Ranma : The Will of Tendo.
	******
	All characters are from Rumiko herself, and is copyrighted. Used without
permission. Yes, I know everyone seems a bit OOC. Death does strange things to
us.
	******
	It was a very quiet night in Nerima. A very quiet night, but if you
listen very closely, you can hear people weeping.
	"I'm very sorry ma'am," said the police officer to Kasumi and Ranma.
"I'm sorry about your fathers deaths. I really am."
	"They were drunk?" asked Nabiki, who looked rather bleary-eyed in the
corner.
	"Father!" wailed Kasumi as she started to cry, much like her father.
	"Yes, and so were their friends at this party. One of them had a car.
You wouldn't know a Mr. Masaki?"
	"Uh, no," replied Ranma. "But continue."
	"So, they were all drunk, and so they drew straws to see who would
drive. That's what the waitress a Miss Roppongi Akemi said."
	"Did she try to stop the insanity?" asked Akane, who was more mad than
sad.
	"No, she didn't. Listen, she's has the Guinness Record for the world's
highest alcohol tolerance level," said the officer.
	"Strange, she hadn't had a drink yet all night," added his partner. "I
think she's getting married."
	"What does this have to do with anything!" screamed Ranma, who would
have killed the two officers if Akane didn't stop him.
	"And she didn't interfere with this?" intoned Akane.
	"No, she didn't. She was too busy and didn't notice how drunk they were.
So, they got into the car and crashed into the Royal Automobile."
	"What?!" the four of them said.
	"We do know that all of the Royal Family are injured badly. Actually, we
don't know how badly hurt they are. And at this point everything is rather
sketchy, so we're not quite sure how they were able to crash into the Royal
Family's cars. However, they have requested that you meet them after the proper
funeral arraignments are made and such for both families. They are also holding
a panda that claims to be yours."
	Ranma blinked for a moment. "You're sure my father's dead? I mean, you
two are obviously honorable officers who have plenty of real life training on
things like eating and writing fictitious tickets."
	The officer wasn't phased by the outburst. "Yes, we had your mother
identify the body. She fainted a few moments later, and is still unconscious,
but at a hospital at the moment."
	"Oh, I see. And they have the panda?"
	"They are questioning the panda at this moment. I don't know how you've
trained him to write signs. He's been extremely helpful. He also seems to have
calmed down the royal children very much. By the way, the royal children would
like to keep him, with your permission, of course."
	The four children sighed collectively.
	"I see that you're still mourning your loss. W-we'll talk about this
again at another time. Sorry." And with that, the officers left. Afterward, the
Dojo erupted with a violent amount of activity as Akane and Ranma started to
tear the Dojo apart brick by agonizing brick. Kasumi simply wailed like an old
Italian woman. Nabiki glared at the new moon, keeping the anger deep within as
much as she could. Eventually, she let it out by pounding the first available
object that was there. Unfortunately, that was Akane's pet pig, P-chan.
	This went on for most of the night.
	The anger, the fights, the crying eventually wore itself out. Now, the
grieving was of a quiet nature. Nabiki and Akane mindlessly stared feeling the
guilt of becoming infamous for having fathers that hurt the royal family added
to the guilt of their father's death. Nabiki, in particular, felt her face burn
knowing that such scandal would be impossible to spin. 
	Akane never did understood why men must go drink sake. She knew that
most of these men were doing so to finish up business deals. But, Genma and
especially her father never had a successful business at all. In fact, she
wondered half the time how Nabiki could afford a decent home as this. The early
spring wind felt as raw as a November squall. The last link to her beloved
mother was gone. And for that, she would silently weep and pray for redemption.
	Kasumi, who has the misfortune to be much wiser when in great anguish,
guessed each sister's fear. She turned her attention to the angry Ranma, who was
wondering how could his father be so stupid sometimes. Kasumi cried a bit. Cried
a bit more. And then remembering who she was, stood up. She walked over to
Ranma's side.
