akane liked as friend. "I'm Akane. Would you like to
be
friends?"
Ranma slowly smiled her thanks although she didn't yet
speak.
Leading her new friend out to the Dojo, a fairly modern set
of
rooms with florescent lights in the ceiling, a small shine, some
scenery
and the dojo motto, Akane decided that she would have to get Ranma
to open
up a little. "You do practice Kenpo don't you?"
Ranma,
still a little nervous about these people and the
situation, but none the
less glad that she had at least found a friend,
replied, "A little bit."
Akane noticed that Ranma was still very nervous, and since
physical
exercise always soothed her, she said, "Then lets have a small
match,
between the two of us. OK?"
Ranma looked at Akane's face and was a
little confused. She was
the first girl that the pig-tailed girl had ever
met that was really
interested in the Martial arts, and that made her a
little apprehensive.
Despite the fact that she was also a girl, Ranma
didn't really want to
harm or fight Akane. Besides, she had fought a girl
once, and that had
turned out to be a disaster. "Aahhhh..."
Akane
smiled again, noticing that the girl was now confused. She
was definitely
too innocent for her own good, especially since it was
obvious that she
would be living with them now. "It's just for fun.
Don't worry, I won't
hurt you."
Ranma was still nervous as she replied, "If you say
so."
Akane went into a hard battle stance, reminiscent of the
lower
forms of Karate. She had noticed that Ranma hadn't gone into a
stance,
and stood with her arms behind her back. Since it was obvious that
she
wasn't really prepared, Akane had chosen a stance that would allow her
to
transmit her movements in an obvious way.
She quickly closed the
space between the two of them, punching
quickly, and shouting aloud. It
was with some surprise that she noted
Ranma had leapt up five and a half
feet. She was obviously not as
inexperienced at the arts as she seemed, so
Akane reduced the amount that
she could be read by half and then did a high
side kick at the girl in
front of her.
Ranma just leapt up again
and opened up her legs wide. Spreading
her arms out to keep her balance,
she noted how good Akane was, and
admired her abilities. The way that she
suddenly dropped the amount of
movement in the way she could be read
indicated that her opponent was very
skilled in the arts. If this
continued, she could very well be hit since
she wouldn't be able to tell
how the blow was going to land. However, she
still couldn't bring herself
to throw a blow that would hit or hurt
Akane.
Meantime Akane kept
throwing blows, each time reducing the amount
of movements that could be
read. punches, kicks, jabs, and so on. While
she was getting closer each
time, it still wasn't getting through. She
also noticed that Ranma hadn't
thrown a single blow at her. "What's
wrong? Swing at me."
Ranma
didn't reply, how could she take the chance on hitting a
friend? The only
friend she'd had in a very, very long time.
Akane suddenly started
a set of blows that Ranma dodged, although
it had been a close thing at the
beginning of the series.
Ranma backed away a little bit while Akane
did the same. This was
getting more and more serious with each passing
moment and she realized
that one of them would get hurt if this continued,
and she didn't want to
be the one to throw the blow that hurt Akane. She
then noticed the change
in Akane's stance, A change that indicated that
Akane had decided that
this Ranma could stand more than just practice.
Akane in the meantime had been wondering why her blows were
missing.
Each time she struck, she had narrowed the margin that her
movements had
shown. Most martial artists would have already been beaten
back by the
series of strikes that she had already tried. *Why? Why am I
missing
her?* she thought, *It's almost as if Ranma's reading all my
moves.*
That was when she realized something. Her father said that he had
trained
together with this girls father, and if that was the case, then
the Ranma
was probably a practitioner of Arts of Indiscriminate Grappling
as well.
She shifted stances, *OK then, this time for real.*
Akane moved
fast, get up to Ranma at a high speed and throwing a
real, not a practice
blow. Ranma barely had time to leap above the fist,
having to crouch
slightly to gather enough speed. She saw that Akane's
hand was still in
the wall, and an opportunity presented itself to her to
finish this fight
quickly. She gave a slight push against the wall and
flipped over to land
behind Akane, giving her a light tap with her index
finger.
Akane,
was still stunned, not at having missed Ranma, she had
expected that, but
that she had put so much force into the blow that she
had broken the wall.
When she felt the finger on her head, she turned
slowly, to see Ranma
smiling and laughing, the first real bit of joy that
she had seen on the
girls face since arriving. Akane joined in the
laughter, glad all of a
sudden to have made a friend, and meeting someone
she could really
respect.
Akane managed to stop herself, although the two of them
were now
gasping a little, enjoying each others company, Looking at Ranma,
and
indicating that they should go over to the couch, she said, "You're
fairly
good. I'm just glad that you're a girl."
Ranma looked back
at her, a bit of puzzlement on her face, "Huh?"
Akane giggled a bit
and looked back at Ranma, "It's just
that...I'd really hate to lose to a
boy."
Ranma smiled a bit nervously as she looked at Akane and
followed
her to the seats, but soon the two girls were talking and laughing
about
things, Ranma still to shy to say very much.
***
A Giant
Panda is certainly a rare sight in China, and an even
rarer sight outside
of that country, so seeing one entering the bath with
a towel, shampoo, and
other bathing paraphernalia was unheard of. The
Panda pulled up a seat and
noticed that he wouldn't be able to use it.
Sighing, the Panda then washed
his fur, using up almost the entire bottle
of shampoo. Uncovering the tub,
the Panda dipped a small towel into it,
and then put it on top of his head
as he stepped into the bath proper.
The Panda rested back, using
it's front legs as though they were a
humans arms...
***
The
sounds of the wind chime swinging in the evening breeze broke
through the
gloom and silence that had fallen across the main room of the
Tendo home.
The evening sky, red with the approaching evening, seemed to
call to the
soul, as if at once beautiful and mournful. In the room,
facing one
another was Soun and a man wearing a handkerchief on his head
and glasses.
Both men were in martial arts uniforms, Soun's being a dark,
almost
black practice outfit and the stocky man's an off-white. They
sat
silently, their faces revealing nothing to others except for the
tears
streaming down their faces. Nabiki, looking at the two, had only
seen
this expression on her fathers face once before, a few weeks after
her
mother had died. At the time, she had thought her father didn't
care
about anything anymore, but Nabiki now knew that it was only her
fathers
way of blocking the pain.
She went into the kitchen,
concerned that perhaps this person had
brought her father some sort of bad
news, something that might make go
back to the way he was when her mother
had died, "Elder sister? Do you
know who that man is?"
Kasumi in
the meantime had been preparing the evening meal. She
had brought out
three bottles of beer, and was putting the finishing
touches on some
deserts when her sister had asked the question. Not
looking up from what
she was doing, and still a little unnerved over what
had happened earlier,
she said, "No, I don't little sister."
She then remembered her
guest, and the fact that she hadn't yet
shown the girl either to a room or
to where the bath was. Asking Nabiki
to go and set up the table for the
evening meal, she went to a closet and
brought out a nice soft and fluffy
towel. She went outside to find Ranma
looking out at the garden,
contemplating both it's complex simplicity and
the beauty of the evening.
"Ranma-chan, it's almost time for supper.
Wouldn't you like to go take a
bath?"
Ranma was startled out of her reverie, thinking about
the
situation she had been placed in, and the fact that she was now
friends
with Akane. Her problem was that now they were friends, she
couldn't take
the chance of Akane finding out her secret. Ranma was unsure
what could
be done to resolve the situation. "umm...No. I mean, It's
OK."
Kasumi looked at the young girl and promptly gave her the
towel,
putting her hands on the girls shoulders and leading her to the
bath.
>From the looks of things, the girl had lived too long along or with
only
her father and the guardian Panda. She definitely needed to be shown
how
to live in the city. "No it's not Ranma-chan. You must be all
sweaty
from your workout and young ladies do not go to the dining table
that
way!"
Ranma sighed as she was led to the washing area and
given a soft
sponge, some soap, shampoo, and a rinsing bucket. She went in
and took
off her clothes, putting it into the hamper, and going into the
bath
proper. Filling up the bucket with some cold water, she quickly
rinsed
herself and then started to scrub her skin. Soon, she was fairly
clean
and had rinsed herself off.
She then sighed and looked
towards the hot tub, now filled with
fresh steaming water. "Aahhhh! Now
what do I do?"
***
In another part of the house, Nabiki had found
Akane after Kasumi
said to find the youngest Tendo girl and to tell her to
wash up. "Akane,
the bath's ready."
Akane looked at her sister and
then went towards her room to get
her towel. "Thanks!"
***
Ranma
was soaking in the tub a little bit depressed because she
didn't want to
lose her friend. The big problem was her secret. "What to
do? What to
do?" she kept repeating to herself over and over again, not
coming to any
possible conclusion.
***
Akane walked into the outer change area
of the bath, noticing that
Ranma's clothes were already in the hamper.
Wanting to spend some time
with her new friend she quickly undressed,
removing the bow in her hair
and humming to herself.
***
Ranma
was thinking, and came to one conclusion. The Tendo's would
have to know
the secret, *They'll find out anyway. Sooner or later. It
might as well
be on my terms.*
***
Akane had taken off the last of her clothes
and grabbed her towel.
Prepared to surprise the shorter girl, Akane tip
toed over to the room
separator and opened it up...
***
A voice
in the bath said, "May as well go out like I am." The
problem was the
voice was not that of a young girl, but definitely the
voice of a young
man.
That was when the washroom door opened and Akane looked into
the
bath. In it was a young man, about a head taller than her and coming
out
of the bath. Her brown eyes registered the shock she was feeling as
his
face also registered shock and worry. They stayed looking at each
other
for a few moments, until she looked down to confirm what she
saw.
Suddenly she left the room and closed the door.
Once she had
done that, she pulled on her underwear and her gi
top, tying the belt
around it to keep it closed. She got into her
slippers and walked out into
the hallway, closing the door behind her.
Her mind was confused, she had
been so sure that Ranma was in the bath,
not this man, whoever he was. She
then began to tremble a bit, and before
she knew what was happening...
"YYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
The scream could
be heard all over the house as the two men looked
up their concentration
broken, realizing too late what must have happened.
Her sisters,
who were taking the food and drinks to the table were
more concerned,
especially when Akane came running hard and fast, going
outside and not
bothering to take off her slippers.
They both noted, with some
worry, how Akane was reacting. While
she was violent from time to time, it
was the first time she had ever
displayed so much strength.
Akane,
in the meantime was not even noticing how heavy the bolder
that she had
ripped off of one of the garden ornaments was. The rock,
which had to
weigh well over one hundred kilograms was perfect for her
purposes. "I'LL
WEIGH HIM DOWN! I'LL DROWN THAT MAN IN THE BATH!"
Nabiki, who was
a lot calmer said, "Akane, what is it? What's
that boulder for?"
Not being very coherent at the time, Akane replied as she entered
the
house, her feet pounding out doom, "THERE'S A HENTAI IN THE BATH!"
Nabiki, who had seen what her younger sister had done to the
more
persistent suitors at school was rather amazed at what her sister
was
doing. It was somewhat unusual for her to react in this manner.
"Why
didn't you just kill him with your bare hands?"
"Because I'm
afraid!" came Akane's reply.
Kasumi was getting confused,
especially since she knew that there
was only one other person who could
have been in the room at that time.
"That's strange. Ranma was in the bath
just now."
That was when someone turned the corner, catching
Kasumi's eye.
He was wearing a similar outfit that Ranma had been wearing
earlier.
"Uh....Who....Who..."
Nabiki noticed the same thing,
although she thought that the
clothing was an exact copy of the outfit that
Ranma had been wearing.
While the one on her had seemed right, but a little
loose, this one was
close fitting to his form, showing the muscles that he
had.
The tall youth scratched the back of his head, not quite
knowing
how to begin. He decided just to go for it. "I'm Saotome Ranma.
Excuse
me."
***
An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2 - Chapter 2
It was now night at the Tendo home, the only place in the world
that taught
the secrets of the art of Indiscriminate Grappling, and a
place where a
rather unusual conversation was now taking place.
They were seated
for supper, the three Tendo girls on one side of
the table opposite a man
in his forties wearing a white gi and a young man
with dark black hair
wearing a Chinese outfit that consisted of a dark red
top and pants. The
girls looked nervously over at the pair, unsure what
to make of them or the
statement that the young man was named Ranma. It
was impossible that this
was the same girl with the guardian Panda.
Of course, supper had
started a little bit late.
It had taken a while, because Akane had
to calm down and finish
her bath and everyone had eaten while the
explanations, at least the basic
ones were held over dinner. Kasumi,
Nabiki, and Akane had been stunned
silent over the whole thing, with Akane
looking as though she had been
deeply betrayed. For most of the meal there
were uncomfortable silences,
and disbelieving stares at the young man
sitting across the table from
them.
Ranma, for his part, was
absolutely embarrassed, keeping to
himself, and trying to avoid the
accusatory glare that Akane kept throwing
his way. He already felt guilty
enough and now, the only friend he had
made in years, in fact the only
friend he had, was angry at him. He
couldn't really blame her however, she
had good reason, thanks to his
secret which had made an embarrassing
situation earlier in the day that
much worse.
After supper, they
left the table and sat facing one another
again, Soun acting as an
intermediary between his daughters and his
friend. "I'll explain it once
again. This is my old friend and training
partner..."
Genma took
over, "Saotome Genma. And this is my son..."
Ranma then took over
from him, "Saotome Ranma."
An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2:
Chapter
Two:
Will the real Ranma please...
A fan fiction based on Takahashi
Rumiko's Manga series, Ranma 1/2
Saotome Ranma, Saotome Genma, Saotome
Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo Soun,
Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki, Kuonji Ukyou,
Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan, Shampoo,
Moose, Kuno Tatewaki, Kuno Kodachi, and
Hinako Sensei are copyright
1987,1996 by Takahashi Rumiko.
Publishing
rights:
Japan: Shogakukan Inc. Tokyo
Hong Kong:
Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North America: Viz Inc.
By Ichinohei
Hitomi
Akane was having none of it, she was extremely embarrassed,
very
angry and was feeling very betrayed. How, could the girl she had
spent
the afternoon with, the girl who she had shared thing with, things
that
she wouldn't have told a boy do this to her. How could Ranma turn out
to
be a boy!
Ranma for his part was staring at Akane, not knowing
what to say
or what to do. She was rather cute, wearing that pink night
gown, but
they way she was staring at him, the way she had reacted, he knew
that she
felt like he was the scum of the earth.
Nabiki started
into the question, not being as angry as Akane, but
a little more level
headed. She was still incensed at having been fooled
twice in one day.
First by thinking the girl who had shown up earlier was
a boy, when she
wasn't and now by this boy claiming to be that same girl.
"What is this all
about?"
Kasumi had the same questions in her head, but for
different
reasons. She could see from the look in Ranma's eyes that he
wasn't
interested in her, and could also see that there was already some
sort of
connection between him and Akane. Also from the looks of things,
Nabiki
would not have anything to do with him if she could help it. More
likely
her sister would be waiting for some chance to get vengeance for
what she
would consider a huge betrayal of honour. "Are you really her?"
she
questioned, trying to think of what could be done, "Are you really
that
same girl?"
Genma had been contemplating how to answer that
question all
night. While his usual habit was to avoid, prevaricate, and
generally
rewrite situations to his own advantage, in this case he felt it
necessary
to tell the truth. But he still had a problem with
believability.
"Hhhhmmmmm....Where should I begin?" He stated as he put a
finger to his
forehead.
He suddenly said "I know!", quickly turned
and grabbed Ranma
tossing him towards the fish pond.
Soun had
watched this dispassionately, knowing what would happen
and knowing that
there was nothing to be done for it. His daughters had
to know the full
situation, and that meant that they had to see a dramatic
demonstration.
If only the fickleness of the Kami could be
understood.
Ranma was
only concerned about the fact that he was headed face
first into a pond of
cold water. "Hey!"
He never got the chance to say anything more as
he splashed into
the surface of the water and sank out of site. The
courtyard was silent
for a few moments before it's peace was broken once
again. Out of the
fountain, came the Ranma the girls had first been
introduced to. An
extremely angry Ranma who had water coming down in a
stream from her hair
which was now highlighted with a red tinge. "What the
HELL do you think
you're doing?!"
Akane stared, unable to say
anything, unable to do anything.
Nabiki looked at the girl with a
question in her eyes. Maybe
there was something that could be done. Not
marriage, she wasn't a
lesbian, but perhaps..."mmm?"
Kasumi looked
on, her eyes going a bit wide as she stated the
obvious, her mind wondering
how she could begin to resolve the situation
and keep everyone happy. "Now
he's a girl!"
Genma could hardly keep in his feelings, his shame at
what had
happened to his son. Standing up and walking to the edge of the
pond, he
looked on, tears streaming from his eyes as he thought of the
curse which
had changed their lives, "That this should happen to my own
son. It's so
humiliating, so very humiliating!"
Of course, he
shouldn't have said that with a wet Ranma around.
Ranma had climbed
out of the pool obviously very, very angry and
very, very wet. As far as
she was concerned, the reason that she was now
a girl, in fact the only
reason that she became a girl in the first place
was because of her father.
Her idiotic, unthinking, stupid, father. Not
saying a word, Ranma went
behind her father and kicked him deep into the
middle of the pond.
The three girls looked on, quite shocked, as Genma also
disappeared beneath
the water, somehow suspecting what would happen, but
hoping that it
wouldn't.
Ranma waited at the edge of the pond until the giant
Panda, which
everyone had earlier assumed was her guardian rose out of the
water, the
pants having fallen off and the top having split open. "Who are
_you_ to
talk?" she questioned, her face a mask of grim rage at what was
going
on.
Kasumi was the only one of the girls who could see past
the
obvious shock of the shape changing abilities of their guests. She had
to
think, start to make plans and formulate possible ways to keep peace
in
the house. If there was anything that she would not allow, it was
the
peace of her home to be disrupted, or at least make it seem as though
it
wasn't disrupted. To do that, she had to have some information.
"Father?
Why are you friends with them?"
Soun for his part was
nervous as to how to answer that question.
No doubt it was a good one, and
there was also no doubt that his daughter
was correct in a way, but Genma
was more than a friend to Soun. To him,
Genma was more like his brother
given all the trial they had faced
together, including one which made
everything else pale in comparison.
"They were not like this before
daughter. Not before they went to China,
and undertook a terrifying
training exercise in a place that has been
shrouded in mystery.
Kasumi shook her head. Everyone she knew seemed to do martial
arts of some
type or another, and they all had this fascination with
finding out all
sorts of obscure information, sometimes to their own
detriment. "Well, we
should let them change back, especially if they are
going to tell us what
happened."
Soun smiled slightly as he nodded, "You are correct
about that."
***
Genma kneeled in front of the Tendo's knowing
that he would have
to explain his actions to a far more critical audience
than he had
expected. His voice began the tale, a strong voice, one not
filled with a
lot of emotion, and one not filled with pride, "It all began
two fateful
weeks ago when we were training in China. We came across a
legend
describing a training ground for martial artists known as
Jusenkyo."
"At the time, we didn't know exactly what we were
getting into, so
we hired a guide, a man who had left himself in the days
of Mao and went
to the training ground, and to find out what could be
learned there."
***
The guide, an old man with a bald head hiked
up the hidden trail
leading to the forbidden training grounds. He was
wearing a brown 'Mao'
outfit that had been popular with the Chinese during
the 'Cultural
Revolution' in which China had either killed, jailed, or
exiled their best
doctors and scientist, knowing that their dictatorship
would never survive
if the people had an education.
