Ranma and Akane are walking to school. Ranma is staring ahead and thinking, while Akane is slightly stewing over Ranma's upcoming date with the amazon pair. She decides to vent her displeasure. "So Ranma, today you're dating the bimbo."
"No. That's not right. You and Shampoo insult each other constantly. I understand you two hate each other, and I couldn't force you two to be nice to each other, but I don't think I should allow either of you to insult the other behind their back in front of me. And it isn't a date, unless you want to call our trip to the amusement park as a date."
"How dare you tell me what to say; you're always teasing Ryouga, and calling him names when he isn't around!"
"You're right. I'd better stop that. I shouldn't have said that about you calling Shampoo a bimbo if I call Ryouga lostboy. I'll make a deal with you. I'll make an effort to never call him names behind his back, and let you correct me, if you stop calling Shampoo names behind her back, and I'll also stop her from insulting you behind your back."
"She insults me behind my back? How dare she!"
"Nothing she doesn't say infront of you. She gives as good as she gets from you. I'm offering to behave towards Ryouga as I'd like you to Shampoo, and I'll also hold Shampoo to it. What do you say?"
"Ranma, why the sudden concern over what I call her?"
"I was thinking about what mom said when I called Happosai a letch. I can't agree with her about calling him Gramps; he's much more a letch to me than he ever was an elder figure. But your life, mine and Shampoo's life are twisted together. We've got to deal with each other regularly. I have no right to tell you how to talk to her, but I should defend any friend when they're not around. But if I defend her it looks like I'm taking her side over yours. The only way to avoid this is to ask you not to insult her. By the way, you're right about Ryouga. I'm always insulting him, and when you get mad I assume you're taking his side, and then we fight. I'll offer to try to stop if you will."
"I don't know if I can just stop. I've been doing it for so long, and she's always needling me."
"It's going to be hard for me too. We'll both screw up, but we should at least try."
* * *
Kuno sees Akane and his quiet demeanor breaks as he starts to run towards Akane. A pebble bounces off of his noggin *boink* "Akane, my love, " *boink* "your handsome" *boink* "defender" *boink* "Will protect you" *boink* "from the foul" *boink* "sorceror!" *boink* Kuno stops and spins around and yells at the heavens "You dare" *boink* "assault the noble Kuno" *boink* "While he seeks" *boink* "to talk to the beautious " *boink* " Akane Tendo?!?"
Akane starts off confused by this bizarre display, but as Kuno rants to the heavens and the students stare and gossip about her and Kuno, Akane gets more furious until she punts him cross-country. upon landing he calls out "Good work Sasuke, I lost my head, keep up the good work. and Kuno slips into unconciousness.
* * *
After school Ranma visited Tofu, pointing out he was likely going to spar that afternoon. So far, no physical changes to Ranma have appeared, but Dr. Tofu has been tracking a large change in Ranma's energy levels from day to day. Changes without noticeable cause. In order to track down the cause he has been getting a good idea of Ranma's activities for the last few days.
Unfortunately he didn't have a viable hypothesis. Rather than worry Ranma over what was apparently a minor side effect of what was happenning to him, Dr. Tofu decided to continue to track the changes until a pattern emerged.
* * *
After school Akane sought out Nabiki, and caught her before she left for lunch at the Dojo. "Nabiki, I need to talk to someone about Ranma, would you mind going somewhere for a snack to talk before going home? My treat"
"Sure, I have nothing planned until the inevitable chaos starts this afternoon."
"What chaos?", Akane asks as they head for a nearby Kissaten.
"Ranma is going to spend time this afternoon with Shampoo and Mousse. Any time Ranma does something new there's chaos, and this time he's with the 2 least predictable sane teenagers in town."
"You make it sound like the chaos is inflicted on Ranma, instead of caused by him."
"Oh no, you miss the point. If Ranma doesn't cause the chaos, it'll find him anyway. It doesn't always happen, but like Murphy's law, it pays to prepare for it. Besides, there are too many likely ways for this afternoon to blow up."
"Yes, there's no way those three will spend an afternoon without starting a fight."
"Oh that might happen, but that's not the way to bet. You're only looking at the surface. I wonder what would happen if you ever fought Mousse. You're styles are too different. You use your strength to try to direct a fight, he uses misdirection. You've never practiced much in indirect attacks."
"What am I missing?"
"Name everyone connected to those three, and subtract everyone who'd love to see their day go smoothly, then re-add Ryouga to the mix because his vengeance rates much higher than his forsight. Their afternoon will most-likely be ruined by anyone except Kasumi, Tofu, Cologne, and Nodoka. Oh yes and me, I've decided to just sit back and watch."
"Wait a minute, why did you subtract Ryouga in the first place? Are you saying he'd like to see their date go well?"
"Oh yes. Ryouga would want this to go well if he were calm enough to think this out beforehand. Why did you call it a date? Were you three dating last Saturday?"
"That wasn't a date! I was just having fun with them!"
"Ranma's doing the same thing today. The only difference I see is that last week he was with two women who were engaged to eventually marry him, whereas this week he's with a person who wants to marry him, but who has no permission yet from his family. Unless you think Shampoo has a better right to marry him than you do, I wouldn't call this a date."
"Why would I want to marry that Jerk?"
Nabiki snickers, "Got you! I never asked if you wanted to marry him, I asked which of you had a better right to marry him if you DID want him. You seem to think that what's going on has to do with whether you want to marry him. Today it doesn't seem to matter at all. I bet that's what bothers you the most, you're being ignored. You never liked that."
"How would you know that!"
"Don't be so upset. I'm your older sister, of course I know that. I remember when you were much younger, you hated to be ignored. And when you started martial arts, part of the reason was to get more of Daddy's attention. I'd be worried if you wanted to be ignored, that'd be a sign that you were seriously disturbed. And you are being ignored. Even if it's to be expected occasionally, it doesn't mean you have to like it."
They arrive at the Kissaten, and take a booth. Akane tries to calm down, and succeeds mostly. Nabiki seems to be taking everything in stride. Nabiki orders a small snack, not trying to milk Akane like she would if this were Kuno or Ranma. "Why did you decide you wanted to talk to me about Ranma? You rarely do that."
"I wanted to talk to someone not involved with Ranma, and I was thinking about your snapping at me last week. You'll tell me things I don't want to hear. Kasumi is always so hopeful, Dad is useless when Ranma's involved, and my friends at school seem to treat things like they're waiting for the next installment of a soap opera."
"Well, what did you want to talk about?"
"Ranma, dying."
