A Ranma ½ fanfict by Tangent

Pre-reading and editing assistance by:

Lord Talon;

Nevrmore;

And some guy named Steve

DISCLAIMER: ‘Ranma ½’ and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfict has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfict may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanficts, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even *GASP* American comic books!).

A WORD FROM TANGENT: I’ve wanted to do a story like this one ever since I read ‘An Alternate History of Ranma ½’ by Ichinohei Hitomi. While I liked the story, I couldn’t help but feel that I would have written things a bit differently. But then, that’s what alternaverse fanficts are about aren’t they? So, in my tribute to both Rumiko Takahashi and Ichinohei Hitomi, I bring you this tale of ‘What would have happened if…’

Leading her new friend out to the Dojo, a fairly modern set of rooms with florescent lights in the ceiling, a small shine, some scenery and the dojo motto, Akane decided that she would have to get Ranma to open up a little. "You do practice Kempo don't you?"

Ranma, still a little nervous about these people and the situation, but none the less glad that she had at least found a friend, replied, "A little."

Akane noticed that Ranma was still very nervous, and since physical exercise always soothed her, she said, "Then let’s have a little match, just between the two of us. OK?"

Ranma looked at Akane's face and was a little confused. She was the first girl that the pig-tailed girl had ever met that was really interested in the Martial arts, and that made her a little apprehensive. Despite the fact that she was also a girl, Ranma didn't really want to harm or fight Akane. Besides, she had fought a girl once, and that had turned out to be a disaster. "Aahhhh..."

Akane smiled again, noticing that the girl was now confused. She was definitely too innocent for her own good, especially since it was obvious that she would be living with them now. "It’s just for fun. Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you."

Ranma was still nervous as she replied, "If you say so."

Akane went into a battle stance. She had noticed that Ranma hadn't gone into a stance, and stood with her arms behind her back. Since it was obvious that she wasn't really prepared, Akane had chosen a stance that would allow her to transmit her movements in an obvious way.

She quickly closed the space between the two of them, punching quickly, and shouting aloud. It was with some surprise that she noted Ranma had leapt up five and a half feet. She was obviously not as inexperienced at the arts as she seemed, so Akane reduced the amount that she could be read by half and then did a high side kick at the girl in front of her.

Ranma just leapt up again and opened up her legs wide. Spreading her arms out to keep her balance, she noted how good Akane was, and admired her abilities. The way that she suddenly dropped the amount of movement in the way she could be read indicated that her opponent was very skilled in the arts. If this continued, she could very well be hit since she wouldn't be able to tell how the blow was going to land. However, she still couldn't bring herself to throw a blow that would hit or hurt Akane.

Meantime Akane kept throwing blows, each time reducing the amount of movements that could be read. Punches, kicks, jabs, and so on would continue to miss the small redhead as she bobbed from one side to the other (or even backwards) to avoid getting hit. While Akane was getting closer each time, she still wasn't getting through. She also noticed that Ranma hadn't thrown a single blow at her. "What's wrong? Swing at me."

Ranma didn’t respond. How could she take the chance on hitting a friend? The only friend she'd had in a very, very long time.

Akane suddenly started a set of blows that Ranma dodged, although it had been a close thing at the beginning of the series (the redhead had been forced to actually move and give ground a little with each strike).

Ranma backed away a little bit while Akane did the same. This was getting more and more serious with each passing moment and she realized that one of them would get hurt if this continued, and she didn't want to be the one to throw the blow that hurt Akane. She then noticed the change in Akane's stance, A change that indicated that Akane had decided that this Ranma could stand more than just practice…

Akane in the meantime had been wondering why her blows were missing. Each time she struck, she had narrowed the margin that her movements had shown. Most martial artists would have already been beaten back by the series of strikes that she had already tried. [Why? Why am I missing her?] she thought, [It's almost as if she’s reading all my moves.]

That was when she realized something. Her father said that he had trained together with this girls father, and if that was the case, then Ranma was probably a practitioner of Arts of Anything Goes as well. She shifted stances, [OK then, this time for real.]

