Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2. All characters and rights are reserved. I do not plan to receive profits from this story or sell it. I use its characters in the story for the pure enjoyment of writing.
Pre-story Note: Enjoy the story!
"Big brother," a young boy said. He glanced towards the sky, mesmerized by its wonders. Clouds fluttered by without a care in the world.
"Yes, Ranma?"
"When you grow, what do you want to be?"
"Hmm...I never really thought of that." He ruffled his black hair in contemplation for the answer. "I guess when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut." He and his brother chuckled. "What about you, Ranma? What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Ranma giggled and hopped in the air, reaching for the sky with both his hands. "I want to a house wife!"
For a second Ranma's brother stared at him, but he chuckled lightly and replied, "What makes you say that, Ranma?"
"My friend says that house wives have it the best. They don't have to work jobs and the best of all you have a loved one that comes home to you and gives you attention. What could be better than that?"
"Oh?" Ranma's brother asked. "Ranma... I don't think you..." He wanted to go on to say that it wasn't possible for Ranma to do this, but it was hard to take away that beaming smile from Ranma's face. "I mean to say, that is...You'll definitely someone who loves you when you grow up." He patted Ranma on the head, and the young boy giggled and excitement and glomped his big brother.
Ranma leaned back in a desk and propped his feet up onto the old flimsy wood. It had been ten years since his conversation about growing up with his big brother Konryu. At the time, his naivety prevented him from seeing the error in his logic, but that childhood desire had long since passed.
"Ranma you should listen to the teacher more often! If you won't then prepare to die!"
As Ranma turned his attention to the source of the voice, he jumped backwards, and he and the chair collapsed onto the ground. He darted up and shouted, "What the hell, Ryoga. What's the meaning of standing on my desk?"
"I don't see any problem with that seeing as how you prop your feet up here every day." the teenager in front of Ranma said. This man was Ryoga, Ranma's ultimate nemesis. The two brawled practically every day after school. Usually the reasoning behind Ryoga's hatred towards Ranma was somewhere along the lines of ruining Ryoga's life, but for some reason that Ranma couldn't possibly fathom, he couldn't remember what it was that actually made Ryoga so depressed.
Perhaps it was the teasing Ranma had forced Ryoga to suffer through, or it could be all those times he nuked his locker with, well...pretty much everything the human mind could ponder: garbage, rolls of toilet paper, week-old carcasses of bugs, and the list goes on.
It's not as if Ranma hated Ryoga or anything. In fact, Ryoga was a pretty nice kid. At least, that was Ranma's opinion. However, it all boils down to how much Ranma can control himself before doing it again. It was so impossible seeing that face of his, all angry over the latest prank.
"Quiet down back there, before I suspend you both from class. I don't need this kind of crap from either of you." The teacher hissed.
"tch...I don't need to listen to you. Ano baka (*hole)!" Ranma retorted.
The teacher frowned at Ranma's choice of words. Cicadas could be heard chirping outside at the front of the school. A vein snapped on Ranma's head; he growled as he stomped over to the window and ripped it open. He yelled, "Shut up you stupid bugs!"
The teacher quietly trudged over to Ranma and wailed on him with a giant ruler. She seemed to be able to fabricate that whenever Ranma was out of line. A big lump formed at the crown of his head. "Ouch! What did you do that for?"
Before the teacher could answer that with an answer Ranma already presumed would be about school policies and how they should be uphold and thus prompted to tune her out, Ranma could hear the feint cry of someone he knew very well.
He glanced out the window and shrieked in fright. This person was probably the scariest person in the world. He cowered away and even thrust desks, not all of them empty, which did some folks to scream themselves, but it was for a good cause, Ranma would assure them later. However, that seemed to matter little, as the person in question shot through the building, tearing up the section of wall.
"Ranma! Ranma! Shampoo so happy see Shampoo airen." This is Shampoo. Ranma didn't know her very well. He'd met her during one of her quests that had been given to her by her cult of Chinese warriors. One day he had been walking home from school when he'd found her beat up in an alleyway. He took her home and nursed her back to health. It hadn't been a problem, except that ever since then she had taken it upon herself to jump Ranma at the most random times and glomp him.
Similar to the past occurrences, Shampoo squeezed tightly down on him, squeezing the life out of him. There was a sound of dissatisfaction coming out of one of the students' mouths at this development. Ranma struggled to peer over his shoulder and find the source of the sound. It had come from Akane Tendo.
Akane was another one of those people Ranma didn't really know a whole lot about. He knew that she was a student of his class and that she lived on the same street as him, but beyond that he knew nothing about her.
Her reactions to Shampoo's presence was very strange. Every time Shampoo made contact with Ranma, she'd have the same negative reaction as last time. If Ranma didn't know any better, he'd say that Akane had a crush on him.
Before Ranma could ponder that further, however, the teacher yelled, causing Ranma to turn his attention towards her. "That's it! All of you out now! That goes for you too Ryoga."
Ryoga, who'd been laughing at how unfortunate Ranma had been all morning, gawked at the teacher. "What did I do?" Ryoga asked with vibrant motions of his arms.
