In the country of Japan on the island of Honshu in the city of Tokyo in the
northeastern section of the city in the ward known as Nerima in a typical
Japanese neighborhood a postal worker deposited mail in a mailbox outside
the gates to a traditional two-story Japanese house. The simple act of
leaving bills, advertisements, magazines, and the occasional letter in the
mailbox built into a wooden post that matched the gates to the house
wouldn't seem very important. In fact, the letter carrier that placed the
mail into the box never thought about the effect on the residents of the
house the single simple post card now lying in the box would have. All he
had to do was deposit the mail and move onto the next home. It was a
routine carried out by postal workers all over the world and he was no
different.
Speaking of the post card that now resided in the mailbox outside the home it was made of a heavy card stock. On one side of the card was a glossy photograph of a panda sitting in the branches of a bamboo tree. On the other side the card was divided into two equal sections by a simple vertical line. One section was designated for writing a message to a friend or family member while the other section was designated for writing down the address of the person receiving the card and a space for a postage stamp. It should be noted that the sender of the card saw his choice of the panda picture quite ironic. The message on the left side was only four lines long and the address on the right told postal workers to deliver the card to a man that lived in the house behind the box. That man was known as Soun Tendo.
Soun Tendo was a man in his late forties with shoulder length black hair, a matching mustache, and dark brown eyes. He always dressed in a dark brown kimono and matching hakama or a dark brown gi. Soun had dedicated his life to the study of martial arts and was one of the three main practitioners of a style of martial arts known as Anything Goes martial arts. And after spending time learning the all-encompassing martial arts style Soun spent some time teaching martial arts in the dojo connected to his home. Now Soun spends his days sitting around his home staring at the koi pond in the back yard or the go board that had collected a lot of dust over the years. Soun was considered to be a very emotional man and would break down in tears over the smallest things.
At one time in his life Soun was married to a beautiful woman with short dark brown hair named Kimiko. With her they had three children all girls. But in time all good things must come to an end and cancer ended Kimiko's life and her marriage to Soun leaving him to raise their three girls. It was after her passing that Soun slowly stopped taking in any new students and began to cry at the smallest reminder of her. The day of Kimiko's passing began a ten-year period of mourning for Soun. But Soun always carried a glimmer of hope in his heart that a promise made with his closest friend and training partner would come true and of course the thought of this would make him cry.
Looking over at a small clock on a simple shelf in the living room of the Tendo home Soun noticed it was approximately around the time the letter carrier would drop off the mail in the box in front of his home. Putting down his morning edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper Soun made his way to the entryway to his home and put on a pair of bamboo sandals replacing them with his house slippers. Once his outdoor shoes were on Soun went out to the gates of his home to collect the mail from the box outside the front gates of the house. Reaching into the box Soun pulled out the small stack of mail.
Walking back to the house Soun took his time so he could thumb through the mail and mentally sort it out. Looking down at the multi sized stack Soun took note of the address labels on each piece of mail. Bill, bill, bill, Nikkei magazine for Nabiki, home maker's magazine for Kasumi, panda postcard, and an official looking manila envelope for Nabiki Soun said mentally as he inspected the mail. Soun stopped dead in his tracks and quickly thumbed through the mail to find the panda postcard. Turning over the five by seven glossy card Soun quickly noticed it was addressed to him and came from China judging by the panda postage stamp and the message on the left side of the card.
The message was plain and simple and took up only four lines of text. Soun. Bringing Ranma and Akane from China. Arriving May 10th. Genma.
Soun looked over the message on the post card one more time to make certain he had read it correctly. And after remembering the date on the top of the morning edition Soun began to cry tears of joy. The date the three people mentioned in the simple message would be arriving was that exact day.
"My baby is coming home to me." Soun said though his tears.
********
The Journey
Episode One: The Homecoming
********
The skies over Tokyo went from partly cloudy to rainy in the course of an hour. And while the rain could be categorized as nothing more than a simple spring shower it was bothersome nonetheless. When the rain had ended some twenty minutes later the sounds of screaming, yelling, growling, and fighting could be heard through the Nakai neighborhood. Soon the people in the streets and on the sidewalks were stopped dead in their tracks as a rather large and fat panda came racing down the center of the main road in Nakai. Soon the panda was followed by two figures. One was a petite red haired girl with blue eyes and a braided pigtail dressed in a red Chinese shirt, black training pants tied at the ankle, and white trimmed black canvas slippers. The second figure was a tall male with shoulder length brown hair pulled back at the nape of the neck and was dressed in a yellow and black version of the outfit the girl had on. Both looked to be quite angry about something.
"Imagine that a panda in this part of town." One woman in the crowd commented.
"You don't see that every day." A stunned man added.
The quiet murmurs of the crowd were soon drowned out when one of the pair chasing after the panda stopped in the middle of the street and began yelling very loudly.
"We didn't want to come back here pop!" the read head yelled, "They needed us!"
"You had no right to drag us out of there just before an important battle old man!" the boy added.
The panda turned to face the pair and pulled a sign out of nowhere. Written on the sign was a simple message addressed to the pair.
"They were a bad influence for you." One side of the sign said.
The panda quickly flipped the sign over.
"It was a matter of family pride and honor." The other side of the sign said.
The read head became even angrier when the subject of family pride and honor were brought up.
"Family pride and honor my behind! You just didn't like the fact they were mostly female!" she yelled right into the panda's face.
Once again the panda pulled out another sign.
"If you were there any longer…" the first side began.
"…one of them would have tried to marry you." The second side finished.
"Well it didn't happen old man!" the boy yelled.
Fed up with the panda the girl in the group gave the panda a quick kick to the panda's gut. The boy saw what his companion had done and grabbed the panda by the chubby little arm and flipped him onto his back before joining her.
"We're going back!" the girl yelled before she and her companion turned to leave.
Hearing the pair walk away from him the panda quickly recovered from the attacks and used his last sign to whack both of his companions on the head knocking them to the ground. Picking up the pair the panda headed in the direction of the Nerima ward.
********
Soun was on cloud nine when he reentered the house. After changing back into his house slippers and depositing the rest of the mail on a small table in the living room Soun went to collect his daughters. Giving the clock a quick glance Soun knew exactly where his oldest daughter would be, in the kitchen.
Soun was lucky enough to catch his eldest daughter before she became engrossed in preparing lunch for the day. Standing near a small prep area was Soun's first child. She had long chestnut brown hair held out of her face by a white ribbon that was draped over her shoulder and dark brown eyes. She was dressed simply in a green dress that fell to just above her ankle with a white apron over it. On her feet was a pair of light blue house slippers. Soun cleared his throat to announce his presence getting his daughter's attention.
"Oh hello father. Is there something I can do for you?" she said in a soft cheerful voice.
"Actually Kasumi I was wondering if you knew where your sister was. I wanted to speak to the two of you in the living room." Soun told her.
"I think Nabiki was still in her room the last time I saw her." Kasumi said with a smile.
"Thank you Kasumi." Soun replied before leaving the kitchen.
Soun then made his way to the second floor of the house via the living room to inform his second daughter he needed to speak with her and her sister. On the way to his daughter Nabiki's room Soun passed a door with a simple yellow wooden duck hanging on it. Upon the duck in big bright Romanji style letters was the name Akane. The sign was a gift from his wife to their youngest daughter. Remembering that fact caused Soun to begin to cry. Looking into the room Soun saw that it was kept exactly the same way it had been on that fateful day ten years ago when he last saw his baby girl.
