Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Custody Battle ❯ Guess who's coming to Nerima ( Chapter 1 )

Custody Battle
Written By
Mari and Thespian Soldier

Disclaimer: All the Ranma characters are the © properties of Rumiko Takahashi. The Randelsons are the © properties of Mari and Skyler.

The Bold Font is written by Skyler (Thespian Soldier)
The Normal Font is written by Mari

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Chapter 1

It was a quiet nighttime in the city of Nerima, which is surprising considering its lively residents. All the citizens are already asleep, except for a certain pig-tailed martial artist, who is actually quietly reading a certain letter that he received earlier that day. With no interruptions or distraction he reads his letter in a closet where he cannot be bothered. As he reads, he thinks more and more of the people who wrote to him.
Ranma ran a hand through his unusually messy black hair and allowed himself a sigh. This wasn't going to be pretty if they really did come to visit. The martial artist sat back on his heels and stared off into space in thought for a moment. Next week wasn't that far away. Ranma flipped the letter over in his hands to gaze at the picture taped to the back. Her brown eyes reflected patience and kindness even through the picture. "Aunt Ginako… Do you really want me to go?" He couldn't help but hope she would. He sighed again and stuffed the letter into the old shoebox with so many of the other letters like it before silently slipping from the closet and to his own bed.

* * *

"Ranma!"

With a start the pigtailed boy rolled to the side before a bucket of cold water could come splashing down on him. "Kuno, what the hell are you doing here at this hour? And on a Saturday!" He demanded of the egotistical kendo club captain.

"Thou darest ask such a question of me Saotome! You have bruised the fragile feelings of Akane Tendo once to many!" The poetry spouting brunette lashed out at Ranma with his wooden kendo sword, only to have his blow dodged. He soon found himself on the floor with a very smug looking Ranma sitting Indian style on his chest.

"Now, Kuno… What's with the bucket of water there buddy?" Ranma motioned to the now empty bucket lying a few paces away.

"Quoteth Nabiki Tendo, 'to really get Ranma you must pour cold water on him while he's sleeping.'" Kuno closed his eyes and tilted his chin up in an all knowing manner. Ranma rolled his eyes. It was amazing this dufus could hold even the slightest air of dignity when in his position, but he guessed that having such a swelled head did that to a person.

"She did, did she? Well, we shall be having a talk very soon." With that Ranma deposited his feet on the floor and took off to find said Tendo girl.

Kuno lay on the floor for a moment before jumping to his feet and exiting the Tendo Dojo. Ranma's destruction could wait till Monday. The blue eyed man's thoughts wandered randomly as he made his way home.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Earth, during the late afternoon, in the city of Los Angeles, California, a certain family was making some additional arrangements for a little trip that they were going to take. "And does the package includes reservations to any hotel of our choice?" Asked the woman on the phone. She was about 39 years old with mid back length black hair and brown eyes. This is Ranma's aunt Ginako. Gina to her American family. "And what about access to all the places that we want to visit?" She asked again. "That's all we need to know. Thank you." She hung up the phone and turned around to face the man that was in the room with her.

"So it's all settled then?" The man asked as Gina walked up and wrapped her arms around him.

"Yes everything is all set." She answered and gave him a small kiss on the lips.

The man was 42 years old and had short blonde hair and green eyes. He was also very well built and muscular. This man's name is Nick Randelson. He is Gina's husband. "Excellent, pretty soon we'll all be one big happy family." Nick encouraged his beautiful and devoted wife for 20 years.

"I certainly hope so." Said Gina with some concern. "It's been a long time since I left Nerima and this is the first time that we will meet our nephew. We only know each others by the letters we've been writing."

Nick held Gina closer to him and she placed her head over his heart. "Now don't you worry about anything." He reassured her. "We both wanted to do this since he first wrote to us when he was about five years old."

Gina looked up into his beautiful green eyes. "I know, it just that I want him to come with us on his own free will. Not like that idiot that I am ashamed to call my brother who never let him make a choice in his life." She told her loyal husband with some venom.

"Relax, Gina." He coaxed her while stroking her hair. "Remember how your family used to treat you?" He asked. "If Genma is anything like them then Ranma will definitely want to live with us." He gave her a reassuring kiss on the lips. Then they heard an energetic female voice calling to them.

"Mom! Daddy! Like, have you seen my neon green mini skirt?" A girl around 16 years old entered the room where Gina and Nick were. She had medium length blonde hair with pink bangs and her eyes were the same color as Nick's. This was their daughter, Nicki Randelson.

"I'm sorry Nicki sweetheart, but I'm afraid that you'll have to wear appropriate clothes on this trip." Gina told Nicki with a soft but firm tone in her voice.

