Complimenting Opposites
A Ranma 1/2 fanfict by Tangent
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:
Lord Talon;
Nevrmore;
And some guy named Steve
DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma 1/2' and all characters
therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan,
Kitty and Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced
for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit.
Other characters that come into play in this fanfict
may or may not be pulled from other sources
(including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime,
literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic
books!).
A WORD FROM TANGENT: While Lord Talon has informed
me that what I'm about to attempt has been done before,
this in no way has dissuaded me from making my own
version. For one thing, for better or for worse, in all
of my other Ranma fanficts to date, Ranma either has or
will end up with Akane. Well, to this I say "Wrong Tendo".
What difference does the weather make?
What difference indeed...?
CHAPTER ONE: One Sunny Day
Soun Tendo, a man in his early forties, with a
strong, kind face, long black hair and a mustache, read
through the morning mail. Among the various letters,
packages, and postcards was a postcard that had a message
for which he had been waiting for a long time. The postcard
showed a scene with a panda, and turning it over, he
noticed that it was post marked China. Tears started to
come from his eyes as he read the message:
Bringing Ranma home.
On Soun's face were tears of happiness as he said, out
loud and low to himself, "They are finally coming here...
How I have waited for this day."
He decided to tell his daughters immediately.
Soun called out, "Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!"
Not getting an immediate response, he went to look for
them, first checking the kitchen that was his eldest
daughter's domain. She was indeed there, as she seemed to
nearly always be. A brief pang of sorrow revisited his heart
as he thought about this last and strongest connection that
she had with her mother. He collected himself. Today's news
was to be joyous, not tragic, as his wife's death had been
so many years ago.
"Kasumi!" he exclaimed, happily, managing to expunge
his grief, "We are expecting company. Please get ready to
prepare some tea for our guests."
"Oh? Who is it that is coming, Father?" Kasumi asked
curiously.
"An old friend of mine and his son," explained Soun.
"I will explain everything when you, Nabiki, and Akane are
all at the table." With that, he left to find his other
two daughters.
After a brief search of the rest of the first floor,
Soun then went to check the bedrooms on the second floor
of their family home, expecting to at least find his middle
daughter there. As he had expected, he found Nabiki in her
room, reading one of her manga books. Not that he minded.
She studied and had good grades, so what she did in her
spare time was her own concern.
"Nabiki" he called out to get her attention.
"Yes, Daddy?" Nabiki asked neutrally. Her father rarely
interrupted her privacy, and when he did, it wasn't always
with something that she considered worthwhile.
"We are expecting guests today," Soun began again. "An
old friend of mine is coming to visit, and he is bringing
his son. Please go wait at the table and I will explain
everything as soon as everyone is together." With that, he
left the room to search for Akane.
[So...he's going to introduce us to the son of an old
friend of his, is he?] Nabiki pondered. Truth to tell, she
had been expecting something like this for some time now.
Japanese inheritance laws were steep, and it was unlikely
that the family would retain the Tendo estate should Soun
pass away unless a lot of money was involved...or the one
other option that came to her mind happened. A small smile
began to form on her lips.
"I can't find Akane," Soun said, poking his head back
into her room.
"I'll find her, Daddy," Nabiki offered. [Now...what to
wear? I know! Just the thing,] she thought. [I'll change
right after I find Akane. She has enough boys after her
already, even if she doesn't like any of them. Just once,
I'd like to get a chance!]
Akane was just returning from her run, shouting "Hi!
I'm home!" and then ran straight to the dojo, pausing only
to throw off her running clothes and change into her
practice uniform, as was appropriate for training in the
dojo. She set up a quick array of concrete blocks and wood,
then preceded to reduce said objects to rubble.
"Ahhhh, good!" she sighed as she relaxed. Then she
heard a small click. Turning around, she saw one of her
older sisters, Nabiki, putting her camera away.
"There you go again, Akane" she said as she shook her
head, arms crossed in front of her. "No wonder all the
boys at school think you're strange!"
