An unusual disclaimer: Ranma ½ is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. And Son Turned Daughter was originally written in 2002 by the FanFiction author Tangent, and his characters Megumi, Yasushi and Ayane have, likewise, been borrowed without permission. Please see the first two chapters under his pen name. This story is written for non-commercial purposes only.
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Seeing a mallet magically appear in Akane's hands, a baseball came from nowhere into the hand of the game's pitcher. Megumi threw the ball harder than any before!
But, even knowing she should, she couldn't bring herself to bean Kuno. The ball went wild!
Ranma threw off her catcher's mask and helmet and leaped!
And landed in Kuno's arms. Well, only because the utterly surprised samurai had the microphone lifted in one hand and the little redhead had reached between her bare thighs to pull the other up within holding range. "Oh, Senpai!" she said caressing his face with her catcher's mitt.
For once in his life, the debate champion was at a loss for words. Here was a girl throwing herself at him in her gym clothes, kneepads, and chest protector.
Akane wasn't at a loss: "Ranma! Get away from that pervert!" All she needed was a clean shot to bean Kuno with her mallet. Maybe if she got behind him.
Ranma-chan hugged Kuno even closer with the hand she had on his back. "Are you a pervert, Senpai?" her soprano voice and big, blue eyes asked.
"Uh, uhh -Of course, not! A Kuno is always a gentleman. We are nobility, after all."
"Yea!" and she pressed the chest protector against the bare skin that Kuno's kendo-gi exposed. Underneath her boobs were squeezed. "Then you won't hurt me?"
"Hurt you!? Perish the thought…." Kuno's desire to appear perfect finally met up with his male desires. Hadn't he wanted to fight this waif whose bare thigh he was supporting?
Meanwhile, Akane did want to hurt Kuno! She raised her mallet and-
Megumi snatched it away from her. It was the tall, muscular girl who now raised the hammer. "I won't miss Kuno this time!"
Only, it turned out, it was only Akane's hammer to wield. It disappeared the same way as it came. The sudden loss of the weight threw Megumi's balance off and she fell face down onto the grass, The mallet reappeared in Akane's hand.
"Remember Nabiki's plan," Yasushi said.
Akane screamed in frustration as she let the hammer go, and it went back to nowhere.
"I never dated before, Senpai. My pop don't want me to." Yeah, the jerk wanted her, that was, him, to go straight into marriage!
"That is a tragedy to all the male population! Mayhap, I should have negotiations with your father."
"Would you!? That would make me so happy!" Yeah, happy to see the idiot suffer more for registering his son as a daughter at school!
"Then that is indeed what I shall do! You have my word as a-" Even on the ground, Megumi couldn't miss Kuno with her baseball at a range this close.
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Like magic, the spectators on the sports field weren't interested in Megumi's baseballs or Akane's hammer. No, it was Kuno and the redhead that received all the talk and speculation. She had taken away his thunder by keeping the mike away from his big mouth. But the Fury of Furinkan had done it by acting like a kitten. Which was the real Ranma-chan Saotome-san? Hey, her classmates would tell others, they should have seen how she had begun acting so girly! The girl raised as a boy wanted to learn how to be a girl! She had even had lunch with Hiroshi, of all people! Yes, just her and him, boy-girl! … And as information got mixed with speculation that became rumor, the redhead's reputation was starting to move in, uh, 'interesting' directions.
"Aw, don't worry, Akane!" Ranma said as they left the girls' locker room back in their school uniforms.
"Didn't you hear what the girls were just asking you and saying about you?! They think you want to be Kuno's girlfriend! It's an unwritten rule at Furinkan that no girl talks to him if she can help it let alone touch him!"
"I didn't touch him," she said confidently. "I had that mitt and chest protector on!"
"Really? What about here!" and she slapped a hand underneath Ranma's skirt and against the bare skin of the back of her thigh. "You like a guy touching you there?!" Her friend's reaction showed that she didn't.
As long as she had her hand under Ranma's skirt, she raised her hand a couple of inches to make sure she was wearing Kasumi's panties this time. Her face grew red as she remembered how close Ranma's ass had been to Kuno's crotch.
Then she had another reason to be red. "Can't keep your hands off your "friend"?" Ayane grinned.
