Too Close for Comfort

Ranma Fanfic by Seras4545

A/N: For those of you who have read my previous story I apologize. I kinda lost inspiration for it when I got to the third chapter. In my opinion I believe I had Ranma on the track of becoming a god like figure, so for now I decided to stop and write this fic instead. Better idea and one I have not seen yet in all the fanfics I have looked at. It will be using the anime storyline as a base as I have not read enough of the manga to follow that storyline accurately. I hope you like it!

Italics are thoughts

Bold are signs/letters/notes most often used for panda genma

words are conversations in a different language, mainly mandarin

Prologue: To the Tendo Dojo

The night was peaceful, which sadly to say is rather unusual for the city of Nerima. Usually there is some kind of disturbance or fight to break the peace but not tonight, not yet. So the citizens were relaxed and enjoyed the quiet evening for as long as it would last. Little did they know that soon such a night would go from being unusual to highly rare, for a focus of chaos was on it's way to pay a visit to the Tendo household.

Tomorrow morning – 7:45 a.m. - Tendo Dojo of Anything Goes Martial Arts

Soun Tendo picked up the mail which had been deposited on the table by Kasumi just a few minutes ago before going into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. He began to sort through the mail while drinking his morning cup of tea.

"Hmm... Let's see now." he muttered. "Bill. Bill. Letter of acceptance for Kasumi." The first two he placed on the counter for Nabiki and the third he threw away without realizing it's full import. The last thing he held was a postcard with a panda on the front. When he read who it was from his hands began trembling with excitement and tears of joy began to form in his eyes.

On my way.

Bringing the boy to fulfill promise.

Let the schools be joined.

Genma Saotome

"At last! Ranma is coming! How I have waited for this day!" And then he burst into tears that looked strangely like twin watefalls. When he finished he continued to talk to himself. "And soon, very soon, Ranma will be here."

Gathering himself, he raised his voice. "Listen up! Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane! Family meeting in the living room!"

He waited as Kasumi walked in from the kitchen and Nabiki began to walk down the stairs from her room.

"What's going on daddy? Why are you so excited?" Nabiki asked, ever the curious one.

Soun looked behind her and when he noticed Akane had not shown up he looked to Nabiki. "Umm... Where is Akane?"

Nabiki looked around and then back at Soun. "I'll get her. She's probably in the dojo as usual." She ran back upstairs to grab her camera and then went to the dojo.

As she had thought, Akane was in the dojo and was just getting around to breaking a stack of bricks. Nabiki sighed as she got read to take her picture. Hope she knows that breaking bricks is not the way to become a better martial artist. Even I know that and I haven't practiced since mom died. She felt a surge of emotion when she remembered her mom's death but she quickly pushed it back down, suppressing it. She had promised on her mother's deathbed that she would not cry and she wasn't about to break that promise now.

"Iiyaaah!" Akane yelled as she brought her fist down and shattered the large stack of bricks. Nabiki caught one of the shards beneath her foot as Akane stood up. "Wooh! That felt good." As she began to wipe her brow Nabiki took her picture, congratulating her perfect timing. Kuno would easily pay 10,000 yen for that shot.

Letting the camera down she looked at her tomboyish sister. "There you go again Akane! This is exactly the type of thing that makes the boys think you're so weird."

Akane glared at her sister. Why in the hell should I care! They are all perverts anyway. "So why should I care, Nabiki? Not everyone thinks the whole world revolves around BOYS!" She yelled and then turned her head, trying to calm herself.

Nabiki blinked at her obvious hatred of the opposite sex. Guess Kuno and his Hentai Squad are finally getting to her. I should find a way to stop them before it get too out of hand. Shouldn't be too much trouble for me to get some dirt on them and blackmail them into leaving her sister alone. She smiled at Akane, deciding to try a different tactic with her. After all she knew exactly what this was about, she had read the letter on the table before leaving the living room.

"Well, then I guess this wouldn't interest you." She said as she began to leave. Predictably, Akane followed, her curiosity piqued. They joined Kasumi at the table, facing their father.

Couple of minutes later...

"Fiance?" Kasumi asked. Akane was stunned into silence for now and Nabiki decided to act as if she was surprised as well.

"Yes. He is the son of a very good friend of mine and his name is Ranma Saotome." Nabiki was slightly intrigued. Wonder if he will live up to the name of 'wild horse' she thought with a suppressed giggle.

"If one of you three should marry him and carry on this training hall, then the Tendo family legacy would be secure." Soun finished with a smile, seemingly confident that this would be carried out without a hitch. Akane had other plans however.

How dare he arrange a fiance for us without even asking! This Ranma is probably just another dirty pervert just like all the other boys! "Hey! Wait a minute here! Don't we get to have some kinda say in who we are going to marry!" She surprised Soun with her outburst and Nabiki, noticing her sister begin to build up some steam to carry on her complaint, decided to defuse the situation.

