Congratulations to Ghost in the Machine for recognizing the source comic for Onna-Ranma's powers. DP7 from Marvel Comics old New Universe line. I always thought that was one of the most original powers I've ever seen.

Disclaimers: I am not responsible for Fox network importing the worst Anime from Japan then having it dubbed badly. Oh, I also do not own anything from Crossgen comics, Marvel Comics, or any of the Ranma stuff that Takehashi- san blessed the world with.

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Akane was training in the dojo when her sister came in and snapped a picture of her. She frowned but otherwise ignored her sister, instead setting up another concrete block.

"This is why all the boys think you're so weird." Nabiki teased.

"Why would I care what a bunch of boys think? They're all perverts as far as I'm concerned." Akane retorted.

"Then I guess you don't want to hear what daddy has to say then." Nabiki countered.

Soon all three girls were sitting around the dining table, Kasumi serving tea. Soun Tendo sat across from them holding a postcard and weeping joyfully.

"Girls, I just received a postcard from an old friend of mine, Genma Saotome. Him and his son will be coming to stay with us today because of a promise we made long ago before any of you were born. You see, in order for the legacy of the anything goes school of martial arts to continue, one of you will marry Ranma from the Saotome school to unite both branches."

The response was immediate.

"What! Don't we get any say in who we're going to marry?"

"Oh my! I do hope he's older than me. Younger men are so immature."

"Wait a minute Akane, maybe he's cute." The last was said by Nabiki.

"I can't believe you want one of us to marry a boy!" Akane continued her protest.

"Would you rather marry a girl?" Nabiki came back. "So what's he like this Ranma?"

"I wouldn't know." Soun said, "I've never met him." He quickly hid behind the postcard as if reading it again.

There was a noise of the front door opening and Soun breathed a sigh of relief, "That must be them." he shouted as he got up to run down the hall followed by Nabiki and slower by Akane and Kasumi.

Akane and Kasumi reached the hallway just in time to see Nabiki and their father come running back around the corner followed by a large panda carrying someone.

"Damn it Pops, put me down, you're scaring them." The figure yelled. The panda complied only to be elbowed in the gut by an irate redhead.

"You wouldn't be..." Soun began.

"Yeah, I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this." Ranma said, straightening out her shirt.

Soun Glomped onto her, "I'm so glad you're finally here!" He continued hugging for a second until he realized something wasn't quite right. He suddenly leapt away in horror and Nabiki leaned in to examine her potential fiancé.

Reaching out a hand, Nabiki grabbed one of Ranma's breasts, "Daddy, he's a she!" at which point Soun fainted.

Ranma sat between Akane and Nabiki while Soun recovered from his faint.

"Way to go dad, engaging us to a girl." Nabiki growled. She was frusterated, she'd actually been looking forward to meeting a potential fiancé who hadn't been influenced by whatever drew all the boys to Akane.

"I always assumed Genma's son was a boy." Soun commented.

Nabiki grabbed Ranma's breast again, "Does this look like a boy to you?"

"Please don't do that." Ranma said. She'd been quiet this whole time, trying to figure out the best way to deal with this mess. She wasn't happy not telling them about her curse, however she'd be engaged to one of them if she was a boy. Nabiki seemed nice enough even if she was a little aggressive.

"Stop that! Ranma's our guest even if she's not a boy. Sorry about that. I'm Akane, you want to be friends?"

Ranma blinked then with a growing smile took Akane's offered hand and nodded. Ranma's hopes rose, if Akane wanted to be friends then maybe he could stay here for a while after all. She certainly was cute enough.

"You practice Kempo right?" Akane asked. Ranma nodded. "Great, let's spar." She grabbed Ranma's hand and ran off towards the dojo.

"All right, this is just for practice ok?" Akane said taking up a beginner's pose.

Ranma just stared wide eyed at Akane and made no move to prepare herself. Akane decided to go easy at first. Maybe Ranma wasn't all that good after all. Launching herself at Ranma she swung with a basic punch that failed to connect. Ranma wasn't there. Akane increased her pace but couldn't even touch Ranma, "Is she reading my moves?"

Finally Ranma was almost back against the wall, "This time for real!" Akane yelled. As she moved to punch black hands shot out from Ranma to grab the dark haired girl.

"No!" Ranma shouted. The hands stopped and retreated. Ranma however had been distracted and took the full fury of Akane's punch sending the lighter martial artist into the dojo wall with a loud crack. Ranma slid down from the girl shaped impression in the wooden wall and sat dazed on the floor.

"Oh no! I'm sorry Ranma are you ok?" Akane rushed to her side.

Ranma shook her head, "Yeah, I'll be ok, lost my breath there. Hey that was a pretty good punch there." She picked herself up off the floor, wincing slightly at the bruised ribs as she inhaled.

"You're pretty good yourself. If I hadn't gotten that lucky shot in you'd have won for sure. I'm glad you're a girl though." Ranma gave Akane a questioning look at the statement, "I hate fighting with boys, they're all perverts."

*Well so much for friends.* Ranma thought to herself as Akane left the dojo.

"This is where you'll be staying." Kasumi gestured towards the guest room, "You've been practicing with Akane haven't you?"

Ranma nodded.

"Here, go take a bath and get cleaned up for dinner." Kasumi handed a towel and bath supplies to Ranma. Her tone offered no room for argument. Ranma gulped and turned to the bathroom with a defeated sigh.

