Reincarnation
---
Prologue - part 2
---
In the sitting room, everybody gets their spirits back.
Genma and Soun are in a corner of the room, making plans, while the three
Tendo sisters are trying to find a means to cure Ranko's amnesia.
"Yes... doctor Tofu might be able to do something for her." Kasumi declares.
"Akane, you'll take her to Tofu's clinic after classes tomorrow."
"Huh, okay, but why me?" asks Akane.
"I'll have some work to do to if she can't be cured... build her a new
identity, look for some clues of her past... and Kasumi can't do it either,
for the rather obvious reason." Nabiki answers.
"It's true that amnesic people can need a lot of time before being able to
be cured..." says Kasumi, totally missing Nabiki's comment.
"If she can be cured someday." finished Nabiki, inducing a look of full
horror from her sisters. "I prefer to be far-sighted. Ranma and his father
will live here for some time with this engagement affair... we cannot
properly throw her out of the house." she adds to explain herself.
"Oh my! No... of course not." answers Kasumi.
"Stop! Here they are..." notices Akane just before Ranma and Ranko get in
the room.
"We are back!" declares a happy Ranko. Ranma follow her, stopping the chat
between M. Tendo and his father, the two begin casting speculative glances
at Ranma.
"What have you done this time?" Ranma asks his father, not liking it at all
when Genma gave him this sort of look.
"Son..." starts Genma just before being cut off.
"Ranma..." Soun puts a hand on Ranma's shoulder. He then places himself
behind Ranma, making the two of them face the Tendo girls. "Kasumi, age
19... Nabiki, 17... and Akane, 16. Choose one and she'll be your fianc�e."
Explains Soun.
"congratulation, Akane!" Nabiki hurries to say, then she whispers "Let's
relieve ourselves from this problem so we can focus our efforts on Ranko!"
"Father won't stop until one of us is chosen." Kasumi whispers back.
"But... but..." protests Akane vainly.
"Please!" her two sisters beg her.
"But..."
"Good! So it's settled! Akane shall be Ranma's fianc�e. I'm proud of you, my
daughter!" Soun announces dramatically, crying tears of happiness.
"Excuse me..." Ranma extricates himself from Soun and walks toward his
father. "Pop! Me and... Ranko have a request for you..."
"What is it, son?" Genma asked. "You are awfully polite all of sudden..."
"M. Saotome, my amnesia, added to the body I have for now on and Ranma's
memories I got in my head... all of this compels me to ask you this : until
my own memories come back to me, do you accept me as your own daughter,
Ranma's twin sister, that followed you and Ranma all along the training
journey?" she asks, bowing. "I beg you!" she adds, bowing a little lower.
"hmm..." Genma takes some time to think about it. "Your request is rather
surprising..."
"Mr. Saotome, I think this is a very good idea." Nabiki interjects. "I
was about to ask her to become a Tendo, but it makes better sense for her to
become a Saotome, given that she shares all of Ranma's memories. Not to
mention her looks. Almost anyone who sees them together will automatically
assume they are brother and sister, perhaps even think they are twins."
"M. Saotome!" interjects Nabiki. "This is a pretty good idea, I think. I was
going to ask her to become a Tendo, but it's right that her memories are the
same as your son's, without talking about her look... you have just to look
at them to understand that nobody would argue the fact that they are twins."
"But... I don't know if..." Genma tries to plea.
"Saotome, my friend, I think that our children are right about this." Adds
Soun.
"Anyhow, if he doesn't agree, I'll refuse to become Ranma's fiancee!"
declare Akane, crossing her arms on her chest in a challenging position.
"Akane... Nabiki... thank you all, that's very kind of you." Says Ranko,
tears in her eyes.
"So, Pop! What's you choice? Methinks that Akane ain't gonna back off, eh?"
Ranma says to his father.
"I... I..." Genma stammers.
"Saotome!!!" threatens Soun.
"Okay! I accept!" He finally agrees.
