Ranma alternate fanfic
Started - 15 October 2003 Completed – pending
Last revised - 18 June 2004 Reason – new chapter added
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all associated characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and are used without permission. This fan-fiction isn't intended for commercial use but is rather a tribute to the Ranma ½ universe.
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Lonely Match by Cloud Dreamer
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Chapter Three – Explanations
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Nabiki was grumpy. Ok, so she didn't appreciate being woken up early by the Saotomes in a pitched battle on a Sunday, or any other day for that matter but Sunday's were the only day she could possibly sleep late, plus she was irritated at Ranma. 'She' had been grumpy at everything last night and the martial arts training had been something to suffer through instead of enjoy as she was beginning to do. Her musings were cut short as she heard Ranma-chan shriek.
Somehow she made it to the bathroom door just in front of everybody else despite being upstairs and in bed at the time.
She heard Ranma sobbing quietly, "no, no, not me, how can this be, I'm a guy, guy's don't have periods, no, no . . . no." She blanched and held out her arms blocking everybody else. Kasumi had been the only other person close enough to hear Ranma's words but before she could say anything, Nabiki quietly assured her, "It's ok Kasumi, I gave her the 'talk' about a week ago, now I just need to walk her through it."
Kasumi nodded and ushered everybody else away.
Nabiki took a deep breath, grabbed the necessary items and quietly entered.
Ranma was despondently sitting on a washing stool; the water slightly pink around her feet. She started when Nabiki gently hugged her and she almost gagged at what she saw in Nabiki's hands. "No, no, not gonna do it. All I gotta do is change and it's done with."
With that she suddenly slid out of Nabiki's arms and into the hot furo. His sigh of relief echoed in the room. Nabiki was flabbergasted and thought to herself, 'wow, there are times that I sure wish 'I' could have done that. I wonder why it didn't occur to me that that was all it took for Ranma to solve that problem. Well, as long as he isn't a she, I guess it works. Unh oh.'
She grinned as she looked over Ranma, who immediately blushed as he realized he was naked in the bathroom with Nabiki wearing only a thin nightgown. Nabiki was grinning because she realized he actually lived up to all of his name. 'Oh, my!' She sighed. "Ranma, tomorrow is a school day, and that means these," she gestured with what she held in her hands, "are going to be needed by you."
"NO, I'll, I'll just go to school as a guy or I won't go at all!" Ranma panted hyperventilating with tension.
"Ranma," soothed Nabiki, "every girl in the world goes through this from about age 10 to maybe 50 or so. Are you saying that you can't cope with something that is normal for a girl for most of her life?" Seeing his face cloud up in argument, she added, "Yes, I know it's gross, it sucks, it hurts and it's icky. Yes, but it is also normal and if you can't or won't cope with it then you lose the challenge at this point."
Ranma was silent as he mulled over Nabiki's words while he did what he could to protect what little modesty he had left before his friend.
He slowly nodded, but clarified, "Alright, but I'm staying a guy as much as I can these next few days." She heard him grumble, "Damn curse, at least changing into a guy lets me avoid part of it."
Nabiki stretched and began taking off her nightclothes.
Ranma panicked and yelped, "Nabiki, what are you doing?"
"Taking a bath?" she added with a slight leer, "Stud."
Ranma gulped, 'stud?' He was beginning to regret coming up with 'Nabs.' He shakily retorted, "But I'm in here!"
"Furo's big enough for both of us Stud, besides, we're friends and almost family;" Nabiki answered as she quickly washed herself and slid into the furo.
Ranma didn't know how to answer so he shied way from the girl that he had to admit was probably the prettiest of the Tendou sisters in his opinion.
"So talk to me," she said as she relaxed.
Ranma sighed and after a few moments softly said, "Thanks Nabs. I'm glad you took the time to give me a warning of this last week. I think I might have totally panicked otherwise." Seeing her faintly amused expression, he had to grin slightly and add, "instead of just partially like this morning."
The two of them talked a few moments more, catching up on their plans before being interrupted by Akane pounding on the door. "Hey, come on, other people want to take a bath too."
Ranma got out of the tub, not bothering to hide himself at this point. He dried off and then wrapped a towel about his waist before exiting to go get dressed in his room. A few minutes later Akane entered; a puzzled look on her face as she saw Nabiki already in the furo.
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Ryouga glared at the sign the boy in his grasp had pointed out to him. He turned back to him and almost snarled, "Where is Ranma Saotome?" The boy pointed as they heard a girl call out, "Ranma, wait for me."
Ryouga dropped the boy and rushed off in the direction he heard the girl hollering. He rushed by the redhead and yelled his battle cry, "Die, Ranma Saotome, for making my life hell, you will pay!"
"But," Ranma-chan stood there and watched the boy disappear in the distance; "I'm Ranma. Oh, well. Come on Akane."
Nabiki came up and asked, "Ranma who was that and how are you doing today?"
"Don't know," sighed Ranma. "He looks vaguely familiar. As for the 'other stuff', well, I guess I'm doing all right." Ranma looked apologetically over at Akane, "You were right, being a girl is a whole lot harder than being a guy."
