The relationships between a man and a woman are complex and difficult to understand by even the wisest of people.
Boy meets girl.
Girl meets boy.
The entangling relationships, love and friendship. Rivalry and excitement. For two people, they're about to obtain all of these.
"Bringing Ranma from China.
-Genma"
The message on the postcard was a simple one. Yet to the middle aged man reading it, it was the most important message in the world. Tears of joy streamed down his cheeks.
"At last, at long last." The man was called Tendo Soun, and this letter was one he had been waiting for. "Kasumi!" He shouted into the kitchen.
"Yes Father?" A pleasant looking young woman stepped out of the kitchen.
"We're having a family meeting." He said happily.
"Another one?" Kasumi nodded, "Very well then, I'll get the others." She wondered, for a moment, what had brought him to call one this time.
Hopefully it wasn't anything too bad.
At that point rain clouds gathered and water began to pour from the sky.
"Oh my... I hope that's not an omen." Kasumi said quietly.
½ Ranma
Episode 1: Ancient Chinese Curse
It was raining in Nerima. A rather heavy storm, the roads and sidewalks were drenched. If it weren't for his umbrella he would be completely soaked. He was a young man, with black hair that was slightly longer in the back then the front. He wore a black button up shirt and jeans. He was slowly walking down the wet sidewalk, a calm expression on his face. He wasn't paying much attention to the world around him, which is why he was caught off guard from someone crashing into him from behind.
"Oh crap! Sorry!" The guy helped him up.
"Ow... geez, some reflexes I..." He muttered, his front was now wet and dirty. "Great..."
"Sorry." The guy who ran into him said, smiling uneasily. He was a teenager about his age, with a red Chinese shirt and black pants that looked a little too small on him. His black hair was tied back in a pigtail, and he was soaking wet. "I wasn't paying attention to where-"
"Hey, I wasn't paying attention either, so OK?" He shrugged, no reason to hold a grudge against the guy.
"OK well gotta go!" The teenager ran past him. A moment later, his eyes widened as a panda jumped down in front of him.
The panda, moving at speeds that he didn't know pandas could go, followed the teenager.
"...crazy." He shook his head.
BRRING BRRING
"Hello?" He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
"Hey, Daddy's called a family meeting, come back from your latest play fight and get back home now."
"Fine."
The rain was starting to clear as he arrived home.
A large and spacious home. The style was old fashioned, a wooden sign was hanging by the door.
"Tendo Dojo."
He walked inside.
"I'm home!" he announced as he walked through the entryway to the living room. A peaceful room overlooking the backyard, a koi jumping out of the pond. Sitting at the table was his family.
His father, Soun, his oldest sister, Kasmui, and...
"Hey, the jock's here." The short haired girl said sarcastically.
His second older sister, Nabiki.
"Glad to see you too." He rolled his eyes, sitting down across from her.
"Excellent," Soun said with a smile, "Now that Yuushi's here, we can get to business."
"So what is it this time, daddy? Someone challenge the dojo to mortal combat?" Nabiki asked.
"...no." Soun said.
"Oh! Perhaps we're broke again." Kasumi said.
"No."
"You have cancer and am now going to divide our inheritance?" Yuushi added.
"No! None of those!" Soun shouted, "It's a matter of family honor."
"So it's Yuushi's problem then." Nabiki brushed a strand of hair from her face, "So why call all of us?"
"Because we're all part of the family." Kasumi said, "Right Father?"
"Correct." Soun turned to stare at Yuushi. "Now, my son. You are truly my heir, correct?"
"Yeah...?" Yuushi said. "I haven't lost in ages, and I think I've learned Anything Goes pretty well."
"Of course." Soun smiled, "Yuushi, my son. I have wonderful news for you."
"This is going to be interesting." Nabiki whispered to Kasumi, who nodded with a smile.
"Over ten years ago, I met with my oldest and dearest friend, Genma Saotome! We got to talking... the two branches of the Anything Goes school had been separate for far too long." Soun put his arm around Yuushi's shoulder. "Me and Saotome realized that we could fix this. You see, fortune had smiled upon us."
"Uhhh..." Yuushi did not like the amused looks on Nabiki and Kasmui's faces. They had guessed what was going on.
"Saotome has a beautiful daughter, and I have a handsome son! And so, like that, we arranged a marriage between our families! My son, Yuushi would marry his daughter Ranma! And then the schools would be united at last!" Tears began to fall.
