Author's Note: Hey. LR here, back with another classic-style fanfic. It's probably filled to the brim with cliches, the least of which is retreading the first couple of chapters of the Ranma manga, but in this case it's important. It will eventually diverge from the canon timeline. Still, I hope you enjoy.

It was an overcast day in Nerima, Tokyo. The clouds above were a foreboding gray, and an ominous wind blew through the air. A man sat on the side of a large compound, the garden visible from the front door. His long flowing hair and mustachioed face were straight, and his composed posture as he looked out onto the garden was disciplined, but seemed to be hiding something.

'Mr Tendo! Mail for you!'

Soun Tendo looked over towards the Tendo compound's door, raising his eyebrows. The mail? Delivering it a time like this?

Oh well, he wasn't complaining.

A quick trip to the compound doors and back to the balcony overlooking the garden later, Soun was rifling through the mail. One piece of mail was obviously an advertisement, so he discarded that. Another was a brochure from a gym that looked like a total scam, so he discarded that too.

5 minutes later, Soun sighed, looking at the second last letter in the pile. So many of the letters had been nothing but advertisements. He didn't think he'd seen one that wasn't an advertisement yet - including this one.

He threw the letter a shake of his head. He felt tears almost form in his eyes as he looked up at the sky. Would something ever come to shake up the boredom of his daily routine?

He grasped the remaining letter hard, the glossy cardboard pressing into his thumb-

Soun blinked. Letters weren't made of glossy cardboard.

He looked down at the remaining letter.

Or rather, letter and postcard.

The postcard had a picture of a crab on it. Soun turned it around. On the other side was the message, which looked for all the world more like a work of art than a message. It read 'I'm bringing Ranma from China - Saotome.' There was something scribbled out before the name 'Saotome', which looked like it had been written by an entirely different person.

Soun looked at the postcard, not sure what to make of it. His best friend, Genma Saotome, was obviously the one to have written this letter, but either his calligraphy had gotten better or he'd hired a calligrapher to write for him. Also, the I was not 'Ore' but 'Watashi'.

But the thought of Ranma, Genma's boy, finally coming to fulfil the obligation expected of him, banished all of his worries from his mind and brought Soun to tears. 'Ranma, coming here? Oh, how I've waited for this day!' he said, tears of happiness streaming down his face.

How would he celebrate this momentous occasion?

Why, by telling his daughters, of course!

A few minutes later, Soun sat in the family room. He sat on one side, while his three daughters - the athletic yet long-haired Akane, the short-haired and smart Nabiki, and the demure and beautiful Kasumi - sat on the other side.

'Fiance?'

Soun nodded with a smile on his face. 'Yes, the son of a very good friend of mine. The son's name is Ranma Saotome. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this dojo, then the Tendo family legacy would be secure.'

'Wait a minute!' Akane, his youngest and most hotheaded (and most interested in training, given she'd just gotten back from a run and practicing and was still wearing her gi), protested, glaring at him. 'Don't we have some say in who we marry?'

Kasumi, his eldest and kindest, spoke up. 'Akane's right, Daddy. We've never even met Ranma.'

Soun's eyebrows rose in humour, and he chuckled. 'That's easily fixed.'

'Hey, quit it with the chasin', old man! I ain't gonna be staying anywhere until this thing is fixed!'

'Do I look like an old man to you? No! I'm a beautiful scientist!'

Tokyo was a weird place.

'Still the same dumb old man at heart!'

'Grr… Why, you!'

Even so, when it got a bit much, people tended to get out of the way and watch. After all, some battles were a bit above the normal Tokyo weirdness factor

Like the current battle that was going on between a spiky-silver-haired girl with weirdly shaped ears and yellow eyes who was floating in midair, and a younger girl with a similar but longer hairstyle who was using a gun that looked like it was out of Star Wars to shoot oddly coloured beams towards the other girl.

The older girl turned around and flashed the younger one a smug grin, sticking her tongue out and pulling her lower eyelid down. 'Biii! You can't get me, you stuperk.'

