Chapter 1: The New Girl
The red haired girl ran very fast, not because she had a time limit to get where she was going, but because she wanted to get there fast. She was a blur of motion as she rushed past people and around corners. The most incredible thing was that she was running on the fences and not the sidewalks.
That actually was not what was causing people to stare at her. The were used to people running that fast. They were even used to one person in particular running on the fences.
What caused them to stare was the fact that she did not have a pigtail and was not wearing Chinese clothing. Her hair was cropped to about earlobe length and her clothing was definitely American. If her hair had been in one pigtail down the back, no one would have given her a second glance. Even if her clothing had been remotely Chinese looking she would have been spared a few stares.
Of course, she never noticed the stares. She wasn't paying attention, lost in her thoughts.
She did notice when a purple-haired girl suddenly jumped her.
Akane rushed home from school. Her pen friend was coming to stay with her for a while, and she needed to make sure that everything was ready. She had first written to Naru when she was in third grade as a school project, and the correspondence had kept up since, even when Naru had left America for China.
Naru was actually from Japan, but her mother and she had moved to America when she was very little. Her father had left her when she was a baby. She had no memory of him. A few years ago she had decided to go to China for a few reasons. The first was the fact that her father was there, and she wanted to find him.
The second was the fact that she was a martial artist, and she wanted to train.
Akane smiled. Naru's training had gone well. She was now mostly focusing on tracking her father. When Naru had told her that she had discovered that he was in Japan, Akane invited her to stay for a while with her, while she figured out his exact location. Naru had agreed.
Naru was going to be staying for at least a month, and so she would be going to school with Akane. Akane relished the thought of having a sane person to talk to. She needed that right now. Her life was being turned upside down by Ranma and the chaos that seemed to cling to him like a magnet.
She was shook out of her thoughts by a cry from a voice she recognized, Shampoo.
"Nihao, Arien!" came the cry.
No matter how much of a hurry she was in, Akane always had time to clobber Ranma if he even touched one of his other "fiancées". From the sound of it, Shampoo was probably hanging all over Ranma at the moment and he had to be punished for that.
Running towards where she had heard the voice, she came upon a strange scene. Shampoo was trying to hug a person who at first appeared to be Ranma in his girl form. However there where a few things that didn't seem quite right. For one thing, the girl was not wearing anything that Ranma would wear. She was dressed in American style, very feminine clothing, black capris and a green halter top. Another thing was that her hair was too short. Still, it was possible that this could be Ranma with a new look, except for one thing.
As she was dodging Shampoo's hugs with the speed that only a martial artist could manage, she was speaking fluently in Chinese to Shampoo.
If there was one thing that was a fact in the world, it was that Ranma could not speak Chinese for the life of him. There was only one explanation.
This was not Ranma.
"Naru?" Akane asked.
Naru had been very bewildered when the Chinese girl had jumped at her calling her husband. Naru had met this girl before, in a less friendly situation. It had been in China, and the girl, *Xian Pu* Naru remembered, had attacked her, thinking she was some girl who had defeated her in battle. She was an Amazon. Naru had only just managed to escape with her life, and that was not the last time she had tangled with the Amazon. Finally she had cut her hair short so that she could be told apart from who ever the girl was hunting.
But this, she could not explain. She could not possibly look anything like the poor man who had managed to defeat her (Naru had made a point of researching Amazon laws so as not to get on the wrong side of them). Why was the girl calling her husband then?
%Wait a minute, what are you talking about?% She said in Shampoo's language.
%Ranma, you can finally speak my language. Did you practice just so you could marry me?% Shampoo yelled delightedly in the same language.
%What.? Ranma.? Weren't you trying to kill her? Since when do Amazons consent to same sex marriages?%
Shampoo finally stopped chasing her and actually looked at her. At the same moment, another girl said, "Naru?"
At the same time Shampoo said "Naru? What you doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you. What happened to Ranma? Is she dead?"
"No. It long story. I have fiancée now."
"So I gathered."
Akane spoke up again, tentatively. "So, you are Naru?"
Naru looked at her. "Akane?"
"Naru!" Akane yelled gladly, racing forward as Naru jumped down from the fence to greet her.
"Good thing I found you." Naru said. "Otherwise, I would have had to walk around the whole area, looking for your dojo."
"I believe I found you." Akane corrected.
Shampoo could no longer stay out of the conversation. "How you know Naru?" She asked Akane.
"How do you know her?" Akane asked in surprise.
"I ask first."
