Dragonball is the property of Akira Toriyama and Funimation.
by Joe Fenton
Chapter 1: Homecoming
Soun moved a tile on the shogi board. "It's been two weeks, Saotome."
Genma nodded. "He'll be here. I wouldn't have let him go if I didn't think he would." That and he was scared to death of the old hag, but he wasn't about to tell his old friend that.
Off to the side, Nabiki snorted in derision. "No offense, Mr. Saotome, but if he's smart, he's long gone."
"I'm not going to marry the freak!" Akane made sure everyone was aware of her stance on the issue - as she had at every chance since their father's old training partner had arrived.
Nabiki sighed. "Yes, Akane. We're all aware of how you feel about Mr. Saotome's son." Personally, she felt the same, but she wasn't going to say anything until all the information was in. While she was a bit put off by the notion of having to marry a boy with a gender curse (if Mr. Saotome was speaking the truth on that matter), there might be enough positives to outweigh the negatives. She didn't see how, but she'd at least wait and see. It was just as well she was. It was looking more and more like she would be stuck with this engagement. Akane was making sure Mr. Saotome knew how unsuitable she was, how much against the very idea. Couple that with the age difference between Kasumi and Mr. Saotome's son, and who else was left?
She frowned at the fathers as they continued their game.
Soun suddenly looked up, then stood and moved to the porch through the open sliding doors.
Genma stood and moved to stand next to him. He was frowning, then broke into a smile. "Ah! See? Here he is now." He looked rather smug.
Akane frowned and moved next to her father. She glanced around the yard. "I don't see anyone." She noticed her father and Mr. Saotome were looking up at the sky. She looked up as well. "What? You think he's just going to come flying in or - something -" She trailed off as something caught her eye.
Nabiki shielded her eyes with a hand as she looked at the glowing point of light in the sky. The point slowly grew. By the time it started angling toward the ground, a figure could clearly be discerned through the glowing light surrounding it.
The light disappeared as the figure touched down on one foot in the yard.
"Hey, Pop! I can't tell you how good it is to see you again after all this time." The young man gave a smile that could melt a winter blizzard.
Nabiki stared in shock. This was no boy. This was a man - possibly nineteen or twenty. He filled out his clothes in a manner that would cause women to swoon. Nabiki prided herself on her control, but was hard pressed to keep her composure. She turned to Mr. Saotome.
"I thought you said your son was sixteen?"
Mr. Saotome was frowning too. "What have you gone and done now, boy?" He grabbed a bucket of water. "First things first." He dumped the bucket over the young man's head. When said young man failed to do anything but become wet, Mr. Saotome smiled widely.
"You did it, boy!" He started celebrating, then grabbed his son by the shoulders. "Quickly, how did you cure it? Did you bring anymore with you?" He started dancing around again. "Never going to be a panda again!"
The young man frowned as his father danced around singing about never being a panda. He gave the others an embarrassed look. "Can I get a towel or something?" He set his bag on the porch.
Kasumi appeared with a towel, then stopped in shock. She hadn't yet seen Mr. Saotome's son, being stuck in the kitchen working on dinner. She held out the towel, a dumbfounded look on her face. "Oh my. You look rather - healthy - for sixteen."
The young man laughed as he toweled off. "While I might be sixteen according to my birth certificate, I'm probably closer to twenty at this point." He noticed the stares. "Sorry about all this. I'm Ranma Saotome, but then I imagine Pop has told you all about me."
He was interrupted by his father. "Quick, boy! Give me the cure!"
"Sorry, Pop, but there isn't any cure - short of using the dragonballs."
Genma looked crushed. "Soooo, what? You went and used the dragonballs to cure yourself and forgot all about your poor father? Oh the shame of it all! To have a son who thinks so little of his own father!"
Ranma frowned. "No, I didn't use the dragonballs, and I'm not cured. I did find a way to suppress the change through training."
His father was beaming again. "Great work, son. How do I start?"
The young man smirked. "Well, first you start by climbing Korin's Tower."
Genma frowned. "Quit fooling around, boy, and tell -"
Ranma cut him off. "There's time enough for that later. It's been a long trip and I'd like to rest and get something to eat."
