DISCLAIMER: I neither own nor make any claim to Ranma Nibunnoichi by Takahashi Rumiko. I just enjoy it. I also enjoy making up stories about the characters. I do not claim to be writing an official continuation of Ranma, if I did I'm sure the laughter alone would cause an earthquake. My characters will have a 'slight' tendency to be considered Out of Character and possibly a bit AU.
If I have spelt something terribly wrong please let me know. I hope you enjoy reading my attempt at writing. If you hate it then the correct option is to simply not read it. This story is fantasy and makes no attempt to be bound by the realities of life, if it did it would not be fantasy or at least not my fantasy.
I write for fun, I will update when I have the next chapter finished. I will do my best to make updates regularly but will only update when I am satisfied that it is ready.
Tattered Mist, the Letters
Dear Auntie
Ranma and I are on our way north to collect some scrolls Happosai wants him to study. We visited Happosai in the hospital and he is cherry and upbeat. I glanced at his chart while he was talking to Ranma and believe I know why he awarded him the grand master status and wants Ranma to have the scrolls. He has also entrusted a package to me that I am not to give to Ranma until he has learned at least three of the techniques.
I did not recognise Ranma when he met me at the station, he was still in his female form of course from the injuries but he had dyed his hair black and was wearing blue jeans and a sweater. He hasn't allowed me time to become depressed from being cursed, encouraging me to train, focusing on hand eye coordination and speed since we were sitting in the train.
When I do become depressed he soon has me laughing with stories from his training trip. His mood is much lighter and he is happier than I have ever seen him. Your confrontation last night was very beneficial he is much more outgoing since we left Nerima. Every once in a while when he is telling a story he gets a shadowed look in his eyes that tells me that he not telling me all of it but I will not pry. When he is ready he'll tell me what is bothering him I hope.
He is gathering supplies for the next part of our trip. According to Happosai this place is isolated and not easy to reach but we should be there in three to five days depending on how capable a hiker I prove to be. Once we leave the hostel we will stay at tonight he insists that I be in male form and become accustomed to the body and learn how to speak and act before we reach a populated area. I am still unsure how to feel about the curse but now that we know it isn't curable with water from the opposite spring I imagine I had better get used to it.
I know it was an accident but I am going to have to work hard to forgive my little sister. I do not think Ryouga wishes to meet Ranma right now, I know that he has held back a lot of his power in sparring him and Mousse even before Saffron, I do not think he would hold back right now.
Although I am cursed I am glad that Ranma did not have the misfortune to receive that water. He is beginning to accept his cursed form; I do not think he would be as accepting of the combined curse.
I see him coming back and will post at the next opportunity.
Kasumi
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Dear Kasumi
Akane and Nabiki are not in school for awhile. The food Shampoo brought was drugged with the intent to have Ranma become aggressive enough t fight Akane the next time she malleted him.
Akane hurt Kuno fairly seriously and the police were called over Principal Kuno's objections. After talking to the witnesses the officers decided that the attack was provoked and did not arrest her. Nabiki also slapped a few people was sent home also.
I talked with the office and restrained my temper enough to explain the situation and then went to the Nekohaten to see Cologne. Shampoo tried to deny her involvement but Cologne persisted and she finally admitted what she had used. I am including an attachment with detailed instructions from Cologne to prepare an antidote.
When we reached the dojo we had to stop your sister from killing Genma much to Cologne's disgust, and we administered the antidote to every one there. Ukyou was also affected and the young lady that helps her in her shop was restraining her from killing a pervert in her room. Tsubasa will recover but hopefully not soon.
Please keep me informed on how you and Ranma are doing. I love you and worry about the both of you.
Nodoka
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Dear Auntie
This is just a rushed post before we leave. The manager here has a laptop he is allowing me to post this with. I will prepare the antidote as soon as I am able to find the ingredients.
I have explained the situation to Ranma and we will be looking for Ryouga. As he is normally upset I dread to think what condition he is in now.
Ranma and I are training each other in how to act and speak, as her acting is a little exaggerated. He finally agreed that if I needed to learn then he would too.
I will post again as soon as possible.
We love you
Kasumi
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Dear Auntie
I am doing well. Not only am I relearning how to walk and talk Ran-chan has insisted I learn enough of our schools teaching to allow me to get out of a situation or at least delay it long enough for him to come to my aid. I never knew how exhausted I could be at the end of the day.
We found the shrine with no problem and headed back south. Ran-chan insisted that my training was up to so we cut across instead of following roads.
Ran-chan entered a tournament and of course won. He was upset as there was enough of a mist that he had to enter as female. It was raining too much after lunch for the continuation of the match and as we were about to leave Ryouga showed up.
