Authors ravings: Warning, this is an avatar insertion fic.  Be warned!  Of
course, I don't plan to give god-like powers to my avatar, but still, this is
an avatar-insertion so I will have to stroke my ego SOMEHOW. 
			

CHAOS IS WHAT WE MAKE



CHAPTER ONE: Where everything goes ca-ca.

	I awoke to confusion.  No, wait, check that.  I awoke to intense, hellish
pain that left no room for conscious thought.  When I gained some measure of
relief, that was when the confusion hit in.  I noticed that I was in a not-
quite-large-but-not-small room and above me hovered two visions of loveliness,
I think.  The picture was blurry, but I can tell when I'm near a beautiful
girl, even if I was blind, deaf and numb, which I dearly wished I was, well
the numb part at least.  I couldn't really make out what they were saying,
something about how I really shouldn't provoke someone.  I wasn't really in
the best of conditions to make light conversation.  I tried to sit up from the
futon and the pain that was lingering in the back of my mind exploded and I
went unconscious, which is a blessing I suppose.
	When I once again joined the land of the lucid, the headache had downgraded
from white hot rod sticking in the head through the eye to staring at the sun
while hung-over during a particularly boisterous rock concert.  I looked
around to get my bearings.  I was in the same room as I was the last time and
it was night.  I was on the ground, lying on a futon, feeling like hell.  The
room itself was rather spartan, with little in the way of decorations.  I lay
there, trying to will the last of the pain away and rather regretting the fact
that I was alone this time.  I tried to remember how I got hurt so badly that
I lapsed into unconsciousness not once, but twice.  
As I tried to recall what happened, I realized something that shook me to my
very soul.  I couldn't remember anything.  I couldn't remember anything at
all.  What's my name? Who am I?  I wanted to scream, the agony of not knowing
the answers was so great.  As I shook in the darkness, racking my brain for
some clues as to who I was, I became even more panic-stricken and I curled up
in a fetal position.  I eventually fell asleep.  Funny, the idea of asking
those people who sat over me when I first came to never occurred to me�
Let me tell you, one of the worst ways of waking up in the morning is to have
someone pour ice-cold water on you while you are comfortably warm.
Thankfully, that was not how I woke up that particular morning, but in the
times that followed, that uncomfortable way to start off the day happened with
great frequency.  The way I woke up that morning was rather pleasant.  I was
drowsily aware of the sunlight streaming into the room and I slowly and gently
woke up in easy stages.  While I was still mostly asleep, I got off the futon,
got out of the room and went to the bathroom, the thought that I really should
have a headache never reaching my sleep filled brain.  
I brushed my teeth and grimaced slightly at the taste of the toothpaste, but
the sensation was too far away from my still fuzzy mind.  When I finished with
that task, I proceeded to finish my wake-up process by washing my face with
cold water. I looked up from the basin and into the mirror.  As I looked at
the face in the reflection, I remembered how last night ended.  The fear was
back again, and this time, pain gave no escape.  The face that looked back at
me was Asian, handsome, with black hair that was tied back in a pigtail,
steely blue eyes, and the face itself was rather angular.  It was the face of
a teenager, about sixteen or seventeen (sixteen actually, but at the time I
had no way of knowing this.  It was a pretty good guess of mine really, if I
do say so myself).
The face, I should say my face really, was unfamiliar, _yet there was some
measure of familiarity to it.  That is to say, that my appearance did not
shock me in the slightest, yet I did not remember seeing it before.  I tried
to calm myself and I succeeded in some measure, enough to review my situation
rationally.  Ok, I thought to myself when I went back to my room (already I
was thinking of it as such), obviously I have some sort of amnesia, probably
due to a head injury, which would explain the pain I felt last night.  I
haven't completely lost all my memories, seeing as how I could vaguely
understand what those lovely girls were saying last night, and it is equally
obvious that I do remember how to move around this house.  So cheer up
whoever, my lad.  Life is not that difficult and I'm quite sure that I can get
through it.
With that feeling of hope, I started to go downstairs to greet my future and
try to remember my past.  Hope flitted away while I was starting to go down
the stairs and left behind an emotional wreck.  Well, perhaps I go too far.  I
walked down the stairs feeling very nervous.  
When I walked into the family room, I noticed the people I apparently lived
with.  My family hopefully.  A longhaired fellow with a mustache was sitting
next to a rather stout man with glasses.  They both wore gis and were
apparently discussing the events in the newspaper.  On the other side of the
table sat three girls, one of whom was serving the others at the table.  The
one serving was a vision of loveliness, with long brown hair and a sweet,
happy expression that I wanted to treasure in my heart forever (sorry, I tend
to wax poetic whenever I am describing a beautiful girl, please bear with me).
>From my rather muzzy recollection, this was one of the girls that I saw last
night.  The girl sitting next to her was the other one from the night before.
She had rather short, coppery hair that reached her shoulders.  She had on a
rather grumpy expression, and from the way that she shied away from the light
and squinted her eyes, it was pretty obvious that she was not a morning
person.  None of that detracted from her attractiveness.  The last girl had
black hair that was rather short but framed her face quite prettily, and she
had on a angry expression that did reduce some of her beauty to me, but then I
never considered women who were angry to be 'cute' (how did I know that?  I
have no clue).
