Summary: On his way to Japan after he takes a unintended dip in the Pools of Sorrow, Ranma is swept away from his father by a strong current, only to be washed up on a mysterious island that is surrounded by a dense fog.

There he meets an ancient being with untold knowledge of techniques long lost to the ages, and is offered the chance to learn them under one condition; "Someday, you must return to this place and use what I have taught you to end my life."

らんま 1/2

1: Ranma: The Wild Stallion with Gentle Fists!

The rain was pouring down in the Nerima Ward of Japan as two figures carrying large umbrella's made slow progress through the city. One was a man of large girth, sporting round glasses, and wearing a worn white gi, his feet bare.

The other was a boy no older than fifteen. He was fit and broad in shoulder, his arms shaped by naturally earned muscles. He wore a red Chinese silk shirt and pants, both of which were getting thin and threadbare from his constant travels. His shoes were of similar make and were nearly worse off than his clothing as they threatened to come apart at the sole.

"Boy, I know that this is not what you expected after training for so long in the wilds of the world, but this is a matter of honor between our house, and the house of my dear old friend, and training partner." The large man said, "If it were up to me, we would still be traveling the world, but the time has come for you to marry."

The "boy" remained silent as they walked, careful of the rain that was pouring down.

The man sighed, "Isn't it about time you told me where you disappeared to for the last four months?" He pleaded, "After the incident with the Amazons, I feared the worse," he said, remembering their short time in the Chinese Amazonian tribe. It hadn't been pleasant.

The boy perked up slightly, "Pop, if you make a promise to someone...you have to keep it, right?" He asked, looking at the man with what he could swear was regret, "Even if you don't want to do it?"

The boy's father frowned at that, "I have made and broken many promises, Ranma, you know this," he said, making the boy frown at his answer, "I am a man of many needs, and wants. I can easily promise one thing without fulfilling it. But you are different. You've never made a promise that you did not keep." He looked back at his son, and smiled, "That makes me proud." He said, continuing, "Hearing that there is a promise that you don't wish to keep worries me, however, because promises that do not need to be kept can be considered evil. Did you make such a promise?"

Ranma nodded his head slowly, "I met...a master...and he taught me a lot."

"That was fortunate," his father said, "And? Did he make you promise to do something evil?"

"I don't know," Ranma said, "He said when he had taught me enough, that I should find him again...and...use what I learned to...kill someone."

That halted the man's progress as he gave Ranma a severe look, "Killing is not the way of our school, Boy," he said, in a chastising manner, "I've taught you this since the time that you could walk." He sighed, "Perhaps it's best that you did not complete the training he had in store for you."

"He said I knew enough for now," Ranma said, "And that more training would come later."

The man sighed, "Then it's a good thing that we're in Japan now, and not China."

"Maybe..." Ranma sighed.

らんま 1/2

By the time they reached their destination, the rain had finally stopped, much to both father and son's relief as they stood outside of a moderately large, tradition home that Ranma could see had a dojo attached to it.

"Now, Son, be on your best behavior," his father said, "My old friend has three daughters, I'm told, and one of them will soon be your wife, so you must mind your manners."

[Hello, Pot, meet my dear friend, Kettle.] Ranma thought to himself as he recalled his father's definition of manners. Honestly it was a wonder to him that he wasn't dressed in animal hides and furs.

"And it's best not to mention our curses, yet," he said, "I'll need time to explain things to Soun about what happened to us."

"You mean what you got us into," the boy frowned at him, "Face it, ever since you took us to Jusenkyo, our luck's been rolling down hill, from the cursed springs to the Amazon village you dragged us to."

His father frowned but remained silent as he banged on the door, "Hello! Anyone home!" He shouted loudly, "It's Genma Saotome!"

Before Ranma could blink, the door was thrown open as a jubilant man came bursting out with tears bordering his eyes, "Ah, Saotome, my old friend!" He hollered before grabbing his rotund father in a powerful hug which Genma readily returned with a bone-crusher of his own, making the man wince as he did so. "Ack! I see the years wandering the wilds have done wonders for your strength, eh, Saotome?"

Genma laughed, and set his friend down, "And I see that the domesticated life has softened your bones, Tendo," he laughed, clapping the long-haired man on the shoulder before he caught sight of movement behind him. "Ah, would these two lovely angels be your daughters?"