"OK. Do you want to talk about the likelyhood of his death? Do you want to talk about what'll happen if he dies? Or did you want to talk about your feelings about his possible death?"
"All of them, I think. Do you think he'll die soon?"
"Well, within a year he has impending death due to the coin, possible death to fix his family's precious honor, a possible end to this fiancee mess that'll pit Ranma, Nodoka, and the chosen one against everyone else, plus of course, all the usual dangers. `A martial artist's life is fraught with peril.' That's why I told you you'd better decide what you wanted."
"I don't know what I want! And lately he's been acting wierder than normal. Whenever I think he's going to act mean, he behaves so seriously, Whenever I want him to be serious, he acts like such a Jerk."
"Well that doesn't tell me anything about what you want from him, but it does tell me alot about yourself that I think you don't know." Nabiki smiles.
"What does that say about me?" Akane begins to act defensively. The idea of others knowing things about her that she didn't know, really bothers her.
"It's simple, really. You don't know Ranma, you only think you do."
"We've been living with Ranma for months!"
"But you hate not knowing what's going on. You've seen pieces of Ranma, and since the engagement he's been one of the most important people to you." Nabiki forestalls Akane's imminent outburst, "I said important, not any other descriptive term. Both friends and enemies are important, and Ranma is important because his actions will affect your life. Getting back to my point, since he is important, and you don't know every thing about him, you automatically filled in the parts you didn't know with your mind's best guess. The image in your mind of Ranma is obviously wrong, since Ranma acts differently.
"What can I do about that?"
"The answer is simple, the implementation's nearly impossible. Don't react to what he does, but try to see why he thinks he did it. Any time you think he's a Jerk, you are misunderstanding how he sees things. Even if he is a Jerk."
"Do you mean I should let him get away with being a Jerk?"
"Why not? He'll probably be dead within the year, and judged by a better judge than you." Mention of Ranma's impending death deflates Akane's rising emotion almost immediately.
"What'll happen if he dies?"
"You'll be free of your engagement. Family honor will be satisfied. The Saotome clan will die out. Daddy will freak out, and watch any man that comes near us like a hawk. Kasumi will have less chance than before of ever starting her own family. The amazons will leave Nerima for good. The Kuno's will both be after you with renewed vigor, but the student body as a whole will leave you alone. I'll eventually need to get a restraining order on the Kuno's which they'll ignore, or overturn by bribing a judge. You'll either have to denounce them in court, or change your name and leave. Shampoo or Cologne might also try revenge depending on how he dies, but I'm not sure if it'd be against you or the Saotomes. I'd hate to see what will happen if Ranma's father defeats Shampoo, but Cologne is too smart to let that happen. Daddy will probably try to set up some Omiais to marry us off, but those'll fail. And if you aren't the first sister to marry, the dojo will eventually be sold as per Japan's tax laws"
"I wasn't expecting a list like that, were you expecting me to ask that?"
"These things were obvious to me for some time. You should know I'd have worked out what would happen in advance. After all, I am surprised by people's actions much less often than you."
* * *
Ukyou is somewhat surprised as Nodoka enters her resteraunt during the lull between the lunch and dinner croud. When she has a moment to take a break, she accepts Nodoka's offer to join her, while Nodoka finishes the okonomiyaki.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you at your place of work, but I wanted to talk to you without Ranma being present. Before I start, let me say that most of these questions aren't about who I'll approve for Ranma to marry, and I'll understand if you are reluctant to answer them. Feel free to refuse, but I would appreciate your answers. I'm putting it this way, because some of these questions might be painful, and I can't know which ones not to ask you."
"What is it about then, if it isn't about the engagement?"
"It's about my husband. I have trouble picturing the man I married behaving so badly. It has been many years since I've last seen him, but some of the things he's done defy my belief. I don't like discussing this infront of my son. He shows his father little enough regard for his father, I hate to degrade that anymore especially when he's not here to defend his actions, but I must know the worst of what he's done if I'm going to try to resolve Ranma's mess of obligations. I'm also curious about him for myself."
"I can understand that. I can't honestly say what kind of a man he was ten years ago; I can only judge him by his actions and their effects."
"If you can, I'd like you to tell me how much of your need to marry my son is dictated by family honor, and your honor within your family. If you disliked my son, what would you face if you just returned home?"
"Well, my family does not hold yours in high regard, I'm afraid. They're more likely to be angry that I haven't punished your family more than I have. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't wish harm on you, or Ranma after I tell them he honestly knew nothing about it until I showed up. Some will ask why Genma's still living. With the marriage, my family would accept that it was my right to decide when Genma had enough punishment, and wouldn't ask for the details. I doubt very much if anyone will trust him or say anything nice about him though. Frankly they'd tolerate his continued good health for my husband's benefit, and judge your family based on the impression that Ranma made."
"But if you hated Ranma, and still knew that he was blameless..."
"I'd have to convince them that your family has sufferred enough. They permitted me first crack as I was the most offended party, but Genma's actions have hurt my family. If I had never come here seeking revenge, someone else would have. If I hated Ranma, I would have beat up Genma some more, said goodbye to Ranma, and told my family that Ranma was innocent of everything, and that I didn't have the stomach to sufficiently punish Genma. Someone else would have then been dispatched to exact retribution. Genma would have probably saved his skin by promising Ranma would repay us. Ranma would either be forced to do something for us for his father's benefit. Or Genma would try to run from us, possibly dragging Ranma with him."
"You don't think he'd stay and accept his punishment?"
"He's had ten years to tell you about engaging Ranma to me. He's had ten years to tell you about sacrificing Ranma to a pit of starving cats. Has he ever been at the dojo when you showed up?"
"You're saying he's running from me now?"
"If he wanted to face you, you'd have seen him by now. Ranma is taking advantage of his absence to show you all the bad points of both of them. Genma knows you'll hold him responsible for Ranma's faults as well as his own since he didn't let you raise him. Ranma could get Genma here at any time he wanted. But he wont until he's had the chance to tell you everything he can."
"Is there nothing left of the man I married, then?"
"You'll have to judge that for yourself when you meet him. Frankly his death wouldn't touch me except as it would hurt Ranma. I can't say anything nice about him except that he hasn't hurt Ranma as much as he could, and I think the only reason he hasn't hurt Ranma more is due to lack of oportunity or imagination. You know I'm biased against him. you wont here me complementing him."
"Would you be willing to write up a formal list of everything Genma has done relating to your engagement? I promise that this isn't an attempt to look for a loophole to disqualify you. I need it to deal with my husband. You needn't tell how it hurt your family, although if you want to include it that's your right. I want a sworn account of my husband's actions."
