C&A Productions Presents

              	  A Work of Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction


                   	The Ties That Bind


            Part 2: Fiancees and Curses and Bears, Oh My!

                      Written by Chris McNeil

             Original Concept provided by Robert Morrison



	"I'll explain it once more," said Soun Tendo, gesturing at the three 
unfamiliar figures. He was a tall man, getting on in years but still in 
good shape, with long black hair and a neat moustache.  He wore a plain 
brown gi, and despite being rather excitable at most times, was reacting 
to all this with surprising calm.  "This is my dear old friend..."
	"Genma Saotome," a middle aged, balding man replied.  He was definitely 
rather portly, and wore a white gi, a bandanna to mask his baldness, and 
wire-rimmed glasses.  "And these are my sons."
	"Ranma," stated one.  He was fairly handsome, with black hair pulled 
back in a bobbed ponytail and clear blue eyes.  He wore a red Chinese 
shirt and black pants, sported studded, soft bracers on his wrists, and 
looked down at the floor often, obviously uncomfortable.
	The other boy, if he was uncomfortable, showed little sign, meeting any 
looks delivered at him with a cool gaze from his piercing blue-grey 
eyes.  He was slightly shorter than the other but even leaner, and wore 
a vest and baggy pants, both dark green.  He also sported a dark orange 
sash around his waist, and tight black bracers on his forearms.  His 
hair was short yet stylish, and he was pretty almost to the point of 
being effeminate.  After a moment, Ranma elbowed him surreptitiously, 
and he rolled his eyes and said dryly, "And for those who have not 
figured it out yet, I'm Panma," before returning his gaze to the Tendos.
	"What the heck is going on here?" asked Nabiki with a touch of 
irritation.  The middle Tendo had short black hair, and despite casually 
wearing a tank top and shorts seemed to almost radiate cool 
composure...usually.  Nabiki always strove to be on top of every 
situation, but whatever was going on here had her completely in the 
dark, and it was obvious she didn't like it.
	"Are you really those two girls?" asked Kasumi, the faint confusion in 
her voice in sharp contrast to the acid annoyance of her younger sister.  
She was fairly tall, and her long brown hair was tied back into a 
ponytail which fell over her shoulder.  If Nabiki almost seemed to ooze 
with her own competence, Kasumi was a peacemaker who acted with an 
almost motherly demeanour, calm and collected, taking everything in 
stride.  Yet the sheer weirdness of this situation had apparently 
ruffled even her placid calm.
	Akane, the youngest of the three girls, said nothing, merely glaring 
over at Ranma, who tried to avoid meeting her gaze.  She had changed 
into a modest dress and put the ribbon back in her long black hair 
before the explanations began, but it didn't detract much from the 
belligerence of her attitude.  At least she had left off trying to smash 
Ranma through the floor.
	Genma cleared his throat.  "Well...where to begin?"  Panma rolled his 
eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but swallowed it in surprise 
