Chapter 1 1/7

A Horse for the Force

Okay, bad title I know, but I couldn't stop myself.

I need to apologize to those who have already read this story! When I looked at the time-line, I had a date I wanted to use as a target for Ranma's introduction into the Star Wars universe. I also wanted Ranma to be somewhere between the ages of Obi-Wan and Anakin, as well as others like Shaak Ti. However, not only was the date I wanted the year before Phantom Menace rather than the ten I thought, I was judging Obi-Wan by his looks in those comics as well. Did you know he's 24 by the time of Phantom Menace? And Padme is 14? Um… a ruling queen at that age... suddenly her incredible level of naiveté makes so much more sense. Oh, and Anakin is around 11 during PM.

So I was forced to head back and make some changes, removing the age reduction and changing a lot of things after that to make up for it. The combat between Dooku and Ranma is very different, though the changes start well before that.

Prologue: A Horse Breaks Its Bridle

Leaping through the early evening two nights after the Wedding Massacre, Ranma found himself still angry about the whole thing, which was rather odd for him frankly, but something no one else could possibly blame him for. Having a cure that close and having it snatched away from him had hurt, almost as much as eating Akane's cooking. So much so Ranma had decided to take yesterday and hunt down Happosai.

What Happosai had told him though and proved by pointing out Pantyhose Taro and Rouge, made Ranma wince even now. How did all of us miss that? You can't cure one spring with another, they just merge! Unless you nullify the first one somehow. The Phoenix tribe seems to be able to, but I'm not 'xactly their most popular person, now am I?

That thought was a grim one. It'd taken them several weeks to move through China after his battle against Saffron, and Ranma still couldn't get over the fact that he had almost killed someone. He would have too, if not for Saffron's regeneration into an egg. As a martial artist Ranma knew that eventually he might be called upon to take someone's life in defense of someone else, but he had not been prepared for the reality of it.

If only Dr. Tofu was still around, he thought to himself shaking his head as he thought about the older man who had helped him think his way through several problems since he had arrived in Nerima. About six months before the Phoenix people first appeared Dr. Tofu had moved away. Not disappeared, just moved away. Since then Ranma had found out for himself (he couldn't afford Nabiki's prices) that the doctor had gotten married. Ranma supposed that the doc's old lady had gotten fed up with him not settling down and arranged matters herself, something Ranma was all-too-familiar with when dealing with his own parents.

Thank Hachiman mom didn't have any outstanding marriage contracts fer a daughter. With the way she'd been at me about acting girly when I'm a girl, she might be just as quick to force that on me as oyaji is in tryin' ta get me ta marry Akane. Still without Dr. Tofu around, I lost the only person around here I can speak to about serious matters.

Ranma had gotten into the habit of going to the doctor a few months after he first arrived, and so long as Kasumi wasn't around Tofu was a source of good advice, when he decided to give any, and a willing ear most of the other times. He'd also given Ranma a lot of medical books, some of which he'd even tried to read, and some of which had actually helped him advance his ki healing massively. That was why he didn't have brain damage after all the hits to the head he'd taken since arriving in Nerima.

He couldn't talk to Hiroshi or Daisuke about anything serious. They were a good source for information on normal things, most of which Ranma labeled under the title 'boring' in his mind. It was a gigantic file, almost as large as the file marked 'girl issues I don't want to touch with a ten foot pole'. But talking to them about serious matters like martial arts, marriages, fiancés and girls in general, that just wasn't going to happen. And of course I can't talk to anyone actually involved, the moment I do they try to twist it around to their advantage!

It had taken him a while to reach that conclusion, but Ranma had finally learned that he really couldn't trust anyone even indirectly involved in the crap that was his life. Nabiki was the most blatant, with Akane next in line. Several times Ranma had told Akane about learning some new maneuver, only to learn that Ryoga had somehow learned about it. Ranma didn't think she was doing it on purpose, but Akane just couldn't keep a secret to save her life.

His mother wouldn't keep secrets from his oyaji, and the less said about Genma's ability to keep anything secret the better. Soun too wouldn't keep a secret, and couldn't seem to talk about anything serious without turning into a blubbering mess anyway. And Kasumi, well Kasumi was a very good listener, but she also would not keep secrets from her family. She had also lost a lot of points from Ranma when she joined in with her sisters to make fun of his fear of furry devils. That had happened over a year ago, but it still stuck in Ranma's craw.

And as for his other two fiancés, talking to Shampoo was pretty much like talking to Akane only worse. The bubbly Amazon couldn't keep a secret to save her life and always tried to turn things to her advantage. Not as if I trust her anyway, with all the times she's used magic on me. Stupid Amazons, stupid laws. I know I've got Shampoo ta thank for Cologne bein' here, and without Cologne's training I wouldn't be nearly as good as I am, but still. I was wonderin' if continuin' to learn from her is worth the baggage months back, now it just don't seem worth it anymore. Of course, getting rid of them somehow is gonna be… tough.

