AN: Sorry this has taken so long. Stretched between RL (as
if) and a few other ideas that are kicking my head around. I
didn't really get to the reactions between the Tendous,
Ranma, and Mirror as I wanted to, so hopefully a little more
on that next chapter.
The characters of the Ranma 1/2 universe are the
creation and possession of the brilliant Rumiko Takahashi.
They belong to Rumiko Takahashi and her licensees
(Shogakukan Inc., Kitty-Fuji TV, Viz Communications Inc.)
No copyright infringement is intended.
(Rev 1 Jul 14, 01)
Daughter of Amazons: Here's Ranma!
It was early afternoon as the guide led the three figures
toward Jusenkyou.
Suddenly, he began looking around nervously. Soun Tendou
caught the disturbance as well and moved to position himself
between his two oldest daughters and whatever was up ahead.
After a moment, three women broke through the forest ahead
of them. Each looking as if they were ready for war. They
began a cautious approach.
The guide and the led warrior exchanged a few quick words,
which none of the Tendous understood. After which the guide
carefully watched the three head back into the forest before
returning to his latest customers.
"Quick sirs, must we to be leaving. Training grounds no
place to be now!" The guide began as soon as the girls where
out of sight.
"What's going on here? You said you could lead us to the
legendary training grounds. And what did those girls want?"
Soun asked impatiently.
"It no safe here. Other two customers are as dead now." The
guide pleaded.
"WHAT!" All three Tendous shouted.
"They touch of Tiger. Is very bad. Now warriors of
Joketsozuku hunt." Soun just stared at the man.
----------
He hadn't wanted to leave without finding his wife and
daughter, but there had been no sign of them. With each
encounter of the Amazons, their guide had become
increasingly nervous. Finally, with a promise to send word
once he heard anything, they allowed him to lead them away
from the valley.
Soun Tendou forced the painful memories away as he again
read the postcard. 'Bringing Ranma from China - Saotome.'
Oh, how one piece of paper could evoke so many emotions.
"Kasumi! Nabiki!" Tendou-san stood up and began to look for
his daughters to tell them the news. If he let himself start
thinking back to those dreadful days he would become as
useless as he had during the first few years after their
return.
----------
"Okay, that's it for today," Kasumi called out, ending the
women's self-defense course for the day. She beamed a
cheerful smile at her students as they gathered their
belongings.
She didn't have a lot of students and most of them were her
age or younger. But it was still her class. She had started
about the time she had started high school. Their father had
completely shutdown mentally after China. After their trip,
they were in a real pinch for money.
At first, it had been mostly some of her friends. That had
expanded to some of the women's sports teams and others from
her school. It wasn't until after her graduation that her
classes had included any non-Furinkin High students. Now,
she balanced her collage courses and these evening classes
together with the occasional lessons that that wonderful Dr.
Tofu would give her on pressure points.
Her mind wondering to Dr. Tofu, she didn't notice Nabiki
come in until she cleared her throat, which nearly made her
jump out of her skin.
"Ahh!"
"Tisk-tisk, Kasumi. Now what were you thinking that let me
sneak up on you, again?" Nabiki smirked.
"Uh, nothing to terribly important." Kasumi tried not to
blush.
"Then I guess this wouldn't interest you," Nabiki replied
coyly.
----------
"Father, how could you!" Kasumi almost cried out.
"Yea, daddy. We've never even met this Ranma Saotome,"
Nabiki added.
"That's easily fixed," Soun added cheerfully.
The two women in the room looked at each other.
----------
Two teenagers could be seen walking down some side streets
following a large panda.
"Growl!" The panda complained.
"Cut it out. I told ya she's stayin' with us till we can
help find any of her family," the smaller of the two teens
replied.
"Mirror want not make trouble," Mirror added softly to the
growing argument. They had been fighting over this ever
since they left the ship.
"No! I promised I'd help, an' I mean it," Ranma-chan huffed.
Mirror let out another sigh. "What's so hot about this place
you're draggin' us to anyway, old man."
The panda, still trying to come up with a way to explain the
girl's presents to his friend, answered his question without
thought. "I'm taking you to meet your wife," the sign read.
"W-what!" Ranma-chan yelled. Stopping right where he was in
the street.
----------
"Recently, it seems, they crossed into China," Soun expanded
upon what he knew of his friends travels. The two dark
glares answering reminded him that that may not have been
the best topic to bring up with his two girls. He would have
to talk to his friend about that before things started off
on the wrong foot.
"At least tell us what kind of guy this Ranma is," Kasumi
relented.
Their father gave a nervous laugh before replying, "No
idea."
"You have no idea?" Nabiki leaned forward to confirm what he
had said.
"I've never met him," he answered quite honestly.
"We have visitors," Kasumi said before Nabiki could retort.
Nabiki didn't know how she did it. Her hearing was good, but
Kasumi seemed to have no problem hearing people move around
the house. Nabiki smirked at that. Unless she was
distracted, she always seemed to know where everyone was.
