Author's notes:
Ranma is very different here than in the canon. Shy, introverted, and completely embarassed about all his situations. Pronouns are according to current form (cursed or male).
If you like it, leave a comment. Otherwise, piss off. Heh. Just kidding. But please review. :)
--PDXGuy
Chapter 2 – Grifting the Tendos
Ranma was wet. She and her father were in their cursed forms as they ran through the rain-drenched streets of Nerima. "Baka!" The red-haired girl screamed, "We should have bought those umbrellas we saw at the gift shop." She gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. "You are so cheap!"
"Growf!" Genma-panda protested.
"I'm talking to an idiot panda." She sighed, shoulders slumping. "Where now?"
Genma produced a piece of paper with runny ink. He studied it for a second, scratching his head with his claw. Suddenly he made a noise and pointed down the street.
Ranma rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah." She looked down at her clothes and her body. "But what am I going to do about this? We can't seriously show up like this, can we?"
The panda shrugged.
"I can't do it, dad." Ranma said stubbornly. People were staring at her and her father. Tears of embarrassment threatened to fall. "Please, let's go find mom. At least we can explain all of this to her."
Genma-panda growled, grabbed her, and threw her over his shoulder. Onlookers gasped and shouted things like "Is that a panda? Someone call the zoo!"
"Let go of me!" Ranma yelled, beating on the furry beast. The fur was so thick, her punches barely made an impact. The panda sprinted down the street until they arrived at a house with high walls around it. The sign on the wall read, "Tendo's Martial Arts: School of Indiscriminate Grappling"
Ranma's cheeks were red with anger and she had been crying out of frustration. She smacked the panda again for good measure and said, "Are you going to let me down, now?"
Genma-panda set her down, pointed at the door and said, "Growf!"
Ranma-chan glared. "Hot water first!"
Genma pushed her out of the way and angrily knocked on the door. Ranma waved her hands and panicked. She covered her face in complete humiliation. She cried, "No! D-don't! I can't do it! You can't make me!" She tried to run, but the panda held her still.
A young woman in an apron answered the door. "Hello?"
With a sigh, Ranma bowed. "I'm Saotome Ranko. I'm here to see Mr. Tendo."
"I'm his daughter, Kasumi." The older girl said then exclaimed, "Oh my! You're all wet. Please come in."
She walked them into the main living area. There was a table near a sliding door to the back yard. A man with long dark hair and a mustache was sitting there, reading a newspaper. Next to him sat a very slender and attractive teenage girl with short brown hair with a lollypop in her mouth, playing with a calculator. She sat on her chair backwards with her ample breasts resting on top of it. She stared at Ranma while sucking on her lollypop.
Kasume gestured towards Ranma. "Daddy, she says she's Mr. Saotome's daughter."
Mr. Tendo put his newspaper down. He stood up and said, "Hello. I'm Tendo Soun."
The girl next to him pulled her lollypop out of her mouth and said, "Tendo Nabiki."
Ranma shook her head and said, "I'm pleased to meet you both. I am Saotome Ranko. You know my father, Genma."
Tendo looked shocked, "You're his daughter? He never said anything about you."
Another teenage girl with long dark hair walked into the room and casually noticed Ranma. She wore a gi and had a towel wrapped around her shoulders, which she dabbed at her face with it. "Who is this, Daddy?"
"Akane, apparently this is my Saotome's daughter, Ranko." Soun said, gesturing to Ranma.
"Nice to meet you." Ranma replied, trying to stop her eyes from tracing the countours of Akane's sweat-glistened breasts peeking through the gi's top. She turned to Mr. Tendo and explained, "He adopted me ten years ago in China while he was on a training mission with my brother. We were separated a few months ago after Amazons chased us. I went to Nerima to find him here, but he was nowhere to be found. He told me that he and you were close friends, so I thought he'd be here."
Kasume's face showed concern. "Father, why don't you let her stay here until Mr. Saotome shows up? She is going to be family, after all."
