Reincarnation " " are speaking ' ' are quotes < > are thoughts [ ] are panda sign * * are sounds --- Prologue --- Everybody is seated in the sitting room. M. Tendo has his three daughters on his right and two men on his left, each facing the others. "I present you once more... my best friend..." starts Soun Tendo. "Genma Saotome." says the man dressed in a dirty white gi. He waves to the young boy sitting beside him. "This is my son..." "...Ranma." finishes the boy, dressed in a pale blue sleeveless chinese shirt, with matching black trousers and red bracers. He and Akane look at each other, one with a questioning look and the other more of suspicion. "It's a joke, right?" interjects Nabiki. "You are... the girl from back then?" asks Kasumi, completely lost. "Hum. How to start?" Genma asks himself. "I know! Hyah!!" He throws his son into the koi pond, located in the middle of the Tendo garden. "Hey!!" Ranma shouts while airborne. "A...Argh!.... Aaaaargh!!" he screams just before reaching the water with a loud *SPLASH* For a while, bubbles are noisily showing on the water. He then breaks the surface of the water, holding his head with both hands in obvious pain. "Huh... Nyaah!... Ahh... Ahh... AAARGH!!" His pained screams start again. For a second that seems to never end, he bends himself. His head seems to rip in two, then all the wooden studs of his chinese shirt burst at once. A naked mass of flesh, or perhaps a body, is ejected from his torso and then vanishes into the pond. "Ahh... Ahh... Pff..." He gets his breath back, taking support on his knees, his head dangling. "It's stopped. That much pain..." He raises his head and glares a questioning look at his father and the Tendos. "What happened?" the only response he gets is a stupefied look. He finally registers the information his body is sending to him and he looks down his bare torso... definitely male. "I... I don't change into a girl? I... I'm cured?" he asks when suddenly... *BLOOSH* A young girl with fiery hair emerges a few feet from him. "Ouch..." she groans. "It hurts!" She looks quickly around her. "Where... Where am I?" she takes a step back... then another... and she bumps into Ranma. She gently turns toward him and he gets the confirmation he feared : it is his female self. The shock keeps him from making any sensible thought, like it might be the case for his father and the Tendos, none of them having told a word yet. She slowly points a trembling finger at Ranma while cautiously backing away. "You... you are... imposs... I..." Like all others present, all rational thinking seems to have left her. Nonetheless, the fact that she can identify Ranma is unmistakable. "Who... are you?" Ranma manages to ask intelligibly. "Who I am?" she asks. She is answered by the shocked silence of her observers. "I ... I ..." she stammers, as surprise dawns upon her face, then changes to a look of reflection. Her observers do not bear her any ill will, but their shocked silence is cruel. "I ... I ..." she stammers again as her face begins to show panic. Seeing her emotional state, Ranma attempts the question that is consuming him : "Are you me?" "WHAT?" if the result attained is not the one looked for, the question as the benefits to have apparently calmed her. "If I'm you? You are just before me, how can I be you?" she answers him like as though he asked a stupid question. Her declaration, in addition to relaxing Ranma a little, restarts the thinking machine that is Nabiki's brain. "You're not Ranma?" Nabiki asks while nearing the pond. "Ranma? Ranma... RANMA! YES! It's your name!" she shouts, pointing her finger toward him again. "I know you! Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome school of Anything Goes martial arts!" "Y...yeah. That's me" "If you are not him, then who are you?" ask Nabiki a second time. The redhead turns toward Nabiki and stares at her silently. "I... I don't know!" she concedes. "I see things, memories, but they are so foreign to me... the more I seek, the more I find events linked to the life of... of Ranma... but I cannot remember my name... my house... my family..." Slowly, her posture changes, as she falls into depression. "I don't know why... but I know that all these memories are Ranma's and not mine. "Ranma..." Nabiki says, cutting into the girl's monologue, "give her your shirt." "Hu? oh..." he removes it and give it to his female self. "Thanks..." she answers him while putting the shirt on, suddenly aware of her nudity. "So, if I assume, you don't know who you are, but you are sure of not being Ranma, even if you have the same