Saiyajinnyanichuan:Spring of drowned female Saiyan

by Trugeta

Seeing as Genma and Soun still have their relapses some reeducation is needed and provided. Also, Ranma is about to start her first schoolday at Furinkan. How will the meeting with Kuno go, and what is the secret plan to make him back off?

4. Unexpected Troves

Title: Saiyajinnyannichuan – Spring of drowned female Saiyan
Author name: Trugeta

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ as well as Akira Toriyama and Funimation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Note further that I don't own any of the other trademarks mentioned in this story.

This story takes place at the beginning of the Ranma ½ series and several years after the Cell Games Saga. It's an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.

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Chapter 4: Unexpected Troves

The four girls were still seated on the bed and in the process of bonding. They were happily eating popcorn and drinking soda while they brought Ranma up to date on what girls were wearing and so on. Which brought Kasumi, who had not heard the reason why Ranma wanted to stay a girl as of yet, to think about Ranma's unique situation.

That they had accepted Ranma not only as their friend but sister would surely help Ranma in getting comfortable in their household, but they, and especially she would have to find a way to make Ranma get comfortable with life in general.

It was obvious that she had spent too much time around her father, which was, as they knew now the completely wrong person to grow up around. Before Elder Cologne there had apparently been no one else who had taught to Ranma that there were other, equally important things in life aside from the Art. The pigtailed girl had obviously learned a lot from the Amazons, but there were still a lot of things that they'd have to teach her.

She as her now oldest sister would ensure that Ranma knew all that was important in life, and she was sure that her little sisters would add their own unique points of view to further the education of the Saotome girl. Silently Kasumi suspected that there were also other, deeper reasons why Ranma rather wanted to stay a girl, but if she was more comfortable with her new body who was she to demand anything from her?

But first and foremost important was the happiness of her sisters, and she included Ranma in this. Should the fathers have any problems with this she'd have to subtly counteract it. After all, it could not be allowed that someone who had suffered as much as Ranma had was forced into something she did not want.

Inwardly she was also very relieved that Akane and Ranma were getting along so well, for this situation could also have developed vastly different. But it had not, and that was all that counted. It was also a good thing that Ranma had experienced her period before, for had she not it could have become… embarrassing.

However, as a big sis she was worried about her little sister, and she had to test her knowledge. "Ranma, how thorough was the talk the Elder gave you? Did she tell you about what happens when boys and girls do… you know, stuff?"

Ranma blushed. "Don't worry, oneechan. Elder Cologne taught me everything. She may be the Head Elder of an Amazon tribe, but they know everything about the nasty bit. I now know everything about it, and I admit that I went quite green throughout the 'talk'." Here Akane nodded. She could perfectly relate. "The only difference between the Amazons and us is that they use herbs and fungi for contraception instead of the… condoms, I believe she called them."

Kasumi nodded relieved. That was good news. "I'm glad that you know, imotouchan. What you don't know can hurt you, and I don't want my new little sis to end up pregnant."

Ranma nodded earnestly. "Don't worry, Kasumi-oneechan, I have no intention to. I want to come to terms with my life, my powers and with what stupid pops did to me. There's no need to complicate my life any further, especially if I don't know if I like boys at all. At the moment I share Akane's view. From my experiences I made in China they're all perverts, that's also why I was wearing the cloak. Not that I want to boast or anything but I was really growing tired of all those stupid boys hitting on me."

Akane growled. "Boys! They're the same everywhere!" she spat in disgust.

The redhead sighed. "Those that I met on my travels most surely were. But you can't lump every boy together, Akane. I'm pretty sure that I was not like that when I was a boy." she said, and that prompted Akane to think.

Finally the youngest Tendo sister nodded. "You may be onto something there, Ranma. But sadly you were most probably the exception to the rule. Wait until you see the boys at my school." she said with a dejected sigh.

The Saotome girl sighed. "Most boys do indeed seem to think exclusively with their little heads. And the boys in China were especially bad. Elder Cologne had taught me to speak and understand Mandarin and thus I could understand all of their perverted comments. Usually they laid off when I got angry, but occasionally I had to break a few digits. When it grew too bothersome I bought the cloak. Better to be looked at strangely than to be constantly bothered by perverted boys."

Akane nodded empathically. "I can so relate, Ranma. And I admit that I am really glad that you turned out to be a nice girl instead of a perverted boy. I really have to deal with enough of them at school."

The red-haired girl grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Not for long any more, Akane, not for long. After all, I can't let my fiancée be attacked by a horde of stupid boys now, can I? What for a fiancée would I be to allow such slights to your honour?" she asked impishly.

The youngest Tendo girl grinned in anticipation of what was to come next Monday. That should really be fun. "Oh, my strong fiancé, you're so good to me." she exclaimed theatrically. "But remember not to call me your fiancée at school. No reason to make the other students at school think that we're really lesbians. There're enough rumours at school already that hint at that because I always claim that I hate boys as it is."

Ranma nodded. "Understood, Akane. I'd never want to make my sis look bad." she said with a smile that was returned by Akane.

Nabiki, who had remained silent while she had munched her popcorn looked up. "But you'll have to turn it up a notch while you're in the house. Let the old farts see you holding hands, or even kiss each other on the cheek. We have to present the old men a reason why Ranma wants to stay a girl, and they have to buy it. Thus the act must be convincing." she stated.

The two youngest girls looked at each other, gulped once and nodded. Holding hands and kissing on the cheek shouldn't be a problem. But to act convincingly might be. "Good that it's only in the house." Akane finally said. "And don't worry, Ranma, only act as you look, cute and like a girl." she said with a smile.

Ranma titled her head and smiled cutely while batting her eyelashes. Akane blinked in surprise as the other girl managed to pull off a very convincing seductive act. "Like that, Akane?" the pigtailed girl asked teasingly.

"Err, yes." was the reply of one slightly put off Akane.

Nabiki and Kasumi smiled at the reaction of their younger sister, she was always too easy to embarrass; but the middle Tendo daughter grew solemn as she had to broach another, more serious topic. "Ranma, what can you tell us about your father aside from that he's the most thoughtless human being who would sell his own mother in a heartbeat if he'd get a free meal out of it?" she asked, and ignored the interjected "Nabiki!" by Kasumi. "I have to know if he could be any danger to this family, and that includes you, too."

