Just Friends?

AN: Hello again! *Dodges tomatoes before glaring* I can wait another 11 months if you want! *barrage of tomatoes stops* That's what I thought. Anyway, as most of you are aware from the previous temporary updates, I am moving this story in a new direction. While the overall plot has changed, (more like it did not have one before,) the main pairing, 'T' rating, and first three chapters are still the same, and will remain that way.

Some of you may have noticed that the characters (especially Ranma) have better grammar in their thoughts, than they do in their dialogue. This is because, when I write the dialogue, I actually have to go back and make their grammar worse. I will try to have the thoughts better match the dialogue, in the future.

Disclaimer: If I owned Ranma 1/2, it Ryoga would be a romantic interest for Ranma, and Ranma would have chosen Nabiki for the Tendo engagement.


Last time, on "Just Friends?":

Ranma pulled him down, and brought her lips up to his own. The kiss was swift, yet firm. She pulled away after only a second, and thought, Well, at least it was not as bad as the one with Sanzenin. Though neither would admit it, even to themselves, they both slightly enjoyed the almost electric spark they had felt when their lips first touched.

They stared each other in the eye, and an unspoken message passed between them. We will never speak of this again. They turned to head further into the house, but, once again, their luck struck out.

Standing there gaping at them, was none other than Akane Tendo.

And now...


Chapter 4: Unexpected Gift

Akane just gaped at them for a moment, and neither Ranma, nor Ryoga, could think of anything to say to head off the anger they knew was coming. Akane finally got over her shock, and a red aura of anger powered ki enveloped her.

"Ranma, how could you?" She yelled at the redhead. "Teasing poor Ryoga isn't enough, now you have to try and seduce him? And WHAT is with that perverted outfit?"

For once, Ranma felt a sliver of true anger mixed with the usual annoyance. Ryoga was the one to bring up honor! At that point, she had no choice but to kiss him. And Nabiki was the one who made her where the outfit. Although, Ryoga's reaction almost made it worth wearin'. Almost. Ranma thought with amusement, before returning her thoughts to the matter at hand.

Normally, Ryoga would side with Akane whether she was right or not. However, he really did try to be a good guy, most of the time, and the times he did not, could attributed to the fact that he was a teenage guy. Also, because Akane was blaming Ranma for something that was actually his fault, he felt the need to speak up. It did not hurt that he was still feeling a little guilty for putting Ranma in that position, in the first place.

"Now hold on, Akane," He said, "it was my fault that-"

"WHAT?" Akane's shriek interrupted him. She glared at Ranma, and said, "You told him it was his fault, you jerk? Hell, you're such a pervert that you probably ENJOYED kissing him! Why-"

When Akane insinuated that Ranma had tricked Ryoga into taking the blame, Ranma felt a burst of anger. She had had enough, and yelled out in her rage, "Well, he's a better kisser than you are, that's for sure, ya uncute tomboy!"

Akane was speechless. She and Ryoga just gaped at the redhead, as she stomped past Akane and up the stairs.

Ryoga still felt that Akane deserved an explanation, and said, "Listen, Akane, Nabiki put up some mistletoe, and Ranma and I ended up under it. Nabiki mentioned following a tradition, and I said that following a tradition is a matter of honor. I didn't bother finding out what they were talking about first, and we both know how Ranma is with honor."

Akane remembered the smirk Nabiki had on her face, when she told Akane that Ryoga was here. Akane looked slightly guilty, until Ranma's insult echoed in her head. He's a better kisser than you are. She huffed, and stomped back to the dining room muttering, "He's still a pervert."

Ryoga was torn. He really wanted to go be with Akane, but Ranma's reaction was so much different than usual. In the end, he decided to make sure that Ranma was alright. After all, Akane had her family, but Ranma? Well, Genma was not the most supportive father out there.


As he approached the guest room where Ranma was staying, Ryoga was not sure what he would find. An aura of depression strong enough to rival one of his own was not expected, but not too surprising, either. He opened the door, and saw Ranma sitting on the windowsill, staring outside, the aura of her depression ki causing a slight glow.

He entered the room, softly closing the door behind him. Carefully, he asked, "Are you okay, Ranma?"

Glancing at the Lost Boy, Ranma sighed heavily, before saying, "Yeah, but I ain't sure for how much longer." Seeing Ryoga's confused expression, she elaborated. "Things 'tween Akane and I have been getting' worse. Seems like these days she gets mad at me for jus' bein' in this form. Not like it's by choice, most of the time."

