In the following week a few noteworthy events had happening since the arrival of the letter.
"So this is the girl. I see the makings of a good Amazon in her." Cologne noted as she peered at Hitomi, while sipping from her tea.
"Good Saotome, you mean. Forget what you're planning old, eh, lady." Ranma stated, glancing at Hitomi.
"And what may I be planning, hmm?" Cologne asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't know, but you always have something planned." Ranma answered skeptically.
"Perhaps." Cologne said dismissing and returned to looking at Hitomi.
"I'll be by from time to time." Cologne said as a parting note.
"Things just got worse didn't they?" Ranma asked resigned as he watch Cologne leave.
"They always seem to do." Nabiki replied.
"Grandpa is happy or a happy grandpa?" Hitomi asked with an puzzled look.
The others had to stifle their laughs as they looked at the stumped look of Happosai at the response his greeting of "Hello dear. Grandpa Happi." got.
"Happi is my name. Grandpa Happi" Happosai tried again.
"So you're happy, grandpa." Hitomi stated confidently.
This continued for several minutes, with the other silently laughing in the background, before Kasumi corrected Hitomi by giving Happosai's full name.
"No, no, she's part of the Anything Goes School and her talents will flourish in my school." Happosai argued, smoking his pipe.
"Even a senile man, such as yourself, can see that Amazon Wu Shu is better suited for her. So why not allow her to learn it as is appropriate." Cologne countered as she looked at the training in the backyard.
"I'm not going to allow you to get your hands on my School, even if it is a small part of it. Amazon Wu Shu is too aggressive for her personality anyway, so no great loss for you at any rate." Happosai answered.
"Amazon Wu Shu is designed for woman and thus naturally suited to a girl. As for her aggressiveness, that doesn't mean she is unfit to learn Amazon Wu Shu. Rather that she can use it with a different aspect." Cologne said, continuing the argument.
"And Anything Goes is suited for both sexes and far more accommodating to different personalities and characters with its flexibility. We can settle this in a more, simpler way if you would like." Happosai suggested with a devious gleam in his eyes.
"What do you propose." Cologne cautiously asked.
"Ranma, what martial arts school does Hitomi want to learn?" Happosai shouted at Ranma.
"Mine." Ranma replied curtly before returning his attention to his two students.
"And there you have it." Happosai stated smugly as Cologne grumbled.
The morning on which the meeting was scheduled the peace of the Tendo dojo was once more disrupted. This time however the argument was between Ranma and Nabiki.
"Ya don't have to remind me of my obligations. I'm fully aware of what I have to do as a parent to Hitomi." Ranma stressed in a tight voice.
"I'm not saying that you don't know your obligations. I'm asking what you're planning to do about your obligations." Nabiki returned, frowning.
"Fulfill them of course." Ranma stated pompously
"How, Ranma. I meant how." Nabiki replied, pinching the bridge on her nose.
"Oh. Well, the fiancées aren't that big of a problem as most of them are behaving themselves around Hitomi. My rivals know not to attack without a proper challenge, except Kuno, whom is crazy. I got a good, if annoying, job and even Pops is trying to be more peaceful around the dojo." Ranma explained, counting the items on his fingers.
"You just read the adoption papers really quick to get the general picture, didn't you." Nabiki deadpanned as she shook her head.
"What? Did I miss something important?" Ranma asked cautiously.
"Yes, I would say you did. If you would take a look at the papers, careful this time, you will find a few conditions that must be met within this time period if you want to keep Hitomi as you daughter." Nabiki answered, pointing out the related passages in the adoption papers.
"I gotta do what?" Ranma blurted out as he reread the papers.
"Yep, you have to really take care of the fiancées. Just because they are behaving themselves, doesn't mean the situation is good for Hitomi. Conflicting interests, bad examples and all that. Not to mention that it is illegal to have multiple fiancées." Nabiki smirked.
"So, how much do I have to pay you to help?" Ranma sighed as he closed his eyes.
"I consider Hitomi family, Ranma. I wouldn't charge family for this." Nabiki stated insulted.
Nodding his thanks, Ranma left to prepare for the meeting and continued to read the adoption papers in more detail.
"You're family too." Nabiki whispered softly as she watched Ranma leave.
