Since so many people seem to be missing it....stupid
university computer pieces of junk
Part 1: Here Comes Ranma...
In the border city of Nerima in the kingdom of
Tokyo, the head of a small monastery read the scroll
the herald had just delivered to him.
Bringing Ranma from Qinghai.
Saotome.
The man began openly weeping as he reread the
small message over again.
"R-Ranma? Coming here?" the mustachioed man
said indisbelief. "Oh, how I've waited for this
day!!"
"Excuse me, Master Tendo," the herald, a skinny
young man by the name of Gosunkugi, cleared his throat
and held out his hand waiting for the tip, trying to
ignore the sight of a grown man crying.
The little man was still glancing about trying
to catch sight of the Soun's youngest daughter. He
thus failed to notice when Soun Tendo, not realizing
the herald was still there, slammed the door closed.
Resulting in Gosunkugi lying flat on his back.
"Kasumi!! Nabiki! Akane!" Soun rushed through
thesmall grounds of the monastary. Kasumi was the
easiest to find, the young priestess of Belldandy
wasin the kitchen preparing supper. "Kasumi!"
"Yes, daddy?" Then Soun was off looking for
his other daughters. He stopped at the entrance to
hismiddle daughter's room.
"Nabiki!" The diviner, priestess of Xellos, and
Soun didn't want to know what else she might be,
turned to look at him where she was lounging on herbed
and reading some book of hers.
"Mmm?"
"Akane!! Where is that girl?"Meanwhile a long
haired girl in a loose trainingoutfit, an unassuming
symbol of Ryoko bouncing with her stride. She tramped
in through the open gate, incidentally trampling
Gosunkugi who was trying to stand up finally.
"She touched me," the poor abused herald said
cheerfully.The girl was instantly into the dojo part
of the complex and trading out her running clothes
with a martial training gi. In the next moment she
shattered the brick she had just set in front of her.
"Ahhhh! That was nice," Akane sighed in
relaxation.
"That's Akane for you," a dry feminine voice
said behind her. Akane turned to see her sister
striding toward her. "Obliterating poor defenseless
bricks, I'm certain that will help you oh so much in
obtaining a husband."
"What does that matter to me? Not everybody
thinks the world revolves around men, Nabiki.""Oh,
that's right, you serve the goddess of mindless
violence." Akane's eye twitched.
"That's Rage," the younger girl said tightly,
eyes twitching at her sister's normal jibe..
"Whichever," Nabiki said with a smirk,
shrugging as she strode out of the dojo. It was only
a few minutes later when Akane's voice was heard
throughout the monastary and a little beyond the
walls.
"FIANCEE!!?"
"Yes, the son of a very good friend of mine,"
their father explained. "The son's name is Ranma
Saotome. If one of you three girls were to marry him,
and carryon this monastary, then the Tendo family
legacy would be secure."
"Wait a minute!" Akane shouted angrily. "Don't
WE have some say in who we marry?"
"Akane's right, Daddy. We've never even met
Ranma. And we're all priestesses. What if one of
our..." Kasumi paused. "What if Belldandy objects to
him."Nabiki ignored her older sister and continued to
drink her tea.
"Hey!" Akane snapped.
"That's easily fixed."
*******
Elsewhere, on the edge of Nerima, the commoners
watched in confusion, and a little worry, as what
looked like a giant white and black bear chased a
redheaded girl through the street. Suddenly the bear
swiped at the littler girl who easily leaped over
theattack.
"Hey! Stop that!"
"Umm, is that a bear?" somebody asked. "It's a
panda, I seen one of em back when I was a soldier."
The panda took a fighting stance and thetowns people
looked on in confusion. Still, this was Nerima, on
the border of Tokyo. The weirdest place of a weird
kingdom.
"Your move, old man," the redhead said. The
panda launched an attack forward which the girl easily
dodged. "I still say this whole thing is stupid!" The
girl caught the panda's paw and flipped the beast over
her head. "Picking my fiancee for me, withouteven
asking!"
The redhead stood over the panda a few seconds
glowering and huffing.
"Did you even bother telling them what they're
getting into?" she demanded. "I'm going back to
looking for Mom, I'll bet she doesn't know about this,
does she?" The girl hefted a large pack, seemingly
much too large for her, and started walking off. She
didn't notice when the large panda stood up, uprooted
a small tree and turned to whack her on the head.
The panda picked up the redhead and slung her
over his shoulders. He sighed, knowing there was no
way to convince her to switch now. Maybe he should
have waited to tell Ranma about the engagement until
they had met everyone. Then Ranma wouldn't
obstinately be staying female. Well, this called for
an appropriate story to give Soun. Then the panda
noted all the people staring at him.
"Growf! Growf!" the small crowd backed away
quickly from the roaring panda and decided to find
something else to do. Though one or two went for
their homes and a silver weapon or two they had
stashed away. The panda shuffled away grumbling
something about busybodies.
*******"
Ranma and his father have been on a voyage of
training," Soun continued to explain. "Recently they
passed through Qinghai."