Ranma grimaced. "I think he could be. Pops is lazy, greedy and manipulative; and he will sure as hell make a considerable dent in your finances. I really have no idea if he has any other plans beside this agreement or what he wants to achieve with it aside from that stupid 'joining of the school', but I have my clues. I have suspected ever since I could count that the way he raised me in was very unusual. Before Jusenkyo I only suspected it, but after I lived with the Amazons and learned from them I knew it. He had wanted to make me dependent on him so that he could use me as the ticket to his early retirement. We'll really have to watch him or he might do something stupid, Nabiki-oneechan. Intentionally or unintentionally."

Said middle Tendo daughter nodded. "I figured as much, Ranma-imoutochan. We all will have to keep an eye on him. And we'll start about now."

"Huh? What do you mean, Ranma?" asked Akane.

Nabiki smirked. "Well, we should look and see if the two old men are still well-served on sake or if they've already taken their trip to alcohol-induced sleep. If the latter is true then we could check the things of your father, Ranma. Maybe we can find some evidence on what he has planned."

"Would that be proper, Nabiki? Mr. Saotome is an honoured guest of the house." Kasumi interjected.

Nabiki just snorted. Him, an honoured guest? More like a dishonourable freeloader. No, she did not like the man at all; not before Ranma's story and most certainly not afterwards. It was good that Ranma was so different from him. "Sis, do you remember what Genma has done to Ranma throughout the course of the last ten years?"

A nod from Kasumi. "Now, do you still think that he is an 'honoured' guest? From my point of view he is nothing but a freeloader, and gauging from how much he ate a bottomless pit of a freeloader to boot. Ranma is at least willing to help us find a solution for the financial problems we'll be facing, but I doubt that Mr. Saotome would be willing to raise a single finger to help us."

Ranma nodded empathically. "Pops is as lazy as you can get. He never had a job in his life, nor is he an accredited sensei. In fact, I learned most of the techniques I know from masters we met on the trip. The only way of making money pops would have would be to teach in this dojo with your dad. But as you said that he didn't teach in over five years that is more than doubtful. In fact, the curse brought out his real self, for he is nothing but a fat, lazy panda." she said with conviction.

Nabiki looked at her older sister. "See? Even Ranma, his own daughter, thinks that he is a good for nothing. Here is my plan to make him sweat: first of all, none of the fathers are to know of the fact that Ranma will be modelling. They shall buy into me bringing the money in through my usual activities. Second: we must make Genma take up a job so that he's out of the way for most of the time. In order to do so we must pretend that the family finances are so devastated that there would be no other alternative other than Kasumi taking up a job seeing as she is the only one of us old enough to be legally allowed to. And the only jobs that would bring in enough money to help our oh so devastated finances would be the dishonourable jobs. Table dancing, prostitution, the works." she explained.

Kasumi nodded slowly. What Nabiki said had rung true. From her own observations of Genma she had the distinct impression herself that he was a man who exploited others, and Ranma had confirmed it. "I understand. And I see your point as well, little sis. It really seems as if the honour of Mr. Saotome is questionable, and I will do my part. I also agree with you, Nabiki-imoutochan, it would be good if we got Mr. Saotome out of the house as much as possible; at the very least we should find a way to busy him so much that he can't endanger the family, and that might be best achieved through him teaching. Yes, I agree."

The other three girls nodded with a smile. Operation make the panda suffer could begin.

-.-

Two hours later the four girls had schemed enough and deemed that the time was right to check on their fathers. As Kasumi was the most inconspicuous of the four girls she volunteered to check if the fathers had finally consumed enough sake to have them sufficiently prepared for the talk. However, when Kasumi came back she reported that the fathers had managed to knock themselves out.

That made modifications to the plan necessary, and when Nabiki suggested checking Genma's belongings for clues on his plans, the other three girls just grinned at her, exited Akane's room and went downstairs. Ranma 'confiscated' her fathers pack while Nabiki had the idea to search her father's room. The girls knew how their father reacted when he had had too much sake, and upon Ranma's question they told her that they were positive that he'd be out for quite some time should not someone offer more sake.

While the three Tendo sisters were conducting the search of their fathers room Ranma was doing the same in the guest room. The first item she checked was the travel-worn backpack she had confiscated. Nothing useful came out of that however, aside from his wallet; and that was unsurprisingly utterly empty.

The backpack was apparently a dead end. However, in examining it more closely she detected traces of something she had last encountered in the Amazon village. It were traces of ki, and this ki had been used in a similar way to how Elder Cologne had been able to do. The Elder had been able to store a seemingly endless supply of items in something called 'stuffspace', something Ranma had thought belonged into the world of Anime.

After Ranma had seen what could be done with the stuffspace she had been most eager to learn, but the Elder had said nay. This technique was a very closely guarded secret, and even she as an ally of the tribe would only be allowed to learn it after she had proven that she could be trusted, for a timespan of five years. The potential of misuse of this particular technique was just too great.

Furrowing her brows Ranma wondered if her father, whom she had thought a stupid oaf was able to pull of something like that; after a thorough examination of the pack she had to conclude that he was indeed. The backpack had apparently been used as storage for a much greater amount of cargo than it was designed to; she could still see the feint traces of her fathers' ki, though.

Damn, her father could really create and access stuffspace! She'd be damned. Had the old fart really been holding out on her that much? What other techniques had the sly bastard kept quiet? She'd always suspected that he hadn't taught her everything he knew, but this here was impressive and undeniable proof.

"Ranma? Found anything yet?" came Akane's voice from the door.

"Not yet, Akane. But I might be onto something here." the redhead muttered, still studying the backpack and the feint traces of ki with her whole concentration.

The other girl surveyed Ranma, saw that she was apparently occupied and sat down on the floor beside her. She herself didn't have much to do seeing as Nabiki and Kasumi were searching their fathers' room; she'd only have been in the way of someone who knew the house like the back of her hand and someone who could spot hiding places from a mile away.

Thus the youngest Tendo girl watched Ranma doing whatever it was that she was doing, trying to guess what it was. At the moment it looked as if the other girl was just looking at a backpack, but knowing Ranma she suspected that it was much more. Finally her patience ran out, and she had to know. "What are you doing there, Ranma?"

Said Ranma looked up and grinned. "Finding hidden treasures. I wouldn't have believed it, but my apparently not so stupid pops is able to access and create something called stuffspace."

"Huh? Isn't that where the Sailor Senshi from Sailor Moon pull their Henshin rods from?" asked a bewildered Akane.

