Chapter 1

Here We Go

It was raining lightly in Tokyo. A fact well noted by two girls running from a panda.

"I told you!" The petite redhead shouted, "I'm not marrying anyone old man!"

Her blonde companion grabbed her and pulled her out of the way as a large dumpster crashed into the space she barely vacated.

The redhead looked around, then slashed the metal pole of a stop sign. She turned to her companion. "Usa, make sure nobody gets caught in the crossfire." Then the girl turned, hefted the sign like a battle axe, and leapt to attack the panda.

A few moments later, the redhead dropped the sign and turned from the collapsed bear. She made it two steps, Usagi's cry of "Ranma, look out!" coming too late as the panda knocked her unconscious.

"Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!"

"So," Nabiki's eyebrow twitched. "Let me get this straight. You're betrothing one of us to a boy that not only have we never met, but you haven't either. We're getting three permanent houseguests. And to top it all off, you still haven't got a stable source of income. That about sum it up?"

Soun Tendo nodded emphatically.

"Akane," Nabiki asked, "Can I borrow your hammer for a minute?"

"Now, now Nabiki," Kasumi interjected, "I'm sure you don't want to do that. Mother's good tea set is already set up for when our guests arrive."

The doorbell ringing spared Soun any further threats or abuse.

Temporarily.

Soun seized his opportunity for escape and rushed out of the room to answer the door. Raised voices were heard, and Soun ran back into the room, followed by a panda.

"So Daddy," Nabiki drawled, "Friends of yours?"

Soun shook his head.

"Really? So a panda just happened to pick our house when he decided to drop by for lunch?"

The panda in question plunked the protesting redhead he was carrying in front of Soun.

The older man stared at the redhead for a moment before taking a wild guess, "Ranma?"

Ranma looked down and sighed, "Yeah, I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

Soun grabbed Ranma in a bear hug. "Ranma my boy, we're so happy to have you here. Now you can… marry…" Soun put the girl at arm's reach. He reached out and poked her chest.

"Please don't do that," Ranma said flatly.

Soun fell over while the panda wandered off. A blonde girl wandered in. "Oh I can't wait to see Genma try and explain this one away."

Kasumi stood and walked over to the girl. "Hello there, you must be Usagi Tsukino. Do you know what's going on?" Her tone was calm and level, but had a definitively pleading note.

Usagi nodded, "Uh-huh. But I think I'd better let this one play out and just focus on damage control."

Kasumi dipped her head in acknowledgement. "Alright, but please don't let things get too far out of hand."

Ranma, Akane, and Usagi were in the dojo. "You sure you wanna sit out Usa?" Ranma asked.

The girl in question nodded. "Yeah, I still haven't been at this very long; I think I'll learn more from watching you two."

The spar began, and shortly thereafter ended when Ranma tapped the back of Akane's head. The pair devolved into laughter that even Usagi got swept up in.

The laughter subsided, but Usagi's smile stayed as the trio began talking about the spar, reviewing what they'd done. Usagi felt a small glow of pride that she actually managed to contribute a little with the outside perspective that she had.

Her smile fell and Ranma froze up as Akane uttered those fateful words. "I'm just glad you're not a boy."

As she left Usagi and Ranma exchanged a glance.

Usagi and Kasumi were in the kitchen talking when Nabiki walked in, "Who's that man talking with Daddy?"

Kasumi looked over at her. "Oh that's Father's friend. I'm not quite sure when he got here."

Nabiki nodded, "I just hope Akane doesn't find out there was a man here while she was in the furo."

Usagi started. "Oh no. Akane's in the furo?"

"Yeah, I just passed her in the hall on her way there. Why?"

Usagi turned to Kasumi. "I'm sorry, but things might be about to get a little further out of hand than I thought they would." She promptly ran out of the room.

The door to the furoba slid open. A boy and a girl stared at each other. The door slid shut. Akane put on her robe and walked out of the bathroom.

