Her Honor, Like My Own
by Neko-chan
----------------------
Oniichan -- older brother
Note: Kinma's name is derived from the Japanese word 'kinba'
which means -- of all things -- white horse. It was a change from the stereotypical 'Ranko,'
anyway.
----------------------
The postcard was very brief; it consisted of a placid-looking postcard panda on one side,
and two badly chicken-scratched lines and a nearly illegible signature on the other.
Hi, it said. Bringing the twins from China. Genma Saotome.
To Soun Tendo, it was everything in the world.
"R-ranma and Kinma? Coming here?" he sobbed; his dear old friend and his future
son-in-law, coming, at last! He made a manly effort to control his emotions, then gave up
and let the waterworks flow. "Oh, how I've w-waited for this day!"
Soun regained control of his volatile emotions with an effort. He had to prepare his
daughters. Momentary doubt assailed him; maybe he should have told them about the
arranged marriage sooner? Oh, well, it wasn't really important.
----------------------
"Fiancˇe?" Akane demanded incredulously, her piercing tone carrying her entire opinion
of Boys in that single word.
"Yes," Soun explained patiently. "A very good friend of mine has twin children, a son and
a daughter. The boy's name is Ranma Saotome."
"Arranged marriages, daddy?" Nabiki sighed. "You are so old-fashioned sometimes."
Soun chose not to answer that. "If one of you girls were to marry him, and carry on
teaching at the dojo, then the Tendo family legacy would be secure."
"Wait a minute!" Akane said, planting her hands on the table. "Don't we get any say in who
we marry?"
"She's right, father," Kasumi put in. "We've never even met this boy."
Soun chuckled in satisfaction. "That's easily fixed," he assured, clutching the postcard
possessively.
"Why haven't you ever mentioned this before, Daddy?" Nabiki complained.
Her father shrugged. "It's something we've long planned, but my friend and I haven't really
kept in contact. The Saotomes have been on a voyage of training for many years.
Recently, it seems, they crossed into China."
"Wow," Nabiki said, impressed. "China!"
Akane looked aside, bored. "So what's so great about hiking to China?"
"How old is he?" Kasumi dropped in. "Younger men are so... young."
"Is he cute?" Nabiki pressed. "What kind of guy is this Saotome, anyway?"
Soun laughed for a moment, then was abruptly serious. "No idea," he admitted.
Nabiki leaned forward and fixed her father with a stern glare. "No idea?"
"I've never met the lad."
A sudden commotion from the front hall captured their attention. "We have visitors,"
Kasumi announced, rising to her feet.
Nabiki jumped up excitedly and began running towards the front door. "It must be them!"
she exclaimed delightedly.
Soun followed her closely. "Saotome, my friend! We've been waiting!"
"Oh, I do hope he's older," Kasumi sighed. She hated to think she might end up engaged
to a... child!
"How depressing," Akane echoed. "Boys!"
"Let go, you old fool!" shouted a new voice from the front hall. "I can't believe you're
dragging me into this mess!"
Soun and Nabiki came fleeing back around the corner with matching expressions of
stupefication on their faces. Akane looked at her father and sister blankly for a moment,
wondering what could have frightened them so. Her answer came a minute later as they
were followed into the living room by a... panda?
"What's a panda doing in downtown Tokyo?" Akane demanded.
"Father, is this your friend?" Kasumi asked, not noticeably ruffled by the sudden
proliferation of Chinese wildlife into her living room. Soun shook his head violently,
seeming unable to speak.
"Oh!" Nabiki said scornfully, taking her eyes off the panda long enough to glare at her
father. "So this panda just decided to drop by! Happens all the time!"
A previously unnoticed burden on the panda's shoulder caught the Tendos' attention as it
twisted around to take in the surroundings. "I'm warning you, Pop," spoke the light tenor
voice they had heard earlier. "I'm not going to go along with this idiocy! Put me down
already!"
The panda turned its head to regard the speaker calmly, then unslung the boy from its
shoulder and planted him firmly on the ground, shoving him forward for Soun's
inspection.
With some difficulty, Soun put the puzzle of the panda temporarily out of his mind as he
studied the newcomer. It was a rather short boy of about sixteen, dressed in chinese
clothing that looked at least one size too small. Something familiar about his features
prompted Soun to ask, "You... you wouldn't happen to be..."
"Kinma Saotome," the boy said, then lowered his eyes to stare at the ground. "Sorry about
this," he muttered.
Kinma? Soun thought to himself. I thought Genma said that his son's name was Ranma.
Oh, well, harmless mistake. At least he's here!
"Ooh," Nabiki said delightedly. "He's cute!"
He was, too; Kinma's too-small clothes outlined a very well-muscled yet somehow
delicate body. He wore his dark auburn hair down to his shoulders, framing graceful and
expressive features and large green eyes that widened in shock as Soun glomped the
boy in a thankful embrace. "S-so good of you to come," sobbed the emotional martial
artist.
