Chapter 2: A Day in the Lifetime
Ten Years Ago Somewhere in the Wilderness
The middle aged man sat beside his fire, it had been two weeks since he'd lost his son during the training accident. During those two weeks he'd searched high and low for his son. He'd come across a cottage on the third day but the old lady there said that she hadn't seen anything suspicious in the past while.
Undaunted he continued the search. If he couldn't find his son then all was lost and he'd never be able to go home again. Sure his son meant a lot to him, without him how would he be able to continue on. Those people who were so desperate to get their daughters engaged would practically give him anything he wanted. Without proof of a son except for an old photograph, people would be more hesitant, and soon the scam wouldn't work.
Today however was one that he'd rather forget. It was today that he'd found his son's gi in the forest some distance from where he'd originally trained him. It was bloodstained and ripped to absolute shreds. Further examination showed that a knife did not make the tears or any type of man made weapon that he knew of. They were claw marks. The surrounding area also provided some clues as to what had happened. There were obvious signs of a struggle as the ground was torn up pretty badly. Bending down he noted that the tracks were that of a large predator, possibly a tiger or some other large cat. (Genma's knowledge of tracks is severely limited basically he can tell human from 'other' and that's basically it.) There were also drag marks indicating that something fairly heavy was dragged off into the bush.
All of the evidence considered he came to the proper conclusion. His son in the Neko state had encountered a tiger. There was a fight and Ranma lost. The tiger killed him and dragged his carcass off to it's lair to be eaten. It was plain as day. Not wanting to tangle with a tiger in it's lair Genma picked up his son's gi and headed back for camp.
Now he had only one minor problem.... Nodoka was going to kill him.
The problem now is that his son was dead. He grieved for a while since he'd gotten somewhat attached to the little spore, but eventually concluded that Ranma's death was his own fault, if he'd only learned the technique like he was supposed to he would be just fine right now. Disposing of the evidence now took priority, however, as Genma watched his son's gi burn in the fire along with the Neko-ken training manual. Since his son disappeared he decided to re-read the manual and discovered that there was an extra page at the front of the book that he never noticed before. The page had the word WARNING in large bold red letters and proceeded to warn the person reading that the training manual was for educational purposes only and that the training caused severe psychological damage to the trainee and was not to be attempted under any circumstances. It also noted that the training had been banned from all respectable schools for over fifty years. As soon as he read this he promptly forgot about it since it obviously didn't apply to him.
Now the problem was what to do? He couldn't go home since Nodoka would have his head on a stake, in less time than it would take him to blink, if she ever found out that he'd lost their son. He sat there watching the fire burn and tried to decide what to do. Slowly a plan formed in his mind. A promise made long ago almost forgotten in the winds of time and much sake. A grin came to his face. It was perfect, his old friend Soun would help him. They went way back to the days of training with the old master, surely his old friend would help him out in his time of need. The only problem was now that his son was dead the schools would never be united and after a while Soun's patience may wear out. A plan was needed. It of course had to be something fool proof since Soun was no pushover. The mighty hampster that was his mind got onto the rusty cobweb filled wheel and started churning out a plan.
Grinning he watched the last remnants of his former son burn in the fire as he went to work breaking camp. He needed to get a move on soon if he was to make it to Tokyo in a few days time. His supplies were running out quickly and he was worried that he'd have to actually go hunting or try selling his son again for something to eat. The prospect of selling his son became less and less the longer he waited.
Finally finished breaking camp he shouldered his pack and set off to the north towards Tokyo and possibly an easy life.
A few hours later his stomach growled quite loudly demanding to be fed. It was about this time that he came across a yati with an older gentleman standing behind it. A younger girl about his son's age stood next to him. She was fairly cute with long brown hair done up in a ribbon and deep brown eyes. Giving the air a quick sniff he noted that the man had quite some skill when it came to preparing the dish. Drooling a bit he made his way to the cart. As he approached he noted that the man seemed to notice him but made no move to intercept.
"Ahh a good day to you sir." He said. It was best to initiate the conversation since he had no money to pay for the food.
"And a good day to you too. How may I help you?" The man was instantly wary. The stranger was obviously a martial artist.
"I was wondering if I could get a couple of those delicious smelling concoctions you've got there." Ok now once they're finished to hit him with the punch line.
Hikaru Kuonji started cooking up two specials, the man was suspicious but he was a customer nonetheless. As soon as he'd finished he served up the food. One of them automatically disappeared down the man's throat before he could get payment.
"Now look here." he started. The man bowed deeply. "Forgive me but my son and I haven't eaten for days."
"You're son eh? I don't see him around here." The elder Kuonji looked around trying to spot the youngster.
"Oh he's just over that hill waiting for me, you see he's kindof shy you see." He dug into his pockets and pulled out a slightly worn picture. "A handsome young lad he is. Now I don't have any money right now but how about I propose something. I see your daughter is quite the young lady, I propose that we get the two of them engaged."
Oh there was definitely something wrong here but for two okonomiyaki even if what he said was hogwash it was a great deal. Letting his fatherly concerns overtake him he decided to accept the deal. Genma quickly drew up the arrangement and said that he and his son were still on their training trip and would be finished in nine years. He gave the elder Kuonji his home address in Juuban and told him that he would be there. As he walked off over the ridge he pulled out the second morsel of food and quickly downed it. He gave a quick chuckle to himself at how easy it was to pull off this scam. During the next few days he decided to take his time and work the scam to it's fullest. He managed to pull it off a total of fifteen times before he got to Tokyo. Each time he addressed it to his wife's place and gave a timeframe of nine years before they could collect his 'son'. If during that time if anybody actually came to collect nobody would be able to find him. It was almost perfect.
Approaching the Nerima ward he made sure to take note of every possible escape route just in case something went wrong. As he made his way to the dojo he noted that it seemed older than he remembered it. Pushing his way through the front gate he walked up to the front door and knocked. A few minutes later a young girl about 10 or 11 years old opened it. He looked down at her and smiled.
"Hello is your father in?" He asked. She smiled back and nodded. He followed her inside as she led him to the living room. In the center of the room there was a disheveled man staring at a shoji board looking absolutely miserable.
"Tendo my old friend!" Genma boomed.
The man looked up and immediately a smile came across his face.
"Saotome my friend, what brings you here?" He responded in kind.
