This is a bit of a raw idea, but on discussing it with a friend on
RanmaMUCK, it struck me as having quite a bit of potential, both for
humor and cool fights.   Please read and C&C...

***

Ranma stretched as he stepped out of the furo, glad for the upcoming
weekend.  At last, a day where he didn't have to worry about school.
That meant he only had... oh, about two hundred other pressing matters
about which to worry.  Still, from the smell emanating from the
kitchen, it seemed that Akane's cooking wasn't one of them.

Thank heaven for small favors.

"Oh, good morning, Ranma," said Kasumi cheerfully as he walked in.
She was was poking at a sizzling pan of some kind of stirfry.
Whatever it was, it smelled absolutely delicious.  It made Ranma's
mouth water almost instantly.

"Ohayou," he said.  "What's cooking?  Smells great!"

"Just a little surprise," she said, smiling.  "It'll be ready in a
little while."

He pondered this for a moment, then figured he could just let it
drop.  Culinary surprises from Kasumi and culinary surprises from
Akane were two different things entirely.  He shrugged.

"By the way, where's Akane?" asked Ranma.

"I think she's watching television...," replied Kasumi as she
sprinkled a pinch of salt into the intoxicating mix.

"Okay, thanks!" he said, and walked off.

Surely enough, there was Akane.  She seemed transfixed by what was
on the television, so she didn't notice him walk in.  Some rather
happy, bouncy music was coming from the speaker, with a rather
happy, bouncy woman singing along to it.  She was dressed in a
semi-revealing outfit, with a short skirt and leotards, and the
overall look was somewhat frilly.

The girl also had purple hair, noted Ranma with interest.  He
looked a little closer to make sure it WASN'T Shampoo.  It wasn't.
He didn't actually figure it was, but one could never be sure.
He called attention to himself with a simple "ahem."

Akane blinked and looked up at him curiously.  "Oh, good morning."

"Morning," said Ranma.  "Whatcha watching?"

She gave him an incredulous look.  "You don't recognize her?"

He shook his head.  "I don't keep up with idol singers."

"It's Athena!" said Akane, somewhat indignantly.

"Isn't she Greek?"

"Wrong Athena, baka.  Asamiya Athena, she's a great singer!"

Ranma smirked, and kept silent a moment, to listen to the girl
singing.  "That's debatable."

Akane glared at him.  "Are you in here for a reason, or did you
just want to insult my taste in music?!"

Ranma's smirk did not fade.  "I was just going to ask you if you
wanted to spar," he said.  "But I'd hate to interrupt your oh-so-
important leisure time activities."  He gave a lazy two-fingered
wave and turned, walking off toward the dojo.

Akane hurled the remote control at the back of his head.  *bonk*
He picked up his pace and ran, rather than walked, to the dojo,
to practice and hopefully avoid getting Akane mad at him.  Again.

He couldn't shake the feeling that it was going to be a LONG day.

***

In the Nekohanten restaurant, a trio of Chinese folk sat, eating
breakfast.  This in and of itself was not an unusual event.  But
the three people were unique, each in a... well, unique way.

Seated on one side of the booth was an elderly fellow, with an
unruly mop of white hair, which had a propensity for concealing
his eyes from view.  Across from him sat a boy, clad in a blue vest
with a white t-shirt and similarly colored shorts.  Next to him
sat a pretty young girl, with long, flowing purple hair.  She stood
out the most, simply because she was wearing sunglasses and a
fedora hat.

"I hate this disguise," she said.  The trained observer would have
noticed a very distinct similarity between this girl and the girl
who had been singing on the Tendos' television.  This similarity
made perfect sense.  After all, the two girls were one and the same.

"Well, it was either this or an entourage, Athena-chan," said the
old man.  "And I know you hate that even worse."  She sighed and
nodded resignedly, ready to simply get out of here and back to her
hotel room.  Room service.  That's what she needed.

"But Chin-sensei, why are you dragging us to some ratty old dojo
in the middle of Tokyo?" protested the young Chinese boy.

