Ranma 1/2 is not owned by me nor do I make any claim to them.
Looking for some prereaders to help me out with this story I am working on.  I have the story plotted out already and partialy written.  Hopefully I can get a few people willing to work with me on this.



Rabbit
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It was the age of wooden ships and high adventure.  Trade flowed between Nippon, china and Macao.    And where you have free trade going you are going to have people who are going to take advantage of it.

Prologue.

    A 5-year-old boy and his father are swimming across the china strait from Japan.  The young boy seems to be struggling a bit but is holding his own.  In the distance a mast of a sailing ship can be seen. "We�re in luck boy," the man said to his son, "it looks like it's our way.  We might not have to swim all the way to china after all."  The little boy nodded and kept swimming.

    20 minutes later the ship had pulled up along side of the 2 swimmers.  The ship turned up to be a Gajin wooden ship.  A rope ladder was lowered and the two swimmers climbed on board.  What met their sight was not what they were expecting.  An assortment of men of all sizes shapes and skin tones.  The one thing that was in common for all of them was the fact that they were all either pointing flintlock pistols, muskets or cutlasses at them.

    As they stood slack jawed a man in a long flowing jacket, breeches, and a leather jerkin came forward.  It was immediately obvious that this man was the leader of this group of men due to the fact he seemed to radiate presence and the way his men parted for him.  He looked at his men and said something that his men thought absolutely hilarious.  Looking back at the people, dripping wet, on his deck he said in heavily accented Japanese " I am Captain Edward Wayneson, and who might you two water rats be?"

    The man shrugged himself a little more comfortably in his gi top.  " I am Genma Saotome and this is my son Ranma.  We thank you for picking us up.  Is there any chance that you would be going towards China by any chance?"

    Captain Wayneson arched an eyebrow.  "China you say huh, but first answer me this, how did you two come to be swimming out in the middle of nowhere eh?  Perhaps you were cast overboard from a passing ship"

Ranma piped up, his chest pushed forward with pride; "Me and my oyaji swam!  We could have kept going, even if you hadn't shown up!"  His eyes showed that he was daring anyone to call him a liar.

    Someone in the back could obviously speak Japanese as because someone had translated what Ranma had said.  This had caused the whole crew to break into fits of laughter, while Genma just looked embarrassed, but the captain just looked at Ranma watching his reactions.

    Ranma's face turned red.  He didn't what had been so funny to them but he knew when he was being laughed at.  "Stop laughing at me!" he yelled and leaped at the nearest person who just so happened to be a big hulking brute of a man.  The fellow saw Ranma charge towards him and laughed.  Reaching back with a large meaty arm he went to knock some sense in the little shrimp that was coming towards him.  His laughter was cut short when he found that his hand had been stopped short and then he found himself flying across the deck to be brought up short by the main mast.  Ranma suddenly found himself surrounded by several other people.  The scene then turned into an outright brawl.

    Captain Wayneson watched the melee and noticed that the boy's father instead of trying to help his son had gone and hid himself behind a nearby barrel.  It was obvious to him that the boy obviously had more character than his father did.  The boy also seemed to possess quite a bit of skill for one so young, if he could be molded in just the right way..... His thoughts were interrupted, as his men were finally able to subdue the young lad.  As for his crew 3 had been knocked senseless a few were limping or looking dazed and one was bawling his eyes out as his arm had been bent in a direction it had never meant to.  Walking over to where the boy�s father had been cowering, he grabbed him by the back of the gi and dragged him out.  "Lock these two down in the hold till I can figure out what to do with them." he said.

    Genma sorted himself out from the heap that he had landed in when they had thrown him and the boy down here.  "Nice going boy, we almost had a ride to China and you had to go and screw it up. "  He continued to berate his son for several minutes more, while his son sulked over by a barrel.  After he got done Genma too slouched in a corner.

    Captain Wayneson sat behind the table in his cabin looking at some charts, his mind tabulating how far it was from the Japanese coast to where their current position was, when a knock on his door interrupted him.  "Enter!"  He yelled irritated that someone had the gall to bother him right now.  His irritation evaporated immediately when he saw whom it was.  A short and shriveled black man came in.  His staff thumping as he walked and the bones that hung off the top in various sizes clinked musically.  Wayneson remembered where he had first met this interesting character.  He had just started on his current career after leaving the British navy, when they had overtaken a French slaver ship.  At first he had planned on reselling the cargo through a third party when this old man had come up to him and offered a deal.  If he would the rest of the crew go free he would serve him loyally.  The first thing that had come to mind was to laugh at this shriveled husk of a man and run him through but his gut was telling him otherwise.  Edward Wayneson had lived through quite a few encounters in the past by listening to his instincts so he decided to follow through with what they were telling him.  That had been seven years ago and he had yet to regret his bargain.  "What can I do for you  Mojo?" he asked.  He called him Mojo because he had never given any other.

