[New Disclaimer: This is old and unfinished. I started it over a year ago,
decided the idea was too similar to other stories, and never continued it.
But it does have some humorous moments, so I figured I may as well throw it
out there. Feel free to archive or continue it yourself as you please. ]
Thicker Than Water
[Original] Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is not owned by me. Most, if not all, of the
elements used in this story have undoubtedly appeared in other fanfics, but
I've never written a Ranma story before, so I'm starting with simple ideas.
I've also never written in pseudo-script format before, so pardon its flaws.
I'm just trying to get the story idea fleshed out quickly so I can get back
to other things.
Scene: The Tendo Dojo. It is raining. Loud voices are arguing.
AKANE: You *what*?
TENDO: To merge our houses! To ensure the continuation of the family line!
KASUMI: Oh, my. I wish you had told us. I would have worn a nicer dress.
AKANE: Make Kasumi marry him. She'll do anything.
NABIKI: We are going to get a sizable dowry out of this, right?
TENDO: I just want to see one of my beautiful little girls married! *starts
to cry*
AKANE: As long as it's not me.
There is a knock at the door. Tendo opens it. On one side stands Soun Tendo
and his three daughters. Tendo is sniffling pitifully. Kasumi smiles
blankly. Nabiki looks bored. Akane, twirling a finger in her long hair,
looks angry. On the other side of the door is a young man holding a leash. A
very thick, sturdy-looking leash. With a panda on the end. Both are soaking
wet.
RANMA: Excuse me, is this the Tendo house?
KASUMI: *brightly* We don't need to buy a panda at this time. Thank you!
RANMA: What? Oh. No, he's not for sale. He's my... pet. I'm Ranma Saotome. I
believe you were expecting me?
KASUMI: *chirps* What a nice, polite young man!
RANMA: Do you have a room we could shut him up in? Somewhere where he won't
damage anything of yours. Oh, and make sure there's no hot water. He's
terribly afraid of hot water.
KASUMI: Of course!
KASUMI seizes the leash from RANMA and hauls the protesting panda away,
despite its struggles. It should be noted that the panda is far more massive
than the girl. She is apparently stronger than she looks. TENDO clears his
throat.
TENDO: Ranma Saotome, is it? I was expecting your father, Genma.
RANMA: He'll be along eventually. (mutters) Unfortunately.
NABIKI: Are you wealthy?
RANMA: Huh? No.
NABIKI: Not interested.
NABIKI walks further into the house. Both TENDO and AKANE realise that she
is suddenly the only daughter remaining.
AKANE: No way!
TENDO restrains his daughter with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
TENDO: I am pleased to meet you, Ranma Saotome. I trust your father has
explained the nature of our arrangement?
AKANE: I'm not marrying him and that's final!
RANMA: Yes. However, if none of your daughters are willing, I'm sure we can
find some honorable compromise. I wouldn't want anyone to be forced into a
wedding against their wishes.
AKANE relaxes. TENDO frowns.
TENDO: Are you saying you wish to break the engagement?
RANMA: (sweatdrops, although it's hard to tell against the rain) What? Um,
no. I'm not breaking anything. I'm just saying it's okay if they don't want
to. (He wipes water out of his eyes.) Can I come in? I'm getting drenched
out here.
KASUMI reappears.
KASUMI: Oh, how rude of us! Come inside and have a nice hot bath while I dry
your clothes for you.
RANMA: Thank you.
Kasumi leads the dripping Ranma to the bathroom. Akane and Tendo continue to
argue.
AKANE: But he said we didn't have to! Can't we just forget the whole thing?
TENDO: You wish to destroy my honor! *sobs*
Scene shift: Outside the bathroom. Kasumi appears with a basket of laundry.
Setting the laundry down, she twists at the doorknob. It is locked. A tiny
frown crosses her features. She twists at the knob again. There is a
snapping sound, and the door comes open.
KASUMI: *cheery* Clothes!
Kasumi sticks her head through the door to greet the current inhabitant of
the bathroom. What she sees, however, apparently takes her by surprise.
RANKO: EEK!
The wet, naked, steaming, and very female Ranko leaps out of the bath and
snatches for a towel to cover herself, hiding her ample breasts from view.