"Because, Sie," said the (very) old man sitting across from him,
"I have a very old debt to collect on.  And since we're here, I
figured now would be the perfect time."

"Why do WE have to come along though?" asked Athena.

Chin Gentsai sighed.  Children could be such a handful.  "That is
because I am your legal guardian.  No further arguments, or I'll
make certain that your training is especially harsh for the next
month!"

Both students immediately shut up at this.  "Hai, sensei," they
said through pursed lips.  They both had the distinct feeling
that this was going to be a long day.

***

In another restaurant, another young man was speaking to another
young female.  He was rather taken by the attractive young lady,
who appeared to be the chef, waitress, and quite possibly the
proprietor of the establishment at which they were dining.

She was rather annoyed, albeit flattered, by the young man's
come-ons.  It wasn't that he was unattractive.  He was actually
a fairly handsome sort, but he was... well, weird.  His blond
hair was spiked straight up, and his black sleeveless t-shirt fit
his slender frame a little too tightly, followed suit by his
jeans.  It made for a very odd overall appearance.

He had introduced himself immediately as Nikaido Benimaru, and
continued by trying to get the young woman into a date.  She had
politely refused, but he was rather persistent.  He'd managed to
get her name out of her, nothing more.

"Ukyou?" he said.  "What a lovely name."

She smirked at him, very tempted to pull her oversized spatula
from the wall and bean him in the head to try and knock some sense
into him.  But she decided to try to dissuade him by telling him
that she was engaged, which was true.

"Engaged?" asked Benimaru.  "Such a shame, for a lovely flower of
womanhood such as yourself to be engaged at such a tender age."

"I'll have you know," said Ukyou in annoyance, "that I'm quite
happy to be engaged, sugar.  Now are you going to order or not?"

"Benimaru-kun, give it a rest," said a handsome young Japanese
boy, about eighteen years of age.  He wore a white headband to
hold his hair out of his eyes, and his jacket held a very ornate
and distinctive design of a blazing sun on its back.

"Oh come on, Kyo!" said Benimaru.  "There's nothing wrong with
being friendly."

Kyo swatted Beni on the back of the head and said, "He'll have
the special, miss."  He smiled apologetically at the young
woman.  "Sorry to keep you from your other customers."

She smiled back.  This "Kyo" fellow was quite handsome.  And
less forward than Benimaru, too.  "One special... how about you,
sir?" she asked.

"Same for me," said Kyo.  He nudged their other companion, a
very large, muscular man.  "How about you, Daimon?"

The big man grunted noncommittally.  "The special sounds good to
me."

Ukyou smiled cheerfully and set to work.  "Three specials,
coming right up.  Will these be on separate tickets?"

Kyo patted Benimaru on the shoulder.  "No, I think Beni-kun here
will be footing the bill."

Benimaru was evidently not expecting this.  "Hey, why should I
have to pay for you guys?!"

"Consider it a favor for stopping you before the nice lady did
something you'd regret," said Kyo with a chuckle.  Daimon laughed.

Benimaru sighed as the cute chef giggled at him.  He had the
feeling this was going to be a LONG day.

***

Finally! thought Ryouga.  At last, the Tendo Dojo was in sight
once more.  It had only taken him... a few weeks to get back from
wherever he was.  He remembered a lot of sand.  Yeah, there was
a beach... but there was also a railroad track, and a harbor, and
a big stadium, and... these couldn't have all been in the same
place, could they?  Oh well, no matter.

He was back at the dojo, that was the important part.  And after
only... well, not very long by his standards.  Amazingly enough,
he was here for different reasons than usual.  He stood next to
the koi pond, looking around the yard for his old rival.  Maybe
he was in the dojo....

"Ranma!" he called out.  "You around?"

Suddenly, Ryouga was confronted with Ranma's face very close to
his.  Upside-down, no less.  As it happened, Ranma was hanging
by his feet from the tree.  "You rang?" he said with a grin.

Ryouga cried out in shock, and rang Ranma's bell with a good
solid hit.  Ranma fell to the ground in a heap.

