It was your typical day in Nerima, Tokyo. Bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky one moment, pouring rain for the next five minutes, and then back to blue skies. Soun Tendo had gathered his three daughters in the living room. He was sweating bullets.

“So… um…”

Nabiki, his middle daughter, rolled her eyes at him. “Just spit it out, already, daddy! We’ve been sitting here for at least 15 minutes, and you haven’t said a single word! Time is money, after all!”

Kasumi, his eldest daughter, put her hand on Nabiki’s shoulder. “Now, now, Nabiki, don’t rush him. He’s got to come out with it on his own time.”

He finally spoke. “Well, my old… training buddy, Genma Saotome is coming from China to stay with us. He’s bringing his son with him.”

Nabiki narrowed her eyes at her father. “Daddy, we don’t have the budget to keep a bunch of freeloaders with us.”

“I know, I know, he’s coming based on an agreement we made 15 years ago while we were blackout drunk to…”

Soun didn’t get to finish that sentence. In hindsight, he really should have gotten to the point much, much sooner. The door slid open, and the roar of a panda was heard from the entryway. Nabiki lip read the word “unite” off of her father’s mouth before he stopped talking.

“Unhand me, you kidnapper! I already told your ass I’m not getting engaged, and I’m heading back to China to fix this shit you did to me!” The voice came from a small, black-haired girl, carried over the shoulder of a lumbering panda.

Akane, Soun’s youngest daughter, who had been holding her tongue so far, finally spoke out. “What the fuck is this, dad? Some random panda you bought from the zoo?”

Soun shook his head. This was not going as planned, not that he particularly wanted things to go as planned, but this was far outside his expectations.

The teenager decided to speak up, awkwardly fiddling with their pigtail. “I’m Ranma Saotome, sorry about this.”

Soun’s face blanched. “So… so you are. Welcome to the Tendo household. We should move to the living room to discuss… your arrangement. Your pet panda can come too.”

Ranma gave Soun a quizzical look. “Pet panda? Oh, you mean my old man! Could you get us a kettle of hot water?”

Soun’s face turned even whiter, a feat heretofore thought impossible. “Ye.. yes. I suppose he’ll have to come as well. Kasumi, can we get the hot water boiling?”

Kasumi plastered on a grin. “Of course I can, father.”

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The conversation started itself in the Tendo’s living room, with a decidedly non-panda Genma, and taller Ranma.

“And, so that’s why we came from China. I figured now was about time to cash in on that engagement promise, old buddy!” Genma laughed heartily.

Soun stared solemnly. “Scary springs…”

Soun sighed. So long as none of my daughters actually volunteer, I can probably cancel this stupid engagement and have my peace back. “Kasumi, my eldest, 19. Nabiki, my second, 17. Akane, my youngest…”

“I’ll do it!”

Soun looked over at the lone voice to interrupt his droning. “Akane, you really don’t have to volunteer yourself, I was hoping this would all just blow over…” He whispered to her.

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“If someone’s gonna be Ranma’s fiancé, it might as well be me. Nabiki already has someone she's seeing, and Kasumi’s not interested in younger men, so they’d push me into it anyways. Why not save them the trouble.”

Genma laughed heartily. “Wa ha ha. I like her initiative, Ranma. So, there you have it, it’s all settled!”

Soun waved his hands in front of him. “Don’t get the wrong idea, Genma, we really shouldn’t get them married, they’re both only 16. They should be free to choose who they want.”

Ranma, seeing Soun’s wavering, chose this moment to speak up. “Old man, why don’t I get a say in this? I don’t want to have a fiancé at this point, and you know it. I’m going back to China!”

“Silence, insolent boy!” Genma scowled at Ranma before eying Soun. “You saying you want to back out now? If I remember correctly, this was your splendid idea! I guess we can wait on the wedding until they’re 20, give them some time to get to know each other. Not like they need it, we got arranged marriages as well, and it worked out great for us!”

Soun muttered to himself, “Despite our parents’ best efforts…”

Ranma had had enough. “The dinosaurs aren’t roaming the earth any more, old man, I don’t need this stupid engagement.”

“I’ve had enough of you, boy!” Genma turned his ire to Ranma, before throwing him into the koi pond.

Ranma resurfaced with a more feminine figure. “What’s the big idea, you lousy furball!”

Kasumi’s grin faltered for the briefest of moments before she cut the conversation short, clapping her hands together. “Well, I still have to get dinner prepped. Father, why don’t you and Mister Saotome have a nice, fair game of Shogi while you wait. Akane, why don’t you show your fiancé around his new home?”

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Akane, having shown a grumpy Ranma around the top floor of her home, was bubbling with excitement. “So, that’s where we’ll all be sleeping. Last thing to check out is the Dojo. I heard you did some training all over Japan and China. Wanna spar real quick get some practice in?”

Ranma turned to face Akane, glaring daggers at her. “I’d appreciate you showing me to the bath, so I can change back!”

“You’ll get to take a bath before dinner! Let’s get some sparring in. You do kenpo, right?”

“A little.”

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Ranma was, to understate the situation drastically, annoyed. First, his old man had dragged him all the way to China; to some fucking cursed springs, at that. Then, he zoomed all the way back to Nerima for some old promise his no-good old buddy had made him before his son could hardly make a thought. Come on, it was the 80’s, no one actually did arranged marriages anymore, right? He stared back at his hyped up sparing partner, an unamused expression on his face.

She threw a punch, which Ranma dodged by sliding around. Another, which he effortlessly jumped over. Another, aiming not for his head anymore, but for his chest. Something seemed to distract him as he landed. Akane was also distracted by this, and failed to hold back the power in her punch. Ranma toppled over, slamming into the floor of the dojo. He yelped out in surprise, as the punch hurt much more than he had expected.

Akane stared at her hand for a moment, then muttered under her breath. “Second base, huh.”

Suddenly, she snapped back to reality, and realized what she had just done. “Oh shit, did that hurt? Based on your earlier dodges, I wasn’t expecting that one to connect.”

Ranma was suddenly very interested in the layout of the tatami mats. I wasn’t expecting so much motion there . I know I could have won that fight no problem if I had my real body.

Akane sighed. “If we’re going to be living together, we might as well get along. Care to tell me what happened there?”

Ranma let his weight drop to the floor. “ You try fighting after swapping sexes.”

Akane joined her fiancé on the floor. “Look, I get this whole engagement thing is kinda weird. I thought sparring would help you get out of your funk. I assumed that was something we had in common. I’m sorry if you don’t like it and I just made things worse.”

At last, Ranma finally lost interest in the tatami mats and met Akane’s gaze. “It’s not that I hate it, it’s just all I ever seem to be doing.”

Akane thought for a moment. “Why don’t we stop here, then. We should probably wash up anyways, dinner’s almost ready at this point. You have anything else to change into? Your current clothes don’t really fit you that well.”

“Why would I have any girl clothes? I’m Ranma Saotome, man among men. I have no need for such frilly things. Besides, I’ll just take a hot bath and change back.”

Akane rolled her eyes. “Not all girl clothes are frilly. You probably want something that’ll fit you better. Gonna be honest, I have no clue how you can stand jumping around like that without some… support.” Akane gestured.

Ranma’s face turned red. “I ain’t wearing no fucking bra!”

Akane glared. “~Well excuuuse me, princess!~”

“Better a princess than a tomboy!"

...

They argued until Nabiki came by to inform them that dinner was over, and all the food was gone.