"Why should I care?" she demanded. "I'm not like you!
Not everyone thinks the world revolves around boys, Nabiki!"
"No?" Nabiki replied, placing her hands behind her
head, "Then I guess what father has to say to us would
be of no interest to you would it?"
Akane turned to look at her, "What are you talking
about?"
The sun was shining brightly over the Nerima district.
In the Tendo Household, Akane's voice was raised in protest.
"FIANCE?!?"
Soun Tendo looked at Akane, "Yes, the son of a very
good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome" he stated.
"If one of you were to marry him, and carry on this dojo,
then the Tendo family legacy would be assured."
Akane wasn't taking this well.
"WAIT A MINUTE!" she shouted angrily. "Don't WE have
some say in who we marry?"
"Akane's correct, Father" Kasume interjected. "We have
never even met him."
Mr. Tendo chuckled, "Well now, that is easily fixed!"
SCENE CHANGE: The streets of Nerima...
The sun warmed the street as two figures wandered
through Nerima.
"Where are we going again?" demanded a young man
wearing Chinese style fighting clothes. He was
interrogating an older man wearing an off white gi,
glasses, and a bandanna.
"I told you Ranma," the older man explained once again.
"We are going to visit an old friend of mine. One that I
haven't seen in a long time."
"You know someone from a long time ago who is still
your friend?" the boy asked, incredulous. "I'll believe
that when I see it."
"You will, my boy, you will."
SCENE CHANGE: Back at the Tendo Dojo...
Back at the Tendo residence, Soun continued to explain
the situation to his daughters. Nabiki, he noted to
himself, appeared to be particularly excited about the
prospect, and had even gone as far as to change into a
kimono for the occasion. Kasumi, whom he suspected of
harboring feelings for Dr. Tofu even if she didn't seem
to be aware of it herself yet, had just come in straight
from the kitchen. Akane, on the other hand, was obviously
irritated over the whole affair.
"Ranma is returning from a long training journey with
his father." Soun paused briefly to sip his tea. "Recently,
it seems, they crossed into China."
"Oooh! China!" exclaimed Nabiki, who was definitely
warming up to the prospect of getting to know someone who
could tell her first hand what other countries were like.
"What's so great about training in China" commented
Akane sulkily. Her recent experience with the now daily
fights with the boys at Furinkan High School had left her
more than a little fed up with boys for the time being.
While she knew that she wasn't being fair to the boy she
hadn't even met yet, she did not really care at the moment.
"It doesn't mean that he's any good."
"Is he cute?" inquired Nabiki, ignoring her sister.
"I do hope that he is older than me" commented a
worried Kasumi. "Younger men are so...young."
"So, what is he like?" persisted Nabiki.
Soun cleared his throat. "I have no idea," he admitted.
"You have no idea" repeated Nabiki, glaring at her
father.
"I've never met him" he confessed.
Just then, they heard a commotion at the door. "Aw,
Pop, why can't we go home first?" complained a voice, which
obviously belonged to a young man. Could it be them, Soun
thought as he got up to greet his guests. Nabiki followed.
"Oooo! It must be Ranma!" Nabiki thought excitedly,
not realizing that she had said the thought aloud. Kasumi
was happy for her sister, and relieved (although she did
not just yet realize why). Akane decided that since Nabiki
was so excited about this turn of events, her sister could
have him.
"I've already told you, Ranma," stated a voice
belonging to an older man. "We will be staying here for
a while, so you might as well get used to the idea." It
was his friend...and his son. Soun joyously greeted them
as they came in.
"Saotome, my friend! We've been expecting you!" Soun
quickly spotted the boy that his friend had been arguing
with and concluded: "And you must be Ranma!" He gathered
the boy into his arms for a manly embrace.
