Author Note: I'm having a writer's block with my other story, so I'm hoping this will get the creative juices flowing again. A busy period for me at the moment, so infrequent updates.
Chapter 1 - Dropping in for a visit
"Stay in the garden, little ones and stay out of the house." The young woman shouted with an indulgent smile.
"I am waiting for an answer." The woman stated as she looked back at the real state agent, whom fidgeted under the gaze.
"Well madam, first this is Nerima and second these last few years have seen an increase in property damage from martial arts contests." The agent explained, slightly embarrassed.
"Most martial artists here are of exceptional skill with 2nd dan being the most common. The higher ranked martial artist generally cause more damage to the immediate area and tend to escalate to other parts of Nerima. This neighbourhood has suffered less damage over the years, but is still part of Nerima." The agent continued as the gaze remained.
"So by association the prices for the ground are lowered as the entire ward has a bad reputation." The woman said.
"Yes, madam." The agent replied.
"I appreciate the honest answer. Personally I do not think these contests will pose a problem. The head of security will be able to deal with these nuisances. When the building has been inspected and checked out structurally, I will sign the contract." The woman said.
"Yes, madam." The agent replied with a smile. Finally got rid of this property.
Just then a loud crash could be heard within the house. Blinking the woman looked at the two children in the yard, before frowning and marching into the building. The agent just pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered about the unfairness of it all.
"And what might you be doing here." The woman asked with a frown.
"Huh?" Ranma said groggily as he picked himself out of the crater.
"You know, this is not a safe place to play." The woman replied as she looked at the run down state of the house.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to drop in on you like that. The tomboy didn't give me much choice in the matter." Ranma answered.
"I see. You do realise that there are better ways to impress a girl. Proving your courage is hardly worth a broken bone or something similar." The woman lectured.
"I ain't trying to impress the stupid tomboy." Ranma snapped, glaring angry.
"Sorry, it's complicated alright." Ranma added after receiving a flat stare from the woman.
"Try me." The woman simply said in response, as she gestured Ranma to follow.
Signing, Ranma started to explain parts of his life. Mentioning the training trip and subsequent surprise engagement, Ranma tried to explain the complex relationship between him and his fiancées. Shaking her head, the woman stopped Ranma from talking and send the agent on his way to get started on the contract. Signing, the woman moved to keep the children in her sight.
"I am Aran-Himura Samus." Samus introduced herself.
"Saotome Ranma." Ranma replied.
"Half gaijin I might be, young one, but I do know multiple engagements is illegal. Which is the only part I understood of your explanation. Your constant changing of subject was not helpful in this." Samus stated, as she tapped her cane.
"Sorry, I warned you that it's complicated." Ranma replied.
"Perhaps. Unfortunately I have little time at the moment to find out. Try to stay out of our new home, young one." Samus said in good humor as she called to the children.
Waving goodbye, Samus led the children to the nearby substation. Meeting up with the two absent members of her group, she discussed the day as the children were treated to ice-cream. The older gentlemen spoke of his findings in an urgent and stressed manner. The middle-aged giant added his observations in a soft rumbling voice. Samus listened what the two men had to say and responded in a crisp, no nonsense manner. Only the older man showed his doubts by frowning, but held his tongue. Leaving the children in the care of the older gentlemen, Samus and the giant moved to their next appointment.
Ranma's day was a bit more eventful as he had been chased by two fiancées and three rivals. Upon returning to the dojo, he was immediately beset by the two fathers shouting their indignation of his supposed callous treatment of his rightful fiancée. Nodoka also added her two cents by calling his manliness in question. Akane just welcomed Ranma home with a mallet to the head. Even Kasumi showed her displeasure by serving Ranma smaller helpings of her food.
Signing, Ranma was grateful that the day was over as he prepared for bed. Frowning, Ranma remembered the young woman that had called him with the, to him, insulting moniker 'young one'. He guessed her age was mid-twenty and didn't consider the age difference sufficient for her to call him in such a manner. Ranma considered her dark red hair for a moment. Shrugging, Ranma put Samus out of his head and went straight to bed.