"Well," came Kinma's somewhat muffled reply, "it's not like I had a choice in the matter,
you know."
"Wait a minute," Akane said, unimpressed by all things masculine. She frowned as she
thought back over what her father had told her. "Weren't there supposed to be two of you,
a boy and a girl? Where's..." This boy had given his name as Kinma, which meant his
sister had to be... "Ranma?"
Kinma tactfully untangled himself from Soun's embrace as he answered Akane's
question. "Back where Pop decided to lighten the load." He gave a glare and a hearty
punch to the panda. "Old fool!"
"Well, that wasn't very nice of him," said Kasumi in some confusion, looking between the
boy and the panda. "Would anyone like some tea?"
"I would, actually," Kinma said with a strange raw humor to his tone.
By this time, Soun had managed to regain about as much control as he ever did. "We'll be
glad to have all of you," he assured Kinma. "Now, to business. I assume your father has
informed you of the marriage situation?"
"Yeah, just as we got into town. Ranma freaked out; I think that's when Pop decided to just
bring me instead." Kinma considered hitting the panda again, then apparently decided it
wasn't worth the effort.
Soun put an arm around the boy and gestured with his other hand to his own children. "I'd
like you to meet my girls. My eldest daughter Kasumi --" he looked around in some
surprise, then waved towards the kitchen where Kasumi had disappeared. "-- nineteen.
My middle daughter Nabiki, seventeen. My youngest daughter Akane, sixteen."
Kinma pulled absently at his shirt collar, trying to loosen it. "Pleased to meet you," he
replied courteously.
"Pick the one you want. She's your new fiancˇe!" Soun smiled broadly even as
expressions of shock filled the room.
"Wait a minute!" Kinma exclaimed. "Didn't my dad tell you...?"
"Oh, he wants Akane!" exclaimed Kasumi, returning to the living room with a kettle of hot
water.
"Definitely," Nabiki agreed, never missing an opportunity to tease.
"What?" Akane shouted. "Why do I have to be the one to --"
"Well... you're a martial artist, aren't you?" Kasumi reasoned. "So is Kinma! It's a perfect
match."
"You must be kidding," Akane denied angrily. "I'm not going to marry him!"
Kinma shook his head vehemently. "No, I'm definitely not going to marry her!"
Everyone stared at Kinma, shocked. Akane began to get steamed around the ears. "Why
not?" she demanded unfairly. "You'd rather have Nabiki, just because she said you were
--"
"Of course not! I don't want Nabiki either!" Kinma stepped forward and snatched the kettle
out of a surprised Kasumi's hands. "I'm not going to marry any of you!"
Soun stuttered in shock. "B-b-but why not?" he got out as Kinma raised the kettle over his
head and poured.
Then, before their eyes, Kinma blurred and shrank. Bright copper color shot through his
hair, and the hand holding the kettle suddenly became much smaller and more delicate.
A very distinctively female Kinma stood there in sopping wet clothes that now fit her much
better. "Because of this," she said; her voice, too, had changed to a sweet mezzo-soprano.
The Tendos stood, and stared. "Oh -- my," was Kasumi's only comment as Soun's eyes
rolled back in his head and he hit the floor.
----------------------
A gentle breeze stole through the Tendo house, rattling the little bell that hung in the
window. The Tendo daughters were gathered around their semi-comatose father, with
Kinma and the panda sitting off to one side.
"Oh, poor father," Kasumi said as Soun slowly awoke. "He's so disappointed."
"He's disappointed!" Nabiki said bitterly. "Some fiancˇe this is!"
She leaned over to glare into her father's face. "This is all your fault, Daddy," she accused.
"You should have made sure!"
Soun mumbled something about "his son."
"Do you see a son here?" Nabiki demanded, jabbing an accusing finger towards Kinma.
"Well? Do you?
"Cut it out, you two!" Akane said, seeing Kinma wince slightly. "He -- she is our guest!"
She turned to Kinma. "So you really are a girl, huh?" she wondered. Kinma nodded
timidly. "Then what was up with the whole boy thing?"
Kinma sighed. "It's a long and complicated story, but the bottom line is that when Pop and
Ranma and I were in China we visited this place called Jusenkyo. It's filled with these
cursed springs, y'see, and anyone who falls into them turns into stuff." She grimaced. "I
fell into the Spring of Drowned Boy."
"Oh!" Kasumi exclaimed. "What a dangerous place to train! Why, if your father were here,
I'd give him a piece of my mind!"
Kinma raised an eyebrow at Kasumi, and jerked a thumb towards the panda in the corner.
"Be my guest," she said dryly.
Nabiki looked blankly between Kinma and the panda for a moment, and then her face lit
in comprehension. "I see!" she exclaimed. "Your father, he fell into one of the cursed
springs too? And now he's a panda?"
"WHAT?" Soun demanded, sitting bolt upright. "My best friend is a panda? Ooooh," he
sobbed. "What a terrible day!"
