Hello, this is Jonakhensu, and I'm here to present my first true fanfic. I do not own Ranma ½, nor do I own any other animes, mangas, television shows, books, etc. referenced in this story. If you find a problem with my grammar or plot continuity please tell me so I can attempt to rectify it. Further more, this is starting out as a pure Ranma ½ AU fic, though other series may make cameos or even be a substantial portion of the story. Please enjoy this mostly serious fic.

Redheads and Succubi

Chapter One: Ranma Arrives

At a certain dojo in the Nerima district of Tokyo, a man received his mail with elation. Looking at the odd postcard, with the picture of two girls and a panda against a Chinese backdrop, Soun Tendo decided that a family meeting was in order. Calling his three daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, to the dining room, the Tendo patriarch began his explanation of the current situation, "One of the three of you is to be engaged to the son of my training partner, and good friend, Genma Saotome."

Instantly, the three girls simultaneously bellowed, "Engaged!"

For their benefit, Soun clarified. "Yes. The son's name is Ranma Saotome." For some odd reason, the sky turns pitch black and thunder shakes the very ground, though no one seemed to notice. "If one of you three girls were to marry him, and carry on this training center, then the Tendo family legacy would be secured."

Akane, still wearing her training Gi, took this time to make her opinion known. "Wait a minute! Don't we have some say in whom we marry?"

Nabiki, in a pair of shorts and a tank top, agreed, saying, "Akane's right, Daddy, we've never even met Ranma."

Mr. Tendo conceded this point, but stressed another point at the same time. "Heh heh. That's easily fixed." Kasumi, who hadn't contributed to the conversation at all, looked distinctly worried as she observed the devious look on her father's face.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Meanwhile, in the Juuban ward, two figures were running in the streets, fighting each other. One was a red haired girl wearing a red Chinese shirt and black kung-fu pants, while the other appeared to be a giant panda. As they fought, pedestrians watched, only slightly shocked. After all, Juuban is rather well known for its weirdness.

There were five noticeable exceptions to this, however, as five girls were meeting at a particular shrine and never anticipated a panda leaping across half of the shrine complex, followed by a redhead calling the panda "Pops." They were equally unprepared for the winged figure that swooped past them, chasing after both the girl and the panda. Usagi was the first to notice that all of their snackage was now missing, and she hadn't even gotten to eat any (meaning more than half) of it yet!

Ami looked up from her textbook and mildly asked, "Did a youma just fly past us, or did someone treat my books with drugs, again?"

Rei was thoughtful for a moment before she gave her estimation. "Ami, you aren't seeing things, though I don't think it was a youma. I didn't sense any negaverse energy emanating from it."

The redheaded girl eventually knocked the panda to the ground, with the winged specter circling over head. The girl hits the panda again, exclaiming, "This whole thing sucks! Picking my fiancé for me without even asking! I'm going back to China! Suck on that, old man!" The girl turned around, only to be struck by the panda a second she dropped her guard. With a nearly inaudible shriek, the winged silhouette dive-bombed the panda, only to be slammed into the ground. With both the girl and the winged apparition unconscious, the panda was free to sling them over its shoulder before started to continue its path down the street. It stopped for a second as the people around it started whispering to one another about its appearance and roared, scaring the spectators enough for them to move out of its way.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Back at the Tendo's Martial Arts School of Indiscriminate Grappling, Soun was further describing, if that is the word to use, the arrangement regarding Ranma. "Ranma and his father have been on a voyage of training. Recently, it seems, they crossed into China."

Akane turned away, complaining, "What's so great about walking to China?"

The always sensible Nabiki asked, "Is he cute?"

Kasumi questioned, "How old is he? Younger men bore me. What kind of guy is this Ranma?"

Soun laughed nervously, and replied straight faced, "No Idea."

Nabiki leaned towards her father, and asked, in a threatening manner, "'No Idea?'"

Soun, still serious, elaborated, "I've never met him."

Before any of the girls could berate him for being so stupid, the sounds of a struggle were heard from outside of the dojo. A voice shouted, "Leggo, y'ol' fool!"

Kasumi immediately stood up, and casually remarked, "We have visitors!"

Nabiki was quickly running towards the door, calling out, "Oooo! It must be Ranma!"

Soun quickly fallowed, with the words, "Saotome, my friend! We've been waiting!" Soon, however, both Nabiki and Soun were sprinting back up the hall, chased by a panda with two figures slung over its shoulders.

