"You've never even met this Ranma?  And one of us is getting 
engaged to him?!"  Akane proclaimed, glaring at her father across the 
table.
	"Hey look at this as an excuse to tell Kuno to get lost."  
Nabiki commented to her sister.
	"Would you quit it about Kuno!  My boyfriend is my own 
business."
	"Well seeing as how you refuse to kiss him, hug him, hold hands 
with him, and hit him every time he come within three feet of you�" 
Nabiki commented looking at her sister.
	In response Akane crossed her arms before her chest and turned 
away with a loud "Humph!"
	The doorbell rang.
	"That must be Ranma!"  Nabiki commented as she ran to the Door 
closely pursued by her father.  A second later they ran back around the 
corner, followed by a Panda that calmly walked into the room.
	"Stupid excuse for a father."  Muttered a red haired girl as 
she walked around the bear, taking off her backpack with one hand.  "I 
told him we should get some hot water first but oh no, go to the 
Tendo's first, and by the way your getting engaged to one of them."  
Rooting through the backpack she pulled out a large metal thermos.
	Soun blinked.  "You wouldn't be�"
	The red haired stranger looked at him and responded, "Ranma 
Saotome, sorry about the confusion."
	Soun grabbed her and pulled her into a fast hug, knocking the 
thermos and backpack from her hands.  "Oh I'm so glad you're finally 
here!  I've waited for this day for so�"  Blinking he grabbed Ranma by 
the shoulders and pushed her to arms length to look at her.  Staring at 
her chest he backed away.
	"Oh what a cute girl you've found for us to marry."  Nabiki 
commented sarcastically.
	"Girl�"  With a small yelp Soun collapsed into a faint.
	"Ah great."  Ranma commented as she picked up the thermos.  
Tossing it to her left hand she walked over to Soun, and crouched down 
to touch his forehead with her right hand.  "Hmm."  A low-level probe 
showed her no obvious problems so she directed a light trickle of power 
through her hand.  "Wake up."
	With a start Soun woke.  "Uh, what?  Saotome?  Ranma?  Girl!?"
	"Calm down."  Ranma stated as she stood and opened the thermos. 
 "It's a strange story," he said pouring a cupful of hot water.  "But 
it's got simple consequences."  She poured the hot water over her head. 
 And changed into a taller black haired boy.  "Spring of Drowned girl." 
 He said casually as he poured another cup, which he immediately 
flicked into the Panda's face.  "Spring of drowned Panda."
	"Oh my."  Kasumi commented, the only Tendo in the room not 
frozen with shock.
	Genma wiped the hot water from his face and commented, "Weren't 
you concerned about going too fast, boy?"  He glanced at Soun and 
reached down extending a hand up.  "Don't worry old friend, I can 
explain everything."
	"Explain.  Yes, an explanation!"  Soun stated.  He paused and 
looked at Genma.  Tears streamed down his face.  "It's been so long 
since I've seen you, old friend.  Come into the living room, and we can 
all hear your story."

