Disclaimer:  Ranma ½ was created by Rumiko Takahashi.  I had nothing to do with it.  Please do not sue me; I have little or no money.

Chapter 2

Integration

"Class, we have a new student with us," the teacher of Ranma's new home room teacher announced.  "Ranma Saotome.  He's just returned to Japan from a trip to China so let's give him a nihao welcome."
"Wow, he's gorgeous!"

"That's the guy who kicked Kuno's ass!"

"Is he single?"

"He does them martial art, right?"

Ranma rubbed his head in embarrassment. 

The teacher sighed as she motioned to his class to settle down.

"Ahem, anyway Ranma, why don't you tell us about yourself?" The teacher requested.

"There isn't a lot to tell, really," Ranma admitted.  "I'm a martial artiest who just got back from training trip to China."

"What was China like?"

"What style of martial art do you practice?

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Ranma simply laughed.  "China was...you know, China.  I use the Anything Goes style.  And I don't have a girlfriend."  The last statement caused the most of the female population give a silent cheer.

"Alright, that's enough introduction time," the teacher warned.  "Just because you're new doesn't excuse the fact that you and Akane Tendo were late for class.  Go stand in the hall."

Five minutes later, the two teens found themselves standing in the hallway holding buckets full of water.  Akane was very upset at the whole situation.  She became even angrier when she noticed that Ranma was actually whistling to himself and didn't seem to mind that he was being punished or that he had gotten her in trouble.  Maybe he was too stupid to realize what he'd done.  She decided to enlighten him.

"This is all you fault, you know," Akane explained after a long while a silence.

"It was your fight," Ranma reminded her.

"Yes, but I never waste time helping Kuno to the nurse's office afterward."

The pony tailed martial artist just shrugged.  It was true that after the crowd had broken up he had dragged the older boy to the nurse's office.  "Yeah, well who asked you to come anyway?" Ranma said lazily. 

"Excuse me for being concerned!  You didn't even know where the nurse's office was, you jerk!"  She was only trying help, after all.  He didn't need to be an asshole about it.

There was a long, awkward silence between the two.  Finally Ranma asked "So what was the deal with that whole fight, anyway?"

Rolling her eyes at the memory, the youngest Tendo sister responded "Well, at the beginning of the semester Kuno made this speech..."

A few months ago…

Kuno walked across the stage of the auditorium carrying his selected speech.  He checked the microphone, and then went on with his entry.

"The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure.  If you wish to ask Akane out you must prove your worth to her by defeating her in combat!  I, Tatewaki Kuno, otherwise known as the Shooting Star, shall permit no other terms!"

"Err...Kuno, you do realize this is a speech contest, right?" a voice asked him from off stage.

"Of course," Kuno replied.  "Now let us not waste anymore time with these lesser speeches and present my prowess with first prize, as my speech was obviously the greatest of all."

"That's amazing," Ranma pondered.  That guy was really thick for setting this all up, and the boys at this school were even worse for going along with it.

"The worse thing is that he ended up winning the contest," Akane fumed.  "All the boys have been challenging me since.  Especially Kuno.  And for some reason I always win."

"Kuno's probably holding back," Ranma said lazily. 

"Why do you say that?" Akane asked bitterly.  This boy better not be implying that Kuno was more skilled than her.

"Well, if these guys listen to anything Kuno says then he must be pretty fierce, right?  I mean, they get a huge beating from you everyday, so dealing with Kuno must be way worse then fighting with you."

Akane growled at that.  He was suggesting that Kuno was better then her.

"Plus," Ranma continued. "It's pretty unlikely that anyone who just got through beating the hell out of a mob would win too easily over a fresh opponent.  Well, I could, but not everyone."

The dark haired girl balled her fist at her fiancé.  "Why don't you try me for real sometime," Akane muttered. 

"Didn't we do that already?"

"I mean without those dirty tricks you pulled last time," Akane angrily replied.  It was, after all impossible to vanish like he had, right?

"Those weren't tricks," Ranma explained. He gave her an evil smile and clenched his own fist.  "But if you really wanna fight we can, but I ain't gonna go easy on ya like that Kuno guy..."  Cutting his statement short Ranma expression changed to a more serious one.   "Look out!" he shouted as he suddenly leapt into the air juts avoiding a splash of water which seemingly came out of nowhere.

