Chapter 6: Spars and Scrimmages

"I'm home," Akane called out as the two entered the Tendo house. Ranma was still racking her brain over the latest revelation she wasn't prepared for as the two removed their shoes in the entranceway and entered the family room proper. "So, about the same as you remember, right?" Akane asked.

Unfortunately for Ranma, that wasn't quite accurate. Some of the furniture matched with what was in her previous life, but everything was arranged in a different location. She was about to come up with a comment when her eyes were drawn to the far corner of the room, where the most noticeable change was. The Tendo family shrine. Definitely in a different location than it was before. And on top of that shrine was a much different picture. A framed photo of a man. With long hair and a mustache.

Before she could say anything, Akane grabbed her hand and led her over to the shrine. Kneeling down, the dark-haired girl lit a bit of incense and gave a warm smile to the person in the photo.

"Hey Dad. Check it out. Ranma's back. She came back to me, just like I knew she would."

Ranma just looked on as Akane gave a small prayer, unsure of how to feel at this moment. Truthfully, she never was really all that close to the Tendo patriarch. From her perspective, he tended to be passive towards things most of the time and managed to match the cowardice of her father during the worst situations.

On the other hand, she had to admit the man was the closest thing to a true father figure she had, actually trying to give support at times even if he usually just ended up flat on his face. She remembered when her mother first came back and he insisted she try and spend time with her, even though she couldn't reveal who she really was.

Then again, in her previous life when she got locked in her female form by that ladle, his main reaction was to promise to find a man to marry her off to, so perhaps in the end it was all a wash.

Before she could think about it any more, Akane stood up and faced her. "Alright, now I'd ask where you want to go first, but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer, don't I?"

Ranma, perhaps starting to gain true wisdom, chose not to say anything.

"Exactly, the dojo!" she exclaimed, grabbing Ranma's hand and rushing off. "Oh, I can't wait to show you everyone I've learned."

A genuine smile grew on Ranma's face as she let herself get pulled along. "Yeah. I'd love to see what you picked up."

"You too. I still can barely believe my little sister is a ninja now." Akane stopped abruptly at the entrance to the dojo and it took Ranma everything she had to avoid crashing into her. "Oh yeah, we were going to talk about the whole 'brother' thing, weren't we?"

"Oh, right. That. Well…" Ranma quickly looked around, hoping to find anything that could delay this talk until she could figure out how Akane expected her to feel about it. To her unexpected fortune, such a delay happened to be walking up to the dojo at that moment. "Oh, hey you two!"

Akane had a slightly annoyed look. "Oh, Nabiki, what are you doing over here?"

"Same as you probably," Nabiki said with a smirk while gesturing towards a blushing Konatsu. "Wanting to see a cute ninja girl show off her moves." Her smirk then dropped. "And I trust there will be no more verbal landmines today around our guests?"

"Oh, no. Of course not," Akane quickly said.

"Verbal landmines?" Konatsu asked.

"Oh yeah," Nabiki said as they started to head into the dojo. "As in something you don't see until it blows up in your face. Kasumi came up with that one after she read a few too many stories that kept using that 'foot in mouth' phrase. Remember how annoyed she was by that, Saotome?"

Ranma wasn't listening at the moment though, instead lost in awe as she took in the sight before her. This is the Tendo dojo?

The only things that seemed to match from her past life were the Iroha sign on the wall and the hardwood floor, although even the latter appeared to be in much better shape. In fact, everything looked to be in an actually decent condition, rather than the barren structure and run down walls she remembered. No, this place looked like it was actually being used, and not just by one or two people either. It also seemed like it was actually larger, enough to even accommodate a full changing room. Even the lighting was much improved, giving a warm and comforting illumination from the targets and mats carefully stored on one side all the way to the other with-

"Is that a basketball hoop?"

Indeed, hanging on one end of the dojo was exactly that. A regulation basketball hoop and backboard, complete with the appropriate lines painted on the ground.

Akane gave a slight shrug. "Like I said, Big Sis Kasumi took the loss last year a bit personally. All right," she said with a clap of her hands. "We do have some spare gis available. So let's all get changed and show off what we managed to pick up in the last couple of years."

Ranma managed to use all her strategic knowledge to avoid having to change alongside Akane by saying she needed to use the bathroom. She even managed to delay herself a bit further as Konatsu said she also needed to urgently use the restroom and, being the diligent younger sister, Ranma let her go first.

