Chapter 10.

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"Ku Lon?"

"Yes, deary?"

Ranma sighed. She looked at herself in the mirror as she tried on yet another dress from Ku Lon. "This isn't me, and it isn't helping."

"Oh, I know. I was just having fun dressing you up." The old lady cackled as she watched Ranma's eyebrow twitch.

"I think…" Ranma frowned into the mirror. "I think I'm ready to go back."

Ku Lon looked surprised. "So soon? But you've only been here for a few weeks."

"I know. But… something is telling me I'm ready." Ranma paused. "Actually, something is telling me I need to go back. I don't know if I'll ever be ready."

Ku Lon nodded and took the untried dress away from Ranma, stuffing it back into the chest it came from. "I've always made it a philosophy to follow those feelings."

"Me too."

Ku Lon then did something unexpected. She gave Ranma a hug. She was so short and withered that she barely came up to Ranma's stomach, but her strength hadn't diminished at all over the years. "Will you be alright?"

Ranma smiled. Her trademark smirk wasn't present – it was a genuine smile of affection for the old matriarch. It was one of the few times she could remember actually receiving physical affection from anyone, much less the old woman. Ranma's eyes misted over briefly as she felt a huge surge of affection for her. "Yeah." She returned the hug with pleasure. "If I'm not now, I know I will be eventually. Thank you. For everything."

Ku Lon nodded and stepped back. Ranma couldn't be sure, but it looked as if the old woman's eyes were suspiciously moist. "If you need any assistance…"

Ranma laughed. "I think you've done enough for now, Elder."

"Perhaps you'll stick around for dinner tonight, at least?"

Ranma shook her head. "No, but I'll write you to let you know how things are going."

There wasn't much left to do after that. Ranma arrived with just her backpack, and she was ready to travel in just a few short minutes. She pulled Harry's portkey out of a pocket and tied it to a leather cord around her neck. Picking up her pack, Ranma stepped outside.

"Ranma?" Ku Lon's hand on her arm stopped her from immediately activating the port key.

"Yes?"

Ku Lon looked up at her and gave her a toothless grin. "It makes my old heart happy to see that you are finding your balance."

Ranma tenderly squeezed the matriarch's arm. "Mine too. I don't know where it will lead me, but for the first time since…" she trailed off. "Since ever, really." She shrugged. "I think I'm actually looking forward to the journey." With a final squeeze, she dropped her arm and activated the port key.

------

"Fawkes."

Ranma's feet slammed into the ground outside of Harry's apartment. She felt like she had been dragged behind a 747 jet liner the entire way back. It was close to midnight here. She untied the leather cord around her neck and unlocked the door, trying to be silent.

She didn't know what to expect when she opened the door, but it wasn't the sight that greeted her. It looked like a construction site in the living room. Mounds and mounds of dirt sat piled as high as the ceiling on blue waterproof camping tarps in the middle of the living room, and a series of shaker screens sat propped up next to the wall near the entrance.

Even more disconcerting was the sight of Harry, with his shirt off, shoveling scoop after scoop of dirt into a wheelbarrow from the closest pile of dirt. He was covered in filth and sweating profusely, but Ranma was strangely captivated by what was transpiring. He hadn't noticed her entrance, diligently working away at filling the wheelbarrow. It didn't take long. He stuck the shovel in the dirt pile and turned to lift the handles when he finally noticed her standing there. With a start, he stood up straight, dirt forgotten.

"I'm home." Ranma smiled uncertainly.

Harry returned the gesture. Ranma could tell by his body language he was relieved and happy to see her, but also wary. "Welcome back." He stepped away from the dirt pile and moved towards the front door, watching her carefully as he did so.

Ranma nodded. "It's good to be back." She turned to the piles of dirt in the living room. "Honey, was it too much to ask for you to keep the place clean while I was on vacation?"

Her comment had the desired effect. She saw the last bits of tension leave his body as he laughed. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Ah… Oops?"

Ranma stepped in and closed the door behind her. "So… What exactly are you doing?"

"Well," Harry began, "it's funny you should ask…"

------

Ranma sat at the kitchen counter drinking a cup of tea as Harry finished his shower. He joined her a few moments later. There was a little awkwardness at first as they engaged in small talk, but Ranma quickly found that once they started a real conversation with Harry it became familiar and comfortable again. Harry explained what his project was, and Ranma watched with fascination as a pile of dirt removed itself from the closest mound and levitated itself over to the first screen.

As Harry explained it, he was looking for a small stone with distinct markings and magical properties. The stone wasn't able to be summoned and its signature undetectable, which is why he had established an archeological dig in his living room.