as Genma seized his arm and hurled him over his shoulder...straight 
towards the ornamental pond in the back yard.  
	The boy's eyes widened, but he had no time to do more than cry out in 
surprise before he fell into the water with a loud splash.  There were 
only a few bubbles for a moment, but then a...figure burst out of the 
water.  The three girls stared, because this was NOT Panma, despite the 
fact it was wearing his clothes.  In fact, it was a girl, with blonde 
hair and...attributes that made her gender painfully apparent with the 
tight vest, despite her somewhat boyish looks.  Her fists were clenched, 
and she seemed to shake slightly with anger as Genma calmly walked 
towards her.
	"As you can understand," he said sadly, "it's very humiliating to me."
	"Humiliating...to you?" repeated the girl softly.  Back in the dining 
room, Ranma sighed.  "HUMILIATING TO -YOU-!?"  With an inarticulate 
snarl, the girl leaped from the pond.  Genma hastily sidestepped her 
dropkick, but the girl twisted to grab his gi in midair, and as she 
landed, she hurled him into the pond.  After a moment, a huge panda 
emerged from the water, and the two immediately started fighting as the 
three girls gaped.
	"Now he's a...a panda." said Kasumi unnecessarily.  "Father, I must say 
you have rather strange friends."
	Soun sighed.  "They weren't always like this.  It was only after they 
went to China...and undertook a terrifying training exercise."
	Ranma looked over at Kasumi.  "Umm...could you go get that kettle of 
hot water?"  The eldest Tendo sister blinked, but quickly got up and 
went into the kitchen.  Meanwhile, Ranma got up and walked over to the 
rapidly escalating conflict.  "Okay you guys, break it -up-!" he yelled, 
shoving the two...or the girl, at least...apart.  "This won't help 
anything."  The blonde girl scowled furiously, but turned her back and 
stalked back up to the house.  As Kasumi emerged, she grabbed the kettle 
from her hands with a mutter that might have been a thank you, and 
poured some of the steaming water within over her head.  Then it was 
time for another round of gasps, for as the hot water poured over her, 
she...changed.  Her chest retreated and became merely muscular, her hair 
changed from blonde to a glossy blue-black, and her features altered 
until she was identical to the boy who had dropped into the pond a 
moment ago.  The panda walked up too, holding out its paw, but Panma 
gave it one dark look and kicked the kettle over its head, where it 
landed in the pond with a hiss.
	"Stay like that forever for all I care!" he snapped, before sitting 
down with his back deliberately turned to the indignant animal.  Ranma 
sat down too, and finally the panda also approximated sitting down on 
the porch with a growl, causing the boards to creak ominously.  There 
was silence for a moment as the three girls tried to assimilate what 
happened and stop from goggling.
	Nabiki recovered first.  "Ooooooookay...so what exactly HAPPENED on 
this training trip?"
	Ranma looked at his brother, but Panma was staring at the floor, 
growling something under his breath and obviously ignoring them.  With a 
sigh, he cleared his throat.  "Well, it all started about two weeks 
ago..."

