Chapter 2

"I can't believe you want to go play more tennis," Momo complained as he and Ryoma headed to the city tennis courts, where they planned to meet with An to play a few games. But after that afternoon's unusually grueling tennis practice, Momo obviously wasn't looking forward to more exercise. And come to think of it, Ryoma wouldn't have minded doing something else either.

"What else is there to do?" Ryoma shrugged, glancing sideways at Momo.

Momo gave him a look of mock horror. "What do you mean what else is there to do? You really should try more things, Echizen." Momo shook his head in disbelief. "How about we go to a movie?"

"Nothing good playing."

"How about the arcade?"

"Too far away."

"We'll get some burgers, then!"

"Not that hungry."

"Ah, I can't think of anything else! You're one difficult kid, Echizen." Momo sighed, apparently having resigned himself to more tennis.

"Why don't we ask An?" Ryoma suggested quietly after a moment.

Momo looked surprised at this, and brightened considerably. "Good idea! Girls are better at thinking up stuff like that anyway," he said wisely.

And luckily for the tired second year, An did indeed have an idea.

"Let's go for ice cream!" she suggested, and enthusiastically dragged the two boys to the nearest ice cream parlor, where she insisted they try waffle cones with the newest novelty flavors. Momo had been rather hesitant to go, protesting that ice cream parlors were for girls or for people on dates, and upon entering the ice cream parlor it did look as though most of the people there were female. But Ryoma didn't really care, and helped An haul Momo in anyway – ice cream was ice cream, after all. Even if it was pistachio-green tea swirl.

By a series of uncanny coincidences, Momo and Ryoma had become rather good friends with An. Momo had said it was strange for them to be so close to their rival team captain's younger sister, but Ryoma didn't see why it mattered since they hadn't even known who she was at first. And by the time they had actually exchanged full names, they had already gotten to know each other well enough to overlook . . . certain small details.

The three walked aimlessly through a nearby park and Ryoma noted, with some amusement, the huge difference in how Momo and An ate their ice cream. While An bit at hers daintily, Momo nearly shoved the whole bottom of his cone in his mouth, and even managed to get some on the side of his mouth as he finished it off.

"What?" Momo asked as he saw Ryoma looking at him.

"Nothing." Ryoma said, hiding a smirk as he gave he ran his tongue carefully over his own cone.

"Momo-chan, you've got ice cream on your face," An informed him with a barely suppressed grin as she handed him a napkin, which was gratefully accepted.

"Echizen! It's not nice to let your senpai walk around with ice cream on their face," Momo told him, only to be answered with a blank look. "Ah, you're so clueless sometimes." Momo slung an arm around his shoulder, oblivious to Ryoma's glare.

"Ah, you guys are so cute!" An teased. Before Ryoma could think of a reply, though, he felt a chill run up his spine. Eyes widening, he whirled around . . . but there was nothing there.

"Echizen?" Momo asked curiously, and An shot him a puzzled look.

"Nothing," Ryoma said uneasily. "Let's go."

They continued through the park in strained silence, and Ryoma was unable to rid himself of the feeling that there was something nearby that should not be. The feeling mounted, until Ryoma couldn't stand it for another moment. Turning around abruptly, he caught sight of a small grey cat perched in a nearby tree. But something inside of him seemed to scream that it wasn't just a cat. As if it knew it had been found out, the cat creature made the impossible leap from the tree branch towards the three of them, eyes gleaming crimson, and before Ryoma knew what he was doing his instincts had taken over and he couldn't stop what he felt was happening again, like it had before . . .

Ryoma blinked the sleep out of his eyes and stretched languidly, waking up from an impromptu nap. Though it wasn't cold, he shivered, unsure of what had woken him up.

It was afternoon on Christmas Eve, which was also his twelfth birthday. His parents had gone to his mother's company retreat, leaving him home alone for a few days with his cousin Nanako, who was probably out shopping or on a date. But Ryoma didn't mind being alone; on the contrary, he was glad to have some quiet time away from his weird parents.

Hopping off of the sofa, Ryoma went up to his room to change, intending to head over to the tennis courts to see if there was anyone there worth playing. As his bedroom door swished shut behind him, he felt a slight tickle on the backs of his bare arms, but disregarded it and started to pull off his shirt. As his hands brushed against his chest, he froze . . . and looked down. And saw a portion of anatomy that most definitely should not have been there. Eyes widening, but not quite in panic, Ryoma rushed into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. For a moment, all he could do was stare at the she that looked back at him, not comprehending that the waist length emerald tresses and the small, pert breasts could possibly belong to him.

He was abruptly jolted out of his shocked state by the sound of the front door opening, and Ryoma's first instinct was to hide. Somehow, against everything Ryoma knew of reason in this world, he had turned into a girl, and while he slept nonetheless. It had to be a nightmare. Ryoma bolted out of the bathroom and nearly flew down the hall into his room, slamming the door shut behind him. Nanako must not have heard him, as she didn't come up to greet him. So Ryoma just sat there quietly on his bed, knees drawn up to his newly formed chest. He couldn't bring himself to think rationally about his extremely irrational predicament, though on some level he realized that he couldn't just sit here forever.