As she suspected, there was no reason for Harry to physically move the dirt himself, he had just been doing it as physical training, a notion Ranma approved of. However, the process of screening the dirt was vastly more effective once automated. The dirt flew to through a series of metal screens, with different sized holes. The first was large enough for rocks the size of gravel to fit through, with each subsequent screen having progressively finer holes until the last one would only permit items the size of a pencil eraser through.

The screens vibrated back and forth rapidly, shifting the dirt from one screen to the next, sorting out the various rocks and debris by size. Only stones of the proper size made it to the final screen, where they were then dumped into a cleaning apparatus. The dirt all fell to the floor where it was banished away.

So far, the only thing Harry had to show for it was a bunch of gravel.

"What do you need this stone for, anyway?"

Harry watched yet another batch of dirt being processed. "It might be… useful to help figure out what is going on with your curse."

Ranma mouthed a silent "oh" and nodded her head. "That's… very sweet of you, Harry. Thank you."

Harry just shrugged. "I needed something to do."

"You've been at this for how long?" Ranma asked.

Harry scratched his head. "About two weeks."

"That's a lot of work."

"Yeah, but I needed something to do. I was going crazy here by myself. It's been really hard getting all the dirt here, because the giants are pretty territorial. I've gotten so used to having you around…" Harry stopped.

"Whoa – wait! Giants?"

Harry grinned. "Yeah! Wanna see?"

"You bet your ass!" Ranma's grin lit up her face. Harry shook his head in amusement as he looked at her. Only Ranma would actually be excited by the prospect of giants capable of tearing her from limb to limb. Without thinking, Harry blurted out, "I missed you." He shut his mouth quickly, carefully watching for her reaction, and was surprised and relieved to see her nod.

"Yeah, me too. I… missed being here. I missed… you… as well." Ranma didn't look at him, but rather stared at her hands. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"I wanted to… thank you." She muttered something under her breath and shook her head. He looked at her, puzzled, but she held up her hand to forestall any comments. Finally, she took a breath and began again. "Harry, I know you've put up with a lot of stuff from me and…" She blushed and shook her head with a rueful grin.

"And?" Harry prompted, trying hard to not to get his hopes up.

Ranma looked up at him, determination in her eyes. "I'm just going to have to get it all out, or I never will. I know you want to… to have… a relationship with me. I've told you before that I didn't think it would be possible. I still don't know if it would be. But… something tells me I'm stuck this way. IF am stuck this way, I'm going to have to accept it. It's taken me a long time to realize that, but it also means that at some point, I'll need to do more than just accept if I ever want to be whole." The determination in her eyes was still there when she finished speaking, but had faded somewhat, exposing her uncertainty.

Since she didn't look inclined to continue, Harry asked, "What do you mean?"

Ranma gave him a shy smile. "I can't promise anything, but I won't turn you down if you ask me again."

Harry simply stared at her for a bit, not quite comprehending what she was saying. "What, you want me to ask you out on a date?"

Ranma looked down at her shoes and nodded. "I'm willing to try, and I… want to try it with you. I can't… promise you anything more than that right now, okay?"

Harry nodded. "That's fine."

The pair sat there in silence for a bit as both waited for the other to speak.

"Why is this so hard?" Ranma was still blushing.

Harry laughed. "This is the easy part."

Ranma looked a little sick. "Just… promise me one thing?"

"What's that?"

"That you'll take me to see the giants?"

Harry burst into laughter, followed quickly by Ranma. Hearing him laugh made Ranma realize that even though she felt embarrassed and terrified at the prospect of accepting what she had become, she still wanted to do it, not only for his sake, but for hers as well.

-----

"Training trip, Harry. Get your stuff." Ranma flicked on the light in Harry's bedroom and tossed an empty camping pack into Harry's lap. He bolted upright in bed, the covers falling down to his waist.

"Huh?" He fumbled for his glasses as he squinted at the intruder in his room.

"Training trip. You wanna go?"

Harry tried to process what Ranma was telling him and failed miserably. He settled for simple disgruntlement, asking, "Do you know time it is?"

"Yeap!" She practically radiated good cheer. "It's 3:30 in the morning. You wanna go or not? I promise it will be fun!" Ranma winked and left the room.

Harry stared at his open door dumbly, not really registering what had just transpired. He blinked and looked at the pack on his bed as the gears in his head slowly started to turn. He had a vague recollection of agreeing to do go somewhere with Ranma to train, but he had been fairly drunk at the time and couldn't recall the particulars of the agreement.

