Will You be my Fianc�?
An Alternate History of Ranma �
By Ammadeau
Roy.Fokker@UNSpacy.org
http://members.tripod.com/~Ammadeau/fanfiction.htm

Chapter 1b:

	"Welcome home son," Nodoka said to him, dusting off her 
hands as she entered the room.  She was all dressed up in her 
cleaning outfit, with a big yellow apron and gloves that went to her 
elbows.  She even wore a handkerchief around her head.  For some 
reason she had decided that today was the day that she had to clean 
out the attic.  Ranma didn't mind that much; it meant that he'd have 
to cook since his mom didn't have time to.  "How was your day at 
school?"
	"Fine mom, wasn't as boring as I thought it would be."
	"I bet a lot of cute girls go to Furinkan High," Nodoka told 
him with a smile and a wink.
	Ranma sighed, but not loud enough for his mother to hear.  
Why can't she get off my case about this? he thought.  She was 
always pushing him to be more 'manly' and do 'manly' things, 
which to her usually meant doing something with girls.  Looking at 
girls, talking to girls, writing notes to girls, peeping at girls, going 
on dates with girls, even trying to kiss girls.  And no matter what 
he did, it was never enough for her.  If Ranma did something his 
mom suggested to get her off his case, she'd just suggest something 
else right after, which usually ten times as worse as the previous 
one.  He found it best just to agree to whatever she said and then 
ignore it.
	Many times Ranma had decided enough was enough and he 
was going to tell his mother exactly what he thought about being 
'manly.'  He'd march right up to her, look her right in the eye, and 
completely lose his nerve.  It was the same with his pop and all of 
his weird training ideas.  He wanted to tell the old man off, but his 
just couldn't.  Ranma just couldn't disappoint his parents.  They 
both meant too much to him, no matter what crazy ideas they 
sometimes came up with.
	"Yeah, I guess there are cute girls there," Ranma finally 
answered his mother.
	"Oh my manly son!" Nodoka declared and swept him up 
into a big hug.
	She's probably thinking that I was peeping on them or 
something, Ranma thought.  He also realized that he had another 
reason to change out of his uniform.  Not only didn't it fit right, but 
now he was covered in dust.
	"Say, where's Hitomi?" Ranma changed the subject as he 
disengaged himself from his mother's embrace.  He had no 
problem with his mom hugging him, he just wished she didn't do it 
when she was so dusty.  Ranma didn't inquire about his father, who 
worked as an instructor at a local dojo.  It surprised Ranma that his 
pop was doing so well that they asked him to teach extra classes.  
Genma only got home sometime before dinner.  No amount of 
money would ever make him late for meals.
	"Don't you remember?  Your sister's juku started today.  
She should be home soon."
	Ranma nodded.  His little sister Hitomi had proven to be a 
genius in elementary school, so his parents, at Nodoka's insistence, 
had sent her to an expensive private school for eggheads called 
Megumi Academy.  The main reason his father had taken the extra 
workload was to pay for the school and the juku she had just 
started.  Nothing was too good for daddy's little girl.  Hitomi had 
firmly wrapped her father around her finger by age five.
	Hitomi had just gotten home by the time Ranma had come 
back down from his room after changing into his Chinese-style red 
shirt and black pants.  He'd never actually been to China, in fact he 
bought his clothes from a small shop in the local Chinatown, but 
for some reason he just felt right when he was wearing them.  
Anything else just looked wrong on him for some reason.
	Ranma's little sister was thirteen and in many ways 
resembled a younger version of Nodoka, though Hitomi choose to 
wear her auburn hair long.  Her eyes were a deep blue and always 
opened wide in childish innocence, which was sometimes a ruse.  
She was still in her private school uniform, which resembled a 
business suit.  It was supposed to make the student appear more 
grown up, but had the opposite effect on Hitomi, who, being a late 
bloomer, looked a year or two younger than her actual age.  A 
source of constant irritation to the girl.  It didn't help that her 
brother frequently teased her about it.
