Chapter Text
Akane simmered as she regarded her father. “A fiancé? That’s ridiculous!”
“Now, Akane, dear, you need to-”
The nineteen-year-old stared at Kasumi. “Calm down?! Kasumi, he’s selling one of us off like… like, I don’t know, used clothing!”
“Be that as it may, we do have a duty to the family.” Kasumi chided.
The last member of their set of triplets raised her hand lazily. “You might. I’m calling not it.” Nabiki paused. “Unless he’s hot and rich, I guess?”
The triplets turned to their sweating father.
“Well? What’s this ‘Ranma’ look like? How old is he?”
Soun sweated some more. He coughed nervously. “Ah, well, you see, I have no idea what he looks like.”
“What?!” Akane yelled.
“I’ve… I’ve never met him!” Soun stammered. “B-but I know his age!”
“Oh, good.” Nabiki replied, rolling her eyes. “That makes it so much better.”
“I do hope he’s an older man.” Kasumi mused.
“He’s sixteen.” Soun muttered. The three turned to stare at him again.
“Excuse me?” Akane asked.
“Sixteen.” Nabiki said flatly.
“Oh my, that’s rather young for us, Father.” Kasumi shook her head; any interest she had vanishing. “That sort of relationship is rather inappropriate, isn’t it?”
“W-well, you wouldn’t get married until he’s eighteen, and then the age gap’s not so bad!” Soun managed.
Akane snorted. “Well, you can count me out. Unless Ranma’s some kind of super cute girl, I don’t think I’d be interested. And even then, sixteen?! I’m not robbing the cradle like that.”
Nabiki chuckled. “Not to mention that you’d need both potential spouse’s consent. Guess you’re stuck, Daddy.”
Soun looked upset, but his resolve didn’t waver even in the unimpressed stares of his three headstrong triplets.
“There is still a duty to the family for one of you.” He intoned.
There was a commotion at the door, and you know how the scene goes. The rain, the panda, the redheaded girl screaming on his shoulder and running away of both Nabiki and Soun until the girl’s placed in front of them, apologising.
“Guess you lucked out, Akane.” Nabiki commented, peering at the chest of the so-called Ranma with a thoughtful look on her face that had the girl shivering and crossing her arms. “Bi I might be, but I’m not robbing the cradle.”
“Nabiki!” Akane yelled. “I’m not doing it either, I’m a lesbian, not a predator!”
“I’m interested in men, and older ones at that.” Kasumi added, each word from his daughters a weight on Soun’s already fragile mind. He collapsed to the ground. Grumbling, the three sisters dragged him into the family room, managing to ignore the panda somehow.
Ranma followed and sat, looking at the table while they set Soun up on a futon with a cloth on his forehead. She blinked. It looked like a practiced move… did this happen regularly?
Eventually they all turned back to Ranma and looked her over.
“Damn, she’s a knockout.” Nabiki commented, staring at her chest again thoughfully.
“Um… Can ya stop starin’?” Ranma asked plaintively, covering her chest seemingly on instinct.
“Nabiki, knock it off! Ranma is a guest!” Akane chopped the head of her sister gently. Nabiki rubbed at it, rolling her eyes.
“Hey, I’m not gonna perv on her, but she’d be great for photography. You can’t tell me that she isn’t cute. She’s gonna devastate people when she’s older.”
“Even so – and I agree, you are very cute, Ranma – it’s rude to do so to a guest.”
Akane moved to kneel next to the redhead and smiled at her. Ranma stared back, a flush across her cheeks from the compliment. She seems real nice. “I’m Akane, you want to be friends?”
Ranma stared. “A-ah, sure.” She said, swallowing. Akane’s smile widened.
“Dad says you went on a long martial arts trip, right? You any good?”
“I’m the best!” Ranma boasted, puffing up with pride.
“That so? Well, I pretty much run the Dojo, mind showing me what you’ve got in a spar?” Akane smiled gently again. Ranma’s flush grew more pronounced, but she shot to her feet.
“Yeah!” She’s a sensei!
Nabiki rolled her eyes as her sister managed to coax Ranma out of her shell. That was Akane for you, especially now she had less of an uncontrolled temper. Sure, she still got angry a lot, but Akane without her fire would’ve been wrong. Even so, she seemed to understand exactly how to make their new guest calm down and interact with the three women.
“Great, another jock here to make the place all sweaty.” Nabiki sighed after a moment.
Kasumi giggled softly. “Well, at least Akane’s making a friend.”
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Akane was having trouble – not that she’d normally admit it.
