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Chapter 1: The Opening

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The rain did not wash away the suspicious glares that the two armies of martial artists directed at each from the rooftops surrounding the Tendo Dojo. Each side numbered roughly around a dozen fighters, dressed in a mixture of clothing that ranged from the standard white gi's to shaggy, ripped punk-style clothing to even expensive business apparels.

These martial artists were from rival schools that had fought against each other viciously for decades, laying to rest numerous foes from the opposing school. Each of the martial artists gathered here had known a family member or friend that was killed by the other side.

However, it had been sixteen years since the last battle was fought. Sixteen years since a marriage agreement was accidentally proposed between two young men from opposing clans. They had both went to the same bar separately and had gotten drunk. What made this meeting a miracle, however, was that these two men were from the main bloodline of their respective clans; a meeting that had an extremely low chance of ever occurring.

It was fate that they found each other in there and made the contract out of the spur of the moment, neither recognizing the other in their drunken stupor. And thus, out of this accidental agreement, a shaky peace was soon secured between the Tendo and Saotome clan out of the belief that this coincidental event was an act of the divine intervention.

This was the appointed day and they were here in order to protect the fated meeting, or at least, that is what they were supposed to be here for. And so here the members of the Saotome and Tendo clan stood, watching and waiting. If a fight were to break out, it wouldn't be like it was sixteen years ago when both sides knew the general abilities of the other clan.

While they had kept up their Intel gathering, there were a lot of new information that was closely guarded about the new fighters that both sides had gained and the new techniques that most of the veterans had probably learned during the peace. The first battle between these two clans would undoubtedly result in a massive bloodshed where many unknown abilities would be used for the first time in public. So it was with wary and deeply aware gazes that they watched the panda and the red-headed girl walk into the Tendo's home.

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Genma stared at Soun from across the table as he placed a wet contract down before him. Their children were off somewhere in the other rooms or sparring in the dojo so there was no one to interrupt them at the moment. The rain, instead, kept them company, something that they were grateful for as it stopped their voices from traveling further than the room.

"This will finalize the peace between our clans," Genma said.

Soun nodded slowly. "I'm grateful for the peaceful years that this contract has given my children."

Genma hesitated before he slowly nodded in response.

"Please do not mention the feud to Akane. She does not know about the war," Soun said as he took a sip of his tea. "Nabiki and Kasumi saw their mother die from it, though I think that Nabiki was too young to remember. I would like the bloodshed to fade from all of their memories."

"Weak," Genma said. "Your children are weak, Tendo. Ranma has been raised on the strictest principles of battle while you coddle your children. If this marriage fails, you'll have been the cause."

Soun gritted his teeth. Even though he wanted to argue against Genma's logic, it was too foolproof in its simplicity. There was no way his daughters could fight if the war broke out again. However, his principles wouldn't allow that comment to stand as fact.

"My daughters are capable enough." Soun narrowed his eyes.

Genma ignored the subtle threat with a snort, but he did not push the issue further.

"Does Ranma know of the feud?"

Genma grunted. "He knows everything."

Soun nodded. "I see. However, once a child is born from this union, it will finalize the end of the war. There will be no need for them to know about this feud."

"Are you mad, Tendo?" Genma shook his head. "You think that you can keep the past a secret?"

Soun closed his wary eyes. "I don't see why not. My youngest daughter does not know, but she will soon. However, I don't want the Master's war to be known to my grandchild. My daughters have faced much hardship since their mother was killed. I do not want my grandchild to know this sordid history."

Genma crossed his arms. "So be it. I'll keep it hidden for now, Tendo."

Soun opened his eyes and bowed as low as he could from his kneeling position. "Thank you."

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Ranma and Genma, soaking wet and slightly steaming from the boiling water, were seated on cushion across the table from the Tendo daughters, one of who had an irate look on her face. Soun nodded his head in satisfaction.

"That isn't so bad of a curse. Now you need to choose one of my daughters as your wife," Soun said cheerfully, wrapping an arm around Ranma while pointing at his daughters with his free hand.

"What?" The combined shrieks of his three daughters pounded into his eardrums, but Soun quickly silenced them with a glare. The girls, seeing this uncharacteristic seriousness of their normally weepy father, kept their mouths shut even though it was obvious that they weren't happy about it.

But Ranma had no reason to stay quiet. "Why do I have to get married?" he said, standing up in protest.

Genma grabbed the back of Ranma's shirt and pulled him down. "Shut up and sit down, boy."

Ranma was about to argue back when Soun cleared his throat. "You will be marrying into the Tendo family, Ranma Saotome," he said, stressing the last names.

