Authors note: Okay well what can I say here other then I had a twisted idea...what other kind of idea is there? and decided to act upon it. This fic is loosley based on "The King and I" by Rodgers and Hammerstein. But don't worry there will be no singing and dancing...er at least not that I really plan on...well okay there might be some singing and dancing but it will only be brief mentions of it. Oh yeah and while I think about just thought that I would tell everyone that Chapter 2 of Perspectives should be out soon as well as the first chapter of the sequeal to the letters series, plus some other fics might be out soon, just need to put some finishing touches on them.
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi, The King and I is property of Rodgers and Hammerstein both are used without permission.
Akane and I
A Ranma ½ fanfic based upon The King and I by Rodgers and Hammerstein by Crikit
There's a song that goes "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…" It's right you know! Who ever wrote that song was right by saying the beginning is a good place to start from, so that's where I'll start my story. From the beginning. You see, ordinarily, I like to start in the middle and just go from there, but if I were to do that everyone (and I mean everyone) would be confused.
Now let me think…when did this really start? I guess it started when I was a little kid. You see, my pop decided to take me on a training mission. He wanted me to be a "man among men." In fact that's what he told my mom when he talked her in to letting me go with him. He said "I'll make Ranma into a man among men, and if I don't we'll both commit seppuku."
Needless to say my pop was unable to keep that promise. He didn't make me into a man among men. Nope, he did the exact opposite. I'm guessing you're wondering what I mean, right? Well, due to an unfortunate accident and my pop's natural stupidity, I fell into a cursed spring. So now, whenever I'm hit with cold water I turn into a girl…it's not like I'm stuck like that though, a touch of hot water and then I'm back to my normal self…my normal self, of course, being a guy. I don't like to think about that much anymore. Sure the curse is still a part of me, but with the help of my mom I've come to accept it.
My pop on the other hand wasn't so lucky. He fell into the cursed spring of drowned panda, so every time he got hit with cold water he turned into a panda. That was a problem when we were traveling but it wasn't the biggest problem that he had to face. That was when me and pop returned home to mom. After avoiding her for months-no, make that years-pop decided that it was time to go home, time for us to show her what the old man had made out of her precious son. I didn't know when we went home about the seppuku deal, pop didn't tell me. It wasn't until mom brought it up that I found out, and by then it was too late. Oh it wasn't too late for me, mom found out what happened in china and about how I got cursed and she put all the blame on pop. She said that it wasn't fair to punish me for something that wasn't my fault. So, mom sent me out of the room, and helped my father commit seppuku, promising him that she would help me to become an even better martial artist then I was.
That was two months ago. Two months before we moved to the palace. Two months before I met that infuriating, uncute princess and her freaky family. You see after pop…well, you know, after pop did what he did, mom decided that she needed a job to support us. She didn't want to cart me all over the world for the training. She said I could learn the same things by staying at home and training there. So what does she do after she says that? Well, she took a job for a king of an island called Kinjo…it's somewhere in between China and Japan. Anyway, as I was saying, mom took a job on this island. She wouldn't say it at the time, but I know she took the job for me. She thinks I have poor social manners, but that's not my fault is it?
The job was to teach two of the kings three daughters. Mom said she would take the post only if she could bring her child along. She hardly ever refers to me as her son now-I think she's a little confused. Of course the king agreed, I think my mom was the only one who would accept the post. I could be wrong there, but that's doubtful. So, mom took the job, sold the house and we moved to Kinjo.
Only there was one problem with the move, we had to cross a large body of water. You can only guess what happened to me. If you're thinking that I got splashed and turned into a girl then you're one hundred percent correct. That wasn't the biggest problem though, that would happen when we hit the port. You see, I changed back every time I got splashed, only just as we were entering the port one of the sailors thought it would be fun to splash me and get in a goodbye grope. Let's just say that after he splashed me he wished that he didn't…anyway, as I was saying, we were just coming in to port when I got splashed. I didn't have time to change back before we docked so I stayed as a girl and hoped that I would be able to find some hot water before we went to the palace. My plan would have worked out if it wasn't for Joshu; he's the king's right hand man. It turned out that the king decided to send good ol' Joshu to the dock to meet mom and me-oh, sorry, that should be mom and I.