	"Akane, Nabiki, Ranma, come. We must go."
	"Go? Where? And at this time of night?" asked Nabiki as she continued to
cry.
	"To Tendo." Kasumi started to wipe Ranma's tears. Ranma made no move to
stop Kasumi.
	"Tendo?" said Akane.
	"It's where they make those Shogi pieces that Father loved so much.
Father had told me that he and Mr. Saotome had left their wills at that town.
It's about 400 kilometers away to the Northwest. It'll take perhaps two or three
hours to get there."
	"Shouldn't we wait for Mom to get well before we go? I mean Pops
probably left somethin' for Mom," said Ranma. "B-besides, I'd like to go see
her."
	"No. Father and Mr. Saotome made it absolutely clear that we needed to
go this second. And we are going. Now. Nabiki, you make arraignments for room
and board. We'll have to find a hotel. Akane, I want you and Ranma to get packed
and ready. We'll be gone for a couple days, perhaps longer." There was a pause.
Kasumi then screamed, "Come on, people, we haven't got all day!"
	"Hai," the other three replied nervously. They scurried away to do as
they were told. Kasumi walked to the television set like a Hawaiian lava slide.
Steaming mad. Meandering. Smashing and destroying things in her path. She
slammed her fists along the right side of the television set. Hard. Furiously.
Dozens of times. Nonstop pounding until the television felt something back.
Nabiki put down the receiver of the telephone. She looked nervously at this new
side of her oldest sister.
	"Sis...I...I realize that this is extremely hard on you. I mean, this is
a complete shock for all of us."
	"It's not that," Kasumi gently replied. "Well, it is, but there's a
reason behind this, Nabiki." A panel popped out from the television set, along
with the television screen. There were several credit cards. Nabiki counted. Ten
cards, all plastic. Her eyes widened a bit.
	"What the hell?"
	"Father said that if there was an extreme family emergency, he gave me
permission to use these credit cards and these special accounts. He put his and
Mr. Saotome's cards in here." She looked at a card for a moment. "I'm not sure
why Mr. Saotome had to set up a Bank account in Switzerland when one of our
local Japanese banks would do nicely. I wonder where is Switzerland, anyway?"
Thud! Kasumi turned around to see Nabiki lying on the floor with the telephone
still in her hands. "Oh, my."
	
	Ring! Ring!
	"Darn telephone," muttered Ukyou as she meandered downstairs. The phone
rang again, insisting that she had to answer it. "I'm coming!" she shouted.
	"One of these days, I'm gonna have to get an answering machine," she
grumbled as she picked up the phone. "Hello. This is Ukyou."
	"Ukyou? Shampoo."
	"Shampoo? W-what...it's one o'clock in the morning!"
	"So sorry, very important. Can not wait."
	"Okay, what is it."
	"Ranma's stupid father dead."
	Ukyou nearly dropped the receiver.
	"Hello?"
	"Y...yeah, Shampoo. Did I just hear that Ran-chan's father, Genma, is
dead?"
	"Died in car accident. Very drunk. Violent girl's father died in
accident too. Also drunk."
	Ukyou felt a cold chill run down her spine.
	"Oh god...poor Kasumi."
	"And Ranma. Shampoo almost feels sorry for Violent Girl. Shampoo knows
what's like to lose father."
	"You don't have to tell me all about it, sugar," said Ukyou as she
gritted her teeth. "Are you doing anything special?"
	"Shampoo wonder if you help Shampoo cook breakfast for Ranma tomorrow."
	Ukyou would usually have to think such an offer over a while. That
wasn't necessary this time.
	"Absolutely. Is 7 o'clock a good time for you?"
	"Yes."
	"Good. Then we'll meet at the Tendo's house at seven tomorrow. Does
anyone else know at this point?"
	"Stupid question, spatula girl."
	"Well...yeah. I suppose. Well, I've got to go back to bed."
	"Shampoo needs sleep too. Bie bie."
