Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to the greatly talented Rumiko Takahashi and I claim no ownership of it. All works were done as fandom and are in no way to be used for profit.
A/N: The idea came to me one day as I was working my other fic. It seemed to be good material for a story so I wrote it down before I forgot about it. Eventually it developed into this. Please enjoy!
Some of the scenes may or may not have been inspired by the fanfics I've read in the past, though I can't be sure of all of them since I've read many over the years.
One of them, as it has been pointed out, could have been from gsteemso's "The Disorderly Princess and the Fiery Steed" ( s/5670777/1/The-Disorderly-Princess-and-the-Fiery-Steed), so please head over there and support it if you're interested.
The day was a joyous time for Genma Saotome as he waited for the midwife to deliver his heir. They had forgone the testing beyond the bare minimum at the hospitals but he was sure that they were having a boy. Publicly he scoffed at such practices, preferring a more traditional way of doing things. Though in private, he would admit that the main reason was that he didn't want to waste money on such things; if one could manage to force it out of him. In his mind there was no other outcome than having a boy. Surely such a manly man as himself could produce no other option.
He paced anxiously outside their room, trying to ignore his wife's cries of pain as he awaited the arrival of their child. Finally the cries of a child came and he rushed to the door, only to stop in confusion as Nodoka began to cry out once again. Another wail came, syncing with the previous one in an eerie harmony. He could only wait in confusion until the door unlocked. He hesitantly opened the door and stepped into the room. The matronly midwife was busy cleaning up the room, but he only had eyes for his young wife, or more specifically what she held in her hands.
"Genma dear, isn't it wonderful? We had twins!" He could only stare in shock since there was one more bundle than he expected. His wife looked exhausted as she lay there on the bed with her hair matted sweat, but her face displayed none of that tiredness and instead was full of joy as she looked down at their beautiful children.
At a loss for words to say, Genma Saotome, balding martial arts master extraordinaire, fainted.
The midwife scoffed at the weakness of men, before turning to Nodoka to finish up some of the formalities. "Now dear, what would you like to name your children?"
"Well, Genma said that he would name his son Ranma…" she began hesitantly. The elder woman nodded before adding the name to a piece of paper. "As for our daughter…I think I would like to name her Ranko."
"So, Ranma and Ranko Saotome. Very well!" The midwife jotted down the names before passing on a copy of the certificates after pressing the relevant seals on them. She gave her some advice on how to take care of the babies before announcing that she would be back in a few hours to check on her. She still had the certificates to submit and she mentioned that they should also finish registering their children at the government offices as soon as possible.
By the time the woman had left Genma had finally woken up from his impromptu nap. He got up groggily from the ground and immediately snapped to attention once he caught sight of his wife.
"Which one is my heir?!" he looked at her expectantly.
"We have a son and a daughter, this one's Ranma." She gently picked up the boy, being careful as to not wake both of the now sleeping babies. He had a soft tuft of black hair as opposed to the bright red of his sister. Both showed clear resemblance to their mother and their eyes, when open, would show them to be blue. A sign of foreign ancestry somewhere up their family line to be sure.
"…and this one's Ranko." Genma feigned interest at the girl that was now held up for him to see, but it was obvious that he only had eyes for his son, who was now resting in the lap of his mother. He left the mother and children to rest before heading towards the telephone to inform his friend Soun of the good news. They agreed to meet up for a celebratory drink. The midwife could only shake her head at the irresponsibility of the man when she returned later to find the wife and children alone in the house.
The weeks went by soon and the young parents gradually managed to get used to the routine of having new family members in the house. Luckily the twins were quite easy to take care of, though they would still wake up at strange times in the night once in a while. The major things that Nodoka noticed when taking care of them is that they would cry whenever one of them is taken away from the other, and that their cycles were very similar. They seemed to become hungry at almost the same time, and took about the same time of sleep. When gossiping around one of the neighbors mentioned how there had been stories of a mysterious connection between twins, but she put it down as mere old wives' tales. Genma scoffed at how the girl was going to make the boy weak, but their crying got to him soon and they never kept them apart for long after that.
The children grew up fast as the years went by, and Nodoka gradually became suspicious that the stories were actually true in some way. Whenever one of them learned something the other grew to know of it not long after. Of course this could also be due to the amount of time they spent with each other, but there really seemed to be an unseen connection between them. At times it was almost like they could communicate without words.
As they grew the natural curiosity inherent in children eventually allowed them to be separate for longer periods of time. Genma snatched up this opportunity to try and train Ranma in the martial arts; though he was too young to learn any of its forms he figured he would get a head start on his dexterity as well as reaction times. He offered almost no help in raising their daughter and would only do things grudgingly when forced. Ranko was all but raised by Nodoka, but she noticed that their daughter still knew about the things Genma taught their son as she would see her practicing some time.
When the children were about six years old Genma finally decided that he had enough.
"Arrgh! You and the girl are going to make my son weak!" He cried out to Nodoka who was playing with the twins in the living room.
"What in the world are you talking about?" She set aside the toy that she had been using then turned towards her husband, leaving the children to play themselves.
"How can he concentrate on the arts when you coddle him like that?!" Genma pointed at his wife, who absently patted their son on the head while he played with his twin sister. "Also the amount of time he spends playing with his sister is ridiculous, I will not have my son grow up to be a sissy!"
"Well, they are still children, and it's only natural for twins to spend time with each other!" She tried to argue, but Genma stopped her by taking out a piece of paper that he had Ranma finger paint on earlier. "What's this?"
"It's a seppuku pledge. I've decided to take Ranma on a training trip! I will return with him as a man amongst men or we shall commit ritual suicide!" He stood up in what he thought was a heroic pose, while silently congratulating himself on forming a plan that appealed to his wife's sense of honor and the old samurai's tales that she had always been fascinated by.
"I'm still not quite sure about this, isn't he too young?"
"It's better to start early in these things, this way he won't have time to form more bad habits!" he stated convincingly.
"I guess…" Nodoka agreed hesitantly, though one could see that she still had doubts about this.
They eventually agreed that they would leave the next day, as Genma already had his supplies packed. Nodoka decided that she would spend the rest of the day with their children as it would be a long time until they see Ranma again. At night she went to bed troubled, but drifted off into sleep huddled with her children.
It was in the dead of night that she woke up to the wails of her daughter. Startled, she noticed that her son was missing and in his place was the piece of paper that Genma had shown her during the day. Finally realizing what had happened, she struggled to calm her daughter while frowning at what her husband had done.
"Genma you big idiot!"
Nodoka could only sigh as her daughter came to her once again to complain about some of the things Genma was having her son do. At first she dismissed them as nightmares, but her little girl's descriptions seemed to be too detailed to be merely dreams. Eventually she grew worried enough to ask some of her family's help in hiring private detectives to track them down, as they moved around too much to send back letters. The things they reported were quite different from the one she received from Genma in postcards. To their dismay the reason as to why she couldn't send back letters was the same as how they could never catch up to them. Genma also proved to be quite an elusive character as he would pack up and go at the slightest wind of someone being after him. Judging by the amount of bills he was amassing all over the place, he probably thought they were debt collectors.
Meanwhile, Ranma was having a great time with his new buddy Ucchan after his father left him all beaten up during their morning practice. He had little for breakfast since he still wasn't fast enough to take the food, but he could get some Okonomiyaki to eat from his buddy after beating him in a match. Today however they were told to play somewhere else while their fathers talked; and they decided to go to a nearby stream.
"Come on in Ucchan! The water feels really great!" Ranma jumped in after stripping all of his clothes, not noticing that his buddy had blushed beet red at the sight.
"Ranchan! How can you take off your clothes just like that?!" He turned back, finally noticing the state that his pal was in.
After a few minutes of pondering, he spoke, "Wow, I was really wondering for a while, but you're a girl aren't you? Ucchan."
"What! You mean you thought I was a boy!" The girl with a bandolier unstrapped the oversized spatula that hung over her back, brandishing it menacingly.
"Yeah, Ranko thought you were a boy as well for a few moments, then decided that you were really a girl." Ranma continued with the explanation, completely ignoring the threat.
"Ranko? Who's she?" She lowered her weapon, now curious at the unfamiliar name.
"Oh yeah, I never told you about her. She's my twin sister. We can sense whatever the other is doing." Ranma said, excited about finally introducing her to his best buddy. He suddenly turned solemn when he was reminded about something. "But pops always beats me up when I talk about that, so we have to keep it a secret, OK?"
The girl was quite thrilled about sharing a secret between two people, though she guessed it really wasn't two people if what he said was true. Nevertheless, she jumped at the opportunity and pinky swore with him after he redressed himself. Having more time to think now, some of the comments Ranma had said made more sense once taking into account the fact that he had thought of her as a boy. Now that he knew the truth, she was a bit worried that he wouldn't play with her anymore. Ranma quickly waved that doubt away by stating that he played with his sister all the time back home and didn't think it was strange. The two had more fun for the rest of the day and eventually had to head back to each of their fathers.
The next day Ranma was kicked awake by his father. He hadn't seen him when he returned to the camp so he went straight to sleep. Genma had a mobile stand behind him and he was beginning to pack up the camp.
"What's going on? Pops, why do you have Ucchan's father's stand?" He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes once he got over the shock of being kicked.
"That's not important. Now answer me this: What do you like most? Okonomiyaki or Ucchan?" Genma grabbed him and acted strangely serious.