"Ranma doesn't like guys touching her," Yasushi said.
"She touched Kuno," Megumi glared. "And not like Akane does."
"That's the whole point!" Ranma yelled. "If fightin' him makes him want me more, I have to use the opposite strategy!"
"So Akane should be like that to Kuno!"
"No! No! Absolutely not! I won't do it!"
"We'll see what Nabiki says," Megumi put her nose close to Akane's. Their busts were almost touching.
"Megumi's tits are bigger than Akane's tits," Yasushi said.
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Two more periods were left for Ranma to get through for her first full day as a schoolgirl. As she entered classroom 1-F the boys suddenly went quiet. The girls' voices were lowered, thinking she couldn't hear them that way. They didn't approve of her "liking" Kuno. Some because they could outright not stand him. Others because they wanted to be his girlfriend. Ranma was wondering why they just didn't go up and ask him to date them when she remembered Megumi and that horde of hentai. Furinkan specialized in martial artists of every kind that could be fit into a school curriculum. The girl that dated Kuno would be challenged by other competitive girls. But -Man! Geez! - there was no longer any doubt after this morning who the champion girl was.
It wasn't fair! Ranma didn't want that elitist jerk! She just wanted friends - friends who were girls who acted like girls, not jerks like she could be when a guy. Girls could just act...nicer! They could comfort you and have you feeling less lonely and miserable. They did things that she barely remembered her own mom doing when she was a little boy.
Her trained senses became highly focused as she made her way to her desk. ...There! That girl! Her battle aura potential was strong! Stronger than even Megumi's, though not nearly as strong as Akane's. She may be able to take on other challengers for the right to date Kuno. Maybe she could invite her to the dojo and train her! Stupid, she might have her own dojo!
When the math teacher was called out of the room, Ranma whispered her question to Akane. Akane whispered back, "Ikuko Kuonji."
"You girls talking about me?" Well, there was no doubt the ability of her senses.
"I don't want Kuno!" Ranma told her, and the class, out loud. "Do you?!"
"Ranma!" Akane realized what she was trying to do.
Ikuko gave the redhead a hard, steady look. "I'm president of the Truce Enforcement Club!"
"Truce Enforcement?"
Akane explained, "Ranma, they make sure the girls don't get involved in the stupid fights like the guys. They've asked me to be a member."
"Oh," said their "enemy number one".
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Ranma's head hurt, and it wasn't just from the math. Why did everything have to be complicated! Here she had thought she had the perfect strategy for getting rid of Kuno, but it meant making her the enemy of the very people she wanted desperately to be friends with, the girls! If she tried to be friendly with the boys as the girl, they were sure to want more than just friendship. She knew. All the schools she had gone to were all-boys schools! And the adolescents in them had prided themselves on being All-Boy. It wasn't fair!
The more she dwelled on it, the more she wanted to cry. She just might soon! How embarrassing would that be!
The bell rang, and Ranma immediately went to look for a place to hide her tears. Akane followed her. Wanting the only friend she thought she had left among the girls, the little redhead allowed her to catch up. Akane took her arm and escorted her to the girls' room. It was beginning to become a familiar place for the neo-girl. Not that she wouldn't rather go as a guy. So much easier and simpler.
"Akane!" she threw herself against her. "You know it isn't fair! I just want friends! Girl friends, not boyfriends! And now all the girls hate me!"
Akane heart nearly broke. Ranma was a boy, yet he, at least as a girl, was definitely not a pervert. She was almost convinced she was only a girl because of the lonely life she had had as a boy. Dr. Tofu's "prescription" may only be the excuse she needed to remain a girl. And, oh, there was also her wanting revenge against the evil Genma Saotome, her dad. It wasn't fair that Ranma was being branded with a false reputation. Of all people at the school, she, Akane Tendo, should know the burden of that! "Ranma, how flexible are you with the Code?"
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Ikuko Ito opened the door to the Truce Enforcement Club and two new members followed her inside.
In a room smaller than a classroom was just about as much exercise equipment as the space could hold. It was all padded as there were little floor space to take practice falls on. But, Ranma speculated, that was probably the point of the Kuonji school of martial arts. The two members of the Anything-Goes schools were not impressed.