"Ranko... welcome to the Saotome family!" Ranma congratulates her. He then
turns toward the Tendo. "Thanks to you all... that was very nice of you."
"Good! I have work waiting for me... I need to create her identification, we
all have school tomorrow after all, haven't we?" Nabiki says while sitting
up, smiling evilly. She then goes to the stairs and up to her bedroom.
"School?" Ranma asks.
"Yes, son, we are going to stay here some time and..." Genma starts.
"...And we need some mental training to complete our physical one." Ranko
recites from her memories. "Well, you did accept my request, so from now on,
you are my Pop. And you need to use yourself to the fact that I was actually
there all along the training trip, because I can recall it entirely."
"I see that!" Genma admits.
"Hey, by the way... what do you think of my clothing?" Ranko asks "Fitting
my new identity, no?"
"Ranko!" her father cut her again. "You say you recall all my son's life
like it was yours... so you must be at his exact level in martial arts."
"Logically, yes." She answers.
"Ranma, Ranko, in the dojo... you two are going to spar a little to check
this." Genma orders them.
"But, Pop, you said yourself to never hit a woman!" Ranma shots back.
"You don't need to strike her hard to test her..." retorts the father.
---
In the dojo.
The twins are facing each other, in loose fighting stances.
"Begin!" declares Genma, sitting near the wall, with all the Tendo family
around him.
"Since you don't want to hit me, I'll start the match." Announces Ranko just
before dashing forward.
"Come!" Ranma shoots back while shifting his stance to a defensive one.
She starts with a rain of punches of impressive speed, all blocked by Ranma,
whose arms are moving as quickly as hers. She then tries some killer kick
combos that Ranma deflects easily. She backs off a few feet, then charges
him with a jump.
"Big mistake!" retorts Ranma, launching into the air himself.
They meet in mid-air, each kicking the other, but Ranko succeeds in passing
over Ranma's leg with the help of her arms and hits her twin on the
shoulder.
"Urgh!" He groans when he lands on the floor.
"I'm not stupid, I know that being a girl I'm shorter than you... however,
the warming up was cool. Shall we go on?"
"Hehehe! I like this! It's been a long time since I've had a real
challenge..." Ranma answers her.
Only Genma is not surprised by this level of skills.
"Saotome, your son is very talented." Soun admits to his friend.
"That... that... He really went easy on me." Akane notices, her hatred
starting to boil.
While the two fighters resume their fight, Genma analyzes their strong and
weak points, visibly different. After several minutes of hard sparring, he
calls it off.
"Okay! Stop it you two and come here." Genma says while sitting up.
Reluctantly, they come to a stop and walk to their father.
"Ranko, I'm pleased, very pleased... you are worthy of your name. But you
Ranma, I'm not happy about you. How do you expect me to train you seriously
if you hide your real level?" he questions Ranma.
"You taught me yourself to always keep an ace up the sleeve, if I can recall
you." Ranma shots back.
"In any case, our styles are different... I use the same moves as him, but
not in the same way." Ranko notices.
"Your strengths are not the same. I trained Ranma to be good at everything,
but the curse had modified his body : Ranko is faster, lither and seems to
bear more pain, but she is weaker in both strength and resistance, and her
limbs are shorter. All in all, you two are on an equal level." Explain
Genma. "I'm pleased, I have the data I needed, I can plan a new training
regimen for Ranko. She'd best work on her advantages than trying to fill the
gaps between her and Ranma in strength and constitution."
*tap* *tap* Akane gets Ranma's attention by tapping him on the shoulder.
"Eh... yes, Akane?"
"Grr... when you got here, we sparred. You beat me easily when holding back!
You know how humiliating that can be?"
"Hey! You asked to spar 'just for fun', didn't you? I never use more skill
than necessary. If I had fought all out, you'd be in the hospital, or
worse." He defends himself.
"Akane! I'm sorry, but he's right!" adds Ranko. "I can recall the sparring
match as though I did it myself, and I know I'd have done the same. You need
to understand that the stronger you are, the more you need to stay aware of
yourself."