"Well, I guess an Okonomiyaki would feel good right now…" Ranma rubbed his stomach. Since he had gone straight to sleep last night he didn't have much to eat. "But Ucchan's my best buddy…"
"That's good enough for me!" He was interrupted by his father before he could say anything else. Everything was packed up and he was placed on the stand along with their supplies. Genma grabbed the handles of the stand and began running away at top speed. Ranma turned back just in time to see his best buddy coming to the clearing their camp was set up in and begin to cry while trying to follow them.
"Why is Ucchan chasing us pop?!" He shouted back at his old man.
"She's just sad to see us leave! Now put on a big smile and wave back!" Ranma was a bit suspicious of his statement, but did what he was told in the end. Try as she might, her short legs were simply no match for the adult speed of Genma Saotome. She tripped on a rock and could only watch in tears as the cart sped away. After a few moments of bawling her eyes out she noticed a pair of legs near her and she looked up to see the stony face of her father.
The next few days she spent the time all but washing her face in tears as she locked herself up in her room, coming out only to eat or use the utilities. Her father made the fact that she was abandoned and betrayed by her best friend worse by saying that he was deeply disappointed in her. When he had told her that morning that she was being engaged to Ranma she was overjoyed. She never expected it to end like this. Now her father was even saying that he's thinking of changing her gender on the family register to take out the stain on their family honor.
A knock on her door interrupted her thoughts and she rubbed away her tears to answer. Her father's face greeted her and his eyes softened a bit upon seeing her puffy eyes. However he schooled his features and led her to the living room where a man wearing a suit sat.
"Ukyo, this man is a representative from the Saotome family. We'll be heading to Tokyo to sort things out."
It was the first time that Ukyo had been in the capital city of Tokyo, but she was nowhere near the mood for sightseeing. She did try to enjoy what could be the last time she wore anything even remotely feminine but still found herself nervous as she tugged on one of the few dresses her mother had bought her before she passed away. Most likely it was an effort to make a good impression on the Saotome matriarch. Her father simply had no eye for girl clothes so he usually dressed her up in unisex clothes. Add the fact that he trained her in their family art of combat cooking let to her being frequently mistaken as a boy due to the way she often got into fights.
The man that had helped them arrange a meeting led them to a modest house in the Nerima ward, known for its concentration of martial arts schools. Ukyo couldn't help but feel a bit nervous as he pressed the doorbell, so she backed up a bit and grabbed her father's leg. The door was soon answered by a stoic woman. She was rather beautiful and exotic with her auburn hair, but also gave an air of being traditional with the way she had dressed herself meticulously in a kimono. Ukyo wondered if they could have made a better impression if they had dressed similarly, but according to her father they were quite expensive nowadays and sadly they weren't able to afford it.
The woman's gaze swept through the guests at her door before settling onto the little girl trying to hide behind her father. Her features softened before she gushed out, "Oh my, you're simply adorable! Why don't you come in? I'll have tea ready in a moment."
They were quickly ushered inside where said beverages were provided. A quick introduction was given between them and the other Saotome child. After pleasantries were exchanged it was time for business and the children were told to go play somewhere else.
"Ranma says he's sorry." A voice interrupted Ukyo's musings as she swung her feet on the porch overlooking the small garden.
"What?" She turned to see Ranma's twin sister, Ranko, standing behind her.
"Don't tell me you already forgot about what Ranma told you? Ucchan?" At the mention of the nickname that Ranma gave her, she finally recalled what he had told her to keep secret the day before he left.
"You mean he wasn't lying about that?" It was a private nickname that they had used only amongst themselves, there was really no way the girl would have known about it; which only left one explanation.
"No, everything he said was true." Ranko stated before returning to their original topic. "Stupid pops was the one who lied to us, well to him actually, about why we had your Okonomiyaki stand. Though to be honest we think of you more like another sibling."
The tears came unbidden once again, though Ukyo would have thought that she had long since run out of them. To her surprise, Ranko began to panic and tried everything she could think of to cheer her up. The way she was acting reminded her of Ranchan. She began to laugh.
"I guess twins really are similar." She explained after Ranko began to be indignant at being laughed at.
"Well, we do sense everything the other does. You could say that we're almost the same person!" The girl winked at her.
"Then would it be OK if I also called you Ranchan?"
"I guess…" she pondered. "But wouldn't it be confusing after he comes back?"
The two girls shared a laugh, before moving on to entertain themselves. For Ukyo, it appeared as if she was back with her best buddy again, and the hurt she had felt at his departure began to heal. Back in the living room, the adults were still engaged in discussion.
"Well, it looks like the girls are getting along." Nodoka allowed a smile to appear on her face as the childish giggling drifted in from the open doors. However it was not for long since there were still serious matters to be conferred about. "Now, what were you saying about the real reason you decided to engage your daughter?"
"Truth is, I know nothing about raising girls on my own." He admitted, the guilt weighing heavily on his heart. "My wife used to take care of that while I worked, and after she died I had to make do. Mostly I used my own childhood experiences and ended up raising her like a boy."
He sighed heavily before dropping the next bombshell, "However, recently events have occurred that would make even that become difficult."
"I have been feeling random bouts of weakness recently, at first I paid them no mind but later I began to cough up blood. I went to a doctor to see what the matter was. To my horror I was diagnosed with a terminal illness."
"The doctors say that unless I began treatment as soon as possible, I'm likely to have only a few years more to live. The problem is that the medicine is terribly expensive, and on our meager savings there was no way I could take it and keep her on a suitable standard of living."
"Instead of dooming her to a life of poverty, I decided to give her away to somewhere she could find happiness."
Nodoka had remained silent during his explanation, but one could see that gears were already turning in her head. "I can't say I agree to your methods, but I'm sympathetic to your plight. What can we do to help you?"
The Kuonji patriarch was relieved at this gesture, though he wondered if what he was planning was too much of a favor to ask.
"I was actually hoping that you could take Ukyo in. She's the sole heir to my family style, and with no other relatives left I'm quite worried about her future."
"I see…" Her face turned contemplative again. He began to sweat nervously as her steely eyes searched through his, as if judging him. It was a few tense moments, but eventually she gave a nod, to his great relief. "Very well, but there are still some details we have to sort out."
The remaining discussions stretched well into the night, and the two Kuonjis stayed for dinner at Nodoka's insistence. When it came to the time to leave however, the elder Kuonji pushed Ukyo back towards the Saotome matriarch, to her great surprise.
"Now, Ukyo, I've already made arrangements with Ranma's mother. You'll be staying here with her until Ranma returns home. Then the two of you shall decide whether you want to get married or not." He said with an uncharacteristic sad smile on his face.
"What? You're leaving me here just like that?" Ukyo said in outrage.
"I will still be coming here from time to time in order to teach you our family style. You are my heir after all." He explained, but he didn't mention the whole truth. "I will need to work harder to make up for the loss of the Yatai, and I simply won't have much time to take care of you. It's for the best."
The small girl accepted what her father had said, a bit relieved that he wasn't leaving her because she was a stain on their family honor. She watched with teary eyes as the elder Kuonji walked away, before he turned a corner and disappeared from her sight.
It was rare for a day where Ranma could wake up naturally. However Genma had been busy making preparations for an "Unbeatable" technique that he had found in a pamphlet that he "liberated" from somewhere. A few years had already passed since they left Ukyo at the side of the road; he was glad that she eventually found her way to his mother's. Having his twin play with her was almost as good as being there himself. Though his mother would occasionally encourage the two girls to play in the way that normal girls did, she also gave them some leeway since they were both from martial arts families. Therefore, they spent most of the time sparring with each other. Nodoka also began training Ranko in the sword arts after some begging from her only daughter. Back in the feudal eras, it wasn't really that strange for females of a Samurai family to take up the sword in order to protect their household when the males were away. Eventually Ranko surpassed her meager skills and Nodoka had to contact one of her teachers to continue her training.
He turned to prepare some breakfast as Genma still wasn't back yet from whatever he was doing. As he went through the motions of cooking he then began to think of some other things. Their mother had been quite excited lately as the girls would be starting primary school soon. He wondered what his father would do about that. Nodoka had stated explicitly that children of school age that were found loitering around would be taken in by the police truant officers. Given the things that he had seen Genma involved in he doubted that he would want someone like that sniffing around.
"Breakfast still isn't ready boy? You must have slept in again!" Ranma's thoughts were interrupted by the return of his father. "Oh what have I done to deserve such a lazy son!"
"Shut up pops! It'll be only a minute!" He lamented the fact that he hadn't finished with the preparations before his father had come back. It was not because of being berated by him, but due to the fact that with him here, it was debatable that he would manage to get even half of it as his share. Though his skills in the martial arts have grown tremendously over the years, his father's bigger bulk could still overpower him most of the time. Soon the meal was ready and it turned into their regular free-for-all that Genma called training.
"Ah, that hit the spot!" Genma sighed contently, patting his full stomach whereas Ranma looked down on his own in misery, not being even half full. "Now Ranma, today you will be learning a new technique!"
Ranma's interest was piqued, though he didn't let it show. Many of those so called "Ultimate Techniques" Genma had taught him before had been disappointments. They either didn't work at all or were just parlor tricks. He groaned in annoyance at the reminder. "What is it now, pops?"
"Hah! I gave you the last few days off because I wanted you to be at your best when you learned this Unbeatable Technique!" the balding man announced, taking out the pamphlet from inside his gi. "The fearsome Neko-ken!"
"The Cat-Fist?! What kind of stupid technique is that?!" Ranma cried out, but he was given no reply as Genma jumped him instead. He used a rope to tie him up first before taking him to another clearing where he began to tie some sort of smelly food product to him.