"Never, Ranma Saotome!"  Tatewaki Kuno stood before the two teenagers holding an empty water pale.

"What's up, Kuno?" Ranma asked as he landed gracefully on dry hallway floor.  "Want your ass kicked again?"

"Never will I accept this travesty of justice!"  Kuno yelled.  "Never will I accept your engagement to the fair Akane Tendo!"

Before Ranma or Akane could protest, their classmates suddenly appeared out of no where.

"Engagement?!" 

"But Akane, I thought you hated boys!"

"Akane, every boy in the school is in love with you, couldn't you have left us Ranma?!"

"Wow, have you guys %@#$ yet?  I've bet you've even %@#$."

"It's not true!?" Akane protested.  "Our parents decided it, I swear!"

Ranma wasn't too concerned however.  He needed to concentrate on Kuno right now.

"This is no place to fight Kuno, if you wanna fight follow me," Ranma suggested.  Kuno complied.  In an instant, the two were racing down the hall.  The other students quickly followed.  It wasn't like the teacher's had any authority to stop them after all.

"Here's a nice short cut," Ranma stated as he leapt out a seemingly random open window.

"I follow," Kuno bellowed as he too made a leap of faith.  Unfortunately for the kendoist he was the only one falling.  As he started descending to the ground below.  He noticed that Ranma was still hanging from the ledge of the window.

The pony tailed fighter flashed a cold smile.  "Moron," Ranma exclaimed as Kuno passed him on his way to the swimming pool.

The students were a bit shocked to see Ranma letting Kuno fall like that.  It was a bit devious.  On the other hand it was Kuno so it didn't bother them for very long.  Climbing back into the hallway Ranma saw the crowd staring at him.  Giving them a "V" gesture with his fingers he smiled and yelled out "Victory."  The crowd all cheered (Save for Akane).

"That was reckless," Akane warned her fiancé.  "If that pool wasn't there Kuno could have been hurt."  She didn't like Kuno or anything but even he didn't deserve to be street pizza.

Ranma shrugged as he walked past her, not bothering to make eye contact.  "Don't be stupid.  If there wasn't a pool there I wouldn't have done it.  I take life very seriously; it's just that I wanted an easy way to get rid of that jerk without having to kill him."  Satisfied with his logic, Ranma headed back in the direction of his class.  The crowd followed, all of them eager to become a acquainted with the pony tailed boy.  Akane followed a well, though she grumbled most of the way to class.

Normally Nabiki Tendo didn't spend her lunch hour socially with friends or even using it as a well deserved break as most students did.  No, Nabiki had a business to run and couldn't afford to waste time with such trivial concepts of friends or relaxation.  However today was special.  Kuno had approached her once lunch began and had informed her of his latest encounter with the mysterious Saotome who had somehow bewitched Akane Tendo.  The kendoist demanded to know everything about the new student; he even was willing to pay a very large amount of yen for it.  Nabiki had already told Kuno all she knew about the pony tailed martial artiest earlier, thus in order to receive payment she'd have to do research.  She could do a background check on Ranma, but if he really had been traveling around Japan non-stop for ten years there probably wouldn't be a terribly large amount of useful information.  She would have to probe the boy for information.  She would also have to do it herself, which was a bit of a bother.  However she, as of right now, was one Ranma's closest acquaintances in this school, second only to his fiancée Akane.  As such he was more likely to be open with her then any of her lackeys.  If the price that blasted Kuno named wasn't so high she wouldn't bother, but the risk of falling asleep due to boredom as the dumb jock Ranma told his life story was well worth the effort.

Finding the pony tailed martial artist wasn't as easy as Nabiki had hoped.  He hadn't been sitting with Akane, though that was understandable considering the two didn't seem to get along.  Asking around had only lead to a dead end since no one had seen Ranma since lunch began.  Tiring herself out the Ice Queen of Furinkan High sat down on the edge of a tree on the courtyard.  It felt nice in the shade.  It had been a pretty warm outside today and walking around in that heat looking for that pony-tailed martial artist didn't exactly make Nabiki feel any better.  This was a nice spot for lunch.  Maybe another time she'd eat here herself.

