5 of a kind: The Reunion
Chapter 1: Travel
by Ryan Anderson
based on the story "5 of a kind" by James Allen

The premise: What would happen if Ranma were cloned 5 
times? Say each girl (including Nabiki, for funding the 
venture) got a Ranma? How would the different Ranma's (and 
the different girls) be after 5 years? Would each Ranma 
have found happiness? Would each female? What would it be 
like to bring them all back together after living such 
wildly different lives for so long?

Author's note:
Ok, if any of you would like a copy of the original draft 
of 5 of a kind, please let me or James 
Allen(jallen9@idt.net) know and I'm sure you can get a 
copy. Now, even though this is based on his fic, this is 
*totally* different from the sequels to it that he is 
writing. My humble story is just leaching off his idea... 
please let me know what you think! All c&c, even flames, 
appreciated! 
....
Chapter 1: Travel
---

"Uh... it looks really.. uh... interesting, Akane!" Ranma, 
forcing a smile as he faced down Akane's latest 
concoction. It *was* true that she'd improved... her food 
now was only "edible" versus the "toxic" it had been. 
Still, she'd been under a lot of stress preparing for this 
five year reunion thing lately...

Akane beamed back at him. "I worked extra hard on this 
recipe, I want to make sure I've got it right before our 
guests arrive."

Ranma gulped, an intense feeling of dread closing around 
him. Whenever Akane tried "extra hard" at cooking, the 
result was always disaster... it was only when she didn't 
really try that it became decent. Searching for an escape, 
Ranma looked pleadingly at the other occupant of the 
table, Tendo Soun, but his father-in-law was busy hiding 
behind the morning paper. 

"Oh come on Ranma... It *can't* be that bad. I've been 
cooking for you for the last 3 years, the least you can do 
is have a little faith in my abilities!" 

A million comebacks suddenly sprang to Ranma's mind... 
"sure, I've got faith in your abilities, faith in your 
abilities to turn the simplest recipes into toxic waste!" 
or "yeah, but I've only been able to stomach your cooking 
because I've slowly become immune to all poisons!" but as 
tempting as it was to lash out at her, he could see the 
dangerous gleam in her eye, and knew that now was just not 
the time. Resigned to his fate, Ranma tentatively picked 
up his chopsticks and tried to find the most edible-
looking portion of the brownish-greenish mixture Akane 
placed in front of him. It was suppose to be some kind of 
chicken soup, but if there was any chicken in there, it 
had long ago succumbed to some hideous disease.

Ranma sighed... he really had been looking forward to 
seeing his old friends too...

***

It was a beautiful spring day on the Chinese countryside 
as two female figures made their way through the tall 
grasses. Joketsuku was still, even in this day and age, a 
*long* way from the nearest town of any size. It was 
mainly its remoteness that allowed it to continue to 
thrive with its own unique customs and laws, practically 
unchanged for thousands of years.. it was also that 
remoteness that one purple-tressed Joketsuku denizen 
cursed roundly.

"<Oh come on Shan pu... its not *that* much farther to the 
road, and from there we should be able to hitch a 
ride...>" Shan pu's only response was a glare in the 
direction of her bubbly red-headed companion... How Ranma 
managed to keep such a brisk pace while carrying nearly 
all their stuff *and* still keeping a cheery disposition 
was beyond Shan pu. Already the "beautiful spring day" was 
beginning to wear on Shampoo's nerves as the sun beat 
down... she just wasn't in as good shape anymore. 

"<you've been frowning ever since we left... What's up 
with you anyway? I thought you wanted to go see the 
others.>" Ranma herself certainly hadn't gone soft.. far 
from it. Ranma was still picking up new skills faster than 
anyone could believe, and even Cologne was starting to run 
out of things to teach the young amazon. She'd taken on 
the role of "village protector" and was constantly roaming 
the surrounding amazon lands, looking for any signs of 
trouble. 