                         	********

	"Here, sirs."  The Chinese guide was a short, portly man, dressed in a 
plain brown Maoist outfit and cap.  His Japanese was understandable, if 
heavily accented.  "We come to legendary training ground of cursed 
springs, Jyusenkyou."
	The three martial artists surveyed the area with interest.  Nestled in 
the shadow of Mount Quanjing, in the Bayankala range of Qinghai 
province, Jyusenkyou was certainly as obscure and difficult to find as 
the tales proclaimed.  It had taken them weeks of talking-especially 
with their extremely limited Chinese-and searching to find it, but now 
that they actually were there, the two boys couldn't help but feel a bit 
of disappointment.  There were no powerful guardians to fight, no ruins 
showing a thousand battles, just a fairly large valley dotted with 
hundreds of tiny springs, all containing two or three bamboo poles which 
stuck in the air.
	"Are you two prepared?" Genma asked.
	Panma snorted.  "-This- is the fearsome legendary training grounds?" he 
said in disbelief.  "I've seen scarier stuff when Ranma does the 
cooking."
	"Ahh, I knew those old legends had to be overblown," added Ranma.  "I 
mean, an evil curse?  Yeah, right."  He rolled his eyes.
	"Ah sirs," said the guide, "you very strange ones.  This place very, 
-very- dangerous.  That why nobody use it anymore.  All spring have very 
tragic..."
	"Well," interrupted Genma, "as long as we've arrived we should get some 
use out of it.  Let's go, Ranma, you and I will spar first." With that, 
the two of them leaped into the training grounds, each expertly 
balancing on one of the bamboo poles.
	"Ah sirs, what are you doing?" cried the guide.
	"I won't go easy on you, Ranma!" threatened Genma.
	"That's just the way I like it," retorted the boy.
	"Please, sirs!" called the guide.  "Very bad you fall in spring!"
	"What's your problem?" asked Panma, looking over.  "What is there, 
monsters in the springs or something?"
	"Oh no, sir, far worse..."  Suddenly there was a loud cry, and both the 
guide and Panma looked over to see Genma and Ranma fly towards each 
other.  The older man snapped out a dropkick, but with a deft twist in 
the air, Ranma flipped over and caught him from behind, sending him 
flying into the nearest spring as Ranma landed safely on a nearby pole.
	"Way to go, bro!" cheered Panma, as Ranma grinned and gave him the "V" 
sign.  The brothers always cheered when one of them got the best of 
their father.  Smirking, Ranma looked down at the spring, where a few 
bubbles were coming up.  
	"What's wrong, pop?" he taunted.  "We done already?"
	The pond bubbled...and then a huge...thing emerged from it, causing 
Ranma to gape even as Panma started.  As the thing completed its leap to 
balance on another pole, they saw it was...a panda.  A huge, black and 
white panda...who wore the top of their vanished father's gi, and had 
his glasses hooked over one ear.  Ranma pointed at it with a shaking 
finger, stammering "Whu..." over and over again.  	"That is 
Shonmaoniichuan, the spring of drowned panda!" explained the guide.  
"Very tragic legend of panda who drown there two thousand year ago!  
Now, whoever fall in spring take body of panda!"
	Ranma stared.  "Oh no." 
	Panma was less calm.  "WHAT!?" he snarled, grabbing the guide by the 
front of his shirt.  "Why didn't you tell us that -earlier-, you old..."
	Suddenly he was distracted by a cry of surprise, and both he and the 
guide turned to see a furious Genma-panda swiping at Ranma.  Dropping 
the guide, Panma turned to him.  "You IDIOT!" he almost screamed.  
"Don't..."  But it was too late.  Ranma, still stunned by the events, 
was easy prey, and with a powerful swipe, the animal Genma had become 
sent him hurtling from the pole...and to another spring.  
	In an instant, Panma's expression went from rage to horror.  "RANMA!" 
he cried, already in motion.  Leaping into the air, he reached out and 
grasped his brother's outstretched wrist, and with his other hand, 
caught the nearest pole.  Panma grimaced in pain as Ranma's halted 
descent threatened to jerk his arm out of its socket, but held on, 
white-knuckled, to both Ranma and the pole.  The moment passed, and 
Ranma, dangling a few inches above the water, breathed a sigh of 
relief...just before the bamboo snapped in two from the strain and 
dumped them both into the water. 
	"Aiya!" cried the guide.  "That Nyannichuan, spring of drowned girl!  
There is tragic legend, very tragic, of young girl what drown in spring 
one thousand five hundred year ago!  Now, whoever fall into spring," he 
continued, as two figures erupted from the water with sprays and 
splutters, "take body of young girl."  But as they emerged, it became 
obvious the two boys had...changed.    For one, Ranma's hair had turned 
a bright crimson, and as they stood, Ranma seemed to now be considerably 
shorter than his brother for some reason.  Panma's short, glossy 
blue-black hair was now blonde, and while Ranma's features had softened 
and become more delicate, Panma's-ironically-now seemed somewhat less 
feminine than before.  However, the biggest change of all was identical, 
and realized as the brothers simultaneously swallowed, loosened their gi 
tops and looked down. "You see?" the guide said.  There was a moment of 
profound silence, as even the panda simply stared.  Then twin screams 
rang throughout the valley.

