if anyone's actually done a Rei meets Rei meets Rei story,
let me know. the only one i know of that even features this
as a possibility is "Mirrors Multiplied" (hint, hint, Jared-san)


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FIST OF ORION (outline)
part the second: Home again?
trademarks owned by a whole lotta OTHER people.
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
email: metroanime@mindspring.com
       comments welcome, flames and comments about
possible ancestry, hatemail from True Fiancees should
be sent to Kleppe-san or Lurker-san who apparently
enjoy that sorta thing. (shrug, to each their own, i s'pose)
on the other hand, if there's something you like here, let me
know what it is so i can keep doing it.
        this is just an idea sketched out that (like way too many)
started taking off on its own. The idea was to come up with
a different approach to the "Saint Ranma" thing i'd done awhile
back as it had too many elements duplicated in other people's
works.
----------------------------------------------------
	Nodoka Saotome opened the door to see a 
strongly built young man, tall and with a sense of raw power
about him, standing there looking decidedly uncomfortable.
She estimated his age at being sixteen.

	"Uhm, excuse me," the boy mumbled. "Is there a
Genma Saotome here?"

	She smiled at the boy, thinking that he was here
to study martial arts. "He's in back, practicing with his daughter.
May I say who's here to see him?"

	The boy obviously struggled with a decision. "Tell
him that Ranma Saotome is here to see him."

	Ranma didn't expect the woman to faint.
----------------------------------------------------
	"How could you be Ranma?" The chubby looking
man stared at the boy uncomfortably sitting at the table. "My
son died in a ...training mishap."

	"Two years ago, while learning to explore my inner
reserves, I broke through some mental barriers that had been
placed by a well meaning practictioner of Hokuto Shin Ken."
Everyone present noted how pale Genma had suddenly turned.

	"Do go on," urged Nodoka, sipping at her tea, 
proper decorum having again been achieved. 

	"He believed I was an orphan being used by a
'gypsy' or someone who steals children in order to have
them commit crimes that the 'parent' can then profit off of.
It is common in some parts of the world, and in truth, I 
WAS being used in such a manner."

	Genma turned another shade paler and began
to visibly sweat when Nodoka's eyes glittered in his 
direction. "Gee...uh...I don't remember it like that."

	"You don't remember having me swipe food
for both of us as part of a game?"

	"Papa! That sound like game you show me!"
Little eight year old Ranko chirped.

	"Errr...." Genma was now whiter than his gi.

	"In any case, you don't have to worry about
Ucchan, the child you abandoned on the road." Ranma
sighed and stared at the table. 

	"Ucchan? Dearest, why don't you explain
about children you've left behind?" Nodoka was maintaining
her usual aura of calm with an effort at this point.

	"Uhm, err, I, that is," Genma tried to figure out
how he could lie to his wife. It wasn't easy, she'd gotten
to know his body language really well over the past few
years.

	"Ucchan was Ukyou Kuonji. A girl that I was
engaged to when father stole her family's dowry."

	"Dearest?" The aura of calm was beginning
to crack.

	"Errr."

	"Oboy, Daddy, did you engage me to
someone?"

	"Ahem, I..."

	As Genma had not immediately answered
with a negative, the aura of calm around Nodoka was
in serious danger. "Dearest? I think that the response
to you taking my daughter on that training trip is going
to have to be 'no.' I really must insist."

	"Oh?" Ranma blinked at his sister. "So,
Ranko, where were you going to go train?"

	"China!" Ranko clapped her hands and
smiled.

	"Errr..."

	"Dearest," there was no hint of warmth in
Nodoka Saotome's voice, "did you not say that you
were just planning a little trip into the mountains?"

	"Well, yes..." Genma nodded. He hadn't 
said WHICH mountains, after all. And it would have
been after Ranko had been trained in the legendary
CatFist to make her an invincible warrior!

	"So, Ranko, are you training in the 
Anything Goes style?" Ranma looked with a gentle
smile at the sister he hadn't known he had.

	"Yes!" Ranko's head bopped up and 
down and she made an enthusiastic noise.

	"That's good." Ranma looked back to
his parents, realizing he still didn't feel particularly
close to either of them. He did feel a bond of 
kinship with his sister, though. 

	"Excuse me, Ranma?" Nodoka broke
into her son's musings. "Where is this 'Ucchan'
anyway?"

	"Oh, Father doesn't have to worry 
about her...she died a little over a year ago."

	"Oh my. I'm so sorry," Nodoka couldn't
miss the very real grief hanging over this stranger
who was apparently her son. "How did it happen?"