"Just...do it!" the teacher seemed to roar like a bear as she yelled, which caused Ryoga to withdraw and cower.
It was the late afternoon. Ryoga was carrying one full bucket of water in each of his hands. Next to him, Ranma was doing the same with an ecstatic Shampoo running in circles around him. Ranma shook violently until he cried out, "Would you quit running around me in circles, you're giving me a headache!"
As if to emphasize his frustration, he threw his arms into the air and flung them around; he gave Shampoo a nasty glare as well. Shampoo recoiled and began tearing up. "Ranma no love Shampoo no more!" She brought her hands up to her face to cover it and cry in her hands.
"No...that's no true. I mean, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Ah!" Ranma cried out in frustration. He pulled at his hair. Shampoo took Ranma's apologize as a love confessions and suddenly became elated. She beamed up at him, which made Ranma feel very uncomfortable.
From the sidelines, Ryoga pointed and laughed. "What are you laughing about Ryoga? You want to fight about it? I'll fight you!" Ranma said, "Unless you're too scared I'll win, P-chan."
P-chan was a term Ranma had given Ryoga a while ago, when Ranma had caught him pigging out in an old friend's kitchen. Ranma meant to call him that only once, but others began calling him P-chan as well, and that form of endearment stuck.
Ryoga glared at Ranma and shouted, "Prepare to die!" He attempted to strike Ranma on top of the head with his fist, but Ranma promptly dodged the attack, side stepping around him. Ranma spun and kicked him in the back.
"I'd give up if I were you. I know martial arts!"Ranma gloated. He felt proud of his accomplishment of successfully knocking Ryoga to the ground. In truth, he hadn't really been trained in the way of the martial arts. He simply got lucky with his counter-attack.
Ryoga spat on the ground and glared up at him. "Screw you." He pulled himself off the ground.
Their teacher from earlier that day came walking around the corner; she had seen them fighting, an act that made her very angry. "Quit fighting right now you two, or I'll have you both expelled from this school!" She stomped up to them and said, "Now come with me. The principal needs to see you two."
As they headed to the office, Shampoo followed them as well. The teacher, noticing the girl following them, yelled, "you can't come!"
Shampoo, angry for the teacher's refusal to permit her to join them in their travels, locked her arms around Ranma's and cried, "Teacher no stop Shampoo from seeing Shampoo airen!"
Coming from nowhere was Akane, dashing towards the group. With her arm, she wrung Shampoo by her neck and ran in the other direction. "See you later, Ranma!" she cried over her shoulder.
"...What was that all about?" Ranma asked. Cicadas chirped in the background as everyone was silently watching where Akane had gone off to with Shampoo flailing behind her, desperately trying to get back to her Ranma.
As no one had an answer to that question, Ranma and Ryoga were forced to continue their journey to hell, err... the principal's office. When they arrived there, they were asked to be seated by a secretary. In a short few moments, they were called back to the office.
"Welcome Ranma and Ryoga. I heard you have caused trouble for your teacher again this morning." the principal began, diving straight into the ordeal. "Do you have anything to say for yourselves."
Ranma shook his head, for he didn't care, but Ryoga proclaimed, "None of it's my fault. It's all Ranma's fault! He's always cutting up in class."
"Hey! What are you doing pitting all the blame on me? You're the one that goes standing on other people's desks. I think you deserve the blame."
"Enough, the both of you." the principal said, "Or I'll make you shave your heads and wear coconuts on top of your heads for a whole week. This is the seventh time you two have made a scene in the classroom. As you both know, I'm not one to punish my students."
'More like giving reasonable punishments to your students,' Ranma thought, 'I doubt making students shave their heads and wearing coconuts on them is a reasonable punishment.' the principal continued, "But in light of this, you two continue to cause disruptions in class. As such, I find that there can only be one solution."
'Please tell me that you will send Ryoga and I to different class rooms.' Ranma pleaded inside his mind. He awaited the punishment, but the principal continued to prolong the execution of said punishment by needlessly picking up a stack of papers and rapping the edges against the desk, neatly placing them in a stack.
When the principal neglected to continue his thoughts, Ranma became suspicious. "Hey, old man! You in there?" Ranma snapped his fingers. A snoring sound could be heard emitting from the principal's mouth.
"What the hell?" Ranma screamed. "Wake up, ya old fart!"
The principal snapped awake in an instant and cried, "Is that any way to talk to your elders? I should beat you on the side of your head for being so rude." He slammed his fist in the desk and sweat-dropped when the sound of the desk cracking could be heard.
"Ahem...where was I?" the principal asked stupidly. He shifted his dress shirt around nervously as he tried remembering what he was about to say.
"You were about to tell us our punishment when ya dozed off. Geez...keep yur head in the game will ya?" Ranma glared.
"Oh yes, of course..."
A few seconds later the sounds of him snoring could be heard again. Ranma jumped out of his chair, causing the chair to fall on its back. Ranma yelled, "Would ya quit snoozing on the job, ya old man?"