"Eww…What are these? Fish sausages?" His father merely grinned, a hint of crazed glee shining in his eyes. Genma was already imagining the opponents that his son would beat once he learned this ultimate technique, and the fame it would bring to the Saotome School. Once he had finished with the preparations he dragged Ranma towards a stone slab on the ground. He heaved it over, revealing the deep hole it had been covering.
"Pops! What is…" Ranma peeked over the edge into the hole, where pitiful mewling and caterwauling was coming from. "Are those cats? Where the hell did you get so many?!"
Both Saotome twins actually had a soft spot for smaller animals, and cats in particular were their favorite. Back at home Ranko would often take care of strays, though Nodoka still thought it would be too much of a responsibility for her and took them to animal shelters once they had been nursed back to health. It was only natural that Ranma would become concerned about them. A sudden kick to his back side sent him sprawling into the pit, everything turned dark as the opening was covered once again by the heavy stone slab.
"Let's see if this training also cures you of that weakness you have for animals." Genma watched the slab impassively, ignoring the faint screams that were coming through the heavy material.
Back in the Saotome household, everything was pointing towards a normal day. The weather was fine, and Nodoka went through their daily routine of cleaning up after a meal. She usually took care of the heavy dish washing while the girls cleaned up the table and placed the plates into the sink. A scream followed by the sound of breaking porcelain was the first indication that the day was beginning to turn bad.
Nodoka immediately rushed out into the living room where the girls were located. She saw that Ranko was shivering heavily while staring into nothing; Ukyo was at her side, at a loss of what to do. She headed towards her and knelt down to look at her in the eyes, only for her daughter to flinch away when she tried to touch her.
"Ranko-chan! Tell me what's wrong!"
"Ranma…pit…so many cats!" The little girl grabbed the sides of her head, trying to make the scene she was experiencing go away. The fear was so great that the words she was mumbling barely made sense. "So dark! It's so scary!"
"No! Nice kitties…It's the food you want! Don't scratch me!" She curled up into a ball, trying to keep the imaginary attacks away. Nodoka took the opportunity to take her girl into her lap, trying to soothe her. It worked for a while until she went immobile, finally passing out.
The scene repeated itself many times over the next few days, and any doubt that there existed some sort of connection between her twin children all but evaporated. Now she was torn between the mental anguish that both children were experiencing through Ranma, as well as the added physical damage that her son was surely accumulating. Out of the distressing cries of her daughter she did manage to make out the name of the technique that was currently being taught to Ranma: The Neko-ken. She gave it to the detectives that her family had hired as a venue for them to investigate.
It was on the final day of almost a week of mental torture that both children finally snapped. Nodoka was surprised when the almost catatonic girl suddenly jumped out of her lap. This quickly grew into concern when she landed on all fours and began hissing at her in a way reminiscent of a feline. A bit at a loss to what to do, she called out to her in the way she would call one of the strays they would often take in. The girl sniffed the air for a bit before hesitantly approaching. Nodoka took out one of her hands for the girl to take in the scent before patting her on the head; soon she had her purring in her laps until she drifted off into sleep.
Luckily after waking up she had returned to normal, and she also reported the same about Ranma. The two of them have seemed to acquire an extreme case of ailurophobia, which was a shame since they seemed to like cats very much before the incident. Ranko mentioned that logically they knew it wasn't the animals' fault, but the fear was so ingrained that the mere thought of them would send the two children into uncontrollable shivers. Or at least that was what Nodoka managed to figure out before the topic made her daughter curl up in fear. She never mentioned it again. The reports from the detectives painted a rather horrifying picture; and the photos they took of the pit they had uncovered almost made her vomit. The place was covered with the excrement of animals. The remains of various half-eaten fish products as well as a few rotting carcasses littered the place. The walls showed multitudes of scratches where the felines had tried to escape, and traces of blood were all over the place.
"Genma has finally gone too far." She gripped the folder in her hand tightly. It was a heavy decision that she was reluctant to make, though her family has always been pressuring her to come to that conclusion once she contacted them again those years ago. She hesitated to do it since it reflected poorly on her ability to choose a mate, and often rationalized Genma's actions in her mind. This time however there was no forgiving him. She contacted her family lawyers to begin the proceedings. With this much evidence against him it would be child's play for the courts to grant their divorce.
After that disastrous training many years ago Genma had held off on rare training techniques for a while. Who would have known that there were pages stuck together! By the time he found the warnings it was already too late as his son had already gone into a berserker mode. It filled his heart with pride that Ranma still managed to learn the technique despite the warnings that only an idiot would teach it to anyone. The training was dangerous and sometimes outright lethal, not to mention inhumane. To this day he would still wince at the memories of being filled with scratches as soon as his child burst through the heavy stone slab. He was lucky to escape with only his pride bruised since the ki claws the child manifested seemed to cut through everything with ease, leaving them in a confetti-like state. The boy proceeded to run off after jumping off his head, though to his relief he later found him dozing off in a ray of sunlight. He lamented that the training left such a glaring weakness in his son, but he never mentioned it again out of fear that he would revert to such a berserk state.
Other problems had been cropping up however. It seemed that the debt collectors had employed private investigators to look for them. He had already lost count of the amount of times he had fled in the dark of the night. Now he was almost at a hair's trigger and would begin to make plans to flee as soon as he sensed someone sniffing around. He sighed as he browsed through the travel brochures. He would have to move again sometime soon, and Japan was starting to become too much of a hot zone. Maybe they should go abroad this time. His eyes landed on a particular pamphlet about various training grounds in the Asian continent. Well, he has always wanted to go to China, he thought.
Over at an all male Junior High Ranma was having the time of his life for once. The boys were all quite unruly but the best thing about this school was that the lunch times were always a free-for-all and that the last items on sale for the day were always free. This was where Ranma's training truly outshone the others. As the cafeteria lady threw out the last package of bread of the day he jumped into the air. He felt his feet land on someone but didn't have much time to think about it. Instead he used it to propel himself further into the air. Catching the package in his mouth, he flipped through the air, catching only a glimpse of the boy wearing a bandanna before he landed outside the warzone.
As he searched for a place to eat, he couldn't help but think of the changes he had gone through over the years. Being on the road all the time as well as the harsh training his father subjected him to, helped him develop a lithe yet muscled body. Though being malnourished prevented him from bulging all over with muscle as he had nothing to build on. His sister Ranko had a well balanced diet under the care of their mother, but she kept up her training along with Ukyo so they both filled out in all of the right places. He still recalled the fright they both had once her cycle had began, it was frightening to find oneself dripping blood in the middle of the night. Now they both took it as a normal part of life, though there was bleed over as Ranma would find himself being more irritable during certain parts of the month, to the great confusion of their father. He never told him the fact that their mother had divorced him since he wanted to see his face when he finally finds out. It would be another thing to look forward to when they returned home.
Speaking of fears, their mother had Ranko go to a therapist at the suggestion of one of their family lawyers. It ended up helping both of them greatly but there was still quite a long way to go before they can manage to cure their fears. Nowadays they could stand being around a kitten, and even found some of its actions adorable as they slowly recalled the days that Ranko would take in strays. An adult cat on the other hand still scared the hell out of them, not to mention multiple ones. He shivered a bit at the reminder before abandoning that train of thought. Finally arriving at his secret spot at the top of the school building, he opened the door of the staircase to be met with the sight of a familiar bandanna wearing boy turning around in confusion. This intrigued him since he was sure that boy would still be stuck in the crowd in the cafeteria, and there was no way he would have gotten here before him.
"You!" The boy finally noticed him. The imprint of his indoor slippers was still apparent on the guy's face and Ranma couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. Idly he noted that his canines were rather pronounced, giving him the look of being fanged. "You shall pay for this humiliation!"
"Sorry about that, man. My pops beat me up during a spar this morning so I haven't had anything to eat all day." Both of their stomachs chose this time to grumble, defusing an otherwise tense situation. The other boy also lost a lot of his steam as it never occurred to him that there would be other people as hungry as he was.
"Well, I haven't found my house in a few days so I haven't had anything to eat either." He said, trying to regain some of his righteous fury. Ranma repeated the comment in his mind for a while before finally recalling a rumor that has been circulating around.
"Oh yeah, I think I've heard of you. You're Ryoga Hibiki, the lost boy."
"Don't call me that!" The now identified Ryoga moved to attack him, but Ranma quickly placated him.
"Whoa! Calm down, that's just what I've heard from the other guys." The boy stopped his advance but he was still silently fuming. Ranma looked for ways to calm him down and decided to use the bread as a peace offering.
"Well, what about this. We'll share the bread. Since you have gone hungry for a longer while you'll have the larger piece, but the next time it'll be my turn."
"Hah, you wish! I'll fight you for it!" Ryoga grumbled but still accepted the friendly gesture. A hint of a smile was blossoming on their faces. Neither of them knew it, but it was a beginning of a long lasting friendship.
Over the next few days the boys could be seen regularly sparring while en route to school or after school let out. It wasn't long before even Ryoga noticed that Ranma was leading him to and from the school. Though he wasn't condescending about it the fanged boy still felt that he didn't need such pity. When he confronted Ranma about it the other boy dismissed his concerns, stating that it was merely coincidence that their fights always ended at his house or at the school. Deciding to swallow his pride for once, Ryoga accepted the unspoken offer of help and did not press further.
All good things eventually come to an end, and Genma began to show signs that he was planning to leave. This time it seems that they were going somewhere further as he even took up a job to prepare their supplies. Time and again he could hear him muttering something about China.
As they munched on their lunch up in their spot at the top of the school, Ranma expressed his concerns towards his friend-slash-rival. "You know, I think my pops is thinking of moving again. This time we might even go across the sea towards the continent."
