Disclaimer: I own nothing of Ranma ½. That is all.
Hello peoples and welcome to my story Girls Are Different Than Boys! If you have read this once, you'll notice that I've re-written it! Simply speaking, I was a novice when it came to writing. Not that I didn't have talent, just that I wasn't necessarily the greatest at writing a good story. However, I have improved, and I plan to make this story one to remember! After all, it's been on here for the last three years just festering. Albeit there are a few select fans waiting for a new chapter to come out, but they get even more; they get a new and improved story! Haha anyway please enjoy the fic! Don't forget to leave a kind review!
Intro
Clouds hung low over the horizon, blocking the sun's rays on this particular morning. The shadow of the clouds shrouded the surrounding valley; it was as if they were a bad omen casting its warning over those caught within the ominous dark blanket. Two men, master and disciple, made their through the Qinghai province of the Bayankala Range on Mt. Quanjing. They quested to make themselves the strongest martial artists on the face of the earth. They struggled through immense challenges that any normal man would fail to finish. They traveled hundreds of miles on foot, traversing the most dangerous lands known in Japan and China. They now fought to make their way to a legendary training ground listed in the master's training manual.
This particular manual itself was dusty and worn, and looked rather off hand. This was not trivial; the training manual had brought about terrible horrors upon the disciple, and wrought havoc upon his physical and psychological health. Though with these mishaps, there came wisdom and knowledge; Knowledge of what could happen, and wisdom to avoid the situation should they invoke it. They had not however learned the most important lesson of all; using this cursed training manual was a death sentence to anyone who was foolish enough to complete its training regimen. Despite the dangers entailed, and the warnings contained, the men drudged on bound and determined to become the best of the best; men among men.
As master and disciple, they would make it to this training ground in the mountains come hell or high water; after all, they would improve even more by staying and training there, and since they had hot springs they would never have to worry about staying clean or feeling refreshed after every spar. They walked along a nearly nonexistent path; swiftly but carefully they maneuvered the foot trail that threatened to collapse under their every step. They continued down this path for an hour or longer before they finally crested a hill they had seen in the distance. Once at the top of the hill, they could get a clear view of the valley upon which they had been walking along. For miles it seemed like there was nothing but dense forest; then, at the end of the valley, a small clearing seemed to split the landscape. In this forest navel, they could barely make out hundreds of small pools. For a moment, it seemed trivial; they were looking for a training ground with a few springs, not hundreds. Then it hit them. With no springs for miles, this had to be it. Not wanting to tempt fate, they went to the site of many pools to investigate.
After an hour of climbing and falling, they arrived at the foot of the cliff they needed to scale in order to get to their destination. The path seemed very well kept, and they could smell a sweet scent in the air; it smelled like fragrant fruit. From lemons to oranges to apples, it just seemed to get sweeter and sweeter with every step they took. Soon they began to see all sorts of fruit trees growing along the path. The two men jumped at the chance to eat the fresh fruit, swiping one of every kind they could find. The disciple found that the most appealing at the time were apples, pears, and bananas. He also couldn't get the image of a particularly ornate hourglass that he had come across during their travels. An eerie feeling swept over the boy as he couldn't help but think this was all connected. However he brushed the chip off his shoulder and carried on.
Slowly but surely ever step brought them closer to their destination. The path seemed to flatten out from their original downhill descent, and it also began to widen. Soon the vegetation began to all but disappear, leaving nothing but a slowly widening dirt path. As they reached the edge of the grounds, they found a thin veil of bamboo trees that blocked their path. Without hesitation, they blew through the foliage to reveal what they had been searching for; the cursed grounds of Jusenkyo.
The sight was one to behold; hundreds of pools, all of them in different shapes and sizes. Looking across the springs, the saw various signs located next to each one. Not long after their arrival, they were received by a stout middle aged man wearing a General Mao uniform. At first he spoke Chinese, but realized that the two men in front of him were not native. He then tried Japanese, which seemed to work,
"Hello sir, is legendary "Training ground of accursed springs"."
Ignoring the portly tour guide, the master and his disciple leaped upon the many bamboo shoots sprouting from each of the springs. After a stare of, and a short protest by the Jusenkyo Guide, they began their sparring match. The fight only lasted for five minutes, with very little action. Stopping for a moment to size each other up once more, they continued in a second round. It was here that both teacher and student would never forget for the rest of their life. The disciple had found an opening in his master's stance, and ax kicked him into one of the pools. Landing on one of the bamboo shoots, he looked around carefully for his master. When he saw bubbles violently erupting from one of the pools, he taunted his teacher. Suddenly, a large silhouette began to ascend from the depths of the pool. It was too large of a creature to be the master. Then, out of the water came not the master, but a giant panda. This badly startled the young student, causing him to falter in his stance. Taking his opportunity, the panda knocked the boy into another spring.