KASUMI: Oh, my!
RANKO: Get out!
KASUMI: All right.
A confused Kasumi leaves the room. Ranko hugs her towel and looks longingly
at the basket of laundry just out of reach in the hallway. She takes a few
hesitant steps forwards, then dives for the clothes. Just as she reaches
them, Akane and Nabiki appear in the hallway. The three girls look at each
other and all begin screaming. Ranko grabs the clothes and jumps back into
the bathroom, slamming the door. Nabiki and Akane halt in mid-scream.
AKANE: Who was *that*?
NABIKI: I don't know, but I bet I could get her a job as a model.
AKANE: Nabiki, you shouldn't look at other girls that way.
NABIKI: It's not my fault she was naked.
AKANE: I wonder who she was and how she got into our bathroom?
Akane walks up and opens the unlocked door, only to find a fully clothed
Ranma behind it.
RANMA: Um. Can I help you?
AKANE: Oh, sorry... whatever your name was. Excuse me, is there a naked girl
in here?
RANMA: No.
AKANE: Are you sure?
RANMA: I think I'd notice.
Akane looks suspicious.
AKANE: She's your girlfriend, isn't she? Is that why you don't want to marry
us? You already have a girl?
RANMA: No, that's not it at all!
AKANE: Aren't we good enough for you?
NABIKI: Sis, you're getting emotional. Let me deal with this.
Nabiki gently shoves Ranma and Akane out of the way and begins a careful
inspection of the bathroom.
NABIKI: Well, there's no one hiding in here, and the window is painted shut.
So this leaves us with four logical possibilities. One, we all hallucinated
seeing a girl here. Two, the girl was a ghost or spirit. Three, the girl has
used some kind of magic to escape without our being able to see her. Or
four, the girl is still here and is actually Ranma.
Ranma jumps. Nabiki notices.
NABIKI: Hrm. I think I'll have to revise my probability estimates on that
one.
AKANE: Wait. What?
NABIKI: Watch.
Nabiki snatches at Ranma's shirt. Ranma squeaks, but Nabiki manages to pull
it open to reveal... a masculine chest.
NABIKI: Strange. That doesn't look like what we saw before. Very
interesting.
RANMA: Get your hands off me!
NABIKI: I wonder...
Nabiki starts to reach for Ranma's pants. Ranma screeches and stumbles
backwards, falling into the still-warm waters of the bathtub, where he
changes into a very unhappy redheaded girl. The Tendo sisters stand over
her, staring.
RANKO: Um. Hi?
Kasumi reappears.
KASUMI. Oh, dear. And I just dried those!
Cut to the Tendo living room, where everyone is still staring at the
once-again male Ranma.
AKANE: Let me get this straight. Getting wet makes you change sex?
Ranma nods glumly.
AKANE: Weirdest thing I ever heard.
NABIKI: (mischievous) Weirder even than...
AKANE: Shut up!
KASUMI: (perky) How nice!
RANMA: *Nice*?
Kasumi just smiles. Tendo shakes his head.
TENDO: I'm sorry, young... man... but this is a lot to take in. Not to mention
the fact that we've never met you before. Without your father here, how do
we know you're even really a Saotome? (starts to sound overwrought) A
stranger, after the virtue of my daughters!
RANMA: But I did bring Dad. He's the panda.
TENDO: See here, young man. I trained with Genma Saotome, and he was
definitely not a panda.
RANMA: It's a magic curse. See, we were at this training ground in China,
and there were these pools, and if you fall into one of them, then after
that you change into something else when you get wet.
AKANE: And that's why you turn into a girl.
RANMA: (noncommittal) Mmm. (smiles, a bit forced) So anyway, if you just
throw some hot water on him, he'll be Dad again.
AKANE: That does it. We are not marrying into this family. I don't want
babies that change into pigs when you bathe them!
NABIKI: You want babies, Akane?
AKANE: I didn't say that!
RANMA: It's probably not hereditary.
NABIKI: Hrm, I wonder what the odds would be on that...
TENDO: Kasumi, could you go prepare some hot water for the panda?
KASUMI: Right away!
