Akane was sitting in her room wearing her favorite yellow pajamas, leaning on her desk. Her black hair danced in the late winter breeze and her brown eyes glazed while looking outside at the street. She knew that Ranma was supposed to be home last night, Genma had stopped by to let them know that Ranma was back in town, then he'd gone right to sleep. He hadn't said much else, but something was worrying him, and Nabiki wasn't around to gather the information to satisfy the revenett's curiosity.
She rubbed her eyes, and stood to make her way to the kitchen. She had to push down some drowsy dizziness as she moved down the stairs. In the kitchen Kasumi was busy reading textbooks while she cooked.
"Good morning Akane!" She chirped, "Oh my! Did you sleep at all?"
Akane simply shrugged and moved to the cabinet to grab something to pour coffee into. She usually didn't drink the bitter brown sludge, but she needed it if she was going to wait up for Ranma. She hadn't seen him in over a month, she wasn't going to miss his return.
Kasumi sighed and closed her textbook, setting it gingerly on the table. She turned down the heat on all the burners she had cooking, then she sat in the chair across from Akane and eyed her with concern. "Akane… You need to get some sleep. What would Ranma say, seeing you so tired?"
Akane smiled as she sipped her coffee. "Ranma would be mad at me for worrying over him so much." She sighed and shook her head. "But let's be real, Ranma would also call me un-cute and say I looked terrible. I'm sure he still will, honestly."
Kasumi looked sad, but she smiled despite herself. "Have you ever thought to tell him how being called uncute and tomboy makes you feel? I know from experience that if you just talk to him he can be very understanding." Kasumi stood back up and gave all her pots a stir to make sure nothing burned. Akane watched her with waning interest while finishing off her coffee, then she left the kitchen for the Dojo lost in her thoughts.
Ranma awoke late in the morning, and squinted at the bright lights filtering through her blinds. She sat up while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It's kinda nice not havin' t'deal with gettin' tossed around in the morning. She stood and headed for the shower. Might wanta invest in an alarm or something though…
She entered and completed her morning routine without interruption. When she opened the door to the bathroom she paused before running into her mother. "Oh! Uhh, sorry mom. Just gettin' out. Bath's all yers."
Nodoka eyed the redhead and nodded. "I saw your things were packed and next to the door? I take it you're going back to the Tendous then? Breakfast is on the table, though it's cold."
Ranma stepped around her taking note of her cold tone as she headed for the kitchen to warm up her food, not saying anything else. When she entered she saw that there was a plate set out for her with a generous serving of sukiyaki. She chuckled to herself as she started the process of warming it up.
Ryoga entered the kitchen in response to the activity, when he saw Ranma he smiled and sighed. "So you are going to the Dojo then. You going to be able to squeeze me into your busy schedule today?"
"I'll be takin' ya home first, if that's okay. Don't wanna cut my time with Akane short or make her feel bad. If you wanna come visit after just give someone a call n' I'll come and get'cha."
Ryoga nodded, and leaned over the table. "Your mom isn't going to be with us, is she?"
Ranma shook her head. "I hope not, I already got enough to worry about bein' back here like this…" Ranma trailed off as she set her plate down on the table, plopping into the chair and eating at a thoughtful pace.
Ryoga eyed the redhead as she ate, trying to find what exactly had changed between them. Ranma had done a lot of helping this past month and a half. Almost the entire time Ranma had been assisting him with his training and navagation. Not that Ryoga was complaining, but honestly things weren't supposed to be this easy between them. For the first time since they had met he wasn't trying to win some unspoken contest and was just letting himself be around his 'rival'.
And now, Ranma was clearly his friend. There was no way around it. They had gone from strained 'buds' at best to fast friends. Talking about whatever crazy thing they could come up with. Even worse, Ranma was an incredibly relaxed person when you didn't toss a random punch his way every three hours. There were times during this trip that, well, he just couldn't see him continuing his rivalry with Ranma especially when they worked on new techniques together. He knew that whatever had changed he wanted it to stay this way. He was tired of all the tentative truces that were dissolved the moment they got back home.
