%Chapter 1

The date was a few scant months ago. Inside the Tendo common room, Soun Tendo read a post-card with a panda on the back with a joy on his face. "At last, Ranma is coming. How I've waited for this day." He said as tears of joy began to flow down his cheek. "And soon, very soon, Ranma will be here." Soun turned the post-card over one last time then stood up. "Listen up! Kasumi! Nabiki! Shampoo! Akane!"

XXXXX

Inside the main dojo a long haired Akane dressed in her training gi faced a number of bricks placed across from her. Her eyes were closed in deep concentration. A moment passed quietly then a brief breeze seemed to surround her. At that moment, Akane opened her hand and thrust her hands forwards towards the bricks. An instant later the bricks shattered, much to Akane's satisfaction.

She looked across the dojo at a small pink and white cat, otherwise known as Shampoo, which lay lazily watching the display. "Not bad huh?"

Shampoo nodded just as Nabiki snapped a picture from outside gaining both girls attention. "There you go again, Akane. This is exactly the type of thing that makes all the boys think you're so weird."

"Good!" Akane replied with a slightly disgusted look. "I'd hate for them to think I was normal!"

"Really?" Nabiki responded dryly but got no reply. Instead Akane returned to setting up a fresh set of bricks. "Well, since you didn't hear, daddy wants to talk to us. Something about a new male visitor," she said then left with a smile.

Akane frowned and shook her head. 'I wonder what this is all about,' she thought then looked over at Shampoo-cat who appeared to be pondering the same question. "I guess we'd better go find out what's happening." Shampoo nodded in response and followed Akane out.

The pair arrived in the common room a moment later, Shampoo jumping up on the table to curl up, while Akane sat down next to her. Kasumi arrived next.

"Do you know what's going on?" Akane asked, but Kasumi only gave a confused smile in response. "Great. Where's Nabiki?"

"She went upstairs to change."

"What for?"

"I'm not sure."

Frowning, Akane leaned over to Shampoo. "Something tells me Nabiki knows more than she's letting on." Shampoo nodded in agreement then looked up as Nabiki entered the room in a kimono. "What the... Nabiki?"

"Don't tell me you're going to meet our guest in that get-up, Akane?"

"You didn't say he was coming now!" Akane protested. "And besides, why should I get dressed up anyway? Not like I care."

Nabiki ignored her younger sister, sitting down next to her as Soun finally came in.

"Oh good, you're all here."

"Alright, what's going on?" Akane asked impatiently.

"Your fiance will arrive soon," Soun explained as he sat down opposite them, shocking all the girls save Nabiki.

Kasumi was the first to respond. "Fiance?"

Soun nodded. "Yes, the son of a very good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome. If one of you four girls were to marry him and carry on this hall then the Tendo family legacy would be secure."

Akane finally shook herself out of her shock. "We're supposed to marry some guy we've never met? You got to be kidding!"

"Maybe you should wait until you meet him. You never now, he might be really cute," Nabiki said as she leaned over to Akane then addressed her father. "Right daddy?"

Soun laughed in response. "He'll be here any minute," he said as he got up and looked over the pond. "Ranma and his father have been on a training mission. Recently, they crossed through China."

"Ooo, China," Nabiki gushed.

Akane was less impressed, looking off to the side with an open frown. "Big deal! We've been all over China."

"Well, at least we know he's well traveled, Akane," Kasumi pointed out, and then turned back to her father. "Father, how old is this Ranma?"

"Is he cute?" Nabiki asked eagerly.

"Younger men are so... young," Kasumi added.

"Well, what kind of guy is he?" Nabiki further inquired.

After a second, Soun again laughed, this time a bit more nervous than before. "I don't know."

Nabiki's optimistic attitude quickly faded as she echoed, "You don't know."

"I've never met him," Soun added.

Now even Nabiki fell into shock along with her sisters.

For her part Shampoo listened only vaguely, feeling the whole conversion had little to do with her. She had a rather long night last night, and the earlier downpour had gotten her good and drenched, not to mention changing her into her cursed form. So, she was simply content to get the few minutes to take advantage of one of this form's few perks, being able to nap near anywhere.

Akane, however, was not so content with the situation and made herself heard on the matter. "You've never met him! So, none of us have the foggiest what this guy is like?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that," Soun answered. "I heard nothing but good things about him from his father."

