Wow.  Um, Ranma was created by Rumiko Takahashi, and these are all her 
characters and creations.  The copyrights to it are also held by 
Shogakukan and Kitty Film in Japan, and by Viz Communications in the 
Northern Americas.  Haven't written a disclaimer, much less for a 
shortfic, in quite a while.  Um, if someone else has done this, I'm sorry 
- this came to mind and I needed to write, and the exercise.  Jeez Louise.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's raining.  I knew that I used to hate the rain, then I learned to 
ignore it, then, now, I'll learn to hate it again.

It's probably gonna scar me forever.

"Stupid old man!"  Stupid, stupid old man.  With my luck, I'm actually 
running straight to this house we're -

"Wo pu tse tao!"  I skid, almost to the sidewalk.  Damn my old man, but 
he's so damned good.  He can't even let me go this once.

He growls - I relax, ironically - and he charges.

What an idiot!  He thinks I'm just gonna let him -

*oof*

-----

The panda discards the no left turn sign he pulled out, hefts its 
estranged child in its arms and ambled off down the road.

*****

Author's note:  Pardon me for not being consistent with my POV, but, gods, 
haven't we seen enough of that scene?  And, please, pardon my Chinese - if 
done properly, it could be kind of strong words.

*****

"Out of the question."

"B-But..."

Heads nodded.  "We can't just do something as rash as that."

"B-But..."

"I'm sorry, I don't see why we should baby-sit -"

"It's not baby-sitting."

"Unless -"

"Yes, unless?"

"You can't mean that we're agreeing to this, Nabiki?"

The middle Tendo sister had that gleam.  "Unless, Dad, you can make sure 
that they will be paying for their keep and not be any type of hassle to 
us studying."

Soun looked as serious as he could get.  "You have my word."

Kasumi, who looked on, just blew air out of thinned lips and  left as 
noisily as she could.  Moments later, Akane followed.

-----

She counted up to ten, held her arms to her sides, paced around the 
kitchen, then finally blew up.  "I can't BELIEVE Nabiki and Father would 
- oh, hi, Akane."

Akane took a step back - she'd seen Kasumi get fierce before and would 
rather not be on the receiving end.  "Whoa, big sis."

Kasumi was between forgiving and unconsolably alone in her situation.  
She chose to be general:  "It's just so unfair!"

Akane was, of course, years her junior, the youngest and the most 
sheltered of the three Tendo sisters - it was easy to see her lack of 
understanding.  "What isn't fair?"

Kasumi took a moment of composure to lock gazes with her sister - did she 
know?  How would she take it, if she knew what sacrifices have to be made 
to keep this family afloat?  No - she had -

Luckily, she was interrupted by the doorbell.

-----

Nabiki had a plan.

Well, it wasn't really a plan - more of a scheme.  So Dad's friend had a 
son, who was also into martial arts, about Akane's age.  Just a year 
younger, well within her taste range - theoretically, that is.

Dad had already agreed that they were going to charge for the food and 
lodging - God knew they were going to need the cash - but that gave her 
just about free lease on the lives of these two individuals.

And, if this Ranma were anywhere near cute...

"Ahh... my friend Saotome," Soun said, opening the gate.  Nabiki blew out 
the breath she held.

Which was a bad thing, as the panda rushed them.

-----

"Look," Akane said, walking out of the kitchen, turning to the other girl, 
"I can understand why you don't want them to live here."

Kasumi blinked, genuinely surprised.  "You can?  You do?"

"I wouldn't want to live in the same house with some... guy."

In her mind's eye, she could picture one "guy" she could do just that.  
She shook that bespectacled image by looking at her eldest sister, who 
was able to hide her slight deflation.

"Yeah, that, too," she said, entering the receiving room - which was 
empty.  "Dad?"

"Kasumi?"  Akane slid the door closed.  A random whiff of damp earth 
came up - she coughed a bit.  Kasumi was just outside, near the pond.  
"Where's Dad and Nabiki?"

Nabiki, they saw, was with Soun, who were both transfixed by the giant 
marsupial and its cargo, which was apparently writhing in its grasp.  
They, of course, could hear the shouts of putting down and letting go.  
"This is your friend?"

Soun always failed to grasp sarcasm.  He shook his head.

Before them, the panda presented the child in one arm.  At this, Ranma 
shut up, and stared at Soun, who was quite obviously appraising him.

Ranma blinked.  Soun blinked.  Nabiki stared.  Kasumi wondered about the 
possibility of hairballs.  Akane goggled.