"What is she doing here?!" the next member to enter exclaimed. Akiko was told the answer would have to wait until the rest of the club showed up. "What is she doing here" was also the first words out of Umeko and Emiko.
"What is she doing here?!" were the first words out of Akane and Ranma's mouths on seeing Yasushi enter.
"I'm a spy," she said.
"But Megumi has to know you come to the club!"
"I'm her spy, too."
"Believe me, there's been less trouble since Yasushi joined us. At least, Megumi and her girls haven't physically fought any girls like they used to."
"No! They stoop to evil, underhanded tactics!" yelled their redheaded victim.
"Girl tactics," Yasushi said.
"Like it or not, the Truce Enforcement Club is only dedicated to keeping girls from fighting each other the same way as the guys fight each other," Ikuko told them.
"We have to not appear strong and unfeminine," Yasushi said.
"I was right!" Ranma turned on Akane. "You and the Doc said I shouldn't be all girly-girly!"
"I'll explain it later, Ranma! It's more complicated than that!"
"Is being a girl always about complications!?"
"It's complicated about when it's not complicated," Yasushi said
"Ranma and Akane?" Miss Niouriki the girls' gym teacher said when she saw them.
"Niouriki-sensei, the Fabulous Five have now become the Magnificent Seven!" Ikuko said to the club's faculty advisor.
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After school and after the club, they were on their way back to the Tendo home.
"I'm happy I joined the club!" Ranma smiled. Miss Niouriki had been there when she needed comforting the most. She wasn't as old as her mother probably was (if she was still alive), but she, hopefully, could make a substitute.
"I'm not happy!" Akane scowled. "We girls should be fighting the boys and enforcing a truce on them!"
"You're the best fighter of the born-girls, Akane. Maybe you can become the leader of the club and change the rules."
"Yes! I think I might just do that! -And you'll back me up!"
"I will?" Ranma hadn't yet decided what was the best way for her to practice being a girl. Girly-girly still meant the opposite of out-of-control, hormonal crazy to her. Still, as a martial artist, she had to get into some battles to keep her skills sharp. The Code was alright with her having them with boys, but this morning's takedown of dozens of the best battlers in school told her she could be crazy with boys. Damaging crazy. So, if not them...
"I wanted to, really wanted to, but I didn't, and haven't, fought Megumi. Maybe I can't fight girls, even when I'm a girl. Shampoo may've spooked me too bad!"
Akane's mind was stuck on one topic."Don't change the subject from boys to girls!" Akane told Ranma. "Think about boys! You might not even have to fight girls! Everybody at school knows they can't beat you!"
"Everybody but one," said Kuno as they rounded a corner. Ranma's fingers were up in a warding sign in surprise. "And, yes, my precocious minx, do, indeed, think about boys. This boy in particular." Both hands became wards! "I do use the term loosely, as I am far more a man, than a-"
"Kuno go back to the school gate!" Akane told him. "You've never followed me home before! I don't want you to start doing it now!" Her fingers flexed, trying to find a mallet.
"But I was invited to be your guest by your houseguest, Ranma Saotome. Do you not remember what happened on the pitch of the diamond this very afternoon?"
"I remember not fightin' you!" Ranma said. Nabiki lied! Kuno was only supposed to be interested in girls that fought! She made sure she didn't fight him! When she had the chance that morning all she did was step on his face and fight…. Oh. She wiped out dozens of guys. Geez! No good girl hormones!
"Of course you will not accept the challenge and the wager that comes with it, my inconsolate battle maiden. It is your very own sire that stands in your way. Since that be so, the first contest of our tournament has to be with your obstacle of a father! I sally forth to see that your honor is saved so that none may call you a coward."
"You just DID call me a coward!"
"Kuno, Ranma is my houseguest in my house! You cannot come without my permission!" Akane told him.
"Then, may I have your permission?" he bowed.
"N-MmMFh!" Akane screamed into Ranma's hand.
"Call me a coward?!" Ranma said with a crazed look in her eye. "I'm gonna do the bravest thing I ever did!"
