Disclaimer - I don't know Ranma or any of the characters in this story

Chapter 3

Ranma awoke to the sound of an alarm clock and his mother letting go of his hand as she got up and threw a robe over her nightgown. Feeling a little restless and stiff he also got up and went to see if his clothing was dry yet so he could do some practicing. Unfortunately the cool April night hadn't helped much and most of it was still a bit damp to the touch. He headed into the kitchen to talk with his mom when she suggested he just take a seat, she had a feeling something would come up to keep him busy.

Sure enough, a few minutes later as Ranma sat at the table, Mirei came down the stairs carrying a stuffed panda doll, and wearing a white sleeping dress with panda faces all over it. Upon seeing Ranma though she darted into the kitchen, returning with a plastic sippy cup she made her way over to Ranma and held out the cup to him.

"Magical Girl." She said, giving him a pleading look before remembering to add "Pleeeeease".

"Uhh...really?" Ranma asked, not really wanting to change first thing in the morning. But with the little girls eyes starting to tear up at his seeming refusal he quickly back tracked. "Okay okay, just uh...don't cry…" He says as he pulls the lid off the cup and pours some on his head until the transformation kicks in, replacing the lid once done.

Mirei squeed happily as she glomped onto Ranma. "Magical girl daddy!" She said happily, to which Ranma groaned as he kept his hands to his sides as he felt awkward at the close contact. Soon enough though she let go and headed over to a shelving unit against the wall and pulled out a box that she then placed on the table, and then went back and grabbed a loose sheet of paper from another section. She then popped open the box which looked to hold crayons and colored pencils and took up a seat in Ranma's lap as she started to draw.

Ranma wasn't sure what to really do about a small child sitting in his lap, but she did it so quick that this must be some kind of common occurrence he figured. Having nothing else to do though he figured he might as well watch as the little girl scribbled frantically on the paper. As the shapes began to take some form, he though she might be drawing a sword or staff. Soon though he was drafted into helping her, drawing some complicated shapes like spirals, and ovals for her, with a detour that had him drawing about fifteen panda faces on the back of the paper for her also.

Soon the others were coming down to join them, Soun giving him a smile as he saw the two together before starting in on the mornings paper. Kasumi and Nabiki were next, both looking tired and headed straight to the kitchen, returning with cups of coffee as they took their seats, paying the pair not much mind as they waited for the caffine to enter their brains. Upon hearing Akane and Sachiko coming down the stairs, Mirei shot up from Ranma's lap, running over to show them her drawing.

"Mommy Look!" Mirei said, holding up the picture. "I drew daddy's magic wand!" she shouted excitedly.

Akane immediately misses her next step and face plants, while Sachiko who was bending down to look at the picture freezes up and tips forward, crashing to the ground. From the table both Nabiki and Kasumi share a look before breaking into a fit of giggles, having to put their cups down before breaking out laughing. Ranma for his part was aghast, at the fact he'd been helping her draw something so girly.

Mirei, looking worriedly at her mother who had fallen over and was turning bright red. "Is...it not good?" she asks with a worried look on her face.

Sachiko, seeing her daughter upset tries to quickly reassure her. "Oh no honey, its wonderful, I love it."

"You could say that again." Nabiki gets out between another fit of laughter.

"It's her favorite." Kasumi says while wiping tears from her eyes and continuing to laugh.

"Sisters! Could you get your minds out of the gutter for just one morning." Akane says exasperated while picking herself up off the ground.

Mirei for her part was happy her mom liked the picture and headed back to sit next to Ranma, giving him the drawing in the process. "Mommy liked it!" She said proudly with a grin on her face.

"Great!" Holding up his hand to give her a high five which she reciprocated. Though now looking at the drawing he still wasn't quite sure how that was suppose to be a wand.

Sachiko made it to her seat on the other side of Mirei without making eye contact with anyone, finding the floor and table far more interesting. Akane also was mostly avoiding eye contact with her sisters and Ranma, doing her best to think about cold showers and breaking bricks. When Nodoka came out bringing the first dish and saw the state of the table she asked what was so funny, Soun gave a cough to cut off Nabiki and gave his two oldest daughters and glare daring them to start the nonsense again.

"We'll...uh, tell you later Auntie…" Nabiki said, breaking into a fit of giggles again at the thought of trying to explain it.