	"I'm home!" Hitomi announced, slamming the door behind 
her.
	"Hi sis," Ranma said to her, meeting her in the living room.  
"Mom is upstairs cleaning the attic."
	Hitomi blink-blinked in surprise.  Her mother hadn't told 
her anything about cleaning the attic.  Why would she want to do 
that now of all times?
	"I don't know why she's doing it either," Ranma told her, 
guessing the question in his little sister's look.
	Hitomi just shrugged.  They both knew that their mother 
was strange and often did things for no apparent reason.  With both 
of their parents like that, they'd gotten used to it over the years.
	"So how was you day at your new school, big brother?  Get 
into any fights?" 
	Hitomi knew that wherever Ranma went, trouble followed.  
She still remembered the time when an entire circus troupe from 
Russia had attacked him because their father had eaten all of their 
caviar and drank all of their vodka.  They pounded Genma too, but 
he was too drunk at that point to feel anything.
	"Four," Ranma answered honestly.
	"All on the first day?  Wow, that must be some kind of 
record for you," she teased.
	Ranma shrugged.  The only one who cared if he got into 
fights in school was his mom and she was only worried that they 
might force him to transfer schools again.
	"They were all with the same guy.  He just couldn't accept 
the fact the I beat him."
	"Can't accept his losses?" Hitomi said with a small smile.  
"Sounds like someone I know."
	Ranma knew exactly what she was talking about.  "Hey, I'll 
beat you next time.  Your luck can't hold out forever."
	"It takes more skill than luck to win at poker.  Skill that you 
are sorely lacking, big brother."
	Ranma pouted.  It had all started two years ago when the 
whole Saotome family had gone to the fair.  Genma had insisted 
that the rigged games would be good training for his son and so 
Ranma tried his hand at every contest they had.  And he won, 
every time, never taking more than three tries.  His arms were 
filled with so many prizes that he could barely see above them, 
while his mother carried the fish.
	So Ranma, his confidence at its peak, declared that there 
was no game he couldn't win.  Hitomi, who had been eyeing some 
of the stuffed animals with appreciation, challenged him to a game 
of her choosing.  She insisted that Ranma wager all of his prizes, 
while she would do his homework for a month.  Ranma would 
have just given her the stuffed animals at least, he certainly didn't 
want them, but not having to do homework (and actually getting 
better grades in it) was too tempting an offer to pass up.
	Ranma knew that she would pick a non-physical game.  
Hitomi was in good shape, but she wasn't a martial artist nor had 
she any interest in becoming one.  He hadn't really been expecting 
a card game, especially one that he had never played before.
	Hitomi even gave her brother a fair chance, giving him a 
poker rulebook and 24 hours to prepare himself.  She even 
increased the odds in his favor by making it whoever wins two out 
of three hands.  In the end, it hadn't mattered.
	Ranma had never lost so quickly in his life.  He lost the 
first two hands in under five minutes.  Hitomi even allowed those 
to be practice games as Ranma had insisted.  So they played, and 
played, and played.  Three hours later, Ranma still hadn't won a 
single game, while Hitomi had not only won all of his prizes one 
by one, but half the contents of Ranma's room and a contract for a 
month's servitude besides.
	Ranma might have been able to deal with his loss by 
simply forgetting that it had happened.  Only his little sister had 
decided not to let him forget his humiliation.  Hitomi never missed 
an opportunity to remind Ranma of his loss.  She had ample 
occasions to do this for the month that Ranma was answerable to 
her every whim.  
	Hitomi had made the most of her month.  She had suddenly 
decided that her room was much too messy and would have to be 
cleaned every single day.  Hitomi, who was normally very neat, 
had become a slob overnight.  No matter how hard Ranma worked 
at cleaning, there was always even more work the next day.  She 
also decided that all of her meals had to be served by Ranma, while 
she lay in bed.  Her strength seemed to be waning so Ranma would 
have to hand feed her.  He would also have to carry her anywhere 
she wanted to go.  She suddenly had the need to be in a different 
place every five minutes, usually on the opposite side of the house.  
