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Sunshine sparkled through the closed and stainless windows of Akane Tendo's room. The world was still spinning and birds still sung their happy good morning song. But. Something was out of place. Shock, confusion, and potential stress swirled from the auras of the two teens that occupied the room and created an undetectable wind that blew the curtains on the window.
Akane sat with her… or his… legs outstretched and a dumbstruck look adorning her masculine face. Her eyes were wide and she stared in awe… or maybe horror… at her body looking down on her with a dry and spaced out look. It was lucky that her previous screech session had drained so much energy from her because another shriek built up in her stomach from staring at 'herself'. Every plan, every smile, every bit of normality that had once filled her mind wisped in to strands of memories.
Meanwhile, Ranma stood opposite his exact male figure. His mouth agape and his tongue dry. He tried to lick his lips and speak but after realizing they weren't his lips, he decided against it. How he felt could be compared to someone knocking the breath out of him then, shoving his stomach to his throat. It was an awful feeling that left him quite dizzy and uneasy.
The awkward silence continued for another minute before Ranma cleared his throat.
"A-Akane?" he asked while testing it on his tongue. It was hard to look at his own face and ask Akane's name. Whoever it was sat, mouth slightly agape and head shaking in disbelief and remaining unresponsive.
"Ranma? I-is that you? I-in m-my body?" Akane finally stuttered while whispering at the same time. Ranma flinched at the sound of his voice being used by someone else. Not only was it unnerving… the way Akane stuttered, executed the manly composure Ranma usually tried to maintain.
Ranma's mouth opened and closed several times before he simply nodded, too stunned to verbally admit what was going on. He swallowed a lump in his throat and watched as Akane's… or rather his blue eyes water and turn red. He had never done a self analysis on himself when he was upset, but the way Akane was showing it now… he could see why people usually took his threats seriously.
Akane's jaw clenched and unclenched and her throat itched. All she could see was red… red and Ranma inside of her body. How? She had no clue. With that being noticed she bounded from her spot on the floor with one leap and grabbed her body by it's gray tank top and rammed it against the wall.
"What. Did. You. Do?!" she said through clenched teeth. Both pairs of eyes met and the intensity they held did nothing to soften the tension. Ranma stared defiantly through Akane's chocolate eyes and huffed up at his own strength being used against him.
"What do you mean 'What did I do?' I'm just as stumped as you are! I have no idea how the hell this happened or what's going on!" he said.
All breathing stopped for a moment and all that left was skeptic looks. Akane sighed in agitation and defeat and released her body from her strong grip.
"What is going on?" she whispered from Ranma's mouth. She looked over to the mirror again and simply stared. She was actually a male… she was actually in Ranma's body. She blinked and Ranma's mirror image blinked. She reached up to touch her face and Ranma's body did the same. Akane felt her lip quiver and she turned her face away from the mirror of realization.
"Don't you dare cry, Akane." Ranma half-heartedly spoke. The truth was, he almost wanted to cry himself. Seeing as he was in Akane's body right now it wouldn't do much to disrupt his male image. Still, he decided against it. "We'll fix this."
"FIX IT?! We don't even know how this happened so how are you supposed to-" To keep from lashing out Akane jammed her clenched fists into what used to be Ranma's pants pockets and she felt something crumple. Suddenly, she began to recall last night's event. She was sick. She kept feeling weird. Ranma said he was feeling weird too. She recalled eating, doing a kata, a few headaches, the contest. It all flashed through her mind quickly but it still felt as if she was missing something insignificant but important. She had blacked out and just then she recalled Ranma calling for her and herself calling for him. It was still something nagging her though. Without hesitation, Akane ripped the paper from Ranma's pocket. It was the package of the pill she had taken.
"T-the pill…" she whimpered.
Ranma cocked his head to the side and stared in contemplation at his once male form. "What?" he asked intelligently.
Akane still stared down at the Chinese package in disbelief. It was a pain killer, right? "Ranma… are you sure? Are you sure… this was just a pain killer?"
Ranma took the package from her and everything from the previous night flashed through his mind. Everything seemed normal and there was no reason to suspect the pill. From what he read… or understood… it was a pain killer. He scanned over the package once again to confirm his doubt filled thoughts and everything was right until his eyes reached something. The two girls; one sad on ecstatic. Could that mean…?
