This takes place sometime in the past.  It is alternate so relationships and
personalities won't be canon, even though I will strive to keep them as
close as possible.



The Tendo Heir: Chapter One

Ranma Saotome dismounted from his horse and waited for his friend Hiroshi to
do the same.  After tying
them up, he motioned for Hiroshi to follow him into the Saotome keep that
was in disrepair.  The Saotome
name was noble and well know throughout the country.  The only problem was
his father had squandered
the fortune that his father had left him.  What was once a thriving and
profitable land and small estate, was
now poor and decaying. The lands were fallow not being tended in years
except for his sister Kasumi's
small garden.

He entered the estate the proceeds from his latest job.  If his father
couldn't gamble it away it would
feed the family for a few months. He would have to give it to Kasumi before
he ran into his father.

The one thing that his father was good at was in teaching the martial arts.
He had relentlessly trained
Ranma since birth to be the greatest Marital Artist in the country.  He had
succeeded.  At age 17 Ranma's
reputation was well known by those who hired mercenaries.  Lords who needed
extra swords, or in
Ranma's case, hands, something guarded or transported in safety, all had
contributed to keeping Ranma's
family fed.  Hiroshi had been with him since the beginning and was Ranma's
second in command.

He and Hiroshi parted with Hiroshi taking there things to the rooms, he
would drop off Ranma's
belongings.

He walked into the sitting room.   Kasumi and Ranko were busy talking. Well,
Ranko was talking and
Kasumi was listening.  He smiled at the sight of his twenty year old sister
listening attentively as Ranko
talked about some fight or other she had gotten into.  His fourteen year
tomboy of a sister hated the fact that
she born a girl.  Her father had refused to teach her the art because girls
were frail.  There mother had
agreed which caused no and to the problems in the household.  Ranma had
relented and taught her in
private. He had trouble refusing either of his sisters anything.  "Ranma,"
Ranko yelled as she spotted her
older brother. He lost his breathe as his younger sister glomped onto him.

"How's my Ranko-chan,"  he smiled as she kicked him in the shin.

"You know I hate that!"  He chuckled as he kissed her forehead.

"It's good to see you to."  He managed to untangle himself and went to
Kasumi.  "It is good to see you again
sister."  He leaned down to kiss her cheek. He handed her the small sack of
coins.  His mother could not be
trusted since she never said no to their father.  She had only refused him
twice.  Kasumi had been sick as a
child and Genma did not believe the expense for a doctor was warranted. She
had insisted and the doctor
was finally called.  He had been too late and Kasumi was now quite blind.
Ranma had never forgiven his
father for waiting and he didn't think his mother had either.  The other
time was when she forced her father
to refuse the Hibiki's offer of dowry for Kasumi.  That Hibiki boy was
disgusting and she wouldn't force
her eldest to marry Ryoga.  She did refrain from forcing Kasumi to give her
all the money Ranma provided
by accepting Kasumi's half truths about the amount she had , thus keeping
the finances from her husband.

"So what news,"  Ranma asked his older sister.

"Ranma's getting married, Ranma's getting married,"  Ranko started singing.

"What!"  Ranma exclaimed a little louder than he intended.

"Ranma, there's no need to shout," admonished Kasumi.

"Ranma's getting married, Ranma's getting married,"  continued.

"Ranko please stop."  Kasumi said and Ranko quieted instantly.  No one
refused Kasumi.

"Will someone please explain,"  Ranma said in exasperation.

"You're going to marry the Tendo heir, father said so."  His little sister
put forward.

"What, no way.  I don't even know her.  Why would she marry a nobody like
me"

"Because no one can resist the Saotome charm."  a new voice interjected.

Ranma turned to face his father.  His father had a smile plastered to his
face.  The Type of smile that said he
had either a new technique to teach Ranma or a money making scheme.  The
money making scheme
usually involved Ranma marrying.  Luckily Genma's exploits were pretty well
known and no one trusted
him enough to make a deal for anything that Genma couldn't turn over on the
spot.  It had tarnished the
honor of the family, but Ranma had spent a good part of his time since ten
cleaning up after his father and
Ranma would not be forced to do anything, especially marry some girl he
didn't know.

