Epiphany Chapter 10

By Tripolar Disorder

A new day, a new curse, but old fears (Part two.)

After what seemed like hours, the crying child in Akane and Ranko's arm finally calmed. Her eyes were red, she was still sniffling her nose, but her breathing was slow and calm and all was silent.

Akane decided to interrupt the moment, "Is this it Ranko? I thought you needed me to help get him over his fear of cats?"

"Well, I figured since I had you here, we could possibly fix all of his problems. I'm hoping his other problem comes alone here any moment."

"What 'Other' problem?" Asked Akane.

"You know. The cat personality that takes over during the neko-ken fits. It's also around here somewhere, though it moves on it's own and doesn't like me very much, so it stays away."

"And what am I supposed to do?"

"Simple. It sees you and a few others as it's mates. It'll come to you. As for what then, I haven't quite thought that far ahead yet. I'm hoping it's more capable of logic and reason that we give it credit for."

"So we're going to reason with a cat?"

"A cat that is part of Ranma, and always was. It just got tainted."

"Fine, I'll leave the negotiating up to you. I'll just let him rest in my lap."

"There it is now. Don't act too alarmed, it won't ever hurt you."

"You mean it found us?"

"We had the best kind of bait. A crying child bawling at a high volume that could be heard far across the mind scape I'll bet. No doubt it came to see what was causing the racket."

"What do I do?" Asked Akane frantically as she saw the approaching form. "He's too big to fit on my lap!"

Four large black paws lightly padding their way across the dusty plaines. Attached to a large, striped cat, almost like a tiger,
but all gray and black. It seemed curious as to the goings on,
but it's ears perked up when it heard Akane speaking.

It's pace quickened as it bounded over to her, sniffing her arm as she stiffened from feeling whiskers brush her arm.

Ranko took the small Ranma-chan from her arms and backed off a few feet, sliding her butt along.

Akane reached out to pet it, slowly. She was afraid of it attacking her any second but she knew she had to do something.

It nuzzled her hand, then licked her fingers, before pawing at her like an overgrown kitten. Akane found herself scratching ears, and cheeks and all over his back, while he circled her in a tight radius.

Finally, having been thoroughly primped, plopped down in front of her, to stare at Ranko and the little Ranma.

Akane was looking at the back if it's furry head. "He wants to know what you want?"

"He? You can hear him?" replied Ranko. Akane nodded. "He speaks in my head. It's not words but like a feeling that I can translate. It's really strange."

"Then tell him I want him to stop taking over when Ranma pulls himself into his shell."

There was a pause before Akane replied. "He wants to know why not. He said he's been here a lot longer than you. And you do it too."

"Because I'm not running off pure instinct. I have logic and reason."

"He says that isn't a good excuse."

"Tell him to bite me... second thought, strike that."

"He says Ranma can't be unmanned, or un-piloted, whatever. It's dangerous. He says he can take care of Ranma during those times."

"But he shouldn't have to. Ranma shouldn't need protecting."

"He says then you should enter the cave smart woman."

"What cave is he talking about Ranko?"

"It's the place where Ranma hides. It's a cave of fear."

"What did he mean?"

"He was taunting me. I can't enter it, neither can he."

After a short walk, they were standing outside a cave-like entrance that retreated downward into the ground. The passage was well worn, but not steep.

"This is where the rest of him hides. Emotion within stone, instinct within kitty there, but his fears consume so much of him, they made their own dungeon, as it were. You'll find nothing but his pain down there. I'm a cause of pain, so entering is impossible. A wave of force shoots me right out, and I'd rather not go through that. Kitty has the same problem. Cats equaled pain, fear of pain means fear of cats. He first puts distance, then hides in there to protect himself."

"I don't know why I brought you here. I can't think of anything to help him here. we're just wasting our ... time?"

As she said this, Akane gave the little Ranma-chan one more hug, petted the cat and stepped into the cave defiently.

"Watch as she gets booted out." Remarked Ranko.

