[FFML] [fic][ranma]Hengeyokai 3

"Fiance!!!!" the cry pierced the rainy morning air
of the Nerima district in the area of the Tendo dojo
as a well-known scene was taking place.

************

"Why are you female, boy?" the panda's sign
demanded.
"I gotta train up this form, Pop," Ranma said. "I
keep telling you that."
"Listen boy," Genma signed. "There aren't enough
demons in this world to remain a serious threat to it.
Get over this delusion and..."
"Meanwhile the delusion turned my hair red and got
me outta my curse," Ranma pointed out. "Listen, Pop,
I'll turn back before we see this friend of yours, but
I'm getting in the training that I can right now."
Ranma felt nervous. It had been two months since
they had left the Amazon village and he hadn't seen
anybody he considered worthy prospects for bringing
over to the spirit realm. He was certain that by now
the demons had at least as many on their side, as he
did on his.
What was more, his ENEMIES all knew about what was
going on and what they were doing. He had some
fragmented clues, and his allies?
His "allies" only knew that a red-haired girl had
kissed them and two days later would have woken up
discovering that one of them could become a cat and
the other a bat, with respective hybrid forms. They
probably felt drawn to her as well, but she couldn't
say that for certain.
That was another reason for being female, to leave
behind rumor of her passage. That way the Amazons
would be able to follow her even if there was no
mystic bond directing them.
The way she things were going right now, they were
going to lose before they started. Just like the
spirit that had helped him. And in the middle of all
this, his Pop wanted him to go get engaged or
something.
"This ain't the time for fiancees though, Pop,"
Ranma said. "I'll see what your friend has to say,
then I have things I need to do..."~Somehow.~
"You're not in a position to be picky, boy,"
Genma's sign noted. Ranma blinked.
"Oh really, Pop," Ranma said. "I'd say that I got
about four times the chance anybody else does, ain't
like I'm picky about anybody anymore." Genma blinked
at the comment and worked around until he came up with
the implication. Then he turned green.
"That is entirely beyond the pale, Boy," Genma
demanded through a sign. "You cease to even consider
that this instant."
"It ain't exactly a choice, Pop," Ranma said,
narrow eyed. She forebear to mention that she had
really seen no interesting men yet. She didn't want
to give her Pop any comfort. Ranma paused in her walk
and glanced around, almost seeming to sniff about.
It was weak, but that would change. A place nearby
was drawing power in. It would be a stronghold
eventually, quickly in fact. Perhaps staying in the
area would be a good idea after all. Assuming she
could live within whereever this power was going.
Suddenly the panda stopped, and grabbed Ranma,
pulling her off to the side. The panda gestured at
the grand estate before them.
"Here it is, Boy," Genma's sign said. "Now let's
get in out of the rain." He moved forward, trying to
draw his son, currently daughter, in.
Ranma winced as she was dragged forward through the
gates. Something was pushing him outward, and as she
moved closer forward, it was as if her strength was
getting taken from him.
While she still could, Ranma slipped out of her
father's grasp and jumped back past the gates.
Instantly her strength returned to her, though she
could still sense the force that had kept her at bay.
"What are you doing, Boy," Genma demanded through a
sign. "Get in here."
"Ain't good manners, Pop," Ranma said. "Maybe we
should ask them to come out here to meet us." The
panda started to complain. "I ain't going in to meet
them Pop, unless you want me to stay like this."
"Deal," the next sign read. "But I don't see why
you want to stay out in the rain later."
"Err..." Ranma said, looking at the gate. "Just
want to show good manners."

