Summary: When the universe bends you over the table to have a go, you close your eyes and hope that better times will come soon. Not if you're a magically cursed Ranma Saotome, though. You take what it gives, and give back as good as you get. Measure for measure.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any related works or merchandise. This is merely an attempt to produce quality fan fiction for the enjoyment of the masses.
Foreword: This features an angry Ranma, who behaves like he has, for once, met the horror that is puberty. I'm sure Ranma readers are male, or have brothers or male friends. You can imagine what happens when a young man, who suddenly doesn't know his own strength, is quick to anger and has uncontrollable hormones, will react to the Jusenkyo curse. This is my attempt to capture that.
'Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good... no
Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move'
-When the Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin
Measure for Measure: A fic by Warlord1096
Prologue
Sheets of rain pounded down mercilessly on the streets of Nerima, forcing the inhabitants of the ward to desert the outdoors and retreat into the safety of their homes. Overhead, the clouds rumbled and thunder roared as the summer storm raged through the area.
The radio stations predicted at least another 48 hours of this terrible rainstorm, advising people not to venture outside for that period, and to keep first aid kits and torches at hand. The power had come and gone several times, but most of the electronic appliances across the city had been unplugged anyway to safeguard both them and their users.
The world seemed to have been consumed by grey; colour and life had been drained under the overwhelming force of the storm. It was the stuff of horror stories, with the rain lashing against the windows like thousands of spirits trying to claw their way in, or the condensation forming weird and unnatural shapes on the glass.
The howling of the wind was pierced by a gigantic groan. In the park, the ancient oak tree that had been planted decades ago shifted, unable to repel the rampant currents anymore. With a sound like a titan crashing to the earth, it gave to the unstoppable force and tilted over, sending tremors out along the ground as the freak storm claimed another victim.
The short girl in red restrained a scream of fury as her face was suddenly blasted by a flurry of leaves and twigs. Her anger, which had been simmering within her ever since the fateful trip to the cursed springs, threatened to boil over and flow out with a fury which would equal the cataclysm she was currently trapped in.
She squinted to her left to make out the form of her companion, a hulking dual chromed panda who looked the very picture of misery as it slogged through the downpour. Its fur was wet and giving off an awful stink; the musky smell of the earth was the only thing Ranma was grateful about in this entire hurricane.
Together, the two unlikely companions picked their way through the storm, unmoved by the flashing lightning or the screaming gale. A miserable growl from the panda and a quick hand movement was all that told the girl that they were nearing the destination that they'd been journeying towards for the past ten days. She had no idea how the panda was able to make out its surroundings when she was unable to see her own hand before her face, but she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The panda, who doubled as her father when he was in his human form, hadn't told her what she was about to face. She knew that their training trip had concluded with the final, disastrous trip to China – she was now considered a journeyman in the art the two of them shared. However, she had an unnerving feeling that it was to do with her original, male form, the one she reverted to when she wasn't under the effects of the terrible curse.
Again she felt the swooping sensation in her stomach, which told her that something unpleasant was over the horizon. She sneaked another glance at her wretched father, but his poker face was as strong as ever.
The girl sniffed and turned away from the panda, twitching slightly as one of the leaves fell from her hair onto her face. With a sharp exhalation, it twisted off her face and was carried off by the wind, leaving her free to ponder the situation undisturbed.
The universe was conspiring against her again, she could feel it in her teenaged soul. For a second, she considered venting all her frustration, her anger, her hatred on her companion, but shrugged it off a moment later. She'd had enough of that for a while, but that didn't mean that the emotions were going away.
If the universe wanted to give her lemons, she was ready to take them. And then she'd crush it in her palm, shove it down her adversary's throat and piss on the cosmos as the universe went to hell.
Saotome Ranma had had enough, and he was sure of one thing.
He was going to take his pound of flesh from the world even if he destroyed himself in the process.
Measure. For. Measure.
Tendo Soun and his three daughters sat huddled around the table in the living room, breathing deeply in the aroma of the herbal tea that his eldest had whipped up. The scented liquid seemed to be the only thing that kept the melancholy atmosphere at bay, sending shooting warmth down his nerves instead of the damnable chill that the weather had instituted.