"<I did... I do. It's just that.... erg, dammit, I'm out 
of shape! stupid physical form... always so limited..."> 

Ranma grinned at Shampoo's grumbles. "<Hey, I *tried* to 
tell you what would happen to you if you stopped 
practicing, but oh no, you were just *so* set on becoming 
the greatest sorceress ever...">

Shampoo was forced to smile back. They'd had this argument 
so many times, it
really had pretty much ceased to become an argument. She 
could tell when she was
being teased... "<Hmphf! And you still think the best use 
for a head is breaking
rocks with it!>"

Silence fell once more as they as they walked, each step 
bringing them one step closer to where all this had begun. 
Shampoo heaved a great sigh. It seemed like *ages* ago, 
not half a decade.... Things had just been so *completely* 
different back in those days... so much simpler. Gaining 
Ranma's love had been the be-all and end-all of her 
existence, and then she had finally got him....

Shampoo briefly eyed Ranma's shapely prostiere... at 21, 
she was the absolute model of Amazonian femininity... 
fierce and beautiful all at the same time, yet only a 
scant five years ago she'd have fought tooth and nail to 
keep from *ever* being called feminine. Ah, how time could 
change a person.

And now they were all going back... and it was filling her 
with a sense of foreboding. It wasn't just that she'd have 
to be civil to Akane again, although she was certainly not 
looking forward to that, but it just felt like there was 
some larger force at work here.. pulling them all together 
again, and it didn't take an aura reading to tell that 
Ranma's joyful bouncing around were really just covering 
her own nervous energy about the whole trip. But what were 
they to do? If there was one thing Ranma could never 
resist, it was her own curiosity, and even if Shampoo 
explained her feelings of foreboding to her, it would only 
spur her on more.

Still, Shampoo had to admit she was more than a bit 
intrigued as well.. when last all five Ranma were together 
in one place, Shampoo had still been little more than a 
warrior who dabbled in the occasional love potion, not the 
studying mystic she was today... Although over the years 
she'd done a pretty darn through study of the Ranma that 
came with her, there were still many questions she had 
about little quirks in her personality that differed 
slightly from the original...

Shampoo frowned... Yes, she had done a pretty _through_ 
study of the red head, in both her forms... and while she 
loved her Amazonian sister dearly, they had grown apart 
fairly quickly once Shampoo turned to studying magick. 
Although officially they were still "husband" and wife, 
Ranma hadn't been in male form for several years now, and 
while her sex didn't really matter to Shampoo, as Shampoo 
grew and changed, Ranma had seemed to stay eternally the 
same.. never growing up and never really taking any 
responsibility on herself. Even her job as "village 
protector" was really more of an excuse for her to get out 
and about and never really be pinned down. Still, by the 
time she started spending long periods of time away from 
her and Shampoo's home, Shampoo wasn't entirely displeased 
to be spending time away from her. The Amazonian Ranma was 
even more cock-sure and arrogant than the original, and 
had the skills to back it up, so while they had remained 
friends, and even occasionally lovers, They never really 
even tried to pretend they were husband and wife anymore. 
Ranma had even been dating a little bit, a sweet girl from 
the next village over named "Per Fum" or something like 
that..

Of course, the fact that this trip coincided rather nicely 
with the ending of that relationship left Shampoo to 
believe that one of the reasons Ranma was so happy about 
it was that she would be going back to a place where 
people accept her curse a little better... and give Per 
Fum a chance to adjust to the idea that Ranma had 
originally been a guy...

Shampoo smiled at that thought.... it had come as quite a 
shock to the girl...

Shampoo herself had been pretty much alone with her 
studies for the last couple of years, with Ranma out and 
about... She still saw her great-grandmother all the time, 
but lately the physical world had just become some much 
less appealing to her, as her magickal skills improved to 
the level where she was able leave her body and travel the 
outer planes of consciousness. The inhabitants of the 
inner worlds held such power...

"Hey Shampoo, What do you suppose has happened to the 
others, over the years?"

Shampoo glanced up from her musings, finding for once that 
Ranma seemed fairly calm, almost.. pensive... "I'm not 
sure... It will be interesting to find out though, I'm 
sure of that."