"Wow! Qinghai!" Nabiki was mentally rubbing
her palms together. There were some places in Qinghai
that she was interested in finding, and with the
proper guide, fiancee or in-law, it would be much
easier.
"What's so great about Qinghai?" Akane asked.
"Is he cute?" Nabiki cooed.
"How old is he? Younger men bore me," Kasumi
declared serenely.
"What kind of guy is this Ranma?" Kasumi and
Nabiki choursed. Soun laughed for a moment and then
spilled his guts.
"No idea."
"'No idea'?" Nabiki repeated, and considered
dipping into her prepared spells.
"I've never met him." The three girls stared
at him.
"Leggo y'ol fool!" a voice rang out. Kasumi
half stood while everyone turned towards the sounds
from the front of the compound.
"We have visitors," the eldest Tendo declared.
"Oooo! It must be Ranma!" Nabiki shouted
rushing to meet the new fiancee.
"Saotome, my friend!" Soun shouted, moving
just behind his middle daughter. "We've been
waiting!"
~Oh, I hope he's older!~ Kasumi thought,
adjusting her hair.
~How depressing, men!~ Akane hmphed, staring at
the ground. Kasumi and Akane's slow progress to the
front stopped as Nabiki and their father came
barrelling back around the corner followed by a giant
bear carrying a struggling person.
"Hey, yo!" the panda's burden shouted. "You're
scaring 'em spitless!"
"Daddy," Kasumi said nervously. "This...is
your friend?" The older man shook his head furiously.
"Oh. So this...PANDA just decided to visit!"
Nabiki shouted. "Happens all the time!"
The panda set down its package, who stared up
at the shocked older man with a rather blank
expression.
"You...wouldn't be..." Soun said pointing.
"Ranma Saotome," Ranma shrugged, nodding.
"Sorry 'bout the old man."
"At last!" Soun shouted. "You've come!"
"Oooo! He's cute!" Nabiki sighed.
"Its so good of you to come so---!" The
redhead's pigtail actually stood up as Soun embraced
her. Then Soun cut off and stared out into space
before shoving the smaller person away from him and
taking a closer look at Ranma, who now had a glazed
look in her eyes.
"Hmm?" Nabiki glanced forward and noticed the
shape of the visitor's chest, before poking at
something that didn't belong an a man of any age.
"Umm," Ranma started to say. "Could you..."
Nabiki gave one last squeeze to be completely sure,
and turned towards her family as Ranma's eyes rolled
back in her head and she fainted.
"'He' is a girl," Nabiki indicated irritably,
only to watch her father join their visitor in
unconsciousness.
*******
Soun woke up to the sound of his daughters
talking.
"Oh. Poor daddy," Kasumi sighed as she wrang
out some damp cloths. "He's so disappointed."
"HE'S disappointed!" Nabiki shouted, ruination
of a good plan always seemed to bring out the worst in
the middle Tendo. "Some fiance this is!"
"Hey, what if he...she wakes up?" Akane
insisted. "She is out guest!"
"This is all your fault, Daddy!" Nabiki
shouted. "You should have made sure!"
"Well, he said he had a SON!!" Soun exlaimed
from where he was lying down.
"Do you see a son here?" Nabiki demanded
grabbing their fainted guest and propping her where
Soun could see the redhead. Then she patted down the
offending pieces of anatomy, not caring that the
redhead snapped awake.
"Ooo, que-wha-huh?" the redhead spoke, almost.
Then she glanced at Nabiki. ~I think I found dinner.~
She thought irritably.
"Hmm? Do you?"
"Hey, could you," Ranma's face started turning
red again. "Please stop that?" Akane turned to look
at the scene in alarm and glared at Nabiki, who
irritably released the redhead. The long-haired girl
softly shook the redhead, who appeared to be quickly
on her way to another faint.
~Wow, she must be really sensitive,~ Akane
thought. "Hey. Join me in the dojo?"
"Huh?" Ranma blinked once and shook her head
clear.
"I'm Akane," she said smilingly. "You want to
be friends?"
~Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea,~ Ranma
thought, smiling a little. He hadn't had a friend for
a long time. She was kind of cute too, and the
redhead was almost regretting showing up a girl.
"You practice unarmed styles?" Akane asked.
"A little." Ranma admitted.
"Then let's have a little match okay?" Akane
suggested, she noticed her guest looking a little
nervous. "Just for fun. Don't worry. I won't hurt
you."
"If you say so," Ranma said quietly.
Akane watched curiously as her opponent stayed
out of stance, and then shrugged before lashing out
with fist. The smaller girl easily jumped over it,
and Akane shifted her motion to lash out with a kick
at the airborne girl. Surprisingly, the redhead
managed to hold aloft, and even rise a little in
altitude, to stay over the kick.
~Hey she's good,~ Ranma noted.
After Ranma landed, Akane lashed out with
another fist-kick combination.
"What's wrong?" Akane demanded. "Swing at me!"
She lashed out again and Ranma dodged. ~Why...why am
I missing her? Is she reading my...~ Akane's eyes
narrowed. ~...mind.~
~Uh, oh,~ Ranma swallowed and laughed nervously
as bad limmericks started floating through Akane's
surface thoughts.