Soun felt it the proper time to step in. "Come in and make yourself at home. After all, once you marry one of my girls, it will be yours."
Ranma had started to step onto the porch, then tripped and fell on his face as what Mr. Tendo said penetrated. "What?"
Genma nodded. "Soun and I made a solemn pledge to unite the schools through marriage. All you have to do is pick one of his girls and we can hold the ceremony right away."
Soun helped Ranma up. "This is my oldest daughter, Kasumi. She's nineteen." Said girl was still staring in shock. Soun gestured at Nabiki. "Then there's Nabiki. She's seventeen."
Nabiki smiled widely. This was starting to look better all the time. She swayed up next to the boy and gave him a sultry look. "Well hello, handsome. Maybe we can get to know each other better." She grinned as the young man froze in shock.
Soun seemed not to notice as he motioned towards Akane. "And my youngest, Akane. She's sixteen."
Akane frowned. "How did you come out of the sky like that? People can't fly - it must have been some kind of trick!" She didn't trust this Ranma at all. First, he wasn't as young as Mr. Saotome had said. Then he didn't seem to be cursed as his father had told them. She suspected this might not be Mr. Saotome's son at all. "I challenge you!" She'd beat this impostor and have him thrown out in the street.
Ranma thought it over. "Well, I really would like to rest and get some dinner, but I guess a quick spar should be okay." He moved out into the yard, then nodded. "This will do fine."
Akane smirked and moved opposite him as he took up a horse stance. The smirk vanished as Ranma powered up.
Ranma growled as he brought his ki up. A blue corona surrounded him, and anything loose in the yard started floating. The corona peaked, and Ranma shifted into a tiger stance. His battle aura had a distinctly cat-like appearance that gave the young man a ferocious look.
Soun sidled up next to him. "Uh, Ranma? You aren't seriously contemplating killing my little girl, are you?"
Ranma frowned. "Of course not! I am after all giving her plenty of time to power up."
Nabiki covered her stunned look with a more typical smirk. "Well, unless Kuno-chan is trying to grope her again, this is about as powered up as she's going to get."
Akane was demonstrating outstanding control as she managed to keep her knees from shaking. She was after all, a third dan in kempo, and if you can't keep your knees from shaking at that stage, you weren't much of a fighter. She was muttering under her breath, trying to get her courage back. "It's just a trick. No one's that strong. It's just a trick."
Ranma glanced at the girl, then stood straight and powered down. "You're kidding, right?"
Nabiki shook her head.
Ranma turned toward the house. "Oh well, I wanted something to eat anyway."
"An opening!" Akane darted forward as she saw her chance. She knew he had been bluffing, and the moment he stopped his little light act, she knew the fight was hers. She started with a roundhouse kick, then started a quick set of punches. She knew she had him overwhelmed as he failed to block a single attack.
Ranma frowned as the girl struck him repeatedly. He ignored her as he turned to the middle girl. "What's her problem?"
Nabiki covered her surprise rather well. She knew Ranma was pretty strong, but he was ignoring all Akane's attacks like they were nothing. She knew how many cinder blocks Akane broke on a regular basis, so Ranma had to be well above Akane's level to ignore her strongest attacks in that manner.
"We don't tend to get many martial artists of your - uh - caliber around here." She watched as Akane finished a flurry of spinning kicks, then fell back, panting hard. "Looks like she'll be done in a moment."
Ranma let the girl throw a few more punches, then slowly pushed her over on her rear. The girl flopped on her back and lay gasping, trying to catch her breath. He shrugged, picked up his bag, and entered the house. He took off his shoes and set his bag to the side.
Kasumi snapped out of her daze. "Uh, I'd better get dinner ready." She ran for the kitchen.
Nabiki smiled. "Let me show you to your room." She tried to pick up his bag. Tried to being the key phrase. She strained fruitlessly with it for a moment. "What's in this? Lead weights?"
Ranma took the bag from her and swung it over his shoulder. "It's just clothes, but they're all weighted. It's to improve my training."
Nabiki thought about it, then strained to pick up one of the shoes he'd taken off. She held it a moment, gauging its weight, then set it down again. "So all of your clothes are weighted like this?" It was no wonder he'd been able to ignore her sister's attacks if all his clothes were weighted like the shoe she'd picked up.
