Chapter One Revised: The Announcement
Disclaimer: I don't own the works of the great Rumiko Takahashi: Ranma ½ or Inuyasha. I only own the storyline.
Also, please review the story. Anonymous Reviews are welcome.
How to read R, mR and MR
R: means Punctuation reviewing. Nothing noteworthy
mR: Minor revisions. One of two parts has been changed, can be read again, but not necessary.
MR: Major Revisions. Either the whole chapter has been rewritten or there are many major changes. May not be read but highly recommended.
"Ranma no BAKA!"
WHAM!
"KAWAIIKUNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" said Ranma as he flew though the air.
"A week after the failed wedding and they still aren't getting along, even though they agreed to sort out their problems, Tendo," said Genma, not looking up from the shogi board.
"Mmm, indeed," replied Soun, also not looking up the board.
Morning at the Tendo Dojo and everything was as normal. Kasumi and Nodoka was doing chores, Genma and Soun were playing shogi, Nabiki was doing her homework, Happosai was doing God knows what and Ranma and Akane were fighting as usual.
10 minutes earlier…
"Ranma, you said you'd try my cooking today, now stand still so you can eat!" said Akane angrily as she chased Ranma around the house with what suspiciously looks like a batch of normal cookies.
"No way, Akane, you know that your cooking is horrid to eat."
"But I made this for you, can't you at least try it?" asked Akane in a very sweet, yet deadly tone.
Ranma stopped and turned to face her. "Akane, Kasumi's food is cooking. Ucchan's food is cooking. Heck, even Shampoo and Kodachi's food is cooking when it's not laced with poison. What you make, Akane, is nuclear waste!"
The screen fades out with Akane approaching Ranma with a mallet wearing an angry face.
"Arggh, I go through all that trouble to make him that food and he goes and throws it in my face. What am I supposed to do with him?" asked Akane to herself as she eats one of her own cookies.
For the next ten minutes, vomiting sounds can be heard throughout the dojo.
'Hmm, perhaps I should get Akane some antacids?' thought Kasumi.
"Man, can she hit with that mallet," said Ranma as he picked himself up from the trash can he happened to land in, which just happened to conveniently happened to be next to Ucchan's.
'Alright, real food!' thought Ranma, as he walked to the front door. The closed sign was on it, along with a note.
"Huh? What's this?"
'Dear Customers,
I am currently taking a break going to visit my father in Osaka. Ucchan's will not be opened until the end of the week.
Signed,
Ukyo Kuonji
"NANI? Now, of all times? Geez. Now where can I get some food to eat?" said Ranma. "I know, the Nekohanten!"
"NANIIIIIIIIIIII?"
'Dear Customers,
Am currently on trip in China. Will return by end of week.
Shampoo
'Great, my two favourite restaurants closed until the end of the week,' thought Ranma. He looks at his watch. 'Whoa, it's nearly time for lunch.'
Ranma runs off away from the closed store and roof hops all the way back home.
Lunchtime at the Tendo Household. As usual, Ranma and Genma were fighting over the last piece of beef teriyaki. The other occupants take no notice. It was a daily occurrence after all.
SPLASH!
"HAH ! Take that old man!" yelled Ranma as he chomped down on the last piece of meat.
'You disrespectful, ungrateful son. I'll show you!' Genma-panda wrote on his sign. He proceeded to ambush Ranma who still hadn't noticed his father.
SPLASH!
"I'll go put the kettle on," sighed Ranma's mom as she walked into the kitchen.
"That's it! Your dead, old man!" yelled Ranma-chan.
Ranma-chan and his father then proceed to fight over the pond performing insane maneuvers, weaving in out of their punches, dodging and blocking until…
"P-CHAN!!"
… which caused Ranma to drop his guard and allowed his father to kick him into the pond.
Ranma-chan looks around and can now see Akane hugging a small black piglet.
