Okay, someone critique this.  I worked up this rough draft in a couple of
hours after saying forever that I was _going_ to write a Ranma/Futaba cross-
over.  I know that it needs a lot of polishing.  (Particularly in the
mechanics.  For instance, _how_ should I handle thoughts?  Putting them in
quotes all the time doesn't always work, as readers read the whole sentence
before realizing it wasn't said aloud, but _not_ putting them in quotes has
other problems.)  The story is also a little too short for my taste, but I'm
a bit at a loss as to how to lengthen it and still end it where I did.

That Ranma and Futaba aren't really used is deliberate.  I couldn't think of
much to have them do together--sure, they could talk about gender changing,
but what _else_?

Ranma fanfic gets several times as much critiquing as anything else--the only
person who critiqued Sailor Moon Future most of the time was Bailesu--and I'm
sort of wondering whether the presence of Ranma characters will get lots of
critiques, or the presence of non-Ranma characters will scare them all away.
---------------------------------------

                        Ranma/Futaba #1: 100 Yen and Change
                                 by Ken Arromdee

Chronological note: Ranma characters are at their regular ages in this
story.  The Futaba characters have been aged 2 years, because most of them
were originally 14.

    Nabiki Tendo, age 17, sat at a table across from her date, a tall, handsome
man with light-colored hair.  He had met her only the day before, but she
figured that it was harmless; he was going awfully fast, but if he went too
fast, she could just end it.  In the meantime, may as well have fun.
    "Well, what's college like, Futana-san?  Oh, and what's your major?" asked
Nabiki.  Not that she really needed to know this, but she couldn't gather
business information _all_ the time....
    "It's biology, but I minor in getting to know people like you.  And that's
a lovely dress you're wearing tonight."
    "Thank you."  She thought he was slightly reminiscent of Kunou, but a lot
more suave.  Not that she was falling head over heels for him, but she would
like to get to know him better.  "I'm not in college yet, but I'm going to go
into business administration.  It's really a pretty obvious choice for me."
He _was_ very handsome...  Nabiki shook her head once to clear it.  She
couldn't possibly be falling for some guy she hadn't even met two days ago.
This wasn't a business, but like a business, you don't just start something
without knowing what you're doing, and she knew _nothing_ about him.
    Futana continued "And I really like girls with their hair cut short like
that."  Nabiki thought that a gorgeous guy like that didn't need to use such
an obviously fake line...  Something about him was getting to her.  Well,
she decided, as long as he didn't ask her to his hotel room.
    "We can go to the love hotel down the street..."  At the sound of that,
Nabiki suddenly seemed a lot more normal (to us), and replied "I'm not
interested.  See you later, Futana-san."  Just what did he think she was?
    "Ah, just seeing how you'd respond."  Yeah, right.  She let herself be
convinced to sit down, and they finished the dinner--no use leaving someone
with the bill if they're paying anyway--but Nabiki wasn't very interested in
having him walk her home, though she did allow a goodnight kiss.

    "Kon'ban wa, Nabiki.  How did it go?" asked Kasumi.  
    "Not very well.  Guy wants to get into bed with every woman he meets, it
seems.  Like every girl with Ranma, except they want to marry him first."
    "Oh, my."
    "Hey, I heard that!"  Ranma's loud voice could be heard from inside the
dojo.  Ryouga, taking advantage of the sudden distraction, punched him through
the entrance and nearly in front of Nabiki.  She stepped over him and went to
her room.

    Back in her room, Nabiki searched through her files.  Out of simple
courtesy, she wasn't going to research someone she's dating, but they weren't
exactly dating at the moment.  The search produced nothing except a girl with
a similar name, and she decided to forget about it and go to sleep.  She needed
to get up early tomorrow to prepare for the snack sales at the Furinkan/
Komatane volleyball game, anyway.

    Everything was prepared, and Nabiki sat watching the game as her colleagues
sold hot dogs, soda, and chips.  She herself remained seated and only carried a
kettle of hot water; there was always the opportunity to sell some of that,
with Ranma and Ryouga bound to be at the game as long as Akane was playing.
    Suddenly, someone sat down next to Nabiki.  He spoke in a familiar voice
"Is anyone sitting here?  Oh, it's you, Nabiki!  I'm sorry about last night...
can I make it up to you?  How about I get you a soda?"
    She nodded.  "Sure."  Whether or not she really wanted to give him another
chance, having people buy the soda was good for business.  She absent-mindedly
sipped the soda that Futana gave her.  Odd taste for Pepsi, thought Nabiki.
She squinted at the cup, doing a double take...  this wasn't one of hers.
All thoughts of Futana, good or bad, left her head as Nabiki looked around
for the vendor; she spotted a girl wearing Komatane colors and selling bowls
of ramen in addition to hot dogs, soda, and chips.  "Wait just a moment, Futana-
san.  I have something to settle."
    It was not too hard to zero in on the ringleader, a freckled girl a bit
younger than herself who carried her own stack of hot dogs but was giving orders
to the others.  "Oneechan, that's a very nice refreshment stand you're running
there, but you did know that all profits have to go to educational purposes,
didn't you?"  The educational purpose of the Furinkan business club, of course,
implied that students got to practice as many aspects of real business as pos-
sible, and Nabiki had managed to convince the principal that this included
keeping profits.
    The girl only smiled, in the way that Nabiki would had she just reminded
Ranma of an overdue loan.  "Well, in the business world, there is competition!
Students at Komatane can only be educated about business if we get to
participate in all aspects, including competing with other groups that make
profits.  And to do that, we have to make profits of our own!"
    She was right, of course, though Nabiki.  But there was always _something_.
"Have you got a license?"  The girl turned.  A license for the company
associated with one Shuusendou Negiri was glued to the front of her hot dog
box.  Nabiki next looked among Negiri's girls to see if any of them owed her
money...  nope, they were all from Komatane.  Negiri suddenly began trying
to cry.  "Stop bullying me, sempai!  Here you are, an older student who should
be helping people like me and all you do is complain about my business!"  As
if by magic, several members of the Komatane women's volleyball team appeared
and glared at Nabiki.  Nabiki gave up and returned to her seat, but decided to
have a talk with Negiri later.