Downstairs Nabiki intercepted Akane as she came in, "Hey Akane, the furo should be heated up by now. You're all sweaty and I don't want to sit by you at dinner if you're all stinky."

Akane grudgingly agreed and headed to the furo. Nabiki stared after her then returned her thoughts to what she had seen while watching Ranma spar with Akane. She was certain Akane hadn't seen the shadowy hands that almost attacked her nor the flash of light that came from the tattoo on Ranma's palm when she cried out. Then there was the old man talking to her father. Nabiki was sure she hadn't seen him come in, and where did the panda go? The was the vaguest idea nibbling in her brain but it was so ludicrous she almost dismissed it outright. Just who or what was Ranma Saotome?

Inside soaking in the hot tub, Ranma was trying to think of someway to reveal his curse with minimum impact. *Maybe I should just go out like I am.* he mused. Getting up he took a step out of the tub just as the door to the changing room slid open to reveal a mostly nude Akane, covered by the barest of towels. She looked long and hard at Ranma then stepped back closing the door behind her. *That went better than expected.* Ranma thought shortly before the screaming started.

Ranma walked down the stairs to see everyone gathered in the dining/ tea room. Akane had the dining table high over her head shouting that she'd 'drown the pervert in the tub'. Everyone stopped and looked up at Ranma.

"Uh, Hi, I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

"Your problem isn't so bad after all." Soun exclaimed after all the explanations were done. Ranma wondered briefly what color the sky was in Soun's world. These are my daughters. Kasumi, she'd nineteen. Nabiki is seventeen, and Akane is sixteen. Pick one and she will be your fiancé."

Kasumi spoke up first, "I think Akane would be perfect."

"What! Me marry that sex changing pervert! No WAY!" Akane swore vehemently.

Nabiki shrugged, "Fine, I'll take him for now." She began to walk around the now flustered, blushing redhead, "He's cute in both forms, polite for the most part, and he doesn't seem to be hung up on you." *That and I want to know more about what I saw earlier. Besides, if he turns out to be a dud I can always unload him on Akane or get rid of him all together.*

"Nabiki! How can you possibly be interested in him, he's a pervert. He saw me nude!"

"Hey, you walked in on me remember? Besides I noticed you took a pretty good look yourself. And anyway, it's no big deal to see a naked girl. I see one all the time and I'm better built to boot."

WHAM!

Nabiki shook her head. There was such a thing as being too honest. Still he seemed worth salvaging. She helped Kasumi pull an unconscious Ranma out from under the dining room table Akane had clobbered him with.

Ranma woke a short while later. Kasumi and Nabiki were both sitting nearby. Removing a cold compress from Ranma's forehead Kasumi smiled, "You have to forgive Akane. She really a nice girl, just a violent maniac."

"Oh right Kasumi, like that explains everything. Could you go get some hot water? I'd like to speak to Ranma for a minute." Nabiki said.

Kasumi gave a knowing smile and left the room shutting the door behind her.

"All right Saotome, time to come clean." Nabiki began.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The rest of the story you're not telling us. Like what's the deal with that glowing tattoo and shadowy hands coming out of your body."

Ranma sighed, "You saw that huh? Well, I guess I can tell you, you're my fiancé now right? Just keep it to yourself ok? I'm not ready for my pop to learn about this yet. He'd probably take advantage of me again and use me to make money or something dumb like that."

Nabiki winced internally, that was basically what she had planned once she could figure an angle. The fact that Ranma trusted her made her feel guilty for some reason. She tried to shake it off. "How about I keep it a secret as long as it doesn't pose a threat to my family in exchange for you helping me out with the finances around here. I promise I won't take advantage of you without your permission." Ranma nodded hesitantly. "Good, now talk."

Ranma began his tale with Genma and his trip to the Amazon village and his encounter with Shampoo. He followed with how they had been chased all over China up until the night his Anti-bodies defended him from the purple haired warrior. Nabiki for the most part took it pretty well, she had seen both Genma and Ranma change forms earlier so it wasn't a stretch of the imagination to believe in magic tattoo and shadow servants.

Nabiki asked to see a demonstration so Ranma called out his three helpers, "This is Lori, Carla, and Mae." Ranma introduced. The three anti-bodies walked over to Nabiki and scrutinized her. After a minute, Carla gave Ranma a big grin and a thumbs up. Lori was more interested in What Nabiki was wearing and Mae was frowning as if undecided.

"Well, two out of three ain't bad." Nabiki commented, "So how long did it take you to find three female version names of the Three Stooges?" *So how much of their thoughts and personalities are Ranma's. Does that mean he likes me but is suspicious?*

Ranma shrugged, "I had a lot of time on the boat back to Japan. So would you like a demonstration of what they can do?" Mae seemed to take that as a cue and merged with Ranma so that Ranma was completely covered. Floating off the ground slowly she pushed the window open and grabbed Nabiki in her arms.

Nabiki gasped as they flew out into the night sky.

"Ranma, I brought some hot water." Kasumi said, coming in the guest room, "Oh my, I wonder where they went?"

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NOTES and RANTS:

Not a whole lot here yet, your basic intro canon with minor variants so far. I'd like to jusmp right to the meat of the story but am hesitant to do so without a good setup. I Think I'll go up past the Martial arts tourney before I start to diverge too weird. I had a really good plot come to me while I was in my Art of China class last week.