"But Mom, like what if I meet a really cute guy on this trip?" Nicki gave a cute pout.

"Now Nicki, this is more than just a vacation." Nick reminded their teenage daughter. "We're going there to try and adopt your cousin Ranma."

"I know." She replied with a sigh. "It just that I want to make a good impression when we go."

"Now Nicki, you don't need to worry about things like that." Gina told her.

"But I do Mom! Appearance is everything these days! What if we go there and they, like, don't wanna hang out with me 'cause I'm not wearing the latest fashion!" She batted her eyelashes at her parent for emphases.

They both chuckled lightly at her antics. "Please dear, just be reasonable. We're not going to be away from home for very long and we would really appreciate it if you would just wear what your mother picked out." Nick said smiling at her lightly.

Nicki pouted for a total of .2 seconds before nodding her head and bounding up the stairs again.

Gina looked at her husband and shrugged her shoulders before moving toward the kitchen. "We're leaving tomorrow so you had better make sure everything is packed." As and after thought she added, "dinner will be ready in an hour."

After climbing the stairs, Nicki decided to stop by to her brother's room to make sure that he had everything prepared for their trip. She knocked on the door.

"Enter." Said a male voice and Nicki opened the door. Inside was a boy exactly Nicki's age. He had spiky black hair with a red headband, blue eyes, and his clothing was a choice of a Hawaiian shirt, green shorts and he had no shoes or socks. His name was Jackie Randelson. He is Nicki's twin brother. "Yo Sis! Whazzup!" He greeted.

"Like that is so 1999." Nicki responded.

"Hey Nicki, it's still a happening phrase." Jackie replied.

"Yeah, yeah. Have you finished packing for our trip to Japan tomorrow?" She asked.

"Relax, Sis. I got everything ready." He reassured her as he pointed to the one piece of luggage.

"That's all you're bringing?" Nicki questioned, not believing that her twin brother was only bringing one suitcase.

"Hey, it's only the basic niceties that I need, right?" He answered.

"Like thank goodness we've saved enough money for souvenirs and stuff." Nicki returned with a sigh.

Then Jackie picked this time to ask Nicki a question. "Hey Sis, do you think he might like living with us?"

"Well, with all that craziness, like, he's been living in, he'll be begging us to take him home with us." Nicki answered him in her usual manner.

"Yeah, but how will the people around here act about, you know, his condition?" Jackie asked her again.

"Jackie, we live in L.A." Nicki informed her not-so-clueless twin brother. "His 'condition' would be considered a normal lifestyle around here."

"Oh yeah." Jackie responded finally getting the picture. "Man, this trip is going to be awesome!"

"Yeah, and I can't wait teach everyone there a lesson." Said Nicki with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Especially that bitch, Akane Tendo."

"Now hey, Sis, remember that kind of behavior almost got you suspended from school." Jackie reminded his revenge hungry twin sister.

"Hey, you got two weeks suspension when you beat up that guy for cheating on his girlfriend." Nicki debated.

"But it was worth it." Jackie concluded with a big smile.

Just then there is another knock on the door. "Enter." Jackie addressed.

The door opened and there stood an adorable eight-year old boy with short blonde hair and small black eyes. (No he didn't get into a fight. That's his real eye color). Meet the youngest member of the Randelson family, Randy. "Hi, whatcha doing?" Randy asked innocently.

"Hey Randy, like, we're just talking about the trip we're taking." Nicki answered first.

"Yeah little Bro, It's going to be a real blast." Added Jackie while playfully mussing up Randy's hair.

Randy just gave out a little laugh. "So what's Japan really like? I've never been in another country before." He was very curious about it.

"Well…neither have we. But it's where Mom was born and lived." Nicki replied as best she could.

"And there are big mountains and oceans and lots of country fields." Jackie joined in.

"And Japan is where all of the cool anime and video games come from, like DragonBall Z and Sonic the Hedgehog." Nicki backed up with her twin brother.

"Not to mention all of the coolest electronics in the world." Jackie concluded.

"Oh wow this Japan place sounds like fun." Said Randy with a wide smile.

"You got that right Randy." Said Nicki.

"Kids, it's time for dinner." Gina called from downstairs.

"Coming, Mom!" The kids returned the call and left the room.

~*~

Captain's Log: Star Date 2003: What will happen when the Randelson go to Japan? How will the residents of Nerima react when they find that Ranma has family in America? Be sure to wait for our next chapter of Custody Battle.
E-mail Skyler at:
ThespianSoldier@aol.com
E-mail Mari at:
maricc@lstx.net