Disclaimer:
Sadly, I do not own the amusement park that is Nerima, nor the colorful characters Rumiko Takahashi has created for us. I've been considering writing a sibling transgender story on and off for the last few years. While the challenge of writing two protagonists with their own storylines will be rather daunting, the dynamic interests me far too much not to give it a try. There is an overarching story; this isn't merely a rehashing of the manga with two protagonists. I hope you enjoy it.
#foreign language#, *panda signs*, "spoken", 'thoughts', [telepathic messages]
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Jusenkyo's Blessing
Prologue
Here's Ranma, and Ranma?
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(Thursday, May 1st, 1986, Sunset)
Nearly a month following the life changing events at Jusenkyo, Ranko Saotome was standing at the bow of a cargo ship heading for her family's homeland of Japan. She sighed deeply and stared at the never-ending expanse of ocean as a light breeze playfully ruffled her mid-back unbound hair. Since she and her brother Ranma were no longer traveling through the Chinese wilderness, she had decided to wear one of the silk cheongsams she'd picked up while they were in Shanghai. The dress in question was dark purple with black trim and embroidered with a red Chinese dragon that wrapped itself around the front and back as though to protect the wearer.
The fifteen-year-old girl was short, quite petite really and not even five feet in height. What she lacked in height, she more than made up for in curves and beauty though. Her eyes were a mysterious deep blue seemingly far older than her physical age would suggest and sparkled with mischief in an otherworldly light. In addition to her attention-grabbing eyes and impressive bust, she had fiery red hair along with a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks, both of which were fairly rare for someone of Japanese descent.
"Feeling alright Ranko?" a fifteen-year-old boy asked in concern as he walked up to his sister. The boy in question wasn't particularly tall, reaching only five feet four inches in height with light blue eyes and shoulder-blade length jet black hair he wore in a pigtail. Due to his martial arts background, he was fairly lean with no evidence of an ounce of fat on him. He was dressed in a red Chinese shirt and black drawstring Kungfu pants along with black slippers.
Ranko smiled as she turned towards her brother and said, "I'm fine Oniisan. Isn't the sunset beautiful?"
"Eh, you seen one you seen them all," Ranma replied with a shrug.
The redhead frowned as she turned back to watch the sun sink beneath the horizon and said, "You'll appreciate the Earth's natural beauty one of these days Ranma."
"I already do Sis," the boy protested in a half-hearted heated manner. "The morning Pop dragged me to Jusenkyo I woke up before he did and admired the scenery for a bit. We had set up camp in a clearing beside a fresh water pond and there were beautiful snow-capped mountains in the distance. It was really nice and peaceful. It's just I've seen the same things over and over for the last ten years…"
"I understand," Ranko replied softly and nodded as she continued to bask in the fading sunlight. She had never seen the ocean prior to a few days earlier and was enjoying the new experience.
"Uh oh, looks like we're gonna get socked soon," Ranma said as he pointed towards an ominous grouping of dark clouds in the distance. While he wasn't afraid of thunderstorms, he knew his little sister was absolutely terrified of them. There had been a few instances while traveling through China the last few weeks where the girl had cowered in fear when the lightning had begun flashing or the thunder started rumbling. Genma, their father, had tried to take advantage of the situation several times to abandon the poor girl but he had refused to go along with it every time, saying he would stand by his sister's side no matter what.
"Huh? Oh…" the redhead asked in confusion only to trail off when she noticed where her brother was pointing. She felt the blood drain out of her face and stammered, "U-Um…"
"Come on Sis, let's get below before it hits," the Saotome heir suggested gently as he offered the nervous girl his hand. Once Ranko had taken it, he smiled down at her and the siblings made their way below deck to their room before the smaller girl started having a panic attack. While he didn't know why she was so frightened of storms, he wasn't about to make fun of her for it either. He had an unnatural fear of cats after all, thanks to his idiotic father.
Once they returned to their shared cabin, Ranko collapsed against the wall and closed her eyes as she started breathing deeply to calm her racing heartbeat. It wasn't the first time she had suffered a panic attack, but it was curious as to why her reaction was so much worse than usual. Maybe it was because she was in the middle of the ocean whereas every other time she had been on land and didn't have to worry about being thrown overboard and drowning.
