An unusual disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. And Son Turned Daughter was originally written back in 2002 by FanFiction author Tangent, and his characters Megume, Yasushi and Ayane have, likewise, been borrowed without permission. Please see the first two chapters of this story under his pen name. This story has been written for non-commercial purposes only.

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Notes are at the bottom of this chapter.

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Her skirt flapping in the breeze her brisk walk created, Ranma headed for the nearest place she was sure to find hot water: the Tendo's's! She didn't look back, but her trained senses told her, Ukyo was following. He thought she was the step-sister of Romeo and was leading him to his childhood friend-turned-enemy (for some reason she didn't yet understand!). She could sense his uncertainty at what seemed to be her "betraying" her family. She had said she could, maybe, love him, hadn't she? But for all the martial artist knew, it could be a trick or a trap.

That was him. The only trick was going to be on herself. She was about to reveal the truth to the guy she had been coming onto! She had just kissed! He was probably going to hate the him she became! After all, what guy had she ever known liked the idea of another guy wanting him like other guys want a girl!?

Worse maybe!(?), what if he didn't? Didn't he as good as said he's loved him since they were kids! Him! She was always a guy back then! And Ukyo knew that: He was totally caught off guard at finding "Ranma Saotome" a girl in class this morning! What if the reason he wasn't interested in her or any of the other girls in class was because he was only interested in guys?! Could the born-guy she became interested back?! Maybe she already was.

She didn't know! She hadn't been taking the medicine long enough to find out!

But because of the friendship they once had, and Ranma wanted to revive, she was willing to face the challenge! Facing challenges was what martial artists did!

And she owed it to Ucchan. Somehow, she didn't know how - other than, like always, it had to be her old man's fault! - she had hurt him so hard it had ruined his life! Her honor demanded she apologize in the most significant way she can think of! And that was the truth! True friends kept no secrets, right.? Right! Akane had taught her that!

"Just sayin' I understand your pain ain't enough, right? I'm gonna show you how much I can share your pain!"

"It's Romeo I want to feel pain," Ukyo told her.

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They were coming to the outer gate when Ukyo started to sort out his confusion. "Why're you talking like a guy, now?"

"The class didn't tell you I was raised as a guy?"

"Oh, right! The whole traditional, "Only a son can inherit". Not a daughter." He said it with a note of bitter resentment. His voice became deeper with, " "Better register the girl as a boy and have her be a boy!". Birth certificate! School records! Any and all forms! But what about marriage agreements!? Just do a Ryuunosuke!?

"Ryuunosuke had an arranged marriage agreement with a guy registered as a girl - a crossdresser!"

"Can you not talk about Ryuunosuke.?! Or crossdressers!?"

"The guy wanted to be a girl!"

Ranma was glad they had reached the front door.

"The guy was raised to be a woman among women…"

"Well, I wasn't!" and she slammed the sliding door open.

"Konnichiwa, Ukyo-kun. Welcome to our house," Kasumi greeted from the hallway. "Nabiki told us you might visit."

"A ghost!"

"What!? Where?!" Ranma cried, raising both hands in the warding-sign (very Star Trek Spock-like). How do you fight a ghost, again?

"I assure you I am not a ghost, Ukyo-kun. My name is Kasumi Tendo, eldest sister of Akane and Nabiki."

"I,I'm sorry!" embarrassed, he bowed. "I was thinking of Ryuunosuke Fujinami's boyfriend. He was a ghost."

"Didn't Nagisa Shiowatari stop being a ghost?" Kasumi asked.

"And moved in with the boy-girl. Ah! What a couple," Nabiki smiled, coming down the stairs in her cutoffs and baggy shirt over a halter. "So, Kasumi reminds you of the girl-boy? Have Ranma tell you about who her role model was when she smelled the Female Flower of Love yesterday."

"That's not funny, Nabiki!" Ranma told her.

"You just don't know how funny it is. Yet." She showed her stopwatch. "One hour, twenty-eight minutes and counting."

"Can I fight Ranma, now?!" A rough-looking boy in rough-looking clothes stopped behind Nabiki on the stairs. Had he spent time in her bedroom? Or one of the others that had to be up there?

"I believe Ukyo has been waiting in line longer than you, Fang."

"Don't call me "Fang"! I'm not the pig now!"

"He admits to having been a male chauvinist pig?" Ukyo asked, wondering how much he should dislike a guy he just met.

"He's talking about Akane's little, black pig," Ranma told her.