************

"So, Daddy," Nabiki said. "You've engaged us to a
boy you've never met."
"It was decided long ago," Soun said. "Before any
of you were born."
"And that makes it right!?" Akane demanded angrily.
"Well, it shouldn't matter," Soun said. "We'll
find out all we want to know about him in soon, they
should arrive today."
"Hey, Pops, don't just barge in like that," a voice
shouted from outside.
"That must be them now," Soun declared happily.
"Ohhh, I hope he's cute," Nabiki declared, running
towards the door, just a little ahead of her father.
"I hope he's not too young," Kasumi sighed.
"Boys," Akane muttered, following along last.
They soon found Nabiki and Soun pelting backward
away from the door. Akane and Kasumi cleared the
center of the hallway to let them pass and watched
them, confused.
"Pops, you're scaring them spitless, get back her,"
that voice shouted.
Kasumi and Akane followed the responding growfing
and roaring to see a panda standing in the genkan and
arguing with a red-haired young man standing at the
gate with a large pack.
A moment later and the panda was out cold. This
tends to happen when one throws a brick into
somethings head at near bullet velocity.
"Hey, sorry about Pop," the young man called out.
"He ain't got no manners sometimes." Kasumi stepped
forward cautiously as Akane stomped ahead.
"What are you doing travelling around with a
vicious beast like that!" Akane demanded.
"Experiencing hell in small doses," the young man
said succinctly, not disagreeing with any of Akane's
description of his father. A strange look came over
the young man's face and he glanced from Akane to her
sister and back, spectatively. Akane growled and
stepped protectively closer to Kasumi.
"Are you Ranma Saotome?" Kasumi asked, noting that
Ranma was standing just outside the bounds of their
land.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout this," Ranma said.
"Perhaps we should handle this somewhere..."
"Awwww Ranma my boy!!" her father yelled from the
door. "We've been waiting for you. Please come in!"
Ranma suddenly blinked in surprise, and then was
immediately stepping through the gates, smiling
brightly. Kasumi watched him pass her, and then shook
her head.
"I have been reading too many gothic novels," she
whispered to herself.

************

"Well, he is cute," Nabiki said, practically
drooling. ~And he certainly is interested too, just
look at how he's looking me over. Mmm mmmm.~
"Cute, hmmph," Akane said. "If he's supposed to
help teach her, he'll have to be more than cute.
Maybe you'd like to spar a little, so I can see if
you're worthy to claim the schools name?"
"Sure," Ranma said, a little hesitantly. Akane
smirked at that, obviously he wasn't certain of
himself.

************

Ranma had almost asked if he could change first,
but stopped himself. He shook his head a little
irritably. He needed to train his girl side, but he
couldn't show that off without tripping off a lot of
suspicion. Maybe he should have come as a girl, then
at least he could have imitated a Jusenkyo curse for a
while. But no, he just had to do this the right way.
~I guess it's training my girl form in secret
then,~ Ranma said. Ranma sighed and shook his head as
he returned his thoughts to the present.
"So, do you do Kempo?" Akane asked. Ranma
shrugged.
"A little," he said. "You want to limit it to that
style?" Akane blinked a little at that comment.
"Errr, sure," Akane said, confused. ~What does he
mean limit it to that style.~
"Okay," he nodded, doing his best not to get on her
bad side. "Let's start."
"Be careful, Akane," the elder sister said, from
where she was watching them worriedly. Ranma glanced
at her and looked nervous.
~She's nervous about,~ Ranma thought. ~I guess she
should be.~ He took a deep breath and sighed.
"Don't worry, Kasumi, I can handle this loser,"
Akane declared. Then she was all business. "Okay
then, FIGHT!"
The fight went as predictably as his battle with
Shampoo, until the very end.
~This time it's for real!~ Akane promised herself
angrily, launching forward in an all out attack.
Suddenly her opponent just wasn't there and her hand
was embedded in a wall. Akane blinked in disbelief.
"Damn, didn't expect that," someone behind her
said. She ripped her hand out of the wall and turned
to see Ranma standing there looking sheepish. "Your
round I guess."
"Huh?" Akane said, surprised that he was conceding
after she hadn't been able to hit him. "What? How!?"
"You limited the match to Kempo, Akane," Kasumi
reminded her. "And Ranma's last maneuver was...Wu
Shu?"
"Capoeira," Ranma corrected, sounding embarrassed.
"My Wu Shu gets more air than that."
"Oh, I see," Kasumi said, still looking cautious.
"Hey, Kasumi," Nabiki called out. "Do you know who
that guy is in there with Daddy?"
"Hmm," Kasumi said, reluctant to leave her watch
over the strange young man. "What man is that?"
"He just sort of appeared out of nowhere," Nabiki
said.
"Oh?" Kasumi said, trying not to sound nervous. "I
suppose I should see about that." Kasumi glanced at
Ranma and then left to investigate this new mystery.
"So, Sis, how'd you do?" Nabiki asked, smirking.
"I'm still trying to figure that out myself," Akane
said.
"She won," Ranma said, unequivocally. Nabiki
looked over Ranma, noting that he wasn't breathing
heavily and hadn't a mark on him.
"How?" Nabiki asked.
"That was my question," Akane said, still trying to
get over someone claiming they lost when they
dominated the match.
"I broke the terms of the match," Ranma said
shrugging. "I think I should go talk to my Pop, now.
Tell me when you guys are done with the bath, its been
awhile since I had a hot one."
Then Ranma left the room, hiding a rather depressed
and nervous look on his face as he left the dojo.