"My baby Akane! You probably don't even remember me." Soun said between sobs.
"We all miss her dad." A voice said from behind him.
Turning around Soun saw his second daughter Nabiki standing in front of him. Nabiki had brown eyes and brown hair cut into a bob that ended at her chin. Soun noticed Nabiki had on a yellow blouse and a pair of blue pants with green house slippers. A smile came across Soun's face because it was this daughter that made certain the books for the dojo and house were in order.
"So did you come up here to cry over a pair of individuals you haven't seen in ten years or did you have another purpose for being here." Nabiki said wanting to get straight to the point.
"I came to get you Nabiki. I need to speak to you and your sister downstairs in the living room. It concerns something that came in the mail today." Soun told her.
"Then we better get going. You know how Kasumi hates to be thrown off schedule. If one meal is late it takes her weeks to get back on track." Nabiki said.
Soun knew his daughter spoke the truth. Kasumi ran the household like clockwork and if one person were late for a meal then they would be sentenced to clean the dishes. Kasumi had her daily schedule planed out to the last second as to what needed to be done when. She knew exactly how much time she had each day to relax and take care of her own personal needs and Kasumi would get angry if her personal time was cut into if she were late doing one single thing.
Entering the living room once more with Nabiki in tow Soun saw that Kasumi had found a way to fill the time waiting for him to return with Nabiki. At the moment she was currently straightening up the morning edition and physically sorting the mail on the small table into two piles one for her and one for Nabiki. Today Nabiki had the larger pile. Clearing his throat Soun made his presence known and Kasumi stopped her tidying and addressed her father and sister.
"You two have finally come down." Kasumi said before turning her attention solely to her sister.
"Did father get sidetracked by her room again?" Kasumi asked Nabiki.
"Yes. I wish she would come home so we can finally be a family again. This is tearing him up on the inside. I almost considered removing the duck on her door once but he wouldn't let me." Nabiki said.
"I thank you for your concern girls but it is not my welfare I wish to speak to you about." Soun said getting the impromptu family meeting underway.
The Tendo sisters sat down on the couch and looked up at their father. Kasumi and Nabiki wondered why Soun wanted to talk to them so close to lunch. Kasumi figured it had to do with the mail because it had been brought into the house before her father had called the meeting.
"What do you wish to discuss father?" Kasumi asked voicing the sisters' shared question.
"Today in the mail I received a post card. The picture on it and where it was sent from are not as important as the simple message scrawled out in a man's handwriting. The post card brings this family the best news we've received in ten years. After ten years of separation my baby girl is finally going to be returned to us." Soun said fighting back the tears.
"You mean Akane is coming back?" Kasumi asked quite excited by the news.
"Yes and when she returns a promise made between this family and the family of my good friend and training partner can finally be fulfilled." Soun replied with tears of joy winning the battle.
Nabiki, ever the suspicious one in the family, wondered just what sort of promise her father had made with this mysterious friend of his.
"And what sort of promise would that be?" Nabiki asked him.
"Why to join our two schools of course. One of you is going to marry the son of my good friend. In fact, Akane should be able to tell which one of you would make the best wife for Ranma. She has spent the last ten years with him after all." Soun told the girls.
Nabiki and Kasumi stared at each other wondering why their father had failed to mention any of this before and when this was to take place.
"You engaged one of us to someone we've never met before dad?" Nabiki wanted to know.
"You've met Ranma before it's just that it's been such a long time since we last saw him that you've forgotten what he looks like." Soun said.
I can't tell them I've forgotten what Akane looks like too or it would break their hearts, Soun added to himself privately.
"Well he better be good looking for your sake dad." Nabiki then added.
"Father when are they scheduled to return to Tokyo?" Kasumi asked calmly.
"The post card marked today as the date of their return." Soun replied, "So with that said you two better make yourselves presentable for your future husband."
Soun went back over to the low dining room table and opened the morning edition back to the last page he was reading before he went to retrieve the mail ending the meeting. Kasumi and Nabiki sat on the couch staring at each other for a few moments in silence before one of them said something.
"I hope this Ranma isn't younger than me. You know how I feel about younger men." Kasumi said getting a strange stare from Nabiki.
"You just don't want to give up on your doctor friend Kasumi." Nabiki replied.
"Can I help it if I think he's handsome." Kasumi commented, "Now let's go upstairs and get into our Kimonos before they get here."
With that the two sisters went to prepare for the arrival of the youngest Tendo sister and their possible fiancé.
********
The panda had trudged through the streets of Nerima carrying his passed out bundles draped over each shoulder. Halfway through the district the pair came too and began demanding to know what was going on. The panda somehow was able to put the smaller of the pair under the opposite arm and pull out a sign that explained everything in a few simple words.
"You're getting a fiancé today boy." Was all the sign said.
There was no arguing with the panda and once the sign went back to where it came from the shocked red head went back over the other shoulder. With things back the way they were the panda picked up the pace once more. After a few minutes of silence the red head began yelling at the panda.
"I do not want a fiancé pop!" she yelled at him.
"Now put us down old man!" the boy added.
The panda just shook his head no and continued on his way.
"I knew we should have gone back when we had a chance." The red head said.
"Yeah we should have but we haven't been here in ten years so he's the only one who knows where we're going." The boy told her
"I guess you're right." the girl replied, "But he could at least put us down!"
After a few more minutes of walking the panda stopped in front of a large set of gates with a loud gruff and pointed to the sign attached to the front of them.
"Tendo dojo and training hall." The red head read.
"I'm finally home." The boy said forgetting about the desire to head back.
********
Soun and his daughters were waiting in the living room for the arrival of Akane with Ranma and Soun's old friend and training partner when they heard the noise in the front yard. The trio was about to go and see what was making such a racket when a large panda burst through the front door and deposited two bundles in front of Soun. One was a female with red hair and blue eyes and the other was a male with brown hair and eyes. The moment Soun saw the pair he rushed over to the female and embraced her.
"Oh my little baby has come home to me." Soun said with tears in his eyes.
"Uh dad are you sure that's Akane?" Nabiki questioned her father.
Soun backed away from the girl and looked Nabiki in the eyes.
"Of course that's Akane. Do you think your own father doesn't know what his baby girl looks like?" Soun said to her.
Nabiki still not certain the red head was her sister decided to ask the pair their names.
"Care to tell us who you are." Nabiki wondered.
The red head decided to answer for the pair.
"Ranma and Akane." She said not really indicating who was who.
Nabiki heard the names and like her father believed Ranma was Akane. The middle Tendo daughter came over to the red head and looked her over for a moment.
"Man sis I have to say that training has agreed with you quite well. I like the dye job too." Nabiki said before pulling Ranma in a hug.
"Uh gee thanks sis but um Ranma and I need to spar alone for a bit." Ranma said playing along with their obvious mistake.
Akane heard the word spar and knew Ranma needed to talk about something in private. The chestnut haired youth hoped it had something to do with their current situation and decided to play the role of Ranma for a bit.
"Tendo-san which direction is it to your dojo?" Akane asked not really remembering where it was.
"Hmm? Oh yes the dojo. Just head out through the back hall and into the back yard. You can't miss it. The building is connected to the house by a large covered walkway." Soun told them.
"Thanks for the refresher dad." Ranma said as she grabbed Akane by the wrist.