Ranma nodded. "I sometimes forget about it now, but when I first started, I never thought I'd be able to move, much less fight." He followed Nabiki up the stairs to the guest room, set his bag down, the pulled a change of clothes from it. "Any chance I can get cleaned up before dinner?"
"Sure. I'll show you where the bath is." She gave him another sultry look. "Need someone to wash your back?"
Ranma froze in shock, then looked embarrassed. "Uh, I think I'll be okay on my own."
Nabiki smiled at his obvious embarrassment. He might look older, but in some ways, he was still sixteen. She led him back downstairs and left him at the bath. She wandered back into the living room where Kasumi was putting out dishes for dinner.
Kasumi noticed her sister. "Nabiki. Finish setting the table while I get the food." She looked around. "Where's Ranma?"
Nabiki started setting the table. "He's in the bath getting cleaned up."
Kasumi frowned. "Oh dear. Akane went upstairs to get a change of clothes so she can take a bath before dinner."
Nabiki smiled. "Really?" She moved back towards the bath. "This ought to be good - and maybe we'll get a glimpse of Ranma at the same time."
"Nabiki!" Kasumi tried to sound stern, but followed her back towards the bath.
They had reached it when an angry voice came from the inner bath.
"Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my home?"
They found Akane, naked, confronting an equally naked woman. The woman had red hair and had obviously been washing it as shampoo still ran down her body and she was holding a rinse bucket.
Akane turned to her sisters. "I found this girl using our bath. The nerve of some people!"
Nabiki blinked, then grinned. "Akane, you do remember what Mr. Saotome said about his son's curse, right?" She watched as her sister processed that information. Nabiki could almost see the gears turning in Akane's head.
A strange girl is using the bath - Mr. Saotome has magic curse that turns him into a panda - claims his son has a curse that changes him into a girl - strange girl is really Mr. Saotome's son using freaky curse to peep on her in the bath.
Nabiki took a step back as Akane was glowing a bright red. She looked at the girl and hooked a thumb toward Akane. "That is what she looks like when she's powered up."
Akane smashed her fist into the other girl's face, then stalked out of the bath.
Ranma checked her nose. "Ouch. She's got some potential -"
Kasumi turned to her sister. "Maybe we should let her finish her bath."
Nabiki smirked as she turned to Ranma. "Are you sure you don't want one of us to scrub your back?"
"Nabiki!" Kasumi was nearly as red as a tomato. She pulled her sister out of the bath by the arm. "Dinner will be ready shortly, Ranma."
Ranma dumped another bucket of water over her head to finishing rinsing out the shampoo. "Thanks, Kasumi. I'll be right out."
Shortly thereafter, Ranma was once more male and seated at the low table as Kasumi served dinner. He took a bowl of rice from her and smiled. "Thanks a lot Kasumi!"
Kasumi blushed and fought hard to stay calm. "You're welcome, Ranma."
Akane glared at the pair, then returned to giving deadly looks Ranma's direction. She was still smoldering over the incident in the bath.
Ranma gave his father a warning glance. "Don't even think about trying to steal my dinner, Pop." He let a little of his ki show.
Genma froze in mid-grab, then sat back and laughed. "Why Ranma! I'm surprised you'd think your father would ever do such a thing." He continued laughing as Ranma scowled.
Nabiki cleared her throat, then addressed Ranma. "So, care to explain how you managed to age a few years in the last month?"
Ranma looked up from his bowl of rice. He tapped his chin with his chopsticks. "That's a long story. You really want to hear it?"
Nabiki nodded. "It's probably something we should know since one of us is expected to marry you."
Ranma started at that, then nodded. "Okay. Well, I should probably start with how I met Korin." He ignored the startled look his father gave.
"Pop had just finished training me in the neko-ken." He held up a hand to forestall the anticipated question. "The neko-ken is supposed an undefeatable technique. To train someone, you tie them up with fish sausages and throw them in a pit of starving cats. The trainee then learns to fight like a cat - the hard way. Unfortunately, to use the neko-ken, you have to be in a fear-induced berserker state."