"Maybe you should wait until we meet him. You never know, he might be really cute." Akane, her mind derailed from the track of righteous anger, merely gave a 'humph' in reply and turned her head away from her sister. Figures Nabiki would only think about how cute he is. Bet he's a real jerk and a pervert to boot.

Nabiki, having succeeded with Akane, decided to gather as much information as she could about Ranma. After all, she planned on being his fiance. She had put on her best Kimono to great him when he arrived.

She turned back to face her father while Akane fumed. "Right daddy?"

Soun laughed for a few moments and then said abruptly "He'll be here any minute."

Nabiki didn't like how her father had evaded the question but decided to let it go and play along for now.

Soun rose to his feet after glancing at the postcard. "Ranma and his father have been on a training mission, and recently they had crossed into china.

"Oooh China!" Nabiki was impressed, not many made it to china, and it was rumored to harbor many mystical and powerful techniques.

"So he hiked all the way to China. Wow. Big deal." Nabiki frowned at Akane's sarcasm, worrying about her sister's state of mind.

She has been rather unstable lately, maybe her situation is worse than I thought. I think I should get the Kuno Hentai Squad put back in their place as soon as this fiance thing was straightened out.

Kasumi spoke up again. "Father, just how old is this Ranma?"

Nabiki instantly took up the questioning again. "Is he cute?"

"Younger men are just so, well... young."

"well, what kind of guy is he?" Nabiki was getting impatient now, wanting her father to answer at least one question.

Soun began laughing once again and turned his head back toward them and said with a straight face. "I don't know."

Nabiki frowned. This was the son of his best friend right? So shouldn't he know the guy? "You don't know?"

Soun merely stood looking out at the koi pond. Finally he answered. "I've never met him."

All three daughters made faces of disbelief and, in Nabiki's and Akane's case, disgust, though for different reasons.

He never even met the guy! How stupid can you be to not even make sure that the person you promise one of your daughters to isn't some kind of slob? Though since he went training all the way in China I guess he has to be good and probably isn't lazy, so I guess it's alright.

Akane was furious and was getting angrier by the moment. Oh please. I can't believe this. He never even met him? ridiculous. I bet he is most definitely a pervert and a lecher.

An hour ago In a nearby district of Nerima

A young man ran down the alleyway, being chased closely by a large panda. The street was slicked by the heavy morning rain. Soon the panda began to make swipes at the young man which he easily dodged. Finally he grew tired of this and turned in mid jump and landed facing the panda. He placed the backpack off to one side and dropped into a fighting stance.

"Hey! You better cut that out! Why are we in such a hurry anyway?" Then the boy's eyes narrowed. "This better not be one of your stupid deals again pops." He began cracking his knuckles in anticipation of beating him down.

The panda held up a sign.

Don't be stupid boy!

He flipped it around.

This time it is the real deal.

I promised to join my school with Tendo's school.

He flipped it again and somehow it had different writing on it this time.

So be a man Ranma!

Face this with honor and accept it!

Now Ranma was seriously ticked off. "No way! I'm not gonna be married to some girl I don' even know. And don' even talk to me 'bout honor! You have less honor than a rat!"

Apparently he had hit a nerve as Genma took several furious swipes at him. Ranma ducked one and then jumped over another and drop kicked Genma, causing him to fly back a bit and slide along the slippery street. Ranma, considering the fight and argument over, turned his back and began to walk towards the main street.

Genma, not done with him yet, got back up and slammed his fist into Ranma's back, the force of it causing Ranma to slide out into the street, causing many passerby to stare.

Ranma spun around as he was sliding and faced Genma as he walked out of the alley, attracting the stares and many exclamations from the surrounding citizens.

One man, closest to the panda, peered through the rain and then got nervous as he stuttered out, "I-it's a Panda!" Getting the attention of everyone as Ranma faced down his father turned panda.

Ranma fell into a fighting stance once again, deciding that this would be a match instead of the usual brawl. He glared at his father. "Your move!"

Genma approached and took a swipe at Ranma which he easily dodged. Ranma decided to make his opinion of the situation quite clear to his stubborn father.

"I say this whole thing sucks!" Genma continued to try to hit Ranma and after the third miss Ranma grabbed hold of his arm, much to the shock of the spectators. Instead of being mauled by the panda however, Ranma threw him over his shoulder while yelling "Picking my fiance like that!" Genma flew into a nearby traffic sign, causing it to bend and then break as it was assaulted by over six hundred pounds of black and white fur.

Considering the fight over Ranma began to leave. "I'm going back to China to continue training. So suck on that, old man!" He didn't notice when Genma got back to his feet and picked up the broken sign.