One of the figures, turned to face forwards, and reprimanded the panda. "Hey yo! You're scaring them spitless!"

Kasumi looked startled, and asked, "Daddy… This… is your friend?"

Nabiki immediately shouted, "Oh, so this PANDA just decided to visit! Happens all the TIME!"

The panda plopped one of the figures, a redhead with a braided pigtail down in front of the Tendos. Soun started tentatively, "You… wouldn't be…"

"Ranma Saotome," the youth replied, playing with her pigtail. "Sorry 'bout this."

Tendo acted quickly, grasping Ranma by the arms and pulling him into a hug, saying, "AT LAST! You've come! It's so good of you to come! So- Hmm? Wha…?" Soun pushed the lad away to better observe him.

Nabiki looked thoughtful and reached out to test her hypothesis, by poking Ranma in the chest, repeatedly, before exclaiming, "'He' is a girl." This simple statement was met with silence, save for the sound of a wind chime.

Moments later, Soun was on his back, crying. Kasumi prepared a damp compress while sympathetically saying, "Oh, poor Daddy. He's so disappointed."

Nabiki angrily roared, "HE'S disappointed! Some fiancé THIS is!"

Akane chastised her two older sisters, declaring, "Stop it you two! He… SHE… is our GUEST!"

Nabiki, however, continued. "This is all your fault Daddy! You should have made sure!"

Soun bellowed, "Well, he said he had a SON!"

Nabiki prodded Ranma's chest some more, asking, "Do you see a son here? Hmm? Do you?"

Ranma bashfully commented, "Um… I really wish you'd stop that."

The second figure, who hadn't been noticed in all the excitement, asked, "Uh, what about me?"

The Tendos slowly turned to the mysterious figure, and Kasumi asked, "Excuse me. Who are you?"

As the figure took a step into the light to respond, its features came into view. The Tendos gaped at the strange girl before them, surprised when they realized she had leathery wings, pointed ears, and a flattish, yet surprisingly cute, nose. She was also several inches shorter than Ranma. The first person to recover enough to speak was Kasumi, who managed to whisper, "Oh my!"

Akane, after recovering from the shock, violently shouted, "She's a succubus! She must be here to seduce Daddy and steal his soul!" She prepared to attack, only to find Ranma standing in her way.

The apparent succubus just giggled for a few seconds before stating, "I'm not a succubus; I'm really more of a vampire." Upon hearing this, the Tendos just stared, noting the bright sunlight that was breaking through the cloud cover outside.

Again, Akane attempted to attack the self proclaimed vampire, screaming, "The unholy monster must have Ranma under her spell and is going to drain us of all of our blood!" The attack might have actually proved successive had Ranma not been in the way. Then again, the vampire girl might be able to fight for herself.

The vampire just frowned, before elaborating, "True I am a vampire, but not in the way you mean. I don't blood drinking and I'm not undead. The word 'vampire' actually refers to being bat-like. I am a girl who is like a bat, hence vampire." (Apparently this isn't true. Just pretend Ukyo made the mistake.)

Kasumi took this time to interject her own question, inquiring, "If I may interrupt, what is your name?"

The bat-girl looked at the eldest Tendo sister and replied, "I am Ukyo Kuonji." I've been training with Ranchan here ever since he was six."

Nabiki quirked an eyebrow at Ukyo's choice of pronouns, and took the opportunity to feel Ranma up again and to ask a very personal question. "Ranma, are you a transvestite? Your breasts feel too real for you to be a cross dresser and Ukyo said you were once male…"

"I still am," Ranma interrupted. "Or, rather, I will be as soon as I get some hot water."

Akane was thoroughly confused now, but disregarded her confusion in preference of sparring with Ranma and Ukyo, as they were both girls, so they couldn't be perverts like all boys are, and she needed to keep an eye on Ukyo anyways. "I'm Akane, want to be friends? Come on, Ranma, Ukyo; let's go out to the dojo and spar!" The other two girls were thrown off by Akane's rapid personality change, so they only nodded and followed Akane to the dojo. Once there, Akane turned to Ranma and asked, "You do karate, don't you?"

Ranma shrugged and replied, "A little."

Akane was exited; her new friend had the same interests she did! She contained her joy and suggested, "Then let's have a little match, okay?" As soon as Ranma's confusion became evident, Akane continued, saying, "Just for fun. Don't worry. I won't hurt you."