************

"So, Ranma," Soun said. "Your father has explained
about his curse and your trip, now onto business."
"Yeah, let's get this over with," Ranma muttered.
"And no complaints, Boy," Genma snapped angrily.
"You'll choose a fiancee and like it!"
"He said he'd do it, Saotome," Soun said,
questioningly.
"Huh?" Genma blinked. "But on the way here he
was...and then...what?"
"What do you mean, 'get this over with?'" Akane
demanded. "We aren't good enough for you?" Ranma
looked around and scratched his head.
"Hey, I ain't stayed in one place for long, Pop,"
Ranma said. "And maybe I care more about family honor
than you do." He almost winced at that as he thought
something else. ~Or maybe I want to make these three
girls very sick for a couple of days so they can help
me fight some demons and maybe get them killed in the
process.~
Besides, the longer he stayed in Nerima, the more
it felt like this was where everything was going to
happen.
"I'm sixteen years old," he said, as if that
explained everything. He held off on saying a lot of
things he'd LIKE to say. He had to keep them from
disliking him, needed to take this somewhat slow. As
slow as could considering the situation. "I'm willing
to give this a try, but it ain't exactly what I would
call the right age for me to be choosing who to spend
the rest of my life with."
"That's why I'M doing the choosing, Boy," Genma
said. Ranma gave him a sidelong glance.
"You don't have to live with the consequences,"
Ranma said. "I'll choose within the limits your
giving me, or I ain't doing this."
"So which of my daughters do you want...."
"That would be me!" Nabiki called out, drawing all
eyes toward her. Ranma blinked for several seconds,
confused and surprised.
"Umm, sure," Ranma said finally.

************

"Congratulations, Nabiki," Kasumi said, hesitantly.
"I just hope you aren't making a rash decision."
"Oh please," Nabiki said. "Ranma's right, we're
really too young to get married, and as long as Daddy
and Mr. Saotome see we're willing to go along with
this, they won't pressure us. It's really sort of
like having a steady boyfriend when you think about
it."
"Yes," Kasumi said. "But there is something...odd
about Ranma."
"Yeah, red-hair, flaming red-hair," Nabiki said.
"His mother must be a gaijin or something. Oh well,
that just makes him exotic."
"There seems to be something else," Kasumi said
quietly.

