[ ] Inquisitive
-[ ] This girl better be pretty awesome to be good enough for Ranma.
"So what's Akane like?" you ask. Tendo-san and Kasumi-san are both pretty nice, and of course Uncle Genma wouldn't marry Ranma off to just any random girl, right? So there's a chance this Akane might be a girl good enough for Ranma, but you'll
definitely need to make sure.
After all, it's what Mom did for everyone in her family that started dating anybody, and it seemed to work for her.
"Oh, she's a very lovely young girl," Kasumi-san says. "She can be a little hotheaded and stubborn at times, but her heart's always in the right place. She has a lot of friends at school. Admirers, too, in fact. She has to beat them off with a stick! When she's not using a wooden sword. Or a staff. Or her bare hands…"
"Hmm, I see," you say sagely, scribbling down some notes in a notepad (where did you get this again…?). That actually reminds you a lot of your old school, although for some reason boys stopped challenging you to fights once Ranma and Ryoga were your brothers for some reason… "So she's good at martial arts?" you ask.
"Mm-hmm. Father taught all three of us, but Akane's the only one who really took to it; Nabiki and I haven't really stayed in practice much," Kasumi-san says. "Although… she'd been falling into a rut lately, since there weren't really many people around here who could give her a good spar, I think. Ranma being around seems to have helped a lot, though."
"So they get along?"
"Well…"
"There are… *ahem* a few tensions between the two," Tendo-san says with an awkward cough. "It's probably my and Gendo's fault, really; we sort of sprung the engagement on them out of the blue…"
"Oh, they'll get over it eventually," Uncle Gendo says, waving a hand dismissively. "Nodoka and I were like that when we first met, too. Both had a lot of preconceived ideas about each other we needed to sort out. Either they'll learn to appreciate each other as the people they are and get along or…"
"Or?" Tendo-san asks.
"Or they'll be like me and Ranma will go on a training journey with the kid for a decade and only have to deal with sending Akane regular phone calls and letters and occasionally sending the kid back home to spend a couple months with her," Gendo-san concludes with a nod.
The three of you stare at him in silence. "What? Was it something I said?" he asks self-consciously.
"… Yes," the three of you reply simultaneously. Your eyes are wide with horror.
Is that Ranma's future!?
"Um… It's really nothing like… well…
that," Kasumi-san tries to assure you. "They're just both rather awkward around each other. They get along very well when they aren't thinking about it."
You aren't really reassured.
You're saved from having to pretend otherwise, however, as you hear the door opening.
"We're home!" an unfamiliar voice announces. Trying to contain your excitement, you try to pick out any sound that will tell you for certain that Ranma's here.
You don't hear any until three people – two girls and a boy – step into the dining room.
"Ranma!" you shout, launching yourself forward in a flying tackle-hug that knocks Ranma clear off his feet.
"Ryuko!?" Ranma shouts in surprise that quickly turns into happiness. "No way!? What are you doing here!?" Pulling himself into a seated position, he quickly returns your hug, a huge grin on his face that matches yours.
"Looking for you! And Ryoga, but one thing at a time, right?" you reply.
"Wow, Akane. Some girl just comes out of nowhere and tackle-hugs your man in your own home. You gonna take that?" a bored-sounding girl asks.
"Nabiki, shut up," the second girl snaps. She stands over both of you, with her hands on her hips. "Ranma, just what the heck is going on?" she demands, her voice a little bit threatening.
"… I swear this isn't like with Shanpu," Ranma says defensively.
"Who?" you ask.
"Oh man, I don't even want to talk about it," Ranma says glumly.
---
"Okay, so she's not another crazy Amazon who is chasing after you obsessively because she wants to kill and/or marry you and who's going to try to kill me for being an obstacle," Akane Tendo summarizes after you explain everything to her. "She's just your and Ryoga's 'sworn brother' even though she's a girl."
"Yep. 'Sworn brothers and sister' just didn't have the right ring to it," you explain helpfully.
"You know what? I don't even have it in me to be surprised anymore," she says, throwing her hands up. "Might as well just go with it. Nice to meet you, Ryuko-chan; I'm Akane Tendo. Ranma and Ryoga-kun kind of mentioned you, but they didn't use your name so I thought you'd be a boy."
"Hi Akane-chan. I had no idea you even existed until I came here," you reply brightly, shaking her hand. For some reason, her expression darkens a little when you say that and everyone around you flinches.
So the mysterious Akane Tendo is at last before you. She seems a little angry and short with Ranma, but the little hints about the stuff she and Ranma have been dealing with mean it might be entirely justifiable, even if it's probably not really Ranma's fault. So how are you going to find out if she's worthy of marrying one of your brothers?
[ ] Talk to her, hang out, get to know her
You know, that kind of thing.
[ ] Challenge her to a spar
Not that you won't do that first thing, but if she's going to marry Ranma, she's got to know how to hold her own in a fight. Besides, Dad always says that martial artists learn about each other through combat. This is probably… pretty close to what he was talking about, isn't it?
[ ] Save it for later, you've got your brother back!
You need to talk about what's happened while he's been gone. You know, tell him about how you went to China looking for him and stuff.
[ ] No, wait, forget that for a minute
Ryoga's here, too!? That changes
everything! You and Ranma need to go find him now! If you pass this up, he'll probably get lost in Hokkaido or something! Who knows when you'll get the chance again!?