Ranma only replied, "If you say so."

Ukyo, however, asked, "Is this going to be a three way match, or do you only want to take one of us on at a time?"

Akane thought for a minute. If she fought both at once, they might gang up on her, and they both looked like they knew about half as much as she did about martial arts, so they might be able to beat her. Still, she really only wanted to be friends with Ranma, not the vampire, who would most likely cheat and try to drain her of her blood. Therefore, she answered, "I think I'll spar against Ranma first. Is that all right?"

Both Ranma and Ukyo just shrugged. While Ranma dropped into a relaxed stance, with both arms behind her back, Ukyo walked over to a wall and sat down against it, careful to keep her wings from being crushed. Akane took a much more aggressive stance and then charged Ranma and released a powerful, yet slower than normal blow. Ranma easily dodged the blow by jumping straight up and avoided the following kick by simply throwing her legs to the sides, giving herself an extra foot or so of clearance, allowing the kick to slide under her.

As Akane continued to attack Ranma, all of her punches and kicks missed Ranma as she bent or jumped away at the last second. Akane started to wonder what was happening. She shouted out, "What's wrong? Swing at me!" Ranma ignored her and continued to only dodge the increasingly violent attacks. Akane thought to herself, 'Why… Why am I missing her? Is she reading my moves?' Akane grew determined and thought to herself, 'Okay. This time' "FOR REAL!" Her last thought was shouted out as she threw a powerful punch, only to have Ranma jump over her at the last second, leaving Akane to punch a hole into the wall of the dojo.

Ranma landed lightly behind Akane and gently tapped Akane on the back of the head. Both youths laughed nervously, while Ukyo stood up and walked over. When she joined the group, she addressed Akane, "You know, you're lucky you fought against her instead of me. I don't as much of a problem about hitting back." Akane worried about this. If this vampire girl was as good as Ranma, then Akane wouldn't be able to protect her family from ant of the vampire's attacks.

She pushed such thoughts from her mind for the moment and addressed Ranma, "You're pretty good. Well, I'm just glad you're a girl. It's just that I'd really hate to lose to a boy!" Akane failed to see the rather nervous look Ranma was sporting at the moment.

Meanwhile, a certain panda had managed to find the furo and was enjoying a nice, hot soak. Shortly after he completed his soak, he went to properly meet his old friend. The two old friends sat facing each other, with streams of tears running down their cheeks.

Nabiki poked her head into the kitchen to ask, "Kasumi? Who's that old guy?"

Without even looking up from her cooking, Kasumi replied, "Got me." Shortly there after, Kasumi went outside and called out, "Ranma! Ukyo! Come on! Wouldn't you like to take a bath?"

Ranma looked towards Ukyo and back to Kasumi before responding, "Huh? NO! I mean… It's okay." Ukyo nodded is stout agreement.

"No it's not!" Kasumi declared. "You two must be all sweaty from your workout!" While both girls were sweaty, it had more to do with their fight against Genma than the workout. Still, it was impossible to deny Kasumi's hospitality.

Both Ranma and Ukyo were in the furo, which didn't bother either of them, since they had often bathed together during their training journey. As they washed up, both shivered and complained about the cold water they were using. Sure, they always bated in cold water before, not having any way to heat it up, but that didn't mean they liked it. After they finished washing off, they both entered the fur and relaxed, glad to be warm again. Still, both considered what they should do now. Unfortunately, their hands were about to be forced as Nabiki saw Akane in the hall and gave her some welcome news.

"Akane! Bath's ready!" Nabiki called out to her sister, who happily thanked her.

As Akane prepared to enter the furo, Ranma and Ukyo came to a decision. "Well, they'd find out anyways. Sooner or later. We may as well go out like this," Ranma reasoned as he stepped out of the bath, followed by Ukyo. Unfortunately, it was at the exact same time Akane opened the furo door, leaving her to see both Ranma and Ukyo nude in normal form, and for Ukyo and the now male Ranma to see her nude as well. The trio looked at each other for a second or so before Akane quickly shut the door and walked away, putting on a robe as she went. Ranma blinked and muttered, "That was odd."

Suddenly, Akane screamed, startling the rest of the household, and ran outside, grabbing a large stone, saying, "I'll weigh him down! I'll drown him in the bathtub!"

"Nabiki stood in Akane's path back into the house and asked, "Akane, what is it? What's that for?"

Akane shouted back, "There's a pervert in the bathroom!"