The panda nudged Ranma, not too softly.

"Hey!  Watch it!"  Ranma almost fell, but Soun stopped the fall.

Ranma brushed off the motes of indignity.  "I'm Ranma Saotome."  With 
that, Ranma continued to stare into Soun's face, daring him to make 
anything of the fact.

Soun blinked again - the boy's eyes were just too damn big.

They stared at each other some more.

Kasumi and Akane frowned.  Indeed, this was the boy their father had been 
talking about - the panda was not coming into the equation yet, though.

Nabiki took that as a licence to ogle - he looked young for his age, a 
little short and frail-looking, with a voice that was just a little on 
the high of the scale.  His face was open, the eyes that gave her father 
pause, merely making him look... cute.  She smiled - she held out her 
hand.  "Hi, I'm Na-"

"Okay, son," Soun interrupted, "where's your father?"

"He's over..." then he turned.

Nobody was there.  Kasumi and Akane were gone, too.

"Shoot," he muttered, stalking off to the front.

-----

"Can we keep him?"

Kasumi started the sure-to-be-fruitless search for anything made of 
bamboo that might be edible to a species not indiginous to Japan, let 
alone Nerima.  She'd seen the pandas in the District Zoo eat shoots, but 
would they eat rattan?  "Akane, it's obvious that he belongs to Ranma."  

She turned - yes, Akane was still hugging the bulk.  To her, it probably 
seemed like a huge black-and-white teddy bear.

They didn't notice it pull out a rather large backpack.

"But he's staying here, right?  That must mean we can keep him!"

Kasumi did not notice the kettle on the stove as she was doing her own 
boiling.  "What this MEANS is more COOKING, more CLEANING, veterenary 
bills and keeping him OFF the grass!"

They said no more, as Akane found herself hugging a balding man in a gi.  
"Excuse me, girls."  He stood to go to the receiving room - which was 
when they screamed and rushed him.

-----

Ranma continued stalking, back to the front door.  "Now where'd the old 
man...?"  He turned - and almost slammed into Nabiki.

"What the -?"  This time, he regained his balance.

"Hi."  She grabbed his hand.  "I'm Nabiki.  Nabiki Tendo."

"Yeah."  He let go.  "Whatever."

"Hey!"  She grabbed Ranma's shoulder as it came close.

"Hey!"  Ranma turned - that's when Nabiki kissed him.

-----

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

Soun already started on the tea that Kasumi had prepared a while back.  
The two girls' shouts brought him to look up at the sliding door.  "Ah!  
There you are, S-!"

"PERVERTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"  *wham*  *crash*  *oof*  *blag*

"DAAAAAD!"  The guilty party rushed up to their father, who had been the 
victim of one errant blow.  "I'm sorry!"

"Uhhhhh..."  As soon as she knew that father was still breathing, Kasumi 
left him to join Akane to interrogate the newcomer.

"WHERE DID YOU PUT THE PAAAAAANNNNNDAAAAAA?!?"

"Will you give up on the panda, Akane?  Where did Nabiki and that Ranma-?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Nabiki!" Akane shouted, dropping Genma.

"Nabiki?"  Kasumi detected something off - she was right.

"WHAT," Ranma continued, "IS WRONG WITH YOU GIRLS?!!?"

-----

Nabiki sat across Ranma, and ignored him.  She had a slight blush and she 
was furiously trying to remove it be rubbing - needless to say, not the 
right way.  Ranma just looked miffed, a slight blush also detectable.

Nabiki was flanked by her sisters, who looked daggers at the man beside 
Ranma, who, in turn, was right next to their father, who took a side to 
himself.

"Daughters," Soun started, "let me introduce to you my friend -"

The man in the gi pushed from the table and bowed low, making visible the 
bandages the back of his head was now sporting.  "Genma Saotome."  He sat 
up, and indicated Ranma.  "You've all met my son."

Ranma still ignored Nabiki.

"That's your cue, boy."

"What?" Ranma growled - prompting a swift nape-hit.  "Ow."  Ranma pushed 
from the table and bowed similarly.  "Ranma Saotome."

Soun took his family in one glance - they looked unappeased.  More 
accurately, they looked as though nothing had happened.  "They are going 
to stay here, starting today.  Make them feel at home."  No response.  
"Girls?"  Stillness.  Soun started to sweat - it began to dawn on him 
that a rudimentary battle aura feel was starting to build on that side of 
the table.

"Father, I didn't know that your... friend," Kasumi turned the 
temperature lower some, stabbing the subject with a gaze, "was a dirty 
old man!"

