“Pop you idiot! You get your fat furry hide back here,” the red haired girl in the white gi yelled towards the retreating panda.
It was not every day the quiet Japanese neighborhood of Nerima saw a panda wandering around the rain soaked streets so freely. The girl chasing after the panda was soaked from the rain and looked to be quite angry. However, being as it was Nerima the sight of an angry wet girl chasing after a panda did not phase the residents one bit. They were used to girls in leotards bounding around from rooftop to rooftop fighting each other before a huge gymnastics match. They were used to seeing a once respected business man and former member of the Japanese Self Defense Force who had a mental breakdown in Hawaii chase after high school students with cordless electric hair clippers. They were used to schoolyard brawls for date and shady businesses run out of the high school computer lab. What they were not used to was a female purple dragon with a soft melodic laugh flying over the streets of Nerima.
“Oh Ranma, always trying to handle things with Genma the human way,” the dragon commented from her vantage point with a bit of a chuckle.
Ranma, the soaking wet girl, stopped in the middle of the street and yelled once more at the panda she had been chasing, “I swear pop, I’ll change right here in the middle of the street and fly back to China on my own. I want a cure for this and it’s obviously back in China.”
The panda stopped its running and turned to face the teenage girl. From out of nowhere the Panda pulled out a wooden sign and scribbled something on it, something the panda was becoming quite skilled at doing.
“Think of your mother and what she’d do if you left,” the sign read.
The mother card was a move the panda knew would work. He could always get Ranma to stop whatever she considered doing by using the mother card. Ranma had a duty to her mother and her heritage. Her training with her mother was very important and she had been reminded of that each day for ten years of her life. Letting out a huge sigh Ranma relaxed her body and made her way to stand near the panda.
“Fine, fine you win. I’ll go with you to meet this friend of yours,” Ranma responded to the panda.
The panda not wanting to waste any more time grabbed Ranma by the waist and flung her over his shoulder like a fireman carrying someone from a smoke filled building. The girl did not like being carried by the panda that way and let her displeasure known, “Po-op I’m not incapable of walking you know.”
Ranma knew it was useless to argue with her father and let out a hard sigh that blew her bangs out of her eyes. The people watching the scene unfold before them acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary. It was after all Nerima and they were used to strange things happening in the Tokyo ward.
The final destination for the family of three was a modest traditional Japanese home behind a concrete fence. The compound the home was on had a garden with a koi pond and a dojo where the home’s owner had once held martial arts classes. The house was by no means a massive traditional compound but it was larger than most homes in the neighborhood. It was home to Soun Tendo and his three daughters.
Soun was having a very good day that fateful day. His special brand of sake had come in at the local liquors. His daughter Kasumi had shown some interest in something other than keeping the house by borrowing a book from the local chiropractor. His daughter Nabiki’s future business leaders club was granted an award for their contribution in a business proposal competition. His daughter Akane was advancing her study of the family art out in the dojo. And, he received a postcard from his best friend and his wife stating they were coming for a visit with Ranma and he and Genma could talk about the pact they made some twenty years before.
Yes, life for Soun Tendo was going very well that day. However, what he did not know was that his world and the world of his best friend’s wife, Nodoka were about to become one in the same. The world of magical oni, basan, tengu, hibagon, kappa, kitsune, and the like was about to come crashing head on into his own world. A simple visit from his best friend and his family was going to change his family’s life forever. And, it was going to happen with the knock that came from the front door to his house.
“Father door,” Soun’s eldest daughter, Kasumi, called out.
“Nabiki hurry up our visitors are here,” Soun called to the second floor of the house before turning his attention towards the kitchen, “Kasumi, go and get your sister please while I let them in.”
Soun opened the front door to the house and was greeted by a sight he did not expect to see. There before him was most definitely Nodoka Saotome but she was standing next to a young red haired girl and a panda.
“N-N-Nodoka, where’s Genma? And didn’t you have a son,” Soun asked the woman before him.
Nodoka let out a soft sigh and had an apologetic look upon her face as a young woman a bit older than Ranma appeared behind Soun in a green and blue kimono. Nodoka looked at the state of dress both she and Ranma were in and felt bad for not presenting a better first impression of themselves. “Sorry for all of this Soun. It was raining a bit ago and I’m afraid we got caught in it without proper protection,” Nodoka apologized as she gave the panda a hard look.
As she was currently occupied with her panda of a husband Nodoka failed to see the young woman start poking Ranma in the chest. “Gee daddy you said your best friend and his wife had a son. This looks like a girl Akane’s age,” the teen commented to Soun as she continued poking Ranma’s breast.
“Would you please stop doing that,” Ranma complained as she lightly batted away the girl’s hand.
With a dejected look upon his face Soun motioned for odd little trio to come into the house and make themselves comfortable. Nodoka grabbed the panda by the ear dragging him to the couch while Ranma followed the girl in the kimono to the living room.
“I was sure when Genma told me you were finally blessed with a child he said you gave birth to a son you named Ranma,” Soun remarked to Nodoka.
Before Nodoka could explain their situation Ranma spoke up to the Tendo partiarch, “I am Ranma. Ranma Saotome and that’s my mother Nodoka.”
It was at that moment Soun’s eldest and youngest daughters came into the living room. They were in time to hear Ranma introduce herself to Soun and their sister. The eldest daughter smiled and the youngest had look of great relief upon her face. Ranma could tell she was expecting something completely different and like her mother was about to tell the family what they saw was not what she was but she never had the chance.
“It’s great to meet you Ranma. I’m Akane and I know we’ll be great friends. Do you do martial arts because if you do I’d like to spar with you in the dojo,” the youngest daughter Akane said introducing herself to Ranma.
All at once Ranma began to sweat nervously as she tried to form the right right thing to say.
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(Posted Sun, 27 Feb 2011 06:03)
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