"I'm willing, but what for?"
"If I tell you, I'll ask you to keep it secret from everyone else until I'm ready to use it. Would you want to keep a secret like that from Ranma?"
Ukyou thinks about it for a while, and finally says "OK, don't tell me now, but would you please tell me when you've told Ranma?"
"Gladly. Thank you for telling me all this. It couldn't have been pleasant dwelling on this, or telling someone else your opinion of their husband."
"I wish I could speak better of him for you."
* * *
As Akane and Nabiki finish their walk home, Nabiki asks Akane, "You implied you also wanted to talk about how you feel about Ranma's death, but you haven't said anything. What's on your mind?"
"It was bad enough when he went to China after the Chisuhiton. Now he's being brought down by the coin and his father's promises. I feel so ..."
"Helpless? But you never were a match for him in fighting. After he started mastering the Amazon techniques you couldn't defend him from anything he couldn't handle."
"At least it was something I understood! I could judge the risks. I'd lived with the idea of being injured fighting. This is..."
"Arbitrary?"
"Are you going to finish all of my sentences for me?"
"It looked like you were hunting for the right word. We went through this once before, with mom, but we were too young to see what would happen. I was too young, and you were younger than me."
"I don't want to talk about then."
"I understand. Unfortunately, the death by coin is so similar to mom's death, including the wait while not knowing how it is going to end. The biggest difference is that when you were a kid you told mom everything you wanted before the end. Now you know you haven't told Ranma everything because you still haven't figured out for yourself what you want to tell him."
"What should I do?"
"I have no idea. You've got to figure it out for yourself. Maybe you should try everything. You know, Kiss him, clobber him, tell him you love him, and hate him. At least you'll know you included the important things."
"Be serious, Nabiki."
"Look, I have no idea what you should do. I do have some advice. When something bothers you, like the boys in school did before Ranma showed up, you get angry. And when you're angry you act in predictable ways. Well anger hasn't worked. Whatever your answer is it can't be found through anger. Any time you are getting angry, especially at Ranma, you are wasting time, and that is one thing you can no longer afford."
"I think I'll need help on this one, sister."
"I'll try to calm you down when I can. but I'd rather not risk being on the receiving end when you do get angry. Besides today's outing, what has he done to make you angry?"
"Well last Wednesday, when I made him lunch..."
* * *
Mousse, Shampoo and Ranma buy tickets for a train to the countryside, and get seats on the train on a pair of benches facing each other. Ranma and Mousse on one side facing Shampoo. The three of them ride in silence for a while, not knowing what to talk about. They've been together in each other's close company for several minutes now, and noone has tried to hit, or hit on, any of the others. With the absence of their usual means of social interaction, they're all feeling a bit uneasy.
Shampoo avoids the uneasiness of facing Ranma and Mousse by staring at the passing scenery. Shortly thereafter, Ranma turns away from Mousse, and also begins to look out the window. Ranma's eyes unfocus, and he slumps a bit more into his seat. Mousse notices and asks "Ranma, what's bothering you?"
Ranma turns around surprised. "How could you tell? I was facing away from you, and it's too bright outside for you to have seen my face reflecting in the glass?"
Mousse chuckles. "I have a hard enough time seeing faces normally, I couldn't make use of a glass-reflection like that. Facial expressions are especially hard on me. I was looking at your shoulders. Somethings bothering you, and it suddenly made you sad. Were you thinking about the coin?"
"No. I was thinking about my family."
"You should be happy, then. Isn't this the first time you've been able to spend time with your mother?"
"I guess I'm happy about that, but. How much do you know about my family, Mousse?"
"Alot about your father, but nothing about your mother except what I learned when I had dinner with you at the Tendos last week."
"Well, you know about how my father behaves in difficult situations. You know about the broken promises, the lies, and the thefts that my father is responsible for. My mother is just the opposite. Everything I've learned about honor was to measure up to her standards. Now I've decided to tell her everything about my life, and I'm afraid I wont measure up to her standards."
"Even if she's disappointed, it's obvious she loves you. I could see that even in one evening. The worst that can happen is that she'll lose her idealic image of you and see you for who you are. You wanted her to get to know the real you, after all."
"It's not that simple. My father and I are tangled up in so many promises and agreements. I may have to commit seppuku to satisfy everything."
"None of your fiancees would push things so far that you'd have to do that. Well, Cologne and Ukyou's family might want to go that far, but Shampoo and Ukyou would prevent them from pressuring you that far."
"I know. but it's not that I'd have to die to satisfy their honor that I'm worried about. It's my mother and our family honor that I'd have to die for. Even if Shampoo, Ukyou, and Akane said I didn't have to marry them, I still would have to in order to satisfy family honor. Except of course, I couldn't satisfy all of them. And then there's my curse."
"How is your curse tied in?"
"Before I went on my first training trip with Pop, He and I signed a paper saying that he would make me a man among men, or we'd commit seppuku. How can I be a man among men if I turn female? If I had an animal curse like you two I'd be alright, but being a girl means I have to die. There's no way my father would have signed anything like `We promise to kill ourselves if Ranma becomes a duck.' Sometimes I wish I had your curse, or Pops. Mom's never expressed any deadly connections to the possibility of a panda in the family."
"Well, you're cured of the curse for now. You have a year to look for the cure to the coin problem, and you've done more in 2 weeks to resolve your marital entanglements than you've achieved in months. I'd say things were looking up, even if no one can see how it will end."
"You're right. Thanks Mousse. I did introduce all of the girls to Mom, and she took it in stride."
"Actually I was thinking about spending one Saturday with Akane and Ukyou and another Saturday with us and not getting clobbered yet by anyone!" Ranma and Mousse chuckle over this and resume looking out the window.
Meanwhile all of this was, of course, overheard by Shampoo, who pretended to pay attention to the passing scenery, but was, in reality, quite surprised by both sides of the conversation she'd heard, neither Mousse nor Ranma were, in her oppinion, the introspective sort.
* * *
Nabiki skirked, "No wonder you were mad at him. He insulted you, and prevented you from blaming him directly."
"But he's insulted my cooking before. Why was this time so much worse?"
"Akane, I'm not talking about what he said about your cooking. Akane, what's the worst thing to insult someone with to their face?"
"The worst thing you could imagine, I guess."