Several minutes passed before she could breathe normally again. She still felt edgy but was reasonably certain it hadn't been simply due to the approaching thunderstorm. In fact, she had awoken that morning feeling irritable with a horrible case of abdominal cramps and couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with her. What was going on? Was she getting sick or was it something else?
Ranko knew there was a Chinese doctor on board, but she wasn't sure whether the man would be able to help since her Mandarin was still atrocious and her brother couldn't understand it at all. Maybe she could sleep the rest of the voyage home and her body would sort itself out on its own. If not, perhaps she could find a Japanese doctor when she arrived in Tokyo and ask them. She might even understand some of what they were saying if they didn't use too much medical jargon.
"Are you alright Sis?" Ranma asked in concern as he sat on the bed. He knew there wasn't much he could do but wait until the girl recovered. Despite how foreign showing affection was for him, the first time Ranko had suffered a panic attack he had tried to help by wrapping his arms around her to comfort her. It hadn't worked. Instead of calming down, the redhead had started thrashing about and screaming for him to let her go. He hadn't listened and figured the poor girl was just scared and confused. A knee to the groin a moment later had convinced him she was serious. He learned that so long as he was nearby when she started panicking she would eventually come out of it. He would discover later the only reason she had reacted to him in such a violent manner was because he was a boy. She had no issues receiving comfort from him when he was a girl.
"I'll be fine Oniisan, I just need a few moments," Ranko replied in a shaky voice as she opened her eyes and gazed at her brother with an apologetic look on her angelic face. She knew he wanted to be able to comfort her, if for no other reason than because he had never been shown such comfort himself until she'd come along. The redhead also knew she would have to get over her seemingly ingrained violent reaction towards the male half of the population, especially if she was ever going to be friends or become romantically involved with them.
While his sister was busy trying to calm herself down, Ranma grabbed his backpack and started rifling through it. After searching for a couple of minutes, he found what he was looking for and pulled out a faded 4x6 photograph depicting a beautiful auburn-haired woman in her late twenties wearing a very becoming flowery light blue kimono. The woman was smiling gently and looked to be at peace, her soft brown eyes warm and inviting.
Once she had recovered, Ranko sat beside her brother and looked at the photograph with a soft smile on her lips. She had never met her mother and Ranma had been taken from her at such a young age he couldn't really tell her much about the woman except that she was kind and gentle.
"Mom used to read to me all the time," Ranma said softly while tracing his mother's face with his fingers as his eyes started to water. He missed his mother so much and desperately hoped she was still alive. "When she wasn't doing that or busy with housework, we would often play simple games together or I'd try to help her in the garden. Pop apparently thought I was acting too girlish, even then, and decided to take me on this damned training trip before I was even five years old."
"Do you ever wish you hadn't become a martial artist Oniisan?"
"Of course not, I'm proud to have become one of the world's best martial artists, Pop's insane training methods notwithstanding," the black-haired boy replied with a chuckle as he shook his head at his father's crazy methods. "Besides, if it hadn't been for the trip and Jusenkyo, I never would've met you and I wouldn't trade that for anything."
"Thank you Ranma," Ranko said softly as she wrapped an arm around her brother's back and leaned into his side while rolling her eyes at the boy's inflated ego. She hoped he would eventually learn some modesty before he got himself into serious trouble or alienated the wrong people. She had tried talking to him about it during their three-week hike through the Chinese wilderness after their misadventure in Jusenkyo but he refused to listen and maintained he was one of the best martial artists in the world. There was no question he was good, phenomenal really, but with so many masters and grandmasters in various martial art disciplines, there was no way a fifteen-year-old boy was among the very top no matter how talented he was.
"You know, it still surprises me Pop never mentions Mom or this picture," Ranma said softly as he wiped his eyes with his free hand. It wasn't manly to cry, and his father had instilled in him that he needed to be a man in all things. A "Man Amongst Men", he had called it.
"Yeah, you'd think he would've noticed it missing by now," the redhead agreed as she ran her fingers along her mother's cheek. "I mean, we stole it from his pack nearly a month ago and he's never mentioned it once. Do you think, maybe, he doesn't care that we have it?"
"I suppose," the junior martial artist replied with a shrug. Flipping the picture over, he noticed his father's messy handwriting and read, "Nodoka Saotome, March 21st, 1976, Nerima, Tokyo, Japan."
