C&A Productions Presents

                     A Work of Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction


                          The Ties That Bind


                  Part 4: Life, Tatewaki and Everything

                    	Written by Chris McNeil

              Original Concept Provided by Robert Morrison


	Ranma and Panma stared at Akane for a long moment.  Then they both 
burst out laughing.  "You're not serious!" Panma gasped.  "He got up 
there...and TOLD them that if anybody wanted to date you..."
	Akane felt her face redden.  "It's not -my- fault 
Kunou is such an idiot," she snapped.  "You think I WANTED all those 
boys after me every morning?"
	"Some girls might take it as a compliment," grinned Ranma.  "Then 
again, -some- girls don't try to be more macho than...hey, what was that 
for?" he growled at his brother, who had jabbed an elbow in his side.  
Panma met his gaze cooly, and then Ranma seemed to remember something 
and looked away, muttering under his breath.  
	"So what do you do about it?" asked Panma in the uncomfortable silence 
that followed.  Akane shrugged with irritation.
	"What I have to...pound the heck out of them every morning.  And Kunou, 
too.  He's always last."
	Panma raised an eyebrow.  "You've beaten Kunou?"
	"Yeah," said Akane defensively, "so what?"
	"I guess even -you- might stand a chance against him," Ranma agreed.  
Panma shook his head in pure disgust as Akane glared at her supposed 
fiancee.  "What?"
	Panma quickly stood up.  "C'mon, bro, let's grab some food before it's 
all gone."  Ranma, whose eyes had lit up at the mention of �food', 
quickly followed.  Akane heard Panma say something to his brother about 
not making any psycho enemies this time, but was too angry to figure out 
quite what that meant.  So what if she wasn't so fast or fancy as either 
of them?  She was a martial artist too, and if she had traveled all over 
the place and gotten in HALF as many fights as those two, she could 
probably have kicked them both all the way back to China.  
	Akane stood up to get her own lunch, a small smile on her face.  If 
Nabiki's plan worked half as well as it was supposed to, that might be 
the last smart-aleck comment she got out of either of them.

                        	********

	In another part of the lunchroom, a conference of war was taking place.  
"I didn't have time to get pictures yet," Nabiki said in an outwardly 
conversational yet still quiet voice, "but there he is over there.  See 
the one in the bread line, the one without a uniform?"
	"The one with four pieces in his arms and six in his mouth?"
	"No, that one can wait.  The one over there, giving him a disgusted 
look."
	The red-haired girl studied him for a moment.  "Got it.  With those 
weird clothes he'll be easy to pick out."
	"Make sure everybody knows him, then.  I want this all to go off after 
first class this afternoon."
	"I'll make sure they all know about him."  The girl hesitated. 
"Umm...Nabiki, some people have been wondering...some of these 
instructions are kinda weird..."
	Nabiki smiled, a slow, malicious smile.  "Tell them not to worry about 
it.  But I wouldn't suggest being too close to anyone in that guy's 
clothes when this goes down..."

                         	********

	Upperclassman Tatewaki Kunou, rising star of the high school fencing 
world and Furinkan High School's mightiest warrior, was irritated.  The 
scowl of rage on his face would normally be enough to send lesser 
men-and was that not everybody?-scurrying for cover, which was only 
sensible, for Kunou's divine wrath was quite near at these times, and 
liable to fall on the incautious in the form of his mighty bokken.
	Indeed, even now the glower upon his visage would probably have caused 
his fellow students to clear before him, if it weren't for the fact that 
the halls were empty on account of the fact that most students were in 
class.  So preoccupied was Kunou with his righteous indignation and 
inflamed thoughts, however, that even his razor-keen senses failed to 
acknowledge this.
	That was not truly a surprise, given the news he had received. After a 
short period of surprise in the aftermath of the morning's fiasco, he 
had-correctly, of course-reasoned that his trusted bokken had obviously 
been fatally flawed. Thus he was compelled to fetch a new one, as well 
as lodging a protest over the shoddy workmanship-in the form of dire 
threats and a rather lengthy lecture on the proper way to do business-of 
the last.  Returning during the noon repast, he had been bent on 
searching out the impudent Saotome whelp and giving him the thrashing he 
had unjustly escaped that morning...when ill tidings had been revealed 
to him by the personage of one Nabiki Tendo.
	"Fiancee..."  His lip curled around the very words.  It was indeed a 
stroke of fortune, however, that Nabiki had informed him so quickly.  
She was an odd girl, even if often quite useful.  Still, Kunou had to 
admit she had certain mental gifts, and besides which, surely she would 
not wish to see her beloved sister subjected to such a monstrosity.
	His mind settled on that point, Kunou tightened his grip on his new 
bokken.  He could almost feel the satisfying impact as it slammed into 
the cur's worthless carcass...

