Ranma 1/2:
The first days of the last beginning
By Cynthia M Johnston.

Author's notes: Yes, yes, I know that this is another 'Alterverse'
fic, but bear with me. The idea that hit me was to use 'Ac/Dc,'
written by Fire-san, as a basic idea for a starting point.

It got me thinking; what if, with the general insanity that crops
up in the whole arrival of a certain redhead into the Tendo's
lives, there was a certain thread of _love_ present still between
our two star-crossed protagonists.

Ahem. So here I start; the same place as countless others. I
would once again like to thank Fire-san for the germ of an Idea
that is now starting to flower...
Chapter One:
A first impression is often the only one you get...
As the Tendo daughters were digesting the fact of their
father not having the vaguest idea of what their new fiance was
like, a loud rapping upon the door was heard.

"Oooh," Nabiki exclaimed, jumping to her feet and rushing to
the entryway. The other two girls remained in their seats,
watching as their father ran after her.

"Nabiki _is_ eager," Kasumi noted, brushing at her apron
idly. "Still, I do hope that this 'Ranma' isn't immature."

Akane sighed. "Sis," she lamented, "if he's my age, he'll
probably be a jerk." Grinding her knuckles into her calves, she
continued. "He'll want to grope or fight; it's probably better
you know it now."

The larger girl glanced at her sister, about to refute the
rash decision, when the sound of their absent family members'
panicked return interrupted them. They looked toward the doorway
and gasped in unison.

There, framed in the shadowed doorway, stood a short figure
sporting a shaggily-cut mane of firey-red hair. The person, their
gender not clearly visible due to the rain-soaked poncho covering
their small body, was clearly a martial artist of some type. Upon
the stranger's back was a rucksack that was easily large enough to
hold five people of the same size as the person wearing it. This,
strange as it may sound after said description, was not the reason
for the panic or surprise.

No; the cause of the disturbance was located easily by the
simple expiedent of looking a few decimeters higher. It was a
horrifing sight, with it's wide-spread frame covered in damp,
matted fur, it's body lifted on it's rear paws and it's forelimbs
spread into an obvious attack position. The two seated girls drew
in breaths to shriek, when the new arrival's eyes widened in
shock.

"No!" the person cried in a musical, lilting soprano.
"Don't scream! This animal isn't vicious, he's just wet!" The
towering panda agreed with the statement with a almost-human
looking bob of it's head as it shook it's limbs in a futile attempt
to rid itself of the annoying moisture.

"W-w-who are you?" Soun finally gasped out.

The small figure shrugged out of their pack's straps, letting
the weighty bundle slide quietly to the floor. With a drop of
their forehead, the person replied, "Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout
this."

Nabiki straightened from her cowering position behind her
father. "Ooh," she gasped, her eyes going glittery in
appreciation. "You're cute."

Ranma grinned, opening his mouth to reply, when he was
yanked into a body-engulfing bear hug by a joyous Soun. "My boy!"
he chortled. "I'm so glad you're here!"

The elder man suddenly stiffened, much to his daughters'
surprise. The trio watched as their father mechanically squeezed
the small figure a second time, then push the redhead back to the
full extension of his arms.

The middle daughter trotted up to stand beside him, looking
over Ranma. She stuck a finger into the mound of flesh revealed
by the manhandling.

"Daddy," she stated in a deadpan voice, "'our fiance' is a
girl."

The fire-haired girl blushed, darting out a finger of her
own. "Do _you_ like doing that?" she hissed, doing the same.

In a slow spiral, the Tendo patriarch collapsed into
unconsciousness. Nabiki, however, just pitched forward as she
slipped into the arms of Morpheos.

*** ***

About a half an hour later, everyone was gathered around
the slowly awakening father.

"Father," Kasumi 'tsked'. "Engaging us to a girl. Really."

Soun weeped gently. "But Genma said Ranma was a boy," he
tried to argue.

Nabiki growled. "Does she look like a _boy_?" she countered,
reaching toward the redhead. She was about to grip a breast,
when her earlier experience with the other girl's speed registered.
Trying to appear as if it were her intent, she waved the hand at
Ranma's chest. "Most _boys_," she grumbled, "don't have 28 DD
breasts inside their shirts." Only Akane noted the raw blush that
burned on the smaller girl's cheeks.

Something inside her crumbled. *She's been ill-treated by
life,* the blue-haired girl realized. *The Kami only know just
what life has given her.* She felt the gentle smile form on her face
as she placed a hand upon the smaller girl's shoulder. "Hi," she
stated in a gentle voice. "I'm Akane. Would you like to be friends?"

The girl quirked a slight, half-sad/half-wry smile.

*** ***

Ranma stood from the bath, just as Akane opened the door.

The dark-haired girl froze in shock as she beheld the figure
that was standing upright in the tub. Her hair, unbound, fell
around her shoulders in a wave of ruby strands. The breasts, while
large for the height of the body they were on, were perfectly formed
and hung with a weight that proved that they were natural. The hips
and legs were sleek, showing that she was true to the claims she made
of being a well-trained girl.