Breakfast was very quiet that morning as no one wanted to be blamed for causing another ruckus while eating, Nodoka let Ranma know that they had a busy schedule for the day so once the morning dishes were done they'd be heading out. Once finished eating, the girls all headed out to school, or the train station as it was for Kasumi as her college was a few stops away, Ranma could of swore he heard more laughter as they closed the gate though.

"Ranma, I swear, all of that was completely normal, the girls and I have it done every year just the same." Nodoka says, exasperated after the last hour and a half at the doctors office.

"Every year…." Ranma mumbles, his face as white as a ghost as he slowly walks away from the office buildling, holding onto a handrail. "I...I gotta find a cure."

"Also, Mirei got three shots last year for her third birthday, she barely even cried. What am I suppose to tell her about her father, that it took ten minutes to get you to drop down from the ceiling?" Nodoka looked back, wondering if she should just splash her son so she could better pick him up and carry them home so they wouldn't be late to make lunch.

"I...I don't like needles…" Ranma said, rubbing his arm that had gotten what felt like a million shots.

"Well grow up, you're going to get it worse when you get older. Not to mention the amount of doctor visits Sachiko and I went through when we were pregnant. Now lets hurry back, your going to help me with lunch so we can get to the school on time." Nodoka says, grabbing his hand and dragging him forward. Ranma picked up his pace less they fall over, but food was the very last thing on his mind at the moment.

Ranma found himself sitting in another office after lunch, this time at Furikan high school. He'd finished his assessment test faster than they thought, because he ended up skipping whole sections. Not all of it was bad he thought, the study guides his dad had taken with them were about the same in math and japanese, but there was a whole section in some other language he didn't know anything about. The science stuff was also well above anything he'd done in junior high, most of the vocabulary stumping him before he could even try to find the answer.

Coming from the assistant principles office he could hear his mother arguing with the older woman, in that polite way some people do it. Ranma wasn't looking forward to having to deal with a tutor, but looking around at the gray concrete building didn't exactly excite him either, but he knew his mother would be disappointed if he failed out.

"Ranma dear, would you please come in." His mother calls from the office.

Walking in he greets the vice-principle and takes a seat next to his mother.

"Mr. Saotome, your mother tells me you have a condition that you'd need to show me for me to believe it. Would you please demonstrate what exactly this is?" The woman said with a look of annoyance on her face.

"Uh yea, Sure." Ranma replies, looking around when his mother points to a water cooler near the door. Getting a cup of both cold and hot water he walks back to the desk.

"So, while I was in China recently me and pops ended up in a cursed training ground while fleeing some amazons. Turns out that if you fall into one of the springs there, you turn into what ever last drowned there. Pops fell into the Panda one." He pauses and splashes himself with the cold water. "I fell into the Spring of drowned girl." He finished, watching the woman have the same usual shocked reaction.

"Cold water activates the curse." He then tips the hot water over his head. "And hot water returns me to my normal body. I don't change though, I'm still a guy up here." He says pointing to his head before throwing away the cups and grabbing some tissues from a box on the desk to try and dry himself off.

"So you see, he has a unique problem when it comes to things such as changing for PE, along with a suitable uniform that can handle both forms." Nodoka quickly spoke, hoping the shock might help get the disagreeable woman to bend slightly.

"Yes yes...that is...a problem. But why not just avoid getting splashed, your mother says you're a very good martial artist, couldn't you dodge it?" The woman asks.

"As far as my dad and I can tell, the more we try to avoid it, the more the curse works to cause us to be splashed. Not to mention there's a lot more cold water than hot out in the world." Ranma answers with a shrug.

The woman nods, thinking about things before finally turning back to Nodoka. "Alright, I'll let him join the school, but he needs a tutor and I want to see him be at least somewhat close to the freshman level by the end of the school year. Also, we have a strict no fighting rule here, I expect him to stick to it just like young Ms. Tendo." The woman says, giving the young male a glare at the mention of the fighting rule.

"Yes Ma'am, I'll start looking for a tutor right away, and of course he'll be on his best behavior." Nodoka now also giving him a look that dared him to prove her wrong. "We were going shopping after this, so I'll get some uniforms and see about making them more elastic to fit both his forms." She quickly stood up and thanked the woman for her time before practically dragging Ranma out with her.

Once on the street Nodoka stopped and spun around to face Ranma. "Ranma, listen very closely. I had to call in just about every favor I had with that woman, and still beg, to get you in to the school. This is truly your only shot at a normal school life, otherwise its tutors and those study school businesses. For Mirei's sake please take this seriously. Promise." Nodoka finished holding ranma by his shoulders and looking into his eyes with all seriousness.