He wasn't sure for how long he sat there before a soft knock sounded, and Ryoma's eyes fixed on his door. "Ryoma-san?" Nanako called, "Please come down for dinner now."

"I'm not hungry. I already --" he began, trailing off abruptly as he realized his mistake. His voice was all wrong. Trying to speak in a lower tone, he continued, falteringly, "I already ate."

Silence on the other end of the door, followed by a soft sigh. "I've been home since this afternoon and haven't seen you in the kitchen. Are you not feeling well? You sound a little off."

"I'm fine," he said as quietly as he could, and Ryoma held his breath in the pause that stretched before Nanako's reply.

"All right," Nanako said, a hint of worry in her voice. "Let me know if you need anything."

And then she left, and Ryoma let out a sigh of relief. He was saved from discovery, at least for the moment. And he couldn't think ahead any further than that. Flopping bonelessly down on the bed, Ryoma closed his eyes and willed himself to think, or do something; but nothing came to him.

Without warning, his door swung open to reveal Nanako backing in with a tray, and Ryoma bolted upright.

"I brought you something to eat, and it was so quiet in here that I thought you were asleep and so I . ." Nanako trailed off as she turned and saw Ryoma sitting on the bed. "Oh my," she breathed, eyes widening.

"Nanako-san . . ." Ryoma had nothing he could tell her. But if he was lucky, maybe she'd think that he was one of his friends, rather than himself. He'd never believed in luck though.

"Ryoma-san . . . your hair," she said quietly. "And . . ." Ryoma swung his legs over the side of the bed and simply looked at Nanako, causing her to start. The tray dropped out of her unresponsive fingers, landing with a muted thud. " . . . all of you. You're--"

"A girl. I know," Ryoma said dully, looking down to avoid her gaze.

"How . . . ?" Nanako seemed to be taking this rather calmly, though it was more likely that she was just as shocked as he was.

"I don't know," he mumbled. "I just woke up like this."

Ryoma heard Nanako take a few deep breaths, and then felt a weight settle beside him on the bed. He didn't move. After a moment Ryoma felt himself being pulled against his cousin's warm body by slim, strong arms, and he stiffened self-consciously at the contact. A hand smoothed down his hair, his terrible unnatural hair, and Ryoma bit his lip.

"It's beautiful, you know," Nanako said softly. "Your hair." She paused. "You should never be ashamed of yourself, Ryoma. No matter what you look like."

Just then Ryoma couldn't hold it back anymore, and if asked later, would probably blame the rare show of emotion on his female body. But whatever their reason, tears began to stream silently down his cheeks, and Nanako simply held him while he cried. As his tears finally slowed, he took a few shaky breaths to calm himself, and looked up at Nanako resolutely.

"Promise you won't tell anyone," he asked, begged, demanded of her, and looked her squarely in the eye while doing his best to still his trembling lower lip.

Nanako met his gaze, and smiled sadly. "I promise I won't tell anyone, and I'll do my best to help if I can.." Ryoma realized that it was a pointless promise, and he was sure that Nanako did too. But he was glad to have it anyway.

With murmured reassurances, his cousin finally left him alone, and Ryoma figured that he may as well go to sleep. Maybe, just maybe, he would wake up a boy again, since he had changed before while he was sleeping. But the next morning, the breasts and hair were still there, and Ryoma was still undeniably female. His distress was not helped by the fact that his supposedly beautiful hair was now a horrible mess from having been slept on, and he took a pair of scissors from the kitchen and vented his frustration by chopping it it all off up to his chin.

Not a half hour later, the cursed hair was back.

Ryoma tried very hard not to cry again, and succeeded only marginally. Suppressing a rising sense of panic, Ryoma holed himself up in his bedroom, and attempted to distract himself with homework and tennis magazines, a ploy which failed miserably. But that afternoon as he wished, for the tenth time that hour, to be a boy again, something happened that equaled yesterday afternoon's happenings in its strangeness. A tingling sensation swept through his body, causing Ryoma to gasp and shut his eyes. When he opened them, the first thing he noticed was his hair – or lack thereof.

He was a boy again. Whatever had happened was over.

After he had thoroughly grounded himself in reality, Ryoma headed into the kitchen to join Nanako for dinner. Surprise registered clearly on her face, though neither one of them ever spoke of the surreal events of that day again.

A strange tingling sensation coursed through Ryoma's body as he called out for the creature to leave, and it hissed and sparked as it tried to come closer to him. Then without warning the creature simply vanished, leaving Ryoma feeling distinctly unsettled. He turned to look at Momo and An, who, to his consternation, were simply standing there and gaping at him.

Momo's mouth moved, but no sound came out. An had no such problems, though.

"Aaaiiya!" she cried, hands flying to her open mouth in surprise. "Ryoma-kun . . ."

Looking down at himself, Ryoma felt a sinking sensation as he confirmed that he had, indeed, turned into a girl again. Somehow, it seemed to have been triggered by his reaction to that cat . . . thing . . . but it still didn't make sense. What had just happened?