    "That young boy was quite something was he not?" Mojo said, his voice sounding like two boulders grating together.  His eye held a twinkle as he watched the captain.

    Edward saw this and said, "I must admit I am a little impressed.  He�s a bit impulsive but that can be culled out of him in time...� realizing what he was saying he looked at Mojo, an accusing glare in his eye,  "That�s why you had me change course wasn't it?!"  He said pointing a finger at Mojo.  After this outburst he deflated a bit and started to chuckle.

    "Have I ever steered you away from a valuable prize before captain?" Mojo said joining that captain in his laughter.  "I see you saw the potential in the boy as well huh.  The bones say he will one-day replace you but that day is long off.  The question though is how do we get the boy away from his father without alienating him to us.  That means that killing the father is out of the question.  I could drug him but eventually that would wear off and we would be back to square one."

    Wayneson had sat there listening, a plan fermenting in his brain.  It then came to him, and a not pleasant smile slowly spread his face.  "My dear Mojo, we will let the father do our work for us.  I pride myself on judges of character and the boy's father would probably sell him to us to save his own skin."  Mojo looked like he was going to interrupt but he held his hand up to stop whatever he was going to say.  "Let me finish, what if we made it so he would willingly give us his boy, and thereby making him look like the fiend and leaving us in the clear.  The boy would then blame him and not us."  Wayneson leaned back in his chair. "What do you think?"  He said after a few seconds of watching Mojo's astonished face.

Mojo's astonished face slowly lit into a grin that ran from one side of his wrinkled head to the other.  "You never stop amazing me,� he said shaking his head.  "I'll arrange for the father to be brought up immediately� with that said he turned and hobbled out.

    Ranma looked over as the door opened and two large men came in and grabbed his father.  The door closed leaving him alone in the gloomy half-light.

    Genma found himself being taken from the hold and led towards the back of the ship.  After a few moments he found himself in front of a large oak door.  The large man to his left knocked on it.  A muffled �Enter!� could be heard from the other side.  The man on his right opened the door.  He was then roughly escorted into the room.  There behind a large desk sat the man who had them thrown them down into the cargo area.  The man said something to the big thugs and they went and stood by the door.  �Well then,� the man said in that thick accented Japanese,  �I have pondered on whether or not to give you passage, and I have decided to be amicable.�  Genma�s spirits lifted at hearing this.  �However there is the matter of payment for passage.�  The man continued.  Genma�s spirits plummeted to the ground.  Genma put on his best weary but hopeful traveler face and said, �but kind sir can we not appeal to your merchant hospitality?�  The man looked like he was going to bust a gut laughing at hearing this.  After a few minutes of trying to calm himself down he finally managed to say �Whatever made you think that we were merchants?�  Genma�s spirits dropped even lower.  If these people were not merchants there was going to be no free ride here.  Genma knew that he had no funds to pay with, and he was not looking forward to going back into the water again.  It was at this point that the little voice in Genma�s head spoke up.  It reminded him that gaijin ships like these were always looking for new crewmembers.  While he was too old (of course) Ranma would do very well.  And if anyone asked, Ranma drowned on the way. After all while he may be to old to work he was still young enough to have another child  �Sir I do not have any money, however I do have my son.  I offer you my son as payment.  He is young but he can be trained.  All I ask is that you return me to Japan.�

    Wayneson steepled his hands in front of his face and pretended to contemplate the offer. While outside his face was expressionless, inside he was warring between jumping for joy and being downright disgusted.  Elated due to the fact that this was going easier than he hoped for, and disgusted for the same reasons.  Edward Wayneson was usually not very compassionate about children but to see someone actually use his own son, as a bribe to save his own skin was revolting.  From what he knew from his dealings with his underworld contacts in Nippon they tended to value honor quite a bit.  This was not to say that they wouldn�t backstab you given half a chance, but at least they were subtle about it.  This man was about as subtle as a cutlass to the gut.  After seeming to pause for a moment, he looked up and said, �very well, we have a deal.�

    Genma felt a momentary twinge of guilt, but only for a moment.