"Well well well, if it isn't my future sister-in-law," a familiar voice called out to Nabiki from above.

The so-called "Ice Queen" looked up to see the elusive Ranma peacefully sitting on a branch, munching away at his bento.  "Ranma, why are you in a tree?"

Ranma shrugged.  "People in this school are really annoying.  They keep bugging me about stupid things.  So I came up here for a little privacy."

"Should I leave you alone to whatever it is you need privacy for?" Nabiki asked purposely adding a bit sarcasm in her voice.

Ranma caught it, but said nothing about her tone.  "Don't worry about it.  You're not nearly as annoying as most people in this town."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment, Saotome," Nabiki replied lamely. 

Ranma chuckled as he snuck glances at his possible future in-law.  She was way more of a looker then her sister.  Then again he may be biased considering that Akane had beaten him over the head a few times.

"Anyway, what brings you out here," Ranma queried. 

She gave her the pony tailed boy a grin. "I was looking for you actually."

"Really?  Don't tell me you want to date me too," Ranma groaned.

'Egotistic jerk,' Nabiki mentally growled.  She brushed it off and continued.  "Actually Ranma, I was hoping we could get to know each other a little better.  You know, since we're going to be family one day soon."

The pig tailed martial artist chuckled once again.  From the moment he met Nabiki he decided there was something about her he didn't trust.  Upon reaching school he had heard the rumors.  Nabiki was a money grubbing mercenary who would sell out her own grandmother for a few yen.  Not to mention a would-be brother-in-law.  Chances are Nabiki was here to extract information from him.  Most likely to sell it to Kuno who had to most reason to hate him.   He had guessed that Nabiki was the one who informed him of he and her sister's engagement, and this little interrogation was backing up his suspicions.

'That's fine,' Ranma thought to himself, 'As long as we don't probe too deep.'

"Sure Nabs," Ranma said cheerfully. It was a mask and Nabiki could tell.   "But not here.  How about we discuss it over ice cream.  I passed this nice ice cream place on the way to the dojo.  We can go there after school."

Now Nabiki was surprised at Ranma to say the least.  This conversation had revealed a few things about the so-called jock.  He was good at masking his emotions.  Very good.  Plus he was smart enough to arrange their meeting on his own terms.  She suspected that he knew what she was planning, but didn't seem too concerned.  Ranma Saotome was a very interesting subject.

"Alright, I'll see you then," Nabiki said to the pony tailed martial artist as she began walking back to the school.  She look over her shoulder and gave him a wink, while saying "And don't call me Nabs."

Ranma couldn't help but smile.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Japan

Ryoga Hibiki was lost.  That wasn't anything abnormal.  He was always lost for the most part.  Only when he was with his family was did he truly feel found.  He hadn't seen them in a year's time. 

"Where am I now?" he wondered out loud.  He had just gotten off a rather beat up fishing boat and now was standing in the middle of a shady looking port.  The kind that doesn't check for ID or a passport.  Because he was always wandering Ryoga had seen this scene many times in many different countries.  Unsure of what country he was in this time, the lost boy decided to ask one of the passing sailors. 

"Excuse me, sir, but what country is this?"  Ryoga asked politely.

"What, did you fall asleep on your boat or something?"  Was the response.  "This is Japan, you idiot."

Normally Ryoga would have punched the man out for such a remark.  However the lost boy was much too happy now that he had returned to the land of his birth.  He calmed down so he could ask the next question.  "Where is Tokyo?"

"Umm...that way," the man said pointing in a specific direction.

Ryoga bowed at he man.  "Thank you."  He turned away from the man and began walking in a totally wrong direction.  The man could hear him mumbling something about "Meeting Ranma Saotome."

"Hey buddy, I said this way!"

Class was boring.  Despite the fact that Ranma always received A's, school it was still boring.  His mother had always been strict about his studies while they were on the road.  This however caused Ranma to be far ahead his grade level.  Rather then paying attention to what was being taught Ranma was thinking about testing out of the freshmen class.  Of course if he did that he would be spending more time with Kuno which wouldn't exactly be fun.  A little nap should help him think.