"But he said…"

"I have bad news for you. Burin-chan is dead," Nabiki went into an act of looking sad. Only for a moment: "But the good news is Fang is now our pig!"

"Your pig!" Akane yelled from out of sight upstairs.

"That's right!" Nabiki grinned, and turned to take the boy's hands. "Ranma, you have a...companion. Now I do, too!" She looked over her shoulder at the redhead. "Do you remember on the first day we met how much I was looking forward to having a cute fiance? And how disappointed I was when it turned out to be you?" She returned her gaze up at the boy in the bandanna. "Now I do have a cute fiance: Ryoga!"

"Fiance!?" Ranma wasn't the only one caught off guard.

"Fiance?" big, tough Ryoga squeaked.

"You are the same age as Ranma, aren't you, Darling? Men in Japan have to wait until they're eighteen before they can be married."

"Right. That's right!" Ryoga sounded relieved. "Anything can happen before then. I could get lost!"

"I won't let you." Nabiki looked mischievously over her shoulder again, saying, "I'm seventeen. Women can be married at sixteen. How long would you wait, Ukyo?"

"Is she always this annoying?" Ukyo asked.

"I wasn't annoying when I told you how to find "Uncle" Saotome. And when it's the best time to fight Romeo."

"I don't have to wait. Ranma's going to have me meet Romeo today. Right, Ranma?"

Ranma had committed to it. "As soon as I get some hot water."

Nabiki looked at her stopwatch. "Did it already happen?"

"Any martial artist should know—Oof!" Nabiki had elbowed Ryoga in the diaphragm.

"Did I hear right?!" Suddenly a motherly woman in a kimono (who looked like an older Ranma) came out from the common room behind Kasumi. She stopped beside her but stared intently down the hall at the visitor. "Nabiki was right(!)" she sounded hopeful.

"Yes. It can be clearly discerned," Kasumi smiled. "Ranma, please make the introduction."

"Oh, right! Ukyo Kuonji, this is my mom." The redhead saw somebody else joining them. "And this is Mr. Tendo."

"Remember you are engaged," Mr. Tendo told her.

"To Romeo!?" This surprised Ukyo.

"No. Not to Romeo." The man looked sternly at Ranma.

"Ukyo is too special for Ranma for us to think of that problem today!" Ranma's step-mother smiled and hurried down the hall.

"I'll put the teakettle on the burner," Kasumi said, going into the kitchen.

The martial artist considered pulling out the giant spatula from its quiver as the enthusiastic woman came at them, then breathed easier when she hugged the teen she so strongly resembled. It was confusing: Did that jackass Genma marry her because she looked like his daughter? The man was sick!

"You've become interested! The medicine is working!"

"It's not! Maybe. I thought it was, but I think I'm interested 'cuz I remember Ucchan! We were great friends!"

The woman seemed disappointed.

"I only met Romeo," the long-haired guy in a plebe coat told her.

"And he's going to meet him again," Ranma vowed. "Today!"

"I see," the mom said. "You have my blessing." The anxious-looking woman put her hands together in a prayer. "May it bring you two together."

"Out the side door is the Tendo dojo," Mr. Tendo said.

"Oh, I'm sure friends would like to talk and reacquaint themselves! That's the Japanese way!" the mom hoped.

"This isn't a party Mrs. Saotome," Ukyo said.

"Out the side door is the dojo," Mr. Tendo said.

"The dojo is going to be used!?" Akane cried. She rushed from her hiding place at the top of the stairs. As she crashed into Ryoga, he had to pick Nabiki up and jump with her to safety. They would have landed almost on Ranma if she hadn't stepped back! She herself was stopped by a giant spatula up against her back!

On her way out, the girl in the baby doll dress explained, "I have to clean up the cinder blocks I chopped! And - Oh! - clean the grit off the floor with soap and water!"

"My hero!" Nabiki said, hugging Ryoga around his neck.

Still in a tight squeeze, Ranma looked over her shoulder. "Don't even think to say it, honey," Ukyo warned.

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"Why'd Ranma go upstairs?" Ukyo asked impatiently. He expected Romeo to be camping somewhere nearby. If not, to be in a place with a phone. The Tendo phone was on a small table beside her.

Or did Romeo live here with his mom and his step-sister whenever his step-dad wasn't here? How far did their love go?

"Ranma went to change out of her school clothes," her mom said. "She only wears it because she has to at school. I don't approve of my...child wearing feminine attire without just cause."