He had lived in
this area all of his life, the remoteness meaning
that he and others could
escape the eyes of Beijing. Here and there,
hidden in the mountains, were
the legendary 'wise men'. People who had
hidden themselves and their
books, documents, and papers during the great
scrounge.
He himself
was one, being not only the guide, but the caregiver of
Jusenkyo. Looking
back, he noted the two. Like others who had come here
before them, they
were martial artist. People who had come to the
accursed area in search of
knowledge or power. Power which was hidden
away and could never truly be
released without dire consequences, and
others had learned.
As they
rounded the bend, he turned to his clients and pointed out
to the various
bamboo poles stuck in what seemed to be hundreds of pools
that littered the
floor of the valley. "Here sir. This is the legendary
training ground
known as Jusenkyo."
Genma looked out at all of the pools, seeing
nothing that special
as had been advertised by that hard to find guide
book. His face
hardened, they had made the journey here barefoot as usual
in order to
train, and train they were, no mater the state of the training
area. "Are
you prepared, Ranma?"
Ranma looked on, not really
impressed by the area, and seeing only
the small bits of ground, the bamboo
poles of varying length ranging from
about five feet to twenty feet in
height. Not really something to be
worried about when the Saotome School
of Indiscriminate Grappling based
most of it's moves on leaping and aerial
abilities. "This place isn't so
great."
They took off their
backpacks and placed them aside as the guide
looked out at the pools,
contemplating all that was there. "You are very
strange one, true sir?
This place very dangerous to use. No one use
now."
The guide
spread his hands out, showing the entire valley, a
valley that he knew much
more about than he wanted to know. "Is more than
one hundred springs here
and each one have it own legend that very
tragic."
At that moment,
Genma had gotten tired of listening to the old
man. Although he might know
the legends, and that would be useful, it was
obvious that this place was
not dangerous. The bamboo poles were fresh,
just striped not too long ago
or they would have rotted from the water and
cracked in the winter. He
leapt up towards a pole that was approximately
ten feet above the ground.
"Ranma, follow me."
Ranma lost no time in following his father, and
tightening his
belt in mid air. They each landed upon one of the longer
poles that were
situated in the pools, some only having one, others having
as many as ten
depending on the pools size. Ranma was calm, watchful and
waiting,
wondering what his father had in mind in bringing him to this
place.
Other than practicing good balance and judgment, there would be
nothing
really new here for him to learn.
The guide grew scared as
he saw what the two were doing. It was
unheard of for a visitor to these
training ground not to listen to the
tales of the pools before deciding
weather or not to attempt to cross the
valley on top of the poles, each
trying to prevent the other from getting
to the other side. There was much
danger here, danger the two artist, the
two idiots would soon find out
about if they did this. "Aaahhhh! Sir,
what you doing?"
He wished
the travelers had been able to speak Mandarin as he was
only able to speak
a little of the Japanese language.
Genma landed in a crane stance,
his face immediately going into
battle mode, hiding his feelings and his
abilities. In this case, both
were going to advertise their movements to
the other, their was no help
for that, but what they could do, and what
they would do was minimize
their patterns once airborne. "I will not go
easy on you, my son."
Ranma had landed in the beetle pincers
position. It was not
really designed for one footed combat, but it was
easy to hold and also a
classical defense towards the Crane attack. Using
the 'pincer' he could
easily use the strength of the crane against the
attacker. "That's how I
want it father. I wouldn't have it any other
way."
The guide now was trying desperately to get the attention of
the
two guest as they started for each other. They were not even going to
try
to get to the other side of the pools, they were going to fight
above
them! Such foolishness! He had to try one last time. "Please sir!
Very
bad if you fall in spring!"
He was too late.
The two
of them had leapt towards one another, Genma changing his
basic crane
stance in mid-air to that of the hawk, hoping to throw the boy
off. He
went in at a low trajectory, going for speed, not stealth.
Instead
of doing the expected, which would have been to change his
stance, Ranma
leapt more up than forward, waiting for the attack that he
knew his father
would use.
Genma shouted out what he was going to do, and switched
his attack
in mid-flight to a frontal side kick with his legs.
Ranma twisted his body, using his center of gravity as the
rotational point
to point the pincers to the ground, taking advantage of
his father by using
his foreleg as a solid surface. He pushed up and
flipped around, his
father unintentionally allowing him to stay in the air
much longer, and
using that, then kicked Genma in the back straight down
into a pool. Ranma
landed back on the same pole he had started from,
while Genma had landed,
face first, in the water. "Gotcha!"
Ranma steadied himself as the
pole he was standing on shook,
making minute adjustments in his balance.
He looked down into the pool,
wondering where his father was. It was
unlike him to be taking so long,
he knew his father to be an excellent
swimmer. "Father? What's wrong?
Are we done already?"
All that
answered him was a gurgling sound and a few burbles as
air rose from the
pool. Ranma was starting to get worried. It hadn't
happened before, but
if his father had hit his head on a rock at the
bottom of the pool, he
could be unconscious and drowning. He was just
about to jump in to look
for his father when the pool erupted in a burst
of water.
What came
out of the pool was completely unexpected. There was a
Giant Panda, one of
the symbols of China and one of the great gentle
creatures of the world.
On one ear dangled the glasses that the elder
Saotome usually wore,
obviously because the head was now shaped
differently. Genma's jacket was
also on the Panda, much too small for the
creatures chest and body,
although there was no sign of the pants.
Needless to say Ranma was
not taking it well. After his initial
scream of surprise, his eyes opened
wide, and he pointed at the Panda who
had taken a stance on it's back paw,
going into what seemed like a praying
mantis position. Needless to say he
was almost completely speechless.
"W-who...wh..what...wh..why...?"
The guide looked up, having expected this from the way the two had
reacted
and attempted to tell the young man what was going on. It wasn't
easy, as
this was the first time that he had seen someone with one of the
animal
forms actually mimic a human posture. "That is Shonmaoniichuan,
the spring
of the drowned Panda. A very tragic tale that. Tragic legend
of Giant
Panda that drowned there two thousand year ago. Now whoever fall
in spring
take body of Panda!"
Ranma was startled. In all of his life, in
all of his training,
he had never heard of something like this. Sure there
were legends,
growing up in Asia you got used to hearing a lot of them, but
they could
be real, could they? Not that it really mattered much at the
moment.
Ranma's brain wasn't working properly, or at least not properly as
in
regards to this situation.
"Oh no!" he muttered as he looked in
disbelief at the animal that
used to be his father, fear now permeating his
entire being. It was
terrifying, and the worst part was that the elder
Saotome hadn't noticed
anything. Ranma jumped as the Panda flew towards
him. "Wait a
minute!"
Genma hadn't really realized what had
happened as of yet. True
his glasses had fallen off, but that was to be
expected in a fight. What
had been unexpected was the fact that his
student, his son had been able
to defeat him on the first pass. It should
not have been possible, at
least not here. What was worse, not that the
defeat was over, Ranma
wasn't even paying attention!
Anger
continued to build in the Panda as it wanted, not only some
revenge for
being shown up like that, but also to teach the boy never to
let down his
guard. If he did that when he was faced with a real foe, he
would die.
Genma attacked, not hearing what the guide had said, nor to
what Ranma was
saying. Besides, the words sounded a bit faint and sort of
distorted, no
doubt from the mud at the bottom of the pond.
Ranma avoided his
fathers strikes as much as he could, given his
brain was almost completely
locked at the moment. It was a good thing
that his body was reacting on
automatic, because he would have surely been
tossed into a pool. Avoiding
a strike that barely grazed his chest, he
exclaimed loudly, "You never said
anything about tr--"
Genma never allowed his son to finish what he
was saying, being
more concerned with trying to knock Ranma into a pool.
He succeeded in
knocking Ranma's back and the boy went flying into one of
the nearby
pools. So concentrated on wining, he failed to see the boys
terrified
face as he flew towards a nearby pool.
Ranma hit the pool
with a huge splash, not hearing the guide. He
was more concerned with what
would happen to him, what would go on, what
type of beast would he become?
He felt a ripple as his body started to
change, and he struggled towards
the surface...
The guide looked on with horror, as the young man
was knocked into
one of the pools that he knew much about. It was a pool
that had been
used quite a lot, one which a certain people considered a
reward while
others considered it a punishment. "Noooooo! Not
Nyanniichuan, the
spring of the drowned girl!"
He trembled as he
looked on wondering how the young person would
react to his...or rather her
new body. "There is tragic story of this
pool. Very tragic, of young girl
who drown in spring one thousand five
hundred year ago. Now whoever fall
in that spring..."
Ranma finally burst to the surface of the pool,
already suspecting
what had happened. As soon as he burst from the water,
he pulled his gi
open, and noticed his breast, he took in a breath of air,
a confused sound
coming from him as he heard, "...take body of young girl.
You see what I
mean?"
***
"...And so that is our tragic story."
Nabiki looked on, having heard the entire story and was
bored.
However, there was something nagging at her, especially since the
father
was a fool. She'd have to take a look at the insurance forms in
the
morning, especially if these two were going to be living here.
Akane had her eyes open. She believed the story, and was now
feeling a
little bit sorry for what Ranma had to go through. It was no
wonder he had
been so shy earlier, having to learn in two weeks what most
girls learn in
a lifetime. Akane wondered how Ranma had kept from going
insane.
Kasumi was the one who's face contained a look of slight horror,
and she
quickly hid the pity that she felt for Ranma, seeing that he would
not
accept the emotions she had. It was a mistake, a terrible mistake,
but the
child would have to learn to live with it. His father on the
other hand
deserved to be taken in hand for this. Unfortunately he was
still a guest,
which meant Kasumi had to try to stay on her best behavior
while he was
there.
The sound of the wind chime broke the utter silence that
had
encased the room, and Soun, a bit of perspiration showing on his
forehead
said, "Jusenkyo. The legendary ground of accursed springs. It's
true
secret, it's true mystery and horror have always been shrouded in
mystery,
but now..."
Ranma's face kept getting angrier and angrier
as it continued to
throughout the entire story. Before Jusenkyo he had a
life. Admittedly
not much of one, but a life none the less. He had
traveled, honed his
skills, and grew to love the honourable way of life
that he led. During
the past two weeks however, he had learned to be
female most of the time,
to have to escape, steal, and survive. He felt so
much weaker, almost
helpless, and the fact that his father had led them
to..."Whaddaya mean,
'horror'?"
Ranma couldn't take it any longer,
he had to do something,
_anything_ to get rid of that anger. While he
couldn't, and wouldn't,
actually hurt his father, he could attempt to teach
the old fool a lesson
he wouldn't readily forget. "Hey old man," he said
menacingly as he spun
around to face his father, grabbing the elder Saotome
by the front of his
gi, "what's the idea of dragging me to a place like
that?"
Genma in the meantime had expected something like this to
happen.
Since they had arrived at the Tendo home, Ranma had been to calm,
too
quiet. It wasn't normal for his child, and given what they had
gone
through during the past couple of weeks, it was definitely out
of
character for him. Calmly he grabbed Ranma's wrist and threw the boy
once
more into the pond.
He waited until the girl came up for air
before giving a speech.
"You sound like a woman, so be one! Were you not
prepared and sworn to
give up your life if your training required it?"
Ranma looked down into the pool and growled low, noticing a
firepail
nearby. Taking it and filling it with water, she replied, "My
life yes."
She quickly sprayed the water across her father changing him
into a Panda.
"MY GENDER IS ANOTHER MATTER ENTIRELY!"
The two started fighting in
front of the Tendo's blow after blow
being exchanged at a high speed.
Ranma didn't really care anymore. She
had to express the frustrations she
felt ever since her father had done
this to her.
The frustrations
that Soun had been feeling, his guilt over his
eldest daughters situation,
the fact that things were going so horribly
wrong was taking it's toll on
his emotional stability. He started to sob,
almost uncontrollably, "What a
tragedy!"
Kasumi on the other hand had truly reached her limit.
The way
that young girl was treated by her father was criminal. She felt
the urge
to rush in and help the girl, to hit that Mr. Saotome over the
head hard.
It may have been part of training, but what he was now doing was
going
much too far. Didn't he realize how psychologically delicate his
daughter
now was? "STOP THAT!"
She jumped forward and grabbed the
Panda's foreleg as it grabbed
Ranma. Kasumi had only one over-ridding
thought, to save this child from
a beating. She was starting to feel
something that she did not normally
feel towards anyone. Hatred towards
another living thing. Angrily she
started into him, "You just went _too_
_far_, Saotome-san!"
Nabiki had gotten up and was looking at the
Panda from the other
side. Her elder sister was not one to fight very
much, and Akane was
still too stunned to participate. Besides, even if she
couldn't stop the
Panda immediately, by being a witness she could certainly
do something to
stop him latter on. "Yeah!", she snarled out at Genma,
"Even for Martial
Arts training, that's going much too far."
Kasumi
stared into the face of the Panda, a face that had no
remorse, nothing but
hardness in it's eyes. It had stopped attacking,
true, but it still didn't
understand how everything was affecting the
child in it's paw. She
screamed, 'WHAT _EVER_ MADE YOU DO SOMETHING SO
DANGEROUS?!?"
The
Panda shifted slightly, not used to the tone of voice being
used against
it. In shifting, the pants that it had been wearing fell
down a bit
further and a magazine-like book fell out.
Nabiki grabbed it
immediately, looking at the front cover, while
Kasumi observed over her
shoulder.
Kasumi immediately said, "It's Chinese. A map and a
guide book of
some type."
Nabiki immediately grew a little more
intense as she started
reading the cover. It was a guidebook all right, to
unused places, and on
the cover was, "Something about...'training
grounds'."
Kasumi gently took the book out of the hands of her
younger
sister, the pieces starting to fit into place and a plan starting
to form.
If it was to work, she would have to act in a way that would fool
everyone
as to her true intentions. She had to work to try and make Ranma
accept
herself for who she was and come to terms with this change. She
took
control of her emotions, and said calmly, "No wonder, you can't
read
Chinese can you?"
The Panda signaled that she was correct
while Ranma took the
opportunity to hit him hard on the side of his head.
Soun took the opportunity to remove the pot of water from the
hibachi
and poured it over the Panda's head, thinking of the fact that
both of them
returned to their original forms after taking a bath, "So,
when covered
with hot water you return to your human form."
A burned Genma
replied, "Hot, not boiling!"
Soun wasn't listening, thinking of
some way to salvage this
situation, and he had an idea, that is if he could
convince the children
to accept it. He turned and held Ranma's forearm.
"When covered with
cold water, you turn into a girl, but hot water turns
you back into a
boy." He stated as he tried to pour the still boiling
water over Ranma.
Ranma jumped back quickly, her anger still not
dissipated, but
trying to now understand what was going on. "Hey what are
you trying to
do? Burn me?"
Soun started to laugh, and patted
Ranma on the shoulder,
completely confusing the young girl. "No problem!
Your situation is not
so terrible after all!"
Ranma just looked at
him as if he were crazy.
Soun turned her around and pointed to his
daughters, "My
daughters; Kasumi, age nineteen, Nabiki, age seventeen, and
Akane, age
sixteen. Choose the one you wish. She is now your fiancee."
Ranma just stood there confused. Could he really be serious?
Having
her accept an engagement when she was also a girl? It was crazy!
Kasumi thought quickly. It was obvious there could never be
anything
between her and Ranma. Besides, she felt protective of the girl,
and it
would not be wise to counsel Ranma while being engaged to each
other. She
couldn't let Nabiki get her hands on the child either. Her
little sister
had some interesting ideas when it came to revenge over
points of honour.
No, the best choice was her youngest sibling. They
were about the same
age, and they already had a connection. "Oh. He
want's Akane."
Nabiki smiled suddenly, agreeing completely with her elder sister.
Although
she had wanted to be the one engaged, she wasn't about to marry
someone
with whom she could conduct a lesbian relationship with. It just
wasn't
her way. Besides, if what she suspected about her younger sister
was
correct, then Akane would actually be pleased with a girl as a
fiancee.
"Oh definitely!"
Akane looked startled. Everyone was making a
decision about her
life but her. It was crazy! "You must be joking! Why
would I be..."
Nabiki cut her off, trying to hint at what she
suspected, "Well,
you hate boys, don't you?"
Kasumi picked up on
that line of inquiry, smiling in her nicest
way. She would definitely need
to meditate later in the evening. "You're
in luck. He's half girl."
Akane was flabbergasted. Admittedly she didn't like boys,
although there
was someone she liked, and she got along much better with
the girls,
especially since they weren't possible love interests, but to
hear her
sisters talk. "Me? Marry that hentai?! Never!"
Ranma had kept
fairly quiet up to now. She had been too stunned
to even try to say or do
anything, but to hear someone she considered a
friend say that she was a
hentai was going too far. She walked in front
of Akane, "Whaddaya mean
hentai??"
Akane for her part just looked at Ranma, angry at being
tricked.
"You looked at my body hentai!"
"Hold it! you walked in
on me!"
"It's different when a girl sees a boy!"
They
stopped their argument as they noticed their fathers laughing
to one
side."
They're already a perfect couple. Already arguing!"
Akane was about to say something to her father about interfering
in a fight
when Ranma suddenly grabbed her arm. "Com'on. Lets go talk in
a place a
little more private."
As she was being pulled out to the Dojo,
Akane could here Kasumi
saying, "Would the two of you care for more
beer?"
***
Ranma pulled Akane into the Dojo, looking back at
their fathers
who were drinking and congratulating each other. She would
like nothing
better to do at that moment that beat the two of them up.
Imagine, trying
to get her married when she wasn't even prepared for it!
She turned to
Akane...
Who was waiting for Ranma to turn around.
Her face had become one
of anger, the days events catching up to her. She
was about to hit the
shorter girl when she saw the anger in Ranma's eyes,
as well as the tears
beginning to well up. The pig-tailed girl was
suffering as well, although
she was trying to hide it. "Want to talk about
it?"
Ranma smiled a little smile, although it was forced and
gestured
for the couches that they had been sitting on earlier in the day.
"I'm
sorry abut everything Akane. You didn't do anything wrong in
the
washroom, after all, you were expecting another girl."
Akane
took a seat, indicating that Ranma should sit next to her,
"True. But I
should have still knocked first. It might have prevented a
bit of
embarrassment for both of us."
Ranma snorted at that, seeing the
humour in the situation,
"Somehow, I think it would have turned out the
same, given I wouldn't have
been able to get out of the tub in time."
"Well, what do you think we should do?"
"I donno. I mean, it's
not that I don't like you, but we just met,
and I want to be your friend
more than I want to be your fiancee."
Akane looked over at Ranma,
noticing the slumped shoulders, "You
haven't had too many friends have
you?"
That caused Ranma to chuckle in a low, almost self-pitying
way.
"No. Not really. Besides you, I think I've only had one friend in
my
entire life, although I can't remember that too clearly. He was a
nice
guy however. I wonder what he would say about me now."
Akane
giggled impishly, "Well, he'd probably say something about
how cute you are
now."
Ranma giggled as well, calming down, and beginning to
relax.
"True. In any case, I traveled around too much to have
friends.
Acquaintances yes, friends no. What about you?"
"Well,
I've got lots of friends, although not among the boys.
Around here they're
much too troublesome. I mean, there are some nice
boys, but they all have
this overbearing macho attitude that turns me
cold."
Ranma rolled
her eyes. "Huh! Then you won't think too much of me
then, all I've had is
my father as a person to really look up to, and now
I don't think that was
such a good role model."
