Standard Disclaimer: I by no means make any claim to the 
characters or to the story of Ranma. They are the exclusive 
property of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, Kitty Productions, 
etc.  I am merely a fan who had an idea for a story and 
decided to share it with others.


Please Note:
When dealing with a trans-genderal character such as Ranma 
it sometimes becomes difficult to establish the usage of 
he/his v.s. she/her.  In dealing with memories, I have used 
masculine as this was Ranma's form at the time.  In other 
cases, it will depend on the perception of the characters 
involved.  If he is male, or _thought_ to be male, the 
masculine terms are used, and vice versa.  I have tried to 
catch each example of this, but if I have missed any, 
please bear with me.


Index:
"Quotes" are for spoken words.
 are for thoughts.
[Braces] are for 'sign' language.
*Stars* are for sounds or actions.

                           ***///***

Soun carefully examined the postcard in his hands.  There 
was nothing truly remarkable about the card itself; on the 
front it carried a picture of a panda eating contentedly 
amongst a bamboo forest.  One edge was frayed slightly, 
showing a small split between the layers of paper, and 
there was one small crease that cut diagonally across the 
top left corner, marring the surface of the glossy print. 
On the back, the stamp was from mainland China, and though 
the postmark was smudged, most likely by the hand of some 
impatient clerk who had wielded the stamp, it was still 
possible to make out its origins as having been somewhere 
in Hong Kong.

Soun flipped the card over once again to the front, his 
eyes searching for something hidden, something he may have 
missed, but nothing new appeared to him.  One side coarse 
while the other smooth, his fingers  slid across the 
surface, but the exercise gained him no more knowledge 
than his eyes had already given him.

"I don't suppose you have an answer for me, do you 
friend?" he posed to the panda still munching happily on 
the green shoots.  He didn't really expect an answer so he 
wasn't really disappointed when none came forth.  

With a small sigh, he once again turned the card over and 
read again the words written in kanji.  The style of hand 
was easily discernible though he had seen it only a handful 
of times in the past ten years.  The sight of it brought 
him indescribable pleasure and glee, but over it rode a 
great sense of shame as well.  With a small sigh, Soun half 
tucked the card into the left breast of his gi and stood 
from the tatami mat.  He looked around the empty room, 
examining carefully every detail, fixing it in his mind.  
With a small, slightly sad smile, he spoke aloud once more 
though there was no one there to hear it.

"Today.  Today is the day that everything changes, and for 
that my daughters... my treasured family, for that I am 
truly sorry."  Turning sharply towards the door he called 
out loudly to the rest of the house. 
"Kasumi!  Nabiki!  Akane!  Please come here at once.  There 
is something I need to speak with you about."  Not even 
waiting for a reply, Soun proceed into the interior of the 
house in search of the three girls.  He hadn't noticed but 
when he had turned, the card tuckedinto his gi came loose.  
Fluttering and twisting in the air as it fell,it finally 
came to rest with the picture facing the floor.  The words 
written there, the words that had turned the life of Soun 
Tendo upside down were clearly visible, standing out 
sharply against the white.


                    Bringing Ranma from China.
                                              Genma


                            ********                          
                       THE YOUNGEST TENDO
                       By Stephen Sparrow
                                
                       Chapter 1: Promises
                            ********
                                
Soun paused at the door to the kitchen, brushing aside the 
curtain.  At the counter Kasumi was busily preparing the 
evening meal, working meticulously away with a knife on the 
cutting board.  Several bowls that were already filled with 
raw chopped vegetables sat to one side and a pot on the 
stove emitted a pleasant melody of scents and spices.  This 
wasn't really his domain though.  Oh, he knew enough about 
how to cook to get along, but it was nothing to compare 
with his daughter's skill.  In here, she was the sensei, so 
he would not enter while she cooked, as he would expect 
that no one would intrude upon one of his classes when he 
taught.  He was about to call out her name again when he 
paused, mouth slightly open, to simply... watch.  His 
eldest daughter, his little girl, now all grown up into a 
beautiful young woman.  Graceful in step and in action, 
always with a friendly smile or kind comment, he watched as 
she moved about the kitchen in her preparations, humming 
all the while a pleasant wordless tune.  How wonderful it 
would be to leave this all undisturbed, but the thought of 
what he must do returned to spoil this perfect moment.

"Kasumi."

Pausing in her cutting, Kasumi grabbed a small towel to 
wipe her hands and turned towards the door.  She wore a 
long yellow apron adorned with a chick and the words "piyo 
piyo", protecting her red skirt and white blouse from 
becoming splattered and stained.  A pair of round framed
glasses she used to read from a recipe book rested out of 
the way in the hair just above her brow.  She gave a small 
smile as she saw her father standing there expectantly.  
She never quite understood why he always seemed reluctant 
to come into the kitchen whenever she cooked. 
"Yes, what is it father?" she replied as she continued to 
dry her hands against the towel.

"Could you please go and get your sisters?  I have 
something very important to speak to each of you about."

"Yes, of course.  Just give me a moment to finish up here."

Soun gave her a small smile and a satisfied nod before 
ducking back out behind the curtain and heading back down 
the hall to the living room.  Turning back to the counter, 
Kasumi put the bowls and other items to one side and took 
to pot off the element.  She untied the apron from around 
her waist and placed it on its hook by the fridge.  As she 
ducked past the curtains heading into the house, she could 
not help but wonder what it was her father had to say.