                        	********

	Panma-chan stared at the sink, fists clenched, trembling with fury.  It 
was -not- turning out to be a good day.  The morning hadn't been too 
bad...sure, there was that Kunou freak, but he wasn't all that good, and 
at any rate would get fixated on beating Ranma if anything. Next there 
were classes, which looked to be incredibly boring...but that was to be 
expected, and at least he thought he could catch up fairly easily.  And 
then, of course, there was the embarrassment of Akane and Ranma giving 
each other dirty looks and tossing insulting notes back and forth like 
pre-schoolers, but at least they got caught and sent out into the hall, 
providing some much-appreciated peace.  So while the morning hadn't been 
great, it wasn't much worse than he had expected either.
	No, the problems had started after lunch, when some practical joker had 
left a bucket of water on the lunchroom doorway.  Panma would normally 
have looked for, found and pounded the hell out of the freak, but was 
immediately preoccupied with getting out of sight before anyone could 
notice that he had become a she.  She had been fairly sure that she 
hadn't been seen, but a new complication had sprung up shortly 
afterwards...the hot water was labeled as not working in the bathroom.  
Three bathrooms later, she had rushed in this, a boy's bathroom, with a 
rapidly sinking feeling, and had her fears confirmed.  The whole hot 
water system must have been out of order or something.
	With a snarled curse, she smashed her fist into the wall, sending a 
cloud of plaster and dust flying and leaving a fair-sized hole.  "I 
-hate- this damned body!" she growled, then turned on her heel and 
stalked out.  She'd have to go home, there was nothing to do for it.
	As soon as the door closed behind the blonde girl, two heads poked out 
from the bathroom stall, where they had been forced to hide after 
hastily-and tardily-affixing their signs to the sink.  
	"-I- certainly don't hate her body," one, a boy with sandy hair and a 
rather lecherous grin said.  His companion, a dark-haired boy with a 
more serious expression, almost seemed ready to nod in agreement, but 
then frowned.
	"No time for that, Hiroshi.  We'd better get to class...and we'd better 
think up a good excuse for Kishi-sensei while we're at it."
	Swallowing, Daisuke nodded agreement and started to follow his friend 
to the door.  Just before the reached it, however, they heard something 
which forced them to stay inside a little longer...