Kasumi exits.
AKANE: You're awfully calm about this whole water changing thing. I mean,
I'd be pretty freaked out if getting wet made me turn into a *boy*.
Ranma flinches.
NABIKI: (cheerful) Akane doesn't like boys very much. You'll be perfect for
her!
RANMA: (mumbles) Great.
Akane whacks her sister with a pillow.
AKANE: Pervert! I don't like girls!
Ranma runs his hand over his hair nervously.
RANMA: Anyway, that's kinda why I said it was okay if you weren't interested
in marrying me. I mean, no hard feelings. This whole curse thing wasn't
around when you made the original arrangement, so you can break it without
losing honor...
SAOTOME: No.
Kasumi and a wet Genma Saotome enter.
SAOTOME: A deal is a deal. Our children must be married.
Ranma sighs.
TENDO: Hello, Genma. It's been a long time.
Saotome nods. He looks at Ranma.
SAOTOME: Son, why don't you go practice in the Dojo for a while? Your
father-in-law and I have much to discuss.
RANMA: (meek) Yes, Father.
Scene shift. Ranma is going through exercises in the Tendo Dojo. Akane walks
in.
AKANE: Hi.
RANMA: Hi. (continues kata)
AKANE: I just wanted you to know, I don't blame you for this. I mean, you
seem like a nice guy. I just don't want to get married.
RANMA: Me neither. But I have to do what Dad says.
AKANE: Yeah. (sighs) Wanna spar?
RANMA: Sure!
They fight. Akane is clearly outmatched and winds up getting knocked across
the room.
AKANE: Wow. You're good.
RANMA: (shrugs) I ought to be, Dad's made me spend my entire life training.
AKANE: Try again, I'm ready this time.
They fight again. Akane gets thrown and lands with an oof.
RANMA: Are you okay?
AKANE: You don't need to protect me cause I'm a *girl*, you know.
RANMA: I wasn't.
AKANE: Oh, really? (looks angry) So you'd have said the same thing if I were
a boy?
RANMA: Yes. It's stupid to treat someone differently just because of their
gender.
AKANE: (defused) Oh. (pauses) Try it again?
They fight for a long time. Ranma consistently wins.
AKANE: (panting) Not fair.
RANMA: Sorry. Like I said, Dad's been pretty pushy on my training.
AKANE: But I train too!
RANMA: You know those machines in tennis that fire balls at you so you can
practice on your own? Dad got a whole bunch of them and set them up in a
circle around me to teach me to dodge.
AKANE: That's not that bad.
RANMA: I was four years old.
AKANE: Oh.
RANMA: And that was just the beginning.
AKANE: I guess it's not *too* bad that you're better than me, then.
Ranma smiles tentatively.
RANMA: Friends?
AKANE: I'm still not marrying you.
But she smiles.
AKANE: I don't know about you, but I could use a drink.
RANMA: That'd be great.
Akane fetches two glasses of ice water. Predictably enough, she manages to
trip and spill Ranma's drink all over him.
AKANE: Oops! I didn't mean to make you...
She blinks. Ranma is still male.
AKANE: What happened to the curse?
RANMA: Huh? Oh, um, er... it's only hot water that makes me turn into a
girl.
AKANE: That's right, you were all wet from the rain when you came here,
weren't you?
RANMA: (nods) Hot water makes me a girl, cold water changes me back.
AKANE: Okay. I'll go get you another drink. (starts to leave, pauses) Wait a
second. If cold water changes you back to normal, then why was your father a
panda in the rain? Is it different for every curse? (Silence. She turns.)
Ranma?
Ranma is curled up in a ball, crying. Akane looks shocked.
AKANE: Ranma? What... did I... I'm sorry...
RANMA: (crying) Think about it! I promised I wouldn't tell! Just think about
it!
AKANE: Think about what?
RANMA: The curse! The cold water!
AKANE: The... (Realization dawns.) You're a girl.
Ranma nods pitifully.
AKANE: You're a *girl*.
Ranma sniffles. Akane, too surprised to be angry, walks over and sinks to
her knees beside him.
AKANE: Why didn't you say so earlier?