    As Ranma waited for his father to come back he felt a momentary chill, as if someone had done something really horrible to him.  He then felt the ship change direction.  He curled up into a ball, determined not to cry, and waited.  After a while the exertion of the day caught up to him and Ranma dropped into a fitful slumber.

    Ranma woke at the sound of the door opening and closing.  He didn't know how long he had been asleep but from the light that was shining through it was middle of the day.  They had been taken onboard early evening.  He was interrupted by a voice that asked "Are you hungry?"  Ranma looked over at where the voice had come from.  Standing there was an old man holding a bowl of something.  "Where is my dad?"  Ranma asked.  The man looked at him his eyes full of sympathy.  After a slight pause he said, "Your father is no longer here.  He gave you to the captain for passage back to Japan.  We wanted to wake you so he could explain himself to you but he said not to bother."  Ranma's eyes grew wider and wider.  After the old man had finished speaking he said, in a very quiet voice, "I don't believe you.  He would never do that to me."  The man looked at him and said, " If you wish I will show you that I am telling the truth. But first eat, you must be very hungry.  You were asleep for quite a while� Ranma�s stomach growled in response.  The old man set the bowl down in front of Ranma and waited patiently for him to finish eating, which Ranma did in record time.  The old man just chuckled as Ranma sat the bowl down.  Ranma had enough sense to look sheepish.  "My name is Mojo by the way,� the old man said in the way of introductions.  Ranma having just been fed by this old man, more than what he usually got in an entire day from his father was feeling a bit friendlier.   "I'm Ranma.  Thanks for the food but I still wanna see my dad". "Come on then," Mojo said, "I'll show you that I am telling you the truth".  With that Ranma followed Mojo out the door.

    Wayneson sat in his cabin and waited.  He really hated waiting, especially since it had cost him a loaded Portuguese trader.  He once again looked down at the parchment in front of him and wondered if it was worth it.  Thinking back on the deal he had made with Mojo all those years age and the gut feeling he was getting now, he knew that it was.  After all he couldn't just leave what he had to just anyone, and since he never had time to settle down to have a family, so why not let providence provide.

    Mojo felt very much amused as he walked with the young boy.  He could almost feel the wide-open eyes boring into him.  Most Asians had never seen a black man before, and their reaction on seeing him never ceased to want to make him laugh.  "Go ahead and ask," Mojo said to Ranma, "I know you are busting a gut trying not to ask."  He turned to face Ranma, who was blushing from embarrassment, with a smile on his face to show that he didn't mind.  It looked like Ranma could not bring himself to ask so he answered it for him to release the poor boy from his burning curiosity. "Yes I have always been this color, and I am originally from a country far to the southwest of here.  Though I haven't been home in a long time."  He felt nostalgic for a moment but not much longer than that.  "Come on I promised you proof and proof I shall give you."

    Wayneson was stirred out his reverie when he heard a knock on his door.  Knowing whom it was at the door he composed himself and yelled "Enter!"  As expected in came Mojo with the young boy in tow.  The boy was still looking defiant but there was also the hint of doubt in the boy�s eyes.  He watched as the boy walked up to the desk, his eyes barely clearing the top of it.  Before Ranma could ask what he had done with his father Wayneson handed the parchment that had been sitting on the desk to him.

    Ranma started to read the parchment, It was written in both Japanese and some other funny scribbles that he had no idea what they were.  There were allot of big words but what caught his eye were the words 'I give my son to the captain of this ship for' followed by more big words.  Down at the bottom though, was what really brought the matter home, was his fathers signature.  Ranma could recognize that sloppy scrawl anywhere.   He once again looked at the captain. "Did you force him to do this?!" he almost yelled, hoping beyond hope.

    Wayneson slowly shook his head.  The sorrow in his eyes was not forced.  True he was happy but at the same time to see this young boy fighting against the tears that threatened to come but refused to be let shed, thawed his heart a bit.

    Mojo did something he had not done in a long time; he pulled the boy into a hug to comfort him.  The last time he had done this was for his own son when his wife had died 200 years ago.

    Ranma had never really hated anyone before in his short life, but now there was one person he did now hate.  He had been willing to go hungry so his dad could eat, he had been willing to sleep out in the cold so his dad could sleep under shelter, he had been willing to put up with all sorts of painful things that his father called training, but this...this...to give him away as if he was something less than human.  As he felt Mojo hold him he swore never to forgive the man named Genma Saotome.

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