At the sound of the young voice, and the apparent struggle that was accompanying it, Kasumi blinked and turned to face where it was coming from. "We have visitors."
"Maybe it's our new uncle. And Mom's dad," Nabiki added.
"But would they sound like that?"
"Trust me," Ranko sighed, "they would."
Soun was already moving, and heading down the hallway. "Saotome, my old friend!"
"See?"
That got a nod from Akane, but she stared as her father came running back into the room. Of course, that was perfectly understandable, as he was followed by a giant panda carrying someone wearing black pants and a red shirt.
"Hey! You're scarin' them spitless!" snapped the carried person, and those standing there immediately recognized the voice as the one who'd spoken before.
"Father? Is this your friend?" the eldest Tendo child asked, to which she got a rather rapid shaking of her father's head.
"Oh, so this panda just dropped by to say hi!" Nabiki barked. "Happens every day, don't it?!"
He said nothing in response, but paid close attention to how the panda put the short person it'd been carrying down to stand in front of him. Leaning down, he looked closely over the young figure, and saw the close resemblance to his wife, and his old friend. "You aren't... You wouldn't be?"
"Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this," the visitor simply stated.
"You're finally here!"
"He's pretty cute," the short haired Tendo daughter commented.
"It's so wonderful to see you," her father said happily, and pulled Ranma into a tight embrace... before pulling back and staring in confusion at the figure.
"Hmmm."
"How?"
"Hmm," Nabiki murmured and poked the figure in a chest.
Ranma gave the girl a flat look. "Would ya stop that?"
"Daddy? This is a girl."
Upon hearing this, Soun collapsed.
"Poor father. This must be a big shock," Kasumi murmured.
The second Tendo sister arched a brow. "It's not hard to see why. Some guy this turned out to be."
"He... She is our guest!" Akane admonished. "You should stop it!"
"Come on. Look at this!" the elder girl growled and squeezed the pigtailed girl's chest. "Does this look like what he told us?"
"I really wish that you'd stop that," their guest muttered.
"I can see!" the third of the Tendo sisters snapped, and turned to face the redheaded girl. "Hi. I'm Akane. Want to be friends?"
Ranma blinked for a moment, and gave a shy smile.
"Good. Now, I don't care if you're a girl or not."
"But I do," drawled her step-mother.
"Why would you... oh, yeah."
"What's going on?" Ranma asked.
"Mom was expecting you to be a guy, but since you clearly can't be one, I guess that's a problem for her."
"But I can be one!"
"You can?"
"Sure, I can. Gimme some hot water, and I'll be one!"
"Kasumi?" Ranko said. "Put on the kettle for our guest, would you?"
"Now, you'll see."
"You aren't really believing this, are you?" Nabiki asked, as her elder sister did as she was asked.
"Look at me, and look at her. Try seeing what I've noticed."
Both sisters looked, and at the same time, Ranma really looked at the woman for the first time. Save for the slight difference in hair style and build, as well as the obvious variation of age, the two redheads looked to be twins.
"I see that you've noticed."
"Who are you?" the younger redhead asked.
"I'm Ranko Tendo. But before I got married, my family name was 'Saotome'."
"'Saotome'? But that's my family name!"
"So you say. But the 'Ranma' I knew was my little brother, not a sister."
"But I am Ranma Saotome."
"Then where's our father?"
"Pop?" Ranma responded with a sour look. "He's right behind me."
"The only think that I see there is that fat panda."
"That's him... in either form."
"Well... that would actually fit. More hot water?"
"Exactly."
"Then prove it," the Tendo step-mother said, and took the kettle that Kasumi was bringing in to hand it to the pigtailed girl.
Taking it in one hand, Ranma dumped some of the contents onto her head... and then turned into a black haired boy, before tossing the container away, incidentally hitting the panda with it. "Ouch!"
"OW!" snarled the portly man who appeared where the over-sized animal had been. "That was hot!"
"Oh, shut up old man! I already knew that!"
"Then why did you toss it at me?!"
"I wasn't aiming it, but at least I hit something worthwhile!"
"Why you!"
"Pop, stop it right now!" Ranko yelled, yanking on the large man's ear.
"That hurts... Who are you and why are you pulling on me?"
"I'm your daughter, remember? Redhead, older child, the one you left behind?"
"My daughter?"
"Yes, 'your daughter'!"
"Ranko?"
"It is me."
"Oh. I didn't realize," her father said with a nervous chuckle. "What are you doing here?"
"I live here."
"You do? You should have said something."
"I did. I sent you a letter telling you why. But what do you think that you're doing?"
"I came to bring your brother to meet his fiancee, why else?" Genma answered.
"You are doing what?"
"It's the old agreement. Soun should have talked about told you girls earlier. After all, one of his daughters is going to marry Ranma."
"EH?!" went Akane, Kasumi and Nabiki.
Their step-mother gave her father a dark look. "Did you forget something important?"
"I don't think so. What could I forget?"
"How about the fact that I'm married to Soun!"
"You are?!"
"I sent you an invitation, and you came! You told me that you were happy that I was becoming a wife!"
"I did?"
"Grr... Did you even pay attention the entire time that you were around?! I mean, you barely showed your face!"
"That must have been what I was missing. I did think that it was odd that I got my hands on so much wine."
"You missed my wedding, and kept my children from meeting my brother way back then because you were the one who took off with that crate?!"
"I was celebrating," Genma said defensively. "Sure, I didn't remember why I was doing so after the first few bottles, but I did know that I was supposed to be happy."
"Great. Just wonderful."
"I know. But that's enough remininscing."
"Is that what you call it?"
"Certainly. But we have more important things to be concerned about."
"Like what?"
"'Like' getting your brother married to one of Soun's daughters."
"You can't be serious."
"Why not?"
"Because Soun and I are husband and wife," Ranko snarled, "and:
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(Posted Tue, 21 Jun 2005 04:35)
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