Comprehension entered Ranma's eyes as he stopped struggling while Kasumi's paled at the announcement. Kasumi began shuddering, but she bit her lip to keep silent even though her eyes were conveying all her emotions to anyone that happened to be looking; not that anyone was, as they were focused on Soun.

Turning to his daughters, Soun said, "I know that you are confused. I have to explain some things, especially to you, Akane."

Taking a deep breath, Soun began his speech. "Generations ago, the Tendo and Saotome clans originated from the same Grandmaster, but only one clan could receive his inheritance. For that reason, a war began between the two clans that started a vicious chain of fighting and massacres.

"Our clans, once famous and powerful in their own rights, were reduced to a handful of families now. Sixteen years ago, a peace treaty was introduced by Genma and me, but not before your mother was taken from us."

"Then…then they are the ones who killed her?" Akane said as she pointed at the two Saotomes.

"Akane, calm down. It was not them, but one of their clan members."

Akane rose to her feet, her face twisted in fury. "So what? That still makes them responsible!" Nabiki and Kasumi were frozen into inaction as they remembered the events of their childhood while Ranma readied himself to leap away at a moment's notice.

Soun stepped in between Akane and Ranma. "Stop it! There are more important things at stake now."

"I can take them! They're just two weak boys."

Genma narrowed his eyes. "Weak?"

Soun shook his head. "Genma is not weak and his son will not be feeble as well, but it is not just them. Almost everyone from both clans is outside, watching this meeting from afar. Do you want to endanger your sisters as well?"

Though still angry, Akane relented and sat down. While she didn't mind fighting against them, she didn't want Kasumi or Nabiki to be caught in the crossfire.

"This marriage must happen," Soun said.

Ranma pursed his lips. Even though he had known about this marriage and the consequences of it since childhood, he was still overwhelmed by it. His fate had been determined before he was even a few days old. He wanted to rebel against it, but he knew that there were more at stake than simply his own life.

Kasumi slowly opened her mouth, summoning the courage to speak, but before more than a syllable could escape her, Nabiki spoke up. "I will do it."

"Nabiki!" Kasumi said. "You can't."

Nabiki put her hand on Kasumi's hand to stop the older girl's shaking. "You aren't the only one who remembers."

"Nabiki…" Kasumi bit her tongue to hold back the tears in her eyes.

Akane slammed her hands onto the table, cracking it, and pushed herself up. Her shoulders were shaking with unrestrained anger; her eyes were alight with fury at the two male interlopers.

"Why do we have to do this? Why can't the pervert go marry someone else?" Akane said.

"Know your place, girl," Genma said.

The youngest daughter growled in rage and lifted the table over her head, unmindful of the tea set that fell from the surface with their hot, liquid content. Genma looked on with a bored expression while stopping Ranma from getting up to dodge by placing a firm hand on the boy's shoulder. Akane brought the table down toward Genma with all the strength she could muster, but its flight was suddenly stopped before it could reach even a third towards its destination. She tried pushing her whole body into it, but it wouldn't budge.

"What?" Akane asked as she released the table and backed away. Soun had halted its progress with only a single outstretched palm. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the table flying over his two guests' head and into the backyard. The table shattered on impact with the ground, its polished wooden frame becoming wet with the rain. Akane fell down to her seat by Nabiki and stared bewilderingly at her father. This was something she had never seen before in all the years that he had been her father. What was going on?

Genma narrowed his eyes and growled menacingly. "This isn't what I expected."

"I'm sorry for my daughter's actions. Please forgive her."

"That's not what I'm angry about!" Genma growled. "When the contract was accepted by our clans, it was implied that this was a union between two powerful bloodlines and martial arts styles.

"But these…these daughters of yours," Genma said, pointing at the three girls. "They're not trained in any of the arts. I had thought, at first, that it was a hidden style, but now I can see the truth of the matter. You simply want to steal the Saotome martial arts style from my son, who was born from generations of selective breeding in the Saotome clan. You didn't want us to find out about your martial arts style so you didn't teach them anything."

"Calm yourself, Saotome—"

"I will not!" Genma pounded his fist through the floor. "You dishonored the agreement. This contract is now void."

"Now wait just a second, Saotome! Do you want to end the contract so hastily without hearing me out?" Soun asked.

But Genma wasn't listening. "This is a grave insult. Prepare yourself, Tendo. You won't be getting out of this house alive."

Ranma leaped to his feet in front of Genma and spread his arms out to stop his father from going further. "Stop it, pop. Let's hear him out first."

"Get out of the way, boy."

