DISCLAIMER: Ranma & Co. don't belong to me, never did.



Excerpt: This is like a teaser for the story...just
thot I'd try it...:)

The king would have dragged her down the stairs if he
hadn�t been stopped by his councilors.

�I shall drown your brat myself!� he promised. But the
councilors came from old families, and believed it was
bad luck to kill the royal firstborn child.

*******************************************************

Prologue

The desert kingdoms of Jin and Jiya on the continent
of Sidon had been at war for 7 generations when King
Genma assumed the throne of Jiya.

�Finally,� the stout Prince breathed. �The fool is
dead!� He stared down distastefully at the wasted form
of his father, the dead King.

He'd been summoned from battle so urgently that his
clothes were still dusty and the smell of blood was
still coppery in his nostrils. But it was worth it to
be there to watch the old fool pass away and know that
he, Genma, was now king.

The old king's councilors looked upon the face of
their new king and trembled inwardly. Genma was known
as a cruel and merciless prince, already acknowledged
as a ruthless warrior on the battlefield. They feared
to see him rule.

�Will you stay to govern after the Coronation, my
lord?� asked Kalamari, the Royal Chief Councilor,
hesitantly.

�Of course! It should be a pleasant diversion from
battle,�Genma laughed. He looked around the spacious
bedchamber, at the oriental silk tapestries adorning
the carved wooden walls, and the thick Persian carpets
underfoot. Burning incense from a brazier of coals at
the foot of the enormous royal bed permeated the room
with the smell of myrrh, the spice for the dead.

He squinted at the window, where harsh, white sunlight
poured in. Of course,he'd rather be back in the heat
of battle, seated on his giant black warhorse churning
the hot sand beneath its hooves, enemies falling as he
scythed through them with his scimitar like they were
grass.

Nevertheless, he would assume the throne of Jiya. He
smiled slowly. A king's power would doubtless be as
heady as war.



Jiya and Jin were known as the Twin Claws of the
Desert. They were similar in size and two weeks apart
by camel. Larger than their neighbours, they guarded
the entrance to the southern arm of Sidon, and behind
them clustered the smaller cities of Cantos, Parth and
Jira. Until a king of Jin had stolen a royal bride of
Jiya, they had been allies. Now, they were formal
enemies.

King Genma was skilled with the sword and in kenpo,
though after his coronation, it was the pursuit of the
latter that began to consume much of his thoughts. 

The Saotome kings of Jiya and the Tendo kings of Jin
had fought side by side long ago, and together had
created the Anything Goes style of kenpo. Now being
bitter enemies, they practiced their craft separately.

At any rate, being fair of face and strong of arm, and
above all being the king, Genma did not find it too
hard to find a bride as his councilors advised.

The lady Nodoka caught his eye at a ball. As her tall,
slim form swayed on her partner's arm in the dance of
the Jinian court, her shapely form clothed in diamond
studded veils, her hair flowing like flame around her
creamy shoulders, Genma followed her movements with
his eyes and imagined her in his bed.

�She�s already engaged, Majesty,� said Kalamari,
Genma�s chief councilor. �Andrei Mori and she have
been betrothed for years.�

The next day, a pale and protesting young Count Mori
was escorted by an armed guard to the palace in chains
and charged with treason. He was summarily found
guilty and beheaded that very night. His head adorned
the palace gates the next morning.

Genma and Nodoka were married with great pomp and
ceremony the following week.

The beautiful King and the young Queen lived well
enough in the palace, and if Nodoka�s form seemed
frailer, and her dark eyes sometimes haunted, none
dared to voice any opinion on why that might be.

Eventually, Nodoka grew heavy with child. Genma was
jubilant.

�An heir! I shall have a son to carry on the Saotome
style of fighting,� he crowed.

One late evening, Nodoka gave birth to a girl.

Genma screamed when he heard the news. He strode up
the stairs to the birthing chamber and dragged his
bloody, exhausted wife from bed in his rage. She fell
moaning to the ground, her hands clawing at the rich
Aubusson carpet until she fainted from sheer
exhaustion and terror.

The king would have dragged her down the stairs if he
hadn�t been stopped by his councilors.

�I shall drown your brat myself!� he promised. But the
councilors came from old families, and believed it was
bad luck to kill the royal firstborn child.