With a sigh, he slowly got out of bed and began to dress. He pulled on a sweatshirt and a comfortable pair of loose fitting pants. As he did so, he wordlessly commanded the bag to pack itself. He had no idea where they were going, but he figured he would prepare for the worst. His usual hiking ensemble and some heavier clothing flew out of his closet and into the bag. He did a quick inventory of the contents of his bag before summoning his hiking boots. He snagged them out of midair and grabbed a pair of socks, sitting on the edge of the bed as he donned his boots.

His reflection in the mirror next to his dresser blinked back at him owlishly, yawning as it watched him lacing up the boots. "You look like a mess," his reflection said. Harry scowled and muttered, "Thanks," waiting until he finished tying his laces before he answered the mirror's unspoken question about why he was up this early. "Ranma was nattering on about some sort of training trip." The mirror's eyebrow's rose as it took in the information. Harry grabbed his bag and headed towards the kitchen, missing the mirror's reply.

Ranma was seated calmly at the table, finishing off a piece of toast. She looked him up and down. "Packed already?" He nodded. "You used magic?" Again, he nodded, sitting down at the table with her as she polished off the crust. "Useful, that." He grumbled as he grabbed for the tea pot and poured himself a cup. "Not as useful as sleep." He snagged a piece of toast from her plate and spread some marmalade on it. He ate in silence, gulping down his tea as fast as possible.

Ranma handed him the morning paper while looking at her watch. "Portkey's nearly ready."

"Portkey? What Portk…" At that moment, he felt the familiar pulling sensation that started from his navel, dragging them quickly off to an unknown destination. His feet slammed into the ground and sent him sprawling at the end of the ride. He stood up and brushed the dirt off his chest as he tried to take in his surroundings. Though it was extremely dark, he could tell they were in some sort of deeply wooded area. In the far distance he could hear the sound of waves crashing on a beach, and the tang of salt rested lightly on the air.

"Where are we?"

Ranma pulled out a brochure and handed it to him. Unable to read in the dark, Harry produced a small ball of light with his index finger and read the pamphlet.

"Exmoor National Park?" He scratched his head. "What are we doing here?"

She smiled. "You're going to learn how to jump."

------

They marched to their camp site in the dark. The hike through the forest was quite strenuous as the darkness made it difficult to find good footing in the loose soil and treacherous slopes. They descended until they reached the beach. Harry looked back to see mighty cliffs towering above them, reflecting the moonlight. Ranma picked a camp site several hundred feet from the base of the cliffs on the northern shore, surrounded by towering cliffs and boulders.

Harry hadn't set up a tent in the dark in quite a while. Ranma finished her tent in less than a minute and bade Harry goodnight. He spent the better part of a half-hour trying figure out which pole went where. The tent was the same one he had spent so many nights in with Ron and Hermione back in his seventh year. It had seen better days. He figured he must have grabbed it subconsciously when woken in the middle of the night and made to leave in a rush. He was almost tempted to cast the same series of charms Hermione worked out to keep them hidden during that year, just for sentimental reasons.

He climbed inside and sank down onto one of the cots gratefully, asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

------

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Harry's scream was cut short when he hit the cold ocean water. He swallowed a mouthful of water and struggled to swim towards the surface, still dressed in last night's clothing. He broke the surface and began coughing up sea water. The water wasn't too deep where he landed, but the waves where breaking over his head. He started swimming to shore until he could wade, only to find Ranma waiting on the beach looking smug.

"I hate you, you know."

Ranma frowned. "That's not a way to win a lady over."

"You're hardly a lady."

"Oops. Forgot. Ready to train?"

"I still hate you." Harry crawled up onto the beach and collapsed, glaring up balefully at Ranma. "Was it really necessary to throw me in the ocean?"

"No, but it was fun." She offered a hand to help him up. He reached up and grabbed it, and at the same time wandlessly cast the strongest banishing charm he could when he made contact with her hand. He watched in satisfaction as Ranma flew out over the ocean. He watched her flip several times before entering the water in a perfect dive, barely making a splash.

Harry smirked. "Now that was fun."

As soon as he said that the surface of the water where Ranma had entered erupted with a prodigious splash. A flash of red streaked overhead to land on the beach behind Harry. He whipped around, only to find Ranma standing behind him, rearranging her clothing and only slightly damp.

"How did you do that?"

Her smile wasn't pleasant. "You're going to find out."

-------

Ranma took him about twenty yards away from one of the taller boulders on the beach, easily thirty feet high. "How would you get up there from here?"

Harry blinked. "I'd probably apparate."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Without magic."

"Um… Walk over and climb it? Why?"

"You wanted to know what I did this morning, right? Well, I jumped. Like this." Ranma bent her knees and jumped, launching away from Harry's and landing lightly on the top of the bolder. She turned and waved, and then jumped again, landing lightly next to Harry.