"It's a long story Tendo, mind if I sit and tell you it over a game?"
"Of course Saotome, Kasumi could you bring us some tea?" he shouted.
During the course of the next hour Genma related the tale of his training Ranma up until the cat fist part. That was where the story took off on a wild tangent of where he'd met this wizened old master in the mountains. Needless to say the master immediately saw Ranma's potential and skill and offered to train him. He had protested but the master wouldn't take no for an answer. Genma had decided to challenge the master and had been handily defeated in less than two seconds. Soun's eyebrow rose at this since he knew of Genma's skill. Anybody that good to have defeated him in such a short time was truly a master. Continuing his story he related that the master would train Ranma for ten years. At the end of this time if Genma wished he could return and claim his son.
"Just think of it Tendo, the boy will be trained to mastery by the time he's sixteen, then all we have to do is give him some training in Anything Goes and then we can join the schools!"
"Yes Saotome that's a wonderful idea. Brilliant even."
"Dinner's ready." Called Kasumi from the kitchen.
"Won't you join us for dinner? It just wouldn't be the same without you. It's been such a long time." Commented Soun.
"Yes Tendo I think I will join you."
It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Soun Tendo is in a very vulnerable state right now. His wife Kimiko has just died not two months ago and he is feeling very lonely. The arrival of his oldest and very best friend is a godsend for him. He doesn't realize that this simple friendly act of inviting him to stay will pave several good miles on said road. Needless to say between the two of them the Hell construction workers wouldn't have to do any paving for years.
2 years after his arrival
A ten-year-old Nabiki was looking down at the family's finance sheets and forcing herself to not break into tears. During the last two years after her mother's death things had gone from bad to worse. Daddy hadn't taught any classes since and the red marks on the paper indicated that the expenses were far, far outweighing the remaining money that they had from the life insurance policy. In fact the large red figure on the bottom of the page indicated that it was already too late. The family was broke. Most of their money went to pay for food and her father and his fat assed friend's frequent drinking binges. Getting up from her desk she decided to confront her father and hopefully save the family.
As she walked down the hallway towards the living room she took note that her father and Mr. Saotome were sitting in front of the go board again drinking like there was no tomorrow. She also noted that her father was winning, obviously cheating in plain sight since Mr. Saotome was too inebriated to notice.
"Daddy?" she asked. It took him a while to answer.
"Hmm yes honey?" He looked bleary eyed at her.
"Daddy you have to throw his fat ass out he's." She started pointing at Genma. Well she was ten years old and tact and diplomacy wasn't in her system yet.
"NABIKI!!!" He yelled. "Genma is my friend and a guest and he is to be treated with respect!!! Go to your room and think about this." He pointed to somewhere upstairs.
"But." she started.
"No but's now go!" He shouted again.
"Yes Daddy." She turned around and slowly made her way back to her room.
When she closed her door she jumped onto her bed, buried her head in her pillow and started crying her eyes out. She had been too late, her father was gone replaced by a stranger, a carbon copy of the fat ass himself. Her sisters needed her, she had to be strong for them. Unknown to her during her crying fit her sisters had snuck into her room and were comforting her. When she'd finished crying she explained the situation and exactly how screwed they were. Kasumi understood but Akane was having some trouble understanding. Suddenly her eyes opened wide and a grin plastered all over her face. She dashed from her sister's room and ran down the hall. When she arrived at her father's room she went into her pseudo stealth mode. She opened the door as quietly as she could and crept inside. Her father wasn't in there and the lights were off. Even if her father had been in the room a herd of rabid elephants stampeding through wouldn't have woken him.
She approached his dresser stand and opened the drawer. At the front was her father's official seal. It was the Tendo clan seal passed down from generation to generation. She snatched it up quickly and dashed out the door making sure to put everything back the way she'd found it. As she made her way back to her sister's room she noticed that her Daddy and Mr. Saotome were singing downstairs. It was pretty bad singing. When she got back to Nabiki's room she noticed that Kasumi had successfully calmed her down and was rocking her gently. Akane approached her older sisters and held out the pilfered stamp.
A smile lit up Nabiki's face as a plan came together in her mind. Sure it wasn't perfect but it would at least buy her family some time and hopefully they'd be able to figure out what to do then. She got up and hugged her little sister.
"Oh Akane you're a genius!"
A few days later Nabiki was smiling again. It had taken some doing but she'd managed to convince the bank to mortgage the house. Unfortunately since she was only ten years old she couldn't open her own bank account. (Cruel twist of fate.) The best she could do was use her father's existing account. She knew that this would definitely be a problem since her father could drain it on his drinking binges with him and his fat assed friend. At least the family could pay the power and water bills and eat tonight. One day at a time nobody can defeat a Tendo.
Four years after Genma's arrival
A twelve-year-old Nabiki came running into the house and up the stairs to her room. Inside she flopped down on her bed and started crying again. Those stupid stupid idiots. Where else did they think the money came from? The last two years she'd been able to come up with some moneymaking schemes to help the family. Blackmail, gambling, extortion, and various other schemes to make money. The problem was that grade school children didn't have all that much money to begin with. Sure it was easy getting it from them but the amount only covered the interest and some of the principle. She'd had to use some of the money from the original mortgage to help pay down the amount they owed just to get the interest payments within what she could make in a month. Needless to say the family finances were bleeding red ink faster than a hemorrhaging hemophiliac.
To top off her bad day when she'd gone to the bank to make the payment she'd found that there was only half of what was required for the payment. She'd dreaded what would happen next month when there was no money left but that was next month and she'd think of something, she always did. But now with only half of what was needed the bank would foreclose on their house and they'd be out in the street. Life just wasn't fair.
The past four years had been hard on the Tendo sisters. Kasumi had to become mother, cook, and maid. Nabiki had become their own personal bank. She rationed what money she could and generally kept them in their home and off the street. She had resorted to Yakuza like tactics but if it kept her family safe and sound then that was what had to be done. Akane on the other hand had plunged herself into her martial arts, teaching herself from the family scrolls and from the street fights that she'd gotten into. Whenever she saw a new technique she'd automatically try to incorporate it into her fighting style. Being eleven years old she wasn't allowed into any of the pit fighting competitions and the street fights weren't that profitable. She only used them to upgrade her skills.
