This is my first chapter of my new fic, it does get better ( in my opinion anyway ) c&c welcome, flames not!

PLEASE e-mail me I need your comments!

Characters are own by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other companies. They are used without consent. I'm really poor don't sue me please?

The three had left the Saotome residence at around ten in the morning, making their way to

the Tendo dojo.

Ranma all the while thinking about how to get out of the engagement, it was not as if the engagement in his previous life was all bad, but rather that too many troubles arose when everyone either attempted to force or separate Akane from himself.

*hmmm....perhaps if I told mom I'm already engaged to Ucchan than I won't be forced into an arranged marriage*

*But when Ucchan does show up I'll have to marry her, I mean she's nice and all but I just can't think of her as a fiancée rather then my best friend*

*If me and Akane had just met normally in school she would probably be less violent to me, as she still had not forgiven me for beating her in that sparing match when I first came to the dojo as a girl*

Ranko noticed that Ranma seemed preoccupied so tried to get his attention

"Yo Ranma......Hello?????.....earth to Ranma you there????"

Ranko said while waving her hands in front of his face.

"Huh??....urr...what's wrong Ranko?"

"nothing except what's on your mind, what is bothering you Ranma?" she asked

"Well...."Ranma seemed reluctant to tell Ranko about the engagement between the two families, but during these past few months he had become really good friends with Ranko both sharing much with each other.

"It's nothing really, you'll find out when we get to the Tendo dojo" with that he turned and began staring into the sky.

Ranko knew Ranma was in one of his deep thought modes, they were becoming more and more frequent

as they reached Japan, she also knew that when he was like this it was nearly impossible to get a direct answer from him about his troubles because he was so stubborn.

She turned her stare to Nodoka Saotome, she seemed to be the symbol of honor in the family, noticing that the elder Saotome was carrying the sheathed Katana that was above the fireplace she saw the night before.

Ranko somehow knew that if circumstances required, the elder Saotome would not hesitate

in using the sharp beam of metal.

Upon arrival at the Tendo residence, Nodoka went up to the front porch and knocked lightly

on the front door.

Kasumi the eldest of the Tendo girls was the one who answered the door,

"Hello, how may I help you?" she asked politely,

"Good morning dear, my name is Nodoka Saotome......" before she could continue there was

a scrupling noise in the background followed by a splash.

Only momentarily distracted by the noise Nodoka continued,

"As I was saying my name is Nodoka Saotome, this is Ranma" she indicated to Ranma, who in turn bowed his head slightly,

"and this is Ranko" she also bowed her head slightly,

"We're here to pick up my husband, Genma Saotome whom they" pointing to Ranma and

Ranko,

"dropped off here yesterday"

"Of course, why don't you come in first and sit down"

"Why thank you dear"

The trio followed in single file behind Kasumi, as she led them to the living room, Ranma looked around at the familiar house, seeing that it was in much better condition than the one in his first life, probably due to the fact that Akane hadn't punted anyone mainly himself through the roof.

The three sat around a rectangular table, as the rest of the Tendo family gathered. In the garden Ranma could see a panda which he knew was his father trying to hide from mom.

"mister Tendo where is my husband Genma?"

"umm...urr....he's gone out but he'll be back in a couple of days he didn't say where

though..." replied a rather nervous Soun.

Nodoka eyed the panda in the garden suspiciously, as she still had a hard time believing that the panda was indeed her idiot of a husband.

Ranma noticed that Nabiki had not tried to sell any information about his pop's where about's, so guessed that she had already been paid off.

"Anyway before we continue allow me to introduce you two my family" Soun interrupted, eager to at least attempt to save his old friend's life.

Nodoka nodded for mister Tendo to continue.

"my eldest daughter Kasumi is 19" indicating the woman wearing the apron and dress, with long flowing hazel hair.

"my second eldest Nabiki is 17" nodding towards the girl with short cut black hair.

"my youngest daughter Akane of 16"pointing towards a cute girl with hair done the same way as Kasumi's was.

Nodoka nodded politely to all three of the Tendo girls,

"I am Nodoka Saotome, this is my son Ranma Saotome and his friend Ranko"

The pair nodded politely to the Tendo family,

"Ah Ranma I believe we met yesterday when you dropped of your father, anyway you now know my

daughters, pick one she will be your fiancée"

The three girls having had a day to recover from the shock of the engagement, did not

respond immediately to their father's words.