"Ow!  Dammit, Ryouga, what'd you do that for?"

Ryouga clutched at a piece of paper in his hand.  "Don't sneak
up on me like that, you jerk!"

With a resilience only possible in anime, Ranma sprung to his
feet and peered at the paper.  "Whatcha got there?"

"Actually, it's a flyer for a martial arts tournament," said
Ryouga, holding it out for Ranma to take it.

Ranma read the flyer over quickly.  "The King of Fighters?
Never heard of it," he said, and handed it back.

"You don't keep up with much outside of Nerima, do you?" said
Ryouga with a chuckle.

Ranma made a sour face.  "And you have trouble keeping up with
anything IN Nerima."

Ryouga was not going to be goaded into a fight.  Not today.
Well, not yet.  "You're not even a LITTLE interested?" he asked,
quirking an eyebrow.  "That's hard to believe."

Ranma shrugged.  "I doubt any of the fighters there would be
good enough to give me a challenge.  What's the point?"

"Sounds to me like you're not up to the challenge."  Ryouga
grinned.  Ranma's buttons were so easy to press it was almost
sad.  Almost.

"Yeah, RIGHT, pig-boy," said Ranma angrily.  "Fine, I'll sign
up just to prove you wrong.  And when I win, I'll make you
eat your words!"  Hook and line so far....

"There is a catch," said Ryouga.

"What, going to try and make me leave Nerima if I lose?"

Ryouga shook his head.  "Nothing like that, you idiot," he
said.  "The tournament is teams-only."

"Teams?"

"Yeah.  Teams of three," explained Ryouga.  "Two people face
off, one is eliminated, another from that team comes in, one
is eliminated, so far.  If either team loses all three of its
members, they lose the match."

Ranma hmmed thoughtfully.  "Sounds kind of screwy.  So are you
asking me to join your team?"

Ryouga shrugged.  "That was the plan.  What do you say?"

"Why me?" asked Ranma skeptically.

"Because outside of maybe Herb, you're the best fighter I
know, and I want to win this," said the lost boy.  This was
true, and besides, a little ego-stroking would probably help
his chances.

"So who else would be on our team?"

Ryouga shrugged.  "That I hadn't decided yet... I was thinking
that maybe you would have an idea."

Ranma grinned, gears turning almost audibly in his head.  "I
can think of a few people that might be worth checking out."

"So does that mean you'll sign up?" asked Ryouga hopefully.

"Sure," said Ranma.  "Who knows, it could be fun."  He held out
his hand.  "Partners?"

Ryouga took the proffered hand and smiled.  "Partners."

***
TO BE CONTINUED...?
***

Previews of forthcoming chapters:
  "She doesn't actually wear THAT while she fights, does she?"
asked Ryouga nervously.
  "All the time," said King with a sigh.  "I've tried convincing
her to dress a little more appropriately, but it's done no good."
  "Uh oh."

***

  Ranma scowled at his father.  "What do you MEAN, 'fulfill the
least of my obligations'?  YOU were the one that got me into this
mess to begin with!"

***

  "Who the hell is THAT?" asked Mousse, pointing at Iori.
  Kyo made a face.  "That is Yagami Iori.  He's one demented son
of a bitch.  Did I mention that he wants to kill me?"
  "Boy, that sounds familiar," said Ranma with a smirk.

***

  "I am NOT marrying that pervert!" -- Guess who? ^_^

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyhow, this is rather early... written in the space of a couple of
hours, since I had some ideas churning through my head.  It's still
kind of rough, and has undergone no revisions.  I've got lots of
ideas for stuff that could happen later, but feedback on this will
determine whether or not I actually continue it.  So if you like it,
please tell me!  C&C and MST welcome and encouraged.

-Deuce

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      Systems of Choice: Neo*Geo, TurboGrafx-16 and PlayStation
The Ninja Gaiden Home Page: http://www.classicgaming.com/ninjagaiden/
            My Fanfiction: http://www.scsn.net/users/deuce/
       "How beautiful is death.  Death and his brother, sleep."
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