Akane blushed at what it took to get Ranma to admit that. She grinned crookedly, "Come on you two; let's get some ice cream, my treat."
As they sat together slowly eating their ice cream, Nabiki noticed that Ranma was studying a piece of paper. She looked over the redhead's shoulder and determined that it was a chi technique. "What are you working on Ranma?"
Ranma looked up and said, "I copied this technique out of one of the advanced scrolls. It's how Genma hid the scrolls in the first place." She shook her head in frustration, "I'm having trouble mastering it. It even says that girls have a special affinity for it but not even that seems to help me right now."
"Special affinity?" chimed both Tendous.
"Yeah, something about 'hammer-space' or something like that," Ranma answered.
Akane blushed and said, "Actually, I know a little about that, sort of anyway."
"Huh?"
"What my little sister means," answered Nabiki, "is that she can do the technique when she is furious but she has no idea 'how' she does it."
That evening the three girls studied 'hammer-space' but were not making much headway until Nabiki began goading Akane's temper while Ranma studied the younger girl. When Akane finally lost it and reached for her hammer, Ranma nodded, seeing the folding of the chi lines and finally making sense of the descriptions given. She also grabbed the hammer just before it impacted Nabiki.
"Both of you apologize," was the sisters' sensei terse demand.
"Akane," Nabiki hesitantly said, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to get you to use your technique. I didn't mean any of it."
"Oh, Nabiki," sobbed Akane as she hugged her sister, "Sensei's right, I've got to work on mastering my temper. I could have really hurt you. That was wrong."
The two Tendous looked over at their sensei. Surprisingly Ranma was ignoring them and had seemed to fall into a meditative trance instead. Slowly the redhead nodded and then reached behind her to pull out a small hammer. A broad grin illuminated her face.
She grinned at her students, "Well, ready to learn how to control it?"
By the end of practice that day, all three girls could manipulate hammer-space not only to access their 'hammer' but could use it as storage space as well to a very limited extent.
Ranma tried using it when male but didn't quite make it work at first. Seems the chi patterns of the body were sufficiently different between the sexes that the exact same technique wouldn't work. But he was sure he'd solve the differences since they were actually described, though vaguely, in the scroll.
A few days later after Ranma had managed to fold space in male form and the three of them had done a few experiments, Ranma made a decision. That evening, in Nabiki's room, Ranma-chan looked at the leather case that they had been storing under Nabiki's bed and then studied the room. She finally looked at Nabiki and said, "If it's alright with you Nabs, I'd like to fold a spot in your room to store the case."
"Won't he detect it?" asked Nabiki.
"Naw," responded Ranma. "You and Akane could see each other's and my space-folds when I was a girl. And while you each could open your sister's folded space, I couldn't open yours and you couldn't open mine. On the other hand, when I was a guy, I couldn't see your folded space and you couldn't see mine unless it was one I made while I was a girl. In fact, I could barely see any space that I folded while in the opposite sex and I think the only reason I can is because I'm the same person." Ranma hesitated a moment before continuing; "It's apparent that because fold-space operates primarily off the dominate yin or yang of a person, only someone of the same sex can see another's folded space. In addition, only a close relative of the same sex can open another's folded spaces."
She paused and said, "From that, I think that Genma will neither see nor be able to open any fold space I make as a girl while he could both see and open any spaces I fold in my male form. Just like I could see and open the one he made."
Nabiki nodded at his logic and thought about it before she agreed. She looked about her room and finally pointed to an empty space on the wall between her and Akane's room that had a small table below it. "I think that that spot would be a good one." She grinned and added, "Red."
Ranma sighed but then nodded as she carefully began to fold space on the surface of the wall while Nabiki held the case, prepared to push it into the fold when Ranma said she was ready. Shortly thereafter, Ranma and Nabiki grinned, they had managed to hide something from Genma, the master thief.
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It was finally another weekend and for once, Ranma had some free time since there was no school this particular Saturday. Between the studying to make up for years of lost class time, fighting with the old man, helping with the house so as to carry his share of the load and teaching Nabiki and Akane; Ranma really had very little free time anymore. Plus he was really craving some 'guy' time since he invariably spent most of his waking moments in girl form it seemed.
Ranma was at one of the local parks in an isolated area working out some of the advanced moves he'd been studying from the scrolls he'd 'liberated' from 'Genma'. He was so deeply engrossed in his activity that he noticed little happening around him.
"Die, Ranma Saotome!" was all the warning he had of Ryouga's attack.
The shrapnel from the blast crater caused by the umbrella drew blood from Ranma's cheek as he dodged the other boy's series of attacks. "Who the hell are you, you honorless bastard to attack without warning?"
"You're the honorless bastard, Ranma!" yelled Ryouga. He paused, "What do you mean, you don't recognize me? Because of you, I've seen hell."
Dealing with Akane and her temper during training had taught Ranma how NOT to deal with someone with that problem. Don't tease, it only makes it worse. Put down hard and fast before they hurt somebody else was always a good idea. Ranma relaxed into a deceptive stance, sure enough Ryouga charged believing that his foe was both unprepared and taunting him.
Ranma used his enhanced speed to duck behind the charging boy and deftly strike several points that would render him insensate for the rest of the day.