"Nope." Ranma replied. He looked up into Akane's now deep blue eyes and bit his lip. "I think those pills switched our bodies."
Nabiki gasped and nearly stumbled to the ground.
It was early that morning when everyone had awoken to the ear splitting scream that filled the Tendo Residence. Every Tendo and Genma had gathered in front of the door where the scream emitted from. Akane's room. Her father had been insistent on barging in but Nabiki quickly deterred him from the thought knowing that it had something to do with Ranma. And when there was a Ranma in trouble, there was a profit to be made.
It took some arguing but she finally convinced the rest of the household to continue what they were doing and let her handle the situation. She'd stood there for a good five minutes only hearing a simple "Akane?" being uttered by the voice of her younger sister. Akane wasn't prone to speaking in third person. The talking seized from there and Nabiki thought of walking away when, suddenly, one hell of an argument broke loose.
By the contents on the situation, Nabiki would have guessed that Ranma had finally decide to make a move on her sister, but by the voices of the speakers, it would seem otherwise.
It took a lot to confuse the cunning and sneaky Nabiki Tendo but, she had to admit she was stumped. She almost aborted her plan for profit to actually find out what was going on until she heard the last statement.
'I think those pills switched our bodies.' Akane's voiced echoed through her head and it didn't take long for her to adjust the pieces of the puzzle in her mind.
Akane was Ranma.
Ranma was Akane.
Little brother Ranma must've made some hell of mistake taking care of her baby sister last night. And to wake up in the same room? Now this was worth waking up early for.
She gathered herself together and pressed a bit more onto the door but the conversation remained dormant. She partially understood the cause of it. Who would have the nerve to speak after realizing they weren't themselves anymore?
With a look of satisfaction Nabiki began walking back to her room. This new information would prove very useful to her. For a moment, a frown took the place of her once triumphant smile. It involved Akane too. She still owed an apology to her baby sister for ruining her wedding by inviting 'the life of the party'. If she were to reveal her newly found information it could destroy the trust Akane had in her. Not that it was much, but it was still there. It could even involve her in a shotgun wedding by her father if this news happened to circulate to her family.
She couldn't risk it so she made the final decision to keep what was known to herself. Then, her triumphant smile was back.
Before entering her room she yawned loudly. "Good morning everyone!" she said in a purposely cheerful voice so that the two who occupied the room would become aware of her presence.
That didn't mean she couldn't have fun with it.
Ranma turned his head from staring at Akane to the door where he heard Nabiki's ever-so-cheerful voice yawn a good morning that the whole block could probably hear. Sudden panic caught in his chest and he became frantic.
"I got to get out of here." he hissed. From past experience, he knew that whenever someone caught him in Akane's room it never ended well.
He looked at the door and at the window. It was a better chance of him not getting caught if he went through the window. He threw the window open and prepared to jump when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He found himself staring at 'himself' who had an expectant look on their face.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Akane asked. Ranma remembered that he was, for he time being, Akane and Akane was 'Ranma'. Tentatively, he stepped from the ledge of the window and stood in a confused and panicked stance.
"We can't let them catch 'Ranma' in your room. It'll be hell I'm telling you! HELL!"
"Well, I hope you have another plan because there is no way I'm- WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Before Akane could finish her sentence she was all ready being pushed towards the window. Braking herself with her hands against the wall, Akane turned and glared at her body.
"Why are you stopping?! You have to get out… they'll think you're Ranma!" Ranma hissed.
"Why can't I go through the-"
"Akane? Are you up? Breakfast is ready." Kasumi's melodic voice that could usually be compared to a lullaby pitched terror into the two teens. Ranma continued to push his body forward until it substituted as a curtain for the window.
"Just try to land on your feet. You won't die." Ranma said.
"Oh well that's promising." Akane retorted.
"JUST JUMP!"
With that, Akane shut her eyes, held her breath, and jumped from her own two-story high bedroom window. Air rushed beneath her feet and her heart flew to her throat. Mere seconds seemed like minutes as she fell and, finally, landed on her feet. The shock of the landing traveled through her feet and up to her spine, bringing her to her knees on the grass outside. She promised herself that when she figured this situation out, she'd kill Ranma.
"I'm coming down now, Kasumi!" she heard Ranma yell. Akane looked up to the window and glared as Ranma looked down at her through her own brown eyes.