"And exactly how many times have you heard from his father?" Nabiki asked.

"Well, ummm, a few."

Nabiki was unimpressed with the answer. "What are we talking here, once, twice?"

"Well, twice, but I assure you he is a fine young man."

Nabiki's eye twitched slightly at that, and she leaned back over to her sister. "Maybe you were right, Akane."

As she spoke, the door chime rang, signaling that someone had opened the front door to the residence. As it did a new voice could be heard, one apparently that was very displeased. "Let go you old fool! I told you I don't want any part of this. Now put me down!"

"Sounds like we have visitors," Kasumi said as she got up. Nabiki soon joined her along with Soun.

"Well, it's probably Ranma. Let's see what he's like," Nabiki suggested, although her earlier enthusiasm was all but gone.

Soun, however, remained energetic and rushed for the door. "Saotome, my friend, we've been waiting."

Finally even Akane got up to see their new visitor and walked up next to Kasumi. "I hope that he is older than me," the eldest Tendo daughter said.

'I just hope this is some kind of stupid joke,' Akane thought to herself as they neared the corner. Before they could round it, however, Nabiki and Soun came rushing back. This confused both girls, especially as both Nabiki and Soun looked scared. Their answer came in the form of a Panda carrying a person which came around the corner a second later. Akane backed off a pace, but otherwise held her ground while her sisters hid behind their father. Unsure of what to make of this, Akane subconsciously readied herself for a fight.

"Come on pop! You're scaring them spit-less!" the person being carried yelled at the panda, but it ignored him.

At this point, Shampoo noticed the commotion and rushed over to investigate, standing just behind Akane. Soun also regained his nerve and stepped forward, shielding his daughters, to confront the animal, although still quite shocked by all this.

"So father, this is your friend?" Kasumi asked calmly. Soun shook his head.

"Oh, so, this Panda just decided to drop in, is that it, huh?" Nabiki asked. Again Soun shook his head.

Finally the panda stopped and placed the person it was carrying in front of them in a very careful manner quite uncharacteristic of an animal. Having a slightly better angle to view their newcomer, Akane had a closer look which revealed the person to be a red-haired girl, although apparently her father missed the gender.

Soun took a moment to assess the situation. Seeing the Panda seemed remarkably well behaved, he turned his attention to the human. "You wouldn't be..." Soun began to inquire.

"I'm Ranma Saotome," the girl responded then hung her head. "Sorry about this."

"At last! You're here!" Soun exclaimed and began to hug the young girl.

'I thought he was supposed to be a boy?' Akane thought.

Also unaware of Ranma's true gender, Nabiki took a peek around her father to get a closer look. "Well, he is cute after all," she commented. No sooner had the words left her mouth though than she began to notice the discrepancies of gender.

"I'm so glad you're here," Soun said then finally noticed something odd himself. Perplexed, but without looking down, he gave Ranma a bit of a squeeze then held her out at arms' length.

Now given a clear view, Nabiki's suspicions were revealed to be true which she confirmed by poking Ranma's breast. Not satisfied with a simple poke, she grabbed Ranma's breast with the full of her hand to feel it to be sure.

"Ah, could you stop that," Ranma asked, feeling very awkward with another girl touching her like that. Nabiki, however, ignored her, and looked back at her father with a slight bit of annoyance.

"Ranma's not a boy, he's a girl," Nabiki pointed out.

"A... girl," Soun echoed then fainted.

Akane quickly moved to catch him, while Nabiki finally released Ranma.

"Move him in here," Kasumi directed Akane toward the common room, and Akane dragged her father's unconscious form over.

"Well, daddy has got a lot of explaining to do," Nabiki said as she followed. After a moment and a sigh, Ranma did likewise. The panda followed close behind.

Inside the common room, Kasumi laid out some covers, and with Ranma's help, Akane eased her father down onto them. While in the process of getting back up, Shampoo came up next to Akane, and directly in sight of Ranma whose reaction was instant.

"AHHHHH! CAT! KEEP IT AWAY! KEEP IT AWAY!" Ranma shouted as she jumped straight up and clung to the ceiling.

Everyone looked at this display in puzzlement, particularly Shampoo. Akane looked down at the cat, and seeing nothing out of the ordinary with Shampoo, looked back up at the still frightened Ranma.