Finally after putting it off long enough he shook the thoughts out of his head, and spoke. "So, what are you going to say to her?"
Ranma looked up from her meal with an arched eyebrow. "To Akane?"
Ryoga just nodded in response.
Ranma shrugged, trying to push away the worry she was currently dealing with. "I mean, what can I say t'her?"
Nodoka entered the kitchen as the redhead spoke, then she stood and gave Ranma a stern look. "Dear, what are you wearing?"
Ranma looked down, and eyed her yellow cheongsam shirt with a red bow tie on the neck. Then she looked back up to her mother with a confused look. "It's one a' my favorites… I got it b'fore we left china. It's even fitted for me. W-well as a guy…" She trailed off, and looked away from her mother, blushing.
Her mother gazed over her and eyed the shirt critically, finally she relaxed. "We will just have to take you shopping for some men's clothes your size." She matter of factly stated.
"M-mom" Ranma looked frustrated, there were words that she held back. Even Ryoga looked annoyed by what the Saotome matriarch had been insinuating. Ranma stood, collecting her dishes and began the minor chore of washing what she'd used in silence. The tension in the room built as both Nodoka and Ryoga silently watched the redhead work. Finally Ranma finished and left, returning a moment later with her's and Ryoga's packs.
"Ready to go Ryoga?" She asked.
"And just where do you think you're going off to?" Nodoka questioned.
"Taking Ryoga home. Then I'm going to the Tendou's, isn't that the plan?" Ranma handed Ryoga his pack and moved to get her shoes on.
"And why do you need your bag for that?!" Nodoka was almost yelling at this point, Ryoga gave Ranma a sympathetic look and mouthed 'I'll wait outside' before he did just that.
"I can't stay here. It's too small, and there's nowhere for me to practice." Ranma said simply.
"Oh? Why not, what's wrong with my home? I haven't seen much of you these past few years. Are you going to visit? I can't be alone anymore." Nodoka's eyes became glossy as she grew more frantic with each word. The moment tears were introduced to the equation Ranma lost all power of will. Years of instinct from conciliation kicked in and she immediately started a string of apologies followed by promises and then more apologies. Agreeing to a weekly overnight stay and unlimited visits she had her mother thoroughly placated. By the time she managed to escape Ryoga had settled down and dozed off… in the backyard. Ranma toed Ryoga in the shoulder for several moments to wake him until he looked at her dazed.
"Hey porkchop, let's get outta here."
Ryoga stood and strapped his bag onto his back before giving the Saotome home one final glance. Then he and Ranma left on the four hour walk home in silence.
Ryoga opened the door to his home with care, something about being home after all this time felt odd. Like he was returning to a tomb. The only inhabitant sat just off the genkan wagging her tail wildly, or she had been. Shirokuro jumped for joy the moment Ryoga managed to get the door mostly open. Ranma, who was standing on the end of the path leading up to the Hibiki home, could hear the joyous whining of a dog that missed her human. Even she couldn't help but smile as Ryoga tried, and failed, to push the elated black and white dog off.
"Shirokuro, come on girl. Down!" Ryoga was becoming exasperated but he hardly made an effort to keep her away.
"Seems to me you both missed each other. Eh?" Ranma teased.
Ryoga looked over his shoulder and held his hand up so he could stave off the dogs furious attempt to lick his face. "Yeah, I did miss her. Hey Ranma, you want to come in and sit for a moment? Talk about what happened back there?"
Ranma shook her head. "Sorry, next time? I… I wanna get this over with." She looked away and mumbled the rest to herself, "See if she'll even take me back."
Ryoga shrugged and smiled. "Suit yourself." He finally pushed past Shirokuro and had gotten one shoe off as a black and white blur bolted out to greet Ranma. She jumped and the redhead could only brace herself as she was buffeted by a mound of fur and slobber.
"Ryoga! Call yer dog!" Was all she managed to gasp out between being licked in the face and trotted on.