memory as him?" Nabiki analyzes while speaking, her hands on her hips. The girl nods, her morale starting to sink even further. "Hmm... We may not be able to resolve this tonight." Nabiki looks at the two, still waist deep in the water. "Say, you can exit the pond now. You'll catch a cold if you don't." They suddenly realize that, yup, they had been standing in the water all the while they were chatting. "Hum, if you're not Ranma, and you don't remember your name, you'll have to choose a new one until you get your own memories back. Any ideas?" Nabiki asks. Ranma-chan stop immediately where she stand, than look back to Ranma-kun. "Ranma... Ra...n...ma... it's strange! I get the impression that... that..." the tries to remember something. "Is there not a girl name starting like Ranma?" "Let me see... Ranma? Ran... Ran... There : Ranko... it's the female for Ranma." declare Nabiki. "Ranko? I seem to have heard it before somewhere..." say 'Ranko'. "It don't ring a bell for me..." Ranma says, cutting the girl off. "Yes? Maybe your memories are already coming back..." Nabiki pause a little then "I think that maybe this name can help you to quicken the process, even maybe get some indications..." "Ranko... yes, after all, it's just a name. Any name will do the trick." "I will have to do some research... hey, it'll be a real challenge..." Nabiki song-song while returning to the house, followed by the other two. "How do you know that your are not Ranma, by the way? If you have the same memories as him, even if it seems strange, you should have believed that you were him, no?" "Well, the memories I have might be mine, but there is this feeling that tells me they aren't. I dunno ... but then my memories are so clear, so well ordered ... it ain't normal! Nobody can recall stuff that way. It's almost like they was implanted or somethin'. I remember all this stuff too well. That's why I think these ain't my memories." answers back Ranko The three come back on the house and Nabiki sits back at her place, thinking. When Ranko were going to sit too, Ranma put a hand on her shoulder. "Ran...ko? Can you come with me, I want to try something." "Hu... ok!" She follows him and they exit the room. "What... the... hell... happened?" Akane asks her sister. "I don't know for sure. But I think our guests have just started to surprise us." declare Nabiki, half-anxious for the problems to come, half-delighted for the spice that the Saotome family would bring into her life. --- Ranma takes Ranko to the room where he and his father had put their belongings. He gets his bag and leads the way through the Tendo household. "Here we are!" he says, entering in a room. "This is the bathroom? What do you want to do here?" she asks. "First, I wanna try the curse to see if I'm cured for good or not. Then try to see if you are cured too. Lastly, just dry myself and change my wet clothes." "Okay..." She walks toward the furo, still full of hot water. "You changed back with hot water, and we stayed on the pond's cold water long enough to know that it doesn't change us. My case will be quickly resolved." She got in the furo et immerge herself in the hot water, warming her body from the pond water's coldness. "I think that's clear. Your two forms seem to be really separated from one other." She exits the water, takes a towel and starts to dry her hair. "That's... that's... THAT'S GREAT! I get rid of this curse... hu..." He stops his euphoria to look at his female double. "If I don't change into a girl..." "I don't change into a boy... where is the problem?" "The problem? your are locked in my cursed body without memories... so how can you know if your are a guy or a girl?" "Oh! That... That's right... I didn't think of it." she says as she stops drying herself. She thinks for a moment, then starts back to drying her hair. "I can't remember. That's not important." "How's that 'that's not important'? If you are a girl in a girl body, okay, but if you're a guy?" "If I'm a guy, then I'll know easily. I'll just have to look what's the more attractive to me : guys or girls. For now, there is a more pressing problem than that." "Say what?" he asks with a challenging tone. "Well, look at this, I don't have anything more than this body, and it was yours less that an hour ago..." She drops the now wet towel and takes the shirt off. "I can't see myself taking a walk like this..." she tells him, showing off her nudity. "Hu..." He turns backward to stop looking at her. "Yeah..." He goes his back and takes out some cloths. "There should be... yes..." he gets his clothes ready, and