"Well, yeah, I mean, that's why we're going and all but... 
do you think that they've... you know... *changed* as much 
as I have?" Shampoo could just make out a little bit of a 
flush on her cheeks.

"hmmm... Some of them probably have.. I mean, five years 
is a long time, right? Heck, I even learned to speak 
Japanese in that time!" They both shared a grin at that. 
"What do you think 'you'll' be like?"

Ranma was silent for a bit while she gave it some thought, 
then, "Well... I don't suppose any of 'me' will have given 
up martial arts, I mean, no matter *what* happened, 
_nothing_ could change me that much..." Shampoo gave a 
short snort, but Ranma continued anyway... "I bet Akane 
and me have kids...."

Shampoo looked up sharply at that, detecting the note of 
sadness in Ranma's voice. Ranma might be all female these 
days, but she was still infertile, not that she'd ever let 
any mere *man* touch her anyway... and Shampoo's own curse 
had rendered it next to impossible for them to have kids. 
Oh, they'd tried a few times, especially right after they 
got back to Joketsuku... Ranma had been pretty messed up 
emotionally after what had gone down in Nerima, and they'd 
both thought that having a child would have been a good 
way for them both to start again fresh... it was only that 
much sadder when it was discovered that it could never be. 
They'd come very close once... Shampoo had managed to 
remain in her girl-form for 5 and a half months, when a 
summon spell she'd been learning went arry, and the only 
way to prevent a demon running loose in the village was to 
banish the demon... which consequently canceled her 
protection from cold water spell. It only took a matter of 
minutes afterwards, before she could recover enough to 
cast it again, that the roof broke open and a puddle of 
rain water landed on her, cursing her in the truest sense 
of the word. The theory that part of the curse made the 
cursee a water magnet wasn't really much of a theory 
anymore, and the longer they held it off the more intense 
the backlash was when water finally was able to catch the 
victim again.

Oh, they'd tried a few more times after that, but they 
were both so devastated by their loss that nothing really 
came of it after that, and Ranma was starting to spend all 
her time in girl-form anyway.

"Ranma..." Ranma just held up her hand, quieting Shampoo, 
and flashed her a brave smile. 

"Its ok Shampoo, I know, and I'm not sad about it, not 
really. After all, I'm sure one of me does have kids out 
there somewhere... But what about me and Ucc--I mean 
Ukyo."

Shampoo shot her a funny look, then smiled. "I bet you two 
are running a huge chain of Okinamiyaki restaurants and 
are filthy rich by now..."

"heh, yeah, you're probably right."

"What do you think ever became of 'Ranma-sama' and the 
'Pig-tailed girl'?" Ranma shuddered at that one.

"Gah, I don't think I *want* to know... Last I saw him, he 
was looking more like goskugni than me, and he was going 
on and on about the magical blueberries Kodachi was 
growing in her garden... It was *really* weird." Ranma 
paused for a moment. "I really hope he's ok... Of us all, 
I feel the most sorry for that me."

Shampoo nodded, sparing a moment of sympathy for what it 
must be like under that roof. "Yeah... and speaking of 
feeling sorry for them... I wonder whatever became of Mr. 
Nabiki Tendo?"

"Heh, knowing her, I'm probably working 6 jobs and haven't 
gotten laid *ever*." Ranma shook her head. "I don't know 
how it would have changed me to have never had someone to 
love me and whom I could love.. " She drifted over and 
gave Shampoo a light hug as the walked. "... maybe that is 
the worse fate of the two." Ranma shrugged. "I guess we'll 
find out."

***

"Come on, Come on!! You're gonna make us miss the train!"

"Oh hold your horses! I'm coming!" Ukyo sighed once more 
as she locked the door behind her and began scooping up 
baggage left and right. As she reached the car Ranma began 
grabbing it from her and tossing it in the back as fast as 
he could.

"Geez, we're only going for a week! Is all this really 
necessary?" 

"Yes, it is. This isn't one of you and your fathers 
training trips where all you take are the clothes on your 
back and a pot for cooking. We've got a child to look out 
for, you know." Ukyo leaned over and gave him a quick peck 
on the cheek before going to plop down in the passengers 
seat.