Once everyone was properly changed into more martial-arts appropriate garb, they gathered back up in the dojo. After some stretching and light warmups, Akane excitedly clapped her hands and turned to Ranma. "Okay, Sis. Ready to get your little behind whooped?"

"Hold on there," Nabiki interjected. "If there's any little behind that needs to be taken care of first, it's Kochan's."

"Um, do you want to maybe rephrase that?"

"No."

"Miss Nabiki, why do you want me to go first?" Konatsu asked with a slight redness in her face.

"Oh it's simple," Nabiki explained. "Unlike little Ranma here, Akane and I have never actually seen any of your moves. Besides, as the older sisters, we can just call dibs anyway."

"Huh?" Ranma asked. "You mean you're gonna fight her?"

"Of course. Is there a problem with that?"

"I bet she's just remembering the amount of effort you put into your training back then," Akane said with a smirk.

"Well excuse me for actually following the importance of proper rest periods instead of whatever you'd call the insanity you two did. I am still more than capable of holding my own, so don't be afraid to show everything you have, Kochan."

"No offense, Miss Nabiki," Konatsu said, "but some of the everything I have would cause you to end up dead, and that would be a very unfortunate thing in a spar."

"Oh yeah. Probably best to leave out the assassination stuff for now and just discuss them later."

Ranma went off to the side as Nabiki and Konatsu bowed to each other and prepared to face off. "Alright, let's keep this one simple," Akane declared, standing between them while raising one hand up in the air. "Three full knockdowns or a submission for victory. Are the fighters ready?"

"Good to go," Nabiki called out as she went into a fighting stance. Even though Ranma knew things would be different in this world, the sight felt wholly surreal to her.

"I am prepared as well," Konatsu said, getting into her own stance.

"Okay…" Akane paused just long enough to let the tension build a bit before backing up, throwing her hand down, and declaring, "Start!"

Nabiki was the first to make a move, quickly charging in and throwing a rather obvious straight punch, as if she was daring the other girl to dodge to the side. Konatsu instead leapt up into the air, easily avoiding the attack. Nabiki seemed to not be phased by that decision and effortlessly pivoted into a high spin kick, ready to make contact with Konatsu at the apex of her jump. The ninja girl had other plans, though, and suddenly switched directions, plummeting to the ground much faster than what gravity would allow and transitioning into a leg sweep before Nabiki could react, tripping up the Tendo girl and causing her to fall on her back.

"Point to Konatsu," Akane declared.

"Are you alright, Miss Nabiki?" Konatsu asked with worry as her opponent got to her feet.

"I'm good. That was pretty impressive though." Nabiki then gave a smirk. "I'm glad to see you are quite skilled at quickly going down."

"Um, thank you?" Konatsu said, confused.

Akane let out a groan. "Just continue the fight, please."

Nabiki immediately ran in again, going for what looked to be a shoulder tackle before shifting to a side kick. Konatsu ducked down and prepared her counter to get her second point when Nabiki suddenly jumped to the side and ran back in, hoping to get the girl in her blind spot. Without looking, Konatsu reached back and caught Nabiki's fist, performing a shoulder throw which caused the other girl to once again land on her back.

"Second point to Konatsu," Akane said.

"Are you sure you want to continue, Miss Nabiki?" Konatsu asked hesitantly.

"Hey, now. The fun's just getting started," Nabiki said, standing back up again. She once more charged in, again performing a feint followed by another feint followed by a quick shift to the side and back again. Konatsu prepared for the attack, but Nabiki suddenly shifted and backed away once more before immediately rushing in again. This repeated several more times, with the Tendo girl rushing in with an apparent attack and then immediately backing off before Konatsu could counter.

The newly adopted Saotome girl remained tense and on guard. However, she couldn't help but comment, "Miss Nabiki, I fear you may exhaust yourself before you can achieve your actual attack."

Nabiki gave a smirk. "Luckily for you I have plenty of stamina. Besides, I don't really mind showing off for a cutie like you."

"C-cutie?" Konatsu stammered out, freezing just long enough for Nabiki to get in from behind and grab her, pinning her arms to her side.

"Gotcha."

Konatsu tried to break free from Nabiki's bear hug, but found she couldn't quite pull it off.

"Sorry," Nabiki said with a grin. She then leaned forward towards Konatsu's ear and whispered, still loud enough for everyone to hear, "Now that I have my hands on you, there's no way I'm letting you go."