The word 'Stuperk' didn't particularly mean anything, aside from the fact that the flying girl had just been hit by one of the beams the young girl had been shooting, and as a result stopped moving and dropped like a brick.

The little girl pocketed her gun in her small black pants and dusted her hands off, a smug grin on her face that was even larger than her silver-haired counterpart's. 'That's what you get for calling me stupid,' she said. She put her hand in the same pocket afterwards, rifling around for a bit, then removing her hand with another mysterious-looking device. It looked a bit like a white stick with a claw on the end, a small green ball embedded in the end.

The girl pointed the device towards her former opponent and pressed a button on the side. The claw opened up and an unearthly glow came from within the ball.

A bright green beam shot out of the ball, enveloping the silver-haired girl in an unearthy aura. The redhead moved the device upwards from where it was pointing, and the other girl was lifted up into the air, the green aura still enveloping her.

The redhead gave a smile. 'Alright then!' she said. Holding the claw device in front of her, she started moving again, this time at a more leisurely pace; the girl in the green aura was moved alongside her. 'Now, I have to tell you a couple of things before we get to my friend's house…'

'Ranma and his father have been on a voyage of training; recently, they went to China.'

'Wow! China!' Nabiki said, leaning forward and thinking about all the ancient treasures that could be found there. They had to have brought back at least some of those ancient treasures.

Akane, however, looked away, an annoyed expression on her face. 'What's so great about walking to China?' she asked.

'How old is he?' Kasumi asked, a worried expression on her face. 'I do hope he's not younger than me… That kind of relationship wouldn't be proper.'

'Is he cute?' asked Nabiki. 'And what's he like?'

Soun laughed, then his expression turned stony. 'No idea.'

Nabiki leaned in. 'No idea?'

'I've never met him.'

Suddenly, a somewhat deep feminine voice rang out from the front door. 'Let go of me, you old hag!'

'Who's an old hag?!' came another voice that sounded younger and more feminine yet at the same time carried a sort of authority to it.

'We have visitors!' Kasumi said, standing up.

Nabiki had already taken off, her father close behind. 'It must be Ranma!' she squealed.

Soun could already see Genma in his mind's eye, although the young feminine voice threw him off a bit, but he supposed that his friend could have picked up a few tagalongs on the way. 'Saotome, my friend! We've been waiting!' he shouted.

As Kasumi walked towards the door, Akane stood up behind her. 'Boys… How depressing,' she thought to herself, a sad sigh coming from her lips. She looked down at the ground and started after her oldest sister. It always seemed to be boys. Boys, boys, boys.

Even one of her best friends, Sayuri, had gone all boy-crazy recently (not that boys were the only thing she was crazy about), and even the slightly shy Yuka had been interested in meeting with boys. If only she could just meet a girl like her, someone who wasn't interested in boys at the moment…

Then, she looked up again.

Her father, Kasumi, and Nabiki were standing just in front of the gate to the compound, looking for all the world like they'd just seen a ghost.

She walked up to them, pushing through her sisters to reach the door. It took some time, since the seemed to be barely even conscious.

Akane grew worried. 'Daddy? Nabiki? Kasumi? What's wrong-' Akane cut herself off, and felt her mouth drop open.

In front of her was a pair of girls. This wasn't too out of the ordinary.

What was out of the ordinary was what the girls looked like.

One of the girls - the one standing up, and the younger-looking one (she couldn't have been more than 12) – had long red spiky hair, and was wearing an odd set of clothes. She had a hair ornament, and her eyes were a piercing green. She held in her hands an odd claw-like object which seemed to be glowing, a green beam shooting out of it.

In front of her was a girl who looked about Akane's age, wearing a similarly odd piece of clothing. She was glaring up at the smaller girl, her arms crossed over her chest and one leg crossed over the other. Her body was surrounded by a green light, almost the same intensity as a lightsaber from Star Wars. The most surprising thing, though, was her features – features that made Akane almost freeze in terror.