"That's… pretty cool." Harry shook his head. He knew he shouldn't be surprised, but whenever Ranma demonstrated some technique he couldn't help but be impressed. "So I take it your going to be teaching me to do that?"

Ranma nodded. "Eventually. But for now, you're going to start small."

------

Starting small began easy enough. Ranma had Harry jumping on top of a foot-high rock and jumping off, before hoping over the rock and repeating. It was pretty easy, but after about half an hour it rapidly became progressively excruciating as Ranma made him jump faster and higher. His legs started burning, and soon Harry was struggling to make the jumps.

Ranma called a break after about and hour. "Sit."

Harry flopped gratefully onto the beach. "I can't feel my legs."

"Good. That should make the next part easier." Ranma sat down next to him. "This will be your first exercise in using ki. But first, you'll need to be able to find it, and then push it into your legs. But first, what does it feel like for you to use magic? I mean, physically? What does the flow of magic feel like?"

"Hmmm…" Harry cast an easy stun spell at Ranma, who batted it away reflexively. Harry looked at his hand. "It feels like building up tension in my core, and it rushing out through my body. Why?"

"Then this might not take as long as I thought." Ranma said, "Would you describe the feeling as a tingling, or a swelling?"

"Umm…" Harry paused. "More like a swelling. It keeps building until I have the amount needed to use it."

"And when you use it, would you say it happens instantly or gradually?"

Harry shrugged. "Instantly, I guess."

Ranma held up her hands. In one a ball of water formed, and the other cackled with electricity. "I think magic acts like electricity - The charge builds, and then jumps from one point to another." The electricity in her palm sparked and vanished. "Ki, however, flows like water. If electricity takes the path of least resistance, water takes whatever path is available, and so can be a lot harder to control, because it requires making sure it does exactly what you want or you can waste it." The sphere of water popped and cascaded down her hand, dripping onto her arm and draining into the sand.

Harry frowned. "That sounds… different."

Ranma nodded. "It is. I feel like it's much easier to use magic in some ways. It either happens or it doesn't. With ki, though, it isn't whether you can use it or not, but if you can both control and utilize it. If you can't control it you can't use it, and if you can't use it, you can't control it."

"A catch-22 then."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. It's kind of like taking a pee – your body knows how to do it, but it requires conscious control to relax the muscles holding it back. It also takes it a bit to start flowing through your body. You can stop it too, but it isn't an instant process."

"That's gross."

Ranma nodded. "Thanks. I thought of that analogy myself. Anyhow, we have to get you in touch with your ki first."

"How do I do that?"

"By breathing!"

------

Ranma demonstrated how she wanted him to breath by using his diaphragm. She sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, and took several deep breaths. Her shoulders didn't move, and by the third breath she was glowing visibly as a bright blue aura radiated from her body. It grew with every breath until it looked like she was sitting in the heart of a blue bonfire, lighting up the beach. She opened her eyes and began to breathe normally, and the aura receded quickly.

Harry blinked as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden lack of light.

Soon, Harry was seated next to Ranma as she guided him through the process. He soon learned that it was probably the hardest exercise he had done yet, as it took complete concentration and muscle control. He was already fatigued from the training, meaning he had to pay attention to every action of his breath. He took a long slow inhale using only his diaphragm, and a rapid, forceful exhale, emptying the lungs of all his oxygen. One or two breaths wasn't hard, but after an hour of continuous breathing, his ribs and stomach felt like they were on fire from the strain.

When his concentration lapsed or fatigue caught up to him, Ranma made him do jumping exercises, mixed with an occasional spar.

Ranma explained that the breathing exercises were to make Harry feel his ki welling from the center of his body and radiating outward. According to Ranma, he would know if he felt it because "it would feel like a combination of fire and ice coursing through your body." The fatigue would highlight the feeling as even the slightest bit of ki would feel like "the biggest energy boost in the world." However, by nightfall, the only thing Harry had felt was light headed, his legs were killing him, and his abdomen felt like it had been used like a punching bag.

The moon came up before Ranma called a halt to the training. Harry had to be helped up out of his sitting position before he could stagger back to the campsite and collapse in a heap. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he was jostled awake by Ranma pushing him into an upright position and thrusting a bowl of stew under his nose.

"Here. Eat this."

He tried to push the bowl away, wanting nothing more than to fall back asleep. "Don't wanna."

"Eat."

Harry took the bowl and rested it against his knees. He took his spoon and mechanically took a bite. Soon, he was scraping the bottom of the bowl, surprised to find he was ravenous. Ranma laughed as she took the bowl from him and served him seconds, thirds, and then fourths.

