One thing Ami had done her best to instill a love of learning into her children. It mostly stuck, while Nabiki was the only one who seemed to completely take after her academically. (If not in work ethic, she was "only" the top of her class and wasn't even taking any cram schools) Akane and Kasumi were still both good students. Which of course meant that the young man complaining was hopelessly outgunned.

"Pops! Why did you sign me up for school again!?" Ranma complained.

"Did you think I was going to have an uneducated lout for a son?" Genma said.

"The hell I need to go to high school to be a martial artist?" Ranma said.

Ami stepped next to the young man, she had a feeling this argument had happened before. "I assume you want to be respected Ranma?"

"...huh?" Ranma asked.

"Respected." Ami said, smiling at the boy. "You clearly have pride in your ability, but without education and certification, why would anybody treat you as anything but a boy who can win a fight?"

"What? Who needs a piece of paper to-"

"The piece of paper tells people that you can be trusted." Ami said, "I know a lot about medicine but would you just want to take my word for it?" When Ranma didn't answer, she pushed a backpack into his hands. "There we go! Have fun at school. I have a shift to go too, I'll be back by dinner." She then smiled sweetly at him, and walked away like the discussion was over.

"Uh…" Ranma looked down at his new bookbag.

"Well you heard her boy, go to school!" Genma slapped his son on the back.

"Your mom's kind of intense when talking about school." Ranma said to Akane, she was putting on her shoes. The sailor fuku on her was kind of odd compared to the exercise clothes he had seen on her yesterday. It definitely didn't suit her. Not at all. She was way cuter in those exercise clothes.

"Well, my mother is a chess grandmaster, one of the best doctors in the world, graduated top of her class in Tokyo University, and jokes she broke the IQ scale." Akane mused.

"Huh?" Ranma said.

"She's smart, super smart." Akane said, shrugging "Nabiki's the only one of us girls who got her brains, but she doesn't work nearly as hard and just coasts in class." She paused, "Also, no matter how it looks never ever get involved in a bet with Nabiki. Not to win, not to lose, not to draw."

"Eh, I don't gamble anyways." He said.

"Aww that's too bad!" Chibi-Usa jumped between them, "I bet it'd be fun!"

"Woah where did you come from!?" Ranma said.

"The Future." Chibi-Usa said.

"Seriously how the hell did you sneak up on us?" Ranma said.

"You really think you keep yourself focused on your surroundings 24/7?" She asked.

"If you're going to be training with my old man you will be." Ranma said seriously, "He's not going to go easy on you with that trick you pulled."

"Really? Wow that sounds impressive, tougher then Auntie Haruka…" Akane mused.

"Another friend of your moms?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah. They're a real strong martial artist. But they's let themselves go a bit because they likes racing better." Akane said.

"That's too bad." Chibi-Usa said. "Well anyway! Let's head off to Furinkan High! I hear there's plenty of excitement there!"

"Yay. Excitement," Akane sarcastically cheered, a reaction Ranma honestly expected more from school.

"Wow this is exciting!" Chibi-Usa said once the horde of boys charged at Akane.

Ranma gawked, mouth slightly ajar, at Akane as she tossed him her bag and went to work on the boys calling out love for her. They swarmed around her, like love-struck zombies.

Akane's style was strange. To Ranma it looked like Anything Goes while not exactly being the style. He supposed that came from it being a recreation of the style by Akane and her… mom? The sisters did seem to call Makoto "Mom" while Ami was "Mother" so Ranma supposed that was a good as method as any of thinking about the relationship Akane's parent and stepparent had.

The boys were pushing harder against Akane, standing up each time she knocked them down!

"Hmmm they don't stand a chance against her do they?" Chibi-Usa asked. She didn't know much about fighting without magical crystals or other godlike powers but even she could tell that Akane outclassed these boys.

"Nah they're getting their asses kicked to next week." Ranma said, enjoying the sight. She was dismantling her opponents with ease. It was almost a work of art.

Before Akane could finish them off, however, the boys were scattered by the force of a projectile being thrown to the center of the horde. It was a bokken with a rose tied to the handle.

Akane let out a long pained sigh from the sight of the thrown weapon. "Upperclassman Kuno."

A man in tuxedo wearing sunglasses dropped down from a tree. "Fair Akane Tendo, how fierce and mighty you're showing is today."

"Oh. My. God." Chibi-Usa said, clutching her hands over her mouth to avoid dying of laughter. "The legends were true. I thought it was a myth. He really is this bad."

"Your fierce beauty is surely the reborn forms of the Senshi, come, date with me and we shall recreate those glorious days!"

"Senshi?" Ranma said, "The hell he's talking about?"