The older girl had bright silver - bright silver - hair, styled like some sort of punk, and her ears were somewhat pointed. Her eyes were an odd yellow, and slitted like a cat's.

She looked like a monster.

Akane shook her head, looking again, then almost breathed an audible sigh of relief. The monstrous features had disappeared, leaving an overall normal-looking girl, albeit one who had bright silver hair. 'Probably just a trick of the light,' she thought to herself, but couldn't quite put those features she could have sworn she'd seen out of her mind.

She could see her sisters and father move back a little in her periphery, whispering among themselves, but Akane couldn't look away from the silver-haired girl. It was like she was in a trance.

Suddenly, the redheaded girl spoke up while looking down at her companion, snapping Akane out of it. 'We're here, so I can let you down if you want. All you need to do is say it.' She grew a smile, but the look on her face was something between malice and mischievousness.

Akane heard her father and sisters shuffle closer again.

The other girl's glare intensified. 'I'm not gonna say somethin' so demeanin', ya know.'

Akane's eyes darted between the two girls, watching their non-verbal battle, when after a few seconds the redhead sighed. 'Fine,' she bit out. 'Probably a bad idea with Soun-chan here anyway.'

Soun stiffened slightly at that. No-one ever called him Soun-chan - at least not anymore, and the only person who had called him that recently had done it in a hypnosis-induced craze. Several bad memories from that time floated up, and he shuddered.

Meanwhile, the redhead holding the device seemed to fiddle around with it a bit, and the silver-haired girl rotated in mid-air until she was facing the Tendo family. Then the redhead pressed a button, which resulted in her companion being dropped on the ground unceremoniously, the green light and beam disappearing instantly.

The silver-haired girl's head turned to shoot a glare at the redhead, before turning back around and staring at the Tendos, her expression turning blank before morphing into one of nervousness.

Soun stared at the girl before something popped into his head. He pointed at her. 'You wouldn't happen to be…'

The silver-haired girl looked down and to the side. 'Ranma Saotome.' She adjusted the top collar of her odd attire. 'Sorry 'bout this.'

Soun's face went through a myriad of emotions, starting with confusion and ending with joy. 'At last! You've come!' he shouted, reaching his arms out and grabbing the girl by her shoulders. Then he pulled her into a hug.

'Daddy,' Nabiki said. 'Ranma is a girl.'

Soun froze, and Ranma shifted uncomfortably. He pulled back, holding Ranma by her arms and looking towards her - more specifically, at her chest.

A second later, Soun fainted.

Soun lay down in the living room, tears streaming down his face. Sitting down next to him were his three daughters and the girl who was supposed to marry them. Sitting off to the side was the redheaded little girl, rummaging through her pockets with a dour expression on her face.

'I thought Ranma was supposed to be a boy,' Nabiki said, her arms crossed.

'He told me he had a son!'

'Does this look like a son to you!' Nabiki poked at Ranma's left breast.

The silver-haired girl swatted the hand away, glaring at Nabiki. 'Quit it.'

Then Ranma felt a weight on her shoulder. She looked at the girl sitting next to her; the girl was shorter than her, but had long hair going down her back that was a dark blue, almost black. She was wearing a white gi.

The girl smiled. 'Hi. Join me in the dojo?' Her smile grew brighter. 'I'm Akane. Want to be friends?'

Ranma gave a small smile back. '...Yeah, I guess.'

While Nabiki and Soun were still arguing and the little girl continued rifling through her pockets, Ranma and Akane slipped out of the room, Akane leading Ranma towards the dojo.

When they walked in, Ranma's eyes scanned over the room. There was a Kamidana on the wall, and some couches for watchers. Two pictures also hung on the wall. Otherwise, it was pristine.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Akane spoke. 'Aren't you going to change into something different?'

Her attention brought towards Akane again, she shook her head. 'Nah; I'm not allowed, see.'

Akane blinked. 'Not allowed?' she asked, tilting her head.

Ranma nodded, grumbling. 'Yeah.' She sighed. 'That old hag told me I had to for some reason. I still don't get it, though…'

'Old hag?' Akane asked. 'Do you mean the little girl who was with you earlier? Who is she, anyway?'