A few weeks went past and life for Ranma continued in the usual manner as he was chased and malleted on a daily basis. Samus was supervising the restoration and expansion of her new home and had been contemplating the hole in the roof which was located in the middle of the house. A blur and crash ended this.
"Ranma?" Samus questioned as she blinked at the new crater in repaired floor.
"Hi, Samus." Ranma groined as he picked himself up.
"Himura-san." Samus corrected.
"Why do I have the feeling that a new hole would have appeared if the roof had been fixed?" Samus continued as she looked up at the hole.
"Cause I would've crashed through it." Ranma answered as he checked himself for any injuries.
"Indeed. I gather this was caused by a tomboy?" Samus asked as she considered her first meeting with Ranma.
"Yep. Strong as a gorilla and eager to use her mallet as a golf club." Ranma responded.
"Any reason as to why?" Samus pressed as she led Ranma to the kitchen.
"She don't need no reason. Just the pretence of fault and wham, there I go." Ranma snorted.
"What I meant was, what were the events leading up to the involuntary flight." Samus corrected.
"Well, I was minding my own business as I walked home from school. Doing my best to avoid angering Akane, when Shampoo used my head as a landing spot again. Not wasting time, Shampoo started hugging me and saying she was ready for a date. Next thing I know I'm flying." Ranma explained dejected as he accepted a cup of tea.
"If I understand this right, you were assaulted and sexually molested by a girl named Shampoo. A tomboy named Akane either took offence or was embarrassed and decided to take her frustration out on you. Which resulted in this little visit." Samus summarized as she sipped her tea.
"Kinda. Shampoo is really enthusiastic and doesn't show much restrained. So I wouldn't call it molesting." Ranma replied.
"Did you want to be hugged? Did you enjoy being hugged" Samus questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"NO! I didn't want to be hugged." Ranma sputtered.
"That would be sexually molesting. As in unwanted sexual contact." Samus calmly stated.
"I guess. Look I got to be going. I'm probably in enough trouble as it is." Ranma said, getting up.
"There is still the matter of damaging my new floor." Samus interjected.
"Ah, man. Look I ain't got much money and I ain't available for a date or something." Ranma sighed with his shoulders slumped.
"Then it is fortunate that I employ a simple policy of 'you break, you fix'." Samus answered with smirk.
"I was considering to change the room, in which you landed, to an inner courtyard with a sealing panel for the rain. It may take some effort, but adding special mats on the floor would turn it into a practice area." Samus.
"So you want me to do that?" Ranma asked sceptically.
"Aff. You can begin by removing the floor boards. The floor will be lowered a bit and strengthened with metal bars." Samus mused with a distracted gaze.
"Once the floor boards are removed, the metal bars will be put in place to serve as the foundation for the springs, which will soften any impact. Upon the springs the removed floor boards will be placed, still lower then the previous height. The special mats will be place last." Samus continued after refocusing on Ranma.
"You expect me to do all that?" Ranma asked grumpy.
"Neg. I expect you to remove the floor boards and replace them. The metal bars and springs will be done by a professional craftsman. If you happen to know a store where I can buy the special mats, kindly inform me of the address." Samus answered.
"Ok, I guess I can do that." Ranma replied, surprised by the sudden mirth of Samus.
Leading Ranma back to the room and talking to the foreman about the desired changes, Samus also mentioned Ranma to the foreman as a independent freelancer specialised in manual labor.
Samus smiled proudly as she looked at her new training room. The floor had been finished early and the mats had been placed. The floor above had been removed as had portions of the roof to accommodate a glass panel, which could close the top of the room. The upper floor of her house had been drastically altered with the removal of most of the walls. Rebuilding the hallways and the rooms with the extensions on the outside of the building would take a while longer, but Samus felt the added room and changed lay-out worth the time and effort.
Blinking, Samus looked up and sighed as a dot grew larger in the sky. A muffled crash sounded as Ranma made another landing in the room. Critically, Samus inspected the crash site. Nodding as Ranma got up somewhat swifter, Samus noted no noticeable damage to the floor.
