Ranma : The Will of Tendo.
	******
	All characters are from Rumiko herself, and is copyrighted. Used without
permission. Yes, I know everyone seems a bit OOC. Death does strange things to
us.
	******
	It was a very quiet night in Nerima. A very quiet night, but if you
listen very closely, you can hear people weeping.
	"I'm very sorry ma'am," said the police officer to Kasumi and Ranma.
"I'm sorry about your fathers deaths. I really am."
	"They were drunk?" asked Nabiki, who looked rather bleary-eyed in the
corner.
	"Yes, and so were their friends at this party. One of them had a car.
You wouldn't know a Mr. Masaki?"
	"Uh, no," replied Ranma. "But continue."
	"So, they were all drunk, and so they drew straws to see who would
drive. That's what the waitress a Miss Roppongi Akemi said."
	"Did she try to stop the insanity?" asked Akane, who was more mad than
sad.
	"No, she didn't. Listen, she's has the Guiness Record for the world's
highest alcohol tolerance level," said the officer.
	"Strange, she hadn't had a drink yet all night," added his partner. "I
think she's getting married."
	"And she didn't interfere with this?" intoned Akane.
	"No, she didn't. She was too busy and didn't notice how drunk they were.
So, they got into the car and crashed into the Royal Automobile."
	"What?!" the four of them said.
	"We do know that all of the Royal Family are injured badly. Actually, we
don't know how badly hurt they are. And at this point everything is rather
sketchy, so we're not quite sure how they were able to crash into the Royal
Family's cars. However, they have requested that you meet them after the proper
funeral arraignments are made and such for both families. They are also holding
a panda that claims to be yours."
	Ranma blinked for a moment. "You're sure my father's dead?"
	"Yes, we had your mother identify the body. She fainted a few moments
later, and is still unconscious, but at a hospital at the moment."
	"Oh, I see. And they have the panda?"
	"They are questioning the panda at this moment. I don't know how you've
trained him to write signs. He's been extremely helpful. He also seems to have
calmed down the royal children very much and would like to keep him, with your
permission, of course."
	The four children sighed collectively.
	"I see that you're still mourning your loss. W-we'll talk about this
again at another time. Sorry." And with that, the officers left. It was quiet as
the guilt of perhaps becoming infamous for having fathers that hurt the royal
family added to the guilt of their father's death. Kasumi looked at Ranma,
nodding her head.
	"Come, Akane, Nabiki, Ranma. We must go."
	"Go? Where? And at this time of night?"
	"To Tendo."
	"Tendo?" said Akane.
	"It's where they make those Shogi pieces. Father had told me that he and
Mr. Saotome had left their wills at that town. It's about 400 kilometers away to
the Northwest. It'll take perhaps two or three hours to get there."
	"Shouldn't we wait for Mom to get well before we go? I mean Pops
probably left somethin' for Mom," said Ranma.
	"No. Father and Mr. Saotome made it absolutely clear that we needed to
go this second. And we are going. Now. Nabiki, you make arraignments for room
and board. We'll have to find a hotel. Akane, I want you and Ranma to get packed
and ready. We'll be gone for a couple days, perhaps longer."
	"Hai," the other three replied. They scurried away to do as they were
told. Kasumi walked to the television set. She slammed her fists along the right
side of the television set. Hard. Furiously. Dozens of times. Nabiki put down
the reciever of the telephone.
	"Sis...I...I realize that this is extremely hard on you."
	"It's not that," Kasumi gently replied. "Well, it is, but there's a
reason behind this, Nabiki." A panel popped out from the television set. There
were several credit cards. Nabiki made a quick count of ten cards. All plastic.
Her eyes widened a bit.
	"What the hell?"
	"Father said that if there was an extreme family emergency, he gave me
permission to use these credit cards and these special accounts. He put his and
Mr. Saotome's cards in here." She looked at a card for a moment. "I'm not sure
why Mr. Saotome had to set up a Bank account in Switzerland when one of our
local Japanese banks would do nicely. I wonder where is Switzerland, anyway?"
Thud! Kasumi turned around to see Nabiki laying on the floor with the telephone
still in her hands. "Oh, my."
	
	Truth and Rumor both run with wild abandon in Nerima, and this was no
exception. By the next morning, the front yard was a sea with flowers, bouquets,
pot roasts, cards, bras (for Happousai), casserole dishes, and the like.
	"Oh, my. This is so totally unnecessary," murmured Kasumi.