Ranma nearly flinched as he saw two young women peeking around the man, one being shorter than the other, possibly the younger sister, and the taller of the two wearing an apron. Both of them, given Ranma's lack of experience with the fairer sex, were rather pretty. Both had brown hair and eyes, but the younger of the pair kept hers in a short bob-cut, while her sister favored a loose, over-the-shoulder ponytail.

The younger one seemed willing to try to catch his attention as she had dressed herself in a traditional light green kimono with goldfish on it, while her elder sister looked more family oriented.

"Yes," Soun said as he broke Ranma from his thoughts, "It's my pleasure to introduce my eldest daughter, Kasumi," he said as the taller of the two sisters bowed politely, "and my second oldest, Nabiki."

"Hey there, Cutie!" Nabiki winked at him, causing a minute blush to rise to his cheeks.

[At least she seems enthusiastic.] Ranma thought to himself, allowing a small smile to come to his lips. Nabiki noticed the smile, and blushed lightly herself.

[My, my, but he's handsome when he smiles,] she thought idly.

Kasumi, on the other hand, though she was smiling externally, was frowning on the inside, [Oh, dear, he is younger than I am. Darn.]

"I had thought that you had three children, Tendo," Genma pointed out with a slight frown on his face, "Was I mistaken?"

Soun frowned and shook his head, "No, you're right, but my youngest...well, she did not take the news of the engagement all that well," he said, looking to Ranma, "I hope you won't take it too personally, my boy. She has had a rough time of if as of late."

Ranma shrugged and remained quiet, not knowing how to deal with the overly exuberant man. Genma chuckled, and patted his son on the shoulder, "You'll have to forgive him, Soun," he said, "It's not often that he's spoken with anyone other than myself, isolated as we've been over the passed fourteen years!"

The man chuckled himself, "An understandable condition," he said, "But where are my manners. The rain's chilled the air, and I would assume that the two of you would appreciate the feeling of a roof over your heads again." He stepped aside, his daughters doing the same, "Please come in and be welcomed into our home."

"Thank you, old friend," Genma smiled and readily dragged his son inside with him before he could utter his own thanks to the family for putting up with them.

らんま 1/2

The last time Ranma had been in a dwelling, it had been a leaky shack not even a quarter of the size of the Tendo home. There was no dust nor cobwebs on the walls or floors, there were no holes in the roof, and the floor was made of wood instead of dirt like the shack's had been. [Is this what people call a palace?] He wondered silently as he and his father were seated in the living room across from the entire Tendo family which now included a rather grumpy looking girl with long blueish hair wearing a training gi.

This, as she was introduced by her father, was Akane Tendo, the youngest out of his children and the only other practicing martial artist in the family aside from himself. The moment she laid eyes on Ranma, however, he felt like he had done something wrong as she gave him the iciest glare he'd gotten from a human being aside from the deathly glare of his Amazonian opponent some months prior.

Of course it was nothing compared to the deadly gaze of his last master, but that was a different thing entirely.

"Well," Soun began as Kasumi served them tea, "Now you've met the entire family." He smiled as he took and appreciative sip, "Now comes the difficult part, my boy; whom do you choose as your bride-to-be?"

Ranma tilted his had to the side, "I get to choose?" He asked involuntarily. It was quite a surprise. He had figured that the choice had already been made for the both of them before he had even arrived.

Before he could say anything else, however, Akane stood, "Are we really doing this?!" She asked in an outraged tone, "I mean is this boy even strong enough to do what you want him to do?!"

The way she spat out the word boy made it sound like some kind of vile curse if his ears weren't deceiving to him. Soun, however, seemed to have caught the veiled disgust as well, "Akane! I've taught you better manners than that!" He shouted loudly, "Apologize at once!"

"There's no need," Ranma spoke up, a moment before she could, "I'm a stranger in this house, and you're expecting one of your daughters to be my wife out of the blue." He said, "I can't take offence when she's just scared."

Genma just frowned and slapped him on the back, "She just insulted your strength, Boy, show some pride!"

"You expect me to do something about her concerns when she's right?" Ranma countered.