'Great, now Pork-butt shows up. Hopefully Kuno doesn't show up…'
"PIG-TAILED GIRL!!"
'Speak of the devil…'
Ranma-chan turned around quick enough to see Tatewaki Kuno come at him/her. A second later, Kuno was booted away from the Tendo Household, flying through the air.
"Here's the hot water, Ranma," said Nodoka who returned from the kitchen and handed the kettle to Ranma.
"Thanks, mom."
At the mention of hot water, P-chan dashed out of Akane's hands and runs off.
"Nani? That was weird," said Akane.
"Not sure if you know, but the first time I saw him, he was about to be cooked into Cantonese Style Sweet-Sour Pork," said a now male Ranma.
"Oh? He must have a fear then," replied Akane.
'Baka, if only you knew the truth.'
"Osuwari!"
WHAM!
"MMMM MMM MMMM MMM?" yelled Inuyasha in a muffled voice (Translation: What was that for?)
"I cook for you and what do you do? Say you want instant ramen! I go through all that trouble and the only thing you think about is what you want. I should SIT (WHAM!) you until you are six feet under!" yelled Kagome as she stalked of towards the well.
"OI, wench, where do you think your going?" asked Inuyasha in an annoyed tone, attempting to follow her.
"OSUWARI!! (WHAM!) I am going back to my own time and if you following me I will do exactly as I said before and believe me IT. WILL. HURT." She yelled at Inuyasha and she walked off without a backward glance.
10 minutes earlier…
"Hi guys!" said Kagome as she walked towards her friends as she climbed out of the well.
"KAGOME!!" yelled Shippo as he jumped and hugged her."Did you get it for me?"
"Calm down Shippo, I got it right here," she said as she opened her seemingly bottomless yellow bag and pulled out a lollipop and handed it to Shippo, who jumped up and down with joy and promptly grabbed it from her and started sucking on it.
"Thanks a lot Kagome!" said Shippo happily.
Miroku and Sango watched this exchange with smiles on their faces. Kirara watched it with a look of confusion and Inuyasha had his slightly annoyed look on his face.
"Can we go now? I want to start shard hunting as soon as possible!" said a very annoyed Inuyasha.
"Not yet, I made lunch for everyone. Can we eat it now whilst it's still hot?"
"Ah, Lady Kagome, I would love to indulge in your delightful home cooking now as I have not had anything for a while now. Sango?"
"Oh, I would love to have some. It should be pretty great."
"Yeah, Everything Kagome makes is great!" added Shippo.
"Meww!"
"Oh, alright then. Let's find somewhere to eat and quickly. I don't want to waste anymore time than we have to," said Inuyasha.
Everyone stares at Inuyasha.
"Did my ears deceive me, or did Inuyasha actually want to eat Kagome's cooking?" asked Sango in a stunned voice.
"Lady Sango, you heard correctly."
"Keh, I just don't want to get sat today," said Inuyasha and looked away.
'Sure, you don't. We all know the real reason Inuyasha,' thought Miroku, but said nothing as he feared a beating from Inuyasha.
'Baka. Why doesn't he just say that he loves Kagome and get it over with?' thought Shippo.
'Egotistical Idiot. He should just say he loves her. Then again, Inuyasha has never exactly been too good with words,' thought Sango.
5 minutes later…
"Ah, that was very filling, Lady Kagome. You should really cook more often for us," said Miroku.
"I agree. That was some of the best food I have had in a long time," said Sango.
"What happened to Inuyasha though? He ate his food in 5 seconds, then went to search thorough your back pack," piped up Shippo.
"Here it is! Get the water boiling Kagome," said Inuyasha, brandishing a bowl of instant ramen.
"Inuyasha…" said Kagome in a low and angry voice.
"I swear, Inuyasha can be so heartless at times," said Sango, looking at the three craters Kagome made whilst sitting Inuyasha.
"Indeed, he will never learn," said Miroku, inching his hand closer and closer until…
WHAM!