    Futana was there, watching the game and ogling the girls, especially
Akane.  "Forget it", said Nabiki as she sat down.  "She's my sister, and she's
engaged."  She got a sudden instinctive flash of something _very_ wrong about
Futana.
    "I could tell, because she has good looks like yours, Nabiki."
    Ranma and Ryouga were squaring off below, just outside the bleachers,
ready to fight over for one of the reasons they usually did.  Nabiki pointed
to Ranma, who had missed Ryouga with a punch but amagurikened a chair into
smithereens.  "He's her fiancee."  "Oh."  "He also owes me a couple of favors
if I ever need someone to fight for me..."  "Oh."  Futana was about to put
an arm around her and rest his hand on her breasts.  Nabiki was about to slap
him.  They stayed in that position for several seconds and then Nabiki got up.
"Was that Futana guy taking lessons from Happosai?"  Too late, she realized
she had spoken that aloud.

    Putting Futana out of her mind, Nabiki talked to some of her employees
about customers.  Sure enough, fewer sales than usual.  She would need to
set things straight with that girl interfering with her business; strictly by
legal means, of course.  First, send one of her minions to contact her so they
could meet at a place of Nabiki's choosing, establishing who's in charge....
    One of the Komatane girls, just having finished selling a hot dog covered
in sugar to a long-haired girl and her blonde curly-haired friend, walked
directly up to Nabiki.  "Hey, my boss Negiri wants to speak to you.  She says
it's a business problem, and she wants to meet in the Komatane second floor
room B tomorrow."
    Nabiki grumbled and answered "I'm busy dealing with the bookkeeping.
Speak to Hiroko here," pointing to one of her own girls.  The two minions
chatted with one another, discussion quickly turning to boys, gossip, and
clothes, while Nabiki sat down to watch the game again.  Undisturbed.  Well,
except when Akane had picked up a stray waterhose and soaked Shampoo and Ranma
when Shampoo tried to share a bowl of ramen with him.  Futana spotted the
female Ranma and tried to ask her out on a date.  Good *luck* Futana, thought
Nabiki.

    It turned out that Nabiki's group had barely broken even.  The competition
had really hurt her; there just wasn't a big enough market at a volleyball
game for two vendors.  Financially, this was no big deal for Nabiki, since
she could con more money from Kunou in a week than she could make off four
weeks of the drinks and hot dogs concession, and it was too much work to do
each week anyway, but she didn't like someone trying to beat her at her own
game, especially if they were starting to win some of the time.  In her own
way, she was as mad about this Negiri girl as Ranma got about Ryouga.
    
    Back at home, Nabiki consulted her records.  All she had on Negiri was
that she was in the business club in Komatane, and essentially owned the pro-
wrestling club because she beat its president at mahjongg.  Useless informa-
tion.  "I have to get a computer someday", she thought, but it _was_ more fun
poring over sheets of paper trying to put together all the different pieces of
information on a subject all by herself.

    Nabiki's phone rang.  "Moshi moshi... oh, hi, Hiroko-chan.  Did you ever
tell Negiri-san where at Furinkan we could meet?"  "No... her friend seemed
awfully insistent that you both meet at her school."  "I'm not going to walk
to Komatane.  I'd be late for dinner."  "Minions," she thought, "are useless."
    *Knock, knock*  Nabiki opened the door.  Her younger sister stood,
earnestly asking "What would you like me to make for dinner, oneesan?
Kasumi's feeling a little sick tonight."
    "Ah, er, Akane-chan...  I have to meet a business rival tonight.  It's
really important, even if I don't make it back for dinner.  Why not just ask
Ranma and Mr. Saotome what they would like?  Oh, and you can leave me some."
"Really?", asked Akane.  "I thought for sure you'd not want me to save any of
my cooking for you...."
    Nabiki could always give it to Ryouga, of course, and this way she could
avoid hurting Akane's feelings.