Akane stole another glance at her fiancé who was by now in a deep sleep.  They guy was a jerk with no redeeming qualities that she could find.  He was arrogant and kind of a pervert.  Well maybe not, she could admit that he may not be perverted, but a jerk he was.  He constantly insulted her and even had the nerve to call her a…a…lesbian! Now he was sleeping through class!  She sighed to herself as she thought about her current predicament.

"And your homework for tonight is to finish reading Chapter 4, then outline it" the teacher announced just as the bell rang.

Ranma, hearing this, nearly leapt from his desk, but was cut off by the several females in the class who had been waiting for their chance to talk to him.  Despite being in the center of the large crowd he could tell that the male population, as well as Akane, were glaring at him.  The youngest Tendo sister was still mad at him and the boys were obviously jealous.  She quickly left the class room in disgust.  The pony tailed martial artist just shrugged.  With any luck he and his father would be packing up and leaving the Tendo Dojo soon, so it doesn't matter what Akane does, right?   

Ranma began making up excuses to his admirers in the hopes of escaping.  He had a feeling that Nabiki wasn't someone who liked to wait.

On his way out of the building Ranma instantly realized someone was about to attack him.  Acting on instinct alone, the pony tailed boy quickly and effortlessly dodge a barrage of attacks form the unknown attacker who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.  When he realized who it was he let out a disgusted groan.  "You again? Damn it Kuno, how many times do I have to drop you out of a third story window before you get the hint!"

Without stopping his attack, Kuno replied "Your tricks are no match for my prowess, Saotome!  I shall smite thee and win the heart of the fair Akane!" 

Having had enough of Kuno's mouth, the heir the Saotome School suddenly delivered a crushing kick to the older boy's head causing him to be knock several feet away.  The kendoist fell to ground rather painfully.  It was far to fast for the average person to see it, but Kuno certainly felt it.  A crowd had gathered around the two fighters.  Ranma VS. Kuno round three had been as short as the last two, but most of the student body couldn't get enough of seeing "Blue Thunder" get the crap kicked out of him.

"You're the man, Saotome!"

"He's such a hunk!  That Akane is so lucky to be engaged to him!"

"Did you see how fast he laid out Kuno?"

"Man, I thought Kuno and Akane were good fighters, but that Ranma guy is light years ahead of them!"

Ranma nervously regarded his "fans" as they continued cheering for him.  He smiled and waved at them while slowly walking toward the gate, not making any sudden movement for fear the over excited crowd may attack him.  Eventually the heir to the pony tailed boy made his way to the front gate.  Surprisingly another familiar character was waiting for.

"Oh, it's you Nabiki," Ranma realized.

The Ice Queen had been watching from the gate the whole time.  Like the rest of the student body it really did amaze her how easily Ranma defeated the self called "Blue Thunder of Franken High School."  She too had figured that, with the exception of her sister, Kuno was the best fighter in town.

The pony tailed martial artist smiled a happy at his future sister-in-law.  "Have you been waiting long?"

Nabiki shrugged, and return the smile.  "Not that long, but don't worry about it. I'll put it on your tab."

"Gee thanks," Ranma spat out as sarcastically as he could manage.  He leaned against the gate, next to where Nabiki was standing and relaxed a little bit.  "This school is so messed up.  Psychos with swords, an easily manipulated student body, girls who treat you like an overnight pop sensation.  This day has been really shitty."

Nabiki was giggling at the misfortune of sister's fiancé, much to his annoyance. "Well at least it can't get any worse," Akane's older sister replied.

Right on cue a sudden shower of rain poured down suddenly on an unsuspecting Nerima.  After two minutes it stopped, just as mysteriously as it began.  It was almost as if it rained just for Ranma.

The newly female Ranma's eye narrowed.  "Son of a bitch."

Nabiki had suggested they get hot water from the neighborhood clinic since it was pretty close by and the doctor who ran it was a family friend.  Once arriving there they found that the doctor had seemingly stepped out for the moment.  The entire clinic was empty, though nothing had been locked.