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It was a long, long, long walk to the Tendos. The craze faded, and the need for bravery increased. That's why she kept covering the mouths of both Akane and Kuno. She could not listen to being reminded she now belonged to Truce Enforcement. She knew it wouldn't take much to talk her out of what she was intending to do. But she actually had this fantasy flash through her while she was in the arms of Kuno earlier. Of course, she never thought she could or would really go through with it. It was just one of those stupid things that pass through the brain as options are considered. Akane was thoroughly confused about what Ranma was doing. Kuno, of course, refused to recognize he was confused. He was so used to the condition.
When they came to the Tendo gate, it was Ranma's and Akane's turn to stand and confront Kuno. "You want a challenge!(?) Then this it, Kuno! I don't think you can defeat my pop with that stick of yours! He's my martial arts sensei! If you do lose, you lose your tournament, and will have to give up any idea of fighting me!"
"That's what you want!" Akane yelled.
"And pop willa won! I'm not letting that happen! I ain't ready to forgive him! I've forgiven him too many times in my life! A life he's ruined!" Dr. Tofu would later confirm that the brand-new to girlhood let alone womanhood had, the last couple of days, been going through her first ever episode of PMS. Ranma would become convinced that was why the girl whose body she now had had drowned herself. "I want my revenge!"
"You are quite obviously a damsel in distress," Kuno said. "I do not acknowledge that any could be superior to I. I shall vanquish the Unforgivable-"
She reached up and put her hand back over his mouth again. Her short little body had to get closer to his than she'd have liked, again, but she still lacked the girl perspective that could have made this too disgusting to her. Or not. "The weapon you're gonna use is this mouth of yours! You do know how to talk to a girl like a guy that likes a girl talks, don'tya(!)?! That's a challenge, ya know!"
"But of course the suave and debonaire Kuno knows how to speak words of romance full of sweet nothings to the fairer sex! My poetic discourse rivals the Bard of Avon's own sonnets!"
"Whatever that means! Just say things like that in front of my Old Man. He won't understand it no better than I do, but he'll know you're comin' onto me! That's exactly what I want!"
"Cyrano Kuno accepts your challenge! And, what, pray tell, will be my reward for risking my health with sweet nothings? Amour is not armor."
"You're supposed to be a stupid fool!" Ranma let out her frustration. "Okay, okay! Kendo is a martial art and you do understand each opponent has to have a motive to fight to their best!" The redhead ground her teeth. She did not want to say, "I'll go on a date with you."
"Ranma!?" Akane gasped.
"I won't be fightin' him! I have a plan!"
"Then afterward, you will deign to do battle with me?"
"Probably during," Ranma muttered, angry with herself. Her plan had just better work! Aaa!
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"Oh, my!" Kasumi said as she saw who entered her house.
"Gracious Lady, you are privileged to play hostess to the Lord of Nerima in your humble abode," Kuno bowed and reached out to kiss her hand. Kasumi remembered where her hand had last been and hurriedly cleaned it on her apron. "It is the French way from this Cyrano." And he kissed it.
"Oh, my. I thought your name was Tatewaki?"
"Enough drooling on my big sister, Kuno!" Akane cried.
"Bleah!" Ranma's tongue came out of her mouth. "Don't try that on me! No kissin' of no kind!"
"I look forward to when our tournament reaches that stage."
"It won't! You'll lose before that happens! Kasumi, where's pop?!"
"The last I saw of him, he and father were playing shogi."
"Hey, Pop! Come out and meet the boy I brought home! He wants to talk to you about you lettin' him date me!"
"BWOAR!"
"Your father sounds like a wild animal," Kuno said, just before his eyes bulged at seeing a giant panda charging towards him on all fours!
Ranma leaped and landed on its back, straddling it beneath her school dress, and - it's teeth inches from Kuno - grabbed the beast's round, furry ears. "Stop! Anything-Goes to save this school dress! Now, are you gonna calm down, or do I hafta-"
The panda rose up on its hind legs! Kuno raised his bokken, ready to strike the monster.
"No!" Akane cried, getting the sides of the wooden sword between her hands. She matched her strength against the taller, more muscular, and male wielder.
"No, Pop! Bad panda! Bad!" the red-haired rider scolded, removing a hand from an ear to slap its sensitive, black, wet nose.
The creature ignored the pain and attempt at humiliation to advance on the boy who dared to want to date his son! Its long claws reached for the overly handsome face! Kuno lifted his weapon! The claws swiped!