Ukyo was actually the best listener among the three, and would only use what he told her to her advantage if it was about the whole contest between her, Akane and Shampoo for him. Better, she had even come by the day after the wedding to apologize, catching him before he went after Happosai and actually looking remorseful. I wonder if the others'll apologize? I doubt it, but it'd be nice.

By this point in his thoughts Ranma had crossed most of Nerima and reached the Tendo dojo. Leaping up onto one of the outer walls Ranma dropped down on the other side quickly. He moved as silently as he could, not wanting to deal with the Amazons or anyone else who could be watching the house. That was why he stopped by a small bush in a corner of the property, his hand lashing out faster than almost anyone in Nerima could follow, chopping into Sasuke's neck.

Before the little man could slump forward Ranma grabbed him and laid him down gently. Sorry dude, he thought to himself, I don't mind you spying on us most of the time, but I really don't wanta deal with either of your crazy charges tonight. Ranma actually approved of the little ninja's loyalty, not the people he was loyal to, but the loyalty itself was worth praising in his opinion.

That was why he thoughtfully pulled out a pad of paper and pencil, writing up a little note on it before sticking it on the unconscious ninja's chest. 'Find some new hidin' places, and don't just switch 'em up every other day, it's predictable. Check out the area near the eaves of the house and maybe underneath the porch, we just cleared it out o' spiders so its useable again.' Then Ranma ended it with a smiley face and a chibi version of himself holding up two fingers in a victory sign.

Chuckling quietly, he left the ninja there moving from shadow to shadow towards the Tendo house. Ranma could've used the Umisenken, but he had promised his father he wouldn't use either of the sealed techniques save in matters of life and death. And one thing that Ranma didn't do was break promises, at least not when they impacted what he saw as his personal honor or the Art.

Besides, he thought to himself grimly, as he was almost to the house, this is good stealth training, and my oyaji had a point, which he immediately proved in the worst way possible, but still, the techniques he created are too dangerous to let fall into the wrong hands.

He was about to jump up onto the windowsill of the guestroom that he and his father had shared for almost two years now when he heard voices. Pausing he cocked his head, wondering what Nabiki and Akane were talking about. The two of them almost never talked, especially since that incident where Nabiki had become his official fiancé for a time, so it was odd. Especially since Nabiki had a part in wrecking the wedding, not that I'll ever be able ta do anythin' to get back at her.

"I don't get it,Nabiki," Akane was saying as Ranma moved to stand underneath Nabiki's window. "It's not like you to make a plan like that and not make money off it. But there's no way those freaks and psychos paid you more than the damages to the dojo cost us." Despite the topic, Ranma was surprised to hear that Akane was almost calm sounding, not accusatory, simply questioning.

I know I've been away for a few days, but there's no way that Akane could've gotten over her anger that quickly. Not these days. Akane had begun to worry Ranma, the amount of anger-based ki that she had been using for years unconsciously had seriously started to affect her, though Ranma seemed to be the only one who noticed it. And he didn't have any idea how to convince her not to keep using it. Talking to any girls let alone Akane about anything like emotions or anything beyond schoolwork always seemed to end up with him getting bashed. Still however Akane has dealt with her anger she's got a point.

"Oh like you care." Nabiki scoffed, and Ranma heard movement up above him, as if Nabiki had moved in place or was doing something else, like those leg exercises she was always doing. "I know that you had your own plans Akane, but I had to scuttle the wedding quickly. One of my factors…"

"Oh call them spies, or enforcers or something, that's what they are aren't they?" Akane broke in, scoffing. "My sister the budding yakuza oyabun!" Again despite the words Akane sounded almost amused.

Nabiki's voice however was rather hard when she replied. "Since they're working in our favor sister, perhaps you should call them factors or agents rather than anything derogatory? They did just save our family of a debt of ¥170.5 billion."

Up above there was a sound of a body slamming into the floor as Akane possibly fell out of her chair, a sentiment that Ranma had no trouble understanding, since he had almost fallen forward to slam his head into the side of the house. He stopped himself just-in-time though, scowling angrily. Oh fuck-me-sideways oyaji, what've you got me into now?!

Above him Akane asked the same question and Nabiki replied. "There's a reason why Genma and Ranma never stayed in one place too long: debt collectors. The debt collectors know where they're living now, and a lot of them have banded together to call in the government. The government in turn is preparing an action against Genma, and anyone else with his family name."

"Worse, there are at least five more families around Osaka and two more in Korea he also apparently sold Ranma to. Most of them are willing to take a cash buyout, which is where that last seven billion yen came from."