"All right, what now old man."

"I've arranged a contract for you my boy."

"You know I won't honor any contracts made by you, everyone knows that."

"This one you will, the Tendo Heir needs an escort.  they're paying a hefty
sum and I've already accepted
the deposit.  Here's a copy of the contract,"  Genma handed the paper to his
son.

Ranma looked  over the paper reading the contract.  "I'll have to refund the
deposit and pay a penalty
equal to twice that amount if I don't fulfill it."  He spoke aloud.
"Where's the deposit old man."  His father
looked on nervously.

"I, ah, seemed to have misplaced it, son.  I'll just keep it for expenses
while you're gone."

"Either you give me the gold coin or I'll take it out of you hide old man,"
Ranma growled at his father.

"Ranma, please don't"  Kasumi's angelic voice saved his father from another
beating at the hands of his son.

"LATER,"  Ranma mouthed at his father, before scanning the contract again.

"The contract says nothing about marrying anyone?"  Ranma inquired.

"Well, yes.  That's up to you boy.  For the good of the family you must
marry the girl.  She is the only Heir
to the wealthiest family in Japan.  Her father has more than any three other
families combined. "

"I told you before, I'll marry when I'm ready"

"Son, I'm ordering you,  for the good of the family.  No woman can resist
you, you take after me that way,"
The old man smirked striking what he thought to be a dashing pose.

"No old man, I will not marry unless I want too,"  Ranma growled at his
father.

"You must, we can't go on like this.  Think of your poor blind sister."

That, was the last straw.  Ranma crossed the distance to his father in a
heartbeat meeting him with his fist to
Genma's gut.  Genma doubled over from a combination of the force of the blow
and the surprise of the
attack.. He could usually tell when his ingrate of a son was going to
attack, but this had caught him totally
unaware.

"You're  only thinking of your own stomach,"  a blow to the back of his
fathers head knocked Genma onto
his stomach. "You could care less what about anyone else," a kick to the
stomach and rewarded Ranma with
satisfying grunt from the old man .  "and leave my sister out of this,"
Ranma shouted as he punted his father
out of the room.

"Ranma, was that really necessary," he heard Kasumi ask in a tired tone.

"He had that a more coming, sister,"  Ranko interjected.  Kasumi's slight
frown her only response.

"So what will you do Ranma?" Kasumi asked.

"I think father is right this time,"  Ranko said surprising Ranma.

"I'll not be a weasel and marry for someone's purse, Ranko."

"Brother, you know I love you, but this must be done.  Not only for the
family but the town."  He was
surprised at the sternness in his sister's voice.  She was a free spirit who
usually did as she pleased.  He
couldn't remember the last time she contradicted him except in jest.  They
were always teasing each other,
but whenever a serious discussion took place the siblings always stood
together, especially when it was
about the family.

"I'll fulfill the contract, failure to do so is more than we could afford.
We would have to sell the estate and
become ronin or beg for assistance from others in the clan."  Both sisters
knew he would rather kill himself
than beg for assistance.  They had on more than one occasion agreed that
excessive pride was his biggest
character flaw.

"Brother that is not enough.  The town itself is dying.  The estate has
always been the center of the town  It
support and backbone.  Now that our estate is in such disrepair the town is
withering along with us.  We
need to fix up the estate, and start producing again.  You could get any
girl to marry you.  They fall in love
with you at first sight. I know how you feel but their isn't any other way."
She was almost pleading with him
by the end of her speech. Ranko was almost as proud as her brother.  He also
knew that both of sisters
loved him without reservation, which he could say of no one else.  He knew
his mother loved him but she
was her husbands pawn, stuck in tradition like the rest of them. He realized
and forgave her this, but the
truth alienated him from her love.

"What do you think Kasumi."  He looked at his eldest sister and saw her
slight frown.  She hesitated for a
second.

"I agree with Ranko,  something needs to be done,.  we can't go on like this
forever."