"Umm mister Tendo, I know that honor demands that I marry one your daughters" Ranma

answered with a nervous glance towards his mother.

He looked around the table until his eyes settled on Ranko, the two locked eyes for what

seemed like hours. He then continued

"But I'm afraid that I cannot accept this engagement based on me knowing any of your

daughters for only a few hours"

He could hear the Tendo girls and Ranko breath out deeply and wondered why Ranko did as

well. He would wonder why later, *better to concentrate on the job at hand*

By now Soun was in tears crying in the corner,

"WHAAAAAHHHHH............now how will my dojo continue without a heir

WHAAAAAHHHH....."

Nodoka bigsweated as she was shocked by how a grown man would break down at a few

words.

Likewise was Ranko who reacted similarly as Nodoka at the man's actions.

Ranma decided to intervene before they all drowned in tears.

"MR TENDO I did not say I would not marry one of your daughters, just that well I am not

willing to marry someone I've just met neither would any of your daughters" since this was indeed the

first time he had met these people in this life.

"Anyway perhaps your daughters already have someone else already"

Thinking that was the simplest explanation that would calm the Tendo man.

All three girls were surprised by the Ranma's actions and words. As it meant they were not forced into

marriage.

Nabiki thought to herself *hmmm.. this guy's pretty smart, and handsome too, it wouldn't be

so bad, could definitely earn some yen from some of the girls"

Kasumi thoughts were *what a mature young man.....*

Akane was the one who was shocked the most as here was a boy who was nothing like those at school, they would've jumped at a chance to be engaged to her, but here was a boy thought about how they felt about the engagement.

Nodoka amazed by her son's matureness wanted to help him out but honor did demand that he marry

one of the Tendo girls.

Ranko was silently happy when Ranma openly protested to the arranged marriage. She did not really

know why, thinking it was just her looking out for him, as they were very good friends.

"I'm afraid Ranma that it's not that simple"

Ranma stared at his mother with a puzzled look, although a part of him had known what she would do

as the arranged marriage was a matter of honor, something which she took very seriously.

Ranko was shocked by what Ranma's mother said but remained silent as this was a family affair, in which she was not an official member of either of the families in question.

At this point all three Tendo daughters looked up as well, curious at the words of the elder Saotome woman.

Nodoka believing that she now had everyone's attention continued,

"The agreement of this arranged marriage was settled between our families before any of you were

even born, it was decided that if the Tendo family had a daughter and the Saotome family had a son

the two families would be joined through marriage and vice versa"

Everyone waited for her to continue, mister Tendo was now sitting back where he first was nodding in agreement with Nodoka's words, his face still red from all the tears shed.

The panda Nodoka noticed was now sitting much closer to the family listening in on the

conversation, she knew it was listening even though every time she looked at it, it would suddenly be

playing with a huge beach ball or tyre.

There would be time to talk to Genma later she thought.

"So that means that one of my daughters will marry you Ranma, it's a matter of family honor"

the elder Tendo stated proudly.

"WHAT DAD you can't just force us to marry this boy here!" Akane shouted reacting out of her instinctive disgust of nearly all the boy's of Furinken High.

Nabiki was silent but was annoyed at the idea of being forced into marrying someone even though

he was pretty cute and she could earn quite a bit of money of him.

Kasumi simply said "oh my" thinking that the boy in front of her although did seem mature was quite young.

"Akane there does have a point, so as not to force anyone into a loveless marriage, my son will

make his decision in one year" Nodoka stated firmly

"Kasumi dear could you please get me a kettle?" Nodoka asked

"Oh....of course auntie Saotome" with that she went to the kitchen to fetch the kettle

The panda having an a sixth sense telling it when danger was about started to edge away from the open dining room.

Only to be grabbed suddenly and tossed into the koi pond in the middle of the garden.

"Where you going pop, I thought you'd be pleased mom was here"

The panda crawled out of the pond looking angrily at Ranma but than started rolling around on the floor and holding up a sigh saying 'I'm just a cute little panda'.