All the while through the conversation, the middle sister, Nabiki had seen him trying to defuse the situation that was rising with her little sister. That was something she had taken a shine to. It was rare that she found a boy that could keep his cool the way Ranma was doing right now. Akane, on the other hand, looked outraged at being accused of being scared

She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at him, "Hmph, you say I'm the one that's scared, but you sure backed down fast enough," the girl said boldly, "Maybe all that training you've done up 'til now didn't do much?"

"AKANE!" Their father roared, and even Kasumi could tell that the girl had gone a step to far.

Ranma sighed, "I won't decline a spar as long as that's all this is about."

Akane scoffed, "Meet me in the dojo," she said confidently, "Then we'll see what you're made of!" She turned and stormed off.

The remaining Tendos sighed at the girl's behavior. "I'm very sorry," Kasumi said in a soft voice, "I don't know what's gotten into her to make her act so rudely towards you."

Ranma shrugged, [She's just afraid of me,] he thought to himself as he stood and followed them into the dojo area, [I know I would be too in her situation.]

Behind him, his father was grinning hugely. Ranma sighed, wanting nothing more than to wipe it off his face. Genma Saotome, Ranma knew, was not a supporter of female martial artists, and repeatedly compared him, his own son, to girls when he didn't train according to his father's plans. This was giving him a good opportunity to see Ranma not only gloat about his skills as a martial arts instructor, but give his son a chance to prove his prowess over a girl that practiced his school's sister style.

While Ranma wasn't planning to humiliate the girl, he wasn't planning on going easy on her either. That would a worse insult to her than anything his father could do to her.

A few minutes later found himself, his father and the Tendos in the dojo, the youngest of which was facing him in a standard Anything Goes stance. Ranma barely recognized the stance as it had been drilled out of his head some months ago as he dropped into his own stance.

Sitting next to Soun, Genma's eyes narrowed at the unfamiliar stance. "I've never seen that particular stance before, Saotome," Soun said to his one time partner, "Is it something new you've developed?"

"It's not something I recognize," Genma sighed, "But it would be best to get this over with."

Soun nodded in agreement, "This match is a against my better judgement," he acknowledged, "However, as the challenge was issued by my own daughter, I must honor it," he then announced, "Now I want to see a nice clean match between the pair of you." He said, giving both children a glance, "The match will be decided by the first down, or on my judgement call. Is that clear?"

"Yeah."

"Yes!"

"Good," Soun raised his hand, "Now...begin!"

Predictably, Akane was the first one to strike, and Ranma had to be impressed with her aggression as she lashed out at him with wild, unrefined strikes. [It's almost like she's self-taught herself after gaining some training.] He thought as he swiftly slapped her blows aside. Each one had a great deal of power behind it, but he wasn't about to let her use him as a punching bag.

"STAND STILL!" She shouted as she aimed a kick at his head.

"I don't think so," He ducked under the kick and rotated in a blur of motion before he positioned himself behind her. "Palm Bottom." Akane yelped as Ranma's deadly calm voice announced the attack, and drove the heel of his palm into her back.

The force was not strong enough to be deadly, but it had just enough oomph to knock the wind out of her and send her lying into the wall of the dojo where she crumpled to the ground.

Soun jumped to his feet, "That's the match!" he shouted, sounding slightly panicked, "Ranma takes the win!" He then rushed over to where his daughter was getting her wind back and coughing to regain her breath as she staggered back to her feet. "Akane, are you - ?!"

"You..." she glared over at Ranma, "You CHEAT!" Before her father could get another word in or even attempt to stop her, the girl launched herself at the young man.

Before the wild haymaker she swung at him could make contact, however, she felt herself freeze in midair. The entire dojo had frozen for that matter.

From beneath Ranma's feet where his shadow connected came two distinct figures made out of living shadow in the shape of Ranma himself. Each one was holding onto and arm and a leg to keep Akane's punch from connecting with him. Ranma himself hadn't moved a muscle.

"Wha-what - ?!" Akane squeaked. "Hey! Put me down!"

The boy cocked his head, "Are you gonna try to hit me again?" Ranma asked in a bored tone.

Soun frowned at the pair of them, "She most certainly will not!" He growled and looked to his captive daughter, "Akane, that was entirely uncalled for! He had won the match, and you dishonored yourself and the dual by attacking him without reason!"

