Kagome returned home to find a young man in monk's garb backed up against the house trying to fend off her grandfather's overly enthusiastic sales pitch.
"Young man, please try this mummified foot of water sprite, it's sure to break your curse, or at least wear this lucky charm to protect you against further calamnity."
"Thanks, but I doubt that will work any better than the jellied frog demon legs you slipped into my teas, or that powdered I don't know what you dumped on me."
As Kagome hurried towards her grandfather, determined to pull him away from his victim, she realized with surprise that it was Ranma. Stepping between the two she said "grandpa, stop trying to sell that stuff to Ranma, he's obviously not interested."
"Kagome, I am merely trying to release him from his curse. As my son in law all this is free."
"Curse?" Kagome said. At the same time Ranma protested "I'm not your son in law!"
"I admit, you might not be one for much longer if we can't fix this gender curse," Michio Higurashi conceded, "but I refuse to give up hope!"
Ranma wavered between defending his masculinity and embracing this potential escape route, but before he could do either Kagome said, "would one of you explain to me what's going on?!"
"It's terrible, terrible," Kagome's grandfather wailed before Ranma could intervene, "your fiancee is cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water."
"Oh," Kagome looked at Ranma for affirmation and he responded with a nod. She thought for a moment about Miroku's deadly wind tunnel, and about Inuyasha stuck to a tree for fifty years and then said, "That doesn't sound too bad."
Ranma snorted, obviously disagreeing with her, "you have no idea." Her grandfather added "of course it's terrible! How are you supposed to produce children with a girl, we must find a way to cure him, perhaps if we combine spiritual powers..."
"Grandpa! I already released Ranma from our engagement, and even if I hadn't, I'm not going to judge him because of some stupid curse. Aren't I a little young to be bearing children anyway!"
Her grandfather continued to look mutinous, but before he could say more Kagome grabbed Ranma's hand and pulled him into the house. She didn't stop until they were in the kitchen and away from her grandfather who had retreated to the shed to search for more curse breaking artifacts.
"Thanks for getting me out of there," Ranma said awkwardly, breaking free of her hand and moving to slouch against a wall The effect was somewhat ruined by the badly tied robes which hung rather haphazardly off his body."
"No problem" Kagome replied, setting down her bag, "gramps can go a bit overboard. Why didn't you tell me about the curse earlier?"
"It didn't come up" Ranma said, avoiding her eyes.
"Hmm," Kagome hummed, time to change subjects, "where's Akane? I thought you would take longer to get here."
"She's with your mom somewhere," Ranma said, marginally relaxing, "they were trying to make something out of her robes so she wouldn't have to keep borrowing your clothes."
"What's up with those things anyway?" Kagome asked, gesturing at Ranma's orange ensemble. "I thought you went home just so you could pick up your clothing."
"We had to change plans rapidly, ditch our packs, and change into disguises. Somehow word got out that we were leaving almost as soon as we left the dojo."
"Scary," Kagome said sympathetically, "but there can't be many monks in Nerima, because you have that thing tied completely wrong."
"Oh? Well, you're right, I can't remember the last time I've seen one. I guess Akane and I were lucky not to be discovered. It makes sense that you'd recognize it since you live in a shrine."
"Heh, no, it's because I travel with a cursed monk. He doesn't act particularly holy, but he still wears the robes, though they're a dark blue."
"Cursed? Did he run into Jusenkyo too?" Ranma asked, it would certainly explain her family's casual attitude (excluding her grandfather).
"No, it was a demon named Naraku. It's a generational curse that was first cast on his grandfather. He has a wind tunnel embedded in the palm of his hand, kind of like a black hole. Most of the time he keeps it sealed with his spiritual powers, but it comes in handy during battle."
"Some curse," Ranma grumbled, it sounded pretty convenient to him.
"Yeah," Kagome said, "downside is that the hold gets a little bit larger every day, and it will eventually consume him, so he's doomed to a very short life span. Thanks to that, he's kind of obsessed with fathering an heir, asks every woman he meets to bear his child. He blames it on the 'curse,' but I think womanizing runs in the family as well as the curse."