Ranma relaxed as Akane's eyes narrowed and felt
a spike of magic. Akane may have caught on to her
little trick, but she was still looking to make a
point. Akane lashed out again as Ranma leaped up and
over her. A section of the stone wall that had been
behind Ranma shattered to dust as Ranma landed behind
her, and lightly tapped her on the back of the head.
~She did that without magic,~ Akane turned to
look at the smaller girl in surprise. The little girl
laughed good-naturedly, and soon Akane was joining
her.
"You're pretty good," Akane said. "I'm just
glad you're a girl."
~Hmm,~ Ranma turned to look at Akane. ~She
doesn't feel like she swings that way.~
"Its just..." Akane paused. "I'd really hate
to lose to a boy!" Ranma glanced at where Akane had
pulverized some of the wall.
~I might be safer as a girl after all,~ Ranma
decided as Akane left the dojo.
Ranma cracked her knuckles and looked about to
make sure no one was watching and reached out to the
hole in the wall. A dark aura surrounded the
redhead's hand as guttural and harsh words whispered
out, as the spell faded away the wall was revealed to
be whole again.
"Oh, I didn't know you spoke the Abyssal
tongue," a soft voice said behind her. Ranma winced
as she turned to face Kasumi and smiled in
embarrasment. "I thought most arcane magic used
Draconic, though."
"It's a family thing," Ranma said, embarrased.
Kasumi was about to push the issue, when Ranma was
saved by the grabby girl from before.
"Hey, Kasumi, who's that old guy with Daddy?"
Ranma said nothing, obviously the old man had found
some hot water somehow.
"Got me," Kasumi said before turning back to
Ranma, who was staring wickedly at Nabiki. The middle
Tendo arched an eyebrow and shrugged, not noticing the
look Ranma was giving her, before leaving. "Try not
to be too angry with Nabiki, she's a diviner and
priestess of Xellos. She doesn't take being surprised
well."
"She works for Unc..." Ranma snapped his mouth
shut. ~Well, I wasn't going to do anything
permanent...~
"Hmm?" Kasumi asked. "Ranma, don't you think
you should take a bath?" Ranma lifted and arm and
sniffed, realizing that it had been several days since
she'd had the chance. "After all you must be all
sweaty from your workout."
"Okay," Ranma agreed. ~It might give me a
chance to figure this out anyway.~
"We even have our own hotspring," Kasumi said
encouragingly.
"Really," Ranma said happily. A hot bath
without having to cast a spell was too much to turn
down. She was off like a rocket.
The redhead settled into the hot water, sighing
as she relished the hot water.
"This is heaven," Ranma said as she considered
the problem. Namely his father. "He's sure to come
up with some crackpot story to explain me and get the
engagement on." Ranma considered that irritably and
her thoughts drifted to the long-haired girl he had
sparred against. Unnoticed to the young being,
certain bits of anatomy changed as her, now his mind
wandered.
"Akane!" Nabiki called out. "Bath's ready!"
"Thanks." Akane said smiling.
~Well, I can always just be her friend,~ Ranma
thought to himself. Unbeknowest to the young
half-demon, another person was making ready to join
him. ~That should be enough of a soak.~ The door
flipped open, revealing a naked Akane staring at him
in shock. That wasn't right, Ranma knew he had left
the sign out. He suddenly was very aware of certain
reactions going on and looked down.
Due to his heritage Ranma was, as Akane put it,
very sensitive and reactive. Sometimes it was too
much for his human blood, and he'd faint from sensory
overload like earlier. Also, despite his mother's
occaisional influence, he was rather shy when it came
to anything past the flirting necessary to trick a
meal...err...pervert to temporarily part with some
life force. As he realized what was going on, Ranma's
mind froze and he stood and watched as Akane left the
room. A few seconds later there was a loud scream
followed by a string of curses and running feet.
"Uh, uh, uh, uh," Ranma stuttered. "How do I
explain this. Damn it, Mom told me never to let me
mind wander too much! Umm, so how do I explain the
gender switching." He ruffled his hair and remembered
something he had almost not noticed earlier, a certain
holy symbol. "Akane's one Auntie Ryoko's
priestesses." Ranma hastily went back to coming up
with an explanation as thoughts of being mangled or
char-broiled ran through his head.
"Hi, my mother is a succubus that had an
accident with a helm of opposite alignment, and I
inherited the dual gender. Nope, can't say that.
Think, think," Ranma paused and stared at the hot
water spring. "Stupid hot bath, distracted...THAT'S
IT!!!...hot water...I could say I have a curse like
the old man's!!~
"There's a pervert in the bathroom!" he heard
Akane shout. Ranma winced and quickly got dressed in
his light travelling outfit before leaving the hot
spring and heading for the sound. "Because I'm
afraid!"
"Who are you?" Nabiki asked him as he came
around to see Akane wielding a huge rock. Ranma
almost blanched.
~Gee, where does Auntie find them?~ Ranma asked
himself. "I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this." He
noted his father looking at him oddly and gave subtle
"play along, I'll explain later" gesture. Genma
nodded, but neither noticed Nabiki arching an eyebrow.
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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