"But he chea- !"

The two shadows gently set Akane back on her feet before melting back into Ranma's shadow at his feet. "I didn't cheat," the boy said, "I was using Gentle Fist to block your attacks, and an attack called Palm Bottom was what knocked you out of the match."

"Never heard of it," Akane huffed, looking ready to attack him again, but her father placed a restraining hand on her shoulder to stop any further actions.

"It's an old art," the boy said, "So old that I wouldn't have any problems claiming it as my own." He said, "So are the shadows I just used."

Soun nodded, "An impressive art to be certain." He smiled, "And it will be an excellent addition to the schools once they are joined."

Ranma looked at the glaring Akane and then at Kasumi and Nabiki, both of whom were staring right back at him. Kasumi was still in shock over what he had done with his shadow, whilst Nabiki was still looking at him with interest.

The boy then looked at his father, who was both stunned and looking smug as well over his victory. Ranma sighed, "I'll be honest with all of you," he started, "I've got no idea how any of this is supposed to work. I've hardly spent any time around any girl my own age, and I have next to no clue how marriage works." He frowned as he returned his attention to the Tendo patriarch, "So I'll leave it for you and your family to decide."

"A generous and honest way to go about it, Son," Soun smiled approvingly, "I'll speak with - "

"I'll take him!" Nabiki pipped up suddenly.

Soun looked at her in surprise, "You?"

"Sure!" Nabiki said, "He's cute, and he's strong, so there's no doubt that he'll run the dojo properly." She giggled at the blush that rose to the boy's cheeks, "Besides, Akane clearly doesn't want him - "

"Hard pass!" Akane huffed for herself.

Nabiki stuck her tongue out at her, "Your loss, li'l sis," she grinned, "And Kasumi doesn't care for younger men, so I'm the obvious choice!"

Soun thought for a moment before smiling, "Well, my dear, if you're sure about this - "

"I am, Daddy," the girl smiled happily.

" - and as long as Ranma has no objections," he gestured to the boy.

"You've given me a home for the first time in my life," Ranma shook his head, "I won't complain unless something monumentally stupid happens."

"Yeah? Like what?" Akane frowned.

"Like my old man pulling one of his usual stunts," the boy said, glaring sideways at his father, "Or if we're no longer welcomed here."

Akane opened her mouth to retort, but was firmly quieted by her father's hand over her mouth. "The only reason you would be unwelcome in this house is if you were to harm a member of my family."

らんま 1/2

Nabiki's mind was racing a mile a minute with ways she could make this engagement work for her as far as furthering her funds went. Ranma had shone her just how strong he was, and that was nothing to sneeze at, considering the fact that her little sister was, by far, the strongest woman in Furinkan High. And while she thought that the current strongest male student there was holding back against her, she regularly saw her take on literally half of the male students, and possibly five percent of the female students, every morning thanks to certain circumstances.

From what she had seen of him, Ranma had a bit of a shy side to him, which she could understand considering his upbringing, and it made him all the cuter in her point of view as far as pure attractiveness went. Sure, he was a year younger than she was, but that didn't bother her the same way it seemed to bother Kasumi. Frankly she thought that her elder sister was the better match as far as their personalities went, but, as the saying went, one person's loss is another's gain.

And speaking of gains, she was currently standing outside of the young man's room, playing with the idea of paying him a short visit to gauge his character more. Then she noticed that the door wasn't closed all the way, which prompted her to take a quick peek, thinking she'd get herself a small sample of the goods, but what she found...

"Oh my god!" Before she knew it, she had pushed the door open and was standing across the room from the obviously shirtless Ranma. His body was just as she'd pictured it. Strong, muscular; it was the kind of masculine body that made many girls she knew, including herself, drool. What shocked her were the scars. She was no stranger to scaring on martial artists. Her sister and father both had their fair share of them, but this...

Ranma's upper body, his back, chest and abs, were covered in large...claw marks...at least she thought they were patterned in what she thought were gigantic claw marks. His legs were just as bad having slash and stabbing scars all over them.

When she had entered the room, Ranma had frozen like a deer in a set of headlights, letting her close the distance between them. The young man expected her too look at him with disgust or revulsion, but instead he was surprised to see her eyes welling with sympathy, and awe. Her left hand rose and gently brushed her fingers across the left side of his chest where one of the scars traveled down to his hip. It had been a deep, jagged wound, and the scaring flesh seemed new compared to some of the others.