What she really used the art for was theft. The family finances were strained to the limits as it was and Daddy and his fat assed friend's bottomless pits caused a great strain when it came to the food budget.
A year ago she'd asked Nabiki for some money to buy some clothes. Nabiki had been suspicious since the normal order of the clothing went from Kasumi to Nabiki to Akane. Akane never got any new clothes and was always second or third hand. Nevertheless Nabiki forked over the money, she loved her sister and all and thought that she deserved something that she could call hers and hers alone.
The next day there was some extra rice and vegetables in the pantry and meat in the refrigerator. Kasumi the kitchen goddess immediately noticed the extras and set about finding out exactly how they'd gotten there. Akane walked into the dining room area and yawned.
"Morning sis." She said sounding quite tired.
"Akane did you hear anybody downstairs last night?" Kasumi asked.
"Mmm? No why?" She knew exactly where this was going.
"That's strange. There's food here but I don't remember buying it." Nabiki chose this moment to come into the kitchen after overhearing that there was extra food.
"What's this about more food than we should have?"
"Well there's extra food here that shouldn't be."
Soun was walking by the kitchen and he called out.
"Genma my friend horrible news."
"What is it Tendo?"
"There is a thief running around in the market yesterday. See here it's in the paper."
"Hmm lets see here, 'Mysterious Black thief raids Market.' Did they catch him?"
"No it says here that he got clean away."
"Oh well none of our concern then. How about a quick game before breakfast."
Back in the kitchen the three girls heard it all. Akane was suppressing a smile. Nabiki and Kasumi were stumped. All of a sudden Nabiki's eyes opened in understanding.
"Pick out something black and sexy eh little sis?" She asked.
"And prepare to do some funky poaching." She finished.
Kasumi looked on horrified. The extra food was stolen, and by her little sister no less!
"Akane I'm very disappointed in you. Don't you know that stealing is wrong." She chastised her in a hushed whisper.
"No Kasumi what's wrong is that we are going to be thrown out of our house unless we get money. If we don't have to buy food then Nabiki will have more to work with and we can pay this month's bills!"
Nabiki smiled and then hugged her little sister. "Thank you Akane, you don't know how much this means to me."
"No problem, just keep us afloat and let Kasumi and me worry about the rest."
Needless to say the bills were paid and there was food on the table.
Two months later
"Thank you Mr. Tendo, Mr. Saotome, we in the merchant's guild thank you and your family for offering to help us. This black thief has been terrorizing us for the past two months now."
"Nonsense it is a martial artist's duty to catch thieves and other trouble makers. We will do our best to make sure that the thief is caught. Won't we Saotome." Never mind the fact that their own martial art was based on thievery.
"Right we will Tendo." The two men clasped their hands in a show of solidarity.
On the streets of Nerima the entire Tendo family and Mr. Saotome were walking towards the market.
"Ok now girls you will form team A and Mr. Saotome and myself will be team B. If you see this thief call for help, don't try to catch him by yourself."
"We won't daddy." That came from Akane. She had a small backpack on. She told her father that it had some snacks and water in it so that she and her sisters would have something to eat. In reality it had her black suit.
When they arrived at the market the two teams split up. The girls ducked into an alleyway and then made their way to the roof of one of the buildings. Akane quickly shed all of her clothing and donned the black suit. If they didn't see their sister get into the suit they would have never known it was her inside. The tight spandex suit covered everything, there was even a visor made of dark plastic that covered her eyes. To further the deception there was a small amount of padding in the groin area.
"That's quite a package little sis. You sure you're not bragging about something?" Nabiki said pointing to the buldge.
"Well if I'm going to deceive I'm going to do it right." She said posing a bit. "Be right back." She jumped off the roof. Nabiki and Kasumi watched her disappear into the shadows.
About twenty minutes later she returned carrying a large bag of rice and some vegetables. She set them down on the roof and pulled off her mask.
"Whew that was fun. Daddy and fat ass never suspected a thing. I snatched this stuff from right under their noses. It was too easy."
"You do know that they're not going to give up don't you."
Akane sighed. "Yeah I know, but don't worry I've got a plan."
"What's your plan Akane?" Kasumi asked.
"Well I was thinking about going to Juuban and Tomboki for a bit to let things cool down here and then rotate so that nobody suspects anything. With any luck I can keep this up for quite some time and never get caught."
"That's a good plan Akane but are you sure that you can keep it up, I mean those wards aren't really close to here." Commented Kasumi as she was going through the vegetables trying to decide what to make for supper tonight.
"Actually sis, that's where you and Nabiki come in." Akane said with a small smile on her face.
"Something tells me that I'm not going to like this." Nabiki said dryly.
"Well normally how I do it is that I steal lots of food and leave it on one of the roofs and then I make several trips to get it all home. If we start raiding other wards I'll need help carrying it all back. You don't have to do anything but carry."
They never did catch the thief but they did have some great sukiyaki that night.
1 year ago
In a dark cave just north of Tokyo it slept. Suddenly the sky opened up and a lightning bolt sped towards the ground. The bolt struck the boulder smashing it in half disintegrating the prayer strips. From deep within the cave evil red eyes glowed with power.
"Fffffreeeeeee!" it cackled.
"Panties!" It shouted to the heavens as it bounded away from the cave.
In Nerima at the Tendo dojo the shrine cracked and fell to the floor. It had been neglected for the past nine years. Only the girls seemed to notice but thought nothing of it.
The next day Nabiki and Akane were walking on their way to school. Kasumi had already left for her job, and their father still hadn't gotten up. It had been this way for the past few months. Ever since Kasumi had graduated she had gotten a job at a strip club in Juuban ward. It brought in quite a bit of money and both Nabiki and Akane had been able to scale back their operations considerably. Unfortunately it didn't pay all the bills so Akane still had to steal quite a bit to keep the household fed. She was by now quite the thief. Once she'd hit puberty she'd had to alter her outfit adding padding all over it to make her seem more masculine. Needless to say all the hard exercise had added to her physique. She was now quite beautiful since most of her baby fat had melted away. Her muscled frame was extremely powerful and agile. She filled out her dress quite well. Her hair had been kept short since she couldn't conceal long hair under her cowl very well.