Sure enough, a wind howled through the tunnel, but Akane, who was already inside, dropped to the ground and braced herself for the onslaught.

She found rocks and pulled herself down further, against the force of the wind. Up ahead she saw a diversion leading off the main tunnel, and she slowly worked her way toward it, scratching her stomach and arms along the way.

Despite the nagging pain from scratches and the dull throb from her legs, she continued.

She pulled herself through the opening, and behind her the wind stopped.

She looked about the room she was in. Dark to the point it took her eyes several moments to adjust. The room looked vacant, with a passage leading beyond, and she was just taking her first step toward it, when a new figure appeared directly in her path.

It was Genma.

"What are you?" She asked. His reply was not answering her directly, but she knew immediately what she was seeing.

"You are a failure, Ranma. You little piece of worthlessness. Be a girl for all I care, because you'll never be a man in my eyes."

Akane looked long and hard at this almost character representation of Ranma's father.

"So you're Ranma's fear, huh? You don't look so tough."

Genma didn't seem to pay any attention to her, instead he was still staring forward.

"How can you care for something so weak and helpless as a girl? Ranma is pathetic."

Akane thought for a few seconds before it came to her. "This isn't the real Genma, just how Ranma saw his father. How Ranma understood Genma's actions."

She shook her head. "Genma treated Ranma badly no matter if he was weak, or..." Her eyes lit up. "Or even if he KNEW Ranma was better than him. He KNEW, didn't he. The bastard knew his own son had surpassed him. He just kept it up to keep Ranma under him, to exert control that he knew he could lose if Ranma ever smartened up."

"Ranma was more man than Genma ever was. Ranma had more virture, more morality and certinly more honor. Genma was just keeping Ranma down."

At this the Genma figure looked down at her. "You think so?" It said with a voice more recognizable. It was Ranma speaking.

"Of course silly. Think about it a second. You're tons more man than he ever was, and you know what the ultimate proof is?"

"Whats that?" Asked the Genma figure, in Ranma's voice again.

"You become a woman."

Genma looked shocked at this. "Uhm... I'm confused."

"What if you and he had fallen into the opposite pools, do you know what would have happened? I'll tell you what. You'd be in panda form constantly, probably wearing a saddle of all things, and your father would be using his newfound girlish charm to rip people off constantly."

"I'd bet he would have sold you repeatedly to zoos and circus acts, only to come by later, hit you with hot water and sneak you away again. You'd be a commodity to him. Not to mention what he'd do with a female body... ew, it makes me sick just thinking about it."

"But you. You're such the honorable man, even in girl form, you remain manly. You champion for us girls whenever you can."

"You've never used your female body to experiment. I bet you've never touched between your legs except if you needed to bathe.
You won't even enter a girl's shower, though you could almost anytime, and treat yourself to a voyeur's dream and get away with it unharmed. And you chase down Happosai when he steals our underwear."

"You are a better man than anyone else I know, and I think your curse only made you better. Sure, you use your charm to get free food from time to time, but your stomach is a bottomless pit and I can understand the messages it might tell you. It least it isn't your manhood sending you messages."

Genma's form suddenly vanished in front of her, and she smiled.

Akane took another step forward, only to have another image pop into existence, right in front of her.

This time it was Soun, her own father.

"And what do you want?"

"Ranma will never earn my respect to marry any of my daughters."

"Oh sweet mercy, not more of this..."

Akane was getting upset and frustrated. Not only had she only taken a dozen of so steps down the tunnel, but with each step,
she faced another 'Wall' that Ranma had put up, complete with a set of irrational fears that she found gaping holes in their argument and dispelled. She wondered how long this continued.

She took a small step again and prepared for the next characture of a person from Ranma's life.

This time it was Nodoka.

"Ranma is not manly enough. I will never love my child unless he decides to be my daughter forever."

Akane looked at this version. It was unlike the Nodoka she knew.
Cold and emotionless, and staring off into space.