The boy was paralyzed with shock; had a panda really just attacked him in mid air? What about his master? He was in the same pool as the panda not two moments before that same panda emerged in his place. What happened? As the questions wracked his brain, he began to feel a tingling sensation throughout his body. It was an intense feeling. The tingling seemed to envelop him, particularly around his chest and between his legs. Something seemed wrong; he seemed to be transforming into something. What it was, he didn't know. All he knew for sure was that he needed to get out of this pool before he could drown. Struggling violently to find his bearings, he finally oriented himself so that he would emerge from the pool. Upon breaking the surface, he felt… odd. The first thing he noticed was that something was floating in his shirt, and it seemed to be attached to his chest. Not long after that he noticed an absent feeling between his legs. He also felt smaller. Then he heard a gasp. It was the Jusenkyo guide, who obviously saw something wrong with him. Then, without warning, he heard the guide begin to speak,
"Oh not "Spring of drown girl"!"
Then it hit him; the thing attached to his chest was not a singular thing; it was two things. It also explained the absence of something in his crotch. He had become a girl.
Chapter 1: Getting used to the changes…
The clouds were black; the rain was threatening to pour out of the clouds, flooding the surrounding land. The first rains had began to fall, and through an alleyway came a strange sight. First, a red headed girl in Chinese clothing running down the street with a backpack twice her size. The second was a panda bear bigger than the girl and her backpack combined. It was chasing the redhead through Nerima. The girl kept running, when suddenly she was faced with a wall. She stopped abruptly in the middle of a road, and faced directly towards the panda. Then, with a look of disgust, she spit at the bear and yelled,
"Well, I think the whole thing sucks!" The bear halted just before the girl, and stared into her deep blue eyes. Her eyes burned with rage. She then took her backpack and slammed it over the panda's head. She then went on,
"How could you take us all the way to China, when you don't even speak a word of Chinese?" When silence ensued, she continued ranting,
"I mean, it was great and all, but after Jusenkyo, I should have killed you! I, Ranma Saotome, swear on behalf of my manhood and my honor, that I will return to China to turn back into a man! So, suck on that old man!"
Ranma began to waltz away from the panda. However the bear revived itself, ripped up a street sign, and clocked Ranma over the head. When the girl crumpled into a heap on the ground, the panda picked up the backpack and the girl, and stood where it was to think. The scene attracted a bit of attention. When the chattering began to grow, the panda couldn't think. So, it turned to each side of the street, and roared at all the pedestrians. It seemed to shut them up. Taking the chance, the panda decided on a rout to get to their goal, and began walking.
Genma and Ranma Saotome, father and son, had recently been in China on a training trip. During the beginning of their travels, they came across a training ground called Jusenkyo. It was here that they were Genma turned into a panda, and Ranma a girl. To Genma, having a panda for an alter ego was great. As for Ranma, becoming a girl was worse than castration. It was the ultimate insult. He was a man dammit, not a woman! Not long after their visit to the cursed training ground, they were met with one misfortune after another. The first of their mishaps was in the Amazonian village of Juketsuzoku, where they were met with an Amazon tribe.
Upon entering the village, Ranma and his father began to feast upon some food left in the middle of the road. This was a mistake, as they were confronted with the new village champion. Rama faced off with this particular village champion, Xian Pu, also called Shampoo. As a girl, Ranma fought and defeated her opponent fair and square. Shampoo however was devastated. So, as was the custom of the tribe, Ranma was given the kiss of death. The kiss of death was given to any outsider who defeated one of the tribeswomen. As a result, Ranma and his father had to run and hide from the girl for the rest of their trip.
Another mishap along their way happened to be at a ramen shop. In this particular ramen shop, Ranma found out one of their secret recipes; the dragon whisker ramen. Unfortunately for Ranma, he had been a girl when he ate the ramen, so nothing happened after eating the warm bowl of noodles. The next time she changed to a boy, he found that his hair grew uncontrollably. In order to seal the effect of the dragon whisker in his system, he was to tie his hair with another dragon whisker. Yet another cumbersome issue.
