A twig snapped.
    Under normal circumstances to most people, this would have been no
extraordinary occurance.  It was, after all, simply an unimportant piece of
dead wood that something had apparently stepped on.  
    However, to a pair of storm gray cat-slitted eyes glinting in the
relative safety of the forest's underbrush, the whole world immediately
focused on that one twig's crisp snap through the silence of the shadowy
woodland.  The wary eyes quickly located the source of the sound, and they
gleamed with a malicious light.
    The owner of the gray eyes bounded swiftly out of the brush, a black
shade against the cloudy, starless night sky.  Silently landing behind its
prey, the shade lashed out with a shadow-veiled arm, catching its rather
large target on the left flank as it sensed the attack at the last second
and attempted to leap out of the way.  Letting out a yowl of pain, the
prey, apparently some kind of big cat, growled softly and turned to face
the scarcely visible shade.
    The moon flashed through its oppressive cloud cover for but a moment,
bathing the adversaries in a soft, silvery glow.  The cat was a striped,
orange-furred tiger, apparently one of the larger of its species, and its
shining feline eyes burned with anger as it studiously ignored the pain of
the wound in its side, dripping slowly with large dollops of crimson blood.  
    It circled slowly around the shade, whom the moonglow revealed to be a
slender, pretty-faced young man of perhaps nineteen or twenty years of age,
hard-muscled with relaxed, wary movements, and unkempt blue-black hair that
fell just above his eyes.  He was garbed in a bland, dirt-colored belted
tunic, tightly gathered around his wrists with leather armbands, that fell
in loose folds down to his knees, and similarly colored soft, baggy
trousers tucked into supple leather boots.  He gave a slight smirk as he
noiselessly slid a sharp steel dagger out from his right boot and twirled
it between his fingers, never taking his watchful gray eyes off his
dangerously glaring opponent.
    The moon tucked behind the heavy cloud bank, and the two were once
again swathed in darkness.  Slightly taken off-guard by this, the tiger
hesitated, and the hard-muscled young man, now once again but a shadow,
knew this was his chance.  Moving his hand with deadly speed and accuracy,
steel glinted in the air as he whipped the razor-edged dagger at the tiger.
 Once again sensing the attack, the striped animal bounded to one side, and
the blade sailed noiselessly through the air and landed with a sharp
tinkling sound against a large rock outcropping.
    The shade's only noticeably visible features, his eyes, widened
slightly with surprise at the miss, and he stumbled backwards, attempting a
defensive fighting stance quickly, but the limber cat was quicker.  Its
powerful muscled bunched as it roared triumphantly and leapt, claws
outstretched, slashing diagonally towards the shade's throat.  He shut his
eyes, knowing with a cold, unfeeling certainty that death was imminent.
    A few moments later, he opened his eyes slowly, looking around at the
now moonlit landscape nervously.  He swallowed, as if to convince himself
that his throat was indeed still there and in one piece.  Glancing
downward, he saw, much to his surprise and thankfulness, the large striped
tiger in a dead heap, four steel throwing stars buried deeply into its
already wounded flank.  
    What surprised him even more was a beautiful, red-shirted girl standing
over the tiger's corpse with a long, heavy-looking oak quarterstaff held
easily in her right hand, looking concernedly down at him.
    Seeing him open his eyes, she ventured a smile.  "Are you alright?"
She asked, speaking friendly-toned but with a strange accent, offering him
her hand.  "That tiger was about to get you..."
    He took her slender, calloused hand and allowed her to pull him shakily
to his feet, and he managed a nod.  "I'm...fine."  He smiled slightly.
"Thank you.  Although," he admitted, his usual wry-toned and confident
demeanor returning to him, "I confess that I am used to being the savior,
not the saved."
    "Yeah, most men are like that," the red-shirted girl muttered sourly.
She shrugged.  "But no matter.  Important thing is that you're alive; you'd
be better off not messing with the tigers around here, though.  It'd even
have made a meal out of me if it hadn't been intent on killing you..."
    He began to walk over to the rocky ledge where his dagger had lodged
itself into the stone.  "I can usually beat tigers, you know."
    The girl raised a skeptical eyebrow.  "Right."
    "You don't believe me."  It wasn't a question.
    "Let's face it, you were about to get killed there."
    "I don't usually miss with my knives," he grunted brusquely, yanking
his dagger free of the rock and examining the blade, gratefully noting that
it was still sharp.  "Guess I just got unlucky today."  He slid the steel
dirk back into his boot sheath.
    She chuckled.  "If you're planning to survive, you better make sure
that you -never- miss."
    He gave her a flat look.  "Well, I didn't actually miss; I'm not that
pathetic.  It dodged - faster than any others I've fought so far, I think."
    The girl shrugged and let the point drop.  "So where're you traveling to?"
    "Nowhere in particular."
    "At all?"
    "Nope."
    She looked curiously at him.  "Then you got a place to spend the night?
 You aren't wearing a pack."
    For some reason, he seemed to be becoming unnerved by her questions.
"I usually just sleep in the forest..."
    "Sounds real comfortable," she remarked dryly.  "How about you spend
the night with me and my companions?"
    "I..."  He hesitated slightly, sweat visibly glistening on his forehead
now.  "I...I don't know...if that's such a good idea, really..."
    "Trust me, it is," she stated firmly.  "Suppose another tiger comes by
and wants to make a meal out of you."
    "I'll kill it."
    "Like you killed the last one?"
    "Yeah...I mean, no," he grumbled sourly.
    "Then you'll be a meal.  I bet that'll feel nice."
    He sighed.  "You sure are pushy."
    "I just really think you should stay with us," she insisted, folding
her arms under her breasts.
    "Why?"
    "Because you seem like a nice guy, and even if you weren't, I wouldn't
want to see you get eaten.  No one deserves that."
    "A...nice guy?"  He looked at her with amazement.  "M-me?"
    She rolled her eyes.  "No, the guy who looks exactly like you right
behind you."  She shrugged.  "So will you stay with us?  It'd make me feel
better, if nothing else."
    "Why?"
    "I just explained that."
    "Oh, yeah."  He sighed, giving in.  "Fine, fine.  But just to make you
feel better, mind you."
    "Yes, of course."  She rolled her eyes again.  "Say, what's your name,
anyway?"
    He began to edge away nervously.  "I...uh, don't have a name."
    "Pardon?"
    "I mean, my name is, um, Chang.  Yeah, that's it.  Chang.  Tarou Chang.
 Nice to meet you."
    "Right.  Chang."  She obviously didn't believe him, but let it go.
"Anyway, Tarou Chang, shall we go?"
    "Um, sure."  He apprehensively strode toward her, as if he expected her
to lash out with her stars and cut him to pieces at any moment.
    As they walked back towards the camp of the girl's companions, the
girl's curiousity about him grew as she heard the slender young man
muttering a curse directed towards women's undergarments.
    "Damn pantyhose..."
--

http://www.serve.com/guilds/ranma/
guilds@mail.serve.com
[story � hkp]  7/21/1997, revision 4/19/1998