"What? China? I hear that it's full of mysterious martial arts styles." Ryoga gulped down his bread before relating some of the things he had heard during his "travels".
"Well, after I leave, we won't be able to spar again." Ryoga turned a bit depressed at this thought. Though he wouldn't admit it out loud, Ranma was the first friend he had in a long while, and possibly his best friend. Trying to clear up the atmosphere, he quickly came up with an idea.
"I won't let you leave before settling which one of us is stronger once and for all!" Ryoga suddenly stood up.
"What do you have in mind?" Ranma smirked at him.
"This Saturday, at the lot behind my house!"
"Hmm, do you need me to lead you there before hand?" Ranma added some good hearted ribbing that seemed appropriate in this kind of situation.
"Hah, as if! This is an official challenge! I will head to the appointed place under my own power."
The rest of the break was spent with some good natured bantering, and the days rapidly flew by. When the appointed time finally came however, Ranma's worries proved to be true as Ryoga was nowhere to be found. A quick peek at his house showed it to be abandoned save for their family pet, a female dog with black and white square patterned coloring named Checkers. She usually served as a guide dog for the Hibiki family and would lead them back home whenever they were in the vicinity. Sadly this never prevented them from getting lost in the first place. The dog shot out of the house once Ranma mentioned how Ryoga had gone missing, which left him with nothing else to do but return to the empty lot and settle down for a long wait.
The first two days passed without any signs of his rival, and by the end of the third day he was already feeling a bit weak as he had gone on without having anything to eat and little to drink. There was a vending machine just outside the lot, but the sugary drinks proved of little help in quenching his hunger. As the fourth day began something happened to break the autonomy.
"Boy! There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Genma appeared, dragging both of their packs. It was probably filled over the brim with supplies, judging by the weight as Ranma caught his.
"I still have an official duel with Ryoga, old man!" Ranma set the backpack down at his side.
"What are you talking about?! He forfeited when he failed to appear on time!" Judging by the state of the clothes Ranma was wearing, he had probably been waiting for a few days already. Honestly, the boy was still too soft hearted. "Now stop this foolishness! We need to get moving as soon as possible."
"What! Is it the debt collectors again? Why can't you solve your own problems for once?"
"I see that you still need to learn to respect your elders, boy!" Genma cracked his knuckles. Ranma got into a stance as well. Sadly their confrontation wasn't as spectacular as it would have been. With Ranma being weakened as he was, it took only a few mid-air exchanges of blows before his father overpowered him. Satisfied that his son won't be in any state to complain, he put the heavy backpack on him before dragging it as well as his unconscious son away from the lot.
It was right after they left that Ryoga finally managed to rush into the empty clearing. He had already been close enough to hear their exchange but couldn't find the entrance until now. It incensed him that a father would treat their child like that. He had heard the stories from Ranma, but hadn't fully believed him.
"Damn you Genma Saotome! How dare you interfere in a man to man fight?" He roared out to the heavens, which responded with thunder as the sky had already been blackening rapidly. He turned back to chase the duo, while swearing vengeance. It was a shame that he was running in the opposite direction as Genma was still slowly dragging his son about a block behind him.
Almost a year had already passed since they snuck into China. Ranma guessed that Genma didn't even bother to have their passports made as he would have found out about his name change. He doubted that they passed through anything resembling immigration as they entered the country as well. Still he couldn't help but be impressed at the craftiness of his father on getting jobs that didn't require any sort of identification. Of course most of them proved to be quite shady. It was a shame that they lost their pursuers after crossing the Sea of Japan. Though Ranko still kept their mother informed as to their approximate whereabouts, it proved to be hard for the private investigators to move around in the PRC. Not helping was the fact that they mostly visited the remote regions, which made locating eye witnesses difficult.
Their search for secret techniques with the Tibetan monks proved to be unfruitful, though he learned some interesting meditation techniques from them. One of the monks even commented on how he had the most well balanced aura that he had ever seen. Genma brushed them off as nonsense and commented that coming here was a waste of his time. With that, they began the last leg of their trip and headed towards the Qinghai Province, where a training ground that his father had marked out on that Chinese pamphlet was located.
"This place doesn't really look that impressive." Ranma commented as they stood on a hill overlooking the valley. After a few more months of trekking over the mountain range, they finally reached their destination. The Jusenkyo training grounds consisted of various springs which had bamboo sticking out of them At a first glance it appears that they were used mainly for balance practice, and that the water was there to break the fall.
"Are you ready, Ranma?" The two of them rushed down the hill, and quickly jumped onto the poles, completely ignoring the guide that had come out to greet them.
"Ah! What you doing, sirs! This place very dangerous!" The man spoke passable but broken Japanese, having figured out what language they were speaking from their conversations. He sighed as the two of them were completely engrossed in their sparring to hear him. He had to admit that they seemed to be quite capable as they exchanged blows in the air above the springs, each returning to a pole after separating. He just hoped that neither of them fell into a spring, which was quite unlikely. The springs always thirsted for new victims.
"I won't go easy on you, boy!"
"That's how I want it!"
The two of them took to the air once again. Genma shot forward with a kick but Ranma somehow managed to grab it in mid air. Using it as a pivot, he levered himself upward by pushing down. Making a complicated twist, he managed to stand on his father's head before jumping away, changing his momentum downward towards the spring while he headed towards another pole.
"I got you!" He grinned in a sense of accomplishment as he waited for Genma to surface. To his great surprise, a giant panda wearing a gi jumped out and landed on a pole. In his shock, he finally managed to hear the desperate cries of the Jusenkyo guide.
"Aiyah! Mister customer fall into the Spring of Drowned Panda. There very tragic tale of panda who drown in spring two thousand year ago!" The man shouted, while he looked in confusion at the panda that stood on a single leg, in a stance that vaguely reminded him of his father.
"Wait a minute! Where did you come from? You never said anything…" He was interrupted by the beast that began attacking him. It was really strange, since it looked as if the animal was using the forms of the Anything Goes Style.
"Now whoever fall into that spring…take body of panda!" the Guide finished explaining. Ranma was in shock as it explained why the panda would know the Saotome School, but sadly this gave an opening for which he immediately exploited, sending him rocketing into another spring.
Back home Nodoka immediately grew concerned as her daughter paused in her breakfast and took on a faraway look that meant she was concentrating on what was happening over on Ranma's side. Before she could ask what was happening, Ranko's eyes rolled up and she fainted. Nodoka rushed to the other side of the table only to stare in shock as the form that greeted her sight was that of a young man.
Ranma was a bit worried as the other side of their connection seemed to have gone dark the moment he hit the waters. But now he had to push it to the side as he had to find out what manner of being he had been changed into. As he surfaced he was relieved to see that he still had human hands, though they seemed to be more slender yet oddly familiar. Looking down he found that he had grown a pair of impressive breasts. Jumping out of the spring he turned to look at his reflection in the water. What it showed was a sight that would have been more common on the other side of their connection. It appears that Ranma had been turned into a girl and that he looked exactly like his female twin.
Many thoughts rushed through her mind, but when she turned and saw the rather confused panda that was standing near the guide. The foremost thing became the need for some payback. Ignoring the man who was struggling to explain about the spring of drowned girl, she decided to begin with a prank.
"Why, hello father. Long time no see." Imitating some of the mannerisms of Ranko, she walked over in an exaggerating feminine gait. The panda had stiffened at the odd way she was acting; she decided to put the final nail into the coffin. "Don't you remember me? The daughter you neglected? Ranko."
She wondered whether magic had anything to do with it, but the panda was strangely expressive as she watched his facial features turn into horror as he made the connection. Ranma continued to close in with an evil grin, only letting up once Genma finally fled the scene. Laughing out to the success of a well done act, she was suddenly reminded of the presence of the Jusenkyo guide.
"Now, why don't you explain about this so called curse?" Her eyes turned steely as her brows narrowed in a frown.
"Y-yes. Of course, mister customer," the Guide sweated nervously. The girl may have been new to the body, but she could pull off the look of a woman scorned surprisingly well.
After the guide explained how the curse worked, Ranma, now back in male form waited for his father to return. Absently he heard the faint sound of something falling into a spring, but he paid it no mind as he was still worried about his sister. The other side of the connection had been cut for a while, so it was to his great relief that he felt her wake up again.
When Ranko woke up she felt as if a great shock had gone through her system. Taking a few moments to sort through the memories coming from the other side she waved away the concern coming from her brother, stating that she was fine. Hesitantly she opened her eyes to see the concerned face of her mother.
"Ranko..? Ranma…?" Nodoka hesitated; trying to make sense of whom exactly was in front of her. Sighing, Ranko looked down to confirm the fact that she was now male, and if what she saw from over at Ranma's side was correct then she should have an exact replica of his body.
"It's Ranko, mother…" His mother helped him up as he got used to the strange yet familiar body. Interesting enough, it felt almost as natural as his original body and it wasn't difficult to think of himself as male. He chalked it up to the fact that they always shared each other's senses so the other's body should feel no different than their own.
"What happened?"
"Stupid pops took Ranma to a cursed training ground. Though for some reason what happened to him there affected me as well." Ranko sighed.
"You mean that he…" He nodded to her unspoken question then proceeded to explain how the curse worked. It was weird to be sure, but neither Ranma nor he would really care about which body they were wearing at the moment. Already being used to both sides of the gender fence due to their connection, they would probably just note it down as an inconvenience and continue with what they were doing. Though, right now he would prefer to be back in his birth form as the clothes he had on really weren't meant for this body.
Nodoka left the room to heat up some water after making sure that he really was alright. He sat on the floor fidgeting in the constricting clothes while his thoughts turned towards what was happening over on Ranma's side.