Akane and the unseen Ranma were silent for a moment, considering the huge amount of money. Then Akane asked the question Ranma was privately wondering. "Why haven't you shared this with Daddy? Surely the news that the Genma sold off his son that many more times and the times we already know about plus the debt should cancel out the engagement right?"

Something is wrong, Ranma thought, frowning heavily now as he concentrated more on Akane's tone than the discussion. He didn't really care about money one way or the other, after so long on the road he could make do in the wild, or living off the land in cities easily enough. Besides, he had always loved to travel, and having an actual reason to run around made a lot of his father's actions when they were younger more understandable. Of course he also brought us here but… Ranma shrugged, all too used to Genma screwing him over. The future could take care of itself in Ranma's opinion.

But Akane's tone was bothering him. It was so lacking any kind of emotion when it was talking about their engagement. It actually hurt a little to hear her talking about it so… so detached like. What's going on here?

"You really think our father would listen to me? Father wouldn't listen to me even if I had the evidence in front of us, and I don't. In fact if one of my agents hadn't decided his loyalty to me counted more for his loyalty to the government, I wouldn't know about this now. He could be fired or even arrested for discussing a case like this with those involved. We need to wait until Ranma's 18, then instead of having a religious wedding we can have a formal change of name for Ranma, add him to the Tendo rolls and remove them from the Saotome, which will leave their family with all of the debts and leave us free and clear."

"Whatever, it's not like the marriage between our houses really matters beyond the whole honor thing Daddy's always harping on about. You know I was only going through with the marriage for the cure anyway, and not to get it for Ranma."

Down below Ranma's heart sank, but he didn't stop listening.

"Now that's cold sis." Nabiki said and there was actually a note of censure in her voice. "After all the times Ranma saved you, don't have any friendly feeling for him?"

"Have feelings for that freak, hell no! The freak revels in his female form, using it all the time to get treats, using it in some of those dumb ass martial arts contests. As if any of that shit mattered!" Akane said in reply, her voice getting louder with every word. All those so called martial artists aren't really ones, they just use tricks to make their styles seems unique! And that's not even talking about the way he's leading on Shampoo and Ukyo! The fucking pervert!"

Ranma's teeth clenched and his hands formed into fists. He was about to jump up onto their windowsill and retort angrily as he always did to Akane's accusations. He thought this was more of the same as always, her accusing him, never taking any of the blame for herself and always seeing him in a bad light. Yet in comparison to what had gone before it was almost a relief to hear Akane sound back to normal.

Then she went on, saying something that shattered Ranma's heart. "Besides, you know Ryoga and I have been going out for a few months now ever since that whole Pantyhose incident."

A heart breaking should make a noise, Ranma thought to himself in the corner of his mind where he could still think, slumping silently to his knees as his head came to rest against the wall of the Tendo place. She's been lying to me that long? No wonder she's been so much more violent ta me lately when Ryoga an' I fight! His hands remained clenched, and he had to stop himself from jumping up again to accuse the damn bitch.

"You know I never liked that." said Nabiki, and now her voice was cold, almost angry. "You leading on Ranma as you have, it makes you a damn hypocrite and worse. You're my sister, and I'm not willing to betray you or deal with the fallout if Ranma became truly angry at us, but why can't you simply transfer the engagement to me if you don't care?"

Nabiki went on in a much more normal tone, there even seemed to be a smile in it though Ranma couldn't see it. "I've always been interested in seeing if Ranma's stamina carried over into other things, and kissing a girl could be interesting. I can't experiment around here after all, it would ruin my rep, but if I was formally engaged to Ranma…"

"Because I won't lose to those bitches, that stupid cook who dresses like a boy or the bimbo gaijin! If I back down, it makes it seem as if I've acknowledged that they're better than me, that they're better than me at martial arts and as a woman! After so long listening to Ranma's jibes about my figure and everything else, I need all the assurances in that area I can get!" Akane retorted hotly, and Ranma could hear something straining as if Akane was pending an iron bar, something she had begun to do recently.

"Besides, you know that neither of them will fall for your tricks a second time."Akane went on, in a somewhat calmer tone. "Shampoo would just kill you, you couldn't fight back like I could."

Down below Ranma rolled his eyes, slowly coming back from the precipice of the fury Akane's betrayal had driven him to while he continued to listen. Akane then went on to rant about Shampoo, and Ranma's ki sense could actually feel the anger and rage from above him like a forest fire concentrated in one place. She really is using angry ki too much, it really is affecting her, but… well, it's not my problem anymore…

After several more moments of ranting Akane calmed down, and went on in a more normal tone. "And, don't talk to me about that perverted crap! Two girls together, that's just wrong! I don't how you're able to think about that! And besides, I doubt Ranma would even know what to do, not like Ryoga."