Akane moved fast, approaching Ranma at a high speed and throwing an authentic punch, rather than a practice blow. Ranma barely had time to leap above the fist, having to crouch slightly to gather enough speed. She saw that Akane's hand was still in the wall, and an opportunity presented itself to her to finish this fight quickly. She kicked off lightly from the wall when she was at the apex of her jump, and flipped over to land behind Akane, giving her a light tap on the back of her head with her index finger.

Akane, was still stunned, not at having missed Ranma, she had expected that, but that she had put so much force into the blow that she had broken the wall. When she felt the finger on her head, a strike that (had it been real) would have knocked her out, she turned slowly. Ranma was smiling a bit awkwardly and laughing hesitantly, but it was the first real bit of joy that she had seen on the girl’s face since she arrived. Akane joined in the laughter, glad all of a sudden to have made a friend and meeting someone she could really respect, and Ranma’s laughter grew steadier in its confidence.

Akane managed to stop herself, although the two of them were now gasping a little, enjoying each other’s company. Looking at Ranma over her shoulder as she began to leave the dojo, she said, "You're pretty good. I'm just glad that you're a girl."

Ranma looked back at her, a bit of puzzlement on her face, "Huh?"

Akane giggled a bit and looked back at Ranma, "It's just that...I'd really hate to lose to a boy."

Ranma hesitated for a moment, almost allowing Akane to exit the dojo before getting the resolve to speak up. "But, Akane," she corrected, voice trembling from fear that she was about to lose her new friend with what she was about to say. "I am a boy…"

Akane stopped in shock at Ranma’s pronouncement, turning around and looking at the redheaded girl as if she lost her mind. "Nani?"

In a small, hesitant voice, Ranma began to explain the Nyanniichuan curse to Akane…

* * *

To say that Akane Tendo was a bit confused would be understating things. What her new friend, Ranma Saotome, had just confessed to her was more than a little shocking. The lonely girl who had arrived that day accompanied by a giant panda was really the boy that their fathers wanted to engage to one of the Tendo daughters. And the panda was supposedly the girl’s father. Akane wanted to believe that it was just some bizarre joke that Ranma was pulling on her, but the frightened expression that she saw on the other girl’s face told her that Ranma was afraid of losing the only friend that she had in a long, long time.

Not the sort of expression one would expect from a practical joker, anyway. "I’m sorry, Ranma, but do you have any way to prove what you just said? It’s a little hard to believe."

"I change back to my true form with hot water," Ranma explained softly. She couldn’t tell how Akane was taking this, and she almost wished that she had kept her mouth shut earlier and said nothing. She almost hadn’t, but she didn’t want to lie to her new friend, even if it cost her that very friendship. "I… I understand if you don’t want to be friends anymore," she continued quietly, trying hard to hold back the tears that she could feel coming on. "Who would want to be friends with a freak like me, anyway?"

That was more than enough for Akane. "I didn’t mean it that way! Of course we’re still friends! It’s just that it’s a bit hard to take at the moment."

"Thank you Akane," Ranma said, relieved that she wasn’t going to lose her only friend after all. "That really means a lot to me."

Akane thought of something, remembering what was supposed to have happened earlier that day. "Are you aware that you’re supposed to choose either one of my sisters or me to marry?"

"I’d actually forgotten about that, but yeah," Ranma admitted. "Of course my idiot father didn’t tell me until today, right before it started raining…"

Akane giggled. "Ours didn’t tell us until today either, although I think Nabiki suspected something since she had changed into that kimono."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ranma asked, perplexed.

"You don’t know?" Akane wondered at this, as it was part of the cultural heritage that she supposedly shared with Ranma as a fellow countryman… woman… whatever.

"Akane," Ranma explained calmly. "I just spent ten years on a training journey with my old man, who doesn’t seem to think that anything is important unless it somehow involves martial arts. I rather expect that there’s a lot of stuff I should know that he never saw fit to tell me about."

Akane could only nod at that summery, not knowing how to respond.