Ukyo nodded, "She told me she was raised as if she were a boy."

The woman smiled proudly, "A man among men"."

Ukyo's face soured. "I'm supposed to be one, too. It's a pain! It attracts girls like honey." It was probably why the little redhead, like so many girls, had targeted him.

"It does?!" The mom's smile became brighter! "I'll tell Ranma of that!"

"Okay, I'm ready!" Ranma said, coming down in a baggy, Chinese-looking pants outfit. "Kasumi!?"

"The teakettle's ready, Ranma!" the eldest Tendo sister said coming down the hall with a wooden handled one. "It's still steaming!"

Ranma looked at it, then at Ukyo. "Not inside. Out where less things can be broken."

While the others went out the side door, Nabiki slowed Ukyo by handing him an advertising flyer. He glanced at it. "Yeah. I've seen it passed around at the school and shopping district. It's tomorrow because it's chick-day." And he went out.

" "Chick" day.?" Nabiki smirked. "Well, Hinamatsuri does mean baby chicken festival."

"I call it "chick day" cause it's for chicks: girls. Like the tournament. It's for girls only."

"We can't have guys fighting to own girls." She laughed and said, "It's okay for girls to own girls!"

"I'm not interested in owning girls or anybody! You said Romeo was sure to show up and not run away then because the two girls he loves are going to be fighting in it. Ranma and Akane.

"But, now, I don't have to go: I'm meeting him here!" And he went into the dojo.

Romeo wasn't inside. "How long do I have to wait?!" Ukyo frowned. Everybody was sitting next to a wall except the little redhead.

She lifted the teakettle. "As long as my story takes. I'll keep it short!

"A month ago, my old man sensei took me trainin' in China…"

"And on a low budget, too," Nabiki said, coming in behind him. "They swam across the East China Sea!"

"That's not important!" Ranma cried,

"It should be. Being able to do that is impressively stupid!" She took her place next to Ryoga.

"I agree. Impressive. And crazy stupid," Ukyo said. "Was Romeo with you?"

"We didn't swim all the way!" the frustrated girl insisted. "Hmph! We were more 'n halfway across before we were thrown off the tramp steamer."

"For being tramps," Nabiki smirked.

"Okay! I said it was gonna be short! We went to an accursed trainin' ground with over a hundred cold water springs! The danger is in fallin' in one!"

"And they were too stupid to know they were dangerous," Nabiki continued to smirk.

"Nabiki!" Akane warned. "Stop insulting Ranma or, or…," Then she smiled menacingly, "Or no photos!"

"Oh, you're right. I want Ranma to be stupid." Her smirk was only reduced. She looked up at Ryoga and snuggled. Ryoga frowned, but said nothing. He turned his attention on where he thought a martial arts battle would begin.

Ranma glared at her, "You're spoilin' the mood!" She looked at Ukyo and sincerely said in a tightened voice, " Something bad did happen!" She poured hot water on herself.

Ukyo's mouth dropped!

Ranma lowered the teakettle and his shoulders and head. "Now you know."

The giant spatula was in his hands without him having to reach for it.

But he continued to stand there. Staring.

"I'm cursed to be a girl. I'll be a girl if you want. I'll be a guy. Whichever; just be my friend. You can even be my...boyfriend."

There were groans from the audience.

"Oh, Ranma, Ranma," Kasumi said, disappointed.

"JACKASS!" Ukyo cried. He was livid with anger and hurt! The spatula trembled in his hands. Not being able to think clearly put him at a disadvantage against a trained martial artist. He didn't know very well the advanced techniques that made use of emotion-charged ki energy.

And yet Romeo - No, Ranma! - stood there, willing to let him hurt him! It would be just like when he had confronted his stupid, jackass of a dad at the clinic!

The decision came in an instant! He turned and ran from the dojo! Nabiki was right! Ranma will have to fight him at the tournament!

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"Ukyo! UCCHAN!" Ranma cried, running after him.

He did not get far. Akane flattened him with her mallet. "Baka!"

"You are an idiot," Ryoga said.

"Perhaps they are correct," his mom said. "Now is not the time to talk to the girl."

"Ow...b,but Ukyo…. Huh?"

"Ukyo is a girl," Nabiki said, looking at her stopwatch. "One hour, forty-three minutes, twenty seconds." And she smirked, "Not counting the whole school day you spent with her."

