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Ranma ½ A.M.: After Marriage
Chapter 1: It begins again…
Ranma stared at the letters in his hands and swallowed hard. He'd hoped that the pact would have been forgotten; of course that kind of luck never had been his. He wandered around the house stepping over the books and stuff Yui and the other kids had left lying in the hallway. He found his wife in the kitchen and winced involuntarily.
Noticing the flinch Akane Saotome sighed. "I'm not cooking Ranma so get that look off your face." Akane said crossly. Glancing over her shoulder she noticed the letters hanging from his hand. "Ranma, what's that?"
"Cologne is dead, she died last week. You know what that means don't you?" Ranma said. Akane dropped the apple she was holding as her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes distressed. Ranma walked over and they held each other tightly.
"Where are the kids?" Akane asked her voice muffled against his chest.
"Taki and Kari are practicing in the dojo, Yui and Kia are visiting Kasumi." Ranma said resting his forehead on hers. "I also got a letter from Ryoga, they're moving back. I guess this is as good a time as any to tell them."
"Don't worry Ranma, everything will work out. It's not like they will hate us."
"Have you forgiven your father yet? 'Cause I haven't forgiven Pop."
Akane held Ranma tighter. "It'll be alright, we won't be like them." Ranma sighed, I don't think it will matter he thought. Slowly they walked toward the dojo.
Inside the dojo the two people sparring were equally matched. They looked like mirror images, expect one was obviously female. Both wore identical outfits that resembled their father's favorite and their black hair was done in the familiar ponytail. They hit blow for blow, block for block. Pausing in the doorway Ranma watched them for a minute. "They're definitely your children Ranma." Akane said smiling.
"Come on you tomboy, you hit like a girl." The young man taunted. The girl's eyes blazed and a mallet appeared and she knocked him into the wall.
"And she's definitely your daughter." Ranma returned. "I still don't know how you two do that."
The boy got up rubbing his head. "Ow, Kari what was that for?"
"You insulted my technique." Kari returned turning she saw her parents, guiltily she put away the mallet. "Hi Daddy, Mom, um we were just sparring."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Yes I see that. Kari, Taki, we need to speak with you about something important." Akane slipped her hand in his.
"What is it Dad?" Taki asked coming to stand next to his sister.
Ranma sighed. "I hoped to never have to do this to my own children, but…"
"Just tell them Ranma, it'll be alright." Akane said.
"Your both engaged."
"Baka!" Akane said cuffing the side of his head. "Not like that!"
"What are you guys talking about?" Taki asked confused. Akane motioned for them to sit and when they were all comfortable she answered.
"You two know how your father and I met right?" Akane began.
"Sure, Grandpop had Dad slung over his shoulder after getting him cursed." Kari answered.
"Well, we didn't know it at the time, but your father had been engaged to two other girls. Your grandfather made a promise to Ukyo and then broke it. Ranma beat Shampoo in battle and by her laws that made him her husband."
"You've told us all this before Mom, so what?" Taki said.
"Your father loved me, and therefore couldn't marry either of them, but because of your grandfather's promise couldn't let Ukyo go without sacrificing his honor. As you know honor is very important to your father, so the three of us, Nabiki, your father and I, came up with an alternative. We promised our firstborn son to her first daughter, that would be you Taki."
Taki looked stunned as his mother continued. "Now you remember your Granny Cologne?" At both kids nods she went on. "I'm sorry to tell you she passed on. She was Shampoo's Great-grandmother, and a very fine woman. Well after our wedding, she saw that she could not take Ranma away from me by force, and truthfully didn't want to. She officially adopted me into the amazon tribe under the condition that any and all daughters we had would be amazons and married to one of her children. That means you Kari."
Kari looked back and forth from one parent to the next. "Whoa! I'm supposed to marry some amazon guy I've ever met? Just because Dad beat some chick? No way, no how!"
"Kari, sweetheart, we had no choice." Akane said pleading with her daughter to understand.
"No choice? Yeah right, this was just easier! Well I ain't doing it, and you can tell those amazons to stuff it." Kari shouted.
"Kari! Don't yell at your mother like that! You weren't there, so don't tell us what was easier." Ranma said firmly.
"I hate you!" Kari screamed tears forming in her eyes and ran out of the dojo.