�Leave the Queen, your Majesty,� they pleaded. �The
child is valuable. It will gain you lands and armies
if you sell it to an ally. It will only strengthen
your bonds with them.�

The councilors did not dare to refer to the child by
its sex.

�Bah! Take it from my sight then. I don�t want to see
it until it is grown and can be sold!�

So the babe was named Kasumi and taken away to be
cared for by the queen�s handmaidens. For the Queen
dared only to nurse her child herself and left it to
the handmaidens at all other times.

******************************************************************

In a different palace, far away to the west, a young
man, hardly more than a boy, sat musing on his
enormous throne. Kunou, descendant of the Tatewaki
kings of Dara, was tall and dark-haired. He was
dressed in golden robes and wore a long-sleeved golden
glove on his left hand.

His features were noble and he was fair of complexion.
Only the large, dark eyes showed a coldness that
hinted of cruelty.

The gaze of those dark eyes fell to contemplate the
servant that had just crawled forward to the middle of
the throne room.

�What is it?� he asked, his voice warm and velvety.
Anyone hearing that voice for the first time would be
charmed by its warmth and timbre.

�O Golden One, Happousai is here,� said the servant,
bowing to the floor.

The young king smirked and glanced to his right, where
a man in white oriental robes, with long dark hair,
seemingly little older than the king himself, stood
smiling.

�It looks like the wily old rat has fallen for the
cheese, Mousse,� Kunou said. �I really admit that I�m
surprised.�

�I was sure he would respond, my lord,�Mousse replied.
His leaf-green eyes glinted with pleasure. �We sent a
strong invitation. And we offer him a great prize.�

�But does he have the patience to grasp it at the
right moment? He is already old.�

�The old have learned patience, my lord.�

Kunou pondered his advisor for a moment. �This has to
work, Mousse!Very well. Bring him in!�

The little man who was ushered into the throne-room
was so short that at first, both the men on the raised
dais thought that Happosai was a dwarf. On closer
inspection, they realized he was merely very, very
short, and quite fat.

He bowed to Kunou, but did not bend his knees. He was
the leader of the desert tribes of Arun, and as such
owed allegiance to no one. Kunou knew this yet
Happosai�s temerity annoyed him. All the desert tribes
and kingdoms annoyed him immensely.

Kunou spotted Happosai glancing around covertly. The
throne room was empty except for them and the deaf and
dumb guards who were with the King at all times.
Mousse had made sure that it was done discreetly.

�His Majesty King Kunou has summoned you to his
presence,�said Mousse. �It is good that you arrived so
promplty.�

Happosai glanced up. �I could hardly refuse so
gracious an invitation from the King of Dara
himself,�he said dryly. Five hundred armed soldiers
had accompanied the deliverer of the royal message.

Kunou spoke for the first time. �Happosai, Chief of
the Arun. We greet you.�

Happosai said, �How may I be of service, Great One?�

�You are aware of the kingdom of Jiya?�

Happosai looked startled. �Certainly. Genma has
recently come into the kingship.�

Kunou smiled down at the midget Arun Chief.
�Happousai, I�m about to fulfill your wildest dreams.�

********************

Almost before Nodoka was recovered from her labor,
Genma proceeded to frequent her bed until she had
conceived again. This took a year, because to the west
of Jiya, Jin and the other civilized countries, news
came of the Arun, a horde of nomads led by a
charismatic and unstoppable leader named Happosai.
Genma was kept busy defending his territories in the
far west.

In the meantime, the old king of Jiya died as well,
and left the kingdom to his son, Soun. Soun took a
wife to him and proceeded to continue the war with
Happosai and the six tribes of Arun.

The following year, another daughter was born to the
Queen and Genma�s rage could not be contained. He hung
his wife from her wrists in the Great Hall and whipped
her till the blood from her back pooled at her feet.

Hatred for her husband coiled like a cold black snake
in the queen�s breast as she hung from the chains. The
councilors again begged for the King to spare the
child and he thundered at them, �If she bears me
another girl child, I shall kill her and burn all her
babes before her dying eyes.�

The councilors shuddered and retreated and worked all
their arts, and every day a potion was sent to the
queen, so that she might bear a boy child, but another
year passed before the queen grew heavy with child
again.

Around this time, spies brought the news to Genma that
Soun�s wife was pregnant as well. A month before the
queen was due, Genma received news that his enemy�s
wife had delivered a healthy son.

He went to the Queen�s chamber and told her the news.

