Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi owns Ranma ½.
The evening after dinner Nabiki and Ranma walked up to their fathers. They found the two Masters of Anything Goes playing Go and doing obvious and poorly planned cheating. "Daddy there is something I would like to talk to you about," Nabiki said in her Ice Queen voice.
Soun visibly winced at the tone of voice. "That's the same tone she used when I spent money for the phone bill on sake," Soun thought. "Yes Nabiki what do you want to talk about?"
Nabiki looked over at Ranma who gave a slight nod for her to continue. The plan they worked out was for Nabiki to lead the discussion, as she knew her father the best. Ranma could guarantee that he could stop Genma from interrupting by just his presence being there. "Could you come into the dinning room?" Nabiki asked. Her said that it was not a question. "There is something you seemed to have forgotten about the reason the Saotomes are here." Both fathers started to perspire at this statement as they stood up and followed their children into the dinning room.
When the four arrived Akane and Kasumi were already present waiting for them. Kasumi still had her smile on her face but her eyes held confusion, Akane's face showed clear annoyance. When the four sat down Akane asked, "Well why did you call us here Nabiki? I was just about to practice in the Dojo."
"Daddy apparently left out some details why the Saotomes were here," Nabiki answered. "Turns out Daddy and Mr. Saotome wanted one of us to marry Ranma."
"WHAT?" Akane yelled while Kasumi frowned for a brief second. "Daddy how can you engage me to this pervert?"
"First he isn't engaged to anyone right now," Nabiki said. "And second I don't want anyone interrupting while I talk." He Ice Queen look kept both Akane and Soun quiet and Kasumi remained silent out of politeness.
"That goes for you too Pop," Ranma added. He flexed his hands to show Genma he was serious. Genma for once showed wisdom and kept his mouth shut.
"Ranma and I talked this afternoon and we decided that because it is a matter of honor we will accept it for now," Nabiki continued. Soun was about to cry tears of joy, while his other two daughters looked confused by the statement. Genma did not like where this the conversation was heading. He was getting that chill up his spine whenever he was about to get into trouble. "Also during that discussion we agreed that it would best for Ranma to be engaged to me." By now Soun was crying tears of joy and was about to rush to the phone to call the priest. That is until Nabiki continued, "For now however we will simply be seeing if there is anything between us, and if either of you try and pressure us into marriage before we are ready we will call the whole thing off." Soun stopped crying tears of joy and went to tears of sadness at this. "And if we decide there is no compatibility between us then we will call off the engagement. Is there any questions?"
"Why you Nabiki?" Soun asked after calming down enough to think a little clearer. "Akane is the Martial Artist so she should be the one to marry Ranma. They already have so much in common." Genma nodded his agreement; that chill he felt earlier was still going and now he knew why. His assessment about Nabiki just a few hours ago was proving correct.
Akane for her part wondered the same thing. "Why would Nabiki care about honor?" she thought. "She's a mercenary and will do anything for money. That pervert must have done something to get her to go along with this! I'll kill that pervert!"
Nabiki answered Soun's question easily enough. "Akane, Kasumi do you want the engagement?"
"I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT PERVERT!" Akane yelled. She was still angry at her own thoughts as why Nabiki would care about an honor agreement. So her answer was much louder than even Nabiki anticipated.
"Oh my Ranma seems just so young…" Kasumi answered politely. If she had no choice she would accept the engagement because of her duty to her family. However because Nabiki already accepted it she could be honest, well without sounding to negative that is.
"There you have it Daddy," Nabiki added. "Both Kasumi and Akane don't want to be engaged to Ranma, so the only option left is me or would you rather have there be no engagement what so ever."
"Well family honor will be satisfied," Soun said. "Alright I'll allow you and Ranma to be engaged."
"Now that that is taken care of I have some things to 'discuss' with you Pop," Ranma said. "After all I did tell you what would happen if you tried this again." Genma was cowering now knowing what his son could do to him. The fact that Ranma accepted did not mean he was any less displeased with his father. The Henge-oki was going to show his Jusenkyo cursed father just how displeased he was.
"What do you mean again?" Soun asked.
"Nothing you need to be concerned with Mr. Tendo," Ranma answered as he dragged Genma out to the Dojo. "We'll be about an hour or so."
After Ranma and Genma disappeared into the Dojo sounds of a rather brutal beating began to take place. Not one person at the table even thought about interrupting the two, even Akane who wanted to protest that she was going to work out. So everyone dispersed to do their own thing, Nabiki went to her room, Kasumi the kitchen, Soun back to the Go board to set it up in his favor and Akane went up to her room to do some homework.