The Tendos all stared at him.
Akane voiced their disbelief. "You've got to be kidding! What idiot would actually think training like that would work?"
Everyone looked at Mr. Saotome.
"What? It worked! You saw his stance out there earlier."
Ranma glared at him, then resumed his tale. "Unfortunately, it also left me deathly afraid of cats."
Genma wailed. "Oh, to have such a worthless son as to be scared of a few helpless little cats -"
Ranma stopped him with a backhand. "So anyway, my fear of cats made Pop go a little crazy with training. Seems he signed an agreement with Mom that we would commit seppuku if I didn't turn out to be a man among men, and he figured Mom would think of being scared of cats as unmanly."
Genma fell over in shock. "How did you learn about that!"
Ranma glared at his father. "Kami told me."
Nabiki interrupted at this point. "Kami? As in Kami-sama?"
Ranma nodded. "So anyway, Pop heard this tale that anyone who climbed Korin's Tower could drink the holy water and become super strong. I guess he figured that might compensate for my fear of cats."
Nabiki was still stuck on the previous point. "You - you've met Kami-sama?"
Ranma nodded. "He's really very nice. You'd like him."
Kasumi smiled. "Well, one would assume he's very nice, what with being Kami-sama and all."
Genma scowled. "Quit kidding around, boy. If you've been digging through my things -"
Ranma interrupted. "He also told me about the Kuonji's and Daikoku's."
Genma flipped a bucket of water over his head and pulled out a beach ball. He played with it for a moment, then pulled out a sign. 'I'm just a cute little panda.'
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Before long, we were at Korin's Tower. Naturally, I'm supposed to climb it and get the holy water." He took the opportunity to grab some pickles off his father's plate. "Well, it took me almost four days to climb the stupid thing. When I finally reach the top, someone calls to me. Unfortunately, it turned out Korin is a cat. I slipped into the neko-ken and the next thing I remember is being back on the ground and Pop kicking me awake." He glared at the panda.
"Since I didn't get the holy water, Pop makes me climb the tower again - and I go into the neko-ken again. Then he makes me climb the tower again." Ranma looks thoughtful. "I don't remember anything when I'm in the neko-ken, but finally one time I climb the tower and Korin doesn't trigger the neko-ken. He was still a bit scary, but I could control the fear. He said I was the first person he'd seen who was able to overcome the neko-ken induced fear."
Nabiki seemed thoughtful. "So now you aren't scared of cats - or at least you can control the fear." She noticed Ranma nod. "What about the holy water?"
Ranma snorted. "Turned out to be regular water. What makes you stronger was climbing the tower so many times." He paused a moment. "He did have these beans. They cure any injuries and restore your strength. Eating one was the same as getting ten days worth of food."
"What? And you didn't get your old man some?" Genma was human again, and held a fist aloft. "Anyhow, all my training paid off. The boy is a credit to my skills as a teacher -" He was cut off as Ranma backhanded him again, knocking him senseless.
"So that was how I met Korin. We'll skip a lot of other equally brainless training by my brainless father. He probably told you about Jusenkyou, right?" He noticed all the nods. "He told you about the ninjas, demons, and a dragon?" More nods. Ranma rolled his eyes and sighed. Pop was way too predictable. "You can safely ignore all that."
Nabiki sighed. "Thank goodness. If he added any more ninjas to the tale each time he told it, you two would have been fighting half the population of China."
Ranma looked non-plussed. "Yeah, I kind of figured Pop would drag out the ninjas and such. The real story is we were just stupid and used the training grounds without finding out anything about it first. We were lucky we got away with relatively innocuous curses." He looked pensive for a moment. "Not that I felt that way at the time. I had just gotten cursed to turn into a girl and it was really causing me trouble with the chauvinistic attitude Pop had instilled in me."
Everyone frowned at Genma's unconscious body.
"Anyway, we arrived at this village of women warriors. They were having a tournament and had arranged a huge feast for the winner. Me and Pop were rather hungry at that point and instead of waiting to see what was what, we set on the food like a couple of starving dogs."
Akane frowned. "That isn't the way your father tells it." She looked at Genma, then back to Ranma. "Riiiiiight. You were saying?"