	Ranma sighed. "Kenshiro took Ucchan in
shortly after he 'rescued' me from Father. It turned out
that Ukyou's father was dying and he had no relatives
for Ucchan to go live with. That's why he was so happy
to engage his daughter off at that age. Her mom had 
died a while back, don't know the details.

	"Anyway, Ken had gotten some help from
this really old and powerful sensei in China when he
was kinda on his own, and so took me and Ucchan to
this guy so Ken could continue to look for some girl
named Yuria.

	"The sensei's name is Lochi, and he knows
dozens of martial arts styles himself. He taught me and
Ucchan, plus his own ward Shiryu. Shiryu and Shunrei,
me and Ucchan, we were like a little family of our own.
Learned a lot from 'em.

	"Anyway, there was this guy named Saga.
Tough old guy who was out to assassinate some girl
named Saori. Since Shiryu and Lochi were pledged to
assist this gal, me and Ucchan agreed to help." Ranma
decided to keep the whole thing on a much simpler level
than had occurred. Let them think it was just a bandit
king and some martial arts stuff.

	"Anyway," Ranma continued into the silence,
"Saga had this special attack, sorta magic, where he
caused the air to swallow up a victim. Ucchan...got caught.
She..." Ranma's voice broke. They'd been friends for years,
trained together, ate together, maybe he'd even come to 
love her, but now he'd never know.

	Ranma was startled by the gentle touch on
his shoulder and he looked into his sister's tearfilled eyes.
"Don't cry, big brother," Ranko said in a sad voice, "we
here now."

	Ranma looked to his mother, to see sympathy
there, and then at his father to see... relief? Whatever it
was, it was gone again in a moment. Ranma took a deep
breath to compose himself. "Well, anyway, Saga's dead.
I've been wandering since then until I heard there was a
family named Saotome here in Juuban practicing the 
Anything Goes style of martial arts."

	"How nice, now, Genma. Why don't you tell
me what else you might have failed to mention about these
training trips?" Nodoka's voice had developed an odd 
sing-song tone to it.

	"Son," Genma said, standing up. "You're
sixteen now, so there's something we have to do NOW."

	Ranma blinked. "What?"

	"Go meet a friend of mine, this is VERY
important." Genma also wanted to give Nodoka some
time to calm down. He knew her well enough to know
that when her eyes glittered like that and she started
to sing her sentences, that she was about ready to unwrap
her katana. She'd never gotten to the point where she'd
completely unwrapped the thing yet, and Genma wasn't 
anxious to see the blade in all its glory.

	Genma decided to make a phone call, just
to warn his old buddy that Ranma was coming. He 
couldn't give a lot of details, though, as Nodoka was
listening and this MIGHT just push her over the edge.

	Edges and Nodoka just seemed to spell
bad news to Genma's viewpoint.
-----------------------------------------
	"What is this, a dojo challenge?" Ranma
blinked at the sign, then nodded. No doubt it was a 
rival school, and he was here to challenge it. No 
problem.

	"Uhm, not exactly," mumbled Genma.

	"Oh, you must be...Ranma?" A short haired
girl in a kimono looked down at little Ranko with an 
expression of distaste. "Please tell me you aren't Ranma."

	"Nopenopenope!" Ranko chirped happily.

	"I'm Ranma," Ranma identified himself. The
girl didn't move like a martial artist, so what was going on here?

	Nabiki's gaze almost clicked audibly as it locked onto
Ranma. "Well well well. My goodness. So YOU'RE Ranma?"

	Ranma nodded and returned the girl's smile as best
he could. "Yes, and you are?"

	"Oooh, he IS cute," Nabiki called back into the
house. Nabiki turned back to Ranma. "I'm Nabiki Tendo, your
fiancee."

	Several people in the courtyard stiffened at that
remark. Genma was still wondering if maybe he should go on
a training journey until things had calmed down.

	"Saotome, I thought you said that your son was
dead?" Soun looked over the four people standing in the 
yard. "Now, Nabiki, that hasn't been determined."

	Nodoka glanced at her husband and motioned her
daughter closer to her.

	"Excuse me," Ranma was polite, calm, and wanted
to stop this immediately. "Did you say 'fiancee' or did I hear
wrong? How many fiancees did you arrange for me?"

	This proved the signal for the situation to deteriorate

	"Now, dearest!"

	"SA-O-TO-ME!!"

	"I HATE BOYS!"

	"Oh dear, oh my."

	"Papa look so funny!"