Soon the pair exited to the back yard with a slight slam of the back door.
"They certainly seem close." Kasumi commented.
"Hey dad I didn't know they had a panda." Nabiki said when she finally noticed the big black and white animal standing near the front door.
"Now where did that come from?" Soun wondered when he finally saw the panda.
Said big, fat, and often lazy panda slapped his paw to his forehead in frustration. His friend had gotten quite dense over the years.
"Well I don't know about you but I'm going to go and see what ten years with Ranma has done to my little sister's martial arts skills." Nabiki said as she decided to take the long way to the dojo.
Kasumi watched her younger sister leave and decided to make her father some tea before preparing dinner for the evening.
"Father would you like some tea while you wait for your friend to arrive?" Kasumi asked him.
"I'd like that Kasumi." Soun replied.
"It'll take a while for the kettle to heat up father. Maybe you can read the evening edition the panda has in his arms." Kasumi said.
Soun looked over to the panda and noticed the evening edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun was indeed in his paw. Taking the paper from the panda Soun watched as the fury animal followed Kasumi into the kitchen. The Tendo patriarch figured the panda was looking for something to nibble on.
A few moments later Soun heard the sound of heavy footsteps and looked up to see a man in a dirty gi with wire rimmed glasses and a white bandana on his head enter into the living room and sit down at the dinner table across from Soun. Soun slowly put down his paper and stared at the nervous man.
********
Ranma and Akane entered the dojo taking in their surroundings. The walls were lined with banners dictating the dojo rules and at the end opposite the entrance to the dojo was a rack with staffs and bamboo kendo swords. In one corner of the room was a small altar with incense sticks and a picture of a woman Akane could barely remember surrounded by simple trinkets. In the middle of the room was a large practice mat and off to one side was a heavily padded wooden practice dummy with several "arms" to help work on blocking techniques.
Looking around the dojo Akane had the vague feeling she had been in the structure before but couldn't remember when. In fact, everything about the house and dojo was foreign to Akane. After being away from her house for ten years Akane had only emotional ties to the house. Being in the living room and the dojo didn't bring back specific memories only emotions. After checking out the dojo Ranma and Akane walked over to the practice mat and stood on either end of the mat. The pair then quickly got into a casual stance and waited for a bit to begin the practice match.
"I'm sorry about what happened back there Akane. I didn't think they would latch onto me like that. I apologize if that upset you any." Ranma said.
"It was a simple misunderstanding. You don't need to apologize for anything koi'. Besides once we straighten things out I'm going to have a lot of catching up to do." Akane replied.
Ranma looked at Akane and smiled. That was one of the things he liked about her. The incidents over the last two years had really changed the pair and forced them to open up to one another. In fact, being away from Ranma's father allowed them to not only become mentally more mature but to also explore a relationship where they weren't just friends.
"So how do you think we should break the news to our families?" Akane asked Ranma.
"I don't know but we'll have to come up with something quick." Ranma said.
"So are we going to stand here or are we going to spar?" Akane wanted to know.
"You know me, we spar." Ranma replied.
"And knowing the people who call themselves my family they'll probably come in here to watch us and see how good we are." Akane said.
"Old Man Distraction Spar number twenty-four." Ranma suggested.
"Number twenty-four." Akane replied agreeing with Ranma.
Since rejoining Ranma's father the pair had come up with ways to be alone and get in some quick training. They called it the Old Man Distraction Spars. Each spar had a certain length of time, a certain style, a certain topic, and a certain way to end. Number twenty-four had no time length, practiced blocks and punches, was used to discuss their current problem, and would end in a tie when said problem had a solution or a way to resolve it. When the pair decided on a spar there was no changing it until the finished it. With the spar set Ranma and Akane got into the appropriate ready positions and began their match.
Five minutes into the match Nabiki came to the door to the dojo to see how good her sister and Ranma were. Ten years devoted to training seemed to pay off for the pair in the physical department. Nabiki had to admit the pair looked physically good. But they also seemed to be quite silent around the others only speaking when necessary. Nabiki had noticed the one she thought was Ranma seemed to have an angered appearance on his face and he kept glaring at the panda.
Looking into the dojo Nabiki's jaw dropped when she saw the pair locked in what appeared to be a very intense sparing match. Blow for blow block for block Akane and Ranma were in what looked like an elaborate dance. And the surprising thing was they were carrying out a casual conversation while barely breaking a sweat. Nabiki practiced yoga and worked out with aerobics and hand weights enough to know it was virtually impossible to be at the level of intensity Akane and Ranma were at and talk as if they were standing perfectly still.
"The old man refused to listen to us when he found us in Jokesuzoku what makes you think he'll listen this time?" the boy asked his female companion.
"Because his best friend will want to know what happened to his baby girl and won't let him leave until he gets an explanation." The red head replied.
"And if that doesn't work?" the boy wondered.
"Then I'll hit him on the head until he does listen." The read head declared.
"You know I feel guilty about leaving them. I miss Xian and little Rin." The boy said.
"I know I miss them too. Even that visually challenged husband of Xain's." the girl replied.
"I say once we get things straightened here we go back there." The boy suggested as he blocked a punch from his smaller companion.
"And I say we see where things lead us after we have something to eat." The girl said as her stomach let out a loud growl.
The boy let out a small soft chuckle before deciding to end the practice match.
"Then this match is a draw." The boy announced.
With that the pair bowed to each other and turned to exit the dojo. The moment their eyes came upon the doorway they caught sight of Nabiki clapping her hands and letting out a whistle of amazement. Nabiki was still dressed in her blue and yellow kimono and had a slightly devious glint in her eye.
"Nabiki." Ranma said quite surprised.
"How long have you been there?" Akane asked her.
"Long enough to see you two are quite good." Nabiki replied, "Come on Kasumi should have dinner ready soon."
The pair followed Nabiki through the covered walkway back to the main house. Once they reached the main house the trio saw Soun sitting across from a man in a dirty white gi with wire rimmed glasses and a white bandana on his head. Nabiki had no idea who the man was but Ranma and Akane knew full well who he was and decided to play the silent treatment as to not attract unwanted attention.
"Hmm must be dad's friend." Nabiki mused.
At that moment Kasumi came in from the kitchen and placed a tray with the casual tea set on it upon the table for the two men to drink while they waited for dinner. Like Nabiki Kasumi was still in her kimono except hers was green and white. After placing the tray on the table Kasumi looked up and turned around to see Nabiki with Ranma and Akane. With a smile on her face she addressed the martial artists.
"Akane, Ranma there's time before dinner to wash up in the furo. It's nice and warm. Nabiki can show you the way." Kasumi offered.
"Gee thanks sis." Ranma replied pretending to be Akane.
The pair went over to where their packs were and picked them up before following Nabiki up the stairs to where the furo was located.
"Akane your room is indicated by the duck on the door. Ranma there's a guest room two doors down. That's where you and your dad can stay. I'm going to get changed out of this kimono." Nabiki told the pair indicating the aforementioned rooms.
When the door to Nabiki's room had closed Ranma and Akane went to Akane's room to prepare for the bath. After pulling out the clothes they were going to meet Akane's family in as their true selves the pair walked down the hall to the furo. And after closing the door they took off their clothes and deposited them in the hamper near the door to the furo.
"You know they're going to find out sooner or later." Ranma said as he poured the cold water from the bucket onto Akane's head.