Ranma looked away, tapping her foot on the ground. A bead of sweat formed on her forehead. 'Aheh… I'll tell you later,' she said, avoiding eye contact with Akane.

'Okay…' Akane shook her head. 'Anyway, you're a martial artist, right?'

Ranma looked back at Akane, an eyebrow arched. '...You could say that,' she said.

'Wanna spar?'

Ranma blinked. Then, she gave an awkward smile. 'You sure about that? I don't know if it'd be fair…'

Akane smiled. 'Come on, I promise I'll go easy on you.'

After a few seconds of staring, Ranma sighed, closing her eyes. 'Well, don't say I didn't warn you.'

The two girls settled a few meters in front of each other. Akane took up a stance, while Ranma just stood there, waiting.

After a few seconds of just standing there, Akane realized that she would have to make the first move. So focusing, she closed her eyes for a second, then snapped them open. She ran towards Ranma, pulling her fist back to prepare for a strike.

She thrust her fist forward, expecting it to hit Ranma. Instead, the blue-haired girl effortlessly dodged, jumping up in such a way that it almost seemed like she was floating.

Akane followed up with an upwards-facing kick, but Ranma spread her legs outwards, avoiding the kick before seemingly moving backwards in mid-air, and dropping to the ground, her feet touching the planks that made up the dojo floor.

Slowly, Akane's attacks intensified, but every punch and kick she tried was dodged by Ranma. After a particularly quick flurry of punches that Ranma avoided just by tilting her body back, Akane's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. How was Ranma dodging her so easily? Was she predicting her movements?

The long-haired martial artist pulled back a couple of meters. She focused deep within herself, clenching her hands and closing her eyes. Then they snapped open. 'This time… for real!' she shouted.

She flew forward at a speed that seemed unnatural, and punched.

What she didn't expect was for her hand to go straight through Ranma's torso.

Akane's eyes widened in horror, looking at her hand going through the other, taller girl's chest. She had expected Ranma to dodge, or be more durable, or anything! She started to shake.

'Pfft.'

Akane stopped shaking. She looked up at Ranma's face.

The other girl didn't look like her chest had just been punched through. In fact, her cheeks were blown up, her eyes tearing up, and she looked to be… suppressing laughter?

'BWAHAHA!' Ranma fell onto her back, Akane's outstretched fist passing through her chest, which looked unmarred. She could barely hold her laughter.

Akane's mouth dropped open, her eyes widening, just staring at the other girl who become intangible like some sort of ghost or sorcerer.

Ranma's laughter mostly died down, ending on a hearty chuckle. 'Heh… You shoulda seen the look on your face,' she said. She sprang to her feet like a cat, a feline smile on her face. Oh, and by the way…' She seemed to disappear, and Akane could feel a pair of fingers on the back of her head. 'I win.'

Akane spun around quickly. The silver-haired punk-looking girl had appeared right behind her, and was holding her fingers to Akane's forehead now. Akane started to laugh.

Soon, both girls were laughing together. The laughter died down, and Akane gave Ranma a smile, trying to hide the slight unease she still felt from Ranma's little prank. Her throat was dry. 'That was a great match. Say, how did you do that?'

Ranma smirked. 'Just a little trick I picked up somewhere on the road.'

Akane's bright smile grew. 'Can you teach me how to do that, then?'

Ranma blinked, then looked away. She shifted a bit. 'Uh, I dunno. Maybe. I'll… get back to you on that.'

Akane deflated, and walked past Ranma, her feet padding on the wooden planks. A little behind Ranma, she stopped, and her smile returned. 'Still, I'm just glad you're a girl.'

Ranma stiffened, looking back. The expression on her face was blank. 'Huh?'

'It's just, I'd really hate losing to a boy.'

Ranma's shoulders slackened.

A few minutes earlier, in the Tendo compound's living room, the redheaded girl paused in her rifling and watched as Akane led her daughter to the dojo. She smiled; hopefully Akane would help the girl to adapt.