Nabiki had more curves than her sister. She was only doing menial exercise and sort of keeping up with her martial training. The result was that she had a bit more fat on her and some dangerous curves. Both would be classified as severe 'babes'. The problem with Nabiki was the way she made money. The entire student body feared her because of her ruthless nature. Sufficed to say it made finding a date for Friday night quite difficult. As they approached the gates to Furinkan High Akane's usual idiot was not waiting for her. Instead there was a large crowd of boys facing a podium.
On the podium stood a tall boy dressed in a kendo outfit. He was waving around a wooden sword and shouting out something about a fair goddess. As soon as the two girls walked through the gateway a huge roar went up from the crowd. Unfortunately for them they caught the end of the speech.
". Oh the heaven's weep at her beauty, If thou'st wish to date the fair goddess Akane you must defeat her in combat first, I the great Tatewaki Kuno shall permit no other way."
"Oh crap." This amazingly came from one of the boys in the crowd. As a whole they turned around to see Akane standing by her sister.
The scary thing was that Akane was glowing a faint blue. Her sister took several quick steps to the side before the massacre could start. She had no wish to be in the center of the maelstrom.
As one the boys charged. "Akane date with me!" "Akane my love!" "Akane be mine!" were some of the shouts that emanated from the mob.
Then the screaming began. One after another they boys were thrown about like rag dolls. Some were compacted with punches and kicks that dropped them to the hard cold ground. In about two minutes it was over. Thirty boys were on the ground in various states of consciousness. The only one left standing was Kuno himself.
"Ahh truly they were a boorish lot not fitting of such a tigress such as yourself. Very well then if you manage to defeat me I shall allow you to date with me." Kuno stated making it seem that it was as obvious as day.
Nabiki shook her head. Ever since the start of the semester Kuno had been infatuated with her little sister. The problem was that no matter how many times she gave him the brush off he just wouldn't take the hint. The fool had Akane coloured glasses and refused to notice any of the other girls around him. His only redeeming quality was that he was rich and stupid as a post. That in and of itself had kept her family out of the poorhouse and allowed her to pay off the various loans that she and her family had accumulated over the years. If things kept up they'd be in the black by the end of the year.
"So basically what you're saying is that if you defeat me I date with you and if I defeat you, you date with me." Akane shot back. She was not impressed one bit.
"Ahh the fair Akane Tendo truly your beauty is only outshined by your wisdom. Come let's skip this meaningless dravil and you jump into my arms." Kuno pronounced this by stretching his arms wide expecting her to jump into them and lavish upon him her undying affection. Well she jumped at him at least. Her undying affection was a snap kick to the head that sent him into blissful slumber.
Akane satisfied with her handy work proceeded into the building. Nabiki followed dragging the unconscious Kuno behind her to the nurse's station. Normally it was only Kuno that was out for her sister's affections. She absently wondered what the hoard would do to her sister's psyche now.
She didn't have to wait long to get her answer.
"You know Nabiki that was strangely refreshing." She finally said.
"What you mean you actually enjoyed that?" Nabiki shot back.
"Hey I know it won't do much for my form, I'll have to remember to keep practicing at home but it was fun pounding on those perverts. I kinda hope they get the message though but if not." She trailed off while clenching her fist and cracking her knuckles.
"Alright I'll see you after school then." Nabiki said as she got to the nurses station.
"Hey sis if they are out there tomorrow you want to start up a betting pool to see how long it takes me to trash them?"
"Glad to see you're not taking this seriously little sis."
"Would you have me any other way?" She said as she walked off to her class.
The next day. "Akane date with me!" "Akane be my love!" "Oh Akane let's get it on!" The results were predictable.
Two weeks ago
As the young woman walked down the street she thought she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, she thought she noticed some motion. A white figure dashed into an alleyway ahead of her. The strange thing was that when she got to the alleyway there was nothing there. It didn't matter anyway since after ten years she'd finally been able to track down her no good worthless husband. Hopefully she'd also be able to find her son. Oh how she loved him. It took her a while but eventually she managed to get to the Tendo dojo.
Arriving at the gate she took note that there was nobody home. She let herself in and went to sit on the front step. A couple of hours later two girls approached the house. She got up to greet them. Both were wearing clothing that could better be described as rags. As she approached them she put on a smile while adjusting her package that was slung over her shoulder.
"Hello there." She greeted them. Both girls were immediately wary.
"Umm who are you and what are you doing here." The older one finally said.
"Oh where are my manners, my name is Nodoka Saotome. I'm here because after so long I've finally been able to track down my husband and son."
"Your husband wouldn't happen to be a 'Genma' Saotome would he?" Akane asked.
"Why yes, yes he is. Is he here?" She smiled.
"Yeah him and daddy should be inside." Nabiki said as she opened the door. She mumbled something about a no good fat ass. Fortunately Nodoka didn't seem to hear her.
As soon as they entered the house they noted something was wrong. Where her father and Mr. Saotome usually sat was vacant. Going over to the 'table' she noticed that there was a note on it. Picking up the note she read it aloud.
'Dear girls:
It's been ten years since my good friend Genma arrived at our household. It has recently come to our attention that his son Ranma should be trained by now. We have gone off on a training mission of our own to retrieve his son. We may be gone for several months so I expect you to be good and not to disturb the master. It is my sincerest wish that as soon as we return the two schools will be united. Oh joyous day.
All my love
Soun Tendo'
As soon as she was finished Nabiki broke down into tears. It had been quite some time since she'd last allowed herself to cry. She felt that she was overdue. Mrs. Saotome noticed this and started rocking the girl back and forth while trying to calm her.
When she had calmed down enough she related the entire story to Mrs. Saotome everything that had happened over the years. Slowly but surely during the story Nodoka's battle aura came to life. Near the end it had progressed into a raging inferno.
"HE DID WHAT!!!!!!!!!" She yelled. People several prefectures over noticed that their animals started acting weird all of a sudden as if expecting the rapture. Animals are just smart that way.
Allowing Mrs. Saotome to calm down a bit Nabiki was preparing to drop the largest piece of information that she'd ever had.
"Mrs. Saotome I know this is not what you want to hear but." She started then trailed off.
"Where is my son?" She asked, finally noticing that her son was absent.
"Over the years my sisters and I have noticed that Mr. Saotome's story of where his son was has been, shall we say inconsistent. I'm sorry Mrs. Saotome but I believe that your son is dead."