Prologue
Decisions

    It was a clear day, and a warm spring breeze whispered its way through
the lush green valley of southern Japan.  Up above, scattered white clouds
dotted the endless expanse of azure sky, and a blazing sun sent down its
heat to warm the valley.  Birds chirped happily, which blended pleasantly
with the running of a crystal brook nearby.  The wind blew a bit harder for
just a moment, blowing into a little boy's face, who giggled and continued
eating.
    The little boy, dressed in a small white gi with his black hair tied
back into a small ponytail, was eating an okonomiyaki, sitting on a small
hill next to his father, a heavy-set man maybe thirty years of age, who had
a thoughtful expression on his face.
    "Ranma, m'boy," the boy's father said in a deep voice, sounding a bit
unsure of himself.  "Listen well, and answer your father."  He paused, as
the boy, Ranma, looked up at him with cheerful blue eyes.  "Which do you
like better?  Ukyou or okonomiyaki?"
    Ukyou Kuonji, as the boy's father knew, was a young girl that lived in
this valley with her father, an okonomiyaki seller.  Ukyou and Ranma had
become quite good friends over the past month or so, a friendship borne of
rivalry.  When Ranma and his father had first arrived in the green valley,
it was so his father could begin to train him in the art of fighting,
martial arts.  
    After roughly a week of intense training, they had discovered they
weren't alone in the seemingly isolated valley.  There were two others
staying currently in the valley - Ukyou and her father, and it was Ranma
who found them first, while he was gathering firewood.  He had smelled the
cooking okonomiyaki and rushed to the cart, promptly jumping over Ukyou and
stealing one of the okonomiyaki, eating it on the spot, and running off.
    Apparently this had gone on for a few days before Ranma's father had
found out, and he encouraged it, as did Ukyou's father, who both thought of
it as a way of training.  If Ranma won the fight, he got a free dinner.  If
Ukyou won, Ranma got chased off, though it seemed that the ponytailed boy
hadn't lost yet.
    Earlier on the present morning is when the question had come from
Ukyou's father to Ranma's father - he had asked him if Ranma would marry
Ukyou.
    "Hmm...a marriage between your daughter and my son, eh?"  Ranma's
father had asked, stalling for time, then sighed deeply.  "I'm sorry to say
that Ranma's already been promised."  He really did regret that; he thought
of Ukyou as a fine young girl, probably a worthy bride for his son.
    Ukyou's father regretted it, too, and had given a heaving sigh.  "I
see."  He exhaled deeply.  "How unfortunate.  I was going to offer my
okonomiyaki cart as the dowry..."  He trailed off and shrugged.
    The other man had been surprised at this.  The cart would have enough
food in it to sustain him and Ranma for many years on the road, and, with
Ukyou, they'd have an indefinitely supply of food, always at hand.  His
stomach rumbled slightly.  "I'm not sure," Ranma's father had said,
indisicion flickering across his stern features.  "Give me a day to think
it over.  I'll ask Ranma, I think."
    Ukyou's father had found that satisfactory, so here he was now - asking
his son which he preferred, Ukyou or okonomiyaki.  He was kind of hoping
that Ranma would choose the latter, so he wouldn't be burdened with a
little girl, so he had brought Ranma a present - a particularly well-cooked
okonomiyaki to make sure he chose the food over the girl.  And if things
went the way Ranma's father wanted them to, he would feel justified in
stealing the cart and leaving Ukyou behind.  It would undoubtedly give him
moral qualms, but not as bad as the stomach qualms he'd get if he didn't do
it.
    Instead of answering, Ranma grinned up at his father.  "This
okonomiyaki's good," he said cheerfully.  "Did Ukyou make it?"
    "I think so," the heavy-set man answered absently.  "So which do you
like better, Ukyou or okonomiyaki?"
    Ranma grinned again.  "Ukyou!"  He declared.  "If Ukyou made the
okonomiyaki, that makes her better, right?"
    His father coughed slightly, fleeting thoughts of leaving Ukyou behind
anyway going through his head, but he cleared them.  He didn't want his son
angry at him, no matter what.  "I see, m'boy," the heavy-set man said, a
little guiltily at what he had been about to do.  He stood up, brushing off
his white gi.  "Stay here and enjoy the food, boy, and let me go inform
Ukyou's father..."

    The lunch bell rang, and chaos ensued.
    The large building at the edge of town was a boys' junior high school,
and, without girls to impress or otherwise act like fools for, the boys
that went to this school contented with beating up on each other, and
knocking each other out for the good food at lunch.
    Lunch food had never been particularly wonderful tasting, but some of
it was better than the other stuff, and hence, the boys who managed to get
the good stuff before the others were considered 'superior' in some way, at
least for a short while, until their strutting and boasting about it got
them jumped in the hallways.
    Today was no worse than usual, with the crowd of young boys yelling as
they entered the cafeteria, trying to get to the lunches first.  Needless
to say, they were soon sold out of the 'good stuff.'  
    "This's it!"  A largish woman yelled loudly from behind the counter.
"Last curry bread of the day!"  Curry bread was the day's special, and
whoever got this last piece would have the right to boast about it for
quite awhile.  The lady threw it into the crowd, and a determined looking
boy with an orange and black bandanna tied around his head that didn't
match his uniform at all bounded high above the crowd, his hand
outstretched to catch it, yelling, "It's mine!"
    A grinning ponytailed figure jumped up from behind him and bounced off
the first boy's head, catching the curry bread in his mouth, and landing on
the other side of the crowd, chomping down the food with a wide grin.
    The bandannaed boy glared daggers at him from the edge of the crowd, as
the lady yelled, "Okay, who wants sweet-bean bread?"
    "You..." the bandannaed boy grated harshly in a voice that was
surprisingly deep for a boy as young as him.  "Who are you?"  He demanded,
clenching his fist.
    "I'm Ranma Saotome," the ponytailed boy said in a cheerful voice,
wolfing down the bread contentedly.
    "Ranma Saotome," the first boy growled, "I shall never forget the
offense of the curry bread!"  He stormed off through the cafeteria doors
with a great show of anger, with Ranma looking surprisedly after him.
    "That was pretty mean," a startlingly gentle voice said from behind
Ranma.  Ranma looked behind him, surprised, then his face relaxed as he
recognized the voice.  It belonged to a boy about Ranma's height, with long
brown hair tied into a flowing ponytail down his back.
    "Oh, hiya, Ucchan," Ranma greeted the new arrival with a grin.
    "You just really made that guy mad," the brown haired boy observed, in
his high-pitched voice.  It sounded quite like a woman's voice, actually.
"Maybe you should go apologize, hm?"  Close inspection of this boy revealed
that it was, in fact, a girl.  She was apparently dressed as a boy so she
could attend the school, but her face was a little too pretty for the part.
    Ranma looked a little guilty.  "Yeah, maybe, Ukyou," he said, rubbing a
hand through his unruly black hair.  "I'll talk to him tomorrow, I guess."  

    The next day, things happened just as before, except with chow mein
bread instead of curry bread.  Things happened so similarly it was almost
comical - the boy with the bandanna leaped to get it and Ranma intercepted
him, grabbing the bread in his mouth and kicking the other boy in the
shoulder.
    The both landed a little to the right of the crowd around them, and
Ranma was about to walk off nonchalantly, when he noticed the brown haired
girl watching him with a flat gaze.  "Er..."  he said nervously, turning
back to the bandannaed boy.  "Hey, I'm...sorry about yesterday, and all
that.  You know."  The bandannaed boy looked at him curiously.
    "I'm trying to apologize," Ranma stated, fingering the chow mein bread,
and breaking it in two.  "Here," he said, tossing half to the other boy.
"Seem fair?"
    The bandanned boy looked skeptical, then grinned at Ranma.  "Thanks,"
he said simply, in a somewhat surprised tone, as if he hadn't expected
Ranma to share the bread.  "Even if it was just because your girlfriend
asked you to."  
    "Wha...?"  Ranma asked, peering closely at the other boy.  "My
girlfriend?"
    Ukyou chuckled.  "Well, you noticed that I was a girl.  You're pretty
perceptive, bandanna-boy."  She smiled at him, and from the way his eyes
opened a little more, it was obvious that he didn't think she looked much
like a boy at all.  "It's a good enough disguise to attend this place,
anyway.  The administration didn't really care."  She shrugged.
    "I see," the bandanna-wearing boy said thoughtfully, munching on the
chow mein bread absently.  "So...er...what's your name?"
    Ranma leaned over to Ukyou.  "He's hitting on you," he whispered loudly
into her ear.
    "I am not," the other boy protested, folding his arms across his chest.
 "I just wanted to know her name."
    "Sure."
    Ukyou smirked.  "It's no big deal."  She smiled at the bandannaed boy.
"My name's Ukyou Kuonji.  Yours?"
    "Ryoga Hibiki."