The lost boy jogged out while laughing. "Apparently she missed you too. She always did like you." He said as he pulled the dog off of the exasperated redhead. Ranma sputtered for a moment and sat up wiping the dog drool off her face.
"Yeah, yeah… I missed you too girl." Ranma rolled onto her shoulders and then kicked to stand. "Alright you two, I guess I'm off."
"Yeah, take it easy, okay?" Ryoga said while scratching the back of his neck. "And call if you need anything!"
Ranma smiled while nodding and waved as she left, closing the gate behind her. Ryoga moved to head inside but ended up being pulled the opposite direction by Shirokuro. Apparently that was the right way, because he wound up where he wanted to be and shut the door.
A lone red headed girl stood before the gate to a dojo. The sky was clear, but a breeze blew through the street, causing her pants and hair to flap gently. Fate, it seemed, had an odd idea of how Ranma should be taught her lessons. She steeled her nerves and shook away her doubts, and reminded herself to remain calm. Akane might say somethin dumb, just take it and move on. She pushed through the gate and walked down the path leading to the main door to the traditional style Japanese home, stopping in front of the door.
She reached into one of the easy access pockets on her bag, and pulled out a ring of keys. She fumbled with the keys for a moment until she found the mate for the lock before her. As she entered she began removing her shoes and shouted her return. "Taidama!"
After a pause and no response she let out the breath she had been holding. "Guess nobody's home." She muttered to herself.
A quiet moment later she headed to the sitting room running her hand along the wall as she went. It's eerie being here without anyone else. She thought as she rounded the corner to sit and lounge for a short while. Suddenly there was a tired and teary set of eyes looking directly into her own. Her hand fell from the door to her side as Akane smiled and ran toward her, giving her a fierce hug and silently crying into her shoulder.
Ranma stood for a moment stunned, then she gently wrapped her own arms around the taller girl. "H-hey, Kane…"
Akane collected herself and pushed herself off the comforting shoulder. She blushed a deep crimson and then nodded. "Hey, Ranma…"
Both of them stood for an awkward moment as they continued to hold each other, until Ranma realised exactly what she was doing. She gently pushed away from Akane and brought her hand to the nape of her neck.
"H-hey, Akane…"
Akane laughed and shook her head. She looked terrible, like she hadn't slept at all. However, her eyes were folded with relief, and her smile spoke of honest happiness at seeing the redhead. Finally, Ranma moved to sit and Akane followed. They sat in silence before Ranma started laughing. It might have been nerves, it might have been fear, or it could be that she just plane found the whole thing to be a little silly. She'd lived here for two years, two years of skirting around the reality of her situation and attraction, and two years of dancing around even the idea of doing something about it.
Akane for her part only shifted uncomfortable and shook her head, waiting for the sudden outburst to calm. Then she asked, "So, how was it? How'd it go?"
Akane was, at first, confused and concerned for her (currently) red haired fiance . But as ranma talked Akane realized just how good this trip had been for her She'd needed some time away from Nerima's brand of normal. She stopped and thought as Ranma talked. Something was different for sure, damned if Akane could put her finger on it. It was times like this that she missed Nabiki, she was always the best at getting to the bottom of these kinds of things. She contiued this line of thought for awhile until Ranma snapped her out of her thoughts by waving her hand in front of her face.
"Hellooooo, earth to Akane?" Ranma was smiling as she eyed her questioningly.
"S-sorry… What were you saying? Something about having to prove your worth to two monks for… something…" Akane trailed off as Ranma was still looking at her with a wide grin. She withdrew into herself slightly. "Wh-what's wrong? I-is something on my face?"
This only caused Ranma to smile wider as she began to laugh. (One could call it a giggle, but Ranma never giggled, so it must have been a chuckle.) Akane grew more nervous and stood, slapping Ranma. "Stop mocking me!"
Silence reigned for a few tense moments, before Ranma shrunk and pulled her legs to her body. "S-sorry, princess! Forgot you were always one tick away from blowin' yer lid."
