Chapter One: The First New World To Be Seen

Ranma woke up lying in a puddle of water on the edge of some street, the sun glaring brightly overhead. Groaning, he sat up and held one hand to his head, which throbbed a steady beat. As he gradually got used to the pain, unfamiliar surroundings made themselves known to him.

He heard a familiar voice that he somehow couldn’t place ask something from some point high above his head. He missed the words, however.

“Wha… excuse me, what did you say? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine…” he shook his head, trying to clear out the lingering pain. “I suppose. What happened?” He looked up to see a figure standing on a fence above his head. He blinked and squinted his eyes against the bright halo of the sun that shone directly behind the figure. As his eyes adjusted, he became sure that he recognized him… but from where? As he drew himself unsteadily to his feet, the person answered.

“I dunno. I just saw ya lying in the gutter. You don’t know?”

Ranma shook his head, letting the last of the lingering pain dissipate. “No, but thank you for your concern.” He looked around and realized that he had no clue where he was. About to ask, he looked up at the other boy, wondering how he managed to stay so perfectly balanced on the thin chain-link fence, and gasped as recognition set in. The other seemed to notice as well and frowned slightly.

“Who are you?” they asked simultaneously, in identical voices.

Ranma’s eyes widened in surprise, while his twin’s narrowed almost unnoticeably.

“My name is Saotome Ranma of the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts,” the boy dressed in odd Chinese clothing introduced himself in a low voice. “And you are…”

Ranma’s eyes grew wide. “Anything Goes Martial Arts? That was father’s style! So it wasn’t a dream? Or maybe this is…” He pinched himself hard on the cheek. “Itai! Nope, this is real! Oh wow oh wow…”

The boy on the fence gave him an odd look. “Who are you?”

Ranma dragged himself out of his little celebration and looked up. “Me? Oh, I’m Saotome Ranma too. Nice to meet you!”

The other Ranma jumped lightly off of the fence and scrutinized him from head to toe. “Hmmm… close enough, I s’pose.” He leaned back and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “So, where are you from and what’s your beef? It’s all my fault, right?”

Ranma blinked. “No, how could you have anything to do with it?”

“No clue, but stuff like this’s usually blamed on me anyways.”

“Really? No, you have nothing to do with this. I made a wish, and it seems like it was granted.”

“A wish?”

“Yeah, I wanted to see what my life would have been like if father hadn’t died.”

The other Ranma stared at him for a second, then burst out laughing. “You mean… where you’re from Pop’s dead?”

“Yes, he died when I was just a baby. Does this mean he’s alive here? Cool!”

“Waitaminute. You mean you’re bein’ serious?”

Ranma looked at him, then suddenly realized what he was doing to his counterpart. “Oh, gee, this must seem so weird to you… I’m sure I’m still in shock too, this can’t possibly be real…”

The twin shook his head. “No, I jus’ thought you were pullin’ my leg, that’s all. This ain’t really weird at all. At least you’re not tryin’ ta kill me or nothin’.”

Ranma considered the implications of that comment and wondered what he had gotten himself into. When the other saw that no response was forthcoming, he continued. “Well, anyway, let’s get home. This should be funny… at least it’s harmless…” He started down the road. When Ranma didn’t follow, he stopped and turned around. “Hey, ya comin’?”

“Are you sure it’ll be okay?”

That elicited a laugh. “It might annoy ‘em, but this is hardly the weirdest thing that’s ever happened.”

Ranma followed with a curious expression. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, that’s right; with Pop dead, you never went on those training journeys. You live with Mom, then?”

Ranma was startled at the note of envy in the query. “Yeah, of course I live with mother…” then the previous statement sunk in. “Training journeys? Father took you on journeys? Where?”

His twin just shrugged. “All over Japan. China, once.”

“Cool… my life is so boring… I wish I could have gone to China.”

He was inexplicably chilled to hear the response to that, laughter with no trace of mirth in it at all. “Trust me, no you don’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. C’mon, hurry up. I don’t wanna miss dinner.”