Nothing he ever did for her was good enough on the first try, he 
would have to attempt something at least ten times before she was 
satisfied.  Every time he complained, glared, or raised his voice to 
her, she would pointedly remind Ranma that this was all because 
he was horrible at cards.
	Ranma spent the month after his indentured servitude in 
intense poker training.  He studied the rulebook until he knew 
every word by heart.  He played a dozens of hands against himself 
each day.  He started to go to gambling halls, studying the 
technique of the people who won there.  He played hands against 
his father, but stopped after he never lost a hand.  It was clear that 
pop was an even worse card player than he was.
	At the end of the month, Ranma felt that he was ready and 
challenged his little sister to a rematch.  Ranma bet another month 
of slavery, while Hitomi put up all of Ranma's things that she had 
won previously.  They played for two hours and Ranma still hadn't 
won a single hand.  Ranma was still determined to win at least one 
game, but he had run out of things to bet.  Hitomi now had the 
entire contents of his room, along with two months of his complete 
obedience.  Ranma had to sleep on the floor in a bare room and 
answer to his little sister whenever she called.
	What did their parents think of all this?  Genma thought it 
was good training, while Nodoka thought it was manly for Ranma 
to be so nice to his sister.
	Hitomi eventually took pity on her brother.  She gave him 
some of his things back and didn't work him as hard as she had 
before.  But she still didn't let him forget about his loss though.  
For two years now he occasionally challenged her in poker and 
Ranma had yet to win a game.
	"Really Ranma," Hitomi told him, "You have no poker-
face."

	Nodoka, alerted by the door slam, and come back down 
from the attic to greet her daughter.
	Hitomi managed to get out a "Hi, mom" before she was 
swept up in a bone-crushing hug.  Nodoka was even dustier than 
before so now there was a second uniform that needed to be 
laundered.
	"How was your new juku today dear?"  Nodoka asked her 
daughter after releasing her from her hug.  It seemed that Nodoka 
was just as worried about Hitomi's 'womanliness' as she was over 
her son's 'manliness', though the qualifications for each were in 
many ways exact opposites.  Ranma's mom seemed to think that all 
women should be intelligent, frail, domestic, and cultured.  None 
of which applied to the man she had married, which in many ways 
was still her ideal.
	Ranma snickered when he saw Hitomi's look of horror at 
the state of her new uniform, now with big splotches of dust 
covering it.  His sister was definitively a neat freak and treated 
most dirt as an almost personal affront.  Ranma had found out the 
hard way that teasing her about this was not a good idea.  In 
revenge for a mud pie in the face, Hitomi had convinced their 
father that Ranma had been slacking off and that some more 
advanced training techniques were needed.  Getting attacked by an 
angry hive of bees had not been fun; his face had stayed swollen 
for a week.  His sister was normally a sweet girl, but if you had 
something she wanted or ticked her off, watch out.
	Seeing Hitomi's eyes narrow at his almost-laugh, Ranma 
decided that it was time to be somewhere else for while.  "I guess 
I'll go shopping for dinner now."
	"Oh Ranma, you don't need to go to so much trouble," 
Nodoka told him.  "Why don't you just make something simple 
from what we already have here? You don't always have to cook 
such elaborate things."
	Ranma did not want to stay under the same roof as his 
sister when she had that gleam her eye, especially after the day that 
he had already had.  "It's no trouble mom.  I already have dinner all 
planned out anyway, there's just a few things that I need to pick 
up."
	"All right then.  And if you meet a girl on the way, just call 
home and I'll just order takeout.  Better yet, why not bring her 
home and impress her with your manly cooking!"
	Ranma decided to flee his home before his mom could 
come up with any more of her suggestions.

	Ranma whistled as he walked down the street, grocery bag 
in one hand, shopping list in the other.  All of the events of the day 
had faded into the background as he concentrated on the task ahead 
of him.  Namely, getting the right ingredients for the dinner that he 
had planned tonight.
