Here's a fic I wrote a while back and sent to have pre-read.  A
recent inquiry on the FFML made me decide to revise and post it so it
could be seen.  Please let me know what you think.  All C&Cs and MSTs
are appreciated.  Now, on with the show.
 

______________________________________ 

������ � � �  Ranma 1/2: Reversal of Fortune

�������� � � � � � � � � � � Chapter
One 

                                     by

                                 Akihiro

***Disclaimer:  Takahashi-sensei's characters are owned by her and
anyone else with a legal copyright claim, not me, and are used without
permission.  All other characters were created by myself.***

{...}  Indicates character thoughts

______________________________________


��� � It was a rainy day in Nerima.  Aside from the boy that was
chasing a St. Bernard down the road nothing was out of the ordinary.
The people near by watched the scene before them with curiousity.  The
boy appeared to be in his late teens and had long black hair teid back
with a bow. 
��� � "Come back here you worthless mutt!" yelled the boy. "I
can't believe you would do such a thing to me!" 
��� � A worried shop keeper heard the exchange and stepped
forward. "Young man, if that dog attacked you I have a phone you can use
to call animal control." 
��� � "Huh?" He looked confused for a moment and then replied,
"It didn't do anything to hurt me, I'm gonna do something to hurt _IT_!" 
���� The man developed a shocked look and quickly returned to
his shop. � The teenager looked around for the dog who had apparently
vanished while he was distracted. "Where did you go now, you old bat?"
    �The dog quietly crept up behind him and leapt against his back.
The boy, having been unprepared for the assault,  flew head first into a
near by wall, then fell to the ground unconcious. � The large dog
grabbed the boy by the shirt and drug him off down the street after
giving a threatening growl to the few people that stepped forward. 

                 *                    *                  *

��� � Saotome Nodoka stood in her kitchen reading a letter. "At
last my old freind Kimiko is coming," she says happily. "Our agreement
will finally be met." She left the kitchen to gather her family for this
wonderful announcement. "Ryunosuke, Yoshihiro, Ranma! Come here, I have
some wonderful news." 
��� � Nodoka sat at the table across from her sons. Ranma looked
exasperated, confused, and embarassed all at once. Yoshihiro was sitting
next to Ranma with an unreadable expression on his face. Ryunosuke was
on the other side of Yoshihiro with a hint of a smile. 
��� � "Let me get this straight," Yoshihiro broke the silence.
"You engaged one of us to marry the daughter of this Tendou woman
without asking us?" he asked in a calm voice. 
��� � "This may not be a bad thing, Yoshi," says Ryunosuke.
"This 'Akane' might be a very loving person. After all, she has been at
that bridal training academy in China for a long time. You should give
her a chance, she may be everything you want in a woman." 
��� � Ranma looked carefully at his older brothers. "You may not
think this is bad, but I sure do. One of us is going to have his life
decided for him, I don't think it is something to be taken lightly!" 
��� � There was a scratching sound from outside, everyone got up
and headed to the door. 
��� � "That must be Akane and her mother," Ryunosuke said as he
slowly started down the hall. 
��� � "Moment of truth, nee Ranma-kun?" asked Yoshihiro as he
ran down the hall with his mother. 
��� � After a few seconds both Nodoka and Yoshihiro came running
back down the hall followed by the St. Bernard. The dog was still
dragging the boy, who had apparently regained conciousness. 
��� � "Let go of me!" screamed the boy. "They're gonna think
you're some vicious beast with you dragging me around like this!" 
��� � The Saotomes all looked at each other in shock. Yoshihiro
spoke first. "Does your freind own a St. Bernard?" 
���� Nodoka, to shocked to speak, shook her head.
   � "Then why is it here?" Yoshi inquired. 
��� � Still incapable of words, Nodoka gave an almost
idetectable shrug. A few moments passed and she finally finds her voice,
"You aren't�" 
��� � The boy nodded as he got off of the floor and stood in
front of the dog. "I'm Tendou Akane, gomen nasai." 
��� � Yoshihiro looked on suspiciously for a moment then touched
Akane's chest. When he found nothing more than hard muscles, he looked
at his mother crossly. "Is this some kind of joke?" 
��� � "What do you mean? You must be making a mistake,
Yoshi-kun," replied Nodoka. 
��� � Yoshi quickly grabbed the waistband of Akane's pants and
pulled out so he could see inside. "OH NO! The only mistake was engaging
one of your sons to a guy!" 
���� "HEY! What do you think you're doing?!" yelled Akane.
   � "A guy?"  Nodoka looked at Akane and began to fall over. 
��� � Ranma caught his mother and turned to the others.  "Let's
help her to her room so she can lay down, then we can talk this out."
Ranma took another look at everyone, then started up the stairs. 