After Ranma finished beating his father he changed back into his human form. He had taken his hybrid form in order to show just how displeased he was with his father. "Now I'm going to ask you this once," Ranma stated. "Did you make anymore engagements for me?"
Genma not being able to respond vocally shook his head no. Ranma glared at the fat martial artist for several minutes before he gave a curt nod and left the dojo. After his son left Genma let out a relieved and pained sigh. He was sure that if Ranma found out about the other families he made 'arrangements' with he would have killed Genma. "It's not like their real engagements anyway," Genma rationalized to himself. "They were only contributing to Ranma being the best. Besides it's not like any will ever find me." On a small beach a person with a giant spatula strapped to their back sneezed while they made an okonomiyaki for dinner.
When Ranma reentered the house and passed by the kitchen he was unaware that strong pheromones his hybrid body gave off were still lingering in the air. As such he was unaware that the one of the gentlest people in world started to feel very warm and started to think very entertaining thoughts about a young man. "Oh my that would not be very proper," Kasumi thought. What she found most odd was not the fact she had these thoughts, she was a young woman after all, it was that she could find a clear mental image of the man she thought about. The mental picture shifted from the local doctor her family knew for years to a certain new house guest and back again.
The next day at breakfast Nabiki woke up feeling surprisingly good for once. She was never a morning person so her usual morning routine was often spent only half awake. This morning was different however because she had a very pleasant dream about a certain pigtailed houseguest. Even though she only knew him for a couple of days at most she like what she saw, he was handsome, smart, and tilling to earn money for his stay. After witnessing how much Genma ate she was extra thankful the last part. Genma ate more than three times what nearly everyone else ate and she could have sworn he tried to steal food from everyone else's plate at least once per meal.
As she came down the stairs she witnessed the normal Saotome morning exercise, Genma trying spar with his son. Try, being the operative word as Genma was struggling to keep up with his son. As she observed she took note of the individual style's each Martial Artist displayed. Genma used an aerial and acrobatic style that seemed very odd to his fat frame and Ranma used a fighting form that looked similar to a couple of animal styles Nabiki had witnessed. Growing up in Martial Arts family she was familiar with several different forms and yet she could place the style Ranma was using. One thing she did know was that there were only minimal traces of Anything Goes. "So why is his style so different from his father's?" Nabiki asked herself. "Very peculiar if he's suppose to be the Heir to the Saotome Branch."
After breakfast Ranma and Nabiki left for school. Nabiki left early to set up bets for the upcoming morning fight and Ranma left because he did not want to deal with Akane and her inferiority complex. "I noticed the difference in you and your father's style while you were sparring this morning," Nabiki commented. "You don't seem to use Anything Goes all that often."
"While on the training trip I came across two fighting style's that were superior to what Pop was teaching me," Ranma responded. "I combined them into my style and that was what I was using earlier."
"So you don't use your father's style?" Nabiki asked. "I thought you were the Heir to the Saotome Anything Goes School of Marital Arts."
"Actually I'm Heir to the Saotome Dojo not the Saotome School of Anything Goes," Ranma corrected. "Then again I doubt there is an actual Dojo. As far as I can remember I was Pop's only student."
"So basically we two Schools that don't have any real students," Nabiki said. "Not exactly an encouraging idea to unite two Schools that don't really exist."
"My guess is that Pop wanted to live off your family's Dojo," Ranma guessed.
"It's not really much of a Dojo anymore," Nabiki admitted. "There hasn't been any students in the Dojo since Daddy stopped teaching when Mom died." Her voice showed genuine saddens at the mention of her mother.
"Sorry didn't mean to bring up bad memories," Ranma said. He hated to see anyone reliving painful memories because he knew them better than anyone. Nabiki only gave Ranma a nod for a response and the two kept silent until they arrived at school.
When they approached the pair could see the various boys donning their equipment they would use when Akane arrived in a few minutes. "You want me to do anything about this?" Ranma asked.
Nabiki shook her head, "No I make some pretty good money off how long it takes for Akane to beat all of them." Ranma shrugged and followed Nabiki towards the building.
They were stopped by a bokken being thrust out into their path. "Hold Vile Sorcerer!" Kuno yelled. "I hath heard you shall be attending my class. Know this I shall not allow your black sorcery to corrupt the fine students of our noble institution of…" He stopped his rant when he realized that no one was standing in front of him. Confused at Ranma's disappearance Kuno could only conclude, "I hath driven the Foul Sorcerer Saotome with my divine noble blood!" What Kuno failed to realize was that Ranma and Nabiki simply went around him mid speech. Further thoughts of Ranma ended when Akane came storming into the schoolyard.
After Kuno woke up in the Nurse's Office yet again he made his way to his classroom. Just before he arrived he heard a voice of evil incarnate (at least in his own world). "The answer to problem sixteen is Four X squared," Ranma said.