"She is not a lad?" Mr. Tendo said, putting two and two together in his own mind. "Oh! Yes."

"The most basic difference between boys and girls is in the pelvis and hips," Kasumi said, who read Dr. Tofu's books. "It requires them to move differently."

"Forgive yourself for not paying attention, Ranma," Nodoka said. "Ukyo must be a very special person for you not to have noticed."

"Special as a person?" Akane realized. "Not as a girl?" It actually made her feel...better.

Mr. Tendo admitted, "I, too, did not notice. But, then, I am surrounded by daughters and am accustomed to it. You, yourself, Son, have been surrounding yourself with girls."

"And becoming comfortable when you're one!" Akane added. "Of having hips!"

"And adipose deposits," Nabiki smiled. "But skeletally speaking, also having knees that slant towards each other, having narrower shoulders, more delicate features, …"

But Ranma just sat there, arms on his knees, his head bent, "I should've noticed. I failed Ucchan 'cuz I didn't. When he. When she said she loved me...it was as a girl loves a boy."

"WHAT!?" Akane cried.

"She does?" Nodoka hoped.

Ranma brought his head back and clutched it as he remembered, "I think we have a marriage agreement!"

"WHAT!?" Akane cried.

"You do?" Nodoka looked at Akane and tried to adjust to the idea of her son having a harem. Looking at her, though, she doubted the Tendo girl would willingly share a husband.

"It's all your dad's fault, isn't it!?" Akane yelled, clenching her mallet and wishing that man was there!

"Oh, my! Surely, Uncle Saotome wouldn't do something like that," Kasumi said.

His wife and son remained silent.

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The audience was reduced to Ryoga. He watched as a student and listened as a friend as Ranma and Akane sparred with each other, physically and verbally.

The black-haired teen did a minimum of defense, letting his friend vent herself against his body. He did this more or less silently, Ryoga guessed, thinking that whatever he said could reignite her emotions. What those emotions were, Ryoga wasn't really sure, and he thought they might not know themselves.

But after about ten minutes, Ranma told the story of his month with Ukyo Kuonji when they were six. "...I wanna remember everything I can. Maybe, then, I can figure out why he -she hates me!"

"You forgot about her, for one thing!" Akane said. "Like you forget about me(!)"

"Understand, Akane! It's different with you - Honest! I'm comfortable with you. Real comfortable! Other friends I had, I was sure I maybe wouldn't be seein' them again. Maybe forever. But you: You I am sure! You're, you're my…," and he smiled, "...my homebase. I never had a homebase. Ever! Pop don't count."

"Home...base?" Akane's mood changed.

"Yeah! I can go off and do what I gotta do, but I do it feelin' like I have someplace...someone to come back to."

"Oh, Ranma!" Akane's eyes sparkled at the sentiment.

Ranma did not pick up on it. "That's the best explanation I can think of. I hadda keep Shampoo tame, and I hadda try 'n make Ukyo…." He didn't finish the sentence. He had failed with Ucchan.

"But you, the guy, the man, came back to me. We dated!" Akane finished his thought.

"And speaking of homebase and dating, Darling," Nabiki said, making her entrance. She was talking to him, Ryoga. He scooted away, but she sat down next to him again anyway. "Look what I have."

"It looks like a bottle of perfume."

"It is. Here!" she said, holding out an arm. "Smell."

He did. "Okay. I smelled."

"And what does it smell like? The subtleties of it plus my own natural odor are hard to describe? Good! I bought it off a neighbor. It's a relatively inexpensive imitation of Santal 33. That scent is supposed to be unique to each wearer. In other words, I will always smell different than everybody else."

"Okay." He still didn't understand.

Her head came closer to his. The wall stopped his head's retreat. She playfully tapped his nose. "And here's why that's important: A pig can detect a scent seven miles, eleven kilometers, away."

"I'm not a pig," he frowned.

"But for how long? And how long will it be before you get lost?"

Ryoga growled and grumbled, but listened. "Make me your homebase and I won't put you on a leash like a pet."

"Burin-chan wasn't my pet!" Akane protested. "The leash was to keep him from getting lost!"

Ryoga wasn't buying it. There were times he did rather like being fussed over, but, in the end, it went against his male dignity.

"And what about the kitty litter?" Nabiki spoke for him. And to him, she said, "And I will have hot water ready for you. I want you as a man." She looked intently into his eyes. "The pig is just when there are no other options."