"Yea, I promise ma." Ranma, initially taken aback by his mothers tone, answers with a determined look.

"Thank you." She says, giving him a bone crushing hug that surprises Ranma at the strength of it. Right as he feels he might pass out she releases him and begins to lead them towards the clothing district.

"So...how bad were my scores?" Ranma asks after a few blocks of walking.

"They were the worst they've ever seen, and that was the subjects you were good at. Frankly if you weren't Mirei's father I doubt it would of worked out well, the vice-principal doesn't have any grand kids so tends to dote on her when she visits." Nodoka answered.

"Why would Mirei go to the school?" Ranma asked.

"Adopting Sachiko wasn't an easy process, one of the requirements was for an outside party to do a welfare check each month for both girls, the vice-principal agreed to be the one to do it as she had the proper counseling certificate along with her masters in education." Nodoka's face gaining a frown at the thought of the adoption process.

"Wait...you adopted Sachiko? Like, she's my sister?" Ranma says, startled at the idea of having a sister.

Nodoka stops and looks around, thankful the street was empty at the moment. "Yes, but out in public is not where we'll talk about that. As much as I was raised to value my ancestry and culture, when Sachiko came into my life, I had to take a long hard look at those values and in the end abandoned the chauvinistic nonsense. But the people around us haven't done that and will look down on all of us just because she decided to have Mirei. Let alone how that came about..." Nodoka's face a mixture of emotions Ranma wasn't able to discern as she whispered to Ranma.

Ranma nodded, planning to ask more about it at home, the idea of a sister was bizarre to him. Soon they reached the clothing district and by the end he was loaded up with a few sizable bags. While the outfits weren't all his preferred Chinese silk shirts and loose pants, his mom had allowed him to get an extra, with the rest being more contemporary stuff and uniforms for the school. She had planned to get at least one female uniform from him, but he became very upset at the idea of having any female clothing so she dropped the subject.

Ranma was female and at the table with Mirei, trying to get her to draw anything but magical girl things and failing when Akane and Sachiko returned from school. Looking up from the table he could see Akane give him a nasty look before she stomped up to her room, while Sachiko came over to sit next to Mirei.

"Hi honey, how was your day?" Sachiko asked.

"Uncle is booooring." Mirei replied, having been stuck with Soun most of the day.

"Oh dear, that's too bad, what are you doing now?" Sachiko asks, looking at the various drawings on the table. Noticing a good number of panda and red headed figures.

"Drawing magical daddy and panda." The girl said with a smile.

"That's cute, and why is daddy still a magical girl?" Sachiko asked with a smirk at Ranma.

"Got splashed on the way back from shopping, and she didn't want me to change back. I figure its easier to give the curse some time before it gets really aggressive with the "accidental" water." Ranma replied with a shrug.

"It doesn't bother you?" Sachiko asked curiously.

"Oh, it bothers me, I guess just more when I'm looking in a mirror. It's like my brain knows I'm there, but the body just feels...alien? I dunno how to describe it." Ranma says, looking distant as he tries to find better words.

"I...I get it." Sachiko says, thinking back, placing her hands on her stomach. "When I was pretty far along with Mirei, everything about my body felt...off. But in a good way. After I had her, the next few months I think I felt upset she wasn't still there." She finished, giving Mirei who was still drawing a pat on the head.

"Huh...I can't even begin to imagine something like that, too bizarre." Ranma says, looking at his belly.

"More bizarre than switching genders at the touch of water?" Sachiko says with a sideways glance.

"Maybe not that." Ranma conceded. "Hey...can I ask you something?" Ranma ask tentatively.

Sachiko's mood seems to shift a bit, her face becoming neutral. "Maybe." she replies.

"Uh...why did you become my sister?" Ranma asks, the look on Sachiko's face seeming to harden when he finished.

"Mom told you." Sachiko says, less a question than a statement.

"Yea, though not directly, it kinda came out after our visit to the school today." Ranma answered.

Sachiko nodded, then sat quietly for a bit.

"You don't need to answer. Mom said I shouldn't ask ya about stuff unless I ask her first, but she said this might be okay." Ranma said, gently waving his hands in front of him so as not to disrupt Mirei's drawing.