	Nabiki looked the situation over, decided that this
Ranma fellow was fairly cute, and began working out angles
with her usual efficiency. Motioning him and the little girl
inside, Nabiki smiled at the look of relief to pass over both
faces.

	"Everybody getting real loud," Ranko said.(1)

	"Yeah, and it doesn't look like they're gonna 
reach any kind of decision soon." Ranma sighed.

	Akane paused at the doorway, then followed
the small group in. "Say, Ranma, you're the Heir of the
Saotome School, right?"

	"Uhm, actually, I think Ranko here is." Ranma
indicated the eight-year-old. "I've trained fairly extensively
in other martial arts for quite awhile."

	"Oh, well," Akane mumbled. She really wanted to
fight someone and determine her progress in the martial arts.
The morning crowd at school, or even Kuno, were hardly a
fitting benchmark. "Would you like to get in a quick bout 
out in the dojo while they're arguing?"

	Ranma shook his head. "I don't think that'd be a
good idea. The martial arts training I've gone through, especially
after the past few years, have been against REALLY tough
opponents."

	The temperature dropped. "Are you saying that
I'm NOT?"

	"Oh, I'm sure that against your average fighter you're
quite capable. You also have some good chi potential but you're
not trained to use it properly."

	"I'm not trained properly? Average fighter?" Akane
began to twitch.

	"Is she always this selective in her hearing?" Ranma
asked the shorter haired girl.

	"No, she must like you." Nabiki raised an eyebrow.
"Well, why don't you let her get it out of her system, then we
can talk. If you make it quick we can get it done before the 'adults'
have gotten their stories straight."

	Kasumi had noted that one of their guests was with
her two other sisters and went to the kitchen. She was a strong
believer in proper decorum, and some hot tea might help everyone
calm down. Especially in drizzly March weather.
---------------------------------
	Ranko sat next to Nabiki on the sidelines, trying to
duplicate the older girl's posture exactly.

	"Akane Tendo versus Ranma Saotome, round-o one,
FIGHT-O!" Ranko had been playing Street Fighter II.

	Akane leapt forward, ready to prove herself. She
punched, she kicked, she threw a rapid series of strikes that
would have cut a swath through the morning gantlet. Ranma
didn't seem to be there for any of the blows.

	"WHY WON'T YOU FIGHT ME?!" Akane began to
work herself further into anger. They were going to engage her
to someone this insufferable?

	"Because it isn't right to pick on the weak," Ranma
answered, then realized that might not have been the right thing
to say.

	Akane's eyes widened and her right eyebrow began
to twitch. "We-we-WEAK?!"

	"Ah, Ranma, if you don't go full out against her, you'll
never hear the end of this." Nabiki mentioned from her place. Ranko
was merely staring at big brother.

	As Akane was not currently attacking, Ranma partially 
turned from the battle to address Nabiki. "But that wouldn't be
right, miss."

	"It's Nabiki." Nabiki watched as Akane rushed forward 
to take advantage of the lapse. "Watch yourself."

	R-RIPPP!

	Akane danced back, a torn scrap of ribbon hanging in
her hand. "Take me seriously yet?"

	Nabiki paused. The look on Ranma's face was of someone
who had just gone past shocked as he looked at where the ribbon
had been tied to his sleeve. The eyes continued to get darker as his
gaze swept over to where Akane was holding the scrap up. A piece
of the ribbon lazily drifted down to the dojo floor.

	"C'mon. Oh, the big bad fighter lose his pretty ribbon?
NOW will you fight me for real?"

	"Uh oh!" Nabiki and Ranko managed simultaneously.

	Akane paused and an old English phrase about sowing
the wind came to mind. The battle aura pouring off of Ranma right
now was stronger than she'd ever felt. "Oops. Errr."

	"You...little..." Ranma's chi flared into an incandescent 
golden aura. 

	Akane braced herself against the sudden wind blowing
from this boy across the dojo floor. She considered apologizing, but
realized the boy most likely wouldn't even register it from that 
expression.

	Genma, Soun, Nodoka, and Kasumi came running to the
dojo doors in time to see the display. Little rocks began to float up
into the air. The dojo walls were rattling.

	"You have taken something precious from me," growled
Ranma. "You wanted me to fight you for real, DID YOU?!"

	"That was from his girlfriend who died," Ranko helpfully
pointed out to Nabiki what was currently two scraps of cloth, one
still being held by Akane.

	This was sufficiently loud that everyone's eyes tracked
to the two pieces of cloth, to the determined look on Akane's face,
and back to the glowing martial artist.

	"Oh my," Kasumi summed up.