By this time, all three daughters had gathered to see
their guests. Nabiki, noticing that her father seemed
disinclined to let the boy go, leaned closer to examine
the subject of her father's attention. Hmmm, Ranma was as
fine a specimen as she could ask for, handsome in a vaguely
bishonen way. After a quick comparison between the features
of the boy and his father, she decided that he must get his
looks from his mother's side of the family. Not that his
father was actually ugly. He was okay for an older man,
and might have looked more attractive in his younger days,
but she doubted that he could have matched his son's
appearance. Nabiki wondered briefly what her own children
would look like if she married the boy.
After a moment, Soun herded everyone back into the
sitting room. Nabiki sat carefully down almost exactly
opposite of Ranma. Akane, glaring at the boy who was about
to decide her future, angrily plunked herself down to
Nabiki's left. Kasumi served tea to everyone and then sat
down gently on the other side of Nabiki. Genma smiled at
this, but Ranma failed to recognize the significance of
it all.
"Well, Ranma," Soun began. "These are my daughters.
Kasumi, age nineteen, the oldest; Nabiki, age seventeen;
and Akane, age sixteen, the youngest. Pick anyone you like
and she will be your fianc�e." Soun's beaming smile
faltered as he noticed that the boy seemed shocked.
After a moment, Ranma massaged his temple with the fingers
of his right hand, as if staving off a headache.
"Excuse me for a moment," Ranma said to the Tendos
before glaring at his own father. "Is there something that
you forgot to tell me, Pop?" His tone was low and
dangerous, reflecting a wild temper that Genma had seen
all too much of for the past month or so.
"Heh, heh...I guess in the heat of the moment, I forgot
to tell you..." Genma was nervous to say the least. After...
the incident...Ranma had proved that he was quite formidable
when he truly lost his temper. While not as scary as when
he was dealing with his...cat problem...he was as easily as
scary as his mother was at times. This looked like it was
becoming another such time.
"Forgot to tell me..." Ranma stated darkly. "Forgot to
tell me, like you forgot to tell me that you couldn't read
Chinese when you decided that Jusenkyo would be a good place
to train? Or like when you decided that it was okay to eat
the food on that table in Joketsuzoku?"
"But I was starving..." Genma protested.
"STARVING!?!" Ranma shouted, causing his father to back
away in fear. "BECAUSE OF YOU, I GOT INTO A FIGHT THAT ENDED
UP WITH AN AMAZON SWEARING TO HUNT ME DOWN AND KILL ME, AND
ALL YOU CAN SAY IS THAT YOU WERE STARVING!?!" The Tendos
stared as an angry blue chi aura manifested itself around
Ranma. Genma wanted to make a break for it, but the thought
of what his wife would do to him after what he had already
done held him back. While it didn't exactly give him courage,
it did balance out his fear with another fear.
"How was I supposed to know that she would give you the
kiss of death if you won?" asked Genma, trying his version
of reason for the umpteenth time.
"How...?" Ranma's left eye twitched for a moment, which
was all the warning his father received. Genma spotted it,
but it didn't help him in the slightest. Almost faster that
the eye could follow, Ranma had stood up, grabbed the front
of his father's gi, and was screaming in his face at the top
of his lungs. "GET OUT OF MY LIFE, YOU PANDA, BEFORE YOU
DESTROY ANY MORE OF IT!!!" With that, he flung his father
into the koi pond in the Tendo's yard.
Ranma calmed himself down and settled at the table once
again. He took a deep breath and timed himself carefully.
"Please excuse my unseemly outburst just now, but there are
some things that you have a right to know before we decide
to uphold the marriage agreement between our clans." Ranma
subtly braced himself for the next phrase, hoping that he
had predicted his father's reaction correctly. "And this..."
The Tendos facefaulted as a giant panda rose out of the koi
pond, grabbed a wash basin, and threw some water at the young
man seated before them. In an instant, a kawai redheaded girl
replaced him. "...Is one of them."
"Nani?" Soun and Akane stated in surprised stereo.
"Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi in wonder.
"Well now, this is interesting," stated Nabiki neutrally.
"Perhaps an explanation is in order," Ranma offered.
"This I've got to hear," replied Nabiki dryly.