"Yeah so we might as well get it over with like we planned." Akane said in her masculine voice as she did the same for Ranma.
Akane climbed into the furo and sat down letting the familiar warmth wash over her body as she dipped under the water. When she came up from the water the chestnut haired boy was replaced by a young woman with black hair that had natural dark blue highlights the same length.
"Come on in Ranma the water's fine." Akane said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"What if someone comes in here?" Ranma wondered.
"Where's your sense of adventure?" Akane countered.
Ranma let out a soft sigh and climbed into the furo. Getting down on his knees Ranma let himself get used to the water temperature. But before he could relax Akane jumped up on him and pushed Ranma under the water. When Ranma came back up the red head had changed to a male with black hair in the same pigtail as the girl.
"Geeze Akane what'd you do that for?" Ranma wanted to know as he stood up in the furo.
It was at that exact moment that door to the furoba opened. The pair froze as they waited to see what would happen next and who would come into the furoba. Their question was answered when they heard Nabiki's voice call out.
"I hope you don't mind some company Akane but that kimono was just a bit too warm for my tastes." Nabiki said as she came into the main furoba.
That was when Nabiki got a very good look at everything ten years of training had to offer Ranma and Ranma got a good look at just what Akane's older sister looked like out of the kimono.
"Oh my god. There's a pervert in the furoba. There's a pervert in the furoba." Nabiki said as she slowly backed away from the furo and grabbed her robe from the hook.
********
Kasumi had returned to the living room to begin setting the table for dinner when the scream rang throughout the house. The trio turned their attention to the stairs and saw Nabiki dressed in a dark blue satin robe come racing down the stairs with a terrified look on her face. Nabiki ran over to Kasumi and hid behind her trembling with fear.
"Nabiki what's wrong?" Kasumi asked her younger sister.
"There's a pervert in the furoba. Daddy go up there and do something." Nabiki said terrified.
"Nabiki if someone had snuck into the house then your sister Akane and her friend Ranma can take care of him." Soun told her.
"But daddy Akane was in the furo with the pervert." Nabiki informed him.
Upon hearing there was some sort of pervert doing who knows what to his baby girl Soun began to lose control of his anger and when that happened he went into what Kasumi and Nabiki called demon mode. Fortunately for him a pair of individuals one male and one female came down the stairs. The male was dressed in black Chinese dress pants with a white Chinese shirt that had golden trim and buttons. The female was dressed in a sleeveless Chinese dress with double slits on each side and gold trim and matching buttons at the shoulder. Her hair was styled in a bun with a white and gold flower comb on the left side.
The male half of the pair saw Nabiki hiding behind Kasumi and tried to rectify the situation by apologizing to her.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. We weren't thinking." He said to the trembling Nabiki.
"Why didn't you put up the occupied sign pervert?" Nabiki replied crossly.
The female member of the pair sighed and turned to face the two older Tendo girls.
"His name isn't pervert Nabiki. It's Ranma. Ranma Saotome. And I'm your little sister Akane Tendo." The female told the frightened girl.
"You two can't be them. Ranma has brown hair and matching eyes and Akane has dyed red hair and blue eyes." Nabiki replied not believing her little sister.
Akane let out a soft sigh and tried to explain things to her sisters.
"Nabiki the girl you saw couldn't have been me because she had blue eyes and everyone in the Tendo family has brown eyes. And the boy you saw couldn't have been Ranma because Ranma's eyes have always been blue not brown. Take a look at our eyes and you'll see I'm telling the truth." Akane said.
Nabiki did as her sister suggested and looked into the eyes of both Ranma and Akane. After staring into their eyes for a few minutes she turned to Akane and smiled at her before pulling her into a big warm inviting hug.
"It's been so long Akane." Nabiki said trying to hold back the tears.
When Kasumi saw that the young woman was her baby sister she joined Nabiki in hugging Akane. For the first time in ten years the Tendo sisters were together once more. And seeing the sight of his three girls together again Soun Tendo began to cry patented cry number forty-six my baby girl has returned.
After a few moments of watching his daughters hug and kiss each other the realization that something had happened to his baby girl sank in. Soun turned to face his old friend and training partner looking for answers as to what happened to Akane on the training journey he sent Akane on under the watchful eye of one Genma Saotome.
"Saotome my friend you're going to have to explain why my baby girl showed up here as a boy." Soun said as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Genma quickly shot a glance in the direction of his son who just stood there glaring at his father. It was obvious to anyone in the room that there was some bad blood between the two Saotome men. And only three people in the entire room knew what had caused it.
"Ask the boy." Genma said to Soun.
Soun turned his gaze from Genma to Ranma who took a deep breath in anticipation of what was to come. The Tendo patriarch could tell that Ranma was quite mature for his age and cared for Akane.
"Ranma could you tell me what happened to you that caused by daughter to be a boy when she arrived here?" Soun asked him.
"We can do that Tendo-san. But before we do it might be a good idea for Nabiki to change out of her robe. And while she does that maybe your eldest daughter could do me a favor and prepare two kettles of hot water please." Ranma said as he took a seat at the table.
"What does hot water have to do with your explanation Ranma?" Kasumi asked him.
"In order for you to believe us Ranma and the old man are going to have to demonstrate something for you. That's where the hot water comes in." Akane answered as she sat next to Ranma.
"Well then I'd better get the kettles prepared." Kasumi said as she went into the kitchen.
Soun looked over at Ranma and Akane and noticed how close they were to each other. He then glanced between the pair and Genma and noticed the three glaring at each other. Soun knew this was going to be one heck of a story.
"I have a feeling we're going to be treated to quite the interesting story." Soun said.
********
Yea it's the first episode in what I hope will be a very interesting Ranma AU. I remembered reading one where Ranma and Nabiki go on the training trip with Genma and they ended up getting married while at the Amazon village. I liked that premise and decided to use it as a foundation for my story. But to make things a bit more interesting I'm having things happen a bit earlier than written in the manga concerning the curses and meeting the Amazons, at least where Ranma and Akane are concerned. As for Genma his curse and what comes after it will go according to canon. This is in an attempt to answer a series what if questions concerning the training trip. What if Akane went with them? What if they left for China before Ranma and Akane were fifteen? And what if something happened that separated the trio for over a year?
Okay time for a few explanations and apologies. First off I apologize if a few characters will be somewhat to severely OOC. Secondly, I apologize for the long introductory sentence at the beginning. Just think of it like one of those movies where they start off with the Earth and keep zooming in until you reach a single house or person. Now on to the explanations. First of all some of the district and ward names used in this episode and all future episodes come from a subway map of Tokyo. They happen to be the names of stops along the way to Nerima. The newspaper Soun reads does actually exist and can be considered the USA Today of Japan. And yes the papers in Japan have both a morning and evening edition. The formal outfit Soun wears is traditional Meiji period dress for men. Think Kenshin and Yosho from Tenchi Muyo.
As for the Japanese used in the story. We've all read enough Ranma to know that a furo is the bathtub. But the furoba is the bathroom the actual place you'd find a furo. It's been said in many Ranma fan fics that there is a hamper near the entrance to the furoba and that's how I'll keep it. As for the word Akane used when they were sparring koi does not refer to the fish in the pond it is the shortened version of koibito, which means beloved. That particular word will pop up quite a lot throughout the story.