Akane frowned a bit, "It was only a
mistake Ranma, I'm sure
something could be done. I mean, if magic exists
to change you into a
girl, I'm sure some sort of magic exists to make you
male again."
"Do you really think so Akane?"
Akane held
Ranma's hand. "I'm sure of it. Now stop moping and
lets think of a way
out of this and still allowing us to stay friends."
"I'm to tired
to think," Ranma replied, "besides, the last two
weeks have been a
confusing blur."
Akane frowned a bit, "What can we do..."
Ranma leaned back on the cushions, "Besides, even with this curse,
our
parents are crazy enough to keep us engaged."
Akane smiled
suddenly, "Ranma, I've got an idea, and it might make
it easier for you as
well."
Ranma looked up at Akane, "What is it?"
"Well, it
would require you..."
***
"WHAAATTTT!"
Everyone in the
main room turned towards the dojo, Soun and Genma
about to go out their
when Kasumi diverted their attention, "Here you go!
More beer and Sake!"
No more sound was heard coming from the dojo, so the two men went
back
to their drinking.
Nabiki was looking at the guidebook in the
meantime. Her studies
on economics and business required her to take
several forms of Chinese
writing, and what she was reading was interesting.
If anything, some of
the information contained within would be profitable,
at least if she
could find some way to exploit it. Besides, she didn't
quite trust
'uncle' Saotome yet, as their father insisted they call Genma.
Kasumi was glad that things were going so well. She had
fully
expected a blow up to take place, given how angry the children were.
It
was fortunate that they were talking, and now it was time to come up
with
a way to make Ranma more comfortable, not only at home, but with life
in
general. The girl had certainly spent too much time with her father,
and
she was not too glad of that. There was so much that she would have
to
teach her.
Everyone looked up as Ranma and Akane came back into
the house
holding hands and giggling. Seeing their family, they sobered up
and then
sat down at the table.
Akane looked around, "We've decided
to keep the engagement, at
least for now, but there are certain
conditions."
Soun and Genma nodded. It wasn't usual, but not
unexpected.
Ranma turned to the two of them, "One: I get my own
room, and
that means that I do not share that room with my father."
"Two: If Ranma and I are engaged, we are to conduct the engagement
as we
see fit, without interference from you."
"Three: We have the final
say on weather or not we get married, or
when."
"Four: If we
decide to do something, it's our decision, not yours
to influence or
change."
"Five: If Akane and I do get married, it will be after we
finish
school."
"Six: Ranma gets to stay here for the next five
years, even if we
throw his father out."
They turned to each other
and nodded and said together, "That's
it. Accept it or the engagement is
over."
Soun was so-so on the terms. There seemed to be something
wrong
with them that he couldn't figure out, other than the part about
Genma.
"How about we take a couple of days to think it over?"
Kasumi wasn't about to let the two old men disrupt the children's
lives
more than absolutely necessary. She had too much work to do, "Well,
they
are perfectly reasonable requests father. I don't think it's asking
too
much."
Ranma frown as well, "And the offer is only good for the
next
three minutes."
Genma sighed, "I will agree to those terms."
Soun looked uneasy but also agreed.
The two girls looked at
each other. They had prepared for an
argument so were pleasantly surprised
that things had gone so easy. Part
one of their plan was a
success.
***
An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2 - Chapter 3
Monday morning.
Usually mornings are a time to be happy, to glory
in the renewal
of the heat and light that brings life to the planet, warms
the skin, and
strength to the heart. It is time to look above, and see the
birds
trilling in concert, making nature all that more amazing for some of
it
to have survived in the jungle of concrete and the sea of pollution
that
was the modern city of Tokyo. The renewal of life should have been
what
mattered most.
It was a little different for people in the
Nerima district however.
Here, especially for those who lived
around or near Furinkan
High, or had sons or daughters going there, it was
a time to pray to the
Kami for the deliverance of souls and property.
Since the start of the school year, the number of disturbances
coming
from that school had been growing until there was a constant fight
going on
every morning. Most people tried to live with it, being Asian,
and being
Japanese meant that one had to accept all things, since that
Karma was
involved. It did not help to try to change Karma, it would
eventually
affect you in ways worse than could be imagined.
Of course, given
that almost every child always wanted to go to
school, this was good.
Given that Japanese are extremely stubborn when
they get an idea in their
head, it was extremely bad. For the parents of
boys, it was a nightmare.
While the boys that were going to go to school started to
prepare
themselves mentally and physically, the girls were rushing to
finish up
everything they could in order to get a good viewpoint for the
morning
festivities. Mondays were always the days when the worst of the
fighting
took place, all thanks to Kuno Tatewaki.
An Alternate History of
Ranma 1/2:
Chapter Three:
How did I let myself be...
A fan fiction based
on Takahashi Rumiko's Manga series, Ranma 1/2
Saotome Ranma, Saotome
Genma, Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo Soun,
Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki,
Kuonji Ukyou, Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan, Shampoo,
Moose, Kuno Tatewaki, Kuno
Kodachi, and Hinako Sensei are copyright 1987,
1996 by Takahashi
Rumiko.
Publishing rights:
Japan: Shogakukan Inc. Tokyo
Hong
Kong: Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North America: Viz Inc.
By
Ichinohei Hitomi
At the Tendo School of Indiscriminate Grappling,
there were two
people who had woken up before the rest of the household.
Akane and Ranma were still having fun, after having spent most of
the
night in Ranma's new room giggling quietly, as they made plans and
decided
what to do. It was amazing, but everyone else had left them
alone after
their fathers had given into their agreement, the old men
celebrating all
into the night, congratulating each other on the success
of the engagement.
For them it was time to initiate step two in their plan.
"Are you
sure this will work?" Ranma whispered to Akane, looking
into the full
length mirror in the Tendo girl's room.
"It should Ranma," Akane
whispered back, "After all, if this
works, the engagement should be
dissolved by our fathers and we'll still
be able to remain friends."
"I'm still not sure I should be doing this, or even considering
this."
Ranma muttered.
Akane looked at Ranma, "Do you want to be traveling
around
again? Going from place to place without really knowing anyone?"
Ranma sighed, "No. This is the first time I'll have a...a place
where
I know I don't have to leave in a little while. It..It's nice to
think
that."
Akane smirked. "Then don't dawdle. We've got a lot to do
and it
will be impossible to get done if our fathers catch us at this."
Sighing, Ranma followed Akane out of her room, grabbing the
briefcase
on the way out. "It's just that I'm uncomfortable wearing
girls
clothes..."
***
Ranma began walking on the fence as they started
towards the
restaurant, determined to have some time to themselves without
any of
their family around. "So, what's the first thing we have to do?
Won't
changing the registration be difficult?"
Akane smiled,
looking up at the pig-tailed girl and amazed at her
balance. "Not really,
we have to visit the doctor first and get you a
full check up."
Ranma shrugged, "That's all? It doesn't sound all that difficult."
Akane smiled to herself, wondering how much Ranma actually knew
about the
differences between boys and girls. True she had originally
started out as
a boy, but she seemed extremely ignorant of certain facts
of life. Of
course, given that she hadn't even been a girl for a month
yet might have
something to do with it. Ranma would learn a lot about a
physical as a
girl this morning. Boy was she ever in for a surprise.
"Well, I also have
to call the school and arrange for them to tell the
store to have a few
school uniforms ready for you, and we have to do some
shopping and other
things this morning, but that's about all."
Shrugging her
shoulders, Ranma leapt down beside Akane and they
walked over to the
restaurant. "I have a few questions about that
Akane. The most important
one being are there uniforms with pants?"
Akane looked at Ranma for
a second. "What type of school did you
go to before to ask a question like
that?"
Ranma looked back at Akane. "An all boys school. Why?"
Akane's expression became one of almost intense surprise, and
shock.
"You mean you've never been to an ordinary school?"
***
Nabiki
had woken up surly. If it wasn't for her father and
uncle, not to mention
the two giggling idiots, she would have had a long
lovely sleep. As it
was, she was in no mood to face what had happened.
At least with Akane
taken, there might be a chance that some of the boys
in school would look
at her. Examining herself in the mirror, she fixed
up some spots on the
makeup she was wearing. It was almost invisible,
but the school wouldn't
allow the students to wear too much.
Sighing a bit, she grabbed her
briefcase and went downstairs to
get breakfast. She was a little surprised
to see that Kasumi and her
were the only ones there. "Where's Akane and
Ranma?"
Kasumi smiled, "Oh, they already left for school. Their
note
said that they were eating out."
Nabiki rolled her eyes, "One
day, and they've already started
dating. I was sure that the two of them
would have been fighting it out
somewhere by now." She then narrowed her
eyes in thought, "Although
getting out of the house and to the school
before the boys can gather is
a good idea.
Kasumi smiled
innocently, "Before what boys gather Nabiki-chan?"
Nabiki stared at
Kasumi, she knew how violent Akane could get,
and the fact that she
complained about boys all the time. Hadn't she
been told about the fights
every morning? "Uh...Nothing. It's just that
the boys have been trying to
interest Akane in them for some time now.
With Akane having a fiancee
however, I think that might calm down some."
Kasumi made a show of
putting on a small frown, "I should hope
so! it isn't seemly for an
engaged woman to be pursued by suitors."
Nabiki looked at Kasumi,
not knowing what to make of this.
"Ahh...Right Oneechan. I'm sure it will
calm down."
Kasumi turned and went back to the kitchen, smiling at
herself.
There, one thought planted, and knowing Nabiki, she would
unconsciously
carryout her wishes concerning Akane. Although Nabiki
thought Kasumi was
oblivious or ignorant to things around her, it was an
act she put on to
make sure that everyone would be able to be happy. While
she could play
the wise elder sister, the ignorant act happened to be one
where she
could easily influence others concerning important matters.
After all,
Kasumi was quite aware of all the manipulations that Nabiki
pulled to
supplement the income from the dojo.
***
Akane was
sitting across from a rather angry Ranma, who was
grumbling a lot while
eating her meal. "Ranma , it's not that bad.
After all, you have to get
used to wearing skirts and dresses if you're
going to be living as a
girl."
Ranma shot a look at Akane that could have drilled
through
concrete. "Oh yeah. Sure! Wonderful! I have to wear a stupid
dress to
pull this off. First I lose my manhood, get stuck in an
engagement I
don't want, and now I have to look like a cute girl who's all
sweet and
innocent." She grumbled a bit more. "Why didn't you tell me
this last
night?"
Akane giggled, "I told you last night that you
would be
impersonating and learning how to be a girl in order for our plan
to
work. After all, our parents can't force two girls to marry."
Ranma groused a bit louder, "I think I'd almost be willing to
accept the
engagement if that is what I have to do to get out of it."
Amused,
Akane looked at what Ranma was wearing. The young
pig-tailed girl had put
on an oversized Chinese shirt with cloth buttons
and a black ankle tied
pants. On her arms she had on wrist guards and
she had allowed Akane to
add a touch of makeup. Not much, just some
blush and lipstick, but it was
enough to make her face seem more
feminine. It had taken some convincing
to get Ranma to wear even that
much however.
"Look Ranma, you don't
want to get a reputation as a tomboy now,
do you?"
Ranma looked at
Akane for a moment, a bit startled at the thought
that she would be
considered a tomboy. After all, she was a boy, or at
least when there was
hot water around. "What's wrong with that?"
Akane rolled her eyes,
"Great! I'm going to be engaged to a
tomboy! Do you have any idea how
much girls go through to be pretty?"
Ranma looked at Akane, "Oh
com'on, it can't be all that much.
After all, you hardly did anything
different to me other than putting on
that lipstick and powder."
Akane mused for a second putting a hand under Ranma's chin and
turning her
head from side to side, contemplating something. "Not that
much huh? Now I
know you're a tomboy. Ah well. I guess we won't be in
school by
midmorning like I originally planned."
Ranma started to get nervous
and a bead of sweat started down the
side of her face.
***
If one
thing could be said of Monday mornings, it was that all
the boys in school
arrived at least half an hour before they had to be in
class.
Unfortunately, none of the schools sports, music, theatre, or
other
programs had the benefit of this massed male audience. They were
all
waiting for one person to arrive.
All the girls had also arrived at
school early on Mondays as
well, not so that they could have a day off from
the boys, but to see
them beaten up, thrown into trees, over the stone wall
surrounding the
schoolyard, or otherwise being extremely foolish.
It was literally a day for the girls.
Of course, the teachers
bemoaned the fact that a lot of their
students were being carried into the
school on stretchers at the
beginning of every week.
As usual for
Furinkan, there were boys everywhere in the
schoolyard, waiting for the
view of the girl they expected to be coming
down the street that led right
to the gates of Furinkan High School.
Although they didn't know how, that
one girl, the strongest, most violent
one had become their icon, their goal
in life. She was the one which all
the boys in school had to defeat, if
only to say that they did so.
It did help that they also thought
that she was one of the most
beautiful girls in the school.
It also
didn't matter to them that Tendo Akane stated that she
hated boys, or that
she showed an extreme dislike to members of the male
of the species, all
that mattered was gaining the chance to ask her out.
And since none
of the boys paid attention to the other girls in
the school, the girls
naturally were routing for Akane.
Unfortunately, they would be
disappointed on this particular morning...
***
Akane's mood was
slowly changing from good to rotten as a bad
tempered Ranma trailed along
behind her. *If it wasn't one thing with
that girl it's another!* she
thought as she was going to Tofu-Sensei's
clinic. *I need something to
snap her out of this. Imagine! Thinking
that she's actually a boy.*
Akane grimaced suddenly, remembering that despite the fact that
Ranma was
obviously female now, not more that two hours before she had
been male.
She needed something to make Ranma accept being female, at
least for the
next little while. Besides, as a girl, Ranma seemed to be
less of a threat
somehow and more of a friend.
"Akane, do we have to go looking for
new clothes right away? I
mean, couldn't we wait a few days until a letter
from the school arrives
and then go next week?"
That did it! She
would have to teach that uncute tomboy how to
be more feminine, and if
that...Akane smiled suddenly, "Ranma, I bet
you're not up to a challenge."
Ranma looked at the back of Akane's head, "Up to a challenge?
Of
course I'm up to a challenge. I can take on anything and anyone and
win.
You saw how I defeated you yesterday in the Dojo!"
Akane smiled,
not turning to Ranma, she HAD read her right. The
pig-tailed girl was
unable to resist a fight or challenge, and that meant
that Ranma would be
easy to fool and manipulate. "Oh, I don't know.
Martial arts is one thing,
it's quite another to have real self control."
*Not have self
control?* Ranma fumed to herself. *I have self
control, lots of self
control, not that an idiot like Akane would realize
that, of course. She's
too concerned with making me into little miss
homemaker in order for us to
get out of that damn engagement. I'll show
her!*
Ranma stopped,
pulling on Akane's hand to stop her as well.
"OK! That's it! Let make a
bet right now on how much self control I have!"
Akane turned to
Ranma and frowned slightly, "Well, if you're
sure...I mean I'm bound to win
this bet if I make up the terms, and
you're bound to lose. I don't want
any hard feeling between us."
Ranma grunted, "Oh! So you're
backing out are you? I don't
believe it, here you say I have no self
control, and now you're backing
down from that statement."
*Gotcha!* Akane thought to herself as she said, "OK then, If I
win, I get
to do to you whatever I want for a month!"
Ranma responded, "And
_when_ I win, you'll...you'll...you'll
treat me to a dinner at a restaurant
of my choice every Saturday evening
for one month!" Ranma smirked, *Heh!
I'm sure to win, and I don't want
her going broke. A little Saotome Style
eating should disillusion her
from betting with me again.*
Akane
pretended to narrow her eyes in anger, "You're on! Here's
the deal, you
_dress_ and _act_ as a feminine young girl for one week,
even so far as
sleeping and bathing, and I will concede defeat. If you
fail in _any_ way,
you lose. Agreed or are you backing out before you
begin?"
Ranma
stuck out her hand, "Agreed!"
Akane shook the shorter girls hand,
*Ranma, you'll lose as soon
as Tofu-Sensei begins the main part of the
exam...*
***
"Say Nabiki is Akane sick or something?" one of the
girls
standing by the window asked as she looked down into the schoolyard.
"No, why?"
"She hasn't shown up yet and beaten up the
boys."
Nabiki smirked. She had been expecting this, so had not
even
bothered going over to the window. "It's not that surprising, she
left
early this morning."
The girls started to gather around
Nabiki's desk, "What
happened? Did she finally decide to avoid the boys or
something?"
Smiling serenely, Nabiki thought of what would be
happening when
the school got hold of the news that her little sister was
no longer
available. All of the boys in the school were going to be
disappointed
while all of the girls in the school were going to be happy.
She herself
might be able to finally get a guy interested in her for
herself, not
what she could do for him. "No, she just went out for an
early breakfast
with her fiancee."
"Fiancee!!"
"When did
she get engaged?"
"Who is he?"
"Is he cute?"
"Can
he fight since Akane likes to do that?"
"How old is he?"
"I
thought Akane hated boys?"
Nabiki chuckled to herself, "One at a
time! I'll answer all your
questions, but you have to remember something.
With Akane taken, that
means that the boys will be able to concentrate on
us."
Several of the girls eyes lit up as they thought of that.
For
the first time since the start of the school year, something might
go
right for them. Despite what happened the year before, this year
they
hadn't succeeded in getting any dates. The boys were either
not
interested or too banged up to go anywhere.
One girl however
still wanted her question answered. "I still
think it's strange. After
all, everyone knows how much your sister hates
boys."
Nabiki
scowled at the girl. "That's true Kyoko, but she still
got engaged last
night." she smirked suddenly at the thought, "But
perhaps there's
something different about this fiancee that she likes."
Mika looked
at Nabiki, "What's so different about her fiancee?"
"Oh nothing
much, although I think that will wait until lunch.
Besides, you should ask
her when you see her, I don't want to give too
many things away."
"Please Nabiki-Sempai?"
Nabiki looked at the girls surrounding her
desk, "Ok, I'll say
this much about Saotome Ranma. Ranma is a martial
artist of the same
type of school as my family, has been traveling for
years, even to China,
and perhaps beyond, and somehow managed to get my
sister to agree to
marriage in the space of twenty minutes."
All
the girls in the room started to murmur about what type of
man the 'Ranma'
could possibly be. It was already surprising that Akane
had agreed to get
married, but for someone to convince her in twenty
minutes? He had to be
some sort of deity, or as close to one as mortals
could get.
The
rumour spread through the school like wildfire...
***
Tofu-Sensei
looked at the girls who had just walked into his
clinic, immediately
recognizing one of them. "You're in early today
Akane-chan. What
happened, did you get hurt again?"
Ranma looked at Akane for a
second, "Again? I take it you come
here often."
Akane blushed
slightly, "Umm...Yeah...Sorta...Anyway..."
Even though Ranma had
only been a girl a short time, even she
could notice the expression on
Akane's face. The blush she had was
threatening to spread to her neck, and
she was now being extremely shy.
Looking at the Sensei and then back to
Akane, she thought, *So that's who
it is!*
Akane in the meantime,
gathered herself from the shy girl she
usually was around Tofu-Sensei and
said, "We came here to get a full
physical exam if you have time Sensei.
Ranma just moved here recently,
and she hasn't been to the doctors in a
long time. I need to stay with
her to be sure she gets things done, as
well as making sure that a copy
of this exam goes with her to the school."