Ranko giggled at this while the Tendo girls stared, Soun was sweating as he remembered the oath of seppuku on his old friend's life.

Nabiki cursed silently thinking *damn I won't be able to get that ten thousand yen of him, for not revealing his curse*

Kasumi returned with the kettle and handed it to Nodoka, who in turn poured the boiling water over the whimpering panda, who had by now given up all hope of escaping.

With a scream of pain as the boiling water touched the animal, there was now a balding man

with glasses in a white gi cowering on the floor.

"Hel...lo Nodoka-chan I was just going to come and see you..." Genma spoke with a slight fear in his

voice, it was the best he could do in such a short time.

"Hello dear, where have you been these last ten years with my son" she replied icily.

"We'll talk more about this later at home Genma"

Genma gulped and nodded but could not help but notice as Nodoka seemed to finger her

sheathed katana when she spoke to him.

Nodoka turned towards mister Tendo,

"Now mister Tendo, I have stated what will be done about the engagement, is what I have mentioned

satisfactory?"

"Of course but there is a condition I must set as well" he responded

"Oh? I suppose that's only right though as it is as much your matter as it is mine"

"That Ranma must stay here in the Tendo household for the year so he may get to know my daughters,

it would be easier than coming to visit all the time"

Nodoka considered this for a time, even though she was at last reunited with her family, honor was at stake here. It wouldn't do for Ranma to become familiar with a girl other than a Tendo and she would be visiting often so.....

"Very well I accept your terms, Ranma will stay here for the duration I one year until he chooses his Fiancée"

"But mom...." Ranma started to protest by was silenced by a glare from his mother, having forgotten that since honor was at stake here, his mother was very serious. he wondered if she was like this in his other life.

Ranko was angry about how the Mrs. Saotome and mister Tendo seemed to force Ranma into this ridiculous scheme.

"Wait auntie Saotome if Ranma's staying here so am I" the redhead stated harshly.

Nodoka turned a questioning stare at her, curious as to her reasoning.

Ranma was glad that Ranko wanted to stay with him, they had grown quite fond of each other these past few months. Also with her here there would be less of a chance that Akane would think him a pervert as she would have probably been the only girl that he could actually talk to.

"Yeah mom me and Ranko need to keep up our practices in the art so she should stay with me here"

thinking up the most solid and believable reason he could.

Although he had yet to tell her that while he practiced Martial arts, Ranko practiced Magical arts.

he did not want to give his mother the wrong impression about Ranko.

"Hmmm" Nodoka considered this for a moment, Ranma would need a friend here since none of the

Tendo girls seemed ready to open up to him. She noted by their body language.

"Very well, is that acceptable to mister Tendo?"

"Of course" he replied hastily not wanting to offend the woman from what his friend had told

him about her she was not someone to annoy.

Ranma pleased and relieved that there would be someone he could easily interact with during his stay

here.

Him being here alone would have put pressure on both him and the Tendo girls, something he did not

want. Or this life could end up much the same as the one before with him being punted into orbit three times a day and then fed poison.

Akane glared at this boy as here he had just waltzed in and practically taken the dojo from her, although she could not hold any anger behind the glare as it was their parent's idea.

She didn't mind the girl named Ranko though she seemed friendly enough, it would be good to have someone around the house that she could talk to.

"Ranma, you and Ranko go back home and gather up your things you'll be moving in here this evening"

Nodoka told the pair.

They left straight away for the Saotome residence.

"So Ranma which one do you like?"

"Hmm..what.?" Ranma replied, as he was too busy thinking about how he would handle the events

that were bound to occur, like the arrival of Ryouga; Cologne and Happossai.

He would have thought about Ryouga as a friend but he finally thought about it and knew that there

was no way that Akane could not have known about Ryouga's cursed form. But he was also not the type of person to hold a grudge so finally decided to attempt to become friends with him.

"I said which of the Tendo girls do you like the most?" Ranko insisted

"I hardly know any of them how can I even like someone I don't know?" Ranma lied.

Thinking about Akane, strangely enough he did not feel as strongly towards her as he first did after they had met in his previous life.

*hmm...I'm probably still afraid of what she can do like her cooking*

"That's not an answer Ranma" She knew something was bothering him as he seemed to be in deep thought a lot more now a days and since this rarely happened when they were in China, she deduced that it was due to this event is his life.