"How did you survive these?" She whispered as her fingers traced the shape of the mark.

The touch of her fingers was bringing a warm, ticklish feeling to the sensitive scar tissue, so he reached up and took her hand away from it, "Sometimes," he breathed out with a slight strain in his voice, "I wasn't sure that I wanted to." He said before smirking, "But I guess I'm too stubborn to die that easily."

She let out a small laugh, "Thank Heaven for that," she said, her hand feeling overly warm in his grip. "Listen, about my sister - "

"I'm not upset," Ranma shook his head, "I know fear when I smell it."

[Smell it?] Nabiki wondered silently. "Yeah, Akane was kind'a shaken up by all of this betrothal business." She continued, "But she's never been that mad at something Daddy's done before...and you were even trying to handle it with a gentle touch."

"Gentle Fist, more likely," he said, smiling slightly as she realized he was trying to make a joke.

Nabiki found herself smiling right back, "Not so gentle from what I saw," she said, wiggling her fingers in his grasp, "I may not be a martial artist like Daddy and Akane, but I have been trained, and I know that you were holding back."

Ranma shrugged, "I didn't fight her to hurt her," he explained, "I fought her to try to put her at ease...but that didn't work out all that well."

"She's never lost before, except maybe to Daddy, but he doesn't like the idea of hurting any of us, even if it's in a training match," she explained, "You saw the way he reacted after she hit the wall."

"Yeah, I did," he frowned, "Is that why she seems to hate me? Because I beat her?"

Nabiki shook her head, "No, one loss won't make her hate you," she said, sighing, "She has a hatred of all boys in general and that comes from someone else. An upperclassmen at our school." Ranma gave her a questioning look, "He wanted to date her, but she shot him down. He tried again, but he was more aggressive about it, and a fight broke out." She shrugged, "She beat him, of course, but then he made an announcement that if anyone wanted to date her, then they'd have to beat her in a fight, or go through him first."

"That doesn't sound very nice," Ranma frowned.

"It wasn't so bad in the beginning," she said, "A few members of each sporting, and martial arts club came after her, but..." she sighed, "I made it worse."

Ranma's brow rose, "You?"

Nabiki nodded, "We're not a well off family." She stated with a hint of venom, "Sure, our family's old, and has some ties to samurai back in the day, but that doesn't amount to much when your family runs a dojo that no longer accepts students, and your father's the only working person in a house of four, and that job doesn't pay much." She explained, "So, after this dating brawl started, I started making betting pools around who, when and how Akane would get beaten."

She looked up at him, "I know it's kind'a monumental," she said, referring to his earlier statement in the dojo, "But I'm only doing this so that I can put clothes on our backs and food on the table while Daddy's money goes toward the upkeep of the dojo." She sighed, "I'd honestly played with the idea of selling the stupid place if I inherited it. But there's too many good memories here for me, you know?"

"No," Ranma shook his head, lowering there hands, "I really don't."

"What do you mean?" Nabiki asked.

Ranma shrugged, "I mean all the memories I have are made of road dust." He said, "Yours is the first roof I've been under that didn't have holes eaten through it by worms or termites." He said, looking behind him at the bed that was supposed to be his, "I can't remember ever sleeping on a bed before. Pop always said homey comforts would make me weak."

That made her snort as she raised her free hand and placed it against his chest, "If you can survive these," the tips of her fingers brushed against his chest scars, "Then there's nothing weak about you." She stepped back, freeing her hand from his grip, "Well, since this is your first time in a real bed, I guess I should let you get some rest," she backed out of the room, "Goodnight."

"I don't think it's wrong, you know?" Ranma said, "Trying to keep your family afloat, that is."

Nabiki smiled, "I appreciate that." She closed the door behind herself, and leaned against it for a moment before she noticed Akane standing nearby with a baseball bat, "What are you gonna do with that?"

"It's for that pervert!" She huffed as she pointed the end of the bat at Ranma's room, "There's no telling what he was gonna do to you!"

Nabiki rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Okay, listen, Akane, I don't want you ruining this for me," her sister looked at her in shock, "Do you understand?"