The aforementioned boy was currently relaxing in front of the guide's hut now that he knew his sister was alright. A rustle in the nearby bushes alerted him to something approaching and sure enough, a panda stumbled out a few minutes later.
"Is that you, boy?" A wooden sign suddenly appeared in the animal's hand.
"Where did you get...? Never mind. Yeah, it's me pops." Ranma was intrigued for a moment, but instead settled for answering his question.
"How did you turn back!" The sign flipped over to display what was written on the other side. It probably was due to the use of some martial arts technique as he really hadn't noticed when he had written on it. He wasn't given much time to think about it as the panda grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him, as if it would make him divulge his secrets.
"Geez pops, stop it!" Ranma pushed him away after a while. "The guide says that we'll be able to change back with hot water."
The man turned panda pushed him aside as he rushed into the hut. As the animal passed he noted the unconscious piglet that was held swinging from his paws. Something about the yellow-and-black speckled bandanna it had tied around its neck seemed familiar. He followed his father into the hut where he gasped in great joy at being turned back into a man, yet also in a bit of pain due to the heat of the scalding water. The man turned his attention to him as he entered.
"Ranma! This is important, do you remember anything from when you were cursed?"
"What are you talking about, old man? When I got out of the spring I was already turned into a girl and you were already gone." Deciding to play ignorant, he acted as if he knew nothing about it. It looked like he was going to press about it so he tried to distract him. "Anyway, the guide says that the cures aren't permanent. We change into our cursed forms with cold water."
"What! Is that true?!" Genma turned to grab the guide, who rapidly nodded. "Aren't there any other permanent cures?"
"Ah, this one not know of cure. But nearby tribe of Joketsuzoku might know. Chinese Amazons live here for thousands of years."
With a suitable course of action down, Genma relaxed and decided to do something about his next meal. He took out the piglet; it had woken up sometime during his change and was somehow glaring at him. He paid it no mind as the guide saw what he had caught and began to make suggestions on how to best prepare it. The small animal began to shiver as if it understood what they were saying.
"Hey, stop it! Have you forgotten where we are? What if that were a person?" The piglet seemingly relaxed at Ranma's intervention, and was nodding furiously at his suggestion.
"There is spring of drowned piglet…" The guide admitted. "Tragic story of piglet that drown in spring hundreds of years ago."
In the end they decided to hit two birds with one stone and heated some water in a giant pot. If it were a cursed victim it would change back; and if it were a normal pig then they would just use the boiling water to remove its fur. Once the water was hot enough they threw the piglet in and it was upturned as the animal suddenly expanded in size. The steam cleared up and eventually revealed a familiar fanged boy.
"Saotome! Because of you I've seen hell!" Ryoga shouted, turning towards Genma to his surprise.
"Ryoga! Man, how did you follow us all the way here?" Ranma greeted, glad to see a familiar face.
"Not now, Ranma. I have a bone to pick with your old man!"
"Whatever it is, couldn't you wait until you get dressed?" The boy finally noticed that he was almost as naked as the day he was born and that the only thing he had on was his bandanna. Embarrassed, he picked up a nearby pan to cover his important bits while the guide offered to fish up his belongings that were surely in the spring he fell into.
As they waited for the guide to return, Ryoga lost his steam and opted to catch up with his friend-slash-rival. It looked like after they left he had gone all over the place looking for them. In a strange stroke of luck he was always able to stumble upon someone who had seen them a few days ago. It was a mystery to Ranma how the lost boy crossed into China as he stated that he didn't recall crossing any major body of water. Eventually the Guide returned with his clothes and he had to go out with him again since there were some things that were too heavy for him to lift.
The rest of the day passed without much incident apart from the times that Ryoga would try to fight with the elder Saotome, but there would always be a convenient source of cold water nearby for the bald martial artist to neutralize the threat. The next day they finally began their small trek towards the Amazon village of Joketsuzoku. Somewhere along the way Ryoga disappeared after he tried another attempt at attacking Genma. They gave up the search after it began to rain.
Genma had looked nervously at Ranma when they met up and he found that the curse had activated. Since his currently female son was still acting as she usually did, he was able to relax and counted the incident as a one-time event.
"Heh, if he only knew…" Ranma muttered to herself as she saw his reaction to her appearance. That prank had worked surprisingly well and she noted it down for use again sometime in the future as they moved on.
The strange trio of man, girl, and panda drew many eyes as they passed through the village. They had been detained at the gates for a while but the guards let them through after the Jusenkyo guide identified himself. The place was full of activity as there seemed to be some sort of festival going on.
"Ah, we very lucky! Today is day of village tournament!" The guide commented after he asked one of the villagers what was going on. He acted his part as he explained that it was traditional for the Amazons to have a tournament to determine the standings of their village warriors. It served as a coming of age ceremony for their trainees and helped determine their place in the village as a full warrior. It went without saying that winning the tournament was a great honor.
Ranma listened with great interest as the guide pointed towards a suspended log where two women were fighting. Well, at least who they thought were two women. One of the fighters was very tall and so overly bulging with muscles that they would have thought she was a male bodybuilder. There was simple no way for females to develop that way without some use of stimulant.
"That's a woman?" Ranma looked at the bulkier participant in disbelief.
"Ah, what about other one? This one much prettier, yes?" The guide pointed his attention towards the opponent. This one was shorter and looked to be around her age. She had long purplish hair with two strands that were tied off and left hanging at each side of her head. Her body was lean but she was sure that the long-sleeved blouse hid some muscles underneath given the way that she was swinging two heavy ball-shaped maces around with ease. The smaller girl was finally able to overpower her larger opponent as they watched. With greater strength than they would have expected from her size, she managed to heave the muscular woman over to the side and off the combat log. The crowd roared with applause as she was announced the winner of the tournament. It was only then that Ranma noticed that Genma had been gone for a while. She searched for him and eventually found him stuffing himself away at a nearby table full of food. She stepped up to admonish him for taking the food without permission but had to step aside to avoid an attack. She turned face her attacker only to find that it was the girl who had won.
The girl spat out a few rapid sentences in the local dialect and it wasn't until the guide caught up that she was able to make sense of it. "Why you let pet panda eat tournament prize, she say."
"The prize?" The guide pointed at the table, and surely enough there was a sign on top of the table, but she couldn't make heads or tails of it as it was also written in the local dialect. The panda was now surrounded by females with various assortments of sharp weapons and he sweated as he showed a sign telling Ranma to do something.
"Panda will be made into fur rug as compensation, she say." It would solve a lot of Ranma's problems if she just handed him over, but sadly her father still had a lot to answer for and she still wanted to see his crimes exposed.
"The food is the prize for the tournament, right? Then if I won there won't be any problems." The guide communicated her statement towards the girl. She returned a feral grin then headed back to the challenge log, gesturing at her to follow. Both of them jumped on top with ease, and as the speaker announced the terms the crowd went wild at this unexpected extra performance.
As the start of the match was signaled, the crowd cheered for their champion. With the support of her villagers behind her, the purple haired girl rushed forward with a confident smile. Her first few attacks struck air as her opponent moved out of the way. She hadn't used her full strength as she didn't expect an outsider to have much skill but it seemed that this one warranted more attention. As she took things up a notch Ranma calmly analyzed her opponent as she weaved in and out of her strikes. It was a shame that the girl was already tired from her previous fights since she was sure that she would even give her a challenge if she were in her top shape. In the state she was in right now she was able to get out of her way with ease. Ranma was a bit guilty at ruining such an important day like this but there were really no other way if they wanted to get out with their skins intact. That statement was literal, in her father's case.
Ranma slowly backed away from the girl as she continued to dodge her attacks. Assuming that the redhead was becoming scared, the purple haired girl smiled and pressed her advantage, thinking that she was backing her into a corner. The end of the log slowly neared, though it appeared that everything was within Ranma's plans as she never lost her cool. Her opponent however, was getting frustrated at not landing a single hit. It was obvious in the way that her attacks were becoming more and more erratic. Once they reached the end of the log she put her full strength into a final attack, thinking that there was nowhere for Ranma to run anymore. This was what she was waiting for, apparently. As the girl overextended herself with the attack, Ranma jumped straight up. With a light step on the girl's weapons, she flipped over the girl and landed at her back. The girl was too slow to turn and with a single push she stumbled off the log, signaling her defeat.
The audience was silenced by the ease that this interloper had defeated their champion with. All eyes followed her as she jumped off the challenge log to offer the fallen girl a hand with getting up. To her surprise and the shock of the villagers, the first thing she did was to kiss her on the cheek. She mumbled something that she wasn't able to make out.
"Aiyah, the girl give you kiss of death. It promise to hunt you down to the ends of world!" The guide had gone white, but she wasn't given much time to think about this as her father always acted swiftly in situations like this. Quickly grabbing her, the panda ran out of the village with their supplies, dragging the guide behind them.
The purple haired girl watched their retreating backs with an evil grin until a shriveled old woman on a walking stick pogoed up behind her. She shifted in her direction to see that it was her great-grandmother.
"Shampoo, do you realize what you have done?" The elder said. The satisfied look on her face shrunk down under the solemn gaze of her matriarch.