He shuddered at his daughter's fierce words, for entirely other reasons.

"I can explain all this," Genma started.

"Oh yeah?!"  Akane almost jumped at him from across the table top.  
"Explain where MISTER PANDA WENT!?!!"

Kasumi added, "and why you were hugging my sister!"

Soun watched the other two stay quiet.

"Really," Genma shrunk under the two, "I can explain..."  Then he got wet 
- and hairy.

"Nope," Ranma said, discading the empty pail, "I can explain."

"Wh-what?  Who?" Kasumi sputtered, looking at the panda, then at Ranma, 
then at the pail.  Akane merely reunited with her long-lost pet.

Ranma started the recollection, all the while avoiding having to look at 
Nabiki.

-----

Somewhere in the East:

"Which way is Tokyo?"

"Shao ma?"

-----

"So let me get this straight," Nabiki had already forgotten her chagrin,
and attacked the simple impossibility of the narration, "your dad," she
waved at the panda, who finished his sip of tea and nodded, "turns into a
panda when he gets splashed with cold water?"

"You saw it," Kasumi said.

"Actually, I didn't," she muttered.

"Freaky, ain't't?" Ranma complained, shaking his head.  "He comes back
with some hot water, though."

"What do you turn into, then?"

"Huh?"  Ranma, though, maintained his skewed look.  "Wh-what makes you
think-?  I didn't say -"

"Do you?"  Kasumi seemed to see him in a new light.  She also seemed to
take in the pail in a thoughtful pause.

"NO!"  Ranma stepped in the line of sight.  "No, nothing.  He couldn't
even tag me."  He was floored by a massive paw.

"Hey - Mr. Saotome!"  The panda ignored Nabiki's tone.  Ranma pushed 
himself off by the elbows.

"Well, now all that's settled," Soun seemed to magnanimously stretch his
arms with his smile, "how about some s-?"

He landed his gaze on his eldest, who, in no uncertain terms, shook her
head slowly.

"-shuteye?" he finished.

"Actually," Ranma said, standing, nonchalantly disappearing the pail, "I
could use a bath.  Been running in the rain and all."

"Go ahead," Kasumi vaguely pointed to beyond the kitchen, "we'll go after
you."  To Nabiki, she motioned, "let's get the guestroom ready."

"Yo, Pop, comin'?"  After glancing at the happy couple, he harrumphed,
only under his breath glad that the old [] wasn't comin', after all.

-----

"What were you thinking?"

Nabiki laughed, setting the futon.  "Is that a rhetorical question?"

"Nabiki!"  Kasumi was merely scandalized.  "You... you locked lips with a
complete stranger who's going to live under the same roof!"

"Please, Kasumi, I'm not planning to get myself into trouble."

"What you're planning to get is -"

"Pregnant?  A boyfriend?  Pneumonia?  My sister's jealousy?"  She winked.

Sighing, she threw her hands up.  "Someone's jealousy."  But she never
voiced it.

-----

"So..."

Genma nodded wordlessly.

Silence.  "Saotome... are you sure?  Staying here... might be hazardous."

His friend sat ponderously.

Soun stared.  "Saotome."

Genma looked up and decisively said, "Growf."

"I'll heat up a kettle, eh?"

"Not yet!"  Akane clutched at the furry thing some more.

-----

Finally, Ranma slid the door closed.

Ranma so wanted to get out of there, that house, that town.  What about 
Mom?  How's she been?  Ranma wanted to tell her so much, so much about the 
places, the people, the training... all the private hurts.

Pulling up a stool, Ranma sat and, for the last time, started to cry.  The
tears would come, sooner or later, so it would be best sooner.  All of it,
one last heave - but Ranma knew that it would not end, quite yet.

So the cold, cold water covered him, like the rain, the hated rain, to
beat on him relentlessly.

Ranma picked up a small towel and stood to go to the bath - this time, 
eyes open.

Nabiki opened the door.  "Oops," she said, a little too soon.

She realized she shouldn't have taken a peek - she didn't see anything
new.

-----

"Ranma will go with Akane to her first year in junior high - it's so
perfect!"  The two fathers laughed gleefully, despite the imminent
disasters that lay ahead.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you think I should continue this, press reply.
If you think I should continue writing Switch, press reply all.
If you think I should not continue writing, press delete.
If you think I should continue shifting to Tenchi fanfiction, press your
     nose twice and holler.  :)

Seriously, though, should there be more?

Switch
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