Ranma 1/2: What Was Never Meant To Be
by Wesley Bridges

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Disclaimer:

I actually decided to write one of these. All characters are properties
of the most wise and irrepressable Rumiko Takahashi. Everything else 
that I use in this fanfic is owned by their respectful owners, I just 
came up with the plot and dialogue.

Beginning Notes/Warnings:

This fanfic assumes some things, so be wary. It takes place sometime
in between Nodaka discovering Ranma's curse and the botched wedding, 
hopefully they don't occur very close together. It assumes that she went
home for a period of time, either just to check on things, or something,
which is where she is in the beginning. It also assumes the engagement
between the Tendo and Saotome families were mainly between Soun and 
Genma, or after the death of Mrs. Tendo. I am calling this an Altiverse
fic mainly because I'm not sure of the details, and I'm going on a lot
of assumptions. This is going to be a short teaser-like fic just to see
people's reactions 
to the content, and come across this so that I don't need to show the other
character's 
reactions right away, even though... well nevermind you'll find out.
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Prologue: Discoveries Of The Past

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	Nodaka Saotome began packing some more things for her trip back
	to the Tendo Dojo. It had been a surprise to discover Ranma and
	Genma's Curses of Jusenkyo, but she was very pleased that Ranma
	was manly in both forms. She breathed a sigh of relief as she
	thought about Ranma and Akane's future wedding. She would need
	to help plan it, but not to rush things like Genma and Soun 
	were attempting. These situations needed to be handled with
	assuring talks.

	As she thought, a knock came from the door. Nodaka walked over
	and opened it to see a man dressed in a postal delivery uniform.

Man:	Are you Mrs. Nodaka Saotome?

Nodaka:	Yes, may I help you?

Man:	I have a registered letter for you that needs a signature.

Nodaka:	(signing for the letter) Oh, sure. Thank you.

Man:	Have a nice day.

Nodaka:	(looking at the letter, thinking) It's from the government. I
	wonder what it could be.

	Nodaka opened the letter and took an almost immediate interest.

Nodaka:	(reading to herself)
	
	Dear Honored Madam, 

	Our missing persons report has reached its conclusion. We have
	found that your younger sister, a miss Sakura Mizoha, was killed
	in a tragic accident almost eleven years ago. We are very sorry
	that we could not reunite the two of you sooner. The details of
	the accident are not known to us, but you may check the police
	records if it is your desire.

	Your sister had taken a husband before her death, and has had
	three children. If you wish to speak with the family, you may
	do so. Her last known address was:

	Nodaka went pale as she continued reading the letter. She drew
	in a shaky breath, and soon regained her composure. She quickly
	finished packing and hurried to the Tendos'.

	Later that evening, the Tendo Dojo was quiet except for two
	people...	
	
Akane:	(mallet in hand, chasing Ranma) Ranma, how could you!

	Akane swings the mallet and misses causing a dent in the ground

Ranma:	(running) Hey! Quit that already would you?!

Akane:	Refusing to eat the cookies I made you after I spent all that
	time in the kitchen preparing it?!

Ranma:	(dodging another mallet swing, barely) Its not my fault your
	cooking's lethal!

Akane:	You didn't even TASTE them!

Ranma:	I don't NEED to taste them!

	Nodaka entered through the front gates as Akane and Ranma raced
	in front of her. Both saw her and immediately stopped the chase.

Akane:	Oh! Hello, Auntie Saotome.

Ranma:	Hi.. mom.

Nodaka:	(calmly) Hello Akane, Ranma.

Akane:	Is something wrong? We weren't expecting you for another day.

Nodaka:	I have something that I need to tell all of you.

	A few minutes later everyone assembled in the dining area. Soun
	and Genma sat next to each ohter near the back, Kasumi stood
	beside them. Nabiki, Akane (holding P-chan) and Ranma sat in 
	pretty much that order around the table.

Akane:	So, what'd you need to tell us, Auntie?

Nodaka:	I... I'm afraid I can no longer allow Ranma and Akane to wed...

All:	WHAT?!

Soun:	(to Genma) S...S..Saotome what is the meaning of this?!

Genma:	Don't ask me, Tendo!

Nodaka:	The reson being... because they're cousins.

	All eyes widen in shock as the words reach their ears. The scene fades as 
	big bold letters appear on the screen...

TO BE CONTINUED... 

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Ending Notes:

This was inspired by a couple of things. The first was an observation
that the Mrs. Tendo in the flashback scene of "I'll be the one to inherit
mother's recipies," the OAV: Like Water For Ranma, looked a lot like
Nodaka. Then it was reiterated when I made a sarcastic comment to Skeezy5
when I preread one of his Birthdays series. The last ones were some of
the comments I got from my name translation two-bit with Ukyou and her
name. Last came from a relapse of Mirror, Mirror, trying to figure out
why Rumiko would even suggest a Ryoga-Akane union while saying Ranma and
Akane are the only "true pair." I came up with many more reasons, but
that was one of the not-so-serious joke ones. The other ones are much
more serious. 

I have not seen any fanfics on this subject matter, the title and most 
of what goes on is a first draft, and is subject to change, all C&Cs 
welcome.  There are some things which I am not quite sure on, so if you
find a really big mistake, please tell me how to correct it, and I will
attempt to do so.

This is also an idea. I am not very attatched to it, yet, but might get to
that point. 
If I get enough people asking me to continue this, I will. 

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SoulDrake

http://members.xoom.com/Souldrake/ranmadrag.htm