Kinma started at a touch on her shoulder, and looked up into Akane's face. "Hey, wanna
join me in the practice hall?" Akane suggested.
"Hmm?" Kinma asked blankly. Her first impression of Akane had not been a friendly one,
but then, here she was being nice when the others were giving her the cold shoulder.
Akane smiled. "Well, since we can't be engaged, let's at least be friends!"
Kinma timidly returned the smile. "Sure!"
----------------------
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Kinma exclaimed, hovering around Akane as the Tendo girl
slowly picked herself off the floor. "I didn't mean to hit you that hard, really. I just wasn't
thinking because usually, it's Dad I'm fighting against and he's the trickiest bastard you
ever..."
Akane held one hand over her nose, trying to staunch the bleeding, but she was laughing
at the same time. "It's okay, it's okay," she repeated. "I got careless. It's not like I'm fragile
or anything."
Kinma extended a helpful hand, which Akane took to get to her feet, and clutched
worriedly at her arm even once Akane was standing. "You're sure you're all right? I'm
really sorry."
"I'm fine," Akane assured her. "You know, you're pretty good."
Kinma glowed at the praise. "Thanks! You're not bad either. Even if I'm better." She
belatedly thought about how that might sound, and scrambled to find a more neutral
wording. "I mean, ah..."
"No. I mean, it's only to be expected. After all, you've been on that special training trip with
your family," Akane excused, immediately forgiving her.
Kinma nodded. "That's true. I'm not nearly as good as Ranma, though."
Akane dropped her smile. She really didn't care about Kinma's brother, who hadn't even
bothered to show up with his father and sister at the dojo -- and she especially didn't want
to hear this disturbing talk about a boy that was even better than Kinma, who had beaten
her so easily. "Mmm," she said unencouragingly.
Kinma missed the hint and kept talking. "I mean, he's the best martial artist I know, and I
know a lot. And he's a really quick study. Anything that even remotely involves the words
'martial arts,' and he just won't be satisfied until he's mastered it."
"Whatever," Akane said flatly, and went to the door of the training hall. She leaned against
the frame for a minute, catching her breath. "Whoo! What a workout. We have to do this
again sometime."
The redhead nodded. "We can train together, as long as we're living here. It'll be fun."
Akane suddenly recalled her duties as a host. "Oh, I almost forgot! You'll want to take a
bath now, won't you?"
"I am kind of sweaty," Kinma admitted.
"It's this way!" Akane led the way out of the dojo and back towards the house, opening the
hall door to release a draft of warm, damp air out of the bathroom. "I guess Kasumi must
have run the bath already," Akane said, turning back to Kinma. "Go ahead and have your
bath. I'll take mine later."
"Thanks a whole bunch, Akane," Kinma said, heartfelt sincerity in her tone. "I really
appreciate everything you've done for me. I mean, I know your family was kind of
disappointed that I wasn't a boy -- or at least, not most of the time I'm not..."
"It's all right," Akane assured her. "I don't mind. I don't want to get married anyway, and
there was no reason for my sister to be so rude. Just because you're cursed so that you
switch genders when you're splashed with cold water doesn't make you any kind of a
pervert or anything!"
Kinma practically melted with relief. "You're a great friend, Akane."
Akane smiled reassuringly and patted the cursed girl on the shoulder. "You too, Kinma.
Now go take your bath." She turned and headed back down the hall, towards the stairs
leading to her room.
Kinma turned back to the bathroom, raising a hand to the door, when a soft scraping noise
from outside the door caught her attention. Puzzled, she followed the sound to the
doorway in the hall, and opened it to reveal a small figure crouching under the
overhanging roof, away from the dripping water.
"Ranma?" she hissed, peering out into the dark and rain. "That you?"
The figure turned towards the source of the voice and edged into the light, resolving into a
small girl with a bright red pigtail and sopping wet clothes that hung all over the place.
"Kinma?" she ventured. "Boy, am I glad to see you. This is the Tendo Dojo, huh? I've been
looking all over for it!"
Kinma reached out and pulled Ranma inside, careful not to let too much cold water touch
her skin. "What took you so long?" she demanded.
Ranma scowled and rubbed her head. "Hey, I didn't wake up until almost dark, and even
then I had a heck of a time finding this place." She glanced at her sister, taking in her
feminine status. "So, uh, did you explain the curses and everything?"
A sudden rise in voices from the living room caught the siblings' attention; Kinma picked
out her father's human voice from among the hubbub. "I think Pop's giving them the whole
story now, but basically, yes, they know."
Ranma sighed in relief and wrung water out of the bottom of her shirt. "That's a relief.
Remind me to crack Pop a few good ones on the head next time we fight, kay?"
Kinma eyed the way Ranma's clothes stuck to her buxom frame and shook her head. "I'll
never get used to that. It's just too weird."
Ranma snorted and gave up trying to dry her clothes. "No weirder than seeing my kid
sister turn into a guy, that's for sure. So what's the news on this whole arranged marriage
deal, d'you know?"