"Huh? You haven't heard of the Sailor Senshi? They're superheroes that first appeared around 30 years ago. They show up to fight demons and monsters when they're causing trouble.. Though they don't pop up much anymore since monster attacks are way down." Chibi-Usa said with a proud smile. "They kind of beat most of them." There had actually been some protests from local martial artists since they were running out of monsters to fight.

"And that has something to do with the bad dance date look how?"

"I think he's trying to be.. Oh man… the Tuxedo Kamen to Akane's Sailor Moon." Chibi-Usa forcing down a giggling fit. "As if this even compares! Hah!"

"So, shall we dance my lady?" Kuno said.

"So do you attract all the weirdos or is this just a special case?" Ranma asked, dropping down next to Akane.

Kuno threw another bokken/rose combo. "Halt, knave! This is private moment between myself and Akane Tendo!"

Ranma caught the thrown weapon between his hands. "Private? You interfered with this girl's fight and started babbling on about some old comic book knock offs."

"Excuse me!? You ignorant fool! The Sailor Senshi are the saviors of this world! Heroes all women of earth should look up to and emulate! Noble Valkyries who to this day have no equal!

"Yeah and you're not one of them." Akane said, "Nobody knows who they are, so can we just go to class Upperclassman before I have to beat you again?"

"Not before I punish this ignorant fool for disrespecting your predecessors!" He drew yet another bokken, "Speak your name blade, because you face I, the Masked Thunder of Furinkan High, Tatewaki Kuno, age Seventeen!"

"Wait, she just showed up at your place?" Usagi said.

"Yes. Apparently you decided that she needs to learn martial arts from my daughter." Ami said into the phone. "She's living here now, and she hypnotized my children."

"Ami, you really should just tell them!" Usagi said. "I mean, wouldn't that be awesome! If my parents are Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter I'd be all 'kyaaa you're so cool Mom!' and we'd bond over being superheroes. It's not like there's anything super dangerous that means we have to hide our identity from our family anymore… actually Mom wasn't exactly happy when she learned what I was Moonlighting as…""

Ami sighed, "I know Usagi, I just want my daughters to live mostly normal lives."

"I get what you're saying Ami, but talking to Makoto I don't think your girls are going to be involved in a 'normal' life." Usagi said.

Ranma dodged another thrown bokken. His opponent seemed to have an unlimited supply of them. Rose petals were scattered everywhere, and Ranma was beginning to wonder if he'd be late for his first day of class. "Question, why roses?"

"Fool! Tuxedo Kamen, in the beautiful Sailor Moon's hour of need, would distract the foe with a thrown rose, allowing her to deliver the final blow!"

"He also has a cool sword cane, thus the bokken I think." Chibi-Usa commented.

"This meatball headed maiden speaks the truth." Kuno said. "Imitating the noble man supporting such beautiful warriors is the true path to follow! Now, face my final attack! Tuxedo Bom-"

Then a panda landed on his head. Boy what are you doing! You can't be late on your first day! A few drops began to fall from the sky, the sign flipped over. Also it's raining! We can't let your secret get out.

"Bye Ami." Makoto kissed Ami on the cheek, and she watched her partner leave the house to head off to work. With Ami being the "Breadwinner" of this household. Makoto was the one who ended up taking the "housewife" role. Which suited her just fine, she had always enjoyed the mundane and domestic. Even with Kasumi gone off to college she still did a good enough job that once the morning clean up was done she was essentially free until dinner when she could assign the Akane and Nabiki their own chores.

So with nothing else to do, she decided to call up some of the other Senshi and gossip a bit about what was going on. So, at random, she dialed one her fellow warriors of Love and Justice. "Hello, Tenoh Residence" Haruka's voice said on the other side of line.

"Hey there Haruka, how's Michiru?" Makoto said.

"She's fine. She has a recording today, and me and Hotaru are going to cheer her on." They sounded quite happy about that. Unlike Makoto Harkua had managed to pull some strings, and Michiru was legally their wife. It helped that Harkua was just that good as passing as a man. "So you didn't call just to say Hi Makoto, what sort of oddity did your daughters get up to this time?"

"Well, it's a bit strange..." Makoto said, and explained the current situation.

"An arranged marriage? Really?" Haruka said

"Yeah I knew Soun had been an old fashioned guy but this takes the cake." Makoto laughed. "Still, as a bonus the guy knows Soun's style so Akane can finally learn it properly, so it's worth keeping him around." She paused, "Plus his son seems like a decent kid, so who knows?"

Haruka chuckled, "Good to hear."

"Yeah, we were all real confused when this letter from Mr. Saotome showe-"

"Saotome!?" Haruka said, their voice suddenly becoming more intense.

"Uh… yeah?"

"Genma Saotome!?"

"...how'd you know?"

"I'm coming over Makoto." Haruka said, and then hung up.

Makoto stared at the now silent phone. "Uh... Haruka? The hell?" That didn't sound good.

