The people of Nerima stared momentarily at a strange sight in their quiet little district before hurrying along in their tasks. Coincidentally they all were hurrying away from the giant panda and the unresisting small figure on it's back.
The grunting panda ignored the foolish pedestrians with practiced ease as it lumbered down the road. Stopping for a moment, it grunted as it read the sign on the wall. Tendou Dojo: Challengers please use rear entrance to challenge owner to savage unrestricted combat.
Raising up slightly, it pushed the gate open with one large paw, and lumbered it's way down the walkway. Reaching the entranceway it stood on hind legs and pulled at the fur over it's breast bone self-consciously before pounding one paw against the door frame.
Inside the house, four people suddenly stopped their argumentative discussion to stare at the door momentarily in wonder. Soun and Nabiki Tendou were the first two to react, rushing to the door in excitement. What they saw at the doorway made them step back in shock, allowing Kasumi and Akane to catch up and stand behind them and see as well.
In front of his girls, their father managed to take control of the situation, stuttering out, "Ah, you wouldn't happen to be Ranma Saotome?"
The black haired boy flipped down form the panda's shoulder to stand before the assembled Tendou family. His black hair was cut with thick unruly bangs and a short ponytail. His clothing was odd, a light summer clothes cut with a white short sleeved shirt trimmed at the bottom with blue waves. A black clothe belt held cinched the shirt in at the waist, followed by the dark blue shorts trimmed at the bottom with white waves. Sandals and a boyish grin completely the relaxed outfit as the youth cheerfully answered. "Yep, The one and only!"
The eldest daughter in the dress put her hand politely to her mouth to hide her shock, as she tried hide her shock lest she offend. "He's so...so young."
Nabiki got over her shock a lot better and slipping into sarcastic amusement, as it was obvious this boy obviously wasn't as her dear father had been expecting. "Well, he is cute."
The youngest sister who was still wearing her practice gi stuttered in indignation. Finally getting a grip she jabbed an almost hysterically angry finger at the black haired boy. "but..but.."
"He can't be more than eight years old!"
At the sight of the not confused looking little boy, Soun Tendou gave up the brave act before his girls as he fainted dead away.
The little boy that was eye level with Akane's stomach and looking very adorable in his beach themed clothes cast a curious look first at the fainted man then to the girls. "Uh, were you expecting me?"
The middle daughter gave the little boy a smirk, replying with mildly sarcastic humor. "Well, we were expecting a fiancé. I can't believe daddy would pull something like this."
The little boy's eyes narrowed for a second, before he turned to the panda behind him. After a moment of glaring, he pulled a gourd from out of his shirt and tossed it to the panda. Surprisingly the beast caught it with its paws and lumbered away form the doorway. The boy turned back to the girls full of cheerfulness again, "What's this about an engagement now?"
Once again four were seated around the Tendou sitting room table to talk. This time it was the three Tendou sisters and the young Saotome boy. The Tendou patriarch was off to the side on a futon near Kasumi so she could look over him, but she was at the table so she could look after little Ranma too.
Ranma looked dubiously at the mug of steaming brown liquid he was holding with both hands. "Hot chocolate?"
Surprised that he didn't know what hot chocolate was, Akane had to wonder what kind of life this kid had to miss out on something like that. All of her anger over the engagement had rapidly vanished after finding out he was only a little kid. Instead, her burgeoning motherly instincts had come to fruition. "You don't know what hot chocolate is?"
The kid gave a little shrug while peering into his mug. "Well I did grow up on the road, so I've missed out on a lot of things, like having a mother." The drink did smell good, so he took a sip of it. The flavor was a bit surprising to him as chocolate was a rarity in his life. The girls giggled at the way his eyes lit up, even Nabiki for a moment.
Nabiki's amusement ceased quickly however, as Ranma's behavior seemed to off to her. He sounded like he was long past the stage where a kid missed his mother and had accepted it as a fact of life. He was also sounding to mature and worried at the moment for a kid. The only kids that acted like that were the ones that had to take care of themselves. Added together, this meant the kid was with some adult that was irresponsible enough to send him here with his pet panda and take him away from his mother. That was assuming of course this kid had anybody looking out for him. "What about your father?"
The little boy took another sip of his cocoa and relaxed some. "Pops only cares about training and feeding his stomach. His training ideas are pretty stupid though." The boy gave another dismissive shrug. "He hasn't been able to teach me anything new in a long time, so there is really nothing between us. My friend Link was an orphan, and the tribe that adopted him adopted me too, so we're like brothers. He's pretty much my only real family."
The girls subtly scooted closer to Ranma. Kasumi, already being beside him, put a comforting arm around the boy. "What happened to your friend?"
Ranma blinked and looked up, noticing he seemed to be wedged between Kasumi and Akane now, with Nabiki smiling at him from across the table. "He's fine, I just had to leave."
Each of the three girls had different reactions to his sad state. Kasumi was worried about his welfare, and if he was eating enough. She was also curious if he really liked her cocoa. Akane was more concerned with his feelings, wondering how bad his life might be. Nabiki was figuring how much a round of ice cream would cost.
At that point, a portly man who had been watching from the backyard through the open doors stepped onto the veranda. Grinning widely the man wearing the cheap glasses and dirty white gi exclaimed proudly, "Ah Ranma boy, putting the Saotome charm to work, eh? Getting to know your fiancée already?"
The girls were a bit surprised by this man stepping into their home like that, and the faint frown Ranma was casting at the man made them instantly wary of him. Little Ranma was the first to speak up though, before an angry Akane or a wary Nabiki could. "Just what are you up to old man? What are you talking about, a fiancée?"
The sneaky looking man pushed his glasses up on his nose, trying to look dignified and failing miserably. "Simple boy, Tendou and I promised our kids would get married and unite the schools. It's an arranged marriage. So which one did you pick boy?"
Ranma looked slightly confused, but seemed to realize something. "Oh, like with Princess Ruto."
That innocent remark took the wind out of Genma's sails as the word 'Princess' percolated in his brain. "Princess Ruto boy? What are you talking about?"
Ranma seemed to realize what he said and changed his mood by putting on a cheery air and dismissing it. "Oh, no one you would know about."
Genma grunted at his boy and made a note to find out what the boy was hiding. Getting up, he made his way over to the middle aged man in the black gi laying on the futon. "Soun, what are you doing laying down on this joyous day?" Impatient, Genma grabbed the other man by the lapel of his gi and slapped his face a few times. "Wake up Tendou ."
[Ranma gets the girls away from the adults and sees if he can do a quest to get it cancelled like with Ruto. Nabiki asks for a pearl, while Akane and Kasumi would rather have the adventure. Nabiki gets the pearl.]