	"Goodnight, Shampoo." Ukyou hung up the telephone.  She looked at the
time. 1:20 am.
	"Well, maybe I'll see what others know about this," she muttered as she
picked up the phone to make another call.
	Truth and Rumor both run with wild abandon in Nerima, and this was no
exception. By the next morning, the front yard was a sea of flowers, bouquets,
pot roasts, cards, bras (for Happousai), casserole dishes, and the like.
	"Oh, my. This is so totally unnecessary," murmured Kasumi.
	"It's an American tradition, Kasumi," said Akane. "At least we won't
have to cook for a while."
	"Thank the gods," thought Ranma, yawning a bit. The last thing he wanted
was an extremely depressed Akane cooking a meal in memory of her father. Two
deaths were quite enough, thank you.
	Kasumi briefly smiled. "Akane, I want you to handle all of our gifts and
requests. Tell them that we do not need any money, and that we are leaving for a
while and we would ask them to respect our sympathy by not following us to our
destination."
	"And don't tell them where we're going either," added Nabiki. "The last
thing we need is for them to chase us and make our situation even worse." She
then returned to her phone calls.
	"Got it," said Akane. Immediately there was a knock on the door. "I've
got it!"
	She opened up the door. Ukyou & Shampoo appeared. Ukyou quickly grabbed
Akane and gave her a bear hug while Shampoo started to cry. Akane looked rather
surprised.
	"Shampoo and Spatula Girl heard about your lost. Shampoo very sad. Can
we cook you breakfast?"
	"Yeah, can we cook your breakfast this morning, Akane?"
	"Um...well...Kasumi?"
	Kasumi walked up to the door. "Yes...oh, my! Hello, Ukyou and Shampoo!
What brings you here this morning?"
	"We heard about you and Ranma's father's death. As much as I feel like I
should be glad for the bastard's death, I'm sorry about the lost. How's Ran-chan
feeling?"
	"Hell," mumbled Ranma. "Pure hell."
	Ukyou and Shampoo nodded.
	"I see that it is. Anyway, we were wondering if we could cook you all
breakfast this morning."
	"I appreciate the gesture, Ukyou, but that is so unnecessary."
	"Why, Kasumi?"
	"We're leaving in a few hours for Tendo. There's a train that leaves for
it in a two hours, but Nabiki hasn't found a hotel yet. Apparently, this is the
start of the Spring Festival up there."
	"Tendo? Are you Tendo? Where is Tendo?" asked Shampoo, sounding a bit
confused.
	"Well, Tendo is a city in the Okitama area of the Yamagata Prefecture.
Father and Mr. Saotome left their wills there, and instructed us to go there
after their deaths, as soon as possible."
	"We will probably bury them there as well," added Nabiki as she finally
got off the phone. "Hey, Kasumi, I've found a hotel. It's pretty expensive, but
that was the only rooms left in the city."
	"Good," said Kasumi.
	Ukyou twirled her fingers a bit. "I...I just want to say that if you
need anything, anything at all, you just let me and Shampoo know. Okay?"
	"Well, that's nice of you, Ukyou."
	"You need bodyguard? Shampoo make excellent body guard."
	"Um, no, Shampoo. That won't be necessary," said Akane.
	Ranma walked up to the door, carrying the suitcases. "Um, ladies, we'll
be fine. We'll tell you when the funeral is and where. You can help us then." He
looked at Kasumi and Akane, looking rather puzzled. "Um, is that alright,
Kasumi?"
	"S-sure. I'm sure they can help us with the funeral itself," said Akane,
which surprised Ranma and Nabiki a bit.
	"You sure about that?" asked Ukyou.
	"Yes. That's a good idea, Akane," said Kasumi. "I guess then we'll
expect you at the funeral."
	"Sure. Arrigato, then." Ukyou bowed.
	"Bie, Bie." added Shampoo. The Tendos and Ranma bowed in return.
	As they left, Shampoo looked at Ukyou.
