Foxes to Men

Chapter 1: Cautionary Tales Are Just Signposts

Looking into the eyes of Kimiko, Soun felt he was the luckiest man in the world. Two beautiful daughters and his wife was pregnant yet again. Soun was sure, 95% sure, almost sure, that he was going to be given a son this time around. The baby was so active that it was hard to think it couldn't be a boy- why Kimiko was almost bruised from the amount of kicking.

Yes, it was good to be Soun Tendo.

Though if Kimiko was pregnant with another girl... Well, he would love her just as much as Nabiki and Kasumi, who were his pride and joy. Though he and Genma had discussed joining the schools... in a vague way, of course, but still surely likely to be fulfilled with Genma's first child on the way.

Of course, if that child was a girl, why there went those plans.

Eyes drifting down to the pamphlet clutched in his hand, the martial artist's eyes gleamed momentarily. Bending over to give his wife a kiss, he said, "Dear, I will be going out for a while, a little training trip with Saotome while the master is away. No more than a day or two at most."

Rushing out of the room before she could respond, Soun paused in the hall, straightening out the little booklet he was holding. Opening it again, he reread the legend:

"The story goes that long ago a pack of Foxes brought misery to the people, until a wise Monk from China came and brought forth a spring. The foxes went into the spring and turned into men, this freed the people from the foxes, although this didn't solve all their problems (as the men who were originally foxes continued causing misery)."

A spring which turned a fox into a man. And while the legend didn't mention it, the rest of the pamphlet was quite clear that the spring worked not only on animals but humans. A red warning label at the bottom of the page stated directly that women should stay away from the spring lest they forever lose the ability to bear children.

Clearly, that meant that anyone who bathed in the waters... was forever turned into a man.

Ever since he had seen the pamphlet, Soun couldn't stop thinking about the implications. While he loved his daughters dearly, every man dreamed of having a son... and this assured it- if he could find the urns at any rate. He was a Tendo though, there was nothing he couldn't accomplish!

Staggering down the slope with the three urns filled to the brim and stoppered on his back Soun wondered briefly if he would have enough of the water. His brief test with an unlucky (female) squirrel caught on the way up the mountain had left him convinced of the potency of the water, but that had included the whole pool.

The master's training had served him well in gathering the urns, though he suspected the Kuno family might now be an enemy. Still, they couldn't prove anything and his family, if not as rich as theirs had a history as long and friends enough in the community.

As for the young women at the school, well, he was sure Kimiko would forgive him for that and surely none would have identified him. He had been absent from the area for nearly five years after all and he had been trained by the Master.

Though it had been a touch rocky. He wasn't as in practice as he had been a few years ago.

The last urn at least had only involved a bit of theft from a random antique shop. A shame his family's fortune was not what it once was or he would have bought it outright. Saotome would have been useful on that little expedition honestly.

Still, he was sure it was all fine and he had the Nannichuan just as his Master's booklet had promised with two weeks to spare before the birth of his son. He grinned at that thought. His own son and he was assured that he would have one.

Perhaps he would even let Saotome in on the secret if the man was hoping for a son of his own. Though only after the man had a daughter or two of his own.

As he finally reached the base of the mountain he took a moment to orient himself and then continued his slow hike to the train station. The bruises he retained from the assault upon the Furinkan locker room throbbed under the weight of the urns and his breath came in ragged pants. He hadn't thought himself quite this out of shape, even if he had been taking it a bit easy since his daughters were born. Or more relevantly, since his Master had decided to take a trip to China and hadn't bothered to drag his disciples along with him.

Sitting, holding his newborn son, Soun smiled through his exhaustion. One of his fingers was caught gently by the child and he was amazed at the strength he showed just hours after his birth.

It had not been easy to ensure that he was the first person to see his son and he felt a small bit of shame at some of the steps he had been forced to take in order to accomplish his goal, though it had been necessary.

Sabotaging the plans that his wife and he had made to get her to the hospital had been a touch dishonest. And having the phone lines in the area cut so he couldn't call a taxi might raise some questions if Kimiko discovered the cause of the outage. It wouldn't do to just remove his own house's service and have a neighbor be able to make the call for him though.