"How dare you even have the guts to say that when you doing same thing, you hypocrite?!" yelled Sango and proceeded to give Miroku the beating of a thousand hells.
It is evening at the Tendo Dojo and Ranma and Akane working on their martial arts. Or, rather specifically, Akane fighting and Ranma dodging her blows.
"Ranma, stop it this instant and fight me for real," Akane said, rather annoyed.
"Akane, you know I don't hit girls. Why should I start now?"
"Arrgh, can't you fight me for real?" asked Akane angrily, now starting to get seriously annoyed.
"No way Akane. Besides, I gotta finish up on some homework. See ya!" said Ranma as he raced out of the dojo.
"Hey! No fair!" yelled Akane and then she got out of her fighting stance and went back to the house.
'I swear, he should at least fight with some respect for me and at least block some punches. I am a martial artist too!' she thought angrily.
Akane then went to her bath and prepared to go to bed.
'I swear; her father really neglected her training in the art. If he was a better father and actually trained her better, she could have been about Ucchan's level by now,' Ranma thought as he put away the now finished homework.
Ranma then turned out the lights in his room and went to sleep.
"Arrgh! He is unbelievable! I try to do something nice for him and he throws it in my face! Sometimes I wonder why I even bother?" said Kagome out loud.
'Because you love him.'
She blinked. "Where did that come from?"
Kagome was in her room doing her homework and was thinking about her position in the Feudal era.
'Do I really belong there? I am just a supposed reincarnation of the Inuyasha's former love.'
'But I have friends there who love me in that era. Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara. And Inuyasha…'
"I'm too distracted now. I'll do this work later. Right now, I need to sleep."
She put away her homework and went to sleep.
"Hurry up, Ranma. We're going to be late!" Akane said angrily.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going as fast as I can."
Ranma and Akane were on their way to school and as usual, they were late for school and as usual Ranma was running along the top of the fence and Akane running on the ground.
"Honestly, of all the times to pick a fight with your father, it had to be now didn't it? On a school day, no less," said Akane.
"Hey, he stole my fish cake and he deserved my beating!"
"Which in turn, made us late for school."
Ranma held his silence as he jumped of the fence the 2 of them ran towards the school.
"By the way Ranma, there was supposed to be a school assembly today in the hall."
"Great, another meeting with the school's nutjob principal."
"I concur."
The pair made it to class before the bell rang but not before Kuno was sent flying into orbit.
Kagome walked into her class and was immediately spotted by her three friends: Eri, Yuka and Ayumi.
"Hey, girls what's up?"
"Kagome, Hojo just came in looking for you. I think he wants a date with you," said Eri
"Kagome, you should go with him and dump your two timing boyfriend. Hojo is a nice guy and he wouldn't betray like your boyfriend," said Yuka.
"Kagome, how is it going with your boyfriend?" asked Ayumi.
These questions and queries, as well as more, were rained upon Kagome until…
"One at a time!" yelled Kagome. "Now, what's this about Hojo?"
Just as Yuka was about to respond, the man in question appeared behind Kagome.
"Higurashi, I hadn't heard you recovered. I guess this means you fought of the tuberculosis."
'Grampa, why couldn't you just say that I had a fever?' thought Kagome. "Yes, although I still need to catch up on all the work that I missed," she said.
"Is that so? Well, why don't you come over and I'll help you catch up?" asked Hojo hopefully.
Before she could say no or her friends could say yes, the teacher said "Class, I have an important announcement to make."
"Could all students please make their way to the auditorium for the assembly now?"
That announcement was made over the P.A. system after homeroom ended.
"This is gonna be a complete waste of time. There probably won't be anything interesting in this assembly," said one of Akane's friends.
"Yeah, I agree with you, this is going to be so boring with that nutjob at the microphone stand," said Daisuke, one of Ranma's friends.
"I don't know, my gut instinct tells me something big is going on," said Ranma.