	"So that's what happened."  Soun stated as he stood and walked 
to the door overlooking the garden.  "The true horror of Jusenkyo has 
been shrouded in mystery for so long."
	Ranma snorted and looked at his father.  "Nope, the true 
horror's described in the brochure where Pop got the idea of training 
at Jusenkyo.  And if he actually spoke a word of Chinese or had thought 
to ask the guide about the place it might have mattered."
	Genma scowled.  "Ranma, stop whining like a girl!"  He reached 
out and grabbed Ranma by his shirt and threw him into the Tendo pool.  
"The path of a true martial artist is the path of peril and conflict!  
Have you forgotten, aren't you prepared to lay down your life for the 
art?"
	Ranma stood in the pool.  His eyes narrowed.  "Life not 
manhood!"  Focusing his energy Ranma quickly sliced his hand through 
the pond's surface in a semicircular pattern.  He brought the hand up 
in an arc ending with his hand pointed at his father.  A fierce stream 
of water shot along that path crashing into Genma, knocking the panda 
on his back.
	Ranma leapt from the pond, and with two steps was on the 
walkway at the door.  Genma rose to his feet and assumed a defensive 
stance.  Ranma remained at the doorway in a guarded cat stance.
	Soun stood and stepped between the two cursed martial artists. 
 "Calm down you two.  Ok, let's see if I have this right."  He stepped 
up to Genma.  "Cold water turns you into a panda," Holding up a 
steaming kettle he poured it over the panda's head.   "But hot water 
returns you to normal."
	"No need for it to be that hot, Tendo."
	Soun walked to where Ranma had switched to a more causal 
posture.  "Cold water turns you into a girl, and hot water turns you 
into a boy."  He extended the kettle toward Ranma, who grabbed it out 
of his hands.
	"Hot not boiling!"
	With a grin Soun Tendo clasped Ranma on the shoulder.  "Well, 
it's no problem after all."  With a grin he turned Ranma to look where 
his three daughters were sitting.  "My eldest daughter Kasumi, my 
middle daughter Nabiki, and my youngest daughter Akane.  Whoever you 
choose, she's your new fiancee."
	"He wants Akane."  Nabiki stated simply.  Her sisters looked at 
her.
	"I have to agree Nabiki."  Kasumi responded with a nod of her 
head.
	"What, why would I�  It's bad enough with Kuno!�"
	"Well, isn't a fiancee the perfect excuse to dump Boken brain?"
	"And what proof do I have that mister boy-girl here isn't worse 
than Kuno?"
	"Didn't you say that wasn't possible last week?"  Nabiki 
responded.
	"First off!"  Ranma stated raising his hand.  "I have no 
intention of getting engaged to someone I met twenty minutes ago!"  He 
looked at Soun.  "I respect family honor and all that, but if you can't 
wait a few months for the sake of your daughters happiness�"
	"I� "  Tears began to stream down Soun's cheeks as a brief look 
of shame was swallowed by a look of desperation.  "Please! For the sake 
of the art!  At least think about�"
	"It's family honor so I'm not saying no.  It's the rest of my 
life so I'm not saying yes.  I just want to wait."
	"And what about me!?"  Akane shouted with an angry glare at 
Ranma.  "There is no way I am getting engaged to some weirdo like you!"
	Ranma looked at Akane.  He felt the anger building inside him. 
 "Then we wouln't get engaged!  Even if I believed in coercion, I don't 
want to marry some short tempered tomboy!"
	"What did you call me!!"
	*Anger can be a potent tool, but if you let it control you, you 
risk destroying part of yourself.*  Taking a breath and releasing it, 
Ranma closed his eyes and reached up a hand to massage his forehead..  
"Sorry, insults are too easy."  Lowering his hand he looked Akane in 
the eye.  "All I want is to pretend that this entire engagement 
agreement doesn't exist for a few months.  Is that ok with you three?" 
 He glanced past Akane to direct a stare at her two sisters.
	"As far as I'm concerned I don't even know you!"  Akane 
responded as she turned and stormed upstairs.
	Ranma glanced after her, then directed his attention to Mr. 
Tendo who was now grasping his arms and staring into his face, tears 
flowing down his cheeks.  "Promise me you'll choose a fiancee in a 
month.  If you don't�  The Dojo�"
	"Three months.  Then I'll make a decision about the engagement 
question."  Ranma replied pulling his arms free.

	"We mainly use the attic for storage, but there should be 
enough room so that you can set up whatever you need.  Just ask me 
before rearranging anything please."
	"Thank you."  Ranma replied looking around the compact room 
with it's sharply angled ceiling.  Closing his eyes he extended his 
perceptions.  The house was well located, with strong currents of 
mystical energy circulating through the entire area.  And as he reached 
out his mind he felt the presence of benign spirits suffusing the 
entire house.  "This'll be perfect."  *Yes.  It'll take a few days to 
set things up for the spell, but then I shouldn't have any worries 
about someone trying to sabotage my equipment.  Baka oyaji.*
	"What did you want to set up here?"  Kasumi asked.
	"Hmm?"  Ranma glanced at her.  "Oh, I just need someplace quiet 
and private to decipher the secrets of the universe. 

	Akane jogged down the street, and at the entrance to the Tendo 
Dojo she pivoted to enter, a contented smile on her face.  The grin was 
swallowed by an expression of shock as she looked into the yard where a 
series of loud shouts had erupted.  "What?"  She ran to look.
	Genma was unleashing dozens of blows at Ranma, all of which 
were blocked by his son as he retreated toward the pond.  Suddenly 
Ranma crouched under the barrage and kicked at his father's legs, 
knocking them out from under him.  Genma caught himself with his hands, 
then pushed off to vault over the pond.  He landed in a defensive 
posture, then blocked his son's flying kick.
	Akane looked on.  "Hmm, their pretty good."
	"High spirited."  Kasumi commented from setting the table for 
breakfast.
	The two combatants leaped, clashing together over the pond in a 
flurry of punches and kicks, which ended with Ranma knocking his father 
into the pond with a kick that threw himself to the rocks.
	"I win oyaji." Ranma commented with a smug grin on his face.
	"Oh my!"  Kasumi commented, looking at Genma.  "What do Panda's 
eat?"  She pulled out a large plate of bamboo and set in on the table.