"Ruin?!" Akane cried incredulously, "Are you kidding me!?"

"He's nothing like those idiots at school," Nabiki said, "I don't even think he could understand why they're doing what they do."

Akane scoffed, "Pfft, right, all boys are the same!"

Nabiki placed her hands on her hips, "Alright, little sister, let me make one thing perfectly clear," she said, "Concerning me, and Ranma, there is nothing that you need to stick your nose in." She frowned as the girl crossed her arms, "I've done plenty of things that I'm really not proud of, but this is the first time something good's actually come along for us, and I, for one, am not gonna turn my nose up at it, so just stay the hell outta my way."

"Fine," Akane humphed, "Go ahead, and marry that pervert if you want to!"

Nabiki smirked, "Oh, is that a hint of jealousy I hear, dear little sister?"

Akane gagged and spun on her heel, storming down the hall toward her room. Nabiki didn't care. She wasn't going to play her usual games with this one. Not this time when so much was riding on her marrying this man. If he had been any thing but good, she wouldn't have volunteered, but she could tell that Ranma was exactly what she was looking for save for the fact that he wasn't rich, which didn't bother her as much as it should have.

らんま 1/2

The bed was everything Ranma thought it would be.

Soft, warm...and uncomfortable.

[I've slept on hay bales better than this,] he thought mildly as he tossed and turned. Down the hall he could hear his father snoring away like an angry bear, but the young Saotome ust couldn't fall asleep.

His mind was on too many things all at once. First and foremost was the marriage between himself and the girl, Nabiki, he reminded himself. Living under the same roof as his intended was going to make it somewhat awkward, but he felt that he could eventually get used to being around other people that didn't want to kill him.

And he liked Nabiki.

He liked her a lot. Which brought him to the second thing on his mind. Before his training under his master, he and his father had traveled to an ancient training ground known as Jusenkyo. Before going there, he had been a different person. He was proud, and arrogant. That had all changed in short order. The training grounds of Jusenkyo had many springs located around them, each one with a tall bamboo marker rising out of them. The School of Indiscriminate Grappling focused on midair combat, so the poles seemed perfect for his training.

Unfortunately for Ranma and his fool of a father, the man didn't understand a lick of Mandarin, and if he had, then there was no possible way that they would have gone to those grounds. Each spring had a tragic story behind it of an animal or person that had drown in them. And whoever fell into one of those pools would be cursed to transform into whatever had drown there when splashed with cold water. Hot water was the only way to reverse it.

During the training, he had knocked his father into one of the pools, the Pool of Drowned Panda, and was shocked to find his father barreling at him in the form of a giant panda, knocking him off of his own pole, and into another spring. When he emerged, he found himself to be transformed into a young girl with bright red hair.

At first it was an embarrassment to him, and even more so to his father, who taunted him with every chance that presented itself. Now, not so much. Accepting that his life was what it was now seemed to lessen the curse's effect on him, and he rarely got splashed unless there was rain in the forecast.

He wanted to tell the Tendo family about their affliction, but his father actually made a valid point in letting him explain the situation...if he explained it at all. When it came to telling the truth, Genma Saotome was as untrustworthy as they came. So, sooner or later, he knew that his lies would get them in trouble. He needed to be ready for that.

Third was the past four months of his life. They had been utter hell compared to his life on the road. All of his scars were given to him within that span of months. But he was far stronger for it than he would have been if he'd traveled to Japan after escaping the Amazons. What worried him was what was still possibly coming. His master had made it clear that his training under him would continue whether he was present or not. How, though, he had no idea.

He groaned and got up from the bed, and tossed his blanket on the floor before laying down on top of it, the hard floor feeling more natural and comfortable than the soft bed, [Please,] he pleaded silently as he thought of his master, [Please just stay in your cave.]

Author's Note: Yeah, Ranma got trained by a Tailed Beast. Why I didn't go into details about which one? Title should explain a little bit, plus I wanted to add some suspense. Nabiki is the pairing, no others. No harem. The Gentle Fist and the Shadow Possession techniques are just the tip of what Ranma's got coming. Plus some reanimated Shinobi to throw at him. If this story takes off, hopefully, we'll see a very different take on Ranma 1/2.

Adios Amigos!