As she turned and went to run down the hallway, her scream was cut short before it started by Usagi catching her. "Akane," the blonde whispered in the bluenette's ear, "This is going to be hard enough for Ranma as is. Give him a chance to explain." The girls separated and Akane met Usagi's pleading eyes. "Please."

Akane stood there for a moment, the struggle evident on her face. "There had better be a really good explanation."

Usagi smiled. "There is." Her eyes hardened. "For Ranma anyway."

The Tendo family sat on one side of the table. Across from them sat Ranma and Genma Saotome, Usagi Tsukino between them.

Ranma broke the silence. "So… Umm…" He sighed. "I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

Akane looked at him. "So who was the girl earlier?"

Ranma raised his hand. "That was me too."

Genma stood up. "Allow me to explain." He walked behind Usagi, grabbed Ranma and threw him. Ranma grabbed his father's wrists in midair and landed, using the momentum as leverage to throw the man into the koi pond.

A panda sat up in the pond with a disgruntled look on his face and a fish flopping on his head. He stood up and walked back to the table, where he sat down.

Soun coughed into his hand. "I'll explain. Ranma, Genma, and Usagi just got back from China. While they were there they visited the legendary cursed training grounds of Jusenkyo, and Ranma and Genma were cursed there."

Nabiki raised her hand. "Question: Why were Ranma and Genma cursed and not Usagi?"

Usagi sighed, "Because I listened to the guide instead of ignoring the warning signs and jumping straight into training on a bunch of bamboo poles over cursed springs."

Kasumi spoke up. "So what is the curse exactly?"

Ranma turned to her. "Water. Cold water transforms us into something else, hot water changes us back."

"Oh." Kasumi upended the teakettle over Genma's head.

The man squeaked as he changed back. "It needn't be quite that hot."

"Oh my. I'm so sorry Mr. Saotome; I forgot that water was boiling." She paused. "I'll go heat up some more water for tea." She turned and walked out of the room.

As she left, Akane grabbed a glass of ice water and stood up. She walked around the table, kneeling down in front of Ranma. She put one hand on his shoulder and locked eyes with him. She continued to look into his eyes as if searching for something, then upended the cold water over his head and watched the transformation take place. She held her stare on the girl for a moment before standing and retaking her seat.

"So," Soun's voice was overly cheerful, "My boy, you've got a bit of a problem. But don't worry; you can still marry one of my daughters." All four teenagers still in the room facefaulted as he stood and gestured around the room at each girl as he listed them. "Akane, 16; Nabiki, 17; and Kasumi, 19" The last girl looked slightly confused at hearing that as she walked in. Soun sat down again. "So which one do you pick?"

Kasumi almost dropped the fresh teakettle she was holding. The oldest Tendo girl bit her lip. I'm sorry Akane, she thought, but this kills two birds with one stone anyway, so… "Oh, he wants Akane."

Nabiki snapped her head around. After a split second of staring at her sister in shock, she smirked and joined the bandwagon. "Oh yes, they're perfect for each other."

Akane looked back and forth, giving both of her sisters traitorous looks. "Wait, what? When did I agree to this? I don't want to marry a pervert!" She flinched as soon as the words were out.

Ranma hid her wince by looking away from her. "Right, I'm the pervert."

Akane swung around and shot him a glare. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Ranma put her hands behind her head and turned away to hide the pain in her eyes. "Well I sure noticed you getting a good long look at me back there. And I'm built better to boot."

Ranma never even saw the table coming.

Some time later Ranma woke up on the floor. Someone had taken the table off of her and replaced it with a blanket. She sat up, stretching and rubbing the back of her head. She could hear hushed voices from the kitchen and didn't want to bother anyone, so she made her way to the bathroom, the only other source of hot water she knew of.

The furoba door slid open. Two girls stared at each other. Akane slapped Ranma.

It was late – a few hours had gone by – as Usagi pulled herself onto the roof. She smiled, "I knew I'd find you up here."