"Yeah. Same working principle here. And I've just understood how to open it. At least I think so." said the redhead. "And that's thanks to you, Akane." she grinned as she pushed into the stuffspace that resided within the backpack.

"Thanks to me? How so?"

Ranma felt around in the stuffspace, only to find it empty. "Meh, too bad. But it works. Hadn't you pulled your mallet-attack I wouldn't have seen how you modulate your aura to access stuffspace. I put what I saw you do with your mallet and what I encountered here together, et voila. Yes," she said at seeing Akanes' bewildered look, "you access a variant of stuffspace to pull your mallet from, and seeing it was enough for me to learn how to access this stuffspace pocket of my father. Why do you think your mallet disappears after its job is done?"

Akane put a hand to her chin. "To be honest, I'd never thought about it. It was just always there when I needed it."

Ranma grinned. "And it always will be. Now to see if we can discover what my pops did here. I know that he hid something in a stuffspace he created within this pack, but now it is empty. That does mean that he has to have hidden whatever he had stored herein somewhere, most probably this room. But where would he hide it? Where would I hide it?"

"Can't be under the bed." said a snickering Akane. "He's much too fat."

The redhead giggled. "True. Hmm, it must be somewhere from where he can retrieve it easily; I'm sure he wants constant access to it. The crux is that the actual outside stuffspace can be very small, seeing as the inside is virtually infinite. Elder Cologne tried to explain the principles to me, but I never really understood them. Might have been cause she left out a lot, seeing as she wanted to keep it a secret." she muttered.

"The Amazons can do that technique too? Cool! I bet you learned it from them, considering how fast you grasp things! Can you teach me?" she asked excitedly.

Ranma sighed. "Sorry, Akane. That's one technique I was not able to grasp. Before they'd teach me I have to prove myself worthy over a timespan of five years. If I've passed the test of the 'honourable ally' I will be taught. And only then."

Akane looked disappointed. "Too bad. But maybe you can find out how it works on your own, Ranma." she said with a smile.

"I hope so. And thanks to you that might indeed work." Ranma answered with a smile. "Let me think… pops thinks that his stuffspace is undetectable, and according to the Elder he would be right; only people with ki-sight have a chance to find a stuffspace of someone else, and you have to be of blood-relation. Hadn't I fallen into that spring and received training in ki-sight he would be safe. But not any more." she said and got to her feet.

Unerringly Ranma checked the most probable hiding spots in the room, and a smirk crept on her face when she came to stop in front of the window; there, on the right side beside the window feint ki-traces were running over the wall.

They were barely visible to her and Ranma had to strain her ki-sight to perceive them, but their existence was undeniable. "Gotcha, baka pops." she said with a chuckle.

"Where is it, Ranma?" asked a curious youngest Tendo girl.

"Let me test a theory, Akane. Can you see anything at this point on the wall?"

Akane looked intently at the spot Ranma had pointed at, but after a full minute she shook her head. "No, nothing. If there is anything there, I can't see it."

Ranma nodded to herself. "I figured as much. That means that the Elder told me the truth. Only those of blood-relation can find anothers' stuffspace. Must be cause of the blood's influence on the ki of a person. Well, let's have a look at the contents, shall we?"

Smirking to herself she pushed into the secluded space, and after only brief resistance to her push she was able to reach inside.

With eyes that were gleaming like those of a treasure seeker who had found something really valuable she felt around and managed to grab something that felt like… scrolls! Grinning to herself she pulled them out very carefully, so as not to damage them. Once she held them in her hands she placed the scrolls onto the bed beside her and sat down. It really seemed as if she'd found a hidden trove. Now to see what exactly her father had intended to hide from her…

-.-

Akane looked awed. "Whoa, Ranma, what have you got there? Looks like old scrolls to me."

Ranma nodded. "Yes, and some of them are very old! If I'm not mistaken this is what pops should have taught me on this trip; the complete scrolls of the Saotome school of the Anything Goes... one sec, Akane…" she said, browsing through the scrolls. "Those are not Anything Goes scrolls!" the redhead exclaimed in surprise.

"What?" asked an equally surprised Akane as she sat down beside Ranma. "Those are no Anything Goes scrolls? What are they then, Ranma?"

The redhead looked into Akane's eyes. "Those scrolls," she showed Akane a set of about ten scrolls, "contain all the basic moves he taught me, and they are of the Anything Goes style. But those," she said and showed Akane another set of scrolls, "contain techniques I've never seen before. Very potent techniques, and they seem to belong to a very deadly Ninjitsu Style. And they are part of the Saotome school, not of the Saotome school of the Anything Goes. These scrolls are really old, and I'd give a lot to find out who invented these techniques. Can't have been the panda, that much is for sure. Just look at that technique here!" she exclaimed, and showed the scroll she had been examining to Akane.

"'Demon God Assault Bomb?' What in the name of Kami-sama is that for an attack?" she exclaimed, unsettled.

"A very destructive and deadly attack, Akane. And proof that my father can't have been the one to invent it. For one, the scroll is much too old, and for another, the techniques of the Saotome school seem to be part of an assassins' style! All I know of pops is that he's a thief, and what would a thief need such deadly techniques for? The various variations of the Yama-sen-ken are deadly enough to kill someone a dozen times!" Ranma exclaimed.

Akane nodded as she sifted through the scrolls herself. Those techniques were simply… ingenious, and very, very deadly! Ranma was right, no way could her oaf of a father have been the originator. For one, the scrolls were really much too old, and secondly, Genma did not seem to be clever enough to invent such congenial moves.

But if he knew only a fraction of them it'd make him very dangerous. "I agree, Ranma. And he never taught you the barest hint of these techniques? I mean, nearly everyone would die to learn them!" she exclaimed with ardour.

Ranma shook her head. "He never showed or mentioned techniques like these. I knew the bastard was holding out on me, but that… ho boy, I'm so going to kick his ass in the spars to come. And I will do it using none of the techniques on these scrolls too. We'll keep it a secret that we know them." she said, and sifted further through the scrolls.

Suddenly her head shot up from gazing at an ancient looking scroll, and her face showed a look of intense triumph. With gleaming eyes she showed a scroll to Akane. "Damn, would you look at that! This is what I've been longing to learn ever since I saw it in China! This is how the stuffspace technique works! And it seems that one of my ancestors invented it! Damn, now I understand…" she muttered, as she got her final clues.