"Compared with previous landings, how does this one rate?" Samus asked curious.
"Not as hard as usual." Ranma grumbled as he checked his head for lumps.
"Good, next time you head this way aim for this room. Should save both of us some trouble." Samus stated as she left the room to check on the children outside.
Chuckling the foreman entered the room and checked for damage. As Ranma had dropped in a few times before in this room during the work, the room had been made a priority to finish. Having a person crash into a workplace with dangerous materials was something the foreman wanted to avoid. The foreman had also watch Ranma as he had been put to work by Samus each visit. Nodding his head, the foreman slapped Ranma on the shoulder.
"How would you like to earn some money?" The foreman asked.
Whistling Ranma walked down the street to the mall. While his clothes were durable, the past few weeks had overcome the resistance and his clothes were starting to fall apart. His job as construction worker had earned him some decent money and he had been able to pay Nabiki off. Nabiki immediately added a penalty fine for the late payment, which to her astonishment was paid by Ranma. Before she could think of another fine, Ranma had left the room.
Ranma had been given a crash course in construction work and to his surprise had found a group that didn't care about what he didn't know or what he couldn't do. He was just one of the guys. As the job was finished, Ranma had learned carpentry, some metal work and some electronic know how. He still was considering the offer of the foreman to keep working with the group.
But today he had to get some new clothes. The Nerima mall had a small store with his customary style and, as was usual in Nerima, durable for fighting. As he was considering what he could buy with his hard earn money, Ranma failed to notice the girl following him.
Ranma was in an even better mood as he exited the store with his new clothes. He still had some money to spend, more than he had expected. Smiling, Ranma headed back to the dojo and considered places to hide his money. Seeing an familiar face, Ranma changed his direction.
"Hi Samus." Ranma called out.
"Himura-san." Samus returned evenly as she check a map.
"You ain't that much older." Ranma said.
"In age, neg. Experience is a different matter." Samus replied.
"I got plenty of experience." Ranma boasted.
"Perhaps you should include an example of a specific skill to illustrate your experience. Your last statement could be taken as an innuendo of sexual activity." Samus dryly noted with a smirk.
"Fighting, okay. Sheesh, why does everybody keep calling me a pervert?" Ranma whined.
"Do not put words into my mouth. I did not call you pervert." Samus stated with a small frown.
"I offered advise to prevent the innuendo in the future. I gather this is a sensitive subject." Samus continued as she found the direction she needed to take.
"Yeah, sorry I snapped. It's just that most people I meet think that about me." Ranma replied.
"I don't know what the big fuss is. It's not like it's important." Ranma added.
"I remember you saying that one of the engagements was to unite two schools." Samus questioned with an raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, so?" Ranma answered.
"This usually means that a child is expected. Which means some expectations are in that particular direction." Samus explained.
"You mean I have to do the icky stuff with that tomboy, no way!" Ranma exclaimed.
"Icky stuff?" Samus questioned.
"You know. Touching the bathing area's and stuff. That just isn't done." Ranma stressed.
"Interesting. Out of curiosity, what do you think about school?" Samus asked as several comments started to connect in her mind.
"Boring. Not like I need it for the dojo." Ranma shrugged.
"So you are going to let you father or, what was her name, Nabiki take care of the finances of the dojo." Samus stated.
"No, I ain't gonna let either get their greedy hands on anymore money if I can avoid it." Ranma vehemently replied.
"Then you will need to study math and take business classes to properly take care of the finances." Samus calmly said.
"Really?? Damn, I never needed anything from school before. Apart from knowing how to write and read." Ranma said.
"Strange, is it not? Your father dedicated a large portion of his life to teach you nothing but martial arts. Now he expects you to know math and do icky stuff with girls." Samus casually observed.
"Look I'm not so dumb to not recognise you're going somewhere with this. Can't you just say it." Ranma stated.
"As you wish. From my point of view, your father has raised you to be his personal slave." Samus said with conviction.