These, as well as many other issues presented themselves along their trip. Luckily however none of the others seemed to follow Ranma from China. The ones he already had were enough. They were back in Japan once more, able to escape the chaos that seemed to sneak up on them every moment of their trip in China. The air was cleaner, the sky clearer, although in this case it was a cluster of angry clouds, and as far as Ranma and his Father were concerned, they were glad to be home. Although Japan was home, they had no actual home to return to.
When Genma and Ranma's training trip began, Genma took Ranma away from his home, and they were not to return till they were 'men among men'. This, of course, was child's play. Ranma was manlier than any one man could ever be. However there was one problem; he now changed into a girl when splashed with cold water. Hence his manliness was jeopardized by this curse. As a result of this complication, Ranma and Genma could no longer return to their original home with Genma's wife and Ranma's mother, Nodoka. Otherwise they would be required to commit seppuku. Neither one of the Saotome men were ready to end their lives yet, so they needed a different place to stay. However Genma's solution was Ranma's anti-solution. They were headed for Genma's old friend Soun Tendo's dojo. However it wasn't just to stay there… it was so Ranma could be married off to one of the Tendo girls, and at the rate they were going, it would be done by tonight. Ranma of course didn't want anything to do with marriage. The only thing on his mind was to reverse this curse, and that meant going back to China. Of course, with the way his father had just knocked him the fuck out, there wasn't really a choice. So off they went, to Genma's pleasure and Ranma's ignorant displeasure, they were going to the Tendo Dojo, and that was that.
Upon looking out the window, the clouds seemed to grow blacker with every minute that passed. The first rains had begun to fall that day, and it seemed that they would only worsen. The sounds of thunder rumbled the household, as flashes of lightning lit up the walls. Suddenly, as if on command, the rain worsened in seconds, eventually turning into a torrential monsoon. The roar of the falling drops was deafening; the sky was shrouded in mist as the precipitation was so heavy. For five long minutes the land was flooded by the forces of nature, before it finally subsided and the clouds turned grey. Within moments of the rain slowing, it stopped. During the whole time this was happening, Soun Tendo sat drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. After all the noise had stopped, he was not expecting a knock at his door,
"What the devil? I wonder who could be here after that kind of storm." He waltzed slowly to the door, holding his morning coffee in one hand and the paper under his arm. Upon opening the door, he walked over to the gates to the courtyard and opened them to find the postman. Greeting a familiar face, he said,
"Hello my friend! How's the route this morning?"
"It's just like usual. Although I was attacked by a mean little bulldog… see, here's the scratches," the mailman lifted his pant leg and showed Soun his injuries,
"Oh my, that's horrible! Well, you'd better see Dr. Tofu a little later to make sure those scratches aren't infected."
"That's probably a good idea. I'll do that later on Mr. Tendo! By the way, do you know anyone from China?" This question caught Soun off guard for a moment. After raking through his memories to see if he remembered anyone from China, he found nothing and replied,
"Hmm? Oh no, I doubt it. The last I heard of anyone going to China it was a good friend of mine who had gone there. I doubt he would still be there now."
"It's a postcard from a… I can't read the name."
"Well whoever it is I'm sure they had a good enough reason to send me a postcard."
"Well okay Mr. Tendo, you have a great day, I've got to get back to the route before I'm behind schedule!"
"Indeed! Alright, you have a wonderful day!" With that Soun proceeded inside a little more energetic now that he heard he'd received a postcard from China. Albeit he couldn't think of any business or people from China. None the less he continued on his way back to the dining room, where he sat down and sorted through his mail. The first letter was a bill. Then another bill, another bill, some coupon books, more bills, a letter from a sibling, more bills, and finally he was on the postcard. Upon glancing at it, he saw it had a picture of a panda bear eating bamboo off of a bamboo tree that it had climbed upon. Right on the other side it had a picture of a city skyline and next to it was scribbled in horrible Japanese,
Bringing Ranma home from China. -Genma
Upon reading those words, he paused for a second; was this for real? Was this really from Genma? After processing it in his mind, he knew it had to be real. Since when did he ever get anything from Saotome if it wasn't important? This was it; the schools were going to be reunited at last, after all these years of waiting. One of his daughters would marry Genma's only son, and they would continue the family line together, and combine the honor and grandeur of the schools! He could see it now; Tendo & Saotome Combine School of Indiscriminate Grappling and Anything Goes Martial Arts. It would be perfect! Though they'd need to find a better name, but for now the image in his head was solid, and his dreams would come true! With tears streaming down his cheeks in passion, quietly whispered to himself,
"Finally the day has come!"