"I have to agree with you. It's something big, but I don't know whether it's good or bad," said Akane.
Everyone took several steps back. After all, it wasn't everyday that Akane and Ranma agreed on something.
"Hey? What's this?"
"Yeah, you're right. What's going on?"
Whispers like this flooded the auditorium as everyone saw, instead of the nutjob Principal Kuno, the school's events organiser, Sakura Shimokawa stood at the microphone.
"Can I have some silence in here please?" she said.
Silence fell immediately.
"Thank you. Now, I know your wondering why I'm standing up here instead of Principal Kuno. The answer is simple. There is going to be a huge event going around here in the next week. To be more specific, we are going to have an exchange program running for the entire of Furinkan with a school in Tokyo for the next 2 weeks."
Silence. Then, instant uproar.
"What?"
"Who are we being paired up with?"
"This is going to be fun."
"SILENCE! Thank you. Now as I was saying, the program will take place over the next two weeks. The first week will be spent here in Nerima where you will spend time with your counterpart getting to know them. The next week, you will spend time in Tokyo where you will learn about where they live. At the end of the two weeks, you all will write a report about your partner and their life and you will submit it to me. The due date is a month after the completion of the exchange program.
A collective groan could be heard throughout the auditorium.
"I'm joking! I'm not about to set something that your supposed to have fun with."
A collective cheer could be heard throughout the auditorium.
"Now, as to whom your placements are, they were posted out over the weekend and they should arrive in the mail either today or tomorrow and if they arrive today, your parents should have read the strict instructions that they are not to open them and that they are to wait until you see it first. So you all now have something to look forward to over the next 2 days."
Excited babble immediately broke out as the students started filing out of the auditorium.
"Class, we are going to be having an exchange program with a school called Furinkan High in Nerima and …"
Kagome became more worried about this as announcement was made. 3 weeks. How on earth was she supposed to explain to Inuyasha that she was to be gone for 3 weeks? She'd need the rest of this week to prepare and she would be gone for one week and the next, she have to keep a person she doesn't know occupied.
"Now, as to you whom you will be paired with, pairs will be comprised of either opposite sex or the same sex, in the event that we should run of partners. Placements were sent out over the weekend and
should arrive in your mail today with explicit instructions to your parents that they to not open them and that they are to wait until you get home to open the envelopes."
Kagome barely heard all of this as excited babble broke out and everyone started talking about this new development.
"Wow, this is going to be great. Aren't you excited Kagome?" asked Ayumi.
"Ecstatic," said Kagome glumly.
"Hey, what with that tone?"
"I don't think I'll be able to convince a certain someone in my life to let me go to this."
Ayumi, being the most observant, knew whom she was referring to, despite the fact that she hadn't met Inuyasha. "Don't worry, if you bribe him, you might be able to convince him to let you go," she said encouragingly.
"I hope your right," said Kagome in the same tone.
"Wow, this is going to be great. We'll get to meet new people and everything, Ranma," said Akane joyfully.
"I'm so ecstatic about this, Akane," said Ranma pessimistically.
"What wrong with you?" Akane asked.
"I have to introduce yet another person into my crazy life, if you haven't noticed yet Akane. I actually feel sorry for the person who's being paired with me."
"Hmm, that is a problem. Well, perhaps I can help you explain your twisted life to your partner. Besides, I think my partner would be interested in hearing what you have to say," offered Akane.
"Thanks, Akane. That'd be a huge help to me."
"Tadaima," said the two when they got back.
"Welcome home you two. Father and Mr. Saotome are at a town meeting, Mrs. Saotome went shopping, Nabiki said she'd be out with friends and grandfather said he'd be out for the rest of the day," said Kasumi as she walked in to greet them. "You also got some mail from the school with some strange instructions on them."
Akane jumped up and down with and Ranma went white.
"Is there something happening at school today?" asked Kasumi.