Of course, it couldn't be that simple, Ryouga's charging body crashed headlong into a water fountain as he collapsed. Ranma-chan glared at where her foe had fallen. Startled, she noticed the clothes were empty; well except for a small black piglet that was dizzily shaking its snout trying to shake off the effects of Ranma's defense. Apparently changing forms also changed the effects of Shiatsu point attacks. 'Something to remember' thought Ranma to herself.
Not seeing its foe anywhere, the piglet grunted and began to drag its backpack away from the spraying water. Ranma watched with interest as the piglet deftly opened the pack, retrieved and lit the camp stove and then sat the filled kettle on it.
Just as the piglet was about to tip the hot kettle over on itself, Ranma reached out and intercepted the falling kettle and poured it over herself. The piglet froze on seeing its foe 'steal' his hot water. With a squeal, he attacked, but Ranma picked the piglet out of the air and stuffed him into the backpack. Ranma then quickly turned off the stove, packed everything else including the wet clothes back inside on top of the piglet. Ranma hoisted the backpack and carrying the still hot stove, set off homeward.
Nabiki looked up with interest as Ranma jumped over the back wall carrying a large backpack. The rest of the family also gathered around as Ranma set the pack down and began to unpack it.
When Ranma pulled out the piglet, Akane let out a cry of outrage and seized the piglet from his hands, "Ranma! How could you be so cruel to such a cute animal?" The piglet fainted in a fountain of blood as it realized just 'where' he was being cradled. Akane noticed the blood, "Ewww, it stained my blouse." She fixed an angry eye on Ranma who ignored her as he searched the pack for some sort of identification.
"Ranma," Akane snarled, her recently dormant temper surfacing, "I'm waiting for an explanation."
Puzzled, Ranma paused then flippantly answered, "You ain't my mother. So why do I have to answer to you?"
"Jerk!" She snarled, "I want to know why you injured this sweet little pig?"
"He ain't really a pig, he's a cursed guy. He attacked me, then when I knocked him out; he collapsed on top of a fountain and destroyed it. The resulting water spray activated my curse and his." Ranma paused as he finally found a wallet; he opened it and read, "Ryouga Hibiki?"
"Cursed?" Akane hesitantly glanced at the piglet what was beginning to snuggle into her bosom as he slowly returned to consciousness; she quickly held him out at arms length and then carefully placed him on the floor before dumping some fresh tea over the confused piglet.
"Pervert!" Akane screeched as she got a full frontal before the hapless fellow fainted from shock again. Her mallet passed harmlessly over his head as he collapsed out of its path. Before she could bring it around for another try, Kasumi was in the way as she spread a blanket over the naked boy.
Frustrated, Akane just 'humpfed' and resolved to 'educate' the pervert later.
Meanwhile, Ranma had replaced everything back in the pack except the dirty clothes which Kasumi had deftly snagged and was already sorting for the laundry. He sat there trying to recall where he'd known this fellow from before. He glanced again at the photo and noticed it was an ID badge for a boy's school Ranma had attended last year. That provided the key.
"Hey Genma," Ranma hollered, "remember that guy that challenged me last year; the one that we waited to show for three days before you dragged me off to hit the training spots in China?" He gestured to the blanket, "Well, it looks like he finally showed up; only a half year late."
"You bastard, you broke a man-to-man promise and ducked out on a duel!" Ryouga snarled as he sat up while carefully wrapping the blanket about himself. "I've seen hell because of you!" he continued.
Still sitting, Nabiki pivoted on her rear and brought her hand around in a full-armed slap that rocked the angry boy to his bare posterior. "One, there are ladies present, so watch your mouth. Two, you were the one that was late so blaming him merely proves you are dishonorable. Three, Ranma's my friend and nobody insults my friends; got that?" snarled Nabiki almost into his face.
Intimidated by the presence of a cute girl almost within kissing range, Ryouga could only helplessly nod frantically.
Ranma sighed as he realized that Kasumi had taken 'all' the clothes. He walked upstairs and shortly returned with a change of his clothes that he dropped into the other boy's lap, "Here, you'll have to wear these clothes of mine until Kasumi finishes washing yours." Seeing the mulish stubbornness start to set in on Ryouga's face, Ranma chuckled, "That is, unless you'd rather be naked among these three pretty girls until your clothes are dry this evening?"
Ryouga blushed and clasped the proffered clothing to himself desperately. Carefully holding the blanket about him, he cautiously made his way into the bathroom that Ranma pointed out to him.
An hour later, finally sighing in disbelief despite his memories, Ranma entered the bathroom and led the frustrated boy back into the dining room. "Man, I can't believe you got lost in the bathroom for an hour!"
"Shut up!" snarled Ryouga as he took a half hearted swing at the other boy's head. Ranma casually dodged but otherwise ignored it.
"So Ryouga," asked Nabiki, "how'd you end up cursed?"
Ryouga hesitated, but mindful of what Nabiki had said earlier, decided against starting off with his now almost standard tirade about Ranma. "After Ra . . . well, after I missed the duel, I followed Ranma for my revenge for him slighting my honor by not waiting for me. I followed him all the way to that place and then this redheaded girl knocked me into the pools while she was chasing a panda." Everyone else nervously looked at Genma and Ranma but didn't say anything for the moment. Ranma decided it would be better to take care of this issue later since he didn't see any way of really apologizing just now.