                        	********

	Kunou had been mentally preparing a list of the unpleasant things he 
planned to do to Ranma, but this enjoyable and useful endeavor was cut 
short as a door crashed open before him, nearly striking him.  He 
swiftly prepared to smite the insolent dog who
would dare do such a thing to the great Tatewaki Kunou, but was
caught short as he realized the gender of the person who had done
so.
	"Get that stick outta my face before I shove it up your... oh, it's 
-you-."
	Kunou wracked his brain for where he had seen this girl before, for she 
seemed rather familiar.  Finally, the memory struck him, of an 
identically-clothed person who had apparently-for some sick reason-been 
accompanying the wretched Saotome that morning.  Oddly, he could have 
sworn that person had been male, but the contradiction was in front of 
him.  Surely no other person would be wearing such outlandish garb.  He 
smiled-charmingly, of course-and quickly formulated his next words, 
mentally congratulating himself for the presence of the mind to 
correctly discern and take advantage of this most fortuituous situation.
	"Tell me, young lady, do you know the whereabouts of one Ranma 
Saotome?"
	The girl rolled her eyes, obviously overwhelmed by the pleasure of 
being addressed by such an august personage.  Kunou made a mental note 
to see what her connection was with Saotome.  While somewhat boyish in 
looks, there was something of a healthy glow about her, and Kunou would 
not put it past scum like Saotome to take advantage of such a naive and 
innocent child.
	"Listen pal," the girl said with an endearingly good-if somewhat 
improper-attempt at disrespect.  A lesser man than the great Tatewaki 
Kunou would no doubt be fooled by this show of being hard to get.  
"Forget about him," the girl continued.  "Take my advice and find some 
other guy to attack before you get hurt."
	Kunou laughed at the poor girl's naive manner.  Obviously she had not 
closely observed the fight Kunou had so effectively dominated this 
morning-before the unfortunate failure of his equipment, of course.  
"Fear not for -mine- health, dear girl.  Instead, you would do well to 
fear for the cretinous Saotome, who is destined to meet his end upon my 
blade."
	The girl laughed, her fears obviously calmed.  Kunou smiled in return, 
mentally congratulating himself for aiding such a charming young girl.  
After all, did not the code of the samurai advocate helping those in 
distress, particularly those of the fairer sex?  
	The girl finally stopped chortling.  "You still don't get it, do you?" 
she asked.  Kunou wondered what this new distress could be about.  Had 
the foul Saotome gone even further in his dark acts than he had 
imagined?  "I'm not sure if you're delusional or just terminally 
stupid-or both-but get this through your thick skull.  You can't beat 
Ranma.  You're not even in his league.  You're not in MY league, even 
when I'm in this...well, never mind about that.  The point is, you're 
outclassed, Kunou.  Do yourself a favour and go bug somebody else."
	It all hit Kunou with startling clarity.  Though obviously terrified of 
retribution, the girl had slipped him the crucial clue he needed.  The 
foul Saotome had not been satisfied with his dishonourable enslavement 
of the fair Akane.  No, he had also dug his despicable claws into the 
fair creature before him as well.  No doubt they prayed for release, but 
were too frightened of their horrible master to seek help.  Well, now 
Tatewaki Kunou had uncovered the whole vile plot.
	"Fear not," he said, favouring her with a kind smile.  "I have deduced 
the source of your distress.  Soon, the accursed Saotome shall be no 
threat to anyone."
	She gaped at him, obviously terrified at the retribution that would 
arise for revealing the clues that Kunou's razor sharp mind had put 
together.  Finally, she shook her head and stepped back, drawing into a 
fighting stance.  "I have no idea what the heck you're talking about, 
moron, but I guess words aren't going to convince you to get lost.  Fine 
with me; I could use the workout."
	With a sigh at the extent that Saotome's evil had taken hold of this 
innocent girl, Kunou raised his own bokken as well.  He would make this 
as swift and painless as possible, for it was not this poor creature's 
fault that she could not resist her master.  "Very well, my fair one.  
You leave me little choice, but I beseech you not to fret. Your master 
is no match for me."
	"Will you shut up and fight already?" she growled, shifting her stance.  
	Sighing once more, Kunou leveled his bokken at her.  "I understand.  
Take heart, and strive even in your dark cause.  Should your fiery 
spirit arise and overcome me, I shall allow you to date me!"
	And even as the blonde female's jaw dropped in shock, Kunou charged.