What hung in their junction also looked completely natural,
as odd as it seemed. Where the rest of the body cried girl, this one
item would cause anyone to doubt it. As the redhead began to blush,
it stirred slightly, revealing the proper parts hiding behind.

With a little gulp, Akane slid the door shut as she sank down
to her knees. "Wha- what is that?" she managed to stutter out, her
eyes wide in shock.

Ranma sank back down into the water. "I suppose you deserve
an explanation," she admitted. At the jerky nod, she sighed. "When
we started out on our journey," she said in a small voice, "Pops was
reading a book on 'mystic oddities'." She gave a snort of disgust.
"He didn't believe it. We went directly to Jusenkyo, the Pools of
Sorrow. He fell into the Shonmaonichuan. I fell into the Nyann-nanichuan."

Akane gulped. "Is it permanent?" she squeaked.

The redhead shrugged. "For me, yeah. If I had fell into any
of the hundred other springs, hot water would turn me into my birth
form. The Spring of drowned Girl-boy, unfortunately, is the _only_
one that had been used to drown so many unwanted children that the
magic would attach with such strength that no water, no matter how
hot, will change a person back."

The Tendo girl digested this. "Are you a girl or a boy, then?"
she enquired gently.

`The redhead rested her head against the rim of the tub and
gave her a wall-eyed look. "Does it matter, really?" she probed.
"I've live like this for over ten years."

Leaning back against the wall, the larger girl smiled gently.
"How did you cope?" she probed, starting to enjoy the smaller girl's
company again.

"Well," the smaller girl smiled, "growing up, I passed myself
off as male. With no chest and careful movements in the showers, it
wasn't hard. A couplea' years ago, I went through puberty."

Akane made a face. "Bleah," she stated succuntly.

Ranma agreed with a grin. "Added with the first stirrings of
that other thing, yeah," she added. "Remember, that spring was
magic. Turns out, I'm _very_ healthy."

Akane blushed. "Gahh," she yelped. "Bit too much information,
there."

The bathing herm reddened as well. "Heh," she chuckled. "Look
at it from _my_ point of view."

They both sat quietly for a moment, then began to giggle together.
*** ***

` At the table about an hour later, the four Tendos sat across
from the two Saotomes. Leaning her head into her hand, Ranma waved her
other hand at her father. "So here's the deal," she began to explain to the
three confused people watching her, "Pops is cursed by a magic spring.
When splashed by cold water, he becomes a panda. Hot water will change
him back, (as if anything _can_ change him,) but just until he runs into
cold water again."

As Nabiki was lifting her glass to test the theory, her younger
sister put a hand on her arm. "Oneechan," Akane said gently, "let her
finish."

Ranma smiled in thanks. "Now, for myself," she continued in an
even voice, "I fell into a different spring while I was there. In my
case, there is no changing. I've had this form for the last ten years and
I will have it for the rest of my life."

Into the silence, Kasumi's voice was unnaturally loud. "Why?"

The redhead grimaced. "It's like this," she explained. "The
springs become stronger the more times that something the same drowns in
them. Only a handful of pandas drowned in the Shonmaonichuan, so the water
is only a slight bit mor powerful than, say, the spring of drowned piglet."
Her features darkened. "The spring _I_ fell into, however, was used to
rid people of unwanted children. Over the two thousand, seven hundred
years that the spring has been there, tens of thousands of the same people
as I became were drowned there. Most of them were no more than babies."

Nabiki gulped. "Wh... what spring?" she whispered.

"Nyann-nanichuan," the small girl responded in an even softer
voice.

Soun beamed. "Then your situation is not so bad," he chortled.

Within an eyeblink, the two elder sisters were prepared to force
their youngest sister forward. They facefaulted when she took a step
toward the still-kneeling redhead.

"I'll do it," she answered the unasked question. "She's not
that bad a person to be engaged to."

Suddenly, Ranma was emitting an aura as strong as an arc lamp.
Turning slowly toward her father, she asked in a sweet, happy voice that
was at extreme odds with the homicidal glare in her eyes, "What is this
about an _ENGAGEMENT_, Daddy?!!?"

Mayhem ensued.
AUTHOR'S BABBLE: BWAHAHAHAH! Of all the stories I've read so far, no
more than a handful have our titular hero as anything than male or female.
That really got me thinking; what if Ranma were mentally and _physically_
both? Ranma really can't remember being anything else, so the usual part
of hir's (Non-gender possesive pronoun) attitude is easily diffused.

About Akane: she just made friends with this interesting person, who
is, almost completely, female. She can be a friend with her - this is her own view of Ranma. At the same time, Ranma can still make babies, as the
equipment she carries supposedly works. Living as a girl, Akane knows that
the redhead can't be too perverted; if she gets those thoughts, however,
it _will_ show. Plus, being both didn't seem to change the boygirl too much...

So that's why there wasn't too much mayhem in the bath. Just trust me, though,
there WILL be...