Nodoka's world broke.
Ten Years Ago Somewhere in the Wilderness
The middle aged man sat beside his fire, it had been two weeks since he'd lost his son during the training accident. During those two weeks he'd searched high and low for his son. He'd come across a cottage on the third day but the old lady there said that she hadn't seen anything suspicious in the past while.
Undaunted he continued the search. If he couldn't find his son then all was lost and he'd never be able to go home again. Sure his son meant a lot to him, without him how would he be able to continue on. Those people who were so desperate to get their daughters engaged would practically give him anything he wanted. Without proof of a son except for an old photograph, people would be more hesitant, and soon the scam wouldn't work.
Today however was one that he'd rather forget. It was today that he'd found his son's gi in the forest some distance from where he'd originally trained him. It was bloodstained and ripped to absolute shreds. Further examination showed that a knife did not make the tears or any type of man made weapon that he knew of. They were claw marks. The surrounding area also provided some clues as to what had happened. There were obvious signs of a struggle as the ground was torn up pretty badly. Bending down he noted that the tracks were that of a large predator, possibly a tiger or some other large cat. (Genma's knowledge of tracks is severely limited basically he can tell human from 'other' and that's basically it.) There were also drag marks indicating that something fairly heavy was dragged off into the bush.
All of the evidence considered he came to the proper conclusion. His son in the Neko state had encountered a tiger. There was a fight and Ranma lost. The tiger killed him and dragged his carcass off to it's lair to be eaten. It was plain as day. Not wanting to tangle with a tiger in it's lair Genma picked up his son's gi and headed back for camp.
Now he had only one minor problem.... Nodoka was going to kill him.
The problem now is that his son was dead. He grieved for a while since he'd gotten somewhat attached to the little spore, but eventually concluded that Ranma's death was his own fault, if he'd only learned the technique like he was supposed to he would be just fine right now. Disposing of the evidence now took priority, however, as Genma watched his son's gi burn in the fire along with the Neko-ken training manual. Since his son disappeared he decided to re-read the manual and discovered that there was an extra page at the front of the book that he never noticed before. The page had the word WARNING in large bold red letters and proceeded to warn the person reading that the training manual was for educational purposes only and that the training caused severe psychological damage to the trainee and was not to be attempted under any circumstances. It also noted that the training had been banned from all respectable schools for over fifty years. As soon as he read this he promptly forgot about it since it obviously didn't apply to him.
Now the problem was what to do? He couldn't go home since Nodoka would have his head on a stake, in less time than it would take him to blink, if she ever found out that he'd lost their son. He sat there watching the fire burn and tried to decide what to do. Slowly a plan formed in his mind. A promise made long ago almost forgotten in the winds of time and much sake. A grin came to his face. It was perfect, his old friend Soun would help him. They went way back to the days of training with the old master, surely his old friend would help him out in his time of need. The only problem was now that his son was dead the schools would never be united and after a while Soun's patience may wear out. A plan was needed. It of course had to be something fool proof since Soun was no pushover. The mighty hampster that was his mind got onto the rusty cobweb filled wheel and started churning out a plan.
Grinning he watched the last remnants of his former son burn in the fire as he went to work breaking camp. He needed to get a move on soon if he was to make it to Tokyo in a few days time. His supplies were running out quickly and he was worried that he'd have to actually go hunting or try selling his son again for something to eat. The prospect of selling his son became less and less the longer he waited.
Finally finished breaking camp he shouldered his pack and set off to the north towards Tokyo and possibly an easy life.
A few hours later his stomach growled quite loudly demanding to be fed. It was about this time that he came across a yati with an older gentleman standing behind it. A younger girl about his son's age stood next to him. She was fairly cute with long brown hair done up in a ribbon and deep brown eyes. Giving the air a quick sniff he noted that the man had quite some skill when it came to preparing the dish. Drooling a bit he made his way to the cart. As he approached he noted that the man seemed to notice him but made no move to intercept.
"Ahh a good day to you sir." He said. It was best to initiate the conversation since he had no money to pay for the food.
"And a good day to you too. How may I help you?" The man was instantly wary. The stranger was obviously a martial artist.
"I was wondering if I could get a couple of those delicious smelling concoctions you've got there." Ok now once they're finished to hit him with the punch line.
Hikaru Kuonji started cooking up two specials, the man was suspicious but he was a customer nonetheless. As soon as he'd finished he served up the food. One of them automatically disappeared down the man's throat before he could get payment.
"Now look here." he started. The man bowed deeply. "Forgive me but my son and I haven't eaten for days."
"You're son eh? I don't see him around here." The elder Kuonji looked around trying to spot the youngster.
"Oh he's just over that hill waiting for me, you see he's kindof shy you see." He dug into his pockets and pulled out a slightly worn picture. "A handsome young lad he is. Now I don't have any money right now but how about I propose something. I see your daughter is quite the young lady, I propose that we get the two of them engaged."
Oh there was definitely something wrong here but for two okonomiyaki even if what he said was hogwash it was a great deal. Letting his fatherly concerns overtake him he decided to accept the deal. Genma quickly drew up the arrangement and said that he and his son were still on their training trip and would be finished in nine years. He gave the elder Kuonji his home address in Juuban and told him that he would be there. As he walked off over the ridge he pulled out the second morsel of food and quickly downed it. He gave a quick chuckle to himself at how easy it was to pull off this scam. During the next few days he decided to take his time and work the scam to it's fullest. He managed to pull it off a total of fifteen times before he got to Tokyo. Each time he addressed it to his wife's place and gave a timeframe of nine years before they could collect his 'son'. If during that time if anybody actually came to collect nobody would be able to find him. It was almost perfect.
Approaching the Nerima ward he made sure to take note of every possible escape route just in case something went wrong. As he made his way to the dojo he noted that it seemed older than he remembered it. Pushing his way through the front gate he walked up to the front door and knocked. A few minutes later a young girl about 10 or 11 years old opened it. He looked down at her and smiled.
"Hello is your father in?" He asked. She smiled back and nodded. He followed her inside as she led him to the living room. In the center of the room there was a disheveled man staring at a shoji board looking absolutely miserable.
"Tendo my old friend!" Genma boomed.
The man looked up and immediately a smile came across his face.
"Saotome my friend, what brings you here?" He responded in kind.