Nabiki pulled her lolly out of her mouth and her elegant eybrow raised, "Family?"
Akane sat down at the table next to her father and nudged him, "You're not marrying this girl are you?"
"No, Akane." Tendo said and turned to his eldest daughter, "Kasumi, you're right. She can stay here for a while until we sort things out."
"Who's becoming family, then?" Akane said, trying to get her father's attention.
Soun harumphed into his hand, "I think I can explain that now that you're all here." He looked down at the table and continued, "As all of you should know, our family is dying out and we have no heirs to carry on our family name and ancestry. To solve this problem, I will adopt a son-in-law into the family. As luck would have it, my old friend Saotome Genma, of the Anything Goes Martial Arts school, has a son who is eligible. After marriage, we will join our schools and have an heir to our dojo. Saotome's son will have to choose one of you as his bride."
"What's he like? Oh, I hope he's my age." Kasumi said.
"Or rich." Nabiki added.
Akane folded her arms angrily, "Why can't I take over the dojo instead of marrying some boy? You act like we're still in the Meiji Restoration period, dad. Women can own and inherit property now."
Nabiki shook her head at Akane. "You're forgetting that this is a business, sister dear. Even in our enlightened period, we would have a hard time getting students in a dojo run by a woman."
Akane's temper flared and she yelled, "You may not understand it, Nabiki, but it's important to me to represent what our father built here. It's a matter of family honor, not money."
Mr. Tendo interjected, "Akane, you can have both. Having a husband who is a martial artist could be really great. Imagine all of the sparring and training you two could do."
Nabiki said, "Wouldn't any of us qualify as a potential wife, father?"
"I believe as a man, he would choose one of you. After all, there's only one of him."
Ranma glared at the panda and said, "Mr. Tendo, your daughters should have a more formal selection process, don't you think? I wonder if mom would approve of this. She will more than likely want a formal Omiai. I'm surprised you haven't considered other candidates for your daughters."
Kasumi clapped her hands together, "A formal marriage interview! That would be wonderful. I haven't been to an Omiai in a long time. I've always dreamed of organizing one."
Soun nodded. "I agree. An Omiai would lend more credibility to this arrangement. Kasumi, as the eldest daughter, could you set it up on behalf of your mother? You can contact Ranma's mother, Nadoka. She's Saotome's wife. I have her phone number in the file."
The panda's eyes widened in horror. He ran out of the sliding door and vaulted over the fence. Everyone looked at each other in confusion, including Ranma.
Ranma rubbed the back of her head, "Maybe Panda-kun is afraid of her?"
The Tendo family laughed.
Akane noticed a puddle forming around Ranma's feet. "Let me help you do something about those clothes, Ranko-chan." She led her outside to the dojo to a changing room and said, "I have a nice dry gi you can wear."
"Thank you, Tendo-chan."
"You can call me Akane. Would you like to be friends?"
Ranma smiled. "You can call me Ranko."
"Okay, Ranko. Let me find you something to wear." Akane said. She grabbed a gi off of a shelf and held it out against Ranma's figure appraisingly. "This might fit. Please try it on."
Ranma became very nervous. She unbuttoned her silk Chinese shirt. Akane sat on a wooden bench and waited.
Akane made small talk. "You do karate, don't you?"
"A little." Ranma said, removing her shirt and exposing her breasts.
Akane's pride hurt. Ranma's bust was huge. She closed her eyes and sighed, "Doesn't it hurt to go without support?"
Ranma was confused. "Support?"
"A bra. You'll get an unflattering figure if you don't wear one."
Ranma looked horrified and very embarrassed, "There's no way I'd wear something like that!"
"My mother and I went together to buy my first bra. I was so excited about growing up." Akane said, fiddling with her gi. "I miss her. She died a while ago. What about your mother?"
"I'm sorry, Akane. I don't know who my mother is." Ranma commented with a sad look. "And my father raised me as a boy. I never experienced anything like that." She removed her pants and boxer shorts and then put the gi on.