***

Ranma was surprised at how easily he was accepted, as well as the fact that his counterpart was living at the Tendo Dojo. To his disappointment his father wasn’t there, however. The Tendo family seemed pretty much the same as ever, except of course the odd matter of the engagement to Akane.

They were waiting around the table for dinner to be served when the subject was brought up.

“What? Engaged?”

Ranma smirked at that. “That’s what I said, too.”

Akane nodded. “Word for word,” she commented dryly. Ranma saw that she didn’t seem to be any happier with the arrangement that her fiancé.

“But… what about…” he stopped. Judging from the curious looks he was gathering from around the table, he figured that it would be best not to say anything. “Never mind.”

“So, Ran-kun…”

He shivered at the slick tone of Nabiki’s voice. That girl hadn’t changed much. If anything, she was scarier than the one he knew.

“…who is your romantic interest, then?”

Ran-kun, as he had apparently been dubbed without his knowledge, was startled at the question. “What does that matter?”

Nabiki just gestured to Ranma. “That one refuses to say a word on the subject. So?”

Ran-kun thought about the logic for a moment, then shrugged. What harm could it do to tell? Well, there's always the chance that… “You do realize that we’re probably completely different? I mean, if here I… he had three fiancées he’s nothing like me.”

“Hey!” Ranma protested. “I never asked to be engaged to no one!”

“But you’ve got four girls wanting to marry you, right?” Ran-kun reasoned. “That means you’re different from me. Girls aren’t interested in me.” He wondered briefly why Ranma looked like he was panicking and frantically trying not to be too obvious about it.

The two Tendo sisters looked disbelieving. “You’re kidding, right? You’re not that different from him.”

Ran-kun just shrugged. “I don’t know how similar or different I am. You see…”

“Dinner’s ready!” he was interrupted by Kasumi’s cheerful announcement from the kitchen.

As he was handed a bowl of rice, he smiled at the oldest sister. “Thank you very much, Kasumi-san. I hope I’m not too much of a bother.”

Kasumi just smiled brilliantly. “Oh, of course not! I think it’s fun to have two Ranmas here!”

Ran-kun wondered briefly why everyone sweatdropped at that statement before digging in to the meal.

***

Ran-kun found himself sharing the guestroom with himself that night. He borrowed a set of pajamas and snuggled into the futon they had put out for him and started to go to sleep almost at once. The exciting day had really tired him out. Just as he was about to drift off, however, Ranma suddenly made a loud, upset sound and stood.

“Damnit!”

Ran-kun sat up. “What’s the matter?”

Ranma looked at him, directly into his eyes with a piercing gaze that was distinctly unnerving. It was like looking into a mirror, except that this mirror was alive and not at all under your control…

“I don’t know. I really don’t.” He let out a short laugh. “Tell me about you.”

Ran-kun thought for a moment. “Well, I’ve lived with my mother my whole life. I go to Kaloru Boy’s School, and that’s most of my life. My mother makes me work hard to keep my grades up, although I push myself mostly now… I’m not an athlete or anything, I keep in shape but mostly out of habit…” His eyes suddenly got glassy. “I have a wonderful koibito…”

“Lucky…” Ranma commented in a soft whisper.

Ran-kun nodded. “Yes, I always knew I was lucky to have Ryouga-chan.”

Ranma nearly choked. “Ryo…Ryouga?!”

The visitor barely noticed the tone of the exclamation. “Yeah, he’s wonderful, isn’t he? So handsome, so kind… so caring… he’s the one good thing in my life, I don’t know what I would do without him…” he noticed Ranma’s sputtering. “What’s the matter?”

Ranma had to work to catch his breath. “Ryouga? You mean… you…”

He shrugged. “Don’t worry, I won’t…”

Ranma stopped him by standing suddenly. “I can’t sleep. I’m going to practice.” He left, shutting the door closed behind him a little more forcefully than was perhaps necessary.

Ran-kun looked after him confusedly. What did that reaction mean? After a moment’s hesitation, he stood as well and followed.

***

~Mordain

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