Ranma noticing how persistent Ranko was became curious as to why

"Anyway why'd you want to know anyway?"

"I'm just curious you know, I mean we are friends right?"

She was right they were friends and pretty good ones at that

*she's probably just looking out for me like I would for her* remembering back to China about how they had relied on each other when Genma put them in a sticky situation, just to feed his stomach.

The rest of the journey to and from the Saotome residence was mostly in silence, as Ranma seemed to preoccupied about something and Ranko knew that he was nearly impossible to talk to when like this as he tended to ignore everything short of a near death experience.

Since Ranma was too busy thinking about what he was going to do when Ryouga, Happosai, Cologne and the rest of the gang showed up, he did not notice that it was the fifth time that he had walked past his mother's home.

*He must really be thinking hard about something, we've been walking in circles for over an hour now!* Ranko thought enough was enough, she decided to snap Ranma out of his dream state.

"Yo Ranma hello???" she said as she lightly punched him in the arms.

"Huh what? what's wrong ?"

"Well in case you haven't noticed this is about the fifth time that we've walked past your mom's house" pointing to the traditional style house in front of him.

"Oh what? I'm sorry Ranko I've a lot on my mind with this engagement and everything" he lied.

Ranko knew that Ranma was hiding something but decided that he would tell her what it was

in his own time, as he was one of the most stubborn people she knew.

By the time they got back to the Tendo dojo, night was already beginning to fall upon Nerima.

The pair were entering just as Ranma's parent's were preparing to leave.

"Ranma where have you been?, we were just about to go out and look for you"

Ranma embarrass and not wanting to say that he was to busy thinking about the future, had accidentally wondered all around Nerima.

"We got lost Mrs. Saotome, our first time here in such a big city" Ranko answered for Ranma who gave her a grateful nod.

"Well I suppose that's was to be expected, anyway I'll be heading home now with Genma"

she indicated to the whimpering man beside her.

"So mister Tendo will help the pair of you get settled in, we'll be by in the morning to see you"

with that said the elder Saotomes left.

Kasumi showed them to two guest rooms next to each other, they each put their own bags in

one of the guest rooms. Since it was still evening Ranma decided that he would go to the dojo,that was the one place where he felt most comfortable since his two year stay in the Tendo household.

He remembered how he would always go to the dojo to practice whenever things were too

stressing.

On his way there, he decided that sparing with someone would be better than just partaking

katas.

Knocking on Ranko's door, he asked

"Say Ranko I'm gonna do a bit of practice now, you want to spar?"

"Sure thing Ranma I'll be down in a moment"

"Ok" with that he left for the dojo, he had already dressed in his gi as he knew he was going to be working hard, to try to get his mind of what he was to do about the rest of the gang when they turn up.

*Man what shall I do when Ucchan shows up* he thought hard about this problem, the first time she showed up he had not even known she was a girl, *she was so angry when she first came here that I had to call her cute just to get a react, not to say she ain't cute, but I just can't think about her in any other way then my best friend*

With each stressing thought Ranma would up the level at which his kata was performed at, he increased his speed yet it still remained flowing. He leapt in the air performing three chestnut fists followed by two lightning kicks. Each chestnut fist/lightning kick attacks were about two hundred attacks each.

He was so busy concentrating on the art and his thoughts that he did not notice Nabiki near the dojo entrance taking photos of him working out.

*God he's good* Nabiki thought amazed at Ranma's actions, to her the mid-air attacks had seemed like single punches and kicks.

"Hey Nabiki what are you doing here?" asked the familiar voice of her younger sister.

"Nothing Akane just thinking" she replied with an neutral expression on her face.

She then got up and left.

Akane stared at her sister's departing form, then at the boy who was currently in the dojo, by the looks of him he had just finished his Kata.

Since she had been too busy observing her sister, Akane did not see Ranma working out so was unaware of his skill in the art.

*hmm....he doesn't look that good to me* with that in mind she decided to have a match with Ranma.

Ranma had just landed and finished his kata. He did not even notice as Akane walked up to him and

tapped him on the shoulder, startled he spun round while flipping backwards putting space between

himself and the would be attacker, all in the blink of an eye.