There was a loud squeak, followed by a puff of smoke. Confused, Nabiki looked down to see a word staring back at her.

いろは

Before she could do anything else, she felt a foot making full contact between her shoulder blades, knocking her forward onto the ground.

"And that's three," Akane declared. "Winner of this match is Konatsu!"

"Oh dear, I didn't hurt you, did I?" Konatsu asked, helping Nabiki to her feet.

"To use a cliche, just my pride," Nabiki responded, shaking her head slightly. "Should have known better than to try and grapple a ninja. Did you really have to use the Iroha sign though?"

"I'm sorry, but it was the only thing that was close enough for me to use. I'll put it back right away!"

"Alright", Akane said, turning again to Ranma. "Ready for our turn?"

Before Ranma could answer, a familiar voice could be heard from outside. "Akane. Nabiki. Are you using the dojo right now?"

Ranma suddenly found herself pulled by the arm and shoved into the changing room. Nabiki poked her head in and whispered, "Do me a favor, Saotome, and keep quiet for a minute." Confused at what was going on, she stayed out of sight as she heard Nabiki call out, "Yep, we're in here, Sis. And I have a big surprise for you."

"Really? What is it" asked the friendly voice. "Oh, Nabiki! You brought a girl home with you. Does this mean you are finally over what happened with Ryonami?"

"What? No! I mean, I am, but that's not the surprise."

"I see. Well, it is nice to meet you. I am Kasumi, Nabiki's older sister."

"It is very nice to meet you as well, Miss Kasumi. My name is Konatsu Saotome. I have been told that Mathematics causes us to also be sisters."

"Sisters? What do you mean by…oh my! Did you say your name is Saotome?"

"Yep, here's your surprise, Sis!"

There were a few beats of silence before Nabiki poked her head in again. "That was your cue, Saotome," she said with the tone of a teacher correcting her student as she pulled Ranma back into the dojo proper.

Ranma was shoved out right in front of Kasumi, giving her the first glimpse of this sixteen year old version of the eldest Tendo daughter. While she did have some difficulty comparing heights, mostly due to the change in her own, Kasumi did appear to be shorter, although not by much. The same could be said of her hair, which this Kasumi had tied back into a high ponytail. The Furinkan High School uniform definitely looked good on her.

"Oh my goodness!" Kasumi gasped out, the oversized gym bag she was carrying dropping to the ground. "Ranma?"

"Yep, it's me. Guess it's been a-" That was all Ranma was able to get out as she found herself in an embrace by the older girl.

"Ranma, you're back! Oh, it is so good to see you again," Kasumi said before letting go of the hug and pulling Ranma out at arms length. "You are truly back, right? You are not going to go and leave us again, are you?"

"She better not!" Akane called out.

"No, I'm back for good," Ranma replied, hoping that it was true.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Kasumi said. "I have an idea. Wait here a moment." She then grabbed her bag and ran into the changing room.

"Welp, looks like sparring time is over. Sorry you two," Nabiki said with a bemused tone.

"Huh? What's going on?" Ranma asked.

Akane rolled her eyes. "It's like I told you before…"

"Alright," Kasumi said, coming out of the changing room.

It took Ranma a few seconds to fully register what she was seeing. The girl that she thought of as the closest thing to a Yamato Nadeshiko was now clad in a jersey, shorts, sneakers, and headband and currently spinning a basketball on one finger. "I know a special thing we can do to celebrate our reunion. Let's have a nice little scrimmage game."

"No offense, Sis," Nabiki said, "but it's not exactly a 'special thing' when you have us do it almost every night."

Kasumi gave a warm smile. "Oh, but it is a very special occasion, since now Ranma will be able to join us."

"Oh this does sound like fun, Miss Kasumi," Konatsu said. "I have been informed you are quite skilled at this game."

The smile on Kasumi's face faded and she stopped spinning the ball, letting it rest on her hand. "I thank you for your kind words, but unfortunately I am not skilled enough yet. At least when it actually matters. Don't worry about that, though. Let's at least have some fun tonight."

She then suddenly went into a dash, dribbling the basketball down to the other side of the dojo where the hoop was set up. As she approached her target, she leapt into the air, her hand and the ball reaching above the rim. Rather than performing a slam dunk, though, she simply released the ball, allowing it to fall through barely touching the net. Landing gracefully, she reached her hand out and caught the ball on its way down.