Tofu looked at the two girls. While he didn't show it, he was
a
very experienced martial artist, one who's training had taken a
few
unusual turns over the years. He had not only been trained by his
father
in their Dojo, but also but several of the best acupuncturists
and
moxibustionist in the trade. Accordingly, he had also studied the body
a
lot more and had become familiar with some of the most unusual sets
of
pressure points and techniques that the human body had or could
sustain.
He could also see that while the two of them were not exactly
lying,
there was more to it than they were telling.
"OK, suppose we
get you into examining room two. You can wait
out here Akane-chan until
you're needed."
Akane looked at the Sensei, "Uh...Could I borrow
your phone for a
while, I need to talk to the school and inform them that
we will be late
for classes."
"Of course Akane-chan." He then led
the pig tailed girl into the
examining room, "Now young lady, what is your
na..."
Akane was glad that the door had closed behind the
Sensei,
especially since she had a lot of feelings for him. She still
didn't
know why she acted like that around him, especially when she already
knew
that the Sensei had feelings for her eldest sister. He liked her,
sure,
but only as a little girl, not as a woman. Still, she could
dream...
Sighing, she lifted the phone and made the call to the
school's
administration office that would set everything in motion.
***
Furinkan High's secretary was in a rather good mood this
particular
morning, considering that the usual team of Emergency Services
Training
Personnel that were usually in attendance to assist the schools
medical
staff had left without having to attend to a single patient. It
was
wonderful not having to call all those parents with the report that
their
son had just been injured for trying to assault a young woman.
That in
itself was rather pleasant, as it meant there was less risk of
the Police
Service being called to handle such incidents.
Not that Police
Service had paid much attention to high schools
other than to try to keep
down property damage in the past several years.
It was a
surprising, but little known fact outside of Japan that
high schools were
some of the most violent places in the country. It was
not in the way that
North Americans thought of danger, considering the
dearth of guns and other
weapons of mass destruction, but rather in how
the students took it upon
themselves to try to challenge and battle with
one another. In many
places, such attacks could happen without any
warning, although an effort
was made so that the opponents could fight at
an equal level of skill.
It was the way a warrior race, still not quite done with older
forms of
honour, survived.
Of course, the educators did their best to make
sure that no
reporters who were not raised in the Japanese way found out
about it.
The few times that it had been found out and reported by the news
media
from other countries, it had been dismissed as a complete joke. That
was
one advantage of all the Manga and Anime stories that had
finally
trickled into the markets of other countries; Those countries
thought it
was a publicity stunt for a new show or movie.
<beep>
Looking towards the phone on her desk, she was surprised to
actually
hear it ring for a change. So often on Mondays, the phones in
the office
were tied up as calls were made to the local doctors,
hospitals, and
parents. It was actually _rare_ that someone would phone
the school in the
morning.
"Moshi Moshi! Furinkan high school."
"Good
morning, Natume-san. It's Tendo Akane, and I'm just
calling to inform you
that I will be away this morning escorting a new
person living at my
house."
"OK, Akane. I was wondering why you weren't in school."
"Umm...Well, I also need to talk with a councilor about her, and
her
school record. She'll be attending the school with me, and after the
exam,
I was going to take her to get a few school uniforms."
"Ok, I'll
see if Morisato-Sensei is free. She should be able to
help you with any
problems."
"Thank you very much."
"No problem, just a
second." Natsume Sayoko said and put Akane
on hold. She then pressed a
button on the intercom.
"Moshi Moshi!"
"Morisato-Sensei,
Tendo Akane is on line one for you."
"Thank you, Natsume-san. I'll
take it right away."
Sayoko sat back in her chair. *So that's why
it was so quiet
this morning...*
***
All the boys who had come
back in after waiting for Akane to show
up were stunned when they heard
what the girls were babbling about. They
didn't normally listen to what
the girls said, most of them not being
interested in talking or learning
about peoples feelings, but as soon as
they heard Akane's name mentioned,
they became concerned. Not that their
concern lasted much longer than a
few seconds after they heard the news.
In a rather interesting way,
the types of devastation, and the
reactions it provoked throughout the
school ranged from good nature to anger:
Among the boxers in the
school, it was felt that they should have
faced whoever it was that won
Akane's heart before he stole her away from
them.
For the football
players, they were cheerful, even good natured
although they privately
wished to face a team in order to obliterate
them. The violence that
football fans showed in Europe would have seemed
pleasant by comparison to
what they wanted to do. Of course, they were
too gentlemanly to ever
really do that to opponents.
The Kendo team wasn't so happy about
the situation. While they
did want to go out with Akane, and they had
never defeated her, the fact
that she was a martial artist who could face
them bare handed was enough
for them to virtually worship her in their own
way. They did wish her
the best, and if someone won her heart, so be it.
Unfortunately, they
also feared the wrath of the Captain of the team.
Of course, Tatewaki's reaction was not only the most predictable,
but the
loudest in the school when he heard about it. He had already
changed back
from his Gi top and Hakama into his school uniform when he
first heard the
rumour. He had asked the girls what they were talking
about, and each one
of them refused to answer him. If he wanted answers,
he would have to go
to Nabiki in order to get them.
He knew, of course, that this might
cost him some money, although
he was not very concerned about it at that
moment. If dealing with
Nabiki's habits was the price to pay for getting
the necessary
information, he would pay it. However, just to make sure, he
checked his
wallet before he went into class.
Since he sat next to
Nabiki in class, he had no problem in
talking to her. "Nabiki-chan. I
would speak with you about Akane-chan.
What has happened to her that she
would not show up for school on this day?"
Nabiki looked over at
Kuno and smiled to herself, not that she
let that show on her face. Kuno
was not only somewhat handsome, he was
also rich, his family having
transferred much of the money to each
succeeding generation upon
engagements and marriages. Of course, they
were also one of the families
that had taken advantage of placing money
in Swiss bank accounts before the
current tax laws had gone into effect.
While never directly owned by the
Kuno family in Japan, their overseas
fortunes were quite lucrative. The
proviso being that they were only
inheritable outside of the country.
That would be something that Nabiki could work with. Of course,
if she
were to have Kuno to herself, then she would need to discourage
him from
pursuing Akane, and in that case, Kasumi was right. "What would
you like
to know Kuno-chan?"
"I would know what has happened to keep her
fairness from these
hallowed halls."
"She got engaged last night."
"WHHAAATTTT!" Kuno screamed upon hearing that, "I will brook no
one
engaging such a beauty as Akane-chan as long as I am around. What is
the
name of the knave who dares such travesty."
Nabiki sighed to
herself. She should have expected this, but
then again, they may be more
than one way to stop Kuno, especially if
Ranma could fight as well as
Akane. "The name is Saotome Ranma, and I
don't think you can stop he-him
from marrying Akane. Not only did our
parents arrange it, but they agreed
to it themselves. The honour of both
families is at stake."
Kuno
continued, not even hearing what Nabiki had said after
Ranma's name. "I
shall defeat this insect, this one who dares stand in
the way of one willed
by the Kami to be greater than other mortals!"
Nabiki took this in
without changing the expression on her face.
*Perhaps it would be better if
I just dealed him out of the family
fortune...*
***
"Good morning
Akane-chan" Morisato-Sensei said as she prepared
herself for whatever
problems may have been happening. "What can I do
for you this morning?"
"Sensei, I will be out for the morning settling a new member of
my
family into the household. We are currently at Tofu-Sensei's clinic
where
she is undergoing a full examination. I was wondering if you could
contact
the uniform store and inform them that we will be coming in this
morning to
pick up a selection of school uniforms for her."
Morisato Keiko
smiled slightly. Akane, while a bit stubborn, was
a good student and could
be allowed this lax. It wasn't as though she
looked for excuses to skip
classes, and she did attempt to do all she
could, despite the problems she
had dealing with the boys. "That would
be fine Akane-chan. I do need to
know the name of this new member of the
household if I am to facsimile a
document over to the store.
"Her name is Saotome Ranma, Sensei."
"Just a second while I pull up her records. Is she already
registered
with the school?"
"She should be. Her records may be a little out
of date however
as she has just come back from a rather long training
trip."
Keiko looked at the record that had just popped up on
her
screen. Saotome seemed to be a fair student, good in athletics from
the
note on her transcript. The boys school he was last at...
"Akane, are you sure Saotome is a girl?"
"Yes Sensei."
Keiko checked the system to see if there was a fault at her end,
and then
sent to check if there was another Saotome Ranma elsewhere in
the National
database, just in case she had received the wrong file.
Apparently not,
because the name was rather unique. Of course, how many
parents would name
their child 'Wild Horse.' "Akane, according to this
record, Ranma is a
young man, sixteen years of age."
"I was hoping we could sit down
with you this afternoon and
discuss that Sensei. There are some things
that you need to know, such
as she was raised as a boy."
Keiko
noted the nervousness on the other side of the line.
"Akane, Ranma isn't
one of those boys who have been changing gender is
he? If that is the
case, special dispensation can be made, and a
specialized school uniform
can be created."
She heard Akane giggle over the phone, "No Sensei,
she's
definitely female, although she sometimes doesn't act like it.
Her
father raised her as though she was his son so she's a bit of a
tomboy.
Other than her behaviour, she is completely female.
"OK,
Akane. As soon as the two of you arrive at school however,
I would like to
see you in my office. We will need to discuss several
things and one of
them is the matter of these passed school records."
Keiko heard a scream in
the background.
"Ahhh...I have to go Sensei, something's happened
to Ranma."
With that the phone went off the line and Keiko was left
to muse
to herself. If this was something unusual, she could handle it.
After
all, her family was still ninja, and such training, especially in
this
school, came in handy. She would have to see what she could do, but
in
the meantime, she would open up a new folder.
***
Akane
grinned to herself. She had been expecting that scream to
becoming sooner
or later. Ranma hadn't known that a full exam included
breast examination
for Cancer. Nor did she realize that later there
would be a gynecological
examination. From the reaction of that scream,
Ranma had just lost with
just the breast exam.
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO YOU HENTAI!"
Composing herself, Akane strode into the room, "What's all the
shouting
about Ranma?"
Tofu-Sensei was looking a bit startled, but calm.
"I was giving
Ranma a breast exam when she shouted. I don't know why
however, unless
she is having her period."
Ranma looked startled,
not able to say a word, much less comment
after she heard that. It was
infuriating! She hadn't even been a girl a
month yet, and men were groping
her. The words then penetrated her brain
and she exclaimed, suddenly
curious. "You mean that's a normal part of
the exam?"
Akane
giggled, "Ranma, how long has it been since you've been to
the doctors?"
Ranma thought for a second, "About seven or eight years. Why?"
Tofu looked at the girl, now realizing what was wrong. She had
been
raised in the older country ways which included not going to the
doctors
for yearly exams. It was dying as everyone grew used to the new
industrial
Japan, but the attitude still existed. "It's a normal part of
the exam,
Ranma. Before I go any further, I think I better have a talk
with you."
He took out a note sheet and added it to the file he had started
on
Ranma. OK Ranma, the first thing I am going to do to you is give you
a
booster shot of immunizations. It doesn't hurt to be sure, and
those
immunizations are important. Also I'm going to have to exam you
entire
body, including your vagina, so I need to know if you are having
your
period."
Ranma was now confused, looking both at Akane and the
Sensei.
"What's a period?"
***
After the examination was over,
Ranma was feeling a bit woozy.
Not from the immunizations, but the other
more...embarrassing things that
she had to go through, not to mention the
utterly scary talk that she had
with the Sensei. She shuddered to think of
what would have happened if
she had started to bleed as the Sensei had
said, without any experience
to help her. Not only that, but some of that
talk had been disgusting,
and that photo book the Sensei had shown her
about diseases...
One thing was for sure, she would DEFINITELY
avoid having sex.
"What's the matter Ranma?" Akane asked,
seemingly unconcerned
about what had happened.
"What's the matter?!
I just went through what amounted to hell,
especially with that cold
object....ARRGGGHHHH! Do women have to go
though that often?"
Akane turned back to her friend, taking the smaller girls hand in
her own.
"About once a year Ranma. It's nothing to be worried about.
Besides, you
already lost the bet."
"Huh! What are you talking about?"
"You do have to admit that you didn't act particularly feminine
inside of
the clinic."
Ranma fumed. Akane was right, she had lost the bet.
She hadn't
lost like this since...Since when? She didn't remember a time
when she
had ever lost. "Ok, I admit I lost. How about we go double or
nothing."
"Are you sure about that Ranma? I mean you didn't even
last a
couple of hours, are you sure you want to risk it?"
"I'm
sure. Do we have a bet?"
Akane smiled to herself, "We have a
bet!"
*Ranma. You just don't know when to quit, and now you are
going
to end up being a nice feminine girl for at least the next two
months...*
***
Kuno was standing out in the hall, holding a fire
bucket of water
in each hand. This he could do easily, even tune out his
mind to the
drudgery of holding the buckets. After all, this was similar
to some of
the exercises done by Kendo practitioners in order to strengthen
there
limbs and increase their endurance. In fact, this time he had a
good
point to focus on, face of his beloved Akane and the foul person
named
Ranma who had spirited her away from the school.
*Wherever
you are Saotome, I promise that you will feel my
wrath. You are unworthy
of such a beautiful, adoring woman. The only
one who deserves such is
myself or another whom the Kami have smiled
upon. I shall defeat you and
take the precious Akane away from your foul
grasp!*
As he stood
there, he began going over the variou Kata in his
mind, shifting away from
the practices used by Kendo and over to the
practices used by Kenjutsu.
He was going to make sure Saotome didn't come away from their
encounter
intact.
***
An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2 - Chapter 4
If
there was anything that could get a smile out of people, it was
the two
girls walking down the street towards the clothing stores.
It was
easy to tell which school the one leading the way was from.
After all,
every school in Japan had registered uniforms for there school
that were
accessible from the central database. Of course, most people
would have
recognized Akane without the Furinkan high uniform because of
the fact that
she jogged this way often. As far as everyone was
concerned, she was a
nice, kind girl who could get a little impulsive
about some things.
The shorter one with highlights in her hair they couldn't place.
They
assumed the girl must be from China, given the clothing she was
wearing,
and the way she was walking. Of course, she didn't look very
happy, and
was obviously not in a good mood, but she was cute.
If a Westerner
had been listening in on their conversation, they
would have been extremely
surprised at the content.
"Ya'know Akane, That Sensei is scary."
Ranma grumbled to her
companion as they went towards the uniform
outfitters. "I mean that book
he had of..." she shuddered as remembered
scenes of human bodies went
through her head. "Isn't that a bit extreme?"
Akane looked over to Ranma, giggling slightly, "Well, you do have
to
admit, it is a good warning, and those pictures are accurate."
"Akane! Those pictures were disgusting, and those...those
lesions..."
"Are you thinking of having sex Ranma?"
A queasy look settled on
the pig-tailed girls face. "Not if I can
help it. If that's what sex does
to you, I don't think I ever want to
experience it."
Akane
shrugged, "Well, that could be both good and bad. Sex isn't
all bad,
that's just the worst case scenario. Besides, do you want to
have sex
before you're married?"
Ranma snorted, "No way! Even before that
book I wasn't
considering having sex anytime soon. I mean, I'm still
young, and there's
lots to learn."
Akane turned a thoughtful look
at Ranma, "That's true. I guess I
underestimated you Ranma, I thought
you'd be like the other boys."
Ranma stopped and looked at Akane,
"Whoa! Whadaya mean like the
other boys?"
Akane sighed and started
walking again, "Well, boys seem to have
the strangest ideas of what a girl
wants and is like, and they only seem
to think with one part of their
anatomy. I mean, have you ever been
swarmed by a set of boys who only want
to get into your panties?"
Ranma guffawed a bit, "I sort of grew up
on the opposite side of
that Akane. Besides, boys think with their head,
they just get controlled
by their hormones. It's not their fault that they
seem to have less
resistance to that sort of stuff than the girls. After
all, a boy's
hormones cause physical changes to occur without them being
conscious of
it."
Akane shook her head, "You really have a lot to
learn about boys
then. Despite the fact that you grew up being extremely
macho, I think a
lot of things were left out of your education by traveling
around so much.
I'm not sure, but that might be a good thing in this
regard. Of course,
your new situation now might have changed a few things
about how your body
works."
Ranma looked puzzled for a second,
"Well, according to the doctor,
I'll experience what every girl does now.
I'll have to get used to that
while I'm a girl I guess."
"That's
not exactly what I'm talking about."
"Then what are you talking
about?"
Akane looked at Ranma, "We'll talk about that later. but,
well,
being on this side is a lot different and it's important for you to
learn
about how the boys react to girls. There are a lot of disadvantages
to
being a girl. The good thing is that you'll pick up a lot of new
defense
techniques, although you will have to discourage the more
persistent ones,
possibly even going so far as breaking their bones, and
then there's the
fact that..."
Ranma stopped in her tracks.
"Uh-huh! No way! I'm going back to
being male and going to school as a
male!"
Akane looked at Ranma, "Then you concede the bet?"
"Yeah, I concede, just let me out...." he suddenly remembered the
terms of
the bet. "WAIT A MINUTE!!!"
Akane smirked at the suddenly trapped
Ranma, who had realized that
she dug herself in a hole with that bet.
"Come on Ranma, the store is
only three doors away."
An Alternate History
of Ranma 1/2:
Chapter Four:
If this is how I have to get an
education...
A fan fiction based on Takahashi Rumiko's Manga series, Ranma
1/2
Saotome Ranma, Saotome Genma, Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo
Soun,
Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki, Kuonji Ukyou, Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan,
Shampoo,
Mousse, Kuno Tatewaki, Kuno Kodachi, Tofu-Sensei, and Hinako
Sensei are
copyright 1987, 1996 by Takahashi Rumiko.
Morisato Keiko, and
Natsume Sayoko are copyright 1996 by Ichinohei Hitomi
Publishing
rights:
Japan: Shogakukan Inc. Tokyo
Hong Kong:
Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North America: Viz Inc.
By Ichinohei Hitomi
"This isn't really fair Akane! You never told me any of
these
things last night _OR_ when we made the bet."
Calming
herself, Akane looked at Ranma for a moment, wondering if
being so
manipulative had been such a good idea. She felt sort of guilty
for taking
advantage of her new friend like that but the alternative,
well, it was
something they both wanted out of. "Ranma, even though I
never told you,
you have a choice. Either we become engaged against our
will, or we go
through with this plan."
Ranma looked down, grumbling even more
under her breath. What she
was saying was almost totally inaudible, except
for statements like 'idiot
father', but she followed Akane into the shop.
It had been stupid of her
to listen to Akane the night before. She had
made a set of agreements
with her, and now, by her own actions, she was
trapped. *I'm never gonna
agree with her when I'm half asleep again. Who
knows what I might agree
to?*
Akane grabbed Ranma's hand. "Now the
first thing we need is
lingerie."
Ranma stiffened, *LINGERIE!?!?!
IS SHE NUTS?*
***
If it was possible for Kuno's head to retain
more than a few
things at a time, or he devoted as much of himself to
schoolwork as he did
Kendo, or his ego, then he may well have been at the
top of the class. As
it was, he was positioned in the lower half of the
class. It was not a
good position for him to be in considering that his
father was a Sensei,
and technically headmaster of Furinkan.
Of
course, he hadn't seen his father in almost five years, his
father having
taken off to America in order to get citizenship status.
Not that Kuno
missed him. If truth be known, Kuno would have liked to
have his dear
sister poison the old bastard.