Kinma sighed and shrugged. "All I know for sure is that I'm not getting married. Tell you
what. The bathroom's right in there --" she pointed back down the hallway. "You clean
yourself up and get changed back, so they meet you as a guy first. That should make
things much simpler."
Ranma shivered and made a face. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Man, what a mess!"
"No kidding," Kinma agreed. "Go take a bath, oniichan. I'll go tell Pop and Mr. Tendo
you're here, and then we'll see what's what." She gave Ranma a friendly punch on the
shoulder as she passed her on the way to the living room. Ranma nodded and hurried
down the hallway into the welcome warmth of the bathroom.
Once there, Ranma wasted no time in yanking off her sopping wet shirt to wring it out.
"Stupid Pop," she grumbled. "Took my pack with him, too. I just hope these dry off enough
not to change me back when I put them on again." She shucked her black pants and
boxers, shaking the water off and dropping the lot onto the heater, and hurried into the
bathroom proper. Inside, she dove for a bucket and shoved it under the tap, waiting
impatiently for it to fill.
Ranma sighed in relief as he lowered the bucket, both from the warmth of the water and
from reverting to his natural form. He looked up at the sound of the inner door scraping
open, seeing a vaguely female silhouette through the steam. Must be Kinma, he thought.
"Hey, is that you?" he called. "That didn't take you very long --"
Ranma froze in shock as the steam cleared enough for him to get a good look at the girl
standing in the doorway, who blinked bemusedly back at him. She was a very pretty girl,
and about his age, but she was most definitely not his sister.
----------------------
Akane stood in frozen shock for a minute before her brain kicked in again. Oh, Kinma
must have changed back into a boy, she thought, seeing the bucket still in the boy's
hands. Akane had seen Kinma's clothes in the hamper outside, but hadn't thought that
naturally Kinma would change back into a boy as soon as she rinsed off. KInma had put
her hair up into a pigtail -- presumably to save the trouble of washing it -- and she must be
terribly embarrassed. I should have knocked.
Akane smiled warmly at him as she stepped into the bathroom. "I see you changed back,"
she said, rather obviously, to break the silence. "That's okay. You don't need to be
embarrassed."
The boy still looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Wha -- wha -- I d-don't?" he
stammered.
Akane laughed and flicked the towel at him. "Of course not! We're going to be living under
the same roof, aren't we? So it's perfectly all right."
Kinma made an indecipherable gurgling noise as Akane crossed the bathroom, and
scrambled ungracefully backwards to land with a splash in the still-full bathtub. "Want me
to wash your back?" Akane offered, picking up a bar of soap.
"Gaaahhhh," he said intelligently. "B-but you -- you -- I -- I mean --"
Akane leaned forward and put a hand on his arm. "Hey, it's okay," she reassured. "I mean,
about the boy thing and everything. I already told you that it doesn't matter to me one bit
about your curse!"
Kinma finally managed to get out a vaguely coherent sentence. "Who-who are you?"
"Huh?" Akane frowned in confusion. What was going on here? Come to think of it...
Akane's eyes widened as she registered where the boy was sitting. Hey, that's hot water,
isn't it? What gives?
"There you are, Akane... huh?" said a girl's voice from behind her. Akane whirled around
to see --
-- Kinma, the girl Kinma, standing in the doorway, towel in hand. Akane stared between
Kinma and the boy in the bath, uncomprehendingly.
Kinma smiled uncertainly. "Oh, Akane... I see you've met my brother..."
----------------------
"EEEEEEYYAAAAAHHH!!!"
Soun Tendo managed to drop his teacup in such a way that he not only spilled scalding
tea all over his hands, but the cup itself landed on his foot. And broke. Across the table
from him, Kasumi and Genma both looked up from the table with startled expressions that
Soun was certain matched his own. As the echo of the earsplitting shriek died away, the
sound of several pairs of running footsteps took its place.
Kasumi looked at her father. "That was Akane, wasn't it?" she asked, rather unnecessarily.
Soun barely had time to nod before Akane herself burst into the dining room, wearing
only her gi top and an angry flush. She looked ready to eat iron and spit nails, and Soun
was too wise to protest when she yanked open the closet and removed one of his
full-length spears.
"I'll split him up the middle! I'll tear him apart!" she shrieked. Genma and Soun both
winced; though they were both fairly sure the 'him' Akane was referring to was neither of
them, there weren't any other males in the house, unless you wanted to count...
"What? Who, Kinma? What's going on?" Soun demanded frantically. "Akane, calm down
a minute... and for God's sake put down the spear..." he finished under his breath.
"He was in the BATHROOM!" Akane shouted, not relinquishing her grip on the weapon.
Kinma appeared from the hallway, also looking flushed and confused. Akane whirled
around to face her, but didn't look inclined to use the spear on her, and Kinma didn't seem
particularly worried by that danger. "You didn't have to hit him that hard!" she protested to
Akane. She stopped suddenly and eyed the weapon in the other girl's hands with some
trepidation. "Uh, Akane? What are you doing with that?"