"What the hell was that?" Momo exploded, eyes wide and wild. "Echizen?" he said in a more quiet voice, looking at Ryoma worriedly.

"I don't know," Ryoma said in a quiet, low voice, crossing his arms protectively across his chest and trying to ignore that it was no longer flat. "It was nothing. I've got to go." Though he wasn't sure where he could go, like this. But hopefully, Momo and An had been so distracted by the strange display that they wouldn't immediately notice that he had changed.

Momo looked at him disbelievingly. "You can't just leave after that! And that wasn't nothing," he said hotly. "It sure was weird, and . . . hey, what happened to your hair?"

An stepped directly in front of him then, and gently grabbed Ryoma's chin and tilted it up to face her. She gave him a scrutinizing look and then tugged off his cap, revealing a fall of long hair. "Aaah!" she made a small surprised sound, and then gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Ryoma-kun, but its the best way . . . ."

"Eh?"

An's hands were lightening quick, and before he could stop her An had planted them on Ryoma's undeniably female chest. She squeezed lightly, and then let out a small cry and quickly withdrew.

"An-san!" Ryoma protested, upset that she'd found out.

"But, but, you're . . . you . . ." An fell silent and just blinked at him in disbelief for a long moment, as if digesting the information. "You're so cuuute!" She finally grinned and glomped him, much to Ryoma's chagrin.

Momo was still standing there and looking utterly bewildered, and Ryoma would have been happy to leave him that way had An not said something. "Ryoma turned into a girl!" An told him, putting her hands on Ryoma's shoulders as if to demonstrate. "See?"

Momo's eyes widened almost comically, and Ryoma would have thought the sight funny if his situation hadn't been so dire. He had no idea what to do next, and Momo's gaping was not helping. Momo came closer and peered closely at Ryoma's face, then at his hair, and then down at his chest. An scowled, and for some reason chose that moment to whack her fellow second-year over the head.

"Okay, I get the idea!" Momo rubbed his head and sighed, then looked carefully back at Ryoma. "Man, that's weird. At least you only look like a girl, I guess. Though there's something else . . . " he trailed off as he stared at Ryoma intently, not seeming to know how to finish his thought.

"Hmph."

"You don't seem so surprised about this," An remarked, giving Ryoma a curious look.

"It happened once before, on my last birthday," he shrugged. "So I should be able to change back again in a day or so." At least, he was pretty sure that was how it worked. "But, the other stuff," he gestured helplessly with his hands. "I don't know."

They stood in uncertain silence for a moment, before Momo broke the mood. "So, do your parents call you Ryoma-chan, when you're like this?" he asked only half-teasingly.

"No," Ryoma said shortly. "They don't know," he admitted.

"It's a secret, then?" An asked.

"I guess. I really didn't want them to find out." He didn't even want to think about what his high-strung mother and his pervert of a father would think.

"Your secret's safe with us!" Momo proclaimed. "You can stay at my house tonight, so your parents will never know."

"Uh-uh!" An protested, "Ryo-chan's a girl now, and she can't stay over at a boy's house! You can come home with me," she told Ryoma. "My parents won't mind."

Ryoma's cheeks burned in both anger and embarrassment at the ridiculous nickname An had given him. "I don't mind staying with you, Momo-senpai. But your parents won't let you have a girl overnight, will they," he pointed out, and Momo's face fell.

"I forgot about that." Momo sighed. "Besides, my siblings are so annoying, you'd probably kill them or something," he said jokingly.

"Can we go now then?" Ryoma asked irritably, suddenly feeling very exposed even though the park was nearly deserted where they were. "I don't want anyone to recognize me like this."

"I can take your bag if you want then," Momo offered, and Ryoma handed the familiar item to him gratefully after taking out a few choice necessities. "Now if you're sure you two will be okay . . ." Momo said uncertainly, and An made shooing motions with her hands.

"We'll see you later, Momo-chan! I've got to get Ryo-chan here properly disguised," she said matter-of factly, giving Momo a wink.

"Hoo boy, you're in for it now, Echizen!" Momo snickered, and clapped Echizen on the shoulder before starting to walk away. "See you around! And don't forget to call later!"

As annoying as Momo would undoubtedly be about this, Ryoma suddenly found himself wishing that he wouldn't have left him alone with An.

"Come on, Ryo-chan, I have just the thing . . ."

-------

Chapter 2 Notes:

For those of you wondering where Tezuka and Fuji are, they will start appearing in Chapter 4 and will have increasingly prominent roles from then on. :)

Ryoma's family, as you may have guessed, will be characterized somewhat differently, most notably his mother. His father will be more or less the same, but his mother will not be. This is due to the "ripple effect" from the change I made to canon.

As for Ryoma's behavior in the flashback scene, I do not consider it OOC, despite the show of emotion. Stoic and confident or not, Ryoma is still a just a kid. And suddenly having your reality turned upside down by an impossible gender change would be enough to make anyone cry, IMHO.