Nabiki burst out laughing.
"What the hell Dad!" Yuushi shouted. "Married? To some random girl!"
"Not random at all. She's the daughter of my oldest and best friend." Tears streamed down his face, his fist clenched as fire erupted behind him. "The two schools shall join to create the greatest martial art in the world!"
"..." Yuushi sighed. "Whatever dad..."
"Oy! Hey! Let me go you damn fool!"
"Who's that?" Nabiki stood up, "Is that Ranma... no it's a guy..." She stepped into the hallway. "Geeahhh!" She immediately ran back, Yuushi! Dad! It's a-"
A panda stepped into the family room, a teenage boy held over its shoulder. With little ceremony it deposited the boy onto the ground in front of Soun.
"Um... what is this?" Nabiki examined the scene.
A panda carrying a boy into the room. Not normal. The boy looked nervous and mildly annoyed.
Hey, it's that guy from earlier. Yuushi thought.
"Excuse me, who are you?" Kasumi asked politely. This seemed to startle the boy out of his nervous daze.
"Oh hey." He spoke... oddly. "The name's... uhh..." The panda poked him in the back, "Oh geez fine you dumb animal." He coughed. "OK. The name's Ranma Saotome, nice to meet you, I guess."
...Ranma?
"Wait..." Soun examined him, "I thought Ranma Saotome was a girl?" Yuushi noticed Ranma wincing at this.
"Nope..." Nabiki leaned over and pushed her hand against his chest. In response Ranma jumped back, covering his chest with one arm.
"D-don't do that!" He shouted. "How'd you like it if I grabbed your chest! Maybe you're not a girl either, huh?"
"Umm... well..." Soun had not been ready for this. In his mind, it would have been simple. His son would have acted on family honor, married Ranma, and all would be good.
Now...
"Well, come here boy!" Soun grabbed Ranma's shoulder. "As you can see, I have two fine young daughters! Kasumi and Nabiki, tell me my boy, which one would you like to have as your wife!"
"Not me." Nabiki said flippantly, walking away.
"Well, I don't really like younger men." Kasumi stood up, "Excuse me, I have some work to do." She left the room too.
"I think they shot you down Dad." Yuushi said, immediately afterword Soun slumped to the ground, grasping his son's hand...
"Yuushi, my son. please help me convince one of your sisters to marry Ranma." He asked with tears in his eyes.
"...yeah, no." Yuushi grabbed Ranma's arm. "You deal with this yourself dad, I don't want to be the one to tick off Kasumi."
"Um..." Ranma looked down at Yuushi's hand.
"Come on. My name's Yuushi Tendo." He smiled, "You do marital arts, right? Let's go to the dojo."
For the first time today, Ranma smiled, "Sure."
They stood in the dojo. Ranma himself was in a loose standing stance, to the untrained eye. But Yuushi saw the way his legs had shifted, and his arms were placed just so. It was an Anything Goes stance, one meant to lead the opponent to underestimate them.
Yuushi didn't take that stance, he preferred a more basic one. After all, this is just sparring.
"Ready?" He asked. Ranma nodded. "OK!" With a shout he threw a quick punch at Ranma.
Next thing he new he was on the ground.
"What the... oww.." He pushed himself up and turned around. Ranma was staring at him, a smirk on his nface. "Uhh..." He closed his eyes for a moment and thought.
When he had punched Ranma, he had grabbed his hand and used a Tai Chi maneuver to pull him over and throw him down behind him.
In the space of a second? "Wow, you're good."
"Of course I am." Ranma answered naturally.
"Well then." He jumped up, "Time to get serious then!" He upped the speed of his punch, this time Ranma wouldn't be able to use that trick.
He didn't need to, Ranma instead just seemed to turn to the right, avoiding his attack!
No way. Yuushi thought. This guy's insanely good. He pulled his arms and legs together, I'm going to have to go all out on him!
Then, Ranma went on the offensive. It was like a dozen blows struck him in two dozen places in an instant. Ranma's arms and legs moved in a dance. Yuushi struggled to block them, but half of them still go through. Damn it, I can't stay defensive! Defense was the weakpoint of Anything Goes, the style preferred to overwhelm with powerful offense force. Ranma understood this, which is why he was going all out immediately. Well then, I'll match him! It was the tactic that had won his first real fight. He pressed foreword, smashing past Ranma's offense! Ranma's eyes widened with surprise as Yuushi's fist moved towards his face. This being a sparring match, he would stop just before the fist connected, but the point would be made.