"I'll more than hit him! I'll KILL him!" she promised, brandishing the weapon.
"Stop a moment! Akane, what happened?" Soun exclaimed, trying and failing to regain
control of the situation.
"Oh, my," Kasumi said worriedly. "Akane, is there a pervert in our bathroom?"
"POP!" Kinma yelled, turning on him. "This is all your fault!"
At first, with all of the hubbub and confusion in the room, nobody noticed the newcomer.
Kasumi saw him first, and her soft exclamation was enough to draw Soun's attention to
the pigtailed boy that attracted all of the stares in the room, one by one, as the shouting
died away. Soun stared; it was -- Kinma, in male form? But no, that couldn't be; Kinma
was already there. But that would mean --
"Who are you?" Kasumi asked, breaking the silence.
"I'm Ranma Saotome," the boy mumbled; he flushed, and looked at the floor. "Sorry 'bout
this."
----------------------
The ticking of the clock sounded very loud in the silence, as the two families faced each
other across the dining room table. In front of the door knelt Genma, and beside him the
boy and the girl in Chinese clothing. Across from them lined up the Tendo girls, who were
watching the Saotomes with varying degrees of interest and hostility. Soun sat at the
head of the table, playing mediator.
"I'll explain it once more," he said patiently. "This is my dear old friend... "
The kerchiefed head nodded in a half-bow. "Genma Saotome," he provided, then turned
slightly to his own children. "And this is my daughter -- "
"Kinma Saotome," the redhead put in on cue.
Genma continued, " -- and my son --"
"Ranma," the boy muttered. He glanced up nervously at Akane, but she was staring at him
with such undisguised hostility that he turned a beseeching look towards his sister
instead. Kinma gave him a reassuring smile, and the two turned their attention back to
their hosts.
Nabiki brought her hand down on the table sharply, breaking the silence. "This gets more
complicated by the minute!" she complained.
"There really are two of you?" Kasumi glanced back and forth between Kinma and
Ranma, as if trying to confirm that there were, indeed, two seperate people. "Only two,
right?"
Genma muttered something affirmative. "I can understand your confusion, Kasumi," he
assured her. "As twins, they have always been alike, and since the visit to Jusenkyo, even
I have occasionally had trouble telling them apart."
As if to prove his words, Kinma and Ranma gave their father identical scowls. Kasumi
hastily broke in to dispel any coming tension. "Jusenkyo?" she asked brightly. "Why, what
happened at Jusenkyo, Mr. Saotome?"
If she had hoped to lessen the ill-will that the Saotome children felt towards their father,
mentioning Jusenkyo was not the way to do it. With the ease of long practice, Genma
ignored the hostile glares his children were directing towards him as he looked out the
door into the gathering darkness, pausing melodramatically. "It happened just a few
months ago," he began. "For long weeks we had been seeking the legendary training
ground of Jusenkyo..."
----------------------
The mist gathered among the damp valley below the stark mountains, seeping about the
bamboo poles like a nest of snakes. Only occasionally would the fog part, allowing the
travellers a glimpse of the many pools that dotted the rock floor.
"Ah, honored guests, now you see," said the Jusenkyo Guide, turning to the martial artists
that followed him down the rocky trail. "Here we come to very famous training ground of
Cursed Springs, Jusenkyo."
Kinma snorted and tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. "It doesn't look like much," she
observed scornfully.
Her father placed a restraining hand on Kinma's shoulder. "Ranma and I will be the judge
of that," he grunted. "Be patient, daughter. You'll get your turn."
Ranma eyed the bamboo poles critically, and turned to Genma. "We'll be training down
there, old man? This is gonna be easier than I thought!"
"Young sir, you is very strange one, no?" The Guide stepped carefully off the trail to the
valley floor and turned to face the Saotomes. "There is more than two hundred spring
here, and each one have own tragic legend."
"Let's go, Ranma!" Genma shouted, and vaulted to the top of the nearest pole, Ranma
following quickly behind. "I won't go easy on you, boy."
Ranma balanced easily atop the pole, falling into a defensive stance as he faced his
father. "I wouldn't want you to, old man!"
"Ah sirs! Wait! I no have finish my tragic story!" the Guide called frantically, waving his
arms.
Kinma paused beside him before making her own leap, curious.
"I'm listening," she offered to him. "Go on and tell your story."
The Guide wrung his hands in distress. "You no understand! Very bad you fall in spring!"
"Why's it so bad?" Kinma wanted to know, kneeling to study the nearest spring intently. "Is
it acid or something?" She reached out a cautious hand to touch the water, but the Guide
grabbed her hand.
"Is something much worse, young miss! Very tragic curse these pools have -- all that fall in
spring must take shape of person what drown there last."
"What?" Kinma jerked her hand away from the spring and stared at the Guide. It was just
then that a loud splash resounded from farther in, bringing her eyes instantly to the mess
of poles, where only Ranma now stood.