"Saotome, my friend. We have been waiting.!" Soun cried out
as he ran for the front door. The two Tendou daughters got
up to follow their father.
'Might as well get this over with,' they both thought.
----------
Both Nabiki and Kasumi looked over two strangers and their
panda.
Both of the strangers where dressed in Chinese styled
clothing. Probably from their trip to China.
The first, obviously a girl, was taller than her companion.
She was almost dressed in a very short dress that redefined
the term mini. It would have been tight and clingy enough
that they could tell she wasn't wearing a bra even if it
hadn't been still damp from the earlier rain. Her long hair
was tied back in twin ponytails that reached her waist.
Nabiki shook her head at the obvious dye job used, like blue
was a natural color.
The second figure was dressed in a baggy short-sleeved red
shirt with gold ties across the chest, a white tie belt, and
some form of dark pants that cinched around the ankles.
Almost natural looking long red hair was tied into a
pig-tail in the back. While Nabiki had seen a number of
Japanese with natural red highlights, if not dyed it was at
least teased out much more than would be normal.
Now the panda was the real question. They were rare enough
in a zoo, to be traveling with one as a pet was unheard of.
But there it was, standing well trained behind the two.
It was about this point both daughters noticed their father
wasn't about to say anything.
"Daddy. this is your friend?" Kasumi spoke out. Their father
quickly shook his head back and forth.
"Oh, so this panda just decided to visit. Happens all the
time!" Nabiki replied with a grin.
"Good, then I guess pops won't get too lonely," the red-head
replied. The panda gave the red-head a nock on the head.
Nabiki couldn't tell if she was serious or not.
After the blue-hair girl elbowed her companion, the red-head
spoke up again.
"Oh, yea. Uh, Since pops can't talk right now, I guess I
have to do the um, introductions."
Gesturing to the girl he announced, "This is Mirror. Since
she decided not to kill us, we're hoping to help her locate
some people." Said girl glared at her friend.
Now Gesturing to the panda, "This is pops. He's harmless
enough." For some reason the red-head gave a strange smirk
at that comment. For it's part the panda took a swipe like
it understood what the re-head had said.
"And I am Ranma Saotome."
"Ranma! At last you've come!" Sound announced, suddenly
alive again. He jumped quickly across the space between them
and grabbed Ranma into a hug.
----------
"Wow, dad. I knew you were progressive, but to arrange for
one of us to marry woman," Nabiki smirked.
"Oh, poor daddy. He's so disappointed," Kasumi sighed while
re-wetting a towel to place on their father's head.
"He- he said he had a son," Soun replied quietly to his own
defense.
"Do you see a son here?" Nabiki chided while grabbing one of
Ranma's breasts. "Hmm? Do you?" She called, having too much
fun to think about how see was fondling another woman's
breast.
"Um. I really wish you'd stop that," Ranma-chan tried,
ignoring the snickering coming from the unhelpful amazon.
"Could hot water we have?" Mirror asked politely, seeing as
Ranma-chan was now blushing too furiously to think for
herself.
Nabiki looked over at the strange girl who was smirking at
her. She had thought she was Japanese, but she spoke with a
horrible accent. Noticing the smirk she was still receiving,
she looked over at Ranma. The girl was several shades of red
past tomato. Then she caught what she was doing and yanked
her hand back.
"Oh, I should have brought out the tea! Excuse me," Kasumi
left quickly for the kitchen.
"You could have said something!" Nabiki snapped.
"I did," Ranma-chan replied. "Thanks for the help," she said
toward Mirror who shrugged it off.
"Look like found wife," she replied hiding her smirk.
"There is no way I am marrying a girl! It's not even legal!"
Nabiki almost kept her mask. But the momentary rage did hide
the embarrassment.
"Now Nabiki, if you really wanted to, I bet you could find a
way," Kasumi called as she returned with the tea set. She
had returned just in time to catch Nabiki's last statement.
Thinking that they might actually want to try something,
after all hadn't Nabiki been feeling up the young girl, she
had to think of something to say quick. Nabiki, for her
part, decided not to respond to the bait. After all, she
didn't really have anything to worry about.
Kasumi set the tray down and began to pour for the guests
then her family.
"Oh boy," Ranma mumbled, now realizing now just how his
father left the explaining up to him. "Where should I
begin."
"I know, how about the beginning," Nabiki supplied almost
helpfully.
As she finished, the panda moved quickly to grab Ranma's cup
of tea and dump it over her head.
"Oww! What ja do that for!" A slightly taller and decidedly
more masculine Ranma jumped up and yelled at the panda.
"Now . she's . a boy," Kasumi supplied helpfully. Nabiki
only blinked.
'My own son,' said a sign the panda suddenly pulled out. 'So
humiliating,' the reverse read.
"And who are you to talk!?" Ranma said jumping to an open
side of the table. "My old man's a panda!" Ranma yelled
while kicking the tea kettle at the panda.