                      ***///***

Soun returned to the living room and sat down on the far 
side of the table, his back facing the yard.  As he awaited 
the arrival of his three daughters, memories of the past 
came floating up to greet him; memories from over two 
decades ago.

                      ***///***
                                
                      !!!BOOM!!!

Soun tentatively removed his fingers from his ears and 
slowly opened his eyes.  Standing from his crouched 
position, he turned around to examine the location where 
the muffled explosion had occurred.  It was intact.  The 
boulder adorned with the prayer rope was still in place, so 
fully sealing off the cave mouth that not even the smallest 
tendril of smoke escaped.

They'd done it!

Not yet turning from the sight of the sealed cave, Soun 
addressed the man beside him.  "Saotome, you know what this 
means don't you?"

"Indeed I do, Tendo." replied the heavyset man.

"WE'RE FREE!" both chorused at once, gripping each other in 
a hug and shedding tears of relief and joy. "At last we're 
free of the Master."

After a moment more, they broke the embrace and their 
expressions sobered.  Each making a formal bow towards the 
boulder.

"May you rest in peace, Master." Soun offered in his prayer 
for the deceased. 
"We shall never forget you." Genma said in respectful tones.

After a moment of silence, the two men straightened and the 
joyful expressions returned to the two men.

"Come Tendo.  We must celebrate.  Let me buy you a drink." 
Genma said slapping the smaller man across the back.

The two then headed off, skipping and laughing like young 
boys towards the nearest town.  They proceeded to get 
themselves very drunk that night, telling jokes and 
recalling tales of their adventures together though leaving 
out any mention of the Master.  They spoke of many other
things as well, their futures for one.  The past few years 
under the tutelage of Happosai had prevented much thought 
other than the Art or survival.  This was the first chance 
that either of them now had time for contemplation.  Soun 
felt that perhaps it was time to settle down, found a dojo 
where he could pass on all that he had learned, and to 
start a family.  Genma scoffed at the idea, saying that 
they'd only just freed themselves and he for one wasn't 
about to be tied back down. They argued the point back and 
forth for over an hour, debating in somewhat foolish detail 
as only a drunken mind could, the merits and follies of 
marriage and personal freedoms... and of children. It 
wasn't until the early predawn hours that they both finally 
passed out, a small mountain of sake bottles surrounding 
them.

The next day rose with a brilliant sun in a sky that 
promised today would be particularly fine for everyone out 
and about.  Well, everyone save two.  Having finally awoke 
by late morning, Soun and Genma found that several large 
men had come by while they'd been sleeping, repeatedly 
beat them about the heads, scoured their tongues with 
sandpaper, and perversely nailed a railroad spike with a 
microphone hookup through their temples so that every sound 
sent sharp white pain directly into their brains.  Well, at 
least that's what it felt like.  Eventually the room  
stopped spinning, the ground stopped heaving (and their 
stomachs) and the sunlight became bearable that they were 
eventually able to continue with their travels.

After traveling for several weeks together, the two came to 
a crossroads.  Soun still had the desire to begin a quieter 
life whereas Genma still had the call of wanderlust within 
him. So it was here that the two parted ways with much back 
slapping and good cheer and wishes of good health and 
fortune.  Soun traveled to Tokyo where he worked as a 
sensei at a local dojo until he could afford to establish 
one of his own to carry on the teachings of the Art.  By 
chance, fate or fortune, Soun met a lovely and enchanting 
woman.  Kimiko.  You may scoff at the idea at love at first 
sight, but from the moment they met, there was an 
attractive force between them that they could both feel.  

After a short courtship period, they were wed and 
established a home and school.  Over the next few years, 
their family grew in size from two to five, blessing the 
couple with three beautiful, healthy daughters they named 
Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane.

Genma spent the next couple of years wandering from place 
to place, never staying in any one place for too long (as 
he tended to wear out his welcome), and learning new 
techniques in the Art from those he could, whenever he 
could.  In his aimless journey across Japan, he was passing 
through a park when something caught his eye.  Whether it 
was the way she gracefully moved along the path, how the 
warm spring sunshine shone down upon her seemed to make her 
glow, or how the fragrant breeze teased her hair and 
adorned it with cherry blossoms, he wasn't sure, but like 
iron is drawn to a magnet, he too was drawn to this woman.  
Their first encounter left Genma standing alone with a red 
hand print on his cheek.  The details themselves are 
unimportant, but Genma was not to be deterred and persisted 
in attempting to gain the attentions of this mysterious 
woman.  Some left him with more sore and red cheeks, though 
one or twice his antics gained him a favorable, if amused, 
smile.  Magnets create fields that draw ferrous materials 
to them, but given enough time, even an ordinary lump of 
iron can become magnetic if it remains within this field, 
creating an attraction of its own.  Despite all of his 
protests that he would never be tied down, over time Genma 
created his own noose and handed it to the woman who would 
become his bride.  That, and he never suspected that Nodoka 
would actually get a piece of rope, wrap him up in a neat 
little package, and sit on him until he consented to the 
wedding. After a year, they too were blessed with a child, 
a son born under the stars signifying Luck and Destiny.  
They named the boy Ranma.