"Ranma, there's not enough to buy firewood all the time and Mother, Kasumi
and I skip meals to stretch
what money we have.  We couldn't have survived this long without you but.."
she left the statement
hanging

Disagreeing with his parents especially his father was second nature.  It
didn't matter what his old man said
the first response was usually no.  His sisters on the other hand.  "Okay,
I'll seduce and marry the Tendo
heir. I hope she's at least not ugly" He added with a wry grin, hoping to
keep the feeling of doom from
finning him up.  His sisters and his art were his life.  There really was no
place for a wife.

"She must be, that's why no one has ever seen her.  Her father keeps her
locked up away from the world."
Ranko said with a laugh.

"How sad, to see no one" Kasumi said.

"Yippee, Ramna's getting married. I'll send for the tailor,"  Ranko squealed
as she got up and ran from the
room before Ranma.

"Tailor?"

"Yes, you must meet her dressed your best." Kasumi replied

"But we can't afford any clothing?"

"Ranko arranged it with the tailor and other townspeople, they'll take some
of the fee when father tries to
use that gold coin and  we'll repay the rest.  They also realize how
important the estate is to them and they
have faith in you."  Her smile had returned as she looked in his direction.

"You had this planned,"  The shock in his voice was evident.

"Yes, we knew you'd eventually agree, it is what's best and you always do
what's right"


**************


Nabiki was in the middle of painting the setting sun.  She had taken up
painting at the age of ten and was
quite talented.  It was a good hobby and it helped her escape from her
loneliness. Her childhood had been
less than Ideal with her only companions being Akane and Tofu.

 Akane wasn't much of a companion, but at least she was Nabiki's age.  Her
father had sent Akane to live
with her three years ago.  She had been so excited when she had first heard
that her cousin was coming to
live with her. She had arranged a room with everything in it.  She could
have anything she wanted and had
ordered a huge bed, with silken sheet, scented sticks and paintings in to
make her cousin feel welcome.
The reality had been less than ideal.  Her and Akane really just co-existed
on the large estate.  Talking
only when sharing a meal or when Akane came to demand something.  Akane
spent her days trying to
learn embroidery or some other hobby that women of means where expected to
know, although Akane's
family was extremely poor, and her abilities were lacking.  Akane was
extremely beautiful and spent a
large amount of her time with paints and other beauty adornments.

Tofu had come to the estate ten years ago and had befriended the extremely
lonely little girl.  He had been
injured in a clan war and her father had hired him to help around the
estate.  He wore a hood at all times to
hide the scarring of his face and walked with a limp.  He had been a second
nursemaid and now did odd
chores around the estate.  He was the nicest and gentlest man she had every
met and her only friend.

She had no one else.  The servants were just that, servants,  and she wasn't
allowed outside of the estate.
They avoided her as much as possible.  The few that had attempted to
befriend her had been removed
from the household by her father.  No, the Tendo Heir was alone.  She had a
second hobby, it was money.
She had plenty of money from her father but she was still very frugal. She
dressed and behaved very
frugally, splurging only to purchase her painting materials.  The only other
extraneous expense were due
to her allowing her cousin every luxury.  By the time she was thirteen she
was running the estate.
Ordering and approving supplies, made sure the servants were paid, while
drawing whatever funds she
need from her father.

Her father, could you call a man that you had never met your father?  She
might have met him when she
was too young to remember.  Her mother had died when she was a year old, her
only memories where of
her nursemaids.

She looked over as Tofu crossed the yard to her.  She could tell from his
body language that something
was wrong.  She put down her paints and walk over to meet him.

"Nabiki, You have a message from your father."

Now she was curious.  He rarely sent messages and when he did they usually
addressed to her.  The
paper Tofu carried was open and he wouldn't open her messages unless she
asked him to. He walked up
to her and handed her the parchment.  She took  the document and quickly
read it.

"NO, he can't."  Tofu looked down at the girl in sympathy.

"I getting married."  was all she said as she threw herself into Tofu's arms
and cried.



End Chapter one.


Author's note:  I hope you enjoyed and please send C&C to me if you can.  Or
any comments at all to kpjam@worldnet.att.net















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