Ranma was fidgeting at the table in his best kimono as he waited for his mother's guests to arrive. Ranma didn't like the restrictive clothes or the mysterious nature of the meeting. These surprises usually meant Trouble for him with a capital T. Sighing, Ranma tried to distract his bored thoughts with the conditions of the adoption paper and possible solutions.
The others were also dressed in kimono's at Nodoka's insistence. Genma had tentatively returned to the dojo, for some food, and had been ambushed. A stern talk from Nodoka, punctuated with gestures of her wrapped katana, had cowed Genma into behaving. The bored looks changed into more expectant looks as a knock on the door sounded. Nodoka signaled Kasumi to get fresh tea as she moved to answer the knock. She returned with an elderly couple after a short time. Nabiki and Ranma recognized the elderly women from the park, a week ago.
"Everyone, I would like to introduce my parents. This is my father Sato Saotome and my mother Ayaki Saotome." Nodoka said sternly after she and the elderly couple had seated.
"Welcome to my house. I'm Soun Tendo and these are my daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane." Soun responded and pointed to his daughters in turn.
"Uhm, I'm Ranma. Guess I'm related to you old people." Ranma tentatively introduced himself with his usually flare at the silent request of his mother.
"This is my daughter Hitomi." Ranma added as he indicated Hitomi with a small hug.
"Aren't you going to greet us properly, Genma?" Sato asked dignified.
"I would, but a proper greeting is not suited for young ears." Genma answered in a cold voice, indicating Hitomi.
"Your manners are as I remember them, Genma." Sato stated after a tense pause.
"You give me no reason to dust off my rusty manners, now or in the past." Genma retorted.
"Before you two pick up where you left off, I would like to get to know my grandson and his daughter better. You can take your bickering outside." Ayaki interjected sharply.
Huffing, both men held their tongue as Ayaki asked Ranma to tell her about himself. Ranma gave a general account of his life and his adventures. A short hour later Ranma ended his story and Ayaki fielded the first question.
"We have received some disturbing news about you over the years. Some friends in the Justice Department have passed several reports to us about what happened during your trip, including several accounts of stealing." Ayaki started.
"Would you care to clarify that to us?" Ayaki continued as Ranma fidgeted.
"Pops had some questionable training methods, one of which was taking something from a store and running away. If they didn't caught you, you get to keep what you got. I stopped doing that when I realized it was wrong." Ranma defended himself.
"Humpf, just the thing I expect Genma to teach." Sato said.
"Hush dear. We would like to know about an incident with stolen cats and a hospital stay. It isn't clear to us what happened and we're concerned about what it means." Ayaki smoothly continued.
"I don't really want to talk about that." Ranma nervously replied, looking at his parents, remembering the omission of the Neko-ken from his talks with his mother.
"It doesn't matter much, son. I'll tell them and Nodoka about one of my shames. It would finally give Sato something 'real' to blame on me." Genma stated, before turning to Nodoka.
"To my shame, I must admit that I let my enthusiasm get the better of me in training the boy. When I found the training manual for the Neko-ken, I thought I had found a treasure as the legendary prowess of Neko-ken practitioners was well known to me. Even the master was cautious of the Neko-ken and I could not think of a greater recommendation then that. Foolishly I neglected to read the entire manual and thus never noticed the warning about the Neko-ken. Most will doubt me as I say that I would not have put Ranma through the Neko-ken training if I had read that warning." Genma explained to Nodoka with slumped shoulders. Sighing, Genma straightened up a bit.
"The Neko-ken is simple to teach. You tie the student up with fish sausages and throw the student into a pit filled with at least two dozen starving cats. Repeat until the student learns the Neko-ken. It took several attempts, but regrettably Ranma did learn the Neko-ken. The price for this was too high as the Neko-ken turns the practitioner into a mindless berserker. If Ranma wasn't such a progeny, things would have been much worse as he can snap out of this mindless state. Most Neko-ken users die in the training or remain forever bound in the berserker state. I had the unfortunate pleasure of reading about this as Ranma was recovering from the wounds inflicted during the training in the hospital. I have since learned of no possible cure to undo the damage I caused and that Ranma suffers from a fear of cats, which causes the boy to revert into the berserker state." Genma ended his explanation and fell into silence as he waited for Nodoka to respond.
"Told you he was bad news, Nodoka." Sato grouched out.
"Silence father. I am willing to give Genma a chance to defend himself." Nodoka snapped and turned back expectantly to Genma.
