A/N: Just a small note before we begin. No, Ranma is not overpowered. He just has access to more techniques earlier than canon Ranma. Just because he knows the Hiryu Shoten Ha, doesn't mean he's learned how to use it. I also now have an iPad, which has a really good app on it called Pages. I can now type on a much larger screen, reducing mistakes, and also allowing me to not have to use this website for writing. Before, I didn't have any good writing apps, so I used the copy and paste update version to write all my chapters. That was so inconvenient, it's probably the reason I had writers block: some times, it would mess up and delete entire sections of my fanfiction. There will be more notes at the end. Until then, enjoy the fanfiction!
Disclaimer: As previously stated, if I owned Ranma 1/2, it wouldn't be Ranma 1/2. At all.
Akane collapsed on her bed, never feeling more sore in her life. Not even that one time she pulled a muscle and was hurting for weeks afterwards. The pain was so much that she almost wanted to die, just to end the relentless torment. Ranma was a demon. He had pushed her so far past her limits, she couldn't even see them anymore. Which brought her to her next thoughts.
'How does he do it?' she asked herself. 'According to him, he went through much worse training, it's a wonder he didn't die at any point.' Ranma had told her as he was training her that he'd been tied to the back of a train and forced to keep up to increase speed, tied to a rock and dropped into a lake to teach him to swim, tied to a couch while his father sat atop it, being chased by wolves who were after the jerky attached to his body for endurance training. Quite frankly, it seemed like Ranma went through hell on a daily basis. She sat up, ignoring her pain.
'If Ranma can do that much, surely I can put up with this,' she told herself. 'He didn't even force me to,' she said, remembering that any time she'd almost given up, he'd only given her gentle instruction to push past it. 'He never once forced me to move. He got me to push myself this far by just gentle encouragement?'
She slid off of her bed and went downstairs to dinner.
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Akane couldn't believe how much she'd eaten! She could've fed all of Africa with that much food! And Ranma and his father weren't much better. She was lying face up on her bed, after having eaten the largest portion of food she'd ever consumed at one time. She lay there, thinking about it.
'I guess I can say I'm a real martial artist now', she thought, remembering how proud her own father had looked when she'd demanded fifths. Kasumi had looked surprised, but nonetheless served her more food. Nabiki had almost lost her jaw, it hit the ground with such force! 'I never thought I'd ever eat as much as Ranma did that first night, but now I can understand why he and Mr. Saotome do.' She closed her eyes and prepared to sleep.
And immediately opened them once more. She wasn't sure what, but she'd heard something coming from the dojo.
'It's probably just Ranma,' she rationalized. 'He didn't get much training done today, me holding him back and all.' It was funny. Where once she had been the best fighter in all of Nerima, Ranma had suddenly shown up and humbled her so. Her was just so much stronger than her! She almost couldn't believe it at first. She had always had pride in her abilities, but now she felt only shame. Shame, and a strong desire to improve. With that, she prepared to sleep once more. Only to open her eyes once more.
Were those scraping noises she heard? Two metal objects clashing against one another? Swords, perhaps? Father hadn't brought out the swords since Mother died, probably wouldn't ever again. Something wasn't right.
She slipped out of bed, in her yellow pajamas, and tiptoed over to her door. If someone was fighting in the dojo, could another person be roaming the halls, looking for a victim? She shivered. When she reached the door, she put her ear to it, listening for and signs of life. She heard nothing, save for the quiet creak of the house doing... house... things.
She slowly creaked her door open, angling herself to see down the hall. Nothing. She opened the door further and looked the other way. Again, nothing. She quietly crept out of the hall to check on her sisters' rooms. Kasumi's: nada. Nabiki's: nill. She continued checking all the rooms in the house, eventually coming to a stop before her father's room.
'He's fighting the intruder, but maybe someone else could be hiding in here,' she thought, slowly opening this door as well... only to see her father, snug and sound asleep inside. 'What? Then who's in the dojo?' She suddenly remembered that she hadn't seen Ranma in the guest room. How could she have forgotten? 'So Ranma is in the dojo. But when did he get a sword? He never had one when I first saw him.' She continued to ponder this as she made her way to the walkway to the dojo, across it, and to the door.
This door she also slowly opened, to reveal... "Ranma?"