She had learned from the previous images that this is what Ranma really thought people thought of him. So far, the only conclusion was that everyone hated Ranma. She knew this not to be completely true, some people indeed hated Ranma, but she hadn't seen Ryoga yet. She thought that whatever argument he put forth might have some weight to it and she might have more difficulty seeing the flaw.

Akane looked at Nodoka in front of her and sighed. "Do you really believe that Ranma? Do you really think she doesn't love you completely and unconditionally? She has told him otherwise countless times."

"He never returned as a man amongst men, and so I will never accept him as my son."

Akane pondered for a moment. "Do you even know what your mother considers a man anyway? How do you know that you wouldn't have been a man in her eyes? Maybe her idea of a true man happens to be one that pretends to be a woman, or worse. Her idea of a true man might be something like Happosai. She did marry Genma after all."

Nodoka suddenly had this strange look on her face.

"Figures. Ranma wouldn't have bothered to ask her what was on the contract. Sounds like something I would do. Jump to a conclusion without getting all the information."

With that, Nodoka disappeared.

"This is getting easier then I thought." Said Akane out loud.

The words had no sooner left her lips, when she knew she had put her foot in her mouth.

Materializing in front of her was indeed whom she suspected. It was herself. A little younger, wearing her practice Gi, and with the longer hair she had when Ranma met her.

The girl was scowling, and she stood in a ready stance. Akane remembered how she had treated Ranma that first day. "I know what you are going to say. And he is NOT a pervert. I was wrong."

"He's a girl half the time, why would anyone love him? He is a freak, a pervert and a horrible person. Everyone hates him, and tries to hurt him. They hurt us trying to get to him."

Akane's hands were coiled, her knuckles white. She stood there staring into the eyes of her own reflection.

Finally her hands un-folded, and went limp. She closed her eyes and let the tense muscles loosen. Akane stood there nearly a minute before her eyes flew open.

"It's not his fault. He didn't ask to be engaged to me and he didn't ask for my problems. I think he took them because he is a decent person, and he hates seeing me hurt. He did it all,
always, because he loves me."

"Considering all things in your life, becoming a girl seems kinda mundane compared to all the other freaks. And I'm sorry I ever called him a pervert. I regret it now, because I know the truth now, that he is more pure-hearted and virtuous than anyone else."

"And I love him. I fell in love the first time I saw him, and he wasn't even a 'him' at the time. I was scared at what that meant so I lied to myself and in doing so hurt us both."

The pseudo-Akane looked at her. "What do you mean? How could I love him? He isn't even sure about himself."

"I love her too." Said Akane flatly.

"But, but, but..." The image began to argue.

"But what? I think Ranma is a very caring person now that he is expressing himself. I also think that Ranma is lovable no matter what body he currently is in. Not like Pantyhose."

His mother loves him, I love him, and heck, even Kasumi and Nabiki care about him.

He is also able to take care of himself.

Like I said, you are wrong."

The Akane-image seemed to flutter and it shifted until it looked just like her. Short hair and all.

"You are lying. You are just going to hurt Ranma later."

Akane dropped her head. "I made him a promise, one I will keep.
I will never hurt him again. After everything I have seen and heard, I cannot hurt him now. I want to hold him, love him, and love her too. I want the chance to show that I can."

With that her reflection vanished.

Akane sighed, and took another step forward, but this time, no figure to argue with. There was nothing around her and she took off down the tunnel as fast as she could. she wanted to see what awaited her.

Suddenly she saw a pair of eyes glowing in front of her. Giant glowing, menacing eyes. Cat eyes.

"Ahh, so you're his fear."

Akane jumped back as a claw came out of the shadows and swung at her, scratching her arm.

As she pulled back, holding the bleeding cut, she snarled. "So that's a rational fear. One that actually has some weight to it."

Again the claw came at her, but this time she dove inside it, and struck the face of the beast with every ounce of muscle she had.