Once he had persevered his son's secret and allowed him to go to school on time, Genma found himself doing something he had not had cause to do for some time now. Sit quietly, and think. He sat silently, observing the koi pond. This had not been what he had imagined when he came to the Tendo Dojo. He had thought he'd get to reconnect with his old friend, see his son get married,and enjoy retirement and grandchildren.

But instead Soun had passed on from this world years ago. He was a stranger in his old friends house now. The only plus side was the interesting challenge of teaching his daughter the style again.

Oh and figuring out how that pink haired brat pulled that trick over him. Oh once he figured out whatever she used he's make her pay.

"Hey, Mr. Saotome?" Makoto came from the kitchen to the veranda.

"Yes?" Genma looked up from his meditation, "What is it?"

"Uh… do you know any Haruka Tennoh?"

Haruka Tennoh? Genma folded his arms, closed his eyes in thought. "Hmm… Tennoh. Haruka Tennoh… nope. Can't say I recall knowing anybody with that name, why do you ask?"

"Cause I was just talking to them and they knew your-"

They both heard the door to the house be slammed open. "Genma Saotome you Cheating Bastard!"

Makoto did a double take as a very angry Haruka charged into the living room. "Holy shit, that was fast even for you!"

Genma, for his part, was looking mostly annoyed. "Do I know you?" He asked the pissed off person.

Haruka responded with a right hook. Genma went sailing through the air, landing straight into the koi pond.

"Haruka, what the fuck!?" Makoto said, "He's my guest!"

"No, he's a -" they stopped on seeing Genma emerge from the pond. "Panda?! Aha! I knew it, a cheating slimeball like you is too evil to be human!" They pulled out the Uranus pen.

Well that was a level of overkill that Makoto did not want to deal with. "No!" So she straight up tackled Haruka. "He's not a youma or a demon or anything like that!" She glanced over at him. "I think! Pretty sure he's not!"

Thanks for the vote of confidence Miss Kino. Genma's sign said.

"How did you write that fast?"

Martial Arts Calligraphy. The next sign said.

"That's a thing?" Makoto asked incredulously. She knew there were some oddball martial arts out there, heck Kasumi had been on the Martial Arts Gymnastics team during her time at Furinkan. But how do you make writing a Martial Art?

Genma pulled himself out of the pond. This was not exactly a new situation to him. One didn't study Anything Goes without pissing at least a few people off. But what was new is that he couldn't place why this particular person was so mad at him. Also, why had Makoto tackled them when they pulled out that pen?

Question, are you in any way related to Josuke Kuonji? His sign read.

"Who the hell is that?" Haruka asked, standing up and growling.

Well he was stumped. No connection to that particular skeleton, and if they were related to his wife he'd know them already. They didn't look Chinese so no connections to Shampoo. Plus they'd be after Ranma if that was the case.

Then Genma's musing was interrupted by having to block a punch from them. Wow they were either really brave or really strong, holy hell they were way stronger than they looked!

"Can I change him back before you keep trying to kill him Haruka!?" Makoto asked, desperately

"Oh wow, I haven't seen her this mad in years." Makoto turned around to see Michiru and Hotaru both standing in the living room. Both of them looked like they had dressed up quickly. For Hotaru that meant that she had slipped on an old T-shirt which Makoto knew Kasumi had given her and jeans with sandals. For Michiru it meant that she only had light makeup on.

"Why is Papa fighting a bear?" Hotaru asked, looking more baffled then Makoto could remember seeing her. "Why is a bear even here."

"Why are you two here?"

"Well Haruka just shouted they were going out, and since they looked so upset we decided to hop in the car with them." Michiru explained. "So why is my spouse fighting a bear? The answer had better not be 'drunken bet'."

"I don't know why Haruka's fighting him. But he's not really a bear. He's a human with a magic spell on him. Cold water turns him into a panda."

"Ah so they're pissed at a man, not a bear." Michiru said. Casually accepting that her spouse was fighting a man turned bear for some mysterious reason. This was far from the weirdest thing she had seen, after all.

Meanwhile, the stalemate the brawl had been in ended with Genma spotting an opening and getting a good hit in. The punch (not a swipe, he was careful to not let the panda claws hit them) knocked Haruka off their feet, into the air, and made them crash into the T.V. Miraculously, it did not break, merely turned on and began playing a Sailor V rerun on a retro anime channel.

"Papa?" Hotaru ran over to Haruka, "Are you OK?"

"Wait… when did you get here?" Haruka asked.

"I was in the car with you the entire time, Papa. You just didn't notice from the white hot rage." Hotaru said. "I was so looking forward to visiting you two today. Yet you ran down after talking on the phone and ran out, the two of us barely caught up before you drove off."

"Also I don't know how many laws you broke getting here that fast dear, but it was a lot." Michiru threw in.