The pair had bowed to the I-RO-HA on the dojo wall, then each other, and the spar had begun. At first, it felt like Ranma was merely dodging, but when Akane started ramping up the spar and those blue eyes flicked to the teaching and mastery certificates showing that Akane was indeed the sensei here, she’d seemed to change tack and start actually fighting.
Akane had thought she was good. Heck, she was the best martial artist in Nerima a lot of the time. She had her teaching certificate, and in Anything Goes that meant she was highly advanced in a vast spread of martial arts. She even knew a couple of ki-based techniques and could call up her battle aura reliably. Learning that had been painful and long-winded, but it always paid off.
Ranma, though. Ranma was a girl on a whole other level to Akane. She flowed like water, like air itself. Young and she could tell that the redhead wasn’t entirely experienced in fighting the ground-based version of Anything Goes so much, which made sense if she’d mostly studied the aerial forms the Saotome branch performed. Even, so, Akane was hard-pressed to land any of the blows she sent.
And hells, Ranma was fast!
Akane had managed a couple of hits, some by pulling out her truly sneaky tricks. One she’d managed to distract Ranma for a beautiful hit to the face, but the short girl shook it off and then became practically untouchable to the technique. That seemed the main of it – Akane would try a new angle and Ranma would adapt. It was almost frightening how quickly she learned.
In short, Akane was having trouble – and the time of her life. She was openly grinning at Ranma as the pair exchanged blows. Or, rather, Akane threw punches and kicks, and Ranma was nowhere near them. Insults had been flying thick and fast between them as they tried to rile the other up to get an advantage.
Akane finally lunged forwards and staggered until the person behind her flicked the back of her head and started giggling.
Panting, Akane leaned over a moment, turning around and laughing herself at the open joy on Ranma’s face. It lit the whole dojo up and Akane instantly saw how Nabiki was spot on with how devastating Ranma would be on people that liked girls, especially once she fully matured and lost the last of the baby fat on her face.
“Damn.” Akane groused, good-naturedly, rolling her neck. “You’re good.”
Ranma flushed at the compliment, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Akane sensed that praise from a sensei hadn’t been something Ranma had gotten used to. Which was absurd. Ranma was more skilled than Akane herself, and she was sixteen! How had she not had much praise before?!
“I mean it. You flow like water. I’d kill to have a student like you who clearly loves the Art as much, if not more than me.”
Akane bowed to Ranma, who bowed back and shifted.
“Y-yeah, well, you were real good yourself… uh… Akane-sensei? That trick shot you did was dirty and sneaky.”
Akane laughed, holding a fist out. “Isn’t that the point of Anything Goes? Trick shot, move back and kapow!”
Ranma blinked, then her face lit up in a broad, beaming smile as she bumped Akane’s fist with her own. “You get it!” She exclaimed, her voice full of joy. Akane nodded back, her own eyes alight. “Man, I meet so few folks who get it! Usually it’s all ‘honourable combat’ this and ‘don’t throw sand in my eyes’ that!”
Akane grinned at her. “Hey, while you stay here, you’re welcome to a spar anytime, and feel free to be as sneaky as you want. Heck, I might ask you to beat on some of my students. They could always use a humbling, and gods, you’d give them that!”
Ranma giggled again, then put a hand to her mouth, looking confused. Akane stretched. She didn’t fail to notice Ranma’s eyes on her. It was flattering, even if Ranma hadn’t got a chance in hell with her being so young. There was something about Ranma, though, something wild but hurt. She wanted to hold onto the girl and help her. Is this ‘big sister instinct’? Akane wondered.
“Woof, I’ll be feeling some of those bruises tomorrow, I think.” Akane said, rolling her shoulder. Ranma nodded.
“S’the good burn though.” She commented.
“There’s that.” Akane looked around the now-messy dojo. “I’ve got to clean up in here, I think.”
“I’ll help…” Ranma looked around as well. There were some footprints on the ceiling and walls that were definitely Ranma’s, though a couple were Akane’s. Damn that woman was good. Better than nearly every sensei Ranma had studied under.
Ranma shifted. “Um… Akane-sensei?”
“Hmm?” Akane stood up from where she was dusting the ceiling.
“You… believe in magic?”
Akane blinked at the odd question. “Uh… I guess? I mean I’ve not seen a lot, but I know all about ki and I know magic’s not too dissimilar? I’ve seen some weird stuff, too. That’s Nerima for you, it’s a weird place and Juuban’s got magical girls and youma, so… I guess so.” Ranma shifted her feet. Akane canted her head to one side. “Why’d you ask? You a magical girl or something?”
Ranma was about to speak when Kasumi poked her head in, looking around the dojo. “Ah! There you are, Ranma-chan! I wanted to let you know the bath’s ready now you two are done in here.”