So what's next? Well it seems Ranma and Akane are going to have to explain the curses and what happened in China. And Genma is going to have to explain what happened to him and how he came across Jusenkyo and the Amazons. Why is it that Ranma and Akane aren't too happy with Genma? Who are Xian and little Rin? And what will happen when the subject of the engagement comes up? Find out in The Journey Episode Two: Explanations.
Speaking of the post card that now resided in the mailbox outside the home it was made of a heavy card stock. On one side of the card was a glossy photograph of a panda sitting in the branches of a bamboo tree. On the other side the card was divided into two equal sections by a simple vertical line. One section was designated for writing a message to a friend or family member while the other section was designated for writing down the address of the person receiving the card and a space for a postage stamp. It should be noted that the sender of the card saw his choice of the panda picture quite ironic. The message on the left side was only four lines long and the address on the right told postal workers to deliver the card to a man that lived in the house behind the box. That man was known as Soun Tendo.
Soun Tendo was a man in his late forties with shoulder length black hair, a matching mustache, and dark brown eyes. He always dressed in a dark brown kimono and matching hakama or a dark brown gi. Soun had dedicated his life to the study of martial arts and was one of the three main practitioners of a style of martial arts known as Anything Goes martial arts. And after spending time learning the all-encompassing martial arts style Soun spent some time teaching martial arts in the dojo connected to his home. Now Soun spends his days sitting around his home staring at the koi pond in the back yard or the go board that had collected a lot of dust over the years. Soun was considered to be a very emotional man and would break down in tears over the smallest things.
At one time in his life Soun was married to a beautiful woman with short dark brown hair named Kimiko. With her they had three children all girls. But in time all good things must come to an end and cancer ended Kimiko's life and her marriage to Soun leaving him to raise their three girls. It was after her passing that Soun slowly stopped taking in any new students and began to cry at the smallest reminder of her. The day of Kimiko's passing began a ten-year period of mourning for Soun. But Soun always carried a glimmer of hope in his heart that a promise made with his closest friend and training partner would come true and of course the thought of this would make him cry.
Looking over at a small clock on a simple shelf in the living room of the Tendo home Soun noticed it was approximately around the time the letter carrier would drop off the mail in the box in front of his home. Putting down his morning edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper Soun made his way to the entryway to his home and put on a pair of bamboo sandals replacing them with his house slippers. Once his outdoor shoes were on Soun went out to the gates of his home to collect the mail from the box outside the front gates of the house. Reaching into the box Soun pulled out the small stack of mail.
Walking back to the house Soun took his time so he could thumb through the mail and mentally sort it out. Looking down at the multi sized stack Soun took note of the address labels on each piece of mail. Bill, bill, bill, Nikkei magazine for Nabiki, home maker's magazine for Kasumi, panda postcard, and an official looking manila envelope for Nabiki Soun said mentally as he inspected the mail. Soun stopped dead in his tracks and quickly thumbed through the mail to find the panda postcard. Turning over the five by seven glossy card Soun quickly noticed it was addressed to him and came from China judging by the panda postage stamp and the message on the left side of the card.
The message was plain and simple and took up only four lines of text. Soun. Bringing Ranma and Akane from China. Arriving May 10th. Genma.
Soun looked over the message on the post card one more time to make certain he had read it correctly. And after remembering the date on the top of the morning edition Soun began to cry tears of joy. The date the three people mentioned in the simple message would be arriving was that exact day.
"My baby is coming home to me." Soun said though his tears.
********
The Journey
Episode One: The Homecoming
********
The skies over Tokyo went from partly cloudy to rainy in the course of an hour. And while the rain could be categorized as nothing more than a simple spring shower it was bothersome nonetheless. When the rain had ended some twenty minutes later the sounds of screaming, yelling, growling, and fighting could be heard through the Nakai neighborhood. Soon the people in the streets and on the sidewalks were stopped dead in their tracks as a rather large and fat panda came racing down the center of the main road in Nakai. Soon the panda was followed by two figures. One was a petite red haired girl with blue eyes and a braided pigtail dressed in a red Chinese shirt, black training pants tied at the ankle, and white trimmed black canvas slippers. The second figure was a tall male with shoulder length brown hair pulled back at the nape of the neck and was dressed in a yellow and black version of the outfit the girl had on. Both looked to be quite angry about something.
"Imagine that a panda in this part of town." One woman in the crowd commented.
"You don't see that every day." A stunned man added.
The quiet murmurs of the crowd were soon drowned out when one of the pair chasing after the panda stopped in the middle of the street and began yelling very loudly.
"We didn't want to come back here pop!" the read head yelled, "They needed us!"
"You had no right to drag us out of there just before an important battle old man!" the boy added.
The panda turned to face the pair and pulled a sign out of nowhere. Written on the sign was a simple message addressed to the pair.
"They were a bad influence for you." One side of the sign said.
The panda quickly flipped the sign over.
"It was a matter of family pride and honor." The other side of the sign said.
The read head became even angrier when the subject of family pride and honor were brought up.
"Family pride and honor my behind! You just didn't like the fact they were mostly female!" she yelled right into the panda's face.
Once again the panda pulled out another sign.
"If you were there any longer…" the first side began.
"…one of them would have tried to marry you." The second side finished.
"Well it didn't happen old man!" the boy yelled.
Fed up with the panda the girl in the group gave the panda a quick kick to the panda's gut. The boy saw what his companion had done and grabbed the panda by the chubby little arm and flipped him onto his back before joining her.
"We're going back!" the girl yelled before she and her companion turned to leave.
Hearing the pair walk away from him the panda quickly recovered from the attacks and used his last sign to whack both of his companions on the head knocking them to the ground. Picking up the pair the panda headed in the direction of the Nerima ward.
********
Soun was on cloud nine when he reentered the house. After changing back into his house slippers and depositing the rest of the mail on a small table in the living room Soun went to collect his daughters. Giving the clock a quick glance Soun knew exactly where his oldest daughter would be, in the kitchen.
Soun was lucky enough to catch his eldest daughter before she became engrossed in preparing lunch for the day. Standing near a small prep area was Soun's first child. She had long chestnut brown hair held out of her face by a white ribbon that was draped over her shoulder and dark brown eyes. She was dressed simply in a green dress that fell to just above her ankle with a white apron over it. On her feet was a pair of light blue house slippers. Soun cleared his throat to announce his presence getting his daughter's attention.
"Oh hello father. Is there something I can do for you?" she said in a soft cheerful voice.
"Actually Kasumi I was wondering if you knew where your sister was. I wanted to speak to the two of you in the living room." Soun told her.
"I think Nabiki was still in her room the last time I saw her." Kasumi said with a smile.
"Thank you Kasumi." Soun replied before leaving the kitchen.
Soun then made his way to the second floor of the house via the living room to inform his second daughter he needed to speak with her and her sister. On the way to his daughter Nabiki's room Soun passed a door with a simple yellow wooden duck hanging on it. Upon the duck in big bright Romanji style letters was the name Akane. The sign was a gift from his wife to their youngest daughter. Remembering that fact caused Soun to begin to cry. Looking into the room Soun saw that it was kept exactly the same way it had been on that fateful day ten years ago when he last saw his baby girl.
"My baby Akane! You probably don't even remember me." Soun said between sobs.
"We all miss her dad." A voice said from behind him.