"He must have used the blackest of magic to get past me!" Kuno yelled before he yanked the door to the classroom open.
Inside Ranma was just about to sit down after answering the math problem the teacher asked him on when he heard Kuno's yell from the other side. He took a quick glance around the room and witnessed multiple sighs of frustration everyone in the room. "He we go again," Ranma muttered.
"WHERE IS THE VILE SAOTOME?" Kuno bellowed charging into the room. He immediately saw Ranma and charged without further word.
Ranma for his part just stood waiting for the right moment to counter the charge. When Kuno was in range with his bokken Ranma used his Henge-oki strength and speed to toss the idiot dressed as a samurai out an open window. Everyone in the room rushed to the window to Kuno struggling to stand. "I…fight…on!" was heard before those at the window saw Kuno fall unconscious.
"How did you know he would survive the fall?" Nabiki asked.
"Easy, he fell that far after your sister uppercutted him this morning," Ranma answered.
At lunch Ranma and Nabiki sat down to eat lunch together when they were assaulted by nearly half the school's student body. Each person were speaking at once but were essentially asking the same question, "Is it true are you two really engaged?"
"Looks like Akane's been shooting off her big mouth," Nabiki thought. Nabiki wanted to keep the engagement between her and Ranma a secret for two reasons. One, neither Nabiki nor Ranma actually considered it a real engagement and were just acting to keep the Soun and Genma off their back and two Nabiki wanted to sell information about Ranma to various date deprived girls around the school.
"It's arrangement made by our fathers," Ranma said. "We're just humoring them." That caused everyone to stop talking and Nabiki to frown. She could have used this to make a quick few thousand yen.
After a few moments of silence one of the girls asked, "So does that mean you're available?" Several of the girls turned to the pigtailed Henge-oki in anticipation of his answered.
Under the scrutiny of so many eyes caused Ranma to stutter a bit, "Well…I…um…guess I…er I…mean…"
Kuno ironically saved Ranma from answering entering the scene with another speech. "I SHALL NOT ALLOW THIS…THIS ENEMY OF WOMEN TO CURRUPT THE FAIR MAIDENS OF FURINKAN HIGH WITH HIS BLACK MAGIC!" The crowd parted and Nabiki went to work taking bets knowing another fight was about to take place. She did not bother giving odd on whether or not Ranma would win but instead how fast and just how he would win.
Ranma wondered how he should deal with Kuno this time. He wanted some peace for the rest of the day and with this being the third time today Kuno had made an appearance Ranma knew he would have to knock him out for the rest of the day. "A Focus Hit should knock him out for at least two or three hours," Ranma thought. "I'll have to do the technique quickly in order to keep from exposing myself." As he stood up Ranma asked, "Alright Kuno ready for another trip to the Nurse's Office."
"Neh your black magic shall not entrance me this time," Kuno said. "For I hath taken precautions from your trickery this time." Kuno reached into his robe and pulled out a prayer strip that looked like it was made by a five year old. "With this divine parchment you shall not be able to defeat me." Kuno raised his bokken and charged Ranma.
Ranma just shook his head at the prayer strip. If it had been real it might affect him given the supernatural nature of a Henge-oki. This however was just pathetic at best. When the delusional kendo practitioner swung his weapon down Ranma bent over backwards avoiding the blow. Then he rose back up and went to punch at Kuno's chest, and just before impact Ranma used focused Ki into his hand and for a fraction of a second his hand changed into its clawed furry form and struck the Blue Thunder. The punch launch Kuno into a nearby tree knocking him for the rest of the day.
Everyone around either cheered or groaned at Kuno's loss because they had either won some money or lost a lot. The person that should have been the happiest, Nabiki, at making the money was, however, not. She was too distracted by what she saw during the fight to feel anything other than surprise. "What the hell was that?" Nabiki thought. Because she had exceptional observational skills she was able to see the near instaneous change of Ranma's hand just before he hit Kuno. She could not comprehend what just happened one moment Ranma had a human hand, the next he had one that looked like one that belonged to a movie monster and then another moment later it was back to being a human hand. "Am I just seeing things?" Nabiki asked herself. Two days ago she would have dismissed the quick change as a trick of the light. But with Genma changing into a panda every time cold water gets on him, it had opened up her mind to events that were well out of the norm in modern society. "What ever I just saw I'm going to find out what?"
Just outside of Kyoto City Limits a young man with a huge backpack could be seen looking into the city, "Finally made it back to Hong Kong. Now all I have to do is find a boat to Japan and then Saotome will pay for what he's done!" He took two steps away from the city only to find himself in the middle of a rice patty, "WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW?"