	He wasn't surprised when he ran into a familiar young 
woman shopping for her own ingredients.

	Ranma had met Kasumi a few months ago when he'd 
literally ran into her, sending her purchases all over the ground, 
along with Kasumi herself.  It was one of the more embarrassing 
moments of his life.  Ranma apologized profusely and quickly 
picked up all of her things as he helped her up.
	To his surprise, the woman, who was tall with long brown 
hair and introduced herself as Kasumi, wasn't even angry.  She was 
more amused than anything else with all of his bowing and 
mumbled apologies.  Ranma offered many things in order to make 
up for what he had done, but eventually she talked him down to 
carrying her groceries for her.
	"Are you shopping for your mother?" Kasumi asked him 
suddenly, breaking the silence that had hung between them as they 
made their way to the next store.
	"Huh?" Ranma replied, surprised by the question.
	She smiled a little and said, "The groceries I mean.  I saw 
some of the things in your bag.  Your mother must be an 
interesting cook."
	"Actually they're for me.  Well, they're for my whole 
family.  What I mean is, I'm shopping because I'm doing the 
cooking tonight."
	"You cook?"  Surprise was evident in Kasumi's voice.
	Ranma nodded.  "I really like to, but my mother only lets 
me about once a week.  She says that I should be spending my time 
on other things."
He decided not to say that what his mother wanted him to 
spend time on was peeping and going out on dates.  Ranma knew 
from experience that just saying those things to a woman would 
earn him a slap in the face.
	Ranma stopped walking when he noticed that Kasumi was 
just standing there.  She was looking at him, yet her eyes seemed 
focused on something else.  
	"It's not that big a deal," he told her.
	Kasumi looked a bit embarrassed.  "I was just surprised, 
that's all," she said and started to walk again.  "Not many boys take 
an interest in cooking, especially at your age."
	"My age?  Come on, you can't be that much older than me.  
I'm going to be starting high school in a few months."
	"Oh really?  You must be about the same age as my sister 
then.  I'm a few years older than her."
	"So?"  Ranma wondered why this woman thought that a 
few years made any difference.  His little sister was three years 
younger, but she acted more adult than he did, most of the time 
anyway.  "Do a few years matter so much?"
	"No, I suppose not," Kasumi replied after a moment and 
started on her way again, Ranma following closely behind.

	"Hello Ranma-kun," Kasumi greeted him warmly as she 
walked up to him.  She was wearing a conservative house dress as 
always, but Ranma had noticed that her newer dresses seemed to fit 
her figure better.  Probably because she wasn't worried about 
growing out of them anymore.  He also thought he detected a hint 
of makeup and perfume, but shrugged it off; he'd been seeing it 
everywhere since his sister had become interested in them.  No one 
as practical as Kasumi would get all dressed up for the market.  
Maybe she planned on Dr. Tofu afterwards?  The doctor did seem 
interested in her and she was very nice to him.
	"Hello Kasumi.  How are you today?"  Ranma asked as he 
fell into step with her.  This wasn't as easy as it sounds.  Kasumi, 
being taller than Ranma, tended to take long strides and seemed 
tireless when shopping, even though she never worked out.  Over 
the months he had adjusted to it though.
	They already had a familiar pattern going.  They would 
chat about food or minor things in their lives as they traveled to all 
of their favorite stores, looking over the food, comparing quality 
and prices.
	"I'm doing very well.  Your advice on that American dish 
was very helpful.  Even I was surprised on how well it turned out."
	Ranma hung his head, feeling a little embarrassed.  He 
wasn't used to be praised by anyone but his mom.  He hadn't really 
told Kasumi that much, just something he had noticed when 
making the dish himself.  Kasumi was really a much better cook 
than he was, even though he had only sampled some of her 
cookies.  She just knew so much more about cooking than he did 
and she'd given him advice on dozens of occasions already.  
Ranma didn't feel that he deserved to be praised when Kasumi 
knew so much more than him.
