Chapter 1. Awakening and confusion.
"He's awake!" Ranma heard, a voice that sounded kind of like his own echoing through his head. No, the voice sounded like his girl form, but it was higher. Somehow seeming younger. As he eased his eyes open, Ranma noticed that he was staring at the ceiling of Dr. Tofu's clinic, a sight that he had woken to see many times in his life. "Ngh… what hit me?" He asked, sitting up slightly. To his amazement, he didn't feel any pain from his head, or anywhere else. Usually he was in to see the doc due to some blunt head trauma or a large amount of injury.
"That's what we want to know." Dr. Tofu said, as he walked up beside Ranma and looked him over. "Do you know what happened to you?"
"I… I was fighting Saffron. I had just thrown this really big Chi blast and…" Ranma started, before his eyes widened in alarm. "Where's Akane?" he asked, looking around in a panic.
Tofu dismissed Ranma's strange comments in order to calm him down. Even if he didn't like the boy, he was still his patient and he had a responsibility to care for him. "Miss Tendo is fine. Calm down, Ranma." He said, putting a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "Now how about you tell me who this saffron that you were apparently fighting is?"
After Ranma had told Dr. Tofu about Saffron, a little girl's voice came from nearby, still sounding curiously like Ranma's own female high soprano. "Ranma, that was one heck of a dream you had." She giggled, causing Ranma to look over at her.
Instantly, the pigtailed martial artist was on guard. In front of him, stood a figure that most people would have to be nuts to consider a threat. Ranma wasn't most people. The girl had red hair, falling to her shoulders and unbound. Her eyes were a bright blue, the same shade as his own, and she looked to be about twelve years old. "Who the heck are you?" Ranma asked, his eyes narrowing.
Tofu blinked in surprise from his position next to the bed. He still had his hand on Ranma's shoulder, and could feel the boy ready to lash out or run if the situation got any weirder. He could also see waves of confusion and a little bit of fear coming from the boy. It was also quite evident that he had no idea who his own sister was. "Mr. And Mrs. Saotome, bring Ranko and come into the waiting room." Tofu said, and then turned to Ranma. "We will be right back in to explain things, Ranma."
The pigtailed martial artist nodded, confused.
A minute or so later, four people were standing out side of Ranma's clinic room, and Tofu was looking at the other three.
"What's wrong, doctor?" Nodoka asked, wondering at her son's strange behaviour and the story that he had told.
Tofu sighed. "I don't know. I'd think it was amnesia if he didn't recognise all of us, but he seems to only have a problem with Ranko. His story is strange, especially the part about an immortal phoenix and Akane, but what concerns me is the curse that he mentioned a few times. I don't know what it is, and he seems to think that I should. There's also the fact that he has physically changed along with the mental changes that you have seen. He is about on par with that old fool of a master that Soun and Genma train under.
"R… Ranma is as strong as the master?" Genma stuttered, his eyes wide in shock.
"As far as I can tell, yes." Tofu confirmed. He did not voice his concerns that given Ranma's character, he could become exactly like the old freak, but they were there. "I think we should be careful not to scare Ranma. He is very jumpy for some reason and I don't know how well he can control his new larger Chi reserve. Just try to take whatever happens in stride until we find out what's wrong with him."
The Saotomes nodded reluctantly before the group entered Ranma's room again.
"So ya gunna tell me what's goin on, doc?" Ranma asked, looking at Tofu.
"Ranma, I think that you may have gotten a head injury that caused you to forget certain things and misunderstand others. I know this may be hard for you to accept, since you remember everything so clearly, but the incident you described with the phoenix king has never happened, and in fact I believe that Miss Tendo would probably beat you up if you mentioned it to her."
"Phoenix mountain never happened?" Ranma asked, blinking in confusion. "All right, how do you explain her, then?" He said, pointing at Ranko. "She looks like my cursed form, but younger…" Then his eyes widened. "Fine. If ya wanna convince me of this theory of yours, Go get me some cold water."
"Cold water?" Tofu asked, blinking in confusion. "What do you need that for?"
"Just trust me, okay doc?" Ranma said.