He had made arrangements for a doctor to attend his wife at the house, at least, but he was slightly ashamed of striking the elderly doctor Tanaka as his child was being born. The man would no doubt have a sore neck for a few days.

In the end though, he had been the only one to see his son had been born as a girl and no one need ever be the wiser. The doctors might question the results of their ultrasounds, but his wife had never been told the sex of the child after he convinced her it would be pleasant to be surprised this time.

He watched his son for another hour or two, then glanced over at Kimiko as she stirred from the nap she had been taking. Handing over his son at her gesture he said, "He's definitely a fighter, Kimiko. You should feel his grip. He'll give Saotome's son a run for his money, just wait."

Giving her husband an amused look, Kimiko said, "I'm sure he will, Soun. For the moment though, I think he can go without training." Wrinkling her nose, she pulled aside the towel and noted some of the after effects of the birth still present. "A bath on the other hand will not wait. I don't want him getting a rash. Could you go get me a bowl of warm water and the sponge? I think we should still have the one we used for Nabiki."

"Of course, dear. Can I get you anything as well?"

"Yes, please. Just water for now."

Standing, Soun walked out of the room, his knees protesting briefly after the hours spent sitting awkwardly with his son in his lap. They had pulled out most of the baby gear that they had used for Nabiki and Kasumi when they were less than a month old, but it took him a little while to find the sponge that his wife was referring.

Filling a small basin with warm water and a glass with cold, he carried both to his wife who was sitting up with little Akito in her arms. No longer shrouded in a blanket, he seemed to be warm enough in the room and Soun tucked a towel around his wife's waist as he set the basin down beside her.

Turning back to his wife's glass as she began washing their son more thoroughly, he picked it up with both hands and leaned over to allow her to drink from the cup without needing to put down their son when she gasped. Pausing, he glanced down and one of his hands slipped as his eyes bulged. He just barely managed to retain a hold on the glass as it slipped, water spilling over his wife and son until he finally managed to still the tumbling cup.

Glancing down again at his frozen wife, his eyes turned back to his son... only to note that the change which had prompted both reactions was now gone. Though his son was also crying at the top of his lungs after being dowsed with the contents of the glass.

Moments ago, his son had quite clearly been a daughter. His wife had seen that. Conclusion, he was a dead man.

Mind running in circles, he collapsed to his knees, visions of his wife holding the family blade over his head as he was forced to commit seppuku running through his head. And that was if she was lenient. If she wasn't...

Finally, his wife seemed to snap out of her own daze and began soothing Akito, finally getting him to calm down after patting him dry and covering him back up again.

Setting her son into the bassinet beside their bed, Kimiko took a deep breath, let it out, and repeated that perhaps five times. Then she grabbed her husband by his gi and pulled him up to look her in the eyes, the exhaustion she had shown earlier gone.

"What did that perverted little gnome do to my little boy!" Kimiko hissed, her eyes narrowed. Not receiving an answer, she shook her husband once and then apparently thought it felt so good she began to repeat it, each shake punctuated by variations of the same question.

"I... he... gnome...?" Soun asked weakly, the shaking beginning to give him whiplash and interrupting his attempts to beg for his life.

Eventually, however, the gist of his wife's assumptions got through to him and he thanked his ancestors for the first time in his life that his Master was a perverted old lech with absolutely no morals and no compunctions about people knowing that.

When she finally stopped shaking him long enough so he could respond, he said, "I don't know, Kimiko, but I will find out. He-" and Soun coughed momentarily, looking around nervously, "-has gone too far this time." Hopefully Kimiko assumed that was his normal reaction to Happosai and not the fact that he was lying through his teeth. He swallowed nervously.

His wife continued to glare at him, but finally released him, her face losing the anger that had been sustaining her and becoming worried.

"What happened though?" she asked, her voice softer. Leaning over the bassinet that Akito rested in she gently stroked his cheek. "Will it happen randomly? Did we do something to cause it? Is this..." her voice broke for a minute "...is this something that was done to Kasumi and Nabiki? Perhaps the reason it only happened briefly is because Happosai is gone."

"We don't know that, Kimiko." Soun said, his voice tight. "We'll figure it out... what, what were you doing when it happened?"