The figure at the center of the room started, in the middle of what seemed to be a very complex dual sword kata. One sword was an intricately carved katana, the other, a curious looking sword, appearing to be of Chinese descent. And happened to be flying directly towards her face, having slipped from Ranma's hand when Akane startled him. She flinched and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact... which never came.
She opened her eyes, seeing Ranma holding the katana in his left hand, his right outstretched towards her. He lowered it suddenly, slumping forwards with a sigh. As he straightened up, he addressed her; "Geez, don't do that, Akane!"
Akane, confused as to where he got the swords, and where the Chinese one went, stared at Ranma as if he held all the answers. Which he did. At least, to her questions, at least.
"It's a long story," he said, sitting down. She nodded, still shaky from what could have ended in her death, and sat down across from him. With a sigh, Ranma launched into his tale. "It all started right after Jusenkyo..."
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I burst out from the water, hoping to God, and what other kami were out there that the pool I fell into wasn't cursed. After Dad had jumped out of the pool I knocked him into, I'd freaked out. I mean, it's not every day you see your very own father turn into a panda, of all things. The Jusenkyo guide's words finally reached my ears, and I looked down at him, to try to make sense of what he was saying. It was very bad Japanese (not that I blamed him, still not being able to speak Chinese despite having been in China for a little bit less than a year), but I got the gist of it.
"Cursed springs!? Dad," I said, turning to him, "you never said anything about this!" While I had been listening to the guide, Dad had gotten a hell of a lot closer, and when I turned around to yell at him, he was right in front of me. With no more than an instant's delay, I was knocked into another pool.
If my dad was turned into a panda, God only knows what they'd turn me into. Reaching the edge of the pool, I got out and was finally able to study myself. I noticed my hands first, having seen them while I was swimming to the edge of the pool. My hands had significantly shrunk, though at least I was still human, unlike Dad. I noticed next how loose my pants were, though I noted my gi still fit well enough. I discovered the reason for that a second later, having observed my chest.
"I-... I'm a girl?!"
"Growf!" Dad... well... growfed at me, having landed next to me after finally realizing something was wrong. I glared daggers at him, still under the impression that girls were weak and useless. I was furious at him. How could he go and make me into the one thing he'd so put down in every lecture of his, every insult. Now, while I try my best not to swear at any given time, when I'm as angry as I was then, it's not as easy not to.
"God damnit, you motherfucker!" I yelled at him at the top of my lungs and pounced at him. He'd gotten a truly panicked look in his eyes as he turned and ran. I relish the sight to this moment, it being the only moment in my life he'd looked at me in complete and utter fear.
I quickly found out that I had less body weight, thus I moved quicker. I also found out that my center of gravity was way off. Thus, I'd catch up to him, fall on my face, get up, chase him again, etc. After a couple hours of this, I got fed up and punched a tree at full strength, getting angrier when I realized I really wasn't as strong as a girl and ended up bloodying my knuckles. It hurt like hell, but I did get some satisfaction, as the tree had decided to humor me and fall down anyway. I angrily stormed back the other way, eventually coming back to the springs I was glaring angrily into the pool that cursed me and finally noticed my other features.
I apparently had red hair, though while I saw that while chasing Dad, it hadn't really sunk in till I saw my reflection. Besides that, I hadn't changed much. Well, besides the fact that I was completely feminized; If I, as a girl and as a guy, stood side by side, I would definitely be able to see a strong resemblance. I continued staring at myself, having lost my anger a while ago. Looking at my transformed features filled me with a strange emotion that I couldn't quite place. While I racked my mind, trying to put a name to that emotion, I heard a splash.
I looked over to where the sound came from, and noticed a pool that had fresh ripples. I looked up from there and realized something, or someone, had fallen from a nearby cliff. I rushed over and stared at the slowly fading ripples. While I wanted to help the thing that fell in, I didn't want to risk turning into anything else, or worse, become part female, part whatever-was-in-the-pool.
I wasn't left waiting for long, as a few seconds later, a tiny black pig managed to swim out of the pool. Once he got to the edge, I grabbed him and held him up close to my face. He was wearing a tiger striped bandana around his neck and had obviously been human, judging from the clothes that I spotted floating up from the same pool.