Ranma gasped for breath as they finally made their way out of the water. Following behind her was the panda that her father had been turned into. For the last few weeks that crazy Amazon had been chasing after them, often appearing in the middle of the night. Despite their efforts to remain in their birth forms, cold water always splashed them at inopportune times, leading to the girl finding them. Needless to say they made great time on their travel due to this, as they had to run away with little time to rest. Hopefully they had managed to lose her once they made it to one of the seaside metropolises. Coming back to Japan however, had proved to be another problem. No ships would let them stow away as they couldn't risk being seen as poachers no matter how much they offered as a bribe. An endangered species like the panda was heavily regulated and they even had to dodge a few officials when Genma changed in public. Because of that they had to take a risk and swam the entire way back. Now that they had finally returned to Japanese soil, they could rest easy.
"So what now? Are we finally going home?" Ranma asked after returning to male form via the kettle he had been heating up in their seaside camp.
Genma took the kettle from his son's hands and changed back using the remaining water. "Ah, before that we'll have to visit a good friend of mine."
Ranma could feel his sister nod as she communicated their change in plans to their mother. Try as he might he still couldn't get their final destination out of his father. He was quite tight lipped about the matter and he had no choice but to follow his lead for the next few days as they journeyed back in the direction of Tokyo. Once they arrived in the area, Ranma felt himself becoming more excited as they entered the Nerima ward. Their home was somewhere in the district and already Nodoka was making arrangements for their confrontation. Genma probably felt that there was less chance for him to flee now that they were near and finally let loose with a location: The Tendo dojo.
In the aforementioned place, a long haired man was excited as he finally received a long awaited postcard. It depicted a panda eating bamboo and contained a single message in a messy scrawl. Tears of happiness fell down his cheeks as he read it out loud.
"Hi. Bringing Ranma from China. Saotome." His mustache twitched as he sniffed, and his body shivered as he tried to hold back his elation. "Oh, how I have waited for this day!"
It took him a while to regain his composure. Once he wiped away the tears he headed through his house to collect his daughters. His eldest, Kasumi, he found working in the kitchen. The day was beginning to get hotter so she was slicing some watermelons for use as dessert. The middle daughter, Nabiki, was in her room. She was sucking on a popsicle stick as she read some manga while lying on her bed. She had already been warned many times before by her elder sister not to do that as it frequently left a mess on her mattress, but she still did as she wished. His youngest, Akane, proved to be hard to find and eventually he gave up as she didn't seem to be anywhere in the house.
The girl he was looking for was actually outside as she jogged around the area. Eventually she made her way home. After announcing her return she immediately headed towards their dojo where she changed out of her sweaty clothes and into a pair of martial arts gi. She stacked up a few cinder blocks just outside the building and proceeded to smash them. After repeating the action a few times, she seemed satisfied with her progress and stood up to wipe away the sweat.
"Breaking blocks again? No wonder the boys all think you're weird Akane." She looked back to be met with the sight of her second sister, Nabiki, leaning against the wall of the dojo.
"Why should I care? Not everybody thinks the world revolves around boys, Nabiki," she answered nonchalantly.
"Then I guess this wouldn't interest you," the girl turned around and walked away. Despite what she said earlier, she was curious about what her sister was talking about so she still followed her.
Now that everyone had finally arrived, the Tendo patriarch cleared his throat before making his big announcement.
"I have just received notice that your fiancé will be arriving soon."
"Fiancé?!" The three girls gasped almost in unison.
Mistaking their shock for curiosity, he decided to elaborate. "Yes, he's the son of a very good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome."
"If one of you were to marry him and carry on the dojo, then the Tendo family legacy will be secure."
"Wait a minute! Don't we have any say in who we marry?" this concerned Akane greatly, since she liked to think of herself as the heir to their family style. As the sole remaining practitioner of their generation, she would have greater chance of inheriting the dojo.
"Akane is right, we haven't even met Ranma. Just what kind of person is he?" Kasumi added, voicing her own worries.
The mustached man laughed nervously before changing his expression into what he hoped was a serious face. "I have no idea."
"No idea?" The middle daughter finally decided to put her two cents in.
"Well, I've never met him. Ranma and his father have been on a voyage of training. Recently it seems that they crossed into China."
This piqued Nabiki's interest, if they could afford to travel for such a long time, then their family probably wasn't short on money. Akane however, had a much different opinion. "What's so great about walking to China?"
The two older girls continued to ask questions, trying get as much detail as they could out of their father. Kasumi mainly wanted to know if he was older, whereas Nabiki concentrated on his appearance. Their grilling of him was interrupted by a set of rather noisy knocks coming from the front door. Both Nabiki and her father jumped out their seats in their rush to answer the door, while Kasumi and Akane followed slowly behind.
Ranma had been quite annoyed once he found out that his father had engaged him again, and this led to another fight across the streets of Nerima. They never noticed that they had been splashed somewhere along the way. By the time they arrived it was too late to change back as her father had already knocked on the doors in his haste to let them meet. It opened a few moments later, and as expected the inhabitants stared in shock at the giant animal.
"Stop it pops! You're scaring them spitless!" she shoved him aside, startling the man and his three daughters out of their stupor. The panda nudged her forward, drawing his attention towards her.
"You wouldn't be…?" he pointed at her hesitantly.
"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this," she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, and bowed down in apology.
"At last you've come! I've long awaited your arrival!" The Tendo patriarch shouted in excitement and hugged Ranma to his chest. A few moments later, his enthusiasm turned into confusion as the touch felt too soft to be a man's chest. He held her at an arm's length to examine her body more closely. At first he merely though that her face was a bit feminine for a boy, but now that he looked closer… In shock, his hands moved to confirm his suspicions.
"Hey! Keep your hands to yourself!" Her fists flew out instinctively as she felt him touch a certain part of her body. Surprised by the attack, the man flew back into the house. The three girls showed that they weren't daughters of a martial artist's family for nothing as they had already moved out of the way as his body rushed by. The two taller girls headed back indoors to check on their father while the youngest stayed behind.
"Hi, I'm Akane. Why don't you come inside?" The skies had already started to cloud and it wouldn't do for their guests to be outside when it began to rain.
"I guess… I'm sorry about your father."
"He deserved it. Honestly, fondling a girl in broad daylight…" Akane waved away her concerns, though she did wonder what they were going to do with her animal. "Er…will you panda be okay?"
"Don't worry about it, he's housebroken," Ranma sniggered. Then she dodged a swipe from said panda. Akane still had her doubts but led them inside anyways. The large beast wandered off after they entered, seemingly knowing his way around the house. Ranma was led into the living room where the knocked out Tendo patriarch was laid out on a futon, a cold towel on his head to prevent swelling. Eventually he woke up but stared blankly at the ceiling.
"Oh, poor daddy, he's so disappointed." Kasumi commented while she changed the towel.
"He's disappointed? Some kind of fiancé this is! This is all your fault daddy, you should have made sure!" Nabiki was the one to complain as she was somewhat looking forward to it. This finally drew a reaction from her father.
"Well, HE said he had a SON!" He cried back, trying to put the blame on his old friend.
"Do you see a boy here? Do you?!" Nabiki's hands shot out towards the girl sitting beside her, trying to make a point. But a pair of arms blocked her and she was taken aback when she moved her head to see a pair of angry eyes glaring at her.
"Stop it you two! He… she is our guest!" Akane had been quite angry at the prospect of an arranged marriage earlier, but now she was all smiles as it seemed that there was no way it would go through. Turning towards the girl, she put on her most friendly smile and spoke, "Why don't you join me in the dojo?"
Ranma gave her a small smile in return and followed her outside. While she walked behind the other girl her mind was miles away, as her mother appeared to have some problems with the arrangements, and wouldn't be arriving until a few hours later. Ranko wanted to come anyway but Nodoka stopped her since it risked alerting Genma that something was wrong. She had to put the matter aside as they soon arrived inside the practice hall.
"You practice karate, right?" Akane asked, getting into a stance.
"A little." Ranma decided to be a bit modest. But truth to be told the Anything Goes Style encompassed many more style than just karate, so she wasn't exactly lying.
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you," Akane wondered why she just stood there and wasn't getting into a stance. Then she decided that the girl probably didn't have that much training despite what her father had claimed of them being on a training voyage. She began the match with a beginner's punch, which her opponent easily slid out of the way. A follow up kick was similarly jumped over, and she began to suspect that the girl was more than what she appeared. Still, she doesn't seem to be more skilled than she was, so Akane decided to fully utilize her arsenal.
Ranma carefully analyzed her opponent as she let her come in with her opening salvo. She would judge the girl's skills to be in between beginner and intermediate level according to how her father trained her. But her moves were fluid as if she practiced them long enough to almost become instinct, though apart from that she appeared to be more of a brawler and her reflexes were fast enough to suggest that she probably fought almost every day. Ranma thought that she was trying not to make a fool out of her by stretching out the match when she could have finished in a matter of minutes, but the fact that she was getting frustrated by not being able to hit her suggested otherwise.
"What's wrong? Swing at me!" Akane called out in annoyance as the girl could swing out of the path of her attacks with ease but she had yet to return a blow. She wondered if the redhead was actually reading her moves like the masters in all of those old martial arts flicks. Their spar moved closer to the dojo walls as the girl slowly backed away from her attacks. Seeing that she will run out of space soon, Akane decided to go for a final attack.
"Alright! This time for real!" she shouted in a battle cry. Her full strength was behind this punch and given that she could split rocks it could seriously harm a person. However she didn't think of any of that as her concentration was fully on hitting the elusive redhead. As her fist neared her, the girl jumped out of the way and it ended up embedded in the wooden wall. Before she could extract it, she felt someone poke her in the back of the head. She looked back in shock at the girl who chuckled nervously at her. If that had been a strike she would have been knocked out by now.
Both of them chuckled at each other as Akane tried to lick the wounds on her pride. She cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure.