Tofu sighed and walked to a sink at the side of the room, grabbing a paper cup and filling it. "Here you go, Ranma." He said, handing it to the pigtailed boy.
Ranma looked at the contents questioningly before dumping it over his head. For a second, nothing happened. Ranma's expression was a mixture of happiness and disbelief before he started feeling the tingle, as he always did. It felt a lot stronger this time, the same way it had the first time he had fallen into the pool. Slowly, as if it was unsure how to do it's job, Ranma's body began to become blurry and indistinct.
"What's going on?" Nodoka asked, raising a hand to her mouth.
"I don't know." Tofu said, noticing that Ranma's Chi aura was changing again.
As the haziness around Ranma's body cleared away, everyone in the room except for Ranma herself stared in shock. Now sitting on the bed, was a seventeen year old duplicate of Ranko, with her red hair tied back in a pigtail. "Sorry doc, but I got my doubts about your idea now." Ranma said, in her higher female voice.
Nodoka's mouth opened and closed rapidly, while Genma just stared, his eyes wide. Ranko tentatively moved forward and looked the girl on the bed over. "Ranma?" She asked, tentatively.
"Yeh?" Ranma asked, looking down at the girl, The surprised and wondering look on her face keeping Ranma from being suspicious of anything.
"Are you my sister now?" Ranko said, deadpan, with a rather large smirk. Ranma face faulted, twitching slightly. Sitting back up, Ranma looked at the little girl in annoyance and curiosity. "First off, I'm a guy. I just change into a girl with cold water. Hot water changes me back. Second, you're my sister?"
Nodoka, who was still slightly shell shocked, spoke up. "Yes. Ranko is about twelve. You mean you don't remember her at all?" She asked, feeling odd talking to what looked like an older version of her daughter rather than her son.
Ranma shook her head. "No, I don't remember her at all… The last thing I remembered, I was an only child."
Tofu cut in, before the family could continue to talk. "I'm sorry, but Ranma appears to be, if not normal, at least healthy. Can you please leave my office now?' His professional demeanour was falling away now that his patient appeared to be out of danger, and he was looking hard at Ranma.
Ranma noticed the almost glare and shivered. 'Man, what'd I do?' She wondered, but quickly got off of the bed. "Can I have some hot water before I leave?" She asked, looking at the sink. Tofu gave a small nod and Ranma went to the sink, turning on the hot tap and splashing herself. He arranged the slightly ripped Furinkan boys uniform that he was wearing, wondering why it was a bit more broad in the shoulders than he was used to. He didn't wear uniforms much, but they usually weren't this loose.
As the family left the clinic, Nodoka paying Dr. Tofu for his services, Ranma turned down the street and started to head off. "Where are you going, son?" Nodoka asked, looking at him quizzically.
"I'm goin home." Ranma said, looking back at her in confusion.
"Home is this way." Nodoka said, pointing back towards the main street. With a confused shrug, Ranma followed Nodoka and Genma, the little girl walking next to him and throwing uncertain glances at him.
Ranma blinked as the group of four people came into sight of the Saotome home. It was his mother's house, but not completely destroyed. Not only that, but it had a very small dojo next to it that looked like it hadn't been used in a couple of years. "This place looks kinda different." Ranma muttered, walking up the front walk and inside.
He quickly walked down the hall to where he thought his old room was and opened the door, only to see a little girl's bedroom. No, actually it looked more like Akane's room. It was decorated for a girl, most definitely, but it was rather plain. There were several barbells in one corner and a poster of a popular female martial artist on one wall. As Ranma looked around, Ranko walked up behind him.
"Ranma, what are you doing looking into my room?" She asked, in a combination of annoyance and confusion.
"Your room?" Ranma said, slowly. "Um… Sorry. I thought it was mine." He explained. "No wonder it has a lotta girls stuff in it." Shrugging, he walked down the hall, avoiding his father and mother's bedroom and finding a door at the end of the hall. Opening it, his mouth hung open in disbelief. The room reminded him of his friend Hiroshi's place. There were a couple of pin up posters on the walls, as well as a few ahem not for children Magazines laying on his dresser. Slowly walking in, an expression of disbelief frozen on his face, he noticed a small computer system set up in one corner, something that he barely knew how to use, along with a telephone. He flinched as he saw another poster that was over top of the computer. It was a girl in a cat costume, posing seductively.