Shaking her head, she went back to rifling around in her pockets. The other Tendo girls looked to be restless, about to go off and do their own thing, so she increased her pace.

Finally, she found it - the device that would allow her to explain all this to Soun and his daughters. A grin split her face, and she turned to face them. 'Hey, all of you!' The three people in the room sat up, I suppose I should introduce myself.'

She pulled out the device, which looked like a small container of the type you would keep salt in, and pressed a button on the side. She felt the hot water hit her body, and immediately it transformed from the form of a young redheaded girl wearing an odd set of clothing into a middle-aged man wearing a white dogi and a bandana.

Nabiki and Kasumi's eyes immediately zeroed in on herself.

Soun sat up immediately. 'Saotome?' he whispered. The man opposite him did look like his best friend Genma, but he wasn't wearing any glasses, and the smile on his face he'd only seen once before.

'Yes, it's me, Soun-chan.' The middle-aged man's eyes crinkled. 'My name is Genma Saotome, and I'm the head of the Saotome branch of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu.'

The odd manner of address that Genma had for their father didn't fly over Nabiki and Kasumi's heads, who looked at each other curiously. Meanwhile, Soun paled. 'Oh no,' he said. 'It happened again.'

Genma tilted his head. 'What do you mean?' he asked. Then, he shook his head. 'Hold on a second.' He pressed another button on the salt-shaker device, and cold water spurted out of it, turning him back into a her, the gi changing back into the odd outfit she wore before. 'Ah, that's better,' she thought. 'Anyway, I wasn't finished. I was also going to say that I'm the greatest scientific genius in the world!' She pulled a pair of paper fans out of nowhere; they looked like they'd been painted over, and read 'Genma-chan' on them.

Right away, Soun was in front of Genma, shaking her by her shoulders. 'Saotome! Did it happen again? How did this transformation happen to you? You need to snap out of it!'

Genma responded by whacking Soun on the head with one of the fans, which was apparently harder than it looked going by the reaction the long-haired man (who had let go of Genma and was cradling his head) had. 'Quit it, Soun-chan. I don't even know what you're talking about, with the 'happening again' thing.' She shook her head with her eyes closed, sighing. Then, her eyes opened, and she gave a smile. 'Anyway, if you want to hear what happened to make me like this,' she gestured at her body, 'then we can wait until Ranma-chan and her new friend come back from the Dojo.' Then her face hardened again. 'Also, while I'm in this form, call me 'Genma-chan', please.'

Soun grew even paler, looking more like a vampire than anything. His eyes rolled up into the back of his skull, and he fell down onto the floor with a thud..

Nabiki was studying the girl who was apparently an older man, her eyes narrowed in thought. She certainly didn't act like a middle-aged man would.

Kasumi just blinked and held her hand over her mouth in surprise. 'Oh, my.'

The Tendos sat on one side of the table and their two guests sat on the other.

Genma had demonstrated her transformation to Akane when she and Ranma had returned from the Dojo. The youngest Tendo didn't know how to feel about it; she was stupefied by the seemingly magical transformation the young girl had made into a middle-aged man and back again.

So she had demanded an explanation. Genma had complied. And that was why they were there now.

'So, you want to know about how this all came about, eh? How I, who was once a bald, dumb older man, turned into the scientific genius you see before you today?'

'Get to the point, hag,' Ranma said, grumbling. She had her arms crossed, and was looking away from the tiny genius.

The tiny genius pouted at Ranma. 'Do you have to be so rude to your own m- father?'

Nabiki's eyes narrowed.

'Anyway, as I was going to say, this all started two weeks ago, when Ranma and I were in China…'

It was a bright and sunny day in the Bayankala Mountain Range. In a clearing at the bottom of Mount Quanjing, a young boy, maybe 16 with black hair, blue eyes and a ponytail, looked at the training grounds his father had brought him to. There were a bunch of natural springs, poles of bamboo sticking out of them.

'Ranma, are you prepared?'

