Before Ranma met Nodoka, but he knows of the Seppuku Promise:

Ranma had an extremly hard day and after finally fighting back he disappears leaving three confused fiancees nursing light singed spots as Ranma had blasted them with a mild chi blast.

Ranma leaves Nermia all together to get time to think and get away from Nabiki's spys, his rivals, and fiancees. He travels to tne next district which is Juuban and finds the park. He takes a seat on a bench near the lake and pulls his legs up under his chin. He then finds that he was somehow splashed and is now a girl. She sighs sadly and rests her chin on top of her knees staring out at the lake.

When it starts to get dark Ranma-chan is still sitting on the bench not caring. When someone sits next to her. A soft voice over flowing with concern, asks what is wrong, and surprisingly Ranma tells the woman everything. She never looks at the woman knowing all the shock, awe and disbelief that would be there, but it just helped to tell someone.

Ranma finishes her life story with the fact she has no one she can turn to for help even her mother is beyond her grasp. The woman asks why, Ranma-chan missing the shock and saddness in her voice. Ranma-chan tells her of how her father tricked her into putting her hand print at age six on a seppuku contract and because of the curse she is not a 'man among men'. Ranma-chan gets up slowly she turns to the woman and bows deeply to her appoligizing for dumping her promblems in her lap. The woman smiles and stands next to the petite girl then dumps the rest of a hot cup of tea over Ranma's head causing the transformation.

He thanks her and turns to leave only to be stopped by the woman's hand upon his shoulder. He turns and she smiles at him, a smile that tugs at his memory, sending a stab of loss through his heart, a faded dream that lives buried deep inside him.

"Come home with me son, we have much more to talk about, the most important is that there was NO seppuku promise."

Nodoka tells her son as she holds a surprised Ranma in a tight embrace. Nodoka carrying her ever present bundle leads her son to his rightful home and together they begin to discuss a way out of what Genma has done. Nodoka's first order of business is she disavows all engagements and all debt promises Genma made using Ranma's name. They talk into the night and decide many things one of which Ranma decides he does not want to marry any of his fiancees at this time. The other is that he and his mother decide they need a training trip just the two of them and make plans to leave.