Meanwhile, Genma had upended a kettle over his head, thus restoring him to human form. "What is this about!?"

"You stole my title!" Haruka shouted. "Don't tell me you forgot? Five years ago, Martial Arts Drag Racing world championship!"

Michiru and Hotaru both gasped. "Wait… he's that Genma Saotome!?" Hotaru said.

"Wow no wonder she's so angry." Michiru said.

"Err, I think I'm missing the story here." Makoto said.

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I needed the money so I entered that tournament." Genma said. "But wait a minute, I remember a 'Tenoh' being second place. But that was a man."

"That was me you idiot!" Haruka growled. "And you didn't win! You cheated!"

Genma snorted, "Preposterous, don't be such a sore loser."

"Well, how do you explain how that dissolving capsule full of sugar got in my gas tank?!"

"Bad luck?"

"And everyone's tanks but yours!"

Genma chuckled, "Ah but mine had one too. The capsule by sheer luck just happened to be slightly thicker so it dissolved slower. The judges figured that's since somebody tried to sabotage everyone no point in a redo."

A full blown battle aura was growing around Haruka now. "I had invested my heart and soul into that race and some schmuck who just wanted the prize money stole it!" She shouted.

Makoto felt a headache coming on. "Mr. Saotome, that sounds really sketchy you know."

Genma held up a sign. It had a doodle of a panda on it. "I can't help it if I'm good at sketching," he said. This earned him four fists to the top of his head, all at the same time.

"That's not helping." Makoto said. "That was really bad." It had been so bad that even the unflappable Michiru had been driven to slapstick violence, after all.

"And that sketch is awful." Hotaru said.

"You're only saying that because you're a sore loser," Genma sniffed. Well, he tried to sniff. It's a little bit hard to do that when your larynx has this much pressure on it from a strong pair of hands. Makoto knew Haruka was a stronger martial artist than her, so seeing her get a good grip on Genma's neck was not that surprising.

What was surprising was that he somehow slipped out of her grip, landing a short distance away.

"Tch." Haruka looked irritated, they had gotten soft if this guy could get away from them!

The air between the two was thick, at least thanks to Haruka. Makoto was beginning to wonder if she should insist Haruka take it to the dojo when-

"The moonlight makes me want to cry…"

Oh yeah, Michiru loved that song for some reason, it was her ring tone and she flipped out her cell phone. "Hello? Oh yes, Haruka had some business. I'll have them take me over, bye." She hung it up. "Haruka, dear, I'm afraid you'll have to call in your vendetta another day. Remember? My recording session?"

Haruka frowned, before the tension fading from their body.

"Yeah you were going to let me go on a tour." Hotaru added.

"Right…' She sighed. "Fine, this isn't over Saotome."

Genma snorted. "Women make a martial artist soft."

Makoto rolled her eyes, "Harkua has the strength of men and women, I wouldn't say anything about them being soft."

"...huh?" Genma said.

"Say hi to Kasumi and Ami for me!" Hotaru waved, as Michiru guided Haruka back to the car.

As the Tennoh Family left, Genma went right back to doing his meditation. Until Makoto stepped in front of him. "The hell was that about?" She said, "I've known them for years, and they're rarely pissed like this at anybody!"

Genma was unmoved by her annoyance, "The prize money from that tournament paid the bills for nearly two years." He said, like that explained everything.

"Any other people pissed at you I should know about?" Makoto said.

Genma paused, and for a moment considered this question. "Not in the slightest." He lied through his teeth.

Makoto narrowed her eyes and impatiently tapped her foot. "How about people that are pissed at you that I shouldn't know about?"

"Oh, there are lots of - I mean, not a single one!"

Aha. So, this is why Ranma had called his/her father a complete idiot earlier on. It was nice to have a little bit of context, but also utterly infuriating.

How the hell was he such a good martial artist when he was so dumb in other ways!?

Akane stared at Ranma, who was balanced upside down atop a pole by only one finger. Trick was, his face was covered in pie. How the hell was he such a good martial artist when he was so dumb in other ways?

"Knave! That pie was for Akane Tendo!" Kuno shouted.

"Is lunch normally like this?" Chibi-Usa asked. She had to admit, the saga of how Ranma ended up in that situation had been quite interesting.

Akane facepalmed, "No… this is new…"

"Oh, OK." Ranma said, still balanced on the pole. He scooped off some of the pie and stuck it into Akane's mouth. "There we go all better?"

Akane's eyes bulged out, her face reddened, and she booted Ranma off the pole. "Don't do things like that!" She shouted.

"Wow that was kind of cute." Chibi-Usa said.

"No it wasn't! It was.. Agg!" Akane said, and then kicked Kuno in the opposite direction when he tried to hug her. "Boys!" She shouted in frustration. She refused to be charmed by that idiot!