What were we going to do? Mom and I both knew that if we were to show Joshu my curse he would tell the king and faster then you could say, "Tenchi's your uncle" there would go the job. I didn't want mom to lose her job because of me, and mom didn't wanna risk my safety by revealing the truth to a complete stranger. So, mom did the only thing that she could think of, she introduced me as her daughter Suiren. I was a little shocked at first but I realized why she did that, it was to keep me safe, and it's not like she was using my real name. Instead she choose a new name, a rather ironic name at that. Waterlily…yeah, mom, you have some sense of humor. Pick a flower that blooms only in the water. So that settled it, I was stuck as a girl at least until we thought up a better plan.
As we arrived at the castle I saw my mom go all misty-eyed, and she started acting really strange saying stuff about a brick house that we would live in. She was also saying some stuff about a guy named Tom or something like that. To tell you the truth, I stopped paying attention when she started to sing about getting to know me. It was odd very odd.
We were taken into a room and told to wait until Joshu came to fetch us. That's exactly what he said too. It took all of my training and a threatening glance from mom to stop myself from pounding that jerk in to the ground. I mean, what right did he have treating us like were common dogs or something like that? He didn't, we aren't dogs, we're people like him. True, at the time I was trapped as a girl and mom was acting like she was trapped in an old musical or something, but wouldn't that add to our charm?
While we were waiting for Joshu to come back for us, I tried to talk to my mom about what were going to do. Unfortunately she wasn't willing to talk back, she was to busy trying to teach an imaginary partner how to polka. You never would have guessed that this was the same woman who forced her husband to commit seppuku, would you? I mean, there she was just hopping around screaming at the top of her lungs something about dancing. It was at that moment in time that Joshu returned to escort us to the king, he didn't even blink at seeing my mom act like a crazy person...ooo, just had a scary thought, things like mental problems and stuff like that, can be passed down from generation to generation right? What if I start to act like mom? I won't think about it that's it. Maybe it's the stress of our situation getting to her, yeah that's it. It has to be stress. After all, in the past two months, she's found out that her son can be her daughter, she's lost her husband, and moved to a strange country. That's enough to make the sanest of people go a little off their rocker.
Anyway, as I was saying. Joshu didn't even blink when he saw mom dancing by herself, in fact it almost seemed as if he were used to stuff like that. That got me wondering about how weird the king and his daughters might be. Sure mom, and I had heard that the family wasn't like most other royal families-for one thing they weren't a bunch of in-breeders-but other then that we didn't know a lot about them. For all we knew they could have been cannibals or homicidal maniacs, or even worse door to door sales men…Oh, the horror…Um, yeah. Sorry about that.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the throne room was that fact that it didn't look like a throne room at all. It looked more like the common room of our old house back home. After the room I noticed the family. At first I thought that they were the servants but when Joshu bowed to them and looked at us to do the same thing I soon clued in on to who they were.
I bowed slightly, and then returned to stand beside my mother, all the while observing the four people in front of me. Suddenly Joshu started to speak.
"Your majesty, this is the new teacher and her daughter. If you do not require anything more of me I will go and supervise tonight's feast."
"Um, yes Joshu, whatever. Now, why don't you two take a seat and we'll get to know each other a little better." The king said as he offered my mom and me a seat.
So there we were sitting in front of the king and his three daughters. The royal family of Kinjo didn't look anything like I expected they would. The king, for instance, was what you could call lanky. He was a tall, skinny, wimp of a man (please don't tell him I said that). He was wearing a brown gi, which was something that threw me off-aren't kings supposed to wear robes of silk and crowns of gold? I always thought so, but nooo, we had to get the king who decided to defy the status quo.
"Your majesty, my daughter and I are honored to be here."
"Oh please don't call me that. You, my dear, can call me Soun, while your lovely daughter can call me Mr. Tendo."
I could tell that my mother was taken aback but the way the king talked to her. After all she was just getting over the loss of her husband and she now had a king hitting on her...at least I think he was hitting on her. That's why I was surprised with what she said "Oh, well then, please call me Nodoka and my daughters name is Ra…Suiren. Isn't that right Suiren?"
"Suiren? Oh, yeah that's me all right…good ol' Suiren. Not Ranma, Suiren…just like the flower." I didn't realize until I finished talking, how stupid what I said was.
"Oh my, what an unusual girl."
"Unusual is not the word I would use sis. I think she's more weird then unusual. What do you think Akane?"
"I'm not sure Nabiki, the red hair is a little odd, but at least she's not a guy."