With glee Ranma made several complicated looking gestures on the wall in front of her, some inches away from her father's stuffspace; with a whoop of joy the redhead added the finishing touches, and instantly stored a scroll in her newly created stuffspace. "Ta ta!" the Saotome girl exclaimed with a big grin, before retrieving the scroll and collapsing the stuffspace in and on itself so as not to leave any traces.

"Cool!" exclaimed Akane, "Now you can teach me too! And once we've learned the scrolls we'll show the bastard that girls can seriously kick ass!"

The Saotome girl grinned. "True. But first I'll teach all of you the basics before we'll be able to move on to the techniques of the Saotome school. I know it's disappointing, but you three need to know the basics first. You can't crawl before you walk."

Akane giggled. "It's the other way around, Ranma. 'You can't walk before you crawl.'" she said, and the Saotome girl exclaimed a soft 'D'oh!". "Though I suppose you're right; we need to know the basics before we're able to learn the advanced stuff. But knowing that we'll be able to learn such grand techniques is more than enough motivation!"

Ranma smiled. "Right you are. But we four must vow that we won't use the hard styles of the Saotome school outside of a real emergency. They're much too deadly."

The youngest Tendo girl thought carefully about Ranma's words, and slowly her euphoria was replaced by a feeling of caution as she realised that her new sister was right. "True, Ranma. But once we got them down we'll have several aces up our sleeves which we can resort to should we ever get into tight situations."

The pigtailed girls' smile deepened. "Good that you understand, Akane. Only after we've mastered all the scrolls are we going to use any of these techniques. Outside emergencies, of course. And I sure as hell will teach you three the stuffspace as soon as possible. That technique is so damn useful!" she exclaimed.

Akane nodded. "That makes sense, sensei. I'd be honoured if you'd teach me these techniques."

Ranma smiled. "Of course I will, Akane; to you and my other sisters. And I'm entitled to do so. These scrolls are mine now, even if I plan to return the originals to baka oyaji. The best theft is the one that isn't noticed, that's what oyaji always preached, and now I'll beat him at his own game. After all the times pops sold and engaged me its high time that the idiot looses something of worth to him. Even if he doesn't know and won't until we use these techniques on him." she finished, and her smile changed into a smirk.

Then she reached into stuffspace again and pulled out more scrolls; she smiled to herself, for each time she used the stuffspace it was getting easier. She just wanted to sift through the scrolls she had retrieved when Kasumi and Nabiki entered the room with empty hands. "I see at least you were successful, Red." Nabiki said with a smirk.

"Red?" Ranma asked. "Hmm, you could say so, 'biki." she countered with a smirk.

Nabiki returned the smirk. "Touché, Ranma-oneechan. Now let's see what we got us here…" she said as she sat down beside Ranma.

Akane and Kasumi sat down too, and Nabiki began sifting through the trove Ranma had made. "Scroll… scroll… hmm, a lot of scrolls… where did you find those, Ranma?" she asked as she laid the scrolls she'd already checked onto a pile.

"In the wall, literally." Ranma answered. "The sly bastard has created a stuffspace, and he hid these scrolls in a stuffspace in the wall. You know, he used his ki and created something like a ki-pocket that could only be opened by him or by someone with bloodrelation to him. I was barely able to see it and it's only thanks to Akane's mallet technique that I saw it at all."

Said girl grinned. "Who'd have thought that my pervert smasher had other uses besides smashing perverts, eh?"

The other girls grinned. "We should sort the scrolls. And then we should copy them using my scanner, if I may suggest that." Nabiki said.

Ranma smiled. "I like the suggestion. And I wanted to sort the scrolls anyway, Nabiki-oneechan. We gotta sort them depending on the degree of difficulty. Maybe we can even find a pattern of scrolls that build upon each other. But first I gotta sort the basic scrolls. You three can go over the advanced scrolls and try to find out which of them are especially useful. Kay?"

The Tendo sisters nodded and went to work. Two piles were created and Akane and Ranma busied themselves with a pile each. Akane was sifting through the advanced Saotome school scrolls, she being the one Tendo sister with the most martial arts knowledge, while Ranma sorted the basic ones.

Her sisters, having nothing to do, were looking through the scrolls which Akane had already sorted, and more than once Nabiki or Kasumi whistled upon seeing the techniques they contained. Meanwhile Ranma used her superior speed to organise the basic Saotome scrolls, and soon she lend Akane a helping hand.

Soon the piles grew, as did the wonderment of the girls. Apparently this was the true legacy of the Saotome school, and not that of the Musabetsu Kakuto, and especially Ranma's eyes shone as she saw techniques that literally made her mouth water.

The basic scrolls of the Saotome school of the Anything Goes were really uninteresting in comparison to the scrolls of the true Saotome school, and most of these scrolls contained material that was highly interesting. And the old man had hidden it from her. He had screwed her over as usual, and once she'd learned these techniques she'd fry his furry butt that much harder.

Suddenly the girls looked up as Nabiki took in a sharp breath. "What is it, Nabiki?" asked Akane and beat the others to the question.

A somewhat pale-faced Nabiki looked straight at Ranma. "Red, I think I just found a very good reason why you should not seek any contact to your mother, even if I should find out that she's alive." she said and handed a scroll to a surprised Ranma.

The redhead had of course seen her new sister pale. Whatever the scroll in question contained, it could not be good.

-.-

Akane and Kasumi looked confused, while a curious Ranma accepted the scroll from Nabiki. "Sis, why should Ranma not try to meet her mother?" asked Akane.

"WHAT!" was suddenly and loudly exclaimed, and a steaming red-head jumped to her feet. "That bastard! That lousy freakin' bastard! How could he?" she yelled.

This display continued for a minute or so until Ranma visibly calmed, and the three other girls had the sudden impression as if they were sitting in a deep freeze. A few moments later this feeling passed and they only had the feeling to sit in a fridge.

Ranma sat down on the bed and that quite heavily. "Sorry guys," she said with an apologetic look, "but what this damned baka bastich has done is indescribable! How can one be such an idiot?"

"Ranma," Akane said as she laid a hand on the red-heads shoulder, "what is it? What has your father done this time?"

The pigtailed girl glowered for a moment as her control slipped, then she took a calming breath and handed Akane the offending scroll without another word.