"Let me explain first, before you respond. Normally as a child grows up, he or she learns how to behave towards other people. Social contacts, that help in befriending other people. Your father purposely removed you from a social setting, preventing you from learning how to interact with other people. You know only how to insult a person, not how to make a proper compliment." Samus lectured.
"He apparently did his best to prevent you from gaining other interests outside of martial arts, such as comic books or girls. He focused your attention solely to martial arts to the exclusion of everything else. And whom do you look for as an example or for advice, when you are confronted with something you don't understand? Your father." Samus continued.
"To recap. You depend on your father or his example on how to behave with something not related to martial arts. The social skills instilled by your father are little more then insults, which only serve to drive away potential friends and increase your dependency on your father. You lack the skills gained from going to school, which would help in shaping your future. Instead you let you father decide what path you should take in live." Samus concluded and fell silent as she walked.
Ranma considered the words Samus spoke. As much as it galled him to admit it, a lot had the ring of truth to it. His father had made a lot of decisions about his live and had stated that school had little to offer him. Making friends was also something he had difficult with, let alone relating to what other people were thinking.
"So what do you gain from telling me this?" Ranma asked suspicious.
"Other than the satisfaction of a successful student, nut much." Samus replied.
"Student?" Ranma asked.
"Perhaps it is time to tell more about myself." Samus considered as she looked at Ranma.
"Follow." Samus simply said as she entered a restaurant.
She led Ranma to a table with the two children and two men. Greeting each in turn, Samus gestured to Ranma to join them.
"You already know little Natasha and little Kitsune. This is Chapman Andre and Lidstrom Hans." Samus introduced the giant and older man.
"This is Saotome Ranma." Samus continued the introduction.
"For several years now I have been responsible for the upraising of several children, some for rather high positions in society. The habit of teaching and encouraging independence is deeply rooted in my very being. I was eleven when I took in my first orphan and that number has continued to grow." Samus explained.
"She has also accepted others in her house and clan, including us." Hans interjected.
"Aff. I had been wandering for some time after my old clan had cast me out. She came across me as I stumbled into her path drunkenly. I remember little of my journey before meeting her as I spend most of the time drinking my misery away. I was taken to her home and she gave me back my dignity and honor. I have served her clan since." Andre softly spoke.
"Because my clan has a high position, several enemies are out for our blood. Chapman is leader of the group that protects our clan members. Head of security as it were." Samus stated with a smile directed to Andre.
"Few are stupid enough to try anything with Andre nearby." Hans snorted.
"So, now you know why I am calling you a student. I have the skills to help and feel the need to help." Samus said.
"I guess." Ranma replied non-committingly as he considered this new information.
"I have to get back to the dojo. Thanks for the talk." Ranma added as he stood.
"Anytime. My door is always open if you need to talk to someone." Samus replied as they bid Ranma goodbye.
Ranma swiftly returned to the dojo with his purchases. As Ranma was beset once again, he showed his new clothes as prove of his whereabouts. Even if the fathers calmed down a bit, Ranma still received a mallet to the head. Receiving stern orders to apologies to his fiancée, Ranma made a bee-line to his room and stored his clothes in his dresser.
Ranma remained silent throughout dinner, creating a tense atmosphere as Akane sat fuming and waiting for an apology. Some concern was also present as Genma stole several bites from Ranma's food without any retaliation or defence. Ranma remained oblivious to all this as he ran the talk with Samus through his head again.
"What's the matter with you boy?!" Genma finally roared as he stole another uncontested bite from Ranma.
"You aren't shirking from training are you, boy?" Genma growled as he pointed his chopstick accusingly at Ranma.
"Hmm? Sorry Pop, just don't feel so hungry at the moment." Ranma replied distracted.
"Here, you can have the rest." Ranma said and dumped the remainder of his meal in Genma's bowl.
Crickets chirped as everyone at the table looked as Ranma stood and excused himself, saying he was going to bed early. The silence stretched for several moments before someone started eating again with loud smacking noises. Eyes turned to Genma, who looked back quizzingly.
"What? No sense letting it go to waste. First time the boy surrendered, do." Genma contemplated a brief second before shrugging and returning to his meal.