continues to search on the bag. "I think that... he, he, he, your problem is ended..." he says, giving her a second pair of pants and a shirt similar to his, if not for the shirt which is red. "I like the blues one better, they bring my eyes out more." He adds with a mischievous smile. "You are lending them to me? thanks..." She quickly finish to dry up and put her new clothes on, copying Ranma. "Say, you wouldn't have a small ribbon or a string for my hair? I want to fasten them." "You're gonna make a pigtail too?" "Nah, I was thinking of your old ponytail, before Jusenkyo..." "Let me look... Yes, I still got the one I used back then. Here." He gives her a little black ribbon. "Perfect!" She fastens her hair. "You already looked at your reflection in a mirror? While a girl I mean." she says as she look at theirs images on the great mirror on the bathroom wall. "Look at us... One might think that we are twins... TWINS?! excellent!!" "Hu? What?' "Look, I haven't anywhere to live, so before my memories come back, I might as well live here... as your twin sister, no?" "EEHH? My sister? But..." "The only life I know, it's yours. If we were really twins, then your father would have to take me on the training trip too. That will explain why I'm a tomboy if I'm really a guy too... "Yeah... that can work but..." "I can't lose anything by trying because, precisely, I have nothing!" "That's true." "now that we are refreshed, let's get back there, I have a request to make. --- In the sitting room, everybody gets their spirits back. Genma and Soun are in a corner of the room, making plans, while the three Tendo sisters are trying to find a means to cure Ranko's amnesia. "Yes... doctor Tofu might be able to do something for her." Kasumi declares. "Akane, you'll take her to Tofu's clinic after classes tomorrow." "Huh, okay, but why me?" asks Akane. "I'll have some work to do to if she can't be cured... build her a new identity, look for some clues of her past... and Kasumi can't do it either, for the rather obvious reason." Nabiki answers. "It's true that amnesic people can need a lot of time before being able to be cured..." says Kasumi, totally missing Nabiki's comment. "If she can be cured someday." finished Nabiki, inducing a look of full horror from her sisters. "I prefer to be far-sighted. Ranma and his father will live here for some time with this engagement affair... we cannot properly throw her out of the house." she adds to explain herself. "Oh my! No... of course not." answers Kasumi. "Stop! Here they are..." notices Akane just before Ranma and Ranko get in the room. "We are back!" declares a happy Ranko. Ranma follow her, stopping the chat between M. Tendo and his father, the two begin casting speculative glances at Ranma. "What have you done this time?" Ranma asks his father, not liking it at all when Genma gave him this sort of look. "Son..." starts Genma just before being cut off. "Ranma..." Soun puts a hand on Ranma's shoulder. He then places himself behind Ranma, making the two of them face the Tendo girls. "Kasumi, age 19... Nabiki, 17... and Akane, 16. Choose one and she'll be your fiancée." Explains Soun. "congratulation, Akane!" Nabiki hurries to say, then she whispers "Let's relieve ourselves from this problem so we can focus our efforts on Ranko!" "Father won't stop until one of us is chosen." Kasumi whispers back. "But... but..." protests Akane vainly. "Please!" her two sisters beg her. "But..." "Good! So it's settled! Akane shall be Ranma's fiancée. I'm proud of you, my daughter!" Soun announces dramatically, crying tears of happiness. "Excuse me..." Ranma extricates himself from Soun and walks toward his father. "Pop! Me and... Ranko have a request for you..." "What is it, son?" Genma asked. "You are awfully polite all of sudden..." "M. Saotome, my amnesia, added to the body I have for now on and Ranma's memories I got in my head... all of this compels me to ask you this : until my own memories come back to me, do you accept me as your own daughter, Ranma's twin sister, that followed you and Ranma all along the training journey?" she asks, bowing. "I beg you!" she adds, bowing a little lower. "hmm..." Genma takes some time to think about it. "Your request is rather surprising..." "Mr. Saotome, I think this is a very good idea." Nabiki interjects. "I was about to ask her to become a Tendo, but it makes better sense for her to become a Saotome, given that she shares all of Ranma's memories. Not to mention her looks. Almost anyone who sees them together will automatically assume they are brother and sister, perhaps