Nabiki was confused, so she asked, "Why don't you just kill him with your bare hands?

Akane screamed, "Because I'm AFRAID!"

Kasumi walked out of the house then, and stated, "That's odd. Ranma and Ukyo were in the bath just now." She noticed two people standing in front of their sisterly group, and started, "Uh… Who… Who…"

Nabiki managed to finish the question. "Who are you?"

The boy rubbed the back of his head embarrassed, and said, "I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

The girl by his side also introduced herself, "I'm Ukyo Kuonji." The three Tendo sisters just stared in shock.

Once everyone reconvened in the house, with the three girls facing the old man, the boy claiming to be Ranma, and the girl claiming to be Ukyo, Soun addressed his daughters, "I'll explain it once more. This is my dear old friend…"

"Genma Saotome" The old man finished. "And this is my son…"

"Ranma." The boy continued the pattern of finishing another's sentence. "And this is my friend and training partner…"

"Ukyo," The wingless girl supplied, further continuing the chain.

After a few seconds of silence, Nabiki asked, "What's this all about!"

Kasumi took the opportunity to inquire, "Are you really her? That same girl?"

Genma thought for a moment, "Hmmm. Where should I begin? I know…" He then proceeded to chuck Ranma into the koi pond.

When Ranma resurfaced, she spat out the water she had almost swallowed, and angrily asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

The Tendo girls stared yet again, and Kasumi remarked, "Now he's a girl!"

Genma sobbed, "Ohhh. My own son. So humiliating. So humiliating." Ukyo shook her head sadly and kicked Genma into the koi pond, where he naturally turned back into a giant panda.

Ranma stood before the panda and asked, "Who are you to talk?"

Kasumi calmly spoke to her father, "Daddy? Why are you friends with them?"

Soun replied, "They weren't like this before! Not before they went to China… and undertook that terrifying training exercise!"

Ranma and Genma took a quick trip to the furo before Genma continued the grisly tale. "Ah, yes," Genma began. "It was two fateful weeks ago…" There is a wavy effect as a flashback sequence initiates.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Genma, Ranma and Ukyo were at Mt. Quanjing, in the Bayankala Range in the Quinghai Provence of china. Ukyo was sporting a massive spatula on her back. A guide native to the area pointed to the springs in front of him. "Here, sir. Is legendary 'Training Ground of Accursed Springs.'"

Genma looked straight ahead and asked, "Are you prepared Ranma? Ukyo?"

Ranma looked around and said, "This place isn't so impressive." Ukyo agreed.

"You very strange one, no, sir?" the guide asked. "This place very dangerous. Nobody use now. Is more than one hundred spring here… and every one has own tragic legend!"

Genma hadn't been paying any attention, so he sprang out over the springs, yelling, "Ranma, Ukyo, follow me!"

Even as Ranma and Ukyo jumped after Genma, the guide panicked, shouting out, "Ah! Sir! What you doing?" Even as he finished yelling out, the three martial artists were landing, balancing on the shoots of bamboo sticking up from any given pool.

Genma took a ready permission and announced, "I won't go easy on you!"

Ukyo called back, "That's how we want it."

As the three jumped towards each other, the guide shouted, "Please sir! Very bad if you fall in spring!" When the three met in mid air, Ukyo was sent down into one of the springs by a kick from Genma. Ranma noticed that Ukyo didn't resurface and on the next pass knocked Genma into another spring. Out of said spring arose one angry panda, which landed on one of the bamboo shoots and assumed a fighting stance. "That is 'Spring of Drowned Panda!' There is tragic legend, very tragic, of panda… who drown there two thousand year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring take body of panda!"

Ranma looked at his panda father and back to the spring that Ukyo fell into, and muttered, "Oh, no." The panda attacked, forcing Ranma to dodge, while yelling, "Wait a second! You never said anything about-" Ranma was cut off when the panda's swipe hit him, flinging him into one of the springs.

The guide flinched back, mourning the boy's fate. "Ohhh! Not 'Spring of Drowned Girl!'" Ukyo was just recovering from her own plunge and saw Ranma plunging into one of the pools. Not noticing the change in perspective, Ukyo flung herself into the air and flew into the pool after Ranma. When Ranma resurfaced seconds later, she heard the guide continue, "There is tragic legend, very tragic, of young girl who drown in spring… one thousand five hundred year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring… take body of young girl!" Ranma pulled his shirt open and stared at his new assets. "You see what I mean?"