"No. That would be a lie. Lies are only good as insults behind someone's back. When insulting someone to their face you need to use the truth. Otherwise they wont believe the insult, and will escape most of it's effects. And Ranma insulted you when he asked you why you cook for him. He listed several of the reasons why you persist in cooking for him, and showed you how silly they were. You are trying to compete with professional chefs. There is no way your cooking will be better than theirs, just as there is no way I'll defeat you in martial arts. Your food does not come out as you intended, although this you can change, you haven't yet. And you are matched only by Ranma in your hatred of loosing, even if it's a contest you can't win. Do you remember how Ranma tried to armwrestle you after you ate Happosai's magic soba? Well, when it comes to cooking you behave the same way."
"I'm not that bad, am I?"
"Honestly, I can't tell which of you is better or worse. Give up cooking for Ranma. If you want to cook, practice and try it yourself. And above all, relax. When you enter the kitchen, it looks like a battle without an opponent. When Kasumi or Ukyou cook it's like they're crafting something precious. Speaking about a battle without an opponent, did you see Kuno's foodfight yesterday?"
"No, who'd he attack?"
"He was the one attacked, and no one knows by whom. He just stood there, weapon out, smiting food flying at him. He did pretty good against the solid items, but he got clobbered by the jello, and the onigiri."
* * *
Nodoka returns to the Tendos, and seeks out Soun. I wanted to talk with you about Genma's agreement to engage Ranma to one of your daughters. I'd like to honor his promise; I really like Akane, and wouldn't mind having her as a daughter. But Genma made other promises. If Genma were here, I'd ask him to do this, would you be willing to write out a formal document describing when and how and what Genma promised you?"
"Of course. I'd be glad to do it immediately."
"I do have one other question. Is it true that you knew nothing about Ukyou until she showed up, and that Genma admitted it was a valid engagement, even though he also claims Akane's is valid, and wants Ranma to marry Akane?"
"Yes I'm afraid it is. He does want Ranma to marry Akane though and our agreement predates theirs."
"Please be sure to mention all of that, and bring your hanpo, I want us to sign it together."
* * *
Ranma, Shampoo and Mousse have left the train, and gotten directions to one of the hiking trails in the area. They walk to the beginning of the path, an old flight of stone stairs flanked by stone jizo statues. Ranma stops and asks the other two, "So what will it be this time? Giant beavers and an eight-headed dragon? Two-headed birds fighting derainged monks? Burried caves holding demons? or just Ryouga looking for the toilet?" All three chuckle as they make their way up the stairs
* * *
"Why don't we spar for a while? All this scenery is nice and all, but we should be doing something we enjoy." Ranma points out.
"But how are we going to keep it friendly? And anyway, we fight all of the time. How will this be any different?"
"We could fight two against one where the two are forced to work together using the areas that they are weakest. It wouldn't be a fight anyone would feel bad loosing, because one side is outnumbered, and the other is voluntarily giving up their strengths. Mousse, many of your attacks work as well or better from a long distance. The only attack I regularly use from a distance is the Moko Takabisha, and Shampoo nearly always closes the distance between you two. What if we decide to fight so that we have to stay 20 meters from you, and I can't use my chi attack. There's a chance we'd win if we coordinate our attack, but it's still uncertain, and both Shampoo and I would get a workout training skills we rarely use. You'll get a workout without the risk of our normal bludgeoning, and can show off what you're best at, and we can train something we rarely need, but it's a skill we'd be better having. Then we can switch partners and fight a different way, like the two of you against me without any weapons and all attacks made at least 5 feet off of the ground. Neither of you are at your best unarmed, so this would be good training for you."
Shampoo asks, "Do you just want to spar, or are we going to teach each other to fight better?"
Mousse suggests, "The person fighting alone could call out hold to stop the fight, and point out ways of doing things better. We should also set boundaries so that we stay together and can watch each other's fighting styles."
"Sounds good Mousse." Ranma says, "Lets use this path, that clearing, and that rock as the boundaries. Lets try this."
* * *
As Ranma returns home, before entering the house, he's stopped by Soun, who obviously wants to talk to Ranma in private. They proceed to the dojo to talk undisturbed. "Ranma, I'm not at all pleased with your dating other girls. You are engaged to marry my daughter. I insist you stop this!"
"I haven't dated anyone in weeks. If you are referring to today, I spent time with 2 of my friends from China. Until Akane can get along with them, she can't join us. As her father, it is up to you to talk to her about getting along with Shampoo, not to talk to me about inviting her along."
"Your father and I want ..."
"My father is hiding from my mother right now. My mother is trying to fulfill all of the promises my father made, not only to you. And I'm trying to get to know my mother and my friends better."
"As a guest in this house ..."
"As a guest, I'm indebted to you, but not subject to your whims. If you no longer want me here, my mother and I will return to her place to live. As mom believes Pop is your niece's panda, I wont be able to take him with us. But if your hospitality to the Saotomes is at an end I know he can live by himself on the road until I've told mother about his cursed form."
"You wouldn't tell her about Genma's curse!"
"I will, eventually. I'm hoping to lead up to it so that she doesn't want him instantly dead. Why worry? Mom's a loving dutiful wife who would only insist he take his own life if his honor were irreparably strained. Surely you dont think that about the head of the house you wish to be joined with yours."
"Stop changing the subject! I'm talking to you about your behavior towards other women!"
"I know that, but in what capacity? We've ruled out `host to guest'. As I haven't married Akane yet you cannot talk to me as a father-inlaw, or as a senior member of the family if I take Akane's name. As my father's best friend you have no right to dictate to me. Our only other relationship is as members of branchant families of martial arts that date back to the same pervert who founded both our schools. As things stand, your master claims me as his pupil, so I should refer to you as Senpai, however that isnt enough to justify your demand that I change my behavior. You could challenge me, but you'd lose. Pop's kept up his training better than you, and the only reason we could spar in the morning is because we don't use any special attacks. When was the last time you fought Happosai when he wasn't already injured?"
"Ranma, you will do as your father and I want, or.."
"No! You will let me proceed at my own pace or I will have to fight you. If you make yourself my enemy, my first move will be to fight you for the dojo. I will refuse to fight Akane in that fight unless you conceed that she is the master of this dojo. If you do, then she can elope with anyone of her choosing, and you will be out of her life. If you don't, then I'll make you wish I was Happosai. When you finally fall unconcious I'll splinter the dojo sign. This is my threat for my first action against you should you become my enemy. If you are my ally, then your dreams of uniting our families wont be crushed."
"Ranma, you can't threaten me!"
"I did threaten you. I can make it happen. I can do worse. I might be able to get Nabiki's name on your familie's registry as the Tendo family head. It would only work if she agreed to it. Do you want to risk it? I can crush your dreams by taking my own life, I'm under a death sentence already. If you become my enemy there is nothing you can do to combine our families. I'll have you beside me as an ally, and you'll obey me, or you'll lose everything." At this, Soun burst into long overdue tears.
