Okay we all know the drill Ranma ½, the characters and the general idea of people falling into cursed Chinese springs is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and her posse (i.e. kitty films, viz video and comics.) The idea for the story however is from me.

Note from the author: In case anyone is wondering for this story or series of stories (I’m not yet sure how long it will run) I’ve decided to take a small departure from the regular world of Ranma. Most of it will be the same I’m still planning on having Ryoga turn in to a pig and Shampoo turn into a cat (yes! Ranma will still be scared of cats), but there are also some changes to it. Mainly the changes revolve around Ranma, for my story I have opted to have Ranma as an orphan and to top things of as an American, well actually I haven’t quite figured out what his nationality will be, I’ll figure it out soon though I promise. Oh and another thing about Ranma, he did go to Jusenkyo but he didn’t fall into a spring, Genma did but that’s sort of irrelevant because I’m not planning on having him in the story, but you never know I could change my mind. Also there will be a new character introduced, (you’ll find her name out in the first part).

{ } denotes thoughts.

Night had fallen on the Tokyo district of Nerima. A night that saw pouring rains, howling winds, and quiet streets. As the residents and visitors of the area avoided the storm in the warmth and comfort of their homes relaxing with a good book or a long awaited movie. One family almost let the storm pass unnoticed as they busied themselves preparing for a guest who was to arrive the next day.

"Kasumi have you cleaned the guestroom yet?" Akane the youngest of the Tendo girls asked of her sister.

"Akane, Akane, Akane, would you just relax? We have the whole night to get the house ready. Besides it’s not like she’s going to be expecting anything fancy from us, if she is, she is sadly mistaken." Nabiki stated matter-of-factly, attempting to deflate her sisters’ good mood.

"I Know Nabiki, but I just want the house to be perfect for when she arrives tomorrow."

"Oh Nabiki! Why can’t you just let Akane have her fun? She’s excited about this girl staying with us, besides it will be a new experience for all of us." Kasumi the oldest of the three Tendo girls interrupted hoping to prevent a fight between her two sisters.

All through out the exchange between the three girls, their father Soun sat silently observing his daughters deep in thought, hearing their words but not hearing, seeing their actions but not seeing. Kasumi noticed the strange behavior of her father but chose not to ask him if there was something wrong, least her sisters become worried. Soun noticed his oldest daughter watching him and decided to continue his thoughts elsewhere.

"Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, will you be able to handle things down here by yourselves for a while? I just remembered I have to fix the door to the guest room before tomorrow." Soun hoped that his daughters wouldn’t question his sudden realization of a job that didn’t need to be done.

"Of course we can!" Kasumi and Akane chorused together while Nabiki threw in a "Sure why not!" from her spot in front of the television. All three girls exchanged puzzled glances over the actions of their father, but none of them said a word to the other.

Once Soun knew that he was safely out of range of his daughters, he produced the cause of his problems from the inside of his gi. As he gazed at the folded letter he hoped that it wasn’t a dream, or a cruel trick by his old friend, and just to make sure he unfolded and read the letter one more time.

"Tendo

Soun put the letter in a safe place that he hoped his daughters wouldn’t find. He couldn’t help but think about the possibilities of this joyous news. {Ranma will finally be arriving to go through with the agreement that was made years ago when Genma and I were young men.} All of sudden a thought came in to Soun’s mind and he couldn’t help but voice it.

"Hmmm! The letter doesn’t say when he will be arriving; it could be tomorrow or next week. Just in case I’ll have Kasumi prepare the guest room to be used in a moment’s notice."

Meanwhile, the cause of Souns strange behavior was preparing to leave the home he had known for the past few years and travel to a strange country and an even stranger family. As Ranma Soatome prepared to settle into his seat on the plane, he couldn’t help but think of what lay ahead for him. He also couldn’t help but think about how his father could have just left his life in the hands of complete strangers. Ranma was so absorbed in his thoughts that at first the voice that was asking for his help didn’t register.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Hello, anyone home?" The stranger said as she waved her hand in front of Ranmas face.

"Oh, I’m sorry. Were you talking to me?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could help me get this stuff into the overhead."

"Sure!"

With one fluid motion Ranma stood opened the compartment grabbed the bag and put it in, leaving the girl stunned and the compartment open.