"Anyway," Ranma went on. "Let’s go to the kitchen and get some hot water so I can show you my true form. I’m going to have to show everyone sooner or later, and it may as well be sooner…"

* * *

Kasumi handed the teakettle over to Ranma, who had just finished explaining the curse to her. "Oh, you poor dear! This must be very hard on you!"

"You ain’t kiddin’" Ranma responded dryly as she began to pour the kettle over her head. Akane and Kasumi watched with rapt attention, having been told what to expect, but not quite believing that it would happen.

Just at that moment, Nabiki wandered into the kitchen. "Kasumi, do you know… who… th…" The cause of Nabiki’s current difficulty in communicating was due to the fact that the short redheaded girl that she had been so disappointed with earlier had just grown about eight inches taller while turning into a guy with raven-black hair before her eyes. Her unshakable world-view had just received a sudden, unexpected turn in a blender… Thump!

Ranma, Akane, and Kasumi looked at Nabiki where she lay on the floor, having fainted. Kasumi then summed it up nicely with her next statement; "Oh dear. I guess we should have warned her as well."

Ranma scratched the back of his head, not quite sure what to do. When he didn’t see Nabiki earlier, he expected to show her his curse at the same time that he showed the girls’ father. Instead, she had walked into the kitchen at just the right time to get the shock of her life.

Akane looked on as Kasumi tended to their middle sister, then glanced at Ranma, who seemed to be a little out of sorts. When he returned her gaze, she saw that he still seemed nervous, like he expected her to change her mind about still being friends. Akane thought it over for a moment before deciding that he didn’t seem like the other boys at school. "So, what do we do about this marriage agreement?" she asked in general.

Ranma thought briefly about the matter, and Kasumi seemed to be considering the situation as well. It was clear that they were all in the same boat, having only been told about the marriage agreement today, and just before actually meeting each other on top of that.

"Um…" Ranma started. "It’s not that I don’t find any of you attractive or nothin’, but we only just met and I hardly know any of you. Besides, I don’t quite feel ready for marriage yet. I mean, it’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought about. You girls deserve better than some guy who just came off the road and doesn’t know anything about bein’ a husband…" In a much smaller voice, but still audible enough for Akane and Kasumi to hear, he continued; "I just want some friends for now. I don’t want to deal with all this pressure…"

Akane smiled at the boy in front of her. She was glad that she had reserved her judgment and had decided to remain friends. Ranma was definitely not like the other boys she knew.

"Perhaps it would be better if we put off the decision then," Kasumi stated mildly, as if this was the most ordinary thing in the world. "A year won’t hurt anything, and by then we’ll all know each other a bit better."

"A year sounds good to me," Akane put in. "Ranma?"

Ranma considered this, and nodded his agreement. "Yeah, a year would probably do it. I’ll definitely be better prepared then. In the mean time, we can just get to know each other." He gestured towards Nabiki, who still lay unconscious as Kasumi was tending to her. "Who knows, maybe by then, even she’ll like me."

"In any event," Kasumi stated. "It’s almost dinner time, and you both still need to clean up."

"You first?" Ranma asked Akane as the two left the kitchen.

"No," Akane explained. "You are our guest. After you."

* * *

After dinner, Soun and Genma started to re-introduce everyone, only to find out that the girls already knew about the curses that the Saotomes were under. Of the girls, only Nabiki seemed to be upset over the whole situation. It was obvious that she wasn’t happy with Ranma’s curse, and that she didn’t want anything to do with the boy. Kasumi and Akane appeared to like the boy, which surprised Soun. Ranma was clearly younger than Kasumi, who had stated her disinterest in younger men, and Akane had seemed dead set against the idea of an arranged marriage when he brought it up earlier.

Perhaps it was time to capitalize on the situation? "Well then. You all seemed to have introduced yourselves to each other. Which of my girls would you like to marry?"

"DAD!" Nabiki complained loudly. "He’s a weirdo! Why are you trying to keep this agreement!?"

"That’s not a nice thing to say, Nabiki!" Kasumi scolded her middle sister.