"Uh, hun;" softly said Nabiki; "Ranma told us a little bit about you. I think I see how it is. You are special and 'regular' rules concerning honor and responsibility don't apply to you." She hissed and added, "Let me guess, nothing is your fault, it's always somebody else's fault?"
Ryouga unconsciously scooted back a half step from where he was sitting at the table. He swallowed nervously, somehow claiming that 'it was Ranma's fault' at this point would only be validating her observation; he couldn't do that! "Well, he knew my problems with finding places. I mean he used to help me get to school and back home, he should have waited another day!"
Several eyebrows rose at this point; but Ranma was the first to speak. "I wanted to wait, but Genma disagreed; he knocked me out and hauled me off over his shoulder."
"He helped you?" asked Akane; "But doesn't that mean he was your friend?"
His focused world view under attack, Ryouga dithered and finally admitted; "Well, we aren't really friends, rivals would be a better term." A sad look crossed his face, "I don't really have any friends and he teased me too much to be considered a friend of mine."
A look of shame passed over Ranma's face at those words. "Sorry, guy; teasing is just how I pass the time with other people. I don't mean nothing by it."
Ryouga glared at him until interrupted by Kasumi. "Would you like to eat with us?" She smiled winsomely, "Have you really been traveling since last year? What about your parents; don't they miss you?"
Ryouga froze in place as he realized he was being addressed by an angel.
Ranma came to his rescue, "Remember what I told you about his directional curse while he was in the bathroom?" Seeing the lack of understanding on the others' faces, Ranma clarified, "It's a family curse; Ryouga has a hard time finding his home and often times his father is lost too. Fortunately his mother doesn't seem to have it but I'd guess that it's been awhile since Ryouga's seen his family."
"Oh my," said a shocked Kasumi, "How awful." She paused and asked, "Ranma, you said you used to lead him home?" Seeing Ranma nod, she continued, "Do you think you could do that again this evening? His mother must be so worried!"
Ranma hesitated briefly before nodding, "Sure thing Kasumi, I kinda know what it's like not to see your mother like that." Seeing the pain pass briefly over the faces of the Tendou sisters, he gently slapped himself in the forehead and whispered, 'd'oh' (Nabiki had finished corrupting him with tapes of her favorite American show). Aloud he said, "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to remind you of your mother." He grimaced as they all winced again.
Surprisingly it was Akane who answered, "It's all right Ranma, it's not your fault and truth to be told, I really wouldn't mind talking about her." She sighed wistfully, "I wish my family would talk about her to me, it's the only way that I can get to know who she was. I was so little when she died that I only have the barest of memories of her."
The sadness of her voice even silenced the TPW after just a few wails. Kasumi smiled and said, "While Ranma's gone tonight, how about we three sisters get together and look over some old photo albums in my room?"
If Akane's answering smile was bright, Nabiki's was brilliant.
It was early evening and Ryouga and Ranma were sitting together on the train watching the flickering lights of the passing houses. "Ranma," asked Ryouga, "how'd you end up at the Tendou's?"
"Genma," quietly snarled Ranma as if that one word explained everything. Seeing the confusion on the other boy's face, he clarified; "The two old men are the only masters of the Anything-Goes school, they trained together when they were younger. Apparently before I was born, they made this pact that their families and branches of the school would be joined together by marriage. They decided that Akane and I would be the two to get hitched." He noticeably shuddered and Ryouga barely heard him mutter under his breath, "yeah, like THAT's ever gonna happen, ain't no way in hell am I ever gonna marry that violent tomboy!"
Ryouga grinned, "Oh, I don't know, the pair of you seem a matched set of tomboys to me with the curse you have." He chuckled to himself to see his rival squirm helplessly with no good retort available. He leaned back in the seat and said, "The other sisters are sure different; Kasumi is really nice, but that Nabiki scares me."
"All girls scare you," snickered Ranma. He paused a few moments and added, "I really like Nabiki; she's the first real friend that I have had in a very long time. She's helped me a lot adjusting to this curse. I don't like it but I don't think I really hate it as much as I used to."
= = = = =
Soun and Genma sat before the shoji board and talked of their plans.
"Crud," softly said Genma glancing around to make sure it was only him and Soun. "Soun, I'm not sure how well the prospective young couple is getting along." He paused, "If it was just fighting, I'd say everything was going great, after all, that's what couples do best and martial arts couples marry just so they can have somebody to fight with steadily."
Soun nodded, his eyes glimmering as he recalled his own epic battles with his dear wife. 'He was so glad that his own sweet daughters were so much like their mother in some ways. Kasumi the cook, Nabiki the . . . humm, have to get back to that, anyway, why just yesterday, Akane had malleted both him and Genma; just like her mother used to do!'