"No. That's not right. You and Shampoo insult each other constantly. I understand you two hate each other, and I couldn't force you two to be nice to each other, but I don't think I should allow either of you to insult the other behind their back in front of me. And it isn't a date, unless you want to call our trip to the amusement park as a date."
"How dare you tell me what to say; you're always teasing Ryouga, and calling him names when he isn't around!"
"You're right. I'd better stop that. I shouldn't have said that about you calling Shampoo a bimbo if I call Ryouga lostboy. I'll make a deal with you. I'll make an effort to never call him names behind his back, and let you correct me, if you stop calling Shampoo names behind her back, and I'll also stop her from insulting you behind your back."
"She insults me behind my back? How dare she!"
"Nothing she doesn't say infront of you. She gives as good as she gets from you. I'm offering to behave towards Ryouga as I'd like you to Shampoo, and I'll also hold Shampoo to it. What do you say?"
"Ranma, why the sudden concern over what I call her?"
"I was thinking about what mom said when I called Happosai a letch. I can't agree with her about calling him Gramps; he's much more a letch to me than he ever was an elder figure. But your life, mine and Shampoo's life are twisted together. We've got to deal with each other regularly. I have no right to tell you how to talk to her, but I should defend any friend when they're not around. But if I defend her it looks like I'm taking her side over yours. The only way to avoid this is to ask you not to insult her. By the way, you're right about Ryouga. I'm always insulting him, and when you get mad I assume you're taking his side, and then we fight. I'll offer to try to stop if you will."
"I don't know if I can just stop. I've been doing it for so long, and she's always needling me."
"It's going to be hard for me too. We'll both screw up, but we should at least try."
* * *
Kuno sees Akane and his quiet demeanor breaks as he starts to run towards Akane. A pebble bounces off of his noggin *boink* "Akane, my love, " *boink* "your handsome" *boink* "defender" *boink* "Will protect you" *boink* "from the foul" *boink* "sorceror!" *boink* Kuno stops and spins around and yells at the heavens "You dare" *boink* "assault the noble Kuno" *boink* "While he seeks" *boink* "to talk to the beautious " *boink* " Akane Tendo?!?"
Akane starts off confused by this bizarre display, but as Kuno rants to the heavens and the students stare and gossip about her and Kuno, Akane gets more furious until she punts him cross-country. upon landing he calls out "Good work Sasuke, I lost my head, keep up the good work. and Kuno slips into unconciousness.
* * *
After school Ranma visited Tofu, pointing out he was likely going to spar that afternoon. So far, no physical changes to Ranma have appeared, but Dr. Tofu has been tracking a large change in Ranma's energy levels from day to day. Changes without noticeable cause. In order to track down the cause he has been getting a good idea of Ranma's activities for the last few days.
Unfortunately he didn't have a viable hypothesis. Rather than worry Ranma over what was apparently a minor side effect of what was happenning to him, Dr. Tofu decided to continue to track the changes until a pattern emerged.
* * *
After school Akane sought out Nabiki, and caught her before she left for lunch at the Dojo. "Nabiki, I need to talk to someone about Ranma, would you mind going somewhere for a snack to talk before going home? My treat"
"Sure, I have nothing planned until the inevitable chaos starts this afternoon."
"What chaos?", Akane asks as they head for a nearby Kissaten.
"Ranma is going to spend time this afternoon with Shampoo and Mousse. Any time Ranma does something new there's chaos, and this time he's with the 2 least predictable sane teenagers in town."
"You make it sound like the chaos is inflicted on Ranma, instead of caused by him."
"Oh no, you miss the point. If Ranma doesn't cause the chaos, it'll find him anyway. It doesn't always happen, but like Murphy's law, it pays to prepare for it. Besides, there are too many likely ways for this afternoon to blow up."
"Yes, there's no way those three will spend an afternoon without starting a fight."
"Oh that might happen, but that's not the way to bet. You're only looking at the surface. I wonder what would happen if you ever fought Mousse. You're styles are too different. You use your strength to try to direct a fight, he uses misdirection. You've never practiced much in indirect attacks."
"What am I missing?"
"Name everyone connected to those three, and subtract everyone who'd love to see their day go smoothly, then re-add Ryouga to the mix because his vengeance rates much higher than his forsight. Their afternoon will most-likely be ruined by anyone except Kasumi, Tofu, Cologne, and Nodoka. Oh yes and me, I've decided to just sit back and watch."
"Wait a minute, why did you subtract Ryouga in the first place? Are you saying he'd like to see their date go well?"
"Oh yes. Ryouga would want this to go well if he were calm enough to think this out beforehand. Why did you call it a date? Were you three dating last Saturday?"
"That wasn't a date! I was just having fun with them!"
"Ranma's doing the same thing today. The only difference I see is that last week he was with two women who were engaged to eventually marry him, whereas this week he's with a person who wants to marry him, but who has no permission yet from his family. Unless you think Shampoo has a better right to marry him than you do, I wouldn't call this a date."
"Why would I want to marry that Jerk?"
Nabiki snickers, "Got you! I never asked if you wanted to marry him, I asked which of you had a better right to marry him if you DID want him. You seem to think that what's going on has to do with whether you want to marry him. Today it doesn't seem to matter at all. I bet that's what bothers you the most, you're being ignored. You never liked that."
"How would you know that!"
"Don't be so upset. I'm your older sister, of course I know that. I remember when you were much younger, you hated to be ignored. And when you started martial arts, part of the reason was to get more of Daddy's attention. I'd be worried if you wanted to be ignored, that'd be a sign that you were seriously disturbed. And you are being ignored. Even if it's to be expected occasionally, it doesn't mean you have to like it."
They arrive at the Kissaten, and take a booth. Akane tries to calm down, and succeeds mostly. Nabiki seems to be taking everything in stride. Nabiki orders a small snack, not trying to milk Akane like she would if this were Kuno or Ranma. "Why did you decide you wanted to talk to me about Ranma? You rarely do that."
"I wanted to talk to someone not involved with Ranma, and I was thinking about your snapping at me last week. You'll tell me things I don't want to hear. Kasumi is always so hopeful, Dad is useless when Ranma's involved, and my friends at school seem to treat things like they're waiting for the next installment of a soap opera."
"Well, what did you want to talk about?"
"Ranma, dying."
"OK. Do you want to talk about the likelyhood of his death? Do you want to talk about what'll happen if he dies? Or did you want to talk about your feelings about his possible death?"