Akane stared at the agility that Ranma had just displayed and was impressed but did not show it.

"umm....hi Akane sorry about that you startled me I was just working out" he muttered while relaxing from his defensive stance.

"That's ok, I usually come here to practice a bit before dinner anyway"

"oh" Ranma was a bit surprised as he was expecting her to hit him with that mallet of hers'

*I must remember that she has never met me before* he kept thinking to himself.

"Anyway Ranma you've been on a ten year training trip with your father right?" she inquired,

Before Ranma could respond she continued

"Anyway would you like to spar, don't worry it just a bit of fun nothing serious"

*it's just like the first time we met except that I'm now a boy with no curse* He thought curiously

"um sure"

Akane took up a standard karate stance, while Ranma stood straight feet shoulder length apart, hands clasped behind his back.

*what is he doing* She thought, with that thought she decided to attack, with a quick jab to the face,

only to feel her fist meet air where Ranma's head once was.

Ranma was standing a meter back from where he once was at the start of the match, he had seen what Akane was going to do by the shift of her body weight, followed by the tensing of her right arm.

*What?? how did I miss and how did he move so fast* Akane thought as she attacked again intensifying her attacks.

Ranma seemed to casually dodge in and out of her defense as if he were dancing around her attacks.

Akane was getting mad no furious that this boy seemed to casually be evading her strikes with ease, worse of all he still had his hands behind his back and did not seem to be breaking a sweat.

Ranma sensing and seeing that Akane was getting frustrated by his dodging, decided to allow

himself to be backed into a corner. *just like before, except I don't plan to jump over you*

He had finally figured out why Akane was so mad at him when he refused to hit her or any girl in a fight.

*It must have seemed like I was insulting their skill in the art as I could defeat their best moves with little effort, when I just never wanted to hurt them*

He hoped he was doing the right thing.

By now he had less than three feet before his back would be to the wall.

Akane seemed a bit less frustrated now as she believed she had him.

*once he runs out of space to dodge than I'll have him*

with that she charged putting all her remaining speed and strength into this last attack.

Ranma saw her coming, reading her body language he could tell after this attack she would be exhausted. So decided that now was the time to fight back instead of simply dodging.

Just before her fist was to connect with Ranma's face, she saw a glint in his crystal blue

eyes, than he seemed to disappear. She felt someone grab her attacking arm, redirect the attack, causing her to lose her balance the next thing Akane was aware of was that she was flying through the air towards a pile

of crash mats near the opposite end of the dojo wall.

She braced herself for the impact.

After Ranma sent Akane flying into the mats he thought

*hope she ain't gonna be mad at me for that, it's the closes I could come to actually fighting you in a sparring match* as he ran up to Akane who was busy wrestling herself from the mats that now piled on top

of her.

"Sorry about that here.." he said as he offered a hand to help he up.

She was about to slap his hand away, when she looked up at his face, instead of an cocky expression of superiority, she saw that he was truly sorry for what he had done, she only just realized that up close

he was really cute, *what where did that come from* she thought. She had thought him like

all the other boys she had known, stupid and pig headed.

*Uh Oh she looks mad* he thought, his first instinct was to run before he got malleted, he was surprised

when soft skin touched his hand as Akane reached up and accepted his help.

"Thanks your really good you know" she praised

"Well I have been training since I could walk, your pretty good yourself better than most people I know"

Akane felt her cheeks going red, no one had ever complemented her on her martial arts skill before, usually all they did was talk about her body.

"Thanks" she answered.

"Yo Ranma, you ready yet, I thought you said you wanted to spar" Ranko spoke from the entrance to the dojo.

Looking at the dojo wall clock Ranma noticed that they had sparred for about half an hour.

"Yeah sure I'm ready for you" Ranma replied, the pair walked up to each other in the middle of the dojo, they stood roughly ten feet apart from each other.

"I ain't gonna go easy on you this time, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you" the redhead taunted with a grin.

"Ha you couldn't do that even if I had my hands tied behind my back" Ranma retorted

Akane meanwhile sat at the edge of the dojo, trying to catch her breath and recover from the exhaustion of her match with Ranma. She noticed that Ranma was still in the stance he had used when they sparred, hands behind his back feet shoulder length apart. She did notice now by looking carefully that his muscles were slightly tensed. Where as Ranko stood in a knife hand stance.

