Ranma 1/2: Siblings
Episode 10

All Ranma 1/2 characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.  Viz owns the US
rights, and I'm using them without permission.  Don't sue me, I have no
money.

***

Andrew walked down the street, whistling to himself.  He stopped in front
of a store for the hundredth time and looked at his reflection,
straightening his outfit for the hundredth time.  He looked himself up and
down, and sent another silent 'thank you' Nabiki's way.  He wore a pair of
his everyday shoes, brushed up for the occasion.  His pants were a dressy
pair of dark grey slacks, the creases crisp.  He wore a sky blue sweater,
with a white dress shirt under it.  Nabiki's clothing advice echoed in his
mind.  *Nice, but not formal.*  He straightened his collar one last time
and continued down the street.

He headed into the portion of Nerima Kaori lived.  She lived almost on the
exact opposite side of Furinken high from the Tendo's, a good 2 or 3
kilometers away.  *Good thing the restaurant's closer to her place.*  As he
came up to the address Kaori had given him, he had to stop himself from
gaping.  *Wow, deja vu.*

The home was much like the Tendo's in many respects, and much different in
others.  The house was similar, though larger.  On the other hand, the dojo
was roughly the same size.  The overall effect was rather crowded in
Andrew's opinion, since this made for a much smaller yard.  He did notice
that the place was in much better condition than the Tendo's.  *But then,
considering what the Tendo's goes through on a regular basis, I'm suprised
it's still standing.*

Andrew walked through the gate and rang the front bell.  The door slid
open, and he found himself staring into a rather muscular male chest.  He
tilted his head back slowly, and looked up into a scowling middle aged
face.  The man was a foot taller than Andrew, and was broad of shoulder and
chest.  He was huge in every way, in fact.  His arms were as thick as
Andrew's legs, ending in large, meaty hands.  The man's face was hard,
angular, and topped by an unruly mop of black hair.

"Uhhh...G-good ev-evening," he stuttered, then took a deep breath.  *Get
ahold of yourself, Andrew.* "Good evening.  Mr. Hidaka?"  The scowl
deepened, and the large man nodded once.  "I'm Andrew Saotome.  I have a
date with Kaori tonight."

He wouldn't have believed it possible, but the scowl deepened even more. 
"You're that boy Kaori was visiting in the hospital."  Mr. Hidaka stepped
back.  "Come in, boy.  You and I are going to have a talk."  Andrew gulped,
and tried to supress the feelings of dread he felt.

Following the man into a living room, Andrew sat at the seat he was pointed
to.  *Nice place,* he thought, looking around.  The house was tastefully
decorated, if a bit spartan.  The furniture seemed to be old, well worn,
but in good condition.  Andrew was still taking the sights in when Mr.
Hidaka started to speak.

"My daughter tells me you're a martial artist, boy," he said.

"I am, sir,"  Andrew replied.  *Why do I have a feeling I'd better start
stretching?*

"How good are you?"  Mr. Hidaka asked bluntly.

Andrew blinked, and took a moment before formulating his answer.  "At my
physical best, there are only three people I know of who could beat me in a
match unaided."  Expecting the next question, he quickly elaborated.  "I am
not at my physical best right now.  As I am, I expect the list of those who
could best me would be much larger."

Mr. Hidaka considered the response before asking the next.  "Was one of
those three people the one who put you in the hospital?"  At Andrew's
startled look, he smiled.  It's wasn't a kind smile.  "I'm a police
officer, boy.  I recognized your name from the reports."

Andrew watched the man for a moment, trying to figure him out.  "No.  The
guy who put me into the hospital was drugged so that he fought like a
maniac.  He was impossibly fast and strong, and seemed to be out for blood.
 But as I said, he was drugged, it was not his fault."  Mr. Hidaka listened
intently.  *I'd better not get Ryoga in trouble.*  "The person responsible
for the drugging has been punished." *I think.*  "My brother tells me he
beats the guy regularly.  In fact, he has never lost to that man. 
Considering that I beat my brother a good chunk of the time, I'd consider
myself said man's better in a fair fight."