                        	********

	Meanwhile, from their hideout in the bathroom, Hiroshi and Daisuke 
listened in deepening horror to the conversation occuring just outside 
the doors.  As it culminated in Kunou's pronouncement and subsequent 
charge, they exchanged worried glances.
	"Hiroshi, we can't just let this go on."
	"But what can -we- do?  That's KUNOU out there!"
	Both winced as there was a cry from outside, followed by a loud crash.  
Daisuke stood up, fists clenched, a determined expression on his face.  
"It doesn't matter who it is," he declared.  "How can we call ourselves 
men if we just stand aside and let this poor, defenceless woman fight 
alone?"
	Hiroshi looked dubious for a moment, then suddenly his face firmed and 
he stood as well. "You're right.  It's our duty."
	"Besides, she'll be grateful."
	Hiroshi nodded enthusiastically.  "VERY grateful."
	"Well then, what are we waiting for?"  The two rushed over to the door 
and then stopped, hesitating.  As another crash rang out, Daisuke 
swallowed, reached out, and flung the door open.  They rushed out, 
mouths open to protest, fists clenched, muscles coiled to spring...and 
stopped dead.
	The mysterious girl in the outlandish clothing, apparently unhurt and 
with an arrogant smirk plastered on her face, calmly reached down and 
yanked Kunou's limp form out of the wall where she had apparently just 
placed him.  Absently kicking his dropped bokken out of the way, she 
grabbed the front of his robe and jerked the dazed kendoist to his feet 
as easily as lifting a rag doll.
	"And guess what, Kunou?" she sneered.  "Ranma Saotome's almost as good 
as me."  With that, she pulled back and then reintroduced Kunou to the 
wall, head first.  Patting her hands with satisfaction, she turned to go 
and noticed the gaping duo.  "You two got a problem?" she asked in a 
decidedly...less than friendly tone.
	"Uhhh...no, not at all!" Daisuke said hastily, pulling out of her way.  
With a snort, the girl strode past them, turned a corner and was gone.  
For a moment, the two simply stared at the destruction.  Finally, 
Hiroshi turned, and the two met disbelieving eyes.
	"So...defenceless, huh?"
	"Oh shut up."

                        	********

	"Oh my.  Panma, what are you doing home so early?"
	Panma-chan started to growl something, then checked herself.  It seemed 
almost blasphemous to be rude to someone as unspeakably polite and nice 
as Kasumi.  For this reason, she had resolved to avoid the eldest Tendo 
sister as much as possible, since the selfsame unspeakable niceness and 
politeness tended to drive her nuts after a few minutes of exposure.  
Sometimes Panma wondered if the girl even saw the same world around her 
that everyone else did.
	"Nothing much.  But I got accidentally splashed and all the hot water 
at the school was broken, so I didn't have much choice but to come 
home."
	"I see.  Would you like a nice piece of watermelon?"
	Graciously accepting, Panma-chan took the prooffered piece of fruit and 
headed toward the bath.  Kasumi might be annoyingly cheerful, but she 
was definitely nice to have around at times, and at least she was always 
understanding and polite, unlike...
	"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOME!?"
	Casually, Panma-chan slammed a punch into Genma's gut and flipped over 
him while he doubled over in surprise.  "Give it a rest, oyaji," she 
said, not bothering to look back.  "The hot water was broken, and I 
didn't exactly want to suddenly show up as a girl for my next class."
	Genma started to articulate another protest, or possibly a comment on 
how weak her punches were, but Panma-chan cut him off by sliding the 
door shut in his face.  Striding into the bathroom, Panma-chan began to 
fill the bath.  Turning away, she walked over to the hamper and tossed 
her still-damp clothes off, grimacing as she was forced to look at her 
feminine attributes.
	"I -despise- this," she muttered.  Walking over to the sink for cold 
water to wash with, she glanced into the large mirror and flinched at 
the blonde hair and...other things clearly visible.  Then, with a growl, 
she forced herself to coldly stare into the mirror, examining her new 
body.
	She was attractive, she noted grudgingly.  Her features may have been 
more...masculine than those of her original form, but in all honesty 
that didn't make them any less feminine than that of your average girl.  
Her body was well-toned, and she had received generous attributes and 
shape from the spring.  
	With a snarl, Panma-chan looked away and filled the bucket with cold 
water.  She hated this curse, this body that her worthless father had 
trapped her in.  She hated the fact that it was attractive, she hated 
how obvious this became when wearing her usual outfit.  It had been less 
than two months since the fateful trip to Jyusenkyou, but to Panma-chan, 
it was like a lifetime.  She couldn't understand how Ranma-though he 
certainly wasn't fond of his curse either-could spend large amounts of 
time in it without too much difficulty.  Every time Panma-chan noticed 
some appreciative male staring, or heard whispered comments, her stomach 
churned.  She was torn between wanting to run away in shame and wanting 
to beat the miserable perverts to a pulp. 
	It had not been Panma who had decided to come back to Japan, but she 
had been overruled by her father and brother.  As she poured the cold 
water over herself and picked up a cloth, she scowled.  It would not be 
long now, she silently vowed.  Her father be damned, engagement be 
damned, family honour be damned, Panma Saotome was not staying here much 
longer, even if she had to head back to China alone.