Rip! "My dress!" Akane screamed! She swung from the bokken, intending to get to the ground and yank the damned stick from Kuno and use it to bash the heads of both idiots! Instead, her feet managed to strike the critical male anatomy of both man and beast.
Both were bowed, defeated!
"Akane! That's really dirty fightin'! They weren't really gonna kill each other!" Probably
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Ranma dragged the panda into the common room, and Akane dragged Kuno by the bokken the samurai refused to release.
"Our guest remains, I see," Mr. Tendo said, not bothering to get up from the block of wood with the shogi grid on top.
Ranma slammed the panda down on his friend's side of the table. "Okay, Pop, you gonna listen this way or do I hang you up by your ankles again!" And she pointed out to the tree with a tire propped up against it.
"Brr-ao, rrr! Snarl!" It showed its bear-like teeth but did not try to use them. Yet.
"You, too, Kuno!" Akane told him. "That tire out there came with a flat innertube! It will be hard for you to use your sword with that wrapped around your arms and tied into a knot!"
"Why does the fiery-haired girl call this beast her father?"
"Well, uh, that is…. Man! I wasn't thinkin' that far ahead!"
"You've, no doubt, heard and read the exploits of the legendary figures of Japanese folklore, like Momotaro?" Mr. Tendo spoke in a manner Kuno could relate to.
"Why, of course! This panda is one of Ranma's animal companions!" Kuno, of course, was an expert on Japanese folklore, believing most if not all of the stories. "There must be an interesting adventure behind her naming her mascot "Pop"."
"Hear, that, Pop?" Ranma said, casually leaning an elbow on its shoulder, "He called you my mascot. You're just here to make me look good."
"Braorr!" It brought its claws up, but then gave a grunt of pain, as the small girl used a pressure point against it. Her small hands became lost in the fur around its wrists. It was brute's strength against a young, short girl's strength...slowly the foreleg came down, threatening to defeat her…
She then swung it around into an armlock, that is, a foreleg-lock.
"She truly is the modern heir to those Japanese of legend!" Kuno said.
"Ranma…!" Akane warned. It all seemed to be backfiring on her friend, big time!
But Ranma was too thirsty for revenge to hear, She said into her "animal companion's" ear, "You're gonna behave yourself. You're already in trouble for tearin' Akane's uniform!"
"And my nightie," Kasumi reported.
"That's it! You're gettin' a real job to pay for everythin'! No thievin' or freeloadin' Or do you want us to get all that money we can get sellin' you to a zoo or somethin'(!)?!"
The animal still protested in its beastly way!
"I wonder if bamboo is cheaper than rice and fish," Kasumi asked herself.
The panda became domesticated.
Ranma let go of its foreleg. "As much as I like seein' it this way, it ain't enough! I woulda had to go through stuff like this even if Kuno wasn't here! I want it to know - really get! - what takin' me off to China did to me! -Kuno, the battle begins!"
"The battle? But it began with -You refer to the battle of words! Just so! I plight my case to your, uh, 'Pop' (such a humble name for such an exotic creature) for the right to figh-"
"Date! Date! You want to take me on a date!"
"That be my desire as well."
"Stop it, Pop! He don't mean that kind of "desire"." Then Ranma glared across the table at word boy. "You better not be!"
"As one of noble lineage, I must always observe the proprieties. Any desires must be expressed with all due decorum."
Akane rolled her eyes and said under her breath, "I'm glad Kuno believes in the heroic stories of samurais and not the immoralities in their history."
"See, Pop. I think that means a girl like me can trust her virtue with him. That is," and she leaned arms and boobs on the panda to be 'closer' to Kuno, "if she wants her virtue to be-Pppft! Sputter! Kasumi why're you sprayin' my face with cold water!"
"Oh, my, I'm sorrry, Ranma-chan. I read where you can humanely discipline pets and mascots by spraying them with plain water."
"That's the spray bottle you water your plants with, isn't it, Kasumi?" Akane said. "Will you let me use it?"
"Of course, Akane. I still have some chores to finish."
Looking at Akane looking back at her, Ranma could only think of a movie she had once actually got to see and its scene where the guy with the gun said, "Make my day".