Somewhere upon the outskirts of Nerima Tokyo, Genma carried Ranma and her backpack upon each shoulder. He wasn't exactly sure where to go to find the Tendo dojo, but figured he would find it eventually. As for Ranma, she was slowly coming to. When she finally had an idea of what was going on, she immediately retaliated against the giant panda. It did her no good, as her struggling hardly fazed the furry beast. After five minutes of thrashing, she figured it was hopeless and she simply relaxed. Hey, at least she didn't have to walk, right?
Ranma remembered how odd it was when she first became a girl; it was odd. Upon first walking, she found that the absence between her legs was even more pronounced. It truly bothered her, even now. To add to the empty sensation downstairs, she couldn't handle her newfound breasts. They were far too large for her little frame. They bounced constantly whenever she moved even a little bit, which hurt more than they should have since they were so big. Also with every fight they were easy targets; all her opponent had to do was reach over and give her a mad tittie twister and she'd be down for the count. She never had a need to protect her chest before, and now that she had to it was even more burdening. Aside from her big boobs, her arms and legs were another problem.
Walking without a snake in her pants was hard enough, but when you add having short arms and legs to the equation you get hell. Half the time Ranma needed to run in order to catch up to her father. Not only did she have trouble keeping up on foot, she couldn't keep up in combat either. She was so used to her longer limbs that every time she threw a normal punch or kick, she would always come short. It was a terrible flaw, and one that Ranma was embarrassed of. All in all, being a girl was just a nuisance. Big tits, short arms and legs, and no penis was utterly a man's hell. Or one would think, since being a man was hardly worth giving away to become a woman. Ranma knew that there were freaks everywhere that would love to be in her situation with her condition, something that made her sick to her stomach. She didn't need to be associated with freaks. She wasn't a pervert!
Slowly but surely they made their way across Nerima. The weather had also taken a nosedive as the rain turned into a downpour, and a downpour to a monsoon. The wind whipped rain into Ranma and her father's faces, making Ranma bitterly cold. Then lightning struck, and sent thunder roaring over the landscape, creating an ominous scene before the Saotomes. Ranma herself was terrified of lightning, but was fond of thunder. Something about the low rumble of thunder soothed her. As for Genma, he was unfazed by either as he had been through storm after storm back in his younger days. They pounded their way through the typhoon, forging onward to the goal. Dark street after dark street they went, the visibility heavily limited. After an hour of travel, the storm finally left them. To their horror, they had been going in circles. An hour of busting through the storm, and all the progress they had made was back to step one. It was obvious that the weather had won. Though this was only the battle, the war had yet to be decided. They continued their journey for another hour, along the way having a short conversation,
"Hey pops, why the hell are we back in Nerima anyway? Are we here to see mom?"
-God no, what makes you think I would go back there?—
"No reason, just thought I would ask."
-You know damn well where we're headed!—
"I know, I just love scaring you, especially when you get pissed afterward." Ranma snickered at the panda's sour face. Genma held up another sign,
-So, you ready to be married yet son?— it was Ranma's turn to be sour, as she looked at the panda with a deadly glare,
"You're really asking me that? Of course not! I've got more important things to do, and so do you! Wouldn't you like to be a whole human again?"
-What do you mean, I love being a panda!—
"Yeah, well I don't like being half girl, and I'm tellin' ya pops, I'm gonna get cured even if it's the last thing I do!"
-My my, what large ambitions. Well, unfortunately for you you're getting married first, so deal with it!—Ranma leered at her father in sheer anger as she could already imagine pummeling the panda into dust. They continued on in silence for a long while, Genma still holding his temporary daughter over his shoulder. The only thing that Ranma could think of was getting cured. The image of the Jusenkyo springs was burned into her mind, and she couldn't get it out of her head. She was picturing that magical spring that would bring her back to normal; the spring of drown man. She could just see it upon the large cliff standing tall above the grounds, large and magnificent. She then imagined herself jumping in and becoming one hundred percent man again. It was a wonderful dream, and it would be one she would achieve! Of course that meant getting around her pops, and all he had on his mind right now was marriage. Ranma's marriage. With those thoughts in his head, it wasn't long till the big panda had reached the Tendo dojo. The sight of the dojo was enough to cause Ranma to throw one last fit on Genma's shoulder, this time being the hardest to keep her in his grasp. She kept it up until they reached the door. At the door, Genma rang the bell, and began patiently waiting for someone to answer. It was time; his son would unite the two schools, and make Soun and himself rich—er, eternally grateful and happy for the continuation of the schools!
"Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!" Soun had received two replies, but not the third,
"Akane!" Still no response,
"Where is that girl?" This said girl was currently jogging through the streets, getting her daily cardio in. As she jogged along, she caught sight of a strange scene; a panda and a redheaded girl walking through the street. She simply brushed it off as her eyes playing tricks on her. She continued on blissfully un-aware of the fact that the redhead was soon to be engaged to her. She soon reached the back of the dojo, where she let herself through the gate and into the dojo to grab one of the hundreds of practice bricks stored in the storage room. Setting it up, she took her towel and wiped off her face before concentrating on the brick. Then, with one mighty blow and a yell, she broke it in half. Considering that to be a good day's workout, she promptly began going to her room. She was interrupted however when she heard her father call her name. She rushed to the living room to find her sisters and father all sitting around the table. Curious, she asked,
"Hey dad, what's going—"She was interrupted by her father,
"Good. Now that you're all here, I'll begin by saying that a friend of mine will be coming over today. His name is Genma, and he has a son named Ranma. As for what they're doing here, they've recently returned from a training trip in China." Nabiki, the middle sister, gave Soun a bored look before saying sarcastically,
"Oh wow, China. Big deal, what's so great about China?" Soun, a little annoyed at her daughter, was patient with her and said,
"Nabiki, you didn't let me finish. Anyway, they're coming here so that one of you will marry his son, and carry on the family dojo!" Kasumi, the oldest one, was first to pipe up,
"Father, how old is Ranma? You know I don't like younger men… they bore me!" Nabiki was right behind her with excited eyes and a cheshire grin,
"Oh, is he cute?" Of course the last to answer was Akane. It was too much of a shock to her. That didn't mean that she didn't know what was going on however. She gave her father a hard glare before yelling at him,
"Hey, shouldn't we get a say in who we marry?" Unfortunately Soun was so set on this marriage that he couldn't care less if only one of his daughters was un-interested. What made it worse was that her sisters were too wrapped up in their own thoughts of a handsome man coming into their lives to actually acknowledge her. Defeated, she sat there and began to pout. Soun looked at her and said,
"Oh don't be upset Akane, you'll see that Ranma is—"He was interrupted by a knock on the front door. The first up was Nabiki, who said,
"Ooh, I bet that's Ranma! I'll get the door! Just a minute!" She was followed by Soun, who shouted,
"Genma my old friend, it's been too long!" Kasumi began to follow, but stopped short of the kitchen when she heard a scream eminate from the front door. Shortly a terrified Soun and Nabiki came flying from the front door, followed by a giant panda and a redheaded girl on his shoulder. The girl seemed to be extremely agitated, as she was yelling curses and telling the panda that it was scaring everyone spitless. When the panda had stopped moving, it dropped the large backpack on the ground. It then took the girl in both hand and set her down in front of Soun. The man stared at the girl for a moment, then said,
"Y-you wouldn't happen to be Ranma, would you?" With a sheepish look on her face, she said,
"Yes… sorry 'bout this …" With a look of glee the mustachioed man scooped the girl up into a bear hug. He then said,
"Oh my it's such a pleasure to finally meet you—" Soun stopped for a moment and squeezed the 'boy' a couple more times. He held Ranma at arm's length, and gave 'him' a look of utter bewilderment. Then he began to stutter something,
"Y-y-you're—"Nabiki walked over to Ranma, poking 'his' chest, and said,
"You're a girl."