"I've heard a great deal about your brother.  For instance, I know that
he's an only child," Mr. Hidaka said slowly.  Andrew suddenly realized he
had been rather thoroughly checked out, and grew a little angry.

"Mr. Hidaka, I don't appreciate where this is going.  I expect you've done
an extensive background study on me and my family.  If that's true, you
also know I was legally adopted by the Saotomes recently."  He glared at
the elder man, the date forgotten.  "And anything about my former family
you discovered I'd rather not know.  The Fujihara name is dead.  I am a
Saotome now."

The elder man laughed loudly, slapping his hand on his thigh, surprising
Andrew.  "I like you, boy!  You've got a temper under all that politeness. 
Good, I didn't want my daughter going out with a wimp."  He held out his
massive hand for Andrew to shake.  Andrew winced at the other's iron grip. 
"Take care of my daughter tonight, boy.  And have her back by 10."  By
chance or by plan, Mrs. Hidaka chose that moment to walk into the living
room.

"Dear, stop terrorizing the boy," she scolded.  Andrew looked in wonder at
the woman and her husband.  It was obvious that Kaori took after her
mother.  The woman was a bit taller than Andrew, yet would have looked
childlike beside her husband if it wasn't for her excellent figure.  She
had a face that would be best described as elven.  She turned to a hallway.
 "Kaori!  Come save your date from your father!"

The sounds of footsteps were heard, and Kaori entered the room.  She wore a
very pretty yellow dress, with a nice understated floral print, that just
showed a hint of cleavage.  Her long brown hair was bound in a ribbon at
the end, and dangled loosely down her back.  She smiled shyly at Andrew,
and then frowned at her father.  "Daddy!  Stop picking on him!"  She walked
over to her father and punched him in the arm, and the huge man fell over. 
She turned back to Andrew.  "Let's go, OK?"

Andrew nodded, stood and looked down at Mr. Hidaka, who was on the floor
holding his hurt shoulder and grinning at his daughter.  "It was nice to
meet you, Mr. Hidaka," he turned to Kaori's mother.  "And you, Mrs.
Hidaka."  He walked to the door and held it open for Kaori.  "After you,"
he said, and closed the door behind them.

***

The two teens walked down the street silently.  Kaori was the first to
break the silence.  "Andrew?  Can I ask you something?"

"Sure,"  Andrew replied, a bit nervously.  *Thank god!  This is better than
trying to think up small talk!*  "What do you want to know?"

"Well, it's kind of personal, so if you don't want to answer, I'll
understand, but," she paused.  "Daddy told me you were adopted recently. 
Can I ask why?"

Andrew was silent for a few seconds.  "It's OK, Kaori, I don't mind telling
you.  But it's kind of a long story.  Na...er...people tell me it's bad to
only talk about yourself."  He felt a hand on his arm, and saw Kaori
looking at him with a serious face.

"I asked because I want to know," she told him as she slipped her arm
through his.  Andrew felt his blood pressure rise a little.

"Uhh...er...OK,"  he stammered.  "Well, I was raised by a friend of my
father's.  I never knew his real name, I just always called him Sensei..."

***

A small child with silver hair kneels in front of a aged man.  The boy
wears grey pants and a blue shirt, and has a slightly wild look to him. 
The man wears a white gi, which seems to be slightly too large for him. 
His thin form towers over the young boy.  He has a wiry frame, not a scrap
of fat, his form all bone and muscle.  His wrinkled face is in a frown, but
his eyes dance with mischief.  "So, my student, you have mastered the the
kata, have you?  Then show me."

The boy stands, "Yes, Sensei."  He begins the kata, and the aged man falls
into another kata.  Each move the boy performs becomes part of a spar
between the boy and the old man, each block or blow a perfect match for the
move the other performs.  As the kata is completed, the man grins and
tousles the boy's hair.

"Good, boy, very good!"  He gets into a battle stance.  "Now, can you use
those moves for real?"  The two enter into a combat.

