Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Ranma one half or Futaba-kun Change.
"Misao why in the hell did you send a challenge to this guy!" Futana Shimeru was not a happy man right now. His face was scrunched in agitation as he slumped in a chair in the family room. "You could have called me about this first."
On the other end of the line Futana's fiancée was fiddling with the cord of the payphone she was calling from. Misao's nervous reply was soft but carried an undertone of hurt, "Futana this wouldn't be the first time you flirted with another guy! What am I supposed to think when I hear you are engaged to a famous martial artist?"
"Famous? I have never heard of the guy before you called me to invite me to the fight. Where did you hear that I was engaged to him anyway?" After this statement Futana internally cringed as he saw the rest of her family looking at him with interest, or in Futaba's case a hooded accusing stare. Maybe taking this call at the breakfast table wasn't the best idea?
"I read it in this month's Star Idol magazine. It is in the article about Iroka Kahoru's and Futaba's family connection and if her other child will start modeling." Replied Misao.
"Well it is not surprising that you got such wrong information, that magazine is a rumor rag with little to nothing redeeming it. My dad would never have engaged me to another woman." Looking over at his dad as if to confirm this statement he had to pause seeing the sheepish expression on his face. Now not so sure and talking directly to his father he asked, "Right dad?"
Laughing nervously and loosening his, now her collar the family could tell how rattled she was by how he changed right in front of them to his female form. Clearing her throat and turning to Futana to answer, she kept throwing glances at her wife well aware of her take on their children's arranged marriages. "Well you are right Futana I never did sign an engagement agreement with Genma"
Narrowing his eyes, Futana glared at his now female father. "So who is Genma?"
Realizing her mistake she flinched and tried to soothe Futana's anger. "Genma is Ranma's father. We met about 6 months ago when I was on one of my shoots. Now the only part of that rumor that is true is we joked about an engagement!" Glancing again at her wife, she couldn't help but flinch when she noticed, she was now a he.
"Dad! How could you?" yelled Futaba. Changing into his female form right before their eyes showing how mad she was. She was now standing and giving a full glare at her father. "You know better than I do how these rumors are."
Futana, noticing that he still had the phone in his hands, brought it back to his ear. He could hear Misao on the other end asking if he was still there. "Misao I will be there tomorrow for your fight, but just realize that there is no engagement contract to be fighting over." Then turning his back from the table he whispered into the phone,"Anyway who says I would want to marry someone beside you?" Quickly turning back to face the table, Futana blushed at the now clam family giving him knowing looks. "Ok so this engagement thing is just a rumor started over a joke with this guy's father. That I can understand, but why even joke about engaging me to a regular guy?"
"Well for one Ranma is not a regular guy, I saw him change into a girl. Thought the strange this is that his change is triggered by water. Also his father Genma turned into a panda. When I had seen that I invited them back to my trailer to talk." Futana's father replied. The tense air of the room was now that of curiosity and thinking she had dodged a bullet let out a sigh of relief. That relief vanishing when she looked at her wife to see a glance that said there would be a discussion about this later.
Now very interested in the conversation Futaba leaned forward to ask more about this strange phenomena. "Ok I can understand Ranma changing to a girl, even with a strange thing like water, but you expect us to believe his father changes into a panda? That is a bit hard to believe. Where does all the mass go?"
"Well that is what got my interest in the two, and even with our family condition I would never have thought it possible if I had not seen it with my own eyes. Though I will point out that your own fiancée Kurin gains and loses a lot of mass when she transforms. When talking to Genma I found out that it was not a family trait but a curse."
"A curse? If it is not passed on by the family where did it come from?" Futana asked.
"Well Genma said they had just arrived back from China when I met him and that is where he got it. It was from falling into a spring at a place called Jusenkyo or 'The Springs of Sorrow'. There are many different springs each having a different thing drowned there. If you fall into that spring you take on the form of what drown there before." There was a moment of silence at the table after Futana's father said this. It was a sobering thought to think of one place where so many drowned.
"That definitely sounds like a place to avoid. What the heck was he doing there?" Futana asked. The room now had a stiller quality to it with the thought of the aptly named Springs of Sorrow.
"I asked him the same thing. He told me it was because he heard it was a legendary training ground and was near the area training in the mountains. He doesn't speak or read much Chinese so didn't know they were cursed" Then with a smile she quipped "Even if he had, how was he to know magic is real? Probably would have gone anyway. But, if I had to guess I think he believes in magic now." She said with amusement.
"Well as interesting as that all is, if you where in you were in your trailer how did this rumor get out? " Futana asked trying to finally get the heart of the matter. By this point having calmed down enough to change back to a girl.
"Well my assistant had come in to grab me for the next round of shoots since the lighting was right, and asked who I was talking to. Genma had just finished talking to me about how he was going to meet an old friend who he had engaged his son to. So in jest I told him I was engaging his daughter to Futana. Well since he knew Futana he found it funny, though for some reason it made Genma nervous before I told him it was a joke. We all had a laugh about it. Really I had forgotten about it till you brought it up."
Shaking her head, Futana couldn't help pointing out the obvious. "Dad you have a lousy sense of humor."
Author's Note: Well second chapter is now out and thank you to those who reviewed. Thank you for those that pointed out wrong gender pronouns. Feel free to point out any errors you see as it helps a lot.