                   *                *                 *

��� � The Saotome boys sat next to Nodoka's bed with Akane as
they waited for Nodoka to wake up, the dog was nowhere to be seen. 
��� � "I can't believe she would do that," said Yoshihiro.
"Engaging one of us to a guy? Not even Ranma is that sick!" 
���� "Hey! What did I do to you?" replied Ranma. �    "Sorry
Ranma, no offense." Yoshi smiled. �         "Oh, okay," Ranma said as
he decided it would be alright to let the insult slide, this time
anyways. 
��� � "How could you possibly think this is a girl, Mom?" Yoshi
questioned Nodoka who appeared to have awakened. 
��� � "Kimiko told me she had a daughter," replied Nodoka.
"Besides,
'Akane' is deffinately a girls name." 
��� � Akane's stomach grumbled and Ranma looked at him. "You've
been traveling for quite a while, let's go get you something to eat." 
���� Akane nodded in agreement and followed him. 
��� � As they left the room, Ranma said, "By the way, I'm Ranma.
Would you like to be pals?"
      "Yeah, I'd like that," Akane replied with a smile. 
��� � Ranma and Akane entered the Saotome kitchen. Akane was
first to speak up. 
��� � "Nice place you got here," he said. "Better than some
cramped up
dorm room." 
��� � "I'll bet," said Ranma as he opened the fridge. "So what
do you want?" 
��� � "You don't have to fix anything," replied Akane. "I can
fix it myself if's too much trouble." 
��� � "Not at all. Mom taught all three of us a little about the
kitchen," said Ranma. "You know, in case we ever have to go through the
'lonely bachelor' phase." 
��� � Akane and Ranma both laughed openly for a moment, then
Ranma spoke again. "You seem like a nice guy, I'm sure we'll be best
freinds within a week." 
���� Akane smiled. "Thanks." 
��� � "I'm just glad you aren't a girl," said Ranma. "I've
always had trouble communicating with women." 
��� � Akane took the sandwich Ranma pepared while they talked
and left the room. In the hallway he saw Ryunosuke. 
��� � "Hi Akane, I'm Ryunosuke. Would you like me to show you
where your room is?" 
���� "Um, sure," replied Akane. The two then headed up the
stairs. 
��� � Rynosuke and Akane walked into the guest bedroom of the
Saotome home.  "Here it is,  sorry we don't have a bed for you."
      "No problem.  After those beds at the dorm I think I'd rather
sleep on the floor anyways," replied Akane.
      Ryunosuke held out a set of bath tools. 
��� � "Here, you look kind of dirty from that dog dragging you
around, why don't you go clean up while I fix dinner?" asked Ryunosuke. 
��� � "I guess I might in a few minutes, arigatou Ryunosuke,"
replied Akane. 
 ���� "Please, call me Ryu."
� "Okay. Thanks Ryu." Akane smiled.

                   *                 *                *
 
��� � Ryunosuke stood in the kitchen fixing dinner when
Yoshihiro walked in. 
���� "Mom?" Yoshi looked around and saw only his older brother.
   � "She's still in her bed, I'm fixing supper tonight," said
Ryunosuke 
with a smile. 
��� � "Oh, I guess I'll go up there and check on her." Yoshihiro
started to leave. 
��� � "Yoshi, could you tell Ranma the bath is open? Akane said
it would be a while before he would take one," Ryu informed. 
���� "Sure onii-chan, no problem." Yoshihiro turned and left the
room. 