As far as he was concerned, his
father was a crazed nut, who cared
only about shaving peoples heads and
humiliating anyone and everyone.
There wasn't a shred of decency in the
man, nor was there any compassion.
Those emotions had been swept away by
the madness that claimed his father
after his mothers death so long ago.
What happened hadn't been kind, and
in the place of a pillar of the
community was a facade.
Kuno had grown up as what North Americans
would consider an abused
child. His father treated him as a plaything,
keeping his head shaved,
and heaping a lot of guilt upon the young
Tatewaki. He had been the rock
upon which his family members had depended
and it had changed him and his
personality.
A large part of what he
was had to do with Giri. His family came
first and foremost even if they
did hurt him a lot. What was even worse
was that he could never openly
acknowledge that hurt. To protect himself
he built up his ego and told
himself that the trials he faced were given
by the Kami to temper him into
something stronger.
Up to that point he had handled the financial
holdings of his
family, making investments, being with a few good friends,
and searching
for a way to make his father well. One of the few people he
told of this
was Nabiki who had faced something similar in her life when
her mother had
died. The two of them got along, forging a destiny based on
the hardships
in their life.
Everything was fine until his younger
sister started to show signs
of the same mental instability.
When
that happened, things started to become too much for
Tatewaki. Already an
avowed Kendoist, he became more and more fascinated
by the wooden practice
sword in his hand. He continued to go after
imaginary targets with it,
imagining himself in the place of his Samurai
ancestors as the burdens he
faced grew harder and harder. He eventually
subsumed himself into a
fantasy world in order to survive, his only point
of contact with the real
world being Nabiki.
It was no wonder he thought of himself as being
the only one
deserving of any possible chance of love. Of a strong woman
who could
survive. Of one with little chance of going mad, for that is
what he
feared would happen to him deep down.
So for him to be
concentrating on what he would do, how he would
embarrass his competition
for the one he deemed to be his was
understandable.
*I shall be
triumphant!* He thought as he contemplated the
challenge he would face.
*If what is said is true, then I know how to
defeat this unworthy rival,
for if he is of the same school as Akane, I
can use the weaknesses that are
always in her defenses in order to strike
at this one.*
Pointedly,
he went over the various ways that Akane had moved, her
usual tactics of
avoidance, how she used here fists, what forms her throws
came in, and the
varying stances she used. Watching her had been a
learning experience as
the way she deliberately maneuvered her opponents
around her prevented more
than four people coming at her at once. Her
circular movements had forced
the boys coming after her to more often hit
each other than her. She was
vulnerable away from the four cardinal
degrees and she avoided using any
aerial abilities. If these truths held
for every practitioner of the
School of Indiscriminate Grappling, then
Ranma was just as vulnerable.
The smirk that appeared on his face as he thought of his winning
was one
of quiet power.
***
Ranma was incensed as she and Akane carried
all of the packages
that the store had given her once they had taken her
measurements. She
was quite sure that they had bought more in one day in
terms of uniforms
than she had bought in three years of junior high. How
could women have
so many different pieces for the uniforms?
It
wasn't just the basic uniform which consisted of two different
types of
blouses, what the woman in the store had called a jumper, and a
jacket, but
several other pieces that she didn't think she would ever
need. Trying to
look over all of the boxes she held, and looking at Akane
who had just as
many as she did, she wondered what in the world people
were thinking when
they designed the uniforms for girls. If it had been
up to her, she would
have made it as simple as what boys usually wore.
What was worse
was that Akane insisted they buy three of
everything.
"Don't you
think we're carrying just a little bit _too_ much?"
Ranma asked the girl
beside her. "I mean, it's like we bought out the
entire store."
Akane smiled at Ranma, slightly amused at the sight of the smaller
girl
trying to hold so many packages. It had been so funny when Ranma had
told
the sales clerk that she only needed the regular uniform, shoes, and
gym
clothes. Her companion had been astonished at the number of items
that the
sales lady had brought out once she had taken her size. The
expression on
Ranma's face was priceless.
Grinning slightly, she said, "Not at
all Ranma. That's only the
beginning, and since you're not the same size
as I am, most of my clothes
won't fit you. We're going to have to buy you
an entirely new wardrobe."
Ranma grunted, "Ya mean we have to buy a
lot more stuff? Akane,
_this_ is more clothes than I have ever owned in my
life! I mean I didn't
even buy this much when I had to shop for new
clothes in Beijing!"
Akane smiled sweetly, "Relax Ranma. It's only
until our parents
call off the marriage. Besides, you might as well take
advantage of that
form until we can find a cure for your condition.
Anyway's what would you
have done when we had to go swimming? Everyone in
school would know about
your condition almost immediately, and you know the
rumours that could
create, especially about you."
Ranma nodded as
they continued walking towards the school. "You
have a point about
that..."
***
Having left her father and uncle playing Shogi after
they woke up,
Kasumi had decided to go to the local centre and access a
terminal. She
needed information if she was to help Ranma understand not
only what
happened, but to accept herself. It wasn't going to be very easy
however,
given the young girl's rather violent reaction to her father.
Kasumi would have to find information pertaining to various
traumas in
order to help her determine how to proceed with Ranma.
Fortunately, the
University of Tokyo did have a rather extensive
collection of psychological
books from around the world. If she could
find the proper references
through the TSO system she would get them to
make a research loan to her.
That would give her a few weeks with the
books, and she could certainly get
Tofu-Sensei to approve those loans, as
he had commented several times on
her healing abilities when she was going
to school.
Of course, the
other problem was Ranma's inadvertent
transsexuality. The girl didn't
really qualify as a transsexual, and
would have to be brought along slowly
on that point. If anything, she
would have to take very slow in order for
her not to do any permanent
damage to Ranma's psyche. The problem was to
get her to accept being
female part, if not most, of the time due to
circumstances. She had
already decided on a few things, such as a modern
room with a western
style bed, desk, shelves, and a neutral looking study
table which could
later be converted to a vanity table without many
problems.
It would have to be very carefully planned, although
school may be
a problem. She would have to see if she could get Dr. Tofu
to excuse
Ranma from taking swimming or other activities in which he might
be turned
female accidentally. She also had to check to see what
temperature the
water had to be in order for Ranma to change to either
form, and that
would require even more careful planing.
As she
tapped the keyboard, she wished that there was more
information on file.
There seemed to be a large void in the literature,
and what little that was
available was years out of date. Unfortunately,
Kasumi also knew that
there was little else to do except go to a
psychologist. Unfortunately,
that option wasn't really very good.
Her future brother or sister
in law was already in a precarious
enough mental condition without making
it any worse.
***
Ranma was feeling a bit better, especially
since they got rid of
almost all of the packages that they had been
carrying. However, feeling
a bit better about being manipulated was like
saying one feels fine after
having been informed that they failed a course,
but could retake it soon.
It was a rather large blow to ones ego.
Looking at her companion, she snorted silently. Although they had
gotten
the uniforms, all Ranma carried with her was the gym clothes,
refusing to
wear the dress until she felt more comfortable about doing so.
*If I had
only thought about what I was doing last night, but nooo! I was
too damn
stupid, too damn tired, and I'm too damn honourable about backing
out of
this. Unfortunately, it also means that it limits my choices
about
everything that I do.*
Looking at Akane, she softened her
attitude a bit. Ranma had seen
how the brown eyed girl had reacted to
Tofu-Sensei. If she wasn't in love
with the Sensei Ranma would gladly eat
Nato without any sauce. Akane also
had a reason for wanting to get out of
the engagement and she was the one
who was thinking clearly the night
before. "Akane, Hold on a minute."
Akane stopped and looked at
Ranma, still feeling a little bit
guilty over what she had done. Ranma was
her friend after all, not some
stupid boy whom she had to get rid of.
Besides, she was sticking to the
agreement, which was very honourable, and
almost unheard of in this day
where American attitudes seemed to dominate.
"OK."
Ranma sighed, stretching her arms over her head, "Why you
aren't
as tired as I am is beyond me." she said, "But now that we have some
time,
I want to ask if all of this is really as necessary as you're making
it
out to be."
Akane shrugged, "Well, perhaps not really all that
necessary, but
it would certainly solve some of the more insidious problems
with our
fathers. My fathers really anxious for this marriage, and so is
your
father. They were still celebrating when we went to sleep, which
would be
unfortunate for us."
Yawning, Ranma replied, "True. I
just want to ask why you took
advantage of me like you did?"
Akane
swallowed. Ranma had realized what had happened, and that
meant that she
was probably in trouble. "Well, I sort of realized that
you wouldn't
really do this unless you had incentive once you found out
what being a
girl is all about, so I had to think of something quickly.
The only thing
that I could think of was making a bet, and you did agree
to it."
Ranma tried to glare at the taller girl, "It wasn't very fair of
you to do
it while I was still half asleep. All things considered, I
would really
rather go as a boy."
Akane frowned to herself. "OK. I admit it
was unfair, and it
wasn't really a nice thing to do after all, but there
are reasons for
this, including possibly protecting you."
Ranma's
face suddenly changed through several levels, going from
one of amazement,
to respect, to realization, and finally to anger,
"Whaddaya mean
'Protecting me'?"
Akane sighed, "Well, every morning, Furinkan has
a tradition of
the boys ganging up to try and beat me up in order to go out
on a date
with me. It's stupid, and annoying, and the fault of one idiot
named Kuno
Tatewaki. You see, he was interested in getting to know me and
going out
on a date, but I wasn't interested in him. He then had the idea
that
perhaps I was waiting for someone who could defeat me, such as one of
the
legends of the Tengu from so long ago. Since he lost, he declared
that
anyone that wanted to go out with me would have to defeat me in
battle.
It sort of escalated from there."
Ranma whistled, "No
kiddin' ! Are pulling my leg or is this Kuno
character as much of an idiot
as he sounds like?"
Akane grimaced slightly, remembering how every
morning Kuno would
toss her a rose and challenge her to a fight. She was
quickly growing
tired of that, especially since she had absolutely no
interest in the
idiot who was responsible for her fighting every morning.
If anything,
she wished there was a way to get rid of all those hentai and
be able to
travel peacefully into the school.
"He's worse. You'll
have to meet him to believe how much of an
idiot he is, but you'll learn in
time. Unfortunately, Nabiki likes him
for some strange reason."
Ranma grimaced, "Well, let's just hope we avoided him for today.
Besides,
there's nothing there that would bother me, or need me being
protected
from."
Akane gave a short laugh, "Do you know how many boys would
seek to
beat you up for just living in the same house with me? I wouldn't
wish
that on anybody, especially someone who's my friend."
Closing
her eyes, she realized than Akane had been thinking of her
as a girl all
along. If things were not confusing before, they were
certainly getting
there fast, and unfortunately that confusion would
create friction unless
nipped in the bud now. "Akane, I can take care of
myself. I've been
surviving fights for quite a long time now. In fact,
it seems all I've
done my entire life is learn how to fight, and not in a
nice way either.
You know as well as I do that our school is dedicated to
the arts of war,
and not to sports as most dojo's are."
Akane fidgeted, "I know, but
I still don't want you to get hurt.
Besides, the boys are my problem, not
yours."
The blue-eyed girl laid her hands on Akane's shoulders,
"We're
friends Akane. We'll get angry with each other, fight, talk,
make-up, go
places, and so on. Just remember that you should let your
friends help
you, not try to handle everything for yourself.
Akane
shrugged, "OK. Let's get to school, we still have to
see
Morisato-Sensei."
The two girls then quickly ran down the
street towards Furinkan.
***
Kuno had changed back into his
normal wear while not in school,
that of a Kendo practitioner. He was
waiting, wondering where Akane and
her intended, Saotome were. According
to everyone, they had not been seen
in the school although they had
apparently left early that morning.
*This is more serious than I
thought if this scoundrel is going to
keep Akane from achieving her goal of
schooling* He thought as he prepared
himself with a few warm-up routines,
trying to think of the waves upon the
ocean and matching his movements to
that rhythm. *If Saotome thinks to
make Akane dependent on him by denying
her an education, I will make him
pay more dearly than if he had the
prestige of the Emperor.*
Standing simply, he practiced the simple
form of Iaijutsu, that of
drawing the Katana quickly from a scabbard
position. Moving into a line
form, he then turned the bokken towards an
upward circular cut from the
original cross cut, moving forward slightly.
At the top of the form, he
let the bokken drop straight down at the same
time as sweeping his feet
forward towards where an opponent would be. He
quickly rolled forward,
doing a side cut and stood up going into a
butterfly loop to stand looking
back at the spot he had stepped away from.
He then mimicked placing a sword back into it's scabbard.
All of a sudden, there was a commotion occurring over at the front
gates,
and everyone seemed to be staring. Looking that way, he saw Akane
running
towards the school with a girl by her side. He took in the sight
of her,
the lively energy that shone from her, and the love that he felt
in his
heart seemed almost to overwhelm him. Kuno then remembered the
engagement
and looked around for a boy near Akane. Seeing none, he went
quickly to
the gate and awaited the two of them.
***
Nabiki, who had been
surreptitiously looking at Kuno as he
practiced his Kata was slightly
stunned as she took a look at her sister
and Ranma. People had been asking
about Akane's fiancee at lunch and she
had gotten around to telling them a
little bit about the young man who was
staying at their place. All the
girls had giggled and grinned at the
descriptions of how cute and polite he
was, as well as the fact that in
Nabiki's opinion he was rather handsome.
Unfortunately, it was a female Ranma coming towards the
school
wearing a bit of makeup. Ranma was going to go to school as a girl!
*Why
that little...*
Frustration fairly shone forth from Nabiki's
face as she
contemplated how much of a fool she would look like once this
got out.
Seeing how he had reacted the night before, She would have never
suspected
that Ranma would have willingly come to school as a girl. But
now that
she had, it meant that her honour would be smeared. There would
be no way
to explain this one away.
But knowing that Akane and
Ranma had decided to keep the
engagement, it did answer one question about
her sister, and surprisingly,
about Ranma. *Figures...My sister the tomboy
and her fiancee are
lesbians.*
***
If there was anything that
would catch the attention of martial
artists, it's an unusual amount of
attention being paid to them.
As soon as they had walked into the
schoolyard the two girls
noticed everyone looking at and pointing to Akane.
Ranma was growing a
bit concerned, and looked around, wondering if the
'Hentai Squad', as
Akane had called the boys, were going to attempt
something since they had
missed their fight this morning. Unconsciously,
she stepped in front of
Akane to protect her and her senses buzzed
suddenly. Without thinking,
her hand shot up just in time to grab hold of
a red rose.
"Wha?!?"
Akane looked at the rose in Ranma's
hand, sighing as she
recognized who had tossed the rose. "Don't worry
about it. It's for me,
so stay out of this." Akane said with resignation
as she looked across to
the young man standing not too far away. "What do
you want Kuno-Sempai."
Ranma took a good look at Kuno, *That's the
idiot? He's not what
I expected.*
Kuno Tatewaki was looking very
good. Lean trim muscles, well
defined and well structured, a light, even
step, and a handsome,
expressive face. His eyebrows, while a bit shaggy,
were well formed and
complemented his brown eyes. Unexpectedly, one of the
best things about
him was his hair. It was slightly wavy and black with a
few brownish
highlights here and there. It was obviously well taken care
of, and
nicely combed. In contrast to the other boys in the yard, his hair
was
beautiful.
A person that most women and girls would fall in
love with in an
instant.
"I am here, Tendo Akane, to talk with you
about the vile rumour of
your engagement to one named Saotome Ranma. I
have heard that you and he
left your domicile early this morning in order
to break fast together, but
I fail to see him accompany you here. Is he so
much a coward that he
fails to show himself before his betters, or is it
because the rumour is
false?" Kuno stated calmly, looking at Akane.
Ranma had started to listen to this trying to learn about her
possible
opponent by watching his movement. She wasn't going to let Akane
handle
this person by herself. At least that was the plan until Kuno
said
'coward.'
Akane sighed to herself. It didn't work, she was
still annoyed at
Kuno. She was also annoyed at her elder sister, the only
person who could
have told Kuno what had happened. Not good since they had
not expected to
tell anyone at the school that they were engaged.
"Kuno..." she began.
Kuno just continued in a condescending manner
from where he left
off, not even paying attention to Akane's voice, "Ah,
then. He is so vile
a fiancee that he has no concern for your welfare?
Does he let you roam
the streets unprotected? He is not worthy of you who
are descended from
the blood of Samurai. He is less than those from whom
the Ninja arose."
Ranma couldn't take any more. Not that many
people outside of
Japan paid attention to family lines, but she _knew_ she
was descended
from a line of Samurai. She had heard the story that Akane's
father had
told her yesterday morning, and Ranma was not about to let
someone throw
such a vile insult at her. To anyone of Samurai descent,
that insult,
that Ranma was of lower caste than that from which the Ninja
sprang was to
invite the signaling of a death debt.
Everyone looked
on as the girl with the pig-tail and red
highlights in her hair suddenly
stepped forward and shouted, "HEY! Watch
what you say about the Saotome
family. I won't stand for an insult like
that."
Everyone stared at
the girl who had disrupted Kuno. If she had
answered him back, especially
over an insult like that last one, then she
had to be related to this
mysterious Ranma. The look on Kuno's face would
have won a prize for the
most startled look in Japan. Nobody dared to
stop Kuno on one of his long
monologues given that he pummeled anyone who
refused to listen. Well, that
wasn't exactly true. He pummeled anyone
except for the members of the
Tendo Clan. A lot of the people were
wondering what would happen,
especially since the girl was glaring at Kuno
as though he was scum.
"I was not talking to you little one, but to Tendo Akane about
her
engagement to a man who is obviously a Ronin. Why else would he fail
to
arrive with her at the school this morning." Kuno answered,
especially
since he felt that she was not really worth the time. "I would
suggest
that you concern yourself with something that would be better
suited to
your frail being, such as looking for an honourable man among
those in
this school."
Akane reached for Ranma, hoping to stop her
before she did
anything rash or stupid. She was too late. Ranma had
already rushed up
to Kuno, faster than she had thought a person could
probably move. *I
guess all those years on the road taught Ranma more than
I learned at the
Dojo, or at least different techniques. I'll have to ask
her how she does
that.*
"WHO ASKED YOU IF I WANTED A MAN?! I'M
ALREADY ENGAGED!" An angry
Ranma shouted into Kuno's startled face. "And
I'll be damned if I let you
get away with those comments about _either_
Akane or myself."
Kuno was rather stunned that in the blink of an
eye, the short
pig-tailed girl had closed a distance of about four metres.
It bespoke of
a level of skill that was unusually high, one that was of a
person of
strong qualities and training. He had to be careful however, his
sister
could do the same. "Who...Who are you to speak such?"
Ranma
backed up, taking off her backpack, "I am one who has
traveled far in
search of knowledge, and have arrived here to seek more."
She passed her
bag to Akane who took it without a word. "I have been
engaged to a person
I consider my friend, Tendo Akane. I am Saotome
Ranma, and I accept your
challenge!"
Kuno stared at the girl who stood in front of him in a
battle
stance. "S..Sa...Saotome Ranma?!?"
***
Morisato-Sensei
had completed most of the paperwork for the new
file on Saotome Ranma,
which had been somewhat interesting. After having
seen the fax copies of
the past applications, as well as the copies of
various medical
certificates, it was obvious that Ranma was physically a
boy, at least as
of four months ago when he had left on a training trip
with his father.