"Wow, you're pretty good! I'm just glad you're a girl." she said as she adjusted the clothes that had come loose due to their exertion, and elaborated at the sight of Ranma's confused face. "I'd hate to lose to a boy. I've had problems at school and just...well, never mind." She walked out of the dojo.
Ranma was slightly curious at her comment but decided it was inconsequential. If the girl brushed it off like that then there really was no reason to keep dwelling on it.
As the girls all went to mind their own businesses, the panda finished his hot bath, and approached the unattended Tendo patriarch back in his birth form. The man's eyes widened in surprise; before he got up to hug Genma.
"Soun, old pal."
"Genma!"
Both men were in tears as they were suddenly reminded of the harsh training they had undergone together in their youth. Now many years later they are finally reunited and on the cusp of seeing their dreams fulfilled.
Kasumi walked out of the kitchen as she was reminded that the bath hadn't been filled yet. As she passed by the living room she saw that her father was speaking with another man. She noted to herself that her father's friend had finally arrived and that they would probably want some drinks later. When she reached the furo she looked in confusion as it had already been filled. Figuring that someone probably wanted to take an early bath she put the little mystery to the back of her mind. She thought of their other guest and suddenly recalled that she had been sparring with Akane so she would probably want a bath as well. She took out a spare towel and went in search for her. Eventually she found her staring at the falling rain in the walkway overlooking the garden.
"Ranma! Ranma-chan?" she called out. "Wouldn't you like to take a bath?"
"No, it's ok, really…" Kasumi frowned at the thought of her staying sticky with all that sweat.
"No it's not! You must be all sweaty after all that work out!" The older girl all but dragged her to the bathing area, and Ranma decided to take her offer as she was actually beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. Taking off her clothes, she entered the bathing area where she began to clean herself.
"Well, what do I do now?" Ranma spoke to her twin through their connection. There really wasn't any need to voice it but sometimes she found that speaking out loud helped her sort out her thoughts. She winced as the cold water hit her skin, suppressing another shiver. A thought came over from the other side, making her chuckle. Stepping into the steaming water, she changed back into her original form. Now male, he relaxed in the water as he silently went over plans with his sister in their minds. Before long, he figured that he had been soaking long enough. Steeling his resolve, he began rising out of the water.
"Might as well go out like this, they'll find out soon enough." As soon as he got out of the water, the entrance to the bath opened abruptly.
Nabiki came to her room to inform her that the bath was ready. Akane thanked her before making a brief stop in her room to pick up her supplies. She was beginning to feel a bit itchy after the sweat on her had dried, and taking a bath before dinner was better as she wouldn't have to wait for the food to settle. She noted that someone was inside the bath already and judging by the clothes nearby it was their surprisingly shy guest. She figured that the girl wouldn't mind being joined by another, so she opened the sliding door in the nude. Akane stared at the naked boy in surprise.
It was only an instant yet it felt like an eternity as the boy and girl stared at each other's bare body. Ranma was still bent over from where he was getting up; therefore his private bits were mostly covered. Akane didn't have such luck however, since she was standing upright and exposed fully to his sight. It wasn't long before she came to her senses and slammed the door closed. The shock hadn't fully gone through as she calmly redressed herself and walked out of the changing area. Ranma sighed as he waited for the inevitable explosion.
A loud scream suddenly shot through the house as Akane ran into the garden to heave a rather large stone ornament out of the ground. "I'll kill him! I'll drown him in the bathtub!"
"What's going on Akane?" Her sisters had come so see what the commotion was about.
"There's a pervert in the bathroom!"
"Really, why didn't you just kill him with your bare hands?" Nabiki's comments really weren't helping her mood.
"That's strange? Ranma should have been in the bath at this time." Another mystery, Kasumi noted.
Their discussion was stopped, as the person in question appeared. He was wearing the same clothes that the girl had been wearing, though they fit better on him. On the girl they had seemed to be quite loose, but it had only served to make her look cute.
"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this." He scratched his head nervously, the scene a reenactment of the female one's first greeting. They looked at him in disbelief until their father came over to see what was going on and greeted the boy exuberantly. The girls followed the men in confusion until they sat down in the living room, waiting for an explanation.
"How to explain this…" Soun stroked his mustache for a few moments before he began. "This is my old friend…"
"Genma Saotome," The mid-aged man in a white bandanna took over the baton and introduced himself, then gestured towards his son. "…and this is my son, Ranma."
The boy remained silent throughout the introductions, clearly having something on his mind. The girls couldn't believe what their parents were insinuating.
"Wait a minute? What's this about? You're saying that this boy and the girl are the same person?"
"Hmm… Where should I begin?" Genma searched his mind for the best way to explain, rubbing his forehead before finally settling on a course of action. He grabbed his surprised son and threw him outside, targeting the small pond in the garden. To the residents' surprise, the person that emerged was a girl. Soun nodded as if he had expected this to happen, but this was actually the first time that he had seen the curse in action. Genma cried crocodile tears as he commented on how humiliating his son was, leading Ranma to attack him out of annoyance. Genma ended up in the pond in the same way that he'd thrown his son.
A warm kettle from the kitchen quickly returned them to their birth forms. While they changed back, the Tendo girls silently conferred with their father on why he had such strange friends. They returned to their positions as the Saotomes returned before Genma began retelling the tragic tale of their training in Jusenkyo. A few discrepancies in the story led to an argument between father and son, as he tried to take the blame off himself when it was his fault all along. The two fought again and eventually ended up in their cursed forms once more. Kasumi decided to stop them before their fight escalated and went in to break them up.
"You just went too far, mister Saotome! Whatever possessed you to go to such a dangerous place?" Her voice was filled with disapproval. The frown on her face somehow made the panda step back despite her lack of threat and a familiar pamphlet fell out of the threadbare gi. Nabiki stepped in and picked it up for examination.
"No wonder," she commented, turning the booklet over. "You don't know any Chinese, do you?"
"That is correct." The sign he raised earned him a bop on the head from his son-turned-daughter. Meanwhile, Soun had gone into the kitchen to retrieve a steaming kettle and returned just in time to pour it on his old friend.
"Hot water turns you back, while cold water activates the curse!" At the side, Genma winced as the water that had been poured on him was almost boiling. Soun turned to do the same for Ranma, but she jumped out of the way seeing the reaction her father had. "Well then, your problem isn't that terrible after all!"
Ranma frowned at their situation being made light of. What right did he have to make that comment when he wasn't even cursed? The Tendo patriarch didn't see her reaction and went on to introduce his daughters officially. "Here are my daughters. Kasumi is nineteen. Nabiki seventeen, and Akane sixteen."
The boy turned girl examined each as they were pointed out to her. Kasumi had long brown hair that was tied in the middle and laid over her right shoulder. She was the tallest of the three and gave off a matronly feel, but that was probably due to the way she took charge of serving the guests. In the middle of the girl sat Nabiki. Out of the three girls she was the only one with short hair. Her brown hair was styled in a pageboy cut, her eyes held a calculating gaze that made Ranma wary of her. The last girl, Akane, had a similar hairstyle to her eldest sister. Her hair was the darkest of the three and seemed bluish when under the light. She also seemed to be the only practitioner of their family style but it couldn't be discounted that the other two had received training as well.
"Pick the one you want, she'll be your fiancée!" The sudden announcement startled Ranma out of her thoughts, but before she could make any comments the doorbell rang. All discussions were halted as Kasumi went to greet whomever at the door. When she returned they were surprised to see her followed by a woman with great resemblance to Ranma. She was dressed in a simple kimono and held a long bundle in her arms. Genma had gone completely white at the sight of her.
"Father… this woman says that she's Mr. Saotome's wife?" Kasumi made the introduction hesitantly. All eyes turned towards said man who was shivering in terror.
"Genma." The single word was said in such a steely tone that one could almost feel it cut through the atmosphere. The first instinct for the man was to go completely prostrate.
"N-Nodoka, darling…" He called out hesitantly. The girls took it as confirmation that the woman was his wife then turned to look at Ranma who should by all means be seeing her for the first time again after a long period. To their surprise, they found her to be looking at the scene with and expectant grin.
"Do not call me that, you have long since lost the right!" She gestured towards someone behind her, and it was only then that the others have noticed the three suited gentlemen that had followed her in. One of them held a briefcase in his hands and he opened it to hand the Saotome matriarch a piece of paper. She examined it with a slight hint of regret before placing it in front of the prone martial artist. Genma sat up from where he lay to read it. His expression turned into one of disbelief and the paper slid from his unresponsive hands.
"Divorce?!" The comment was made almost at the same time as the girls who had converged to examine the fallen piece of paper.
"What right do you have to do such a thing, woman?!" Genma roared, his fear of her forgotten in his anger.
"What right… What RIGHT?!" She uncovered the cloth that she held to reveal a well crafted katana. Unsheathing it, she pointed the blade towards the man that was staring at her in anger. "You ABANDONED us! Not to mention the sort of torture you put our son through in the name of your so called TRAINING!"
Genma's anger had rapidly shriveled up once the Saotome honor blade appeared on the scene. His survival instincts kicked in and he tried to bluff his way out of this mess. "B-but it was all for the sake of the Art!"
"You can't fool me, Genma! I've had investigators tail you over the years so I know about all of the things you have been up to!" Genma went pale again as he finally realized that all of the people he had felt snooping around weren't debt collectors after all. The man with the briefcase took out a thick portfolio this time. Nodoka merely threw it in the middle of the room and the Tendos took a look at the scattered documents.
"What! Engagements?!" Soun summoned his demon head as he read about the people that Genma had made engagement agreements with over the years. "Does the joining of our schools really mean that little to you!"