"All of them, I think. Do you think he'll die soon?"
"Well, within a year he has impending death due to the coin, possible death to fix his family's precious honor, a possible end to this fiancee mess that'll pit Ranma, Nodoka, and the chosen one against everyone else, plus of course, all the usual dangers. `A martial artist's life is fraught with peril.' That's why I told you you'd better decide what you wanted."
"I don't know what I want! And lately he's been acting wierder than normal. Whenever I think he's going to act mean, he behaves so seriously, Whenever I want him to be serious, he acts like such a Jerk."
"Well that doesn't tell me anything about what you want from him, but it does tell me alot about yourself that I think you don't know." Nabiki smiles.
"What does that say about me?" Akane begins to act defensively. The idea of others knowing things about her that she didn't know, really bothers her.
"It's simple, really. You don't know Ranma, you only think you do."
"We've been living with Ranma for months!"
"But you hate not knowing what's going on. You've seen pieces of Ranma, and since the engagement he's been one of the most important people to you." Nabiki forestalls Akane's imminent outburst, "I said important, not any other descriptive term. Both friends and enemies are important, and Ranma is important because his actions will affect your life. Getting back to my point, since he is important, and you don't know every thing about him, you automatically filled in the parts you didn't know with your mind's best guess. The image in your mind of Ranma is obviously wrong, since Ranma acts differently.
"What can I do about that?"
"The answer is simple, the implementation's nearly impossible. Don't react to what he does, but try to see why he thinks he did it. Any time you think he's a Jerk, you are misunderstanding how he sees things. Even if he is a Jerk."
"Do you mean I should let him get away with being a Jerk?"
"Why not? He'll probably be dead within the year, and judged by a better judge than you." Mention of Ranma's impending death deflates Akane's rising emotion almost immediately.
"What'll happen if he dies?"
"You'll be free of your engagement. Family honor will be satisfied. The Saotome clan will die out. Daddy will freak out, and watch any man that comes near us like a hawk. Kasumi will have less chance than before of ever starting her own family. The amazons will leave Nerima for good. The Kuno's will both be after you with renewed vigor, but the student body as a whole will leave you alone. I'll eventually need to get a restraining order on the Kuno's which they'll ignore, or overturn by bribing a judge. You'll either have to denounce them in court, or change your name and leave. Shampoo or Cologne might also try revenge depending on how he dies, but I'm not sure if it'd be against you or the Saotomes. I'd hate to see what will happen if Ranma's father defeats Shampoo, but Cologne is too smart to let that happen. Daddy will probably try to set up some Omiais to marry us off, but those'll fail. And if you aren't the first sister to marry, the dojo will eventually be sold as per Japan's tax laws"
"I wasn't expecting a list like that, were you expecting me to ask that?"
"These things were obvious to me for some time. You should know I'd have worked out what would happen in advance. After all, I am surprised by people's actions much less often than you."
* * *
Ukyou is somewhat surprised as Nodoka enters her resteraunt during the lull between the lunch and dinner croud. When she has a moment to take a break, she accepts Nodoka's offer to join her, while Nodoka finishes the okonomiyaki.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you at your place of work, but I wanted to talk to you without Ranma being present. Before I start, let me say that most of these questions aren't about who I'll approve for Ranma to marry, and I'll understand if you are reluctant to answer them. Feel free to refuse, but I would appreciate your answers. I'm putting it this way, because some of these questions might be painful, and I can't know which ones not to ask you."
"What is it about then, if it isn't about the engagement?"
"It's about my husband. I have trouble picturing the man I married behaving so badly. It has been many years since I've last seen him, but some of the things he's done defy my belief. I don't like discussing this infront of my son. He shows his father little enough regard for his father, I hate to degrade that anymore especially when he's not here to defend his actions, but I must know the worst of what he's done if I'm going to try to resolve Ranma's mess of obligations. I'm also curious about him for myself."
"I can understand that. I can't honestly say what kind of a man he was ten years ago; I can only judge him by his actions and their effects."
"If you can, I'd like you to tell me how much of your need to marry my son is dictated by family honor, and your honor within your family. If you disliked my son, what would you face if you just returned home?"
"Well, my family does not hold yours in high regard, I'm afraid. They're more likely to be angry that I haven't punished your family more than I have. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't wish harm on you, or Ranma after I tell them he honestly knew nothing about it until I showed up. Some will ask why Genma's still living. With the marriage, my family would accept that it was my right to decide when Genma had enough punishment, and wouldn't ask for the details. I doubt very much if anyone will trust him or say anything nice about him though. Frankly they'd tolerate his continued good health for my husband's benefit, and judge your family based on the impression that Ranma made."
"But if you hated Ranma, and still knew that he was blameless..."
"I'd have to convince them that your family has sufferred enough. They permitted me first crack as I was the most offended party, but Genma's actions have hurt my family. If I had never come here seeking revenge, someone else would have. If I hated Ranma, I would have beat up Genma some more, said goodbye to Ranma, and told my family that Ranma was innocent of everything, and that I didn't have the stomach to sufficiently punish Genma. Someone else would have then been dispatched to exact retribution. Genma would have probably saved his skin by promising Ranma would repay us. Ranma would either be forced to do something for us for his father's benefit. Or Genma would try to run from us, possibly dragging Ranma with him."
"You don't think he'd stay and accept his punishment?"
"He's had ten years to tell you about engaging Ranma to me. He's had ten years to tell you about sacrificing Ranma to a pit of starving cats. Has he ever been at the dojo when you showed up?"
"You're saying he's running from me now?"
"If he wanted to face you, you'd have seen him by now. Ranma is taking advantage of his absence to show you all the bad points of both of them. Genma knows you'll hold him responsible for Ranma's faults as well as his own since he didn't let you raise him. Ranma could get Genma here at any time he wanted. But he wont until he's had the chance to tell you everything he can."
"Is there nothing left of the man I married, then?"
"You'll have to judge that for yourself when you meet him. Frankly his death wouldn't touch me except as it would hurt Ranma. I can't say anything nice about him except that he hasn't hurt Ranma as much as he could, and I think the only reason he hasn't hurt Ranma more is due to lack of oportunity or imagination. You know I'm biased against him. you wont here me complementing him."
"Would you be willing to write up a formal list of everything Genma has done relating to your engagement? I promise that this isn't an attempt to look for a loophole to disqualify you. I need it to deal with my husband. You needn't tell how it hurt your family, although if you want to include it that's your right. I want a sworn account of my husband's actions."
"I'm willing, but what for?"
"If I tell you, I'll ask you to keep it secret from everyone else until I'm ready to use it. Would you want to keep a secret like that from Ranma?"