The two families met several times over the next few years, 
Soun and Genma usually drank and recalled tales of the 
years past, while Kimiko and Nodoka would watch over their 
children play together and told tales of their husbands.  
At the end of each of these days, they bid their goodbyes 
to take their sleepy or sleeping children back home.  As if 
by ritual, the two men would give each other a small smile 
and a nod before turning to escort their families home.  
Though it was never spoken out loud, they had never 
forgotten the promise they'd made, that someday, their two 
families would be united in marriage.

                      ***///***

"Do you think he's fallen asleep?"
Akane looked to her sisters as they stood looking through 
the doorway into the livingroom.  Kasumi and Nabiki had 
come into the dojo while she'd been training and told her 
that their father had wanted them all together to tell them 
something.  They'd only just got back to find him sitting 
cross-legged with his eyes closed.

"Well, if he is, I'm sure he won't mind if we woke him.  
Whatever he has to tell us seemed very important to him." 
Kasumi replied as she padded softly into the room and shook 
her father's shoulder gently.  "Father.  Akane and Nabiki 
are here now."

Soun's eyes snapped open at the nudge and focused first on 
his eldest daughter, and then on the other two girls still 
near the door before waving them in.  "Ah, yes. I was just 
remembering something.  Please come here and have a seat.  
There's something I need to discuss with all of you."

Akane and Nabiki stepped into the room to join their sister 
and father.  Akane was dressed in her gi, her long braid 
bouncing gently against her back as she walked.  Nabiki was 
dressed in her casual after-school attire that consisted of 
a t-shirt and cutoff shorts, and as she crossed the room 
she spied something laying out of place on the floor.  She 
bent over and picked up the small white card and examined 
it briefly before extending it to her father.

"I think this is yours, Daddy."

Soun looked at the card, then opened his gi to examine the 
inner pocket only to realize that there was nothing there.
"Ah, yes.  I must have dropped that."  he said taking the 
postcard. "Actually, this is what I wanted to talk to you 
about."

"So who are these people, Genma and Ranma?" Nabiki asked as 
she took a seat along side her sisters.

"Genma is a very old friend of mine.  He and I studied the 
Anything Goes style under Master H... uhhh... errr... The 
Master.  Ranma is his son.  The two of them have been on a 
training journey for many years now and just recently 
they've been to China.  I just received this postcard today 
saying that they will be coming here to visit."

"Oh my.  Will they be staying long, father?  I'll have to 
get the spare room made up if they are."

"I'm not exactly sure, Kasumi."

"So why is it that they're coming here Dad?  Is it part of 
their training mission?" asked Akane.

"Uh, no.  Not precisely.  You see... Ranma is your..." Soun 
cleared his throat "That is to say... one of you will be 
engaged to marry him."

The silence that followed that simple statement was nearly 
deafening.  The three girls just sat there a moment, 
stunned.  They blinked a couple of times as they slowly 
absorbed the information.  Almost as if by cue, all three 
frowned at Soun.  Not just any frown, but the kind of
frown that only a woman can give a man who's displeased 
her.  The whole experience unnerved Soun greatly as he 
began to sweat.  Nabiki was the first to find her voice.

"Daddy, you mean to tell us you've engaged us to a boy 
we've never met based on a promise to a man you haven't 
seen in years?" Soun managed to nod slightly.  "How could 
you do such a thing to us?!?" He flinched back at the sharp 
tone Nabiki used but didn't get a chance to recover as he 
was suddenly bombarded from three sides.

"Father, you know that I don't have the time to get married 
right now, what with my studies and my volunteer work at 
the clinic..."
"I mean, maybe Kasumi is old enough to be married, but 
Akane and I are still in high school.  What do you propose 
to do about..."
"Marriage?  I don't want to think about that yet.  There's 
too much of my life ahead of me to even think about getting 
married yet.  Besides, I already have someone I like."

"You do?" chorused Kasumi and Nabiki as they turned to 
regard their younger sibling.  Somehow, even amongst all 
the chaos, the two girls had filtered out everything else 
and heard that one statement.  Akane blushed, embarrassed 
that she'd blurted out more than she'd intended.  She 
turned slightly away to avoid grins and slightly predatory 
gazes of her sisters, the whole matter with their father 
apparently dropped in an instant.

"This is the first I've heard of this Akane." Kasumi said 
smiling with Nabiki adding  "Yeah, come on Akane.  Spill 
it.  Who's the guy? Do I know him?"

Akane blush deepened, but now a smile crossed her lips as 
well as she turned back to address her sisters.  "Well, he 
doesn't really know, but it's-"

"Daughters! Please!"

Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi turned back to face their father.  
Given the slight respite over their distraction with Akane, 
Soun was able to recover his mental footing.  Gone now was 
the nervousness and embarrassment they'd seen on his face, 
replaced now with a seriousness and a sternness they'd 
rarely seen on their father.  Normally their father seemed 
so easy going, so the sudden change in his demeanor was not 
lost on the three girls as they sobered up, sitting up 
straight once again, their legs tucked underneath and hands 
in their laps.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't consider this matter 
so lightly," Soun admonished.

Nabiki took the lead again, adding a little roll to her 
eyes as she spoke. "Well, how else should we treat it, 
Daddy?  At the risk of repeating myself, you've engaged us 
to someone we've never met. Get with the times, already.  
Arranged marriages have been out of style for decades.  I 
for one don't want any part of it, and I don't think Kasumi 
or Akane do either."  The other two girls nodded their 
ascension to the statement.