While I was absorbing the sight of the people in the room, paying rather
careful attention to the girls, I was standing in the entrance to the family
room with my jaw agape, and a slack expression on my face.  The girl with the
angry expression turned to me and her face darkened even more.  
"Well, are you going to sit down or not?" she said belligerently.
"Uh, yeah," lame was my reply, but she was so forceful that I couldn't just
ignore her.  I sat down next to the man wearing glasses.  The brown-haired
girl handed me a bowl of rice and some miso soup.  Great stuff.  For the
moment, I had completely forgotten my memory problem in favor of concentrating
on the food.  When I managed to fill the black hole that is my stomach, I
leaned back on my hands and sighed in deep contentment.
"Ah, a delicious meal.  My compliments to the cook!" I noticed that the brown-
haired girl smile at me and I made the connection.  With a good meal and a
smile from a pretty lady filling me, I recaptured my courage and asked that
all-important question.
"Um, excuse me, I know that this is going to sound weird but.." well, I
suppose that bravery lasts only so long.
"What Ranma?" the girl with short hair asked.  Ranma, is that my name?  With
the knowledge of my name, I found my bravery yet again (sorry, I love reusing
metaphors until they are grounded into tedium).
"But.. um, who am I?" god am I nervous.
"What?" the annoyance was replaced by puzzlement.  The brown-haired girl had
by this time, cleared the table and sounds of water running could be heard
from the kitchen.  The two old men had gone to the porch overlooking a koi
pond and played a game of shogi. The girl with copper hair, who had been
steadily losing the battle of staying awake, had snapped fully aware at my
question.  "What do you mean Ranma?"
"Really Akane, isn't it obvious that Ranma lost his memory _ again?" the girl
with copper hair said in a very tired voice.  Again?  What the hell?  
"Oh no." the girl with, I mean, Akane said softly, blushing fiercely.  
"Oh my, I hope that Dr. Tofu is at his office," said that sweet girl after
coming out of the kitchen.    I suppose that seeing a doctor is a smart thing,
but I really want to know some more, I thought as the three girls talked.  I
really tried to catch what they were saying, but they whispering and all I
caught was that Akane girl saying, "Let's hit him on the head that worked the
last time."  I decided to try to stay away from her until this urge to hit my
head faded.  It never really went away however.  Also I noticed that the two
sisters were STARING at Akane, who was blushing and looking quite angry.
"Um, excuse.  I think that seeing a doctor is a great idea, but first, could
you tell me who I am?" some of the desperation must have gotten into my voice,
because all three of them stopped talking and turned to me.  Their expressions
were pitying and to be honest, it rankled a bit, but I fought down that
reaction.  I knew that they were only concerned about me.
"Well, um, my name is Tendo Akane," Akane then pointed to the girl next to
her, who smiled. "These are my sisters, Nabiki and Kasumi." I had a sudden
urge to say "nice to meet you", but resisted. Kasumi smiled that smile again,
and Nabiki nodded in my direction. "Your name is Saotome Ranma." Well, it's
nice to have a name to identify with the face, I thought.
"Oh.  Thank you.  Could you tell me more please?" the sisters had one of those
silent conversations and seemed to have reached a decision.
"Why don't we tell you on the way to Dr. Tofu?" I readily agreed to this.
After all, I could always learn my 'origins' later, but I might have had some
skull fracturing or something.  All three of them got up, but for some reason
the two younger siblings persuaded Kasumi not to come with us.  Odd that.
"Father, Nabiki and I are taking Ranma to Dr. Tofu," Akane yelled in the
direction of the two men.  The one with the mustache grunted in reply, so he
must have been her father. 
As soon as we hit the streets, I asked them about myself.  It was odd to
listen to my life story and not know any of it. It was not an experience that
I wanted to repeat anytime soon. 
The girl with, I mean Nabiki started the synopsis of my life.  "Your name is
Saotome Ranma, age 16.  You attend Furinkan high school, and you are in the
same class as Akane here.  You want more, that'll be two thousand yen," she
said in a slightly tired voice.  I smiled slightly at that.  Akane turned to
her sister with an annoyed look.
"Honestly Nabiki, can't you help someone without an incentive?"
"Nothing in life is free, Akane-chan.  As soon as you realize that, the
happier you'll be." Ah, the philosophy of a realist, how refreshing.
"Anyway," Akane said, with one last reproachful look at her sister. "You've
been training in the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts since you
were a baby.  You've been on one long training trip for nearly all of your
life, until you and your father settled in with my family about a year ago." A
bit vague, I thought, bit still better than nothing did.  Hmm, a life-long
training trip, I must be good at it, I just hope that I remember some of it.
"That's pretty much all we know about your early life,"
"That's it?" I admit that I was very disappointed.  After all, how would you
like it if your entire life story took only a minute to tell?