The single candle standing at the centre of the table cast strange and menacing shadows on the wall, which seemed to loom over its inhabitants like a vengeful shadow. The master of the Tendo school shook his head to drive away his delusions, turning his thoughts instead to the arrival of his old training partner.
Genma, it seemed, would be delayed by a few days thanks to this freak weather. While he was eager to see the schools of Anything Goes joined once and for all, he was a patient man, and could wait a few more days to see it happen.
His thoughts wandered over to the enigmatic Ranma, the mysterious boy whom one of his daughters were slated to marry. He surveyed each of them in turn – would the boy prefer the calm and kind Kasumi, the clever and quick Nabiki, or the passionate and headstrong Akane?
Privately, he believed that it was his youngest who would have to uphold their part of the deal, considering that she was the one who had taken the practising of their art the furthest amongst his offspring. Nabiki had never been interested in the martials arts to begin with, much to his initial displeasure, and Kasumi had become much more interested in the healing of pain than the inflicting of it within a few years.
He turned a critical eye on his youngest, who had a faraway look in her eye as she stared blankly at the shadows dancing on the opposite wall. Judging from the angry spark in her eyes, she was thinking about the horde of boys who would undoubtedly challenge her with increased vigour once school resumed, trying to make up for three days of inactivity.
Perhaps Ranma would alleviate that problem for her -?
A loud bang on the door made him look up sharply, and his three daughters jump. For a second, he dismissed it as the wind, but then it was repeated twice more in quick succession.
His mind immediately jumped to the most obvious conclusion, however strange it seemed.
Surely not? He could not deny that he could feel some excitement seeping into his old bones at the thought of meeting his friend once more.
He got up and motioned for his daughters to remain seated, walking over and sliding the door open himself.
Almost unconsciously, he stumbled back at the sight that greeted him. Framed in the doorway were two massive, shadowy creatures with an aura of desolation and despair pervading the air around them.
"D- demon," Akane stuttered, trying to edge away from the two spectres as best she could.
A flash of lightning ripped through the air, illuminating their obscure guests. In a single flash of brilliance, the four of them saw a giant animal and a tiny redhead hoisting a backpack that was at least four times her size.
"A panda?" Soun was wondering if Kasumi had mixed any illicit substances into the tea, and the suspicion only intensified when the creature held up a signpost which read, 'Hello, old friend.'
"Genma?!"
With a nod and a short growl of confirmation, the pair walked into the room, leaving Soun standing there to pick his jaw up from the floor. Idly, he noticed the trail of mud and water they left behind them as they walked in and set down their pack, thinking that Kasumi would have a lot of cleaning on her hands.
The trio of female Tendos stared at the newcomers, unable to digest what their eyes were currently telling them. Their father had, of course, warned them about the impending arrangement and the arrival of Saotome Ranma, none of which they were very pleased about. But now it seemed that there was a way out of their predicament, considering that –
"You're a girl?" Nabiki asked, running her eyes up and down the redhead's obviously female form. Ranma bristled, but remained silent.
"And you're a panda?" Soun asked again, as if it still hadn't penetrated his brain.
This drew a sigh from the redhead, who looked around the room before her eyes fell on the kettle sitting on the table. She strode forward smartly – a bit too smartly for someone who'd just barged into their home, Akane thought – and picked it up before emptying the contents over the heads of the panda and herself in quick succession.
In an instant, a man and a boy stood where the duo had been, dressed in ragged, muddied clothes which were still dripping water onto the hardwood floor.
"It's been two long, my friend," Genma greeted the eldest Tendo solemnly, who had finally stopped goggling and was now looking delighted at seeing both his friend and his son. "I would hug you, but –"
No explanation was needed; the two men chose to clasp hands tightly instead. Ranma, for his part, watched silently but made no move to comment.
"How?" Nabiki had gathered her thoughts enough to ask the question that was on everybody's minds. The Tendos recoiled a bit as the temperature in the room suddenly dropped a few degrees and an ominous air gathered around the dark-haired young man. Genma remained unmoved, on the other hand, having been exposed to his son's fledgling ki several times over the past few days.