Ranma finally finished the packing and hoped into the 
drivers seat, grumbling all the while about how "his 
father used to take *him* when *he* was a baby, and he 
never needed any of this crap..."

"What did you say, Anata?" Ukyo asked with sugar-coated 
ice.

"Uh... heheh... nothing." Ukyo smiled back at him for 
that. At least had learned *something* over the years 
about not sticking his foot in his mouth.. still, she was 
a bit concerned about what bad habits he might pick up 
again, hanging around all the time with his Tendo-counter 
part. And while she and Akane weren't the best of friends, 
it would be pretty nice to see her again, along with 
Kasumi and Shampoo. Nabiki she could do without. At least 
among the three Ranma-holders who stayed in touch, that 
being herself, Akane, and Nabiki, she was the first and 
only one to have a child...

Smiling back at that self-same bundle-of-joy, she cooed. 
"All buckled up Kiko-chan? Ready to go see Auntie Akane?"

"Hai 'kaasan!" 

Beside her, Ranma chuckled. "Ok, then! we're off!"

Ahh, it all seemed so normal. Perhaps things would be 
alright after all.

***

"Anata! Hurry up! we're going to be late!"

"Geez Nabiki, we are not! look, the flight doesn't leave 
for another 45 minutes..."

"Yeah, and it takes us half an hour to get to the airport 
when there *isn't* any traffic, which there's bound to be 
this time of day!"

"Oh, would you just relax? that still gives us fifteen 
minutes to spare... come here..." Ranma gently grabbed a 
hold of her arm, dragging her into an embrace and kissing 
her neck gently. " Now, what do you think... " he 
whispered gently into her ear, "... I should wear? My old 
Chinese getup? or should I go for the full "star power" 
effect and wear the slacks?"

Nabiki pulled out of his embrace, giving him a mock stern 
look. "Mouuu, " She broke into a smile. " You're going as 
the husband of the youngest associate Vice President of 
the Primbrose Japanese branch, so wear the suit. Now would 
you hurry up? You *know* I like to be early for plane 
flights!"

"Yes dear..." He called back teasingly.

Nabiki just rolled her eyes as she turned and headed to 
make sure everything was packed for the eighteenth time... 
She had presents for just about everyone, a rare beanie 
baby for little kiko-chan, a can of daddy's favorite mixed 
nuts, a martial arts movie for Akane's Ranma, a can of 
mace in case Ukyo got a little pissy....

Nabiki frowned as she looked at the mace. Ok, so it 
probably wasn't the nicest thing to bring to a reunion, 
but she and Ukyo hadn't exactly parted on the best of 
terms... what with the chef yelling out something about 
"choking the last bits of life from her cold black heart" 
and all as the police dragged her away... still, Nabiki 
did feel kinda bad for having used their friendship to rip 
control of Ukyo's restaurant chain away from her. But 
business was business, and that deal had landed her in the 
executives chair faster than anyone had ever seen, almost 
launching her career by itself.

It wasn't that she was proud of back stabbing someone whom 
she had considered a friend... it was just... business. It 
wasn't like she left them with nothing, Ukyo and her 
husband made a considerable profit off the takeover, and 
Nabiki had nothing to do with the failure of their later 
restaurant chain in Kyoto... It had been targeted by a 
completely different section of Primbrose....

Deciding that worrying about such things would only be 
counter productive, Nabiki put it out of mind. "Anata?"

"Yes?"

"What would you be like if you were an amazon?"

Ranma laughed in reply. "Oh yeah, right, like I have any 
clue."

Nabiki smiled as she walked back into the bedroom, took a 
seat on the bed and tried to pretend like she didn't care 
that they were going to be late for their plane. "But do 
you think you'll have kids? I mean, I feel bad not having 
gotten them anything..."

"What? The Ice Queen actually feels bad about *not* 
spending money on someone?"