The two fighters who tried to stop him before Ran-chan could reach him were hurt some but they did keep the others safe. Ran-chan managed to keep Ryouga between him and the bystanders to keep inadvertent damage to a minimum. The fight lasted almost a half hour but Ran-chan won and I am sending Ryouga to the Nekohaten. I gave him the antidote and he is heavily tranquillised right now and should remain so for awhile.
Ran-chan was injured rather badly so we will be taking a train to our destination instead of walking part of the way as he intended. We would simply return but I do not think he would heal as well there.
I will post again as soon as possible.
We love you.
Kasumi
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Dear Kasumi
Because of the injuries Kuno received, the school board did an investigation which had some decidedly good results. Kuno's father is no longer principal and Kuno is in mandatory therapy for his proclamation about having to fight Akane in order to date her. Akane is also in mandatory therapy for her rage disorder that was aggravated by Kuno who is also having to pick up the tab for all related cost.
I hope the beating I had to give your father won't irritate you too much but he is now repairing the dojo and Nabiki is putting out fliers for classes. She will be in the first class. The elder brother of one the boys Nabiki slapped decided to take retribution and attacked her in the mall. She is very upset about the black eye and intends to train to prevent a reoccurrence. As there were many witnesses to his attack, including store security, she will not be charged with the beating she gave him although she was cautioned to restrain herself next time. She has also opted to take anger management classes; she readily admits she lost her temper at the mall.
Elder Cologne's punishment of Shampoo is rather severe. She has lost Warrior status and is required to do the most menial jobs. She also has to care for Ryouga who remains heavily sedated while Elder Cologne is trying to come up with a long term treatment plan. He was under the effects of the potion too long and it is now permanent, apparently the dosage was many times as strong as what was intended as therapeutic for individuals who are considered too passive. Under their law she now owes Ryouga life debt until the effects can be reversed.
Ukyou is no longer a Kounji. You may inform Ranma that he has a new sister. The effect of the potion and the tranquillisers allowed me to get the entire story out of her; Elder Cologne was as shocked and angry as I was. Therapy and a good home will help her settle down and adjust, at least I hope so. Genma was not pleased, but his opinion no longer matters he has caused too much of the chaos.
Speaking of Genma, he and Mousse have both disappeared. Genma disputes Ranma's new title and maybe seeking him out to try to defeat him. Mousse is as bad as Ryouga and is blaming Shampoo's loss of status on Ranma. So keep a careful eye out for both of them. Bills that Genma made in Ranma's name are starting to appear and the courts have taken a hand in it. Someone has posted advertisements in papers everywhere that Ranma Saotome lives here. It would be well if Ranma was not seen for a while until I can get things straightened out here.
My solicitor is confident that not only will the earlier claims being made against Ranma will be thrown out but will also establish a pattern that should help clear Ranma of any obligations not incurred by him personally.
Your description of the fight was meagre compared to the stories told by the young men who delivered Ryouga to the Nekohaten. Their awe of Ranma's fighting ability and spirit was very apparent. His concern to keep others from getting injured impressed them highly and they had nothing but good things to say about my "daughter".
Please keep me informed on how Ranma is doing. I wish I could be there but circumstances here sadly prevent that. I love you both and hope to see you as soon as possible.
Nodoka
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Dear Auntie
Your "daughter" is not happy being immobilised and pampered. With the left tibia and right clavicle fractured, four ribs and the left arm broke "she" is not allowed to lift anything heavier than a light book. In this case an instruction booklet that came with the laptop they gave "her" in appreciation for defending them from Ryouga.
Once Ran-chan sets that mind to learning other things than martial arts I may have definite competition at school. There is hope that I can also transfer my records and go to college. Namiko and her father were startled the first time I transformed but took it in stride. He is arranging legal identification for Ran-chan's and my alternate form and wants me to study and go to college. With your permission you will soon have a young daughter of seventeen, the apparent age of Ran-chan's female form named Ranko. I will be my twin brother although the school will have to know we are one and the same.
With as much school Ran-chan has missed he has accepted that he has much to learn that he missed. The local school has accepted him and after showing them Happosai's licence they have agreed that physical education would be redundant. The new school year begins in seven weeks and the school is sending over text books and study outlines to get Ran-chan at the proper level of preparedness.
We are doing well and Ran-chan is sleeping, the fight took more out of him than he wants to admit. He took a lot of ki blasts while manoeuvring Ryouga to protect everybody. Considering the damage to mountain behind the town I do not think there would have been many survivors. He is looking much better today than he was yesterday how ever and I expect he will be up in less than two weeks not the month and half the doctors predict.
He has not slacked off my training or I his. We agreed that while in male form I need to speak as a male and I pointed out the opposite was true. Although he accepted it though under protest, his grammar has improved and thinking about what he is saying and what the proper words are has done much to cure his foot in mouth syndrome. Namiko is really helping put him at ease, and has assured him that he would have no trouble with his studies.