"So you used to be a human, huh?" I asked him. He nodded his little head and I couldn't stop myself from thinking 'cute'. Shaking my head, I continued. "Judging from the clothes, you used to be a guy?" Once again, he nodded his head, looking at me with wide eyes, probably wondering how I knew that. "I feel so bad for you," I told him, starting to tear up. "I feel in one of these pools to. I used to be a guy, just like you. Now, though," tears were now freely falling down my face. "Now we're both stuck like this. Forever." Now the pig appeared to be crying as well. I held him close, needing comfort as I began to cry in earnest.
It wasn't manly to cry, but it didn't seem like I was going to be a man ever again. The guide would have told us as soon as we got the curses if they could be removed again. After a few minutes, me and the pig stopped crying.
"I'm sorry," I said to him. "He looked at me questioningly. "I can't take you with me. We're going to have to go our separate ways here. My dad would try to eat you the second he found you, without listening to any explanations I gave him." His eyes widened again. "I hope you have a better life than I will." I told him, and set him down. He began to trot off. He turned around after getting five feet away. He looked at me, and in that moment, I could tell what he was thinking: "Thank you for helping me. I hope you have a better life than you see for yourself." And in his expression was respect. Respect from one man to another. Well, from former men to one another. He then turned around one last time and disappeared into the trees.
I continued to sit there, staring off at him. He had so much courage, go go on living like that. And what was I doing? Sitting there moping. I stood up and slapped myself in the face with both hands a couple of times before setting off towards the guide's hut with a smile. Maybe he could help me find a nearby city or otherwise populated area to live out the rest of my life. After what Dad did, I certainly wasn't about to try and live with him again.
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Akane was crying.
"Akane?" I asked.
"It's just.. It's so touching!" And she proceeded to bawl her eyes out. Not knowing how to comfort her (I can comfort people crying from sadness fairly easily, but crying from being touched? Not something I know how to do.), I just sat there like an idiot, waiting for her to stop. Wait, saying that makes me sound a little rude. Waiting for her to settle down? No. Waiting for her to get ahold of herself? Nah. Hm... I'll try to find the words later. After a few minutes, she calmed down (there it is, that's what I was looking for!).
"I'm sorry," she said, sniffing. "You can continue now. I'm good."
"You sure you're okay," I asked, concerned. She smiled at me.
"Really, I'm fine. Thanks though... for asking..."
"You're welcome, I guess...," I said, scratching my head. She sighed.
"You did it again... Never mind. Go on. I want to hear the rest of the story."
"Okay then, what happened next was..."
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As I neared the hut, Dad came bursting out of it. Now, I wouldn't have been surprised. I mean, I had been staring at the water for God knows how long, it would make sense that he could have gotten there first. Though I was a little mad about having to be with him again. No, what surprised me was that he was human again. Human. Not panda. Human.
"Dad?" I asked, all previous anger towards him evaporated.
"Ranma! There's a cure! A Cure! You can be my son again!"
"What!? There's a cure!?" I asked, incredulous. And I had just prepared myself for a life of living as a girl. Now there was a cure? My head felt like it would explode at the knowledge.
'There's a cure! I can go back to being a guy! I never have to be a girl again!' I thought.
'Do you really want to though?' another part of me asked. 'Do you really want to give up being a girl? You know what you felt while looking in that pool. You felt-...'
'No! I don't want to hear it!' But I knew what I meant by that. When I had seen my reflection, I had felt an emotion I couldn't place. Now I knew what it was. It was pride. Pride at being a girl. A pretty girl, no less. I liked the way I looked.
'But I'm a guy, damnit!'
'You're a girl right now, aren't you?' the other part of me spoke up yet again. 'You can't deny your feelings.'
'But I like being a guy, too! I'm proud of the way I look as a guy!'
'But are you really satisfied with being just a guy?' That thought tripped me up.
'Wh-what do you mean?'
'You like being a guy, right? But you also like being a girl.'
'Wh-what are you saying?'