"Nerima… Why does that sound so familiar?" Ranko wondered aloud as she searched her memories for some clue as to where she had heard the name before.
"Pop said we were going to Nerima after we left that Amazon village…" Ranma said with a shudder before trailing off. Could they be finally going home? Would they be reunited with their mother for the first time in over a decade?
"You know Ranma, our trip through China may have been a bit more enjoyable if you and your father hadn't eaten that feast," the younger Saotome admonished while giving her brother a pointed look.
"Hey, I was hungry, and you know Pop, he has a bottomless stomach and will eat anything that isn't nailed down," the junior martial artist protested as he winced at the notion Ranko still didn't consider Genma to be her father. He supposed it was fair, the overweight jackass still refused to see Ranko as his daughter and maintained the girl was just some Jusenkyo spirit masquerading as his sister.
"So do you," Ranko countered in a teasing tone as she bumped her brother's shoulder.
"Hey, I'm a growing boy and a martial artist imouto, I need to eat," Ranma replied in a semi-heated manner. "Besides, not all of us can be dainty little flowers who eat like a bird."
"What can I say, I don't need to eat much to be satisfied unlike some people I know," the redhead teased with a soft giggle. "I hope Mom doesn't mind cooking for twenty people."
"Twenty?"
"Sure, one for me, one for her, and eighteen for you and the stupid panda to fight over," Ranko said with a laugh as she shook her head and rolled her eyes in exasperation at her male relatives' eating habits.
"Ranko…"
"What?"
"Come on, Pop and I aren't that bad," Ranma complained with a huff of annoyance.
"You're not no; you'd actually like to enjoy your food once in awhile but him? You're kidding right?" Ranko retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
"How long is this feud between the two of you going to go on?" the junior martial artist asked in exasperation.
"May I remind you of what happened at Jusenkyo and what's been happening pretty much every day since?" the redhead growled angrily as she turned to glare at her brother, her deep blue eyes darkening until they turned a demonic looking reddish-purple color. "I'll start treating that fat bastard like my father when he stops moaning about some 'Jusenkyo spirit' and actually starts treating me like a person. He doesn't even have to acknowledge or treat me as a daughter, just a person will do."
"Whoa Sis, take it easy," Ranma exclaimed in fear as he watched his sister's strange powers begin to spiral out of control in her anger. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd seen the girl begin to lose control of her emotions and the weird abilities that tended to manifest because of it. He knew her powers weren't fueled by chi, he knew what that felt like. No, what she had flowing through her body was something very different from anything he was familiar with. In fact, her chi levels were downright pathetic and closer to that of an ordinary girl than any kind of martial artist.
When Genma had kicked him into the Nyannīchuan, or Spring of the Drowned Girl, during their spar atop the bamboo pools at Jusenkyo, the first thing he'd noticed was naturally the physical changes. After freaking out for a few moments about being changed into a girl, he had started feeling a different kind of energy flowing throughout his body. He didn't know what it was, it felt cold and sluggish compared with the warm and easy flowing chi he was familiar with. Oddly enough, he could still feel his chi as well and the two types of energy waged a battle of supremacy within his body. It was around then he'd begun hearing a girl's voice within his head. Ranko, the sister he'd never had because she'd been stillborn while they were both within their mother's womb.
When Ranma had calmed down enough to actually talk to her, the two of them conversed for several minutes before he decided to talk to the guide about their situation. The Chinese man had expressed confusion about there being another soul sharing his body as it was something he'd never heard happening before either during his tenure as guardian or the records of guides past.
The Jusenkyo guide had then led his guest to the Shuanshontsūnīchuan, or Spring of Drowned Twins. After making sure they'd had the right spring, Ranma double-checked with his head mate before walking into the spring. Just like when he had taken his original dip in the springs, the water was freezing and pierced him to the core. After a few moments of being submerged, he opened his eyes and noticed a duplicate red-haired girl floating only a few feet away. He hadn't known what the next step was, so he mentally asked if his guest was still within him.
After confirming they were, in fact, still sharing a body, Ranko suggested her host grab a hold of the other girl and kiss her. After listening to Ranma complain about kissing someone he considered a sister for several moments, the spirit mentally sighed in exasperation and told him she would try to move her essence into the other body through their joined mouths. She continued to explain it wasn't because she wanted to kiss someone she considered her sibling; it was because she didn't want her spirit to become lost in the waters of the spring during the transfer. Fortunately, the plan worked and Ranko had been able to take over the empty shell.