    Halfway to Komatane, she spotted Negiri walking in the other direction.
"Wait up!  What are you doing here?  I thought you wanted to meet at your
school."  "Well, I was invited to dinner, and Misaki-chan's cooking it, so
I need an excuse to take up some time until it's all over...."
    "That sounds familiar.  Say, why don't we go for some pizza?"
    "Great, sempai."
    "You can call me Nabiki."
    "Yes, Nabiki-sempai."
    They bowed, exchanged business cards, and went to the new restaurant,
"Iowa New Style Pizza".

    Nabiki ordered a slice with corn and pepperoni, and Negiri with corn and
mushrooms.  The girl had stopped calling her sempai at the table with no
audience around, much to her relief.
    "Were you serious, about not wanting to eat somebody's food?  Because
that just happened to me."
    "Yeah, I can't explain it, Nabiki.  It seems like a rule of the world...
everyone knows one girl who can't cook."
    "That's the least of the problems that my family has.  My sister who can't
cook is engaged at the age of 16 to a hotshot martial artist who changes into
a girl half the time, and is chased by three other girls, one of whom he's
already engaged to."
    "So I've heard, but I didn't know she was your sister."
    "Heard?"
    "At the volleyball game!  A disturbance like that, nobody could not notice.
So I did some checking up on them."
    Nabiki looked a little skeptical.
    "Okay, Nabiki.  Well, the truth is, I only talked to some Furinkan stu-
dents.  So many people at your school talk about Ranma and Akane that it hard-
ly even deserves to be called gossip.  Must be insane...  everyone in your
family and neighborhood fighting all the time.  And your principal is nuts!
But Furinkan's repair company is a _great_ investment."
    "Yes, I know.  I own it.  My ownership is just concealed until I turn 18."
    "Well, I own the Komatane wrestling club.  Say, do you play mahjongg?"
    "Nope.  I do play cards a little, but that's it."
    "Do you do fighting?  Like wrestling, or martial arts?"
    "Dad once wanted me to learn martial arts.  I don't think so, not unless
there's such a thing as martial arts stockbrokering.  If I did, I just _know_
I'd have to use it.  I'll stick to running things."
    "You have your friends who do martial arts, though, right?  How does a
tournament with Komatane sound?  I could put up the wrestling team on my
side, and you could get Ranma and Akane and everyone else."
    Nabiki considered.  It wasn't a bad idea.  She hadn't meant to make a new
business plan tonight, but if one turns up, she was quite willing to grab it.
Besides, it would be much better to have this girl as a friend rather than an
enemy.  "On one condition.  You don't sell any food.  No, make that two
conditions.  You don't sell any food, and you tell me what you can about a
person named Shimeru Futana."
    Negiri countered.  "My business did as badly as yours!"  Nabiki didn't ask
how Negiri knew how badly Nabiki's business did.  Negiri continued "Here's a
counterproposal.  We each have exclusive business operations on alternate
event days.  And I get you your information, but anything you find out about
weird happenings in the Komatane district, you tell me.  Oh, and you get me a
date with Kunou."
    Nabiki hadn't expected Negiri _not_ to make a counterproposal, and would
have thought less of her if she hadn't.  "Okay, if you strike the Kunou
clause, it's a deal.  He's fixated on Ranma and Akane."  Negiri readily agreed;
besides, if she had really wanted a date with Kunou, even a child could con it
out of him.  "And, Negiri, I have one last idea...."

    Two weeks later, in the middle of the tournament between the Komatane
pro-wrestling club and the Furinkan martial artists, a bell rang.  "Intermis-
sion", thought one of the participants.  "I'm thirsty, going to go get a
drink." He handed 100 yen to the girl selling the drinks.  "Sorry, it's 150
yen." "125 yen?"  "Yeah, we have an agreement with the other school's business
club and we have to charge you extra so we can pay them to let us sell food
here.  You'd much rather buy your drinks from your own school, right?  So we
have to charge you extra!  Otherwise there'll be trouble."  He grumbled, but
paid for the drink.

Epilogue:
    Shimeru Futana was speaking to an old, wizened, bald, and perverted
martial arts master.  "So you're the famous Happosai.  Tell me what you can
about the girls who hang around the Tendo Dojo...."

Author's Note: Since many of you haven't read Futaba-kun Change, here's a
rundown on the characters I've used:

Shimeru Futaba: Main character.  Not used here, really.  He has an inherited
condition which makes him change gender when excited.

Shimeru Futana: Futaba's sister.  Like Futaba, changes sex, but relishes being
male a lot more than Futaba does female.

The sex-changing characters in the series, when changed, give off (at least
some of the time) pheromones which attract the opposite sex.  For Futaba, it
happens once every 28 days (when he also has other problems); it's not clear
exactly when this happens for the females-turned-male, and I've just assumed
it's a constant low level.

Shuusendou Negiri: Classmate, friend of Futaba's girlfriend Misaki.  Quite a
bit like Nabiki, in fact; and she really _did_ get to own the pro-wrestling
club by beating the leader at mahjongg.