Ranma shifted awkwardly. “Um… Ah… Do I gotta?”
Kasumi sniffed rather pointedly, but then she smiled in a teasing manner. “Unless you want to be stinky at the dinner table, yes. Akane’s going to need a bath, too.”
“Guilty as charged!” Akane replied, laughing. “Good workout, though. I’ll get my bath later, Kasumi, you get her in there. I’ll clean the dojo up, first.”
Kasumi rolled her eyes at one of her twins and motioned to the door, gently pushing Ranma out, who was trying to protest, but the taller woman wasn’t taking no for an answer. Kasumi had long learned that dealing with jocks like Akane, and apparently also Ranma, was to bulldoze them into getting something done.
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Ranma sat and pondered the bathroom as Kasumi left, sighing. “Man, they’re gonna hate me.” He said to himself, and the thought made him feel uneasy. Even with Nabiki’s… Nabikiness, the three women seemed very nice.
Akane, especially seemed to understand. He wanted to fight the short-haired woman again. Maybe he should spar with her instead of Pops, gods knew that would be better by like a hundredfold.
Still…
Ranma started cleaning himself down and then, with some hesitation, got into the bath, changing back into his boy form. Contemplating the water, he sighed again.
“Gosh, they were nice.” He mumbled. He wasn’t looking forwards to being thrown out. He’d been glad that he’d managed to keep a lid on his foot-in-mouth tendencies. The three sisters were way too nice to him to make them mad, and Akane-san was a sensei! You didn’t just mouth off at a sensei in their own dojo! Ranma knew he wasn’t the best socialised kid in the world, but he liked to think he took at least that kinda thing seriously.
“Hope Pop don’t mess this place up for them.”
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Akane finished up in the dojo and stepped out, back into the house. She passed by the family room, seeing her father and some balding man in a dirt-stained gi sitting there, tears running down both their faces. “What the heck’s that about?” She mumbled to herself. Moving on, she went into the room before the bathroom and saw Ranma’s messily left clothes, including…
“Are those men’s boxers?” Akane wondered aloud.
There was also no bra, which Akane had already deduced from the jiggling the poor short girl had been doing as she moved. It made her wince. She wasn’t as… developed… as Ranma and it still hurt when Akane moved too fast without a sports bra on.
Judging by some of the mutterings and how Ranma acted, and that she was supposed to be a he, Akane wondered if she’d been raised as a boy. What an awful thing to do to your daughter!
Well, she could ask. Sharing a bath wasn’t too unusual. Pulling off her clothes and putting a towel over herself, she slid the door open just as a boy got out of the bath.
Akane stared. Her eyes travelled up and down as the boy gaped at her.
Yup, that was a guy alright.
Anger started to fill her, and her eyes narrowed as a battle aura erupted around her. She drew in a breath to scream when the boy splashed back in the bath, cowering away and apologising.
He’s just a kid.
Sucking in a deep breath, Akane counted to ten, then backwards, then let out the breath. Did it again a couple of times and then made sure her towel was secure around herself.
The boy just watched, wary, like he expected to be hit. Amidst the anger she kept a tight hold of, she felt a moment of concern for that. Akane moved and sat on the stool. “Alright then. Who the hell are you? And why are you in our furo?” She asked.
Ranma stared and stammered. “R-R-Ranma.” He gulped. He’d never seen such rage in someone before. “S-Saotome Ranma.”
Akane’s brain froze. “Come again?” She asked.
“I-it’s me. I…” He looked down, glad the water covered him, though he still put his hands over his groin. He was feeling bad again, that stupid itching in his skin. Maybe it was the heat? “I was gonna tell ya, but then…”
Akane blinked as her brain thawed. “…That’s why you were asking about magic?”
“Y-yeah.”
“…That’s a neat trick.”
“It’s… It’s water. Cold makes me a girl, h-h-hot makes me this.”
Akane stared. She noticed that he conspicuously didn’t say ‘boy’. An idea came into her head.
“So you’re a…?”
“Uh…” Ranma looked like he had to think, which was another tally in Akane’s idea. She was pretty sure he didn’t realise. “Boy?”
Akane took a breath. “Okay, prove it. Can you show me?”
Ranma blinked. She was being very calm about this. “Uh… I guess but… I’m…. Um… I’m naked.”
Akane sighed. “Right.” She grabbed a towel from nearby and tossed it to him. He wrapped it about his waist and stepped out – clearly avoiding being too near Akane and stood next to the cold tap.