However, she had talked with Tofu-Sensei not more than
half an hour past in
which he confirmed that Ranma was a perfectly healthy
young girl who was
extremely innocent.
It added up to only two possibilities, the
first that Ranma had
been undergoing gender reassignment procedures during
the past few years
since she had seen a doctor, in which case she would not
have been able to
fool the Tofu-Sensei, or that she had taken the place of
the original
Ranma.
Sighing, she got up from her desk and left the
office, going
outside to see how the young people were doing. Having a
peaceful day
instead of the almost constant fighting that seemed to happen
at the
school had made a huge difference in her schedule. Usually, she was
still
in the process of calling parents and taking care of all the file
work
that had to be kept on all such incidents.
Morisato-Sensei had
paused outside to look at the front gate, saw
the commotion, and went
forward to attempt to stop the immanent fight from
breaking out. She
stopped as soon as she saw what the girl wearing the
Chinese martial arts
outfit had done. Such speed and accuracy indicated a
high amount of skill,
one who knew the fighting arts. If anything, the
girl looked as though she
could be a promising student.
Keiko quickly took stock of the girl.
She was wearing a pair of
comfortable cloth shoes with thin soles. Warm
in any weather, but
providing the advantage of allowing one to feel what
was underneath their
feet. Her pants were slightly baggy on her, tied at
the ankles with
ribbons, which marked her as someone experienced with
aerial combat, and
her top was a Chinese style battle shirt not usually
seen outside of the
traditionalist of Kenpo or Chun Fa. The ties were well
done, and the belt
she wore was attached in a way that allowed it to also
be used as a
possible weapon if need be. it was obvious that the ends of
the belt were
weighted from the way they swung slightly and the armbands
she wore looked
similar to the sweatbands that some students wore, but
these were made of
leather and were wrapped in such a manner that indicated
there was a bit
of armour protection under them.
She noted the
intense aura that emanated from the young girl, one
that indicated years of
training and unusual skill in one so young in this
day and age. If trained
she would quickly learn how to take advantage of
her Chi in order to not
only fight more effectively, but to heal herself
faster. As the girl
rested back into a light fighting stance, one that
she recognized from
Aikido, she heard what the girl said about being
Akane's fiancee.
*So _this_ is Saotome Ranma. I think that the talk I'm going to
have this
afternoon will be a lot more interesting than I
originally
imagined.*
***
An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2 - Chapter
5
The schoolyard became quiet as the words of the small
pig-tailed
girl still lingered in the air.
It had started with Kuno
spouting off at the mouth again, usually
of no consequence since only a few
ever really listened to what came out
of it. Still he did command a
grudging respect, if only for the fact that
he was admittedly one of the
best martial artists in the school. It was
for these reasons that it was
thought Kuno's monologue would have no
effect.
Everyone was wrong.
The girl who had arrived in the schoolyard with Tendo Akane
was
somewhat interesting to all the students. Her hair was black with
red
highlights, and set up in a pigtail that reached down to her
shoulder
blades. Large, expressive turquoise eyes shone forth in anger at
Kuno as
she stood there in a relaxed stance that signified danger to
those
watching. Of course, everything about her signaled danger, from
the
Chinese outfit she wore that looked faintly like a kung-fu outfit seen
on
movies from Hong Kong, to the way her body moved. The boys who had
been
watching had become entranced with her while the girls started to get
a
little jealous.
That was when they heard her exclamation about
being engaged and
who she was engaged to.
Almost immediately
everyone was stunned, the rumours that had been
going around the school
having nothing at all to do with the reality of
the situation.
You
could almost hear the breaking of hearts as the boys suddenly
realized why
the object of their desire for the past two months wasn't
interested in
them. The girl they had pursued had always claimed that she
didn't like,
and could not stand boys. When Kuno had come up with this
silly claim that
only one stronger than Tendo Akane could even consider
taking her out, all
the boys in the school attempted to defeat her. It
had been a matter of
pride.
As for the girls in the yard, many of them had raised
eyebrows,
some of them having thought that Akane having been engaged to a
boy was
too ridiculous to be believed. That Saotome Ranma had charmed the
one
girl in the school least likely to be engaged had started rumours that
he
had to have been some kind of Kami, or at least superhuman. it was a
nice
romantic notion, and a number of the girls who thought it was possible
had
quietly decided to pursue someone who could romance the school's
ice
queen.
All of the students, however, had the same thought
running through
their head consciously or unconsciously as they watched the
confrontation.
*Somehow, this all makes sense...*
As for Kuno, he
stared in wonder at the girl in front of him, the
one who called in the
insults he had flung out earlier. To say that he
was in disbelief over her
words would have been an understatement. He
unconsciously repeated the
name he heard, still unable to believe what his
ears told him.
"S..Sa...Saotome Ranma?!?"
An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2:
Chapter
Five:
The way everyone is looking at me...
A fan fiction based on
Takahashi Rumiko's Manga series, Ranma 1/2
Saotome Ranma, Saotome Genma,
Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo Soun,
Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki, Kuonji
Ukyou, Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan, Shampoo,
Mousse, Kuno Tatewaki, Kuno Kodachi,
Tofu-Sensei, and Hinako Sensei are
copyright 1987, 1996 by Takahashi
Rumiko.
Morisato Keiko, Natsume Sayoko, Masumato Yukio, Yoshida Kyoko,
Suzuki Ryu,
Tanaka Hiroshi, and Tomiyoshi Hikaru are copyright 1996 by
Ichinohei
Hitomi
Publishing rights:
Japan: Shogakukan Inc.
Tokyo
Hong Kong: Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North America: Viz Inc.
By
Ichinohei Hitomi
Ranma's eye's narrowed as she looked at the man
before her. She
had not believed Akane earlier when she had told her what
an idiot he was,
but the proof was before her. All in all, even though his
comments
deserved it, she wasn't going to kill him.
"Kuno
Tatewaki," she began, her voice holding contempt and scorn
in it, "By your
own comments and actions you have created a rift between
us beyond any that
was necessary. You have gone beyond the area of a
challenge, beyond that
of adversaries, even beyond that of a blood-debt."
Ranma started
shifting around, her guard kept light, and ready to
take off into the air.
"Even were you speaking out of term, your words
held both the tone of
superiority, and the words of death, clearly thought
and clearly stated.
Your words go beyond that of even a generational
debt. For your words of
contempt for the Saotome family alone I should
call upon the death-debt.
You had not even met me and yet you let go
viciousness that any of Samurai
descent would find contemptible. Yet that
is only part of the reason I
would call the death-debt."
She began to close in slowly towards
Kuno, allowing his automatic
reactions to start to bring the blade to bear.
She noted that his
movements went automatically towards that of Kendo,
which meant that he
was not prepared to take her on in proper combat. "The
other reason that
I would call that debt is for your treatment of
Akane-chan. You have
disregarded her feelings, treating her as though she
was property.
Inducing attacks by saying that only one who could strike her
and hurt her
would have the privilege of going out with her. A Samurai
would not do
so, and _that_ is why I call a death debt, for which you now
have to pay."
Ranma ran in quickly, using her left hand to do an
outside whip to
Kuno's left wrist before he could begin to react.
Automatically, Kuno
twisted back, letting his right hand push the Boken
around in a low arc
designed to hit his opponents legs, still too stunned
to use conscious
control over his muscles. Taking the opportunity, Ranma
leapt up, coming
down behind the startled Kendo practitioner and awaited
his turning
around.
As soon as he turned, Ranma reached in, using a
form of spin
practiced in Akijutsu to get inside Kuno's arm space, letting
her right
arm grab his, and spinning the would be warrior off balance and
on to the
ground. Kuno's autonomic system responded, allowing him to spin
up and
face Ranma once more. Unfortunately he was too late.
Ranma
had taken the opportunity to let her sash fall from her
waist, spinning it
in a double circle which duplicated the movements of a
tri-staff. Allowing
Kuno to strike, she used the soft cloth to trap the
boken while allowing
the weighted ends to wrap around her opponents
wrists. Pulling back, which
forced the boken straight to her chest, she
dropped below his outstretched
arms and slipped through his legs, spun,
and held the teenage swordsman to
the ground. Kuno was defeated.
Ranma continued to hold him there,
face on his hands, knees
together as though he was apologizing for a great
wrong. She knelt close
to his head and in a deathly quiet voice told him,
"I will not take your
life, for you are not worth the effort of a true
warrior. However, I will
insist on you fulfilling a part of your debt upon
your word of honour.
You are facing Akane, and you will now beg her
forgiveness and promise to
never go after her again. You will also tell
everyone that you were wrong
and beg the forgiveness of everyone in the
school for threatening one whom
you were supposed to protect."
Kuno
Tatewaki looked up to see Akane standing before him not too
far away, "I,
Kuno Tatewaki, Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School, do
humbly offer you my
apologies for causing you such pain Tendo-san. You
have been wronged by me
in my foolish quest for your heart, and I have set
an example unworthy of a
Samurai. Let everyone bear witness to my
deserved humiliation for being
the cause of such pain."
Ranma let her sash go, allowing the
tension to cease. Quickly,
she pushed Kuno's body up and removed her sash
from his wrists. "Good.
An excellent beginning. You only have to continue
to prove yourself
worthy of the name Samurai. Remember, under the
death-debt I could have
easily demanded not only your life, but that of
your family. Learn and do
not do this again."
Ranma got up and
went to Akane who gave her back her schoolbag,
although there was a strange
look in her eyes. Her fiancee looked as
though she was angry, amazed, and
wanted to laugh at the same time. Not
saying a word, they went on towards
the school, a pathway clearing before
them.
Kuno, still on his
knees looked at the departing pig-tailed girl,
*I have, by honour, given up
my quest for Akane, but now I know that the
one I should chose should be
you. Saotome Ranma, my pig-tailed girl, I
promise to be faithful to you
and to prove my worth, no matter how long it
takes. I shall one day marry
you.*
Morisato Keiko looked at Ranma as she was reattaching her
belt.
*She will definitely make a good student.*
***
"Ranma, was
it necessary to tell everyone that we're engaged,
especially so publicly?"
Ranma turned to look at Akane who had an angry expression on
her
face, "Well, it seems that everyone already knew about it, so what?"
Exasperation filled Akane's face. Thanks to Ranma's big mouth,
both
of them would get reputations as being lesbians. Not that it was
bad, but
it was not who she was. She did like boys, it was just that she
had never
found a boy her own age that happened to be mature, kind, and
caring. All
the boys she had met so far had been jerks, especially Kuno.
Thanks to that
unthinking speech, Ranma would have everyone talking and
wondering about
her, and....
"Ranma, take a look at yourself."
Ranma looked
down at herself, "What's wrong?"
"Do you happen to notice
something?"
"I'm not wearing my school uniform?"
Sighing,
Akane looked at Ranma, "Ranma, you're a girl, right?"
"Well, only
wh.." Ranma had started until Akane placed a hand over
her mouth.
"I mean right now."
Ranma had no idea what she was getting at.
"Yes, I'm a girl."
Akane looked at her pig-tailed friend, taking it
slowly, "OK, now
what sex am I?"
"A girl of course!"
Akane
nodded, "Now follow this, what did you say to everyone about
us?"
Ranma's face crumpled in confusion as she went over what she said,
"I told
everyone we were friends, and that we're..." Her face crumbled,
and she
winced, placing her hand over her eye. She then mumbled in a low
voice, "I
said we were engaged."
"Exactly!"
Sighing Ranma looked up
at Akane, turquoise eyes looking into
brown ones. "Ahh...I'm sorry about
that. I wasn't exactly thinking
clearly after I heard what Kuno said."
Akane smirked wearily, "That much was obvious. Besides, it's not
you
that I'm angry with, it's Nabiki. She's the only one who could have
told
everyone about it, and she happens to be in Kuno's class. The only
reason
I'm pointing this out is so that you start thinking _before_ you
start
fighting." Shaking her head, Akane continued, "Besides, I have to
thank
you for what you did for me out there."
Ranma blushed and looked
down at her feet, "I...That is...Don't
worry about it. He shouldn't have
done that to you in the first place.
It was dishonourable the way he was
behaving towards you and I wanted to
stop it."
Sighing, Akane put
her hand under Ranma's chin and brought it up,
"Thanks anyways." She then
kissed the suddenly startled pig-tailed girl
on the cheek.
"Wh..Wha...What was that for?"
"For being my friend."
Akane
grabbed a very confused and flustered Ranma's hand and took
her to the
administration office for their meeting with Morisato-Sensei.
***
"Did you hear that Kyoko-chan?"
Kyoko looked at her friend, "Did I
hear it? Did you see the kiss
Yukio-chan?"
Masumato Yukio smiled
slightly as her brown haired friend started
giggling a bit. Speculation
over Akane's sexual preference had already
been making the rounds of the
girls rumour mill at Furinkan. Not that
anybody minded, they just wanted
to know who she was going out with. She
herself hadn't believed the
engagement rumours, especially to a boy.
"Yes. She is rather cute, just
the sort of girl that Akane would go out
with."
Yoshida Kyoko
smiled and nodded, "Well, everyone already knows how
much of a tomboy Akane
is, so it's no wonder that she would pick a
feminine girl to get engaged
to."
Yukio grinned, also nodding her head as she came in close
to
whisper to Kyoko, "And did you hear what the two of them were
talking
about? I wonder how many times they've had sex?"
"The way
they were talking, it had to have been a few times at
least, especially the
way Akane closed Ranma's mouth. I wonder how long
they've known each other
and why Akane never mentioned her before?" Kyoko
whispered back.
Yukio frowned a little, "You know, it sounded as though they
didn't want
anyone to know about their engagement."
"Too late now! Besides, it
will be great to tell the others what
we know."
"I don't know, but
everyone already knows they're engaged. I
wonder who we should tell about
this?" Yukio mused as she patted her long
black hair into place.
"How about Kaori."
Grinning, the two girls went to class to talk
with the other
girls.
***
Akane and Ranma entered
Morisato-Sensei's office and bowed to her.
"Good afternoon, Sensei"
Keiko stood up and bowed to the two students. She was wearing a
semi-
conservative blue suit, and a white blouse. Her brown eyes crinkled
in
amusement as she said, "Well, Saotome-san. It seems that you are both
a
boy and a girl."
Ranma's face drained of colour while Akane looked
flabbergasted at
what she had just heard the Sensei say. How had she known
about her
curse? It didn't make sense, at least not to her, "H..How...How
did
you..."
Akane quickly shushed Ranma, trying to figure out a way
to get out
of this. "I see you've heard about the engagement
Morisato-Sensei."
Keiko frowned. Besides rumours of their
engagement, which had
already spread throughout the school, there was
something else they
weren't mentioning. The comment she made was to break
the ice and to
confront the two on Ranma's past record, especially since
there was a
possibility of this person not being the original. "I did hear
about that
Akane-chan, but that wasn't the reason I said that."
She
opened the two file folders that were on her desk.. "According
to these
school _and_ medical records, you used to be male. According
to
Tofu-Sensei, you are a normal, if innocent female. Before I have to
call
a Recognition Inquiry I would like to have an explanation from the two
of
you."
Ranma looked at the Sensei, her eyes wide open, and
slightly
scared. The problem was she wasn't really listening to what the
Sensei
had said, still concentrating on the earlier words. For anyone to
have
figured out about the curse was horrible, especially since that meant
that
the charade they had designed would fail. "How did you find out? I
mean
about my changing sexes?"
Morisato-Sensei's eyebrows raised in
startlement and shock. She
had been hoping to catch these two in some sort
of lie so that she could
start training Ranma in her style of martial arts.
For the child to have
actually had a sex-change was something that she had
not even consider.
While it was true that there were some boys and
girls who had
switched sex roles in society, more so in recent years, she
had never
heard of someone so young having the final operation. Usually,
it was
only a matter of getting a school uniform adjusted to fit the
teenager
while in consultation with the gynecologist in charge of
treatment. For
Ranma's parents to have agreed to letting their child have
the operation
so early meant that she had convinced her parents that she
really wanted
this.
"It was rather obvious, Ranma-chan. Your name
is somewhat
unusual, and the medical records indicate what has happened. I
would have
appreciated getting notification from the surgeon on this as it
would have
made it a lot easier."
Ranma's face had gained back a
little of its colour, although she
was still very nervous. "Surgeon? What
surgeon?"
Akane placed a hand over her eyes. Because of
what
Morisato-Sensei said earlier in the day, combined with the what she
just
told them, the Sensei had assumed Ranma had a sex change
operation.
*Blast her big mouth! I've got to find a way to make sure that
she
doesn't keep opening it like that, especially over every little
statement.
Somehow, I'll have to find a way to make her think before she
talks.*
Keiko face now showed complete bewilderment, and shock.
"What do
you mean, 'What Surgeon?'"
"We're going to have to tell
her Ranma." Akane said clearly as
she quickly assessed the situation. "If
for no other reason than to stop
an investigation into the matter."
Ranma looked over at Akane, her face still a bit pale and nodded.
"I guess
you're right. It's just that I never expected to tell anyone
this soon."
Keiko leaned forward, curious despite her surprise. "Tell me
what?"
"Sensei," Akane started, "It might be better if we have some hot
and
cold water..."
***
In Akane's classroom, everyone was talking
about what had taken
place during the lunch period.
Most of the
talk centred around Ranma and what sort of girl she
could possibly be.
True, she had taken on Kuno and won, but she had also
been very feminine
when Akane had kissed her in the hall. Who she was,
and how often she and
Akane had dated were bantered back and forth by both
the girls and the
boys.
Of course, some of the boys had different reasons for wanting
to
find out about Ranma. To them, she was very cute, and for her to
have
been engaged to Akane was a blow to their pride. How could a girl
even
think about another girl when there were such specimens of
masculinity
around? There had to be some way to convince both girls that
it would be
better to date them.
"So Hiroshi, what do you think?"
asked one black haired boy with
glasses.
Tanaka Hiroshi frowned
back, "I'm not sure, I mean she's cute and
everything, but how would we get
to know her if she's anything like Akane?
>From what she said to Kuno, it's
obvious she doesn't think of us that
way."
Tomiyoshi Hikaru looked
over at his friends. While he had grown
up with them, it was obvious that
Hiroshi and Ryu were still relatively
immature. So what if Akane and the
new girl, Ranma were engaged and were
lovers. It was their business.
That's all there was to it.
*Why can't these guys try to talk to a
girl instead of assuming
that they know what they want?* he thought to
himself as he also
considered the situation. *Probably the best way to go
about it,
especially since those idiots will make fools of themselves.*
He reflected on what Kuno had said as well. He wasn't guiltless
in
what had happened, although he had tried to rationalize it as a matter
of
pride. Being honest with himself, he realized that his problem was he
had
assumed that Kuno knew what he was talking about. An incredibly
stupid way
to go about things as that had been one of the factors that led
Japan into
the world wars.
***
To say Keiko was surprised at the turn of
events, as well as the
demonstration, was an understatement. It was more
like she was in
complete disbelief over what had happened. However, facts
were facts, and
something had to be done about this.
Of course, it
would also be to her advantage to help them pull off
their plan. "Well,
that is certainly an interesting situation. I can
understand why you're
trying this, but to tell the truth, it's probably
better for you to come to
school as a girl anyways."
Ranma, still wiping her hair from being
dunked with water, asked
curiously, "Why's that?"
Morisato-Sensei
looked at her two students, her voice calm and
reasonable. "Several
reason, and the first has to do with the schools
sports programs. One of
the required subjects here at Furinkan is
swimming. What would have
happened when you had to use the schools pool?