"No, if you want to get to them. You gotta go through me first."

Genma considered pushing Ranma out of the way, but he glared at the boy instead and lowered his fist.

"I was going to say that each of my martial art's scrolls will be passed down to the couple when their first child is born." Still seeing the disapproving face on Genma, he quickly said, "But of course, Ranma can see some of the more basic scrolls when the engagement is finalized."

Ranma lowered his arms and smirked. "See Pops, what did I say? They aren't trying to trick you."

Genma's anger slowly faded as he sat down. "Maybe I was too hasty there." Soun sighed in relief while his daughters visibly relaxed.

Ranma laughed. "Maybe? You were gonna blow up, Pop. I might even have had to kick your ass to get you to stop."

"Shut up, boy, before I teach you a lesson you won't forget."

"That I won't forget? That's gonna have to be ten times harder than your usual."

Genma grabbed at Ranma's shirt, but Ranma flipped the grip and toss his father out into the courtyard. "That all you got, Pop?" Ranma said as he followed after his father.

Soun and his daughters watched the spar from the safety of their house. "Are we going to be alright?" Nabiki asked.

Soun bit his lip. "Nabiki, let's make some tea for our guests."

Nabiki turned her attention away from the fight. "Hm? Can't Kasumi do it?"

"Just come and help me." Soun rose to his feet and walked towards the kitchen as Nabiki trailed behind him.

Once within the confines of the kitchen, far enough so that Kasumi and Akane wouldn't be able to hear, Nabiki asked, "So what's the real reason you called me here?"

"This is about your marriage to Saotome's son."

Nabiki slowly nodded.

Soun placed his hands firmly on Nabiki's shoulders. "It must succeed, no matter the cost. Your mother would have wanted you to live a peaceful life."

Nabiki bit her lip to keep back the memories. "Don't talk about her."

"Nabiki, This is very important."

"I know. But what if they back out of the marriage? Can't they just cancel the contract?"

Soun shook his head. "They can't. It is an honor-bound agreement. To do so would be to have both of them commit seppuku in order to regain their family's honor." He took the kettle and began pouring tap water into it. "What I am worried about is sabotage from someone else. Be very careful."

Nabiki nodded. "I will, daddy."

"Now, let's boil some water. Afterward, I'll need you to show them to the guest room."

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"I'll leave you two to get used to your room." Nabiki stepped out of the guest room and slid the door shut, leaving the two Saotomes in the relatively sparse guest room. There were two futons spread out in the middle of the room.

"It'll be good to sleep in a room again," Ranma said as he walked over to the futon and poked it with his toe. "Not bad. It's pretty soft."

Genma grunted. "It better not make you soft, boy."

Ranma waved it off. "Yeah, yeah." He stopped when he noticed the look on his father's face. "What's up?"

"The Tendos have given us a way out of this marriage agreement. If you find any chance to steal all of the scrolls, do it. If we have them, there's no more need for this charade."

Ranma's eyes widened. "But what about the war?"

"If his daughters are any indication, their clan has grown weak and feeble. We can easily destroy them once and for all."

"But pop, if we could do that, why bother with the scrolls then?"

"You dolt! They contain the Tendo clan's most important secret techniques, created from decades of warfare. They're as irreplaceable as our own techniques. Once we have them, the Tendo clan will be rendered powerless."

"Then there will be less causalities," Ranma said thoughtfully. "So all we have to do is find it, right?"

"It's not that easy. The cache is hidden so even if we destroy the Tendos, we may never find it by ourselves. They must be retrieved, one way or another."

Ranma nodded, though he still looked unsure about it. "But then, what about Nabiki?"

"If you want to get out of the marriage, boy, then find the scrolls." With that said, Genma released Ranma's arm and walked over to his to his bedroll. He fell asleep the moment that he fell on his bedding without waiting for a response.

Ranma stood where he was with the words that he had wanted to say caught in his throat. "I meant that if we find the scrolls, we don't have to kill them, right?" Without any answers forthcoming from his slumbering father, he blankly stared out through the open window at the moon. On this night, it seemed just a little bit sadder than usual.

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Nabiki slumped against the doorway of the guestroom. She had overheard everything. Her father was right.

It had taken a considerable amount of effort to hide her ki signature, but after hearing all of that, she knew that it was worth it. Soun didn't teach her how to fight, something that she really didn't mind until now, but if there was one thing that her father had taught her, it was how to run and hide.