"I don't know if it's a good idea to make Nabiki your fixation, Ryoga," Ranma said. "But once you do get a fix on someone, you have an uncanny ability to find them. You fixated on me and tracked me all the way to Jusenkyo in China without ever seein' me along the way!"

"Your choice, Ryoga," Nabiki said. She ran her warm, silky hand along his jawline and up his cheek. "Ranma or me?"

The feel and scent - her very female presence - threatened to overwhelm his better judgment.

[] [] []

"...You defeated Ukyo every day?" Akane was saying as they returned to the house.

"And everyday I got a free okonomiyaki from her dad," Ranma smiled, before remembering he shouldn't be.

"And what would she have gotten if she had won?" Nabiki asked.

Ranma stopped in the doorway, scratching his head. "I don't remember. It didn't happen."

"I don't know about then, but I bet she's wanting to own Ranma now," Ryoga said.

"That's the way to think, Darling!" Nabiki said.

"The Tournament!" Akane realized!

"That's just between the four of us," Ranma dismissed it.

"You haven't read the flyers, have you?" Nabiki said.

"The flyers?" Akane said.

"You saw them everywhere, at school and the shopping district, and you didn't bother to read them, did you.?" It wasn't no longer a question for Nabiki.

"I just thought I already knew…." Ranma looked at Akane. Had they had both been assuming wrong?

Nabiki handed them a flyer. They read. [Open to All Female Martial Artists! Winner owns each loser for a day in turn! Their choice of order.]

" "A day in turn"?"

"It's like a charity auction. There, people bid on the right to tell somebody to do whatever for a limited time, usually a day. Except the currency of this charity is martial arts. And since it's one person "owning" many, it wouldn't be much fun for them if all the lording it over their "slaves" were over and done in only one day.

"Unless they wanted a yuri orgy, of course."

"Nabiki!" Akane blushed.

"So, Akane'll only have to be "owned" for a day?" Ranma felt relieved.

"Hey! I could win! I could "own" you for a day!"

"And what would you do with him, hmm?" Nabiki was amused by her little sister's flustered reaction.

But Ranma found something to frown about. "I don't think Shampoo and Kasumi are gonna settle for just one day. They want it for keeps!"

"That's between them and you. Legally, it has to be only for "one day"."

"I'll pray that no one is owned for more than a day," Kasumi said from further down the hall. "Kami-sama works in mysterious ways, but I'm fairly sure Holly Bell won't allow that kind of evil."

"Oh...kay," they said. Blink, blink. "Kami-sama" wasn't the only one who could be mysterious.

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They were all at the common room table for supper.

"Take your medicine," his mother reminded him.

Ranma thought about resisting. But changed his mind. "If I was more sexually aware of girls, I would have seen that Ucchan was a girl. Things would've been different with us."

"You were both children!" his mom told him, stroking his head.

"But Ucchan knew I was a boy, and knew she liked me like a girl likes a boy! I think she wanted to marry me." His mind went back to the last time he saw her. She had been chasing after him, yelling something about taking her with them. It broke his heart. Not then, but now.

"I will no longer be a child," he vowed, taking the awful medicine.

He immediately took out a huge heap of stir fry.

"I felt that Chinese would be appropriate today," Kasumi told them. "Though, as I understand it, chop suey originated in America. Perhaps New York."

"You felt it?" her father cringed.

"Oh, Daddy!" Nabiki chided. "It's not one of your omens."

"Let's hope not," Akane said, feeling uneasy as she poked the food with her Chinese-style chopsticks.

"You know, I kind of hope Ukyo does get into the tournament!" Ranma said with his mouth full. "That's what our friendship was based on when we were kids."

"You said you weren't going to approach relationships as a child would," Nodoka said. "This tournament will not be a simple roughhouse."

"Quite right!" Soun agreed. "This is to be serious martial arts! There is likely to be serious injuries!"

"Oh, my! I should call Dr. Tofu…"

"No!" they cried.

"You don't have to, Big Sis," Nabiki rushed to assure her. "He has already agreed to provide medical aid for the event. He has even said he would invite others to assist him."

"I hope it's not his brother," Ranma frowned.

"He is a competent nurse practitioner," Soun told him. "Remember how he came to the first aid of your father and I after our house was boobytrapped by that White Lily woman?"

"But doin' medicine isn't what he normally does! He's a TV Emcee!"

"Nabiki, you didn't invite Mr. Toru to run the tournament?!" Akane grew angry at her. "And to broadcast it?!"