Were they talking about me? I know that I might not have very good social skills, but I at least know that it's rude to talk about someone in front of them. Obviously, the princesses didn't know that.
"Personally I would have preferred her being a guy. Just because you think that all men are pigs, and should be treated like that Akane, doesn't mean that the rest of us do. After all I'm getting sick of teasing the guards…we need some fresh meat around here."
"Oh Nabiki, you're too young to be saying things like that."
"Girls, will you please be quiet so I can introduce you to your new teacher?"
As their father spoke, the girls seemed to lose interest in me, at least for the moment.
"Much better. Now girls, this is Mrs. Nodoka Saotome and her daughter Suiren. Mrs. Saotome will be your new teacher, and Suiren will be learning with you. Nodoka, Suiren, these are my daughters…"
"…Kasumi…"
Mr. Tendo pointed to the tallest of the three girls who gave a polite bow, and a cheerful smile. Looking at her I couldn't help but think that she was the motherly type. Her long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, her warm and inviting smile, and her brown eyes revealed the gentleness that I thought she contained in her heart.
"…Nabiki…"
Mr. Tendo said as he indicated the girl next to Kasumi. Just by looking at her I knew that she was capable of causing trouble, I wouldn't find out until later how much trouble. With shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes too match, she was pretty, I have to admit that. But there was just something about her, something that made me think twice about trusting her.
"…And my youngest daughter Akane…"
Looking at the girl I had to remind myself to breathe. She was beautiful, in an untamed sort of way. Unlike her sisters she wasn't carefully made up, but yet something about her intrigued me. I couldn't explain what, maybe it was her short black hair cut in to a cute little bob, or her eyes which were brown as those of a little puppy. Or maybe, just maybe it was the look of defiance on her face. Whatever it was I knew that there was a slight possibility of me falling in love with this girl.
"Now, that you have been introduced to my daughters I have a favor to ask of you and your daughter." As the Mr. Tendo talked he leaned closer to my mother and I.
Following Mr. Tendo's cue my mother leaned forward, dragging me with her. "What is it your majesty? Oh, I mean Soun!"
"Well Akane has a little problem with manners and grace…basically she has none of either. I was hoping that your daughter, being the flower that she is, could help her. You know, teach her proper manners, and make her more graceful."
Upon hearing the kings request mom looked at me, looked at the king, then looked at me again before speaking. "Why Soun, I think that's an excellent idea. I know Suiren will be more then happy to do it."
Wait. What just happened here?
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi, The King and I is property of Rodgers and Hammerstein both are used without permission.
Akane and I
A Ranma ½ fanfic based upon The King and I by Rodgers and Hammerstein by Crikit
There's a song that goes "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…" It's right you know! Who ever wrote that song was right by saying the beginning is a good place to start from, so that's where I'll start my story. From the beginning. You see, ordinarily, I like to start in the middle and just go from there, but if I were to do that everyone (and I mean everyone) would be confused.
Now let me think…when did this really start? I guess it started when I was a little kid. You see, my pop decided to take me on a training mission. He wanted me to be a "man among men." In fact that's what he told my mom when he talked her in to letting me go with him. He said "I'll make Ranma into a man among men, and if I don't we'll both commit seppuku."
Needless to say my pop was unable to keep that promise. He didn't make me into a man among men. Nope, he did the exact opposite. I'm guessing you're wondering what I mean, right? Well, due to an unfortunate accident and my pop's natural stupidity, I fell into a cursed spring. So now, whenever I'm hit with cold water I turn into a girl…it's not like I'm stuck like that though, a touch of hot water and then I'm back to my normal self…my normal self, of course, being a guy. I don't like to think about that much anymore. Sure the curse is still a part of me, but with the help of my mom I've come to accept it.
My pop on the other hand wasn't so lucky. He fell into the cursed spring of drowned panda, so every time he got hit with cold water he turned into a panda. That was a problem when we were traveling but it wasn't the biggest problem that he had to face. That was when me and pop returned home to mom. After avoiding her for months-no, make that years-pop decided that it was time to go home, time for us to show her what the old man had made out of her precious son. I didn't know when we went home about the seppuku deal, pop didn't tell me. It wasn't until mom brought it up that I found out, and by then it was too late. Oh it wasn't too late for me, mom found out what happened in china and about how I got cursed and she put all the blame on pop. She said that it wasn't fair to punish me for something that wasn't my fault. So, mom sent me out of the room, and helped my father commit seppuku, promising him that she would help me to become an even better martial artist then I was.