                        	********

	Kunou groaned as he returned to consciousness, his eyelids fluttering 
open.  Nabiki walked over to the bedside as he sat up, gazing blearily 
around the clinic.
	"Took you long enough, Kunou-chan," she cooly commented.  His eyes fell 
on her and narrowed suspiciously.  Affecting a look of concern, she 
continued, "I heard you had a nasty run-in with the new girl."
	"Yes, she was...formidible," he said slowly.  "I must admit she 
somewhat took me by surprise."  His mind flew back to those last few 
moments...the girl ducking beneath his thrust, so fast she seemed to 
disappear, then the impact of a hard kick to the gut and the immediately 
following impact of the wall.  Then, as he picked himself up, 
momentarily groggy, her lunge, fists pulled back, just before everything 
faded into a rather interesting display of colours...while Kunou would 
need some more time to analyse her strengths exactly, he felt safe in 
saying that in a real match, she might present a considerable challenge 
even to his peerless skills.  In fact, he wondered how such a pitiful 
opponent as Saotome could ever hold such a lovely and skilled girl 
captive.  Perhaps dark sorcery of some sort, or...
	"Yo, Kunou-chan, you listening?"
	His thoughts interrupted, Kunou affixed the bothersome girl with a cold 
stare.  "Were you to perhaps speak in a manner clear enough for any man 
to comprehend, I would better understand your words."
	Nabiki smiled condescendingly.  She recognized the look in Kunou's 
eyes.  Now, it simply had to be carefully funneled in the right 
direction...  "I'm sorry, Kunou-chan.  What I said was that I thought 
you may want to find this girl again."
	Kunou arched an eyebrow.  "You know her?"
	"Actually, she's staying at my house, along with Ranma, his brother and 
father."
	"Ah, all makes sense now.  The accursed Sao..." Kunou did a double 
take, his eyes widening.  "One moment.  Nabiki Tendo, have mine ears 
deceived me, or didst thou make mention of a -brother- to accursed 
Saotome?"
	"Yep, the other accursed Saotome.  His name is Panma.  I'm surprised 
you didn't see him earlier; that girl you ran into is always around 
him."
	"Always around him, you say..." Kunou's brow furrowed in thought.  
After a moment, he looked up.  "Nabiki Tendo, you say you know this 
blonde girl.  Would you be so kind as to deliver a message to her?"
	"Why of course, Kunou-chan," she said, affecting surprise.  "I'm sure 
she'll be pleasently surprised to hear from you."  Kunou nodded curtly 
and began looking for ink and paper.  As he turned away, Nabiki smiled.  
Phase two was almost complete.