Ryoga could not help but grin. This was the perfect time to show Ranma what he had recently acquired. "Ranma… What if you didn't have to turn into a girl, anymore?"

The redhead gained a confused expression, before noticing the happy grin on her rival's face. Get excited, she said, "You mean… You found a cure!?"

She reigned in her excitement, however, when she noticed his grin falter slightly. "Well, not a cure exactly…"

Eyes narrowing in suspicion, she asked, "What d'ya mean?"

Ryoga set his pack on the floor, and started rummaging through it. How much does that thing weigh? Ranma thought, as the floorboards groaned underneath it. After a few moments, Ryoga pulled forth an object wrapped in cloth, a triumphant grin on his face.

"Shortly after I last, uh, 'left' Nerima, I stumbled across a cave, that turned out to be the resting place of a strange artifact. The writing on the cave wall called it the Curse Exchange Mirror. Pretty unimaginative name, if you ask me. It also said that the mirror was designed to allow someone to give their curse to someone else, but only if they gained a different curse from that person."

"So how does that help?"

"Well, you want to stay male, right?" Seeing the redhead nod in response, he continued. "And I'd like to stay human, regardless of gender." Ranma's eyes started to widen as she realized what he meant. "So my question is, would you rather turn into a girl, or would you rather turn into a male piglet?"

Ranma mirrored Ryoga's grin as she said, "Man, am I glad that you made it today. After all, friends should always 'exchange' gifts on Christmas." They both chuckled at the pun, before Ranma remembered something. "Ah, crap. I jus' remembered that I made a deal with Nabiki to wear this outfit for the rest of the day, and as much as I wanna be a guy, I'd rather be a girl if I gotta wear this."

"What could be so bad that you would agree to wear that?"

Ranma gained a slight blush at the memory, as she said, "D'ya remember the pictures she took of the 'accident' durin' our last match?"

Now Ryoga blushed as well. "Ah, okay, that makes sense. Guess we'll do it tomorrow morning, then."

Just then, the door to the room slid open, and Nabiki stepped through. Looking between the two still slightly blushing teens, she said, "Why do I have the feeling I just missed something particularly juicy? Anyway, Kasumi asked me to let you two know that it was time to exchange presents."

With that said, she left the room, leaving Ranma to grab Ryoga's hand and lead him downstairs.


The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, compared to the previous couple of years at the Tendo residence, and Ryoga spent the night in the guest room with the Saotomes. The next morning, Ranma and Ryoga (both of them human and male) got up bright and early, and head out to the koi pond with the Mirror.

Ryoga carefully unwrapped the silk cover, and let the cloth fall to the ground. The Mirror was designed like a hand mirror, and the glass itself was not very remarkable. The frame, however, was. The left side was pure ebony, and decorated with a carving of a Tenshi (1). The right side seemed to be carved from ivory, and held the shape of an Oni (2).

Actually seeing it for the first time, Ranma started to get a little nervous. After all, he had not exactly had the best experiences with magical artifacts in the past. Despite that, he did not let those feelings show, and turned to the one holding the Mirror. "So, how does this thing work, anyway?"

"Well, according to what was carved into the cave walls, all we have to do is make eye contact with the other's reflection."

"Really? That's it? After all the crap we've been through to try an' get cured, I thought we were gonna have to go to some secret temple in China just to get the thing to work."

Ryoga just shrugged, before smiling. "Maybe since we decided to be friends, our karma is evening out and this is our reward."

Ranma smiled, too. "Sounds good to me. Now let's do this."

Ryoga stood beside Ranma, and held the mirror out in from of them. They brought their eyes to the Mirror, before locking their gaze on the reflection of the other. As their eyes met through the glass, they both felt a tingling sensation that they had come to recognize as their bodies being affected by magic.

Looking at each other, and not immediately seeing anything different. Ranma gestured to the koi pond and asked, "Wanna see if it worked?"

Ryoga looked around to make sure no one was watching, before shrugging. "May as well." With that, the two of them jumped into the shallow edge of the pond.

As Ryoga entered the water, he felt himself start to shrink and almost fell into despair. However, that quickly turned into elation when the shrinking stopped much sooner than it used to. Looking down confirmed his hope, as he – or rather she – saw the swell of her newly gained breasts. Still looking down, she noticed that water had calmed enough to see her reflection.