As everyone settled down, Ranma began her tale:
"It all started about three weeks ago, on Mt. Quanjing,
in the Bayankala Range, Qinghai Province, China..."
*** FLASHBACK ***
"Here, Sirs, is legendary training ground of accursed
springs, Jusenkyo," the guide said with a mix of pride and
caution in his voice. He was seldom asked to lead anyone to
Jusenkyo, as it was one of the more obscure tourist spots
available. Personally, he felt it was some sort of
bureaucratic error that the accursed springs were a tourist
spot to begin with. Nearly every time he brought someone
here, they managed to somehow fall into one of the springs.
"Are you prepared, boy?" asked Genma as he set down his
pack. Truth to tell, he was a little disappointed in how
this was turning out. While not exactly the same setup,
Jusenkyo looked very similar to something he had Ranma do
last year. Now where had that been? America...Australia?
Ranma was less than impressed. "Aw...this place don't
look so tough."
"You very strange ones, Sirs" commented the guide,
wishing he could speak Japanese more fluently. "This place
very dangerous. Nobody use now." [There!] he thought [I've
actually managed to start my explanation before anyone got
ahead of themselves]. "Is more than one hundred springs
here, and every one have own tragic legend." The guide was
snapped out of his reverie by Genma's cry.
"Ranma! Follow me!" called out Genma as he leaped to
one of the poles. The boy jumped to one of his own and
assumed a ready stance.
"Ah! Sirs!" the alarmed guide exclaimed. "What you
doing?" [I have got to start earlier on the explanation!
Well...At least they paid in advance.]
"I won't go easy on you" cautioned Genma.
"That's just the way I like it!" replied Ranma
confidently.
"Please, Sirs!" pleaded the guide. "It very bad you
fall in spring!" Unfortunately, the two paid no attention
to him.
Genma picked a moment at random, and attacked. Ranma,
for his part, met Genma in mid-air and knocked him into
one of the pools. [Well, that was quick] the boy thought.
"What's up, Pop?" asked Ranma, pleased to have got the
first strike in. "We done already?"
There was quiet. Ranma jumped to a closer pole,
concerned. When a panda leaped out of the spring, the event
took Ranma completely by surprise. [Well, there goes my
holiday bonus] thought the guide. The giant panda took a
place on another pole.
"Wha...wha...wha..." stammered Ranma.
"That is Shonmaoniichuan!" shouted the guide,
explaining what had happened. "There is very tragic legend
of panda that fall in and drown two thousand year ago!"
the guide continued as Ranma dodged the panda time and
time again
"Well, why didn't you tell us sooner?!" demanded Ranma.
At about that moment, the panda had managed to strike him,
knocking him into another spring. Ranma barely felt the
change, which he later found out was another aspect of the
curse. Only the fact that he was wondering what he would
turn into allowed him to notice his first transition into
female form. She surfaced, opened her gi to confirm her
suspicions, and then screamed. After that, the events
became a little hazy in Ranma's memory.
*** END FLASHBACK ***
"After that, I chased Pop around Jusenkyo a few times
before I lost track of him," Ranma continued. "You wouldn't
think that a fat panda could move so fast." The panda that
had been Genma growlfed at this, but Ranma wasn't having
any of its back talk. "Shut up you, before I decide to
sell ya to a zoo or somethin'. I should have let the
amazons make a rug out of you, but nooo! I had to save
your sorry behind!" Ranma regained control of her temper
and calmed down.
"Look, Pop," Ranma continued. "I'm your son," (small
twitch) "and I love you," (this time the twitch was from
the panda) "but you can be so aggravating at times!" She
sighed. "Look...go change back, and I'll try to calm down
and explain things to the Tendos." As the Panda got up to
head for the furo (he had been here before, even if it was
over a decade ago), a thought occurred to Ranma. "Don't
forget to change back before you use up all the shampoo
again. It might not be expensive, but it adds up and we're
guests now!"
Genma paused for a moment, irritated for being treated
like a little kid by his own son as well as the fact that
he had indeed forgotten about changing back first. He
sighed in resignation, then nodded, not willing to provoke
his son again at this time.