Except Ranma decided to not play along with that. His face vanished as he jumped above Yuushi.
"...what the..!" Yuushi spun around, but then he froze.
Ranma's fist had stopped, just millimeters in front of his face.
"..." Yuushi stared at Ranma. Then he burst out laughing. "Damn! Man, you're good!"
Ranma laughed softly. "Yeah, I am."
Yuushi patted Ranma on the shoulder. "Anyways, I guess it'll be a while till we convince Dad to stop this. But don't worry, no way Nabiki or Kasumi want to get married right now."
"Yeah." Ranma laughed nervously, "No way I want to get married to a gi- to anybody right now either."
Kasumi glanced at the panda. Such a polite animal, he had calmly waited as she filled the tea kettle with water and set it on the stove. "I didn't know pandas could write." She said.
The panda scribbled into a notebook, tore out the page and handed it to her.
"I'm special."
"I can tell." Kasumi picked up the kettle, "It's ready Mr. Panda."
The panda took the kettle and unceremoniously dumped the hot water over its head.
Kasumi's jaw dropped. "Oh... wow."
"Thank you young lady." The man who had once been a panda said.
Ranma poured the cold water over him. "Geez... it's cold." He sighed, glancing at the hot bath tub. "I should probably tell the truth." It wasn't right to hide it, especially since if he knew his dad then they'd be stuck here for a few weeks.
He slipped into the furo... "Ahhhh..." His voice changed tone...
Yuushi threw off his shirt. "Geez..." His arms, legs, and chest were all sore. Ranma had done a number on him. Pulling off his pants and underwear. "A bath would be good." He opened the door to the bath. And froze.
A new person was in the bathroom, a girl. She was drying herself off, a towel being rubbed in her bright red hair.
They both had frozen, staring at each other. The girl was short... and very beautiful. Her figure was curved in the right places, and her chest...
"Ahhhhiieeeee!" She screamed, picking up a bar of soap. "Out!" It flew at high speeds towards him.
"Gah!" Yuushi slammed the door shut just as the bard of soap exploded against the door.
"There's some crazy girl in the bathroom!" Yuushi ran into the living room, a towel wrapped around him.
"Nice show bro." Nabiki quipped.
"Not now Nabiki! She might be some-"
"Ahem."
The girl was standing in the doorway, wearing Ranma's clothing. It, while slightly loose, fit her much better then it had on Ranma.
"Who are you?" Nabiki asked.
"...Ranma Saotome." She sighed.
The family had once again gathered. Only this time there were two new people.
A man in a white gi and bandanna, and the red headed girl.
Yuushi stared at her. Just who is she? The girl looked over to him, her face shifted to a scowl and looked away again.
"So who are you two?" Nabiki asked.
"And why were you... a panda?" Kasumi added.
"Yes. Hmm. Me and Ranma have quite a story to tell." He grasped the girl's arm, "This is my daughter, Ranma. Now as to the change... allow me to demonstrate!" Suddenly he threw the girl.
"Damn you old ma-" She landed in the koi pond. Then, suddenly the guy jumped out. "You stupid worthless old jackass!" He charged towards the man, only to be suddenly stopped by a kettle full of hot water emptying over him, then the girl returned.
"Wow." Nabiki said.
"What sort of magic is this Saotome?" Soun asked, and Yuushi realized he must be Genma Saotome, Ranma's father.
"It truly is a tragedy Tendo." Genma nodded, seemingly struggling to hold back tears. "We never could have known what the trip to China would bring."
WHAM!
"I told you it would be a bad idea." Ranma had slammed Genma's face into the table. "I mean, I can read Chinese, you can't. Yet I recall you saying 'It is the duty of the man to guide the trip Ranma!' Please." She pulled a pamphlet out of a pocket in Genma's gi, "Out of retarded pride, he didn't even show me the pamphlet that would have warned us about all this crap!"
"Foolish girl!" Genma sat up, seemingly having recovered from his concussion, "The path of the martial artist is fraught with peril! Or would you rather be a housewife!"
WHAM!
Genma met the floor this time.
"Let me see that." Nabiki took the pamphlet. She began reading it aloud, translating the Chinese to Japanese.
"Cursed Martial Arts Training Ground. Junsenkyo, the Pools of Sorrow.
Take note that, under no circumstances, should you even consider coming to this place. Seriously, it's a terrible idea."