The first thing she noticed was that her eyes were still the same brown that they used to be, if maybe a shade lighter. Next was the fact that she still had the fangs that all members of the Hibiki clan had. Then she got a surprise as her eyes went to her hair. What the Hell? Silver? Where the Hell did that come from? Indeed, while her hair style was the same as it was when she was a male; the usual black color was absent, replaced by shimmering silver.

"Well, at least it worked for one of us." A familiar female voice grumbled.

Looking up and to the side, Ryoga saw a disgruntled redhead looking at her in annoyance. "What the Hell!? Why aren't you a piglet?" Ryoga exclaimed, noticed that her voice was several octaves higher as a girl.

Ranma sighed, and dropped the annoyed expression. "That's what I'd like to know, Gin (3). Anyway, let's head inside and change back. Besides, Kasumi'll probably have breakfast ready soon." With that, they headed back into the house, and went to the furo (4).

…Only to find themselves in the kitchen. Hearing humming coming from the dining area, Ranma figured that Kasumi was out setting the table. Seeing the kettle of hot water that Kasumi kindly prepared each morning, Ranma set aside his confusion on how they got there, and used the hot water to turn Ryoga and herself back into their male forms.

Putting the kettle and remaining water back where he got it, Ranma led Ryoga out to the dining room.

…Only for them to find themselves at the front gate, moments later. Looking at Ryoga in confusion, Ranma saw an equally confused look on the other boy's face.

"Aren't we going to go eat?" Ryoga asked.

"Er, yeah." Ranma responded, before once more heading to the breakfast table.

…And this time ending up at the door to the furo. Before either could say anything, the door opened to reveal one Nabiki Tendo. Seeing the two boys in front of her, she asked, "Leading Hibiki to the bathroom, Saotome?"

"Err, no, just passin' by on the way to breakfast." He responded, before stepping out of the way, and letting the brown haired girl take the lead. With someone to follow, they easily made it to the table this time. Looks like Ryoga's sense of direction is rubbin' off on me. Ranma thought, I gotta pay more attention.


When they got to the table, Genma asked, "What are you doin' up so early, Boy?"

"Ryoga found a magical artifact that was supposed to help with my curse, so we got up early to use it." Before he could continue, his father interjected.

"Did it work?" The excitement over a cure was obvious in the older man's voice.

"Nah," At that moment, Ranma had a burst of inspiration, and continued. "If anythin', it backfired."

"What do you mean, Saotome?" The ever-curious Nabiki inquired.

"Well, the artifact, was supposed to switch curses 'tween two people, and we thought that sense Ryoga didn't have a curse, it might work to cure my curse." Those who knew the truth about P-Chan could guess what they were really trying to do, while those who did not know (Akane and Soun) took it at face value. "All it seemed to do was copy my curse on to him, though." He tossed a glare at Ryoga before saying, "I'd feel more sorry about it if you sense o' direction didn't seem to be affectin' me too, now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ryoga asked, glaring right back.

"It means 'xactly what I said!" The two were practically growling as they bared their fangs at each other.

Suddenly, Nabiki cut in. "Saotome, since when have you had fangs?"

Reaching up with one hand to feel them revealed that his canines were much more pronounced than he remembered. "Ah, Hell." Looking up at the sound of Ryoga's voice, he saw that the other teen had a horrified expression on his face.

"What is it?" Ranma asked worriedly.

"Well, you know how everyone in my family has fangs and a bad sense of direction?" Ryoga scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

"Yeah…" Ranma was getting really worried at this point.

"Um, well, did I, uh," Ryoga seemed to steel himself before saying, "Did I ever mention that they were both due to a family curse?"


Notes/Translations

(1): Tenshi (天使): angel

(2): Oni (鬼): demon/ogre

(3): Gin (銀): silver. Ranma calling Ryoga things like 'Pork Breath' wouldn't really work anymore, so he came up with something new.

(4): Furo (風呂): Bath/bathing room

AN: And that seems like a good place to stop. Not much of a cliffhanger by my usual standards, but the longer chapter should make up for that. ^_^ I bet none of you were expecting Christmas to actually be part of the plot! ...It would actually be kind of weird if you did, since it was not going to be, until I decided to change the plot a bit. And by 'change the plot a bit' I mean 'add a plot in the first place'. ^_^'

Now, Ryoga may seem a little OoC at the beginning, but bear in mind that he is hoping to form a true friendship with Ranma, and in that light, I think his actions make sense.

Yes, Ryoga now turns into a girl, too. Not much else to say.

All flames will be used to light Happo Fire Bombs, which will then be thrown at the flamers.