***

Andrew stops his narration as he glimpses a familiar black pig-tail. 
*Ranma?  Nah, couldn't be.*  "He taught me many things, like martial arts,
and honor, and he even attended to my regular schooling.  But it wasn't
until I was older..."

***

The same old man is with an older boy now, perhaps nine or ten years of
age.  The two sit in a clearing in the woods.  The boy is tending a fire
while the man cleans up from a meal.  The boy sets a log on the fire. 
"Sensei, where are my parents?"

The old man stops what he was doing, and sits by the fire, indicating for
the boy to sit across from him.  "It is time you know, Andrew."  The man
stares into the fire.  "You are the descendant of a long line of martial
artists.  Your father and all of his ancestors were all great warriors,
recognized for their skill and honor.  Many years ago, an ancestor of the
Fujihara line made a pact with a family called Saotome.  To end a feud that
was destroying their families, they swore that the only time the two would
meet again in combat was when only one male heir to either family lived. 
If that man was victorious, the line could continue, and so would the feud.
 If he lost, he would die, thus ending the feud and the line."

"But what does this have to do with my parents?"

"Your parents are dead," the man said bluntly.  "I do not know how they
died.  In his will, your father asked me to train you, since as the last of
your name you would have to meet this challenge."  He looked at the boy,
who stared back at him silently.  "As your father's friend, I could not
refuse."  He watched the tear run down the boy's face.  "I'm sorry, boy."

"I have no family," the boy said softly.  He looked at the ground, and more
tears fell from his face.   He stood up, and went around the fire to the
man.  He fell into the other's arms and sobbed.  After a moment, he spoke
again, his voice harsh.  "Sensei, would you tell me about my parents?"  The
older man nodded, and began to tell a story.

***

A flash of purple at the edge of Andrew's vision made him pause.  He
whipped his head to the side, but saw nothing.  He looked at his
surroundings, and saw they still had quite a ways to go.  "Sensei and I
travelled a lot in our tarining, all over Japan and eventally China in his
search for new skills for me to learn.  But he was an old man, and all that
travelling was bad for his health.  It was in this backwoods village in
China..."

***

Andrew, now in his late teens, stared up at the column of smoke winding
into the sky.  "Goodbye, Sensei.  I will make you proud of me."  He watched
the pyre until it died out, then turned to the man who stood behind him. 
"Is done," he said in halting Chinese.  "Andrew train with you now."

The man who stood behind him lifted up his cap.  He ancient, even more so
than Sensei, yet had a vitality and youth to him that belied his age.  He
wore a khaki uniform, and his cap was decorated with a single star.  "Good,
you will defeat those damn Amazons and we will win back control of the
valley.  You are the greatest artist I have seen in almost a hundred years,
boy.  You will make the Animal Village proud."  *Perhaps good enough to
even beat that damn witch Chui Li.  She'll be a good wife for you.*

***

"The villagers wanted a champion.  Someone who could defeat the champion of
another village so they could regain ownership of some piece of real
estate." Andrew said, getting a glimps of someone with iridescent green
clothing.  *Hmm...why do I think I'm being watched over?*  "They tought me
many so-called secret techniques in the hopes of training me to become a
great fighter.   To get them to train me, I had to go to these Cursed
Springs..."

***

"You are some really stupid people," the Jusenkyo guide said.  "You are the
only people I know of who keep coming back here even though you know about
the tragedy of this place."  He sighed.  "Stupid martial artists."

The elder smiled indugently.  "Whatever, just get out of the way already,
we have a trainee here."  He turned to Andrew.  "You know the drill.  You
jump on the poles, and run around, trying to avoid the weapons we throw at
you.  For each hour you last, you will be trained in one technique."  He
looked Andrew up and down like a prize piece of meat.  "You are a strong
one, your totem animal will be mighty."