From that moment on, Ranma and Ranko had been neigh inseparable even though they possessed their own separate bodies. Neither of them had had a sibling before and they wanted to cherish the experience as they got to know one another. They never kissed again, though if Ranko were being completely honest with herself she would've admitted she had enjoyed it. She didn't know what that meant exactly as her education about even the simplest things was still seriously lacking, let alone social customs and taboos.
Once the twins had climbed out of the pool, the two girls interlaced their fingers together and followed the guide back to the cabin in order to start testing their curses. After scaring Ranko half to death with the possibility she would disappear when Ranma's twin curse was deactivated, they discovered she would in fact remain regardless of what happened to Ranma.
Ranko had felt the strange energy within her surge throughout her body and that was the first time her blue eyes had darkened to become a more demonic deep red and purplish color. Both of the males had stumbled backward in fear as a dark purple and black aura exploded around the petite redhead that had just been created in the Shuanshontsūnīchuan. No one knew what to make of the situation, least of all Ranko who was too angry and scared to realize what was happening.
Ranma hadn't known what to do, he'd never seen an aura before and whatever it was his sister was projecting had nothing to do with martial arts or chi. That was when he noticed the strange, cold and sluggish energy he'd felt shortly after his dip in the Nyannīchuan was completely gone, suggesting Ranko had taken all of it with her when she transferred her spirit to the duplicate body. Tempting fate, he'd then wrapped his arms around the smaller girl and pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down so she wouldn't destroy the cabin in her rage and they could continue with their experiments. He felt they needed to know exactly how everything worked before their father returned and made a mess of things.
The redhead had eventually calmed down, her aura winking out of existence as her eyes returned to their normal deep blue color. After muttering a few apologies, the two teenagers continued with their experiments and discovered they turned into one another with the application of either hot or cold water. Due to their usage of the Shuanshontsūnīchuan, their curses were identical. Despite their different outlook on life and who they were as a person, hot water turned both of them into boys while cold water turned them into girls. What this meant, at least for Ranko, was that cold water would return her to her birth form while the same activated her brother's curse, causing him to become her identical twin sister.
Ranko closed her eyes and tried to push the anger she felt towards her father down as she slowed her breathing. It wouldn't do to get mad when the target of her ire was a panda and locked within a cage being kept in the ship's cargo hold for the duration of their journey. A small smile formed on her lips at that mental imagine as she opened her eyes to reveal their normal deep blue color. Once she was calmer, the redhead looked at her brother and said, "I'm sorry Ranma-niisan. It's just the panda makes me so mad sometimes…"
"You and me both imouto," Ranma replied with a small smile as he laid a gentle hand on his sister's shoulder.
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(Friday, May 2nd, 1986, Early Morning)
Early the next morning, Ranko and Ranma, who was in female form, were sleeping together in their bed when they were rudely awakened by a persistent pounding on their door. The Chinese man on the other side was yelling that they needed to get up because they had arrived at their destination.
"Mmm, don't wanna get up, too comfy," Ranma mumbled sleepily as she snuggled into the squishy pillow beneath her head.
"Hey, don't do that," Ranko growled in irritation as she pushed her sister's head off her breasts. Just because she had allowed her currently female brother to sleep in the same bed with her, instead of the floor, didn't mean she wanted anything untoward to happen between them. They were siblings for crying out loud!
"Huh? Wha?" the junior martial artist asked in confusion as she blearily looked at her sister lying beneath her. Realizing what she had been snuggling against, Ranma turned bright red and leapt off the bed as though burned. Considering some of the strange things Ranko had done during their three-week trek, it wouldn't have surprised her if she had accidentally set him on fire.
Ranko snickered at her sister's overreaction and shook her head as she said, "You didn't have to get off the bed Oneechan. I just didn't think you should be snuggling with your younger sister like that is all."
Angry Chinese followed by even more heavy banging disrupted the Saotomes' line of thought. After Ranko shouted in rudimentary Mandarin that they would be ready in a few moments, the girls started gathering up their belongings so they wouldn't keep the Chinese deckhand waiting any longer than necessary. Despite the fact they were not only both girls, but identical twins, neither of them had felt comfortable with changing in front of the other and wound up falling asleep in the clothes they had been wearing. It wasn't like either of them had pajamas or anything suitable anyway.
