"FIANCE?!"

     Soun winced at the loud cry from his youngest daughter.  She was not
taking this well.  At least his other daughters were handling it better.
Cries of "How old is he?", and "What does he look like?" were fighting with
each other for attention.

      "I have no idea!" he replied heartily as he crossed to look out the
window.  He looked over his shoulder at the girls as he continued, "I've
never met him."

     The looks of shock on his daughters' faces held for a moment before
Nabiki started to speak.  Fortunately, her remark was interrupted by a knock
at the door.  "That must be them!" he cried running to the door, thankful
for the narrow escape.  He quickly disappeared around the corner that
separated the main room from the entryway, Nabiki in close pursuit.

     Akane and Kasumi were reluctantly beginning to follow when the pair
reappeared, screaming.  A massive panda rounded the corner coming to a halt
at the sight of the other daughters.  The sight also seemed to restore
Soun's courage as he stopped and put himself between daughters and the
(probably rabid, certainly man-eating) panda that had invaded his home.

     Loud laughter rang through the house, before the panda was smashed up
against the wall.  "Outta the way, furball!", the woman who had pinned it
there exclaimed as she moved through the newly created space.  She was tall,
and very beautiful; with raven black hair that cascaded down to just passed
her shoulder blades, and the face of an angel.  Her eyes were a lively
green, dancing with obvious amusement, and there were three strange markings
that rested on her cheeks and forehead, adding to her exotic beauty rather
than detracting from it.  Her clothing was just a bit too tight, and
somewhat tattered around the edges, but showed her full figure off to
excellent effect.  The top connection of her red chinese shirt was open,
showing the hint of a view men would die for, and the black silk pants clung
to her legs and shifted as she walked in a manner that was giving Soun
respiratory problems.

     Nabiki (who had noticed both the woman's effect on her father) began to
ask "Who are..." before cutting off as all attention transferred to her.

     "Hmm...? Oh, I am Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything-Goes
Martial Arts"

     "Aren't you supposed to be a guy?"

     Ranma casually reached back and smacked the panda's head.  "That's all
his fault.  See Pop dragged me to this place in China called Jusenkyo
where..." she trailed off for a moment.  "Say, you got any hot water?"

     The abrupt change confused the girls for a moment before Kasumi pointed
out the kettle she had prepared for tea, still siting on the table where it
had been ignored in the wake of her father's announcement.

     "Wonderful!" Ranma exclaimed as she began moving towards it.  "Anyway,
this Jusenkyo place has all these cursed pools that cause you to take on
different forms if you get dunked into them.  You turn into whatever drowned
in the pool you fall in.".  She snatched the kettle off the table and
gestured roughly towards the panda "For instance, that's my Pop."

     "So, what, you're really a boy and this is just a curse?"  The sarcasm
in Nabiki's comment was thick enough to cut as Ranma upended the kettle over
her head.

     Everyone just stared in shock as Ranma seemed to melt under the flow of
hot water.  She lost nearly a foot of height and her hair turned from black
to a deep red as the clothing she was wearing became just a little too loose
on her new form.  Her eyes also switched to a deep clear blue and the marks
on her face faded away.  "No, Pop heard about the curses and took me there
thinking to toss me into the Spring of Drowned Boy, but messed up and dumped
me into the Spring of Drowned Demoness instead."

-- Magister
 Just a little something that came to me as I wondered when the next chapter
of Ranko 1/2 was finally going to appear :>