RANMA: My father... wrote to your father. He found out you were all girls. He
needed a son. So he took me to Jusenkyo...
AKANE: He *pushed* you into that cursed pool?
RANMA: And I struggled, and he fell into the panda pool.
AKANE: (sounds angry now) And you weren't planning on telling us you weren't
really a boy? You were just going to marry m- one of us anyway?
RANMA: I had no choice! Do you think I wanted this? But I have to do what
Dad says... (sniffles) Please don't hate me! I hoped you wouldn't want to
marry a sex-changing freak and we could just get out of this whole mess...
Ranma buries his head in his hands. Akane awkwardly tries to comfort him.
AKANE: It's okay. I don't hate you. It'll be all right. Let me get you some
hot water, and then we can go talk to our parents.
Scene shift, back to the living room.
SAOTOME: Then it's settled?
TENDO: Akane will marry your son.
They shake hands, just as two girls enter the room, one with dark hair, one
with red.
AKANE: There's a problem with that, dad. He doesn't *have* a son.
TENDO: What?
AKANE: He has a daughter. Dad, I'd like you to meet my friend, Ranko
Saotome.
Some time later, in Akane's bedroom. Akane is throwing things around,
apparently trying to reorganise.
NABIKI: So, the Saotome kid's really a girl, huh?
AKANE: Yes.
NABIKI: I wonder if she'd be interested in a modeling contract?
AKANE: Look, just leave her alone, okay? She's had a rough time.
NABIKI: You're awfully protective of someone you've only just met. And
offering to share your room with her, even! Are you sure we shouldn't marry
the two of you after all?
Akane throws a stuffed animal at her.
AKANE: Shut up!
NABIKI: You've never made it a secret that you don't like boys...
This time, Akane throws a heavy book. Nabiki ducks.
AKANE: Leave me alone!
NABIKI: Okay, okay, sorry.
She leaves. Akane sinks onto the bed, hugging an old teddy bear to herself.
AKANE: But, when I saw him fighting, I thought he was so... beautiful...
It's not fair. Why does the only nice boy in my life turn out not to be a
boy after all?
.... to be continued?
decided the idea was too similar to other stories, and never continued it.
But it does have some humorous moments, so I figured I may as well throw it
out there. Feel free to archive or continue it yourself as you please. ]
Thicker Than Water
[Original] Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is not owned by me. Most, if not all, of the
elements used in this story have undoubtedly appeared in other fanfics, but
I've never written a Ranma story before, so I'm starting with simple ideas.
I've also never written in pseudo-script format before, so pardon its flaws.
I'm just trying to get the story idea fleshed out quickly so I can get back
to other things.
Scene: The Tendo Dojo. It is raining. Loud voices are arguing.
AKANE: You *what*?
TENDO: To merge our houses! To ensure the continuation of the family line!
KASUMI: Oh, my. I wish you had told us. I would have worn a nicer dress.
AKANE: Make Kasumi marry him. She'll do anything.
NABIKI: We are going to get a sizable dowry out of this, right?
TENDO: I just want to see one of my beautiful little girls married! *starts
to cry*
AKANE: As long as it's not me.
There is a knock at the door. Tendo opens it. On one side stands Soun Tendo
and his three daughters. Tendo is sniffling pitifully. Kasumi smiles
blankly. Nabiki looks bored. Akane, twirling a finger in her long hair,
looks angry. On the other side of the door is a young man holding a leash. A
very thick, sturdy-looking leash. With a panda on the end. Both are soaking
wet.
RANMA: Excuse me, is this the Tendo house?
KASUMI: *brightly* We don't need to buy a panda at this time. Thank you!
RANMA: What? Oh. No, he's not for sale. He's my... pet. I'm Ranma Saotome. I
believe you were expecting me?
KASUMI: *chirps* What a nice, polite young man!
RANMA: Do you have a room we could shut him up in? Somewhere where he won't
damage anything of yours. Oh, and make sure there's no hot water. He's
terribly afraid of hot water.
KASUMI: Of course!
KASUMI seizes the leash from RANMA and hauls the protesting panda away,
despite its struggles. It should be noted that the panda is far more massive
than the girl. She is apparently stronger than she looks. TENDO clears his
throat.