    Surprisingly enough, after that day's little chat, Ryoga became quite
good friends with Ranma and Ukyou.  Ranma liked him well enough, but it
seemed that Ryoga didn't have too many other friends in the school.
Neither Ranma nor Ukyou had ever heard of him before.
    "That's because...well," Ryoga looked nervous, "I don't really come to
school that often, you see..."  He trailed off, looking embarrased.
    "Yeah?  Me neither."  Ranma grinned at him.  "I stay home a lot, to
practice martial arts.  Me, Father, and Ukyou here and going on a training
mission to China, pretty soon.  We're going to be there for awhile, so I
figure I better practice some before we go so I don't get too far behind."
He poked Ukyou playfully, who grinned broadly back at him.  "Ukyou uses
weapons," he offered as an explanation, "so she's always got the edge on
me.  I'm trying to learn to use the bo staff, but not having too much
success."  He grumbled something under his breath.
    Ryoga looked even more embarrased than before.  "It's not that I stay
home on purpose," he admitted, "it's just that...I can't find the school
half the time."  His face glowed a bright red.
    "Why not?"  Ranma cocked his head curiously at him.
    "I don't know," Ryoga replied, looking unhappy.  "But I can't ever seem
to find where I'm going.  Sometimes it takes me days to find my house again."
    "That is pretty bad," Ukyou commented.  "How about me and Ran-chan walk
you to school and back?"
    Ryoga's eyes widened.  "You'd do that...for me?"
    Ranma grinned.  "Hey, wolf-boy, what are friends for?"  Ranma had taken
to calling Ryoga 'wolf-boy' because of a pair of fangs that the
bandanna-wearing boy had.  They were noticible, but somehow looked natural
on him.  Ranma thought they served to make him look like a wolf.
    "Thanks."  Ryoga looked happy.  "I'd like to ask another favor of you,
if it isn't too much trouble..."
    "What?"
    "I'm a martial artist, too, actually," Ryoga said with a sigh.  "I used
to attend the dojo at the edge of town, but I never could find it when I
wanted to, so the master there kicked me out.  Who trains you two?"
    "Pop does," Ranma responded, shrugging.
    Ryoga swallowed slightly.  "D-do you think he would consent to teach me?"

    Ranma's father, Genma Saotome, refused.  "I can't take on another
pupil, Ranma," he said, in an emotionless voice.  "I've got my hands full
training you two."
    Ryoga looked hurt, so Ranma tried again.  "C'mon, pop, he's got
potential."
    "I said no."
    Ryoga cleared his throat.  "Er...I could...pay," he offered hesitantly.
 "I don't have too much money, but I've got enough around to..."  He
shifted uncomfortably.
    Genma looked thoughtful.  "Pay, eh?"  He grinned at Ryoga.  "Well,
then, I suppose I could teach you.  We're going to China in about a week,
though, you understand..."
    "He could go with us," Ukyou interjected suddenly.  "He wouldn't have
to pay, then, either.  Having an extra hand to survive in the wilderness
where we're going is a help, not a hindrance."
    Ranma's father glowered at Ukyou, then sighed and sat back.  "You're
right, Ukyou," he admitted sourly.  "Well, Hibiki, if you want me to train
you, you'll have to come to China.  Give up your schoolwork.  Leave
whatever life you've got here for several years."
    "Sure thing," Ryoga agreed with a grin.  "I don't really go to school
too often, anyway, and I don't have much of a life here - my parents hardly
know I'm alive, because they're never at home."  He explained hurriedly
about his sense of direction, adding that his parents were worse than he
was.  "I've no idea where they are," he said, a little downcast.
    Genma felt kind of sorry for the boy.  "Alright, then.  But be
prepared, Hibiki - the training won't be easy."
    "Hai, sensei."  Ryoga grinned at him.
--

Hunter Kid Publications presents...

Cold is the valley down below
swathed in a morning's mist,
and cloaked with ancient tales of woe
bathed with a curse's kiss.

Listen ye to the wise old crow
leaving with morning's mist,
for the chill waters bring sorrow
bathed with a curse's kiss.

Reflection in the water glows,
gone is the morning mist,
thy mirror image softly flows
bathed with a curse's kiss.

Mirror Images
a Ranma 1/2 fanfic by 
George Masologites [Hunter Kid]

"There is many a tragic story of this valley's waters.
And yet, I find that so many pay no heed to my warnings.
So I ask you, my daughter:  'Why?'  And I wonder, was my time here in vain?"
-question posed to a teenaged Plum, as her aging father pondered Jusenkyo's
lore

1
A Long-Awaited Arrival

    "Ranma is coming."
    The deep, heartfelt man's voice could be heard from within the walled
enclosure of the spacious Tendo household's rear yard.  It was full of
emotion, and the man sounded on the verge of crying - as a matter of fact,
his eyes had already been welling up with tears.
    Anyone who knew anything about the Tendo family knew about Soun Tendo,
and his various eccentricities.  He was a good man and a friendly fellow;
that was universally agreed on, and most folks found him highly agreeable
and a good conversationalist.  Women, especially high school girls, tended
to like him because he was not only a widower, but a handsome
thirty-something years old that looked not a day older than twenty-five,
with raven black hair falling past his shoulders and a thin, well-groomed
moustache on his upper lip.  
    He was also a fairly wealthy man from years of operating a highly
successful dojo with a unique style of martial arts, baptized
'Anything-Goes' by Tendo's aging master, who had apparently left the
country on a lengthy training journey, and Soun said that he hadn't seen
anything of his sensei for about ten years.  It was a misnomer, though, and
thus tended to draw the wrong sort of folk:  the sort that just wanted to
learn how to fight to run around and break heads.  Tendo, though, was a
stern master and either managed to straighten out these trouble cases or
toss them out on their heads, and he liked the task, in a way.  It made him
feel that he was contributing something to society, rather than simply
teaching a class for a living.
    But for all these good traits, Tendo had a few oddities.  They hardly
persuaded folks to dislike him, but they were there nonetheless, and they
had a tendency to annoy his three teenaged daughters.  One of these traits
was that he often burst out crying for, sometimes, no apparent reason.  The
death of his loved wife had left him emotionally unstable and with a very
short temper, and although he tried his hardest not to blow up at his
daughters, it was bound to happen sometimes, and led to frightening
confrontations between him and his strong-willed children.  Another, if
more mild, eccentricity was that he seemed to always wear a brown training
gi, wherever he went, which led to some awkward situations at parties and
such for people who didn't know him.
    At this particular moment, Soun Tendo was exercising the first of his
odd traits - becoming very emotional for something that seemed very
trivial.  In his right hand he was mulling and softly weeping over some
writing on a Chinese postcard with an image of a panda happily eating
bamboo on the front.  Upon closer inspection, the back of the postcard was
actually rather interesting, if for no other reason then that it had hasty
writing scribbled all over it, apparently written by several different hands.
    In the center, in semi-neat handwriting, it read:
    'Tendo, coming from China with Ranma.  -Saotome.'
    Right below that, someone had scratched in barely legible writing, ' -
and Ryoga, too!', and beside that someone had written in a steady hand,
'Luv ya, Ukyou!'  On the right, there was a short note written in Chinese,
so messy as to be almost completely unreadable, but seemed to be a boast
about how superior someone (or everyone, it was hard to tell) was to Ranma.
 In the same chicken-scratch Chinese across the top of the card was written
'Genma is fat.  Haha!'  Whoever the writers of the postcard were had
apparently taken to opportunity to use the remaining space for various
brags about how great they were, mostly in comparison to each other.
    Tendo, now fully sobbing, tossed down the messy card and stood up
quickly, wiping the tears from his eyes.
    "Kasumi!  Nabiki!  Akane!"  He called out happily, starting to rove
around the house, looking for his three teenage daughters. 