"Well, I guess that makes four of us then." Soun said 
softly with just a hint of sadness behind his words.

That was not what the girls had been expecting to hear.  In 
fact they would have said, given everything that had just 
been said in the past few minutes, that those words would 
have been almost at the bottom of list of things their 
father would say.  For the second time in as many minutes, 
the girls shared a sort of stunned silence.

"You mean that you don't want this to happen too?" Kasumi 
asked to which Soun nodded his agreement.  "Then why did 
you bring it up?" she said with more than a hint of 
confusion.

"Because... because Genma and Ranma are coming. I was 
hoping that this day would come some years down the road.  
To be honest, I actually hoped that this day would never 
come." He turned his head slightly to the side, his eyes 
gaining a distant look as if he were looking at something 
beyond the wall.  "No, that's not entirely true, there was 
a time that I looked forward to this day with great 
expectation." He turned back to face the girls, to focus 
his attention once again on them.  "But things have changed 
since that time.  A great deal in fact, but the engagement 
still stands."

The three girls turned to look at one another again, 
confusion evident on their faces, before facing forward 
once again.  Again, Nabiki was the first to speak up.

"Let me see if I follow this.  You're opposed to this 
engagement, but you're saying that we still have to go 
along with it?" Again, Soun simply nodded.  "Why?" she 
droned.

"It's not that simple, Nabiki.  I can't stop the engagement 
simply because I no longer wish it to happen.  It's a 
matter of family honor.  Giri.  The only way to break off 
the engagement is for Genma to renounce it as well.  That 
may happen,"  "but, until that happens, _if_ it happens, I would 
like each of you to consider this engagement to Ranma to be 
official and that one of you will have to marry him to 
satisfy our family's honor."

Each girl seemed to chew that idea over for a minute.  Not 
one of them particularly liked the idea of an arranged 
marriage, they downright despised it even, especially when 
it was to someone they'd never met and on such short 
notice.  But each of them also knew that since the matter 
hinged on their family's honor, something that in their 
house was taken very seriously, they would concede to their 
father's wishes.  One by one, they each nodded grimly, 
Akane being the last.

"Thank you, my daughters.  You make your father proud." he 
punctuated the remark by giving them each a warm smile.  
"Believe me, if there were a way I could spare you from 
this situation, I would.  I only ask that you can forgive 
an old man for the impetuousness of his youth."

Kasumi, Akane and Nabiki each gave a little smile in 
return.  Kasumi reached out across the table to grip her 
father's arm gently, giving it a reaffirming squeeze. "Of 
course we forgive you, Father." Akane and Nabiki adding 
their own nod.  "We all know that you care for us deeply 
and that you'd never try to hurt us."  She settled back 
into a sitting position before posing her next question. 
"I... I suppose that if one of us were to... marry this 
Ranma, we would take his family's name.  What is it, 
father?  I don't think you mentioned it."

Soun stiffened at the question, almost like one would after 
hearing a rattlesnake's rattle, caution mixed strongly with 
fear, and then he seemed to sag a little as if in defeat. 

"Saotome.  His name is Ranma Saotome."

Kasumi sucked in her breath sharply as she covered her 
mouth with a hand, her eye growing wide in surprise.  
Nabiki and Akane instantly turned to her. 

"What is it, sis?"
"Kasumi.  What's wrong.  Are you ok?"

Kasumi gave them a slight wave of her hand to indicate that 
she was fine, but neither of them missed the slight 
glistening in their sister's eyes.  However, they did miss 
her words as she spoke too quietly for anyone else to hear. 
"Oh, father.  You didn't?"

"I SAID PUT ME DOWN YA' OLD FOOL!"

All four Tendos turned at the shout coming from the front 
of the house.

                           ***///***

Ranma awoke feeling quite cold and damp.  Not the greatest 
way to wake up, but not a terribly uncommon one considering 
how much time she spent on the road training with her 
father.  There was a dull ache in the back of her head and 
her mouth felt fuzzy.
*PLEAH!!!*
Oh yeah!  Cold, damp and a mouth full of wet panda fur. 
 she 
thought to herself as she spat out the last few offending 
hairs.  She felt herself bobbing along, draped over the 
large panda's shoulder as it walked along the street, 
causing no end of confusion and concern for the other 
pedestrians walking by on the street.  She raised her head 
in an attempt to gauge where she was and almost regretted 
the action immediately.  Her vision blurred for just a 
moment as the dull ache spiked sharply from her movements.  
Something flashed in front of her face and it took another 
moment for her eyes to come back into focus to identify 
what it was. 
"[Oh good.  You're awake.]  Yeah, no thanks to you, Pop.  
What's the big idea socking me in the  head from behind?" 
she questioned the large animal with the sign.

The panda whipped the sign behind its back before replacing 
it with another.  She always wondered when he had the time 
to make those darn things, or how he knew exactly what he 
wanted to say long before he said it.  It was almost eerie 
in a way.  That and she never could figure out where he 
stored them considering he wasn't wearing anything.  On 
second thought... maybe she really, REALLY, didn't want to 
know the answer to that one.  She decided that such matters 
were probably best left for philosophers, physicists... and 
proctologists, and pushed it aside as she read the contents 
of the new board.