"How about you let me explain." Interrupted Naru, who could see an argument coming a mile away. "I met Xian Pu in China, where she mistook me for a girl named Ranma, whom she was trying to kill. Akane has been my pen friend since we where in third grade. Does that explain everything?"
They never got a chance to answer. At that moment a busty redhead came around the corner, chased by a tall boy dressed like a samurai, waving a wooden sword about and spouting poetry. The girl stopped as she saw Shampoo.
The boy froze as he saw the group. Anyone could see why. Naru and the redhead looked almost exactly alike. The only differences were their clothing, the length and style of their hair, and their eyes. Their bodies also had slightly different builds, but it was only noticeable when they were examined very carefully. If they had dressed alike and styled their hair the same, one would have a hard time telling them apart.
Hazel eyes met blue as the two redheads stared at each other. They couldn't seem to find words for the situation.
Naru recovered first. "So, you must be Ranma." She turned to Shampoo. %Aren't you trying to kill her?%
%Like I said, it's a long story.% Shampoo replied.
%You'll have to explain it to me sometime.%
%If you're going to stay here, there's going to be a lot of explaining done.% Shampoo sighed. %Lets start with this.% She went into the nearest house and came back with a kettle of hot water. %That is not a she.% She said pointing at Ranma. %That is a he.% She pored hot water on the girl.
Sure enough, as soon as the steam cleared, Naru saw that the redhead had turned into a rather cute, muscular black-haired boy with a pigtail.
%So that explains the husband thing, right?%
%Right. You're taking this very calmly.%
%Well.% She began.
"I couldn't understand a word you two were just saying, but."
The pigtailed boy was interrupted by the samurai wannabe boy yelling, "Ranma Soatome, bring back my pigtailed beauty you foul sorcerer."
"Excuse me." Said Ranma. He walked over and casually kicked the other boy so hard that Naru could have sworn that he was going to reach the moon. "Now, where was I?"
"You couldn't understand a word we just said. By the way, who's the samurai guy?" Naru supplied for him calmly.
"Right. I'm guessing that she was trying to explain my curse right? Oh, and that was Kunou, the biggest idiotic moron on the face of the earth." Suddenly he did a double take.
"Wait a sec, you're taking this very calmly." He said, surprised.
"Of course. I've been to Jusenkyou."
The red haired girl ran very fast, not because she had a time limit to get where she was going, but because she wanted to get there fast. She was a blur of motion as she rushed past people and around corners. The most incredible thing was that she was running on the fences and not the sidewalks.
That actually was not what was causing people to stare at her. The were used to people running that fast. They were even used to one person in particular running on the fences.
What caused them to stare was the fact that she did not have a pigtail and was not wearing Chinese clothing. Her hair was cropped to about earlobe length and her clothing was definitely American. If her hair had been in one pigtail down the back, no one would have given her a second glance. Even if her clothing had been remotely Chinese looking she would have been spared a few stares.
Of course, she never noticed the stares. She wasn't paying attention, lost in her thoughts.
She did notice when a purple-haired girl suddenly jumped her.
Akane rushed home from school. Her pen friend was coming to stay with her for a while, and she needed to make sure that everything was ready. She had first written to Naru when she was in third grade as a school project, and the correspondence had kept up since, even when Naru had left America for China.
Naru was actually from Japan, but her mother and she had moved to America when she was very little. Her father had left her when she was a baby. She had no memory of him. A few years ago she had decided to go to China for a few reasons. The first was the fact that her father was there, and she wanted to find him.
The second was the fact that she was a martial artist, and she wanted to train.
Akane smiled. Naru's training had gone well. She was now mostly focusing on tracking her father. When Naru had told her that she had discovered that he was in Japan, Akane invited her to stay for a while with her, while she figured out his exact location. Naru had agreed.
Naru was going to be staying for at least a month, and so she would be going to school with Akane. Akane relished the thought of having a sane person to talk to. She needed that right now. Her life was being turned upside down by Ranma and the chaos that seemed to cling to him like a magnet.
She was shook out of her thoughts by a cry from a voice she recognized, Shampoo.
"Nihao, Arien!" came the cry.
No matter how much of a hurry she was in, Akane always had time to clobber Ranma if he even touched one of his other "fiancées". From the sound of it, Shampoo was probably hanging all over Ranma at the moment and he had to be punished for that.
