This is a rewrite into prose form, in an attempt to kick-start myself into writing again.

Bitter Memories

Soun Tendo shows his lack of empathy by blatantly ignoring Ranma's feelings "Well, son, you're problem isn't so bad. This is my oldest daughter, Kasumi, she's 19. My middle daughter, Nabiki, is 17. And my youngest daughter, Akane, she's 16. Choose whichever you like, she'll be your new Fiancee."

Before Ranma can answer, Kasumi suggests "He wants Akane."

"Definitely."

"Why me!"

Nabiki can't resist a jab at the youngest people present. "You hate boys. You're lucky he's half girl."

"Me marry that pervert?"

Suddenly, the Tendo girl's bickering is interrupted, when Ranma screams out in frustration. Ranma's scream derails the daughter's bickering. "This is identical to the dream I had last night!"

"Oh my. You had a dream about what would happen today?"

"Not just today. The dream started with my arrival here, but it ended years later."

Nabiki scoffs in disbelief. "Right, you can see the future in your dreams?"

"Is that anywhere as weird as my changing gender when wet? Let me think here! The dream ended with me in a rundown dive getting smashed. I was complaining to someone about my second divorce. I wished that I knew what would have happened before my life became a mess, and then the dream ended."

Akane, still mad, says "Second divorce? You really are a pervert."

Ranma stares at her coldly. "I married the woman I loved, but it wasn't enough. We divorced because we couldn't stand living together, but we never stopped loving each other. We remarried each other out of love, but it didn't last forever."

Genma tries to wrest control of the argument "You see, son? You should marry who I've arranged for you. Honor is the important thing here."

Ranma snaps back "Let me think!"

"I'm not going to marry that pervert!"

Soun shouts, "You must, for the sake of family honor."

Ranma begins to growl. He slams his hand on the table, redirecting everyone's attention to him "Yes, Honor!" He glares at the 2 fathers. "Marrying for love IS a mistake; honor should be the primary consideration. Besides, I don't love anyone now, anyway. Let's discuss honor! Tendo-san, I've only been a guest here for about an hour. In that time, your eldest daughter announced she wouldn't marry me. Your middle daughter poked and prodded me, and also announced that she didn't want me, and your youngest daughter insulted me for things beyond my control. I find your hospitality lacking, and that your daughters have broken your agreement to unite the houses. As you have no intention of fulfilling this agreement, I release you. Pop, let's go!"

Genma tries to act like the wise and benevolent parent he isn't. "Now son, as a matter of family honor, it's not for you to decide that the agreement is broken."

"But is it truly a matter of family honor? Or is it just a matter of my father's honor."

"Ungrateful child! How dare you question my honor? Besides, it doesn't matter. Either way, you must obey."

"Unless you are already forsworn on this subject. Does our family actually have any honor left on the subject of my engagement? My dream reminded me of Ukyou Kuonji. Tell me, pop, about why we left riding her family's yattai? Surely you didn't steal it?"

"That has nothing to do with this. Besides, Kuonji-san gave me that yattai, fair and square!"

"All right, why? We were broke at the time. What did you offer him in exchange for the yattai? Or was it a dowry?"

"It doesn't matter what I gave Kuonji-san. It has nothing to do with this situation."

"Then you have no objection to me taking time to contact them and find out from them what it was all about? The Kuonjis, and of course, Kaori's father, Daitokuji?"

"How do you know about him?"

"The dream, pop. In it, you had engaged me to 2 other families as well as the Tendo family. If even one of them is true, then you have lost all right to dictate my marriage on the basis of family honor."

"Nonsense. You'll marry a Tendo!"

"But honor forbids me from marrying until I lay to rest these rumors of other engagements. I swear on our family honor that I will not agree to marry anyone until this matter is laid to rest! Tendo-san, if you'd rather not house us until that time, we'll leave tonight. I don't think much of your hospitality, but my father would like to stay."

"Nonsense. This is just a family argument. It will pass."

"Maybe. When I was young, I thought Ukyou was a boy, but in my dream, she was female, and my father engaged her to me. Pop, what gender was Ukyou? If you lie to me, you'll regret it for a long time."

"Er, male?"

"Fine then. We find Ukyou, and if he's male, I'll consider the engagement. Whatever you've done to their family, you will pay for. Even if I need to be your second. Where is the rest of my family?"

"What?"

"Don't be stupid. I must have had a mother, unless you stole me too. If she's dead, I wish to pay my respects. If she's living, I want to know why I haven't seen her for 10 years, and know where she is!"

For the first time in this conversation, Genma looks serious, In fact he's downright terrified "Son, don't do this. It'll mean both our lives!"

"Genma, what are you talking about? Why haven't you seen Nodoka?"

"You don't understand! We've got to go!"

For the first time in this conversation, the fathers aren't in agreement "Genma, if you leave now, I'll track you down. You know I'll find you. After all the years we trained together, you will stay, and tell us."

"Soun, you don't understand! This is worse than the master!"

"Hey pop, why don't you and mister Tendo tell us about your master, and what condition you left him? In my dream, he was a disgusting old man, who molested Akane and I repeatedly. You two did nothing to stop him."