"Kari…" Ranma said and moved to follow her but was stopped by Akane.
"Don't. I don't think she'll want to see either one of us now. She didn't mean that. She was just upset."
"Hurts just the same." Ranma said head downcast. He looked at his oldest son. "You gonna to storm off too?"
"Nah, I just gotta think about this for a while. What's her name anyway?"
"Mika. Mika Habiki." Akane answered.
"Uncle Ryoga's kid? Well she's be a great sparring partner if she's anything like him, not many around here are except family." Taki said absently. "I better go find Kari, she could cause some damage right now, mind as well be to my head. Don't worry Dad she'll forgive you."
"Thanks Taki." Ranma said smiling briefly at his son.
After racing over the rooftops, Kari came to a conclusion. She had to talk to Tacchi. She dropped into the street and made her way to the Kuno Mansion. Jumping the fence she dodged the obstacles and came to the front door. Her aunt answered her knock.
"You know darling, it would be easier just to announce your self at the gate." Nabiki Tendo Kuno said wryly.
"But not near as much fun. Is Tacchi home?" Kari asked.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "That's to the point. 500 yen."
Kari rolled her eyes and sighed. "Aunt Nabiki."
"Okay since it's you, he should be home in another couple of minutes. Come on in and tell Auntie all about it."
"1000 yen." Kari said deadpanned. Nabiki laughed as she lead her to the living room.
When Tacchi got home from his business meeting he found his cousin pacing in the living room and his mother watching with an amused expression. "Hey Kari what's up?"
"She needs to talk, Tacchi. I'll distract your father for an hour, you can both owe me." Nabiki said winking. "Oh Tatchi-baby."
Tacchi shook his head. "It always creeps me out when she does that. So what's wrong?"
"Oh Tacchi it's horrible! Mommy and Daddy engaged me to some amazon nutball!" Kari said.
"Aw, man did Cologne die? She was such a cool lady." Tacchi said sorrowfully. "She was going to teach me some martial arts business techniques."
Kari stopped pacing and stared at him. "You knew?"
"Kari, I have Nabiki Tendo for a mother, nothing every gets by her, especially involving her family." Tacchi said smiling.
Kari growled and launched herself at him. "TACCHI!"
Tacchi proceeded to dodge his cousin's attacks. "Kari, come on, cut this out. Let's talk about this. You know I can take you down if I really want."
"You knew and you didn't tell us! I'm gonna beat you bloody!" Kari cried.
Tacchi sighed as he dodged another blow to the head and got a punch in the stomach. "Hey that hurt! Look if you want to do this at least let's go outside, do you know how much Mom charges for blood?"
"Fine! Outside and explain yourself." Kari said backing off.
Tacchi shook his head and led her out to the pond in the backyard. "I take it that your parents never told you what happened before they were married."
"Sure they told us stories but never, oh by the way I engaged you to their kid to save my hide." Kari said mutinously.
"It's funny you know I always wanted to live in the dojo, have Ranma and Akane for parents. Mom's great and all but sometimes it's like I don't exist, and Dad's well Dad." Tacchi said wistfully.
Kari snorted."It's not as great as you think, someone's always busting in and threatening to kill Dad. Or kidnap Mom, yeah that's a big one too." Kari stated. "It's annoying. I mean how many people spend their sixth birthday watching their Dad pound the daylights out of some guy in a tiger skin?"
"You've been kidnapped a couple times too, if I remember correctly." Tacchi said with a smile.
"Hey it was only twice, if you don't count family." Kari said defensively. "Anyway that never happens anymore, not since everyone learned that Dad's been training us. Besides you were kidnapped once too remember."
"My was purely mercenary. Yours were revenge. And Dad's really sorry about kidnapping you." Tacchi said sheepishly.
"Sure he is. Just like Aunt Kodachi. And Happosai." Kari said rolling her eyes. "Not to mention, Grandpop and Grandma, and Cologne. Jeez, just because I'm a girl why do I always get targeted?"
"Taki and Yui have been kidnapped too." Tacchi pointed out Kari glared. "Say why has Kia never been attacked?"
"He's like Aunt Kasumi, everyone loves him. Anyway, by the time Kia came around the kidnapper would have at least five pissed off martial artists after him, no one wants that." Kari said wryly. She paused. "I said some really bad things to Dad and Mom."