"Oh kami-sama," Nabiki said in a tone of revulsion. "Don't tell me what you two get up to, I don't want to know. How you can stand someone who turns into a little pig rather than a sexy as hell redhead is beyond me. And it's not perverted Akane, simply different."

But after a moment Nabiki went on more thoughtfully. "Still, it is odd that Ranma hasn't tried anything would with any of us. I know he's honorable and all, but I don't think I've ever even seen him physically react if you know what I mean. Not even when Shampoo glomps on him, and I'll admit that girl's body is better than most porn stars. And a lot of the times when his two perverted friends at school bring up girls and stuff he reacts as if he hadn't gone through puberty or something."

For some reason that stuck in Ranma's mind. Maybe it was because he was desperate for anything to grab onto at the moment, rather than the rage and grief he was feeling, but it did strike him as odd too. They'd had health class and he kinda knew what Nabiki was talking about, and Ranma knew his self-control wasn't that good, so why?

Ranma shook himself, pushing his body away from the wall as the two girls upstairs continued to talk, now moving onto less important subjects like schoolwork and where Nabiki was planning to go for college. Their closeness was surprising, but Ranma had other things to worry about. I need to talk to someone about this, someone I can get on my side on this, about everything they just said, and not just about Akane and Ryoga. That I'll deal with on my own.

For a moment Ranma thought about simply running, simply leaving Nerima and never coming back, but there were at least a few people here he cared about, and in particular one who might be able to help. I need to talk to mom, I just hope she listens.

OOOOOOO

Kasumi frowned, moving out onto the patio and looking around moving towards the back of the house for a moment. Looking around she frowned further, then shrugged. Her control of the house's Wa was not perfect, she routinely missed Sasuke's presence, and even occasionally missed Genma and Ranma so it wasn't unusual. With a shrug Kasumi went back inside, looking up into staircase she called out "Nabiki, Akane, dinner's ready."

OOOOOOO

Ranma cross the distance between Nerima and the district where his mom's house was still being repaired quickly, landing in front of it he was about to knock on the door when he paused. For some reason, a thought occurred to him: if Nabiki and Akane are so different when they're not around me, are they the only ones?

After the shocking revelations of the past hour or so, Ranma was in no frame of mind to chance anything. So instead of knocking on the door, he leapt up onto the roof landing lightly and then down into the small garden at the back.

"…And I still cannot believe that you were so stupid and thoughtless as to take part in ruining the wedding! You even went so far as aiding in the destruction of the only cure that could have returned our son to normal!"

Hearing that, Ranma winced. Knowing that his mother still had problems with his female form wasn't exactly surprising, but the vitriol in her voice was shocking. And it made him leery about trusting her as well, especially since she still carried around that damn contract and katana everywhere she went.

Inside his mother went on. "I've long been concerned about how that form affects our son's mind. Why hasn't he been manly with any of his fiancés? Surely choosing one of them shouldn't be that difficult."

"I don't know anything about that, dear." said Genma slowly, and Ranma actually smirked a little despite her his ongoing emotional roller coaster knowing how his father had to be walking on eggshells right now.

Looking inside quickly Ranma saw that the two of them were sitting at a table. Yes his mother did have the honor blade out, cleaning it while staring across at his father. Heh, serves oyaji right.

"But, it might not be that simple. It turns out that the Spring of Drowned Man water wouldn't've cured Ranma, or even me. Instead it would've merged with the existing curse. I would've become a panda man, and Ranma would've become…" The bald man shuddered a little. "Apparently the Grand Master actually knew that, and that was why he was so quick to drink the water rather than let it be used. It wasn't a totally uncaring act, whatever fun he had doing it."

Ranma scoffed outside shaking his head. Right, you only asked him about that after just like me. You were just as self-servin' in the battle at the wedding as anyone else oyaji. Still Ranma was actually relieved. His father wasn't acting any differently now than he would if Ranma was around.

"You mean our son is stuck with that body for the rest of his life?" His mother asked aghast. "That is most distressing. Especially given the fact that you vowed to make him a man among men. How can he fulfill his end of the agreement when he is stuck with that female form for the rest of his life? I warn you, one more step out of place from either of you, and I will not hesitate to enforce that pact."

Nodoka's voice had become colder while Ranma watched as her face had frozen at the news that his cure couldn't have worked. "Tomorrow we will discuss how best to educate our son in order to meet the honor obligations upon him, and to ward off any influence his female form has on them."

Ranma really wanted to blame that idea for the way his mother was acting, but she was so obsessed about manliness, and when he was in female form 'girliness', that he couldn't really say that was the case. She's just like all the others he thought to himself, using honor against me, not carin' about me as a person! Well, well screw her too! Gripped by sudden anger Ranma turned away, leaping out into the distance.