If beating my father makes him start living again then feel free to apply as needed. I am glad to hear my sisters are getting help we all needed and didn't know it, getting away from it has helped me tremendously. I wish I could say I was sorry about Kuno but I can't, he brought it on himself now my sister can get on with her life.
Neither Ran-chan nor I look as we did, and any strangers leaving the public area are reported immediately. So we should be fairly safe. I hesitate to give descriptions as Ran-chan has shown how easy it is to change appearance but inquiries about Ran-chan or I will get to us quickly.
I'll share your E-mail with Ran-chan when he wakes. I'm sure he will be thrilled to have a new sister. He has always thought of Ukyou as his buddy, never as a fiancée and always tried to spare her feelings. I'm sure he will be as happy as I am that she is getting help and getting better.
I'll keep you updated on what's happening as I am able and once Ran-chan becomes familiar with the keyboard you should have twice as many E-mails.
Kasumi
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Mom
Thank you for helping Uc-chan. I always considered her my best friend and she was abandoned by her family long ago. It is past time she had a family, tell her welcome to the family for me.
The last few days have been fairly busy for us. Ka-chan is a hard task mistress but I'm progressing. She says I'm teaching her as much but it isn't true. I hate being unable to move around and it is going to take for ever to get back in to shape, but she and Namiko are keeping me busy studying and writing. Namiko is like a sister, Ka-chan might be willing to let me slide but Namiko digs her heels in and won't let either one of us slack off.
She calls me Little Sis, and says when I can change back she'll call me Little Brother. It's embarrassing at times but she is answering questions I didn't know I had and wouldn't have been able to ask anyway. She's going to be a wonderful teacher, I know, because she is one already. She is a tyrant about grammar and pronunciation though and I have to write the answers to all questions in both hiragana and katakana as well as romanji. But she makes math fun and relates it to things I do or will do.
She corrects Ka-chan as quick as she does me, insisting on proper gender speech depending on form. And I think she is harder on Ka-chan than me when it comes to studying. All the medical terms Ka-chan has to know she has to know in English as well. Two of her friends are medical students and they came and talked to Ka-chan and I think they were impressed with her knowledge.
I'm glad Akane and Nabiki are getting help. The jerk that hit Nabiki deserved what he got. I hope the Old Ghoul isn't to hard on Shampoo, sure she can be impulsive at times but that is the way she was raised. Is Ryouga going to be alright? I knew he wasn't himself and didn't want to hurt him too much but I couldn't let him hurt others either.
When things settle down I would like to see you. I don't think I should return to Nerima right now though unless it's really important, it would too easy for things to return to the way they were.
Oyagi is probably off training to show me up. It's not likely he'll look for me very hard until he gets in better shape. In a week or two Mousses shouldn't be a problem, I would have a hard time avoiding him right now though.
Your "daughter" is getting very impatient to get out of this bed but won't until Ka-chan says I can. I'm not worried about what the doctors say, she knows more about me than they do.
I'll write again soon, love you Mom
Ranma
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Dear Kasumi and Ranma
Genma, no longer Saotome, was last reported in Honshu. While there he made arrangements for Ranma to marry the son of a local food contractor. Apparently his stomach overpowered his sense of self preservation. I am surprised he didn't do this previously now that all the claims are turning up. One man came to take over the Dojo this morning and provided a bill of sale. Another appeared before he left demanding Akane marries him. Unfortunately for the second man but fortunately for Akane the police arrived about the first man in time to hear him claim that he had paid good money for Soun's daughter and would use force if necessary to get her. If they had been seconds later it would have set Akane's therapy back to zero. The two young officers, one of them was Jiro Masedo who went to school with you, were happy to fill in for Akane in using force to subdue him. Genma has also tried to sell my home, not knowing or probably not caring that it is in trust for Ranma and can not be sold. I am afraid that we have not heard the last of Genma's antics.
Mousse was also seen in Honshu so he likely followed Genma thinking Genma knew where Ranma was. He attacked a young man who apparently looked like Ranma and is now wanted for armed assault.
Yes! Yes! Yes! My daughter Ranko was entered on the Saotome register today at the same time Soun entered name of his oldest daughter's twin brother. Welcome to the families my dear ones.
Elder Cologne, Ranko, not Old Ghoul, assures me that when she learns her lesson she will be returned to warrior status but that she needs the time to learn to think things through and learn a little humility. Ryouga is doing as well as possible, Elder Cologne is proceeding slowly, she doesn't want to do anything without studying it first to be sure it won't have adverse actions.
I'm very proud of both of you and look forward to seeing you and meeting Ranma's big sister. She sounds like a remarkable young woman.