"I had just washed his stomach and, well... you saw."

Gulping, Soun said, "Well, let's try that again." Dipping the sponge into the now barely room temperature water, he ran the sponge over his son's torso and found that nothing happened. Shrugging, he handed it over to his wife, who frowned, but tried it herself again with no change. Hopefully this had just been a brief flicker in the fox water and they wouldn't need to worry about it again. No doubt because he had not been able to douse his son entirely.

Finishing their son's bath, he and Kimiko watched him carefully for the remainder of the day and most of the night. For once, it was not the intermittent cries of their child that kept them up. However, by the following day, both exhausted and knowing that Nabiki and Kasumi would be back this morning they decided to put it aside.

The rest of the day went well as they introduced their daughters to their little brother, Kasumi in particular fascinated by the little baby. The rest of the day went well. He had cancelled classes for the month so he was able to spend some time with his family.

His sleep that night was peaceful outside of the normal interuptions that any newborn provided to a parent's schedule. However, as he was playing with Nabiki and Kasumi the following morning he heard his wife scream his name and immediately went running.

Seconds later, he returned, nearly threw Nabiki into a playpen and said, "Watch your sister, Kasumi."

When he arrived in the bathroom, he was already expecting the sight that met him. His wife, holding his son turned daughter gingerly, was sitting on a chair pulled up to the sink with a wet sponge in her hand. Holding his breath, he watched for a few minutes, then said, "I suppose he hasn't... turned back since it happened?"

She shook her head, then held up the sponge. "It was just like last time, as soon as I began to wipe him down he changed. This time he didn't change back though."

Frowning, Soun thought about this... it seemed like an unusual coincidence that both occurrences had happened during a bath. The tie to water might have something to do with the fox water, but they had tried using more last time.

Kneeling, he dipped a hand into the warm water in the tub and poured it over his son turned daughter with no results. Glancing up at his wife, he met her eyes for a moment, and then both turned to the sink. Reaching out tentatively, Soun cupped his hand and turned on the faucet. Cold water streamed out and he watched it fill and then flow out of his hand, the streams of water glistening in the florescent light, then he turned with a resolute expression and poured it upon Akito in one quick motion.

16 years later

Turning the card over in his hands, Soun grinned to himself as he rubbed one thumb over the panda embossed on its back. Saotome was finally coming- the long awaited day when the Tendo and Saotome families were joined was finally here! Taking a deep breath, he started to yell, "Ka-" then cut himself off abruptly, almost coughing as he peered furtively towards the kitchen and swallowed the loud call for his daughters.

Standing up slowly, he crept along a wall until he reached the stairs, then rushed up them to knock on his eldest daughter's door. Flinging it open he said, "Kasumi!" and found himself facing an empty room. Frowning, he looked down in the direction of the kitchen again, then shrugged and moved on. Nabiki at least was where she was expected to be and Soun quickly said, "Family meeting, Nabiki. In the livin- err, in the dojo in ten minutes."

Pausing, he then asked in a quiet whisper, "Is... she still..." he trailed off, uncertain how to phrase his question as always. Luckily, his daughter quickly caught on and nodded her head. Her lips were twitching and Soun suspected that she was fighting off a case of the giggles. His children were all horrible monsters. "In that case, go down to the front gate first and keep an eye out for visitors. Take them directly to the dojo, I'm afraid your mother will require a little bit of... explaining."

Nabiki's eyes narrowed. "What is this about, Daddy? You never let anyone visit on... these days."

"Ahh... just an old friend. He and his son will be staying here for awhile, so no avoiding it I'm afraid."

"Son?" Nabiki sounded intrigued, and Soun hid a smile. He knew he could count on Nabiki at least for this. His other daughter would be... problematic and Akito, while he should know about this, wouldn't be eligible, though he should know about it.

He waved off the question casually, a calculated gesture he had honed through years of practice to intrigue his girls, and said, "No matter. The young man is around your age I think, but the rest should wait until your sister and brother are there to listen."

"In fact..." He glanced at the alarm clock beside Nabiki's bed. "Ahh, why don't you all come to the dojo first. We should have a bit more time before they arrive."

He paused, then looked at his youngest daughter beseechingly. "Ahh, do you mind...?"