Ranma couldn't help but gape at the display which she never thought she'd see from the eldest Tendo daughter. The other two Tendo girls seemed to be quite used to it, though. "Oh face it, Sis," Nabiki said, "the only one who thinks you're not good enough is you. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, that was so amazing, Miss Kasumi!" Konatsu exclaimed.

There was a moment of silence, followed by Nabiki elbowing Ranma in the side.

"Huh? Oh, right," Ranma mumbled out. She thought hard, trying to come up with a good complement. "Yeah, that was really good. I bet…you could even…oh yeah…I bet you could go to America and lead the Bulls to a third championship easy!"

Rather than being impressed by her clever impromptu praise, Kasumi instead blinked and tilted her head. "Pardon?"

"You know. The Bulls, two in a row defending champions, that MJ guy. Even I've heard about that."

Each of the Tendo sisters just stared at Ranma. Kasumi then gave a smile and responded in a tone that reminded her of the way a parent would speak to a little kid. "Yes, Mr. Jordan is certainly an amazing athlete, and admittedly a bit of an aspiration on my part. You are mistaken though about who is the defending champion. The Lakers were the champions last year, and in '86 it was Boston. In fact there hasn't been a repeat champion since before I was born. Many are expecting the Lakers to achieve it this year, but to be perfectly honest, I'm hoping for Detroit to win."

Nabiki proceeded to pat Ranma on the head. "Hey, it was a good try, kiddo. You know, I'm betting on the Lakers to go the distance myself."

"Now Nabiki," Kasumi chastised, "I hope that you are not referring to actual betting this time."

"Of course not, Sis. I definitely learned my lesson there."

"Good, because I remember Mother being quite cross with you the last time."

Ranma wasn't really listening to the conversation at this point. Instead she was busy trying to process the sudden realization that she was technically in the past. It probably should have been obvious. Four years younger means it would be four years ago too. Then again, the goddess lady was talking about different universes and changes and stuff, so maybe there's a universe where she's 12 in 1992, or 2000, or 1900, or whenever.

"Hey, you listening, Saotome?"

Ranma broke out of her musings and looked over to Nabiki. "Huh?"

"I was asking if you're ready to join in on Big Sis's game."

"Oh." A game of basketball did sound like a good distraction from all that multiple universe confusion. Plus, she was still feeling a little of that competitive drive from gym class. "Yeah, absolutely! We can have Tendos versus Saotomes."

"Oh, that is a wonderful idea," Kasumi said. She then turned to Nabiki and Akane. "Alright, who is going to sit out first?"

Before either of them could pipe up, Ranma interjected. "Actually, no one's gonna need to sit out for this game."

"Are you sure?" Kasumi asked. "Three on two is a rather large disadvantage for you."

"Hey, that's nothing I can't handle. Besides, we actually do have three on our side. Right, 'Natsu?"

"What do you mean?" Konatsu asked. "Oh, is there another sister I don't know about yet?"

"No, no," Ranma said, really hoping at this point that wasn't the case. "I mean that certain technique you've been working on that would be perfect to practice with right now."

"Oh. Oh!" Konatsu said with a big grin. A small puff of smoke appeared and a second Konatsu enthusiastically finished, "Yes, this will be quite enjoyable."

"Note to self," an exhausted Nabiki groaned from the floor, "never play basketball against someone who can create clones."

"Seconded," an equally worn out Akane said while slumped against the wall.

"I'm terribly sorry, Miss Nabiki, Miss Akane…" Konatsu said.

"...I may have allowed myself to become carried away just a little…" a second Konatsu continued.

"...but I did manage to get some good practice with my technique though," a third Konatsu finished.

"Don't feel bad, Konatsu," Kasumi said as she practiced shooting free throws. "I think this was the most fun I've had with a scrimmage in quite some time."

"Oh, thank you, Miss Kasumi," the three Konatsus responded in unison before two of them disappeared in puffs of smoke.

"Yes, in fact it was quite an interesting challenge to guard someone with the ability to teleport. Oh, are you doing alright, Ranma?"

"Yeah, I'm good," Ranma responded from her own spot on the ground. "Still need to work on that move a bit more I think."

"No kidding," Nabiki said. "You better get that perfected if you're going to keep doing things like that little stunt you pulled in gym class."

"What stunt now?" Akane asked.