even think they are twins." "M. Saotome!" interjects Nabiki. "This is a pretty good idea, I think. I was going to ask her to become a Tendo, but it's right that her memories are the same as your son's, without talking about her look... you have just to look at them to understand that nobody would argue the fact that they are twins." "But... I don't know if..." Genma tries to plea. "Saotome, my friend, I think that our children are right about this." Adds Soun. "Anyhow, if he doesn't agree, I'll refuse to become Ranma's fiancee!" declare Akane, crossing her arms on her chest in a challenging position. "Akane... Nabiki... thank you all, that's very kind of you." Says Ranko, tears in her eyes. "So, Pop! What's you choice? Methinks that Akane ain't gonna back off, eh?" Ranma says to his father. "I... I..." Genma stammers. "Saotome!!!" threatens Soun. "Okay! I accept!" He finally agrees. "Ranko... welcome to the Saotome family!" Ranma congratulates her. He then turns toward the Tendo. "Thanks to you all... that was very nice of you." "Good! I have work waiting for me... I need to create her identification, we all have school tomorrow after all, haven't we?" Nabiki says while sitting up, smiling evilly. She then goes to the stairs and up to her bedroom. "School?" Ranma asks. "Yes, son, we are going to stay here some time and..." Genma starts. "...And we need some mental training to complete our physical one." Ranko recites from her memories. "Well, you did accept my request, so from now on, you are my Pop. And you need to use yourself to the fact that I was actually there all along the training trip, because I can recall it entirely." "I see that!" Genma admits. "Hey, by the way... what do you think of my clothing?" Ranko asks "Fitting my new identity, no?" "Ranko!" her father cut her again. "You say you recall all my son's life like it was yours... so you must be at his exact level in martial arts." "Logically, yes." She answers. "Ranma, Ranko, in the dojo... you two are going to spar a little to check this." Genma orders them. "But, Pop, you said yourself to never hit a woman!" Ranma shots back. "You don't need to strike her hard to test her..." retorts the father. --- In the dojo. The twins are facing each other, in loose fighting stances. "Begin!" declares Genma, sitting near the wall, with all the Tendo family around him. "Since you don't want to hit me, I'll start the match." Announces Ranko just before dashing forward. "Come!" Ranma shoots back while shifting his stance to a defensive one. She starts with a rain of punches of impressive speed, all blocked by Ranma, whose arms are moving as quickly as hers. She then tries some killer kick combos that Ranma deflects easily. She backs off a few feet, then charges him with a jump. "Big mistake!" retorts Ranma, launching into the air himself. They meet in mid-air, each kicking the other, but Ranko succeeds in passing over Ranma's leg with the help of her arms and hits her twin on the shoulder. "Urgh!" He groans when he lands on the floor. "I'm not stupid, I know that being a girl I'm shorter than you... however, the warming up was cool. Shall we go on?" "Hehehe! I like this! It's been a long time since I've had a real challenge..." Ranma answers her. Only Genma is not surprised by this level of skills. "Saotome, your son is very talented." Soun admits to his friend. "That... that... He really went easy on me." Akane notices, her hatred starting to boil. While the two fighters resume their fight, Genma analyzes their strong and weak points, visibly different. After several minutes of hard sparring, he calls it off. "Okay! Stop it you two and come here." Genma says while sitting up. Reluctantly, they come to a stop and walk to their father. "Ranko, I'm pleased, very pleased... you are worthy of your name. But you Ranma, I'm not happy about you. How do you expect me to train you seriously if you hide your real level?" he questions Ranma. "You taught me yourself to always keep an ace up the sleeve, if I can recall you." Ranma shots back. "In any case, our styles are different... I use the same moves as him, but not in the same way." Ranko notices. "Your strengths are not the same. I trained Ranma to be good at everything, but the curse had modified his body : Ranko is faster, lither and seems to bear more pain, but she is weaker in both strength and resistance, and her limbs are shorter. All in all, you two are on an equal level." Explain Genma. "I'm pleased, I have the data I needed, I can plan a new training regimen for Ranko. She'd best work on her advantages than trying