"It's a long story Tendo, mind if I sit and tell you it over a game?"
"Of course Saotome, Kasumi could you bring us some tea?" he shouted.
During the course of the next hour Genma related the tale of his training Ranma up until the cat fist part. That was where the story took off on a wild tangent of where he'd met this wizened old master in the mountains. Needless to say the master immediately saw Ranma's potential and skill and offered to train him. He had protested but the master wouldn't take no for an answer. Genma had decided to challenge the master and had been handily defeated in less than two seconds. Soun's eyebrow rose at this since he knew of Genma's skill. Anybody that good to have defeated him in such a short time was truly a master. Continuing his story he related that the master would train Ranma for ten years. At the end of this time if Genma wished he could return and claim his son.
"Just think of it Tendo, the boy will be trained to mastery by the time he's sixteen, then all we have to do is give him some training in Anything Goes and then we can join the schools!"
"Yes Saotome that's a wonderful idea. Brilliant even."
"Dinner's ready." Called Kasumi from the kitchen.
"Won't you join us for dinner? It just wouldn't be the same without you. It's been such a long time." Commented Soun.
"Yes Tendo I think I will join you."
It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Soun Tendo is in a very vulnerable state right now. His wife Kimiko has just died not two months ago and he is feeling very lonely. The arrival of his oldest and very best friend is a godsend for him. He doesn't realize that this simple friendly act of inviting him to stay will pave several good miles on said road. Needless to say between the two of them the Hell construction workers wouldn't have to do any paving for years.
2 years after his arrival
A ten-year-old Nabiki was looking down at the family's finance sheets and forcing herself to not break into tears. During the last two years after her mother's death things had gone from bad to worse. Daddy hadn't taught any classes since and the red marks on the paper indicated that the expenses were far, far outweighing the remaining money that they had from the life insurance policy. In fact the large red figure on the bottom of the page indicated that it was already too late. The family was broke. Most of their money went to pay for food and her father and his fat assed friend's frequent drinking binges. Getting up from her desk she decided to confront her father and hopefully save the family.
As she walked down the hallway towards the living room she took note that her father and Mr. Saotome were sitting in front of the go board again drinking like there was no tomorrow. She also noted that her father was winning, obviously cheating in plain sight since Mr. Saotome was too inebriated to notice.
"Daddy?" she asked. It took him a while to answer.
"Hmm yes honey?" He looked bleary eyed at her.
"Daddy you have to throw his fat ass out he's." She started pointing at Genma. Well she was ten years old and tact and diplomacy wasn't in her system yet.
"NABIKI!!!" He yelled. "Genma is my friend and a guest and he is to be treated with respect!!! Go to your room and think about this." He pointed to somewhere upstairs.
"But." she started.
"No but's now go!" He shouted again.
"Yes Daddy." She turned around and slowly made her way back to her room.
When she closed her door she jumped onto her bed, buried her head in her pillow and started crying her eyes out. She had been too late, her father was gone replaced by a stranger, a carbon copy of the fat ass himself. Her sisters needed her, she had to be strong for them. Unknown to her during her crying fit her sisters had snuck into her room and were comforting her. When she'd finished crying she explained the situation and exactly how screwed they were. Kasumi understood but Akane was having some trouble understanding. Suddenly her eyes opened wide and a grin plastered all over her face. She dashed from her sister's room and ran down the hall. When she arrived at her father's room she went into her pseudo stealth mode. She opened the door as quietly as she could and crept inside. Her father wasn't in there and the lights were off. Even if her father had been in the room a herd of rabid elephants stampeding through wouldn't have woken him.
She approached his dresser stand and opened the drawer. At the front was her father's official seal. It was the Tendo clan seal passed down from generation to generation. She snatched it up quickly and dashed out the door making sure to put everything back the way she'd found it. As she made her way back to her sister's room she noticed that her Daddy and Mr. Saotome were singing downstairs. It was pretty bad singing. When she got back to Nabiki's room she noticed that Kasumi had successfully calmed her down and was rocking her gently. Akane approached her older sisters and held out the pilfered stamp.
A smile lit up Nabiki's face as a plan came together in her mind. Sure it wasn't perfect but it would at least buy her family some time and hopefully they'd be able to figure out what to do then. She got up and hugged her little sister.
"Oh Akane you're a genius!"
A few days later Nabiki was smiling again. It had taken some doing but she'd managed to convince the bank to mortgage the house. Unfortunately since she was only ten years old she couldn't open her own bank account. (Cruel twist of fate.) The best she could do was use her father's existing account. She knew that this would definitely be a problem since her father could drain it on his drinking binges with him and his fat assed friend. At least the family could pay the power and water bills and eat tonight. One day at a time nobody can defeat a Tendo.
Four years after Genma's arrival
A twelve-year-old Nabiki came running into the house and up the stairs to her room. Inside she flopped down on her bed and started crying again. Those stupid stupid idiots. Where else did they think the money came from? The last two years she'd been able to come up with some moneymaking schemes to help the family. Blackmail, gambling, extortion, and various other schemes to make money. The problem was that grade school children didn't have all that much money to begin with. Sure it was easy getting it from them but the amount only covered the interest and some of the principle. She'd had to use some of the money from the original mortgage to help pay down the amount they owed just to get the interest payments within what she could make in a month. Needless to say the family finances were bleeding red ink faster than a hemorrhaging hemophiliac.
To top off her bad day when she'd gone to the bank to make the payment she'd found that there was only half of what was required for the payment. She'd dreaded what would happen next month when there was no money left but that was next month and she'd think of something, she always did. But now with only half of what was needed the bank would foreclose on their house and they'd be out in the street. Life just wasn't fair.
The past four years had been hard on the Tendo sisters. Kasumi had to become mother, cook, and maid. Nabiki had become their own personal bank. She rationed what money she could and generally kept them in their home and off the street. She had resorted to Yakuza like tactics but if it kept her family safe and sound then that was what had to be done. Akane on the other hand had plunged herself into her martial arts, teaching herself from the family scrolls and from the street fights that she'd gotten into. Whenever she saw a new technique she'd automatically try to incorporate it into her fighting style. Being eleven years old she wasn't allowed into any of the pit fighting competitions and the street fights weren't that profitable. She only used them to upgrade her skills.