Genma frowned, "But there is such an intensity of their dislike for anything romantic with the other that I'm worried. It's odd in a way; I mean they seem to almost get along otherwise." He paused for a few moments of thought before continuing, "I'm glad Ranma is teaching Akane and Nabiki, he does need to develop the ability to teach and Akane is your heir, but I'm worried about all the time he spends as a girl and I think he's studying way too much also. The boy is neglecting the art." At that thought, he absently rotated his shoulder, 'the boy had been getting both very good and very rough since they'd arrived at the Tendou's.' He sighed, 'Oh, well, it was only a phase and he'd get over it eventually.'
Soun was still lost in thought though he did absently wonder aloud, "Maybe it should be another of my girls instead of Akane? After all, Nabiki and him do seem to get along together fairly well."
Genma shuddered, 'NO,' he though, 'that won't do. She'd just interfere with any plans he had for his retirement.' Aloud he said, "I'm not sure that would work very well, after all she is older than he is." Genma grimaced, 'damn, he'd just shut out Kasumi, the girl he really hoped to pair up with Ranma now that he'd gotten a chance to get to know them a bit.'
Soun only nodded and made his move.
= = = = =
Ryouga had stopped a couple of blocks from his house when he was enthusiastically greeted by his guide dog, Checkers. Ranma was more than glad to let Ryouga get home on his own the rest of the way as he still had to catch a train back before they quit running for the night. A quick 'bye' and the pigtailed boy was gone into the night.
Ryouga was glad to see his mother though he was a little unsettled when he realized that he'd made it back in time for his birthday tomorrow. He shuddered a little, his mother was just a little weird when it came to stuff like that, maybe because she'd celebrated so many of them alone because the Hibiki curse.
= = = = =
Kasumi led her sisters into her room; she closed the door for privacy and then pulled a box of photo albums from under her bed. She explained, "I don't dare leave these out where daddy can find them. I'm afraid his tears would ruin the albums."
The hours passed and many Kleenex were used as the three sisters gradually reestablished a closeness that had been absent for years. The recent sharing of chores had helped in this respect.
Finally, they started talking about their 'guests'. Nabiki started it as she shyly asked, "I wonder if mom would have liked Ranma?"
The other two sisters looked at her oddly. That really was an unusual question; it was almost as if . . . Nabiki, Nabiki and Ranma?
Akane then grinned, "So the 'Ice Queen of Furinkan' has melted!" she teased. "I'm betting that you can hardly wait for the school year to end so you can kiss the redhead again, right?"
Taken unawares, Nabiki blushed as she struggled to get her emotions back under firm control.
"Oh my," asked a puzzled Kasumi, "what are you talking about Akane? I mean Nabiki isn't like that, well other than that first day when she 'pecked' Ranma-chan's cheek to tease you and her, is she?"
Akane giggled as Nabiki's control vanished again. "No Kasumi, it's just this challenge that Nabiki issued; if she loses it, the engagement is transferred to her."
"Oh my," said a shocked Kasumi, "I think you two had better fill me in on this and why haven't the rest of us heard about this before?"
Akane gleefully explained the challenge and how both Ranma and Nabiki were struggling with their parts of it. At the end, when talking about the training aspect, her mirth diminished significantly as she almost fumed about how Ranma was a 'show off and jerk'.
Nabiki grinned slightly and translated for Kasumi, "What she is trying to say is that she can't lay a finger on 'Red'. Ranma won't tolerate her temper either and puts her on her butt or in the pond in a hurry if she loses it."
Kasumi nodded at this; both she and Soun had been upset the first time they had witnessed Ranma tossing Akane in the pond. But upon hearing that Akane had agreed to accept Ranma as sensei, well, that was Ranma's call at that point.
Akane grimaced and growled, "I wish there was some way to get back at the jerk. So far it's been one-way; he's been dishing it out to both of us."
Nabiki nodded slightly, she didn't completely agree but she could see where the younger girl was coming from. On one hand, Ranma was surprisingly gentle in her teaching methods but inflexible in the discipline she insisted upon.
Kasumi cocked her head slightly, "Akane, it seems to me from what you have been telling me, that you have been shirking on your part of the challenge?"
"Huh?" even Nabiki was puzzled though she hadn't voiced it as articulately as had Akane.
"Well," explained Kasumi, "you are supposed to be teaching Ranma how to function as a girl, yet Nabiki was the one to give her the 'talk'. What have you done aside from just putting up with being around Ranma in girl form at school?"
A slow grin started to spread across Nabiki's face, Akane of course jumped to conclusions and immediately panicked. "No! I haven't lost and I'm not going to marry that pervert!"
"Shopping!" was Nabiki's one word response. Kasumi giggled a little and a confused Akane wondered what it was all about. Then it came to her and a broad grin almost split her face.
'D'oh' Ok, so she liked the show too, somehow it just seemed so appropriate at the moment. Akane removed her hand from the middle of her forehead and remarked drolly with exaggerated seriousness, "Kasumi is absolutely right; I've been grievously remiss in my duties as Ranma's instructor in the feminine arts." She forced an obviously fake frown and continued in the same vein, "I must immediately make amends by doubling up on the lessons at once."
Her serious expression slumped into a mischievous grin and she sighed, "Oh, yeah;" as both Kasumi and Nabiki collapsed into each other's arms giggling. They completely lost it when Akane giggled and said, "Lingerie!"
A bit later, Kasumi asked, "Why haven't the three of you said anything to the father's about all of this?"