The Saotome twins exited the room only to blink in surprise when they noticed the Chinese man was still waiting for them. Handing the sailor their key, the three of them walked in silence for several minutes as he escorted the girls to the weather deck. Ranma and Ranko didn't bother suppressing their snickers when they noticed another sailor standing nearby holding their father's leash with the cursed man's backpack at his feet.
"#This one thank you for trip,#" Ranko said with a bow once she had composed herself. Turning towards her father, she smirked as Ranma took the leash from the Chinese man and continued in a cheery tone, "Grab your pack Panda-san, it's time for us to go."
Genma grunted with dissatisfaction but made no further protests as he did what he was told and followed his children down the gangplank.
"#Now that is a well behaved panda,#" one of the deckhands commented in awe as their guests departed.
'It's ironic how Pop behaves more like an animal as a man than he does as a panda," Ranma thought with amusement as she shook her head at the ridiculous situation. Spotting a dockside café, the elder redhead dropped her father's leash and said, "Wait here Pop, I'll get us some hot water, so you can stop freaking everyone else out."
Despite the fact their father would likely become a panda again due to an approaching storm, the girls wanted answers and he couldn't talk in his cursed form. Neither of them knew what the old man's plans were or where they were going but they were determined to find out before they arrived. The siblings figured if they didn't like the answer, they could just slip away and make their way to Nerima and find their mother on their own.
A few minutes and a splash later, Ranma crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his father as he said, "Alright old man, we're back in Tokyo just like you wanted. Now, I think it's time you told us what's going on."
"Watch your mouth boy," Genma growled in irritation as he glared at his son and shouldered his pack, barely sparing Ranko a glance. He was still annoyed by the fact he couldn't seem to get rid of the Jusenkyo spirit that had taken on a duplicate of his son's cursed form. There had to be a way to get rid of it and make some Yen in the process. Maybe he could sell or engage it to some stupid rich boy…
"Well old man? What's the plan? I mean, you do have one, right?" Ranko asked in a snarky tone and glared at her father as she crossed her arms beneath her breasts. She had spent most of the last month with him and had been quite unimpressed with the man's lack of intelligence and work ethic. She couldn't think of a more suitable curse for the overweight and balding martial artist than that of a fat and lazy panda.
The elder Saotome ignored the spirit and walked over to a large map of the Tokyo region and said, "Ranma, we're going to go see an old friend of mine named Soun Tendo."
"You have a friend Pop? I find that a little difficult to believe," Ranma scoffed as he rolled his eyes before following his father.
"Years ago, before we settled down with our individual families, Soun and I trained together in the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," the part time panda answered, ignoring his son's sarcasm while he looked for Nerima on the map. He smiled when he discovered it was only about twenty miles which the two of them could do easily in a few hours. The spirit wasn't a martial artist and he had no intention of waiting for her to catch up. Noting the early morning sun, he figured they would arrive at the Tendos in time for lunch if they didn't fight too much along the way.
"What about Mom? Shouldn't we go home first?" the junior martial artist asked, only slightly surprised his father wanted to spend time with a friend rather than return home to the woman he had abandoned ten years before. Something was wrong, that much was obvious and for some reason his father was scared to go home. Was it possible he had stolen him from his mother and that's why he wanted to avoid her? It certainly seemed plausible.
"Come along boy, I want to make it to the Tendos' before dinner," Genma said as he started walking northwest towards Nerima. Ranma and Ranko traded glances and scowled at their father's evasiveness before falling in step with the part time panda as he continued, "While I'm catching up with Soun, perhaps you could get to know his daughters. If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure he has three and they're all around your age. Who knows, you might even find one of them attractive. On top of that, I think the youngest practices the Art."
"Is it just me or is he being really secretive?" Ranma whispered to his sister after the two of them had fallen back out of ear shot.
"It's definitely not just you Oniisan," Ranko replied in a low tone. "He's hiding something, something huge that I'm sure you're not going to like."
"Should we bail and look for Mom without him?" the junior martial artist asked softly, torn between wanting to pound some sense into his old man and running away with his sister.