Suddenly a large man in a gi, who had hot tea spilled all
over him jumped up. "How dare you speak to your father that
way!" The man cried out.
"Genma?" Soun said incredulously.
"Daddy? Why are you friends with them?" Kasumi inquired. The
school may have been known for some unorthodox things, but
this.
"They weren't like this before," was all Soun could think of
to reply with. At least he never remembered his old friend
changing in to a panda before.
".What's the idea draggin' me to a place like that, anyway?"
Ranma shouted having gotten a good hold on his father's gi.
The fight had already moved out in to the back yard. Mirror
only shook her head.
"You sound like a woman! Were you not prepared to give your
life for the sake of your training?" Genma retorted to his
son as he improvised a throw, landing Ranma in the koi pond.
"My life yes!" Ranma said while jumping out of the water.
The rest of Ranma's reply was lost as Genma made a splash of
his own.
"Women better than sound of whinny man!" Mirror shouted,
recovering from her kick to Genma's back. Ranma Smirked as
Genma growled but otherwise sulked in the pond. He was no
longer in the mood to try to take both of them on.
----------
Ranma sighed as he leaned back against the roof and looked
out upon the starry night.
{It's a clear night, good for star watching,} came Mirror's
musical voice from behind him.
{yes,} Ranma replied simply. During their year in China,
Genma and Ranma had stayed away from the larger cities and
most towns thus had little chance to practice Mandarin.
During the trip from China around to Tokyo Harbor, he had
practiced a lot with Mirror. Not that his Mandarin was half
as good as her Japanese, it was still fun to practice.
Especially as it bugged his father. 'Perhaps if they had
bothered to learn before Jusenkyou.' Ranma let that thought
trail off. 'What if's' weren't really his thing.
{I don't think they like me.}
{What make you idea?} Ranma turned to look at his friend.
{The older girl kept giving me funny looks all through
dinner. The younger girl yelled at me when I was looking
around.} Mirror sighed as she plopped down next to Ranma.
Dinner had been a strangely quiet affair. After explaining
the curses and how it happened to the Tendous, both girls
seemed to be extremely upset with their father. Ranma
imagined it was probably with being engaged to a
sex-changing freak. He had only begun to feel a little
better after talking about it with Mirror. If it hadn't been
for Mirror's need to get and stay away from that area he
would probably be heading back that way right now,
especially after learning of his engagement. However, when
she had told him she had planned to escape through
Jusenkyou, even not fully understanding what would happen,
well, he couldn't allow that to happen. Even to a tomboy
like her.
{No worry. Father no stay long time to one place.} Ranma
returned his gaze upward.
As they both sat there, they both started thinking about a
similar night not to long ago.
A little over a week ago, aboard a ship bound for Tokyo:
Ranma smirked to himself as he looked out across the dark
waters and star filled sky. Being able to see the stars like
this always made his troubles seem like they were far away
and insignificant. He took in a deep breath, tasting the
open sea-air. 'Kami-sama is in his home, all is right with
the world.'
"Is clear night." A soft, almost musical voice started him
out of his revelry.
"Yea." He started, turning around. He suddenly found his
heart halfway up his throat, as the girl that was trying to
kill him stood between him and the rest of the boat.
"You go Japan to?" She smiled at him. Suddenly, it hit him.
She had never met his boy side before.
"Uh, yeah." He replied, able to breathe again. She smiled at
him, glowing under the soft pale light of the full moon. He
found his breath once again taken away, although for an
entirely different reason.
"S-so, what are you going to Japan for?" Ranma didn't want
to ask the question. But he had to know what she would say.
"I mean, don't you miss your home?" Hadn't she said she was
going to give up, once he left China?
"Of course, that is why I go Japan." She said after a long
pause.
"Huh?" Ranma asked with confusion written all over his face.
"Was home long ago." She turned to look out over the water.
"Once, family came to China. But Amazons kill all but me.
Then make me slave." Ranma didn't know what to think. "After
time, I prove myself and allowed to become warrior. But
still no get chance to leave. Was very hard times before,
but promise mom before she die that I get home."
"So that's why you chased me- er that girl." Mir Or nodded.
"Is law, if warrior defeated by an outsider and they are
female, must give kiss of death. Promise to chase to ends of
earth to kill."
"Oh."
"I no care about law," she suddenly said into the silence
that had fallen between them. "It was chance to leave
village without Elders stopping." She looked to be on the
verge of crying; however, warriors don't cry. "No want to
scare her, but only way."
"Hey, I'm not scared of anything" Ranma shouted defensively.
"I no mean you, silly boy." Mir Or said, casting her eyes
toward the water, hiding her slight blush and the smile she
couldn't keep from her lips. 'If he had been one of the boys
in village,' she killed that thought quickly.
"I mean." Ranma floundered trying to come up with a save.
"I hope we meet and she forgive me," she whispered quietly
into the ocean depths.
'She already has.' Ranma thought to himself.
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