Turning around Soun saw his second daughter Nabiki standing in front of him. Nabiki had brown eyes and brown hair cut into a bob that ended at her chin. Soun noticed Nabiki had on a yellow blouse and a pair of blue pants with green house slippers. A smile came across Soun's face because it was this daughter that made certain the books for the dojo and house were in order.
"So did you come up here to cry over a pair of individuals you haven't seen in ten years or did you have another purpose for being here." Nabiki said wanting to get straight to the point.
"I came to get you Nabiki. I need to speak to you and your sister downstairs in the living room. It concerns something that came in the mail today." Soun told her.
"Then we better get going. You know how Kasumi hates to be thrown off schedule. If one meal is late it takes her weeks to get back on track." Nabiki said.
Soun knew his daughter spoke the truth. Kasumi ran the household like clockwork and if one person were late for a meal then they would be sentenced to clean the dishes. Kasumi had her daily schedule planed out to the last second as to what needed to be done when. She knew exactly how much time she had each day to relax and take care of her own personal needs and Kasumi would get angry if her personal time was cut into if she were late doing one single thing.
Entering the living room once more with Nabiki in tow Soun saw that Kasumi had found a way to fill the time waiting for him to return with Nabiki. At the moment she was currently straightening up the morning edition and physically sorting the mail on the small table into two piles one for her and one for Nabiki. Today Nabiki had the larger pile. Clearing his throat Soun made his presence known and Kasumi stopped her tidying and addressed her father and sister.
"You two have finally come down." Kasumi said before turning her attention solely to her sister.
"Did father get sidetracked by her room again?" Kasumi asked Nabiki.
"Yes. I wish she would come home so we can finally be a family again. This is tearing him up on the inside. I almost considered removing the duck on her door once but he wouldn't let me." Nabiki said.
"I thank you for your concern girls but it is not my welfare I wish to speak to you about." Soun said getting the impromptu family meeting underway.
The Tendo sisters sat down on the couch and looked up at their father. Kasumi and Nabiki wondered why Soun wanted to talk to them so close to lunch. Kasumi figured it had to do with the mail because it had been brought into the house before her father had called the meeting.
"What do you wish to discuss father?" Kasumi asked voicing the sisters' shared question.
"Today in the mail I received a post card. The picture on it and where it was sent from are not as important as the simple message scrawled out in a man's handwriting. The post card brings this family the best news we've received in ten years. After ten years of separation my baby girl is finally going to be returned to us." Soun said fighting back the tears.
"You mean Akane is coming back?" Kasumi asked quite excited by the news.
"Yes and when she returns a promise made between this family and the family of my good friend and training partner can finally be fulfilled." Soun replied with tears of joy winning the battle.
Nabiki, ever the suspicious one in the family, wondered just what sort of promise her father had made with this mysterious friend of his.
"And what sort of promise would that be?" Nabiki asked him.
"Why to join our two schools of course. One of you is going to marry the son of my good friend. In fact, Akane should be able to tell which one of you would make the best wife for Ranma. She has spent the last ten years with him after all." Soun told the girls.
Nabiki and Kasumi stared at each other wondering why their father had failed to mention any of this before and when this was to take place.
"You engaged one of us to someone we've never met before dad?" Nabiki wanted to know.
"You've met Ranma before it's just that it's been such a long time since we last saw him that you've forgotten what he looks like." Soun said.
I can't tell them I've forgotten what Akane looks like too or it would break their hearts, Soun added to himself privately.
"Well he better be good looking for your sake dad." Nabiki then added.
"Father when are they scheduled to return to Tokyo?" Kasumi asked calmly.
"The post card marked today as the date of their return." Soun replied, "So with that said you two better make yourselves presentable for your future husband."
Soun went back over to the low dining room table and opened the morning edition back to the last page he was reading before he went to retrieve the mail ending the meeting. Kasumi and Nabiki sat on the couch staring at each other for a few moments in silence before one of them said something.
"I hope this Ranma isn't younger than me. You know how I feel about younger men." Kasumi said getting a strange stare from Nabiki.
"You just don't want to give up on your doctor friend Kasumi." Nabiki replied.
"Can I help it if I think he's handsome." Kasumi commented, "Now let's go upstairs and get into our Kimonos before they get here."
With that the two sisters went to prepare for the arrival of the youngest Tendo sister and their possible fiancé.
********
The panda had trudged through the streets of Nerima carrying his passed out bundles draped over each shoulder. Halfway through the district the pair came too and began demanding to know what was going on. The panda somehow was able to put the smaller of the pair under the opposite arm and pull out a sign that explained everything in a few simple words.
"You're getting a fiancé today boy." Was all the sign said.
There was no arguing with the panda and once the sign went back to where it came from the shocked red head went back over the other shoulder. With things back the way they were the panda picked up the pace once more. After a few minutes of silence the red head began yelling at the panda.
"I do not want a fiancé pop!" she yelled at him.
"Now put us down old man!" the boy added.
The panda just shook his head no and continued on his way.
"I knew we should have gone back when we had a chance." The red head said.
"Yeah we should have but we haven't been here in ten years so he's the only one who knows where we're going." The boy told her
"I guess you're right." the girl replied, "But he could at least put us down!"
After a few more minutes of walking the panda stopped in front of a large set of gates with a loud gruff and pointed to the sign attached to the front of them.
"Tendo dojo and training hall." The red head read.
"I'm finally home." The boy said forgetting about the desire to head back.
********
Soun and his daughters were waiting in the living room for the arrival of Akane with Ranma and Soun's old friend and training partner when they heard the noise in the front yard. The trio was about to go and see what was making such a racket when a large panda burst through the front door and deposited two bundles in front of Soun. One was a female with red hair and blue eyes and the other was a male with brown hair and eyes. The moment Soun saw the pair he rushed over to the female and embraced her.
"Oh my little baby has come home to me." Soun said with tears in his eyes.
"Uh dad are you sure that's Akane?" Nabiki questioned her father.
Soun backed away from the girl and looked Nabiki in the eyes.
"Of course that's Akane. Do you think your own father doesn't know what his baby girl looks like?" Soun said to her.
Nabiki still not certain the red head was her sister decided to ask the pair their names.
"Care to tell us who you are." Nabiki wondered.
The red head decided to answer for the pair.
"Ranma and Akane." She said not really indicating who was who.
Nabiki heard the names and like her father believed Ranma was Akane. The middle Tendo daughter came over to the red head and looked her over for a moment.
"Man sis I have to say that training has agreed with you quite well. I like the dye job too." Nabiki said before pulling Ranma in a hug.
"Uh gee thanks sis but um Ranma and I need to spar alone for a bit." Ranma said playing along with their obvious mistake.
Akane heard the word spar and knew Ranma needed to talk about something in private. The chestnut haired youth hoped it had something to do with their current situation and decided to play the role of Ranma for a bit.
"Tendo-san which direction is it to your dojo?" Akane asked not really remembering where it was.
"Hmm? Oh yes the dojo. Just head out through the back hall and into the back yard. You can't miss it. The building is connected to the house by a large covered walkway." Soun told them.
"Thanks for the refresher dad." Ranma said as she grabbed Akane by the wrist.
Soon the pair exited to the back yard with a slight slam of the back door.
"They certainly seem close." Kasumi commented.
"Hey dad I didn't know they had a panda." Nabiki said when she finally noticed the big black and white animal standing near the front door.
"Now where did that come from?" Soun wondered when he finally saw the panda.
