Disclaimer: The characters and original plot of Ranma ½ do not belong to me.

Also, this is my first story ever posted, so please don't break my amateur spirit with your criticism. However, they will be gratefully accepted either way.

Chapter 1: To Gain a Father Who Thought Things Through is to Lose All Hope for a Cure

"So Daddy, what did you want to talk about?"

It was nearing the end of March, marking the beginning of spring. This meant the school year had ended and with it, another chapter of many students' lives. Not to mention a certain wedding ceremony failed to follow through the week previous, effectively delaying a big change that should have taken place.

Akane Tendo was merely sixteen years old, and felt conflicting emotions of disappointment and relief when it was clear she wouldn't be getting married just yet. She wasn't even a legal adult, so no one could expect her to know if marriage was the right decision to make at such a young age. And for what purpose? To provide a cure to a Jusenkyo curse for a groom who denied loving the bride?

Yes, it was right to feel satisfied that the wedding didn't go through. The tears she shed in her sleep that night were ones of relief and feeling of release from a burden she was not yet ready to accept, not because of despair and devastation at the state of her once beautiful white wedding gown, nor the empty feeling of "being left at the altar," as the Westerners called it.

Mentally nodding to herself, Akane accepted this explanation and put the rest out of her mind as she was curious to know what her father wanted at this time of day. Usually Soun Tendo would be sitting out on the engawa playing—or rather cheating at— a game of Go with his long-time friend, Genma Saotome, also the father of the aforementioned groom.

This particular day however, Soun had simply been gazing across the yard, deep in thought. It had rained in the late afternoon, and this brought to his attention of the shimmering ripples on the surface of the pond. Water. It was a life essential. Without it humans, animals, plants; no life at all would exist. And yet, it could very well end all of that life, leaving no trace behind. People tend to forget about this and take the life-sustaining liquid for granted. Soun was no less guilty of this. That is, until the day he met a red-haired girl and her panda.

From that day onward, he began to recognize the role water played in his life. No longer was it merely for drinking and cleansing himself with, but it became both a curse and a cure for his friend and future son-in-law. This then brought to the front of his mind of the bribe he used to get his daughter to willingly participate in the joining of the schools. It was obvious of the feelings the two teenagers had for one another. Soun merely wanted one of them to make the first move, and used the water from the Cursed Spring of Drowned Man, Nannichuan, as the perfect opportunity. He hadn't meant for everything to fall into such a disaster. He couldn't force one of his cherished daughters into a marriage she wasn't prepared for. Unfortunately, he underestimated Akane's ability to take everything in the literal sense, especially when he specifically told her, "Only with your joining in matrimony will Ranma get his hands on this water. And you know how desperately he's been trying to get a cure." Oh, what a fool he had been to think anything would have gone correctly.

The good news had yet to come, though. For once Soun thought a few things through and made the wise decision to replace the Nannichuan water with regular water. He kept the cursed water in a water barrel in the corner of his closet. It was the last place anyone would look for something precious, and it had the added bonus of keeping Happosai away because of all the men's clothing. Everyone was left to think the last of the Nannichuan disappeared with the old man, and Soun allowed that to go on until that afternoon when he contemplated the waters of the pond. As he and his daughter met in his room, he mentally went about how to approach the subject.

"Well Akane, it has come to my attention that nothing seems to get better around Nerima. It either stays the same or gets worse."

Akane was confused, not by her father's statement, but rather by the fact it came from him. Never before did she expect him to be introspective about her life, or anyone else's for that matter. Not since the day her mother passed on. Akane decided to play oblivious to hear more. "What do you mean, Daddy? What's happened that made you feel this way? Nerima isn't a bad place to be at all."

Soun sighed. For the first time, Akane was able to spot gray hidden under his black hair. "Akane, you must notice by now how every day ever since Genma and Ranma arrived has only brought more complications to our lives. I'm not complaining however, because a true martial artist must always be prepared to face the worst. No, what I'm getting at is a way to solve at least one of those problems."

Perking up at this, Akane questioned, "A solution to one of our problems? And exactly what problem are we talking about?" A thought occurred to her and she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You aren't suggesting another shotgun wedding to 'solve' the fiancée and suitor problem, are you? Well I'm not going through with it this time! You can't make me, and there's definitely no way to bribe me when the last of Ranma's cure has already disappeared!"

"And that's where you're wrong, Akane. Ranma still has a chance for a cure."

Akane was overwhelmed by the shock that hit her. Another chance at Ranma's cure? She could feel the tears build up in her eyes. Though she still couldn't understand why, Akane knew without a doubt if her father once again bribed her, she would unhesitatingly accept it. She was helpless when matters concerned Ranma. Sure, her façade brought about the pretense that she could care less for her fiancé's well-being, especially when she beat on him for getting into compromising situations. But deep down she only wanted him to be satisfied with his life, even if it included her. If there was no way out of marrying a tomboy like her, the least she could do was make some part of his life better.

Raising her head to meet her father's eyes, Akane asked softly, "So that's it. We're having another wedding. Should I warn Ranma this time, or will everything happen as fast as last time that it won't even matter?"

"Er, not exactly." Soun shifted uncomfortably under his daughter's tearful gaze. "I've seen how wrong things went last week. Impulsive plans such as a shotgun wedding wasn't going to solve anything. Instead it would have created more problems, whether or not our uninvited guests showed up."

Akane's eyes widened. "What are you saying?" she asked, however a miniscule ray of hope gave way to an idea of what was coming next.

"I'm saying Ranma should finally be given a break. His curse has been something everyone eventually became accustomed to, but I'm sure he still despises the form he takes with cold water. Although the wedding disaster opened my eyes to how little the two of you have progressed in your relationship, I still haven't given up hope in joining the schools. And so I want you to be the one to present Ranma with his cure, and maybe this will rid one of the obstacles preventing you from getting along."

Watching Soun stand up and walk to his closet, Akane was given a small amount of time to process everything that was just said. It was simply too easy! She couldn't possibly expect her father to just give Ranma the cure and not have a catch. But then again, maybe her father was being sincere and only wanted to make things easier for Ranma.

As Soun made his way back to Akane with the water barrel in his arms, she made the quick resolve that this last actual batch of Jusenkyo water would not go to waste. Accepting the barrel into her own outstretched arms, she asked, "By the way, how did you manage to get two barrels of this water? I thought the guide said there was only enough to fill one."

Soun chuckled nervously and replied, "I couldn't risk having the actual water out during the wedding. It was safer to keep it all in my room until the ceremony was over."

A sudden realization came to Akane's mind. "What?! So you made every Jusenkyo-cursed person in Nerima think Happosai drank the only cure they had for a whole week now?!"

And speak of the devil, the shriveled old man came bounding through the open window of the room carrying a giant sack of panties five times his size on his back. The first person he saw was Akane and he gleefully hopped towards her yelling, "Akane-chan! Let me have a little rest in your precious bosom after all my hard work today!"

Both Soun and Akane were too slow to prevent what happened next. As Happosai landed on the water barrel Akane held, his momentum caused the girl to fall backwards slightly. The old man stumbled forward because of this, taking the barrel lid with him.

As Akane helplessly watched the water cascade over her, she thought, I should have known. Even if Daddy didn't propose a deal for the water, fate would have come up with something.