Ranma was asleep. A soft, serene voice surrounded Ranma in his nightmare, he was been dragged down by all his fiancés and so called friends, pulled into the darkness until the voice rang through his mind.

"Ranma listen to me, and listen well, people who call themselves your family are not your family" the voice warned as the figures of nodoka and genma appeared smirking evilly at Ranma.

"You mean mom and pops?" Ranma questioned the voice.

"they are not your parents, they stole you a few months after you were born, we had given a couple of weary travellers a bed for the night and they repaid us by getting up early raiding the kitchen and taking our only son, my only son, we searched all over for you but we couldn't find you, we have been travelling the world since, you have now come of age Ranma, you will notice changes, but listen to the silent song in your heart, dive into the river and follow that sound of my voice and you shall find your true family" the voice said sweetly as the bright yellow fog like substance of her voice surrounded Ranma, Ranma then embraced the feeling of the voice and noticed it sounded familiar.

"Who are you, how do you know me and why does your voice sound so familiar?" Ranma yelled at the darkness, searching for the figure and listening for her voice.

"I am your mother Ranma your true birth mother" the voice replied, Ranma was about to ask more questions, but was suddenly under water, in the koi pond, Ranma gasped as bubbles floated out of his mouth, yet he wasn't worried of drowning, he felt at peace, at home under water, anger then boiled up inside him as he remembered what had happened pop had thrown him in the pond to wake him up, Ranma now a girl shot out of the koi pond and got in the anything goes fighting stance and glared at his 'pop'. "Gee pop can't at least sleep on my birthday" Ranma yelled, today was his 17th birthday.

"No son of mine sleeps all day like a little weak link" genma retorted.

Ranma's anger increased and her burning red aura could be seen a mile away, her eyes then glowed a slight yellow, a wordless song then thundered through her heart and her mind and filled him up, Ranma then embraced the song within her, her aura then diminished and as the sound washed over her mind her hair began to turn black again and when Ranma opened his eyes again, he was in his male form.

"and who said I was your son" Ranma yelled without thinking, he then heard what he said, his body had acted without him willing it, little did he know the outburst came from the magic within him he had inherited from his mothers side of the family, his true mother.

"what are you talking about Ranma, of course I'm your father and as your father I demand you tell the secret to how you control your curse" genma yelled back, Ranma left his fighting stance and smirked at his 'pop' and ran full speed out of the Tendo residence, with genma running after him. 'Some birthday…err what am I complaining about all my days are like this' Ranma thought to himself, he then neared the fence he normally walked on to get to school, on the other side of the fence was a river, Ranma then felt something within him tell him to jump into the water, with the day going as it was Ranma could only say one thing "why not, anything's better than 'pop' trying to trick me to marry Akane" (he had heard genma and soun that night before, they were going to get Ranma to marry Akane during the fake surprise party without him knowing it, I wonder how they'd manage that) Ranma then jumped over the fence and dived into the water and remained under water as he swam away from genma, he then heard the wordless song, in his heart and followed it.

Meanwhile…

"Mom are you sure he's here?" melody asked as she turned to her mother. (they had moved to Japan in hopes of finding Ranma, after all the travellers were Japanese also nerima seemed to suffer a lot of havoc thanks to certain adolescents so why not start there).

"I'm sure melody, can't you sense him melody" Ariel asked her daughter. Melody then closed her eyes and felt the presence of something, something that was getting closer by the minute.

"Yeah I can" melody said excitedly as she smiled at her mother and hugged her.

"He'll be here soon" Ariel said as she hugged her daughter and patted the back of her head.

Back with Ranma…

Ranma's curse had reactivated, she was still underwater and following the song, genma had long since given up the chase and had decided to wait for him at the Tendo residence, thinking he would return sooner or later, after all he has yet to eat anything. Ranma then noticed her legs had begun to feel weird, she then turned and saw them in a whirl pool and glowing, it lasted for only a minute and when it faded instead of two legs she saw a crimson tail and a top she now wore shells instead of her usual red Chinese attire. Ranma then instead of freaking out felt that all his answers lay a head of him, she swam and continued to follow the song, feeling more at home the more she remained in the water and beneath the surface.

She then stopped and looked up at the surface and heard the wordless song, Ranma began to surface and pulled herself onto the grassy shore, as soon as Ranma's tail had dried off it had split back into too legs and she was wearing her normal black, baggy kung-fu pants and red Chinese attire top, Ranma then felt herself change again and when she looked down at herself, she saw she was now a he again, he then heard the song of his heart again and followed it towards a house he then nervously knocked on the door, the door then slid open and a 16 year old girl with black hair in a pony tail stood their and her eyes widened at the site of Ranma.

"is your name Ranma perchance?" she questioned, Ranma was slightly surprised she knew his name. 'pop better no have got me engaged again' Ranma thought to himself before replying.

"yeah…" before Ranma could get another word in the girl jumped up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him into a hug.

"melody who is it?" a soft voice asked from within the house, soon after a woman with red hair, like Ranma's girl form appeared aside a man with black hair, like Ranma's male form.

"it's Ranma mom it's Ranma" the girl named melody screamed as she let go of Ranma, tears streaming down her face, accompanied by a huge grin.

"oh Ranma" the red head said before she too hugged him as did the man. They then pulled away "I know you'll have questions, but they will be answered in time, all that's important though is we're a family again.