"Let's see how this plays out first," the redhead replied thoughtfully after a couple minutes thought. "Worse comes to worse, we see what the big deal is about these Tendos and make our decision then. If the panda is right, maybe we could make some new friends."
"Yeah but why did Pop say I might find one of them attractive? I mean, that shouldn't matter right?" Ranma asked in confusion as the two of them continued to follow their father at a distance.
"I seriously doubt he really cares about your love life," Ranko replied uncertainly as she considered what she knew about the man's character in conjunction with what she had sensed while they were standing on the dock. "Still, from the way he said it, it sounds like he's hoping you and one of the Tendo girls will get along and the way he emphasized how one of them is a martial artist, he might be hoping for more than just friendship for you. Didn't he say he and this Soun guy used to train in the same style?"
"Yeah, he did," the black-haired boy said with a frown.
"I wonder if the reason we're going to the Tendos is because both Soun and Genma want to marry their children…"
"What?!" Ranma shouted in disbelief, drawing curious glances from the townsfolk nearby as well as their father's full attention.
"Shh," Ranko hissed under her breath. Unfortunately, it was too late.
"Quit dawdling boy, we're going to be late if you keep at that pace. Leave the spirit behind, it's of no use to us," Genma growled angrily as he glared at the redhaired girl he had come to despise. He didn't know how it did it, but he had the feeling the spirit knew a lot more about what was going on than it let on. It seemed far too aware of its surroundings and had thwarted every attempt he'd made in getting rid of it or rushing off with his son and abandoning it.
"What are you hiding from us old man?" Ranma demanded as he stopped walking and crossed his arms over his chest in defiance.
"Nothing, I just want us to hurry up and visit a friend of mine," the elder Saotome replied evenly.
"Liar," Ranko retorted angrily as she returned the older man's glare.
"What would you know; you're just some useless spirit no one will ever love. You may as well go back to Jusenkyo where you belong," Genma sneered as he glared at the redhead with contempt.
Despite knowing it wasn't true and all the practice she'd had in shrugging off the worst insults imaginable, Ranko couldn't help but tear up at her father's latest emotional attack.
"Oh, boo hoo, the little spirit is crying, how pathetic. You see this boy? You see what I've had to put up with because of your stubbornness?" the part time panda growled in contempt as he turned to glare at his son. Several townsfolk began speaking in hushed tones about the apparent mistreatment Genma was giving the young girl and glared at the older man with disapproval. He didn't care what no-name busybodies thought of him. He only cared about getting Ranma to the Tendos and starting the engagement with one of Soun's daughters. The Jusenkyo spirit was interfering with his retirement plans and that was simply unacceptable. The schools had to be joined; there was no other option as far as he was concerned.
"Shut up Pop! How dare you hurt my little sister!" Ranma shouted before taking a stance.
"That spirit is not your sister. Your sister…" Genma trailed off when he realized he had said too much and turned to stomp away.
"Huh?" both Ranma and Ranko asked in unison as they looked at one another in shock. Was it possible they had another sibling and if so, what had happened to her? Knowing neither of them was likely to get anything more on the topic, the teenagers fell into step behind their father and continued to follow him towards Nerima.
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Meanwhile, within the ward of Nerima on the western side of Tokyo, Soun Tendo was sitting on the back porch thinking about his old friend and wishing the man was beside him. It had been many years since he'd last heard from his best friend and training partner, Genma Saotome. As the tenth anniversary of the Saotome father-son training trip came and went, Soun couldn't help but wonder if something had happened to them. Twenty years earlier the two of them had made a pact they would unite the two branches of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts through the marriage of their children.
"Father, I have today's mail," a soft feminine voice said from the entrance of the family room. Soun looked up and smiled at his eldest daughter Kasumi. The girl was rather tall, just like her mother and possessed a similar peaceful disposition when not angry or upset. She typically wore ankle length house dresses and her long, brown hair was tied in a pony tail that often rested on her chest rather than her back.
"Thank you, Kasumi dear," the tall black-haired mustached man replied while taking the stack of envelopes from the young woman. As he flipped through the mail, he muttered, "Gas bill, notice from the town council, subscription to a magazine I don't care about... Ah, what's this?"
Soun dropped everything but a postcard showing a panda eating a chute of bamboo on the front. Daring to hope, he turned it over to read the message and started crying tears of joy when he read:
Tendo-
Bringing Ranma from China
-Saotome
"Ranma is coming, how I have waited for this day. Soon, very soon, Ranma will be here," Soun said emotionally as dreams of uniting his family with his best friend's filled his mind.