                        	********

	As Ranma completed his story, everyone stared for a moment.  Panma, who 
had looked up and begun paying attention about halfway through, had 
obviously been infuriated by the memories, scowling furiously.  Finally, 
Soun spoke.  "The legendary training ground of accursed springs," he 
said quietly.  "Its true horror has always been shrouded in mystery.  
But now..."
	"True horror?" repeated Panma incredulously.  He turned and smashed the 
panda over the head, leaped back a bit to avoid its counter, and pivoted 
to face the group again.  "The guide showed us the section about 
Jyusenkyou in our map and guide book, which quite clearly showed the 
danger...except this IMBECILE can't read Chinese and didn't bother to 
ask!"  He looked back at the panda and almost seemed about to attack 
again, but then growled something inarticulate-and almost certainly 
impolite-and sat down again in a huff.  For his part, Ranma had done his 
share of glaring at the panda, although he seemed a bit less enraged 
over the whole situation than his brother.
	"We found out later that the Nannichuan, the Spring of Drowned Man, 
would cure us," Ranma continued, "but something...came up, and we had to 
leave China quickly.  On the way, Pop decided to come here, and, well, 
you know the rest."  Panma's scowl darkened even further, if that was 
possible, at the mention of them having to leave China.
	"So let me get this straight," Nabiki said, leaning forward.  "You 
three have these curses, and cold water activates them, but hot water 
turns you back?"  Ranma nodded, and suddenly Soun was all smiles, 
picking the boy up and patting him on the shoulder.
	"Well, then, your problem isn't so terrible after all!" he said.
	"That's -your- opinion," growled Panma, while Ranma looked confused, 
but Soun ignored both and turned him to look at the three girls.
	"These are my daughters.  Kasumi, nineteen; Nabiki, seventeen, and 
Akane, sixteen.  Pick the one you want, and she'll be your new fiancee."
	Before Ranma and Panma could stop gaping at this sudden shift in 
subject, Kasumi and Nabiki had both backed up and were looking at Akane.  
"Oh he wants Akane!" said Kasumi.
	"Definitely," agreed Nabiki.
	"You must be joking!" protested Akane, looking angrily back and forth 
at them.  "Why would -I- be..."
	"Well you hate boys, don't you?" interrupted Nabiki.
	"So then you're in luck!" added Kasumi happily.  "Ranma's half girl!"
	"Me?  Marry that -pervert-!?" retorted Akane.  "No way!"
	Ranma had been ready to protest himself, but at Akane's words, he 
swallowed what he had been about to say and stalked over.  "Whaddaya 
mean, �pervert'?" he demanded.
	"You saw me in the nude, you hentai!" she almost shouted.
	"In case you haven't forgotten," he retorted, "you saw ME.  And you 
walked in on me, to boot!"
	"It's different for a girl to see a boy!"
	Ranma seemed about to answer hotly, but he was caught off-guard as 
Panma laughed.  Looking over, he saw his brother grinning, his bad 
humour at least temporarily eclipsed.  "Looks like you two are the 
perfect couple already," he said dryly.
	"Very funny," growled Ranma.
	Panma chuckled, and he reddened a bit in embarrassment, but the anger 
came back as Akane angrily said "He's a couple by -himself-!"  
	"Listen, you..." Ranma began, but he was cut off as Soun swept past him 
to walk over and pat Panma on the shoulder, causing the other Saotome 
sibling to give him a quizzical look.
	"And you, Panma," he said good-naturedly, "which one would you like?"  
Panma's eyes widened, even as Ranma let loose a loud snicker and the 
three girls stared.  Genma, however, had the strangest reaction, as his 
eyes widened farther than most would believe possible and he frantically 
waved his arms.  Ignoring his anthropomorphic friend, Soun prompted, 
"Well, son?"
	"Uh..." Panma began uncertainly.
	"Well," said Kasumi, "I wouldn't want to insult you, Panma, but you and 
your brother are really a little too young for me."
	Akane suddenly smiled, the first smile anyone had seen on her since she 
had found out that the two new guests weren't girls after all. "Well, 
oneechan," she said sweetly to Nabiki, "I guess that means you're the 
only one left."  
	Nabiki gaped for a moment, then swallowed audibly and got control of 
herself.  The panda, its arms still up in the air, stared for a moment 
and then let them drop to its sides limply, making a resigned sound.  
Panma stared at his newly-chosen fiancee, and received a cold glare in 
return, which immediately caused his own face to harden, so that their 
staredown was almost as hostile as the one Ranma and Akane had resumed 
giving each other.  This went on for a few minutes, the two fathers 
clearly more than a little nervous about interfering or in any way 
making their presence noticed, until Kasumi sweetly said that she should 
show them their new rooms and led the boys upstairs.  After a moment, 
Akane and Nabiki exchanged glances and also headed upstairs.  Soun 
breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to sit by the panda, who was 
staring forlornly at the stairwell.
	"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it, Saotome-kun?"
	"Gworph."
	"That's what I thought too..."