What she really used the art for was theft. The family finances were strained to the limits as it was and Daddy and his fat assed friend's bottomless pits caused a great strain when it came to the food budget.
A year ago she'd asked Nabiki for some money to buy some clothes. Nabiki had been suspicious since the normal order of the clothing went from Kasumi to Nabiki to Akane. Akane never got any new clothes and was always second or third hand. Nevertheless Nabiki forked over the money, she loved her sister and all and thought that she deserved something that she could call hers and hers alone.
The next day there was some extra rice and vegetables in the pantry and meat in the refrigerator. Kasumi the kitchen goddess immediately noticed the extras and set about finding out exactly how they'd gotten there. Akane walked into the dining room area and yawned.
"Morning sis." She said sounding quite tired.
"Akane did you hear anybody downstairs last night?" Kasumi asked.
"Mmm? No why?" She knew exactly where this was going.
"That's strange. There's food here but I don't remember buying it." Nabiki chose this moment to come into the kitchen after overhearing that there was extra food.
"What's this about more food than we should have?"
"Well there's extra food here that shouldn't be."
Soun was walking by the kitchen and he called out.
"Genma my friend horrible news."
"What is it Tendo?"
"There is a thief running around in the market yesterday. See here it's in the paper."
"Hmm lets see here, 'Mysterious Black thief raids Market.' Did they catch him?"
"No it says here that he got clean away."
"Oh well none of our concern then. How about a quick game before breakfast."
Back in the kitchen the three girls heard it all. Akane was suppressing a smile. Nabiki and Kasumi were stumped. All of a sudden Nabiki's eyes opened in understanding.
"Pick out something black and sexy eh little sis?" She asked.
"And prepare to do some funky poaching." She finished.
Kasumi looked on horrified. The extra food was stolen, and by her little sister no less!
"Akane I'm very disappointed in you. Don't you know that stealing is wrong." She chastised her in a hushed whisper.
"No Kasumi what's wrong is that we are going to be thrown out of our house unless we get money. If we don't have to buy food then Nabiki will have more to work with and we can pay this month's bills!"
Nabiki smiled and then hugged her little sister. "Thank you Akane, you don't know how much this means to me."
"No problem, just keep us afloat and let Kasumi and me worry about the rest."
Needless to say the bills were paid and there was food on the table.
Two months later
"Thank you Mr. Tendo, Mr. Saotome, we in the merchant's guild thank you and your family for offering to help us. This black thief has been terrorizing us for the past two months now."
"Nonsense it is a martial artist's duty to catch thieves and other trouble makers. We will do our best to make sure that the thief is caught. Won't we Saotome." Never mind the fact that their own martial art was based on thievery.
"Right we will Tendo." The two men clasped their hands in a show of solidarity.
On the streets of Nerima the entire Tendo family and Mr. Saotome were walking towards the market.
"Ok now girls you will form team A and Mr. Saotome and myself will be team B. If you see this thief call for help, don't try to catch him by yourself."
"We won't daddy." That came from Akane. She had a small backpack on. She told her father that it had some snacks and water in it so that she and her sisters would have something to eat. In reality it had her black suit.
When they arrived at the market the two teams split up. The girls ducked into an alleyway and then made their way to the roof of one of the buildings. Akane quickly shed all of her clothing and donned the black suit. If they didn't see their sister get into the suit they would have never known it was her inside. The tight spandex suit covered everything, there was even a visor made of dark plastic that covered her eyes. To further the deception there was a small amount of padding in the groin area.
"That's quite a package little sis. You sure you're not bragging about something?" Nabiki said pointing to the buldge.
"Well if I'm going to deceive I'm going to do it right." She said posing a bit. "Be right back." She jumped off the roof. Nabiki and Kasumi watched her disappear into the shadows.
About twenty minutes later she returned carrying a large bag of rice and some vegetables. She set them down on the roof and pulled off her mask.
"Whew that was fun. Daddy and fat ass never suspected a thing. I snatched this stuff from right under their noses. It was too easy."
"You do know that they're not going to give up don't you."
Akane sighed. "Yeah I know, but don't worry I've got a plan."
"What's your plan Akane?" Kasumi asked.
"Well I was thinking about going to Juuban and Tomboki for a bit to let things cool down here and then rotate so that nobody suspects anything. With any luck I can keep this up for quite some time and never get caught."
"That's a good plan Akane but are you sure that you can keep it up, I mean those wards aren't really close to here." Commented Kasumi as she was going through the vegetables trying to decide what to make for supper tonight.
"Actually sis, that's where you and Nabiki come in." Akane said with a small smile on her face.
"Something tells me that I'm not going to like this." Nabiki said dryly.
"Well normally how I do it is that I steal lots of food and leave it on one of the roofs and then I make several trips to get it all home. If we start raiding other wards I'll need help carrying it all back. You don't have to do anything but carry."
They never did catch the thief but they did have some great sukiyaki that night.
1 year ago
In a dark cave just north of Tokyo it slept. Suddenly the sky opened up and a lightning bolt sped towards the ground. The bolt struck the boulder smashing it in half disintegrating the prayer strips. From deep within the cave evil red eyes glowed with power.
"Fffffreeeeeee!" it cackled.
"Panties!" It shouted to the heavens as it bounded away from the cave.
In Nerima at the Tendo dojo the shrine cracked and fell to the floor. It had been neglected for the past nine years. Only the girls seemed to notice but thought nothing of it.
The next day Nabiki and Akane were walking on their way to school. Kasumi had already left for her job, and their father still hadn't gotten up. It had been this way for the past few months. Ever since Kasumi had graduated she had gotten a job at a strip club in Juuban ward. It brought in quite a bit of money and both Nabiki and Akane had been able to scale back their operations considerably. Unfortunately it didn't pay all the bills so Akane still had to steal quite a bit to keep the household fed. She was by now quite the thief. Once she'd hit puberty she'd had to alter her outfit adding padding all over it to make her seem more masculine. Needless to say all the hard exercise had added to her physique. She was now quite beautiful since most of her baby fat had melted away. Her muscled frame was extremely powerful and agile. She filled out her dress quite well. Her hair had been kept short since she couldn't conceal long hair under her cowl very well.