The black-haired boy snorted, looking at the glasses-wearing man beside him. 'This is the 'legendary training grounds' you were talkin' about? They don't look so legendary to me; more like a bunch of old springs with bamboo in 'em.'

A short chinese man stood to the side, looking at the two in concern from a safe vantage point. 'Sirs, you sure you want to train here? This very dangerous training ground. Is more than one hundred spring here, and each with own tragic tale!'

'Ranma, follow me!' Genma barked out. He jumped, and Ranma jumped after him.

The two of them landed on opposing bamboo poles, taking up martial arts stances. Genma's face was serious. 'I won't go easy on you.'

Ranma's face sported a similar expression. 'That's how I like it.'

Soon, an unspoken signal passed through the air, and Ranma and Genma jumped to meet each other in mid-air. Genma aimed a flying kick towards Ranma, shouting out a kiai, but Ranma twisted around Genma's kick and pushed off his father's head, sending the older man shooting into the spring down below.

Ranma landed on a pole of bamboo just as his father splashed into the water, disappearing underneath the surface. He smirked, looking down at the spring, which was bubbling. 'Gotcha.'

After a few seconds, he frowned. 'Pops? What's holdin' you up? We done?'

Suddenly, a small form broke the water. Jumping up onto the pole opposite him and standing on a single toe, the small form resolved into a young girl with wet hair going halfway down her back. A girl who seemed to be wearing the same clothes as her old man.

Ranma's eyes bugged out. 'Pops?' he said, trying to keep from choking.

'Of course, boy; who else do you think… it could be…' His 'father' trailed off, and looked down at himself - or rather, herself. 'Eh?'

'Oh no! That is Spring of Drowned Little Girl!' Ranma could hear the guide saying as he looked over the girl opposite him who could only be his father. 'It very tragic tale from only week ago! Now whoever fall in spring take body of little girl!'

Ranma's father-turned-girl's eyes seemed to flash dangerously. 'Ranma! How dare you!' she growled. Jumping forward, she aimed a kick at the young man.

Normally, Ranma would be able to block. But at that point in time, he was too shocked by his father's transformation into a little girl to do so, and all he could do was let the kick hit him.

As he flew through the air, he noted that even like that, his pop didn't seem to hit any softer.

All his thoughts were pushed aside as he hit the pool, and suddenly his body felt different and odd - yet at the same time, it felt strangely familiar, like visiting an old home you'd moved out of.

He surfaced from the pool, and the guide gasped. 'Aiya! Sir fall into Spring of Drowned Silver-Haired Monster Girl; tragic story connected to Spring of Drowned Little Girl! Both Little Girl and Blue-Haired Monster Girl drown on same day one week ago!'

Ranma felt his - or rather, her - gi hug against her skin tightly. She looked down at her body.

A pair of breasts had seemed to grow on her chest; they were barely hidden by her gi.

She looked back up at her 'father,' who seemed to be wearing a smug smile on her face.

She growled. Instinctively, she could feel herself float up from the pool, until she stopped in mid-air, in front of her transformed father. 'Pop,' she said, her voice low.

Genma blinked. Hundreds of plans flitted through her mind in the next few seconds, which was odd since normally only a few plans did. Unfortunately, she had none of the resources to conduct any of those plans.

So, she fell back onto the next best thing: She ran.

'...and that's how I became the wonderful scientific genius you see before you today, and how Ranma here became my beautiful daughter,' Genma finished, wearing a proud smile on her face.

'...So Ranma's really a boy?' Akane asked. Her eyes were glistening, and her lip quivered as she sent a hurt look towards the 'girl'.

Ranma shifted, looking away.

Genma scratched her head. 'Well, provided the fact that Ranma's body does not undergo a phase-shift when it comes into contact with water in excess of the temperature of 38 degrees celsius - I know, I've tested - then technically, I would have to answer in the negative.'

Ranma coughed.

Genma looked over at the Tendos, who all seemed to be confused, Soun most of all. She put a hand to her forehead and sighed. 'Ranma doesn't change back into a boy with hot water, so no, even if she was previously a boy she's not one any more.'