Akane's eyes wavered and she said, "Hey, it's alright, isn't it? We both have our dads." Her eyes looked down at the boxers on the floor. "Uh, Ran-chan, those boxers are for boys."
Ranma thought back to when she asked her dad about wearing panties in her female form, and his answer was a beating. He told her that it would make her soft and weak. She wanted to explain the reason she had boxers to Akane, but instead felt tears forming. Her dad was brutal when it came to defending Ranma's masculinity. "I'm sorry" was all Ranma could manage.
"Did your dad make you wear these?"
Ranma wiped her eye and nodded.
"Men don't know anything!" Akane growled, "Didn't anyone talk to you about your period? Boxers won't support a pad."
"Period? I don't know. What is it?"
"It's the blood that comes from down here." Akane explained, gesturing between her legs. On seeing Ranma's blank expression, she went into detail, explaining how it all worked. She added that it was necessary for keeping the uterus clean and strong for a baby.
Ranma's mouth gaped and said, "You mean I can have a baby?" She gestured to her stomach, "Inside here?"
Akane just laughed. "Yes, silly. You really don't know anything about being a girl, do you?"
"But how do I ... I mean, how does it get there...?"
"Your dad didn't explain that either?" Akane's cheeks reddened. "I guess it can't be helped since you only have your idiot father."
"Can you explain it to me?" Ranma asked hopefully.
Akane sighed. "Okay, here you go. You have eggs in your ovaries. They are like half a baby. In order to make one of them into a whole baby, you need something from a boy."
"So I need another egg from a boy?"
Akane sweatdropped. "Sort of. Men have sperm."
"What does it look like?"
"You have to use a microscope to see it."
"I feel really stupid." Ranma said sadly.
Akane glomped Ranma with a hug and said warmly, "You'll learn it sooner or later. It's not good to think about it before you're ready for marriage, anyway."
Ranma looked down and said softly, "I don't want to be married to anyone. Nobody would want me, anyway."
"Yes they would. You're beautiful, Ranko."
Ranma's cheeks turned pink, "What will you do if your dad decides you are to marry Ranma-kun?"
"I wish my dad were more realistic. No offense to your brother, but I hate boys."
"Why do you hate them?"
"I have a lot of problems with them at school. I don't know where to begin." Akane sighed. "Do you have any guy friends?"
"I had one, a long time ago. His name was Kuonji Ukyo. His dad ran a okonomiyaki cart. Then one day, my dad took off with the cart and left them. I really miss him. He was my best friend."
"How sweet." Akane said with a smile. She put her arm around Ranma. "I have always had my sisters, so I didn't see many boys until I went to school. They played with me when I was really young, but when I got older, they started treating me like I wasn't as good as them."
Ranma looked up at the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. She said, "I was always alone, except ... " She stopped herself. She was going to say that she used to go to an all-boy's school. "My life is so embarassing. I wish I could tell you."
"We're friends, right? I'll be here for you. Don't be sad. I have a lot of embarassing things happen to me too."
Ranma decided to try an angle. Her father raised her as a boy, so maybe... "I went to an all-boys school when I was young." Akane leaned her head on Ranma's narrow shoulders and started crying. Ranma didn't know what to do. She rubbed Akane's back softly and asked, "Why are you crying?"
Akane found her voice and said, "Please don't take this the wrong way, but your father should not be taking care of you."
"It's not like I have a choice. He is a jerk sometimes, but I do love him." Ranma said, though she wondered if she really meant it.
"I'm sad because neither one of us has had a mother to raise us. But your story is the saddest of all. Your dad won't even let you be who you are."
Ranma wanted to stop her emotions, but the endless beatings and abuse she'd gotten since she got her curse overwhelmed her. She started to really cry openly. She sobbed, "I know he'd hate me for telling you all that he's done to me."
Akane grew upset and concerned, "What did he do?"
"I can't tell you."
"Ranko, I'm your friend now. I promise as a martial artist that I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."
Ranma said, "Okay. I'll tell you."