************

Ranma woke up in time to turn his headlong flight
through the air into something controled as the
morning festivities began. Last night he had managed
to fight the urge that time was of the essence and NOT
sneak into any of the girl's rooms to give them his
little gift.
Ranma shivered as he fought Genma. He actually had
a name for it now. That wasn't good. His distraction
cost him as he was tossed into the koi pond.
"You're sloppy boy," Genma declared.
"I'll show you sloppy, Oyaji," Ranma growled,
eliciting a shiver from his father as Genma remembered
the two times he had tried to spar Ranma in either
hybrid form. Before each time, Ranma had sounded like
that. Still, Ranma seemed to be trying to hide what
he was, so he wouldn't resort to that.
Not in broad daylight at least.
"Breakfast," Kasumi called out. "The food is
read...oops!" The sound of something falling came to
Ranma's ears, and he turned to see Kasumi in the
middle of a fall and dropping a container of race.
Ranma moved to her side so quickly that Genma could
barely follow his motions.
"Are you all right, Kasumi-san," Ranma asked,
catching Kasumi and helping her stand up.
"Yes," Kasumi said, catching her breath and looking
surprised. "I'm sorry. I seem to have spilled the
rice." Kasumi glanced down and Ranma followed the
look.
"Well it ain't cooked," Ranma said. "An it's just
on the floor, which is spotless, so I think it's okay.
Want me to help clean it up?"
"No that's fine," Kasumi said, uncertainly. "I can
handle it, just eat your breakfast." Ranma shrugged
and sat down with the rest of the family as Nabiki
gave Kasumi a inquisitive glance.
Kasumi bent down to pick up the rice, indicating
for the others to eat as she did so. Watching Ranma
as she was proceeding with the task, she noticed a
hint of surprise before he went back to eating.
"Gah!!!" Akane coughed out. "Kasumi, what's with
the garlic in all of this?"
"Oh," Kasumi said, embarrassed. "I just thought
I'd spice things up a little."
"Wow, look at the time," Nabiki said suddenly.
"Come on Ranma, we gotta go."
"But..." Ranma said, pointing at his bowl before
Nabiki dragged him off.
Kasumi returned the rice to the kitchen and looked
at Ranma's plate herself. He had eaten all the meat
right off and had barely touched the vegetables.
Though he had been working on that when Nabiki pulled
him away.
"Kasumi," Akane said. "I can barely believe it."
"Hmm?" Kasumi looked up inquisitively.
"Your sister is right, Kasumi," her father said.
"As long as the engagement remains between Nabiki and
Ranma, you should not interfere in their
relationship."
"Excuse me?" Kasumi said. "You think...oh my."

************

"Errr, Nabiki," Ranma said to his new, and
bright-eyed, fiancee. "What's with the huge
collection of idiots in sports gear?"
"Oh, that's the hentai squad," Nabiki said. "My
sister will be by to clean them up soo...what's wrong
with you." Ranma stood straight up and scanned the
crowd.
"You don't feel that?" Ranma asked before mentally
smacking himself in the head. ~Duh, of course she
doesn't feel that. She's still human. Damn, looks
like things are already speeding up on me.~
"Feel what?" Nabiki asked.
"Nabiki Tendo," a voice said. Nabiki felt a chill
wash over her, then she turned around and saw that it
was only Kuno.
"Oh, Kuno-baby," she said. "It's only you."
"Perhaps you could introduce me to your friend,"
Kuno said superiorly.
"Oh this isn't my friend," Nabiki said with a
smirk. "This is my...Ranma, what's wrong with you
now?" Ranma was practically in stance as he faced
Kuno.
"Nevermind, it is proper to introduce one's self
first," Kuno said. "I am the rising star of the high
school kendo world. The Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High. Kuno Tatewaki, age 17."
"And perhaps you can tell me your other name too,"
Ranma said, growling in an ancient language.
"That would be telling," the other said. Nabiki
backed up looking between the two nervously. "I
didn't think there were any of you on this plane of
existence little fox, I'm glad I was wrong. I thought
that that bitch we killed this summer would be last of
your kind I could taste for a long time."
"I ain't going to be as easy to take out as you
think," Ranma growled.
"What are you two talking about," Nabiki said
crossly. "And what are speaking?"
"It is an ancient precursor to our modern
Japanese," Kuno explained. "....Families like mine
and your...friend's keep the knowledge alive."
"I see," Nabiki said suspiciously. "And what are
you talking about?"
"I believe it came down to a challenge," Kuno said,
smirking. "But I don't think either of us is willing
to...endanger bystanders at the moment. Another time
perhaps."
"You can count on it, voidling," Ranma growled.
Kuno nodded.
"You can tell your sister that I won't be engaging
in this plebian attempt to acquire her attention any
longer," Kuno said.
"But you're the one that set the challenge," Nabiki
said, confused. She looked to Ranma and back to Kuno.
"If you were a cat....What are you doing up there?"
The moment she had said cat, he had leaped to the
nearest tree.
"Long story," Ranma said, then muttered under his
breath. "Bad enough I'm gonna have to work with one..."

=====
"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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