"I am _not_ getting sloppy!  That was a cheap shot and you 
know it.  Now put me down so I can kick your ass and... 
hey.  Why'd you stop?" she asked as she noticed that they 
had indeed stopped in front of respectably sized house, 
bordered by a high stone wall.  In front of them was a 
large set of wooden doors, a sign to one side indicating 
that the compound was the 'Tendo School of Anything Goes 
Martial Arts'.

[We're here, that's why.] the latest of the panda's signs 
read before it was discarded and it put a large paw to the 
door, pushing it open.

"Oh no you don't!  I don't want any part of your crazy 
plan, do you hear me?" She struggled to get out of the 
panda's grip and push herself off its shoulder, but it had 
little effect.  She couldn't get enough leverage from her 
position and there was almost no traction between the wet 
fur and her bare feet.  The panda's grip tightened in 
response to the squirming, pinning the girl's small body to 
its large frame and effectively preventing her from 
escaping, but it didn't keep her from trying none the less.  
She started flailing against the creature with hands and 
feet, but that too had little effect.  "Put me down old 
man.  I ain't marrying some strange girl, you got that?  
Now let me go!  I SAID, PUT ME DOWN YA' OLD FOOL!"

                           ***///***

Soun tried to place the voice but failed.  It wasn't any of 
the neighbors, it sounded too young, so who could it... 
 he though to himself.  he finished 
sourly.

At the sound of the front door sliding open, accompanied 
with several more indistinguishable noises that reminded 
Soun of someone struggling, he stood. 
"I'll be back in just a moment, daughters.  I'm just going 
to see who's at the door." and as good as his word, he 
headed down the hallway to the atrium.

As soon as their father's back was turned and he was out of 
whisper range, the three of them huddled their heads 
together.

"So what do you think?  Do you think he's serious about all 
that?" Akane asked the other two.

"I think he's serious about not wanting this marriage to go 
through, but I also thinks that if he can't break it off 
that he'll want us to marry this Ranma person," was 
Nabiki's reply.

"I really hope it doesn't come to that, especially if what 
I suspect is true." was Kasumi's melancholy response.

That caught the attention of the other two.
"You think something funny is going on, Kasumi?"
"I know she does, Akane.  Come on onee-chan, what is it?"

Kasumi looked into the probing eyes of her sisters,  
carefully weighing in her mind whether to tell them her 
thoughts.  After a second she concluded that if it didn't 
come out now, it would come out a little later, and 
besides, they had a right to know.  Letting out a little 
sigh she began.
"I think I recognized Ranma's last name.  It's-" anything 
more was cut off as she glanced up to see her father 
running back down the corridor at high speed, a highly 
panicked expression painted across his face.  "Father?  
What's wr-" for a second time in almost as many seconds she 
was cut off as the answer to her query appeared in the 
hallway, her eyes bulged and her mouth opened in surprise.

Akane and Nabiki turned to see what had startled their 
sister with their own wide eyed stares and slack jaws.  
Filling much of the corridor was a giant panda standing 
upright, towering upwards of seven feet.  Upon reaching the 
dining room, something instinctual within Soun kicked in as 
he quickly turned and fell into a defensive stance, 
prepared to defend his daughters from the crazed marauding 
animal that had invaded his home.  He was surprised (and a 
little disappointed) when it didn't charge but instead 
walked almost nonchalantly towards him. It was then he 
first noticed the squirming red and black bundle that the 
creature seemed to be carrying.

"Quit it, Pop!  Can't you see you're scaring them  
spitless?!?" came the high pitched voice from the bundle, 
identifying it as a person.

By this point, the three girls had taken up position behind 
their father, some of their initial shock having worn off 
and replaced with mild curiosity.  The panda suddenly 
stopped a couple of paces from the group and plunked down 
its charge.  The young red-headed individual immediately
stopped struggling and yelling and now looked as if they 
wished they could disappear through the gaps in the floor 
boards.

Seeing that the animal was no longer advancing, Soun 
relaxed slightly, at least enough to drop his hands to his 
side and get a better look at the individual before him.  
The clothes appeared to be slightly worn and overly baggy, 
as if they were handed down from an older sibling.  The 
hair, fiery red.  He'd seen other young people with unusual 
hair colours, such as green, blond, purple, blue, and by 
the Kami, even pink.  Why it seemed so fashionable to die 
one's hair such bizarre shades was beyond him, but this 
seemed to be natural.  Of what he could see of the downcast 
face, young as well.  Somewhere in the middle teens if he 
wasn't mistaken.  And... <...looks just like...> Raising a 
finger in his address "You-you wouldn't be..?"

The individual before him squirmed a little more and 
reddened a little in what he assumed to be embarrassment.  
"I'm Ranma Saotome.  Sorry 'bout this." the voice trailing 
off at the end.

 Putting on his best smile, straining to make 
it appear happy at least, he took a step forward and 
clapped Ranma across the back.  "Welcome to my home young 
Ranma.  I am Soun Tendo, and these are my daughters, 
Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane." he said indicating each in turn. 