Nabiki smiled and said simply, "No."

"To which part?!"

"To every part. Somebody else is going to emcee. Somebody local. Somebody who doesn't know anybody in any media."

"Who?" Akane and Ranma asked suspiciously. What was Nabiki's angle?

"I'm going to let that be a surprise." Nabiki was enjoying herself at their expense. "I will tell you they weren't my first choice. But hiring them was the only way to get the referee we need: The greatest martial artist in…"

"I'm the greatest martial artist!" Ranma's pride made him say. It was the only thing he had to be proud of. He had nothing else in his life before Jusenkyo.

"But you're in the tournament. You can't be the referee. And with people like Kodachi and Shampoo fighting, we need somebody who can defeat them when they get out of hand. And this referee can, I'm betting. In fact, there will be a betting line on the ref, as well. Vulcan Enterprises should recoup the Gosunkugi losses it incurred from the Battle of the Sexes at school."

"What does this ref-guy have that I don't got?!" Ranma couldn't let it rest. "What martial arts school are they? What's that special about their technique?!" He was eager to find out - And learn it himself!

"I'm not sure," Nabiki said. "For all I know, it could be a mutant superpower."

"You're just playin' games! But I, Ranma Saotome, can learn a technique after only seein' it a few times - Even only once!"

"You do that. It'll make you practically invincible. Physically," she smirked.

"If Ranma is going to learn it, so will I!" Akane vowed. "Probably."

"I will, too," Ryoga vowed in competition with the others.

"Ryoga-darling, there is something much more important for you to do. The success of the tournament depends on it!"

"Me?!" he was surprised!

"Yes, absolutely! You see, there is one person who can defeat our referee: Kodachi's daddy.

"This tournament-slash-charity is being run by the local businesses. But guess who most are mortgaged to? And his just being the "Lord of Nerima" means they don't want to offend him.

"You remember him refereeing the Fine Dining Match? You were there in the ring with him."

"Yes, I remember," though he didn't like remembering. Some participant he had been as a pig. It hadn't done his ego any good to have been treated as an infant.

"We don't want the Headmaster to insist on doing the same this time."

"Nietzsche!" Ranma cried. "Kuno told us his dad likes to cause trouble! No, wait, it's worse! He believes trouble can make people better."

"It's much worse, then," Ryoga said. "I read about his philosophy. It's something like, "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger" and if it does kill you, it leaves room for the strong."

"Oh, Darling! You don't know how hot that makes me!" Nabiki said, hugging him tightly. "I started wanting you last night, when I found out how smart you are! And entirely self-taught! You're somebody who wants to learn!"

Ryoga blushed, becoming modest. "I just haven't had the breaks to get a formal education. I have to learn my lessons on my own"

"The lesson I had to learn was the one Ranma gave me. I let his becoming a girl interfere with my desire for a cute fiance daddy who would let me sleep with."

"I do not give you permission to sleep with this or any boy! Or, especially, a pig!" Soun told her.

"You were practically ready to throw Akane into the guest room with Ranma! Make an heir, and they would have to get married!"

"Nabiki! It wasn't like that!" Akane told her.

"It could have been!" And she turned to Ryoga. "And it could be now."

"Nabiki Tendo, I forbid it!" the patriarch commanded.

"Later!" she told him back. She did become more professional and less grasping.

It gave Ryoga the opportunity he needed to break free from her!

Everybody had to wait while Ryoga ran outside to have his nosebleed.

[] [] []

After Ryoga came back from the toilet with toilet paper sticking out of his nose, Nabiki continued with her plan for Kaneto Kuno, aka the Headmaster. "It will take team effort on Ryoga's and my part. I have already begun gaslighting him."

" "Gaslighting"?" Ranma wasn't the only one who didn't know what that meant.

"I have been planting words, phrases and physical things around him that he associates with Hawaii."

"You? Or his ninja servant.?" Akane said.

Ranma had discovered on their date that afternoon that Nabiki blackmailed the guy to do things for her. He looked around the house. He wondered if Sasuke was spying on them at that moment. Knowing the short man could split up into clones of himself meant he could be being here and doing that other at the same time. Of course, he only knew that because Akane had told him of it; he didn't remember actually seeing him split himself. On hearing that the price he paid was losing his height and firmness, though, it gave Ranma second thoughts about doing the special ninja technique. Sasuke regretted it.

But the guy had to know other super-special ninja techniques, right?! He should spy on him!