Ranma continued. "So anyway, this purple-haired girl wins the tournament, only to find us pigging out on her prize. The guide tells us she's mad about us eating her prize, so I challenge her for it." Ranma laughed, embarrassed, while rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I forgot how strong I'd gotten in my training and didn't quite hold back enough. I wound up kicking her completely out of the village and all the way back to Jusenkyou. Everyone is standing around stunned while I'm trying to stammer out some kind of apology when this old mummy appears balanced on a staff. Turned out to be the girl's great-grandmother. So I explain about my training and our curses."
Akane interrupted. "I imagine she was pretty upset about her great-granddaughter."
Ranma looked thoughtful. "She was at first, but after she found out I was a guy, she was actually pretty happy. It seems they have these strange laws - if an outsider girl beats one of their warriors, they are supposed to give them the kiss of death and chase them around the world until they kill them. If a guy beats them, they are supposed to give them the kiss of marriage. I was feeling pretty bad right then, having been cursed, and now finding out I was supposed to marry some girl I didn't know and had just beaten in a fight. That's when I thought of Korin and those beans. Even if they couldn't cure my curse, I figured Korin may know of a cure."
Genma was up again as he took over the story. "So I sent Ranma on ahead as I returned to Japan."
Ranma frowned. "You wanted to go too, but got scared when the old mummy said she was going with me."
Nabiki thought about it. "So she went along to keep an eye on her great-granddaughter's fiance, huh?"
"That's what I thought at first, but actually, it turned out she was an old friend of Korin's. She climbed the tower herself almost three hundred years ago." Ranma nodded. "In fact, she brought her great-granddaughter with us since she got cursed as a result of our fight, and made her climb the tower while we flew on ahead."
Akane scoffed. "People can't fly!"
Everyone ignored her as Ranma continued.
"Turns out Korin didn't know of any cure beyond using the dragonballs -"
"There's no such thing -" Akane interrupted him, but fell silent as Nabiki elbowed her in the ribs.
Ranma nodded his thanks. "However, he thought perhaps Kami might know something. It turned out that Kami's Lookout is right over top of Korin's Tower. So while Korin waited for Shampoo - uh - that's Cologne's great-granddaughter, we flew on up to Kami's Lookout."
Genma started to open his mouth.
"Kami told me about Happosai."
Genma went back to playing with his beach ball.
"So what was Kami-sama like?" Kasumi had a gleam in her eye.
"Hm - well, it turns out that Kami-sama is a position usually filled by someone chosen by leaders in the spirit world. The previous being to hold the position was in essence killed by Cell. So the current Kami-sama is relatively young. He's got a talent for healing. Oh, and he's green."
Akane frowned. "Now you're just making things up! Kami-sama is not some green kid with a doctor's degree!"
Nabiki and Kasumi frowned at their sister.
Ranma looked angry. "Just what is your problem?"
All the girls looked sad. It was Kasumi who answered.
"Mother - was killed by Cell."
Ranma berated himself for getting angry. "I thought everyone Cell killed was brought back by the dragonballs once Cell was defeated."
It was Mr. Tendo who spoke. "She had already been brought back once with the dragonballs."
Ranma winced. The dragonballs wouldn't bring someone back to life a second time. "Sorry. I didn't know."
Akane looked furious. "There's no such thing!"
Mr. Tendo continued. "It was when Akane was little - almost too young to remember."
Genma stood next to his old friend and training partner. "It was before we left on our training trip. Soun and I scoured the land to find the dragonballs to bring her back."
Akane looked shocked. "What?" She looked at her father. "Daddy?"
He nodded. "It's all true. The dragonballs can bring back anyone once, so long as their death wasn't of natural causes. When your mother was killed, I knew I wouldn't have been able to care for you girls properly by myself. We'd heard of the dragonballs from our old master, so Genma and I gathered them to bring her back. But having done so, they were unable to bring her back after Cell -" He broke off, unable to continue.
Kasumi looked at Ranma hopefully. "Do - do you think Kami-sama can do anything."