"My father would never do something like that, you pervert!"

"I didn't say he would, I'm describing my dream. If it was just a dream, then it couldn't possibly be your father. I'd never met him before. If it was a glance at the future, then your father's behavior isn't my fault. Someone do something to prove my dream false. Mr. Tendo, why don't you tell us all about your sensei in martial arts, the founder of our noble schools?"

"Now son, the master is long gone. There's no need to bring up the distant past."

"I've trained with countless masters, but have never been introduced to yours. Did you see his lifeless body, or did you abandon him somewhere?"

"He was nearly dead when we left him."

"Crippled? Or just drunk?"

Nabiki interrupts Ranma's attacks on the parents with "What are you getting at, Ranma?"

"So far everything I've learned from my dream has come true, except that Ukyou was a girl, and we've yet to prove she isn't. I've been taken from my mother, and lead to believe she was dead. The dream said she's alive, and my father proved it by being terrified of her. In my dream, they imprisoned their master while he was drunk, when he escapes he repeatedly attacks Akane and I. They won't say where the master is, but have kept me from him for some reason. They're scared of him. I've even mentioned someone who my father had cheated in the dream. When I mentioned him, my father asked where I heard of him, not who he was. So far, my dream is an accurate predictor."

"Well then, let's test this dream of yours."

"Need more proof? Ok, Akane, are you being bothered by a wealthy idiot who practices kendo? Nabiki, have you ever sold pictures of Akane? Let me predict the future for you: The assassin who chased us out of China will soon show up here. By the laws of her tribe, I am already married to her, only she doesn't realize it. Akane will underestimate her, becoming her enemy. She fights with sword and mace. If Akane becomes a serious obstacle to her, Akane will be dead. Care to ignore this warning?"

"Hey, I can take care of myself!"

"She smashes through stone walls when the door is inconvenient. She's trained twelve hours a day for twelve years. She's faster, stronger, more skilled, and will be trying to kill you from ambush. If you want to take those kinds of odds, I won't stop you. She's an assassin!"

Soun focuses on what he thinks is important. "What do you mean you are already married to her?"

"The moment she finds out that I'm not female, she'll stop trying to kill me, and want me to consummate our marriage."

"Waah! My baby girl is going to face an assassin."

"Daddy!" Akane tries to reason with him, "All I have to do is avoid getting in her way. I'll be allright."

"Will you be able to avoid fighting her?" Ranma asks. "She believes that Japanese women are beneath contempt. She'll show off her skills, say she's better than you, and she'll rub your nose in it constantly. Can you take that kind of abuse?"

"Waaaah, my daughter is going to be brutally murdered!"

Nabiki takes charge of the conversation. "Dad, please! Ok, we have a problem. Ranma's dream is too accurate to ignore, and Akane is already fed up with people who believe they're superior. I'm postponing all talk about the engagement until we either disprove everything Ranma has said, or we've found a method to insure Akane's life."

This shocks Soun out of crying mode. "Nabiki! You can't do that!"

"Try me. You wouldn't put the school over your daughter's life, would you?"
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Author's notes:

Where to go from here? In the dream, he'd married Akane for love. Even though with the benefit of the information from the dream, he could probably do a better job this time around, he's going to do everything he can to avoid liking her. Ukyou will hold the spot as most likely fiancee, but he's not willing to marry anyone until he knows he can do it without loose ends. He will do his best to avoid falling in love with anyone until after he's married.

If he's forced to pick a Tendo, Akane is the last person he'd choose, and since he knows more about the Tendo sisters than in the original, he won't accept Kasumi and Nabiki pawning him off onto Akane.

He's angrier at the fathers this time. He's already given notice that he is willing to leave the Tendo's, so Soun and Nabiki won't have the leverage of him being a guest. Soun is now in the position of trying to win Ranma over to his wishes, instead of demanding things from him.

Specifically, Soun must develop more spine towards others. In the original, the only people he orders around are Kasumi and Ranma, he folds for everyone else. Ranma will be judging Soun based on how well he supports his daughters and Ranma himself.

Stories of the original Soun's behavior will make the daughters less pleased with him, unless he goes overboard in the other direction. I expect to see him taking down Kuno a peg or two, and possibly opposing some of Genma's plans (especially when he learns that Genma DID multiply engage Ranma). Instead of ignoring all of Genma's faults, He'll actually occasionally oppose Genma, Taking the tack 'Ranma, even though your father is a complete idiot, there is still an obligation between the Saotomes and the Tendos, that we should find some way of solving.'

Genma and Happosai are unchanged, and unrepentant.

While this is a rewrite, I've kept the notes (above) from the original. They're where I intended to go with this story, and not quite what actually happened.

My Ranmas suffer from a good vocabulary. I've tried writing him as uneducated, but it always comes out horrible. I've given up. Ranma's mode of speech will always be 'Out Of Character' even when Ranma's actions shouldn't be.

I really do want feedback, especially as I went almost two years without writing anything. Stop me before I dry up again.