"Excuse me? At least I'm not some kind of pervert that goes around smiling at people like… like… a pervert!" Akane screamed back.
Ranma glared at Akane, then turned away. That was a reach... She didn't say anything else and instead waited for Akane to leave the room. Once alone Ranma sulked her way to her bedroom. The room was still empty as usual. It held an old dresser and not much else. Ranma pulled her futon out of the closet and then began putting away her things. As she worked she heard Kasumi call out her arrival, and she returned her welcome, heading to the top of the stairs to offer a proper greeting. Surprisingly Kasumi was already halfway up the steps when she rounded the corner. Even more surprising, when she got to the top Kasumi hugged Ranma tightly and then stood back.
"Welcome home Ranma! We've missed you here at the Dojo. Things just aren't the same around here without the life you bring." Her smile was warm and genuine, like a lighthouse beacon of motherly love that helped protect any who passed from their woes, If only for a moment. Ranma sighed and smiled again clearly happy to see the oldest Tendou daughter.
"Man Kasumi, it's good to be back…" Her hand found the back of her neck. "I-I was just unpacken' and gettin' settled again."
Kasumi nodded and left Ranma to her business. As Ranma headed back into her room she noted Tendou had yet to comment on her current female state. In fact her mother had been the only person to take personal offence to her state of being. She shrugged, not entirely sure what to do with this information, then returned to her task.
Hours had passed and Ranma, Akane, Kasumi, and Soun were sitting at the table enjoying a mostly peaceful meal. As usual Kasumi's cooking was amazing, but Ranma had helped, as Kasumi used her time doing chores to study for her classes she took mid-day. This left Akane and Soun without proper lunchtime meals, but Akane had progressed enough in her cooking to be able to fix something at least. Ranma was smiling and eating at a leisurely pace, something she realised she could do without her father around. It seemed, though, that Akane would not let this one go un-inspected.
"What's with the slow eating, Ranma?" Akane politely asked.
Ranma stopped eating for a moment and looked at Akane with bewilderment, Stufing a large dumpling into her mouth. "Whadda'ya mean, Kane?" She said just before swallowing.
"I don't know, I guess you just seem different. This isn't like you, you don't take your time with food."
Ranma smiled with puffed up cheeks as she chewed another extra large bite. Eliciting a giggle from Kasumi. Soun just continued to ignore the goings on as he smoked his pipe and ate. As much as things change, ranma thought.
Dinner finished without further incident and Akane continued her investigation by tailing Ranma wherever she went. She hadn't spotted anything too out of the ordinary for the redheaded martial artist save for the fact that she never once asked Kasumi to ready hot water. This behavior continued for hours until finally Ranma went where Akane would not follow. Or, so the redhead thought.
She entered the furo and began washing oblivious to her surroundings, but aware of her Fiancee on the other side of the door, listening for something suspicious. Ranma simply chuckled to herself and shook her head. And she calls me a pervert…
Once properly cleaned Ranma moved to the furo's warm embrace. Had Akane not been peering through the door she would have been none the wiser to the fact that Ranma hadn't changed because for some reason Ranma had dropped her voice low to disguise it. But she had been looking and she immediately broke through the door.
"Ranma! You're still… Still a girl!" She screamed as she looked over the redhead with worry.
Ranma was more concerned with the fact that Akane had actually been watching her. "You were watching me?" Her voice rose as she talked.
Akane blushed, and then looked to the side. "But you didn't change with hot water! I knew it! I knew you were hiding something!"
Kasumi poked her head though the outer door of the bathroom. "Is everything okay in here?" She asked innocently.
Akane was conflicted, on one hand she knew that she should be worried for Ranma if he was stuck as a girl, but on the other hand Ranma had lied and then tried to trick Akane and that royally peeved her off. She settled on glaring at Ranma. "Ranma's stuck as a girl and was trying to hide it!" She shouted.
"Oh my." Was Kasumi's response.
"I-I-I-I c-can explain! Meet me in the tea room?" Ranma rushed to the outer room of the furo and wrapped herself in a towel. "Uhh… S-sorry about this."