"Didn't break anything did you? That's precious cargo." Without giving her time to respond, he shut the bedroom window. 'Precious cargo my foot.' Akane thought. 'I'll get back into my body and kick his 'precious cargo' into orbit!'
---
The situation at hand was proving quite difficult for Ranma to deal with. They could've had this figured out and he could be back in his own body right now, walking comfortably down the stairs, if it hadn't been for the interruptions of the older Tendo sisters. If it was a simple pill that caused them to switch, then it surely had to be something as simple to switch them back. He couldn't handle the things his mind kept wandering to any longer.
'Akane's body sure has a lot of-' he mentally slapped himself. It was good the switch hadn't altered his brain at all. Still, it wasn't good to put the mind of a seventeen year old boy in the body of a seventeen year old girl that said boy had been caught looking at several times.
'Even naked…' This time Ranma really slapped himself. Couldn't he just get to the table without his mind force feeding attractive mental images? If Akane could read his mind right now, surely he would've been kicked in a place where boys should never be kicked.
'But you're not a boy right now, are you? You're Akane Tendo, and what's in between your legs-' Ranma reached the last stair and sat down pinching his nose closed for fear of the blood streaming from it getting everywhere.
He needed his own body back. AND FAST.
After regaining feeling in her legs, Akane made her way to toward the back of the house where they always ate breakfast. Her feet still stung but she was over the initial shock of the jump and promised to give Ranma a severe beating later.
Still, she was unsure of how she was able to land on her feet. Her sense of balance had always been a little… off key. So why was it that, without much thought, she been able to perfectly land a jump from a second story window.
Could she have inherited Ranma's skills?
Well… inherited would be the wrong word. It was more like everything that was once hers was now Ranma's and everything that was Ranma's was now hers.
His looks. Her stomach growled… his appetite. She continued toward the house hoping to fill the bottomless pit that was Ranma's stomach with Kasumi's delicious food.
That's when she realized… she was 'Ranma'.
As redundant and obvious as that seemed, it had just dawned on Akane that being a boy meant having things girls didn't.
Akane's face was red as her attempt to keep from the subject of… Ranma, failed. Desperately she tried to make her way to the table without her stomach getting any tighter. She was in high school and that meant she'd taken the sex education class. She knew what happened to guys when they started to think perverted and she was certainly no pervert!
The table was in sight and so was everyone else who occupied the residence. Her gaze drifted toward her body and the blush was back full force. How was Ranma coping in her body? The red glow of her own face could tell her that Ranma's mind was strongly protesting to the constant insults he made about her body.
Akane almost smiled triumphantly at his notice but decided on a glower in his direction instead. If he was that embarrassed, he must have been thinking some pretty perverted stuff. She stepped to the table and sat down next to but as far always as possible from Ranma.
"Pervert." she steamed.
"Look who's talkin'." Ranma retorted.
Akane needed to fix this situation and fast. As soon as breakfast was over she'd drag Ranma somewhere and demand him to change her back and when he did, she give him one hell of a reprimanding… with her foot.
If she were some normal girl from the countryside who went to a normal high school with her oh-so-normal friends and lived in a fiancé free home, she still be on the floor crying somewhere about becoming a boy.
Fortunately… or maybe unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
She lived in Nerima with her water-cursed fiancé who had a severe case of foot-in-mouth and couldn't go a day without a new martial arts challenge; went to a high school with a bunch of nut jobs who constantly kidnapped her challenged and fought her; and was constantly exposed to potions, deadly herbs, etc. This situation, she had to admit, was shocking. But, like everything else, there had to be a solution.
So she wasn't worried… that much. She just hoped this could be fixed as soon a possible.
Ranma stole glances at his face while eating and, for once, savoring the delicious Kasumi handled breakfast. He immediately discovered that it didn't take much to fill Akane's stomach and he didn't require seconds. Akane, however, had been bringing her chopsticks to her mouth non-stop. It was almost as if they never left!
He couldn't help but smile a little bit. He knew he had an appetite but the way Akane was stuffing his mouth, it would seem as if he hadn't eaten in ten years.
His father, still hung over from whatever he was doing last night, was a lot more lax this morning. Ranma sighed with relief. Every time his father had gotten drunk, he was always too hung over to spar the next morning. Unfortunately, he usually made up for it the next morning. That gave him the whole day to switch back with Akane without her destroying his body.