"Well, that's all we know.  They're some other bits in there, but they're too
complicated to get into now." Akane said quickly, while she quickened her
pace.  Oh Kay, that is odd. 
Hmm . . . note to self, remind Nabiki to give me full story, negotiate price
to something lower.
We arrived at the doctor's office after about a few minutes of walking in
silence.  Akane didn't want to talk and apparently Nabiki was tiring out.  As
for myself, I was getting into a pretty rotten mood.  No one would tell me
about who I am (well not anymore), and the headache was back.  The fact that
it was a bright day did not help at all.  I wished it would rain, although
that thought filled me with dread as well.
A young man, wearing a brown gi (why do people wear gis around here?  Is it
fashionable?) and glasses greeted us.  I immediately felt that I could trust
him.  A trait that every doctor should have.  Anyway, he smiled and waved us
in.
"Hello Doctor Tofu," said Akane.
"Hello Akane, Ranma, Nabiki.  What can I do for you?"
"Umm . . . you see, umm, that is, . . ." Akane trailed off, and started
blushing yet again.  I wondered that if she kept blushing, she would faint.
Nabiki took control of the conversation from her silent sister.
"Ranma has amnesia again,"
"Again?" came the doctors surprised reply.
"Yeah, this happened before." 
"Really?" 
"Yeah."
"What caused it?  Both this time and the last, that is."
"Guess," Nabiki then gestured to Akane, who blushed even more.  I decided that
I really didn't want to hang around her more than I needed to.
"Oh," was his only reply.  He then looked at me and told me to sit down.  I
sat on a cushioned table and then he started probing my head with his fingers.
You know, does it hurt here?  Does it hurt there?  Well, after a few moments,
he located the point where it hurt the most.  He looked carefully, probed some
more and then said, much to my relief, "Well Ranma, you don't appear to be
hurt in any serious manner.  Not even a concussion really.  There is some
slight bruising, but it seems to be healing quite nicely.  I'm fairly certain
that your loss of memory is more due to shock than anything else.  I'm quite
confident that your memories will return on their own.  I do recommend however
that you avoid further hits to the head."
"I don't plan to get hit on the noggin a lot, Doc.  Thanks a lot."
"Anytime Ranma."
"Well I guess that we should be going.  Good bye Doctor," said Nabiki.
"Good bye.  Oh, Akane, please stay a moment," said Dr. Tofu as we started to
go.  Akane looked nervous for a moment, then said.
"Of . . . of course, Doctor."
We left Akane behind, walking in silence yet again.  For some reason my
headache was gone, and I felt much better.  After a few moments Akane caught
up with us.  We didn't ask what Dr. Tofu wanted to talk to her about.  We got
back to the dojo without saying a word to one another.  A very depressing
atmosphere, to say the least.
I noticed something odd, when we returned.  The man with the mustache, whom I
assumed were the girl's father was playing a board game of some sort with a
Panda.  And the panda was winning, judging from how frustrated that fellow
with the mustache looked.  The panda held up a sign that read 'Ready to give
up Tendo?'  To this, Mr. Tendo looked first annoyed and then, after looking at
the board closely, triumphant, as he placed a stone upon the board with a
shout of victory.  It was now the panda's turn to clutch at his head in misery
as he held up a sign that read 'What!?.' I looked at all of this bemusedly as
the girls conferenced in the kitchen.  
The girls came out of the kitchen, looking very . . . sympathetic.  Akane held
a glass of water.  They looked at me, with those serious eyes, and suddenly I
was worried.  To lighten the mood a little, I said, "Hey, does the Panda do
taxes too?" Lame, yes.  So lame in fact, that I immediately felt like hiding
under a rock.  They again looked at me sympathetically, although Nabiki looked
slightly ill, and Kasumi said, "That is part of what we wanted to talk to you
about.  I think that you should brace yourself, because this is going to be
very surprising, and in fact, traumatic for you.  Akane?"  Now, let me tell
you, I was terrified out of my skull.  This was not a good day on the whole.  
Akane lifted the glass of water, and threw the water into my face.  When I
finished sputtering, and coughing, for some of the water had gone into my
throat, I glared at the strangely sad Akane.
"What the hell did you do THAT for?" I said, in a very peeved and very high
voice.  Wait, what the hell?  
"My, my voice.  What," My voice, however, would turn out to be the least of my
concern.  Akane pointed at my chest and I looked down.  And I screamed in that
high pitched voice.  Breasts, I had breast.  The logical conclusion was that I
was a girl.  It was not the best of news for someone with an already fragile
sense of self.  And so, I did something that seemed logical at the time, I
fainted.  
When I came to, I saw that instead of two girls, like last time, there were
now three.  Let me just say, that that kind of attention could get to a guy,
girl, whichever.  Anyway, I sat up rather quickly, and I looked at myself.  I
was a guy again.  That, by the by, was a good thing.  I came to the most
frightening and, unfortunately, correct assumption.
"That wasn't a weird delusion, was it." I said, with little hope in my voice.
"Nope," came the reply from Nabiki.  I would have fainted again, but I felt
all-fainted out.  So I settled for simply screaming again.  
End Chapter One