	"What do you plan to cook tonight?" Kasumi asked, which 
was another part of their ritual.  Neither felt completely 
comfortable with other people, so they had found that discussing 
what they planned on making that night was a good way to ease the 
tension. When they had begun this, it was usually Ranma who had 
asked first.  Now it was usually Kasumi.
	"This Thai dish that I found in a magazine.  It sounded 
interesting enough."
	Genma did not approve of his son reading cooking 
magazines, so Ranma had to hide them under his bed and read 
them by flashlight.  His mom didn't mind though.  She seemed 
delighted that time that she had caught him at it.
	"Oh, you must tell me how it comes out and even let me 
borrow the recipe sometime.  I don't know if my father would like 
something like that though."
	"That's not a problem for me.  My pop will eat anything.  
Only my kid sister is a picky eater, but then she likes Thai food."
	Kasumi laughed a little.  "From the way you describe him, 
it sounds that your father would eat anything if it were prepared 
properly."
	"I doubt even he would be able to stomach some of those 
horrors that you told me your sister makes though."
	They both laughed at that.  Neither talked about their 
family much unless it had something to do with food.  For Ranma 
it was his father's appetite.  For Kasumi, it was her sister's 
complete lack of skill in the kitchen.  Stories about either had made 
for some amusing moments.  But for some reason Kasumi never 
mentioned her sisters by name.  Every time he asked, she changed 
the subject.  Ranma decided that if Kasumi wanted to keep it a 
secret then he wasn't going to pry.  He did wonder about it though, 
since Kasumi normally seemed too open and honest to keep 
secrets.
	"So what are you going to cook tonight?" Ranma asked.
	Ranma listened enthralled as Kasumi described in detail the 
numerous little touches she was going to make to a meal that 
would have been fairly normal otherwise.
	Ranma and Kasumi's cooking style were very different, as 
much as Ranma could surmise from what she had told him.  
Ranma usually chose exotic dishes which he would prepare as if 
they were a martial arts kata.  In some ways, he was as much into 
the presentation as the food itself.
	Kasumi, however, would take an ordinary dish and make it 
extraordinary by adding so many little touches that it hardly 
resembled the recipe at all.  She calmly prepared meals, believing 
that the food should stand on its own.
	Ranma had once tried cooking Kasumi's way.  The results 
had been a disaster.  Not even his pop had eaten it.  When he told 
Kasumi about this, she told him that every cook had his or her own 
individual style and that one should cook the way one feels, not 
copying the methods of others.
	"So how was your new school?" Kasumi asked him.  
Ranma had mentioned last time they had met that he'd been 
forcibly transferred because one of his rivals had wrecked the gym.  
Kasumi always seemed very amused by the things that happened to 
Ranma, but she never teased or blamed him for them.  She was 
actually one of the few people that was sympathetic to Ranma's 
problems.
	Ranma shook his head.  Even he had a hard time believing 
what had happened to him at school.  "I had to get up even earlier 
to practice and catch the train, but that wasn't so bad.  When I get 
to school there's a mob of boys attacking this one girl.  So I jump 
in and help her out, even though, to be honest, she was doing okay 
by herself.  So after all the boys are knocked out, she turns on me.  
Now I can see her making the mistake that I was one of the boys 
trying to attack her, but when I told her that I didn't want to fight 
her she actually got madder.
	"So she's attacking me for a while and I'm basically 
dodging and wondering how to end this without hitting her.  Then 
this kendo guy strides across the schoolyard like he owns the place 
and stops the fight."
	"Well that was a good thing," Kasumi commented as she 
checked the ripeness of some vegetables.
	Ranma shook his head.  "No, not really, since he 
challenged me to fight him right after.  This guy might have been a 
challenge a year ago, but today he just made me late for class.  
That would have been okay since I'd rather lift buckets than sit 
through boring lectures.  Only the girl from the morning was there 
too and was blaming me for us being late for class."
	"Ranma, you should really try harder in school.  How do 
you expect to pass the entrance exams and get into a good college 
if you don't pay attention to the lessons?  Still, it was that other 
boy's fault for your being late."