It would have created a
furor, and your secret would have been revealed to
everyone. I don't think
that's what you would have wanted."
Both Akane and Ranma nodded at
that. Their lives were complicated
enough already, undoubtedly more
complications would make things even
harder. They were lucky that the
counselor was so understanding.
"Another thing that would have to
have been taken into
consideration would have been Ensukos." The Sensei
continued. "What
would have happened when it rained? Or if we went to one
of the Oceanic
Research Centres? It would definitely be strange if a boy
who is supposed
to be on the trip disappeared to be replaced by a similar
looking young
woman."
Akane looked into the Sensei's eyes, "That's
some of the other
reasons why we decided that this might be better. One of
the main ones
though is publicity. I mean, in Japan we don't really suffer
too much
from an overzealous press, but suppose one of those American
television
show got a hold of this?"
Keiko nodded, "That's true as
well."
Ranma looked at the Sensei, hoping that she would be able to
help.
"Is there anything that can be done then?"
Keiko nodded to
Ranma, "Yes, although not as originally planed.
What I'm going to do is
make up a set of false records. I have
some...friends...who can do me a
few favours and slip in some
documentation into the proper areas. What
will happen is that you'll be
your own twin, with the same name. It's
unusual, but it will work."
Ranma nodded, "I can agree to that, but
how can people change
records just like that? And what will happen to my
male records?"
Akane's eyes narrowed, "And what will this cost?
I'm sure that
no-one will do this for free."
Keiko looked at both
of the girls, her assessment of their
intelligence raising even more.
"Good questions, and you're right Akane,
no one would do this for free."
Her face turned very serious all of a
sudden, "How people can change
records like that is because the group I
belong to, the school that I am
with, has always had its people with at
least two identities. This means
that we have people in the government
sector in just the right places. As
for your male records, everything you
learn as a girl will be duplicated
for that record, except for the few
things that you will have to study
separately. It's a small price to
pay."
Morisato-Sensei raised a
hand to forestall the questions that they
were about to ask, "What I'm
about to tell you does not go beyond the
three of us, is that understood?"
Akane and Ranma looked at each other for confirmation, and
then
turned back to Keiko, "Hai Sensei!"
She nodded, "Good. First,
do you know who bodyguards the Emperor
and Empress?"
Akane
answered, "Officially, it's the Samurai retained by the
court, today it's
supposed to be the Police Special Services, but the
truth is that the Royal
Family has always been protected by at least four
Ninja."
Ranma
continued, "No one knows their real positions within and
without the
Palace, but the last time someone tried to assassinate an
Emperor in the
1950's, the Ninja who protected him were found to be the
Royal gardeners
who tended the Palace gardens."
Morisato-Sensei nodded, "Correct.
The reason I asked is because
my family is Ninja, and Ninja have always had
at least two identities
since birth. Everything that my clan has done has
been to help people and
protect those who are good. The price I would ask
of you is to allow me
the privilege of training the two of you in Ninjutsu
as well as that of my
family Ryu."
Akane's eyes opened wide upon
this revelation, as well as the
offer being made. Since Morisato-Sensei
was Ninja, she certainly hid it
well, better than she would have suspected.
If she was willing to help
them, then she had no qualms about what could
be done. However, to also
be trained in the ways of a Shadow-Warrior, that
was an opportunity that
only people from within the same clan were allowed.
"I would be happy to
begin such training."
Ranma was sitting in
stunned silence. She should have felt her
presence as a martial artist.
Martial artists of all types gave off a
type of aura that went beyond the
ordinary. For people who learned to
read them, it could tell you how well
prepared an opponent was, as well as
if they were going to attack you or
not. Morisato-Sensei had gone beyond
just hiding her aura and herself
completely, she was able to create one of
an ordinary person. "Normally, I
wouldn't want to do that, especially
since I grew up with the code of
Bushido, but I am willing to learn. I,
however, will never willingly take
a life unless it is absolutely
necessary."
Morisato Keiko got up
and bowed to them, "Very well. As of this
moment you are my apprentices,
and as a result, a member of my clan. We
will begin training this Sunday
and I will start the paperwork and make
the necessary arrangements for
you."
Both students got up and bowed, "Arigato Morisato-Sensei."
After both students left, Keiko smiled to herself. Not only had
she
managed to get two students, but two excellent and pretrained students
as
well. Amazingly, Ranma now had an advantage that she had never
imagined
possible, although Kunoichi, both male and female, were said to
have been
experts in impersonating the opposite sex centuries ago. She
would
definitely enjoy teaching them.
Besides, she liked them.
Of
course, teaching them did not mean that Keiko had to admit them
into her
clan, but in order to teach family techniques, one had to be of
the family.
*Besides, what harm could it do to train these children in
some of the
simpler things and bring them along slowly. It wasn't as
though such skill
were used all that much in this day and age.*
She used this
rationalization to dismiss the truth from her mind.
That her wanting Ranma
and Akane as her students was due more to the fact
that she didn't have
children than in ensuring the continuance of the
family techniques.
***
In Nabiki's class everyone was talking about what happened,
and
asking her questions. Some of the question were rather embarrassing
to
answer, given that she could hardly make sense of it herself. Why the
two
of them decided to come to school as girls, she would never guess.
"Nabiki, I thought you said that Ranma was a boy?"
Nabiki
thought back for a second, "Actually, I never said Ranma
was a boy. All I
said was that Ranma was cute, was a martial artist, and
got engaged to
Akane last night. You all assumed it was a boy."
As the girls in
the class looked at each other, realizing that
Nabiki had never actually
stated Ranma's sex, Nabiki grinned to herself,
the brown haired Tendo
having discovered a way out of an embarrassing
situation. For her to have
inaccurate information was not to be tolerated
as her reputation depended
upon precise and exact data. Some of it may be
out of date, but everyone
knew that whatever Nabiki said was accurate as
of the time she researched
the information.
Of course, she tended to use the most up to date
techniques to
find out things, such as learning as much as possible about
the schools
TSO systems and investigating a new global service being made
available to
the public called the Internet. If the information she was
getting on
that new technology was accurate then she would have to invest
in at least
two computers and a new phone line to her room. Information
was power,
and power translated to survival for her family.
"True.
We should have guessed that Akane was engaged to another
girl." Kyoko
said, "But I had no idea they were that taken with each
other. I mean you
should have seen them kissing in the hall!"
Nabiki, who had been
sipping some juice suddenly spit it out in a
stream, "WHAT!!!"
Kyoko looked at Nabiki, "Well, they were talking like lovers, and
Akane
leaned over to kiss Ranma. It was so cute, especially when Ranma
got so
flustered. Why didn't you tell us that they'd been dating!"
Nabiki's face went still as she pondered the information. *Why
couldn't
they have waited to do that someplace more private, like their
rooms. Now
besides being known as lesbians, the two of them are openly
displaying
affection.* she thought as she said, "Actually, Akane keeps her
private
life quiet. We didn't even know that Akane was interested in her
before
she came to live with us."
"Ranma's living at your house?"
"Are they sharing a room?"
"How often do they kiss?"
"Her
parents allowed her to move in with Akane already?"
"When are they
planning to get married?"
Nabiki sighed. She had been so flustered
that she accidentally
added one more juicy tidbit to the rumour mill. She
needed something to
take her mind off of this.
"Tendo Nabiki, may I
please be allowed to speak with you
concerning a personal matter?"
Nabiki turned around instantly. Kuno was finally taking an
interest in
her, and he offered a partial solution to the current mess she
was in. "Of
course Kuno- chan." Turning back to the girls, she said,
"Sorry, I have to
speak with him in private."
Kuno held bowed for her to precede him
and they started to walk up
to the roof. "Nabiki, I would like for you to
further my apologies to
your sister. I was very wrong in what I attempted
to do. I have also
wronged your family with my disgraceful acts."
Nabiki sighed as she opened up the door, "No problem Kuno-chan.
No real
harm was done. Besides, she's now engaged, so the family does
appreciate a
cessation of the violence."
Kuno smiled, a genuine smile this time,
not one of his pompous
ones that he usually gave to the underclassmen. "I
thank you Nabiki-chan.
I had not expected such a greeting."
Nabiki
blushed a bit, "Don't mention it. Besides, is this all you
wanted to talk
about?"
Kuno turned to look out over the schoolyard, "No Nabiki. I
wish
to talk with you about Ranma."
Nabiki turned wary, "You're not
going to try to fight her again
are you? She's living at my house and I
don't think Akane would
appreciate it."
Kuno smirked, "Nothing like
that I assure you. What I wish is to
get to know her, and I was hoping for
an introduction. I believe that she
may be the beauty, the supreme goddess
I have search for all my life."
It was lucky his back was turned or
he would have seen Nabiki's
eyes bulging out in disbelief and a slight
yellowish aura start to glow
around her...
***
In Akane's
classroom, everyone was quiet as the teacher called
everyone to order. In
front of the room, Ranma was standing before
everyone, waiting for
introductions to be made. The teacher then looked
at the card that Ranma
had brought with her.
"Everyone, I would like you to meet Saotome
Ranma, who will be
joining this class. She has recently returned from a
long trip to China
where she has been training in several of the martial
arts. I'm sure that
you will make her welcome."
The Sensei smiled
as the pig-tailed girl. "Since it is already
well known that you and
Akane-chan are engaged, I would ask you to sit
next to her. Also I expect
you to be wearing a proper school uniform
tomorrow."
Ranma
immediately responded, "Hai Sensei!"
As she walked to her desk, she
noted everyone staring at her, the
girls with a lot of curiosity, and the
boys with open admiration. She was
uncomfortable with the attention,
because she was sure everyone was
wondering about her and Akane. Ranma's
face grew red as she went to her
seat.
As she sat down, and the
Sensei went to teaching, she saw a note
being passed to her from a boy.
Taking it, she opened it and read the
contents:
I'm sorry
for the way everyone has been acting towards you,
but you have
managed to pique their curiosity. Don't worry, it
will calm down
in a little while, like it does with anyone who
joins the school.
It might take a little longer given the fact of
your engagement to
Akane, but don't give it a thought. What you
want to tell them is
up to you and none of their concern.
If you ever want to
talk about it, I'm always here to
listen.
Tomiyoshi Hikaru
'A first class fool in a school of
fools.'
After she finished reading the note, Ranma smiled over at
the boy
who handed her the note before tuning to listen to the Sensei.
*Maybe
things aren't so bad after all.*
***
An Alternate History of
Ranma 1/2 - Chapter 6
It didn't matter what religion or belief
one had in life, when
things started to go bad, you just looked for
something, or someone to
blame, and if you couldn't find one, you made one
up.
In the West, people said that such things were the work of
the
devil, who was doing this to them because of the evil they had done
in
their lives. According to the technologists, who had a much
different
view of life, it was due to two reasons. That whatever can go
wrong will,
at the worst possible time, and that it was the perversity of
human nature
that caused these things to happen.
For Easterners,
they summed that and more up in the word Karma.
For one young woman
coming back home from school, she thought of
none of these things,
preferring to believe at that moment that her
destiny was for her to
choose, and that anyone who interfered was in the
wrong.
Even with
such a brisk but beautiful evening, her turmoil at the
events of the past
two days was beginning to wear on her as various
thoughts about how a guest
to her house had disrupted her life. From
showing up and fooling her, not
once, but twice to the events which
occurred on the rooftop earlier in the
day. As far as she was concerned,
most of the trouble was due to his...her
showing up.
Nabiki sighed to herself, thinking back to when
Tatewaki had told
her he was going to go after Ranma. If it hadn't been
obvious enough that
both Ranma, and her sister Akane were lesbians,
especially since they so
_publically_ announced their engagement and
displayed affection, then
nothing was going to get through to him. She had
only just admitted to
herself when she thought that he was going to ask her
out that she liked
him a little bit. She had been so angry at the thought
of him being
interested in a lesbian sex-changer that she wanted to hit him
off the
roof.
That had lasted a few seconds until Nabiki managed to
calm herself
down. She wasn't a fighter, nor had she ever been violent.
It was her
contention that brains were what really mattered anyway; brawn
could
always be hired.
Still, she couldn't help thinking about it.
Nabiki grumbled, clearly angered by the turn of events. *He
should
have wanted to come to me! Especially since Akane is now
engaged.
Unfortunately, Ranma had to interfere.*
She was not very
pleased with Ranma. forty-eight hours hadn't
even passed yet and she was
already causing Nabiki's carefully made world
to fall apart. *Think of
this as a business opportunity Nabiki, don't let
your emotions get
involved.*
"The damned idiot wants to get to know Ranma!" she
muttered, too
tired to realize how affected she was. Nabiki stopped just
before
entering the yard to her home. "Well, if he wants Ranma, who am I
to stop
him. In fact, I'm help him every way I can, and I'll charge him
dearly
for it. No one tries to humiliate me. Not Tatewaki! Not my
sister! and
ESPECIALLY not Ranma!"
So vowing, she entered the yard
and went into the house.
An Alternate History of Ranma 1/2:
Chapter
Six:
Why is it that I can never go anywhere without...
A fan fiction
based on Takahashi Rumiko's Manga series, Ranma 1/2
Saotome Ranma, Saotome
Genma, Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo Soun,
Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki,
Kuonji Ukyou, Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan, Shampoo,
Mousse, Kuno Tatewaki, Kuno
Kodachi, Tofu-Sensei, and Hinako Sensei are
copyright 1987, 1996 by
Takahashi Rumiko.
Morisato Keiko, Natsume Sayoko, Masumato Yukio, Yoshida
Kyoko, Suzuki Ryu,
Tanaka Hiroshi, and Tomiyoshi Hikaru are copyright 1996
by Ichinohei
Hitomi
Publishing rights:
Japan: Shogakukan Inc.
Tokyo
Hong Kong: Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North America: Viz Inc.
By
Ichinohei Hitomi
As Nabiki walked into the house, she tried to
calm herself and put
on a normal face. No matter what, she would not let
anything show for
others to be able to peel back the layers to her soul.
She had to remain
the strong, aloof one who everyone else could depend
upon. It was only by
her making deals, arranging bets, and obtaining
necessary information in
several areas that she could maintain the Dojo.
It was never an easy job, considering that the combined
regular
students who were trained at the Dojo paid for only an eighth of
all
expenses. The sponsored students only accounted for a total of
another
third of the costs, and from early observations, costs would
be
increasing, possibly by as much as 40% over current budget, which
would
mean having to make more money to cover the immediate shortfall and
hope
for some possible way of making a lot of money...
Perhaps
taking pictures of Ranma? That was a possibility, but she
couldn't take
anything too risque, there was no telling how Ranma could
react to those.
The best thing to do would be to take some tasteful, but
slightly revealing
pictures that would leave more up to the imagination
than to what is
actually seen.
Snorting to herself, she looked over to where her
father was with
'uncle' Saotome playing Shogi. They were certainly
enjoying themselves,
drinking a little, but at least they were sober.
Nabiki started to turn
away when what she saw broke through, *It can't
be...*
She looked again, an idea of what may be happening forming
in her
head, probably explaining some of Ranma's actions earlier in the
day.
Uncle Saotome was playing Shogi, but as a panda. Even with the hot
water
available in the house, he had not chosen to stay as a human. Was
it
possible that their minds had been affected when they went into the
pools
of Jusenkyo?
Nabiki smiled. She would at least be able to
make some money off
of Saotome Genma, if she arranged for him to attend
parties as a 'trained'
panda. Force him to get a paying job as well
instead of staying in the
house all day, have him teach a few classes...
"Yes, that will do nicely," she murmured to herself,
financial
concerns foremost in her mind, "And Ranma's female form would be
good as
well, especially if I can arrange a few photographs and have her do
some
modeling..."
Satisfied with what she was planning to do to
keep both Saotome's
out of her hair, Nabiki smiled. Besides, with what
happened today she
also had another option to get Ranma to go along with
her plans. Nabiki
could always just take the pictures without Ranma's
knowledge and then say
she had to help pay for things.
***
Akane
was looking at Ranma as the pig tailed girl rotated her
shoulders. "Are
you all right?"
Ranma looked over at Akane and yawned slightly,
"I'm still tired
from last night, and I'm also a bit stiff from sitting so
long. It's been
a while since I was last in school."
Akane nodded,
"True, and at least Kuno won't be bothering me
anymore."
Ranma
grinned, "True, and I enjoyed putting him in his place.
It's been a while
since I had someone besides father to take out my
frustrations on."
Akane shook her head, "You can't go around fighting everyone you
know. At
least not unless they give you a certain cause."
"True."
Akane got a slightly far away look in her eyes, "Do you think you
can teach
me what you're doing?"
That caused Ranma to pause and look
carefully over at Akane,
"Don't you know how to do this stuff? I mean when
you fought me in the
Dojo yesterday it seemed like you knew what you were
doing."
Akane snorted, "I'm not that fast Ranma, and I also don't
know
some of those moves that you used today."
Ranma frowned
slightly, "OK, tell ya what. You teach me what you
know and I'll teach ya
what I know. We'll take it from there and see what
we could do later on."
"On one condition."
"What is it?"
"When we spar and
practice, we actually fight each other. Not
this avoiding me all the time,
like yesterday. It was slightly
embarrassing as well as denying me a
chance to grow as a warrior." Akane
smiled, "Besides, how else can one
truly train in the arts?"
Ranma brow beaded with sweat as she said,
"I...ahh...I'm not
exactly ready to do that..."
Akane frowned, "Why
not?"
Ranma sighed, realizing she would have to tell her the
truth,
"I've only fought a girl once in my life, and that turned out to be
a
disaster. I don't want to discuss it, but lets just say that I tend
to
get a little apprehensive about fighting any girl now."
Akane
sighed, "OK, until you're up to it, how about we just show
each other the
movements we use."
"Fine by me! Besides, the day wasn't a total
loss. At least
nothing else strange happened to me at school." Ranma
smiled in relief.
>From her point of view, the events that had transpired
had been unusual
and somewhat disorienting. It wasn't everyday that a boy
received an
vaginal exam, or got apprenticed to a Ninja.
Of course,
the circumstances surrounding Ranma and Akane were
somewhat unusual as
well.
Akane, who's brown eyes twinkled in a bit of amusement,
replied,
"No. It wasn't all that bad, was it? Tell you what. I'll relax
my
stipulations on our bet; you don't have to act extremely feminine,
but
just as any other girl would."
Ranma turned and smirked to
Akane, "OH! Finally realized I'm a
boy have you?"
Akane grimaced,
not liking the reminder of the night before when
she had caught sight of
Ranma. Not that he was bad looking, but she had
never actually seen a
naked male before. It was rather shocking to see
something like that.
"Right. You're a boy all right." She started
running, "One who could go
into the girls change room and be envied for
the size of his breasts."
Ranma stopped, mouth hanging open in
surprise,
"Why...You!....YOU!...COME BACK HERE!...AKANE NO BAKA!!"
Ranma started to chase Akane who was joyously laughing at having
gotten
Ranma flustered yet again.
***
Kasumi looked carefully at the
room she had just set up for Ranma,
trying to make sure that nothing was
out of place. She had completed her
shopping and bought some fairly
neutral looking furniture; ones that she
would be able to convert with
ease. With a sigh, the young woman nodded
to herself, assured that
everything was in place. It would be somewhat
difficult to arrange some of
the things that Kasumi had planned unless
Ranma was kept in a relatively
calm state of mind.
Kasumi was already planning how to maneuver
Ranma into having to
wear clothing appropriate to her new sex. A few days
of not doing the
wash, especially since Ranma didn't have all that much,
and the young girl
would be forced to 'borrow' some clothes from Akane.