to fill the gaps between her and Ranma in strength and constitution." *tap* *tap* Akane gets Ranma's attention by tapping him on the shoulder. "Eh... yes, Akane?" "Grr... when you got here, we sparred. You beat me easily when holding back! You know how humiliating that can be?" "Hey! You asked to spar 'just for fun', didn't you? I never use more skill than necessary. If I had fought all out, you'd be in the hospital, or worse." He defends himself. "Akane! I'm sorry, but he's right!" adds Ranko. "I can recall the sparring match as though I did it myself, and I know I'd have done the same. You need to understand that the stronger you are, the more you need to stay aware of yourself." "That's not what'll make me feel better!" Akane hurls back. "That's right! But for you to feel better, you'd need to train harder than you currently are... Hey, maybe you can train with us? What do you think?" Ranko asks, hoping to end this problem. "Sure!" adds Ranma. "We can't train correctly being three, we need to be in pair." "Akane! It's a great chance for you! You can learn lots of things that I don't know. They traveled a lot after all." Soun exclaim, eyes in tears. "What to you have to lose, anyhow?" Ranko asks the younger Tendo. "you can't know before you've tried!" Akane glares at her, looking divided between trust and anger. "You asked Ranma, believing he was a girl, to be friends... will you take your words back now?" Ranko continues. "Akane, let's be friends..." she finishes with the same small smile that Akane had earlier when saying the exact same words. "I... okay!" Akane answers. "Great!" shouts Ranko. "We haven't had friends for a long time, have we, Ranma? When traveling, we didn't stay in the same place long enough to make friends." "This journey is not complete, so... hum, girl!" Genma tells her. "This situation will sure need some time before I can adjust. Hehehe!" "Pop, you'll need to plan a training regime for Akane now, too..." Ranma tells Genma. "She has some major power in her punches and she could do lots of damage... if only she could connect first." Akane glares angrily at Ranma. "Grrr..." "Ranma, not everyone is as fast as you... and you were a girl at the time too, quicker than you are now. She didn't stand a chance, but to say she's bad.... you see what I mean?" Ranko asks her twin. "Hey! I didn't say that!" he protests. "Not really, but the way you said it implied that she was bad, in comparison with you. Well, one can't keep a normal life and train like us. But she'll get better now!" the redhead explains. "Sure... training with us, you'll get better in a way you don't even hope to conceive. After all, I'm the best!" Ranma says to Akane, ego full out. "Ranma... WE are the best. We ended the test with a draw, and I know that you and me were fighting nearly all out!" Ranko shoots him. "Humpf!" Akane growls, turning away from the twins. "Hey! Don't tell me that you are still angry for the bathroom accident..?" Ranma asks her, seeing that she is angry. "Huh?" apparently, she had forgotten said accident, and to recall her of it doesn't seem like that good a idea, seeing her changing her posture. "PERVERT!!" she screams. "why this 'pervert'? You are the one to walk in on me, and I put the occupied sign up!" he retorts. "How was I supposed to know that MY bathroom was occupied by a 'BOY', when the only man in the house I knew of was my father? The only one I was expecting to see was a girl!" "I was naked as well anyhow. So I don't see your problem." He says while turning his back to her, his hands crossed behind his head. "That's not the same! Maniac!" she shouts. The two fathers laugh together at the quarrel. "They are the couple of the year!" Soun says to Genma. "HEY!" interjects Ranko. "Am I the only one sane here? You don't find yourselves stupid to shout at each other like that?" she asks the engaged couple. The quarrel ceases instantaneously. "Good, that's better... If I remember, this accident prevented Akane from taking her bath, didn't it?" Ranko asks. "Of course... how can I bathe when..." Akane answers the redhead. "Hey! Calm down... go bathe yourself, you need to cool off." Ranko says, trying to help Akane to cool down. "*yawn* hmm, all this tired me out. I'm going to sleep... Ranma, the guest room was the one where you took your bag from?" she asks her twin. "Yup! I need to think about some stuff. Go suit yourself." He answers her. A very short time later, the futon is prepared and Ranko falls into a deep, refreshing and well deserved sleep, soon to be copied by Ranma. --- Reincarnation - prologue end