"You want Kuno-sama to return to being Coconut-head?" Kasumi asked.

Everybody looked at her in somewhat shock.

She looked embarrassed at being out-of-character, and explained, "That's what the Headmaster was called when I went to Furinkan. And not always behind his back."

"Yes. It is essential to my plan that he does regain his Aloha Spirit persona."

"You see…," Nabiki took Ryoga's hand, patting it affectionately, "...luaus are very important in Hawaiian culture."

"Okay," Ryoga said, trying to follow the logic.

"Nabiki! You're not going to have him try to EAT Ryoga!?" Akane cried.

"WHAT!?" Ryoga cried.

"Not just eat. A luau is a public feast! "

"That's sick!" Ranma said.

"Fang will survive!" Nabiki assured them, and especially her new boyfriend. "I'll be there! This is a partnership. The more danger you feel, the more you depend on me, the more you will want to know where I am. It will make me your homebase. Not Ranma. Me. Your fiancée."

"If it doesn't kill me, it makes it stronger," Ryoga said. He sat there for a moment.

Then he pulled the tissues from his nose. "Being a martial artist is like being a Nietzshist."

Ranma disagreed, "Except by the Code we protect the weak." He didn't disagree very loudly.

[] [] []

After supper, Kasumi and Akane marched Nabiki into the kitchen. "I wish the kitchen had a door," the big sister said.

"We can take her outside," Akane suggested. She then smacked her own hand with her fist. "To the dojo!"

Nabiki remained cool and collected. She headed for the outside door.

"You are going to the dojo?!" Akane asked in surprise.

"I'll do what it takes to convince you I'm serious. As of now, I do want Ryoga as my fiance."

" "Of now". Meaning: until he's done what you want him to, you'll lose him," Akane accused. "Or have him stay lost."

Nabiki opened the door and went outside into the evening. Akane and then Kasumi followed.

" "As of now" means: until Ryoga proves too dangerous. He does have a tendency to forget to control himself. Do you realize just how strong he is?! I've been testing his muscles with every hug and squeeze I've been giving him. He's stronger than anybody I've met. He may be stronger than the Alpha Male Club - combined! Okay: he's not! But that's how scary he can seem."

"Is he stronger than this referee you're using?" Akane asked. Maybe that was why she wanted him out of the way of the tournament.

Nabiki ignored the question. "That danger is part of my attraction to him. It's an adrenaline rush! And it's a challenge to my femininity!"

"Oh, my!" Kasumi said, understanding. "It's like living a romance novel."

Her sister thought about it for a moment. "My recreational reading is usually manga, and yaoi ones at that. But...I guess: It could be like those porn stories for women."

"Porn!" Akane cried.

"It's just a metaphor. I think. I haven't read many romance novels myself," Kasumi told her littlest sister. "I prefer textbooks."

"The basic plots are: The Bad Boy is defeated by the magic of the Woman's sexual power!" Nabiki explained.

"There is more involved than that, I'm sure," Kasumi blushed.

"That's the part of the plot I like," Nabiki smiled, putting her hand behind her head. "Look, the first star of the night. It must be Venus."

"Venus was a troublemaker," Akane frowned.

"Venus Terzo," Kasumi smiled.

"What?"

"A who," Kasumi said. "She's a seiyuu, a voice actress, I've heard. Her voice reminds me of somebody else's."

"Do you remember how horny I became when I found out daddy had arranged a marriage for us? No? I was.

"Was I! I've done a fair share of letting boys date me if they guaranteed I received enough compensation. But I am still a virgin. I want a guarantee of responsibility before I give that up. A fiance is one of the best. And, as I said, daddy and Saotome would've blessed Ranma and any of us, maybe all of us, hitting the sack the very first night."

"But Ryoga is not part of their marriage agreement," Kasumi pointed out.

"They have you and Akane to fulfill that. And, technically, me as well."

"You?" Akane was a little confused. Didn't her materialistic sister just say…

"Ryoga is my "fiance" in name only until I get my guarantee! I will remain a virgin until I have the prenuptial agreement."

Nabiki groaned. "That doesn't mean I will stop being horny."

[] [] []

The redhead proudly modeled one of the jinbeis her mother had bought for her that day. "Guys and girls can wear these!"

"You're not telling us anything new," Ryoga told her.

"They're like Japanese long johns," Nabiki said, by his side.

Ranma stuck out a foot. The legs of the Japanese pajamas stopped a ways before they reached her ankles. "They won't be long when I'm a guy. ...And the sleeves won't be long, too!"