	"It's an American tradition, Kasumi," said Akane. "At least we won't
have to cook for a while."
	"Thank the gods," thought Ranma, yawning a bit. The last thing he wanted
was a extremely depressed Akane cooking a meal in memory of her father. Two
deaths were quite enough, thank you.
	Kasumi briefly smiled. "Akane, I want you to handle all of our gifts and
requests. Tell them that we do not need any money, and that we are leaving for a
while and we would ask them to respect our sympathy by not following us to our
destination."
	"And don't tell them where we're going either," added Nabiki. "The last
thing we need is for them to chase us and make our situation even worse." She
then returned to her phone calls.
	"Got it," said Akane. Immediately there was a knock on the door. "I've
got it!"
	She opened up the door. Ukyou & Shampoo appeared. Ukyou quickly grabbed
Akane and gave her a bear hug while Shampoo started to cry.
	"Shampoo and Spatula Girl heard about your lost. Shampoo very sad. Can
we cook you breakfast?"
	"Yeah, can we cook your breakfast this morning, Akane?"
	"Um...well...Kasumi?"
	Kasumi walked up to the door. "Yes...oh, my! Hello, Ukyou and Shampoo!
What brings you here this morning?"
	"We heard about you and Ranma's father's death. As much as I feel like I
should be glad for the bastard's death, I'm sorry about the lost. How's Ran-chan
feeling?"
	"Hell," replied Ranma. "Pure hell."
	Ukyou and Shampoo nodded.
	"I see that it is. Anyway, we were wondering if we could cook you all
breakfast this morning."
	"I appreciate the gesture, but that is so unnecesary."
	"Why, Kasumi?"
	"We're leaving in a few hours for Tendo. There's a train that leaves for
it in a two hours, but Nabiki hasn't found a hotel yet. Apparently, this is the
start of the Spring Festival up there."
	"Tendo? Are you Tendo? Where is Tendo?" asked Shampoo, sounding a bit
confused.
	"Well, Tendo is a city in the Okitama area of the Yamagata Prefecture.
Father and Mr. Saotome left their wills there, and instructed us to go there
after their deaths, as soon as possible."
	"We will probably bury them there as well," added Nabiki as she finally
got off the phone. "Hey, Kasumi, I've found a hotel. It's pretty expensive, but
that was the only rooms left in the city."
	"Good," said Kasumi.
	Ukyou twirled her fingers a bit. "I...I just want to say that if you
need anything, anything at all, you just let me and Shampoo know. Okay?"
	"Well, that's nice of you, Ukyou."
	"You need bodyguard? Shampoo make excellent body guard."
	"Um, no, Shampoo. That won't be necessary," said Akane.
	Ranma walked up to the door, carrying the suitcases. "Um, ladies, we'll
be fine. We'll tell you when the funeral is and where. You can help us then." He
looked at Kasumi and Akane, looking rather puzzled. "Is that alright, Kasumi?"
	"S-sure. I'm sure they can help us with the funeral itself," said Akane,
which surprised Ranma and Nabiki a bit.
	"You sure about that?" asked Ukyou.
	"Yes. That's a good idea, Akane," said Kasumi. "I guess then we'll
expect you at the funeral."
	"Sure. Arrigato, then." Ukyou bowed.
	"Bie, Bie." added Shampoo. The Tendos and Ranma bowed in return.
	As they left, Shampoo looked at Ukyou.
	"Shampoo think we must follow Ranma."
	"I think you're right. After the embarrassment with the Emperor and his
family, they could need some help."
	Shampoo nodded as they left to make their own arraignments.
	*****
	At nine o'clock the Tendos and Ranma boarded a train to go to Tendo
city. It felt rather strange. Strange for several reasons.
	"You know," said Ranma as he looked around at the plush accomodations,
"I've never ridden in a first class rail car before. Where'd ya get the money,
Nabiki?"
	"Actually, it's from Genma."
	"Pops? Get out."
	"Apparently he has a Swiss Bank account. How in Kami-sama's name did he
get an account like this I have no idea. I didn't think he'd would be even able
to get one, let alone not use it for all of this time."
	"You're kidding. Pops, being rich?"
	"I'd like to see it too," added Akane, raising an eyebrow out of
disbelief.
	"It's true," said Kasumi, looking up from her pamplet. "He and Father
hid their cards in a secret panel in the television set."
	"Cards? Daddy had a couple of credit cards?!"
	"Yes, apparently, he had some secret accounts too." Nabiki reached into
her purse and showed the cards.