If he could find the cure.
It wasn't his fault that his Chinese wasn't up to par. He was only trying to help the tomboy get better… or at least get her to sleep. And.. Of course, that failed miserably.
With everything he had been through involving potions, pills, and herbs this was in his top ten. After his nosebleed gone wild scenario, he realized that he'd been a girl before and being like this, in Akane's body, didn't really feel that much different. He still felt empty where it shouldn't and heavy where it shouldn't be.
Still, Akane's body was different. Everything he did seemed to remind him of whose body he occupied. Everything he touched, everything that touched him. It was annoying actually. If he could get through breakfast without any suspicions, he'd fix this and go back to viewing Akane from afar. At least he didn't get a nosebleed just looking.
Now, just to finish breakfast.
"Hey, Ranma, Akane. What did you guys do last night?" Nabiki asked looking straight into Akane's eyes. Ranma nearly choked. It was ALWAYS Nabiki, wasn't it? He crossed his slim fingers under the table hoping Akane wouldn't screw it up.
"N-nothing. I was sick… I'm better. That's it." Akane said equally as nervous. She continued to stuff her face until she felt prickling stares on her face. Looking up from the last grain of rice in her bowl, she noticed everyone staring awkwardly at her. Nabiki with a small grin on her face and Ranma displaying the expected 'Akane' scowl on her face.
"Oh my. I thought it was Akane who was sick. You should've told us you were sick too, Ranma." Kasumi added.
Akane stopped her chopsticks half way to Ranma's big mouth. Had she also gained Ranma's foot-in-mouth syndrome?
"No you idiot! I was sick. You gave me the pain killers and now I'm better. No need to worry Kasumi, she's just an idiot." Ranma tried to compensate.
"She?" Soun asked with an eyebrow quirked upwards. Genma almost sniggered at the mistake but decided to keep his headache to a minimum.
"I-I meant…" Ranma said.
"And I'm the idiot. You're such a jerk. I wish you would just get lost." Akane said forcefully slamming her chopsticks on the plate.
Composure lost, Ranma slammed his chopsticks down too and retorted, "At least I ain't a shapeless tomboy like you. Your body ain't nothin' to look at anyway!"
Akane reached her fist back and prepared to punch him through the roof then she looked into the brown eyes that initially belonged to her. Slowly, she placed her clenched fist back in her lap and stood.
"I'll find that cure myself." she said before storming out of the room.
"Not if I do first." Ranma said heading out of the room in the opposite direction.
Of course, they were completely oblivious to the confused stares and head scratching going on from the family behind them.
Save, Nabiki's hysterical laughter.
It was rare that Nabiki laughed so hard and it almost felt relieving to her. This situation couldn't go by un-laughed at and due to everyone else's obliviousness she had to be the one to do it.
"Does anyone know what the heck just happened?" Genma added in.
Everyone shook their heads except Nabiki who seemed to lose all of her composure and laugh even harder. Sometimes she wished she hadn't been the only conniving one in the family so that she could share these once in a blue moon laughs with someone. She quickly regretted it. If she wasn't the only conniving, who would she have to scam money from.
She tried to calm down her uncharacteristic laughter and stared at the family surrounding her.
"Don't mind me. Just having a little fun watching their little skit. Well, see you later." she smiled and left an even more baffled family in her wake.
"Is that what it was?" Kasumi asked.
A/N:
And there it is! I actually finished it!
Uh-OH! Nabiki knows? This can't be good!
Initially, this chapter would've been much shorter, but I was having so much fun writing it that I couldn't stop! Just imagine next chapter!
THANK YOU ALL MY REVIEWERS, SUBCRIBERS, AND FAVORITERS! Although, a favorite/subscribe without a review does seem to tick me off! Still, I appreciate it! I've read all of your reviews and I promise to respond from now on! I just have to say that you guys have some good points and suggestions and some of you may have noticed that I used quite a few of them sooooo… keep 'em coming!
Hope you enjoyed and don't forget… if you have enough energy to read… you definitely have enough to review and tell me what you liked!
P.S I'm not expecting as many reviews this time… that was kinda selfish //// BUT I JUST ENJOY THEM SO MUCH!
~Tsukiko