After having her do
this a few times, Kasumi would then buy and slip some
of the appropriate
clothing into Ranma's storage and drawers, saying that
since she usually
saw Ranma, and not Akane wearing them, she had forgotten
and put them in
with her things.
Of course, Kasumi had to work on
getting some of that bottled
grief that Ranma held inside released. She
had recognized the night
before that the events of the past few weeks were
traumatic to the young
girl. Unfortunately, she had also had a chance to
observe uncle Saotome.
Given the raucous way he acted, his manners, or
rather his lack of
manners, and the extremely over-masculine tone that he
took towards
everything, that Ranma probably had more wrong with her than
she would
know or admit. She had a feeling it was all there, lying just
below the
surface and waiting to explode. It would take a bit of time
and
observation, but getting Ranma to release her feelings would be
very
important to her emotional well being.
Looking at the desk,
she repositioned the ink blotter which had a
slightly, but not overt,
feminine touch since it was a quilted design.
She quickly laid out a set of
books, a pen and pencil set, and a small day
calendar. That should do it,
at least for now.
"Finished," Kasumi said to herself, "And if
Tofu-Sensei can order
some of those special books for me, I'll be on my way
to ensuring that
things are handled properly."
Still, that was only
one small problem down and a lot more to go,
specifically what was to be
done with uncle Saotome. The way he had
raised Ranma was outside the norm
of even Asian society in this day and
age. To have subjected a child to a
ten year journey, virtually ignoring
his education, was a price much too
dear to pay. She was sure that Ranma
had a brilliant mind underneath it
all, and if given the chance to study
and go to school, would probably be
more than a martial artist.
She would have to persuade them that
Martial arts was fine as a
life, but that the child's future meant a proper
education, which would
also mean that she would have to start looking for a
Juku. The one she
had belonged to would not be appropriate as that had
concentrated on
medical studies. Still, there were others available,
ranging from
business to research. All that would be required is getting
the proper
information and searching out the recommendations, especially
what posts
former students now held. Besides, it was time that Akane took
some extra
studies as well, especially if she was to eventually go to a
good
university.
Leaving the room, she went downstairs to examine
the phone book
***
Ranma had managed to catch up with Akane, and
after a small tickle
fight between the two of them, they started to walk
the rest of the way
back home. She had to admit, the tension that she
hadn't even realized
was there had left her after Akane had poked some good
natured fun at her.
*Strange,* Ranma thought to herself, *I used to be a
man all the time, but
now. Well, from what that Sensei said, I'm not
exactly a man anymore. I
guess I better get used to this form, since it
might be the one I'll be
wearing most often.*
Ranma suddenly
smirked to herself. In less than a day she had
gone from wanting to kill
her father for what he had done, to having fun
with this girl next to him.
She looked over at her, seeing how the smile
lit up her face and the
mischievous attitude that showed itself to her
friends. Ranma had wondered
the day before at her attitude towards boys,
but after seeing how that
idiot reacted, she couldn't blame her. *Funny.
Around her I don't really
mind being a girl that much. I wonder if it's
because she's the first one
who accepted me as myself instead of what I
look like?*
Akane
turned to looked at her friend, noticing the contemplative
look on her
face. "What's wrong Ranma?"
"Uh?" Ranma said startled out of her
reverie, "What are you
talking about?"
Akane shrugged, her long
black hair shifting smoothly, "Well, it's
just that you have a strange look
on your face, almost as if something was
bothering you."
Laughing a
bit nervously, not really wanting to acknowledge the
thoughts that were
trying to make themselves known at the edge of her
consciousness, the red
head replied, "It's just that I was wondering about
the future as well as
my past. This curse isn't really easy to live with,
but I guess I should
at least try to get used to it. I'm just wondering
how many different
things I'm gonna have to get used to. Besides talking
in a different form,
eventually dressing in front of the girls, and
dealing with
some...problems...that I never imagined myself ever having to
deal with, I
really am scared of how this may change me."
Akane frowned a bit,
not having realized all of the possible
implications this could have for
Ranma. "You've never been on a date,
have you?"
The shorter girl
blushed a deep red, "Um...Uh...Well..."
Akane sighed, "I'll take
that as a no then. How scared are you
about what is going on?"
Ranma stopped walking, "Let's go to a park or a coffee house or
something.
It isn't really something I can talk about at home, and I'm
not used to
talking about my feelings. It may take some time for me to
explain
things."
Akane reached over and took a hold of Ranma's hand,
leading her
forward, "That's OK. Talk to me and I'll listen and try to
help you out
any way I can. We're already good friends, and you were
right, friends
help out friends, any way they can." She shook her head
suddenly,
"Actually, I find you pretty brave, I don't know how I would have
reacted
if I had fallen into a spring of the drowned boy."
Ranma
stilled, slowed down, and then stopped in her tracks, head
down and her
hand now placed against her forehead as she started to grow
pale. "I
really, _really_ wish you had been with us when we went on that
damn
expedition to China."
Akane looked puzzled for a second, and then
figured it out, "You
mean the two of you never thought..."
Ranma
finished, "That there might be a 'Spring of the Drowned
Boy'. Do you know
how absolutely _stupid_ that makes me feel?"
Akane started to
giggle, although she was trying to control it.
Ranma raised her
head, "It's not that funny ya know!"
Akane stifled her giggles, but
still had a trace of amusement on
her face. "Do you know how silly that
sounds?"
Ranma blushed again, "Yeah, but I was mad at Pop at the
time, and
wasn't really thinking too straight."
Akane started to
pull Ranma along again. "Ranma, watch your
forms. Using that language
will get you branded as a tomboy. Besides,
you do realize that you're
going to have to stay female for at least the
rest of the school year?"
There was a self depreciating laugh at the comment, "It doesn't
really
matter does it Akane. When's the next time you think I'm going to
be going
to China? Certainly not in the near future, even if I manage to
get enough
money saved up. You see, father and I never really had a lot,
and it took
the last of our funds to get new clothes and get passage
here."
Akane sighed, "Well, we can at least try to make things easier on
you.
Now, we were talking about dating, and the fact that you've never
had
one."
Ranma got flustered all of a sudden, "Umm...Well...Have you
ever
had a date?"
Akane grimaced, "With that idiot Kuno around? Do
you think a nice
boy would even come _near_ me now? He's made my life
miserable from the
start of high school with his stupid declaration, and
now the only boys
who try to date me are those who think they have a chance
at killing me."
Now it was the red head's turn to sigh. "Well, it
certainly isn't
because you're ugly or uncute. Those boys are stupid if
they haven't
realized how cute and beautiful you are."
Akane's
eyebrows raised at that. She had thought of herself as
passably pretty,
and though not spectacularly so, at least feminine enough
to at least pass
as a normal female. Her shape was not very feminine, or
at least not as
feminine as some of her classmates or her elder sisters.
To hear a
statement like that from a girl who was actually a lot cuter
than her was a
bit startling. "You really think so Ranma?"
Ranma looked over at
Akane. "Er....Ah...heh, heh, eh, eh...."
Akane smiled as she led
the red head to the coffee house. It was
obvious that it was a comment
that Ranma hadn't even realize she made. *I
guess you're a lot more
innocent than I thought Ranma. Still, coming from
you, that compliment is
a lot more meaningful than it would have been
coming from anyone else. And
it means more since I now know that you
really meant what you said.*
***
Keiko frowned to herself as she went over a list of
alternate
identities that she had made up for Akane and Ranma. While the
first one
was easy, it being a virtual duplicate of Ranma's real one, the
others had
posed a few problems given the way it had to be done. Not only
would she
have to duplicate a set of records, and monitor what the children
actually
knew, she would also have to arrange for them to study these
identities as
well. It was not going to be as difficult as she had
originally thought
on that part, but getting them into the mindset of
keeping both identities
and lives separate was going to be a chore that she
was not looking
forward to.
Then again, it would be very necessary
for Ranma, especially given
his particular condition.
"I really
thought those legends were just tales told to lull us to
sleep." Keiko
muttered to herself, "If those springs really exist, then
it's possible
that some of the other, more magical creatures and beings
exist as well."
She sighed, leaning back into her chair, trying to be
comfortable
with what had shocked her earlier, and still affected her. As
a Ninja, a
shadow warrior whose skills were useful in many areas, the
concept of
magic should be something that was an accepted part of her
nature.
Unfortunately, Keiko had always been logical, going towards the
more
modern view of Japan and relying on her martial arts training as a way
of
working her way towards a goal.
While it was true she honoured
many of the old ways and debts,
especially those of major importance, she
tended to turn her back on the
mystical aspects of the Arts, thinking that
such descriptions and things
were tricks meant to impress superstitious
people back in the Feudal past
of Japan. To find out that actual magic
existed was disturbing, for one
of the tenets of her clan was that magic
sought out magic. For one of her
skill, who could actually make Ki into
energy and solid forms rather than
guide it invisibly to help heal, it was
like a moth to a flame. There was
no way that she could avoid magic now,
and if she tried to run, it would
catch up to her.
The only choice
Keiko had was to accept it, and get the scrolls
out of the family
archives.
It annoyed her, however, that in doing so she might be
throwing
all that she worked for, all that she invested in the functions
and quiet
of logic, to the wind in order to accept Ranma and Akane as her
students.
She wanted, and needed them as her students, a feeling of deep
emotion
being there, but the possible cost being her sanity would be a cost
she
would do her best to avoid. It took a big adjustment to even
acknowledge
the reality without going slightly psychotic.
*Perhaps
I can apply logical solutions to magic.* Keiko thought as
she sat back up
and made herself a cup of tea. *Even if Magic exists,
there have to be
rules for it, and somehow I doubt very many people have
attempted to find
out what those rules are. Ancient legends say that
Magic changes
everything, but has anyone actually quantified it?*
It was a very
good question, and one that would have to be
addressed that weekend when
they came for the 'tutoring sessions' for some
'missed schooling.' She
shook her head again, wondering where this was all
going to go, as well as
how she would get proper materials for Ranma in
case of accidents. Even
with temperature reacting fabrics, there were
none that she knew of that
could grow and shrink as needed.
Having a student who was able to
change sex with the application
of cold and hot water would definitely be
something of a headache.
***
Soun was glad that his old friend
was back, and had studiously
ignored his training partner's new form as he
laid down the piece. It had
been a long time since he had a good match,
one in which they had to watch
for each other to cheat as well as being
careful of strategies. In a way,
the game was one of training the mind to
keep fit and alert, as one of the
things a warrior had to have was a
flexible mind with an excellent memory
for details.
To that end, he
knew Genma was using the form of a panda, one
which was drinking beer,
eating snacks, and acting human, as a type of
distraction for him, in order
to break his concentration.
Instead of that, however, it relieved
his mind, as the antics of
Genma relaxed him much more than he would have
been if it had been Genma's
human form before him. It had been too long a
time for the two martial
artists, more than a decade since they last met
and relaxed with one
another. While it was important for them to continue
to provide safety
and services to the community as well as to protect all
that sought their
protection on the basis of what was right and honourable,
the distance
that such years put upon one would have made them worse than
strangers.
At least in this way, it made him comfortable enough to allow
him to get
to know his old sparring partner and brother once more.
On Genma's side, he was embarrassed at how he felt he failed them
both,
even though the children had decided to keep the engagement. He had
been
unsure what was going to happen, given the anger than Ranma had
shown, and
the way he had been raised. If the boy had reacted the same
way as he had
in China, then it could have been the end of the quest to
unite the School
of Indiscriminate Grappling. For honours sake alone,
Soun and Genma would
have been forced to try to push the marriage, to
create a situation where
the two children would have no choice but to
marry no matter the
consequences. It would be bad initially, but honour
would force them to
continue the family lines.
And Ranma, at least, had honour.
Grunting a bit, he grabbed for the bottle of beer. It was rather
awkward
trying to drink with a mouth that wasn't designed to hold liquid
properly,
but at least it was cooling in the rather warm day. Of course,
seeing
Soun's face twitch as he used his paws in human-like ways was
amusing to
both of them, and placed an ease to the tension that they had
been feeling
since the day before. Besides, he had to do something since
he didn't have
any real way to communicate with anyone in this form.
He'd have to
see about trying to do something about that.
As they were relaxing,
they heard the gate open, and Akane's voice
calling that she was home. A
girl also called out that she was home as
well, and they realized it was
Ranma. The boy had probably been splashed
at some time on the way back to
the Dojo. Not too bad a situation, and it
was to be expected that things
like this might happen occasionally. They
turned to face the couple,
prepared to tease them a bit on how early they
snuck out that morning.
What they saw caused both of them to stop moving, and Soun's mouth
to
stay open from when he was about to greet his daughter and her fiancee.
In front of them, stood Ranma, quite female. Her face had some
blush
on, as well as lipstick and her eyelashes were longer. The top she
wore
was pulled quite close to her body, and it was obvious she was
wearing a
bra underneath it. Yet the two of them were acting like nothing
was wrong,
as if this mode of dress for someone who was really a boy was
normal. They
carried a few small boxes, and Akane called out,
"Kasumi-Oneechan, did some
packages arrive for Ranma from the store
today?"
Kasumi came out of
the kitchen, and almost lost it. Here in front
of her was Ranma, already
dressed a bit femininely, and with some makeup
on. Perhaps it wouldn't be
too hard for Ranma to accept herself after
all. She wasn't trying to deny
that she was female, and that would also
mean that she accepted that she
would end up as a girl most of the time.
"Yes. I placed them in her
bedroom."
Kasumi started to go up the stairs towards the room, "So,
did the
two of you enjoy school today?"
Ranma answered, "It was OK
for the most part, although I had a
little problem with the physical. I'm
also going to have to get a few new
bra's since Akane's pinches a bit."
Kasumi smiled. Ranma _had_ accepted a lot already, which meant
that
she would be able to speed up her plans just a bit. Not too fast,
but
enough so that Ranma would remain comfortable and eventually come to
accept
herself fully. She suspected that this had more to do with Ranma
forcing
herself to accept, and possibly something to do with the shout
that had
come from the Dojo the night before, but if things were kept as
normal as
possible then she would eventually be as much of a female as any
of the
other girls in the house. "Well then. How about I take the two of
you
shopping this evening so that we can get you everything you need."
The two fathers just sat there, still stunned, still unmoving, and
still
quiet.
***
Nabiki heard the girls as they came upstairs towards
Ranma's room.
While she hadn't been pleased at what happened with Kuno
initially, Nabiki
had managed to calm down enough to be rational. Besides,
now was as good
a time as any to discuss possible financing, especially if
they still
wanted to keep the house. Going over the books, and the cost
estimates
she had put together which included having to buy an entire
wardrobe for
Ranma, the Dojo might actually have to take out a loan. If
Ranma was
agreeable, and from the looks of things she might be, then having
her do
some modeling on the side, or some martial arts pictures and posters
would
at least help them to break even.
"Hey guys!" She said as
they met Nabiki in the hall, "How'd
things go today, other than the mess
that Kuno caused?"
Ranma rolled her eyes and Akane narrowed hers a
bit, "You had to
tell him about our engagement didn't you?"
Nabiki
replied as they went into the room, "Well, people wanted to
know why you
were late, and I thought that the two of you were going to
have breakfast.
Besides, everyone knows now, so it shouldn't be a problem
anymore."
Akane looked at her sister, and then smiled a bit, "You know, I
hadn't
thought of it that way before. Those crazy boys that are always
trying to
become Kuno's kohai are going to be laying off, and that means
no more
morning fights."
Kasumi, who knew about these fights said, "You've
been fighting
every morning Akane? That isn't very lady like, and you
should start
acting more like who you are, not a tomboy."
Akane
snickered and pointed at Ranma, "She's the violent tomboy,
Oneechan. I'm
the one who has to show her how to be a girl, and protect
her from
encroaching men since I am her fiancee."
Ranma snorted good
naturedly, "Well, I may be a tomboy, but you're
the Baka who asked me to
accept the engagement."
Nabiki's eyes shot up. "You mean it was
Akane who asked you to
stay engaged?"
Both girls traded glances of
amusement, and Akane answered, "Yep!
Besides, I don't think she likes
boys."
All four of them broke out laughing at that, and they went
on
putting all the clothes than Ranma and Akane bought that morning
away
properly as well as discussing the Dojo's current financial
situation.
***
Both fathers were sitting down around the dinner
table as their
daughters were talking about Ranma's first day at school.
They were quite
unnerved at seeing what had happened, with Ranma actually
being and acting
like a young teenaged girl. How the engagement, and the
combination of
the two schools, much less there being a legitimate
successor would ever
happen was a mystery to them.
Soun was the
first to broach the subject. "Why is your son
dressing as and acting like
a girl."
Genma responded having gotten some hot water from the
kitchen. "I
don't know, but somehow we've got to get Ranma to be a boy
again, or at
least act like one. You don't think he actually went to
school like that
do you? It might all be a joke after all, for engaging
them to each other
and not even telling them that such an agreement was in
place."
Soun nodded. "It's possible, but I want to be sure about
this.
Do you know of any cure for Jusenkyo springs?"
Genma shook
his head. "I'm afraid not. I took some time to try
to find a cure of some
type after we left the training grounds, but we
didn't come up with
anything. Somehow I doubt that there is a cure for
this curse, or at least
a known one. If this isn't some whim or trick, I
think we had better start
looking for one very seriously."
Soun grunted, "Agreed. In any
case, I think it's time that we had
a serious talk with those two, and find
out what they are doing."
At that moment, all of the girls came
downstairs, with Ranma
wearing one of her new school uniforms. Both
fathers sputtered at this,
and Ranma twirled around in front of them,
"Isn't it nice? Akane and I
bought three sets of these, and some other
clothes as well."
Genma's face started to become red, and then he
exploded, "WHAT
ARE YOU DOING BOY!!!"
Ranma's face looked a bit
startled as she backed up a little, her
face seemingly in a bit of a pout.
The look of startled disappointment
was good, although a bit forced from
Nabiki's perspective. Ranma might be
acting like a cute girl, or at least
her approximation of one, but it was
going to require work before she
actually became feminine. Akane was
right in that regard; Ranma was
definitely a tomboy.
Akane stepped in front of her, and in a calm
voice stated, "Don't
talk to her that way. If you want to say anything,
then ask her calmly
and nicely because I'm not going to allow anyone to
talk to my fiancee in
that manner."
Genma looked at Akane and
started to sputter as Soun gave a small
glare at his youngest. "Daughter.
This is a serious matter which Genma
has a right to ask about. His son is
now acting like a young girl, and he
was raised to be a man. Why are you
so willing to go along with this when
he is acting as such."
Akane
glared at her father, "IF I remember, the agreement was for
the two of us
to carry out this engagement as we saw fit."
Soun's eyes narrowed,
"Yes, but I engaged my daughter to a man,
not a girl."
Nabiki
started to sip at her drink, "But didn't you know daddy?"
Soun
looked at his middle daughter. "Know what?"
Nabiki shook her head,
"Akane is a lesbian. Why else do you think
Kasumi and I agreed that Ranma
should be engaged to her."
Soun's jaw dropped and his mouth
remained open as Genma continued
to sputter unable to get anything out as
they observed both girls holding
the others hand.
***
Hitomi
Ichinohei
Hitomi
Hitomi@terminal.autobahn.mb.ca
http://204.112.189.3/~hitomi
"The
beginings of wisdom is the ability to always ask questions."