	"Well, I'm...I'm stunned," said Ranma. P-chan, who sat on Akane's lap
was equally as surprised as Akane.
	"H-h-how did he get the money? And why haven't they used it all this
time? And how did they keep this secret? I mean they have never kept a secret
before," said Akane. P-chan bweed in agreement.
	"That is one of many surprises, I suspect," replied Nabiki. "I mean if
they have this kind of money, just think what'll mean."
	"Incredible."
	The car door opened up and a man-servant came with some Green curry.
	"Did you realize that this year is the 40th anniversary of incorperation
of Tendo as a city?"
	"Fourty years? I didn't know that," said Nabiki, realizing what Kasumi
was up to.
	"Yes, the actual date is on October the 1st. Interesting, huh? Father
and Mother would have celebrated their anniversary on...that...date," said
Kasumi as she started to cry. All four of them started to bawl and cry soon
after. The caterers served their Green curry and Darling Tea, left instructions
to ring if they needed any more food or desert, and left.
	After a while, Kasumi stopped crying and started to eat. There wasn't
much food on her plate, which was pleasing for Kasumi, since she didn't feel
like eating. Ranma on the other hand, had an American sized portion of food. And
he ate that without even thinking about it.
	"Folks, something tells me that these cards are just the beginning of
the surprises," said Nabiki. "And I for one, am not thrilled about surprises."
The other three nodded in agreement.
	
	In the next car, Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse, Kuno, Kodachi, and Cologne were
listening in on the conversation with headphones. Each of them gasped as some of
the revelations were revealed. They took off their sets as the sounds of dinner
finally commenced.
	"Incredible," said Cologne. "this...this has a lot of implications."
	"It is impossible to forsee that the Tendos, especially my dearest
Akane, would have any sources of income that we Kunos do," said Takewaki.
"Getting an account such as a Swiss Bank account takes years to get."
	"Indeed brother," sanely added Kodachi, "I know of a few girls at the
Academy whose fathers had been rejected in getting these accounts, and they are
within the top 1% of the wealthy in the world."
	Everyone else nodded. Ukyou sighed deeply.
	"Ukyou? Why the long face?" asked Mousse.
	"Damn. I didn't think I'd get such lush information from our
easedropper. I don't know how Tsubasa does it, but designing himself as a piece
of the Tendo's luggage is pure genius. I don't think he'll be satisfied with
just one date. I think he'll want two dates and at least one of them being
consumated."
	"You serious?" asked Shampoo.
	"I'm serious. He's not going to be used easily." Ukyou shook her head.
"At least there's a festival going on at this Tendo. I've never heard of Tendo
city. It's not a very big city, like Kobe or Kyoto."
	"It is rather moderate," agreed Cologne. "Ukyou, I suggest you pay Mr.
Kurenai what he ask for and more if necessary. He has given us valuable
information, and just asking for a couple dates and a night of lust, debauchary,
and insane sex is not a lot to ask."
	"A lot? How could it be worse?" shouted Ukyou.
	"He could simply ask for your hand in marriage."
	"Oh. I see."
******
Hey, folks, I thought about this story tonight as I prused the web sites
tonight. Yes, there is a Tendo, Japan. They have an official city web page, and
that's where I got most of the information about the city, including the
festivals and the 40th anniversity. It's also my parent's anniversary (which
means I really, really need to send them a blated anniversary card...) which I
think is neat. In fact, Tendo is the only city that makes those Shogi pieces
that Kasumi talked about early in the story. (And you wondered why Soun was
really into Shogi, didn't ya?) In fact, in '92, Japan made it a "Traditional
Good,"(whatever that means) and they've been having lavish festivals based
around Shogi for years (including human-size Shogi games and international Shogi
tournaments of champions). The Green Curry is actually a Thai dish (being
that my mother is originally from Thailand and such...wait, why am I telling 
this?) that one an award at the Pot Dish competition they have at Tendo. I'm not
making this stuff up. But, I'm probably boring you to death with details and
such anyway.
	In the next installment of this series (if I can get around to
it and there is interest for a second feature), we'll see what happens when the
Ranma and the Tendos (sound like a name for a band) get to Tendo; what exactly
is in Soun and Ganma's wills?; and everyone else from Nerima spies on the
grieving foursome while Ukyou and Tsubasa gets it on! Oh, yeah, more about the
panda and the Royal Family (they, along with the cameos, are used without
permission, real or made-up).
	Until then...ja ne! (Gee, I'm starting to sound like Ryucillo...)