Shivering, Ranma grabbed the poster and rolled it up as fast as he could, trying not to think of the contents. "THIS is getting destroyed." He said, vehemently, before walking out of the room and down the hall. Walking to the front yard of the house, Ranma used a burst of Chi energy to incinerate the poster of the cat girl down to it's component ashes. "That's better…" He sighed, before seeing his father looking at him strangely.
"Ranma, do that again." The old man said, tossing Ranma a piece of wood.
Ranma shrugged. "All right…" He said, before flash frying the wood the same way he had the poster. "What's wrong, pop?" He asked.
Genma didn't respond, but charged Ranma with a battle cry. Coming in to try and get the boy in a headlock, Genma was surprised to see Ranma easily notice his move and dodge it, before delivering a hammer blow to his exposed back after the missed lunge. Genma hit the ground with a loud THUD, causing Nodoka to come to the front door and look out. "Genma, are you trying to train Ranma again?" She asked, before she saw that her husband was laid out on the ground, his eyes shut in pain.
"Pop, you okay?" Ranma asked, extending a hand to help his father up.
"I… I'm fine, Ranma." Genma said, rubbing his back. "You're very powerful. Almost as powerful as your old man!" He continued, laughing.
Ranma snorted. "I've been beatin you since I was fourteen, and you know it." He said, before seeing the disbelieving looks on Nodoka and Genma's faces. "y'mean I haven't?" He asked, confused.
"You said that you weren't interested in the martial arts." Nodoka said, still looking surprised. "Your father gave up on really training you several years ago."
"So… you've been trainin Ranko, then?" Ranma asked, wondering if he should spar with the girl that was claiming to be his little sister.
"Of course not! No girl can be strong in the martial arts!" Genma declared, pompously.
Ranma had been hearing that for his entire life, and for much of the time he had believed it. Then, Jusenkyo had happened, and he had been forced to admit that women were only usually less skilled than men because they weren't trained as hard. The only exception he knew to this rule was Shampoo, and he truthfully hadn't seen her train either, despite her claims to be a warrior. Narrowing his eyes, he asked, "Do ya want me to get a cup of cold water and beat ya again?"
Genma smirked. "You can try!" He yelled, gesturing for Nodoka to go and get the item. After Ranma had dumped the water over his head, he noticed that the change came as quickly as always now. She didn't know why it had been so slow the first time, but shrugged it off. She was going to beat the crap out of her father, as usual, and even if she had to do it in girl form in order to prove a point, it was going to be fun. "Ready old man?" Ranma asked, looking at the fat martial artist.
"Ready." Genma said, taking a stance.
From a window above the two, Ranko watched the confrontation. She had seen her older brother take their father down effortlessly before, and she wondered if he could really do the same thing in a form that, except for it's older age, was exactly like her.
The two figures charged together and the red one began to blur as she picked up speed. She began to launch many quick and weak blows, as her fighting style usually dictated for her female form, and started pummelling Genma. It was probably a good thing that she hadn't done this as a guy, since his greater strength probably would have knocked the old man out a lot faster, as his defences were non-existent and she didn't need her speed advantage. For some reason, Genma seemed pathetically easy to fight against. It was almost like he hadn't trained at all in the last decade. He was pathetic! Deciding to end the fight quickly now that she had assessed her father's skill, Ranma jumped into the air and came down with a knee drop to the older man's face. With a rather loud crash, Genma hit the ground, not moving.
"That was easy." Ranma muttered, flicking her pigtail behind her ear and walking to the house for some hot water. Nodoka just gaped at the crumpled body of her husband, who although he hadn't trained for a while was a pretty good martial artist. For some reason, Genma held up a sign that said, "Oh the pain." Before passing out.