Each bowed slightly in greeting to Ranma, and after a 
moment, he returned it awkwardly.  Continuing where he left 
off Soun said "Where is your father?  I was under the 
impression that the two of you were traveling together.  
And-" he suddenly broke off as he heard Kasumi's polite
cough.  "Ahh, forgive me.  I've had much on my mind this 
morning, but that is not an acceptable excuse for 
neglecting my duties as a host.  Kasumi, if you could 
prepare some tea and something to eat for our guest?"  She 
nodded and gave a slight smile, grateful for something 
normal to be doing in this odd situation, and stepped 
lightly into the kitchen.  "Please come in and have a seat,
though I will have to ask that your animal be left  
outside." he said as he guided Ranma into the living room.

Ranma was still bit off balance mentally ever since he 
first entered so it took an extra moment for the words to 
sink in. "Anima... Oh, you mean Pop," he said as he sat 
down across the table from the two other girls and got her 
first good look at them.  They were both cute, though the 
expressions they were currently wearing detracted from 
their appearance slightly.  The older of the two, Nabiki he 
thought it was, regarding him analytically, as if weighing 
him in her mind, while Akane seemed perturbed about 
something from the way her lips were pursed.  He briefly
considered the idea that it was because of him, but almost 
immediately rejected it.  After all, why should she be?  
He'd only just gotten here and hadn't done anything to her.

"Pop?" Nabiki chimed in, obviously confused by the simple statement.

"Yeah, Pop.  My Pop."  Seeing she still didn't get it he 
elaborated.  "Ya' know, my dad, father, parental unit, 
otoo-san?"  Surely that should be plain enough for them to 
comprehend.

All three of them just gave him a strange look.  You know, 
the one that says 'I think some of the wiring has come 
loose.' look.

Nabiki cupped her face with her hand.  
Looking up again at Ranma "You really expect us to believe 
that that panda standing over there in the hallway is your
father?"

Ranma and the others tracked to where Nabiki indicated, and 
all but Ranma was surprised to see it scribbling furiously 
with a large felt tipped marker against a wooden placard 
before flipping it around.  Managing the best forlorn 
expression a panda could, it indicated the words written on
the sign with the marker. [Don't you recognize me Tendo?]

 he though as she realized their
confusion.  "Uhhh... yeah, ok.  Ummm... look, it's a long 
story, but I swear it's the truth."  None of the Tendo's 
were paying attention to her however, as the panda whipped 
out a second sign and wrote [Can I come in now?]  None of 
them could scarcely believe their eyes as the creature 
pulled yet another sign from who knows where and began 
writing again.  Ranma clenched his jaw in frustration.  
This was not getting any easier.  "Get over here, Pop.  I 
ain't doing this all on my own," he said through his
teeth.  With that the panda paused mid sentence and walked 
over to the table before plunking itself down, the latest 
sign forgotten.

Still slightly stunned by what just happened, Akane pointed 
at the large animal sharing the table with them and turned 
to Ranma "Did you train him how to do that?"

"Nah.  He figured that one out for himself, though I have 
no idea where he get's them though."   he added silently to himself.

Just when they though things couldn't become more 
confusing, it did.  Kasumi walked in with a tray borne with 
a steaming kettle, several cups and a small plate of 
snacks, setting it down on the middle of the table for 
everyone to reach.  Smoothing her dress beneath her as she 
sat, she said "Did I miss anything?"

Ranma gave a weary sigh.  He really hated explaining this, 
but it was the polite thing to do for their hosts, and it 
didn't look as if it was going to get any easier if he 
didn't.  "Why don't I start from the beginning.  I'm Ranma 
Saotome, and this is my father, Genma."  The panda raised 
its paw and gave a *growf* in what they could only assume 
was a greeting of some sort before Ranma continued. "We've 
traveled around a whole lot, but about a month or so ago
we were in China."

The Tendos each gave a slight nod at this, the girls had 
heard this earlier from their father.

"Well, one of the places we went was this training ground 
called Jusenkyo."  Ranma briefly replayed the day in his 
mind, from when the two of them first crested the rise to 
look down into the misty valley of natural springs, to when 
they'd hopped on top of the bamboo poles as they ignored 
the guide's comments, to the moment his head popped free of 
the spring's surface and first noticed _the change_.  The 
bitterness welled up for a moment and he said under his 
breath "You know I'm gonna get you for this?  Doncha, you 
stupid old man?"  Ranma shook her head to clear the 
momentary reverie before continuing.  "Anyway, Jusenkyo was 
supposedly one of the more famous training grounds in the 
area, so when Pop suggested it, we headed straight there. 
Didn't look like nothin' special, just a bunch of bamboo 
poles sticking out natural springs.  Good for practicing 
ariel leaps an' stuff, but nothin' challenging for us.  The 
worst thing that could possibly happen if you missed was 
you got a dunk on the way down."  The panda tried to look
innocent at this, but the effort was ruined as it earned 
itself a punch in the side. "Or so we thought.  The springs 
were magical.  Cursed in fact, but we didn't find that out 
until after we got knocked in.  Pop here got knocked into 
the Shaomonichuan, spring of drowned panda, so he is
really human, and I...I," Ranma swallowed heavily, trying 
to choke down the lump that had suddenly formed in his 
throat, "And I'm really a guy."

Akane looked puzzled at this "Why tell us that?"

Apparently the puzzlement was infectious "Huh?  What do you 
mean."  Ranma replied.

"Look, this whole bit about your dad being a panda is a 
little hard to swallow, but why bother telling us that 
you're a boy?  You are one, aren't you?"