"He's probably in his office in the back," Nabiki had told Ranma.  She had gone to look for him leaving the pony tailed girl alone in the waiting room. 

"What a day," Ranma thought to herself.  She was slowly beginning to hate Nerima as nothing good had happened to her since she got there.  She had been forced into an engagement she didn't want, and at the same time became a target of a "modern samurai."   For now she was stuck with Akane as a fiancée, but there had to be something she could do about Kuno.  She needed to somehow get the kendoist off her back without hurting him too badly.  But what could he do?  As long as she was engaged to the girl Kuno loved she may never get rid of him. 

The red haired girl's thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly felt a hand touch her shoulder.  Acting on reflex Ranma quickly turned around and used a defensive stance.  She calmed when she realized it was only a skeleton being held by a smiling and seemingly harmless young man wearing glasses.  Well older then Ranma of course but younger then her father.  Maybe he was around 29 or so.

The man moved the skeleton's hand so it looked like it was waving.  "Pardon me," the bag of bones "said."

Relaxed, Ranma too smiled.  "Wow, I'm impressed.  No many people can sneak up on me like that. " 

"Oh, you'll find that Betty and I have many tricks up our sleeves.  That is if Betty wore any clothes."  The man was laughing now.  Ranma felt a warm gentleness from this guy and instantly decided that she liked him.  She too joined in the laughing

The man with glasses offered his hand.  "Dr. Tofu Ono, at your service."

Ranma readily shook Dr. Tofu's hand.  "Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

The young doctor adjusted his glasses and nodded knowingly. "Anything Goes, huh?  That's the same style that the Tendo's use.  Any relation?"

"Yeah, my old man and Mr. Tendo trained together when they were younger.  Me and Pop are staying at the dojo."  She didn't bother to mention that she and Akane were to be married.  It didn't seem important.

At this time Nabiki had finally returned, only to see that Ranma had apparently met the good doctor.  "Good afternoon, Dr. Tofu."

Tofu at the Tendo girl once he realized that she was there.  "Good afternoon to you too Nabiki.  Can I assume that you and Ranma here came together?"

Nerima's resident mercenary shrugged.  "Yes doctor.  We were actually wondering if we could borrow some hot water."

D. Tofu was a bit confused with the request, but was happy to comply.  Since he was about to make tea anyway it wasn't a bother at all.  As the water heated up the doctor attempted to make some small talk.  "So Ranma, how long will you and you father being staying in Nerima?"

"They'll be here for a while," Nabiki interjected.  "After all he's engaged to Akane."

Ranma slapped her forehead.  She knew Nabiki had said that on purpose.  Then again it's not like she told her not to tell anyone. 

Dr.  Tofu's eyes narrowed.  "He's going to marry Akane?"  He paused for a few seconds then snapped his fingers.  "Jusenkyo?"

The pony tailed girl laughed nervously. "Umm yeah, how'd ya guess?"

"I sensed some trace of magic in you aura, but didn't think anything of it at the time.  When you asked for hot water I suspected, but once Nabiki referred to as 'he' it all made sense."

Ranma-chan smiled at the doctor's wit.  "Nice detective skills, Doc.  You wouldn't happen to have a cure somewhere in here, would you?"

Dr. Tofu sadly shook his head.    "I'm sorry, but I have never heard of a cure for a Jusenkyo curse."

Not seeming to mind the lack of a cure, Ranma replied "Ah well.  Hey, how do you know about the place though?  You're the first guy I met who' even heard its name."

Dr. Tofu was once again smiling, admiring the good nature Ranma seemingly possessed. "Oh you know, I used to do a bit of traveling.  You hear things like that when you're on the road."

Ranma could relate.  She of course had traveled for ten years and had heard many legends and such. 

Tofu continued.  "So Ranma, you and Akane are going to be getting married?"

"Our dad's decided that, not us," Ranma assured.

Tofu never lost his smile "Regardless, it's much too early for that.  Your both still children after all."

"I bet Akane wouldn't be too happy to hear that, Doctor," Nabiki muttered.

"What was that, Nabiki," asked the good doctor, seemingly unable to hear all of what the brown hair girl had said.  When Nabiki just shook her head he let it go. 