"Don't worry Ranma. She won't hurt you," Akane explained, but Ranma remained stuck to the roof, teeth chattering in fear. 'She's afraid of cats? I didn't even know it was possible to be that afraid of a house cat,' Akane thought, but after a moment she sighed and looked back at Shampoo. "Shampoo, why don't you go up to our room for now while we work this out?"

Shampoo nodded, cast Ranma one last confused look, and then ran off into the hall and up the stairs. Ranma watched this and slowly recovered. After ensuring the feline was no where in sight, she let herself drop to the floor.

"Afraid of cats?" Akane asked.

"Ah, yeah," Ranma admitted with some embarrassment.

Akane smiled despite herself. "Well don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't hurt you," she said then let out a giggle.

"It's not funny," Ranma said with a sour face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Akane said as she stifled herself. "It's just... never mind. Just, don't worry, she won't hurt you."

"Oh, poor father, he must be so disappointed," Kasumi said as she sat down overlooking her father.

"He's disappointed! Kasumi, I wasn't expecting much, but I was at least expecting to see a guy! Someone really got their wires crossed!" Nabiki countered as she sat down opposite her sister. The words caused Ranma to sigh again.

"Don't pay attention to them," Akane reassured their guest. "They're just surprised, that's all. I'm Akane."

"Ah, hi," Ranma greeted, smiling just slightly just as the father awoke.

"Look everyone, father's coming to," Kasumi said.

Nabiki did not waste a second to lean over into his view to voice her displeasure. "This is all your fault daddy. Don't you know the difference between a boy and a girl?"

"I assumed my friend Genma's son was a boy," Soun offered in response.

Nabiki was unimpressed. Pointing at Ranma, she asked, "Excuse me, does that look like a boy to you, huh daddy?"

Akane frowned at her older sister. "Well it doesn't matter. A guest is a guest," she said with an admonishing tone that got Nabiki to fall silent, although she continued to look unhappy. Akane ignored her and turned to Ranma. "Hey, do you want to go practice?"

"Huh?" Ranma asked in confusion.

"You look like you could use a distraction. Come on, I was just practicing myself anyway," Akane said, and directed Ranma to follow her down the hall. Nodding to herself, Ranma followed, welcoming the change in company.

XXXXX

Moments later the pair was inside the dojo. "You study Kempo, right?" Akane asked as she entered.

"A little..." Ranma replied as she took in the new surroundings.

"Well, we can have a little match then," Akane replied with a smile, and set herself opposite Ranma.

"Huh?" Ranma said, again confused.

"Come on, just for fun," Akane said reassuringly, setting herself into a fighting stance. Ranma, on the other hand, remained standing with her hands behind her back. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Akane said then readied herself.

Ranma remained motionless, but Akane could sense an air of preparation from the other girl as well, despite her informal stance. Satisfied that the newcomer was ready, Akane started off with a light forward punch to test Ranma out. To her amazement, Ranma reacted with incredible speed, hopping up and just out of reach of the blow. Impressed, Akane tried a sweeping punch, which Ranma tilted off to the side to deftly avoid.

Frowning just slightly, Akane upped the tempo and began a combination attack. Ranma again expertly dodge each blow with the minimal of effort, the last causing her to bend backwards, and then bounce back up like a spring when Akane pulled her arm back. "You're pretty good," Akane said in a pleased tone and then shifted stances. "All right, let's get a little more serious."

For Ranma's part the first exchange had been seriously easy. She wasn't about to say anything, but really, if that was Akane's best, she was way out of Akane's league. However, Akane's new stance was clearly different and unfamiliar to her. It also heightened her danger sense, and Ranma decided not to jump to any quick conclusions and prepared herself.

As she watched, wind began to encompass Akane's hand. The display was startling, and before Ranma could react, Akane let out a punch. Ranma dodged back, easily evading the fist, but before she knew it, found herself blown off her feet and to the ground as Akane winced.

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that," Akane said as she rushed over and helped Ranma back to her feet. "I got a little too excited. I've been trying to control that better, but it's hard. You okay?"

"Yeah... sure," Ranma replied, still a bit stunned, wondering just what had happened. Feeling her chest, she could swear she just got punched, but she was positive Akane hadn't laid a finger on her. 'What was that?' She wondered as she looked up at Akane.

"We should stop," Akane said with a downcast look.

"No, it's okay," Ranma tried to say but Akane shook her head.