Andrew shrugged and lept onto a pole.  He started his first circuit,
jumping and twisting to avoid the attacks.  After an hour, the attacks
intensified.  After two, the projectiles blurred thought the air.  As the
third hour approached, Andrew was covered in sweat, and was obviously
exhausted.  The villagers started to cheer, egging him on as the attacks
came harder and harder.  As the third hour passed, the paricipants roared
their appreciation, and then groaned their disappointment as Andrew barely
missed dodging an attack.  He teetered on the pole, and fell into a pool. 
The waters bubbled, and a silver wolf paddled its way to the side.  It
walked over to the elder, who poured the hot water on him changing him
back.

"You truly are a great warrior, boy," the elder said as he handed Andrew
his clothes.  "No one has ever lasted three hours before."  Andrew grinned
a little as he dressed.

"This is kind of neat," he admitted.  "I was worried I'd get something
incapactiating, or embarrassing.  But a wolf is a pretty cool form."  He
stood, and looked down at the elder.  "So, Respected Elder, when do we
start?"

***

"Unfortunately for them, I met with Chui Li before the match.  She wanted
to meet her 'suitor.'  You see, amazons have these goofy laws..."

***

Andrew stared at the beautiful amazon before him in awe.  She had long blue
hair, that cascaded down her back loosly.  She wore a dark blue fighting
uniform, that offsetted her hair nicely and showed off a great deal of her
figure.  Her very adult, buxom figure.  She appeared to be in her early
thrities, but with these backwoods Chinese it was hard to tell.  She
twirled her naginata and pointed it at him.  "You are Andrew Fujihara?" 
she demanded.

"You're Chui Li," he breathed.  "They never told me you'd be a woman. 
Hell, they never told me you'd be so beautiful!"  He felt his body
temperature jump a bit as his heart beat faster.  "W-w-what do you want?"

The woman had a smile on her face as she looked him up and down.  "Very
nice," she said, and looked him in the eyes.  "I hope you're good, I might
actually be willing to lose to you.  You'd make a very fine consort."

Andrew felt his blood run cold.  "CONSORT?  I thought this was for control
of a valley!"

"And for my hand in marriage," she told him, suprised.  "They never told
you?"  Andrew shook his head and she sighed.  "Figures."

"But's I CAN'T marry anyone!" Andrew yelled, sweating.  "It would be a
breach of honor!"  He growled and scowled at Chui Li, as he quickly
explained his family's pact.  "As much as I'm flattered, I think our match
tommorow is off.  I think 'Respected Elder' and I need to have a little
talk."  He ran off.

Chui Li sighed.  "And he was a cute one, too."  She turned to return to the
amazon village.  "I wonder what happened to that nice Mousse boy?"

***

"So I came here to fight Ranma."  Andrew told her how he was defeated by
Ranma and was adopted into his family.  "I'm pretty lucky to have picked
Ranma to fight."  Kaori stopped, making Andrew stumble as he tried to
continue walking while his arm was in her grip.  "Hey!"

"You're happy you lost?" she asked him incredulously.  "But, you could have
died!"

"But I didn't," Andrew insisted.  "I had no idea what I was going to do
with my life if I won, Kaori.  'Continuing the Fujihara line' is a pretty
tall order for a guy who avoided romatic relationships his whole life. 
Being Ranma's brother gave me a family, a focus.  I now have a brother, and
sisters, and parents."  Andrew's voice became a little breathy, and Kaori
could hear the wonder in his voice as they stared walking again.  "Don't
tell anyone, but I'd say that in losing, I won."

Kaori was silent for a while, then she giggled a bit.  "Well, you wouldn't
have met me if you won!"  She felt Andrew stiffen a bit, and felt his pulse
race.  *Guess what Kaori,* she told herself, *I think he likes you!*

"That would be a shame, wouldn't it?"  Andrew said much too seriously.  He
looked up and saw that they had reached their destination.  The Parisienne.
 Andrew was impressed that the damage from his fight was gone.  He held
open the door for Kaori, and the two went to eat.

**

An hour or so later, the two were walking again, this time to a movie
theater.  As before Kaori appropriated Andrew's arm.  She told him her
story, how she was the heir to her mother's school of martial arts, the
Righteous Fist school.  She never made many friends, since not many boys
really like a girl who could beat the crap out of them, and most of the
girls were frightened of her.