                 *                     *                    *

����  Akane relaxed in the furo in the Saotome bathroom. �
{It's good to be myself again,} Akane thought. {But should I go out 
like this or not.} 
��� � Akane continued to contemplate the subject as Ranma
entered the changing area. He noticed Akane's clothes already in the
hamper. 
��� � {He shouldn't mind if I step in and wash up real quick,}
he decided. {I'll probably be done before he even knows I was there.} 
��� � Ranma undressed and opened the door to the bathroom just
as Akane got out of the furo. Each of the teenagers looked over the
other intently. Ranma stared at the girl before him for several moments,
then grabbed his towel and ran out yelling, "Ryu!  Yoshi!  You have
_GOT_ to see this!!!" 
��� � Nodoka sat in the living room talking to a strange woman
while Yoshihiro watched TV. Ranma came running down the stairs with a
towel aound his waist. 
���� "Yoshi! Ryu! Come here, hurry!" he shouted as he entered
the room.
   � "What is it, Ranma?" asked Yoshi without turning from the screen.
   � "There's something I think you might like to see in the
bathroom," came the reply. 
���� Akane walked in wearing a long shirt and trousers, she
began to speak quietly. "Excuse me."
   � Ranma looked at Akane and his expression quickly turned to
disappointment. "Never mind, Yoshi. It's gone."
     Yoshihiro looked to see why his younger brother was acting so
strangely and noticed Akane.  "Who is that?"
    � "I'm Tendou Akane, gomen nasai." 
��� � Everyone appeared shocked by this statement except Nodoka,
Akane, and the woman. 
���� "You're that boy, aren't you?" Ryu asked politely. �
Akane nodded. 
��� � "But how? This kind of thing just doesn't happen," Yoshi
said, still extremely confused. 
��� � "Please, allow me to explan." The woman who had been
speaking to Nodoka looked over the three boys. "I am Tendou Kimiko and
this is my daughter�" 
���� "Akane," she interupted, she felt quite capable of
introducing herself.
   � "I went to China a few months ago to pick her up from the bridal
academy, and I thought we would do some sight seeing before returning to
Japan." Kimiko looked at Akane who was glaring at her. "During or sight
seeing we stopped at an old martial arts training ground called
Jusenkyou." 

<Begin flasback>
 
��� � Akane, Kimiko, and the Jusenkyou guide approached the
spings. Kimiko immediately noticed how beautful the land was. 
��� � "Oh, this is lovely. Don't you think so, Akane?" Kimiko
asked her daughter. 
��� � Akane smiled. "Yeah, it's okay." She ran forward and leapt
to the top of one of the poles. 
��� � "Young lady, you no want go there," called the guide as
Akane leaped to another pole. "It be very bad you fall in spring." 
��� � "Akane! What are you doing?!" Kimiko yelled in suprise and
fear. "You're going to fall and get hurt! � I sent you to that academy
to get rid of the martial ats training your father put you through, not
so you could come and train in China." 
��� � "Okay mother, I'm coming down," said Akane as she prepared
to jump to the ground, however before she could act the top of the pole
broke and she fell to the spring below. 
��� � "AKANE!" Kimiko ran forward to try and save her daughter
but tripped and fell in a spring herself. 
��� � The guide looked at the St. Bernard that came out of the
spring Kimiko fell in. "Oh, you fall in newest spring at Jusenkyou.
Spring of drown dog, very tragic story of tourist who bring dog on trip,
it fall in spring and drown. That happen eighty year ago, now whoever
fall in spring take body of St. Bernard." 
��� � Both the guide and Kimiko-dog started walking toward Akane
who had just climbed out of the spring she fell in. 
��� � "Don't worry, I'm fine!" yelled Akane and began to run to
them, it took just a moment to realize something was wrong. "What
happened to my voice?!" 
��� � "You fall in spring of drown man. Man drown in spring one
thousand year ago, now whoever fall in spring take body of man," the
guide explained. 
��� � "What?! No way!" Akane felt his chest and found nothing
more than firm muscle. Hoping his imagination was playing tricks, he
pulled out the waistband of his pants and looked inside.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" 