    The rain had come suddenly about half an hour ago, so quickly that it
had thoroughly drenched everyone before they could get out their umbrellas
or get under a roof.  Several mutterings were heard about the incompetence
of the weather bureau, but the rain just came suddenly in these parts, and
every time, those same mutterings were heard.  No one really thought much
of them.
    Several people looked on in surprise when a short, red-haired, pretty
girl dressed in Chinese clothing burst out of a sidestreet into the plaza,
assuming a fighting stance.  They didn't think much of it until a panda
followed the girl, also falling into a fighting stance.
    "A...panda?"  A bystander said, staring in amazement and echoing the
thoughts of everyone else.  He cleaned his glasses from the rain just to
make sure, and, sure enough, there was a panda in the middle of the plaza.
    The panda charged at the girl, only to be hit from behind by a tall,
well-built young man dressed similarly to the girl.  He had long brown hair
that was tied back into a loose ponytail, and was glowering darkly at the
panda, who glowered right back.
    "Growf."
    The people looked on in amazement as the girl and the boy prepared to
double-team the panda, when something else bounded out of the side street.
It was a grey wolf with a piece of black and orange cloth tied loosely
around its neck, growling menacingly enough so that everyone backed up, and
a few left the plaza, muttering about how the world was crazy, and whatever
idiot that was running the city zoo was even crazier.
    Some people, though, continued to look on interestedly at the
spectacle, and reacted without much surprise and scattered applause when
another figure jumped out of the side alley, this time, another young girl,
this one dressed in a tunic that looked to be made out of some sort of
scales, and loose dark green pants that were decidedly too big for her.
She was remarkable mainly for the fact that she had a somewhat unusual hair
color - pink - and that she was probably the most beautiful young woman
that most people there had ever laid eyes on before.  She looked unhappy,
as she was carrying a large traveling pack on her back and two more in her
hands, and seemed to be muttering something unhappily about being a pack
animal.
    "This is stupid!"  The first girl, with the chinese clothes, declared
angrily, kicking the panda into a building.  The brown-haired young man
nodded his agreement and slung a heavy bo staff off from his back, spinning
it around in his hands threateningly.
    The two were advancing on the panda again when the second girl, the
incredibly pretty one with the scale tunic, walked in front of them and
blocked their way.  "No," she stated, in an annoyed voice.  "We're going to
this dojo place, you hear me?  I'm not going to stay like this a second
longer than I can help it."  She glowered at everyone in general, and the
wolf sat back on its haunches and growled softly to itself.
    "Wrong," the first girl stated, snorting derisively.  "I'm going back
to China.  So there."  She slung her pack over her back and began to walk
off, when the wolf bounded up and smacked into her back, turning her over
as she lay, face-up, nervously trying to calm down the growling wolf.
"Er..." she stammered.  "Okay, let's go to this dojo."  She laughed
nervously, and the wolf got off her, sitting back on its hind legs again.
    And she didn't notice when the panda ripped a sign from the ground and
smashed it into her head, knocking her out as the giant animal slung her
over its back with a discontented 'growf,' scaring off anyone who remained.
 The brown-haired boy grumbled to himself, but followed the panda as he
walked off.
    The wolf, for its own part, seemed to grin slightly as it walked
silently behind them all.

    A loud yelling could be heard outside the Tendo Training Hall.
    "I can't believe one of us has to marry this 'Ranma,'" a long haired
girl was complaining.  "Don't we get some say in who we're going to marry?"
    Another girl, with shorter hair, smiled at her.  "You better wait until
you meet him, Akane.  He might be really cute."
    "Right, Nabiki."  
    The last girl at the table just sighed.  "I hope he's older than me.
Younger men bore me."
    Soun Tendo, who was sitting on the other side of the table, just
chuckled.  "Well, it seems they're here now."  The yelling outside the dojo
was becoming more audible now.
    "Leggo, y'old fool!"  A voice was protesting from outside, and heavy
footsteps could be heard entering the house.  
    Soun jumped up, and ran to the porch.  "Saotome!"  He called.  "My old
friend!  We've been waiting..."  He cut off, and his jaw went slack at the
crowd of people that had just entered his house.
    "What the...?"  The long haired girl asked, her eyes wide.  "Who in the
world are all you people?"  She looked, a bit scared, at a large grey wolf
that was leaned back on it haunches, looking at all of them with a sharp
gaze.    
    The group consisted of a panda that had a figure slung over its back
that was kicking it in the chest in an attempt to make it drop it, a tall
brown-haired boy who was leaning against the wall, rolling his eyes, a
beautiful girl with odd pink hair who was dressed in some sort of scale
tunic, and had her arms folded under her breasts contemptously, and lastly,
a wolf that glowered at everybody.
    The giant panda grumped slightly, giving the long haired girl a flat
stare that was probably one of the big reasons for her discomfort. 
    "Hello, everybody," the girl with the scale tunic greeted with a
decidedly evil smirk.  She looked around, her dark green eyes looking over
everything in a sort of I'm-better-than-you manner.
    Soun's jaw was slightly slack, and he shut it, embarrased, and then he
looked at the boy with long brown hair and a heavy bo staff slung across
his back hopefully.  "You...wouldn't be...Ranma...would you?"
    The young man shook his head, and jerked his finger to the figure that
the panda was carrying over its shoulder that was thrashing around in the
huge animal's grip, unsucessfully trying to get loose.  "No, that's Ranma."
    The panda glared at everyone and slung the person off from his
shoulder, revealing a girl with shoulder-length bright red hair tied back
into a pigtail.  Soun didn't appear to notice much other than that Ranma
had finally arrived, and embraced the short girl.
    "Ah, Ranma," he said, tears flowing down his face, "we've waited so
lon..."  His eyes opened slightly wider, and he shoved Ranma away from him,
his jaw working furiously but no sound coming out as he gaped at the girl's
bulging chest.  
    Nabiki, who had been watching with interest, poked Ranma in the breast,
making sure that they were real.  She looked at Ranma in amazement, then
turned to her father, glaring flatly.  "Ranma's not a boy, daddy, he's a
girl!"  
    Soun emitted frustrated gurgling noises before falling down in a faint.