�Do you remember my vow last year, my dear?� he asked
maliciously.

�I had fainted from your beating, my lord,� Nodoka
reminded him tonelessly.

�Well, I feel free to repeat it. If this third child
is a girl, I will rip open your belly so that no more
such spawn will leave your womb.� With that, he left
her.

A month passed slowly, and as the date of the birth
grew nearer, Genma�s councilors grew more and more
terrified.

�If Nodoka births a girl child this time, the King
will kill us all along with the Queen in his rage,�
said Lord Tofu. �I have a young son myself, and I
would like to live to see him grow up.�

�There�s a solution,� mused Kalamari, his long nose
twitching. �It�s a slim chance, but Genma might agree
to it.� When Kalamari's nose twitched, it was a sign
that he was thinking very fast. He told them what he
was thinking.

The advisors put their heads together but could not
find a way to improve on Kalamari�s plan. They went to
seek an audience with Genma.

�You know that the Arun are massing in the foothills,
Majesty,� they said.

Genma glanced at them. �Aren�t we even now waiting for
a reply from Cantos to join with us?� Cantos was
Jiya�s greatest ally, though not nearly as powerful.

�Uhm,� Kalamari coughed. �Yes, Majesty. We received a
reply today. They have seen the strength of the hordes
of Arun and don�t think that allying with us will save
them. They want us to have a third ally.�

�What?� barked Genma. He rose from his throne and
strode to where Kalamari knelt, offering up a scroll.
He snatched it and peered at it, but he was not very
good at reading, and finally he glared at them.

�Who do they want us to ally with?� he asked.

Kalamari did not want to see his King�s face when he
replied, but he stayed looking up so as to avoid the
foot that doubtless would be coming his way.

�Jin, Majesty.�

There was a long silence. Kalamari had to skip nimbly
to avoid the foot that nevertheless managed a painful
kick to his ribs.

�What filth are you spouting, you fool of a camel?�
Genma roared. �Why would I EVER want to..?�

�There are advantages, majesty,� ventured Kalamari.

Genma�s cold eyes lit on his advisor.

�Interrupt me again and I shall have your tongue
sliced from you with a blunt blade.� The councilors
quaked on their knees. �What advantages?�

Tofu looked up at this point.

�When old enemies become allies, it is customary to
give each other a token of their good will. Usually,
that token is a son or a daughter. Each king will
foster the child of the other as his own. The child is
a surety against betrayal.�

�What is so wonderful about sending off three girl
brats? I will give them away freely to any beggar that
asks,� said Genma.

No one questioned that the third child would be a girl
child.

�Ah, but if you give them to Soun, Majesty, in return
you will get a son,� Kalamari said craftily. �His son.
To raise as your own.�

Genma paused, the words reverberating in his mind. A
son. To raise as his own. To train as he wished.

�But why would he take three daughters for one son?
Everyone knows a son outweighs any number of daughters
in value.�

�Ah, you will only offer him your youngest daughter,
majesty,� Kalamari said, his long nose twitching. �The
more daughters you give him, the less he will value
them.�

�What will make him value your youngest will be that
you will engage your daughter to him,� Tofu continued
hastily. The King was clever, and if he decided that
they were deceiving him in any manner, their bones
would soon adorn the palace walls. �The king won�t
believe that you, a warrior, would break that oath.�

�This war with the Aruns is likely to be a long war,�
Genma mused. �I would have the boy for many years. And
betrothed to my daughter he would be bound in a double
bond to me and Jiya. And he will rule after me. Let
Soun have another son to rule after him.�

He looked down at his cowering councilors. �Very well.
You may contact Soun of Jin.�

When the third daughter was born, no one was really
surprised. The Queen looked up with tired terror in
her eyes as Genma entered the room.

He will kill me this time, she thought.

But he only smiled a strange smile at her and took the
baby away. She dared not ask where.

The arrangements had been made. The two kings sent
each other documents with their seals pledging their
children Ranma and Akane to each other.

Genma was afire with eagerness. The only reason he
waited till his daughter was weaned was that he did
not want her to die on the way to Jin, thus stealing
him of his new son.

One cool summer morning, a procession of slaves,
servants, and courtiers, Kalamari at its head, left
the city of Jiya with the baby princess Akane. Across
the desert, a similar procession carrying the little
prince, Ranma, began the same journey to Jiya.



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