"What is it Father?" Kasumi asked gently, puzzled by her father's strange behavior.
"Kasumi dear, will you please make some tea? I have important news for all of you," the Tendo patriarch answered excitedly.
"Of course," the homemaker replied and returned to the kitchen where she heated up a kettle while looking through her tea selection. She decided on something that would be soothing, figuring whatever the news, it would be better if she and her sisters were calm before they found out what it was.
Soun headed upstairs and knocked on Nabiki's door. At her invitation, the middle-aged man opened the door and found his daughter lying on her bed clothed in a pair of white short shorts and a green tank top reading a manga. He cleared his throat and said, "Nabiki, I need to speak with all of you downstairs regarding a family matter."
Nabiki raised an eyebrow and wondered what could possibly be so important that concerned all of them before shrugging her shoulders and heading downstairs. Soun then checked Akane's room but found it empty and wondered where his youngest child had run off to. Frowning, he walked downstairs and asked his daughters if they knew where their sister was. Both said they didn't know and Nabiki headed for the dojo, figuring the girl might be busy destroying concrete blocks like she'd been doing for the last three weeks.
'Little sis has been getting angrier and angrier since school started,' the mercenary thought as she briefly wondered if she'd gone too far in her money-making schemes. Shaking her head at such a ridiculous notion and certain the younger girl didn't suspect her of anything, she decided nothing needed to change for the time being. She walked into the dojo and noticed her sister setting up some blocks.
"Akane, Daddy wants to talk to us in the living room," Nabiki said casually as she regarded her emotional little sister with a critical eye.
"What's going on Sis?" Akane asked as she tightened her belt, not really in the mood to deal with her father or anyone else.
"I don't know. Why don't you get off your lazy butt and find out," the middle Tendo retorted as she turned to leave. Akane frowned at the lazy comment but was far too curious not to follow.
"Father, is this about the postcard you received earlier?" Kasumi asked once the four of them were seated around the family room table.
Soun nodded as he cleared his throat and said, "Girls, I have recently received word my dearest friend and training partner, Genma Saotome, along with his son, Ranma, will be arriving soon. Years ago, before any of you were born, Saotome and I made a pact we would unite the two branches of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts through the marriage of our children. If one of you were to marry Ranma and carry on this training hall, the Tendo family legacy would be secure."
'Oh my, guests? I love company,' Kasumi thought to herself happily as she envisioned the lavish meals she would be able to make for a larger household. Her smile slipped when she heard the rest of her father's announcement and doubted she would be interested unless the boy was older.
"Hey, wait a minute; don't we have some say in who we're going to marry?" Akane demanded angrily as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her father. Even if Kuno and the Horde weren't bothering her on a regular basis she'd want nothing to do with an arranged marriage. Due to her experience with them, she wanted nothing to do with boys at all.
"Maybe you should wait until you meet him. You never know, he might be really cute, right Daddy?" Nabiki asked as she started considering whether to take the guy for herself or push him onto her boy hating younger sister. On the one hand, Ranma didn't know her and was unaware of her 'Ice Queen' reputation. Maybe she could find some companionship with someone who wouldn't run away when she approached or annoyed her to death like Kuno. On the other, she liked pulling strings from afar rather than be in the middle of things and figured it would be amusing to watch her little sister deal with a boy in her own house instead of just at school.
"He should be here soon," Soun said as he stood up and walked a few steps away. Turning towards his children again, he continued, "Ranma and his father have been on an extended training mission and recently crossed into China."
"Ooohh China," the middle Tendo cooed, her brown eyes glinting greedily with thoughts of Chinese treasures and silks. She had a taste for the finer things in life and wondered what sort of knickknacks her potential future husband had acquired in his travels. The Saotomes had to be rich to travel to China on a whim, right?
"I guess training in China would be pretty cool," Akane conceded as some of her anger drained away. While she didn't want anything to do with the boy personally, she was curious about China. She had always wanted to travel but hadn't really been able to travel beyond Tokyo other than to the beach or mountains. She was seriously considering applying for a foreign exchange program her senior year of High School in order to expand her horizons.
"Father, how old is this Ranma?" Kasumi asked softly.
