Toltiir looked askance at his latest visitor, Bill, God of 
Rewriting Other People's Material Into Great Drama.  The formal mortal 
absently glanced back, his high forehead gleaming under the currently 
harsh light.
	"Are you *sure* you don't want to do something with the Kunou 
boy?" asked the black-furred minor deity.  "After all, he's obviously a 
fan of yours."
	Bill stroked his short beard.  "Mayhap, and yet I feel that 
'twould best serve if I interfere with another, so Tatewaki may continue 
to serve the Falstaff role in this production.  Ah, here, a man of great 
and changable mood, ruled by his feelings.  If we change that mood for a 
day, shall we have comedy, tragedy or history?"
	"What's the difference?"	
	"Comedies end with a wedding, tragedies with a funeral, and 
histories with a coronation."
	"Then are not all human tales tragedies in the end?"
	"Yes, which is why the storyteller must know when to stop, and 
when to begin.  Behold, my ebon-hued comrade..."

			*		*		*

	[Bringing Ranma from China.  Saotome.]
	Souun lowered the post card.  "About bloody time, Saotome."  His 
eyes were dry.
			*		*		*
	Souun woke from his faint to the complaints of Nabiki.
	"I thought you said Ranma was a boy!"
	"That swindler Saotome swore up and down he was!  When I get my 
hands on him..."
	"Oh, Daddy, you mean you got taken *again*?  How much did you 
lose on this idiocy?"  Nabiki had *wondered* what this arranged marriage 
thing had been about.
	"It's not the money, it's the principle of the thing!  Instead of 
a productive son-in-law, Saotome's sent me another useless mouth to 
feed!"  Souun was sitting up now, and his Demon Head was beginning to 
flare. 
	Akane could see that their visitor looked very nervous, and her 
heart went out to the girl.  Obviously, Ranma had not known what to 
expect.  As her father continued to rant, Akane tapped Ranma on the 
shoulder and pointed towards the door to the dojo.  They quietly left.
	"You'll have to excuse Father," Akane said.  "This is just a bit 
of a shock for him.  I hadn't realized just how important this engagement 
was, not that I would have wanted to marry some guy I just met.  Oh, by 
the way, I'm Akane.  Would you like to be friends?"
	"Um...friends..." as though it were a foreign word to the girl.  
"Sure!"  Ranma smiled a bit for the first time since she'd arrived.
	"C'mon, I'll show you the dojo.  Father said you'd been training 
in China?"
			*		*		*
	Well, that had been...interesting.  Akane sighed as she loosened 
her belt a little.  Ranma was really good at dodging.  She didn't seem to 
have much in the way of an offense, though, preferring to outmaneuver her 
opponent.  They'd have to trade tips, assuming her father let the 
pigtailed girl stay.  It would be nice to have a friend who was into the 
martial arts as much as she was.
	Akane's hand was almost on the bathroom door when she heard her 
father scream in anger, "You did WHAT?!"
	Curious, she hurried back to the living room to find Souun 
holding a man in a white gi off the floor by his lapels.  The other man 
was chubby-looking, though Akane could tell there was a lot of muscle 
under the fat.  He was wearing a dirty white kerchief on his head, and 
glasses with elastic earloops.  Souun was in full Demon Head mode.
	"You unmitigated idiot!  Have you no shame?  Have you at long 
last no shame?!"
	"Tendou, old friend, I can explain--"
	"There is no excuse for your actions!"
	Akane became aware of someone standing beside her.  It was a boy, 
rather a handsome one, dressed in an outfit similar to Ranma's.  On 
closer examination, he looked a lot like Ranma, including the pigtail.
	"Um...who are you?"
	He looked embarrassed.  "I'm Ranma Saotome.  Sorry about this."
			*		*		*
	Akane looked on in puzzlement.  So the girl she'd seen first as 
Ranma, was actually a boy under some sort of weird curse, and hot water 
turned him back?  She realized he must have been in the bath just before 
she was going to go in.  Thank the kami she hadn't, that would have been 
so embarrassing!  She would have lost her temper, and things would really 
be in a muddle.
	"--so hot water turns you back, eh?" snarled Souun as he poured a 
stream from the kettle on the panda.
	"Yes.  It needn't be boiling, though," replied the now human 
Genma, as he blew on a scalded bit of skin to cool it.
	"And you?"  Souun advanced on the once again female Ranma, who 
shied away.  Perhaps she, or should it be he? was scared of the scowl on 
Souun's face.
	"I can wait until it cools down a little."
	"Then I have no choice.  The engagement is off."
	Genma protested, "But Tendou, we made a promise!"
	"We made a promise to engage a boy and a girl, not one of my 
daughters and a freak of nature!"  Souun's eyes glowed with anger.  "You 
have violated our pact, and are unworthy of my friendship.  I want you 
and your...offspring...out of my house immediately!"
	"But, Father--" began Kasumi.
	"I am the head of this household and I have made my decision!  I 
know you like to take care of strays, but these two are lower than dirt, 
and I will not have my home soiled by them a moment longer!"  He picked 
up one of the packs and threw it out the door for emphasis.
	"Very well, Tendou, if that's the way you feel.  Farewell."  
Genma's shoulders were sagging.
	"I told you this was a mistake, Pops," said Ranma as she 
shouldered her own pack.  "Let's go back to China.  Maybe Shampoo's given 
up."
	Akane wanted to at least show the visitors to the door, but her 
father's fierce glare stopped her short.  As Ranma left, she turned to 
look around one last time.  As their gazes met, Akane saw something in 
the cursed boy's eyes.  Lust?  No, she knew that look too well.  It 
was...longing.
	For some reason she couldn't fathom herself, Akane began crying. 