The principal was once again startled awake. "Yes, of course. For the next two weeks, you two are suspended. I realize that this is not enough to put an end to your fighting. So, in addition to the two week suspension, you both must work together as a team and complete a project within those two weeks that will prove to us that the two of you have come to terms with your differences and therefore can conduct yourselves accordingly in the class."
"Are you kidding me, I have to work with him?" Ryoga objected, but his protests went unheard.
The principal continued, "If you two cannot complete this project and receive an A upon examination I will personally expel the two of you and bar you from coming to this school ever again. And don't get any funny ideas, we will know if one of the two of you isn't working or you are cheating."
He dug into his sack, which he pulled out during his explanation, and retrieved two papers; he handed one to each of the two students and said, "Here are your projects. I expect them on my desk the following Monday the two week suspension period is up."
Ranma and Ryoga both groaned and left his office. Half an hour later they were heading towards their homes, which were coincidentally in the same direction.
Ryoga was busying himself with reading off the requirements of the project, which was slightly annoying Ranma because the more requirements there were, the more time that he would have to allocate into his daily schedule to spend with Ryoga and work on the project.
"You must pick three instances in history where misunderstanding led to war or oppression. Each subtopic must be at least three paragraphs long and tie in to your overall theme. Your paper must be at least ten pages long, size twelves font, typed and double spaced with one inch margins. It must have annotated bibliography as well as in-text citations. Good luck!"
"Please..." Ranma begged, "I don't want to hear anymore..." He crawled up to Ryoga on his knees and shook his conjoined hands . "I don't want to think about it right now..."
"Fine..." Ryoga replied, "I don't really want to right now either. I have to go. I'll see you later Ranma." Ryoga separated from Ranma, running down the road and making a turn. He headed to wherever his home was located.
Ranma, not really paying attention, just replied, "Yeah, see ya later, P-chan." He closed his eyes and yawned. He recounted everything that had occurred throughout the day. Things seemed a lot more peaceful than usual.
Shampoo. When he'd first met her, it seemed like the whole world had turned upside down and chaos followed Ranma wherever he went. To the school, the mall, or even his own home. It didn't matter. He thought back to those good old days when he was never bored.
Apparently along with the Shampoo on her journey were her friend Mousse, whom followed her because of his undying love for her, and her great-grandmother Cologne, who proclaimed herself to be over five hundred years old.
As odd as the group was, the people whom they constantly fought were stranger yet. Ranma was always getting caught in the crossfire for some quest the Chinese group was constantly on.
Thankfully, though, about three months ago the Chinese group finished their quest and they supposedly went home, although today Shampoo's presence signaled to Ranma that he had not seen the last of them. Ranma idly wondered what was in store for him over the course of the next few weeks, whether he would be drawn in to some bizarre quest again or be subjected to some out-of-world experience. With those Chinese people around, Ranma could never tell.
As he stared off to the sky, his train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the sound of something crashing down to the ground. It bounced, and each time it landed on the ground, it echoed down the street.
Ranma turned his attention to the object in question. It appeared to be a small, glowing orb. Intrigued by the object, he walked up to it. It bounced into an alleyway; he followed in after it. As it halted, it came into contact with water.
Ranma picked it up and studied it. Inside the orb were small, blue swirls circling the inside of the ball. He was fascinated with it as it changed colors, going from a blue hue to a deep crimson.
However, as it began to vibrate and change colors rapidly, Ranma dropped it. As it landed in the puddle of water, it cracked and exploded. An extremely bright white light blinded Ranma. He went to cover his eyes as he squeezed them shut, but soon after the light came a loud screeching noise that Ranma found quite harmful.
He now had his eye clenched shut and his ears covered up by the palms of his hands, but neither action totally removed the sensory details of the present event. As they continued, Ranma experienced strange sensations in his body that caused him to sway back and forth. Ranma grew dizzy and nauseous, and he had a splitting headache.
Ranma wasn't sure what happened in the next few moments, but he was sure of one thing, and that was he had collapsed onto the ground before every sensation Ranma had been experiencing up to that moment ended.
Author's Note: I've been busy for a while writing some serious stories up on my laptop and my computer. Some of you may know to what I'm referring to, but others may not. I'm already well into creating the Legendary Heroes novel series, but I haven't decided when I should publish it. I'm still partly into the editing process of the first book, The Truth of the Heroes. I guess I shouldn't have started writing Lies of the Villains yet, the second book of the series, but that's said and done. I'm also currently writing either a novel or a novella, I haven't decided which yet, called The Broken Colony, which is about a boy growing up in a sinful world. Regardless, I decided I should take a break from the serious stories and work on a comedy fanfic.
It's quite obvious that this is an Alternate Universe, starting from the point where we discover Ranma has a brother. However some of the small changes that I can hint on, but not flat out say in the story, I should say here, such as Ranma not being the amazing martial artist we all know him to be in the series, him not having any fiancees, and certainly him not falling into one of the springs at Jusenkyou (and subsequently turning into a girl with the contact of lukewarm or cold water). Despite all the normalities, it's still evident in some parts, and will be evident in later chapters, that Ranma's life is far from normal. He still has a whacko for a principal, and I have given one of his teachers a not so teacherish personality.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'll be tuning in every now and then and updating.