Ranma finished her stew and began to clean up. She pointed to Harry's tent. "You got a hot tub or bath in that thing?"

Harry nodded his head, too tired to really speak.

"Which one?"

"A bath," he managed to croak out.

"Okay. Give me a minute, then." Ranma stood up and walked into the tent, leaving Harry on the beach. He must have fallen asleep again, because he was woken up by Ranma lifting him into a fireman's carry and walking to the tent. She gently placed him on his feet once they were inside the tent and in the bathroom. "The bath's ready. Take a long soak, it will help." She made sure he was steady on his feet before backing away. "You can either undress yourself or climb in with your clothes on. I'll come back in a few minutes, okay?"

Harry nodded and began to take off his clothes, groaning as the soreness kicked in. He could barely reach down and untie his shoes due to the soreness of his stomach muscles. Once he was fully undressed, he staggered over to the bathtub and climbed in. He sank slowly into the steaming water and groaned as it worked its own special brand of magic on his abused muscles.

Ranma's voice called, "You in?"

"Yeah."

"Good." A hand towel landed softly on his face.

He pulled the towel off his face and asked, "What's this for?"

"Decency. Cover up, I'm coming in. Tell me when you're ready."

Harry quickly plunged the towel into the water to cover his nakedness. "Alright."

Ranma peaked around the flap that served to section off the bathing room from the rest of the tent. "How're you feeling?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "How do you think?"

Ranma smirked and came into the room, pulling up a stool and sitting by the edge of the tub. "Make sure that if you fall asleep, you don't fall into the water, okay?"

"Sure." Harry sank lower into the water and closed his eyes.

"You did great today, Harry. Really good."

He opened one eye a crack to look at her. "Umm. Thanks?" He was about to close his eye again when he say Ranma open her mouth to say something, but she stopped. "What?"

Ranma hesitated again. She gave a small shake of her head a wry smile, and shrugged. "It's nothing."

"You can't do that to me. Come on, tell me!"

"Nice… abs." With a wink she headed out of the tent, a small smile on her face at the sight of Harry embarrassed.

---------

Ranma sighed and crawled into her little one person tent, zipping up the flap behind her as she sprawled out on her sleeping bag. She looked up at the domed roof, trying to organize her thoughts.

All the various "training exercises" she had done with Ku Lon made it seem easy. Take small steps, she said. Get comfortable with the idea, she said. Learn to enjoy some of the more nice aspects of being a female, find appreciation in the beauty of the male form. Bloody easy for the old crone to say, but sixteen years of conditioning piled on top of sixteen years of denial weren't going to go away overnight.

With a frustrated sigh, Ranma sat up and began some meditation exercises. She'd go back and check on Harry in an hour, and then she'd spend the rest of the night meditating. As easy as it was to be around Harry, the thought of anything more than friendship was still a bitter pill to swallow, no matter how much she realized she might want it.

Tomorrow was another day. Anyway, there was more training to do, and she was determined to make up for lost time.

------

Harry could barely stand upright as the portkey brought them home. Ranma was carrying all their stuff because he was too sore to do more than shuffle pitifully through the front door. The weekend training trip had been brutal, but strangely enough, exciting. It was like being hit with a tickling curse that just wouldn't stop – it was enjoyable and painful, all at the same time.

When they entered the apartment, Ranma dropped Harry's bag off in his room and returned quickly.

"Ranma?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you like to go out tomorrow night?"

She cocked her head and smiled. "Sure. Where too?"

"No, a date. You said I could ask again."

She nodded. "I did."

"Well?"

"Sure." She smirked then half turned away from him. "You'll be too sore tomorrow to do much of anything, even if I was offering. Night, Harry."

"Night, you sadistic bitch."

"Awww… a pet name for me all ready? You're so sweet." She reached up and patted him on the cheek before heading off to bed.

"Um… Ranma?"

"Yes?" Her voice carried back from down the hall.

"I can't make it to my bed alone. I'm too sore."

"The life of a martial artist is fraught with peril. I'm sure you'll manage."

Ranma was right, though. The next night, he was too sore to do much of anything in terms of a date. They ended up staying in and watching television together on the couch. In many ways, though, it was simply perfect – they talked and laughed all night long.

It was the best "date" Harry could remember in a long time.

-----

Unfortunately, it was also one of the few they were able to really enjoy. Between work, training, and everything else, it seemed like summer vacation arrived in no time. And with it, a new complication, Cheli.

Attempting to ignore the yelling his daughter, Harry made a record of his observations in his lab journal. The search for the Stone was still unsuccessful so far, but he'd been trying other methods of locating it besides archeology.