Then he turned it on and shrank by a good amount, the hair went red and suddenly there were bare boobs in the room that Akane couldn’t help but see, eye level to her as they were. “Your poor back…” she murmured, looking away and up into Ranma’s face. Ranma looked at her, then down, then back at Akane’s towel and finally seemed to realise he was bare up top in his girl form.
“O-oh… Uh…” Ranma tugged the towel until it was mostly sitting like Akane’s. “S-so you see…”
Akane nodded. “I guess I do.”
Ranma looked down. “Sorry ‘bout this.”
Akane finally smiled, the last of the anger leaching away. He’s a nice kid, I guess. “…I think it’s okay. You were going to tell me; it was just bad timing that Kasumi dragged you away.” She paused. “Actually, do you mind showing all of my sisters this… curse was it?” Ranma nodded. “Yeah. Mind showing them once you’re dressed?”
Ranma swallowed. “Alright.”
A few minutes later found Ranma sitting down in the spare guest room with all three sisters. Nabiki and Kasumi looked nonplussed, but Akane managed to smile. She’d dressed in some loose pants and a tee shirt. Ranma was back in the Chinese silks he’d come in.
“So, Ranma’s got a secret to show us. I… ran into her in the bath and…” She gestured. “Ranma, mind showing them?”
Ranma shuffled under the scrutiny of three older women and then picked up the steaming cup from the tray Akane had brought, upending it over her head.
The reactions from Kasumi and Nabiki were fairly vocal, and it took several more soakings until they were satisfied it wasn’t any kind of mundane trick.
“Damn.” Nabiki whistled. “That’s gotta be strange, kid.”
Ranma nodded.
“Does it hurt?” Kasumi asked.
“Naw. Tingles a bit, but it’s so quick y’don’t notice sometimes.”
“Not even when you’re in girl form?”
Ranma shrugged. “Feels pretty normal to me. You’d think I were dying though, with how quick Pop is to pour scaldin’ water on me.”
Akane thought back and realised she’d seen some nasty red marks on Ranma’s stomach and neck in the brief time he’d been uncovered. Her face darkened a moment, but she let it pass and just noted the next potential reason to beat Ranma’s father up. Despite having never spoken to the guy, it was starting to get more bullet points.
Nabiki leaned forward, poking at the now-flat pectoral muscles. “Huh. Wonder where all the mass goes?” The cold water went back over as Nabiki watched the almost-instant transformation.
“Mass?” Ranma asked.
“Yeah. Like, do you weigh more like this, or is it all in your tits? I think we should probably do some science.” Nabiki nodded.
Kasumi pondered. “It might not be a bad idea to do some testing. Especially for medical things. Though even if she weighs differently, it’s magic. It probably doesn’t make sense on purpose.”
Nabiki turned to Akane. “I’d have thought you’d have murdered the poor guy though. I’m assuming you ran into him in the bath?”
Ranma flinched and Akane pinched the bridge of her nose. “Biki, when was the last time you heard me yelling at someone about being a pervert?”
Nabiki laughed. “Yeah, I know, it’s been a while. Speaking of which – Saotome.” Ranma sat up, looking wary.
“Yeah?”
“You haven’t used it to sneak in anywhere you shouldn’t to look at naked girls, have you?”
Ranma blinked. “Uh… no? Why would I do that?” He asked guilelessly.
The three sisters looked at one another. Then back at Ranma.
“…Really?” Akane asked. In her experience, teenage boys were perverts just waiting on a peek. Granted, her experience had been… Unusual, even if she’d put a stop to it quickly, but still…
“Uh… yeah?” Ranma’s face was entirely nonplussed. “I don’t get it.”
Kasumi patted Ranma’s hand. “You will someday, dear.” She comforted.
“Well, I mean, I have used it to scam food carts for free stuff…” Ranma shuffled. “Was that bad? I was real hungry, an’… Well, bein’ cute’s real good when you’re cruisin’ for eats.” He played with his fingers. “I missed bein’ able to cute the vendors outta food…”
Nabiki laughed softly. “Oh man, I have to take you with me to the snack places. You’ll be killer at getting us extra.”
Akane pinched the bridge of her nose. “Biki, don’t put ideas in Ranma’s head. Be a good influence!”
“Ain’t no ideas in here.” Ranma grinned. He knocked his head. “Solid all the way through!”
“Don’t put yourself down, so.” Kasumi scolded. “You’re probably much more clever than you think. Now, Ranma, if you could leave the room for a short while, my sisters and I need to have a quick -and private- chat.”
Ranma swallowed. “Oh, uh… Sure. Sorry ‘bout this.” He stood up.
“There isn’t anything to be sorry about, so don’t worry. We just need a little sister talk, that’s all.”