Sachiko looked over and gave him a shallow smile. "No, I think...this is fine. There are a couple reasons I agreed to be adopted by mom. Most of it was boring legal stuff so she'd legally be able to help me. Another is that a certain boy wasn't around for a shotgun wedding." Giving him a knowing look with a raised eyebrow, to which he nervously played with his red pigtail. "But it mostly came down to my "parents" being absolute…" pausing and looking at Mirei "baddies." she finished with enough emphasis that even Ranma knew that wasn't the word she wanted to use.

"Oh…" Ranma lets out, while he processes the information. "Wait...does that mean we have too get married?"

"Over my dead body!" Akane shouts at Ranma as she turns the corner from the stairs cutting him off. "You think you can just waltz in here and force yourself on her!" She says loudly stomping up to the table.

"I don't wa" Ranma tries to say.

"You weren't around when she needed you, but now you're back and you think everything is just fine and you can take advantage of her again!?" Akane continues to bark at Ranma, Mirei begins to look upset at the yelling and turns to hold onto Ranma's shirt.

"Akane!" Sachiko shouts at her friend, aghast at her behavior.

Looking down at the girl who is clearly giving her a look to drop it, Akane looks back at Ranma and continues with barely a pause. "Sachiko is far too good for the likes of some dumba"

"AKANE TENDO!" Nodoka's voice rings out through the house as she enters the room from the laundry room.

Immediately everyone in the room turns to look at the woman who is marching towards Akane with a look on her face that chills everyone's blood, Mirei reaches over and holds onto Sachiko's dress too at the sight. Stopping just inches away from Akane who is already starting to wilt from the pressure of the stare from Nodoka, the older woman points to the kitchen, waiting for the young woman to head there before following close behind. Once the two were inside, Sachiko turned back to Ranma only he seems to have disappeared.

"Scary…" Mirei said, looking at the kitchen entrance.

"Yea...lets do our best to not upset grandma." Sachiko whispers to her.

'What the hell is wrong with that stupid gorilla tomboy, I didn't say any of that' Ranma thinks, skipping a rock multiple times across the water. 'But am I suppose to marry Sachiko, is that what she wants? She seems fine without me.' Ranma's next rock skipped once before plunging into the water. 'Argh...none of this makes any sense, I don't get girls at all and pops chickened out, who am I suppose to ask about this stuff?' Ranma thought, before suddenly his eyes lighting up. 'Of course!'

Ranma landed on the Dojo roof that evening, thankful the lights were still on and moved towards the side of the roof that had a window that could be opened to allow hot air to escape during the summer, slightly jiggling it he found it wasn't locked and hanging over the side he looked in to find Mr. Tendo in his Black with yellow fringe Doji outfit, seemingly cleaning up after a class.

"Mr. Tendo" a voice rang out some where above him as he placed the last mat on the stack. Soun looked up at the ceiling to the Dojo to see Ranma there at one of the windows they open in summer.

"Yes Ranma, what can I help you with young...man" Soun said as Ranma dropped down to the floor through the window, still female, and slightly damp it seems.

Ranma quickly looked around once again, seeing the room clear he turned back to the older man. "Can I ask you some questions?" Ranma said with a serious look.

"I'm guessing this is about the incident this afternoon, and the missed dinner?" Soun asks Ranma.

Ranma nods his head.

"Well, lets take a seat." Soun says, sitting cross legged and motioning for Ranma to sit too.

Ranma takes a seat, and after Soun says nothing for a bit he decides to just get the big question out of the way. "Am I suppose to marry Sachiko?" His face a mixture of uncertainty and worry.

Soun lets out a low slow almost growl. "Marry? Tell me, what do you think that would mean to you?" Soun questions back at Ranma.

Ranma wasn't confident he really knew the answer to that, his life being spent with just his father on the road. Thinking of his time in amazon village, he considered the adults there and how the parents of his friends behaved. "Well...it means I'd help her out, protect her, and help with Mirei I guess." He replied, hoping that was at least close to right.

"And why would you do any of that?" Soun asked, pushing the young man in front of him to think deeper.

"why I would do it?" Ranma repeated to himself, again stuck trying to figure out what the older man was getting at.

"Well it's the honorable thing right? I was part of the problem, so I should help out if I can." Ranma answers, smiling as honor was something he felt he did understand.

"Can you help out and not be married?" Mr. Tendo replies.