The youngest Tendo girl took the scroll and began to read loudly

"Hereby do I, Genma Saotome, promise to my wife Nodoka Saotome to make our son Ranma the best martial artist of his generation and a man among men.

Should I fail, the punishment will consist of seppuku for both Ranma and me.

Signed,

Genma Saotome plus handprint."

"Akane, could you please repeat this? I think I heard you wrong." Kasumi said, shaking her head and cleaning her ears. Had she really heard right?

Both Akane and Ranma looked at her, one with an angry expression and one with a barely controlled one. "You didn't hear wrong, Kasumi. That's what it says. Here, read for yourself." Akane said and handed the scroll to her oldest sister.

Kasumi took it and read it with an increasingly disbelieving expression. When she was finished she looked up. "Who would do something like that to her own child? How can someone be so heartless?" she asked.

Now it was Nabiki's turn to participate in the talk once more. She had had some time to think, and the conclusions she had drawn were not to her liking. "Who? Obviously someone with a very outdated view on how children should be raised. I have to look into that man among men crap to see what it means, but one thing should be clear: with that contract hanging over your head you can not go to your mother, even if I should find her. It would be much too dangerous, for you have no idea how she would react. If she is alive she has not seen you for over ten years, and who can say if she'd be happy to see you alive but as a girl? A mother should love unconditionally, but gauging from what data I have I can not say that your mother would. And what would you do if she should decide to hold you to the contract because you are a girl, Ranma? What would you do?"

Ranma growled lowly and got to her feet; then the pigtailed girl began to pace. Finally, she let her growing temper out. "Do you want an honest answer?" she asked with a growl.

The other girls gulped but nodded all the same. "Yes."

With another growl Ranma gave her answer. "If Fate should decide to unite me with my mother, and she really wants to hold me to that sick joke of a contract, then she can go to where the pepper grows! Honestly, to demand of someone to kill themselves, only because they don't match the wording of some idiotic contract about some manliness bullcrap, how stupid! Does she really think I'd throw my life away at her order just because I'm now a girl instead of a boy or what? Then she has another one coming! Man among men, what an utter shit!"

"Ranma… please calm down. Your aura…" began Akane.

Ranma didn't seem to hear her. "It's a martial artists' damn duty to protect the weak! How the hell am I to protect the weak if I'd have to kill myself because of some utterly ridiculous piece of trashy paper I don't even remember signing? No fucking way!"

"Err, Ranma…" Akane began, but Ranma rambled on without hearing her.

"Ranma, lunch is ready!" said Kasumi, following a sudden intuition.

That got Ranma's attention. "Food? Where?"

The three Tendo sisters laughed, and a certain pigtailed girl looked confused. "Huh? What's going on here?"

"You were starting to set fire to the room, Red." said Nabiki. "No need to make good on your nick."

The redhead looked surprised at first, then sheepish. "Oops." she said and scratched the back of her head. "Couldn't really help it. That made me so… so…"

"Angry?" suggested Akane.

"Furious." corrected Ranma with a growl.

Akane nodded and growled too. "And rightfully too. How can anyone accept a contract that has been signed by a five year old? And with a fingerprint to boot! Really, how dishonourable can one get?" she asked.

The other three girls nodded. "If we'd show this to court, what do you think how long would it take to declare both parents as unfit? This is ridiculous and a farce!" Nabiki exclaimed. "Honestly, who the heck uses seppuku pledges nowadays any more? Haven't your parents heard that they're as dead as a pet rock for at least a hundred years?"

Ranma sighed. "I dunno, Nabiki. I know nothing about mom and pops is the worst baka I've ever met. If mom is anything like him…" she trailed off with a shudder. "Anyway, I haven't seen her in ten years, and as far as I'm concerned she gave up any right to decide over my fate when she gave me to pops. No way am I going to kill myself cause she says so." she finished angrily.

Kasumi looked angry too, and that was a state of mind that was quite alien to her. "What a fine best friend our father has there, hasn't he?" she said sarcastically. "No offence against you, but your father is indeed a bastard. And I will enjoy doing my part so that he can not harm any of us. That includes you too, Ranma-oneechan."

The Saotome girl smiled at her 'big sister'. "Thanks, Kasumi-imotouchan. I'll enjoy it too, you can count on it. And once I get that mallet-technique working he'll regret the day he fooled around with me!"

A chorus of "Hear, Hear's" could be heard and four girls schemed how they would make the life of a certain part-time panda a living hell. For some strange reason a shiver ran down the spine of a certain drunken Genma Saotome, and in his alcohol-induced sleep he dreamed of weapon-wielding red-haired women…

-.-

Half an hour later the four girls had put everything aside from the scrolls back in place and had gone to Nabiki's room after checking on the fathers once more to make some more plans. It was fast decided that all three Tendo girls would take up training under Ranma as soon as possible, and that they would take the scrolls of the Anything Goes school as a working base, before moving on to the techniques of the true Saotome school.

Even Nabiki would have the time after she would have managed to use her contacts for Ranma's model-career, and her tail didn't pose to big a problem; after all, modern Japanese culture was always quite accepting of the bizarre.

Nabiki's ulterior motive was, that learning the moves that were described on the scrolls would be real fun; especially the Umi-sen-ken was much to her liking and would be a great asset for her information-gathering activities. And the other techniques that were described on the scrolls were a far cry from the moves they had learned as children, before their mother had died. And after that, father had never taught them anything again.

Thus all three Tendo daughters aside from Akane, who was largely self-taught, only knew the basic moves. Ranma, who had sorted through the schools scrolls together with Akane, had made some kind of training schedule. Ranma would start to instruct them beginning with the most basic moves, while she herself learned the scrolls she had not learned due to the fact that they had been hidden by Genma.

Although the first technique that Ranma would teach the other girls would be the soul of ice. Akane needed the technique badly in order to learn how to control her temper, and with the additional meditation techniques Ranma was sure that she'd manage. The girl had potential, but so had all three Tendo sisters. Potential, that had been wasted until now.

After they were finished planning how the training would commence Ranma asked Nabiki if it were possible to make accurate copies of the scrolls she had found by using the scanner she had mentioned as of now. The middle Tendo sister had just smirked and said "Follow me.", and the girls had then gone to Nabiki's room.

Five minutes later Ranma had been astonished witness how Nabiki worked the computer like a pro; Akane and Kasumi were smiling at their new sisters' surprise, for to them seeing their middle sisters' skills in action was nothing new. And making full use of the fact that the fathers were out of it Nabiki managed to scan all of the scrolls Ranma had found before 8 p.m.