TENDO: Ranma Saotome, is it? I was expecting your father, Genma.
RANMA: He'll be along eventually. (mutters) Unfortunately.
NABIKI: Are you wealthy?
RANMA: Huh? No.
NABIKI: Not interested.
NABIKI walks further into the house. Both TENDO and AKANE realise that she
is suddenly the only daughter remaining.
AKANE: No way!
TENDO restrains his daughter with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
TENDO: I am pleased to meet you, Ranma Saotome. I trust your father has
explained the nature of our arrangement?
AKANE: I'm not marrying him and that's final!
RANMA: Yes. However, if none of your daughters are willing, I'm sure we can
find some honorable compromise. I wouldn't want anyone to be forced into a
wedding against their wishes.
AKANE relaxes. TENDO frowns.
TENDO: Are you saying you wish to break the engagement?
RANMA: (sweatdrops, although it's hard to tell against the rain) What? Um,
no. I'm not breaking anything. I'm just saying it's okay if they don't want
to. (He wipes water out of his eyes.) Can I come in? I'm getting drenched
out here.
KASUMI reappears.
KASUMI: Oh, how rude of us! Come inside and have a nice hot bath while I dry
your clothes for you.
RANMA: Thank you.
Kasumi leads the dripping Ranma to the bathroom. Akane and Tendo continue to
argue.
AKANE: But he said we didn't have to! Can't we just forget the whole thing?
TENDO: You wish to destroy my honor! *sobs*
Scene shift: Outside the bathroom. Kasumi appears with a basket of laundry.
Setting the laundry down, she twists at the doorknob. It is locked. A tiny
frown crosses her features. She twists at the knob again. There is a
snapping sound, and the door comes open.
KASUMI: *cheery* Clothes!
Kasumi sticks her head through the door to greet the current inhabitant of
the bathroom. What she sees, however, apparently takes her by surprise.
RANKO: EEK!
The wet, naked, steaming, and very female Ranko leaps out of the bath and
snatches for a towel to cover herself, hiding her ample breasts from view.
KASUMI: Oh, my!
RANKO: Get out!
KASUMI: All right.
A confused Kasumi leaves the room. Ranko hugs her towel and looks longingly
at the basket of laundry just out of reach in the hallway. She takes a few
hesitant steps forwards, then dives for the clothes. Just as she reaches
them, Akane and Nabiki appear in the hallway. The three girls look at each
other and all begin screaming. Ranko grabs the clothes and jumps back into
the bathroom, slamming the door. Nabiki and Akane halt in mid-scream.
AKANE: Who was *that*?
NABIKI: I don't know, but I bet I could get her a job as a model.
AKANE: Nabiki, you shouldn't look at other girls that way.
NABIKI: It's not my fault she was naked.
AKANE: I wonder who she was and how she got into our bathroom?
Akane walks up and opens the unlocked door, only to find a fully clothed
Ranma behind it.
RANMA: Um. Can I help you?
AKANE: Oh, sorry... whatever your name was. Excuse me, is there a naked girl
in here?
RANMA: No.
AKANE: Are you sure?
RANMA: I think I'd notice.
Akane looks suspicious.
AKANE: She's your girlfriend, isn't she? Is that why you don't want to marry
us? You already have a girl?
RANMA: No, that's not it at all!
AKANE: Aren't we good enough for you?
NABIKI: Sis, you're getting emotional. Let me deal with this.
Nabiki gently shoves Ranma and Akane out of the way and begins a careful
inspection of the bathroom.
NABIKI: Well, there's no one hiding in here, and the window is painted shut.
So this leaves us with four logical possibilities. One, we all hallucinated
seeing a girl here. Two, the girl was a ghost or spirit. Three, the girl has
used some kind of magic to escape without our being able to see her. Or
four, the girl is still here and is actually Ranma.
Ranma jumps. Nabiki notices.
NABIKI: Hrm. I think I'll have to revise my probability estimates on that
one.
AKANE: Wait. What?
NABIKI: Watch.
Nabiki snatches at Ranma's shirt. Ranma squeaks, but Nabiki manages to pull
it open to reveal... a masculine chest.