Ukyou thinks about it for a while, and finally says "OK, don't tell me now, but would you please tell me when you've told Ranma?"
"Gladly. Thank you for telling me all this. It couldn't have been pleasant dwelling on this, or telling someone else your opinion of their husband."
"I wish I could speak better of him for you."
* * *
As Akane and Nabiki finish their walk home, Nabiki asks Akane, "You implied you also wanted to talk about how you feel about Ranma's death, but you haven't said anything. What's on your mind?"
"It was bad enough when he went to China after the Chisuhiton. Now he's being brought down by the coin and his father's promises. I feel so ..."
"Helpless? But you never were a match for him in fighting. After he started mastering the Amazon techniques you couldn't defend him from anything he couldn't handle."
"At least it was something I understood! I could judge the risks. I'd lived with the idea of being injured fighting. This is..."
"Arbitrary?"
"Are you going to finish all of my sentences for me?"
"It looked like you were hunting for the right word. We went through this once before, with mom, but we were too young to see what would happen. I was too young, and you were younger than me."
"I don't want to talk about then."
"I understand. Unfortunately, the death by coin is so similar to mom's death, including the wait while not knowing how it is going to end. The biggest difference is that when you were a kid you told mom everything you wanted before the end. Now you know you haven't told Ranma everything because you still haven't figured out for yourself what you want to tell him."
"What should I do?"
"I have no idea. You've got to figure it out for yourself. Maybe you should try everything. You know, Kiss him, clobber him, tell him you love him, and hate him. At least you'll know you included the important things."
"Be serious, Nabiki."
"Look, I have no idea what you should do. I do have some advice. When something bothers you, like the boys in school did before Ranma showed up, you get angry. And when you're angry you act in predictable ways. Well anger hasn't worked. Whatever your answer is it can't be found through anger. Any time you are getting angry, especially at Ranma, you are wasting time, and that is one thing you can no longer afford."
"I think I'll need help on this one, sister."
"I'll try to calm you down when I can. but I'd rather not risk being on the receiving end when you do get angry. Besides today's outing, what has he done to make you angry?"
"Well last Wednesday, when I made him lunch..."
* * *
Mousse, Shampoo and Ranma buy tickets for a train to the countryside, and get seats on the train on a pair of benches facing each other. Ranma and Mousse on one side facing Shampoo. The three of them ride in silence for a while, not knowing what to talk about. They've been together in each other's close company for several minutes now, and noone has tried to hit, or hit on, any of the others. With the absence of their usual means of social interaction, they're all feeling a bit uneasy.
Shampoo avoids the uneasiness of facing Ranma and Mousse by staring at the passing scenery. Shortly thereafter, Ranma turns away from Mousse, and also begins to look out the window. Ranma's eyes unfocus, and he slumps a bit more into his seat. Mousse notices and asks "Ranma, what's bothering you?"
Ranma turns around surprised. "How could you tell? I was facing away from you, and it's too bright outside for you to have seen my face reflecting in the glass?"
Mousse chuckles. "I have a hard enough time seeing faces normally, I couldn't make use of a glass-reflection like that. Facial expressions are especially hard on me. I was looking at your shoulders. Somethings bothering you, and it suddenly made you sad. Were you thinking about the coin?"
"No. I was thinking about my family."
"You should be happy, then. Isn't this the first time you've been able to spend time with your mother?"
"I guess I'm happy about that, but. How much do you know about my family, Mousse?"
"Alot about your father, but nothing about your mother except what I learned when I had dinner with you at the Tendos last week."
"Well, you know about how my father behaves in difficult situations. You know about the broken promises, the lies, and the thefts that my father is responsible for. My mother is just the opposite. Everything I've learned about honor was to measure up to her standards. Now I've decided to tell her everything about my life, and I'm afraid I wont measure up to her standards."
"Even if she's disappointed, it's obvious she loves you. I could see that even in one evening. The worst that can happen is that she'll lose her idealic image of you and see you for who you are. You wanted her to get to know the real you, after all."
"It's not that simple. My father and I are tangled up in so many promises and agreements. I may have to commit seppuku to satisfy everything."
"None of your fiancees would push things so far that you'd have to do that. Well, Cologne and Ukyou's family might want to go that far, but Shampoo and Ukyou would prevent them from pressuring you that far."
"I know. but it's not that I'd have to die to satisfy their honor that I'm worried about. It's my mother and our family honor that I'd have to die for. Even if Shampoo, Ukyou, and Akane said I didn't have to marry them, I still would have to in order to satisfy family honor. Except of course, I couldn't satisfy all of them. And then there's my curse."
"How is your curse tied in?"
"Before I went on my first training trip with Pop, He and I signed a paper saying that he would make me a man among men, or we'd commit seppuku. How can I be a man among men if I turn female? If I had an animal curse like you two I'd be alright, but being a girl means I have to die. There's no way my father would have signed anything like `We promise to kill ourselves if Ranma becomes a duck.' Sometimes I wish I had your curse, or Pops. Mom's never expressed any deadly connections to the possibility of a panda in the family."
"Well, you're cured of the curse for now. You have a year to look for the cure to the coin problem, and you've done more in 2 weeks to resolve your marital entanglements than you've achieved in months. I'd say things were looking up, even if no one can see how it will end."
"You're right. Thanks Mousse. I did introduce all of the girls to Mom, and she took it in stride."
"Actually I was thinking about spending one Saturday with Akane and Ukyou and another Saturday with us and not getting clobbered yet by anyone!" Ranma and Mousse chuckle over this and resume looking out the window.
Meanwhile all of this was, of course, overheard by Shampoo, who pretended to pay attention to the passing scenery, but was, in reality, quite surprised by both sides of the conversation she'd heard, neither Mousse nor Ranma were, in her oppinion, the introspective sort.
* * *
Nabiki skirked, "No wonder you were mad at him. He insulted you, and prevented you from blaming him directly."
"But he's insulted my cooking before. Why was this time so much worse?"
"Akane, I'm not talking about what he said about your cooking. Akane, what's the worst thing to insult someone with to their face?"
"The worst thing you could imagine, I guess."
"No. That would be a lie. Lies are only good as insults behind someone's back. When insulting someone to their face you need to use the truth. Otherwise they wont believe the insult, and will escape most of it's effects. And Ranma insulted you when he asked you why you cook for him. He listed several of the reasons why you persist in cooking for him, and showed you how silly they were. You are trying to compete with professional chefs. There is no way your cooking will be better than theirs, just as there is no way I'll defeat you in martial arts. Your food does not come out as you intended, although this you can change, you haven't yet. And you are matched only by Ranma in your hatred of loosing, even if it's a contest you can't win. Do you remember how Ranma tried to armwrestle you after you ate Happosai's magic soba? Well, when it comes to cooking you behave the same way."