"As I was saying," Kuno said. "As the heir to a noble name and estate of vast wealth, I am required to be chaste so as not to cast my worthy seed on unworthy fields. That is why I am very particular about the woman to whom I show an interest in courting. She must be only the worthiest of the worthy! A warrior that can, perhaps, come near to matching my own skills."
"I'm doomed," Ranma said.
"You're not the only one," Akane said.
"Do I detect signs of dejection? Nay, fear not. Neither of you worthy battle maidens need feel the throes of rejection! For the House of Kuno maintains the ancient traditions of our Great Land of the Rising Sun! It is but a petty detail as to which would be my wife and which would be my concubine. That can be-Pppft! Sputter!"
"You're just sprayin' him with water for sayin' that, Akane!?"
"You're right!"
The panda rolled on the tatami mats laughing as the two escorted their guest out of the house as fast as their feet could run. Outside, both girls sent him on his way.
Kuno didn't come down from the punt until he was over the canal. Splash! Then, more than just his face was wet with cold water.
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"I saw Kuno fly by," Nabiki said shortly afterward as she entered the common room. She saw her daddy and the panda still playing shogi.
"I'd rather not talk about it," her daddy said. "Stop laughing, Genma! This is serious! If that boy has his way, not only will I lose a daughter, I will lose the chance to unite our two schools!"
[If my daughter is a concubine, my son can still wed Kasumi or Nabiki.]
"Woah!" Nabiki said. "How long has the panda been able to do that?"
"Since that boy, Kuno-sama, left. He's been using the signs to taunt Ranma."
"What's his problem with Ranma, this time?"
[I have no problem with my son.]
"Details! Details! I have a contract to deliver Kuno to somebody else!"
[There can be more than one concubine.]
"Waah!" her daddy bawled. "Nabiki! Kasumi!"
"We're not concubines, yet, Daddy. I'm not getting anywhere here. Where's Akane and Ranma?"
"They're, they're *Sob!* in the bath room." The panda produced a sign with an arrow pointing the way.
"They're in there together?"
Daddy buried his face in the crook of his arm. "Kuno made them feel *sob* dirty!"
"Kuno is filthy rich," Nabiki. "But it comes from laundered money. It's all a matter of how you look at things. I'm going to have a talk with those two-"
She saw Akane rounding the corner of the hall to the master bedroom, toilet and bath room. She was in her favorite after-school dress. Rounding the corner right behind her was Ranma. He was in his Chinese pants and spare - now only - shirt.
"Well, well!" Nabiki smirked, "I see you're becoming very good friends."
Get your mind out of the gutter, Nabiki," Akane told her. "We showered as girls."
"Oo, still both naked together."
"We have the same gym girls locker room," Ranma said, picking up on the tone Akane was giving her sister. "Me and she ain't got nothin' we ain't seen before." Of course, Ranma had only been seeing it for two weeks now. And most of the time he had clothes over it.
"But the hot water. I thought hot water was best for washing the grunge away?"
"I used the hot water after I got my clothes on if that's what you talkin' about."
"And since Ranma couldn't use the furo, I didn't, either!" Akane said. Their bond had become stronger by this show of solidarity.
"So you washed each other's nude bodies. Just how bisexual are you?"
"Nabiki!"
"Like you said, Akane, she's got warped values."
"And it's those values that are going to save you from becoming concubine and wife."
"Don't talk to me about things like that when I'm a guy!"
[My son, the concubine]
"Ignore the panda, Ranma," Akane said.
"What? Did Pop say somethin'? I can't hear him." Then the sign slammed into his face.
Another sign read, [Truth hurts].
"You still don't get it!" Ranma cried, reducing the sign that hit him to tinder wood. He still hadn't read it. But he certainly could guess. "This is all your fault, Old Man! I wouldn't be rememberin' what it's like to be a girl with a guy's brain if it was not for you!"
"Ranma! Calm down. Please," Akane reached out to comfort him. But he backed away from her and wouldn't let her come within hugging range. This hurt her. "Ranma...we're in this together. It isn't that bad being a girl. I know."
"It ain't bad if you stay a girl, maybe. But I don't! It's like the Doc says, a girl's body has a girl's brain, and a guy's body has a guy's brain! My mind and memories are the same, but the two brains treat them two different ways! Each sees things differently!