I'm due at my solicitors so I will close this. I look forward to when we can visit until then keep writing.
Nodoka
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Dear Kasumi
A man claiming to be Ranma's father was here trying to find her. His description was somewhat off and then he mentioned that she was unmarried and that he needed to find a responsible husband for her. Ryu caught on to what he was up to and told him that he saw someone looking like her at a fight in Seoul the day before he left. The man disappeared along with a few valuables. So be careful.
I hope she is recovering well from the fight, it is still the most talked about topic around. If your girl friend is in trouble let us know and we will help.
Ichiro
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Dear Ichiro
Be very careful about trying anything against him, he is almost as formidable as Ryouga and is much craftier. He is ronin and has no known scruples. He has actually sold Ranma several times and his training measures are nothing less than sadistic. Please pass the word that Genma is very, very dangerous and to avoid him. Ranma is mending and will be back on her feet very soon. If you hear of his location please let us know but do again impress on your friends that he is extremely dangerous and to keep clear of him.
Kasumi
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Mom
Genma was misdirected to Seoul by some of Ka-chan and my friends. He was trying to sell me again and they are passing the word to let me know if he is spotted. Hopefully he can be kept looking in the wrong places until I'm back on my feet.
In addition to learning all the things a student my age is supposed to know and what a girl my age is supposed know I'm also trying to learn what Happosai thinks I should know. Please ask "Elder Cologne" if there is a way for me to increase the hours in a day, I need at least four more.
Seriously I am making progress, Namiko says I'm close to where I should be now as for as school is concerned. I believe I am making progress on the advanced techniques too.
Namiko's gynaecologist came over and gave me the "talk" with along with an exam. It was embarrassing but Namiko stayed with me the entire time and managed to keep me from getting too upset. Dr. Akira says, excluding the broken bones, that I'm very healthy. Ka-chan and I both have confided our secret with her since she is also a general practitioner and may be called to treat us for injuries so I'm not the only one that got the "talk" and exam. Ka-chan refused Namiko's offer to stay with her during her exam.
Do be careful, Genma could well try using one of you to draw me out. Tell Uc-chan to especially careful.
Love you Mom
A very impatient Ranko
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Dear Auntie
Your "daughter" is totally outrageous! While Namiko's friends were here today she practiced Happy's techniques on them and me. Fortunately she is still not allowed out of bed and is very susceptible to tickle attack. She was able to actually take items from us at a distance, something I'm not sure if Happy could do.
If Elder Cologne shares the secret of adding more hours to the day with Ranko make her share with me too. SHE is a perfectionist at training but I am up to some of the advanced techniques that she knew when she arrived at the dojo. I don't have her stamina or strength but I am learning to use ki. She insists that what she is teaching me is not to fight but to give me a chance to escape.
Wish me luck! I start taking entrance and placement exams tomorrow. Several of Namiko's friends are confident that I can test out of several courses due to my reading of Dr. Tofu's books and the practical experience acquired through patching up Ranma on such a regular basis.
Ranko and I are going shopping tomorrow after I return from taking tests. She will have to be content to be in a wheelchair but will be able to stand for brief periods. We both need to get suitable clothing for school. While she doesn't need a uniform for this school she does need to dress appropriately and I foresee a major battle getting her to buy what she needs.
How is everybody in Nerima? How are Father and my sisters doing? We're so busy trying to get ready that we forget questions we mean to ask until after we've gone to bed and we keep pushing harder all the time. Give everyone our love.
Kasumi
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Dear Kasumi and Ranko
Elder Cologne says she cannot think of any technique to add hours to the day but that if you come across one she will trade a dozen Amazon secret techniques for the privilege of learning it.
May you have the best of luck on your tests child. I'm sure you will do well.
Genma was sighted leaving an American base in Korea. When he was told to stop he attacked and several soldiers were wounded. The soldiers opened fire and wounded him but to what extent is not known. He managed to rob several houses of jewellery and other small valuable items. The Americans are furiously searching for him as are many others but he has managed to escape capture several times.
Mousse was seen not far from Nerima yesterday so we are on high alert. Elder Cologne has found several scrolls on hidden weapons techniques and we scanned them and have included them as an attachment. We hope they help in some way.
All claims against Ranma are now going straight to the police as are some of the claimants. Apparently some believe that it is perfectly legal to purchase a husband for their daughter. Most of the bar owners have stopped presenting their bills after a few were told that it highly unlikely that a seven year old would be able to consume that quantity. Many have since joined the search for Genma.
Several families filed suit against Soun even after they realised they had been swindled by Genma. Those suits were dropped quickly when Nabiki explained if they were not dropped they would be charged as accessories in Genma's crimes.
Do send us some pictures after you purchase your new clothing.
With all my love,
Nodoka
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