Nabiki shot him a dirty look, only slightly spoiled by her 
smile. "Well.. I mean, it *is* kinda rude that I got Kiko-
chan something but don't have anything for any other 
kids... What about Kuno? Do you think she has any kids?"

Ranma shuddered as he buttoned up his shirt in the 
bathroom mirror. "I doubt it... I don't really think 
she'll even show up, do you? I mean, she got committed, 
right?"

"Hmm.. I suppose.. Are you ready to go yet??"

Ranma stepped out of the bathroom, looking dashing in a 
loose silk shirt and black slacks, and pulled her to her 
feet. "All set." he smiled.

***

The world. The Middle Kingdom, that place where light and 
shadow meet, that lonely sphere that was the cradle of 
life, how fragile it seemed. Here, of all places, life had 
beaten the odds, crawling and scraping its way out of 
nothing, and all the while the outer darkness had watched. 
In the early days it had toyed with the life it found 
here, setup little kingdoms, wove petty plots, for its own 
dark amusement if for no other reason. But times had 
changed.. now, it was the *dark* who was watched by life, 
toyed with, and dragged from its sleeping  abyss to do 
life's bidding. Or so life liked to think....

It was so odd, being on this plane... being at all, for 
that matter... for 3 years, she'd been traveling, 
searching, _watching_.... individually she had little 
power, it was not her lot in life, such that she had, to 
weave the fabric of reality, or to control those elements 
who did, no, to her it was enough to watch, to explore, to 
*know*. When had this change come about? She wasn't 
entirely sure... she hadn't always been who she was. A 
lifetime ago it seemed, though in reality as time was 
told, it was only a few scant years, she had been... here. 
Not here as in the seat she rested on, but _here_ as in 
focused, in touch, touchable. Now though.. now she wasn't 
sure where she was. She existed in a state that rather 
defied her description. Oh sure, she still had a body, one 
which had once belong to her, when she was known as 
Saotome Ranma, but she'd long ago (by her reckoning, at 
least) stopped identifying herself with that name. It was 
just a name... yet names held power.. and her own name 
held a powerful attraction. When she had become *aware*, 
as she liked to call it, she suddenly and with out warning 
had gained access to knowledge that was hers to possess, 
but which she had never learned, at least, not as this 
Saotome individual. She would drift back and forth in the 
sea of time, treading through a million memories that were 
hers, yet were not... but always, always the name would 
call her back, *force* her to return to the world of light 
and pain... She would have long ago left it, if it weren't 
for one thing.... Tatewaki.

For a long time after she became aware, she didn't feel 
she needed anything, or anyone. It was enough now just to 
sift through her memories and ponder the universe, for all 
the answers were right there! right before her! all she 
had to do was put them together in the correct order for 
them to make sense.... The first time she'd tried, it had 
nearly killed her. When Tatewaki had brought her back to 
herself, she screamed at him, clawed at his face and 
begged him to leave her, so that she might finally *know* 
all the secrets that were just beyond her reach... But he 
hadn't, and then she'd become aware of the pain.. she 
hadn't moved, slept, eaten, or drank for nearly a week, 
and she was extremely close to death. And then she knew 
fear... fear more powerful than any she'd ever felt 
before.... for if she died, she'd lose her chance, her 
one, slim chance of knowing the unknowable...

And so she had clung to Tatewaki, sobbing against him dry 
tears as he rushed her to the hospital. It wasn't the 
first time the two of them had been to the hospital... 
When Kodachi had finally been hauled away and the pains of 
withdrawal had become too much, they'd both landed in the 
hospital... Even now, when she barely slept and never 
remembered her dreams, she felt a chill every time a 
vision of a hospital was flashed before her, the cold 
agony of an all powerful *need* burning through her being 
as she thrashed and thrashed, unable to find release....