Said big, fat, and often lazy panda slapped his paw to his forehead in frustration. His friend had gotten quite dense over the years.
"Well I don't know about you but I'm going to go and see what ten years with Ranma has done to my little sister's martial arts skills." Nabiki said as she decided to take the long way to the dojo.
Kasumi watched her younger sister leave and decided to make her father some tea before preparing dinner for the evening.
"Father would you like some tea while you wait for your friend to arrive?" Kasumi asked him.
"I'd like that Kasumi." Soun replied.
"It'll take a while for the kettle to heat up father. Maybe you can read the evening edition the panda has in his arms." Kasumi said.
Soun looked over to the panda and noticed the evening edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun was indeed in his paw. Taking the paper from the panda Soun watched as the fury animal followed Kasumi into the kitchen. The Tendo patriarch figured the panda was looking for something to nibble on.
A few moments later Soun heard the sound of heavy footsteps and looked up to see a man in a dirty gi with wire rimmed glasses and a white bandana on his head enter into the living room and sit down at the dinner table across from Soun. Soun slowly put down his paper and stared at the nervous man.
********
Ranma and Akane entered the dojo taking in their surroundings. The walls were lined with banners dictating the dojo rules and at the end opposite the entrance to the dojo was a rack with staffs and bamboo kendo swords. In one corner of the room was a small altar with incense sticks and a picture of a woman Akane could barely remember surrounded by simple trinkets. In the middle of the room was a large practice mat and off to one side was a heavily padded wooden practice dummy with several "arms" to help work on blocking techniques.
Looking around the dojo Akane had the vague feeling she had been in the structure before but couldn't remember when. In fact, everything about the house and dojo was foreign to Akane. After being away from her house for ten years Akane had only emotional ties to the house. Being in the living room and the dojo didn't bring back specific memories only emotions. After checking out the dojo Ranma and Akane walked over to the practice mat and stood on either end of the mat. The pair then quickly got into a casual stance and waited for a bit to begin the practice match.
"I'm sorry about what happened back there Akane. I didn't think they would latch onto me like that. I apologize if that upset you any." Ranma said.
"It was a simple misunderstanding. You don't need to apologize for anything koi'. Besides once we straighten things out I'm going to have a lot of catching up to do." Akane replied.
Ranma looked at Akane and smiled. That was one of the things he liked about her. The incidents over the last two years had really changed the pair and forced them to open up to one another. In fact, being away from Ranma's father allowed them to not only become mentally more mature but to also explore a relationship where they weren't just friends.
"So how do you think we should break the news to our families?" Akane asked Ranma.
"I don't know but we'll have to come up with something quick." Ranma said.
"So are we going to stand here or are we going to spar?" Akane wanted to know.
"You know me, we spar." Ranma replied.
"And knowing the people who call themselves my family they'll probably come in here to watch us and see how good we are." Akane said.
"Old Man Distraction Spar number twenty-four." Ranma suggested.
"Number twenty-four." Akane replied agreeing with Ranma.
Since rejoining Ranma's father the pair had come up with ways to be alone and get in some quick training. They called it the Old Man Distraction Spars. Each spar had a certain length of time, a certain style, a certain topic, and a certain way to end. Number twenty-four had no time length, practiced blocks and punches, was used to discuss their current problem, and would end in a tie when said problem had a solution or a way to resolve it. When the pair decided on a spar there was no changing it until the finished it. With the spar set Ranma and Akane got into the appropriate ready positions and began their match.
Five minutes into the match Nabiki came to the door to the dojo to see how good her sister and Ranma were. Ten years devoted to training seemed to pay off for the pair in the physical department. Nabiki had to admit the pair looked physically good. But they also seemed to be quite silent around the others only speaking when necessary. Nabiki had noticed the one she thought was Ranma seemed to have an angered appearance on his face and he kept glaring at the panda.
Looking into the dojo Nabiki's jaw dropped when she saw the pair locked in what appeared to be a very intense sparing match. Blow for blow block for block Akane and Ranma were in what looked like an elaborate dance. And the surprising thing was they were carrying out a casual conversation while barely breaking a sweat. Nabiki practiced yoga and worked out with aerobics and hand weights enough to know it was virtually impossible to be at the level of intensity Akane and Ranma were at and talk as if they were standing perfectly still.
"The old man refused to listen to us when he found us in Jokesuzoku what makes you think he'll listen this time?" the boy asked his female companion.
"Because his best friend will want to know what happened to his baby girl and won't let him leave until he gets an explanation." The red head replied.
"And if that doesn't work?" the boy wondered.
"Then I'll hit him on the head until he does listen." The read head declared.
"You know I feel guilty about leaving them. I miss Xian and little Rin." The boy said.
"I know I miss them too. Even that visually challenged husband of Xain's." the girl replied.
"I say once we get things straightened here we go back there." The boy suggested as he blocked a punch from his smaller companion.
"And I say we see where things lead us after we have something to eat." The girl said as her stomach let out a loud growl.
The boy let out a small soft chuckle before deciding to end the practice match.
"Then this match is a draw." The boy announced.
With that the pair bowed to each other and turned to exit the dojo. The moment their eyes came upon the doorway they caught sight of Nabiki clapping her hands and letting out a whistle of amazement. Nabiki was still dressed in her blue and yellow kimono and had a slightly devious glint in her eye.
"Nabiki." Ranma said quite surprised.
"How long have you been there?" Akane asked her.
"Long enough to see you two are quite good." Nabiki replied, "Come on Kasumi should have dinner ready soon."
The pair followed Nabiki through the covered walkway back to the main house. Once they reached the main house the trio saw Soun sitting across from a man in a dirty white gi with wire rimmed glasses and a white bandana on his head. Nabiki had no idea who the man was but Ranma and Akane knew full well who he was and decided to play the silent treatment as to not attract unwanted attention.
"Hmm must be dad's friend." Nabiki mused.
At that moment Kasumi came in from the kitchen and placed a tray with the casual tea set on it upon the table for the two men to drink while they waited for dinner. Like Nabiki Kasumi was still in her kimono except hers was green and white. After placing the tray on the table Kasumi looked up and turned around to see Nabiki with Ranma and Akane. With a smile on her face she addressed the martial artists.
"Akane, Ranma there's time before dinner to wash up in the furo. It's nice and warm. Nabiki can show you the way." Kasumi offered.
"Gee thanks sis." Ranma replied pretending to be Akane.
The pair went over to where their packs were and picked them up before following Nabiki up the stairs to where the furo was located.
"Akane your room is indicated by the duck on the door. Ranma there's a guest room two doors down. That's where you and your dad can stay. I'm going to get changed out of this kimono." Nabiki told the pair indicating the aforementioned rooms.
When the door to Nabiki's room had closed Ranma and Akane went to Akane's room to prepare for the bath. After pulling out the clothes they were going to meet Akane's family in as their true selves the pair walked down the hall to the furo. And after closing the door they took off their clothes and deposited them in the hamper near the door to the furo.
"You know they're going to find out sooner or later." Ranma said as he poured the cold water from the bucket onto Akane's head.
"Yeah so we might as well get it over with like we planned." Akane said in her masculine voice as she did the same for Ranma.
Akane climbed into the furo and sat down letting the familiar warmth wash over her body as she dipped under the water. When she came up from the water the chestnut haired boy was replaced by a young woman with black hair that had natural dark blue highlights the same length.