Soun hid how impressed he was that the boy had managed to connect with his life force at such a young age, but Kasumi interrupted him before he could comment on it.
"Perhaps our guests would like to take a bath and have a change of clothes, first?" Ranma fixed her with an inscrutable gaze, as if she was trying to judge the girl's character.
After a long moment, the boy finally deigned to speak.
"That's kind of you, but I'll pass." Kasumi blinked, but didn't act overtly surprised or offended. "Let's just get to the reason we're here."
The three girls were stunned, not to mention caught off guard at his sudden insistence to finalize the contract between the houses immediately. Akane began to wind up a head of steam at the boy's audacity, but Ranma's next words stopped her short.
"Let's move this to the dojo." He cracked his knuckles with a grin. "After I destroy you and take your sign, you can offer me food and board. And then I'll think about returning it to you."
Stupefaction would be a mild word to describe the look on the faces of the Tendos. As one, they turned their faces to Genma, who froze for a moment before letting out a shaky laugh and rubbing the back of his head.
"Ah, you see," he said, fumbling for the right words. Ranma, too, had realized that something was wrong and was now looking at his father with narrowed eyes. "I, well, I haven't really gotten down to telling Ranma –"
A window blew open, finally relenting to the force of the storm. Ranma and his father, who stood nearest to it, were soaked in a matter of seconds. Whatever confession Genma had been made was lost as Soun wrestled to get the window shut, and the panda seized an opportunity to heft another sign. 'Don't mind me, I'm just a silly panda.'
Ranma was now projecting his...her ki so much that the three girls were shying away from her in fear. The young woman raised her fists and turned on the now cowering panda, about to demand exactly what was going on.
'You've been brought here to join the two schools, boy. Pick any one of Soun's daughter as your wife, and we'll set about on getting you married immediately.'
Akane wondered whether the panda had some sort of secret technique that allowed him to erase and write on the signboards within a second, because she hadn't caught Genma in the act.
Ranma, for her part, had gone stock still. The boy-turned-girl wasn't moving a muscle, and everybody in the room breathed a sigh of relief when her ki vanished completely. Nabiki, ever the smart one in the family, nevertheless moved her two sisters with her to the side of the room furthest from Ranma.
The subject of their apprehension seemed to have become a stone statue. Hours seemed to pass, before she curled his fists and spoke again.
"Which way to the bathroom?" The question was so unexpected that everybody in the room took some time to compute it.
"Down the corridor, third door on your right," Kasumi finally answered, gathering her faculties and once more appearing just as unfazed as ever. "There's a firewood stove, I'll just get it working –"
"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't need the furo, a bath will do."
'But I wanted a soak.'
The girl twitched a bit at the panda's new sign. "You," he spoke with such venom that even Soun flinched, "are coming with me. And you better have a good explanation for me."
The panda was about to raise another sign, but only managed to let out a choke when his shape-changing son wrapped his hand around the neck and began pulling him towards the bathroom. The panda managed to get a paw onto their pack at the last moment and carried it with him as he was dragged out of view by Ranma.
The four Tendo's watched as one, but made no move to act upon the woebegone expression of pleading on the panda's face.
Things were about to get very interesting.
Their suspicions were confirmed five minutes later when the entire house shook on its foundations and an agonised, animalistic howl echoed through the house, followed by a roar of rage.
A/N: I'm an idiot, uploading this with so many uncompleted works. But I'm an idiot with writer's block, and this is a way of release. Like I've mentioned, this is an attempt to write quality ff, if such a thing exists. I've tried to up my writing with every story of mine, and I hope you'll leave a review stating what you like/dislike in my first foray into Ranma 1/2.
As for the pairings...there will be sex and violence, and perhaps even the two together, but there will be no established relationship. That makes it General for now, I suppose. While I'm told I can write a bit of romance, action is what I like writing best. And character development is what I want to hone. So this should be well rounded as long as it lasts.
Also, I dislike padding fics with long author's notes now. This is my first and final one, and nothing else shall exceed a sentence or two. Quick question, though. I'm sure both you and I are tired of canon rehashes. Would you like new scenarios with old characters, or the same stuff with a different spin. Either way, I think I'll mix the two.
Please leave a review on your way out!