"Y-you mean you didn't notice?"  The four Tendo's gave a 
slight collective shake of their heads.  Ranma studied 
their faces a moment suspecting they were lying, finding it 
hard that they could miss such an obvious thing, but there 
was only sincerity there.  They really hadn't noticed.  
Maybe it was the oversized clothing she had on that 
obscured her form, or the way that she used the masculine 
way of pronunciation.  "Pop, isn't the only one who fell in 
to one of the springs.  I fell into one too.  Nyaniichuan.  
So now I turn into a g-, a g-" Ranma's mouth couldn't utter 
the last word though as he felt her throat constrict.


"A what?  A gorilla?  A groundhog?  A grasshopper?" Akane 
supplied, but Ranma just shook her head.

 he 
thought to himself.  Scrunching his eyes shut in 
embarrassment, her hands very jerkily undid the top clasp 
of her shirt and spread the neck open, revealing the tops 
of two fleshy orbs.

The three girls, just sat in stunned silence.  Soun on the 
other hand had his hair standing on its end as he did the 
infamous Takahashi finger pose.  He stayed that way too 
until Ranma once again closed _her_ top. "You're a... a..."

"Girl." Nabiki dead panned.  "I think that's what he... 
she... whatever, was trying to say earlier."  Ranma merely 
nodded once, dropping her hands once again to her side now 
that the deed was done.  "Why the heck did you engage us to 
a girl, Daddy?  Even you should know the difference."

"But Genma had a son, I know that for a fact.  I saw him on 
several occasions as a child before he left with his father 
on their training mission."

"There's not much physical difference between boys and 
girls at that age.  Did you actually 'see' that he was a 
boy?"

Soun opened his mouth, but no sound came out, before he 
closed it once again.  True, he hadn't seen it with his own 
eyes, but he still did know that Ranma, at least Ranma 
Saotome was a boy.  "No, I didn't actually see it, but I do 
know that the Saotome's never had a daughter together." 

Nabiki just rolled her eyes a her father's blind faith.

"So who is this really then?" Kasumi asked curiously.  "If 
Ranma is a boy, then this girl here certainly can't be 
him."

Ranma launched herself up and stood quivering with fury and 
frustration "I'M A _GUY_, OK?!?  G. U. Y.  GUY!"   She found herself breathing heavily as she felt 
her control slipping.  The fact that her father was just 
sitting there like a lump was not helping the situation 
either.  This was not good, not good at all.  But if a 
martial artist was a master of anything, it was a master of 
themselves.  Control over the inner spirit.  Find your 
focus, your center, and you could achieve peace.  Taking 
the advice to heart, Ranma took several deep calming  
breaths, counting down slowly from ten to one before  
continuing with her tirade. "Despite what it looks like, I 
am a guy."  Her eye caught the still steaming kettle on the
tray and lit onto an idea.  "Look, as much as I hate doing 
this, I'll show you."  She turned to Kasumi, "Do you have 
any cold water?"

"Ummm," Kasumi wasn't exactly sure how to respond to the 
odd girl.  First, she looked as if she were about to burst 
at the seams, but now she was as cool as could be. "In the 
kitchen."  She thought that was the right answer, but with 
everything going back and forth so quickly she felt as
if she had been spun around. 

"Could you-" but she didn't even finish as Kasumi was 
already up and striding towards the kitchen.  She returned 
a moment later with a pitcher of water in one hand and a 
glass in the other, and passed them on to Ranma.  Putting 
them down momentarily, she grabbed up the kettle in one
hand. "Ok, here's how it works.  Whenever we get splashed 
with cold water, me and Pop here change into our cursed 
forms, but with hot water, we turn back to normal."  To 
emphasize the point she poured some of the contents of the 
kettle over her head.

If they hadn't seen it, they probably wouldn't have 
believed it.  Heck, they just saw it and they still didn't 
believe it.  Ranma had just unceremoniously poured the hot 
tea over her head, and just... changed.  There was no real 
good word to describe it other than that.  One moment she 
had just been standing there, but in the span of about two 
seconds, _she_ was gone.  They watched in stunned 
fascination as she grew taller while her chest shrunk, the 
shoulders widened while the hips became narrower, and the 
bright red hair changed to matte black.

Pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher and held 
it over his head, hesitating momentarily with the memory of 
how the transformation felt, a sort of squirming just 
beneath the skin as his anatomy rearranged itself. With one 
last small shudder, he tipped the glass over and emptied 
its contents.  Once again, the Tendos watched the process 
of Ranma's curse, only this time in reverse, the bust and 
hips enlarging while the overall height and build faded, 
and once again they saw before them the redheaded who had 
been dragged in through their door.

Picture this; just this morning your father had told you 
that you were engaged to a boy you'd never met, had that 
boy arrive being lugged around by a giant panda, find out 
that said boy was not actually a boy but a girl, have said 
girl claim that she was really a boy who was cursed to
become a girl whenever he came into contact with cold 
water, have said girl proceed to demonstrate said curse by 
going through a unbelievable and seemingly physically 
impossible transformation.  Neither Akane nor Nabiki knew 
how to respond to this bizarre turn of events, but for 
Kasumi the answer was appropriately simple.  "Oh my." she 
said.   It was only through Ranma's superior reactions that 
allowed her to catch the older girl, preventing her from 
hitting the floor as she passed out.