	Ranma didn't quite understand why Kasumi was so 
insistent that he make the most of his education.  She took it almost 
as a personal affront when he purposefully slacked off.  She didn't 
go to college despite how well she did in school, why should he?  
Ranma realized that that could be the very reason, along with 
Kasumi's supportive nature.  She was a true friend, always wanting 
the best for him even if Ranma didn't want it himself.
	"The jerk wasn't satisfied with the first time I beat him.  He 
kept insisting that I used some sort of black magic to cheat him of 
his victory.  I think this guy was a few bokkens short of a kendo 
team.  He tried to fight me three more times, but it only got easier 
to beat him.  I can understand wanting to be the best, but you 
should at least train more before attacking a superior opponent 
again."
	"Oh, did anything else interesting happen?"  Kasumi asked, 
smiling slightly in amusement.
	Ranma decided not to tell Kasumi about the hostile looks 
that girl Akane had been throwing him, nor about the way that the 
girls had been all giving him googly eyes.  It seemed that Kasumi 
didn't like it at all when other girls acted improperly.  Ranma knew 
that she wouldn't never act that way.
	"Well, I sort of fell asleep in class," he admitted, 
embarrassed.
	"Ranma!"
	"I didn't mean to, I'm still adjusting to waking up earlier, 
that's all.  Besides, this wouldn't happen if the teacher's lessons 
weren't so boring."
	"You really should try harder Ranma,"  she scolded him 
gently, though her tone was more exasperated and amused than 
angry.
	"I know Kasumi, I'm sorry,"  Ranma always felt bad when 
Kasumi was disappointed in him.
	"It's okay Ranma, I'm sure that you'll try harder next time."

	Now back in the Saotome home, Ranma sought out the 
kitchen and started to set up for the meal that he had planned.  His 
father was home, making some headway on the evening paper.  His 
sister was upstairs on her computer yet again.  Ever since she had 
gotten that thing a few months ago, she had spent several hours a 
day on it.  Ranma didn't really understand computers himself.  
Hitomi had tried to teach Ranma how to use her Mac (which 
Ranma thought was a pretty silly name for a computer), but was 
forced to give up in sheer frustration.  Ranma laughed a little at 
that.  His sister tried to make herself look like little miss perfect, 
but she did have quite a temper.  
His mother had finished cleaning the attic and was now 
going through the many things they had stored there.
	"Oh Ranma?" Nodoka called her son from upstairs.
	"Yeah, mom?"
	"After dinner, could you help be bring some of the boxes 
from the attic to the basement and out to the trash?"
	Ranma had already had such a long day that he had actually 
considered turning in early.  "Why can't you get pops to do it?"
	"Now Ranma, you know that your father works hard during 
the day."
	Ranma snorted.  It was hard to imagine his lazy father 
working hard on anything.  Ranma agreed to help, wondering 
again why his mother was cleaning out the attic.  For as long as he 
could remember it had been a place of cobwebs and boxes, to store 
things when you wanted to forget about them.  Ranma shook his 
head, he should be worrying about tonight's dinner instead.
	The recipe was pretty straightforward, if a little unusual.  It 
called for combinations of foods that Ranma wasn't used to using 
together, but he didn't mind experimenting.  It ended up being well 
received; pops patted his stomach in appreachation and Hitomi had 
a rare showing of the Saotome appetite, one that would be fun to 
tease her about later.  Ranma smiled slightly in satisfaction, having 
done something that he knew was appreacated, even by his father, 
who was the only one who hadn't thanked Ranma for the meal.
	Ranma spent the remainder of the evening moving boxes 
around for his mom.  He complained about it a little, but he didn't 
really mind.  He actually liked physical activity where he didn't 
have to think.  He felt so relaxed that the day once receeded to the 
back of his mind.  The monotonous work and gotten him into such 
a state of peace that it was easy for him to fall asleep that night and 
not worry about what he might have to face tomorrow.


_________________________________________________________________________
Get Free Email, Anime News, and The Best Prices at http://AnimeNation.com