Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews and criticisms. I appreciate the input. As far as Kameko's affect on the story line, it will be quite a bit. I think that the reason Soun quite teaching a the dojo was because he'd become a single parent and couldn't do both. Also, although both Kameko and Akane may have tempers, I don't think they would be at the same caliber. Akane's main anger, I think, in the manga and anime was the fact she had all sorts of boy trouble and no mother to talk to and Kameko would have probably taught her how to focus her anger in her martial arts… anyway on with the story.

Kasumi started to fidget. She hated not being busy and the silence of the room was deafening. They had been sitting there since the morning.

"Would anyone like some tea?" She asked praying someone would say yes. She looked around the table hopefully.

"Tea would be lovely Kasumi," Kameko said looking around the table, "who else would like some." Everyone nodded in agreement at the offer. Kasumi cheerfully went to the haven that was her mother's kitchen.

"I wish I could cook like her." Akane grumbled while her mother moved to sit next to Soun.

"You may be able to someday, Akane. But you still need practice. Kasumi has always had a knack for cooking, just like Nabiki and money. If she hadn't joined nursing school I would have liked to see her in cooking school to become professional chef." Kameko explained

"Besides Akane you have gotten better…now that you watch what you put into stuff." Nabiki's smart comment awarded her a glare from both sister and mother, "well its true, she has gotten better."

Soun stayed quiet during the exchange between the women, thinking how wonderful it will be to have men around the house. Kameko noticed his eyes glaze over in thought.

"What are you thinking, Soun?" waving her hand in front of his face to get his attention.

"How wonderful it will be to have men around to help teach in the dojo." Soun said before he could catch himself.

"Father, if you didn't want Mom and Akane to help you teach in the dojo, you could have hired someone." Kasumi stated as she brought tea and cookies to the table. Kasumi sat and started to pour tea for her father.

"Er…that is not what I meant," looking at his wife, "it just would be nice to have some men around the house."

"I agree with you, Daddy." Nabiki grinned at the idea, while her sisters rolled their eyes, "I really hope, Ranma is cute."

"Nabiki, do ever think about anything else but boys?" Akane asked disgusted with the idea of having one of those violent, perverts in her home.

"Money?" Nabiki smiled, Kameko laughed at her daughter's comment remembering similar conversations she had had as a girl.

"You girls make me feel young some days. So husband, what is this Ranma like. I hope he isn't anything like his father."

"I have no idea."

"…" The room got quiet as they all looked him.

"No idea? Surely you've met the boy?" Kameko prayed her husband was not having one of those spells where all his common sense flew away. Like the few years, he'd had spent with Genma after they had gotten married, leaving both her and, if she remembered correctly, Genma's wife alone with small children. She didn't know much about Genma's family, in fact, she'd only met his wife once. She thought her name might have been Nodona or Nodoka, she couldn't remember. She always pondered that Genma never let the woman come over because he was afraid she would talk some sense into the woman and would leave him. Kameko shook her head of the memories, as her husband started talking.

"No, I've never met the boy."

Nabiki and Akane just stared at their father in disbelief.

"Father, I am not going to agree with any arrangement. You've never met the boy, and I am a full time student. And Dr. Tofu finally can talk to me in full sentence so I am taken." Kasumi looked down at her tea, she had never been so directly disagreeable to her parents before.

"But Kasumi…" Soun had started to tear up as he whined to his daughter.

"Stop it, Soun. Leave the girl alone. I have no intention of letting you marry any of my daughters off anyway." Soun looked as if he was going to start crying, Kameko glared at him, hoping that would be enough to stop the would be water works. All their daughters visibly relaxed at their mother's statement.

Luckily, at that exact moment there was yelling heard in the courtyard of the property. Soun's eyes immediately stopped watering as he stood to answer the door with Nabiki right behind him.

"Oh, I hope he's cute." Nabiki squealed chasing after her father to the front door. The other three women stood and made to follow the previous two when they heard Nabiki scream and run back toward the main room. A few seconds later Soun was also running back toward the rest of the family with a giant panda following him. On the panda's shoulder was a person with bright red hair who was yelling, kicking and struggling against the panda's hold.

"You're scaring 'em, spitless." The person struggled until the panda let them down, right in front of Soun. Kameko just stared and had put her daughters behind her, which meant they were as far away from the panda as possible.

"Y-you wouldn't be Ranma…would you?" Soun stammered at the smaller person in front of him.

"I am Ranma Saotome…" Ranma looked down ashamed, "sorry about this."

"At last! You've come!" Soun grabbed Ranma in a full embrace, squeezing tight.

"Soun…" Kameko looked at her husband, who had just realized what she had notice a few minutes earlier, "let the girl go."

"GIRL?" Kasumi, Akane and Nabiki said shocked and surprised. Soun immediately put the girl at arm's length.

Nabiki, forgetting about the panda for the time being, walked up to the girl and poked her breast, "Daddy, Ranma is a girl? You tried to marry one of us off to a girl!" Nabiki screeched as she continued to poke Ranma.