"I cannot atone for the Neko-ken, even if I did find a cure, nothing would make right the wrong I did. In that instant I failed as a father and as sensei. As for the stealing, rubbish! In each town I took time to inform most shopkeepers of the training I had intended for my son. Each time Ranma took something, I paid for it or worked the debt off. At times, I admit, I had to skip to the next town before paying everything, but I did my best in mailing those people the money owed." Genma stated defiant.
"Tell me, Sato. How often was I convicted for stealing during those years?" Genma sneered.
"Never, as far as I can remember. But that doesn't mean you are innocent as you could have easily have avoided getting arrested." Sato countered.
"Kyoto was one of the times that the police questioned me about stealing and possible child abuse. They checked my story with the shopkeepers and found that I was telling the truth, so they dropped the charges as I worked the debt off. They made a note specifically about that in the report." Genma smugly informed Sato.
"Child abuse?" Nodoka interjected.
"We both know that my morals are somewhat loose and that I'm not one of the brightest persons around. Ranma would be the better person to tell about the trip. The easiest way for me, shoving the responsibility on him, I know. But he wouldn't have forgotten the things I did to him, intentionally or by being in a drunken state. When the three of us talk about this, all I ask is that you give me the chance to defend myself and to judge only me for the things that happened." Genma replied with a sad smile.
"You serious, Pops? Accepting your responsibilities?" Ranma questioned skeptically.
"Believe me or not, Ranma. There was a pattern to the training I gave and more thought out then you might have realized as your mother had helped with some of the planning." Genma answered sincerely.
"As I already have heard much about the training trip we'll talk some more about this in private and at length." Nodoka dictated, ending the subject.
"Ok, mom. So why are you here?" Ranma bluntly asked Sato and Ayaki.
"We wanted to finally meet our grandchild." Ayaki replied.
"Uh huh." Ranma skeptically said.
"Neither uncle or auntie had told us you were alive. So your arrival is a surprise to us." Akane mentioned.
"So what's caused the rift between you?" Nabiki added.
"Yeah, it's like there is a battle line between my parents and you grandparents." Ranma said.
"Your grandparents didn't approve of my courting Nodoka and had forbidden her from seeing me again. When we did get married, they cut all ties and placed us on a sub-branch of the Saotome clan to 'avoid any possible dishonor on the clan'." Genma answered, frowning at Sato and Ayaki.
"It grieved me that my parents would not accept the man I love and thus I have made no attempt to speak to them since the break between us." Nodoka added.
"Still doesn't say why the two of you are here now." Ranma stubbornly countered.
"We felt it was time to get to know you, Ranma." Ayaki stated.
"And I think it has to do with the Saotome Martial Arts School." Nodoka said, frowning.
"Pops School?" Ranma questioned as Genma growled.
"No, boy. The original school of the Saotome clan. Some techniques are interesting, but naturally inferior to the Anything Goes School. Ranma's my heir and that is that. The reputation of the Anything Goes School may be tarnished by various actions in the past, but Ranma will redeem it as only he can. His honor and integrity can not be questioned and I have faith in his abilities to pass the Reinstatement Trail that will clear the name of the school." Genma explained.
"Not to mention secure your retirement." Nabiki interjected.
"No, Nabiki. While I admit enjoying the comforts here, the agreement between Tendo and myself only give a small percentage of the profits and the guarantee that we would be allowed to live here, nothing more. Ranma and Akane will handle the finances, dojo and household alone, without either mine or Tendo's say." Genma answered.
"He speaks the truth, daughter. Which is part of why we sit all day, playing shogi and drinking sake." Tendo supported Genma.
"And the other part?" Ranma asked suspiciously.
"Because we're lazy, why else boy." Genma grinned, ignoring the resulting groins.
"Back to more important subjects, you still haven't given a reasonable explanation as to why you are here. If you wanted to get acquainted with Ranma, you could have stopped by earlier." Nabiki asked the two grandparents.
"The Saotome clan has a proud history, especially with the training of the police and soldiers of our country. Our School is known as one of the best and most sought after. When we learned of the emancipation of Ranma from a mr Ichikawa, combined with the lack of a proper heir to our School, it was decided to offer the position to Ranma as his emancipation allows him to make his own decisions." Sato answered, using a lecturing tone.
