"Nabs!"
The startled exclamation of that particular nickname was all Nabiki needed to confirm her suspicions. Gathering the small redheadinto a hug, Nabiki smiled broadly.
"Welcome back to civilization Ranma. I want to hear all about your trip. There has to be things you did not say in your letters.
"Might as well change you back. I want to see how you have grown." Said Nabiki as she led the redhead toward the dining table. "Kasumi, can you get me a glass of hot water?"
"Certainly." Stated Kasumi as she headed toward the kitchen.
Meanwhile Akane just stood there in shock. Her sister, the supposed Ice Queen of Furinken High, had a friend and was showing emotion? To Akane it could only be a sign of the Apocalypse. Soun stood next to his youngest for similar reasons. He had been ready to leap forward at the name Ranma, however Nabiki had called the visitor a cute girl. In addition his old friend was nowhere to be seen. Where was Genma anyway?
With Nabiki talking animatedly with the redhead, no one was paying any attention to the panda. It looked upon the scene in front of it, shrugged and headed for the furoba.
Shortly thereafter, Kasumi exited the kitchen carrying a tray holding the casual tea service, a kettle, and a glass. She poured some water from the kettle into the glass and handed it to Nabiki, then poured the rest into the teapot, allowing it to steep.
Taking the proffered glass of hot water, Nabiki promptly poured the contents over the redhead. Red hair turned black, shoulders broadened, the chest flattened and became more defined, and several inches of height were gained. Where a petite redhead had once sat, now sat a dark-haired boy. The Tendo's response to the transformation was about as expected.
"HUBBA HUBBA!" GLOMP!
"Oh my."
"PERVERT!"
THUD
SPLASH!
Upon seeing the results of the transformation, Nabiki had decided to tease her old friend. Therefore she glomped him and snuggled up as she knew this would make him nervous. Kasumi reactedas usualto the scene. Soun fainted from shock and Akane took it all wrong. Placing the blame for her sister's current position on the girl turned boy, Akane immediately assumed he was a pervert. After all, he turns into a girl; therefore, he must be a pervert (the possibility that Ranma could be a girl cursed to turn into a boy never crossed her mind). Akane therefore picked up the nearest blunt object, the dining table, and attempted to teach the pervert a lesson. Paying no heed to her sister's position on the boy's lap, Akane brought the table down on a collision course with the boy's head. The result completely caught her off guard. Using one hand to cradle Nabiki protectively, Ranma grabbed the table with the other. Reversing the attack, Ranma tossed Akane into the koi pond. He then calmly placed the table back into place as Akane surfaced sputtering.
It took Akane several tries but she finally managed to climb out of the pond. She then proceeded to stomp towards the house to once more attempt to teach the pervert a lesson. However a sharp glare from Kasumi stopped her in her tracks.
"That wasn't very nice Akane, you could have hit Nabiki." Kasumi admonished. "Now go get cleaned up. I will bring you some clothes from your room."
Stomping towards the furoba, Akane muttered dark thoughts about perverts and boys in general. Stepping into the changing room and shutting the door behind her, Akane quickly removed her wet clothes. Picking up a washcloth, she opened the door to the bathing area. Just in time to see a portly, middle aged man, wearing an off-white gi and glasses, step out of the tub. The man stared in shock as Akane, who, having nothing more than a small washcloth to preserve her modesty, backed out of the room and closed the door. Quickly dressing, Akane stepped out into the hall, closed the door, and screamed.
The scream startled those in the living room. All conversation stopped as Akane rushed by and uprooted a piece of statuary from the backyard.
"Argh, that old pervert! I'll drown him in the tub!"
"What old pervert Akane?"
"There is an old man in the bathroom!"
"I was wondering where Pops had disappeared to."
A cough from the doorway drew everyone's attention. Soun's face lit up when he saw who stood there. His response caused Akane to derail her plans for pervert bashing, at least temporarily.
"Ah, Genma my old friend, where have you been?"
In short order the Tendo family sat around the table with the Saotomes kneeling in front. Outside, evening had begun.
"As I was saying, this is my old friend..."
"Genma Saotome."
"And his son,"
"Ranma."
"If Ranma was the girl, where did the panda go?" Kasumi asked.
"Hmm, how to explain this." Genma said, somewhat to himself.
Nabiki caught Ranma's eye and smirked. Ranma returned the smirk and nodded ever so slightly. Nabiki only caught the nod because she was looking for it.
"I know!" Genma suddenly exclaimed. He then attempted to toss his son into the pond. However, Ranma reversed the throw and it was Genma who went sailing through the air. The resounding splash his portly body made obscured the Tendo's view for a moment. When they could see again, what they beheld was not the wet Genma they expected, but a soggy panda.
"How humiliating, my own father is a panda." Ranma hung his head in humiliation. Nabiki, however, noticed a slight smirk upon his face.
What are you talking about? –Flip- My son is a girl!