Ranma was starting to get the feeling he got from many masters in the past, they obviously knew the answers, but were making him figure things out himself before they'd tell him. Ranma enjoyed these challenges though, finding them far more interesting than any school class he'd sat through. Adjusting his sitting position some he began to really try and think about what Mr. Tendo was getting at.

"Yea, I mean, I'm helping out now aren't I? But like, being married means you promise to help out forever right?" Ranma answers.

"That is one important part of marriage, true, but why else do people get married Ranma?" Soun says, giving Ranma an encouraging smile now that he see's Ranma treating this like it was a challenge.

"Well, so they can have a house, and a family, pops said you're suppose to be married before having kids, so I kinda messed that up I guess." Ranma says with a nervous laugh at the end.

"And what about love, isn't that important to a marriage?" Soun asked with a smirk.

"Love? that's for girls and stuff like those shows some of the Sensei's wives would watch about doctors and nurses. Pops says it just makes ya soft and stupid." Ranma responds, scrunching up his face at the word.

Soun sighed, having to remind himself that the boy was raised by just Genma, who while his best friend, was also a terrible husband. "Ranma, do you think your father is pretty smart?" He asks.

"Smart? Pops?" Ranma breaks out laughing at the combination.

"And yet you seem to believe much of what he's told you…" Soun says raising an eye brow.

Ranma stops laughing as he picks up the intonation of that. "Hey...I mean, I know he's lying most of the time he's telling me anything, But he was always serious when it came to the Art and making me stronger." Ranma says defensively.

"Humm, and yet here I am, your father's fellow master of a school, surrounded by woman in my house, and I would tell you that love is the most powerful thing I've ever encountered." Soun said, his fist tightening at the end.

"It's a double edged blade though Ranma. To find love with another is truly our purpose in life, nothing will ever truly make you feel the same way. But losing the one you love can break a person, sometimes irreparably. After I lost my wife I spent years unable to eat, sleep, even just living was painful. When your mother and sister first joined us, I was just a shell of a man I'm ashamed to say. But seeing Mirei at the hospital after she was born, reminded me of my own daughters, and how much they still needed me, and with some help I got my life and family back." He finished with a tear rolling down his face as he waved his hands at the dojo around them.

Ranma sat there watching the older man cry while still having a smile on his face, all while trying to understand how anything he said made sense before trying to get back to his original question.

"Uhm, okay, so you need love to get married, along with all that other stuff, and I don't got any of it so I shouldn't marry Sachiko right?" Ranma reiterates.

"What do you think would happen if you asked her?" Soun responds, wondering if Ranma had even figured out that it really wasn't up to just what he should do.

"Asked her? Akane kinda made it obvious she'd try ta kill me..." Ranma replies, thinking about the events earlier in the day.

Soun pinches the bridge of his nose. "Right well, leaving Akane's behavior out of it, what do you think Sachiko would say if you even asked her?"

"Uhm...No? I don't really know her much now, and I guess I didn't know her much back then either..." Ranma says a bit ashamed still at being duped.

"Correct, so you can see why your mother isn't trying to push you into some marriage where neither of you know each other. I suggest for now you just try to get to know her, as a friend, or at least as a sister, don't worry about anything more." Soun says, glad that Ranma finally seemed to reach some understanding.

"Okay, but I ain't got much experience with either of those options either. All my friends liked ta fight and stuff, and I ain't never had a sister or brother." Ranma states worriedly.

"Well, do your best to be kind and you'll find others doing the same back." Soun replies while standing up. "For now though I think you should go have the left overs your mom saved you and head to bed, busy day tomorrow for you." He says with a smile, extending a hand to help pull Ranma up from his sitting position.

"Thanks for...talking with me." Ranma says with a bow after he is standing.

"No problem young man, I'm always here to lend an ear if needed." Soun says as they head back to the main house.

Ranma saw a plate of leftovers on the table for him, which he quickly devoured with no one around to see, then headed up and got ready for bed and changed back before entering the shared bedroom. Inside his mother had a small lamp on and was reading a book, and he noticed a third futon was on the floor with Mirei sleeping in it. His mother smiled at him while putting a finger to her lips, motioning him to come to bed, turning the light out once he was in place.

With the lights out and laying in bed, Ranma stuck his hand out in hopes his mothers would be there. Instead his mother scooted over and enveloped him in a hug, he could feel a tear fall on his cheek which worried him. He turned around and started to say he was sorry, but she put a finger to his lip and got back into her bed. Soon enough he was laying there, holding her hand, fast asleep.