"I'm not that bad, am I?"
"Honestly, I can't tell which of you is better or worse. Give up cooking for Ranma. If you want to cook, practice and try it yourself. And above all, relax. When you enter the kitchen, it looks like a battle without an opponent. When Kasumi or Ukyou cook it's like they're crafting something precious. Speaking about a battle without an opponent, did you see Kuno's foodfight yesterday?"
"No, who'd he attack?"
"He was the one attacked, and no one knows by whom. He just stood there, weapon out, smiting food flying at him. He did pretty good against the solid items, but he got clobbered by the jello, and the onigiri."
* * *
Nodoka returns to the Tendos, and seeks out Soun. I wanted to talk with you about Genma's agreement to engage Ranma to one of your daughters. I'd like to honor his promise; I really like Akane, and wouldn't mind having her as a daughter. But Genma made other promises. If Genma were here, I'd ask him to do this, would you be willing to write out a formal document describing when and how and what Genma promised you?"
"Of course. I'd be glad to do it immediately."
"I do have one other question. Is it true that you knew nothing about Ukyou until she showed up, and that Genma admitted it was a valid engagement, even though he also claims Akane's is valid, and wants Ranma to marry Akane?"
"Yes I'm afraid it is. He does want Ranma to marry Akane though and our agreement predates theirs."
"Please be sure to mention all of that, and bring your hanpo, I want us to sign it together."
* * *
Ranma, Shampoo and Mousse have left the train, and gotten directions to one of the hiking trails in the area. They walk to the beginning of the path, an old flight of stone stairs flanked by stone jizo statues. Ranma stops and asks the other two, "So what will it be this time? Giant beavers and an eight-headed dragon? Two-headed birds fighting derainged monks? Burried caves holding demons? or just Ryouga looking for the toilet?" All three chuckle as they make their way up the stairs
* * *
"Why don't we spar for a while? All this scenery is nice and all, but we should be doing something we enjoy." Ranma points out.
"But how are we going to keep it friendly? And anyway, we fight all of the time. How will this be any different?"
"We could fight two against one where the two are forced to work together using the areas that they are weakest. It wouldn't be a fight anyone would feel bad loosing, because one side is outnumbered, and the other is voluntarily giving up their strengths. Mousse, many of your attacks work as well or better from a long distance. The only attack I regularly use from a distance is the Moko Takabisha, and Shampoo nearly always closes the distance between you two. What if we decide to fight so that we have to stay 20 meters from you, and I can't use my chi attack. There's a chance we'd win if we coordinate our attack, but it's still uncertain, and both Shampoo and I would get a workout training skills we rarely use. You'll get a workout without the risk of our normal bludgeoning, and can show off what you're best at, and we can train something we rarely need, but it's a skill we'd be better having. Then we can switch partners and fight a different way, like the two of you against me without any weapons and all attacks made at least 5 feet off of the ground. Neither of you are at your best unarmed, so this would be good training for you."
Shampoo asks, "Do you just want to spar, or are we going to teach each other to fight better?"
Mousse suggests, "The person fighting alone could call out hold to stop the fight, and point out ways of doing things better. We should also set boundaries so that we stay together and can watch each other's fighting styles."
"Sounds good Mousse." Ranma says, "Lets use this path, that clearing, and that rock as the boundaries. Lets try this."
* * *
As Ranma returns home, before entering the house, he's stopped by Soun, who obviously wants to talk to Ranma in private. They proceed to the dojo to talk undisturbed. "Ranma, I'm not at all pleased with your dating other girls. You are engaged to marry my daughter. I insist you stop this!"
"I haven't dated anyone in weeks. If you are referring to today, I spent time with 2 of my friends from China. Until Akane can get along with them, she can't join us. As her father, it is up to you to talk to her about getting along with Shampoo, not to talk to me about inviting her along."
"Your father and I want ..."
"My father is hiding from my mother right now. My mother is trying to fulfill all of the promises my father made, not only to you. And I'm trying to get to know my mother and my friends better."
"As a guest in this house ..."
"As a guest, I'm indebted to you, but not subject to your whims. If you no longer want me here, my mother and I will return to her place to live. As mom believes Pop is your niece's panda, I wont be able to take him with us. But if your hospitality to the Saotomes is at an end I know he can live by himself on the road until I've told mother about his cursed form."
"You wouldn't tell her about Genma's curse!"
"I will, eventually. I'm hoping to lead up to it so that she doesn't want him instantly dead. Why worry? Mom's a loving dutiful wife who would only insist he take his own life if his honor were irreparably strained. Surely you dont think that about the head of the house you wish to be joined with yours."
"Stop changing the subject! I'm talking to you about your behavior towards other women!"
"I know that, but in what capacity? We've ruled out `host to guest'. As I haven't married Akane yet you cannot talk to me as a father-inlaw, or as a senior member of the family if I take Akane's name. As my father's best friend you have no right to dictate to me. Our only other relationship is as members of branchant families of martial arts that date back to the same pervert who founded both our schools. As things stand, your master claims me as his pupil, so I should refer to you as Senpai, however that isnt enough to justify your demand that I change my behavior. You could challenge me, but you'd lose. Pop's kept up his training better than you, and the only reason we could spar in the morning is because we don't use any special attacks. When was the last time you fought Happosai when he wasn't already injured?"
"Ranma, you will do as your father and I want, or.."
"No! You will let me proceed at my own pace or I will have to fight you. If you make yourself my enemy, my first move will be to fight you for the dojo. I will refuse to fight Akane in that fight unless you conceed that she is the master of this dojo. If you do, then she can elope with anyone of her choosing, and you will be out of her life. If you don't, then I'll make you wish I was Happosai. When you finally fall unconcious I'll splinter the dojo sign. This is my threat for my first action against you should you become my enemy. If you are my ally, then your dreams of uniting our families wont be crushed."
"Ranma, you can't threaten me!"
"I did threaten you. I can make it happen. I can do worse. I might be able to get Nabiki's name on your familie's registry as the Tendo family head. It would only work if she agreed to it. Do you want to risk it? I can crush your dreams by taking my own life, I'm under a death sentence already. If you become my enemy there is nothing you can do to combine our families. I'll have you beside me as an ally, and you'll obey me, or you'll lose everything." At this, Soun burst into long overdue tears.