Not long after the incident, Soun awoke to the sight of his two daughters hovering over him. When the girls noticed, Kasumi piped up delightedly,
"Oh my, he's awake! How are you father—" She was interrupted by an irate Nabiki,
"Daddy, what's the meaning of this? I thought you said your friend had a son!" Nabiki reminded Soun of what had happened when he blacked out. The more her comment bounced around, the more irritated he got. Genma Saotome did have a son, and his name was Ranma,
"He said he had a son!" When Soun looked around, he saw someone he didn't see before. It was Ranma right next to Nabiki. The latter girl scooted over to the former, and began to slap her chest while saying,
"Daddy, does this look like a boy to you?" Ranma was slightly annoyed with Nabiki at the moment. This was twice now she was being groped. Not that it was a bad thing, it just bugged her. So in response to Nabiki's slapping she said,
"Uh, could you please stop doing that?" Then, out of nowhere, another new face appeared. Akane walked over to the group and into Soun's vision. She looked embarrassed and annoyed,
"Nabiki stop that! He—she's our guest! Hi, my name's Akane, do you want to be friends?" Finally, after all this time being around whack jobs, a normal person wanted to be his friend. Without a second thought she said yes. Akane of course was happy to have a new friend, especially a girl! She hated boys… stupid, annoying, perverted. Especially perverted. However Ranma was a girl, a girl that practiced martial arts. Akane was getting giddy just thinking about it,
"Hey, meet me over in the dojo, kay?" With that Akane was off to the dojo like an excited little kid with candy. Ranma was at an affront now; did she go to the dojo and spar with a girl? Or did she just sit around and wait for these idiots to ruin her day even more? Since she didn't want to be rude and keep Akane waiting, she skedaddled over to the dojo right behind her new friend. When Ranma walked into the dojo, she found it was in pristine condition. The floors were waxed; the walls were sparkling; the various furnishings were in top shape; nothing was out of place, and everything was in perfect condition. It was like the dojo had only been used just a few times in the past. The equipment seemed to be in good condition, save for the fact that there were some dents and scratched here and there. All in all Ranma was impressed. Very impressed. Of course after looking around at everything, there was something missing; Akane was nowhere to be found. It was odd; she said meet her in the dojo. Yet here she was not. Ranma waited a couple minutes pondering Akane's whereabouts when said girl walked through the back door.
She seemed to have changed clothes, which made sense. She had also redone her hair. Ranma wasn't ready to spar with Akane; she was a girl. As for Ranma, she was a… well, he. She didn't fight girls. It went against his code of honor. Although at the moment there seemed to be no choice since she was a she, meaning Akane wouldn't care if she got hit by her. Ranma figured out a plan; dodge as many of her moves as possible, and block it if necessary. She would make no attempt to fight back whatsoever. Through all of this heavy thinking however, Akane burst through her thoughts and said,
"You study kempo, right?" With a slight nod Ranma replied,
"A little." Akane smiled. Ranma liked her smile. She couldn't focus on that though, she had to pay attention to the match she was going into,
"Alright, well I'll go easy on you so I don't hurt you, kay?" Pshaw, Akane hurt her? Then again, maybe she was exceptional in the art and she might have a challenge. That would be worth fighting for. Not against a girl however. Nodding once more in reply, Akane got into a stance and locked eyes with Ranma,
"Okay Ranma, here I come! Hiyaaah!" Nothing. It was like throwing a punch into thin air,
"What the…?" Akane looked around for her opponent, who was about two feet beside her. When the hell did she get there? It didn't matter, she was just good at dodging. For that though, she would have to turn it up a notch. She went into the offensive again. She threw a hard right jab, but yet again nothing. What was going on here? There was no way she could dodge that! All the boys at school, even the martial arts masters, couldn't compete with Akane. Yet here was Ranma, avoiding all of her attacks. Now she was getting mad. She scanned the dojo to find that Ranma was over by the far wall. With fire in her eyes, she flew towards Ranma. Turning her efforts to full blast, she was throwing punches like none other. Her fists blurred as she continued her onslaught. However no matter how many punches she attempted, none of them connected. Was this a joke? Was Ranma seriously able to dodge all of her attacks? It was impossible to dodge all of these attacks,
"Why can't I hit her?" It was so frustrating; she should have had Ranma on the ground in a bloody mess right now. She should have broken her bones and given her a concussion. At this point, Ranma should have been destroyed by her, and yet here she was still dodging all of her attacks. Of course with all of this dodging she must not have realized she was going towards a wall. Akane figured this was her chance; when Ranma hit the wall in surprise, she would have a chance to absolutely annihilate her. Sure enough, Ranma hit the wall. Now was her chance. Akane reeled her arm up, and in a burst of strength and anger, she launched a super punch. This time she felt her fist connect. It wasn't with Ranma though. It was with the back wall, which she happened to put a sizeable hole in. Then, almost as soon as she hit the wall, she felt something poke her in the neck. She turned her head around to find a grinning Ranma. She was immortalized; Ranma beat her. The first person in her life other than her sisters or her father beat her. She slowly took in her defeat, and she began to laugh. Ranma chuckled along with her.