"That's not what'll make me feel better!" Akane hurls back.
"That's right! But for you to feel better, you'd need to train harder than
you currently are... Hey, maybe you can train with us? What do you think?"
Ranko asks, hoping to end this problem.
"Sure!" adds Ranma. "We can't train correctly being three, we need to be in
pair."
"Akane! It's a great chance for you! You can learn lots of things that I
don't know. They traveled a lot after all." Soun exclaim, eyes in tears.
"What to you have to lose, anyhow?" Ranko asks the younger Tendo. "you can't
know before you've tried!"
Akane glares at her, looking divided between trust and anger.
"You asked Ranma, believing he was a girl, to be friends... will you take
your words back now?" Ranko continues. "Akane, let's be friends..." she
finishes with the same small smile that Akane had earlier when saying the
exact same words.
"I... okay!" Akane answers.
"Great!" shouts Ranko. "We haven't had friends for a long time, have we,
Ranma? When traveling, we didn't stay in the same place long enough to make
friends."
"This journey is not complete, so... hum, girl!" Genma tells her. "This
situation will sure need some time before I can adjust. Hehehe!"
"Pop, you'll need to plan a training regime for Akane now, too..." Ranma
tells Genma. "She has some major power in her punches and she could do lots
of damage... if only she could connect first."
Akane glares angrily at Ranma. "Grrr..."
"Ranma, not everyone is as fast as you... and you were a girl at the time
too, quicker than you are now. She didn't stand a chance, but to say she's
bad.... you see what I mean?" Ranko asks her twin.
"Hey! I didn't say that!" he protests.
"Not really, but the way you said it implied that she was bad, in comparison
with you. Well, one can't keep a normal life and train like us. But she'll
get better now!" the redhead explains.
"Sure... training with us, you'll get better in a way you don't even hope to
conceive. After all, I'm the best!" Ranma says to Akane, ego full out.
"Ranma... WE are the best. We ended the test with a draw, and I know that
you and me were fighting nearly all out!" Ranko shoots him.
"Humpf!" Akane growls, turning away from the twins.
"Hey! Don't tell me that you are still angry for the bathroom accident..?"
Ranma asks her, seeing that she is angry.
"Huh?" apparently, she had forgotten said accident, and to recall her of it
doesn't seem like that good a idea, seeing her changing her posture.
"PERVERT!!" she screams.
"why this 'pervert'? You are the one to walk in on me, and I put the
occupied sign up!" he retorts.
"How was I supposed to know that MY bathroom was occupied by a 'BOY', when
the only man in the house I knew of was my father? The only one I was
expecting to see was a girl!"
"I was naked as well anyhow. So I don't see your problem." He says while
turning his back to her, his hands crossed behind his head.
"That's not the same! Maniac!" she shouts.
The two fathers laugh together at the quarrel.
"They are the couple of the year!" Soun says to Genma.
"HEY!" interjects Ranko. "Am I the only one sane here? You don't find
yourselves stupid to shout at each other like that?" she asks the engaged
couple.
The quarrel ceases instantaneously.
"Good, that's better... If I remember, this accident prevented Akane from
taking her bath, didn't it?" Ranko asks.
"Of course... how can I bathe when..." Akane answers the redhead.
"Hey! Calm down... go bathe yourself, you need to cool off." Ranko says,
trying to help Akane to cool down. "*yawn* hmm, all this tired me out. I'm
going to sleep... Ranma, the guest room was the one where you took your bag
from?" she asks her twin.
"Yup! I need to think about some stuff. Go suit yourself." He answers her.
A very short time later, the futon is prepared and Ranko falls into a deep,
refreshing and well deserved sleep, soon to be copied by Ranma.
---
Reincarnation - prologue end
---
next chapter : first day of school, visit to Doc Tofu's clinic
and of course : Kuno !
---
Pff, It's taking me forever to actually LOCK myself on the keyboard and
write... (or translate for the next few chapters) just looking at the black
white screen is a big block for me...
okay... no need to bother you all with my ramblings.. ;)
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