"Ranma!" Kinma called, cupping her hands around her mouth so that the sound would
carry across the damp air. "Get out of the pools!"
Ranma glanced over to his sister and started to speak, but was rudely interrupted by the
bubblings and splashings from the pool where Genma had fallen. Before Ranma's eyes,
the water parted and out of it rose a large, black-and-white, very angry panda.
"Gyaah!" Ranma shouted, nearly losing his balance. "What -- what --"
"He fall in Shan Mao Niichuan," the Guide explained, pulling a large notebook from his
backpack and consulting it. "Spring of Drowned Panda. Very tragic story of panda who
drown there two thousand year ago. Now whatever fall in spring, take body of panda!"
"Hey!" Ranma turned away and began unsteadily to cross the poles back to his sister and
the Guide. "You never said anything about --"
This rather unfair statement was never voiced, however, as Genma-panda leaped from
the spring and struck his son in the back, sending him flying to land with an enormous
splash in a different pool near the edge. "Ranma!" Kinma yelled, and leaped up onto the
bamboo poles, hopping nimbly from one to the other as she crossed to where her brother
had fallen. She reached the pool --
----------------------
"Wait a minute. You didn't fall in?" Akane broke in.
"Of course not!" Kinma said indignantly. "They were just poles. Not a problem."
"Then how --"
"I'm getting to that."
----------------------
-- She reached the pool just in time to see Ranma surface. Her moment of relief to see
Ranma still a human quickly melted as she observed several things wrong with her
brother. For a start, his hair -- it was now as red as hers, if not more so. And as for the rest
of him...
"Ranma!" she exclaimed. "You're a... you're a..."
"Oh, too bad," the Guide mourned. "He fall in Nyan Niichuan, Spring of Drowned Girl. Very
tragic story of young girl who drown there one thousand five hundred year ago. Now,
whatever fall in spring take body of young girl. You see? Now you become a girl."
Kinma watched in shock and numb horror as a slowly-comprehending Ranma reached
down and felt his torso; he closed his eyes, nerving up courage as he took hold of the
edges of his gi -- opened it, looked down, and screamed as his eyes confirmed what his
other senses had already told him. Shrieking wildly, Ranma scrambled out of the pool and
hurtled over to where the panda, too, was just now climbing out of his own spring. As
Kinma watched in horror, the panda and girl that used to be her father and brother chased
each other back and forth all over Jusenkyo in a mindless fury.
Kinma found herself back on her feet, lifting the Guide off the ground by his collar and
shaking him like a rag doll. "What's the cure?" she yelled into his face, failing to notice the
funny blue color he was turning. "There's gotta be a cure!"
"H-hot... water..." the Guide managed to gasp out; at the news that there was, indeed,
hope, Kinma set the Guide back on his feet and allowed him a bit of oxygen. "Hot water
return you to normal form, you see. But that not permanent cure -- you touch cold water,
and you go back to cursed body."
Kinma dropped the Guide's collar and wheeled about in a circle, looking for Genma and
Ranma. The two of them had vanished into the valley mists, although the trail they had
taken was a clearly marked path of destruction, and wild battle yells were still clearly
audible from the clifftops. Kinma sighed, and turned back to the Guide.
"Hot water. Right. Let's get some."
----------------------
"But what about..."
"I'm not done yet. Stop interrupting."
----------------------
"Nannichuan, you say?" Genma leaned forward and squinted at the Guide; his glasses
were somewhere at the bottom of the Spring of Drowned Panda.
"Yes. Too-too tragic story of young man who drown there one thousand seven hundred
year ago. Now whoever fall in spring, take body of young man..."
"That's it then, boy!" Genma shouted, springing to his feet. "There's your cure! Just point
out which spring it is, and let's go take a dip."
The Guide consulted his notebook once again. "That one, sir, sixteen by
north-and-northwest from poplar tree. Three poles and dead bush, no can miss it. But you
no should -- "
His words went unheard as Genma grabbed his red-haired daughter around the waist
and bounded off towards the aforementioned spring, the cries of the other three
completely ignored. The girl under his arm squirmed and cursed; the one he had left
behind shouted and cursed; the Guide called warnings that went unheard.
"Pop! What are you doing? Put me down!"
"Wait a minute, old man! You got the wrong one!"
"Eh, sirs! Listen -- is very bad you mix curses, understand? You no want do that!"
Genma paused by the Nannichuan and counted poles. Yes, this was the one. "No time to
waste, boy! You can't go through life as a girl. I'd be ashamed to even think it!" He flung
the girl into the spring, and was prepared to follow when the Guide's frantic voice stopped
him.
Actually, it was the hand that took a deathgrip on the back of his collar that stopped him.
He twisted around to glare at the redhaired girl behind him. "What are you doing, Kinma?"
The answer came in the form of a hefty blow to the head. Girl or not, she certainly could
hit, Genma thought through the ringing in his ears as she took hold of his collar and shook
him.