"DAAAAD!"

With a frustrated sigh, Harry killed the flames under the cauldron and closed his notebook, carefully stepping away from the workstation. He did a quick sweep to ensure that nothing had been left on before stepping out of his laboratory into the apartment.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!"

He yanked open the door to see his daughter standing there, getting ready to yell once more.

"What is it?" He tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice but failed.

"It's Ranma." Cheli was standing in the hall, glaring towards the living room. "She moved all the furniture in the living room again."

"And why is that a problem?"

"I wanted to watch TV."

"You have one in your room, don't you?"

"So?" Cheli shrugged. "You told me I shouldn't watch TV in my room so that I can develop better study habits."

"As much as I could wish you would study over the summer, we both know that isn't going to happen. Would it kill you to watch TV in your room?"

"The one in the living room is better."

Harry rubbed his forehead to hide his consternation. "You know," he sighed, "you could just wait for her to replace all the furniture."

"I don't want to wait; I want to watch TV now."

"She's a guest, Cheli. Treat her with as much respect as you would treat any guest, please."

"More like a leech. How long has she been living here?"

"Does it matter? She's still a guest. Treat her as such, please."

"Guest or not, I don't want anything to do with your…"

At that moment Ranma came around the corner with a towel around her shoulders. She looked as if she had just finished a light workout and was headed to the bathroom. "Don't want anything to do with your dad's what?"

Harry's daughter glared at the older woman. "Oh, I can think of a few choice words."

Ranma opened her mouth like she was going to reply when Harry interrupted. "And so can I, Cheli. Ranma's my teacher, my friend, and a guest in this house. You will treat her with respect."

Cheli put her nose up in the air turned on her heel and stalked away to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Harry looked at Ranma with a bemused expression. "I know Cheli has only been home for a few days, but could you find it in your heart to try and get along a little better?"

Ranma shrugged apologetically. "It's not like I haven't been trying. She just seems to harbor a great dislike for me."

"All that I can ask is that you continue to try. Otherwise there will be no way that I can maintain my sanity this summer."

Ranma nodded and shifted her weight. "So, how's work coming along?"

Since their trip to Jusenkyou, Harry had requested a temporary change of assignment from his Auror duties to pursue a research project. In reality, it was mostly for selfish reasons – to stay at home with his daughter and spend more time with Ranma, but also had the added benefit of figuring out just how the Jusenkyou magic worked.

Harry had enlisted the help of the brightest witch he knew, (Hermione), who, along with a few fellow Unspeakables, had been rigorously studying of the water samples Harry had retrieved at Jusenkyou. They also enlisted (hired, really) Bill Weasely's help from Gringotts, as he was the best curse-breaker in England.

While they shuffled back and forth to the Ministry for status updates, Harry had his own own private lab. There had been trips to various magical libraries around the country on a number of occasions to check for any additional resources on transformative curses applied through non-magical means, like the Jusenkyou curse. Bill brought practical experience to the manipulation of curses, something neither Harry nor Hermione excelled at.

They were attempting to break down the magic that in the water into its component parts to better understand how it worked. Hermione got the idea from muggle science of engineering – the theory was that if you understood the way the curse reacted to magic, you could control or even reverse engineer the process. So far they'd managed to identify several hundred components in the water, but still had a long way to go before they would be able recreate or control the curse. The Unspeakables in the ministry, of course, were just fascinated with the implications of the research.

Unfortunately, even inside of China, Juskenkyo wasn't very well documented and there was very little research about it or curses of similar nature. Requests made to the Chinese Ministry of Magic had yielded few results as the Chinese jealously guarded whatever secrets they might have had about the region. Harry had his suspicions that they guarded it so jealously because they were afraid to admit they didn't know.

Harry shrugged. "It's coming along. Are we going to train today?"

Ranma nodded. "Sure. I was thinking of running over to the dojo at around four o'clock."

"Excellent." Harry stepped past Ranma towards the living room so that he can use the flue. "I just have to make a call to Hermione. She wants to come over today and run some tests on you. Will that be okay?"

Ranma nodded.

"I'll be ready at four." Harry stopped and turned to look at his friend. "Ranma, do you think we could also invite Cheli this time?"

Ranma grimaced briefly. "Sure. She can come if she's going to be serious about training. If she wants to be a baby, though, I'll treat her like one."

"Please, Ranma!"

"Sorry." Ranma didn't seem contrite in the least. "I'll be nice to her if she is nice to me. I only give respect to those who earn it."

"She's my daughter."

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm sure she's a nice kid, but I've yet to see it."