The panda's sign was all the warning Ranma had before he was drenched. Where there was once a boy, now sat a girl. Said girl then proceeded to play pound-the-panda. The Tendos, with one exception stared in shock.
"Father, how can you be friends with these people?"
"They were not always like this, not before that fateful trip to China."
Half an hour later...
"To make a long story short -"
Nabiki interrupted, pointing to where everyone else was now asleep. "Too late."
"So hot water changes you back." Soun said pouring the contents of a kettle over the panda's head.
"It need not be that hot Tendo."
When Soun attempted to repeat the feat with Ranma, Ranma moved out of the way.
"Hot water! Not boiling!"
"Your problem is not so bad after all. These are my daughters. Kasumi, she's 19, Nabiki, age 17, and Akane, she's 16." Soun said, pointing to each in turn. "Pick any one as your new fiancée."
"Um…" Was Ranma's eloquent reply.
"Oh he wants Nabiki" Piped up Akane. There was no way in hell she was going to marry a freak like that. Besides he must be a pervert like his father.
"Oh, indeed. After all they do seem to be friends already." Kasumi interjected. The boy was younger than her, and his transformation was disturbing. Besides, there was that nice doctor down the road.
"Then it is settled, Nabiki is your new fiancée." Soun said patting Ranma on the back.
"Agreed Tendo, now lets celebrate."
"Don't we get a say in this?" Nabiki and Ranma chorused, completely unaware that they were speaking together.
It was also unnoticed by anyone else as the fathers had already begun to celebrate the joining of the schools. So any protest fell upon deaf ears. Akane and Kasumi having long since fled the scene.
Nightfall found Nabiki and Ranma on the roof looking up at the stars. Neither talked as they knew the fathers were eavesdropping. Nabiki was also certain that Akane was as well to make sure, as she put it, that the pervert did not try anything with her sister.
"Ranma we need to talk."
"I know, but what can we do?"
"We can go to that place Nita told us about."
"You mean?" Ranma glanced up meaningfully.
"Yes."
"But how do we get there?"
"There is an empty lot I use not far from here."
"Lead the way" Ranma replied. Gathering Nabiki in his arms Ranma bounded across the roofs in the direction she pointed.
Nabiki, meanwhile, was experiencing an exhilarating experience. She had been carried in Ranma's arms before but never like this. She marveled at how much his skills had grown in the years they had been apart. To be able to leap from roof to roof was astounding. The view of Nerima from her current viewpoint was gorgeous. All too soon the ride came to an end as they had reached the vacant lot.
The lot was surrounded on all sides by a high wooden fence, blocking any pedestrian's view of what was inside. A small opening in the north wall was the only ground level entrance. Once inside the wall, Ranma put Nabiki down and both teens summoned their manuals.
Working quickly and silently, having done this sort of thing many times before, the two teens began to draw aspell circle in the dirt. Once completed they each checked the others work. Nabiki smirked as she saw Ranma's name. The various curses he had picked up on his training trip had indeed caused him grief. After verifying the spell, the two teens began to cast it. Their voices loud in the hush that falls in anticipation of spell casting. Faster and faster they read the spell, each racing the other but failing as they anticipated and matched speeds. The very air seemed to sing with the power they drew upon. The air sang louder and louder while they read faster and faster till they reached the final word of the spell. Suddenly the singing air was quiet and the two teens were faced with absolute stillness.
The velvety black that appears when there is no atmosphere in the way replaced the blue-black of the night sky. An abundance of stars shown brightly and steadily down on the teens. Far in the distance, just above the horizon of the desolate, gray landscape upon which they stood, hung a blue-green orb covered in flecks of white.
Their arrival had not gone unnoticed. A short distance away a pair of teens sat upon a rock. Their conversation cut short by Ranma and Nabiki's appearance. Both Nita Callahan and Kit Rodriguez smiled as they recognized the arrivals. Years had passed since the four teens had last seen each other but they still remained good friends.
"Ranma, Nabiki, over here." Nita called.
Waving in response, Ranma and Nabiki made their way over to the rock and sat down.
"How have you two been?" Nita asked.
"Good, however our fathers decided to pull something stupid." Nabiki replied.
"Why am I not surprised." Kit said, causing all four teens to laugh.
"You know, I just thought of something." Nita said, looking thoughtful. "We have never had the time to just sit and talk."
"You're right Neets." Agreed Nabiki. Turning to Ranma she said. "and I still want to hear about your trip."
"Yeah, so do we." Chorused Nita and Kit.
"Alright, alright. I'll tell the tale." Ranma acquiesced "And since you two have never heard the whole thing. I will have to start at the beginning.
"It all started the day I got my manual and took the Oath…"
Authors notes: OK here is the next chapter. Although it looks like I am going to the story of the Ordeal here, I am not. That will be in a separate story tenetivly titled Wizarding Ranma: Origins, which I have begun work on. I will be re-updating these stories as is screwing with how I wrote it, font and such. I will also place these on my site eventually so you can all see them as I intended.