Complimenting Opposites
A Ranma � fanfict by Tangent
Pre-reading and editing assistance by:
Lord Talon;
Nevrmore;
And some guy named Steve

     DISCLAIMER: 'Ranma �' 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!).

     Revised: 08/31/2001

     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!" Tears of passion streamed down his face as he strained to 
keep his composure for a few moments longer.
     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 as she fantasized about doing the same thing 
to a certain upperclassman's head.
     "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!" Akane had had more than enough of the 
male half of her age group shortly after Kuno had made that stupid speech of his.
 All of the boys that she knew in school were either proving to be stereotypical 
hormone crazed immature idiots or were too afraid of said idiots to approach her 
in a reasonable manner. Especially after the first 'normal' boy got beaten up by 
the rest for trying to ask her out without attacking her. Was it any wonder that 
she broke cinder blocks or bricks nearly every morning?
     "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!"

*     *     *

     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." He thought about 
telling his son about the impending engagement, but thought that it would be nice 
to provide the boy with a pleasant surprise for once. A nice change of pace from all 
of the nasty surprises that had been plaguing them since about three weeks back. 
Or the other uncomfortable experiences that had occurred over the years that his 
son seemed to blame him for. The old man pushed that thought aside, falling back 
on his age-old practice of ignoring the problem until it went away.
     "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." It was getting harder not to blurt the real reason out 
to the boy, just to shut him up. Fortunately, he had the wonderful sunny weather to 
console his flagging spirits. Truly a beautiful day - the surprise about the engagement 
and his son's gratitude would be the absolute perfect cap to it...

*     *     *

     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. That, and the fact that he had been on a training journey implied that he was at 
least built well. A nice enough body could make up for a plain or homely face. And 
a well-trained martial artist could do rather well in the world today, either as a sensei 
or in the entertainment industry no matter what he looked 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. Practicalities aside, she could 
still hope, couldn't she?
     "I do hope that he is older than me" commented a worried Kasumi. "Younger 
men are so... young." She really wished that she could have thought of a better 
objection than that. Not that she could really explain why, but she felt that her heart 
lay elsewhere already. Now if only she could figure out who was making her heart 
flutter so. He had glasses, she knew that much from her dreams, which narrowed 
the prospect to about nineteen people that she knew...
     "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. That sounded rather 
less than promising. She had assumed that her Father had met the boy at least 
once before, and had approved of him. Instead, it was beginning to sound like one 
of those 'good deals' that he fell for every so often. One of the reasons that she 
became the 'Ice Queen' in the first place was to protect her family from those predators 
by being an even more dangerous predator herself. The other... well, she wasn't 
going to think on that just now. That problem was hopefully going to solve itself 
soon, and it wouldn't do to freeze it before she even gave the solution a chance...
     "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.
     "S'cuse me for a sec," 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. And here he had thought that Ranma 
would like the surprise...
     "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 as he tried to 
remember what little he knew of formalities and manners. He took a deep breath 
and timed himself carefully. "Uh, sorry 'bout that, but there are some things that 
you've a right to know before we decide to go through with this or not." 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 cute redheaded girl replaced him. "...Is one 
of them."
     "Nani?" Soun and Akane stated in surprised stereo.
     "Oh my!" exclaimed Kasumi in wonder. A real magical girl and her mascot! No, 
wait. That was just silly. Whoever heard of an overweight panda as a magical girl's 
mascot? Hmmm... maybe her dreams were about a long lost love from a past life 
about to be renewed, just like in those shows. Did this mean that Kasumi was 
about to become part of a bishojo senshi team? That would certainly be a change 
of pace, even if she was just a little too old for that sort of thing according to the anime...
     "Well now, this is interesting," stated Nabiki neutrally. She really didn't know 
how to take the fact that her prospective fiancee had just turned into a girl.
     "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," the redhead continued tiredly. "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. A magical 
girl should really have better manners than that, even if they really were boys. Not 
that Soun had any idea that Kasumi's reasons for inquiring about Ranma's actions 
were a bit... stranger... than his own.
     "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." 
She did not comment on her fears that Jusenkyo had changed her as well.
     "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 other times she 
had gone without food before.  No help for it but to hold it in and endure the 
condition until some food was found.
     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. Ranma would have
 joined him, but the guide seemed to have found somebody to talk to, so she 
waited hopefully.
     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. 
She finally noticed a prominent sign leaning against the table, and wondered briefly 
how she had failed to spot it moments ago. It was a fancy, important looking sign 
that she couldn't read, but it 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 as a magical 
girl if they were to be married to each other...
     "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 cute 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.

Aheh-heh... I really don't know where Kasumi's obsession about magical girls 
came from while I was revising this chapter...

^_^;;

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