    About ten minutes later, Soun Tendo opened his eyes, and saw his
daughter Kasumi sitting next to him, her brow wrinkled in concern.
    He sighed in relief.  "Thank goodness," he said, closing his eyes and
smiling slightly.  "I had the strangest dream.  This girl arrived and
claimed to be Ranma, and this panda..."
    "Growf."
    Soun, startled, sat up, to see a giant panda sitting next to his
bedside, looking intently at him.  "No!"  He wailed.  "You mean it wasn't a
dream?  Ranma really -is-...?"  Tears flowed freely from his cheeks.
    "Oh, poor father," Kasumi said, sighing regretfully.  "He's so
disappointed."
    "He's disappointed?"  Nabiki demanded.  "What about -us-?  Some fiance
this is!  Daddy, can't you tell the difference between the boy and a girl?"
    Soun stared blankly at the ceiling.  "I assumed that my friend Genma's
son was a boy."  
    "A boy?"  Nabiki glared at him, then at Ranma, who sat there,
disspirited.  She poked Ranma's chest meaningfully.  "Does this look like a
boy to you, daddy?"
    "Um...I really wish you'd stop that," Ranma said, slightly flustered.
    "Ah, you're no fun, Ranma."  The drawling voice floated over to them
from a corner, where the girl with the scale tunic was lounging in a chair
and resting her feet on a small table which she seemed to have dragged
over.  She pushed a short pink lock out of her eyes irritatedly, then
favored Ranma with a somewhat lewd smirk.  "I think that's kind of neat,
actually."
    Ranma pointedly ignored the other girl, and Akane put her hand on
Ranma's thin shoulder.  "I'm Akane," she introduced herself, smiling
pleasantly.  "You...want to be friends?"
    Ranma nodded gratefully, smiling up at the long haired girl.
    "'You want to be friends'?"  The girl sitting in the chair mimicked
Akane's voice disgustedly.  She made puppy dog eyes at nothing in
particular.  "Oh, yes, Akane, I'd -love- to be your friend!"  She
sarcastically gave an imitation of Ranma, who glared daggers back at her.
    "Maybe you should introduce yourself, hm?"  Ranma asked icily, smiling
in what the other girl could only consider to be a very heartless manner.
    The girl with the tunic swallowed nervously.  "Introduce myself?  No,
no, that won't be necessary.  Ranma, why don't you go be friends with
Akane?"  She laughed in a very uptight fashion.  "I'll just go draw myself
a hot bath..."
    "A hot bath?"  Akane demanded.  "What makes you think you're getting a
hot bath?"
    "You mean I came here for -nothing-?"  The girl in the chair bellowed
angrily, fuming.  "In that case, I think I -am- going back to China!"  She
began to storm out the door...when she was blocked by a glowering wolf that
shook its head at her.  "Aw, c'mon, Ryoga," she said sourly, addressing the
wolf.  "Have pity.  Don't bite me again."
    "Ryoga," Akane repeated to herself, nodding.  "Good name for a wolf.
Means 'nice fangs,' or something like that, doesn't it?"
    "Good name for a wolf?"  Ranma couldn't help but grin slightly as the
wolf gazed icily at Akane, who looked back at it, puzzled, before
addressing Ranma again.
    "You study martial arts, right?"  She inquired.  Ranma nodded, so she
went on.  "How about we have a little match, then?  Just for fun," she
added quickly.
    "Er...I don't know..." 
    "C'mon," Akane insisted, prodding Ranma out the door.  "I promise I
won't hurt you."
    The girl in the scale tunic gave that evil chuckle again.  It wasn't
purposely evil, but it sure came out that way.  "Yeah, you better go easy
on Ranma there.  Real weakling you're fighting."  She smirked at Ranma, who
returned the smirk with a stony glare.
    "You want to try me, -Pantyhose-?"  Ranma asked, glowering.
    "Pantyhose?"  Akane repeated, puzzled.
    "Arrgghh!"  The girl in the tunic bellowed furiously, before blindly
charging at Ranma.  "How dare you address me in that manner, fem-boy!"
    "Hah!"  Ranma laughed dodging a sloppy attack by the other girl easily,
running towards the dojo in the back.  
    "What the..."  Akane frowned, then chased after them.  "Wait!  Ranma!
Do you want to have a match or not?"  The wolf's dark eyes gleamed, at to
anyone watching, it would have seemed to chuckle in a low growl as it
padded softly after the long haired girl.

    In the dojo, the two combatants were going at it, a flurry of punches,
kicks, and blocks, when the panda stormed into the dojo, and broke the two
apart, giving each of them a loud 'growf' and punting them each away into
seperate walls, where they both collapsed in heaps, staggering to their
feet, grumbling.
    Akane looked at them both in amazement.  "What are you two doing?"  She
demanded.
    The pink haired girl snorted derisively.  "What does it look like we're
doing, you stup-" Her words were cut off as Ranma put a hand over her mouth.
    "Nothing special," Ranma assured Akane.  "So, you want to have that
match you asked me about?"
    "Er...right," Akane answered, slightly confused.  She looked at the
other girl, who was now silently glaring at Ranma.  "What about her?"
    "-She-," Ranma said icily, "can stay like that forever for all I care."
    "Stay like what?"
    The girl with the scale tunic fumed to herself and stomped out of the
dojo, cursing quietly.
    "Now..."  the pigtailed girl said, turning to Akane with a grin.
"Shall we begin?"

    The scale tunic-wearing girl rubbed a hand through her bright pink hair
irritably.  Damn Ranma, she thought, scowling.  Now they knew her name -
'Pantyhose.'  Actually, her name was Pantyhose Tarou, given to her by a
perverted old man who had met her as a tiny child.  If she ever caught up
to the old lecher...
    Tarou scowled darkly to herself.  The important thing was getting a hot
bath, she noted, shivering as the rain drenched her thoroughly.  But that
damn Akane girl wouldn't let her use the baths...so she'd have to get in
herself.  She looked around carefully to make sure no one was watching,
then went into the hallway where they had left the traveling packs,
snatched hers up, and began to wander around the house, looking for the
bathroom.
    "It's probably upstairs," she mused, starting up the stairs, when she
looked down to see a wolf following her.  "Stay behind me," she told it.
"Otherwise you'll end up who-knows-where, you directionless idiot."  The
wolf stared at her darkly, but kept following her, anyway.
    Tarou snuck up the stairs and opened a small door a crack.  A small
room, with a laundry basket, and another door with a 'knock first' sign on
it.  This was the bathroom!  She grinned in triumph and stole inside,
shutting the door behind the wolf, who silently followed her.  She quickly
removed her scale tunic and tossed it in the emoty laundry basket, doing
likewise with the rest of her outfit, then opened the door to the bath.
The wolf was noticeably averting its eyes to the vision of the beautiful
naked girl.
    Realizing that she hadn't knocked, she felt a moment of panic, but it
passed - there was no one inside.  She grinned and began to draw water for
the bath.
    The wolf seemed to grin up at her.  She smirked at it.  "But you're
having fun, huh, Ryoga?"  She reached out to poke the wolf's nose, but
stopped when it bared its fangs.  "Hope they don't get mad that we're in
here without permission."  She chuckled that soft, evil chuckle again, and
the wolf looked at her in what was a decidedly disgusted manner.

    It wasn't much of a match, really.  Akane charged at Ranma and threw a
few light punches and kicks, Ranma dodged them all without much effort on
her part.
    "What's wrong?"  Akane demanded.  "Swing at me!"  
    Ranma shrugged.  "Er...I don't like to hit women..."  She stammered,
and Akane charged again, unleashing a flurry of kicks and punches.  Ranma
dodged the first two, then vaulted up into the air and pushed herself even
higher with two of her fingers, using Akane's head as a platform, and
landed behind the long-haired girl, who stared at her in amazement.
    "You did that with two fingers?"  She asked, bewildered.  She came at
Ranma again, this time at full force.  Her punch was aimed straight for
Ranma's chest, and...
    ...Ranma wasn't there to receive it.  She blinked as she felt a tapping
on the back of her head, and turned around to see Ranma smiling
embarrasedly at her.  Akane was stunned for a second, then began to laugh.
Ranma joined in for a moment, both of them facing each other, laughing like
a pair of fools.
    "Ahem," Akane said, looking embarrased.  "You're...pretty good.  I'm
glad you're a girl, after all."
    Ranma flushed a little bit.  "Erm...how come?"
    "Well, I'd really hate to lose to a boy.  It's a thing of mine," she
explained vaguely, as she left the dojo.  Ranma chuckled nervously as she
followed the long haired girl out of the dojo.