And always Tatewaki was there, the strong one, ready to 
stay next to her through the pain, through the insults, 
through the beatings. She hated herself for doing what she 
did to him, but she needed to do it all the same. And, bit 
by bit, she'd gotten better... and then it had been her 
turn to nurse him, as he fought his inner demons, having 
already been purged of his drug-induced ones. Together 
they'd come through more heartache and pain in two short 
years than anyone should be asked to endure in a lifetime, 
but it was worth it. For a time they shared something so 
powerful, anything was possible... but the lure of the 
other world was still there, and she couldn't resist it 
for long. Surprisingly, Tachi understood, giving her the 
space she needed to explore and discover, yet never 
letting her go too far again. She had been grateful.

Yet there were still flashes... times when she *was* 
Ranma, when everything was wrong, wrong, wrong... during 
those time she hated Tatewaki, Hated and loathed him for 
his love, for loving him... It made her feel weak, and 
sick, filled with such self-loathing that it often became 
hard to swallow... But these times were passing. they 
happened frequently that first year, but less and less as 
time went on.. and then an amazing thing happened: She 
found herself.

Maybe not so surprising, surely she should have guessed, 
but for some reason she had always assumed that they were 
her other people's lives she was gazing into... she never 
suspected that they were all her own. Millions of 
iterations of her life stretched out in every direction, 
but her current one was special, and once she found it, a 
sense of *belonging* settled in her once again. She _was_ 
of the world and world was of her, even if she didn't 
particularly enjoy spending time there. She knew that she 
was Ranma Saotome, a man, in love with another man, even 
if she choose to hide her true gender in the form that she 
had come to think of herself as being. It was a difficult 
revelation... With her memories fully restored, instead of 
dream like in quality, the hate and prejudice of her 
parents came back to her fully, and she started to turn on 
Tatewaki again, but then she looked into his eyes, and 
saw... the *he* had known.. not forever, but for sometime. 
Always the strong one.

So she faced her own weakness fought against as she and 
Tatewaki had fought against his inner demons, trying to 
come to terms with it. It was definitely an uphill battle. 
But she *was* Ranma Saotome, in one form or another, and 
the outcome was never in any doubt.

The world. Feh. Why did they need it? As she sat crushed 
against Tachi's side she watched out the limo's window as 
the world scrolled by, looking very much like it always 
had... even though it was the first time she'd left the 
Kuno house in almost 2 and a half years. And if she 
thought she had faced herself before, the images of a 
disturbed mind had nothing on what she was about to face, 
as the limo arrived at the Tendo's dojo.

"I.. remember this place."

"You do not have to go on if you do not wish to.. if this 
is too much but say the word and..." 

She raised her hand cutting him off. "No, it will be 
alright. After all, I *am* Ranma Saotome... "

***

Author's notes:

Well, I'm not sure if anyone actually remembers this story or not, but for
some reason the muse just hit me the other day and I felt compelled to
finish it up. (why that doesn't ever seem to happen with PHD, I just don't
know). anyway, while I might not get much writting done these days, my heads
still bursting with story ideas, and this definately won't be the last
chapter of thie series... though it maybe another year before anything more
gets written. The next chapter is tenitively titled "Arrivals" and will be
just that... all these diverse groups finally getting together. 

A word about kuno-Ranma... She's obviously the one out of all the Ranma who
has changed the most in so short a time, and her character going to take
alot of explaining on my part I have a feeling... between an excess of
phycedilic drugs (of Kodachi's own design) and some less-than-plesant
expirences at the hands of Kodachi (who will be showing up, BTW), she pretty
much exists in a haze... rather disconnected from reality and has lost most
of her original persona, though it does return in flashes. although her
section in this chapter was told from her perspective, subsquent chapters
will probably not have her rambling quite so much.. and the reconstruction
of her physche is going to be a major plot point. 

anyway, I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading! All C&C is not only
welcome, but encouraged... Flame me, Mstie me, or just plain drop me a line
that says "I read it" so I know your out there! ;)

Ryan Anderson
andersor@cs.colorado.edu

Ryan's fanfiction archive:
http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~andersor/fanfic/fanfic.html




--



Ryan Anderson          
-Shampoo's Avatar!
andersor@cs.colorado.edu
http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~andersor/fanfic/fanfic.html
http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~andersor/tenchi/ryoko.html