Even with the small girl's words, all Akane could think about was 'she was previously a boy'. She stood up, shooting a hurt look towards Ranma, before walking out of the room.

Ranma didn't notice the hurt look, though, given she was too busy glaring at Genma. 'Pops! I'm still a guy!' she growled.

Genma closed her eyes and sighed, then opened them, shooting a piercing stare at her daughter. 'Ranma, how many times have I told you that you're not a man any more?'

Ranma crossed her arms and looked away. 'I am! I'm a guy! And once I get this all cured, then we can go back to trainin', or whatever you brought me here for; now can't we just get this over with an' go back to China?'

'No, we're not going back to China,' Genma said, feeling the urge to massage her forehead.

Nabiki cut in. 'So since Ranma's a girl, that means the engagement's cut off, right?'

Ranma blinked, looking over at Nabiki. '...Engagement?' she asked, an edge to her voice.

'Oh yeah, didn't your father tell you? You're slated to be engaged with me or one of my sisters. I guess that can't happen now since you're a girl, right?' Nabiki's face was entirely too innocent.

Ranma stared at Nabiki for a couple of seconds.

Nabiki smiled.

Ranma turned towards Genma, her yellow eyes seeming to glow in anger. 'Pops.' Her voice was quiet but full of malice, and everyone in the room could hear it.

Genma paled and looked down at her wrist, and looked back up with a panicked smile. The red-head stood up in a flash. 'Oh, would you look at the time? I have to go do something for a bit, see you!' She zipped off into the house.

For a few seconds, Ranma was caught off guard at Genma's speed, but when she realized what had happened she started to fume. She opened her mouth like she was about to shout. Then her mouth snapped shut, and she gave a short sigh. 'It ain't worth it,' she muttered.

She looked over at the Tendos who had remained in the room. Soun was just sitting there, tears streaming down his face, while Nabiki had a weird grin on her face. As for Kasumi, the oldest sister was looking up at the roof with a vacant smile. 'Hey, you guys have a bath, right?'

Kasumi was snapped out of her daydream by the odd girl who that mysterious little girl that turned into a man had said was a boy before, and smiled. 'Oh, you want a bath? I can heat it up for you.'

Ranma blinked, her eyes zeroing in on Kasumi. She smiled. 'Sure thing. It's been ages since I've had a hot bath!' She gave a chuckle.

Kasumi smiled back. 'It's really no problem at all, Ranma-chan. It'll take some time, but I should be able to set it up.' She turned around and started to walk off.

'Thanks,' Ranma said to Kasumi's retreating form. She waited a few seconds until the older girl had left the room. Then she looked around. 'Hey, where's Akane?'

'She ran off to her room,' Nabiki said. 'She's probably upset because you used to be a boy.'

Ranma was silent for a couple of seconds, then huffed. 'Really? In case you haven't realized, I'm still a guy.' She crossed her arms over her fairly large chest.

'Not according to what your father said,' Nabiki pointed out.

At this point it was too much for Soun to bear. 'Waaaah! My friend's son is now a girl! Now the agreement will never be completed, and a Tendo will never marry a Saotome…' He trailed off, the veritable deluge of tears that had been flowing from his eyes cutting off. Then he stood up and ran off.

At this point, Ranma and Nabiki were alone in the living room. Ranma sent a glare towards Nabiki. 'I ain't a girl. That's final.'

Nabiki sighed and shook her head.

'Saotome!' Soun called. He'd looked through every room, and his friend hadn't been anywhere there. Nowhere. He'd need to tell Saotome his plan, otherwise the schools would never be able to be joined… aside from two plans which did not sound very good at all, in Soun's opinion.

'Saotome!' he called again, looking around the hallway he'd positioned himself in. There wasn't much in the hallway, aside from a broom closet, but knowing Saotome he'd probably hidden himself - or herself - in that closet, away from her daughter's wrath.

'What is it, Soun-chan?' The voice came from the broom closet; Soun turned towards it to see Genma poking her head out of it, with an odd glow coming from the opened door. She was wearing a lab coat. 'I was in the middle of something.'