"I'll get Kasumi, Daddy." Nabiki smiled and patted him on the shoulder and he slumped. "You would think after all this time you could deal with her."

For a moment, Soun was tempted to protest, then thought about what he was about to do and just acknowledged his weakness with a hung head before going to find his son. His first stop was going to be the dojo, but a seconds thought made him stop by the shed first.

Humming loudly enough that he wasn't going to hear anything as he approached (but not so loud that they would hear it in the kitchen) and moving rapidly, he pounded on the side of the shed near the back as soon as he got to it and was rewarded with a strangled yelp and the sound of hasty scrabbling from inside.

Sighing, he shook his head and called out just loudly enough to be heard through the wall. "Meeting in the dojo, son."

A muffled acknowledgement was returned and he beat a hasty retreat to his original destination while carefully avoiding any thought of what he had just interrupted.

Kneeling, he settled down into seiza to wait and was soon rewarded with his daughters dropping down across from him, though only Kasumi assumed the same position he did. Nabiki simply dropped down next to her on the floor, her legs tucked to the side and leaning on one arm. Her other hand poked Kasumi periodically, her lips twitching slightly at the serene, if slightly strained, expression on her sisters face.

A couple minutes after that, Soun blinked and realized that his son was sitting next to Nabiki as well when she asked, "Well, what's going on, Daddy?" He must have been lost in thought.

"Ahh, as I mentioned to you, Nabiki, I have a friend coming to stay at the dojo; Genma Saotome. He will be here shortly."

"Wow, really, Dad?" Akito asked. "That's kind of brave, what with Mom and all. You sure it's going to be okay?"

Nodding his head solemnly, he said, "Your mother knows that he is coming and has known for some time."

His middle child grinned and said, "Ahh, but does _she_ know?" and pointed towards the door.

This caused him to clear his throat a bit and he had to admit he might have jumped slightly at the implication, but he had a clear view of the door and thus knew his daughter was playing pranks again.

His son, on the other hand, pulled a thermos from his shirt with admirable hand speed and dumped it over his, now her, head before spinning around and saying in a slightly exaggerated feminine lilt, "Oh, mother, I didn't see you-"

The absense of anyone at all in the door stopped the speech in its tracks and his son turned daughter spun on on Nabiki with a scowl. "Damnit, Nabiki, that's not funny!"

"What's the matter, 'Akane'?" Nabiki drawled, then snickered to herself as the name caused her brother to scowl harder. Her laughter cut off abruptly as her younger 'sister' shook her head abruptly, spraying water all over her and then tossed the little left in the thermos at her for good measure.

"Enough, children. Let it be, there is more I need to tell you about this." The pair of them stuck their tongues out at each other, but settled down and he let the silence stretch for a moment. One of the koi leaped from the pond and he started to explain as it landed again with a splash, but moments afterwards, a loud voice from outside the gate rang out and his eyes widened as he heard it open abruptly.

His children also looked alarmed and when a voice rang out from the kitchen saying, "I'll get it, dears!" Nabiki's eyes widened dramatically.
"Daddy... didn't you say your friend had a son?"

He nodded, ever so slightly, and she immediately leapt to her feet, running for the door. Kasumi got up at a slightly more sedate pace and followed.

He dithered. On the one hand, it was Genma and his son. On the other... well, enough said, really. They had to find out eventually, right? He'd help pick up the pieces later.

Resolved, he turned away from the door and found himself facing Akito. An angelic looking smile crossed her lips, but before he could say anything, it morphed into something significantly more sinister looking and she said, "Why don't you go help out too, Dad."

Bring up his arms in a block he found himself flying through the air after a kick impacted them and knew that the time had come to face his demons. So to speak.

Author's Note: This is definitely one I could eventually come back to as I have a fair number of notes for it and while the basics of it aren't anything that hasn't been done before (in terms of Akane getting cursed), I think the departure point has provided a number of threads to explore that I haven't really seen in Ranma fanfiction.

I am interested in seeing if anyone actually guesses what is going on with "her" after reading this though. It's technically a direct consequence of events within the first part of the chapter, but it's probably pretty hard to pin down as it is fairly obscure.