Noticing that the water had heated up he poured a cup for his red headed guest. Ranma quickly splashed herself with the water and reverted back to the male side.  Tofu's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.  "Amazing!"

"Well I guess we'll be heading out."  The two teens gathered their possessions and began to head out of the back rooms.  Tofu nodded understandably.  "You'll have to join me for tea one day, Ranma.  I'd love to hear more about Jusenkyo. You're invited as of course Nabiki."

The two teens said their goodbyes to Dr. Tofu and took their leave.

Later Ranma and Nabiki finally managed to get to the ice cream palor that Ranma had mentioned ealier.  It was pretty small, but it a nice little place.  The two seated themselves at a small table by one of the windows and waited for someone to take their order.

"That Tofu guy is a martial artist, right?"  Ranma asked as he waved over a waitress after waiting a while.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at her future brother in law.    "As a matter of fact he is.  I couldn't tell you what style he studied though.  That's Akane's department." 

The two briefly paused with their conversation to place their orders.  "I could tell," Ranma finally responded.  "The guy totally erased all traces of his presence.  Like I told the doc, there ain't too many people that can sneak up on me.  He must have had years of training to pull that off."

Nabiki could see that Ranma had lost sight of the purpose of this outing.  "Yes Ranma, Dr. Tofu is a very interesting subject but let's not veer off course, Saotome."  It was more direct then the Ice Queen had originally planned, but by now she figured that it was a pointless to even try to hide what she was really after.

The Pony tailed martial artist shrugged. "You wanted some information , right? Ask away, Nabs."

The brown haired mercenary felt her left eye twitch when Ranma once again used that nickname.  None the less she had a job to do, regardless of how annoying it may be. 

"Well Ranma, why don't you tell me about yourself."

"There ain't much to tell, really."

"C'mon, Saotome.  You've spent years traveling around the country You just came back from China.  You must have something interesting to say about yourself."

Ranma closed his eyes and reminded silent for what seemed like hours.  After a while an eternity that lasted  only minutes he spoke.  "I guess it wouldn't hurt to give you a brief overview of my life.  Fine, I'll start from the beginning.

"Ten years ago Pop decided that it was a good idea to drag me off on a training trip that would last, well, years.  I don't remember too much from back then but I know Pop signed some kinda deal with Mom before we left.  Don't ask me what it was cause I got no clue.  Anyway the purpose of the trip was to make me the greatest martial artist of my generation.  You know, a man among men."

"That worked out, didn't Ranma," Nabiki mocked.

The pony tailed fighter frown at the Tendo girl's remark.  "Ah, shut up.  Anyway, as I was saying I was supposed to become a man among men.  About six months after we left home Pop and I were staying in Kyoto.  I met one of my best friends there.  Get this, Pop tried to get me engaged to her.  Stupid griffin."  Ranma paused at the memory of his father's plan to steal Ukyo's father cart.  He made a mental note to pound the old man extra hard at the next sparring match.  He shook his head and continued.  "After about two weeks though Mom shows up.  Pop wasn't too happy about that."

Nabiki nodded.  "A mother's love would only soften the boy."  She said this as close to Genma voice as she could.

"You got it!  That's exactly what Pop said.  But Mom said that it was just plain cruel to separate a child and his mother for the length he had suggested.  She had spent the last six months tracking us down.  Not only that but she had a kid with her too."

The brown haired girl gasped.  "You mean she…"

Ranma began to sweat and wave his arms defensively.  "No way, Mom would never do something like that!  The kid was the son of friend of hers who she found wandering Tokyo.  He was homeless and eating out of trash cans for God's sake, so I think it was pretty appropriate for her to keep him around.  He stayed with us from then on.  Pop kept putting him through stupid and dangerous training though.  It kind of made him pretty emotionally unstable so he got us into trouble sometimes.  Anyway, Mom forced her way into the training trip which was cool because Mom was a master with a katana.  She taught me the way of the sword while Pop taught the way of the fist."  He smirked as he thought about how versatile he was in terms of fighting.

The conversation took a brief pause when their ice cream arrived.  "So, that's why daddy asked you if your mom was coming last night," Nabiki realized.