"Is he cute?" Nabiki interjected excitedly, eager to find out whether the boy would be tolerable on the eyes or not.
"I hope he's older than me, younger men are just so immature."
"What kind of guy is he?" the middle Tendo asked as she grew impatient with her father's lack of answers.
Soun chuckled at his daughters' questions before replying with a shrug, "I don't know."
"You don't know," Nabiki deadpanned, annoyed with her father's lack of information.
"I've never met him," the Tendo patriarch said much to the disgust and irritation of his three daughters.
"So, let me get this straight," Akane growled as she glared at her father again. "You expect one of us to marry a boy whom none of us have ever met and know nothing about? Count me out of this nonsense; you know how I feel about boys!"
"Would you prefer Ranma was a girl?" Nabiki asked snidely, causing both Kasumi and her father to look at her in surprise before turning their attention towards Akane.
"Yes!" the ravenette yelled as she surged to her feet and started to leave the room when her older sister's voice froze her in her tracks.
"Really, I didn't know you liked girls that way," the mercenary replied matter-of-factly with a smirk on her lips, eliciting scandalous gasps from her elder sister and father.
Akane whirled around, her smoldering brown eyes flashing in anger as she glared at her older sister and shouted, "No! If Ranma's a girl there's no stupid engagement!"
The Tendo heiress closed her eyes for a few moments and tried to slow her breathing to calm herself down before continuing softly, "If Ranma is a girl, I'll finally have a friend who's a martial artist like me. Since Daddy can't be bothered to teach anymore, not even me, I haven't had anyone I can spar with for a long time."
In the silence that followed, Akane just turned on her heel and stormed up to her bedroom, her door slamming a few moments later.
"Well Daddy, I think it's obvious how little sis feels about this lame brain idea of yours," Nabiki deadpanned before heading back to her bedroom.
"Oh Father… Why did you have to do this?" Kasumi asked quietly as she headed back to her kitchen, leaving Soun to break down and cry.
.
A half an hour later, after having changed into a white blouse/pink jumper style dress combination, Akane decided she needed some fresh air. Grabbing a light jacket, the ravenette slipped out of the house and made her way to the park knowing, but not particularly caring, that her father wanted her to stay home in case the Saotomes arrived. It wasn't like she wanted anything to do with them and she loved the park, especially when she wanted time for herself.
'I can't believe Daddy invited two strangers to come live with us,' Akane mentally grumbled as she flopped into a swing. Her sister's words came back to her then and a hint of a smile appeared on her face as she thought, 'I hope Ranma is a girl. I'd love to make a new friend, especially one who practices the Art. It's been too long since I've had a decent sparring partner and none of my other friends are martial artists. It would be perfect; I wouldn't have to worry about becoming engaged to some perverted boy either.'
The Tendo heiress sighed and started swinging, her face falling as she started thinking about the events of the previous month. Originally, she thought things would improve once she started high school but instead they'd gotten progressively worse. It was bad enough an upperclassman named Tatewaki Kuno started harassing her the first week but then the jerk had to get the rest of the boys involved with that stupid 'beat Akane to win a date' speech. Were guys so stupid they'd believe she would have anything to do with them with that attitude?
'Boys!' the ravenette mentally spat as she kicked off the ground and propelled her body higher into the air. She began swinging more aggressively, her normally warm and gentle brown eyes flashing with anger and hate as she started imaging gruesome ends for her tormentors.
What could she have possibly done in a past life to deserve the constant harassment she encountered every school day? It seemed like no one was willing or capable of helping her either. Except for Yuka and Sayuri, who had been her friends for years, no one seemed to see her as a person with feelings. The boys saw her as nothing more than a prize to be won, an object to covet while the girls who had lost their crushes seemed to hate her despite the fact she wanted nothing to do with the perverts.
A couple of minutes later, the ravenette slowed her swinging and her anger dissipated as depression began to seep into her battered heart. Her eyes lost their fire as they shimmered with unshed tears and her swing came to a stop.
"I hate boys," Akane whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks and splashed uncaringly on the ground beneath her feet. "I really, really hate boys."
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Author's Notes:
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I want to thank everyone who has read this story so far and hope I can retain your interest. Please read and review. Comments and criticism are welcome, I just ask you to be nice about it.
Publish Date: June 1st, 2019