Ranma considered her story for a moment while Kagome eyed him wryly. Maybe turning into a girl wasn't so bad after all, death certainly helped put things into perspective. At that moment Kagome's mother walked in, closely followed by Akane wearing a simple orange gi.
Akane's hackles rose when she saw Ranma and Kagome alone together, but she fought to rein in her wildly galloping imagination. This was Kagome's house, she had every right to sit in the kitchen and talk to Ranma. She wasn't Shampoo, or Ukyo, or Kodachi, and they still had all their clothes on, so some of her insane assumptions were simply impossible. If she wasn't careful she might become worse than Kuno. Speaking of clothes, Akane smirked.
"Couldn't wait to get out of those ceremonial robes, huh Ranma? Though, I can't say the orange look suits you much better."
"You're one to talk," Ranma fired back, "what was wrong with Kagome's clothes, too tight for your uncute tomboy figure?"
"It wouldn't be polite to borrow Kagome's things." Akame primly replied.
"I don't mind," Kagome offered, "after all it's kind of my fault you're here."
"Yeah Akane, so there's nothing stopping you."
Akane gave Ranma a dirty look and then, blushing, apologetically said "It's not so much that they don't fit, but they're kind of short..."
Kagome looked at Akane in incomprehension for a moment. The girl was at least an inch or two shorter so why... realization dawned on her and she turned pink. Her mother laughed lightly and beamed benevolently at them all. "That would be my fault Akane, I gave you one of Kagome's uniforms becaues they were the closest at hand. It's true their dress code is a bit... unconventional. I'm sorry if it bothered you."
Kagome silently thanked her mother for smoothing over the situation. Admitting at this point that she also wandered around the feudal era in her school uniform would not be a good idea. Perhaps it was time for a change to something less revealing, but still practical. Priestess robes were out of the question, especially since their run in with resurrected psycho Kikyo, a kimono would just be ridiculous, and she didn't really want to destroy any of her nicer clothing. Demon blood and gore all over her hated school uniforms brought a certain satisfaction; the same would not be true of her ordinary garb.
Kagome shelved the problem away for later perusal and said "I have other clothes you can try on that are more reasonable. The gi will probably be most suitable for training, but other than that my closet is at your disposal." As an afterthought she mischievously added "and that goes for you too Ranma."
"What?" Ranma asked, uncomfortable with this turn in the conversation.
"Well, since you turn into a girl it makes sense that you might need to borrow my clothes" Kagome said innocently.
Ranma looked horrified at the thought of wearing a dress or skirt. Kagome and Akane shared looks of satisfaction as he became pale and turned inward, obviously lost in contemplation of such torture. For the first time it occurred to Akane that maybe training with Kagome wouldn't be so bad after all, she obviously had a backbone, and even better, a similar sense of humor. Fortunately for Ranma, Kagome's mother came to the rescue yet again.
"I'm sure that won't be necessary," she said, casting reproving glances at the two girls, "I can modify your robes as well if you'd like, or I might be able to find some of my husband's old things and cut them down to fit you."
Ranma snapped out of his daze, "Thanks Mrs. Higurashi, but I don't want to impose. I'll figure out a way to get our packs back, we hid them pretty well, and they're not too close to any danger zones... I could probably sneak in, grab them, and sneak out.
"Bad idea Ranma," Akane cautioned, "they're definitely still searching for us, and you in particular. You'd be walking right into the lion's den."
"Keh, I can do it, no problem," Ranma replied
"Do you really want to risk leading them back here though?" Akane said.
Ranma paused, risking himself was fine with him, but risking the Higurashi family didn't sit so well. Kagome's mother cut in, "why don't you just tell me where you left them and I'll pick them up for you. I have to go get Souta from practice anyway, so it won't be any trouble.
"Well," Ranma hesitated, "They definitely wouldn't recognize you, and probably wouldn't suspect anything..."
Akane made the decision for the two of them. "That would be perfect."
A/N: I'm getting worse and worse at chapter endings... but anyway, another short chapter for your perusal. I realize this is more filler stuff, and I'll try to get another one in tomorrow that actually advances the plot.