"The part about getting to know Ranma was also true and gave us an excuse to evaluate Ranma for ourselves. We also had some questions about a young girl with red hair, whom goes by the name of Ranko Saotome. Our agents reported seeing her several times with Nodoka and Nabiki. She's apparently an up and coming model, as far as our agents have been able to determine." Ayaki continued as Sato took a sip of his tea.
"Figures that family wants to use me for something." Ranma sighed.
"Except for Hitomi, that is." Ranma added with a smile at the girl.
"A demonstration will solve the mystery of 'Ranko'. I am more curious about these agents you spoke off." Nabiki questioned.
"Retainers of the Saotome clan. They handle several odd ends for the clan." Sato answered evasive.
"Is the Saotome clan involved in experiments?" Nabiki pressed suspiciously.
"Some safety and training experiments. Why?" Sato returned.
"Cause we've been attacked by some of the people whom been following us." Ranma replied, frowning.
"Our people have strict orders to observe and not to interfere." Ayaki answered, puzzled.
"Hmm, is that so." Nabiki hummed.
"Are you implying we had anything to do with these attacks?" Sato asked indignantly.
"You did admit sending people to follow us." Nabiki pointed out.
"We would not attack kin." Sato tersely replied.
"I do not believe father would sink to such lows." Nodoka said, adding her reluctant support.
"Even so, we will look into these attacks. Now, Ranma, would you consider accepting the position of heir to the family Martial Arts School?" Ayaki asked.
"As far as I'm concerned, I already am the heir to the family School. Pops School." Ranma simply said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You know already what a waste your father is and still you would follow his wishes, despite this?" Sato stated, frowning.
"A waste Pops is, but like he said, Anything Goes depends on me and Akane to clean the reputation of the School. I ain't gonna walk from my responsibilities." Ranma replied, his ire raising.
"We will not pressure you into making a choice between the two school, Ranma. Still an opportunity is here. Nodoka and … Genma, the four of us should try to bridge the gap between us." Ayaki smoothly interjected.
"If Nodoka decides she wants that, then I'll support her. I don't like either of you, but I am not about to deny my wife the chance to see some of her family again. Some of whom did approve of our marriage." Genma stated.
"Are you saying that my grandparents denied mom the opportunity to meet with her family?" Ranma asked with narrowed eyes.
"Unfortunately, yes. Some of her cousins were very close to her, like sisters. As for myself, cousin Jiro and I used to play shogi and trade stories. Your grandparents basically banished your mother, no contact allowed." Genma explained softly, putting his arm around Nodoka's shoulder.
"We had our reasons." Sato replied tersely.
"And you claim to be different than Pops? Seems like you're the same, except you do it on a larger scale." Ranma mused.
"Why do you say that?" Ayaki asked.
"Well, Pops took me from mom and didn't allow me to make contact with her. Training was the excuse as I recall. You stopped mom from talking to her family and we still don't know your excuse. Small scale and large scale isolation, basically." Ranma explained, shrugging his shoulders.
"We did what we felt was best." Ayaki replied.
"Right. Look it's nearly time for lunch and I'm expecting some guy from Social Service to show up after lunch. Could we stop for the moment and pick this up later?" Ranma said.
"It would give us the opportunity to talk to my parents in private." Nodoka agreed.
"And we should go over the meeting with Social Service." Nabiki added to Ranma.
With general consent, the group broke up into smaller parts and went separate ways. Genma and Nodoka led the grandparents to the dojo for their talk and Kasumi left for the kitchen as the rest settled in to discuss the meeting.
Sighing, Ranma prepared himself for the meeting with a few deep breaths. Smiling, he gave Hitomi an encouraging hug and stood up to greet the inspector.
"Alright, mr Saotome. To summarize our previous meetings, you have a steady job as a model, which provides a reasonable amount of money to provide for your daughter. Your school has agreed to allow you to keep your job as long as it doesn't interfere with your school scores, which have been improving lately. Your daughter receives an education from a nearby school and is allowed to explore her creative impulses. The home conditions were passing, but still have a flag attached for a period of three weeks. As you know, any disruption of the home situation will be monitored. Which leaves us with the so called 'Rival and Fiancée' problem." The inspector stated as he looked at his notepad.
"So, mr Saotome. What are your intentions for this problem?" The inspector asked.