"It’s not Ranma’s fault that he’s cursed," Akane put in.

"Besides," Ranma interjected, a bit peeved about Nabiki’s reaction, "You seemed plenty interested in my other form. What with you fondling and groping and all…"

"Yeah!" Akane dug in, following Ranma’s lead in teasing her sister (a rare opportunity, since Nabiki usually had the upper hand in the teasing department). "What was up with that anyway? You were acting worse than some of the guys at school!"

"It was rather rude, Nabiki," Kasumi added calmly but firmly.

Nabiki was at a complete loss, not for the first time that day. She did not like the feeling in the least bit. "I am not marrying a freak!"

"Ah, who asked to marry you anyway?" Ranma retaliated irritably.

Soun tried to salvage the situation before it became any worse. "Well, there is always my eldest daughter, Kasumi, or my youngest, Akane," he offered hopefully.

"Father," Kasumi started to explain. "Ranma, Akane, and I discussed this earlier, and we feel that it would be best if we put off the actual decision for a year so we could get to know each other first."

"That’s right," Akane agreed. "By then, we should know who Ranma is best suited for, and we’ll all be better prepared to go ahead with the arrangement."

"But the decision needs to be made right away!" Genma argued, worried with where this conversation seemed to be going. He knew what was likely to happen if he and Ranma stayed in one spot long enough, and he wanted his son safely married before any of their past came back to haunt them.

"Why?" Ranma asked, clueless about the poor decisions his father had made over the years (well, the ones that would effect an engagement anyway).

"It does seem like a reasonable request, Saotome," Soun put in. Although he would have liked it better had the boy just picked one of his daughters on the spot, it wasn’t the end of the world. Perhaps it would be better this way?

"Ah…" Genma started, and then stopped, realizing that he had no good explanation for wanting to rush things. Maybe if he pushed a few buttons, Ranma would hurry his decision along. "Oh, the shame of it all!" he wailed. "My poor boy, waffling like a girl!"

"WHAT did you say!?" demanded an outraged Akane, preempting Ranma’s own retort.

"My son, my only son, hesitating like some weak little girl!" WHAM!!! Genma collapsed under the weight of the table that Akane just slammed him with.

"Now that," Ranma started, unknowingly echoing a statement that would have been made by another had things gone differently, "he had coming." He then continued to sip his tea, as if nothing had happened…

* * *

Genma knew he had to do something. At the very least, he had to get his son safely married before Nodoka found out that they were back in the Tokyo area and discovered their son’s curse. Nor did Genma want to deal with the problems that would crop up if any of his earlier… entrepreneurism… came back to haunt him. It wasn’t entirely impossible that either his friend, Soun, would call off the arrangement, or that his son, Ranma, would disown him over what he had done during his various travels with the boy.

He needed a way to apply pressure to the boy. A way to speed up the decision somehow. Some way to aggravate Ranma to the point where he would give in and choose one of Soun’s daughters to marry. But what? What buttons could he push to get things rolling in the right direction?

Then it hit him. Ranma had to go to school again, now that they had settled down for a while. Genma still had to register him at Furinkan High, but who said that he had to register his son? What better way to apply pressure on the boy than an embarrassing social situation?

With his plan firmly in mind, Genma dialed up the number for Furinkan’s registration office. "Hello? Yes… I’m Genma Saotome, and I would like to enroll my daughter in your school…"

If things went well, Ranma would be willing to make a decision by the end of the next day…

* * *

Nabiki lay smoldering on her bed. Things had not gone at all as she had expected them to. First the boy she had been hoping to marry turned out to be a girl. Then the girl turned out to actually be the boy, only under some sort of curse that turned him into a girl with cold water. She had been rather upset about that, and she had taken it out on the boy after dinner.

Nabiki supposed that she really shouldn’t have done that. Besides the guilt trip that Kasumi was laying on her about being rude to a guest, she had left herself wide open to retaliation from Ranma. What was worse, Akane had followed his lead with a few good digs of her own. That was virtually unheard of! Nabiki was supposed to be on top of the teasing game!