Akane was a little jealous of Ranma; how was she so good? They were the same age, so that meant she couldn't have been any better than herself, right? Maybe it was her training. Did that mean Akane should go on a training trip too? Or was she just not working hard enough? Putting her thoughts aside, she had to admit, Ranma was good,
"Wow, you're really good. I'm just glad you're a girl. I would hate it if I got beat by a boy." Ranma felt hurt when she heard that. It wasn't that she was bothered by being a girl and beating Akane, it was knowing deep down that she was really a boy and that Akane really had been beat by a boy. She didn't want to hurt Akane, but in this case, there was no way not to. First because she was actually a boy, which was going to devastate Akane, and two because she had beaten her in a sparring match. This was the curse of being able to change sexes however. Bad things always seemed to happen to her and to others. This was no exception. So, she simply had to grin and bear it. Ranma decided it would be good to go into the house now, since sitting in the dojo wasn't going to do any good.
When she went inside, she found that no one was around, or so it seemed. Shrugging, she went upstairs. On her way, she was met by the oldest girl Kasumi. When Kasumi saw her, her face lit up and she greeted her in that beautiful voice that Ranma couldn't get enough of,
"Oh my Ranma, you must be awfully dirty after that sparring match. You should go take a bath!" That was a red flag. No baths were to be taken, especially right now. It was too soon to break the news to them. If they all found out that she was a boy, and that her panda was really her dad, it would be too much. Although, that might get them a chance at going back to China… whatever happened, it would definitely be bad at first. However now wasn't the time to think of China, now was time to think of a way out of Kasumi's rather commanding grasp,
"H-hey Kasumi, you don't mind if I grab some spare clothes do you?"
"Not at all Ranma-chan, I'll go run some bathwater for you." Wonderful. Now she had to take a bath. It would be rude to have Kasumi run water and then not use it… Ranma cursed her chivalry sometimes. None the less she bought herself some time. However there was only one question; where was her bedroom? Or her stuff for that matter? She yelled after Kasumi,
"Kasumi wait a minute! I need to ask you something—oof!" Wouldn't you know it, as soon as she rounded the corner she ran face first into something. She looked over to find that it was Akane, who was now sprawled out on the floor holding her face. Now she'd done it; this wasn't going to go well. She got up and went over to Akane. When she got a better look, it seemed like Akane had some tears running down her cheeks, but it didn't seem like she was crying. Still, Ranma hurt her pretty bad,
"Shit, I'm so so sorry Akane, It was my fault, I should have looked around the corner before I came running—"
"It's okay Ranma, it was an accident… I mean that hurt pretty bad, but I've had worse. Haha" What just happened? Did Akane really just let her off like that? Jeez… maybe she should stay a girl. Then she thought better of that. Nothing was worth sacrificing her manhood. Still, she helped Akane get up and she still apologized profusely. Akane simply rebuked every apology with a smile and forgiveness. After a while Ranma wasn't saying sorry because she meant it, but rather so she could hear Akane forgive her. After all, it wasn't often that she was forgiven for doing something wrong. While they walked, Ranma suddenly remembered that she was recently chasing Kasumi so she could find her stuff. Then it occurred to her that maybe Akane knew,
"Hey Akane?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know where my stuff is, and what about my bedroom?" Akane thought about it a moment, then she said,
"No I don't know. Hey, I'll help you look and that way I can give you a tour of the house!" Ranma couldn't argue with that. Especially if she was going to be living there for a while,
"Okay, thanks Akane." There it was again, that cute smile. Ranma didn't think she would ever be able to get over that smile. Akane grabbed her by the hand and began happily leading Ranma around the house, showing her where Nabiki's room was, Kasumi's room, Soun's room, and then Akane's own room. Finally they got to one of the guest bedrooms, where they found Ranma's stuff. There was one problem however; if Akane was there, there was no way for Ranma to escape taking a bath with her. Ranma already could tell that Akane would be more than delighted to take a bath with her. That was something that Ranma didn't need. There was no way to escape her fate now… she might as well just fess up and show Akane who she really was. A man. Ranma's face all of a sudden grew downtrodden, and her eyes looked distant. Akane caught on right away,
"Ranma, what's wrong? Why do you look so distant all of a sudden? Was it something I did? I'm sorry, it's just that—"
"Akane… it's not you… it's me. I… have this condition… it's a curse. Listen, I have to show you what I mean. Do you mind getting me a warm cup of water?" Confused, Akane blindly followed Ranma's orders and went to get a cup of water. What was this condition Ranma had, and what did a warm cup of water have to do with it? None the less she returned holding a slightly steaming cup of water. Before Ranma did anything, she began to explain her situation,
