PM Productions Presents
A Phillip Masters Fanfic
How to Love Another
Prologue

	"Saotome Ranma?"
	Ranma turned to the voice, and saw an unfamiliar man looking at 
him.  He had a scruffy business suit on and had a gleam in his eye Ranma 
usually saw in Nabiki.  This did not instill him with any confidence.  
"Yeah?"
	"I'm with the Tokyo Life Insurance Company, and do I have an 
offer for you!"  He proceeded to pull a briefcase around to his front 
and open it.  All that was in it was a laptop, which he removed and 
opened as well.  After typing a few keys he stated, "Our records show 
that you will be coming to an age where life insurance is an option for 
you.  We also know, from your medical records, that while you have had 
many accidents in your time, nothing seems to be able to hurt you 
seriously.  So, you're either a nightmare, or a dream come true.  We at 
ToLIC have decided to put faith in the latter."
	After much consideration, Ranma replied, "Huh?"
	The insurance guy blinked.  "Mr. Saotome, I am offering you life 
insurance.  In the event that you should die your family would be 
compensated greatly."
	Ranma scowled, "Knowing my old man, he would take it all and eat 
it."
	The man nodded sagely, "It is your policy, if you want your 
mother to be the only benefactor... or perhaps a wife... well, that's up 
to you.  In fact, you could even put it into an account that could only 
be used by your children, when and if you have any, for education 
purposes."
	Ranma thought for a moment, then focused on the man again.  "How 
much money are we talking about here?  And what do I have to pay?"
	The man smiled and glanced at his laptop screen.  Ranma would 
have given money right there to know what he kept looking at.  "Well, 
for the low price of 60,000 yen a month, you can get a policy worth 
100,000,000."
	Before Ranma could open his mouth a crash sounded from outside. 
 The door opened as both occupants looked up in surprise.  Nabiki came 
into the room with a glazed look in her eyes.  She sat down next to 
Ranma and grabbed the laptop from the insurance salesman.  "Did you say 
100,000,000?"  She studied the information in the computer for a moment 
before continuing, "You sure do have a lot of info on Ranma here."
	The man beamed, "We try to keep everything up to date and as 
accurate as possible."
	Nabiki nodded, "As well you should... however, there are some 
things that could be changed..."  She began to type away at the 
keyboard.
	"Hey...!" the man exclaimed and tried to grab the laptop.  Ranma 
grabbed his wrist reflexively as he read over Nabiki's shoulder.
	"Geez... she's right!  There's a bunch of stuff in here that's 
not right!" Ranma protested, "Like, Kodachi is not my fiancee!"  He 
squinted at the type as Nabiki altered it.  "Hey, what are you doing 
changing my sex to female?"
	Nabiki shushed him.  "Be quiet, this is for your own good."  
After another few minutes of typing and a few more shushed outbursts on 
Ranma's part, Nabiki handed the laptop back, rose and left the room.
	The man perused the changes for a moment, his eyes widening.  He 
looked up at Ranma incredulously.  "She can't expect me to believe 
this."
	Nabiki reentered the room, holding, miraculously, a pitcher of 
ice cold water.  Ranma shut his eyes tightly as she upturned the pitcher 
on him.  A definitely female squeal came from under the deluge.  After 
the downpour, where Ranma used to be, was a perfect, almost too perfect, 
specimen of womanhood.  The newly formed woman was not happy, "Nabiki!  
It doesn't have to be that cold!"
	She just smiled at him.  "Don't be such a spoil sport."  She 
then looked back at the Insurance man, who seemed somewhat floored by 
what just happened.  "Now, you see, all the information I entered was 
true.  I believe that lowers the cost to 45,000 now."

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

	"Nabiki, that was unnecessary." Ranma chided, after the 
Insurance agent had left the house, still fazed.  
	"All's fair in business, Ranma-chan." she returned with a smile.
	Ranma shrugged and began to walk away, then he paused a moment 
and turned back, "Don't call me that."  He started out the door again, 
mumbling about Japanese honorifics and smart ass sisters.  As he came to 
the kitchen, he stopped a moment to watch Kasumi fix dinner.  She always 
seemed so in tune with her work, like himself in Martial Arts, yet 
different somehow.  He was curious how she managed though all the Hell 
that came into the house on a regular basis.  He cam up beside her and 
observed her dice a vegetable at an extraordinary speed.  As a side 
note, he grabbed the nearby pot of warm water and converted himself back 
to male.   
	"Can I do something for you, Ranma?" she asked, not looking up 
from her work.
	Ranma stared at Kasumi herself for a moment before answering, 
"Not really... I was just curious as to how you handle everything that 
goes on around here while not loosing it completely."
	Kasumi suddenly missed the cutting board entirely, putting a 
gash into the edge of the counter.  With a light grin she looked up at 
Ranma, brandishing her blade.  "Who says I haven't lost it completely?"