"Do you really think that you should talk to your father
like that?" Kasumi asked once the elder Saotome was gone,
echoing her own father's sentiments.
"Maybe not," Ranma conceded. "But the curse changed
him somehow. More than just turning him into a panda when
hit with cold water, I mean." She looked into her tea sadly
as she continued. "We used to get along fairly well, just
two guys, father and son, on the open road, training in the
Martial Arts. He used to be a great sensei, and I really
respected him, even if he did have the occasional truly
stupid idea that would turn my life into hell..." She
paused, trying to reign in her anger over certain memories.
"And since the curse?" Nabiki prompted.
"Since the curse, he's been acting more and more
irresponsible, just doing things and not thinking about
the consequences, or possibly just ignoring them," Ranma
sighed again. "It's as if he's forgetting that there are
rules that he should go by if he wants to interact with
people. He used to only act like that occasionally, but
now it's unusual for him not to do something aggravatingly
stupid at least once a week, if not more often. Jusenkyo
changed him somehow, and that scares me."
"Take what happened in Joketsuzoku for example," Ranma
went on...
***FLASHBACK***
The two cursed individuals and their guide approached
the village of Joketsuzoku. The Saotomes were currently in
their cursed forms, as the lack of readily available hot
water and the mercy of the weather dictated. Ranma was
still in a wild frenzy of mixed emotions, but she had
reigned them in and forced herself to try to find her
center. Unfortunately, what she was finding was hunger.
While this did distract her from her inner storm of
conflicting emotions, it provided an unpleasant reminder
of when she had let her hunger rule her the day before.
The braided pigtail she now wore in place of simply tying
her hair back still felt too new to let her forget that
lesson. She would not let her hunger dictate her actions
again.
This, however, did not keep her stomach from growling.
"Oh...I'm so hungry..." she complained under her
breath. The Panda who was Genma nodded his agreement as
he plodded along behind her. The guide said nothing, not
having heard enough of the statement to translate it to
himself with any accuracy.
After a bit, the three reached the village and were
drawn towards the sounds of activity coming from the crowd
surrounding two poles in the center of the village. Ranma
hoped that the guide would find someone willing to sell
them some food there, and indicated her desires to the
guide. Genma, unable to speak in panda form, and not
wanting to be fed bamboo again (it was okay, but he was
beginning to get a little tired of it), spotted something
and wandered off.
The guide, after a brief talk with one of the
villagers, started to explain to his younger client that
nobody was selling anything until after the tournament,
but spotted what the panda was doing. "Ah! Sir! What you
doing?"
Ranma turned around and groaned as she saw her
pandafied father rapidly eating food that had been placed
on a table off to the side of the tournament. A fancy,
important looking sign that she couldn't read told her that
her father (and possibly the guide and herself) was in a
lot of trouble...
***END FLASHBACK***
"It turned out that the food was the first prize of
the tournament," Ranma went on. "The winner, an amazon
girl named Shampoo, was pretty mad at us, and demanded
the panda as compensation. I think she wanted to make a
panda skin rug or somethin'... The guide wasn't too clear
when he translated, and we didn't get a chance to ask him
later." Ranma paused to sip her tea.
Soun reflected on what Ranma was telling them, taking
it all in stoically as silent tears began to flow down his
cheek. Such a tragic story, and there was a serious chance
that the marriage agreement would be canceled. Maybe he
could talk Akane into accepting the young Saotome. Unlike
his other daughters, she had kept up in her studies in the
Tendo Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. She might be
willing to do this for the sake of the dojo.
Unfortunately for Soun, Akane had other ideas. She
still glared at Ranma, relieved that a way out of the
engagement was being offered, but not willing to show
it to this...this...pervert. What else could Ranma be?
She was really a guy who turned into a girl so of course
she had to be taking advantage of it! The hentai probably
stared at herself in the mirror or...or...something! Akane
fumed on...