"Stupid old man!" she shrieked in his face. "I'm Ranma!"
"Eh?" Genma attempted with some difficulty to focus on the girl's face. Come to think of it --
The bubbling and splashing sound he was quickly learning to dread sounded behind him,
and as Ranma stared in horror over Genma's shoulder Kinma -- her new brother --
emerged from the spring and stared down at himself in the same shock that Ranma had
felt just minutes earlier.
----------------------
"And that's the story," Genma finished. Beside him, the twins were making a visible effort
to restrain themselves from committing acts of violence on their father. Ranma broke first.
"Yo, Pop," he snarled, taking a familiar hold of Genma's collar. "What's the idea of
dragging us to a place like that anyway?"
Genma didn't bother to reply; he simply broke Ranma's grip on his collar, and sent him
flying neatly into the pond. "Foolish boy!" Genma growled, striding into the yard to glare
disapprovingly at Ranma as she sputtered to the surface of the water. "Were you not
prepared to lay down your life for the sake of your training? You sound like a woman!"
Standing by the edge of the pond, scowling self-righteously down at his son, Genma
made a perfect target for Kinma. She gave an angry yell and leapt out into the yard, a
perfectly-aligned flying kick delivering him into the pond right on top of Ranma.
"Stupid old man!" she screeched into the dark water. "Doesn't speak a word of Chinese,
but still insists on going to the weirdest training ground in China. And then he doesn't
even listen to the guide he hired -- not that he ever actually paid him, anyway! And then
he throws the wrong girl into the Nannichuan! How can anyone be so stupid and still
live??"
Her ranting was cut short as the panda surged out of the pond, nailing Kinma with a wave
of water. Kinma froze in shock for a moment as the cursed washed over her, but Ranma
took the opportunity to seize hold of Genma's fur coat and slam him into the ground of the
yard. The situation quickly devolved into a confused melee.
The Tendo family watched the spectacle from the porch. Nabiki's eyes gleamed with
considering interest as she thought on ways to turn these strange guests to her
advantage; Akane was gradually working herself into a fury. Soun just took it all in with a
slightly glazed expression that spoke more towards a weirdness overload than any true
sanguinity. Kasumi watched the Saotomes with a slight worried frown on her face, and
absently said, "Are you absolutely sure they're two different people?"
Kinma bounced off the porch and rolled to his feet, startling Akane into motion. She
seized a handy pot and flung it at the two still fighting in the yard. "Now cut that out!"
Akane shrieked; both Genma and Ranma ducked the missile, but froze warily anyway.
Akane glared at the three of them. "None of this explains to me what this -- this Ranma
was doing in the bathroom!"
Kinma looked indignant. "Hey, why shouldn't he have been in the bathroom? He had to
change back, after all -- oh, thanks --" this last was said as he accepted a kettle of hot
water from Nabiki and transformed back -- "and since he's gonna be living here for a
while, it's his bathroom too, innit?"
Akane glared fiercely at the girl as she tossed the kettle to her family, only to have them
immediately fight over it. "Who says he's going to be living here?"
"Now, now," Soun broke in. "Of course he's going to be living here with his father and
sister, Akane. After all, you two are going to be engaged --"
"WHAT?" chorused Ranma and Akane in perfect unison. Genma took advantage of
Ranma's distraction to make use of the kettle.
Soun blinked, taken aback by their seeming aversion to the concept. "Of course you are.
The situation hasn't changed from when we explained it to Kinma, after all; you two are
going to carry on the Anything-Goes School, and you're to be married!"
Ranma snatched the kettle from her father's hands and dumped the remaining water over
her head. "Married?" he demanded. "To a girl I don't even know?"
Akane's reaction was much similar. "Me? Marry that pervert? Never!"
Ranma stiffened and stared hard at the ground; Kinma was not so restrained. She leapt to
her feet and squared off with Akane. "Whaddya mean, 'pervert?'" she challenged.
"He looked at my body!" Akane's rage wavered between Ranma and his sister, settling on
a point somewhere between them. "Pervert!"
"Oh. Hey. Wait just a minute here! Didn't you walk in on him?" Kinma grabbed Akane's
attention back. "You could have at least knocked!"
"I thought it was you!" Akane half-screamed her frustration. "Besides, it's different when a
girl looks at a boy!"
"How?"
Soun and Genma set up chuckling, oblivious to the clash of wills. "Ranma and Akane will
make a perfect couple," Genma congratulated his friend.
Akane switched her venomous glare to the old men. "Couple? Hah! They're a couple all
by themselves!" she spat.
Ranma leapt up at this, fire in his eyes; he marched over and stepped between Akane and
his sister. "Come on, Kinma. We're leaving."
"What?" Genma was jolted out of his mirth. "Where are you going, boy?"
"Back to China, old man!" Ranma returned. "To find a way to change back for good. This is
no time for 'fiancees'!"