    "Ranma, you can use this room," Kasumi said, pointing to an empty, but
well-cleaned room.  "Where are your friends, by the way?"
    Ranma had been wondering that herself.  Tarou was probably sulking
somewhere around the house, looking for a way to get a hot bath, and, with
all probability, the wolf was with her.  "I'm...not sure," she stated.
    "Is that handsome man your boyfriend?"  She asked Ranma innocently,
smiling slightly.  
    "Boyfriend?"  Ranma asked, befuddled.  "Er...no."  
    "If you say so.  Here's a towel - you'll probably want a hot bath,
don't you?"
    Ranma coughed.  "N-no, that's quite alright..."
    "Here, take it," she put it in Ranma's hands, who took it reluctantly.
"You've been exercising, haven't you?"
    "Yes..."  Ranma sighed.  "Well, I'll go take my bath now, then."  She
stood up and walked to the bathroom, which Kasumi pointed out to her, then
left down the stairs.  Ranma gritted her teeth and walked in, looking
around and noticing a door that said 'knock first' on it.  She pulled off
her clothes hurriedly, when her ears caught a noise from inside the
bathroom, or so it seemed.  She listened carefully, but didn't hear
anything else, so she walked into the bathroom, where the bath was already
filled to the top with hot water. 
    "That was nice of Kasumi, to draw the bath for me," she remarked,
stepping into the bath...
    ...and coming into contact with a leg.
    "Yaah!"  She yelled, falling back.  "What in the world...?"  
    A male head peeked out of the water.  "Oh, it's only you, fem-boy.
We've already changed back, so you might as well join us."  The male Tarou
lounged against the side of the bath, relaxing.
    "'We'?"  Ranma asked, confused.
    "Oh," Tarou said, pulling up a gasping human Ryoga from under the
water, who sucked in air gratefully and wrung the water out of his bandanna
in irritation.  "It's just Ranma, Ryoga.  Nothing to worry about."
    Ryoga punched him.  "You could have told me sooner, you idiot!  I had
to hold my breath that whole time!"
    "How -dare- you hit me, wolf-boy!"  Tarou stood up and charged Ryoga,
swinging his fist, and Ryoga moved his head out of the way as Tarou's punch
hit the edge of the bath and put a small crack in it.  
    Ranma sighed and entered the bath.  Her form blurred, and in her place
was a tall male with black hair, who looked concernedly at the hole that
Tarou had made.  "You guys are going to wreck the bath," he noted, looking
with concern at the crack that water was starting to spill out of.
    Ryoga and Tarou didn't pay any attention to him, as they pummeled each
other with their fists.  "Take this!"  Ryoga bellowed, bounding at Tarou,
who jumped out of the way, sending Ryoga's fist into the wall.  He yanked
it out and charged again.  This time his punch connected, sending them both
flying into the bath next to Ranma, who moved out of the way hurriedly.
They both landed in the bath, sending a geyser of water upward that
drenched the ceiling and came crashing down on all their heads, completely
soaking them.
    "You die!"  Ryoga shouted, swinging his foot around at Tarou, who
leaned backward and grabbed the leg, tossing Ryoga into a wall, putting a
large crack in it.
    "Um...you guys?"  Ranma asked nervously.  "We're guests here..."
    "Shut your hole, fem-boy!"  Tarou bellowed at Ranma, picking his
surprised form up and hurling him into the sink, where Ranma fell to the
floor with a pained grunt, then stood back up.  
    "Pantyhose!"  Ranma spat out the name - as well as bits of smashed
ceramic from the sink - furiously.  "Now you're going to pay!"  He charged
at Tarou, who was blinded by the mists of the hot bath and took the full
blow, sending them flying into a startled Ryoga, and all three of them
shouted in surprise, all trying to pummel each other into oblivion as they
crashed into the bathtub again, sending another wave of water around the
bathroom.
    A naked brown-haired young woman emerged from the wave of hot water,
sputtering.  "What are you morons doing?"  She demanded, looking at the
three boys, Ranma and Tarou nude and Ryoga with a bathtowel wrapped around
himself, all beating the crap out of each other, rolling around on the
ground, exchanging powerful strikes with their fists.
    "Oh, hiya, Ukyou," Ranma greeted her cheerfully, before taking a punch
across the face by an angered Tarou, who bellowed something about not
wanting be be ignored in a fight.  "I'm trying to talk here!"  Ranma
shouted, kicking Tarou in the abdomen, who retaliated with a strike to
Ranma's head, and they closed to close quarters, exchange rapid strikes.
    "We're...um...sparring," Ryoga stated, jumping into the fray, lashing
out with his fists at Tarou, who yelled a curse and spin kicked him in the
face, then Tarou fell over with a powerful punch from Ranma's right arm.
Ryoga grabbed Ranma's outstretched arm and pulled him downwards, smashing
his face into the tile floor.  Tarou stood back up and furiously punted
them both to the other side of the bathroom, crashing into the sink, and he
charged after them, shouting oaths.
    "Will you fools stop fighting -please-?"  Ukyou shouted, fuming as she
punched Tarou in the face, who glowered at her and tossed her into the
wall.  "That's the last straw!"  Ukyou declared, jumping at Tarou and
attacking with her fists that pummeled him in the face, sending him
staggering into Ranma, who tripped over Ryoga, sending all three of them
down in a heap.  Ukyou barreled at the three of them, sending them all
reeling into the wall.  Tarou swung around and tripped Ukyou, sending her
to the floor, landing with a grunt.
    "Ha ha!"  Tarou bellowed arrogantly, standing up on wobbly legs.  "I am
victorious!"  He kicked Ranma in the ribs, who leaped to his feet and
kicked Tarou in the face, and Ryoga pushed them both into the bath, landing
with a grunt and scattering whatever water might have been left in there.
    Ukyou stood up and belted Tarou in the face, and he retaliated with a
kick, and Ranma and Ryoga jumped up from the bathtub to attack Tarou, and
the whole fray started over again.

    Akane stretched her muscles as she walked into the changing room.  The
wall to the bathroom was almost soundproof, yet she thought she heard
muffled yelling coming from the other side of the wall.  
    "Probably Ranma," she noted, looking into the laundry basket.  Ranma's
Chinese clothes were in there.  "I wonder what she's doing?"  She shrugged.
 "Well, we can both take our baths together, I guess..."
    She slid open the door to the bathroom, and stared. 
    The bathroom was a wreck.  Three of the four walls had dents and cracks
in them, and the bathtub was shattered into several pieces, the hot water
all over the floor.  The sink was cracked in half, and everything was
completely drenched, even the ceiling.  But what surprised her the most was
the people in the bathroom.
    Everyone froze when they saw her enter.  There was three young men, two
nude with their fists outstretched to punch one another and a third one
wearing a towel that was about to slam his fist into the back of one of the
others.  There was also a naked girl in the bathroom that was in a fighting
stance, ready to attack the third young man.
    Akane's eyes bulged, and she closed the door.  She shuffled into her
slippers...
    ...and started screaming.