The outcry it gave was unlike a cat's, more like a screeching dragon. Again she punched, bearing her weight into the force with the balls of her feet.

She dived back as the claw attacked, but she saw it in time,
ducking and coming right back in, slamming the face and again and again.

This was not the skilled neko-ken, this was simply a fear of cats that had gotten too powerful. She smiled as each blow rocked it backward, and it seemed to shrink in size each time.

It lost strength and power as it gave ground to Akane. She saw the claw again, but this time slammed her own fist into it,
crushing it against the wall.

This caused it to shriek out in pain, collapsing to the floor and vanishing.

Akane sighed, wondering what was next.

Continuing down the tunnel, it's twisting and turning making it impossable to know exactly which direction she was going or how far she had gone.

Finally, Akane came to the end and found the object of her search.

This version of Ranma was also female, but also a young child.
What made her gasp was how she looked.

She was lying there, nude and curled up in the fetal position,
in a pool of her own blood. Her skin was wrought with cuts, like she had been attacked by the cats just moments ago. Bruises also covered what she could see, marks made by weapons as well as human hands.

Akane didn't know what to do. She knelt down in front of the girl who had one eye bruised and swollen enough to where she could no longer see out of it.

"Ranma?"

"Ple... please..." stuttered the girl, shivering in fear.

"Please... d-don't hurt me."

Akane could hardly bear to look at this.

"I'm not here to hurt you."

"Please d-don't hurt me." the tiny voice muttered again.

Suddenly, she heard Ranko shouting from outside. It was remarkably clear despite the distance. "Akane, bring her out here!"

Akane scooped up the girl, held her body tightly against her own,
and carefully made her way back up through the tunnel.

Ranko was standing near the mouth of the cave staring into it with a look of pure surprise as Akane stepped out carrying the child.

The girl's blood had marked the front of her swimsuit with eerie lines that contrasted the blue.

Ranko gasped as seeing this. "I can't believe you did it Akane.
I can't believe you managed to get her out here. It shouldn't be possible."

"Why not?" Akane asked.

"This is Ranma's self image. His fears did this. Me being part of his fear, I made him into a girl. It's why I couldn't get down there."

Ranko brushed the girl's hair, causing her to open her eye again.

"Please... "

Ranko put a finger across her lips. "Don't speak. You're not going to be beaten by your fears anymore."

"Why does she look like this Ranko?"

"This is what fear does, it hurts you, beats up on you. But Ranma's personalities are so split apart that she lacks the ability to fight back, so they all overwhelm her and as you can see, are pretty merciless.

"To her, no one loves her, no one cares for her. This is the part of her that needed her mother the most all those years ago. Being a girl, his curse is just another thing to make people hate her. I don't know how much we can help her now though."

"But Ranko, you just said..."

"I know, but aside from doing what you just did every other day or so, she'll wind up getting pulled back down there and get the piss beaten out of her again."

"She has no defense against them, none whatever." Sighed Ranko.

But Ranma is a martial artist. I defeated that cat down there easily. Why can't he?"

Ranko shook her head, "This isn't that part of him either."

"You mean there is another ranma out here?" Exclaimed Akane.

Ranko nodded. "Just one other, that I know of at least."

"And where do we find it?"

"He's already here. He's been following us the entire time, we just weren't looking for him."

"What does he look like?" Asked Akane, her eyes scanning the dunes to the horizon as her head turned.

As she turned, her eyes fell on Ranko, who was smiling. "It's easier to make him appear Akane-chan. Please forgive me."

With that, Ranko's arm lashed out in an attempt to strike Akane in the face.

Her arm was stopped short of Akane's face by another, a hand attached to an arm that made Akane gasp.

Here was the last Ranma. Strong, well built and handsome. The rippled muscles of his chest almost spoke to her. In contrast was his face.

This Ranma lacked a face, as though it had been erased. He had a nose, but no nostrils. He had ears but no openings. He had a chin, but no mouth. And where eyes should have been, skin.