He took a step towards the door, Kinma in close tow, but then couldn't resist one final
parting shot. "By the way," he said over his shoulder to Akane. "I noticed that you took a
pretty good look at me, too. Besides, it's no big deal for me to see a naked girl, now is it?"
Kinma bobbed under his arm and chirped, "After all, he did grow up with me."
Akane glared furiously at the smaller girl, feeling hurt and betrayed. Ranma put a
protective arm over his younger sister's shoulder. "And she's built better, to boot!" He
tossed his head back and laughed.
Kinma saw it coming, and managed to wriggle out of the way, but Ranma took the table in
the head.
"Now that, he had coming," Soun muttered into the respectful silence. Kinma disagreed,
and both of the older men decided that it would be better for their health to be somewhere
where Kinma wasn't for a while.
Breathing heavily, Akane dispensed angry looks to her family around the room, saving
one especially venomous glare for Kinma. "I can't believe I said you were a good friend!"
she growled, and stalked out of the room.
Kinma stared after her, uncertain as to whether she should follow the other girl. She
should talk with Akane, apologize, explain... but Ranma was out cold on the floor. He
needed her. With a sigh, the red-haired girl knelt down beside him.
She looked up to see Kasumi and Nabiki staring at her. Kasumi felt obligated to explain
her younger sister's performance. "Don't think too badly of Akane," she pleaded. "She's
really a very sweet girl." At Kinma's raised eyebrow, she allowed, "She's just a violent
maniac."
Nabiki snorted expressively as she got to her feet. "Oh, that makes a lot of sense, Kasumi."
She sighed and addressed Kinma. "I'm going to bed. Maybe this will get a little less
complicated by morning -- I hardly see how it could get worse." She left the room, shortly
followed by Kasumi.
Kinma considered her brother. Ranma had taken much harder blows to the head over the
course of his life, mostly with no ill effect, except for that time that he walked around for a
week attacking gremlins. It might be kinder to let him sleep -- but Kinma really needed to
have a talk with Ranma, and the sooner the better. She fetched a bucket of water from the
pond and hit her brother with it.
Ranma gasped herself awake. "Damn! What hit me?" she gasped, taking a moment to
focus on her surroundings. "Kinm..?"
The other girl sighed. "Akane. It was kind of my fault, really."
"Nah." Ranma cautiously sat up and gingerly probed the bump on the back of her head,
wincing. "She's just a violent sorta tomboy, isn't she..."
Kinma looked unhappy. "No, don't blame her, Ranma. I know you two really got off to a
bad start, but... well, Akane was really nice to me when I first showed up. Everyone else
was mad at me 'cause they were expecting you instead, but Akane was nice. I think she's
a really good girl underneath; she's just embarrassed and angry over what happened in
the bathroom."
"That wasn't my fault, though!" Ranma objected. "She was the one who walked in on me
without knocking. She was the one who said it was perfectly all right --"
Kinma cut him off. "Well, d'you think it makes her feel better to think it's her own fault she
got humilated and scared like that?"
"Oh." Ranma fell silent. "I guess not," she admitted in a smaller voice. "I guess that crack
about her not being so well built was kind of out of line."
"A little bit," Kinma agreed. "Hey, I'm not saying you two should get married or nothing. But
I like Akane, and I really wish you two could get along. So just don't jump to conclusions
about her, okay?"
Ranma sighed in reluctant acquiescence, a sigh that turned into a groan as she shifted
position again and the bruise on her head made itself felt. "Didya have to splash me to
wake me up?" she complained.
Kinma made a face. "I'm sorry, oniichan. Go have a hot bath -- it'll help. Kind of been a
while since we had hot baths available, ne?" She stood up, and pulled Ranma to her feet
with a hand under her elbow.
Ranma shared a grin with her sister, and wandered dazedly in the direction of the
bathroom. Damn, that smarts, she thought, rubbing the back of her head. What kind of girl
is she, anyway? I suppose Kinma could be right about her, though. And she is kind of cute
in a tomboy sorta way.
Ranma finished pulling off her clothes, and belatedly thought to knock on the bathroom
door. As she raised her hand, however, the door slid aside, to reveal Akane.
"Ah, no," Ranma muttered as Akane's eyes went first to her chest, then to her pigtail. Her
face began to cloud over.
The slap sounded clearly throughout the house, echoing like an augur of the thousands of
similar ones that would follow.
----------------------
Ranma sat between his father and Kinma, their backs to the dining table where the Tendo
girls gathered. "Are you sure she's a nice girl?" he asked his sister, deliberately pitching
his voice so that Akane could hear. Kinma could only shrug.
"So she's got spunk," Genma attempted to cheer Ranma up. "That just makes a fiancee
even cuter!"
"Cute?" Ranma snorted. "Cute is not the word."
"But you were both girls," Nabiki was entreating her little sister. "That makes it okay, right?"
"Okay," Akane grumbled, "is not the word." She turned to glare at Ranma, who glared right
back.
"Definitely not cute!" Ranma repeated.
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