“Okay…”
When Ranma had left the room, the three sisters looked at one another.
“Well, that’s… Something.” Nabiki commented. “I definitely want to get some science stuff done. And photography. Either form would be great for portraiture. Hunk and cutie, all in one package.”
“Make sure to ask for consent.” Kasumi warned. “I remember what you were like in high school.”
“Oh, come on, Sumi, I sold photos to that asshole once.”
“Once was too many times when it came to Tatewaki-kun.” Kasumi sniffed.
The sisters were quiet for a while, pondering.
“By the way, I think… Ranma’s a she.” Akane offered after a moment. “I kept noticing the way she’d speak or talk about herself.”
“Oh, yeah, that gal’s an egg alright. Luckiest one in the world, really.” Nabiki said. “Can’t believe she hasn’t figured it out yet. You see how much at ease she was in her girl form?”
“What are we going to do about that?” Kasumi asked. “Judging by what I’ve seen, it’s going to be difficult for her if she’s only had her father raising her.” The eldest (by a whole twenty minutes to Nabiki and fifty for Akane) triplet put a hand to her cheek. “She needs to know so much about it, and I can’t imagine her father’s done a good job. She’s practically feral.”
“We be gentle and just guide her to her own conclusions, I guess.” Akane decided. “I saw a few times when we traded insults in the spar that she wasn’t entirely enjoying insulting me. I think she looks up to us, weirdly enough.”
“I suppose we can be big sisters…” Nabiki mused. “Crack that egg slowly.” She snickered to herself. “Egg-tapping is an traditional English game, wherein-” She was stopped by a pillow to the face courtesy of a giggling Kasumi. Akane sighed at her sisters’ antics.
“In the meantime, I think we might need to run interference with her father. She has a lot of little scars on her body and some more recent scalds and burns. And she seemed to find it weird that I complimented her as a sensei.” Akane said softly. “It isn’t painting a pretty picture of her father.”
Nabiki and Kasumi looked at one another. “I’ll look into his past.” Nabiki stated. “Kas, you watch out in real-time, you’ve got the most motherliness of us.”
Kasumi rolled her eyes. “Fine. Come along, then. Let’s meet her father.” Kasumi stood.
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The three sisters sat on one side of the table in the family room. Soun sat at the head, with Ranma and Genma knelt on the other.
The usual discourse. China. Jusenkyo. The curses. Ranma in the koi pond and then the pair yelling. Genma being the one getting scalded for once and then Soun pulls a stupid trick.
“Well, then. These are my daughters. Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, all nineteen. Pick the one you want to be your bride.”
The three sisters looked across at Soun, who doesn’t seem to understand the three sets of feminine wrath staring at him. Ranma eyed him, too, as the moustached man nodded sagely.
Genma just laughed and agrees with Soun, at least until Akane and Ranma tag-teamed both parents, throwing them both into the koi pond. As they sat there, dripping, the three sisters stood behind Ranma.
Ranma folded his arms, looking angry. “I ain’t marryin’ no one, Pop!” He yelled. “Especially not these nice ladies! You always gotta ruin everythin’, aint’cha?!”
“I am not marrying someone so much younger than me.” Kasumi spoke softly, but with ironclad will.
“Too young for my tastes.” Nabiki added. “Also, I’m withholding your stipend this month for that stupid stunt, Daddy.”
“Ranma’s a kid, you two!” Akane yelled, putting a hand on Ranma’s shoulder gently. “She should be going to school and learning about the world and dating people, if she wants to! She should be making the mistakes of youth, and you’d force her into an arranged marriage?!”
“Well, I…” Soun started.
“I don’t want to hear it!” Kasumi retortde sharply. The other sisters looked at their gentler one. She, too, put a hand on Ranma’s shoulder. “Ranma-chan will be our guest, and we’ll be happy to have her as such!”
Nabiki’s hand joined theirs. “I can’t believe you two are this stupid. It’s against the law to force a marriage like this before she’s eighteen, anyway!”
Ranma blinked. Support? But… Weren’t they supposed to back her father up?
Akane squeezed her shoulder. “We’ve got your back, Ranma-chan, since it seems your dad hasn’t.” She said softly. “I know we’re only a few years older than you, but I’m happy to be a big sister you can rely on. From all the stuff you told us, you could do with it.”
“Me too.” Kasumi and Nabiki chorused. Ranma blinked and then felt his throat going thick.
“R-really?”
“Really.” Nabiki confirmed.
“Th-thanks…” Ranma murmured, trying to hide how much that hit him in the heart.
The three sisters gave the parents a glare and then they led Ranma off to talk somewhere private.