"And they're not snug like those Western underwear," Akane told her.

"By "long johns" I mean they can be worn by anybody, not just "guys and girls". In fact, they were what everybody could wear before the invention of modern underwear."

"Can they wear long johns out in the neighborhood?" Ranma smiled with satisfaction.

"In the movies, they could," Nabiki said. "But you can't wear a jinbei just anywhere else, either!" she reminded her. "Not without seeming strange."

" "Guys and girls" wear different styles of jinbei," Nodoka said. "These favor your male body, but I think the baby blue will be acceptably female when you have your female body."

"Thanks, Mom! I'm going outside in them!" And she jumped out the open doors into the garden.

"No practicing without me!" Akane cried, hurrying after the enthusiastic girl.

"Stay here with me, Ryoga," Nabiki said, pulling him back down beside her.

"But I-" He didn't finish the sentence. He was being kissed.

"Nabiki!" Soun cried.

[] [] []

While the commotion was going on inside, Ranma and Akane sparred out in the garden yard. "We have to prepare for the tournament tomorrow!" Akane said.

Ranma said as she moved as little as was required. "I just don't wanna get my new clothes too sweaty!"

"A simple thing like that makes you happy?" Akane laughed.

Ranma suddenly let her guard down. And was kicked yards, meters, back into the koi pond!

"Ranma! I didn't mean it! I mean, I did mean it, but you were supposed to not let me!"

"My new clothes are wet," she said, climbing out. "I'm already a girl. I didn't have to have a splash down!"

She plopped down onto one of the rocks that lined the pond. Akane went and sat down beside her. "Are you thinking about Ukyo?"

"Yes." And her frown deepened. "I should be thinkin' about Shampoo and Kodachi, too."

"And all those others who are going to fight us tomorrow," Akane said.

"Those others don't count. I don't think. Maybe the ref does. Whoever that is." Ranma sighed. "Everything's a mess."

"Not everything," Akane said, taking her hand and just holding it.

Ranma tried to smile. She looked at her apologetically. "I ain't a guy right now."

"It's the thought that counts, they say. And we have the Moon."

"The Moon?"

"The Moon can be romantic…." Akane saw Ranma stand up, staring at it as it was rising over the house.

She, too, rose to her feet. A strange shadow was crossing it. It looked like a small flock of birds...except they were carrying something large suspended from them.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Ranma said.

"An omen?" Akane said, wishing not to believe her dad could have been right. Her big sister didn't really have a connection with the supernatural, right?

[] [] []

{"Great-grandmother!"} Shampoo greeted the ancient woman as she used her staff to hop out of the ornate gondola that the trained geese had brought all the way from the Bayankala range of China's Qinghai province.

{"I am disappointed in you, Great-granddaughter! You have not killed Ranma Saotome!"} She, too, spoke their Chinese dialect.

{"Shampoo could not, because Ranma will make a great warrior for our tribe, fighting alongside her sisters! And Ranma will also be a husband who will give our family many more great warriors!"}

{"I must see this warrior in action to judge that!"}

{"You will, Grandmother! Tomorrow there will be a tournament for all the female warriors of the town! The winner owns all of the other warriors! When Shampoo wins, Shampoo will force all of the slaves to live in Joketsuzoku village! This, Shampoo vows!"}

{"You had better win, Child."} The white-haired woman riding the staff that was longer than she was reached into the gondola and pulled out a large bottle.

"Aya!" Shampoo cried, frightened. {"Is that…."}

{"Yes! This is your punishment if you fail."} The label on the bottle of water read [Zhòuquánxiāng / Jusenkyo].

[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

In the famous Ranma stories, Nabiki was boy-crazy in that first episode. She was severely disappointed in finding the fiance promised her was a girl, not a boy. By the time she overcame her confusion it was already too late. She could see that though they didn't want to admit it, Ranma and her little sister had strong feelings for one another. She could have later fallen for Ryoga if he had demonstrated how intelligent he really was. But by that time she had already scratched him off her list of fiance candidates because of his sleeping with her little sister as a little, black pet. History unfolds differently in this alternative universe.

The referee. Back in the 80's, I submitted a superhero of my own creation to Dial H for Hero. She was never used. (My unoriginal villain was used instead.) And, as far as I know, with just about every conceivable superpower being used in the comics, none has had my apparently totally original power! I look forward to writing about the ref using it!