Once finished, a smirking Nabiki turned to the other girls. "I've completed scanning the scrolls, and you can place them back into that stuffspace-pocket whenever you want to, Ranma. The scans are stored as well on the HDD as on this thumbdrive, and both are password-protected with a 256bit encryption; in addition to that, I know a shop that will be able to create printouts from these scrolls, and they owe me a favour. Methinks a trip to the city is called for next week, or what do you think, girls?"

Three smirks were her answer. "I think that is a great idea, Nabiki-oneechan. Once we got those techniques down we can finally show the panda what 'weak girls' can do." said Ranma with gleaming eyes and a distinctively evil grin.

"Hear, hear."

-.-

Ranma was very satisfied that she had the stuffspace-technique down, and that she had understood its working principles should also mean that she should be able to access the same 'malletspace' Akane pulled her mallets from. But to get this particular technique down she'd have to see it in action one more time. To this end, as much as she hated it, she had to make her friend and new sister angry.

To this end she motioned Kasumi and Nabiki to another corner of the room and pretended that she'd something to clear up with the two. "Big sisters, I need your help to make Akane angry." she said, and at their curious but disapproving looks she elaborated. "I've seen that Akane can only use her mallet when she is angry, and when she is in that state she can somehow access what I call 'malletspace'. It seems to be an extent of stuffspace, but even with my newfound knowledge about stuffspace I can't open it. What I saw from the first time Akane used her mallet was enough so that I could see the ki-lines of pops stuffspace, but if I could see the mallet-attack one more time I'm sure that I could pull it off too. I must see how her aura changes when she accesses 'malletspace'. And to this end she must be angry."

Both sisters looked at each other and understood. Ranma's reason were justified, and not based on some immature prank, and Nabiki nodded with a smirk. "How about the four of us go into the garden? It's a tepid evening, and we could sit down by the pond initially. There I could begin to talk innocently about one Tatewaki Kuno, and if there's one thing that causes little sis to boil over it's him. Even mentioning him is sufficiently, and once you have taught her the soul of ice technique I will rejoice. The property damage caused by this is enormous. You wouldn't believe how often little sis damaged school property in the last six months. Granted, we didn't have to pay for it but if she could keep her calm when Kuno sprouts his nonsense it would be great."

Ranma smiled confidently. "Once she has the soul of ice down it won't be a prob no more. Hey, it even calms me down, and I'm a monster when I have my monthly visitor. Or do you see me murdering any one right now?"

Nabiki and Kasumi shared a look while Akane had busied herself with sifting through the CDs her sister had. "Let me get this straight, you're having your period right now, and normally you'd be much more temperamental, if you wouldn't use the soul of ice?" Nabiki asked in morbid curiosity.

The redhead nodded. "I really am a danger when I have my monthlies. The first time I got it in the village I nearly destroyed the hut of Elder Cologne. And because she was quite fond of it she had to use some pressure points to render me unconscious. Then she used some tea to help me and taught me the soul of ice. Ever since then I have had no problems any more, and due to my vast ki-reserves I can keep up the soul of ice indefinitely. Believe me, you really don't want to see me when I let the soul of ice slip while I'm on my period. Baka pops still hasn't recovered fully from the one time I did." she finished with an evil smirk.

The sisters nodded. The baka panda probably deserved it, but it would apparently be far too dangerous to ask Ranma for a demonstration. "Hmm, how about this: we" Nabiki said and pointed at herself and Ranma, "talk to Akane about Kuno and while we fire her up you go inside and claim that you have served sake in the garden, big sis. Just take two bottles from fathers' private stash, we'll set up the table in the meantime and once you have woken them up everything is prepared. If I've judged your father correctly he'd drop just about anything for sake."

Ranma nodded. "You betcha. He'd probably sell his soul for a sufficient amount of sake. I never understood how he, a martial artist could like that stuff so much."

"Neither could we with our father, Ranma." said Nabiki.

"Its sad, but it also offers a wonderful opportunity to manipulate them." said Ranma.

"That's the plan, Ranma." said a smirking Nabiki. "You in, big sis?" she asked her elder sister.

Normally Kasumi would have been dead-set against helping to get her father drunk, but ever since Ranma's arrival things had changed; her priorities had changed. She had kept the façade of the caring housewife for far too long and she'd be damned if she'd support her father in that foolish endeavour he pursued.

The contract that had been made ensured Ranma's safety from any schemes her father could concoct, but Kasumi assumed that the fathers would still try to make Ranma's life hard, especially if she wanted to stay a girl. She'd made her decision; she'd do anything to ensure the safety of her sisters, and that included Ranma. "I am, Nabiki-imoutochan. If it means a headache for Mr. Saotome I'm oh so sorry." she said with a fake-innocent air.

An evil smile was exchanged between the three girls, and the plan was set in motion.

-.-

Few minutes later Kasumi had gone to lure Genma into the trap and Nabiki had involved Akane in a talk about school after they'd set up the table. She casually mentioned the morning fights and Tatewaki Kuno while they were working. All the while Ranma watched the aura of her friend and she had to admit that Nabiki was good. Akane was already showing reactions, but it was not enough as of yet.

Implacably Ranma shook her head, but the redhead grinned as her eyes fell onto Kasumi and the two half-delirious figures that accompanied her. The plan was working very well, and Ranma could trust her father to use one of his most powerful techniques: the Saotome-foot-in-mouth-technique.

"Ahh Tendo, a good grip you got there on your daughters; what a nice suggestion your oldest made to serve us sake in the garden. I just wish my wayward son would honour his poor father as much as your daughters obviously honour you. Oh, why am I cursed with such a silly and weak little girl of a son?" lamented the sometimes panda.

Ranma had to delve deeply into her soul of ice to keep herself from pounding her father as flat as a pancake. The temptation was enormous, but if she'd act on the impulse she'd achieve nothing. She wanted to learn how to master the malletspace technique, and she'd make sacrifices for it. After all, with a mallet she'd be able to shut up her stupid oaf of father so much more efficiently. Besides, it could also be used as a surprise tactic in a fight.

To her immense satisfaction the redhead noticed that the comment of her father had served to incense Akane quite a lot. The talk about Kuno and the morning fights had served to spark her anger, but Genma's comment about 'weak girls' sparked her temper further. "What was that? Are you still claiming that girls are silly and weak?" she asked in a dangerous tone of voice.