Nodoka didn't know what had happened to her son, but she kind of liked it. True, that strange transformation curse that he had wasn't very manly, but he was very strong. Besides, with the luck her son had been having with women of late, she was beginning to question her own beleafs about manliness. Evidently, most women did NOT think that being peeped on was exciting.(1)
After returning to his preferred state of maleness, Ranma walked up the stairs to find a young red haired girl waiting for him. Having Ranko around was going to take a bit of getting used to, because every time he saw her he had flashbacks of that evil spirit that had possessed his girl form that one time. "Hey Ranko. What do ya want?" Ranma asked, stopping on the stairs as the body in front of him made it rather difficult to proceed.
"Train me." The girl said, seriously.
"Huh?" Ranma asked, blinking stupidly.
"Please?" The girl said, giving her elder brother the puppy dog eyes. This technique even worked when he was being an incredible jerk, so surely it would work now.
Ranma, through his own use of the technique, had grown a slight immunity to the puppy dog look. Problem, a twelve year old girl looking at you like that and quivering her lip would cause Herb of the musk to cave in and let her ride around on his back while he flew around. Sighing in defeat, Ranma threw up his hands. "Why're ya askin me? Why not ask pop."
"Because he won't train me since I'm a girl." Ranko shot back, instantly.
Ranma blinked. He supposed that she had a point there. Genma probably would give that as a reason, and Nodoka didn't think martial arts was all that ladylike herself. "All right. But I'm really tired today. Can we do this some other time?" Ranma said, yawning.
"All right!" Ranko said, standing up from the step she was sitting on and giving Ranma a hug. As Ranko ran off to her bedroom, Ranma couldn't help but grow a bit of a smile. Having a little sister could be really nice. Walking into his room, he proceeded to tuck away some of the more.. distracting posters and magazines. He didn't want everyone to think he was a pervert, after all. Too bad that that was already a lost cause.
As he sprawled out on the bed, much more comfortable than a futon on someone else's floor, he stared up at the ceiling of his room. He was confused. Just a few ours ago he had been in a life or death battle with Saffron, trying to save Akane. Now, Akane was apparently safe at the Dojo, he had grown a little sister and Dr. Tofu was apparently angry at him for some reason. Had the Saffron incident really just been some sort of conjured memory caused by a head injury? He HAD had that kind of problem once before, and it had seemed so real then too. Then Ranma remembered that he still had his curse, and no one seemed to have an explanation for it. Not to mention that his martial arts skills were, if not quite as good as they normally were, still very good. Sighing in frustrated confusion, Ranma closed his eyes and went to sleep.
A room away, Ranko was staring up at her ceiling. Her brother was acting so… different. He hadn't called her a twerp once since he had woken up from his little fainting spell, and he seemed to be so much better at the arts. She had also seen him burning one of his pin up posters, but she didn't know what that really meant. Was he not a peeping tom anymore, or did he just not like that poster for some reason. Of course, there was that curse of his, too. It was the strangest thing she'd ever seen. Was that what she was going to look like when she got older? The only bad thing she could see about it was that she would be so short. Ranma's girl side was only a bit taller than she was now. Being that short for the rest of her life would kind of suck. She consoled herself that Ranma, who had apparently grown skill in the martial arts from nowhere, was going to teach her some moves. She had tried to copy the moves she had seen from Akane Tendo and the martial artists off of TV, but she knew that she was doing some things wrong. With a happy grin at the thoughts of what she was going to learn, Ranko went to sleep.
In the parents' room, Nodoka was fast asleep but Genma was not. His son had, thanks to him of course, become a master of the anything goes school. He could tell Soun in the morning, and Soun could pick one of his daughters for the boy to be engaged to. The schools would be joined! With a maniacal smile, Genma fell asleep, dreaming of his retirement.
Notes.
(1) I figure that Nodoka's an incurable exhibitionist and is pretty well incapable of being jealous. How ELSE would she be all right with "Manly" behaviour, when it makes all other women rather sick to their stomachs.
VOTE! Tendo Daughter engaged to Ranma.
Akane.
Nabiki.
Kasumi.
This vote will be on until I release chapter two. This is not exactly a relationship pole, but it will disqualify the two tendos that don't get a winning vote.