"No, really. I wasn't aiming for that big of a blast. We should stop. Call it a tie," Akane replied, looking concerned. Ranma opened her mouth to protest, but thought better of it and simply nodded.

After assuring herself that Ranma was in one piece, Akane turned to leave. "So, why did my dad think you were a boy?"

Ranma looked down at the floor, feeling anger swell inside her. "Long story," she said simply.

Akane nodded, seemingly sympathetic to Ranma's anger. "Oh, well, it's not important anyway. I'm just glad you're a girl."

Ranma looked up sharply, confused. "Huh?"

"Well, I'm just glad you're not a boy. There won't be an engagement this way," Akane explained as she finally left the room.

Ranma hung her head slightly at this, disappointment clear in her expression.

XXXXX

Akane walked up the stairs, stretching out muscle kinks and stopped at a door with a wooden cat on it used as a label, clearly showing the names 'Akane' and 'Shampoo'. The door was open a crack, as was usual given one of its occupants nasty habit of changing into a body with neither the height nor hands to work the knob. Akane pushed the door open and walked inside, rubbing her hands through her hair. Sitting on one of the two beds on either side of the window, Shampoo-cat looked up at Akane in greeting.

"Happen to catch any good explanation of what's going on?" Akane asked, but Shampoo just shook her head. "Oh well. Come on, I'm going to go take a bath," Akane said and offered to carry the cat. Accordingly Shampoo nodded and jumped into Akane's arms appreciatively. The pair walked downstairs and down the hall to the bathroom.

As they entered, Akane noticed Ranma's clothes in the hamper, and gave Shampoo a sad look. "Sorry Shampoo, you're going to have to wait. Ranma's scared of cats." Shampoo looked disappointed. "Well, at least you'll get the bath to yourself," Akane joked. Shampoo nodded, giving Akane a look she recognized as a type of cat-ish grin, and jumped down to the floor. "I'll call you when we're done."

Shampoo nodded and headed out into the hall to return to their room. She did not make it far however, as a short few moments later Akane came back out of the bathroom and into the hall, closing the door gently behind her and leaned back against it as if relieved. Shampoo looked back at her in puzzlement especially as Akane, although mostly clothed, seemed to have forgotten the pants to her gi. Akane took in a deep single breath, and much to Shampoo's shock let out a sudden scream and ran off down the hall, heedless of Shampoo's presence.

Still confused, Shampoo remained in the hall, looking around for some explanation for Akane's actions. The answer came as a boy she did not recognize exited the bathroom, shaking his head, and began to walk after Akane. Shampoo dodged off to the side and out of sight, waiting for the boy to pass. After he did, she raced into the bathroom herself and took a quick jump into the hot waters of the furo.

A now human Shampoo broke the surface of the water and rushed back to the hall, grabbing a pink and white training gi of her own as she passed. Tossing on the gi quickly, Shampoo raced into the hall and after the boy, a look on her face that promised trouble was soon to come.

XXXXX

Still screaming, Akane rushed into the common room and picked up the table. She was so excited by what had just occurred that she completely missed that a newcomer wearing glasses, a white gi and matching scarf on his head was sitting at the table with her father. Really, such petty little details were unimportant to her at the moment. She was screaming mad.

"I'll drown him in the bath tub!" she said aloud in her furry as she lifted the table above her head. Kasumi and Nabiki peaked into the room, wondering at the commotion, and both looked at their sister in surprise.

"Akane, what is it? What's the matter? What are you doing with that?" Kasumi asked in a calming voice.

"There's a pervert in the bathroom," Akane yelled out.

"Well gee Akane, why didn't you just clobber him then?" Nabiki asked with a frown.

"Because I got scared. Is that all right?" Akane replied angrily.

"Oh, I do hope Ranma's all right. I thought she was in there taking a bath right now," Kasumi said just as a boy's voice could be heard yelping out. Nabiki and Kasumi turned to look down the hall towards the noise.

"Ow, wait a minute, I can explain-Ow! Just give me a chance-Ow-wait-!" the boy pleaded as crashes and frantic feet could be heard.

"Hiyah!" Shampoo cried out with another attack. "Shampoo no want hear pervert's words! Hiyah!"

