CHAPTER ONE

Here We Go Again

                "Ranma-kun! Auntie is on the phone for you!" Kasumi called brightly.

                Ranma heaved a sigh as he brought the kata to a close and turned to leave the dojo. "Whazzup?"

                Kasumi handed him the phone. "I'm not sure, but it sounds like she's very happy." Kasumi was talented at noticing bright, cheerful things, Ranma had noticed. It was quite refreshing to talk to her.

                Putting the phone to his ear, he said, "Moshi moshi, ofukuro?"

                "//Konnichiwa, Ranma. Guess what tomorrow is?//"

                He thought for a moment, eyes crossing for a moment with the effort, but came up with a blank. "Ahhh… Thursday?"

                Nodoka's chuckle carried all the way through the phone line. "//No, silly. It's your birthday. And I have a very special present, but I'm afraid that I have to give it to you early. Are you by yourself right now?//"

                Raising his eyebrow at the odd request, Ranma glanced around. Kasumi had returned to the kitchen and Soun was sitting on the porch (gomen, don't know the right term), but other than that, everyone had left. "Mostly. Kasumi's in the kitchen…"

                "//That will be fine. She's such a nice young lady, I'm sure she'll understand.//" There was an odd double-meaning to those words that Ranma could detect, even if he couldn't understand why they would be that way. "//You probably ought to sit down for this.//"

                Thoroughly confused, he did so.

                Then Nodoka spoke the words that a sealed part of him had been awaiting for years. "//It's over now. You're free.//"

                Information slammed into his head and Ranma felt every nerve, every muscle, every atom both physical and spiritual react. It was as though his universe had decided to rewrite every law that he knew of and make them into something different.

                It was like heaven, hell and purgatory all at the same time.

                When it was over, he shook his head fiercely to clear the last sparks and noticed that a strange, scintillating dust was also shaken off, though it vanished before it touched the floor. Still vibrating with the energy of what happened, he reached down and picked the phone up from where he'd dropped it. "Are you still there?"

                "//No, but I am,//" a very familiar voice replied.

                Ranma felt the beginnings of a very Nabiki-like smile spread on his lips. "Well. Well, well, well. I haven't heard from you in real life in quite some time."

                "//I owe you more than I can ever repay. Then again, knowing you, you'd never accept the debt.//"

                "You should know me by now. I trust the dreaming worked, then?"

                "//I'm not your level, but I can handle them. I'm close to what you were, but I dare say I'm a bit more socialized!//" The voice's laughter faded as he became serious again. "//We're ending this all tomorrow. The meeting's already arranged. All that's left is your part.//"

                "Oh, thanks for the advance notice," Ranma said with cheerful sarcasm. "I'll meet you at the usual place, then, and we can discuss everything. Okaasan will be there too, but you'll have to show her the way."

                "//Eh…oh. Gotcha. You have a point; Nabiki's not going to be able to eavesdrop on this one, will she?//"

                "Not if I have a say." The sound of the door opening and closing made him glance up. "Shi…shoot, the danger zone is back online. Listen, I'll talk to you in the usual place, but I need to go now. Ja ne."

                "//Ja ne, and break a leg.//"

                He laughed briefly. "I'm trying to avoid broken bones, not get them!" He quickly hung up, just as Nabiki and Akane walked in.

                "Who was that, Saotome?" Nabiki asked, suspiciously, with a gleam of avarice in her eyes.

                Ranma just smiled and held his hand out. "What's the information worth to you?"

                That one earned him a blink as Nabiki looked from his hand, to his face, to the phone and back. "That depends… I'm sure I'll find it out from another source soon though. Especially if it was one of the fiancées…"

                Akane's eyes narrowed, but before she could start down her well-worn spiral of suspicion Ranma laughed. "Oh, please! Sheesh, Nabiki, all you have to do is ask Kasumi, she's the only one who ever actually answers the phone around here. And the others would have crunched the door down or made their own if they wanted to talk to me. That was just my mother."

                "Oh really? And why was she calling?" Nabiki's eyes brightened. No one saw much of Nodoka, since she had agreed that Ranma should stay with the Tendos. When she did contact the family, that was a clear sign that something interesting (= profitable) either was going on or would happen soon.

                "Why should she have a reason? She's my mother. She's invoking her natural maternal prerogative of calling her son to talk to him." Ranma grinned and went outside to the dojo again, leaving the two girls to blink at each other as they tried to absorb the fact that it was Ranma using all those fancy polysyllabic words in one sentence.

                Everyone was there. Nodoka had invited each fiancée and rival. Even Ryouga was there, although he wondered at Ranma's mysterious smile. Rumors were flying. Officially, the meeting was to celebrate Ranma's reaching legal adulthood (against all odds), but hints had been dropped that the business of fiancées was to be finally settled that day as well.

                The only ones who were not fired up about this meeting were Ku Lon and Happosai, and neither knew why. All they knew was that something had changed about Ranma when he met them at the door. There was an air of assurance and control around him that disturbed the two elderly warriors. They knew that Ranma had always been much stronger than he let on. If this new feeling of confidence was an indication that he was going to start taking active control of his life, then chances were that they would not be able to do anything but accept it.

                Ranma, for his part, was actually enjoying himself. Somehow he managed to be everywhere that he was needed, and yet none of his fiancées could locate him in time to pin him down and make him talk. He knew it was wrong, but he still couldn't help laughing at their frustration as they kept going in circles, trying to figure out where he was hiding. The most interesting part was that Nabiki was doing much the same thing as he was, although her reasons were the opposite. Although not for lack of trying, she had not been able to get any information on what was coming. This left her with awkward choice of admitting that she didn't know and ruining her reputation, or missing out on the party.

                Revenge was too, too sweet.

                Nodoka was acting extremely mysterious as well. She refused to answer any questions, just smiled and said, "You will know when it is time." Out of everyone there, she and Ranma made up the three people who actually knew anything.

                Yes, three. During the party, Ranma had slipped upstairs to let his one secret friend in through the open window. Now his friend was in hiding, just waiting for the right moment to come out.

                "This is gonna be great," he said to no one in particular.

                "Hell yeah," his friend replied, grinning and giving him a shove to propel him toward the door. "Now get out there and play interference before someone comes in here and finds me!"

                "We wouldn't want that," he agreed. "Just make sure you're ready when the time comes."

                "Wouldn't miss it for a trip to Heaven," the other grinned back.

                Ranma rolled his eyes. "If we don't work this just right, that's exactly what you're going to get," he reminded the other boy, before descending the stairs during a brief lull when no one was looking.