Akane just shrugged and said, "Well, Ranma and Nabiki were pretty sure that daddy and Mr. Saotome would somehow interfere and since I didn't want to have to deal with them either, I agreed as well."
"I am a bit surprised Nabiki," stated Kasumi, "I didn't think that you were interested in Ranma. I know the two of you are getting along well and he and Akane aren't; does this mean you want the engagement moved to yourself?"
Nabiki froze, 'this wasn't a question she was ready to answer. She'd been avoiding even thinking of it and she wasn't ready to . . . they weren't going to let her dodge, that she could already see.' She gulped audibly, "I, I'm not sure. He's my first friend and . . ." A broad grin appeared on her face as she whimsically added, "and she's my first close girlfriend too."
The answering grins from her sister encouraged her to continue, "I'm just afraid that if we got engaged, we wouldn't be friends anymore." She sighed a bit sadly, "Also, I don't think that 'Genma' approves of me as a match. I seem to intimidate him." She added softly, "I know the old bastard doesn't approve of us being friends."
Kasumi frowned, "Nabiki, that's not an appropriate way to refer to Mr. Saotome, even in private."
Nabiki studied her two sisters in silence for a few moments, the icy calculating expression on her face inhibiting either of them from interrupting her. Nabiki was debating just how much to tell her sisters. Finally she decided she had to risk telling them everything as it could potentially impact either of them disastrously if they weren't warned.
She rose to her feet and motioned to the other two to follow, "Ranma and I discovered something that you two need to know. It's hidden in my room."
She led the way after carefully checking that the pair of fathers were still downstairs. She locked her door after Akane and Kasumi had taken seats on her bed. Sitting at her desk she quickly turned on her computer and found the files on Genma in the encrypted folder she had created that first evening. It now contained much more information, some of which she hadn't had a chance to share with Ranma yet.
A shocked and stunned Kasumi slowly summed it up at the end, "He's scum!"
Akane and Nabiki nodded and the latter added, "Actually, he gives scum a bad name. I was able to do a search for newspaper stories on him and it is incredible the number of petty crimes he's wanted for questioning about."
She hesitated and then added uncertainly, "I also discovered that daddy was also wanted for questioning in some of the older police files." She sighed as she shared this discovery of a hidden side of their father; "It seems that both daddy and Genma were associated with somebody named Happosai when they were younger and about the time they married our mothers. The three of them actually had a few old arrest warrants out on them. Fortunately, it seems the statue of limitations on all of them has expired so we don't actually have to worry about it. Still, it bothers me to know that daddy might be just as dishonorable as his friend is."
She sighed, "On the good side, I haven't found out anything adverse about Ranma. That makes me believe him when he said he guards his honor."
For once Akane didn't snipe at Ranma, "I can't believe his mother would actually kill him!"
"She might," softly answered Kasumi. "You two didn't spend much time with Mrs. Saotome when she stopped by almost three years ago. What I remember most was just how very traditional she was and the fact that she carried the family honor blade with her at all times." Kasumi hesitantly added to the discomfort of her sisters, "I think we need to be concerned that his mother might really call on Ranma to fulfill that pledge. I've seen enough of Ranma to realize that he would do so."
Nabiki shuddered and added, "Ranma doesn't fear death. His mother's rejection would hurt him more than any blade." Nabiki turned troubled eyes to her elder sister. "What do you think she meant by this archaic 'man among men' bullshit?"
Kasumi winced but answered, "I'm not sure but she was so eager to talk about her hopes for her son." Kasumi shook her head and continued, "It was sort of weird; I mean she said things like 'her manly son must be peeping at all the girls by now' and she wondered if she even had any grandkids yet!"
"But . . . but Ranma would have been only 13, almost 14 at the time!" Nabiki protested.
"Good grief," interjected Akane, "do you think that maybe Ranma being away from his mother might have been a good thing?" Akane's face wrinkled in thought before she added; "Besides, the terms of this contract are so nebulous that they belong to some long past era. They're ridiculous!"
Nabiki slowly nodded as she accepted her sister's opinion.
Akane then turned frightened eyes to Nabiki, "Do you think 'Genma' would really do this to his son and us?" she asked as she 'clicked' on the part of the file showing the covert appraisal of their home that listed potential buyers.
"Oh my," whispered Kasumi in shock, "Is our home really worth that much?"
Nabiki glanced at the figures on the screen, "Actually those numbers are about 15% low and if I was dealing with a motivated buyer, I think I could even get another 10% as well." Nabiki paused to gather her thoughts, "I've had a chance to study 'Genma' since he arrived almost a month ago. I don't really think he'd go this far unless it was a desperation move. I truly believe that this is just a contingency plan or maybe a wistful thought he had before he came here." She sighed as she admitted, "The only way I think he'd do this was if he felt forced;" she paused and continued, "either by his wife coming for his head or . . ." she again paused and then awkwardly finished, "or maybe if I married Ranma."
Kasumi sat in shock for only the briefest of moments before she engulfed Nabiki in a hug. The earlier hours of emotional bonding had taken a toll on the shorthaired girl; this last self revelation tore the last of her defenses down. It was more than the middle daughter could take as she quietly started crying into her sister's bosom in response to her compassion.