"Nee-chan, there are going to be some guests at the Dojo, the school is running an exchange program for the next 2 weeks, although the guests are only going to be here for one week. We'll be living at their residence for the next week."
"Oh, thank you for telling me this, Akane, now I can plan our meals for the next week. I also have a lot of cleaning to do around the house." And with that, she walked away, humming to herself, leaving the two with envelopes in their hands.
Akane then proceeded to rip her own letter open. Inside the letter was a piece of A4 paper and photo. Ranma went even paler at this.
"What's wrong with you, Ranma?" Akane asked.
"If they sent a photo of me, did they send one of my male or female side or did they send one of both?" asked Ranma hoarsely, as he ripped open his letter.
"I don't know. Both would be the likely answer," she replied. She looked at her letter. "I got someone named Ayumi. She seems nice enough. What about you Ranma? Ranma?"
She looked around to see Ranma gaping at the letter and photo. Puzzled, she took the letter and the photo. On it, the name 'Kagome Higurashi' was printed. She looked at her photo and thought she looked very nice. She then turned back to Ranma who was still gaping.
"Ranma, what's wrong?"
"Akane, I think I know that girl."
She then got a very suspicious look in her eye. "From where? Is she another fiancée?"
"Hell, no. anyway, it could be a case of mistaken identity. I'll be able to tell you when she gets here. Until then, I think you don't need to know anything about her," said Ranma, evident that he has become considerable happier.
'What the heck? Why didn't he tell me? And why does he look happier?' thought Akane.
"Oh, I hope I get a great partner," said Yuka.
The four friends were at their favourite WacDonald's corner. They were talking ecstatically about their preferred partners.
"I want one that's lead a very interesting life so I can brag about it to you," continued Yuka
"I don't care who I get, as long as it's a hot guy," said Eri.
"What is it with you and guys, Eri?" said Ayumi. "I just hope I get a girl because guys are just too much to handle. What about you Kagome?"
"What? Oh, I just want someone who can… umm… I'm not too sure yet," she replied. She was still contemplating on how to get Inuyasha to get her to leave her alone for three weeks.
"Oh come on, you must have a preference as to who you want, Kagome," said Yuka.
"No, I don't think I know yet. Anyway, we have our letters here, so why don't we open them up now?" asked Kagome.
"Good idea Kagome. Alright then, on the count of three then. 1. 2. 3!" said Eri.
Tearing sounds and silence are heard as each of the four girls opened and read their placements.
"Alright, who'd everyone get?" asked Eri. "I'll go first. I got someone called Ukyo Kuonji. He looks pretty good for a guy. (Author's Note: You must remember that Ukyo wears a guy's uniform and that Ukyo is a guy's name)
"I'll go next. I got someone named Daisuke and he seems pretty interesting. I just hope he's had just as much an interesting life," said Yuka. "Ayumi?"
"I got someone named Akane Tendo and it says here that she's engaged to a…" She looks at Kagome's sheet. "Oh, hey, Kagome, it says here that my partner is engaged to your partner."
"NANI?!" cried the other three.
"And their addresses are the same. So we'll be living with each other."
"Great. It seems at least I'll have someone to talk to whilst I'm there. Okay, my turn. It's says that my partner's name is Ranma Saotooooo…"
She didn't get any farther as her mouth fell open from shock and surprise.
"Saotooooooo?"
"Sorry. Saotome. Ranma Saotome."
'Is this really him? Could it really be him from all those years ago?' she thought. Her eyes then fell on the photograph.
"Nani? Why are there two photos here?"
"Nani?" asked Ayumi.
She was right. On the left was a photo of a guy with handsome features and black hair with a pigtail, dressed in Chinese clothing. On the right was a picture of an incredibly well built girl with red hair done up in a pigtail and she was dressed in exactly the same way as the guy on the left.