	"I don't want any argument's from you, boy.  We'll be staying 
for a while and you'll be going to school!"  Genma proclaimed.
	"Ok."  Ranma responded.  "Did you happen to pick up some books 
and that or will I have to shop for myself?"
	Genma blinked a second, then pulled out a leather 
backpack/satchel.  "Uh, here."
	"Hey Ranma, time to get going."  Nabiki commented as she glided 
around him with a grin on her face.
	"Nabiki, wait up!"  Akane called as she followed her sister out 
of the Dojo.
	"Why? You ought to be escorting your fiancee to be to school, 
right?"
	"He's not my fiancee!"  Akane screamed as she rushed past Ranma 
after her sister.
	"I'm no one's fiancee."  Ranma stated as he followed the 
sisters out of the house.  "I'm just a houseguest."

	"You sure seem to be pushing Akane to get engaged to me."  
Ranma commented to Nabiki as he hoped to from the fence to where she 
was walking a dozen feet ahead of Akane.  "I don't suppose you're 
interested in getting this Kuno guy unattached?"
	"Kuno!?"  Nabiki commented in a thoroughly disbelieving tone.  
"Well you haven't met him yet.  Trust me only an idiot would want him 
for a boyfriend."  With a worried look she glanced at Akane, then 
sighed as she saw no sign of being overheard.  "Do you know anything 
about magic?"
	Ranma just managed to force himself not to freeze in shock.  
"What do you mean?"
	"Well since Akane suddenly decided Kuno was her boyfriend last 
month I've tried to find some reason she'd suddenly stop hating him for 
being such a complete jerk and deciding to accept his 'date me' offers. 
 Not that she's actually dated him mind you."  She shook her head.  "I 
keep contemplating the possibility that he's used some sort of magic, 
and if magic were real I'd see it as the most likely cause.  Then you 
came to town."  She glanced at Ranma with a rye grin on her face.
	"My curse is proof that magic isn't impossible, and your hoping 
to learn that I've spent the last eleven months studying magic under 
the earth's sorcerer supreme, right?"
Nabiki looked at Ranma, then laughed, putting her hand to the back of 
her neck.  "Yeah, silly huh."

	"Beloved Akane Tendo!"
	Ranma glanced away from the gates to the school to look at the 
source of the cry, a tall student wearing the traditional Kendo uniform 
and holding a large bouquet of red roses who was running toward the 
trio.
	Akane's sigh was full of resignation and a little tiredness.  
"Kuno."
	With a flourish Kuno tossed the Bouquet to Akane who casually 
caught it.  "Truly the beauty of these perfect blossoms pales before 
your radiance, Akane Tendo."
	Akane glanced at them.  "They're as cute as all the other 
roses."
	Kuno stepped foreword and grabbed Akane's hands, which 
involuntarily jerked away.  "Hands off!"  Akane stated with a scowl as 
she dropped the bouquet and knocked his arms away.  
	"But my love!"  Kuno responded stepping forward while spreading 
his arms to hugging position.  Akane responded with a kick knocking him 
back to the school.
	"This is the way you treat your boyfriends."  Ranma commented 
as he stepped up too her.
	"Shut up."
	"Hold, how dare you stand so close to my beloved Akane Tendo?!" 
 Kuno stated as he rose to his feet, shifting his grasp on a boken he 
hadn't been holding a second before.
	"Hey I'm�"
	"Wait!  Before a challenge can be issued it is first proper to 
offer ones own name.  Therefore listen well, I am the mightiest warrior 
of this school, undefeated master of the sword, the rising star of the 
World of Kendo!  My peers call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!  I 
am Tatewaki Kuno."
	Ranma looked at him quietly a moment.  "I'm Ranma Saotome, Heir 
of the Saotome School of anything goes Martial Arts.  My father's a 
friend of the Tendo family and we're staying at the Dojo a few months."
	"You think yourself worthy to share the roof of Akane Tendo?"  
Kuno stated angrily as he stepped foreword slashing at Ranma with his 
Boken.  Ranma calmly flipped backward, landing casually on the trunk of 
a nearby tree.  Kuno's follow up slash missed Ranma and cut the tree in 
half.
	"Would you cut that out!"  Ranma shouted angrily as he avoided 
Kuno's thrusts and stepped close to the Kendoist.  "Whatever your 
problem with that violent girl is, I have nothing to do with it! And I 
want nothing to do with it!"
	"How dare you speak that way about Akane Tendo!"  Kuno screamed 
as he attacked with a flurry of thrusts, which Ranma avoided, with a 
short set of backflips followed by a leap into the air.  As he 
descended Kuno thrust upward, while Ranma struck out with his fingers.
	It started to rain.