Genma, ignorant as ever, ignored the signs of danger completely. "Why yes, of course. Just look at my son. Here I sacrificed my all, poured my heart into making him into the strongest man, a true man among men, and an embodiment of masculinity, and he wants to live as a soft, crying, weak little girl. Oh the shame!"

Akane seethed, and as Ranma had embraced the soul of ice so much so that the koi-pond was nearly freezing she had to be content with the thought that her friend was angry enough for the two of them. Her father deserved everything that was coming now, and the redhead grinned as she saw how her aura changed exactly.

She made the connection between stuffspace and malletspace, and she finally knew what she had missed all this time. Scientifically spoken the malletspace existed on a different 'frequency' in relation to the normal stuffspace, and one had to alter ones aura in exactly the right way. That Akane had been able to pull it of involuntarily and so easily meant that she had a high overall affinity for stuffspace.

The big difference between malletspace and the 'normal' stuffspace was that while stuffspace had to be anchored to an object, and it could be any object that was big enough so that a hand could reach in, malletspace had to be anchored to a person so that this person could access it. For this the person had to alter his or her aura in exactly the right way to create an access-point, some kind of subspace-connection, so to speak.

Scientifically spoken one had to modulate ones aura in the exact frequency to align with malletspace, and through copying what Akane was doing Ranma was confident to get the same results. Who knew, maybe other subspace-pockets existed out there that could be accessed. With a gleeful grin Ranma thought about all the possibilities as she watched how Akane retrieved a mallet from malletspace, and she grinned when it connected with her father with a cry of "GENMA NO BAKA!"

Due to the fact that Akane had added quite a lot of wham to her malleting Genma was not just sent into the koi-pond, he rather had time to think about his follies as he went sailing over the horizon; or he rather would have had time to think had he not been utterly unconscious.

Ranma held a finger into the air as if to test the wind-conditions. "Good one, Akane. I'd say you managed to mallet him to the next ward." she said with a grin.

The youngest Tendo girl grinned back, Nabiki smirked and even Kasumi smiled while Soun asked himself just what the hell was going on.

"Oh father," exclaimed an observant Kasumi who masked her true attention as usual, "you surely want to drink your sake now. Here, sit down."

"Yes, yes, Kasumi, thank you." said a still confused Soun as he plopped down into a chair.

Soon the Tendo father was served on sake, and four happy girls retreated to the dojo. Once there Nabiki looked at Ranma. "And, Red, had the success you hoped for?"

The redhead nodded enthusiastically. "Watch." was all she said. Then she seemed to reach into thin air, and suddenly a mallet rested in her hands.

A smirking Ranma demonstrated her mallet to the other girls and she giggled when she bopped Akane ever so slightly on the head. "Thanks, Akane. Because of you I was finally able to uncover the technique of 'malletspace'. It's very closely related to the stuffspace technique, but I had to see you do it one more time to get it down." she said with a big grin. "Now, want me to show you how to pull it off?" she asked with a mischievous grin, already knowing the answer.

Three very distinct "Yes!" echoed through the air, and everyone looked surprised at Kasumi, who blushed in face of so much attention. "Oh my," she began, "that would be really useful in the household whenever father wants to eat those American steaks; you know, to butcher them sufficiently. And besides, I just might consider using this technique to call your father to order, Ranma-oneechan." she said with a fake-innocent voice. "My hand is itching lately, and it might just slip."

Four girls giggled in unison as it seemed that the mallet-season on pandas was soon to be declared open…

to be continued…

Thanks to the ppl at Shinjis' board for helping me out with suggestions, ideas and comments. You rock!

Many thanks to those of you who were kind enough to leave reviews for the last chapter:

Reader, Vex The Warlord, angel61991, Wonderbee31, Rejhan, Lord Oberon, Rodaiogin, Laniac67, Babs, Materia-Blade, Dconrad123, aledeth, Isumo 1489, Ebona Nite, Jonakhensu, Nichole Hibiki, wow, goku, SkyDragon2083, Wanderer, Dumbledork, Tenchi Saotome, TheWhiteMonk, demongurl, badgerwolf, Jerry Unipeg, Jetsmillion, Sephirotho, Silverscale, Scott, Jay Whitefox, Eternal Dark Chaos, Lisa Grey, SlickRCBD, psycoticboy, RubberNeck, trunks and goten, Vampwriter, borg rabbit, Dragon Man 180, Rionach 0.

Replies to those questions and comments that caught my eye:

Female Saiyajins do have tails. Take a look at the Bardock movie special. In it it's clearly visible that Celipa has a tail and can go Oozaru. Just so you know.

Thanks to everyone for pointing that out. Me, I wasn't sure about that.

Hope the panda gets punished some more in the next chapters, he deserves it. Seeing Genma being maletted instead of Ranma is a nice change.

I felt that it was time for Genma to be blamed instead of Ranma; and her being a girl here makes Genma the bad guy.

I read a few of the suggestions, particularly the one where "Saffron is a Pseudo-Freeza" pops up. I don't agree. You specifically said in the third chapter that it would take decades for Ranma's boy form to train up to the power level she is now. And yet Ranma manages to defeat Saffron after one year of intense chaos and training (in the canon). And Ranma-chan already received the training from Cologne, so that makes it even more so--or as I believe it to be--not possible. She probably would be light years ahead of Saffron in terms of power after a few months.

That was just Ranma's personal assessment of the situation; as for Saffron, my personal opinion is that he was way stronger in the the physical strength and raw power department in canon, and Ranma only managed to beat him due to his incredible skill-level. For what can all the power in the world do if you're facing off against someone a hundred times more skilled?

Why not Ranma/Akane? You did a perfect setup for it, anyway.

True, but I don't see Akane as a lesbian.

This all comes from picturing Ranma-girl matching up with some Saiyan guy, and Goku is obviously taken. I picture a lot of Takahashi-style violence in the relationship. ...

Very interesting thought, and it spawned a crazy, but interesting idea. Thanks for that.

Another tried sob-story Ranma. Ranma was murderlessly beaten and abused by his father blah blah blah.

In my defence, I had to add Ranma's life story as ways of explanation for why Genma is to be treated with caution. Result: a Genma with an addiction to painkillers courtesy of Akane's (and now Ranma's mallet).