Ranma gave her a wave of acknowledgement.

Usagi sat down next to him. "You always go to the highest point around when you need to think. Must be the cat in you."

Ranma shuddered. "Please don't mention that."

The blonde girl dipped her head. "Sorry." She waited for a minute. "So, you've got a fiancée now."

"I do not! That's just another one of Pop's crazy ideas!"

"Ranma, I've been traveling with you for three years, and even when we met you were an open book. You like her. A lot."

"Why would I –"

"Then look me in the eyes. Look me square in the eyes and tell me you don't like her."

Ranma looked at his friend for a long minute as the night wind blew. He abruptly broke eye contact. "She's –"

"Obviously important enough to you already that you're sitting over her bedroom looking for peace."

Ranma exhaled, seeming to deflate as his defenses dropped under the assault. "It doesn't matter. She doesn't want anything to do with me anyway."

"Isn't that the kind of thing you should let her decide?"

"Usa, she doesn't even want to be friends now that she knows I'm a boy. I'll just wait for Pops to get bored and move on to the next scheme like he always does. Then she'll never have to worry about me again and she can move on to a happy, normal life."

"The great Ranma Saotome giving up? Doesn't sound like the martial artist I know."

"I'm not giving up, I'm straight up refusing to fight her on this! I'm not going to force her – anyone – to do anything! Especially not something as serious as marriage. That'd be too much like…"

"Like your father. So don't. Don't force her into anything, but give her a chance to decide for herself based off of more than the bad first impressions that follow you around. Fiancée, friend, or acquaintance, let her make that decision on her own, but stick around and give her that chance. Running is one of Genma's favorite tactics too."

"… Thanks Usa. I don't know why you bother to stick around sometimes."

"Because three years ago a certain pigtailed martial artist found a girl collapsed under a bridge and became the best friend she's ever had. I don't know what the panda's going to pull next, but there's no chance I'm letting a friend like you face it alone. I don't abandon my friends, you taught me that."

There was a comfortable silence for a bit. Then Ranma broke it, "Alright Usa, I'm going to bed."

"I think I'll stay up here tonight, you know I always have trouble sleeping in a new place when I can't see the moon."

"Fair enough, you want me to bring up a bedroll?"

"Nah, it's a warm night and I left my pack in Kasumi's room when I snuck out anyway. I'll go inside if it starts to rain or something."

"Alright, g'night Usa."

"Night Ranma."

The pigtailed boy jumped off the roof and walked back into the house. The blonde girl laid back and closed her eyes. The bluenette silently turned from her window and went to bed.

Akane had heard the entire exchange.

Usagi raised an eyebrow as Akane walked out of her bedroom. "You're not really going to wear that to school, are you?"

Akane looked down at her uniform, "Yes, why?"

The blonde put a hand over her eyes. "You know, I get the whole martial artist pride, get every last drop of use out of everything, run stuff into the ground mentality, but it really does not have a practical application to women's clothing."

Akane blinked, "Usagi, what are you talking about? This is the standard regulation cut for the school uniform."

Usagi did a double take. The faintest hint of steel slid behind her eyes as she recovered. "Oh really?" She looked pointedly at the eight inch skirt and extremely low cut V-neck blouse. "Akane, show me your gym clothes." The other girl opened her school bag and pulled out a tight yellow T-shirt and red short shorts that were only just shy of being bikini bottoms. Usagi took a deep breath and let it out. "Akane, go put on some different clothes, right now."

Akane looked scandalized. "What? You mean go to school out of uniform? I can't do that, what would everyone think?"

She received a flat look, "That you're the first girl at school smart enough to not give the boys a free peep show every time the wind blows."

"Usagi! I really don't think it would be a good idea to –"

She was cut off as Ranma came up the stairs, "Akane, Usa, Kasumi said to tell you breakfast's ready and we're going to be –" He stopped short and changed gears in a split second. "Akane, you should really wear your right size of clothes. I don't think you want to be showing that much skin."