"Um..thanks, I guess."

"Yeah, sure. No problem."

"Well it looks like we’re going to be seat mates."

"Yeah, looks that way."

"Maybe we should introduce ourselves, I’m Summer, Summer Shore. I bet I know what you’re probably thinking. Your probably thinking who in the world would give their kid a name like summer right? Well obviously my mother would, why you say? Oh that’s simple I was born in the summer and that has always been my mothers’ favorite season. Plus when my parents first got married they had a dog named Summer, she died a month or two before I was born and my parents thought it might be nice to name me after her.To tell you the truth though I really don’t mind being called Summer, could you think what it must be like for the kids who have regular names. Oh! Don’t just sit there pretending that you don’t know what I’m talking about, you know the names like Jennifer, or Susan, or if you’re a boy Jason or Bob even. Of course if your name is Jason or Bob I’m sure that it fits you just fine."

As Ranma listened to Summer drone on and on about what she thought about her name, he suddenly realized he didn’t want to talk her all that much, so he did the only thing he could possibly do, politely insult her. "That’s nice. Now, why are you telling me all this? Do I look like I care or something?"

Summer, who all through the conversation had a pleasant smile on her face, was suddenly taken aback by the response that Ranma provided her, and it showed. "I was just trying to be friendly, that’s all. I figured we’re gonna have to sit with each other for a while and we should get to know each other."

After hearing the Summer’s response Ranma couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt over how he had just acted. "I’m sorry if I appear to be rude or something, it’s just that well I have a lot of things on my mind right now. Oh! By the way I’m Ranma, Ranma Soatome, pleased to meet you." And with that the two new friends (if you wanna call them that!) grasped each other’s hands, shook, and promptly started to ignore each other, well almost started to ignore each other.

Ranma studied the girl sitting next to him, he guessed that she was about 5’4"- 5’5" and around 110 pounds. She had brown hair that came to just below her shoulders, and brown eyes that matched her hair, and a dark tan, meaning that she was from someplace that go a lot of sun. All in all he thought that she was quite pretty, but she wasn’t his type.

At the same time, Summer was taking her time evaluating the boy that sat next to her. She figured that he was about 6’0" tall and probably in the range of 140 pounds, and judging by the way that he moved when he helped her, he was probably an athlete of some sort. He had curly bright red hair that was cut, short and shaved at the sides and back, and one pale blue eye and one pale green eye, both of which had small gray flecks in them. Wait a minute did she just see one blue eye and one green eye? No it was probably just her imagination; in any case he was still a stud. The only thing she could change if she could change anything would be his clothes, those being a red satin Chinese style shirt with black pants, clothes that she thought didn’t do a thing as far as fashion sense went.{I wonder if he has a girlfriend. What am I saying? I’m probably not even his type, but still, he is pretty cute. Now all I have to do is figure out where he’s from?}

Suddenly the captain came over the speaker.

"THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING, HELLO AND WELCOME TO AIR JAPAN, THIS IS A FLIGHT FROM HONOLULU. HAWAII TO TOKYO, JAPAN. TODAY’S FLIGHT WILL TAKE APPROXIMATELY 9 HOURS AND WE SHOULD ARRIVE IN JAPAN AT ABOUT 12:30 IN THE AFTERNOON THEIR TIME. FOR YOUR INFORMATION, WE WILL BE FLYING AT AN ALTITUDE OF 35000 FEET. ALSO, DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFICULTIES WE REGRET THAT WE WILL BE UNABLE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH ANY IN-FLIGHT MOVIES OR MUSIC. SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENCE. WILL ALL PASSENGERS PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS AND PREPARE FOR TAKE OFF." As the pilot repeated his greeting in Japanese Ranma couldn’t help but sigh at the news that he had just heard, oh well he thought he might as well talk to Summer now it’s not like he had anything better to do with his time.

End of part 1.

Well that’s all for his part of A Change of Scene, hoped you liked it. If not pleeeaaassseee forgive me, because this is the first fanfic that I’ve ever written in my life, and hopefully it won’t be my last.

Until the next part.

Kunobaby or Crikit I haven’t quite decided yet.

Copyright 1998 Tracy Garnett. All rights reserved.