Ranma shook his head regretfully. "Kami made the dragonballs, so if the dragon can't do it, Kami won't be able to either." He noticed the downcast expressions. "But, it never hurts to ask, right? I suppose we could always check on it."
Nabiki blinked away tears. She hated getting emotional. "Sorry Ranma. We seemed to have hijacked your story. So you and this - Cologne - fly up to Kami's Lookout to ask after a cure for your curse -"
Ranma picked up where he left off. "Kami told us that the dragon could get rid of the curse, but he thought it a great waste for a wish from the dragon." Ranma looked thoughtful. "It suddenly struck me that up to that point, I had only been thinking of myself. How the curse was making me miserable - how awful it was for me to be cursed. Here I was bugging Kami-sama to use his great power to remove a minor inconvenience in my life."
Ranma shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, I still hated the curse, but I realized that there are a lot worse things - that even if I did seek the dragonballs, there were far greater things I could ask for than curing my curse. That was when Kami offered a suggestion - he had a room where I could train and get used to the curse. I could spend some time thinking about what I really wanted. In this room, for every day that passed outside the room, a year would pass inside. Cologne urged me to take him up on the offer - that she could give me training I couldn't get elsewhere. So I agreed."
Nabiki thought about it. "So you spent over three years in this room training?"
Ranma laughed. "Not quite. While you can train multiple times in the room, if you spend more than two years in the room at any one time, you're stuck there forever. Cologne and I spent not quite a year in there the first time." Ranma gave them a guilty look. "The problem was, I didn't learn to deal with my problem. I avoided it. In the Room of Space and Time, I wasn't subject to my curse constantly being activated by rain or what-not. I spent most of my time as male. I became arrogant and didn't learn any respect for women, despite my curse. So when we came out the first time, Kami called a friend of his to straighten me out."
"Kami-sama has friends?" Akane looked perplexed.
Ranma rolled his eyes. "As I said before, Kami was new to the post. Before he became Kami, he had several friends from Earth. It's part of why he got picked to be Kami of Earth in the first place. You might actually know this person. His name is Krillin, and he was part of the group that fought Cell." He held a hand out, indicating a short height. "About so high - bald - monk markings on the forehead -"
Kasumi started. "Yes, I remember him. He was in the group that arrived after Mr. Satan at the Cell Games. It was on TV."
Ranma nodded. "I was on my training trip by that time so I never saw it, but we got to be good friends, and he and his wife told me all about it."
Nabiki was puzzled. "His wife? Wasn't he a monk?"
Ranma nodded. "He gave it up and let his hair grow."
"So he taught you to respect women?" Akane looked doubtful.
Ranma shook his head. "No. His wife did." He laughed, embarrassed at the memory.
"You're kidding!" Akane was still doubtful.
"No, seriously. You have to understand, his wife was one of the androids that were causing trouble right before Cell appeared and absorbed them to increase his strength. While they weren't a match for Cell, they were easily stronger than nearly all the fighters here on Earth." Ranma smiled. "When Kami got in touch with Krillin, he had him bring his wife and daughter along."
Akane snorted. "Now you're making things up again! How can an android have a baby?"
"I thought the same thing at first. It turned out they were actually cyborgs, not androids. Dr. Gero had captured a couple of run-aways and altered them." Ranma explained. "So anyway, we all went back in the Room of Space and Time, and Eighteen - that was his wife's name - literally kicked my ass for the next year."
Ranma winced as he thought about the time. "It was rather humbling to have a woman kicking my butt like it was nothing while her little baby girl claps and cheers her on. She even made me stay as a guy during our fights so I couldn't use the curse as an excuse for losing. If it weren't for the senzu beans we brought along, I'd have been in pretty bad shape." He laughed. "Krillin would watch their daughter while we fought, and once she was done smashing me to a pulp, she'd go get her kid and Krillin would come peel me off the ground and give me a senzu bean."
Ranma smiled. "After a year, they had to go. I went back in with Cologne and spent the next year and half in my cursed form. Cologne taught me a few more special techniques that she hadn't been willing to show me the first time. By the time I was done, I had accepted my curse and grown strong enough to hold off changing while in either form."