That was two months ago. Two months before we moved to the palace. Two months before I met that infuriating, uncute princess and her freaky family. You see after pop…well, you know, after pop did what he did, mom decided that she needed a job to support us. She didn't want to cart me all over the world for the training. She said I could learn the same things by staying at home and training there. So what does she do after she says that? Well, she took a job for a king of an island called Kinjo…it's somewhere in between China and Japan. Anyway, as I was saying, mom took a job on this island. She wouldn't say it at the time, but I know she took the job for me. She thinks I have poor social manners, but that's not my fault is it?
The job was to teach two of the kings three daughters. Mom said she would take the post only if she could bring her child along. She hardly ever refers to me as her son now-I think she's a little confused. Of course the king agreed, I think my mom was the only one who would accept the post. I could be wrong there, but that's doubtful. So, mom took the job, sold the house and we moved to Kinjo.
Only there was one problem with the move, we had to cross a large body of water. You can only guess what happened to me. If you're thinking that I got splashed and turned into a girl then you're one hundred percent correct. That wasn't the biggest problem though, that would happen when we hit the port. You see, I changed back every time I got splashed, only just as we were entering the port one of the sailors thought it would be fun to splash me and get in a goodbye grope. Let's just say that after he splashed me he wished that he didn't…anyway, as I was saying, we were just coming in to port when I got splashed. I didn't have time to change back before we docked so I stayed as a girl and hoped that I would be able to find some hot water before we went to the palace. My plan would have worked out if it wasn't for Joshu; he's the king's right hand man. It turned out that the king decided to send good ol' Joshu to the dock to meet mom and me-oh, sorry, that should be mom and I.
What were we going to do? Mom and I both knew that if we were to show Joshu my curse he would tell the king and faster then you could say, "Tenchi's your uncle" there would go the job. I didn't want mom to lose her job because of me, and mom didn't wanna risk my safety by revealing the truth to a complete stranger. So, mom did the only thing that she could think of, she introduced me as her daughter Suiren. I was a little shocked at first but I realized why she did that, it was to keep me safe, and it's not like she was using my real name. Instead she choose a new name, a rather ironic name at that. Waterlily…yeah, mom, you have some sense of humor. Pick a flower that blooms only in the water. So that settled it, I was stuck as a girl at least until we thought up a better plan.
As we arrived at the castle I saw my mom go all misty-eyed, and she started acting really strange saying stuff about a brick house that we would live in. She was also saying some stuff about a guy named Tom or something like that. To tell you the truth, I stopped paying attention when she started to sing about getting to know me. It was odd very odd.
We were taken into a room and told to wait until Joshu came to fetch us. That's exactly what he said too. It took all of my training and a threatening glance from mom to stop myself from pounding that jerk in to the ground. I mean, what right did he have treating us like were common dogs or something like that? He didn't, we aren't dogs, we're people like him. True, at the time I was trapped as a girl and mom was acting like she was trapped in an old musical or something, but wouldn't that add to our charm?
While we were waiting for Joshu to come back for us, I tried to talk to my mom about what were going to do. Unfortunately she wasn't willing to talk back, she was to busy trying to teach an imaginary partner how to polka. You never would have guessed that this was the same woman who forced her husband to commit seppuku, would you? I mean, there she was just hopping around screaming at the top of her lungs something about dancing. It was at that moment in time that Joshu returned to escort us to the king, he didn't even blink at seeing my mom act like a crazy person...ooo, just had a scary thought, things like mental problems and stuff like that, can be passed down from generation to generation right? What if I start to act like mom? I won't think about it that's it. Maybe it's the stress of our situation getting to her, yeah that's it. It has to be stress. After all, in the past two months, she's found out that her son can be her daughter, she's lost her husband, and moved to a strange country. That's enough to make the sanest of people go a little off their rocker.
Anyway, as I was saying. Joshu didn't even blink when he saw mom dancing by herself, in fact it almost seemed as if he were used to stuff like that. That got me wondering about how weird the king and his daughters might be. Sure mom, and I had heard that the family wasn't like most other royal families-for one thing they weren't a bunch of in-breeders-but other then that we didn't know a lot about them. For all we knew they could have been cannibals or homicidal maniacs, or even worse door to door sales men…Oh, the horror…Um, yeah. Sorry about that.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the throne room was that fact that it didn't look like a throne room at all. It looked more like the common room of our old house back home. After the room I noticed the family. At first I thought that they were the servants but when Joshu bowed to them and looked at us to do the same thing I soon clued in on to who they were.