NABIKI: Strange. That doesn't look like what we saw before. Very
interesting.
RANMA: Get your hands off me!
NABIKI: I wonder...
Nabiki starts to reach for Ranma's pants. Ranma screeches and stumbles
backwards, falling into the still-warm waters of the bathtub, where he
changes into a very unhappy redheaded girl. The Tendo sisters stand over
her, staring.
RANKO: Um. Hi?
Kasumi reappears.
KASUMI. Oh, dear. And I just dried those!
Cut to the Tendo living room, where everyone is still staring at the
once-again male Ranma.
AKANE: Let me get this straight. Getting wet makes you change sex?
Ranma nods glumly.
AKANE: Weirdest thing I ever heard.
NABIKI: (mischievous) Weirder even than...
AKANE: Shut up!
KASUMI: (perky) How nice!
RANMA: *Nice*?
Kasumi just smiles. Tendo shakes his head.
TENDO: I'm sorry, young... man... but this is a lot to take in. Not to mention
the fact that we've never met you before. Without your father here, how do
we know you're even really a Saotome? (starts to sound overwrought) A
stranger, after the virtue of my daughters!
RANMA: But I did bring Dad. He's the panda.
TENDO: See here, young man. I trained with Genma Saotome, and he was
definitely not a panda.
RANMA: It's a magic curse. See, we were at this training ground in China,
and there were these pools, and if you fall into one of them, then after
that you change into something else when you get wet.
AKANE: And that's why you turn into a girl.
RANMA: (noncommittal) Mmm. (smiles, a bit forced) So anyway, if you just
throw some hot water on him, he'll be Dad again.
AKANE: That does it. We are not marrying into this family. I don't want
babies that change into pigs when you bathe them!
NABIKI: You want babies, Akane?
AKANE: I didn't say that!
RANMA: It's probably not hereditary.
NABIKI: Hrm, I wonder what the odds would be on that...
TENDO: Kasumi, could you go prepare some hot water for the panda?
KASUMI: Right away!
Kasumi exits.
AKANE: You're awfully calm about this whole water changing thing. I mean,
I'd be pretty freaked out if getting wet made me turn into a *boy*.
Ranma flinches.
NABIKI: (cheerful) Akane doesn't like boys very much. You'll be perfect for
her!
RANMA: (mumbles) Great.
Akane whacks her sister with a pillow.
AKANE: Pervert! I don't like girls!
Ranma runs his hand over his hair nervously.
RANMA: Anyway, that's kinda why I said it was okay if you weren't interested
in marrying me. I mean, no hard feelings. This whole curse thing wasn't
around when you made the original arrangement, so you can break it without
losing honor...
SAOTOME: No.
Kasumi and a wet Genma Saotome enter.
SAOTOME: A deal is a deal. Our children must be married.
Ranma sighs.
TENDO: Hello, Genma. It's been a long time.
Saotome nods. He looks at Ranma.
SAOTOME: Son, why don't you go practice in the Dojo for a while? Your
father-in-law and I have much to discuss.
RANMA: (meek) Yes, Father.
Scene shift. Ranma is going through exercises in the Tendo Dojo. Akane walks
in.
AKANE: Hi.
RANMA: Hi. (continues kata)
AKANE: I just wanted you to know, I don't blame you for this. I mean, you
seem like a nice guy. I just don't want to get married.
RANMA: Me neither. But I have to do what Dad says.
AKANE: Yeah. (sighs) Wanna spar?
RANMA: Sure!
They fight. Akane is clearly outmatched and winds up getting knocked across
the room.
AKANE: Wow. You're good.
RANMA: (shrugs) I ought to be, Dad's made me spend my entire life training.
AKANE: Try again, I'm ready this time.
They fight again. Akane gets thrown and lands with an oof.
RANMA: Are you okay?
AKANE: You don't need to protect me cause I'm a *girl*, you know.
RANMA: I wasn't.
AKANE: Oh, really? (looks angry) So you'd have said the same thing if I were
a boy?
RANMA: Yes. It's stupid to treat someone differently just because of their
gender.