    Soun looked up from where he was sitting at the sound of the loud
scream, and Nabiki flinched slightly.  Kasumi didn't appear to pay any
attention to it.
    Akane charged down the stairs and into the room where they were sitting
and lifted the heavy table, looking sick and furious at the same time.
    "What's with -you-?"  Nabiki asked, rolling her eyes.
    "There's four perverts in the bathroom, they'll all naked, and three of
them are guys!"  She shouted, gritting her teeth.  "I'm going to drown
those perverts in the bathtub!"  She grasped the table, and started to walk
in the direction of the stairs, when a bald, middle aged man in a white gi
and a similarly colored bandanna that she didn't recognize appeared in the
doorway.  "Who are you?"  She demanded.
    "This is not necessary," the bald man stated.  "I will speak to-"
    He was cut off by a loud cracking noise as something from above
shattered the ceiling and a boy garbed unceremoniously in a bathtowel and
an orange and black bandanna came crashing down through the ceiling,
smashing against the floor with a loud thudding noise.  He didn't appear to
notice that everyone was staring at him, but shouted a curse and jumped
back through the hole in the ceiling, bellowing a battle cry.
    The bald man coughed nervously.  "Or maybe it's necessary, after all."
He paused to see a leanly built young man with a pigtail and dressed only
in a pair of black trousers make another hole in the ceiling next to the
the first and some flying down through it, with the first boy yelling after
him, "Hah!"
    Akane lost her temper and brought the table down on the pigtailed boy,
who gave a loud cry of 'gak' before he was knocked senseless by the table.  
    "Hey."  The bandannaed boy, now dressed in a worn long-sleeved
traveling shirt and dark green trousers bound at the calves, peered down
through the opening in the ceiling.  "You're pathetic!"  He declared,
laughing.  "I could take that anydaaAAAYYY!"  His taunt was changed to a
yell as someone else from above shoved him through the hole in the ceiling
with an evil chuckle.  He landed on the wooden floor with a thump, and
Akane growled angrily and smashed him over the head with the table.  He
staggered to his feet.
    "T-this isn't ov...er..."  He wobbled and collapsed.
    "You're wrecking my house!"  Soun wailed.  "What is the meaning of
this?  Who are you people?"
    "Uh-oh."  Nabiki grimaced as a loud rumbling could be heard from above.
 "I think we'd better get out of here."  She jumped to her feet and ran out
of the room, Kasumi, Soun, and the bald man doing likewise.  The two
unconscious boys just lay there, unmoving.
    The rumbling grew louder and two surprised shouts were heard from up
above, mixed with various fighting noises, and suddenly the ceiling
collapsed, bringing it down on the two previously unconscious young men,
who were just waking up.
    "What the...?"  The bandannaed boy gasped, opening his eyes to see the
ceiling falling on top of him, and stuck out his fist, pummeling a small
hole in the wreckage so he wouldn't get knocked out again.
    The two combatants from up above fell along with anything else, but
they were locked together, exchanging blows, until finally, one of the two,
a brown-haired girl dressed in Chinese clothes, flipped herself over and
forced the other below her, smashing into the wreckage with a loud crashing
noise, the girl bounding off the startled young man's chest backwards,
leaving him in the remains of the ceiling while she stood above, smirking.
    The brown haired girl threw back her head and laughed.  "Victory goes
to me once again!"  She shouted, crossing her arms under her breasts
contemptously, even as a hand from under the rubble grabbed her and threw
her to the ground.  
    "Victory...will...be mine..." a voice came from under the wreckage as
the pigtailed young man stumbled to his feet, wobbling.
"You...are...going...down..."  He pointed his finger at the girl and
collapsed, making pained noises.
    The girl, meanwhile, had hit her head when the young man had tripped
her and had also lost consciousness.
    "My house!"  Soun bellowed.  "You better have a good explanation for
this, -sir-," he growled to the bald middle aged man, who chuckled nervously.
    "Ah, I do, Tendo, I do," the other man said with a sigh.

    Perhaps a half hour later, the last of the four young people, the
pigtailed boy, gained consciousness and looked around, confused.  The rest
of the people in the room all stared at him, glowering.
    "Whoa..." he stammered, sitting up.  "What happened?"
    "They're all awake now," Soun grated, gnashing his teeth.  "Now, do you
care to explain who you are and why you're here?"
    The bald man sighed, pushing his glasses up his face.  "First, allow me
to introduce myself.  I am Genma Saotome, of the Anything-Goes School of
Martial Arts."
    "What?"  Soun's jaw went slack.  "You are Genma Saotome?  Where is your
son, Ranma?  Who were those people that arrived here earlier?"
    "Those," Genma stated with a sigh, "were us.  Before you say anything,
though, let me introduce us.  As I said before, I am Genma Saotome.  And
this is my son, Ranma."  He pointed to the pigtailed boy, who was now
sitting crosslegged, trying to grasp what was happening.  "These are my
students, Ryoga Hibiki," he nodded to the fanged boy wearing the bandanna
and the worn traveling clothes.
    "Ukyou Kuonji, from southern Japan," he gestured to the young
brown-haired girl, who actually was rather pretty.  She was dressed in
Chinese garb identical to Ranma's in every fashion.
    "And Tarou, whom we met in China," he pointed to the last young man,
wearing a tunic which appeared to be made of scales, mercifully not
revealing the first part of his name.  
    "Hey," Nabiki noted, pointing to the tunic that Tarou was wearing.
"That's the same tunic that that girl was wearing earlier."
    "That's because he -is- the girl," Genma stated, sighing again.  He
paused thoughtfully.  "It's all so complicated, I don't know where to
begin.  Well, then," he picked up Tarou and tossed him into the fish pond,
all three of the Tendo girls looking on curiously.
    Instead of Tarou, a young, beautiful girl with pink hair surfaced,
gritting her teeth.  "What was that for, you old fool?"
    "Oh, my," Nabiki said, her eyes wide.
    "Tarou's a...girl now," Kasumi stated, blinking.
    Tarou clambered out of the pool, growling as she picked up Genma and
threw him into it, landing with a loud splash.  A large panda with Genma's
clothing hanging off of it sufaced, glowering angrily as it charged at
Tarou, exchanging quick attacks.
    "How did -that- happen?"  Akane demanded.  "Are they shapeshifters or
something?"
    "You might say that," the boy with the bandanna, Ryoga, stated
remorsefully.  "It's the fault of an ancient Chinese training ground, known
as Jusenkyo.  Get some hot water, and I'll demonstrate it."
    Kasumi quickly returned with a kettle of boiling water, which Ryoga
accepted and poured on Genma, who was still in the process of attacking
Tarou.  Genma let out a yell as his shape blurred and changed back into a
human, leaving a scalded Genma in place of the panda.
    "So," Soun mused.  "Hot water changes you into a human, and cold water
changes you into a panda."
    "Hot water," Genma interjected, rubbing his burned skin with a grimace.
 "Not boiling!"
    "Give me that," Tarou demanded sourly, snatching the kettle from Ryoga
and pouring it on herself, and her shape changed back, as well.  Tarou
hurrumphed and tossed the kettle aside and sat back down, pulling Genma
down with him.
    Genma recovered his dignity and set in a crosslegged position.  "As I
was saying," he began, a pained look in his eyes behind the thin glasses,
"it all happened two fateful weeks ago..."

[Two weeks ago.  Qinghai Province, Bayankala Range, Jusenkyo Valley, China.
 Genma's story.]