'If you could be both, would you? If you had to give up being one or the other, could you? You've already felt the pain of losing being a guy? Do you want to also experience the pain of losing being a girl?' I hesitated then. It hurt when I became a girl, when I stopped being a man. While I haven't been a girl for even a day, I did like this body. Though was it enough to hurt if I changed back to being a boy permanently? I imagined being cured, living life as I'd pictured all these years. This time, there was something missing. A void. I realized something in that instance. I did like being a girl that much. It would hurt if I lost being a girl. While I made this discovery, Dad had gotten to me and poured hot water on me from a pot that I never noticed he had until now.
I felt my body shift, felt myself grow taller, more muscular, feel my chest melt away again into the flat surface it was before. My face grew pale. Dad had gotten rid of the female part of me. I blacked out.
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Akane was shocked. Ranma actually liked being a girl? She had thought that it was just an indifference to it, not a thing about liking it or not. She didn't know what to say, though he was obviously fearing her reaction; it had seemed extremely hard for him to admit this to her. Judging by his expression, he was just as curious as her as to why he told her. A look of understanding grew on her face.
'Despite the fact that we only met yesterday,' she thought, in wonder, 'despite the fact that my sisters met him yesterday as well, he trusts me enough to tell me this. Me. Not Kasumi, not Nabiki. Me.' A huge smile broke out on her face. She couldn't help it. He, a boy, trusted her. He, her fiancé, trusted her. Ranma seemed to take it the wrong way, however.
"I knew you would make fun of me," he said, startling her. That wasn't what she was doing at all! "Why did I even tell you? Me and my big mouth..."
"No, that's not it Ranma! That's not it at all! I wasn't making fun of you!" For some reason she couldn't explain, she felt the need to support Ranma. As a friend, and as a... a... fiancée.
"Really?" Ranma asked, looking at her, doubtfully.
"Really."
"Then why did you smile like that?" Ranma returned, obviously not convinced.
"Because you did tell me," she explained. "Because you trusted me enough to tell me.
"Is that why I told you? I trust you? Is that really true?" he asked himself. He appeared to search himself for a little. "Yeah, I do." Ranma looked surprised. "But... why you? I've known Kasumi and Nabiki just as long as you, so why...?"
"I won't pretend to know why," Akane stated, "but you do, and that makes me very happy. Thank you for trusting me, Ranma." She smiled at him once again. He began smiling back, thinking that he could share anything with her, anything at all, and she wouldn't think any less of him for it. It was a nice thought, and soon, he was smiling with an intensity to match hers and, by all rights, their smiles should have blinded anyone looking in on them, they were that bright. "So," Akane continued after a minute or two, "what happened next?" Her interest in the swords and how the first one disappeared a distant memory. She never even noticed that the katana had disappeared as well, sometime during the story.
"Well, next came the Amazons..."
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A/N: Yep! I'm back! Again... Sorry for being so bad about updating, but I'm just a highschool student, with things to do, stuff I want to read, stuff I want to watch, etc. But with my new iPad, maybe I can get things done faster. Pray for me... No, actually, don't. That'd be weird. Anyway, thanks go out to all those people who commented!
Richard Ryley/ Thanks for the update! It really helps me out you know!
Rocco13/ Glad you like it! Hopefully, from now on, I'll be cranking out chapters! This time for real!
Screaming Dean/ It wasn't easy, trust me! XD I had a really rough start! You should see the stuff I posted on Omnitroid1! The stuff of nightmares right there! DX
Pendagar/ You never get overshadowed! Your advice helps me just as much as Richard's do! As stated before, Ranma is not über powerful. He just knows some more techniques beforehand. The canon Ranma (and, by extension, this one) only gets stronger the more battles he gets into, because he pushes himself to win. And, as explained by the update to the last chapter, Ranma used the "eating" thing as a... What's the word...? Threat! There we go! So yeah, Ranma is as strong as Canon Ranma was at the beginning of the manga/anime. But yeah, no comment goes dwarfed or shadowed by me! I read them all! ;)
shugokage/ Glad you like it! The scene came out of the very depths of my soul. I'm kidding! I have no soul! That was also a joke, my imagination is just super active, is all!
foxchick1/ Well, here you go! More! And hopefully, more after this, and more frequent than before! Keep your fingers crossed!
And so here we are: the end of the chapter. Dun dun DUUN! Wow, I'm hyper today! It translates into my writing, if you couldn't tell! You can probably see it a mile away, actually. Anyway, I will see all you peoples I the next chapter! Omnitroid out!