"Most of my rivals have honor codes, which prevents them from endangering innocents like Hitomi. These rivals have agreed to issue proper challenges and will make a declaration, is the word I think, before trying to attack me. For those rivals outside of the agreement, I have filled an official complained with an attorney for a restraining order against those rivals." Ranma answered.
"The fiancées are a more difficult problem. My hesitation in making any kind of decision didn't help." Ranma added.
"But I gather from your story that you have some plans to deal with the situation." The inspector said.
"Yeah. Shampoo should be the easiest to deal with. Any claim of marriage has no basis as I made no official challenge for her hand. The Kiss of death given in the village has some sort of legal standing and I havta challenge Shampoo to remove it. I've been told that by doing this I become a sister or something if I do this." Ranma replied with a glance at Nabiki.
"Ukyo would take some doing. I don't wanna be married to my best friend, so marriage is out of the question. That leaves paying her back the dowery, breaking the honor agreement or adopting her into the Saotome clan." Ranma continued.
"I was rather drunk that week." Genma mused with a dry chuckle.
"This leaves the Tendo agreement as all the other agreements can be called wrong placed charity." Ranma concluded.
"Misplaced charity, Ranma." Nabiki corrected.
"See, Tendo! My son finaly accepts the truth." Genma said excited.
"There are some complications with the Tendo agreement." Ranma interjected with a straight face, ignoring his father.
"Kasumi is more a older sister or mother figure, then a fiancée. Akane and myself have talked about our situation and have agreed that our feelings are more those found with brother and sister. This leaves Nabiki and myself to make it happen. I doubt I fit into any plans made by Nabiki for her future and I don't want to hold her back from following her dreams. A honorable solution has to be discussed for this situation with all involved." Ranma stated.
"I see. What of Kodachi Kuno?" The inspector questioned.
"Restraining order and a beating if found within a hundred meters of Hitomi." Ranma declared.
"She has expressed harmful intensions towards Hitomi. After being admitted into an asylum for a short period, she was diagnosed to be unstable mentally. Her family influence has succeed in getting her moved to her home to be treated there. Her threats against Hitomi were recorded in the asylum and is currently used in the process for the restraining order." Kasumi added.
"Well, mr Saotome. It would appear you have a reasonable plan to make your affairs in order. I remind you that there is a deadline for you to solve these problems. If unable to solve the problems, Hitomi is removed from your custody and placed in a foster home. There is also one other conditions to fulfill to offset the effect of your curse." The inspector reminded.
"I'm working on that one as we speak. At this point and time one of the alternatives will have to do as the main proposal is difficult to achieve in such a short time." Ranma assured the inspector.
Some minor details were discussed, such as the name of the school to check their input. After politely showing the inspector out, Ranma let out a big sigh of relief. Returning to the living room, Ranma sat down and took Hitomi in his lap.
"A lot of work, but I wouldn't trade it for the world as long as you are here." Ranma stated with a soft smile.
"Hello, Miller. Up to your old tricks?" Emma smirked as she entered an office.
"None of your business, girl." Miller snorted.
"I heard some interesting news buzzing around in the department. The birdies say you organized a retrieval." Emma replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Humpf. As if you wouldn't notice." Miller said with a cold glare.
"I know of two failures against an irrelevant object. Complete failures." Emma jested.
"Who said they were failures?" Miller returned with a flat stare.
"Alright, play your little games. Remember the rules we play by, old man." Emma said as she left.
"And you watch your back, little girl. Nobody gets between me and my masterpiece." Miller softly promised in his empty office.
Turning his screen on again, the gray haired man studied the reports sent by his agents.
Hitomi sat under the tree in the backyard of the dojo, breathing in and out at an even pace. Concentrating, Hitomi strained herself in an attempt to succeed in the exercise. A brief glow was shown as her aura manifested for a few seconds, before she was forced to release the technique.
"She must have a large natural reserve of ki to be able to do that." Genma softly commented to Ranma as they watched.
"Yeah. I know her control was increased by the meditation techniques, but this is all her." Ranma whispered back.
"What the?!" Genma exclaimed as he watch Hitomi formed a small point of ki at her finger tip.
Hitomi focused hard as she touched a wilted flower. Giggling, Hitomi watch the flower straighten up and gaining a healthier color. Genma and Ranma exchanged concerned glances as they took this new bit of information in.
"Yes, you are the key." Miller intoned as he replayed the video displaying Hitomi's revival of the flower.