Running towards where she had heard the voice, she came upon a strange scene. Shampoo was trying to hug a person who at first appeared to be Ranma in his girl form. However there where a few things that didn't seem quite right. For one thing, the girl was not wearing anything that Ranma would wear. She was dressed in American style, very feminine clothing, black capris and a green halter top. Another thing was that her hair was too short. Still, it was possible that this could be Ranma with a new look, except for one thing.
As she was dodging Shampoo's hugs with the speed that only a martial artist could manage, she was speaking fluently in Chinese to Shampoo.
If there was one thing that was a fact in the world, it was that Ranma could not speak Chinese for the life of him. There was only one explanation.
This was not Ranma.
"Naru?" Akane asked.
Naru had been very bewildered when the Chinese girl had jumped at her calling her husband. Naru had met this girl before, in a less friendly situation. It had been in China, and the girl, *Xian Pu* Naru remembered, had attacked her, thinking she was some girl who had defeated her in battle. She was an Amazon. Naru had only just managed to escape with her life, and that was not the last time she had tangled with the Amazon. Finally she had cut her hair short so that she could be told apart from who ever the girl was hunting.
But this, she could not explain. She could not possibly look anything like the poor man who had managed to defeat her (Naru had made a point of researching Amazon laws so as not to get on the wrong side of them). Why was the girl calling her husband then?
%Wait a minute, what are you talking about?% She said in Shampoo's language.
%Ranma, you can finally speak my language. Did you practice just so you could marry me?% Shampoo yelled delightedly in the same language.
%What.? Ranma.? Weren't you trying to kill her? Since when do Amazons consent to same sex marriages?%
Shampoo finally stopped chasing her and actually looked at her. At the same moment, another girl said, "Naru?"
At the same time Shampoo said "Naru? What you doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you. What happened to Ranma? Is she dead?"
"No. It long story. I have fiancée now."
"So I gathered."
Akane spoke up again, tentatively. "So, you are Naru?"
Naru looked at her. "Akane?"
"Naru!" Akane yelled gladly, racing forward as Naru jumped down from the fence to greet her.
"Good thing I found you." Naru said. "Otherwise, I would have had to walk around the whole area, looking for your dojo."
"I believe I found you." Akane corrected.
Shampoo could no longer stay out of the conversation. "How you know Naru?" She asked Akane.
"How do you know her?" Akane asked in surprise.
"I ask first."
"How about you let me explain." Interrupted Naru, who could see an argument coming a mile away. "I met Xian Pu in China, where she mistook me for a girl named Ranma, whom she was trying to kill. Akane has been my pen friend since we where in third grade. Does that explain everything?"
They never got a chance to answer. At that moment a busty redhead came around the corner, chased by a tall boy dressed like a samurai, waving a wooden sword about and spouting poetry. The girl stopped as she saw Shampoo.
The boy froze as he saw the group. Anyone could see why. Naru and the redhead looked almost exactly alike. The only differences were their clothing, the length and style of their hair, and their eyes. Their bodies also had slightly different builds, but it was only noticeable when they were examined very carefully. If they had dressed alike and styled their hair the same, one would have a hard time telling them apart.
Hazel eyes met blue as the two redheads stared at each other. They couldn't seem to find words for the situation.
Naru recovered first. "So, you must be Ranma." She turned to Shampoo. %Aren't you trying to kill her?%
%Like I said, it's a long story.% Shampoo replied.
%You'll have to explain it to me sometime.%
%If you're going to stay here, there's going to be a lot of explaining done.% Shampoo sighed. %Lets start with this.% She went into the nearest house and came back with a kettle of hot water. %That is not a she.% She said pointing at Ranma. %That is a he.% She pored hot water on the girl.
Sure enough, as soon as the steam cleared, Naru saw that the redhead had turned into a rather cute, muscular black-haired boy with a pigtail.
%So that explains the husband thing, right?%
%Right. You're taking this very calmly.%
%Well.% She began.
"I couldn't understand a word you two were just saying, but."
The pigtailed boy was interrupted by the samurai wannabe boy yelling, "Ranma Soatome, bring back my pigtailed beauty you foul sorcerer."
"Excuse me." Said Ranma. He walked over and casually kicked the other boy so hard that Naru could have sworn that he was going to reach the moon. "Now, where was I?"
"You couldn't understand a word we just said. By the way, who's the samurai guy?" Naru supplied for him calmly.
"Right. I'm guessing that she was trying to explain my curse right? Oh, and that was Kunou, the biggest idiotic moron on the face of the earth." Suddenly he did a double take.
"Wait a sec, you're taking this very calmly." He said, surprised.
"Of course. I've been to Jusenkyou."