	Ranko thought of something. "BREAK!"

	The aura and wind snapped off. Ranma still looked like
he could and would chew Akane up and spit her out. He was 
shaking but nobody there thought it was from fear.

	Kasumi came in, gathered the scrap of cloth from
the floor, tugged the other one out of Akane's hand, then sat on
the sidelines and began sewing them back together.

	Just as everyone began to relax, Ranko thought of
something. "House rules. No chi attacks, no permanent injury,
no destroying the dojo. ROUND-O TWO, FIGHT-O!"

	Nabiki stared in alarm as Ranma shot across the dojo
floor, almost seeming to disappear in a blur.

	Akane raised her arms in an "X" shaped block.

	Ranma thrust his finger forward three times in a rapid
move that was merely a blur to everyone present who was watching.
Kasumi and Nabiki couldn't make the move out at all.

	"Don't ever do that again," Ranma warned Akane,
then turned to Kasumi to see if she could do anything with the
ribbon.

	Akane slumped to the floor, twitching and making odd
noises in the back of her throat.

	"What did you do to her?" Nabiki scrambled across the
floor to where her sister was lying in an untidy pile.

	"I hit a few pressure points. She'll be OK." Ranma paused.
"You REALLY wouldn't want to see what I could do to her if I went
flat out."

	"Urk!"

	"What kind of pressure points?" Kasumi looked up from
her sewing.

	"Well, you're the one I owe a favor to, since you're doing
that. So, anything you want her to do around the house?"

	Kasumi paused. "Well, if she could help clean once in 
awhile, that would be nice."

	Ranma winked. "Gotcha." He walked back to the twitching
Akane, tapped a series of points so quickly that Nabiki couldn't
see them, then whispered in the girl's ear.

	"Zombie pressure point?" Kasumi asked brightly.

	"That's really not a good name for it," Ranma sighed.
"It's sort of a posthypnotic kinda thing."

	Akane got up and glared at the boy. "Whatever you did
didn't work, you..."

	"Tendo-san," Ranma said tiredly, "I COULD have hit
a pressure point combination that would've caused your muscles
to rip free of the supporting tendons in both legs. I COULD have
hit your Mute Button. I could have hit your 'pleasure points' and
left you writhing in ecstasy on the floor of the dojo. I know just
enough Hokuto Shin Ken to be dangerous. That's why I usually
use the style Lochi taught me, but that uses chi."

	Ranko hmphed as she nodded happily.

	"So, Ranko, how did you know the House Rules,
anyway?" Ranma looked over at his precocious little sister.

	"Didn't!" Ranko grinned. "Made it up. You plenty
PO'ed brother!"

	"Ranko, such language!" Nodoka chided her 
daughter, though she was pleased that her daughter was
fairly quick on her mental feet.

	"Daddy taught me." Ranko nodded again. "He
also teach me <censored> and <very censored> and <oh
boy is this censored.> He also said <you wouldn't believe
how censored> once when he was trying to teach me to
drink."

	Everyone immediately forgot about any lapses
of control on the part of Ranma as their gazes audibly 
clicked on the portly man in the glasses.

	"Uhm, well, I, errr..." Genma loosened the neck
of his gi. 

	Kasumi stood up, handed the ribbon back to
Ranma, and smiled sweetly. She turned, and with the grace
of a ballerina crossed to directly in front of Genma 
Saotome. 

	Some were reminded of a ballerina. Ranma,
Genma, and Ranko were all reminded of large feline
predators.

	With suprising speed for a non-martial artist,
Kasumi grabbed the older man's gi and pulled him to where
she could look directly into his eyes. "Mister Saotome,
do you really think this is appropriate material to teach
a young lady?"

	"Erk..."

	"Kasumi, isn't it?" Nodoka asked sweetly. "If 
I may? He's my husband, so it is my responsibility to 
correct his behavior..."

	"Oh, of course, Mrs Saotome." Kasumi stepped
back. "Be my guest."

	"Thank you," Nodoka Saotome inclined her
head. "You are most gracious."

	Genma started to move when his wife's hand
grabbed the neck of his gi and pulled him into the exact
same position he had been in a moment ago.

	"Dearest? Do you really think this is appropriate
material to teach your young daughter?"

	"Erk!" Genma repeated.
=================================

(1)-      Before i get a lot of e-mail correcting Ranko's speech patterns,
THIS Ranko is a little girl. Little girls, unless they're trying really hard
or named Ami Mizuno, aren't that proficient with language. She's eight
and has spent most of her life training in the martial arts.