Ranma then felt something grabbing onto her, and looked to see what it was. A completely nude girl with black wings and a flattish nose had her arms wrapped around Ranma's body, with her hands dangerously close to the new additions to Ranma's chest. Ranma shouted, "What the hell! Where did this demon come from?"

The demon looked hurt and she whispered, "Ranchan, it's me, Uuchan."

The guide stared in shock, not believing what he saw. "Young miss fall in 'Spring of Drowned Bat.' Then fall in 'Spring of Drowned Girl.' Is mix of two spring. Tragic. very tragic."

The view is distorted again as the flashback came to the end, and real time resumed.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

There is silence, as the Tendos sit at the conclusion of the horrid story. The wind chimes sound again. Finally, Soun speaks. "The legendary 'Grounds of Accursed Springs.' Its true horror has always been shrouded in mystery. But now…"

Ranma growled angrily, "Feh. What do you mean, 'true horror?'" Ranma shot forward and grabbed his father by the gi, with Ukyo standing next to him, suddenly holding one disturbingly large spatula. "Yo old man-"

Ukyo finished Ranma's thought, "What's the idea dragging us to a place like that, anyway?"

Genma suddenly chucked both Ranma and Ukyo into the koi pond, shouting, "You sound like a woman! Were you not prepared to give your life for the sake of your training?"

"My life, yes," Ranma started, before splashing Genma with cold water and shouting, "My manhood is another story!" Genma and Ranma start fighting in a disturbingly incompetent manner, and Ukyo just shook her head.

"At least you still have your humanity!" The winged girl muttered.

"Oh, what a tragedy!" Soun cried as he watched the girl fight the panda.

Kasumi had had enough of the pointless violence for the moment, so she berated both antagonists, "Stop that! You just went too far, Mr. Saotome! What ever made you do something so dangerous?" At this point, the panda dropped a flyer to the ground that Kasumi proceeded to pick up. "It's Chinese. A map… and guide book?"

Nabiki inspected the flyer more closely. "Something about… 'Training grounds.'"

Kasumi took a closer look as well. "No wonder," she remarked, before turning to Genma. "You can't read Chinese, can you?" The panda held up an orb that released confetti and a sign with the word 'Correct' written on it. Ukyo and Ranma bopped the panda on the head to punish him for being so stupid.

Soun suddenly appeared, though no one had noticed him leaving, with a kettle of hot (boiling) water, which he poured onto the panda. "So, when doused with hot water, you return to human form," Soun reasoned.

"Well, it needn't be quite that hot!" Genma shouted, irately.

Soun moved on to Ranma and continued, "When doused with cold water, you become a girl…" Soun attempted to pour the water on Ranma's head, saying, "But hot water turns you back into a boy!"

"Hot water!" Ukyo shouted from the side. "Not Boiling!"

"No sweat," Soun started, clapping Ranma on the shoulder with a slightly crazed gleam in his eye. "You're problem isn't so terrible after all!" Soun indicated each of his daughters in turn, identifying them for Ranma's benefit. "My daughter Kasumi. Nineteen. And Nabiki. Seventeen. And Akane. Sixteen. Pick the one you want. She's your fiancé."

Kasumi quickly stepped in, saying, "Oh, he wants Akane!"

Nabiki chimed in, "Oh, definitely."

"You must be joking!" Akane began. "Why would I be…" Unfortunately, Nabiki cut her off.

"Well, you hate boys don't you?" Nabiki asked.

"So you're in luck! He's half-girl!" Kasumi concluded.

"Me? Marry that pervert! Never!" Akane declared, not wanting to be forced into a marriage with the sick and twisted individual she thought Ranma was.

"Say, " Ranma and Ukyo started, "whaddya mean, 'pervert!'"

"You looked at my body, Pervert!" Akane screamed.

"Hold it!" Ukyo began, trying to diffuse the situation. "You walked in on us!"

"That's another thing!" Akane yelled. "You were bathing with a girl, Pervert!" Akane shouted directly into Ranma's face.

"Huh?" Ranma started. "What's wrong with bathing with a girl? We've been bathing together for years!" Ranma, of course, was still digging his grave. To be more accurate, he had just hit rock bottom.

"They're already a perfect couple!" Soun remarked to Genma, causing both to laugh.

"He's a couple by himself!" Akane complained. "And if you ever-"

Ranma interrupted her, while walking to the door. "Goodbye. Come on Uuchan."