	"Shampoo think we must follow Ranma."
	"I think you're right. After the embarrassment with the Emperor and his
family, they could need some help."
	Shampoo nodded as they left to make their own arraignments.
	*****
	Ring! Ring!
	Tsubasa peeked his head out from his costume, a tree.
	"Say, Penny-san, where's that phone ringing from?"
	"Gee, I think it's from your cell phone in the tree," giggled a girl's
voice. "Uncle Gadget has the same problems when Chief Quimby calls."
	"Oh, yeah. Say, you look really good as a bush."
	"Thank you. I'm glad to have you as my sensei," the blonde American girl
said as she popped her head out. Tsubasa picked up the phone.
	"Hello?"
	"Tsubasa? Ukyou."
	"Ukyou-chan! What makes you call me at 4 o'clock in the morning?"
	"I need your help. Ranma and Akane's fathers are dead."
	"Ah...yes. I believe that Kuno had called me about it eariler."
	"Why would Kuno call you."
	"He mistakes me for his servant Sasuke. Anyway, I'm busy so make it
quick."
	"Well, we need someone to easedrop on the them. They're leaving for a
city called Tendo."
	"Interesting. So, why me?"
	"Well, I figure we'll have to be several cars lengths behind them. We
don't want them to know that we're going up with them."
	"And?"
	"And Cologne feels that you are the best person for the job."
	"But Cologne doesn't even know me!"
	"That's what I thought too...but apparently, she was a judge at the
Tokyo fashion show where you won the best new designer award, Tsubasa."
	"I wondered who was that prune sitting in the front row."
	"Anyway, we thought you could disguise yourself as...well you can figure
that out. We just want to overhear the conversation. Cologne thinks there is
something unusual about them going to Tendo."
	"Well, I suppose that they're looking for a burial site. I mean, the
Tendos are probably from that city."
	"Well, according to Yuka, they've lived here all their lives!"
	"What about Ranma's father?"
	"Listen, we really have no time for this, they're suppose to leave very
soon!"
	Tsubasa frowned a bit. Ukyou thinks about that Ranma too much.
	"What are you willing to offer for me to do it?"
	"A...a..anything!" Tsubasa started to smile.
	"Anything? Even a date?"
	"Yes, Tsubasa Kurenai, anything, even a date!" screamed Ukyou. Tsubasa
grinned.
	"Done. You and I will have a date in Tendo. But..."
	"But?"
	"But, if the information is worth as much or even more than what you
anticipate, I will want something extra. I am taking a lot of my time doing
this, so I expect something in return. Okay?"
	"S-ssure," replied Ukyou. "Thank you."
	Tsubasa hung up the phone. He turned to Penny.
	"Now, Miss Gadget, where were we?"
	"I believe you going to explain to me how to use the poison ivy disguise
without geting allergic," said Penny. "Then I'll use it to save Uncle Gadget."
	"Right. Now, there's this chemical compound..."
	******
	At nine o'clock the Tendos and Ranma boarded a train to go to Tendo
city. It felt rather strange. Strange for several reasons.
	"You know," said Ranma as he looked around at the plush accommodations,
"I've never ridden in a first class rail car before. Where'd ya get the money,
Nabiki?"
	"Actually, it's from Genma."
	"Pops? Get out."
	"Apparently he has a Swiss Bank account. How in Kami-sama's name did he
get an account like this I have no idea. I didn't think he'd would be even able
to get one, let alone not use it for all of this time."
	"You're kidding. Pops, being rich?"
	"I'd like to see it too," added Akane, raising an eyebrow out of
disbelief.
	"It's true," said Kasumi, looking up from her pamphlet. "He and Father
hid their cards in a secret panel in the television set."
	"Cards? Daddy had a couple of credit cards?!"
	"Yes, apparently, he had some secret accounts too." Nabiki reached into
her purse and showed the cards.
	"Well, I'm...I'm stunned," said Ranma. P-chan, who sat on Akane's lap
was equally as surprised as Akane.