I bowed slightly, and then returned to stand beside my mother, all the while observing the four people in front of me. Suddenly Joshu started to speak.
"Your majesty, this is the new teacher and her daughter. If you do not require anything more of me I will go and supervise tonight's feast."
"Um, yes Joshu, whatever. Now, why don't you two take a seat and we'll get to know each other a little better." The king said as he offered my mom and me a seat.
So there we were sitting in front of the king and his three daughters. The royal family of Kinjo didn't look anything like I expected they would. The king, for instance, was what you could call lanky. He was a tall, skinny, wimp of a man (please don't tell him I said that). He was wearing a brown gi, which was something that threw me off-aren't kings supposed to wear robes of silk and crowns of gold? I always thought so, but nooo, we had to get the king who decided to defy the status quo.
"Your majesty, my daughter and I are honored to be here."
"Oh please don't call me that. You, my dear, can call me Soun, while your lovely daughter can call me Mr. Tendo."
I could tell that my mother was taken aback but the way the king talked to her. After all she was just getting over the loss of her husband and she now had a king hitting on her...at least I think he was hitting on her. That's why I was surprised with what she said "Oh, well then, please call me Nodoka and my daughters name is Ra…Suiren. Isn't that right Suiren?"
"Suiren? Oh, yeah that's me all right…good ol' Suiren. Not Ranma, Suiren…just like the flower." I didn't realize until I finished talking, how stupid what I said was.
"Oh my, what an unusual girl."
"Unusual is not the word I would use sis. I think she's more weird then unusual. What do you think Akane?"
"I'm not sure Nabiki, the red hair is a little odd, but at least she's not a guy."
Were they talking about me? I know that I might not have very good social skills, but I at least know that it's rude to talk about someone in front of them. Obviously, the princesses didn't know that.
"Personally I would have preferred her being a guy. Just because you think that all men are pigs, and should be treated like that Akane, doesn't mean that the rest of us do. After all I'm getting sick of teasing the guards…we need some fresh meat around here."
"Oh Nabiki, you're too young to be saying things like that."
"Girls, will you please be quiet so I can introduce you to your new teacher?"
As their father spoke, the girls seemed to lose interest in me, at least for the moment.
"Much better. Now girls, this is Mrs. Nodoka Saotome and her daughter Suiren. Mrs. Saotome will be your new teacher, and Suiren will be learning with you. Nodoka, Suiren, these are my daughters…"
"…Kasumi…"
Mr. Tendo pointed to the tallest of the three girls who gave a polite bow, and a cheerful smile. Looking at her I couldn't help but think that she was the motherly type. Her long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, her warm and inviting smile, and her brown eyes revealed the gentleness that I thought she contained in her heart.
"…Nabiki…"
Mr. Tendo said as he indicated the girl next to Kasumi. Just by looking at her I knew that she was capable of causing trouble, I wouldn't find out until later how much trouble. With shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes too match, she was pretty, I have to admit that. But there was just something about her, something that made me think twice about trusting her.
"…And my youngest daughter Akane…"
Looking at the girl I had to remind myself to breathe. She was beautiful, in an untamed sort of way. Unlike her sisters she wasn't carefully made up, but yet something about her intrigued me. I couldn't explain what, maybe it was her short black hair cut in to a cute little bob, or her eyes which were brown as those of a little puppy. Or maybe, just maybe it was the look of defiance on her face. Whatever it was I knew that there was a slight possibility of me falling in love with this girl.
"Now, that you have been introduced to my daughters I have a favor to ask of you and your daughter." As the Mr. Tendo talked he leaned closer to my mother and I.
Following Mr. Tendo's cue my mother leaned forward, dragging me with her. "What is it your majesty? Oh, I mean Soun!"
"Well Akane has a little problem with manners and grace…basically she has none of either. I was hoping that your daughter, being the flower that she is, could help her. You know, teach her proper manners, and make her more graceful."
Upon hearing the kings request mom looked at me, looked at the king, then looked at me again before speaking. "Why Soun, I think that's an excellent idea. I know Suiren will be more then happy to do it."
Wait. What just happened here?