"All who come to Junsenkyo are cursed, there is no escape. Turn back while you still can."
Nabiki looked up from the pamphlet. "You didn't quite think this through, did you Mr. Saotome."
"It's a tragic fate, yes! But we are strong! We shall live through it!" Genma stood up again, "The path-"
WHAM!
Genma flew into the wall.
"If you had given me the map, none of this would have happened!" Ranma screamed.
"So... how does the curse work?" Kasumi asked.
Ranma sighed. "Well... it starts like this..."
"Here we are Ranma, the last leg of our journey." Genma looked down upon the valley. "Junsenkyo. The legendary training ground."
"It's bamboo poles and water." Ranma glanced at Genma, "We could duplicate this with a few kiddie pools and sticks."
Genma sighed. Where had he gone wrong? Daughters, even martial artist ones, should respect and love their fathers. Yet Ranma responded with pretty much everything he did and said with sarcasm. "Be grateful I'm even taking you here girl!" he snapped. "I swear," he muttered, "If I had a son-"
Ranma's elbow met Genma's head. "Please don't go on that spiel again."
"Ah welcome to Junsenyko." The guide welcomed them as they entered the valley. "Honored Sir and Madam, if you would follow me I will be able to guide you safe-"
"Come on Ranma!" Genma ran past the guide, jumping up onto one of the poles, "It's training time!"
"Right!" Ranma smiled as she jumped up onto a pole across from Genma, "Ready old man?" The two jumped at each other, exchanging punches and kicks in the air. "Ah-ha!" Ranma made a decisive blow, kicking Genma down into a pool.
"No! No poor honored sir!" The guide shouted. "You fall in Spring of Drowned Panda! Very tragic story of panda who drown there many years ago!"
Suddenly, a panda jumped out of the water!
"...what the...?" Ranma stared as the Panda kicked her and knocked her down.
"No not you too honored Madam!" The guide watched as she fell into one of the pools. "You fall into Spring of Drowned Man!"
"Guuah!" Ranma gasped for breath as she swam to the surface. Why did her clothing feel so tight all of a sudden?
"Very tragic story of young man who drowned in spring many years ago." The guide said to her.
"What're you talking about..." Ranma paused, her voice felt different. She looked down at herself.
And realized that it was now himself.
"Aeeehiiiaahhh!"
"Basically whenever I get hit with cold water, I become a guy. Hot water makes me normal." Ranma sighed. "It's annoying."
"Well, is that all?" Soun sat up and patted Ranma on the back. "It's not that big a deal! You can still marry a Tendo!"
"Of course he can." Nabiki pushed Yuushi foreword.
"Congratulations!" Kasumi helped.
"Hey! What about you two, she's half guy!" Yuushi snapped.
"She's mainly a girl, I'm sure she's most interested in you." Nabiki commented, glancing at Ranma. "Right?"
"Humph." Ranma folded her arms, "I know he got a good look."
"Me? What about you miss 'I'll take a bath without telling anybody!'" Yuushi stood up, "I bet you were hoping for a peak!"
"What!" Ranma's eyes narrowed.
"I'm right, aren't I? You little pervert!"
"Oh please." Ranma smirked. "I saw you, and compared to say my guy form... on a scale of one to ten, you're a three." She started laughing. Oh man I got him goo-
KAWHAM!
Ranma was forced against a wall by a table, having been hit with it by Yuushi.
"Please shut up." A blushing Yuushi growled.
"Owww..." Ranma mumbled.
"I'm going to my room." He announced, glaring at Soun. "Good night dad."
"Brother." Nabiki said.
"What!"
"Behind you."
Yuushi turned around, Ranma was now holding the table. She did not look happy. "Oh cra-"
SLAMBAM! CRACK!
"Jerk!" Ranma screamed, the table cracking in two upon contact with Yuushi's head.
"You started it!" Yuushi picked up the half of the table on the floor.
"Please! And here I thought you were a nice guy!"
"What do you know! I thought the same thing!"
BAM SLAM KABAM!
The two fell unconscious at the same time, the remains of the table falling around their heads.
"...I think they'll make a lovely couple, don't you Tendo?" Genma pulled out a bottle of sake and started pouring some into a cup, passing it to Soun.
"Indeed." Soun took the cup and sipped from it. "Truly these shall be interesting times."
"But of course."
Ranma: 乱眞 Meaning Chaotic Truth.
Yuushi: 勇士 Meaning Couragous Warrior.