			STAR-CROSSED LOVERS

	Outline:  Ranma and Genma end up staying in a vacant lot for the 
next few days, as Ranma has already been enrolled in school.
	Akane meets Ranma when he shows up late for class (he was 
splashed and had to find hot water, thus he missed the morning melee).  
She comes up with the idea of passing him off as her "boyfriend" to fend 
off the attackers, and Ranma agrees, if only to have someone to talk 
to/hang with.  Kunou is not pleased, and the standard rivalry (and 
pigtailed girl obsession) ensue.
	Akane is able to convince Dr. Toufuu to let the Saotomes stay in 
a back room at his clinic in exchange for Genma doing handyman work; 
Ranma gets a delivery job to help pay expenses.
	The job only lasts a few days before Ryouga shows up.  Although 
the lost boy doesn't mean to, he destroys the shop where Ranma is working 
and gets him fired.
	Akane adopts P-chan, which causes her and Ranma to have their 
first serious fight.  (They still have those nasty tempers, it's just 
that they didn't have that disastrous second encounter that set them on 
the bad path.)
	While the two are still on the outs, the Kodachi plotline comes 
up.  It goes a little bit differently, since Ranma can't go to the Tendou 
house, and as a result, Kunou learns of Ranma's disfavor.
	Ranma and Akane make up, though still not admitting they're 
*actually* in love, as opposed to it being an arrangement of 
convenience.  Akane asks Nabiki to help Ranma make some money, and the 
mercenary girl gets him to pose for pictures (things are tight enough he 
agrees to some in girl form, though not in girls' clothing.)
	Meanwhile, Kunou arranges for a matchmaker to approach Souun 
about a marriage between Tatewaki and Akane.
	Shampoo arrives, and ends up using the amnesia formula on Akane.  
Under its influence, Akane nearly marries Kunou, but Ranma pulls a "Young 
Lochinvar" and is subsequently able to snap her out of it.  It's now 
clear that they do share stronger feelings, though both are reluctant to 
admit it, particularly with their fathers feuding.
	Cologne arrives and opens up the Nekohanten, which leads to the 
"Cat Tongue" storyline.  Ranma discovers a talent for waitressing during 
this (as well as other things) and after being restored, gets a waiter 
job at another restaurant.
	ukyou shows up, and Genma starts pushing her at Ranma, partially 
out of guilt, and partly to spite Souun.  Because of the feeling of being 
forced, Ranma is cooler towards Ukyou than usual, and they do not get 
along well.
	Eventually, Kunou pulls a few strings to set up another marriage 
attempt with Akane (or the pigtailed goddess, if Akane is unavailable) 
and things come to a head.


SKJAM!