	Ranma squinted his eyes as he looked at her.  Then, he began to 
chuckle.  Soon, Kasumi couldn't keep up the charade and joined in.  They 
both laughed out loud for a good five minutes.  Soun, who was walking by 
at the time, glanced into the kitchen and saw the two.  He smiled and 
walked in to investigate.  "What's going on?" he wondered out loud.
	The two comedians stopped their cacophony and looked at the new 
arrival.  Kasumi wiped a tear from her eye and answered, "We're just 
having fun, father."
  	He nodded sagely, then a twinkle entered his eye.  "Ranma, do 
you want to marry Kasumi?"
	Both people involved in the question were suddenly entirely 
sobered.  "What?!" Ranma exclaimed, glaring at Soun.
	The obsessed father ran up behind Kasumi and pushed her a little 
closer to him.  "What's the matter, Ranma?  Don't you find Kasumi 
attractive?  Would she not be a great homemaker?"  Kasumi blushed, not 
used to being studied like a piece of meat she would purchase at the 
marketplace.
	"Well, yes!  But that's all beside the point!  Geez...!"  With 
that proclamation, Ranma ran from the room at top speed.  Kasumi was 
left standing with Soun, but now she was wondering what question her 
father had asked that Ranma agreed with.
	The young Martial Artist almost flew from the house.  He knew it 
would be a danger zone, and more trouble than it was worth to stay 
indoors.  He didn't want to worry about fiancee's, or marrying someone. 
 He wanted to get away from everything for even the smallest of moments. 
 He considered the bridge, but vetoed it when he remember Akane knew of 
that spot.  While he wouldn't mind too much seeing her, she would most 
likely give him a reason to buy aspirin, and he had no money.  
	"Damn, the down-payment on that insurance policy was a killer." 
 Not only that concerned him, but he also wondered if Nabiki would come 
into his room at night with a kitana or something even more despicable. 
 She had put the Tendo's as one of the beneficiaries, herself to be 
specific.  She said it was just a little room and board expense, just in 
case.  He just hoped he was right in trusting that she would not kill 
someone just for the sake of money.  
	When he next paid attention to his whereabouts, he found he had 
no clue what part of town he was in.  It wasn't any closer to downtown, 
more like he had traveled around the periphery.  He was probably still 
in Nerima, just on the 'other side of the tracks,' so to speak.  The 
neighborhood was nice enough, but not quite as high quality as the area 
around the dojo.  As he passed a school his guess was confirmed, it was 
Nerima Local High School.  If he remembered correctly, the local Academy 
wasn't too far from here.  He was beginning to recall the layout of the 
town beyond where he'd actually been, and only seen on maps previously. 
 He was really good at retention of map information, comes from 
traveling with his old man for years.  As a side note, he also could 
remember the way back home.
	Then, a young man in a school uniform walked by, a satchel flung 
over his shoulder.  Ranma stared at his back for a moment before it 
dawned on him.  It was Friday, he had to go to school too.  He looked 
around at the streets frantically, looking for anything recognizable as 
a landmark other than the school.  He hadn't really paid attention to 
the school, not liking places where he had to study, so he couldn't say 
how to get home from the point he was at... not with all certainty 
anyway.  Oh well, he thought, I'll just ask someone walking by.  More 
students had begun to make their way to school, almost an entire swarm 
was surrounding him by then.  He was also getting a multitude of looks 
from just about all of them.  Especially by the girls... and he knew 
what that meant.
	"Um, excuse me." he said to a passing boy, who just ignored him 
and continued on.  Well, that was rude.  He turned to another, "Excuse 
me." he repeated.  The boy was a little taller than himself, which was 
pretty damn tall, but at least he stopped.  
	"Yeah?" the boy asked, looking slightly down at Ranma.
	"Um, could you tell me what direction Furinkan is from here?" he 
asked politely.
	The boy scowled, "Why do you want to know where that nutbarn 
is?"
	Ranma was a bit taken aback by the boy's reaction.  "Uh, because 
I attend it, that's why."
	The boy stared at Ranma for a moment, as if to gauge whether or 
not he was telling the truth.  "Are you serious?" he asked, obviously 
unable to determine for himself.
	Ranma just nodded back, unable to figure out a vocal response.  
What was so bad a about him attending Furinkan?  
	The guy turned around and yelled at the gathering crowd.  It 
seemed it was unusual for someone from outside the school to hang around 
and ask questions.  "Hey, this guy here says he's from Furinkan!"
	His declaration caused the crowd to begin to murmur.  Ranma 
looked around, confused as all Hell.  "What is the problem?" he yelled, 
"I just want to know how to get back to my school!"  He felt himself get 
shoved from behind, pushing him into the boy he was trying to get 
directions from.  He pushed himself backward and reoriented himself.  