"Oh, you mean you didn't hear about it yet, Sis? Well it will definitely be all over the school by tomorrow for sure."

"I don't see what the big deal is," Ranma said. "It was just me and Sayuri playing some volleyball."

"Wait, you're in the same class as Sayuri? Oh, please tell me she isn't being bullied again," Akane said with sudden worry in her voice.

"Well, that blond girl was being a bit of a jerk to her. Don't worry, the two of us completely trounced her and her whole team, so it shouldn't be an issue anymore."

"What is this about now?" Kasumi asked.

Akane gave a sigh. "It's this one girl at school. Reina Watanabe. I thought she actually listened to my warnings about bullying other students, but I guess not."

"Watanabe," Kasumi mumbled out as she took another shot. The ball clanged against the front of the rim and dropped to the ground, slowly bouncing and rolling to Kasumi's feet. "I see…" After a few seconds of silence, she turned to the others. "Oh my, it is getting late. We should get cleaned up before Mother gets home. Konatsu, Ranma, as our guests you can use the bath first."

"Oh, are you sure about that, Miss Kasumi. We wouldn't want to impose."

"Nah, it's fine," Nabiki said before giving a predatory smile to Konatsu. "Unless of course you want me to join you to help wash your back."

Konatsu quickly turned red. "No, no. That is not necessary, Miss Nabiki." She turned to Ranma. "Are you ready to go, Little Sister?"

"Nah, you go on ahead," Ranma said. "I'm gonna take a couple of minutes to recover first."

"Alright then. I will see you shortly."

"Yeah, sure." A nice warm bath did sound nice right now. But it also wouldn't hurt if she just rested her eyes for a few seconds…

X

Huh? What's that? Sounds like fighting.

"Ranma?"

Um. Maybe I should hide.

"Ranma? Ranma, sweetie, where are you?"

Who's that? Wait, is it…?

"Are we sure this is a prison cell? It looks a lot more like a royal suite."

"Not now, Soun! Ranma, are you in here? It's me. It's Mommy."

"Momma?"

"Ranma? Oh Ranma, what did he do to you?"

"Momma!"

"Oh, my sweet darling baby. I'm so sorry. I'm never going to let anyone take you away ever again. I promise!"

"As heartwarming as this scene is, children, we must make haste."

"Huh? Oh wow, a talking monkey-Ow!"

"Learn to respect your elders, child."

"Yes, Ranma dear. It is impolite to point out when someone looks like a monkey-Ow!"

"And it seems your mother has much to learn as well. Now quick, get your things. We need to leave here quickly. My granddaughter should have our escape route ready by now."

"Aw, do we hafta go? This place is real nice and they said if I stayed I'd get ta marry a dragon when I grow up. That sounds so cool!"

"The Dragon Prince? So, that line still exists as well."

"Wait, prince? Ew, I don't wanna marry some dumb prince."

"Then we best leave, child. Besides, don't you want to be with your mother?"

"Well yeah, but, where'd Daddy go?"

"Oh, Ranma sweetie. That's-"

"Yo, what's the holdup? I got our path out of here, but that ain't gonna stay open very long. Come on, Airen. Grab your kid and let's go!"

"I told you not to call me that! Okay, Ranma dear. We need to get out of this place very fast. Are you ready?"

"Yeah. I'm ready, Momma!"

"Okay, if we keep going down this tunnel, we should be able to clear this dump before-"

"Halt! Stay where you are!"

"Ah, dammit! Everyone, run!"

"Go on ahead. I'll hold them off."

"Oh, for the love of, just run you stupid man. You ain't gonna-Airen! Look out!"

"Momma!"

X

Ranma sat up, her mind trying to separate the scream from her newly gotten memories with the scream that was currently coming from the house.

"Oh my," Kasumi said. "That sounds like Akane."

"Yeah, what is she…" Nabiki trailed off before quickly getting up. "Oh, if she did what I think she did…"

"Wait, what's going on?" Ranma asked.

"I'm pretty sure someone once again decided to barge into the bath without knocking first. Which means I'm about to find myself one sister fewer."

Ranma just blinked at that response. The scream sounded very familiar to what happened the day she first arrived at the Tendo home in her past life. But why would that happen with…

Suddenly, that unimportant thing stuck in the back of her mind, that little detail about her sister, came to her..

"Oh."

It was immediately followed by the full weight of the situation crashing down on her.

"Oh…shit."