Nabiki had more curves than her sister. She was only doing menial exercise and sort of keeping up with her martial training. The result was that she had a bit more fat on her and some dangerous curves. Both would be classified as severe 'babes'. The problem with Nabiki was the way she made money. The entire student body feared her because of her ruthless nature. Sufficed to say it made finding a date for Friday night quite difficult. As they approached the gates to Furinkan High Akane's usual idiot was not waiting for her. Instead there was a large crowd of boys facing a podium.
On the podium stood a tall boy dressed in a kendo outfit. He was waving around a wooden sword and shouting out something about a fair goddess. As soon as the two girls walked through the gateway a huge roar went up from the crowd. Unfortunately for them they caught the end of the speech.
". Oh the heaven's weep at her beauty, If thou'st wish to date the fair goddess Akane you must defeat her in combat first, I the great Tatewaki Kuno shall permit no other way."
"Oh crap." This amazingly came from one of the boys in the crowd. As a whole they turned around to see Akane standing by her sister.
The scary thing was that Akane was glowing a faint blue. Her sister took several quick steps to the side before the massacre could start. She had no wish to be in the center of the maelstrom.
As one the boys charged. "Akane date with me!" "Akane my love!" "Akane be mine!" were some of the shouts that emanated from the mob.
Then the screaming began. One after another they boys were thrown about like rag dolls. Some were compacted with punches and kicks that dropped them to the hard cold ground. In about two minutes it was over. Thirty boys were on the ground in various states of consciousness. The only one left standing was Kuno himself.
"Ahh truly they were a boorish lot not fitting of such a tigress such as yourself. Very well then if you manage to defeat me I shall allow you to date with me." Kuno stated making it seem that it was as obvious as day.
Nabiki shook her head. Ever since the start of the semester Kuno had been infatuated with her little sister. The problem was that no matter how many times she gave him the brush off he just wouldn't take the hint. The fool had Akane coloured glasses and refused to notice any of the other girls around him. His only redeeming quality was that he was rich and stupid as a post. That in and of itself had kept her family out of the poorhouse and allowed her to pay off the various loans that she and her family had accumulated over the years. If things kept up they'd be in the black by the end of the year.
"So basically what you're saying is that if you defeat me I date with you and if I defeat you, you date with me." Akane shot back. She was not impressed one bit.
"Ahh the fair Akane Tendo truly your beauty is only outshined by your wisdom. Come let's skip this meaningless dravil and you jump into my arms." Kuno pronounced this by stretching his arms wide expecting her to jump into them and lavish upon him her undying affection. Well she jumped at him at least. Her undying affection was a snap kick to the head that sent him into blissful slumber.
Akane satisfied with her handy work proceeded into the building. Nabiki followed dragging the unconscious Kuno behind her to the nurse's station. Normally it was only Kuno that was out for her sister's affections. She absently wondered what the hoard would do to her sister's psyche now.
She didn't have to wait long to get her answer.
"You know Nabiki that was strangely refreshing." She finally said.
"What you mean you actually enjoyed that?" Nabiki shot back.
"Hey I know it won't do much for my form, I'll have to remember to keep practicing at home but it was fun pounding on those perverts. I kinda hope they get the message though but if not." She trailed off while clenching her fist and cracking her knuckles.
"Alright I'll see you after school then." Nabiki said as she got to the nurses station.
"Hey sis if they are out there tomorrow you want to start up a betting pool to see how long it takes me to trash them?"
"Glad to see you're not taking this seriously little sis."
"Would you have me any other way?" She said as she walked off to her class.
The next day. "Akane date with me!" "Akane be my love!" "Oh Akane let's get it on!" The results were predictable.
Two weeks ago
As the young woman walked down the street she thought she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, she thought she noticed some motion. A white figure dashed into an alleyway ahead of her. The strange thing was that when she got to the alleyway there was nothing there. It didn't matter anyway since after ten years she'd finally been able to track down her no good worthless husband. Hopefully she'd also be able to find her son. Oh how she loved him. It took her a while but eventually she managed to get to the Tendo dojo.
Arriving at the gate she took note that there was nobody home. She let herself in and went to sit on the front step. A couple of hours later two girls approached the house. She got up to greet them. Both were wearing clothing that could better be described as rags. As she approached them she put on a smile while adjusting her package that was slung over her shoulder.
"Hello there." She greeted them. Both girls were immediately wary.
"Umm who are you and what are you doing here." The older one finally said.
"Oh where are my manners, my name is Nodoka Saotome. I'm here because after so long I've finally been able to track down my husband and son."
"Your husband wouldn't happen to be a 'Genma' Saotome would he?" Akane asked.
"Why yes, yes he is. Is he here?" She smiled.
"Yeah him and daddy should be inside." Nabiki said as she opened the door. She mumbled something about a no good fat ass. Fortunately Nodoka didn't seem to hear her.
As soon as they entered the house they noted something was wrong. Where her father and Mr. Saotome usually sat was vacant. Going over to the 'table' she noticed that there was a note on it. Picking up the note she read it aloud.
'Dear girls:
It's been ten years since my good friend Genma arrived at our household. It has recently come to our attention that his son Ranma should be trained by now. We have gone off on a training mission of our own to retrieve his son. We may be gone for several months so I expect you to be good and not to disturb the master. It is my sincerest wish that as soon as we return the two schools will be united. Oh joyous day.
All my love
Soun Tendo'
As soon as she was finished Nabiki broke down into tears. It had been quite some time since she'd last allowed herself to cry. She felt that she was overdue. Mrs. Saotome noticed this and started rocking the girl back and forth while trying to calm her.
When she had calmed down enough she related the entire story to Mrs. Saotome everything that had happened over the years. Slowly but surely during the story Nodoka's battle aura came to life. Near the end it had progressed into a raging inferno.
"HE DID WHAT!!!!!!!!!" She yelled. People several prefectures over noticed that their animals started acting weird all of a sudden as if expecting the rapture. Animals are just smart that way.
Allowing Mrs. Saotome to calm down a bit Nabiki was preparing to drop the largest piece of information that she'd ever had.
"Mrs. Saotome I know this is not what you want to hear but." She started then trailed off.
"Where is my son?" She asked, finally noticing that her son was absent.
"Over the years my sisters and I have noticed that Mr. Saotome's story of where his son was has been, shall we say inconsistent. I'm sorry Mrs. Saotome but I believe that your son is dead."
Nodoka's world broke.