AKANE: (defused) Oh. (pauses) Try it again?
They fight for a long time. Ranma consistently wins.
AKANE: (panting) Not fair.
RANMA: Sorry. Like I said, Dad's been pretty pushy on my training.
AKANE: But I train too!
RANMA: You know those machines in tennis that fire balls at you so you can
practice on your own? Dad got a whole bunch of them and set them up in a
circle around me to teach me to dodge.
AKANE: That's not that bad.
RANMA: I was four years old.
AKANE: Oh.
RANMA: And that was just the beginning.
AKANE: I guess it's not *too* bad that you're better than me, then.
Ranma smiles tentatively.
RANMA: Friends?
AKANE: I'm still not marrying you.
But she smiles.
AKANE: I don't know about you, but I could use a drink.
RANMA: That'd be great.
Akane fetches two glasses of ice water. Predictably enough, she manages to
trip and spill Ranma's drink all over him.
AKANE: Oops! I didn't mean to make you...
She blinks. Ranma is still male.
AKANE: What happened to the curse?
RANMA: Huh? Oh, um, er... it's only hot water that makes me turn into a
girl.
AKANE: That's right, you were all wet from the rain when you came here,
weren't you?
RANMA: (nods) Hot water makes me a girl, cold water changes me back.
AKANE: Okay. I'll go get you another drink. (starts to leave, pauses) Wait a
second. If cold water changes you back to normal, then why was your father a
panda in the rain? Is it different for every curse? (Silence. She turns.)
Ranma?
Ranma is curled up in a ball, crying. Akane looks shocked.
AKANE: Ranma? What... did I... I'm sorry...
RANMA: (crying) Think about it! I promised I wouldn't tell! Just think about
it!
AKANE: Think about what?
RANMA: The curse! The cold water!
AKANE: The... (Realization dawns.) You're a girl.
Ranma nods pitifully.
AKANE: You're a *girl*.
Ranma sniffles. Akane, too surprised to be angry, walks over and sinks to
her knees beside him.
AKANE: Why didn't you say so earlier?
RANMA: My father... wrote to your father. He found out you were all girls. He
needed a son. So he took me to Jusenkyo...
AKANE: He *pushed* you into that cursed pool?
RANMA: And I struggled, and he fell into the panda pool.
AKANE: (sounds angry now) And you weren't planning on telling us you weren't
really a boy? You were just going to marry m- one of us anyway?
RANMA: I had no choice! Do you think I wanted this? But I have to do what
Dad says... (sniffles) Please don't hate me! I hoped you wouldn't want to
marry a sex-changing freak and we could just get out of this whole mess...
Ranma buries his head in his hands. Akane awkwardly tries to comfort him.
AKANE: It's okay. I don't hate you. It'll be all right. Let me get you some
hot water, and then we can go talk to our parents.
Scene shift, back to the living room.
SAOTOME: Then it's settled?
TENDO: Akane will marry your son.
They shake hands, just as two girls enter the room, one with dark hair, one
with red.
AKANE: There's a problem with that, dad. He doesn't *have* a son.
TENDO: What?
AKANE: He has a daughter. Dad, I'd like you to meet my friend, Ranko
Saotome.
Some time later, in Akane's bedroom. Akane is throwing things around,
apparently trying to reorganise.
NABIKI: So, the Saotome kid's really a girl, huh?
AKANE: Yes.
NABIKI: I wonder if she'd be interested in a modeling contract?
AKANE: Look, just leave her alone, okay? She's had a rough time.
NABIKI: You're awfully protective of someone you've only just met. And
offering to share your room with her, even! Are you sure we shouldn't marry
the two of you after all?
Akane throws a stuffed animal at her.
AKANE: Shut up!
NABIKI: You've never made it a secret that you don't like boys...
This time, Akane throws a heavy book. Nabiki ducks.
AKANE: Leave me alone!
NABIKI: Okay, okay, sorry.
She leaves. Akane sinks onto the bed, hugging an old teddy bear to herself.
AKANE: But, when I saw him fighting, I thought he was so... beautiful...
It's not fair. Why does the only nice boy in my life turn out not to be a
boy after all?
.... to be continued?