'Okay, now I really need to know whether the guy was the same person as from before. I'm not sure about the girl, though,' thought Kagome
"I don't care about that. Your partner looks like a spunk!" said Eri
She looked at her watch. "Oh god, I'm going to be late. I'm sorry girls I need get going. Ja ne!"
She rushed out the door before the others could even say a word.
'Where is that wench? She's late. I'll wait five more minutes and if she's not here by then, I'm coming to get her,' thought Inuyasha.
'Ohmigod, he is going to kill me,' thought Kagome as she went through the time travelling well.
There was a flash of light as Inuyasha saw Kagome climb out of the well.
"About ti… where's your bag?" asked Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha, I'm sorry to ask, but I need some time off," said Kagome breathlessly.
"How long?" asked Inuyasha
'Well, here it goes.' "Three weeks."
"How long?!"
"Three weeks," she repeated. She then struck a brain wave as to how to let Inuyasha give her three weeks of free time. She also remembered her friend's advice and formulated a quick plan.
"Oh, Inuyasha, if you give me this time, I'll give you 3 weeks worth of ramen." She smiled, knowing that Inuyasha would be hard-pressed to make a decision and decided to make things a bit more difficult. "Oh and Inuyasha, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way and by hard, I mean really hard for you, if you get what I mean."
Inuyasha gulped. He knew full well what that meant. (Don't know? One: You're a doofus. Two: Sittings Galore)
"Alright then, 3 weeks. Don't forget, 3 weeks worth of ramen," said Inuyasha.
Kagome chuckled. "Don't worry. I won't forget your precious ramen."
Kagome found herself back in her room, trying to decide what to wear.
'Can't wear this, definitely not, no way José, nuh uh, that's horrid…"
When she started clothes hunting through her wardrobe, she had been confident she would be able to find something that she could wear. Now that her wardrobe was almost empty she wasn't so confident when…
'Perfect!'
She found herself in a pair of tight jeans and a shirt with no slogan but had a nice floral pattern over it (A/N: I'm not too good with description of clothes, so this is probably the only one I'll do. Also, we hardly see Kagome in anything other than her school uniform so it is hard to picture her anything else).
She then went to pack her clothes when suddenly the phone rang.
"Moshi moshi?" she asked the receiver.
"Kagome?"
"Ayumi?"
"Hi. You took of so suddenly that I didn't get a chance to ask you. Since our partners live together, why don't we go to Nerima at the same time in a taxi? We can split the bill in half."
"You know what Ayumi? I think I'll take you up on your offer. Meet at the shrine on the day we go," said Kagome.
The day before Kagome was due to arrive, Ranma and Akane decided to break the news to their parents.
"I'll go first," said Akane. "I'll show the form and photo to my father then you can show yours to your father and mother."
"Okay, Akane."
They decided to break the news at dinner, which would be the easiest time since everyone would be there.
At Dinner time…
Akane started first. "Hey dad, did you know that the school is running an exchange program now?"
"Yes, I heard about who's your partner when are they are arriving?"
"Tomorrow, dad," she said as she passed her form to her father.
"Well boy, where's yours?" said Genma.
"Here, pops, and believe me, I didn't believe it at first," said Ranma as he handed him the form.
Genma looked at the form, just like Ranma, dropped his mouth in a very perfect 'O' shape, but only for a second, then he handed it to his wife.
"Do you think it's her?" Ranma asked his father.
"More than likely but don't get your hopes up boy. It can easily not be her."
As Ranma's mother was looking at the photo, she surprised to hear that that her son and husband knew the woman in the photo. "Who is this young woman, husband?" asked his wife curiously.
"Wife, if it really is the person that I know, you will find out tomorrow. If it isn't, then there is no need to worry about it," replied Genma.
'Mr. Saotome knows about this woman? What's Ranma hiding from this family?' thought Akane.
"The same goes for you Akane. If it is that woman, you'll find out tomorrow," said Ranma.
"OK, Ranma," said Akane and thought no more about the girl in question.