    The valley was a peaceful place, this early in the morning.  A light
mist still covered most of the valley floor, which the sunlight was just
beginning to shine through.  There was a mystic feel to the place, somehow,
and it seemed magical in some way.
    Birds chirped happily, but only in part of the valley.  The birds were
wise enough to give a wide berth to the springs that covered most of the
isolated valley, knowing by instict what they were - cursed.
    Such as it was, a traveling group, dressed in various martial arts
outfits, entered the valley through a small mountain trail, with the
Jusenkyo Guide leading them.  The traveling group consisted mostly of
teenagers.  There was three young men, one with a pigtail and a white gi,
another, a stern-faced boy, dressed in worn traveling clothes with a
bandanna, and the last wearing a dragonscale tunic and dark green trousers,
tied at the ankles.  There was also a young woman, with her long brown hair
tied back into a ponytail, who was dressed like the pigtailed boy, and
finally, there was an older man of anywhere from thirty to forty years of
age, bald with a white bananna strapped around his head.
    "Here, sirs," the Jusenkyo Guide intoned, speaking broken fragments of
Japanese, "we come to famous ground of cursed springs, Jusenkyo.
    "Are all of you prepared?"  The bald man asked, ignoring the Guide and
addressing the rest of the group in a stern, deep voice.  
    "Aw, man," the pigtailed boy said in a cheerful, somewhat cocky voice,
"this place ain't -near- as bad as I thought it'd be."  He set down his
traveling pack and tied his worn belt tighter.
    "You very strange ones, no, sir?"  The Guide asked, stretching
slightly.  "This place very dangerous.  Nobody use, now."
    The young man with the dragonscale tunic laughed what could only be
considered an evil laugh.  "Dangerous?" he sneered.  "Give me a break.  I
could balance on one of those poles in my damn sleep."
    "Is more than one hundred spring here," the Guide went on, ignoring the
young man's arrogant remark.  "And each one have own tragedy happen there."
    "All of you, follow me!"  The older man shouted, waving his arm towards
the tall bamboo poles that stuck out of the small, but deep, springs.  He
bounded upwards onto one of them, easily balancing himself on top of one.
    "Right behind ya, pop," the pigtailed boy stated, jumping up after him
and landing on another pole.  The rest of the group did likewise, all
balancing easily on different poles.
    "Ah, sirs, what are you doing?"  The Guide shouted, waving his arms
frantically.  "I have not finished my tragic story!  You can't go there!"
    Everyone in the group studiously ignored him, staring at each other,
waiting for one of them to make the first move.  
    The first to attack was the bald man, who leaped at the pigtailed boy
with his leg pulled back, prepared to knock the boy off the pole, when
suddenly the young man leaped upwards and bounced off the older man's head,
landing on the pole where the bald man was previously standing.  The bald
man, grimaced but managed to catch himself with one hand, flipping easily
back up onto the pole.
    "Is that the best you can do, Ranma?"  He asked with a smirk, even as
the only girl in the group attacked him from behind, kicking him hard in
the back and smashing him downward into the spring, where he landed with a
loud splash, sending up a huge geyser of water that the girl flipped back
onto another pole to avoid getting drenched by.  
    As the girl was flying backwards, the two other young men, attacked her
simultaneously, and she jumped kicked the one with the dragonscale tunic
hard in the face, sending him flying backwards, barely catching himself on
another pole above one of the springs and pulling himself up with a grunt.
She spun around to face the her other attacker, who dodged her ill-placed
kick and swept her legs out from under her, sending her plummeting down
towards the spring below.
    "Hey, pop," the pigtailed young man was saying in concern, looking down
into the pool where his father still hadn't surfaced.  "What's up?  We done
already?"
    He gasped slightly as a giant panda leaped out of the pool, balancing
on one of the bamboo rods, scowling darkly at him.  "Wha...?"  He gaped at
the panda.  "What the hell is that?"
    "That one Shonmaoniichuan," the Guide commented.  Well, this was their
own fault, after all, they hadn't listened.  "Spring of Drowned Panda.
Very tragic story of panda who drown there two thousand year ago.  Now
whoever fall in spring take body of panda."
    "Hey, buddy, you never said anything about that to us!"  The pigtailed
boy, Ranma, was stammering, as the panda charged him.  He ducked the first
blow, and was forced to jump upwards as the panda took the pole he had been
standing on.  
    "An opening, Ranma!"  the bandannaed boy in the worn traveling clothes
shouted from behind him, grasping Ranma's gi in a powerful hold and
throwing the hapless young man into another spring, next to the one where
his father had fallen.  "Hah," the bandannaed boy smirked triumphantly,
landing on another pole as he watched Ranma fall headfirst into the spring,
unable to stop his fall.  "Yaah!"  A foot smashed into his back as he
flipped over, landing on another pole, looking back into the face of the
boy with the dragonscale tunic.
    Bubbles came from the pool where the girl had fallen and she surfaced
with a gasp, taking in the air.
    "Ah, you fall in Nannichuan," the Guide remarked, nodding to the spring
that the girl had just arisen from.  "Spring of Drowned Man.  Very tragic
story of young man who drown there one thousand seven hundred years ago.
Now, whoever fall in spring, take body of young man."
    The girl in the spring's mouth went slack as she closed her eyes and
opened the front of her white gi...and screamed.  Her breasts were gone,
and her voice had deepened into that of a young man her age.  He yelled in
fury and jumped back onto the poles, determined to get the bandannaed boy
back for kicking him in.
    The bandannaed boy, for his part, was just noticing what was going on.
"What the...?  Ukyou?  Is that you?"  He looked at the brown haired young
man before him, his eyes wide, even as the young man, Ukyou, barreled into
his front and sent him flying into the spring below him, where he landed
with a resounding splash.
    Ranma had just resurfaced.
    "Nyaniichuan," the Guide said in a bored tone, pointing to Ranma.
"Spring of Drowned Girl.  Tragic story, you know."  He was getting sick of
his speech, and sat down to smoke a pipe.
    "D-drowned girl?"  Ranma spat water from his mouth, terrified.  He
swallowed and opened the front of his gi.  Breasts.  "Aaaugghh!"  He
screamed, looking as if he was going to faint.
    The bandannaed boy resurfaced, but he was no longer a boy, or even
human.  He had been turned into a large grey wolf, with the bandanna tied
loosely around its neck.
    "Luangniichuan," the Guide said.  "Spring of Drowned Wolf."
    The wolf howled in response, climbing out of the spring and gnashing
its teeth in fury.  
    Ukyou, for his part, wasn't finished.  He charged at the stunned boy
wearing the dragonscale tunic and punched him square in the chest, sending
him flying down into the same spring as the one that Ranma had fallen in.  
    "How do you like that?"  Ukyou snarled, looking down at his new body
with undisguised disgust and horror.
    When the dragonscale tuniced young man arose from the spring, he
already knew what had happened.  He checked anyway.
    Her scream reverberated through Jusenkyo Valley.





Rain Song
http://www.serve.com/guilds/ranma/
guilds@mail.serve.com

open hk.sig

    The slender girl, Ryako, only gave him a cute, yet somewhat wolfish,
grin.  "Aw, you're no fun, Ryoga," she said, hitting him on the shoulder
playfully.  "Here we are, so close, and you won't let me read what you're
writing?"  She snuggled up against him, smirking to herself.
    Ryoga apparently didn't notice that she was only kidding, because his
face glowed a bright red and he nervously inched away from her.  "C-close?"
 He stammered.  "I...well...you see..."   
			 			-from Ryoga 1/2, chapter 11
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