"You love him," observed a shocked Akane, "but you're afraid that if you let it happen, the family will somehow pay." Akane leant against Nabiki, "Oh sis, I'm sorry for giving you such a hard time." She put her arms about both of her older sisters, "Have I told you both how much I love you?"
A looonnngg time later; "So what do we do about 'Genma' and how do we deal with daddy too?" asked Kasumi. She added, "I already know that trying to talk daddy out of the engagement is a bad idea and I don't think we want to warn 'Genma' by even trying to talk to daddy about this."
"Well," hesitantly responded Nabiki as she dried her eyes yet again, "Akane needs to stay as the fiancé for the time being so we don't set off any panic reaction." She sighed as she realized she couldn't hide her feelings from herself or her sisters and continued, "Needless to say, I want to be the one that actually marries Ranma, but I don't think that that would be safe to do until he turns 20." She glared at her younger sister, "That means you being a little nicer to him, BUT not too nice or the two old farts will start pressuring you into an immediate marriage." All three sisters shuddered at that thought, "And we really, really don't want that to happen."
Nabiki looked Kasumi warmly in the eyes, "Unfortunately, you will have to be the one that keeps an eye and an ear on both old men." She smiled, "Thank you for doing the 'party stuff' for me. I apologize for dumping it on you without notice but it was sort of a desperation move after Ranma and I fell asleep together that night. I meant to approach you first, but our carelessness sort of forced my hand."
"No, I'm the one who should thank you," responded Kasumi with another hug. "I'm glad that you are taking such good care of your family and I really do enjoy getting to go to the parties."
Kasumi paused and then asked softly, "Nabiki, what do we do about Ranma? Do you want him to know about your feelings for him?"
Nabiki's face blanched at first, but as she started to reply, it was gradually suffused with a light blush. "Ah, well, you see . . . 'sigh' . . . no. I don't want Ranma to feel forced and his friendship is just too important to me to risk just yet. Please don't tell him that I lo . . . like him."
Kasumi arched an eyebrow. "I don't see anything wrong with telling Ranma that you LIKE him."
Nabiki flushed, it was really hard for her to hide her feelings from herself and apparently hard to hide them from her sister as well. She whispered, "I love him."
Kasumi sighed, 'Ah, young love;' but all she said was, "Alright." She moved back to the computer and moved the mouse pointer to a folder Nabiki hadn't explained.
"Nabiki," Kasumi asked as she double-clicked, "what is this folder about?"
Nabiki sighed, this was something she had recently discovered and didn't want to talk about it until she had a chance to ask Ranma. But the cat was figuratively out of the bag now. "I'm not sure, sis. I found a dozen or so instances where Genma was accused of breach of promise concerning a betrothal of Ranma to various girls." She sighed, "There is even a case where a dowry was stolen when Ranma was only six."
"Oh, my;" seeing the incipient fury on Akane's face Nabiki continued, "given how young Ranma was, he probably doesn't even know about it."
Akane reluctantly accepted the point and asked, "What do you think Nabiki?"
"Everything; and I mean everything that I've seen about Ranma indicates that he is an honorable person," Nabiki slowly responded. She pointed to the files, "All of these are old, Ranma was maybe eight years old in the most recent." She added, "Given Genma's proven character, I think he's probably hidden all of this from Ranma just like he kept the existence of the Saotome school scrolls hidden from him."
Akane also nodded in agreement but then asked, "You know, I really do wonder if daddy has scrolls too? Now that I understand what's going on a little bit better, I'd like to do my part with cross-teaching the schools better too."
Before Nabiki could admit she'd not done anything yet, Kasumi answered, "Why, yes, he does." She smiled, "I'll get them from where he hid them in his room and I'll put them in your room Monday under your bed."
Kasumi paused and then asked her sister's deferentially, "Do you think I could learn how to do fold-space too?"
Akane grinned, "Should be possible, after all you did train when younger and you have the genes for it too." Her grin broadened a little bit, "Looks like I finally have my first student."
"Oh no, I don't . . ." she stopped when she realized both younger sisters were smirking at her, "Oh you two, quit teasing me!" she said with a giggle.
= = = = =
The next morning (Sunday), Ryouga confusedly looked at the advertisement that his mother showed him as she gushed and eagerly planned his birthday party that afternoon. Stunned disbelief was about all Ryouga was capable of at first as he saw the Tendou name and the 'dancing-martial-arts' panda. His might not be one of the brightest lights, but the bulb was lit and he finally connected the panda and Ranma's cursed form to his memories of his own dunking at Jusenkyo. Then came the anger, 'that damned honorless Ranma; he knew he was the one to knock me into those cursed pools and he didn't even admit it!' Meanwhile he smiled at his mother and tried, oh he tried to convince her that he really didn't want a birthday party, he was too old. It didn't work, he WAS going to have a party is seemed. 'Maybe he could get lost?' Seeing the happiness on his mother's face, 'no,' he decided, 'that would be an even worse idea than the party.' He sighed in resignation.
"Ryouga?" seeing she had his attention, his mother asked, "I'd like to invite your friends, can you tell me how to get in touch with them?" She paused and then mumbled almost to herself; "how am I going to get everything ready?"