"Ranma, she's fifteen. She can't help it." He gave a little laugh. "With you here, though, she's taking her angst out on you and not me for once. Thank heavens for small mercies, right?"

Ranma rolled her eyes. Harry could tell her mood had improved, though. "I'll talk to her this afternoon before we go, okay?"

"I'd appreciate that, Harry."

Harry nodded and walked off down the hall.

Ranma headed off to her own bedroom. Harry and Ranma's relationship hadn't really changed, except perhaps she was less… reserved around him. Maybe it was her decision to actually go out on dates with him. There was no physical intimacy outside of the occasional fist to the ribs and back rubs, however.

However, it had become common for them to talk to each other about their past; she actively sought Harry to talk because she claimed it was therapeutic. In addition, she had up their training schedule for once a day to twice a day, morning and evening. Not only was Harry in great physical shape, but Ranma was pushing hard in a meditative aspect of the Art, so that he could learn to touch his ki. She claimed she didn't want to have to be the person to come up with a unified theory of Magic. As a result, if Harry wasn't working on his research, he was training with Ranma, both physically and mentally.

Harry pushed Ranma in the realm of magic as well. The two of them had settled into a routine. Ranma would drag him out of bed early the morning and put him through several hours of rigorous training, after which Harry would assign study goals and the training regimen for Ranma. The afternoons were devoted mostly to Harry's research on the Jusenkyou water, with the occasionally evening outing to search for the Stone. In the evenings Harry wasn't in the Forbidden Forest, there would be a meditative practice for Harry and a final practical magic training session for Ranma.

Harry didn't think he'd ever been more productive or happier in a long time. He headed to the fireplace to call Hermione. She'd probably want to know that he managed to separate two more components of the water.

------

"Who would have believed that I would eventually have to use Golpalott's Third Law?" Harry's disembodied head floated in the green flames of the fireplace in Hermione's lab as they discussed their latest progress.

Hermione smiled. "Well, a bezoar won't help you understand what a substance is composed of."

"I know, I just find it ironic, you know? Still, I wish I had the Prince's old lab book. Or better yet, Snape."

Hermione made a face. "But he was slimy."

"He was a bit of a git, wasn't he?" Harry's floating head jiggled as he laughed. "However much he hated me, Snape really was a genius."

"True." Hermione glanced down briefly at her notes. "So, what are these two new components?"

Harry's head vanished briefly as he consulted his lab book on the other side of the connection. It popped back in quickly. "Both of them are mineral components, which is funny that we didn't find them when we ran the mineral array. The first one is…"

"DAAAAD!!!"

Both Harry and Hermione jumped as Cheli's shout interrupted him.

Harry pulled his head out of the fireplace. This couldn't be good. He stuck his head back in the fireplace. "Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll call you right back. I think an emergency had cropped up here."

The bushy hair-witch nodded. "Alright. We still on for this evening, though?"

"Yeah." Harry's disembodied head cocked an ear as if listening to something in the distance. "Sorry. I've really got to go."

With a pop, his head vanished from the flames. Hermione just shook her head. What ever it was, it she hoped it wasn't too serious.

-------

The emergency turned out to be that Ranma had made lunch. Cheli complained bitterly about the mostly vegetarian fare.

Cheli grumbled and picked at her food and made gagging sounds every time she took a bite. Ranma rolled her eyes at Cheli and her theatrics.

"Can't you two even try to get along?" he groused. He thanked Ranma for cooking and quickly left the table. "I'll be in my lab if you decide to kill each other." He wasn't reassured by Ranma's statement that followed him back to his door.

"Only one of us would get killed, and it sure won't be me."

-------

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly - Harry remained in the lab, Ranma practiced magic in the living room, and Cheli locked herself in her room and blasted music loud enough to be heard throughout the rest of the apartment. Before heading to train, Ranma stopped by Cheli's room knocking on the door. The music died suddenly, but she didn't get an answer, so knocked again.

"What do you want?" came the muffled reply from behind the door.

"Your father requested that I extend an invitation to you to join us for this afternoon's training." Ranma heard Cheli's footsteps coming towards the door before it opened a fraction of an inch. A sliver of the teenager's face was just visible through the crack. "You can either watch or practice, your choice."

"Why would I want to come?" Even though

Ranma shrugged. "I don't care if you do." Ranma turned and said over her shoulder, "If you'd like to come, we'll be leaving in fifteen minutes" before she walked away. She heard the teen muttering unintelligibly for a bit as the door closed behind her.

-------

Cheli grumbled as she sat in the corner of the dojo, watching her dad warm up as Ranma meditated. She was bored, but not bored enough to actually take part. Her boredom quickly became concern as she watched her dad sparring with Ranma. Within a matter of minutes, her dad was being punched, kicked, and thrown all over the floor with a wild grin on his face.