Nabiki licked her dry lips as her mind processed the information. She had thought that she might be able to trust Ranma since he did stop his father earlier, but now, she knew that was mistaken assumption. It was probably more optimistic than reality but to have it shattered so quickly in front of her hurt her more than she thought it would. There were only two things that she could trust, and that was her family and cold, hard yen.

But that wasn't going to help her here. She was not delusional enough to think that her family would be able to survive or even escape the conflict if the marriage fails. Even if they ran, they would be hunted down and killed, especially since the scrolls seemed to be in her father's possession. The only way to survive this was to make sure the marriage succeeded.

Nabiki played with the fabric of her shirt, her despair clearly written all over her face. Now, a time limit has presented itself. If Ranma finds the scrolls, that was it. The end. But she knew her father wouldn't be so careless. The first time he retrieves a scroll from the cache for Ranma would be during the wedding, as a present for their union like he promised earlier. That is the most opportune time for them to strike and find out where the secret cache is.

So she knew that she had to quicken the contract to its finale. She would have to seduce him and become pregnant before the wedding. It was the only way to ensure that the Saotomes do not betray them. With the pregnancy, even if they find the scrolls, the contract could not be broken.

She was the Ice Queen of Furinkan High, but now, she would be reduced to a slut. That realization made her want to cry.

Nabiki couldn't fight physically, so she would fit with everything she had. She had to make sure that her family survives.

She bit down so hard on her lower lip that it started bleeding as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

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As the night wore on, the rain continued to pour down upon the soaked rooftop martial artists. Several of the martial artists looked down at their watches as the clock hands struck midnight. The contract had been finalized by now, so their presence was unnecessary now. They had jobs and family to return, lives to resume, but as they were about to leave, a powerful aura made itself known.

Several of the martial artists gasped as they recognized the diminutive form walking calmly across a rooftop, unmindful of the unease that his aura was causing. A small trail of smoke emanated from the pipe in his hand, unaffected by the storm.

Happosai brought the pipe to his lips and took a puff. On closer inspection, one could see that the raindrops were bouncing off a small ki barrier over the pipe, but so skillful was its application that it was barely visible. In fact, his entire body was dry as if it were a sunny day instead of a stormy night. Around his entire diminutive body was an invisible barrier that only created tiny waves when the raindrops came into contact with it like a rock thrown into a lake. Reaching the edge of the rooftop, he tipped over his pipe, dumping the tobacco into the streets below as the mass of martial artists watched him with fear and reverence.

"Are you really going to throw away the prize for peace?" Happosai asked curiously, smiling all the while.

Several of the Tendo and Saotome martial artists began shaking uncontrollably, though they restrained their emotions.

Happosai smirked. "I thought so. I have lived a very long time and have seen this war played out on the battlefield countless times, but this is the first time that a peace treaty was even tried. Unlike before, there are only few of you left."

Happosai wagged his finger. "This war won't be so easily abandoned. The one who wins the war will gain everything. My inheritance. That is much too great a prize for anyone to foolishly think the war can be ended with a simple peace treaty."

One of the Tendo martial artists, a man dressed in a business suit, threw his umbrella at Happosai. It spiraled towards him at high speed, making a path through the rain.

The ancient and wizened man smirked and reached out his hand. His purple aura visibly spread forth, surrounding and stopping the umbrella mid-air. Rain flowed around the aura as if it were tangible, unable to pierce its solidness.

"Tsk, tsk, if that had hit something, we would have attracted unnecessary attention," Happosai said, closing his hand. The aura tightened, shattering the umbrella into several pieces. Spreading open his hand, the umbrella dropped from the aura to the depths below. Only few people were able to manifest ki into a form outside their body, but Happosai was the only one who was able to use it to this extent. If it weren't for him, this kind of thing would have been thought to be completely impossible. It was for this reason that he was universally feared and firmly secured in his position as the original founder of both clans and their respective martial arts style.

The Tendo businessman gritted his teeth. "You speak as if we're all still going to be fighting. The war is over!"

"If you think so." Happosai laughed. " But I think that this war must have a proper ending. Even if you guarantee this peace, the fighting will continue. There will always be lingering fears that you will assassinated when you least expect it. Every accident will be blamed on the other clan. For the rest of your lives, you will be suspicious of one another. Can you really live with that?"

The gathered martial artists fell silent as the rain overtook even the sound of their own heartbeats.

"Think carefully. The war will now be fought in secrecy and with treachery. Your honor may be forsaken in the coming fights if you go along with this fake peace, because the prize will always be there for the winner." Happosai began to walk away to the other side of the rooftop. "Greed is what started this war, but fear is what will end it." He jumped off of the edge and dropped down to the streets below, disappearing into the darkness of the storm.