He let go of Ranko's arm, and she smiled. "This one is Ranma's skill. There is a bit more in there, but that takes up the brunt of it. Ranma can't see you hurt, so he protected you from even me."

"So, now we've gotten all of his parts together, what's left to do?"

Ranko sighed. "Alone they can't deal with everything. We need them to work together." She held out the bloodied little girl toward the faceless hulk. "If you think Akane needs your protection, what about her? She needs you more than anyone else."

The faceless Ranma started to lift his arms then stopped and dropped them to his side.

"What's he doing? Ranko?"

Ranko stared at him, her face amix with confusion and surprise.
"I don't know Akane."

"He's afraid too, If you can believe that." Said the other child female Ranma, with a sniffle.

Ranko and Akane both turned toward the little voice. "How do you know this?" Asked Ranko.

She looked Ranko in her eyes, her own bloodshot and tear streaked orbs expressing so much.

"Who do you think is still holding out on accepting our girl form? All he knows is what the idiot Genma told him during training. He believes it because even with all the suffering he endured, he did learn so much."

"He thinks that becoming a girl makes him weak. Him taking her from you will merge them together. It's the same reason he won't touch me."

"But I thought his fear was over there?" Replied Akane, pointing at the girl in Ranko's arms.

"This fear didn't exist until Jusenkyo and it only effects his skill." The pint size visionary stated. "Fear was consumed by it, and I attacked it and accepted it. Kitty there doesn't care."

"But he..." She pointed to the Faceless, "... doesn't know what becoming female means to his skill. That is why he won't protect either of us."

Akane faced Ranko and she, in turn, looked toward the faceless.

"Ranko, how do we fix this?" Akane asked.

"I don't know Akane. I don't know how I'd go about convincing him that he might like to be a girl."

"Maybe we don't. Maybe..."

Akane walked to the faceless. "How about I promise to help you learn to fight better in your girl form? You are already a great martial artist, you just need practice. You already know you balance different, and that can't be the only thing. We'll work on it together."

The faceless Ranma turned toward her, as if to look, though ironically, he still lacked eyes.

"I'm the champion of the Tendo school, and I'm female. I don't use air combat as much as you, and I'm sure I have something I can teach you and it won't bruise you."

"All you have to do is protect fear. Oh, and emotion too. Can you take care of them both?"

Suddenly, the feline side of Ranma mewled noisily and lunged at the faceless one.

There was a bright flash, and Akane shielded her eyes.

When the flash subsided, Akane could see a new figure lying on the ground.

A male Ranma curled up the fetal position, with a bit of fur dotted about his frame.

"What just happened?" Akane asked.

"The Neko Ken and faceless merged together. Wonder what that means..." Ranko's last comment came across almost errantly.

The new Ranma stood up. His face now full of his normal features, everything except a smile.

He looked at the bloodied girl in Ranko's arms. For what felt like an eternity, he stared at the girl.

"What happened when you two came together?" Asked Akane. "Can you speak now?"

The little female Ranma looked up at him. "Please protect us."

Ranko looked at him. "I'm sorry Ranma. I brought most of this upon you. If it wasn't for the curse, you'd already have taken this one from my arms."

Akane added. "But you have control of it now. You choose when and where you change. you don't have to worry about being weak unless you Want to be."

"That's right!" Said the little girl, as she stepped forward. "Please, don't run away again."

This Ranma looked at them both, then slowly held out his hands, one toward each girl. "I'm scared." Was all he could say.

"We all are. we're going to be a bit different now as one person again, but we'll be whole."

Both girls reached out to take his hands. The bloodied girl barely got her shakey arm out before he leaned forward and took it.

Akane was struck by another large blast of light but this one felt like it impacted her and sent her flying.

She opened her eyes to find herself lying on the Dojo floor,
Ranma's arms still about her waist.

Tofu was still sitting there, and he helped her to her feet.

"Did you get whatever you needed done?"

"I think we did a lot more, and I hope it worked."