Just then, the boy was knocked into view, falling and narrowly dodging one of Shampoo's chui as she attempted a follow up attack. He rolled off to the side as its mate crashed into the floorboards where his skull had been a second earlier. Rolling back to his feet, the boy made a run for the outside, while Shampoo rushed into the room in hot pursuit. Shampoo struck out again, this time hitting the boy in the shoulder, spinning him around. Taking advantage of this, Shampoo kicked him in the abdomen, sending him stumbling backwards.

Akane, still wielding the table, took this as her opportunity, and utilizing all her strength, tossed the piece of furniture directly into the boy. Caught completely by surprise by the table attack, the boy was sent tumbling out into the yard, and into the pond.

Both girls moved to pressure their attack when Soun called them to a stop. "Akane, Shampoo, stop at once. I can explain." Heeding Soun's call both stood down long enough to see a now female Ranma sitting in the pond holding her head in pain.

"Ow, that hurt," Ranma moaned out.

This naturally caused both girls some surprise, until at last Shampoo turned to Soun and asked, "Him cursed like Shampoo?"

Soun nodded sadly. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

The two girls exchanged looks and relaxed their fighting readiness in understanding. "Oh great," Akane muttered.

XXXXX

A short time, and some hot water later, Ranma-kun and the other man sat on one side of the common room opposite the four girls while Soun went through the introductions.

"This is my good friend..." Soun began.

"Genma Saotome," the white scarfed man said in greeting, bowing slightly to the girls. He then turned to Ranma and said, "And this is my son..."

"Ranma," the now male Ranma said, giving Akane a brief glance. Akane returned the look with a scowl, causing the boy to shrink back away from her.

"So I take it you're the panda, Mr. Saotome?" Nabiki asked.

Genma nodded. "Yes. How do you know of the curse?"

In answer, most the eyes in the room moved to Shampoo who herself looked down at the floor self consciously.

Soun explained. "Young Shampoo here has had her own encounter with the Cursed Springs. She is the cat you saw earlier."

Ranma looked over at the amazon in surprise, and just a little fear. Noticing the flinch, Shampoo looked back at him, almost threateningly.

"Well, Soun, you've obviously been doing a little traveling yourself," Genma said with a smile.

Soun smiled back. "Yes, it's been quite a while my friend, and a lot has changed. But, we can talk about that later. To make it absolutely clear, Ranma is a boy, just cursed."

"How unfortunate," Kasumi said sympathetically.

Nabiki just shook her head. "This household gets more interesting everyday."

Akane let out a brief huff.

With no further responses, Soun cleared his throat. "Well, now we can get to business," he began, and directed Ranma's attention to Kasumi. "Ranma, this is my eldest daughter-"

Before he could get any further, Kasumi spoke up. "Father... ah, sorry to interrupt, but seeing as how Ranma is so much younger than me perhaps the others would be more appropriate."

Soun looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded in agreement. "Well, I suppose you're right." Next, his attention turned to Nabiki. "Okay then, this is my middle daughter Nabiki, she's 17."

Nabiki smiled to herself then looked up to address Ranma. "Hello. Say, ahh, Ranma, are you in line for a family fortune or anything?"

"Uhhhh, I... ah..." Ranma stuttered, not sure how to respond to such a question.

Genma interjected on Ranma's behalf. "Perhaps we should stick to a fiancee who's a little younger."

"Oh well, I guess you're right," Nabiki replied with a seemingly disappointed look, but Akane caught her smiling ever so briefly.

Akane turned to look at her father at this point, awaiting the inevitable as the attention turned to her.

"All right then," Soun continued, "this is Akane, she's 16." Akane let out a silent sigh. "And this is my adopted daughter Shampoo, she's also 16."

Shampoo, who once again had been zoning out of the conversion, peaked up at hearing her name. Akane eyed her curiously, noticing her smile briefly. However, the smile did not last as she cast a look at Ranma and it quickly changed to a frown.

"So boy, which will it be?" Genma asked, but Akane spoke up first.

"Wait a sec, there's no way I'm marrying that pervert!" Akane said angrily.

Ranma immediately grew angry at this. "Pervert? Now hold on a minute, you walked in on me."

"If you told us that you were actually a boy in the first place I wouldn't have walked in!" Akane countered.

Ranma hesitated, but quickly replied. "Well, I didn't know how you would react if I told you. I didn't know you knew about the Cursed Springs. Besides, it's not like I wanted to look at you!"

Akane's eye twitched at this. "What do you mean by that?" she asked in a haughty tone.