"Come on in Ranma the water's fine." Akane said with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"What if someone comes in here?" Ranma wondered.
"Where's your sense of adventure?" Akane countered.
Ranma let out a soft sigh and climbed into the furo. Getting down on his knees Ranma let himself get used to the water temperature. But before he could relax Akane jumped up on him and pushed Ranma under the water. When Ranma came back up the red head had changed to a male with black hair in the same pigtail as the girl.
"Geeze Akane what'd you do that for?" Ranma wanted to know as he stood up in the furo.
It was at that exact moment that door to the furoba opened. The pair froze as they waited to see what would happen next and who would come into the furoba. Their question was answered when they heard Nabiki's voice call out.
"I hope you don't mind some company Akane but that kimono was just a bit too warm for my tastes." Nabiki said as she came into the main furoba.
That was when Nabiki got a very good look at everything ten years of training had to offer Ranma and Ranma got a good look at just what Akane's older sister looked like out of the kimono.
"Oh my god. There's a pervert in the furoba. There's a pervert in the furoba." Nabiki said as she slowly backed away from the furo and grabbed her robe from the hook.
********
Kasumi had returned to the living room to begin setting the table for dinner when the scream rang throughout the house. The trio turned their attention to the stairs and saw Nabiki dressed in a dark blue satin robe come racing down the stairs with a terrified look on her face. Nabiki ran over to Kasumi and hid behind her trembling with fear.
"Nabiki what's wrong?" Kasumi asked her younger sister.
"There's a pervert in the furoba. Daddy go up there and do something." Nabiki said terrified.
"Nabiki if someone had snuck into the house then your sister Akane and her friend Ranma can take care of him." Soun told her.
"But daddy Akane was in the furo with the pervert." Nabiki informed him.
Upon hearing there was some sort of pervert doing who knows what to his baby girl Soun began to lose control of his anger and when that happened he went into what Kasumi and Nabiki called demon mode. Fortunately for him a pair of individuals one male and one female came down the stairs. The male was dressed in black Chinese dress pants with a white Chinese shirt that had golden trim and buttons. The female was dressed in a sleeveless Chinese dress with double slits on each side and gold trim and matching buttons at the shoulder. Her hair was styled in a bun with a white and gold flower comb on the left side.
The male half of the pair saw Nabiki hiding behind Kasumi and tried to rectify the situation by apologizing to her.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. We weren't thinking." He said to the trembling Nabiki.
"Why didn't you put up the occupied sign pervert?" Nabiki replied crossly.
The female member of the pair sighed and turned to face the two older Tendo girls.
"His name isn't pervert Nabiki. It's Ranma. Ranma Saotome. And I'm your little sister Akane Tendo." The female told the frightened girl.
"You two can't be them. Ranma has brown hair and matching eyes and Akane has dyed red hair and blue eyes." Nabiki replied not believing her little sister.
Akane let out a soft sigh and tried to explain things to her sisters.
"Nabiki the girl you saw couldn't have been me because she had blue eyes and everyone in the Tendo family has brown eyes. And the boy you saw couldn't have been Ranma because Ranma's eyes have always been blue not brown. Take a look at our eyes and you'll see I'm telling the truth." Akane said.
Nabiki did as her sister suggested and looked into the eyes of both Ranma and Akane. After staring into their eyes for a few minutes she turned to Akane and smiled at her before pulling her into a big warm inviting hug.
"It's been so long Akane." Nabiki said trying to hold back the tears.
When Kasumi saw that the young woman was her baby sister she joined Nabiki in hugging Akane. For the first time in ten years the Tendo sisters were together once more. And seeing the sight of his three girls together again Soun Tendo began to cry patented cry number forty-six my baby girl has returned.
After a few moments of watching his daughters hug and kiss each other the realization that something had happened to his baby girl sank in. Soun turned to face his old friend and training partner looking for answers as to what happened to Akane on the training journey he sent Akane on under the watchful eye of one Genma Saotome.
"Saotome my friend you're going to have to explain why my baby girl showed up here as a boy." Soun said as he crossed his arms across his chest.
Genma quickly shot a glance in the direction of his son who just stood there glaring at his father. It was obvious to anyone in the room that there was some bad blood between the two Saotome men. And only three people in the entire room knew what had caused it.
"Ask the boy." Genma said to Soun.
Soun turned his gaze from Genma to Ranma who took a deep breath in anticipation of what was to come. The Tendo patriarch could tell that Ranma was quite mature for his age and cared for Akane.
"Ranma could you tell me what happened to you that caused by daughter to be a boy when she arrived here?" Soun asked him.
"We can do that Tendo-san. But before we do it might be a good idea for Nabiki to change out of her robe. And while she does that maybe your eldest daughter could do me a favor and prepare two kettles of hot water please." Ranma said as he took a seat at the table.
"What does hot water have to do with your explanation Ranma?" Kasumi asked him.
"In order for you to believe us Ranma and the old man are going to have to demonstrate something for you. That's where the hot water comes in." Akane answered as she sat next to Ranma.
"Well then I'd better get the kettles prepared." Kasumi said as she went into the kitchen.
Soun looked over at Ranma and Akane and noticed how close they were to each other. He then glanced between the pair and Genma and noticed the three glaring at each other. Soun knew this was going to be one heck of a story.
"I have a feeling we're going to be treated to quite the interesting story." Soun said.
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Yea it's the first episode in what I hope will be a very interesting Ranma AU. I remembered reading one where Ranma and Nabiki go on the training trip with Genma and they ended up getting married while at the Amazon village. I liked that premise and decided to use it as a foundation for my story. But to make things a bit more interesting I'm having things happen a bit earlier than written in the manga concerning the curses and meeting the Amazons, at least where Ranma and Akane are concerned. As for Genma his curse and what comes after it will go according to canon. This is in an attempt to answer a series what if questions concerning the training trip. What if Akane went with them? What if they left for China before Ranma and Akane were fifteen? And what if something happened that separated the trio for over a year?
Okay time for a few explanations and apologies. First off I apologize if a few characters will be somewhat to severely OOC. Secondly, I apologize for the long introductory sentence at the beginning. Just think of it like one of those movies where they start off with the Earth and keep zooming in until you reach a single house or person. Now on to the explanations. First of all some of the district and ward names used in this episode and all future episodes come from a subway map of Tokyo. They happen to be the names of stops along the way to Nerima. The newspaper Soun reads does actually exist and can be considered the USA Today of Japan. And yes the papers in Japan have both a morning and evening edition. The formal outfit Soun wears is traditional Meiji period dress for men. Think Kenshin and Yosho from Tenchi Muyo.
As for the Japanese used in the story. We've all read enough Ranma to know that a furo is the bathtub. But the furoba is the bathroom the actual place you'd find a furo. It's been said in many Ranma fan fics that there is a hamper near the entrance to the furoba and that's how I'll keep it. As for the word Akane used when they were sparring koi does not refer to the fish in the pond it is the shortened version of koibito, which means beloved. That particular word will pop up quite a lot throughout the story.
So what's next? Well it seems Ranma and Akane are going to have to explain the curses and what happened in China. And Genma is going to have to explain what happened to him and how he came across Jusenkyo and the Amazons. Why is it that Ranma and Akane aren't too happy with Genma? Who are Xian and little Rin? And what will happen when the subject of the engagement comes up? Find out in The Journey Episode Two: Explanations.