"Thanks Akane. Now, just so you don't freak out, as soon as I dump this hot water on my head, I'll turn into a man. I was a man to begin with, but because of my dumbass father, I was cursed to turn into a girl whenever I'm hit with cold water. However hot water, like I asked you to get, will change me back to my original form. Are you ready?" Akane was speechless. Was Ranma telling her the truth? No way. It was too wild. It had to be a joke or something. Although that's what she thought earlier in the dojo… none the less now she had to see for herself if this was the truth. She shook her head affirmatively, her eyes concentrating on Ranma. Sure enough, as soon as the water hit Ranma's head, the transformation happened. One second a cute little redheaded girl was there, the next she was replaced with a chiseled young man with raven black hair and soft eyes. Akane jumped when she realized what had just happened. Then she suddenly felt scared; it was just… creepy. A guy that turned into a girl? It was… fucked up. Too stunned for words, she could only stare at the young man before her, the fear evident in her expression. Ranma knew this was going to happen, and there was no way to stop it. So, he just apologized,
"Akane… I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have come here. My idiot pops made me come here though. I will admit, I am glad to have met you. You're a fun girl who's strong, funny, and cute to boot. You don't deserve to have a freak like me around here… none of you three girls do. I still want to be friends, but before we start over, I need to go back to China. There's a place called Jusenkyo where I picked this damn curse up. I need to go back there to find a cure. When I finally do find a cure, I'm going to come back, and maybe we can have a fresh start at friendship. Until then, just keep being you. Bye." With that Ranma grabbed all his stuff and started for the window. Akane however somehow found her voice and said,
"Ranma wait! Please wait, I want to talk to you before you go." When Ranma looked back, he saw something he didn't want to see; tears again, but this time Akane was actually crying. He could tell. Not wanting to leave her in tears, he stepped down from the window, dropped his pack and sat down beside her. A moment passed before he was suddenly tackled by the girl. It stunned him. Then he heard Akane's muffled cries,
"Ranma don't go! I don't care that you change into a girl, just don't go! I'll give you another chance, its okay!" Hesitantly he began to pat her on the back and tried to calm her down. He cooed her and slowly sat her up on his lap, where she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his chest. Well, hopefully no one would notice the crying girl upstairs. Luckily for them, they were never found. Akane eventually dried her tears and simply held onto Ranma. They were still friends, right? It wasn't really that big of a deal that he changed into a girl, right? Akane just wanted to have another friend, since she didn't really have any true friends except for her two best friends from school. Ranma seemed so perfect. Albeit she was really a he, but it didn't matter to her anymore. Sure it was a little creepy, and maybe a little perverted, but supposedly it wasn't even his fault. Well, that's what Akane got for listening.
Usually Akane would have screamed and punched the freak in the face, and tried to beat the living hell out of him. However this time she was in simple shock. The shock kept her from acting out against Ranma. Since that was the case, she was able to listen to his explanation and she found that really he wasn't just some pervert like she thought at first. She was hurt, of course, but she slowly forgave him as time went by, and now she accepted Ranma for who he was. Maybe they really could still be friends despite the bizarreness of their situation. She looked up to Ranma, and said in a quiet voice,
"Well… um… how about we start over, huh?" Akanke wiped her eyes one more time and stood up. Then she held out her hand and said,
"Hi, I'm Akane, wanna be friends?" Ranma stared at the hand, and slowly got up. Then, with a small grin, he grabbed her small hand in his and said,
"Yeah, nice to meet you Akane, I'm Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts." There it was again, to his relief. That smile. Then, out of the blue, he suddenly got the urge to pull Akane close and hold her. Then, he began to say,
"Thank you so much Akane… you don't even know how much it means to me that you're giving me a second chance. I needed this." Just as soon as he had pulled her close, he released her and began walking out the door. He looked back at the silent girl and said,
"Hey, aren't we going to break the news to your family?" Akane stared at him for a second before she came to and shook her head. With a smile, she hurried behind him down to the living room to break the news on her father and sisters.
Well there you have it folks, a second edition revision (Seeing as how it needed it XD) Albeit I am extending the beginning quite a bit and adding a bit more to the story than it was at first haha. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this revised version, and hopefully I'll be putting out a second chapter sooner than later lol. That's all from me, so please leave a kind review and you have a wonderful day!
-JT Jewels