"Yeah.  It was hard on us though.  Four people roaming Japan ain't practical, but we were happy.  Until China."  Ranma paused once more.  He held a similar expression that he wore the night before when Soun asked about his mother.

"She died," Nabiki said with as much sincerity as possible.

Ranma shook his head.  "She didn't just die, she got killed.  By an amazon."

Nabiki eyes widen.  Killed?  Amazon?  What was he getting at.

The pony tailed boy saw her questioning gaze.  "In the Bayankala mountains of the Xinghai Province in China there's a village called Joketsuzoku.  It's near Jusenkyo.  It's inhabited by a female dominated society that call themselves amazons.  It's weird, I know, but remember you're talking to a guy who magically turns into a girl."

The middle Tendo girl nodded.  "Okay, so these amazons' killed your mom?"

"One of 'em did.  They got this crazy rule that if you defeat them in combat then they kill you.  I wasn't there when it happened but I was told that Mom beat an amazon in a fight and later the…the bitch poisoned her!  She didn't even have the guts to face her head on!"  Ranma had become emotional and had to stopped while came back to himself. 

Nabiki too had lost her mother, but even so she couldn't relate to a person had lost theirs in such a way.  She had begun to see what made the young man tick.

Having calmed down Ranma continued.  "After that me and Pop headed to Jusenkyo, and well, you know the rest."

"But did you ever find the killer?"

"No.  All I found out is that she was some kind of rouge amazon who got booted out the village.  But if I ever meet that chick…"

Nabiki decided to quickly change the topic.  The topic of his mother's killer was off limits.  "What ever happened to that other guy you were traveling with?"

"Oh him?  After we buried Mom he went off to train by himself.  He took it really hard, you know.  But he knows where Pop and I are, so he'll turn up sooner or later.  Hell, he'll probably show up when we least expect it."

By this time both of them had finished their ice cream.  Since Ranma's story was done, more or less, there was no reason to stay.  The pony tailed martial, believing that it was the man's duty to pay the bill, pulled out a wad of cash and placed enough on the table to cover the meal and tip.  Of course this didn't escape Nabiki attention.  Instantly her "Money Sense" began tingling.

"That's a lot of cash you got there Saotome,"  Nabiki noticed as she desperately tried not to seem too interested.

Ranma smiled cheerfully and innocently.  "Heh, heh, I won a few tournaments over the last ten years."

They headed out of the parlor.  Kasumi would be getting a bit worried if they didn't back to the dojo soon. As the two headed back home, Ranma turned to Nabiki and, with the most cheerful and happy face you would ever see, said point blank "So now that you know a little bit more about me go ahead and sell the info the Kuno or any other idiot out there.  Since I left all the important stuff I really don't care.  Later."  With that the pony tailed boy lepta onto a nearby roof.  He stuck his tongue out as a final insult then quickly hoped away, rooftop to rooftop leaving a bewildered Nabiki alone.

"What the hell...just happened here?"

Despite the fact that she had just heard his life story, Ranma Saotome was still a mystery wrapped in an enigma to her. 

To be Continued…

Author's Note:   Holy crap, this chapter sucked!  There was supposed to be more but I think we can all agree that it's too long as it is.  First of all let me address all the nice people who reviewed the last chapter.  Thank you for the kind words of encouragement.  It really motivated me.  There's a few things I'd like quickly mention.  I wrote the last chapter about a year ago and at the time I just hated Akane with a vengeance.  These days I realize that's she's really not all that bad.  So I'm going to go easy with the girl and try not to be such an Akane basher.  Also, you may have noticed that I refer to Ranma's hair as having a pony tail rather then a pig tail.  The fact is that this Ranma never encountered the dragon whisker and thus never got the curse on his hair.  He still had the hair style he had when he first fell into Spring of Drowned Girl.  Finally, some of you asked who Tenma could be.  You know, I don't know.  Perhaps we'll find out together in the next chapter. Or not.  Probably not.

Revision Note:  Just cleaned it up.

Next Chapter:  Ranma faces Kuno (Again), more on the home life of the Tendos/Saotomes, and a certain lost boy makes his debut.