"Yeah you did." A voice said above them. Taki dropped down from the tree and stood next to them. "You didn't kill anyone did you?"
"Of course not. You are so annoying Narutaki!" Kari said. "I'm having a conversation with Tacchi."
"I can see that, hey Tacchi. Sorry about this, I know you have Kendo practice now."
"No problem, Mom's taking care of it. Look why don't you ask Mom about what really went down back then, it'll be on me. She owns me a favor."
"Won't change my mind." Kari said mutinously.
"Just listen ok? How about you Taki, does this upset you too?"
"Not really, I mean it worked out for Mom and Dad right? Besides, if we really hate each other, Dad will put a stop to it. He always puts our feelings first." Taki said pointedly. "After all Dad has done for us, I think it's the least I can do."
Kari looked down at the ground shamefully. "Not like we asked him to. sigh I guess it wouldn't hurt just to meet the guy. But I'm not marrying some pansy."
Tacchi smiled. "Good then you'll listen to Mom. I should go rescue Dad before all his money's in Mom's name again. It took a week to fix it last time." Tacchi said as he moved toward the house.
"I knew there was a grown-up in there somewhere." Taki said teasingly. Kari punched him. "Ow. That hurt you know."
Kari smiled. "Good, it was supposed to. Look here comes Aunt Nabiki."
"Hey kids, Tacchi said you want some info." Nabiki said smirking.
"Well, since we're now engaged to two perfect strangers, we'd like to know about their families, and why Mom and Dad did this." Taki said.
"Yes I heard Cologne died, so they never told you about the deals huh? Well darlings, you come to the right place, sit back and let me tell you about how your Mom and Dad got together, thanks to me." Nabiki said leading the twins back to the living room.
"Well sweeties it was like this, everyone knew your Mom and Dad were crazy about each other, well except for a few crazed martial artists, but because they're incredibly stubborn and our fathers are complete idiots, they would never show it. I found it all highly amusing, not to mention profitable. But there comes a time when it ceases to be funny, and just gets annoying, and expensive. Luckily by that time the two of them had a chance to talk alone without parental interference." Nabiki smiled secretively. "So when I sat them down after my freshman year of college and told them they had to shape up or I was calling in debts, they were willing to listen. Your father surprising had thought a lot about this and couldn't see a way out of his problems with Ukyo or Shampoo. Your Dad is sometimes too nice, a bit of a wimp when it comes to feelings and a stickler when it comes to his honor. The other thing is he truly liked them, not the way they wanted him to, but liked them none the less. After much thought I examined the wording of Ukyo's 'promise' with your grandfather. It just said that she would become part of the family in exchange for the dowry of the cart. Ranma was already engaged and he's an only child the only logical solution was to engage their children, and the son to her daughter would allow her to regain some of her pride. We approached Ukyo a couple of days before the wedding and she broke down, destroyed her restaurant, attacked us, but after chasing Ranma around for a while she wore herself down and was somewhat ready to listen to us. I made your parents leave and showed her our proposal and left her to consider it. She disappeared a couple of weeks after the wedding and left a note addressed to Akane saying that she accepted and would be in touch with her. It really hurt your Dad to be left out of it like that; she was his best friend." She paused to sip some wine.
"Now Shampoo had been visiting China when the wedding happened, and with a little help from me didn't hear about it till she got back. She was devastated and because of Amazon law felt she couldn't return home, she ran off to America where Mousse had gone. He had left about a year earlier, feeling that he was getting to old for the constant battles here. I believe he had a magic act and was quite successful. Cologne always had a soft spot for Ranma, and she had known for quite a while that he would never marry Shampoo, she told me that she never sent word to Shampoo because she wanted her to have a clean break. Cologne approached us after they returned from their honeymoon, she knew of our agreement with Ukyo and would like to make something similar. She said that Akane had potential and she wanted that in the tribe as well as Ranma. She offered Akane a ritual adoption where she would become part of the Amazons and as head of the Amazons Cologne would allow the transfer of Shampoo's claim to Akane. In essence Okaying their marriage. The only catch is that any and all daughters would belong to the tribe and must marry an already existing member of Cologne's line. This is more than any of us could have expected. The contract was signed and would be active in the event of her death." Nabiki paused, and sipped some wine. "Now does that clear everything up? Any questions?"