His arm instinctively went up to block a punch from the boy.  "What the 
Hell!?" he screamed, "What is your fucking problem!?"  Ranma was feeling 
especially touchy being surrounded so closely by a large, obviously 
antagonistic, crowd.  
	"You're my problem!" the boy answered, "You and the rest of the 
freaks at that screwed up high school!"
	Ranma paused a moment.  He didn't realize Furinkan had any real 
opposing schools, and he never thought he'd be branded a freak due to 
the fact that he attended it.  He looked around again, noting the 
increasing agitation in the group of students.  He knew he had to get 
out of their fast, or may be forced to hurt someone to escape.  Judging 
by movements, none of the people around him had much, if any, knowledge 
in the Art, so he didn't want to just beat his way out.  That's when 
someone screamed.  It was decisively female, so he turned to the sound. 
 So did some of the crowd.  About fifteen people away a girl had been 
slightly trampled in the onrush of onlookers.  Ranma cursed and leapt on 
top of a nearby boy's head to get a better look at the situation.  The 
girl was holding her leg, and it looked as if it might be broken.  He 
jumped from the head he was perched on before the boy had a chance to 
move it, and came down on another one right next to the girl's location. 
 Unfortunately, according to who you were, the new perch couldn't handle 
the sudden stress and collapsed below Ranma's feet.  Before he hit the 
ground, he hopped off and landed next to the injured girl.  Up close, he 
could tell something was seriously wrong with her leg.  
	"Hey!" the boy he had left originally called out, "Stop him!"
	Oh shit, was Ranma's only thought as he quickly picked up the 
girl and jumped toward the trailing edge of the crowd.  Many of the 
students were heading toward school, not willing to be late for even the 
most exciting event.  With the girl in his arms it was difficult to land 
on another person's head and not break their neck, but he managed.  He 
hopped as quickly as possible over the milling students.  He almost made 
it to the edge, when someone reached a hand up and grabbed his ankle.  
The number of limbs flying about was such that he couldn't pick out the 
one that got him.  However, what he couldn't see certainly did hurt him. 
 He found himself being flung toward the earth by his leg.  Normally, he 
could easily correct his trajectory and land perfectly.  Unfortunately, 
it was not normal for him to be carrying another person, and one that 
was hurt already, in his arms.  He managed to flip himself around to 
land on his back, to minimize the shock to his passenger.  He slammed 
into the pavement and slid into a few straggling people.  He grunted as 
best he could as the air was expelled from his lungs in an instant.  
Pain shot through his spinal column, and he thought he heard a crack.  
	Ranma laid on the ground, staring at the sky.  Small stars 
flashed in his vision, and he blinked trying to remove them.  He held 
the girl to him tightly, as he had gone through a lot of trouble to keep 
her safe and he didn't want her hurting herself by moving on a broken 
leg.  After a few moments of getting his breath, he braced himself and 
sat up.  His back protested, but allowed the action.  He was pleased to 
note that everything seemed to be in one piece still.  He glanced around 
quickly, seeing if anyone still wanted to fight him.  An empty road 
stared back at him.  He must have been lying there longer than he could 
recall.  
	For the first time, he looked down at the person he had rescued 
from the mob.  She was unconscious, probably from the mix of pain and 
stress.  The first thing he noticed about her, being a teenage male, was 
how absolutely beautiful she was.  He didn't think he had ever seen such 
a vision before in all his travels.  He shook his head violently, the 
last thing he needed in his life was another girl.  The second thing he, 
of course, then noticed was her body, which was pressed up against his 
nicely.  Very, very nicely.  Okay, so she made Shampoo look like an 
under-stuffed training dummy... all in the right places.  The overall 
effect of the girl was making him extraordinarily uncomfortable.  He 
wasn't used to being turned on so by a female.  He prided himself in his 
control and will power.  It was unmanly to give into the temptations of 
the flesh... or so his father had told him countless times.  According 
to his old man, he needed to stay fed and move along... no dawdling.  No 
ties, no connections... other than the one he states, i.e. one of the 
Tendo sisters.  It was annoying actually.  As he stared down at the 
young goddess he had risked his well being for, he wondered if maybe it 
was time to stop following his father's advice.
END PART ONE
Okay, this story does bear some resemblance to a fanfic by Jeff 
"Oneshot" Wong, but believe me it will not copy it.  I tried to get a 
hold of him personally as well, but I couldn't find his page... if 
anyone has information on him give it up, please.  C&C would be very 
much appreciated, as this is one I would like to stick with (finally), 
and I want to know if it's worth it.  I think that Oneshot's idea of 
Ranma falling for an ordinary girl was good, and while other fics have 
been written like it, there are probably fewer of them than any other 
type.
Thanks for reading,
PMasters (5-1-98)