"Aw, this doesn't look so 'legendary'." A dark-haired young man wearing training gi scoffed, looking out at the cursed Jusenkyo springs training grounds. Instantly a bald man wearing spectacles and the same outfit as the boy was at his side.

"Don't be so ungrateful!" The man whapped the boy then jumped out onto one of the poles surrounding the many springs.

"Stupid old man!" The boy followed his father and both got into fighting stances.

"Oh sirs! You no go in there! Is no longer used!" Their guide tried vainly to stop them in broken Japanese. Both ignored his warnings overconfidently.

"You need to be retrained Ranma! You're slacking off!" Genma taunted his son, Ranma responded by leaping at his pop. Genma launched himself at his trainee at the same time and they scuffled in the air for a moment before separating. Neither was worse for wear.

"Looks like you need some training yourself Pops!"

"Gaaaaaar!" This time Genma was distracted and Ranma landed a good blow, causing Genma to fly straight down into one of the springs. Ranma gloated over his victory while waiting for his pop to resurface. What he hadn't been expecting however, was the giant panda wearing ill-fitting glasses and a shirt that came at him instead.

Caught off guard, this time it was the younger martial artist who was sent barreling toward a spring while the guide babbled something about springs and cursed pandas on the sidelines. Taking this into note, Ranma managed to catch himself on a pole before he hit the water.

"Close," he said and glanced at the innocent-looking spring below him, before jumping onto equally innocent-looking ground. He couldn't catch himself this time. This young martial artist slid into the spring next to the previous one as the ground beneath him gave way under his weight.

"Oh sir!" The guide approached along with the Genma-turned-panda. "You fall in Hanyounoniichuan! Is very tragic story of dog-hanyou who drown there almost 500 years ago! Is very tragic spring!" Ranma only heard the tail end of this speech as he surfaced from the spring.

'Half-demon…?'

XXXXXXX One Month Later XXXXXXX

The people stood scattered around the medium-busy street and sheltered from the sudden rain as best they could. All seemed pretty normal, that is until the panda came crashing into a building thrown from a side street, and a rough male voice yelled. "Stupid old man I ain't got no fiancée! At least, not where I'm concerned, you don't have any rights to make decisions like that without me!"

The owner of the voice came into view and golden eyes glared at the panda, which was now getting to its feet. Waist-length silver hair dropped and stuck to the teen's vivid red shirt and well-defined muscles showed under the wet cloth. The strangest thing of all was brought to attention when the boy flicked water off of his ears, his dog ears. He continued walking and stopped in front of the panda, grabbing it by the scruff and pulling it along easily, despite its size, he finalized.

"Now we're gonna go settle this mess you've made." Genma could only nod as his son growled at him.

XXXXXXX the Tendos XXXXXXX

"Kasumi, Nabiki… Akane!" This call went out through the Tendo dojo after the sudden storm passed when the dojo master called to his daughters bearing big news.

"A FIANCEE!?" They chorused in shock, and then the questions started.

"Is he cute?" Nabiki, the middle Tendo daughter who had light brown hair in a bowl cut, started.

"Oh, I hope he's older than me." Kasumi, the oldest Tendo daughter, worried aloud in a gentle voice.

Akane, the youngest, kept silent and all three waited for their father to say something. Soun Tendo laughed nervously in the face of all the female pressure and turned to face the garden before answering.

"I wouldn't know," he turned back to them, "I've never met the boy." A single exasperated sigh went out from the girls. They then heard the door open and close, then voices.

"That must be him!" Nabiki got up and followed her father toward the front of the house, only to be chased back by what they saw. The silver-haired man was dragging his panda father into the home after them and took one look at Soun before depositing him in front of the dojo owner.

"R… ran… ma?" Soun stuttered out as he looked between the boy and the panda.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout this." Ranma ran one hand through his hair and flattened his ears embarrassedly. "I believe my father has given you some notion that I am engaged to one of your daughters." At this Ranma turned an apologetic gaze to the three dazed girls on the other side of the room, before continuing.

"I'm sorry, but that impossible at this moment. I'm in training right now and don't have much time for a Fiancée, Also, I'd like to retain the right to choose my own wife, when I'm older." As he completed his speech Soun started the water works and Genma returned from the kitchen with a kettle, before splashing himself and Ranma.

"You ungrateful son! After all I did for you!" Safe now the Ranma was once again human, Genma whapped his son once on the head for his supposed insolence.

"Okay, just tell me what's going on here!" Akane spoke up finally and glared at their two guests before the fight could progress.

"Yes Saotome, I'd like to know what was up with your boy just now also!" Genma quaked in the face of Soun's demon-head technique and turned to look for Ranma to explain. The dark-haired martial artist was gone, and so was Akane.

XOX

"Nice dojo." When everyone's attention had been elsewhere, Ranma took the opportunity to escape, Akane had followed.

"I want an explanation you know." Ranma sighed and turned to her.

"Do you have any cold water?" There was a water bottle against the wall where Akane had left it from one of her work-outs, she handed it to him and he doused himself.

Instantly his hair lengthened and brightened into its silver hue. He closed his blue eyes and opened them gold as he grew a few inches in height. Akane also noticed the nails lengthening into claws, and of course, the ears.

Ranma took a deep breath and let it out as the transformation was completed.

"That's much better; you don't know how dull your senses are." Akane bristled visibly at what she perceived as an insult and Ranma hastened to correct himself.

"I mean my senses are more heightened now, I can smell you. I can hear the next door neighbors talking." He closed his eyes and leaned toward the sound to prove his point and Akane settled.

"How are you doing it though? Why do you have dog ears now and not before? What are you?" She demanded to know.

"You'd probly hear it from Pop later anyways." Ranma began. "We got these curses in China, at a place called Jusenkyo. Pop'd heard about it in someplace, so of course we swam the ocean and went there and as you've just witnessed, the rumors were true. The springs are cursed." His eyes lit up with a weird gleam.

"I, unlike Pop's, was lucky. This cursed form is so much better than my other. Along with the things I listed before, I can run faster than any human, jump almost thirty feet and higher. It's amazing." His face split in a feral grin, there was not even a memory of the dark-haired boy she'd seen before anywhere.

"As for what am I," he turned to her with a pleasant look, "I'm a half-demon."

Akane had no trouble believing this. She'd heard the old stories of the human-like demons that mixed with humans and formed half-breeds long ago in the feudal era.

Ranma seemed to suddenly light up with an idea.

"Can I show you?" Akane gave him one last look over and threw caution to the wind, before nodding. Before she could blink he was at her side and pulling her into his arms. There wasn't even time to protest or struggle before they were outside and then onto the roof.

He hadn't been kidding when he talked about the speed or height; it was like they were flying, each step was a jump that crossed twenty feet over rooftops and streets alike. What Ranma hadn't mentioned was his strength. He handled her like a feather and Akane quite worrying after awhile and loosened her grip. She took the opportunity to examine what a half-demon doing what he does best, looks like.

Ranma's face was lit up in and inhuman joy and exhilaration that didn't dim throughout the run, all of a sudden he turned to her and she could fell it too, looking out at the sky in front of them and the forest below, she shared his feelings for one moment.

"You know," he turned to look at her with one brow raised and tilted his head.

"I wouldn't mind if you stuck around just a bit." Akane couldn't help but respond to his dazzling smile, lit by the sunset going on in front of them. He landed on a tree branch and made sure they were balanced before setting her down, gently.

"I wouldn't mind that either."

I fixed some tiny mistakes in this one. Not really changed though. Just a hint, this story is likely to be continued this year. Sometime…