She noted that although she was dead tired Ranma wasn't even breathing hard let alone sweating, she was amazed at his stamina. But quickly turned her attention to the math which had just started.

Ranko nodded her head signifying the start of the match, she back flipped then using the momentum propelled herself of the floor towards a surprised Ranma, who was expecting quick jab or kick.

Ranma seeing that he had been fooled, quickly dodged to the side, Ranko's foot avoiding his face by mere inches. *Damn she's been partaking, looks like I'll have to be more careful next time*

Ranma knew that if he went all out, even without performing any special moves Ranko would not last long, as this was a martial arts only match.

Although if she used her magic which she would not in front of strangers as they were guests in this

house and scaring the hosts would not do.

Soon the pair were a blur going all around the dojo,

*she bluffing a lot more now and I can barely read her moves,* He thought as he blocked a low kick to the groin.

"hey that could've had hurt you know Ranko"

Ranko just giggled in reply, although their matches were real with blows aimed to hurt not maim or kill, it was still light hearted and fun.

After half an hour of being on the defensive Ranma decided to test out how Ranko had improved in defense. He knew that like himself she learnt quickly, in both magic and martial arts.

After ten minutes, of Ranko successfully blocking and countering all of his attacks, he decided to up the level of skill.

Ranko was sweating but happy, for once she was not instantly thrown to the floor, although Ranma had managed to grab her many times for a throw she managed to slip out of his grasp.

Before his next attack she noticed that he paused for a second too long, she knew that Ranma was

sizing her up again and most likely the next attack would be more intense.

*Well at least I know I've improved* as she charged not wanting to give Ranma the time to think any longer.

Ranma deliberately hesitated to make Ranko attack him, as she come rushing towards him, just before her hand connected he ducked low and swept her legs out from under her.

Ranko threw too much strength behind that attack, as she was unable to stop herself in time when she saw

Ranma duck low at the last moment. She felt herself fall to the floor face first.

Before she impacted with the padded floor, she felt someone catch her in a cradle like position,

She opened her eyes, and saw the grinning face of Ranma staring back at her, Ranko realized that the match was not over so attempted to punch Ranma only to find both her hands locked behind her back in Ranma's grip.

She tried to kick him only to see his other arm blocked the kicks, due to the position she was in Ranko was unable to put much force behind the kicks so they were stuck in that position.

"give up Ranko?" asked a grinning Ranma.

Knowing the futility of the situation, she knew that she had lost.

"Alright you win THIS time, but I'll get you"

She felt her hands being released from his strong grip, Ranma helped her up.

His face turned serious for a moment during which he said,

"That's was great Ranko you sure have improved a lot since we got to Japan, although you should have been able to guess I was setting you up, you put too much of your energy in that last punch, you should have expected a counter"

"Yeah well next time when we can find some place private I'll show you how good I really am"

the redhead stated waving a finger in front of Ranma, so he could see the sparks of electricity

coming from it.

"Yep but we best wait a couple of days at least and I show you what I'm capable of too" opening his fist in front of her face, so she could see the tiny glowing sphere if energy in his hand.

The two locked eyes for a moment than started to grin, at the same time they said

"I'm gonna kick you ass"

This cause the pair to break out laughing.

Akane amazed at the skill the pair had shown just started at the exchange not noticing the sparks or glows emitted

The pair were still laughing when Akane decided to walk up to them.

"Wow you guys are really good"

Both still giggling just nodded at her.

"Say Ranko do you think I could spar with you sometime?" She asked thinking *I'd rather be defeated

by a girl rather then a boy even if he is....cu...cute*

Nabiki walked into the dojo, she had a miniature camera in her hand, only Ranma noticed it, having had to deal with Nabiki's scheming before.

"Akane, Ranma Ranko dinners ready" she said.

As they were leaving Ranma stayed slightly behind, as he about to walk past Nabiki he asked

"Say Nabiki can I have a word with you?"

Curious as to why the Saotome boy would want to talk to her, she followed him as he led her

back into the dojo. Glancing around to make sure no one else was around.