"It's so obvious. No boy would ever want to peep on a tomboy like you."

Furious, Akane stood up, ready for a fight. "Why you jerk!" Ranma, seeing this, rose to meet Akane. Shampoo remained seated but grew tense, ready to act.

However, before a fight could break out, the two fathers called their children down. After a moment, both relaxed, but continued to give the other mean looks. Once Akane was seated again, Shampoo also relaxed. Ranma, on the other hand, turned on his father. "I don't believe you, old man. You expect me to marry one of these two?"

Once again the comment was taken for an insult, this time by both Akane and Shampoo. Both girls immediately rose up behind the boy.

"No worry, Shampoo Akane no like you! You pervert!" Shampoo said angrily causing the boy to spin on her.

"Stop calling me a pervert you dirty old alley-cat!"

Shampoo looked shocked at the insult, mouthing it silently then grew incredibly angry. Chui at the ready, she took a swing at Ranma. This time the boy was more aware of the danger, and managed to hop clear of the attack, just as Akane moved to restrain the amazon.

"Akane, let Shampoo go! KILL RANMA!" Shampoo demanded as she glared at the boy.

"Calm down, please Shampoo!" Akane asked, casting Ranma a quick dirty look. After a moment though, Shampoo did indeed calm, and sat down in a huff. Satisfied with this, Akane turned back to Ranma, glared at him, and sat down next to Shampoo.

Ranma in the meantime had realized he had perhaps pushed a little too far, so he switched topics. "Well I'm not going through with this. I'm going back to China."

Shampoo let out a smug snort at this suggestion. "You no find cure there. Shampoo search for many year, no find."

Ranma looked back at her, and thought for a moment, realizing that she was obviously telling the truth. This disheartened him, and caused him to look at his father furiously. "This is all your fault old man. If you hadn't taken me to that stupid training ground..."

In response to this, Genma got up and grabbed his son by the shirt. "Ranma, if you insist on whining like a girl..." he began, and proceeded to toss Ranma into the pond. "You might as well look like one too. Weren't you ready to sacrifice your life for the art?"

The now female Ranma grabbed a bucket next to the pond, dragged it through the water, and rushed her father. "My life, yes. My MANHOOD is another story," she yelled out as she doused her father with the water, changing him into a panda. The panda growled, and took a swing at Ranma which she dodged. The next swing she grabbed, along with her father's other front paw and the two began to test their strength against each other in a stand off. "You and your dumb ideas. Training ground of cursed springs, that sounds good. Let's go there," Ranma said mockingly.

The confrontation came to a sudden end, however, as a gust of wind came between them. Before either knew what was happening, a huge wall of air built up between them and forced them apart.

Ranma, recognizing the technique as something similar to what Akane had employed earlier, turned to see if she had done it. Instead she saw a woman standing just to the side of the girls, arm stretched forward. She was about Soun's age, maybe a bit younger, and despite her slender build was clearly a well practiced martial artist if Ranma was a good judge of such things. Brown, simple hair flowed down her back clear to her knees. She wore a modest outfit that Ranma recognized as being of Chinese design, although this one was particular in that it was adorned with a multitude of ribbons which flowed with the wind as the remnants of the technique washed over her.

"Soun, what is going on here?" the woman asked.

"Ah, Soon Li, ah... this is my friend Genma and his son Ranma," Soun explained, getting up to join her.

Soon Li turned to examine the pair. Genma-panda raised a sign saying 'hello' while Ranma stood perplexed for a long moment before bowing with an embarrassed blush. Nodding slightly in response, she turned back to Soun. "Curse victims, I hope?" she asked with a slightly joking smile.

"Yes Soon Li, they just arrived a few hours ago," Kasumi explained further, causing the woman to nod in understanding.

"Ah then, it is good to meet you both," Soon Li greeted with a wide smile.

"Yes, Saotome, Ranma, this is my wife, Soon Li." Soun introduced.

Genma spun his sign around, which now said, 'Nice to meet you.'

Introductions complete, Soun directed Soon Li to sit next to him by the table. "As I was explaining to the girls, Saotome and I have had a long standing agreement to join our two families through marriage."

"I see," Soon Li said with a nod.

"Now, the only thing that is left is for Ranma to make a choice," Soun said.

Genma added in a new sign read that read, 'Yes Ranma, pick a girl.'

