The Test (Part 1)
It was a nice day in Furinkan, a fresh breeze blowed people's hair out of their faces, as Akane Tendo returned home from school.
"Kasumi! Dad! Nabiki! Mr. Satome! I'm home! Hellooo?"
Then Ranma Satome followed after her and entered the Tendo Dojo.
"You could've waited for me, you know!", he grunted at Akane.
"Oh, sure, Darling, should I make you a sandwich to release the stress you are in from all your hard work at school?", Akane teased.
"You can't tell my Dad about this, you hear me?"
"Oh, don't worry, I couldn't care less about your grades!"
"Oh…cause…I was gonna…well, ask you to help me. You know…with studying?"
Akane looked at him and blushed. She turned away. "Sure…studying…"
"Great. Guess you can learn something from tomboys."
"I'm not helping you like this, you know."
"Okay, okay, sorry. Where is everyone?"
"I don't know…"
Right at that moment, Nabiki Tendo came in. "Er, guys…you should come in. A letter just came in…it's about you two."
Ranma and Akane looked at each other and followed Nabiki into the kitchen. Soun Tendo was sitting on the floor, staring open-mouthed into space. Genma Satome was looking at the piece of paper in his hand, frowning. Kasumi was looking in the usual sweetly surprised Kasumi way, had her hand over her mouth and kept saying: "Oh my, oh my, oh my."
"What's going on here?", Akane and Ranma both said. They looked at each other, blushed and looked away again.
Nabiki took the word: "That letter is about your engagement. There's a guy coming here the day after tomorrow. He's…he's sort of…testing your engagement. You know. If you're really engaged because you want to, or because you have to."
"Well, that's great, isn't it? We can finally separate."
Akane looked at Ranma. Did he really think of it that simple? Just to throw it all away and all is well?
Finally Soun moved. Quickly, actually. He jumped up, grabbed Ranma by both shoulders and started shaking him back and forth. "Are you mad, boy? Have you lost your senses? I am not breaking up this engagement for my life! You are both going to get a grip and ACT like fiancés for once!"
"But…this guy…he's going to ask me questions about Ranma, isn't he? Most likely?", Akane threw in. "And I don't know anything about him."
"Then you'll find out things about him!", Soun ordered.
"Same goes for you, Ranma!", Genma said.
"What? No! Can't you ask me to…to adopt all cats in the world or provide peace on earth? Anything, please!"
"You sound like a girl, Ranma! A true man can conquer anything! Or do you deny you have interest in your fiancé?"
"What kind of…no! I don't have interest in her! I know what you're playing at!"
"Well, I don't either, you jerk, so don't go getting any ideas!"
"Please, children, I will hear no more of this! You will both behave and play a happy couple while that testing man is here, otherwise we might not have two proper heirs to this Dojo after all!"
Ranma and Akane closed their mouths.
"I…I was gonna help Ranma with his studies tonight anyway. So maybe…we could…try.", Akane started.
"Err…yeah. Sure. We could…try.", Ranma agreed.
"Good.", Genma and Soun smiled.
"Fine, now that that is settled, I'll go make dinner.", Kasumi said, back to herself.
"Cool, I'll go to my room."
"Yeah, and…me and Ranma will go…studying…I guess.", Akane said, still stunned.
Ranma followed her upstairs.
"You know, your skirt is too short. I can see your underwear from down here. Wow, I didn't know they even still made those!", Ranma laughed.
"You pervert, let's just get this over with, alright?", Akane snapped.
The bedroom door closed and the Tendo Dojo went back to normal. At least for now.