Kasumi just listened to the story, feeling compassion
for the emotional pain that Ranma and her father must be
going through. She wanted to help the Saotomes,
particularly the child who sat before them. She had no
desire to marry the girl, however, as Ranma was too young
for her tastes. Besides, she wouldn't be able to provide
the kind of help that Ranma needed if they were to be
married.
"So," Nabiki prompted. "What happened next?" While she
had been a little taken aback at first when she found out
about Ranma's curse, she still felt somewhat attracted to
the boy who was now a girl. It wasn't as if Ranma had
attempted, even inadvertently, to deceive them after all.
The sense of adventure drew her somehow, like a moth to a
flame. Her life was calm, ordered, and...well...a little
boring, while Ranma's was...was...chaotic, adventurous,
and exciting.
"What else could I do?" Ranma asked rhetorically. "The
girl wanted to kill my pop, or at least make him a pet or
somethin' If I didn't do somethin' quick, the matter would
be taken out of my hands, so I did the first thing to come
to my mind. I challenged her for the first prize." Ranma
sipped her tea again. "I shoulda known that somethin' was
up when she just smirked at me and accepted when the guide
translated for her. The two of us took positions on this
log that had been suspended between the pillars by ropes.
She attacked me with a couple of bonbori, but I just kicked
her off the log before she could get a hit in. Next thing
I know, she kisses me on the cheek and the guide is
screaming somethin' about some kiss of death."
"Kiss of death?" Soun asked. Despite what Ranma had
yelled to her father earlier, Soun had not taken it to be
meant as literally true, so he was more than a little
surprised.
"Yeah," Ranma explained. "The amazons of Joketsuzoku
aren't real keen on losing to outsiders. The 'Kiss of Death'
is their little way of expressing their displeasure with
such events." The bitterness was evident in her voice,
despite her attempts to calm herself. "Would it have been
too much to ask for the match to end in mutual respect no
matter who won? That's the way Pop always said it was
suppose to work." Ranma's bitterness had turned into real
tears, but she hadn't noticed. "Too bad it never does...I
never get to have any friends..." This last was said with
such quiet remorse that even Akane began to feel a little
sympathy for the girl (just a little though, and only for
the girl-half...the boy-half was still a hentai to her way
of thinking).
"Well, I won't force the issue," Soun started. "But
should one of my daughters agree to become engaged to you,
you will honor the arrangement?"
"Of course, Tendo-San. They're all attractive and they
seem nice..." Ranma-chan stated, choosing to ignore the
fact that Akane was glaring at her with renewed hostility
after that statement.
"Well then," began Nabiki, before her father could
derail either her plan or Akane's by trying to hook the
two martial artists together out of some sense of
obligation or duty. "I'd like to give this engagement a
chance." Nabiki smiled dryly at Ranma-chan. "That is...if
you'll have me."
"Umm...ah...yes," Ranma-chan stammered before regaining
her bearings. "I mean yes! I will agree to become engaged
to you, Nabiki Tendo. I am happy and honored that you will
have me!"
"Well then," Soun stated, a little surprised by this
turn of events, but not at all unhappy. If Nabiki wanted
to marry Ranma, and neither of them seemed to be upset,
then all was right with the world regardless of the curse
and the other complications. "It's settled. Ranma, Nabiki
is now your fianc�e."
END.
ANOTHER WORD FROM TANGENT: By now, some of you may be
wondering why Ranma seems to be more 'wordy' as Lord Talon
put it. If you remember from the beginning of the manga and
the anime versions, Ranma started off as unusually subdued
and polite after his curse, and remained polite and shy
around strangers until his first misunderstanding with
Akane. As Ranma seems to be naturally brash, this may have
been another effect of the curse, or at least a response
to it.
Anyway, as Ranma believes, in this time line, that
Jusenkyo has had more than just a physical effect on
Genma, it would make sense if Ranma were also so effected
by his curse. Of course, it could all be psychosomatic... ^_^
C&C Welcome
Flames will be used to Raost Marshmallows
Tangent
tangent@zbzoom.net