I think it would be cool for him to meet Goku etc... after GT and get to see SSJ 4 then train w/ Vegeta to get there.

Interesting thought. Though it might happen earlier here.

Not a bad story so far, though the "Superheated Water" curse is an old idea from a Sailor Moon crossover called Destiny's Child.

Hmm, haven't read that one. The thought just popped into my mind, and we discussed the appropriate temperatures on the board, et voila.

And you make Akane look like a good guy..er, gal. Kudos on that.

I try to treat her fairly, in both stories. She'll still have anger issues, but here they'll be directed at Genma.

If you need an interesting twist have him not actually be Genmas son have his real father be dead from a disease or something and he was born just after or just before he married Nodoka.

Nah, I've meddled enough already. Ranma will still be Genma's and Nodoka's child.

Power isn't everything to him, and I think that getting a free power-up like he did in the spring is the last thing Ranma wants, instead of being a big reason he wants to stay female.
I know that it's VERY unlikely that anything will be changed by my statement, but I would like to know how you rationalized it.

True, and I think I stated exactly that somewhere. Consider that Ranma must still train to improve, even if Saiyans improve a lot faster than humans. The power is not the only reason however, and more will be revealed throughout the course of the story.

I think Nodoka SHOULD try to kill Ranma...

That's one possibility of many I consider.

Definitely give Ryoga the male Saiyan curse, Ranma-chan/Ranko and Ryoga pairings are my favourite and so are Ryouga/Ukyou.

I'm still undecided on the matter and might decide to give Ryoga a different curse…

You should have Ranma freak the first time he feels any attraction to a male; also why do you give Ryoga a male Saiyan curse?

Freak she will indeed. As for Ryoga, as said above, nothing is decided as of yet.

About Saffron:

He's more along the lines of Dodoria in power level... his true strength came from his ability to regenerate virtually any wound almost instantly.

Personally I think that Saffron is stronger than Dodoria and really more along the lines of Friezas first or second form. Consider, that Ranma could not hold a candle to Saffron in terms of raw power and strength (at least imo) and only managed to beat him due to his skills (when he invented the Hiryu Shoten Ha revised).

Ranma's rivals are going to need to receive some major power-ups themselves now to keep the story interesting. Especially love the idea of a male Saiyan-cursed Ryoga... Keep that idea. The fiancé brigade is going to be little more than emotional support/assaults, judging by the way this is going. I hope you have something planned in that regard. Happosai... since he gets power from female chi, it could be argued that he could beat Ranma-chan...

True. But consider that humans have the potential to become really strong too, with the right training (take Tien, for example). As for Ryoga, that's still hanging in the air, but I am keeping the idea. Yes, I have something planned for the fiancé brigade, but consider that some things are going to be different now that Ranma is a girl; but there's always Genma for screwing up. I also agree with your assessment of Happosai, that should get interesting.

Do you think you could cause one of the Z-Fighters to be splashed with a package of instant Jusenkyo water such as Vegeta with spring of drowned pervert to have fun with Happosai, or something equally funny?

Definitely.

Hey when's Ryoga gonna show up, in the next chapter I hope.

Nah, his directional curse will delay him for some time. And Ranma will be busy with taking care of Kuno anyway.

I agree that Ryoga should get a different curse...but another Saiyan is a little overboard in my eyes.

As said above, nothing is decided in that regard aside from the fact that he will get a different curse.

Ranma definitely wouldn't fall in love with a man even if he's been female for a long time and got used to a girl's body. Even if he thinks of himself as a woman, he's still male in his birthform.

True, but Ranma hasn't been in male form for over half a year. Considering the fact that she's a full girl with female hormones, brain structure and everything that's part of the package I think its safe to assume that she's now got a wider range of dates to chose from.

What kind of matchup are you going to make?

Not gonna tell as of yet.

You know you might have that the Neko-ken isn't rendered harmless but instead it a new level before SSJ. Her ki boosts and she becomes more agilie and faster. Unlike the normal SSJ where they get stronger and tougher.

Nice thought, but that has already been done in another story; I think it was called 'A human Saiyajin'.

I'm going to say the dialogue trick was a tentative success.

I hope so. Sock me a good one if I switch back into old habits. :D

I don't believe that sexual orientation is either genetic, or learned. It's developed during the formation of the fetus, according to research I've done.

Might be true, but isn't it much funnier to see Genma having a coronary due to the fact that Ranma goes on a date with a guy:D
Even if I'm not compliant with scientific cognitions, I'm gonna make it so.

Is Akane gonna be well for lack of better description on my part, normal Akane.

She won't be the mallet-wielding tomboy like in canon. Not to Ranma at least. Genma, well, he's fair game.

If you introduce Gohan please don't make him a wimp like in the series.

Don't plan to. Personally, I hated what they did to Gohan, and I'll do my utmost to make him into a stronger Saiyan.

I am surprised to see you going the full female Ranma. A lot of people tend to have Ranma want to hold onto at least a little of her former self, but this Ranma seems to not care and genuinely wants to be a girl. I have no problems with that for it is definatly moving in a way not many people follow.

I wanted to try something different, and this is my 'Ranma wants to stay a girl' story.

If I have one request, I have noticed that in a lot, or all, of the dbz and Ranma crossovers that Ranma tends to whinde up weaker then the dbz characters in the end. I say Ranma's attitudes could easily make her as strong or as stronger then Goku in the end. They tend to just stick Ranma in with the rest of them and play an un important role in saving the world. I want to see Ranma being the best and saving the world herself and not one of the original dbz cast.

Don't fear, Ranma will play a major role in saving the world, and no way is she going to be a minor player. I also agree with your assessment, considering her attitude she'll come far in terms of power.

That would be cool if Ranma taught the girls to use Ki blasts.. hehe... man that would be crazy too..

Exactly that will happen. So better watch your furry butt, Genma…

I hope Ranma-chan kicks Kuno's ass when they meet, goodness knows Ranma needs to let off a bit more steam.

Oh, she will, in Chapter 6.

Can Ranma get a giant war hammer since she has so much more ki than Akane?

Seeing as Ranma learned how to access malletspace in this chapter this is a decent possibility.

I really hope Nodoka is able to accept Ranma, she could really use a loving parent and no matter how experienced Kasumi is she can't quite fill the void that Nodoka's rejection would leave.

As said somewhere above, I have several scenarios how Nodoka could react, and acceptance is among them.