"KASUMI!" Akane cried out in concern as she, Nabiki and 
Soun rushed to the fallen girl's side.

Unsure as to what to do for the limp girl in his arms, 
Ranma decided to pass her on to Akane.  "I- I think she's 
ok.  I think she just fainted."  He watched as Kasumi was 
made comfortable, a convenient pillow placed under her head 
and blanket draped over her form.

As Akane placed a damp cloth across Kasumi brow, she heard 
her sister beginning to awaken.  Her eyes fluttered for a 
moment before opening and focusing on her sister's worried 
face. "Oh my.  I was having the strangest dream just now 
and..."  She broke off suddenly as she realized that she 
was not lying on her bed, but the hard floor.  That was 
odd.  When did...?  She sat up to look around, the blanket 
collecting in her lap as the damp cloth fell to the floor 
with a small thump.  It was then she spied the red-headed 
girl and the large panda.  "Oh.  I guess it wasn't a
dream after all."

"Are you ok, Kasumi?"  Akane picked up the errant cloth as 
she studied her sister's condition. She did at least appear 
to be fine, her colour was normal and she didn't seem 
disoriented in any way.  That eased the apprehension she 
was feeling, but didn't entirely eliminate it.

"Y-yes, I believe so.  I just think everything hit me at 
once is all," she said, beginning to fold up the blanket 
that covered her legs before passing it off to Nabiki.  
Seeing that her younger sister wasn't totally convinced, 
she smiled warmly and touched the other girl gently on the 
arm.  "I really am fine, Akane."

Nabiki returned from the hallway having deposited the 
blanket and pillow into the closet there before joining the 
others around the table.  "So what happens now, Daddy?  I 
can't really see the engagement holding if one of us has to 
marry someone who's half girl." 

"Hey!  I'm a guy, dammit."

Nabiki just gave Ranma a flat stare before poking the other 
girl's breast. "And what do you call these then."

"Err... well... So I don't have a guy's body just right 
now, but I'm still a guy inside."

"So are you saying that you want to go through with the 
engagement, is that it?"

"Engagem... NO!  No way.  This is all the old man's faul-"

Soun could feel the beginnings of a large migraine start to 
settle in.  He rubbed at his temples, tuning out the 
conversation between Ranma and his daughters.  This morning 
when he received that fateful postcard, he thought that 
there could be nothing worse.  He was wrong.  Things could
always get worse, especially if Ranma's curse was  
everything he said it was.  Something had to be done, and 
quickly.

"Daughters, and Ranma, if you would be so kind as to let me 
have a few minutes alone with Mr. Saotome.  There's much we 
need to speak about."

[Yes, we'll want to catch up on old times.]

"Sure Daddy."  Nabiki turned to tap Ranma on the shoulder.  
"Come on, Ranma.  Why don't we show you the dojo?"

"Ummm... alright."

The four of them stood up and were about to walk out into 
the yard when they heard the front door slide open on its 
tracks and someone enter the house.

Soun turned to look down the hallway, a look of fear pasted 
across his face. 

"Hello everyone.  We're home."

Soun turned pale 

Oddly enough, these same thoughts were echoed in Genma's 
mind as well.  Many things throughout his life had caused 
him to know fear, but nothing quite like this.  He had let 
Ranma do most of the talking earlier, well, much of that 
was due to the limited capacity for speech that he retained 
as a panda, but more so, the boy seemed to have been 
handling the situation quite well by himself (that and he 
was to lazy to do it himself).  But this, this Ranma  
wouldn't be able to take care of, and it was up to him to 
take charge of the situation.  Namely, grabbing his 
son/daughter by the collar and high tailing it out the 
nearest door.  There was only one hitch.  One cannot
execute such a plan if one has been flipped over and is 
looking at the ceiling.

Ranma straightened after soundly tossing her father to the 
floor.  "Look, Old Man, you already hauled me around town 
like a sack of rice once today.  I ain't lettin' you do it 
again."

He was about to add another kick to his statement when he 
was interrupted as a blue and white blur entered the room 
and attached itself around Soun's neck.

"Otoo-san!"

Ranma looked over to see what looked to be a young girl in 
a white and blue junior school uniform, either trying to 
strangle Mr. Tendo or was giving him a fierce hug.  She 
appeared to be about six or seven years old and had tawny 
coloured hair pulled back into two braids.

Genma peered up from his position from the floor and pulled 
out a sign. [Otoo-san?!?] His fear momentarily forgotten 
only to have been replaced by confusion.   He didn't manage 
to finish the thought as the reason for his initial panic
came into view.  His eyes grew wide and he thought his 
heart would stop.

"Oh, I see we have visitors."

Ranma faced the source of the voice and found himself 
looking at a regal looking woman in her middle years.  Her 
chestnut hair was done up in a neat bun and she moved 
elegantly in the dark blue kimono she wore, a basket with 
groceries hung from the crook of her left arm.  But it was
her smile that truly caught his attention.  His memories 
had faded over the years, but there was a warmth in that 
smile that he could never forget.

"Mom?"

                       ******************
                                
                        To be continued.
                              ^_^
                                
Special thanks to all of my pre-readers:

D.B. Sommers
Fire
Jessie Poe

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/towers/5920