"So Ranma what'd you want?" she asked curiously.

"Nabiki I don't want you selling photos of Akane, me or Ranko" he stated firmly

Nabiki surprised by how Ranma knew so much decided to play innocent.

"But Ranma I don't know what your talking about"

putting on her cutest face.

Ranma having had two years of this knew that she was lying, although he hated what she did he also knew that if she did not do what she did, the dojo would have long been sold and the Tendo's homeless.

"Look Nabiki you can drop the act, I know you use the money from the photos to keep this place going"

"How do you know" she asked in shock of Ranma's knowledge.

"Simple today's a weekday if there was business it would have come in the last two days, and I haven't

seen any students coming in to learn" making up a reasonable explanation.

Nabiki hated to admit it though Ranma was right, her father barely had any students as he was way

too emotional for a sensei ever since her mom died.

"Considering the number of dojo in the area I'm not surprised"

She nodded for him to continue,

"Anyway all I'm saying is that, me and Ranko will pay our way here" he said pulling out a

wad of money.

Nabiki's mouth watered at the sight of so much money,

"I won much of this through various contest while through China"

"Here's two hundred thousand yen, it's for the living expenses of me and Ranko for at least two months"

Ranma counted out the specified amount and handed it to Nabiki,

"So how does this pay for the rest of the dojo, you said you didn't want me selling pictures of Akane?"

"if you want me to stop your going to have to pay a lot more"

Ranma was slightly surprised at his comment although it was not entirely unexpected.

"I'm sure that when you sell those photos of me when I was working out more people will visit the dojo"

Nabiki was surprised at how Ranma even knew about the photos but than thought about what he said thinking about how much the girls would be willing to pay for such pictures.

Ranma was thinking about the increase in students wanting to learn the art, while.

He got up and headed towards the dining room, turning once again to face the dreaming Nabiki,

"Oh and by the way Nabiki I'm afraid I can't let you sell the pictures of me sparring with either Ranko

or Akane" holding up a roll of film between his fingers so Nabiki could clearly see it. He crushed

it to dust.

Nabiki immediately started to search her pockets and found that the pictures of the match were indeed gone.

She had seen yen disappear as the roll of film was crushed by Ranma.

With a grin Ranma left the dojo leaving behind a very surprised Nabiki and a crushed roll of film

behind.

He thought *I can't believe I pulled a fast one over Nabiki, I would never had been able to do that before*

He took his place between Ranko and Akane at the table, all three were hungry from their intensive workout.

A moment later Nabiki walked in and also took her place, Ranma noted that she still had a look of surprise on her face although her expression was neutral. He noted this by her body language.

Several times in between eating and chopstick sparing with Ranko, Ranma sensed Nabiki look at him. He knew she was assessing him, changing her opinion from the first time they had met.

After dinner Ranma, Ranko and the Tendo family all retreated to do what they normally did after dinner.

Kasumi went to clean the dishes, both Nabiki and Akane went upstairs to their rooms, mister Tendo just sat reading a newspaper and smoking a pipe.

Ranma and Ranko decided to watch some TV as they had never really watched much TV in their life.

The first time Ranko had seen a TV, it was showing some horror show, since she did not know what it was she blasted the set. Forcing them to quickly depart from that town.

"So what do you think so far?" she asked Ranma

"About what?"

"you know Akane and Nabiki, I know you talked to her after we sparred"

"That was just business Ranko, I don't want to be a freeloader like my pop"

"Ok then what about Akane, I mean you seem to like her" she asked

"only as a friend Ranko, I mean I don't usually get the chance to make friends before cause we're always

moving around ya know" recalling on his previous life's memories of childhood.

"yeah I know" she replied with a sigh

Getting bored of TV quickly the two retreated upstairs, after washing themselves they both decided to sleep.

In their individual rooms Ranko fell asleep as her head touched the pillow.

Ranma stayed up a bit longer thinking about tomorrow, he had no doubt that when his mom comes

by in the morning she would force him to go to school. There he would have to face miss Hinako,

the Kuno family and everything else, not that they were a threat but more of an annoyance.

With that last thought he drifted of to sleep, thinking things can't get any worse than they were

in my previous life could they.

( To be continued )

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