'Saotome, I've figured out a way we can continue the engagement!' Soun's voice was almost ecstatic, and he had a wide smile on his face.

Genma's eyebrow twitched. 'I told you, call me Genma-chan,' she said.

'...Genma-chan, I-I've found a way we can continue the engagement!' Soun said, sweating.

Genma beamed. 'That's better! So, what's this plan?' She pushed the door fully open, revealing a swirling portal behind her. Before Soun could ask what it was, she closed the door.

Soun coughed. 'I have a brother who, while he gave up the Tendo name, is still a Tendo by blood,' he began. 'Since he's-'

'Hold on,' Genma said, holding up a hand. She looked on either side of her, then motioned with a hand for Soun to follow her. 'We can't talk out here.'

Soun raised an eyebrow.

Genma turned around towards the door again. She pulled it open, revealing the swirling portal in full, then looked back at Soun. 'Come on in.'

'Is that…'

She sighed. 'Yes, it's safe. Now come on.' She turned fully to face the portal, and walked in, the surface of the portal rippling like water as she did.

Soun hesitated, then stepped in after her.

The portal was cold to the touch, and when Soun found himself on the other side, he shivered; his skin was buzzing, and bright lights were in his eyes. The buzzing died down after a couple of seconds, and his eyes adjusted.

He found himself in a small room, closed with metal walls and a metal roof. A window in the side of the room looked out onto a forest, although he didn't recognize any of the trees. The floor was metal, too, and looking behind him, he saw a metal door, opened so that the portal led in. He started towards it, but the door seemed to slam shut.

'Soun-chan, sit down.' Genma's voice came from behind him, and he looked back.

She was sitting at a small metal table with a seat on either side, hands interlocked in front of her face. She had a serious look on her face, and a light directly above the table shined down onto her head, casting a shadow that Soun could have sworn looked different from her current appearance.

'Soun-chan?'

Soun shook his head and moved towards the table; he was probably just seeing things. He pulled out the chair and sat in it, pulling it forward. 'So, Saot-'

Genma coughed.

'-G-Genma-chan, as I was saying outside, I have an idea that will allow us to continue the engagement.'

'You were saying that you have a brother, right?' Genma asked.

Soun nodded. 'Yes. I have a brother who lives in Okayama. I've heard that his son is trained in a type of the Art by his grandfather on his mother's side.'

Genma raised an eyebrow. 'So your brother's son, huh?'

Soun gave a smile, and nodded. 'Yes, my brother Nobuyuki's son. His name is Tenchi, and he lives in a shrine outside the town with his grandfather, from what I know… Saotome?'

Genma had stiffened, her eyes wide. Without a warning, she stood up, slamming her hands onto the table and leaning close in to Soun. 'His name is Tenchi? Tenchi Masaki?'

Soun shied away. 'Y-yes, Tenchi Masaki. How do you know his name?' he asked, sweat pooling on his forehead. Genma seemed much scarier than she was the last time she'd visited, and had still been a he.

Genma fell back into her seat, hands still on the table. After a couple of seconds of just staring, eyes wide, she brought one of her hands to her forehead and started massaging it. '...He met Ranma on the training trip we went on as a child. We stopped at the shrine to train for some time.' She started to mutter under her breath, too quiet for Soun to hear, although he thought he heard her say something like 'Princesses' and 'Sister'.

'So, Saotome, what do you think of the idea?'

Genma's expression turned contemplative. 'If we went through with the idea, then…' She looked up at the roof. Then, slowly, a smile spread across Genma's face. She looked up at Soun.

'I like it.'

Then out of nowhere, Genma pulled out a paper fan and smacked Soun on the head with it.

'Also, it's Genma-chan.'

As Soun held his head in his hands, tears of pain streaming down his face, Genma fell back into her chair and sighed. 'Of course. Of course this would happen,' she thought. 'Well, Tenchi, looks like we're coming back into your life earlier than I thought.'