Ranma left to dress and then quickly made her way to the sitting room. She sighed and sat across from Akane and Kasumi. "So I gotta story…" She then regaled them with the tale of her time at the temple in northern Japan.
By the time she had finished Kasumi had brought in tea, and Akane had tears welling up in her eyes. "So, you're not going to do anything about it?"
Ranma shrugged and stretched, "I mean, what's the point? Accordin t'the priestess there it'd take a new curse to fix it, and even then this," She gestured to herself, "Would be my new normal."
Kasumi patted Ranma on the shoulder and offered her best smile. "Ranma, we're here if you need us. There's no reason to shoulder this on your own."
Ranma returned her smile and nodded. "Thank's Kasumi, I never thought you would make me."
Akane apparently took this the wrong way, because she smacked Ranma on the back of her head. "Quit flirting with my sister you pervert."
Ranma rubbed the tender spot Akane had hit and glared at her. "I wasn't flirtin' with nobody! Besides, I've got other things on my mind right now."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Akane demanded.
"Like uncute tomboys that'r always tryin t'make everythin my fault, for starters!" She rebuked.
Kasumi simply sat and shook her head as Ranma and Akane continued to argue. As they yelled their violence escalated, eventually ending with Ranma dazed and in the koi pond.
"If you're not going to do anything about your curse then we're over! Let Shampoo or Ukyo have you for all I care. I'm not marrying a girl!" She screamed. Her yelling pierced the neighborhood but were missed by Ranma, who was too busy shaking pond scum out of her hair to notice. An hour later, (and another bath,) Ranma was back in her room sitting on her futon grumbling when she heard a knock at the door.
"Come in" Ranma called.
The door slid open and there stood a five foot five brunette with an inverted bob that looked like it could cut stone. She pushed herself off the door frame and gave a lazy wave. "Yo, Ranma-chan."
Ranma stood and took a defencive stance. "Nabiki.. What'd ya need?"
Nabiki feigned hurt and when that didn't work she laughed. "Somebody's learning. Too bad, I'm going to miss my favorite cash cow." She entered and slid the door shut behind herself as Ranma glared at her. "Okay, what's going really on. Akane called me and told me to get over here because it was some kind of family emergency. Then when I get here Kasumi and Daddy are acting like nothings out of the norm."
"Akane's just being dramatic." Ranme scoffed.
"Is she now? I can see what she means. Something's changed with you, Ranma, and it's not just going to go away this time." She leaned over the redhead, "You can't just ignore this Ranma."
"So you already know then." Ranma replied.
Nabiki nodded and then added, "Yeah, and it's pretty obvious you need to figure this mess out. You can't just take your father's route this time, kiddo."
There was a finality in her voice that caused Ranma to pause. She knew her situation was serious, but it's not like this hadn't happened before. She fell backwards and landed with a muffled thud, leaning back on her hands as she thought. Nabiki smiled at this. At least she's thinking about it.
"I… Kinda figured my pops would figure something out. Akane said he was here and… I guess he left pretty quickly when he woke up this morning." Ranma finally said.
Nabiki remained quiet for a while longer and then sighed. "Has he ever pulled through for you?"
"Y-you don't know him like I do. He's not… He's not that bad." Ranma was being oddly protective of a man she hadn't ever truly endorsed in the past.
Nabiki's eyes narrowed as she thought. "Have you thought about what you're going to say to the rest of your little Fiancee parade? I mean, what if you're stuck like this for the rest of your life."
Ranma pulled her legs in close to her body and mumbled something under her breath. Nabiki shook her head and held her hand to her ear. "What was that Ranma darling?"
"I said, 'And would that be so bad?'" She resolved herself as she stared the older and taller girl in the eyes.
Nabiki just smiled and held out her hand. Ranma grumbled and reached into her pants to pull out her wallet, and Nabiki just shook her head. "I was offering to help you stand up."
Ranma blushed and stood on her own. "Why are you being nice to me?"