Well… she only had herself to blame. She had allowed herself to be flustered when unexpected proof that magic did indeed exist suddenly presented itself without warning, and she had responded not with the cool, calm, control that she dealt with everything. Rather, she had lashed out blindly at the most convenient target of her frustrations, which happened to be Ranma.

She should really apologize to the boy, but apologizing to anyone about anything, especially someone that she had just met, rankled to Nabiki. Maybe she would find a way to quietly make it up to him instead, without having to admit that she had behaved poorly towards him so far…

* * *

Ranma, for his part, had already put Nabiki’s behavior out of his mind. The girl had received nothing but disappointment and shock today, so her reaction was understandable to him. Besides, his father seemed to be up to something again, and how Nabiki perceived him was a much lesser worry than the kind of thoughtless trouble Genma Saotome could brew up.

At the moment, however, he could not give either one his attention. Akane had asked him, as a friend, to help her improve in the art. While he didn’t want to hit someone that he had just become friends with, it wouldn’t be fair to just keep dodging her like he had earlier. He still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of hitting another girl just yet. Maybe if he explained his reasons to Akane, they could work something out?

"Um, Akane?" Ranma asked, hesitantly.

"Yes?" Akane responded, wondering what was making Ranma nervous now. Surely he hadn’t decided that he wanted to be engaged already.

"Well…" Ranma began nervously. "I only ever fought one other girl before, and that didn’t turn out so well…"

"Don’t worry, Ranma," Akane assured her new friend. "I’ve been training most of my life in the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. I’m not some delicate little flower that can’t take a hit."

"It’s not that," Ranma explained, "although I’m not comfortable with the idea of hitting a friend either. Shampoo was the village champion for her age group, from what the guide had told us…" Ranma trailed off, unsure as to what to say next.

"So she beat you?" Akane asked, not knowing whether to be amused or annoyed.

"No," Ranma corrected. "I beat her, and that’s the problem." Ranma then went on to explain what had happened in Joketsuzoku…

Akane considered Ranma’s dilemma after hearing him out. She now knew why he had just kept dodging her during their earlier match, and could understand his problem. With a sigh, she wondered what other trouble her new friend’s idiot father had gotten him into over the years. "Well, I guess there’s no help for it then. If you don’t feel comfortable sparring with me, maybe we can just show each other our moves…"

"No, Akane," Ranma stated. "That’s not fair to you. I’ll spar with you. Just give me a little time, okay?"

"Okay!" Akane affirmed, brightening. Ranma had already proven to be a superior martial artist earlier, and Akane could not help but feel that her own training would be enhanced if she sparred with him. "Does it matter to you which form you spar in?" she asked.

"Not really," Ranma replied, "but I suppose I should get used to the way my girl half moves in combat, and it would be useful to know just what I can give and take in that form…"

"Well then. Let’s get some water and find out, shall we?" Akane stated cheerfully. Maybe her new friend wasn’t a girl, but perhaps not all boys were jerks after all…

END CHAPTER ONE

It was raining lightly in the Nerima district. In the Tendo Household, Akane’s voice was raised in protest. "FIANCE?!?"

Soun Tendo looked at Akane, "Yes, the son of a very good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome" he stated. "If one of you were to marry him, and carry on this dojo, then the Tendo family legacy would be assured."

Akane thought about this for a moment.

"Oh, THANK YOU, Daddy!" she cried cheerfully, moving around the table and giving her father a hug. "Maybe this will finally convince Kuno and the other jerks at school to stop harassing me every morning!"

Massive facefaulting abounded, including remarkable ones from the redhead and the panda, who hadn’t even arrived yet…

"In any event," Kasumi stated. "It’s almost dinner time, and you both still need to clean up."

"You first?" Ranma asked Akane as the two began to leave the kitchen.

"No," Akane explained. "You are our guest. After you."

"Why don’t I draw a bath, and we can all take one together?" Kasumi proposed, prompting a massive facefault from the entire cast, crew, and audience of the entire Ranma series. Including Nabiki, who was still unconscious…

END