He snuck behind Ranma and struck him in the head, hard. As he slung the unconscious Ranma over his shoulder and picked up the backpack he heard several mutters and whispers from behind him.

He looked back and saw the spectators looking at him worriedly. "grrrow!" he growled at them and the group off to the side. As they scuttled off to hide from him, he began to stomp off toward the Tendo Dojo. He sighed in relief as the rain began to let up, though he was still very cranky.

8:06 a.m. Tendo Dojo

Soun and his daughters continued to wait, their thoughts occupied by the prospect of Ranma's imminent arrival. Soon they heard a commotion at the front door and heard the door slide open.

Kasumi got to her feet first. "Sounds like we have visitors!"

"Ooh! It must be Ranma!" Nabiki rushed to her feet, wanting to be the first to greet Ranma and make the best impression she could. Not waiting for Kasumi to go to the entrance and greet them, she rushed out of the room.

"Saotome! My friend! We've been waiting!" Soun cried as he followed on the heels of Nabiki.

Kasumi proceeded at her own pace muttering to herself. "I hope he's older than me..."

8:10 a.m. Front Entrance to Tendo Dojo

"Let me go you old fool! I told you, I'm not gonna have any part of this, so put me down!" Ranma, now conscious, was putting up a great fuss to no avail. His father had too tight a grip on him and was not relenting. As they approached the door Ranma finally gave in.

"Alright! I'll give it a try! Now will you let me down now!" Genma merely 'grrwwfed' in response and Ranma took it to mean that no, he was not going to be put down until they were in the compound.

As Genma opened the door and walked in he saw a beautiful girl with short cropped brown hair in a kimono with a man behind her. Wow. Maybe this won't be so bad after all. He thought as he drank in her image. He was at peace until he noticed the look of absolute terror on their faces and they proceeded to retreat back the way they came.

This rekindled Ranma's anger at his father and again began to pummel him as hard as he could while genma walked after them.

As they rounded the corner Ranma heard a gasp and someone said "Oh my!"(guess who, if you can't then you shouldn't be reading these fanfics.)

Ranma turned to look and saw the Short haired girl and the man joined by what he assumed to be her elder and younger siblings. They too wore a ask of fear (though Kasumi not so much so) and Ranma tried to get his father to let him down so he could explain.

"c'mon pops! You're scarin' 'em spitless!" Ranma yelled when hitting his father over the head.

They came to a stop in front of the group. Kasumi stared for a moment then looked to her father. "So father, these are your friends?"

Soun, too shocked to speak (c'mon, who wouldn't be when a massive panda just waltzes into your home?), merely shook his head adamantly.

Nabiki, finally over her surprise, sent a dirty look at Soun. "Oh. So this panda just decided to drop in, is that it huh?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Soun could only shake his head faster and began to hyperventilate in response.

Genma finally lifted Ranma up and turned him around and placed him on the ground facing the Tendos. Finally. Now maybe I can clear up the mess pops made of things. Ranma thought as he looked at the now curious family, with the exception of Soun who was beginning to go blue in the face.

Nabiki once again took the initiative. She walked up to Ranma and looked him up and down. Wow, he is cute! Not to mention well muscled and his face and beautiful blue eyes are to die for. Ranma blushed under her scrutiny of his body and shifted his balance nervously.

"You're Ranma right?" Nabiki asked, finally done with her inspection.

Ranma gathered his wits and did the thing he knew best in this kind of situation. He apologized. "Yes, my name is Ranma Saotome. Sorry 'bout the intrusion and my pops scarin' ya'."

Nabiki was impressed by his manners, even if they were a bit rough around the edges and his speech could use a little improvement as well. Then she remembered what he said about his father scaring them. "Um... Did you say that that panda is your father?"

Ranma looked embarrassed. "It's kinda a long story, but yeah. The panda behind me is my father."

When Soun heard this it was just too much. He finally broke down and collapsed. Everyone exclaimed in surprise and gathered around him.

Ranma stood back however, not wanting to intrude or assume a right that wasn't his. So he apoligized once again.

He scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "Umm... Sorry 'bout this. Is he gonna be alright?"

When Nabiki motioned for him to help, Ranma walked up and picked up Soun and brought him inside the house where they waited for him to wake.

It was a long and uncomfortable wait.

A/N: Finally! Hope you like it! Yes, Ranma is not yet cursed. that is my main twist in the story. I will make up for this later on. One hint... It involves the amazons. Oh, and relating to my previous fic, I felt that it was not getting anywhere and I didn't have much support behind it so I decided to discontinue it for now. If I get enough people to say to continue it then I'll probably do so. For now though, this will be my main fic.

Please review, I beg of you! It helps me grow as an author and allows me to make the story more entertaining.

Thank you!

Seras out. Till next time!