"Worse! My girl brain is makin' memories that my guy brain is havin' trouble understandin'! Just like there are guy memories her brain can't deal with!"
Akane was at a loss for words. She tried to think of what it would be like to turn into a boy. What would that do to her perspective? How strange would her life as a girl seem to the male her? Not as strange as having to learn how to live life as a boy based on a girl's experience of boys, probably. No matter which sex she was, the other half of her life would be strange. Perhaps forever.
There was an uneasy silence between all four of them there - Well, three. The panda was using this opportunity to cheat at shogi.
"Hello, Dr. Tofu? No, this is not Bette. Bette is your skeleton, remember? No, I'm not Ranma, either, but that's why I'm calling. No, we're talking on the phone. Anyway, could you perhaps make a housecall? No, the house isn't talking."
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"But Father, I have everything I need from the market. And Akane, you have another uniform to change into. I'll repair the one Uncle Saotome ripped tomorrow. Nabiki, you are better at budgeting out household finances than I am. No, Ranma, I have no idea why they don't want me to be here when Dr. Tofu arrives."
"Why did you call a doctor, Kasumi, dear?" the now human Genma Saotome asked.
"Ranma told me yesterday evening about his visit with Dr. Tofu. It made me glad that I had decided to put my own opinion aside and help Ranma to pretend to be a girl. Only, it turns out after hearing what he has been telling us, Ranma is not pretending. He is a girl when he is a girl. He is just a girl with male memories."
"And girl memories when I'm a male."
"Which, as I understand it, do not prevent you from being a male. You will not start thinking like a girl. You need counseling to help you understand that. Dr. Tofu understood your situation as soon as he saw you. You should listen to his advice on-"
"Is this the clinic? It doesn't look like- I'm sorry, I must have entered the wrong door again. I'm looking for - Oh, Nabiki, could you tell me the way to your home?"
"Turn around and go one block to your right and down the hill."
"Nabiki! That is no way to treat the good doctor!" Kasumi said, rushing to greet him.
"Kasumi! Imagine meeting you here. Here is here, isn't it? My glasses are foggy."
"I'm 'sposed to take advice from him!? He sounded like he knew what he was talkin' about before. Stupid, Ranma, real stupid!"
"No, Ranma," Akane said, on the edge of tears. "It's only around my big sister he acts this way. He's, he's in lo,lo…."
"Love? Man! The only thing I know about it is they make stupid movies and books about it. Maybe my girl brain can understand it. Not that my guy brain could even if she could."
"Let me clean your glasses for you on my apron…. There! Back on your -Oh, my, they're foggy again! How does that happen?"
"Why don't Kasumi see he's in love with her?"
"Denial!" And the tears came! Akane threw herself against Ranma's broad, strong chest. Ranma's arms went up, and he wished he could get away from crying girl. His memories of being the girl told him he should hug her and rub her back and do his best to comfort her. He had too many male inhibitions, still, to overcome to comfortably let that happen. He tried to touch her, but trying wasn't accomplishing. "She can't see his love until we, Nabiki and I, no longer need her to be our substitute mom. That has been her only life since our real mom died." Her legs gave out and she had to lower herself to the floor. Memories of her mom always weakened her.
"Aw, geez!" Ranma said, standing over her for a moment. Not knowing what else to do, he lowered himself so he'd at least be on her own level. "Kasumi can hear us, you know. Let's tell her the truth." It worked for him and Akane.
Akane shook her head and again tried to find comfort in arms that could not bring themselves to embrace her. "Denial is a very strong Tendo trait. We don't hear what we don't want to hear."
"Or, like you said, see," Ranma said, looking at Kasumi and the Doc.
"Dr. Tofu, Ranma needs counseling to assure him he'll always be a male in his thinking. And I'd like to sit in while you do it. Ranma needs to come to terms with his curse as quickly as possible. You're busy with your many patients, but he'll be living with me. Helping him will give me something more to do than just chores. And more important."
"So Ranma is your Little Sister! I mean, Little Brother!"
Kasumi giggled. "Ranma is both."
Denial. The boy that had been denied a mother for ten years suddenly saw somebody volunteer to be his substitute mother. And if he didn't grow up and become independent of her, Kasumi would never admit that Dr. Tofu loved her.