"Because Saotome, I think I've come to understand you a little better. Don't worry about Akane, she'll come around eventually, no matter what you decide." With that Nabiki turned and sauntered out of the room leaving a speechless and annoyed Ranma alone. Much to her chagrin people kept leaving her on the precipice of a grand revelation and it was beginning to wear on her. But she sat quietly in thought nonetheless.
The next day, after a restful dreamless sleep and a amazing meal made by Kasumi, Ranma found herself in the Tendou Dojo meditating. She hadn't put any honest thought into her situation and now she felt the need to find answers. As she slipped into deep meditation she centered and woke sitting in her circle of power. Once again being circled by the names of those she drew upon. She smiled at the addition of Ryoga, he was being good to her. It helped that she had more or less spilled her guts while they were out on the trip to get the staff. Her father had disappeared as the sun was setting, as was his usual habit, and she and Ryoga began to work on setting up camp and prepping dinner. It was funny to her, she'd told Ryoga some things that she hadn't dreamed of telling anyone, especially not her oldest rival. But things had changed when he'd managed to to save her from a potentially embarrassing mixup involving some thugs and a dice game. (she didn't fully grasp the concept of liar's dice and, boy, was that something she should have avoided.) He'd managed to talk down the group of seven, sparing her from having to figure out how to stop just as many guns from lodging bullets into her. It had gotten her talking about various things and eventually he'd just become a sort of confidant. As things progressed she'd found that she'd essentially laid herself bare. The consequence of this was suddenly she'd made a friend, and worse yet, he was an amazing friend. Someone she'd actively come to rely on in her moments of need. (Always emotional, because honestly she could break a car in half if she fancied doing so.)
She shook her thoughts away and stood looking over the mountains surrounding her. They were the same, the ocean had dried and once more she was above the cloudline. She smiled to herself as she felt her warm energy breeze around her. It was back to home, no more storm, no more uncertainty, no more freaky ritual nonsense. She closed her eyes and reached out feeling the various landmarks, though her probing avoided one peak in particular. Once she was satisfied she moved to the central peak and entered her Dojo. What she had been expecting was her mirror, what she found was slightly more unsettling. Her shadow was formless, a small storm of chaotic energy that seemed to pulse in time with the hearth and beat of her heart. Though it lacked eyes she could feel its gaze follow her as she moved through the Dojo.
She gawked at it until it spoke in her voice. "U-uhh, h-hey there."
"Hey." She returned intelligently.
"You feeling okay? You look a little green around th'gills." Despite lacking a face she could tell the cloud was smiling at her.
"I should be asking you that!" Ranma's worry was evident as she guiltily looked away. "D-does it hurt?"
The energy laughed and she could have sworn it shook it's head. "No, no it's fine, this is a good thing!" It bobbed with excitement. Ranma was… Unnerved.
"That's good!" She let out a hollow chuckle and her hand found the back of her head, scratching a non-existent itch. "W-wait! What even happened?"
"I'm not sure. I only know what you know. Still how often do you come in here looking like this?" It asked as the formless mist swirled around the redheaded girl. Ranma was slightly lifted off the ground and then she settled again, holding her shirt down while blushing. Then it dawned on Ranma, the puzzle fitting together.
"S-so I took your body?" She asked ashamedly.
The mist bobbed merryly, and let out a sweet laugh. "Naw, you just accepted it's yours, finally." The strange cloud then dipped down and rose to the top of the room. "Too bad I'll never get that spar in though, eh?"
Ranma couldn't help but smile as she shook her head, leaving her half of that conversation unspoken. It was, after all, inappropriate to talk to yourself. Instead, she shook her head with a chuckle as she folded both arms behind her and winked. She was about to speak when suddenly she was pulled from her palace and blinked at the ravenette standing in front of her with a grumpy expression.
"Having a good dream there Ranma?" She scoffed, "Anyways, Kasumi said lunch is done, so you should come and eat." She then turned and left with a humph.
Ranma staired after her as the dojo doors closed. "Wonder what's got her so up in arms."