Nabiki frowned. "But in the bath -"
Ranma shrugged. "When I'm not in public, I don't bother trying to suppress the change. It doesn't really matter, so why waste the energy?"
Genma frowned. "So the key to not changing is -"
Ranma smiled widely. "Finding your center, accepting your curse, and building up a stupidly huge reserve of ki." He was sure Genma would never accomplish it.
Soun clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Well, that's truly a magnificent tale. It takes me back to when I was your age. Now which of my daughters are you going to marry?"
Ranma quit smiling. Oh yeah, I knew I forgot something. "Uh - say, Mr. Tendo, while you now know a bit more about me, I know almost nothing about your girls. Suppose we put this off a little while we get to know each other better." He tried to smile like he had been a moment ago.
Soun frowned, but nodded. "Yes, I guess that is reasonable. A week or two shouldn't be a problem, right Saotome?" He looked over at his friend.
Genma noticed Ranma holding a ball of ki the size of a basketball and nodded frantically. "It's fine!"
Ranma dispersed the ki before Soun turned back around. "Well, thanks for the great meal, Kasumi." He smiled at the eldest sister.
Nabiki noticed how she stuttered and blushed. As Ranma left the room, she grabbed a few dishes and followed Kasumi back to the kitchen. "So what do you think of Mr. Saotome's son now? Still too young? Not too boring, is he?" She smiled as Kasumi nearly dropped the dishes she held.
"Nabiki!" Kasumi gave her a stern look. "Just because he's about the same age, and really well built, and fairly good looking, and well traveled, and apparently on a first name basis with Kami-sama -" she trailed off, lost in fantasies.
Nabiki laughed. "I know what you mean. I actually find myself interested as well. Who'd have thought it?"
Kasumi nodded. "Well, Father has given us some time to get to know each other better, so I suggest we use it."
Nabiki smirked. "As in, you go out with him this weekend, and I go out with him the next, then we get together and compare notes?"
Kasumi blushed again and muttered under her breath. "Well, something like that." She started on the dishes. "What about Akane?"
Nabiki frowned. "What about Akane? I think she's made it abundantly clear that she wants nothing to do with this. It's pretty obvious that she's too young to even contemplate a long term relationship."
Kasumi gave her a knowing look. "And you are, Miss Just-a-Year-Older Ice Queen of Furinkan High?"
Nabiki brushed her off. "Maybe I'm just too mature for those little high school games boys my age want to play."
Kasumi smiled. "Sure you are." She sighed. "None of us have much to brag about in that particular area of life."
Nabiki smiled. "And Ranma here has that breath of life that might allow one of us to break free from our otherwise drab existence."
Kasumi nodded. "Are we bad people for wishing for more than we have?"
Nabiki shook her head. "No, just human." She paused at the doorway. "Word of advice, Sis - it strikes me that Ranma isn't used to these games the rest of us play. If you really want him, you're going to have to be honest and direct."
Kasumi gave her a serious look. "Isn't that something you're not used to being?"
Nabiki gave her a shark-like grin. "Just levels the playing field between us, Sis."
End Chapter One
Author's Notes: This story takes place just before the Buu saga. Ranma has been adjusted to a DBZ style of training and strength level for humans. This is my biggest complaint when most people do Ranma / DBZ cross-overs - a training trip like Ranma undertook would at least leave him at a similar level to Krillin. About the Room of Space and Time - otherwise known as the Hyperbolic Time Chamber - if you went by what is said about it's use, you could only enter it twice, for no more than two years total, and in no more than groups of two. But that can't be the case because in the Buu saga, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, and Buu all enter at the same time, and it is implied that Vegeta used it more than twice. You can't take blanket statements at face value in DBZ since people often are telling stories about which they are misinformed, or often they are lying outright to achieve a result they want. They told Vegeta outright that he HAD to go in with a partner so that he would have some time alone with his son, Trunks. Given all that and the fact that this is an alternate universe story, I've adopted some more lax rules: any number of people can use it any number of times, as long as they don't stay in for longer than two years during any one stay. If there are any other questions about DBZ rules in the story, I'll address them later. By the way, while Kami did tell Ranma a number of things that would be useful in dealing with his father, he didn't tell Ranma everything. Where would be the fun in that?