"When Daddy got transfered to Tokyo," she finished, "Mom and I convinced
him to send me to Furinken.  I had heard the stories, and I figured if
there was a place for me, Furinken was it."

"You know," Andrew mused, chuckling a little, "You might be the only person
in the history of Furinken to actually be ATTRACTED to the school because
of the stories."  He stiffened for a moment.  "THAT'S IT!" He yelled at the
top of his lungs, "Get your asses out here NOW!"

Kaori looked at him in shock, then dropped his arm with a shriek and went
into a battle stance as three couples appeared out of the darkness.  She
looked over at Andrew, who was completely relaxed, and dropped a bit out of
her stance.  She watched the newcomers warily.

"I told ya he'd see us," Ranma said to Akane.  He grinned over at Andrew. 
"Havin' fun, bro?"

"I don't know whether to be happy to see you or pissed off!" Andrew
snarled. "Can't a guy get a little privacy?"  The others looked at him with
a great deal of amusement, and he sighed.  "OK, that was a stupid
question."

Kaori took Andrew's arm again and squeezed it.  "Andrew?" Andrew glanced
over at her, embarrased.  "Who ARE these people?" she demanded.

Andrew sighed.  He pointed at Tarou and Ukyo.  "My friend, Tarou, and his,"
Andrew paused, his eyebrows raised.  Tarou nodded. "Girlfriend Ukyo." 
Andrew snickered inwardly as he saw Ranma gape, and grinned over at Tarou. 
"I was right, you two ARE a cute couple," he said, and laughed as Ukyo
blushed.

Pointing to Ranma and Akane, "My worthless brother Ranma and his fiancee,
Akane, I belive you've met."  Akane smiled a greeting and Ranma winked. 
"Finally, those two are Shampoo and Mousse."  He scowled over at the
newlyweds.  "You know, considering you two have only been married for a
day, shouldn't you have...er...better things to do?"

Shampoo punched Mousse in the ribs,  "Stupid Mousse!  Andrew agree with
Shampoo!  We go home now!"  She grabbed his hand and dragged him down the
street.

"But Shampoo, I needed a break,"  Mousse protested.  He looked back at
Andrew, death in his eyes.  "I'll get you for this," he promised as Shampoo
dragged him around a corner.

Andrew laughed after the pair, and turned back to the other.  "Come on, get
lost already, if something comes up Kaori and I can handle it."

"No way, Andrew," Tarou said, "You're my friend, and I'm not going to let
you get in trouble again."

"Hey, he's my brother, I'll handle anything that comes up," Ranma
countered, and then shouted in pain as Akane socked him one.  Ukyo turned
and whalloped Tarou.  Soon the four were bickering like schoolchildren.

Andrew sighed, then turned to Kaori.  "Up for some roof-hopping?" he asked
her.  She looked at him in confusion, then eeped a little as he swept he
into his arms.  "Trust me."  He lept up to a nearby roof and bounded
towards the movie theatre.  The other's shouted at him and began their
pursuit.

***

Andrew and Kaori stood at her front door.  "I really had a great time,
Kaori," Andrew said.  "Sorry about my friends, they have this idea I need
taking care of."

Kaori laughed.  "It's OK, Andrew, I had fun tonight too."  She pecked him
lightly on the cheek.  "I'll see you at school tommorow, OK?"  Andrew
nodded wordlessly at her, and she went inside, closing the door behind her.
 Kaori sighed and leaned against the wall.

"So, do you like him?"  Kaori looked up and saw her father standing before
her.

Kaori smiled brightly at her father and nodded.  "Very much."

"Kaori, what did you do to the poor boy?" her mother asked, looking out the
window.  "He's just standing there."  Kaori and her father went to peek
through the window.  Andrew stood outside, staring at the door.  As they
watched, he slowly raised his hand to his cheek, a wild smile appearing on
his face.  He cheered, leaping in the air, and ran out of the yard.

Kaori's father chuckled as his daugher and wife giggled.  "I think you have
him hooked, Kaori."