Genma turned towards his s-daughter and asked, "Where are you going, boy?"

"Back to China! To find a way to change back for good! This is no time for 'fiancés.'" Right before he made it out the door, Ranma turned back to Akane, and broke out the dynamite so he could blast through the bedrock. "By the way… you got a pretty good look at me, too. Besides, it's no big deal for me to see a naked girl. I mean, I've seen myself and Uuchan naked plenty of times, right?" Akane was thoughtful for a minute, but then Ranma had to sit on the detonator, while still sitting in his grave. "And I'm built better to boot!"

Ukyo cringed as Ranma was pounded into the floor by Akane, via the table. "Now that he had coming!" the bat-girl muttered, shaking her head in disbelief at Ranma's stupidity.

When Ranma finally regained consciousness, Kasumi remarked, "Ah, she's awake! Are you okay? Don't think to badly of Akane. She's really a very sweet girl. She's just a violent maniac."

Nabiki couldn't help adding her own two sense, commenting, "Oh, good, Kasumi, that makes lots of sense."

Meanwhile, Akane had decided to take the bath that had been postponed during her first attempt. Almost as soon as she had settled herself in the furo for a nice, relaxing soak, there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Akane called out, without bothering to get up.

"It's me, Ukyo," the voice from the other side of the door announced. "Can I join you? I think we need to talk."

Akane, while still nervous around the vampire-esque girl, couldn't think of a good reason to not talk with the other girl. "Sure, come on in. I don't suppose it could hurt anything."

"Thank you," Ukyo replied, while she settled herself in the furo, reverting to her human form. "I think you've gotten the wrong impression about Ranma."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked. "All boys are perverts, it's a known fact! Besides, he's already seen me naked!"

Ukyo thought for a moment before answering Akane's disturbingly biased question. "Ranma isn't like most boys. He's been isolated from society for the majority of his life, due to that training trip. The only reason I'm any better with manners and other social skills is that I had a few extra years to learn them, before joining the training trip. The two of us grew up together, so we find bathing together natural. It's amazing how difficult it is to properly bathe without any help when you are covered with scrapes, cuts, bruises, or anything else Pops inflicted on us. Considering this, why would Ranma consider seeing you naked as anything perverted?"

"But all boys are perverts. All they want to do is beat me so they can date me!" Akane cried out, somehow feeling as if she could trust Ukyo, despite not knowing her for any length of time.

"I think I see what the problem is here." Ukyo began, having had a sudden revelation about Akane. "You're afraid that if a boy is capable of beating you, you won't be able to protect yourself if they try to force you to do anything you don't want to do, correct?" Akane only nodded, confirming Ukyo's guess. "You don't need to worry about Ranma doing anything like that, for a number of reasons. One of which is how completely ignorant he is of the 'birds and the bees.'"

Akane could only stare in shock for a few seconds, before asking, "What do you mean?"

Ukyo smirked a little, and responded, "Pops had never bothered to tell us anything about puberty. I only knew because my father told me before I started training, and Ranma only knew after Genma had to explain why I was bleeding for several days straight when we were both twelve." Again, Akane could only stare, though she did motion for Ukyo to continue. "Another reason you don't need to worry about anything with Ranma is that, to him, honor is everything, and he lives by the Martial Artist's Code, to 'protect those who cannot protect themselves.'"

"I had no idea it was possible for any boy to be like that!" Akane admitted, feeling rather sheepish. "I guess I should give him a chance before I come to any permanent conclusions about him."

Ukyo smiled, and replied, "That is all I ask." The girls soaked for a few more minutes before getting out of the furo and making their way over to the door. When Akane slid the door open, she confronted an equally nude female Ranma. She almost slapped her, but remembered Ukyo's words. Akane stepped aside and allowed Ranma to enter the bathroom before exiting with Ukyo.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Well, that's it for chapter one. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave any comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc. in the "Review" section so I can improve my story and have a slew of new ideas to potentially implement. A word of caution to anyone reading further: I have NO clue what the final/main pairing(s) will be at the moment. Also, I would appreciate if someone could get me some hot water… It is rather hard to type a story when you're a gecko. I can't help it if I got splashed when Ranma hit the koi pond. Additionally, any flames that are truly pathetic in my eye WILL be publicly mocked. Thank you for reading my first fanfic, and I hope you continue to read it.

Good bye for now,

Gecko-chan