The twins were silent as they considered what their aunt told them. Taki put his arm around his sister. "I think that'll cover it. Thanks Aunt Nabiki." Taki said as he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "We should get home, Kia's cooking dinner tonight."
"Well go on then, I'm sure your Mom's worried. Tell them I said hi, and that the quarterly accounts for the dojo are due." Nabiki said sipping her wine again.
"Yes Aunt Nabiki." Kari said smiling. "Thank you." The two made their way across the rooftops home.
"Well I have a feeling that if Ukyo and Shampoo are coming back to town things are going to get interesting." Nabiki said to the empty room. "And profitable, hmm…"
Back at the Tendo dojo the prodigal daughter had returned. Hanging her head she shuffled into the kitchen. Taki had chosen to take the high rode through his window. "I'm home!" Kari called, biting her lip. Her younger brothers came running to greet her.
"Hey Kari, where'd ya go? We were suppose to spar today." Yui said pouting.
"Is everything alright Kari? Mommy seemed a bit sad, and Daddy's been in the dojo since we got home. Oh, Aunt Kasumi says 'hi'." Kia said picking up a pairing knife off the table. "You should talk to him, dinner's not for another hour."
Kari knelt down and gave her nine-year-old brother a hug. "Thanks Kia that's good advice. I'm sorry I missed our sparring session Yui, I'll make it up to you later I promise. I have to talk to Dad first." Kari said turning to her other brother.
"Okay." Yui said shrugging as he went to help his brother fix dinner.
"Do you boys need any help? Oh Kari you're back." Akane said stepping into the kitchen she stared at her only daughter nervously. Kari rushed across the room and hugged her mother.
"I'm sorry Mommy, I was being selfish I know." Kari whispered against her mother's shoulder. Akane closed her eyes and held onto her daughter. 'My poor baby…' she thought.
"I understand, you have my temper after all. But your father was very hurt, you're his baby girl, he would protect you from this if he could. If you really don't like him or if there's someone else, we'll deal with it, ok?" Akane said pulling her daughter back to stare into her eyes.
"I love you." Kari said wiping her eyes. She sighed, "I guess I should talk to Daddy."
"Be brave." Akane said mock-seriously. Kari rolled her eyes at her. Turning to the two wide-eyed boys Akane said, "Let's see there's just enough time for me to bake some cookies before dinner…"
"MOMMM!" Both boys cried. Akane glared at her children, "Fiends."
Kari paused outside the dojo; she didn't quite know what do. Looking inside she saw her father pounding the heck out of his practice dummy. He only did that when he was really upset.
"Daddy? Can we talk?"
Ranma swiveled around and stared at his daughter. "Sure I guess, have a seat."
"I'm sorry I ran out of here, and that I yelled at you and Mom." Kari said examining her feet. "I already apologized to Mom too."
Ranma sighed, he could never stay mad at his little girl. "Thank you for that. I'm sorry we never told you about our arrangements earlier. It's just that we didn't want you growing up resenting us, or feeling different from your friends."
Kari stared at her father. "Um Dad? Reality-check, we are different from our friends. Our father is an aquatransexual, we're highly advanced martial artists for our age, our family is insane, shall I go on?"
"Well when you put it that way, it does sound kinda bad…" Ranma said rubbing the back of his neck. "You guys don't hate all this too much do you?"
"Nah, not really, it's weird but I'm used to it, its familiar even normal. I always expect to be kidnapped or attacked or both. It just comes with being a Saotome I guess." Kari shrugged. "It's certainly better then living with Aunt Nabiki or Aunt Kasumi." Kari shuddered at the thought.
"Listen, Kari, if you really don't like the guy, or if something else comes up, I want you to tell me."
Kari smiled. "Mom already gave me the speech. I can't promise to be good, but I'll give it a try."
Ranma swung an arm around his daughter, "That's my girl. Now I noticed your guard was a little weak this morning we should work on that."
"But Da-a-ad…" Kari whined.
"No buts, now why don't you change and we'll work until dinner."
"Hai, sensei." Kari said bowing. "I'll be right back Dad." Ranma watched her race toward the house; absently he rubbed at his heart where an ache had developed. "He better be worthy of her." He growled to himself.