"I have no interest in marrying either of them, okay?" Ranma replied angrily

Soon Li took this in curiously and spoke up. "May I suggest something?"

"Of course," Soun replied.

"Okay, let me get this straight. Ranma is to be engaged to one of your daughters?"

"Yes and Akane and Shampoo are the most suitable," Soun answered.

Nodding, Soon Li continued, "Well then, there's no real need to make the decision now. Ranma, why don't you get to know them first and then make your decision? Is that acceptable?"

"I guess, but I don't like it," Ranma replied, but took the slight reprieve for now.

"Good," Soon Li said with a smile. "Then it is settled. I'll go get you two some hot water."

XXXXX

Sometime later, Akane and Shampoo were together having their much delayed bath. While Shampoo lay relaxing at one end of the furo, eyes closed and soaking in the warm waters, Akane was much angrier, pouting as she leaned over the furo's edge.

"Stupid jerk, I can't believe him! There's no way I'm marrying that pervert!" Akane muttered aloud.

"I'll agree that he's stupid, and a jerk, but he did have a point Akane. You did walk in on him," Shampoo replied, surprising Akane.

"Are you defending him?" Akane asked, looking back at her companion.

"No, just pointing out the facts."

Akane considered this for a moment. "Okay, maybe he's not a pervert but that doesn't mean I'm going to go along with this stupid engagement."

"Why fight it? You know one of us is going to get roped into it whether we like it or not."

"Great, ruin my day," Akane replied ruefully then gained a mischievous grin and flicked some water at Shampoo. "You think you liked him or something."

At last, Shampoo opened her eyes and returned the flick of water back at Akane. "No way. Why in the world would you think that?"

"Don't deny it. I caught you smiling when dad included you."

Shampoo was taken aback by this. "I just thought I wouldn't be included. This is a matter of continuing the family after all. I thought Soun would only include you three. It had nothing to do with Ranma," she explained.

"You should know better than that. Dad thinks of you as a daughter just as much as any of us," Akane pointed out then returned to leaning over the side. "I just wish he would have at least asked us about this. I never expected to be married off to some guy I've never met before."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Ranma seems like he doesn't like it either. The only reason he agreed to make the choice was as a way of stalling to figure a way out of it."

"You really think so?" Akane asked with a backwards glance.

Shampoo nodded. "Sure, I doubt this engagement is really going to happen."

"Maybe you're right," Akane responded, feeling slightly more upbeat.

Just then, the door to the bath slid open to reveal a naked Ranma-kun, looking on in shock. The two girls looked back at him in an equal measure of shock. A long second passed before Ranma shook himself out of his stupor and quickly slid the door shut, saying, "Sorry, sorry!"

The girls remained quiet for a moment, but finally Akane turned back to Shampoo and asked, "Do you still think he's not a pervert?"

"Pervert, no," Shampoo began to reply. "Really stupid, yes." After a second she added. "He's well built though."

Akane frowned back at her adoptive sister. After only a few seconds, Shampoo couldn't hold her composure and broke into a smile. Seeing this, Akane's frown was likewise quickly replaced with a smile and she broke into laughter. Shampoo soon joined her.

XXXXX

Out in the hall, Ranma heard the two girls laughing, and blushed self consciously. 'Stupid… this is not going to work.'

%End Chapter 1

That's chapter 1 done. Chapter 2 is a monster and I'm considering breaking it into smaller chunks, but in any case it will be a while before I get it done.

As well, being my first story in the Ranma 1/2 world I inevitably fell into the good old "recite the first episode" cliché that now overwhelms many a fanfic. I hope some of the side content makes up for this.

From the beginning of the edit cycle on MUOF, part 1 largely remained unchanged, along with the bulk of part 2. One thing that I did change, however, was the appearance of Soon Li's and Soun's daughter, Tiri. Unfortunately, young miss Tiri was originally only used to explain to Ranma some of the finer points of mandarin which he was to use to gain some insight into Shampoo and Akane. However, later revision removed that entirely, leaving her character nothing to do. So, without that the young girl never really got used extensively enough to justify her presence in my mind, so I decided to remove her from the story and bring her in later when I had something to do with her. Still working on that. Sadly, it's actually one of the few revisions I actually regret now as I would actually like to have Tiri in for some of the current goings on in the story, but too late now. Oh well.