"Would you please stop that." Ranma said quietly. Kameko grabbed her middle daughter by the shoulders and pulled her away from the other girl.

"Nabiki, remember you manners." She looked to her husband, and shook her head. He was in shock and was tearing up, "Kasumi, Nabiki get your father to his room before he falls down."

The two girls led the befuddled man to his bedroom as he kept repeating, "He said he had a son."

"Now, Ranma, I am terribly sorry about the confusion and my daughter's rude behavior. This is my youngest daughter, Akane." Akane beamed at the sad looking girl, who smiled back. "How old are you, Ranma?"

"16"

"Kasumi is 19 and Nabiki is 17. Akane and you will be sharing classes since you're both the same age." Kameko smiled at the girl.

"That's great! Want to go practice in the Dojo. Dad said you and your father practice martial arts."

"Sure that would be great." Ranma followed Akane out to the Dojo.

Kameko smiled at the two girls, "now where did that Panda go?" Looking around for the panda she was startled when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Who are you!" Kameko half screamed as she faced the intruder.

"Kameko, you wouldn't have forgotten your husband's best friend?" Genma smiled hoping to ease the tension in the room.

"Oh I remember you all right. You got my husband to just up and leave right after Kasumi was born and then for awhile after Akane was born. How could you do that?" Kameko looked accusingly at Genma.

"He wanted to go. The babies made him nervous." Genma shrugged, as if he hadn't told Soun at the time that his wife thought it was an excellent idea.

"Not that you idiot, telling him you had a son. That poor daughter of yours looked ashamed." Kameko accosted him, backing Genma into a wall with her words and growing anger.

"Let me explain, Ranma is not what you think." Genma pleaded, "Where's Soun, I will explain everything."

The Dojo

"So do you do Karate?" Akane asked as Ranma crossed the floor of the Dojo to face her.

"A little…" Ranma said, thinking this might not have been the best idea considering the current situation.

"Well, we can have a little match…" Akane watched Ranma, as she grew nervous, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."

"If you say so" Ranma said standing still waiting for Akane's attack. Akane flew at her with punches, all of which, she dodged effortlessly.

"I think you've had more than just 'a little' training in this," Akane said and went into a different fighting stance, "How about we do this for real?"

Ranma nodded and Akane took that as a yes. Although the fighting style was similar, Akane started to move quicker and Ranma was having to work harder to avoid her attacks. Akane started circling around Ranma, but she was getting confused as to why the other girl wasn't attacking. She got Ranma against a wall, and made punch at Ranma. Ranma jumped, flipping over Akane and started to land when Akane twisted around mid punch and hit Ranma in the shins as she landed. Ranma fell to the ground and kicked Akane's legs out from under her and caught her as she fell so she wouldn't hit the hard wood floor of the dojo. Akane and Ranma laid there for a minute breathless until Ranma suddenly sat up and put about a foot of distance between the two.

"Sorry about kicking you. It's a reflex." Ranma said staring at her hands.

"Don't worry about it. You're really good. Maybe you could help teach some the of the night classes after school." Akane started to get up and offered Ranma a hand up. Ranma looked at the hand offered and took it. " and besides, at least you aren't a boy." Akane stated as she started for the door.

"Why's that?"

"Because I would hate losing to a boy." Ranma winced at the comment but Akane had already left the dojo.

House

"So you dragged your son to China for training, didn't know what the dangers were and now you change into a panda and he into a girl when hit with cold water, but its reversible when doused with hot water. Have I got this right?" Kameko demanded of the now Panda sitting in front of her, holding an emptied vase in her hands. Her husband was sitting next to her, mumbling about the dangerous path of a true martial artist. Kameko rolled her eyes, of all the stupid, senseless things she had heard over her lifetime about the life of martial artist, this little mishap truly took the cake.

"Here's the kettle with hot water, mother." Kasumi came into the room and traded the kettle with boiling water for the empty flower vase with her mother. "What did you need it for?" She asked confused as she looked at the wet, smelly panda.

"A little experiment…" Kameko said as she poured the water over Genma and watched as the panda melted into the form of a man. A screaming man, considering the water temperature, but a man just the same. "Amazing absolutely amazing. Kasumi where's Ranma and Akane?"

Kasumi took a second to respond, she was slightly in shock over what she had just seen. "Oh, Ranma was going to take a bath, I think."

"And, Akane?"

Kasumi looked at her mother for a moment, "I think she was saying something about taking a bath too." Kameko started running for the other end of the house. She raced through the hallway, down to the bathroom, as she was coming up to it she saw Akane's long, dark hair disappear behind the door. She got to the door and bust in right as Akane was starting to undress.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Akane asked startled as she put her robe back on in surprise.

"You don't need to be in there right now ok. Hold on just a second." Kameko pulled a robe from a shelf and opened the door to the main bathing area, without looking in she shoved the robe into the room. "Ranma, put this on and come out now. I know about the curse."

Akane looked at her mother like she was a mentally ill person, "Mom, what is wrong with-" She stopped because right then Ranma stepped out of the furo, but it wasn't the Ranma she had been sparring with. "W-who are you?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome…sorry about this."