	"Mr. Saotome?"  Akane asked as she walked into the shed she had 
seen the panda carry Ranma into.  "Ranma?"
	"Damn Rain."  Ranma muttered to herself as she considered a 
small kettle.  "I was winning too.
	"Check your throat."  Akane responded.
	"Akane?"  Ranma glanced at her, then looked down to examine a 
thin bruise at the base of her neck.  "Hmm, Better than I thought."  
She picked up the kettle and poured it over her head.
	"Even match I guess."  Akane commented.
	The now Male Ranma quickly toweled his hair and responded, "Not 
really."  He smirked remembering his own "signature" move before the 
rain had fallen.  "Why are you here anyway?"
	"We have the same homeroom, and I don't want you to be late for 
your first day."
	"Well I figure being male for my first day is more important, 
but your right."  He walked out of the shed, and paused at the door and 
glanced at the Panda.  "Thanks for actually being helpful this time 
Pop."

	*So much for not being late.*  Ranma thought as he contemplated 
the two buckets of water he and Akane were currently required to hold 
in the hallway.
	"It's your fault we're late you know."  Akane commented.
	Ranma looked at her.  "I'd be more inclined to blame Kuno 
myself."  He saw her eyes narrow in annoyance.  *I'm not saying 
anything more on the subject.*
	Akane sighed.  "I guess I must look crazy, having someone like 
that as a boyfriend."
	"Everyone has hidden depths."
	"If Kuno does their well hidden.  Well he does have a decent 
sense of romance, and he really knows how to make it seem like you're 
the only person in the world, but whenever he tries to hold my hand or 
anything�"  Akane grimaced and rubbed her hand with a slightly 
disgusted expression.  "I mean, why am I telling you this?"
	Ranma looked and saw himself targeted by a gaze filled with 
anger and a little confusion.  "Um, Whoah!" he added as he jumped to 
avoid a splash of water from down the corridor.
	"Ranma Saotome!"  Kuno declared as he threw aside his now empty 
bucket and drew his boken.  "I shall never accept your engagement to 
Akane Tendo!"
	The windows of the classroom exploded open, allowing the 
students to inundate the corridor with questions.
	"Wait we're not engaged."  Ranma said.
	"It was all father's idea."  Akane said.
	Kuno stepped forward slashing Ranma's bucket in half.  Ranma 
dodged the thrusts following, then jumped past the Kendoist.  "This is 
no place to fight, Kuno.  This way!"  He ran down the hallway, Kuno 
following.
	"I don't believe this!"  Akane commented as she ran after the 
pair.

	"Let's finish this outside."  Ranma stated as he opened a 
window and leaped out.
	"I follow!"  Kuno declared as he leaped after Ranma.
	"Wait!  This is the third floor!"  Akane called after the pair.
	"No problem�  Ahrgh!!"  Ranma commented as he looked down at 
the swimming pool he and Kuno were falling toward.
	"Lucky there's a pool there."  A student beside Akane 
commented.
	"NO WAY!"  Ranma stated, as he brought his hands together 
before him and concentrated, chanting softly to himself.  His decent 
slowed.  Kuno shot past him into the pool.  Ranma drifted down, halting 
an inch above the still agitated waters.  "Whew!"  He frowned and 
glanced at the school.  "Now what do I�"  A hand shot from the pool 
grabbing him by the ankle and knocking him in.
	"I fight on Saotome!"  Kuno proclaimed, his words garbled by 
the water.  He grabbed his opponent, and froze as his hands grasped 
somewhat more than expected on Ranma's chest.
	"You pervert!"  Ranma stated as she reached behind herself to 
grab Kuno by the head.  Focusing on the still active levitation spell, 
she willed herself to shoot into the air, spinning to dislodge Kuno.  
Fifteen feet above the pool, she flexed her ready arms and threw him 
back into the water.  She raised her hands just above her forehead.
	"Winds that blow from west to east, I summon you by my command.
	Deliver your might as I request, the power of lightning into my 
hand."
	With a final gesture, Ranma released the lightning bolt into 
the pool.