                         	********

	"I can't -believe- this!" Akane hissed, as she stalked back and forth 
across the room.  "The whole engagement business was stupid to begin 
with, but for Dad to do it even after we found out about...about those 
two PERVERTS..."
	"Personally, I think it's kind of cool they can change into girls," 
Nabiki said calmly from her position on the bed.  Then she grimaced, and 
added, "I -don't- particularly want to be engaged to one of them, 
though."
	"So what do we DO!?" Akane raged.
	"Well first, you can sit down before you wear a hole in the floor."  
Akane glared, but finally threw herself down in a chair.  Nabiki smiled 
slightly, and said, "Good.  Now we decide what to do.  I think Daddy's 
dead-set on this engagement thing, and that means Mr. Saotome probably 
is too."
	"So what does -that- mean?" snarled Akane.  "All it means is we can't 
do ANYTHING!"
	Nabiki held up a finger.  "Ah-ah-ah, I didn't say that.  The 
parents-both of them-may be big on this whole fiancee business, but 
Ranma and Panma themselves aren't."
	Akane's brow furrowed, but at least she had calmed down slightly.  "So 
what?"
	"So all we have to do is...arrange a few things to make sure they 
-really- aren't enthusiastic about staying around.  Nothing that can be 
traced to us directly, of course, but if we pull strings to make their 
lives hell for a week or two, I bet they go back to China no matter what 
ran them out or what the parents say."  Especially Panma, she thought.  
Ranma didn't like his curse, but her �fiancee' obviously despised it.  
It wouldn't take much to get him to leave. 
	Akane nodded, catching on.  "Then, when they're gone, we can talk Dad 
out of this whole stupid business."
	"Exactly.  Especially if we make it look like they've deserted us.  You 
know Daddy...he'll get over it, but by that time, we won't have to worry 
about marrying either of them."
	"So what do we do?"
	"Well, first I think we can spread a few things at school..."

                        	********

	"Now, you two don't stay up too long," Kasumi cautioned.  "You've had a 
hard day, and I'm sure it's been ages since you've even been in a proper 
futon."  With that, she left.  As the door closed, Panma gave his 
brother a disgusted look.
	"I'm almost glad I got Nabiki instead.  She isn't his daughter, she's a 
mother of three."
	"Yeah, well I don't want -any- of �em," growled Ranma, throwing himself 
down on his futon.  "Especially not the one I got.  �Pervert', she 
says...like I'd -want- to stare at a tomboy like that..."
	Panma also lay down, though more casually.  "Ah, it's not such a big 
deal."
	"How do you figure?"
	"This is the modern era, bro.  We're not -obligated- to marry anyone 
they put in front of us, only to consider it.  Well, consider them 
considered and rejected.  They can't force us to marry anyone, and in a 
month or so, things'll have cooled down in China and we'll head back and 
get cured."
	"You think it's really that simple?" said Ranma dubiously.
	"Of course.  You think those two numbskulls can come up with anything 
more complicated?  They probably got drunk one night and agreed on it, 
thinking we'd fall in love at first sight."  He snorted, and continued, 
"There's nothing they can do to stop us, and when we come back, old man 
Tendo'll eventually figure out we're not going to do it.  
	"Then he'll probably toss Pop and us out, and we'll be on our way again 
like nothing ever happened?"
	"You got it," Panma grinned, then frowned as a thought occured to him.  
"Let's not tell the girls about it.  If one of them mentions it where 
the parents can hear, or worse, if one actually gets ideas about going 
through with this load of manure, we may never get away." He paused, 
then added, "We should try to be civil, though.  No use picking fights, 
and I'll bet yours, at least, will be okay once she calms down."
	"Yeah, right."
	"Don't be so sure.  Remember what she was like when she thought we were 
girls?  She's probably just high strung about that sort of thing."
	Ranma considered it for a moment, frowning as if trying to find a 
reason to object.  Finally, he sighed and nodded.  "You're probably 
right."
	"Aren't I always?"
	"Only in your dreams, bro."
	"And speaking of dreams, I don't know about you, but the little mother 
had some good advice if you ask me."  Sitting up, Panma jerked the light 
cord, and then lay down in the cool darkness.  "So I'm going to get some 
rest.  Goodnight, bro."
	"Night."  As both lay back, Panma's breathing became even fairly 
quickly, but Ranma lay awake for a long time, staring up at the ceiling.  
His brother -seemed- to have all bases covered, but Ranma couldn't shake 
the gut feeling that this wasn't going to be so simple. Finally, he 
shook his head in disgust.  He was just getting paranoid after the past 
few weeks.  Closing his eyes, Ranma drifted to sleep...


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