                            	********

	As Ranma strode into the dojo, he found Panma already there, flowing 
gracefully through a series of intricate katas.  Instead of walking all 
the way in, he simply stopped and stared for a moment, entranced by the 
almost hypnotic rhythm of his brother's fluid movements.  Finally he 
shook his head and grinned ruefully, walking over to set up one of the 
training dummies leaning against the wall.
	As Ranma began to launch strikes at the dummy, Panma, from the midst of 
his kata, glanced over at him.  Most of Ranma's strikes hit glancing 
blows or non-vital areas such as the limbs.  A casual observer may have 
chalked this up to sloppiness, but Panma knew better.  Ranma consciously 
did this, for he knew that if a single full power punch or kick struck 
the dummy, it would be blown into stuffing. Panma's eyes narrowed and he 
returned to his kata with added vigour, finishing the routine with a 
series of vicious kicks.  Slowing to a stop, he commented, "So, how was 
afternoon classes?"
	Ranma stopped as well, absently tossing the dummy aside.  "Not bad.  
Boring, mostly.  What happened to you?"
	"Didn't you know?  The hot water was busted, so I had to come home."
	Ranma's brow furrowed.  Though his brother wouldn't bother to lie to 
him-and wasn't the type to cut classes anyway-he distinctly remembered 
visiting the washroom during the after-school cleaning, and there was no 
indication of the hot water being down.  In fact, he had washed his 
hands in it, so he KNEW it wasn't down.  But before he could wonder 
about this, Panma's voice broke in.  
	"So, bro, you feel up to trying for three-two-eight-six today?"
	Dismissing the water mystery from his mind, Ranma grinned confidently 
and fell back into a combat stance.  "I'm -always- ready, bro.  The 
question is, do YOU feel up to it?"
	"Naturally.  I simply didn't want my victory to be too easy."
	"Funny, that's just what I was thinking."
	"Shall we, then?"
	"Let's."
	With a cry, the two brothers charged at each other, fists raised for 
the opening blows...then skidded to a halt as the door opened.
	"Excuse me, boys," said Nabiki.  "Did I interrupt anything important?"
	Panma chuckled.  "Well, if it isn't my erstwhile fiancee.  Nah, just 
saved Ranma a beating, but I can make up for that later.  What's up?"
	Nabiki's eyes narrowed slightly at the off-hand �fiancee' comment, but 
whatever was annoying her didn't show in her voice as she smiled and 
stepped into the dojo, continuing, "Well, I've got a delivery for you."
	Panma blinked in surprise. "Who from?"
	"Kunou," came the reply.  "To your girl half.  He hasn't figured out 
you're one and the same, apparently."
	"Good," grunted Panma, taking the message.  "That's -all- I need is to 
have that spread around..."  Quickly scanning the message, he sighed and 
rolled his eyes.  "Should've guessed.  Some people never learn."
	Ranma walked over to look.  "What's it say, bro?"
	"What else?" sighed Panma, tossing it over.  "A challenge.  I beat the 
snot out of him earlier, but I guess he didn't get the point."
	"Huh."  Opening up the letter, Ranma read, "�To the fiery blonde 
one...be so good as to meet me at the ninth hour of this evening.'  
Yeah, seems like it."
	Nabiki looked concerned.  "Maybe you shouldn't go, Panma.  Kunou-chan 
HATES to lose.  This time he might be out for blood."
	Panma snorted.  "He could be out to carve his name on my intestines, 
but unless he's gotten about twenty times better, he's not anything I 
have to worry about."
	"Yeah," Ranma nodded, "I doubt he'd give even -you- much trouble."
	"Thanks," replied Panma drily.  "Well, no big deal.  Let's go check if 
dinner's ready."
	"Hey, fine with me!"  The two brothers rushed out, towards the kitchen 
and Kasumi.  As they passed out of sight, Nabiki smiled.  "Phase three," 
she whispered triumphantly.  Then she strolled at a leisurely pace after 
them, chuckling softly to herself.


	To be continued...

Authour's notes: Well, here it is.  Hope you enjoy.  Oh, and for those 
among my prereaders who have commented on my apparently-unneccessary 
footnotes...well, I'm hoping to drag in newbies and those without 
extensive knowledge of Japanese language or culture as well.  In a 
series in which Pantyhose Tarou (or something resembling him) is a star, 
is that possible?  Well, I try. ^_^;;; Besides, it's better to have some 
redundant information than have any readers not understand crucial 
stuff, ne?  So, without further adieu...


	Footnotes (or note, as the case may be ;p)

Kunou-chan: This was generally translated as "Kunou baby" in the Viz 
translations, which is actually fairly accurate to the meaning.  
Basically, "-chan" is a Japanese honourific (a word, meaningless in 
itself, which when following a name gives a certain slant/emphasis to 
it) which is normally only used between very close friends or when 
talking to social inferiors.  Thus, for Nabiki to call Kunou 
"Kunou-chan" is rather demeaning to him, since he is her social 
superior; in other words, it's very condescending, like she's talking to 
a little baby.


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