<End flasback> 

���� "So how do you change?" Yoshi inquired interestedly.
   � Kimiko picked up the glass of ice water she had been drinking and
poured it on Akane. "Oh how it pains me to see my only daughter like
_this_! What good is the best bridal academy in the world when your
daughter is a ma..." 
��� � Akane set down his now empty glass as the St. Bernard he
was sitting next to gave him an evil glare. "I am _NOT_ a man. I am a
woman!" yelled Akane. 
��� � Nodoka brought in a kettle of water and poured it over her
freind. "So
hot water turns you back to normal." 
��� � "Aaagh! No need to scald me, Nodoka-chan," said Kimiko,
her face the color of a boiled lobster. 
��� � Nodoka stepped towards Akane, kettle held forward. "No
thank you Saotome-san, I'm okay for now," Akane said as he nimbly evaded
the boiling hot water. 
��� � "Won't it change you back?" Nodoka was visinly worried.
{If hot water won't change Akane back the engagement may have to be
called off.} 
��� � "It will, I just think I'll stay this way for a while."
{At least until that water cools down a little,} he added silently. 
��� � Nodoka nodded then stepped forward and grabbed Akane by
the sholders then faced him toward her sons. "Now, Akane-chan. You have
a choice to make. This is Ryunosuke, he is nineteen." 
���� Ryu bowed his head. 
���� "This is Yoshihiro, he is seventeen," Nodoka continued.
   � Yoshi bowed his head after a little hesitation.
   � "And this is Ranma, his is sixteen like you," concluded Nodoka.
   � Ranma sat with a stupified look on his face, then bowed his head
when Yoshihiro poked him in the ribs. 
��� � "Choose whichever you want and he will be your future
hasband." Nodoka smiled as Akane looked over her sons. The smile soon
left however, as Akane turned to head for the door. 
���� "Where are you going, boy?" Kimiko demanded.
   � "I'm going back to China to find that Nyannichuan so I can change
back," Akane replied. "And I thought I already told you, DON'T CALL ME
BOY!!!" 
��� � "You shouldn't talk to your mother like that." Ranma got
up. "She may have screwed up by taking you to that Jusenkyou place, but
that outburst wasn't nice." 
��� � "OH! And you're one to talk about manners!" Akane glared
at Ranma. "How dare you walk in on a girl in the bath?! I had decided to
let it slide because you didn't know, but now I've changed my mind!" 
��� � "Hey! It ain't like I'm the only one who took a look!"
yelled Ranma defensively. 
��� � "So what!" screamed Akane. "You don't have anything I
haven't seen on this male body before. Besides, in that respect I'm more
of a man than you could ever hope to be!" 
��� � Every jaw in the room dropped open at that, and evil
intentions could be seen in Ranma's eyes as he started to draw back a
fist then stopped himself. "No! I don't hit girls! Not even girls with
men's bodies! Not even if they deserve it!" Ranma stormed out of the
room. 
��� � "I'm going to take another bath," Akane grumbled as he
left the room. 
��� � Nodoka looked at Kimiko, "Did you see that? They act just
like they've been married for years." 
��� � "Yes they do, Nodoka-chan. I think this will really work,"
came the reply. 

                        *              *                *

��� � Akane had just finished stripping and openned the door to
the bathroom just as Ranma was preparing to exit. 
��� � "If you're so much more of a man than me, why doesn't it
look that way?" Ranma inquired with a smirk covering his face. 
��� � "RANMA NO BAKA!!!!!!!!" Akane screamed as he drew back and
punched Ranma into the stratosphere. 

                    *                 *                *

��� � "Don't worry, son," Nodoka said comfortingly as Ranma
adjusted the ice pack on his chin. "I'm sure you two will be fine
together." 
���� "Sure we will," he returned sarcasticly as he walked from
the kitchen.
   � Akane saw Ranma walk past and grumbled. 
���� "So he's kinda macho," offered Kimiko. "That can be good,
you know?"
   � "'Macho' is not the word the word I would choose to describe him.
More like 'ass..." 
���� "Yong lady!" Kimiko interupted. "Watch your language!"
   � "Gomen mother," Akane said. "But I still don't like him." 

______________________________________ 


��� � Well, that's it for this chapter, let me know if you want
more. I hope no one is preparing their lynch mobs. I have read through
this twice for spelling and grammatical errors, but I'm still afraid I
have missed something. Please let me know if you see anything wrong, and
as far as the story itself, all C&Cs/MSTs are welcome.  Thanks a lot! 

Sincerely,
Andrew Hubbard
Akihiro@webtv.net