Genma waved frantically as he tried to placate his friend. "Those didn't count! It was all for the sake of the art!"
"How can you say it was for the art when you even engaged your son for a bowl of rice!"
"And two pickles! Don't forget the pickles!" Genma emphasized, but it really wasn't helping his case. Meanwhile, Nabiki had picked up the information about his debts and made some mental calculations. It didn't look good. This sort of man was trying to get them to marry his son? He probably planned to shove those debts on them!
Kasumi and Akane skimmed through some of the things the man had done to his son in the name of training. The younger girl looked as if she was going to be sick while another frown appeared on the ever serene face of the eldest Tendo sister. The atmosphere in the room was nowhere in favor of the bald man. A click turned their attention back to Nodoka who had sheathed her sword.
"Either way, I wash my hands of you. Genma!" She nodded towards the other two men who had remained silent until now.
"Genma Rokubungi, you are under arrest for charges of child abuse, theft, extortion…" Unlike the first man who had appeared to be a lawyer, these two seemed to be plainclothes policemen who produced their identifications before moving in to apprehend their suspect. One read out his rights while the other closed in with a pair of handcuffs. However, Genma wasn't a master martial artist for nothing as he quickly overpowered them and ran out into the garden to make his escape. Before he could go far, a blur jumped down from the roof and landed straight on his head, knocking him unconscious.
It was still raining. A squad of armored police rushed in and shot a couple of tranquilizer darts into the rear of the panda for good measure. The animal was heaved into a reinforced police van then taken away. The stranger headed inside the house and the girls gasped in surprise as the lights revealed him to be a male Ranma.
"What…there are two Ranmas?" The three sisters looked in confusion as they switched between girl and boy Ranma. The female one bounced up to greet her male counterpart.
"Hello, Ranko. It's been a long time." Ranma gave a roguish smile as she greeted him.
"Same to you, 'brother'." The same smile was returned to her.
There was no need for them to go into details so he was only introduced to them as Ranma's twin sister. The Tendos naturally assumed that she had been cursed in the same place as Ranma. Once the excitement had died down, they returned to the matter of the engagement as Soun still hadn't given up on his dream despite the betrayal of his training partner. Nodoka decided to see how it played out since the agreement was made during a time that Genma was acting as head of house with her consent.
"Now, the engagement will still stand." Soun announced after clearing his throat.
"What! You can't be serious? After all that!" Akane objected, only to be betrayed by her sisters as they knew that their father could be quite stubborn once he had made his mind on something. They went on to nominate her as the prime candidate.
"Oh, Akane is perfect for this!" One of them said.
"Yeah, you don't like boys right? Then you're in luck! He's half a girl!" There had already been rumors of her circulating around school due to what was happening between her and the male students, and she was getting quite sick of the assumptions that were being made because of that.
"No way! I won't marry a pervert!" This ticked off Ranma as she didn't appreciate being called that.
"What do you mean, a pervert?!" Ranma interjected, outraged.
"Well, you took a good look at my body in the bath, pervert!"
"Wait a minute! You're the one who walked in on me!" She pointed out, putting the blame where it was due.
"It's different when a girl sees a boy!" The girl was running out of excuses. There was no point in arguing with this girl when she made such statements, so Ranma turned to walk away. However, it proved that she wasn't in the best state of mind when she made a few final comments.
"You took a good look at me as well!" She took a pose to emphasize the current state of her body. "Besides, it's no big deal for me to see a girl's body."
She paused. It was the truth in many ways, but mainly due to the connection Ranma shared with her twin sister. The Tendos didn't need to know that however, so she looked for a way to cover her slip-up. Her next statement proved to be the final trigger for the other girl's temper to erupt.
"a-and I'm better built to boot!" She spoke out the first thing that came out of her mind, and she could feel Ranko groaning already in her mind. Her twin agreed with her, though. Akane also felt that the girl was probably better looking, but there was no way that she would admit it, especially when it was coming from "him". Akane could only see red when she grabbed the small table and overturned it, slamming it down on Ranma's head.
The girl's currently male twin rubbed his head in pain as well and glared at the ill tempered girl. However, she was quickly shaken out of her slightly berserk state by the cry of outrage from the Saotome matriarch.
"How dare you attack my child?!" The only reason that she didn't pull out her sword again was because the girl was still underage and probably didn't know better. "If she's the best your family has to offer then I see no need for us to continue with this farce. I will not have such a spoiled child joining my family."
A look from Kasumi was what prevented another outburst from her. Soun begged the Saotome matriarch to reconsider but she wouldn't budge on the matter. Akane remained stubbornly looking at her side during the exchange. In the end Nodoka agreed to see if there was a chance for something to develop with the other Tendo girls and left stating that she would also expect an apology from their youngest. The girl was still too incensed at the moment to even consider it, but she would probably change her mind when she cooled down. Kasumi escorted their guests out, Ranko carrying the currently female Ranma in his arms since she was still unconscious. Soun turned a disapproving glare towards Akane, but she was able to shake it off due to her ire and stomped off to her room.
"Please do not think badly of Akane." Kasumi said as she led the Saotomes towards the gate. "She's usually a sweet girl… she's just a violent maniac."
The contrasting statement had Ranko sweat-dropping, but since it came from the girl's sister it probably was an accurate description of her.
"I should apologize as well, that was really not a proper way for a guest to behave in someone else's home." Nodoka bowed as they reached the exit, leaving Kasumi to feel a bit flustered at being shown such courtesy from someone much senior to her.
"Please relay to your father that I will not be opposed to it if the children decide to get together on their own, and that I show no ill will towards him and his."
The young woman bowed back in response as she saw them out. Soon the Tendo dojo was but a spot in the horizon as they walked further and further away. There was still quite a distance before they finally reached home, but the refreshing feel of the cool air after the rainfall made it a good night for a stroll. After a few more moments of walking a weak groan alerted them to Ranma's waking status.
"You know, you really did deserve some of that." Ranma heard once she came to. She was laid on a convenient bench at the side of the road as her currently male twin chuckled with amusement.
"Ranko is right. What possessed you to make such rude comments, Ranma?" Her mother's face hovered into her view. The tone she used was chiding but her expressions were relaxed, meaning that she wasn't really that annoyed with her.
"Well…she WAS getting on my nerves…" She groaned out a weak excuse as she tried to right herself on the seat. A pair of helping hands from her twin allowed her to get into a sitting position. She relaxed against his warmth as he sat down beside her.
"Where are we?" Ranma asked her mother who was also preparing to sit down to rest her feet for a while.
"Quite a distance from our home." Nodoka made some calculations in her mind. "We can afford to rest for a bit, and we should be able to reach there before midnight."
Ranma nodded to her mother's answer, and started to drift off as she started to list the things they had to prepare after her return. They had to find a suitable school for her to attend, and her school supplies also had to be prepared. A doctor's statement would probably be needed for her to be excused out of the uniform. There were many things they had to do but for now none of that was on her mind as she snuggled closer to her twin, finally able to enjoy their closeness after a very long time.
Back in the dojo, a certain dark haired girl reflected on her actions as she stared at the ceiling from the comfort of her bed. She has been huddled inside ever since she left the living room, and even missed dinner. A gentle knock came from her door and she called out for whoever was on the other side of it to enter.
"Are you feeling better now Akane?" The worried face of her eldest sister peeked out from behind the door. "I left out some food for you. I can reheat them if you're hungry?"
"It's ok. I'm not really in the mood for food right now." She untangled herself from her sheets as she moved to sit up on the side of her bed.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Well… It's just… I can't believe I let my temper get the better of me like that!"
"Now, now…Everyone has their emotional moments." Kasumi sat down beside her, patting her on the head and sorting out some of the curls and tangles she had gotten from thrashing about in the bed.
"Not you, though. You always look so serene and composed, Kasumi." Already feeling better from her sister's ministrations, she was able to let out a small joke.
"Do I really?" Kasumi smiled mysteriously at her as she got up from the bed. She gave her one last bit of advice before she turned to leave the room. "I'm sure that any misunderstanding between the two of you can be sorted out with an apology."
Akane nodded to her sister as she watched her walk out. Could it really be that simple? She thought as she was reminded of the shy looks of the small girl that she had befriended earlier in the day. Before she found out that she was actually a boy. Her fist tightened slightly at the thought, but she relaxed as they probably won't be seeing each other again. She turned to look out the window at the clearing night sky. As the moon peeked out from behind the clouds she suddenly felt doubt at her last statement.
They probably won't ever meet each other again, right?
End of story Author's Note:
The main thing I wanted to play with was how having a twin with a similar curse would have affected Ranma's interaction with the others. With them being mentally connected and knowing each other's body intimately, the curse wouldn't be as annoying as it would have been in canon. Then I got the idea of building it up gradually with a back story and ended up too tired to go into it much after typing all of this, so I decided to end it here.
Some of the major ideas in this story are that the twins would be able to keep up academically through Ranko's side as well as learning how to interact with people. While Ranma would still experience all of the training he endured and in extension, so would Ranko. She probably wouldn't be as durable as he was unless she really took the time to train herself. They would end up being well rounded people though they would still have some quirks.
Depending on responses I might continue this if I have the time, for now it would remain a one-shot. Hope you enjoyed it.
Edit: With some of the good suggestions I have gotten from the reviews I've decided to expand the ending a bit. Further fixes probably won't be until I decide to make the next chapter.
Edit #2: Mainly some minor issues that had to be sorted out.
Edit #3: Stylistic edits and grammar corrections. Great thanks to gsteemso for helping me. Same goes to goku90504, whom I had forgotten to mention during the last edit.
Thank you for reading!