Glancing again at the advertisement, Ryouga suddenly had an idea that reflexively set him to popping his knuckles. "You know mom, I really only have one guy that I'm even close to being friends with and he just happens to stay at the house where this 'stuff' is located at," Ryouga said as he pointed to the Tendou advertisement. "In fact, look here, it says that you can also arrange for them to cater the party in their dojo for a fee." His grin was feral (revenge is at hand!); though his mother merely thought he was excited about the party. "That way you don't have to do all the preparation work or find anybody to attend it either," he suggested to his mother.
"But," she protested, "that's only one person, we really should have more of a party than that for you."
In his eagerness to get back to Ranma (kami knows how long it would take him to find the dojo otherwise), Ryouga now shot himself in the foot. "But it's not just Ranma, there are these three girls there and one of them is really cute and . . . uh, oh"
Parental glee filling her face, his mother's eyes locked on him like tactical radar, "Girls! Is my little boy finally growing up?" She seemed to perceive the answer she hoped for as his face blanched. Giggling, she picked up the advertisement and immediately called the Tendou dojo.
An hour later she led her son to the train station on the way to his birthday party, perhaps to his doom or maybe Ranma's if you'd asked him. Frankly he wasn't sure at the moment.
= = = = =
"It's Ryouga's birthday!" responded a surprised Ranma. He paused and then looked over at his father; "Say, old man. When is my birthday? I ain't never had no party so I really don't know."
Nabiki meanwhile was focused on more immediate matters. "His mother has reserved the dojo for the party and we have to get all the party preparations done in less than two hours? Is that right, Kasumi?" Nabiki asked. At her older sister's nod, Nabiki mumbled with a slight bit of panic, "Oh my."
Kasumi smiled and handed a different shopping list to each of the three younger teens. "Don't worry about it Nabiki, here, all three of you hurry and get what's listed and we'll do fine."
Ranma meanwhile was ignoring everything else, "Well, Genma, when is my birthday?"
Akane sighed theatrically, "Ranma, just look on your school ID, it's listed there."
"No it's not," responded Ranma as he dug into his school satchel and handed it to her. "See, it's blank other than the year."
"That's odd," observed Nabiki. She studied the elder Saotome, "Is there a reason why you don't want Ranma to know his birth date?" The information guru thought for a brief moment, "Humm, with that information he could probably find a copy of his birth certificate and from there find his mother," she stated. She grinned, though it was really a slightly angry expression as she studied Genma, "I guess I didn't tell you did I, but I've called Nodoka a couple of times already (conveniently forgetting to mention nobody answered) and, yes, Ranma does know where she lives." Her face chilled, "Now answer the damned question!" she ordered.
"Ahh, well, it's just that parties are a distraction from the art." Genma dithered a few moments and when he made a grab for the water, he came face to face with a frowning Kasumi. He looked into her eyes and surrendered, "It was five days ago."
Surprisingly to all, it was Nabiki's mallet that blasted Genma through the doors and into the compound wall.
"Ok," Nabiki said as she dusted her hands off, "It is now officially a dual birthday party since these two boys are the closest to what could be called each others guy friends. Move out people, we've got work to do."
Nabiki paused, 'Now what could she get for Ranma?' A blush covered her face as she thought of something even though she knew it wasn't going to happen just yet, but hey, a girl can fantasize.
= = = = =
"So what does the 'cute' girl look like?" asked Ryouga's mother of him; again.
"Mooommm," protested Ryouga, "I just met her yesterday when she washed all my clothes." Instinctively, Ryouga knew he had just blown it even more.
"She did your laundry for you!" she burbled happily, "how sweet of her. She must really like you. I'm so proud of you my son, my manly son."
Ryouga sulked a little since he was wearing a kid's leash. Usually only hyperactive preschool kids wore such contraptions, but somewhere his mother had found several that were sized to fit both her son and husband. Instead of leather or nylon, it was made of woven steel mesh. Ryouga had vaguely recalled seeing something like it being used on a tiger at a circus once. Being lonely too often had removed any hesitation on his mother's part to use them; the guys, of course, objected; but weakly and never successfully. His back felt bare since he had been forbidden from wearing his backpack as further incentive to keep close to his mother this trip.
Ami Hibiki was in heaven, 'her manly son was home, they were going to a birthday party for him and she was going to meet her future daughter in law.' She paused and asked her manly son, "Her name wouldn't happen to be Kasumi would it?" She grinned at the answering blush. She mumbled just loud enough for Ryouga to hear: "Oh my, Kasumi-chan had been so helpful; she'd even given detailed directions to the dojo starting from the Hibiki house. You don't suppose she'd been there before, oh my." It was becoming obvious that 'living-in-your-own-world' was also a Hibiki trait.
Ah, yes, it seems the party is 'on' a whole lot of people have decided in their own way.
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Author's note: Additional Ranma fan-fiction can be found on my Web Pages.
C & C to clouddreamer2000yahoo.com
Main Web-page - www.geocities.com (slash) clouddreamer2000
And alternate - mysite.verizon.net (slash) cloud-dreamer/index.html
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