	"H-h-how did he get the money? And why haven't they used it all this
time? And how did they keep this secret? I mean they have never kept a secret
before," said Akane. P-chan bweed in agreement.
	"That is one of many surprises, I suspect," replied Nabiki. "I mean if
they have this kind of money, just think what'll mean."
	"Incredible," said Ranma. Imaging his father being rich was non
sequitur, not that Ranma knew what non sequitur meant.
	The car door opened up and a manservant came with some Green curry.
Kasumi shifted her eyes.
	"Did you realize that this year is the 40th anniversary of incorporation
of Tendo as a city?"
	"Forty years? I didn't know that," said Nabiki, realizing what Kasumi
was up to.
	"Yes, the actual date is on October the 1st. Interesting, huh? Father
and Mother would have celebrated their anniversary on...that...date," said
Kasumi as she started to cry. All four of them started to bawl and cry soon
after. The caterers, feeling embarrassed, quickly served their Green curry and
Darling Tea, left instructions to ring if they needed any more food or desert,
and left.
	After a while, Kasumi stopped crying and started to eat. There wasn't
much food on her plate, which was pleasing for Kasumi, since she didn't feel
like eating. Ranma on the other hand, had an American sized portion of food. And
he ate that without even thinking about it.
	"Folks, something tells me that these cards are just the beginning of
the surprises," said Nabiki. "And I for one, am not thrilled about surprises."
The other three nodded in agreement.
	"Kami-sama, I feel awful," whimpered Nabiki as all of them started to
cry.
	
	In the next car, Ukyou, Shampoo, Mousse, Kuno, Kodachi, and Cologne were
listening in on the conversation with headphones. Each of them gasped as some of
the revelations were revealed. They took off their sets as the sounds of dinner
finally commenced.
	"Incredible," said Cologne. "this...this has a lot of implications."
	"It is impossible to foresee that the Tendos, especially my dearest
Akane, would have any sources of income that we Kunos do," said Takewaki.
"Getting an account such as a Swiss Bank account takes years to get."
	"Indeed brother," sanely added Kodachi, "I know of a few girls at the
Academy whose fathers had been rejected in getting these accounts, and they are
within the top 1% of the wealthy in the world."
	Everyone else nodded. Ukyou sighed deeply.
	"Ukyou? Why the long face?" asked Mousse.
	"Damn. I didn't think I'd get such lush information from our
eavesdropper. I don't know how Tsubasa does it, but designing himself as a piece
of the Tendo's luggage is pure genius. I don't think he'll be satisfied with
just one date. I think he'll want two dates and at least one of them being
consummated."
	"You serious?" asked Shampoo.
	"I'm serious. He wanted to up the price if the information was worth
more than a date. He's not going to be used easily." Ukyou shook her head. "At
least there's a festival going on at this Tendo. I've never heard of Tendo city.
It's not a very big city, like Kobe or Kyoto."
	"It is rather moderate," agreed Cologne. "Ukyou, I suggest you pay Mr.
Kurenai what he ask for and more if necessary. He has given us valuable
information, and just asking for a couple dates and a night of lust, debauchery,
and insane sex is not a lot to ask."
	"A lot? How could it be worse?" shouted Ukyou.
	"He could simply ask for your hand in marriage."
	"Oh. I see."
******
	This is a second draft of this story, which I posted to the FFML
earilier this month. I was rather surprised with the amount of response, and I
am putting out a second part. If you're curious about the city of Tendo, go to
the Yahoo web sight, head over to the regional section and look under Japan in
the countries section. Click over to the "cities" hypertext and you'll see the
vast number of Japanese cities that are on the web. And there, you'll find
Tendo.
In part 2: Everything you ever wanted to know about Japanese hotels (but really
didn't want to know)...Why you should never be invaded by a group of
cabbits...Tsubasa & Ukyou gets it on, with interesting results...and Kodachi
finally loses it, but what else is new?