"Oh my god..." she muttered, "That bitch has brainwashed him!" She was Achelios Potter. She wouldn't stand around and let her dad get abused like that if she could help it.

-------

The last three weeks had been rather difficult. The only peace Harry could find was in his lab, because Cheli had started coming to the dojo to make sure "that red-haired witch" didn't kill him. As much as he loved his daughter, right now he wanted to strangle her because of all the aggravation the tension between her and his guest. He did try to strangle Ranma on occasion. It was cathartic and useful their sparring matches. She seemed to understand and simply indulged him when he lashed out at her in frustration.

At least Cheli had started joining him in some of the training sessions. Ranma was no harder on her than she was on Harry, but he could tell that teaching Cheli always put her in a bad mood. Cheli was obstinate and petty, and messed up on purpose to try and goad Ranma into losing her temper. At least while in the dojo, Ranma treated his daughter with detached professionalism. At home, however… the ladies spent most of their time avoiding each other and Harry had forbid Cheli from entering the lab while he was working. He would have banned Ranma too, except that she was one of the test subjects.

He frowned and put the thoughts aside. Harry turned the speed replay on the omnioculars to their lowest setting (about 128 frames a second). He put the omnioculars on and poured some hot water on a toad watched as the test subject turned into a mouse. He saved the play back and poured some cold water on the mouse, capturing the change back to its original state.

Ranma sat in the corner of the lab, trying to be interested in watching the toad change back and forth as Harry tested various aspects of the curse. Having lived with it herself, though, she just couldn't muster up the necessary attention to remain totally focused on the experiment. She was looking around the lab at the various jars and beakers lined neatly on the shelves. She'd seen enough of Harry's memories in the pensieve to know what Snape's lab had looked like in the dungeons of Hogwarts, and she was grateful that Harry's work space was much less… dismal.

Harry had taken an unused bedroom and stripped it bare, putting a granite topped-work station in the middle of the room. The windows had heavy curtains to filter the light (some potions were light sensitive), but the high ceilings and wooden floors gave the lab a utilitarian and cheerful air. There was a cauldron in one corner, but Harry preferred to use Bunsen burners and chemistry beakers for most of his work because it was much easier to control temperature and quantity. The glass helped keep the lab from feeling oppressive.

Various cages of small animals sat on a shelf, each cursed like the toad that Harry was experimenting on. The Jusenkyo guide had been kind enough to catch animals that happened to fall into the various springs and kept them for Harry, who had made a couple trips to the region to pick up specimens. She watched in amusement as small rat tried to take a sip of his cage's water bottle only to somehow get splashed and turn into turtle. The randomness of how the curse worked made her smile as she recalled all the inopportune times she had been transformed.

She was so lost in her musing that she missed Harry's question.

"What was that?"

Harry tsked. "Honestly, Ranma." He held out the goggles to her. "Can you tell me if you see anything in these about ki flows?"

"Oh, yeah. One sec." She put them on and fiddled with a few buttons, and watched the change in slow motion. Just to make sure she didn't miss anything, she watched each change a number of times, but shook her head when Harry asked again.

"Nothing. The creature just isn't putting out a field of ki that's visible, and I can't sense any changes." She shrugged. "I guess it just happens too fast or…" She handed back the omnioculars.

Harry muttered and made some notes in a rather large lab book after taking some detailed measurements of the toad. He picked up his wand to cast some spells but was interrupted by a knock at the door. Cheli poked her head in and pushed the door open, leading Hermione in behind her.

Hermione waved and dropped her book bag on the counter with a resounding thud. The toad jumped in surprise and landed in a beaker of cold water, turning into a very wet and very confused mouse.

"Hi Ranma!" Hermione proceeded to pull out book after book and place them on the counter, opening a couple of them to bookmarked places.

Ramna waved and smiled, but otherwise sat still as Hermione and Harry proceeded to compare notes while she watched the playback of the toad transforming.

"And you didn't notice anything, Ranma?" The mousy-haired witch asked.

"Nope. I was telling Harry that I don't think I'll be able to really detect anything from these animals. Their ki-fields are just to small and the change is too quick."

Hermione frowned and pulled out yet another book from her bag, checking a quick reference. "Well, what do you suggest, then?"

"Maybe if we used Shampoo and Mousse?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't see how hair care products are going to help with this!"

Harry laughed. "No, I think he means his friend in China."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "You think they'd mind?"

------

Harry and Ku Lon stood off to the side and watched as Hermione recorded the transformations of the two younger Chinese Amazons, Xian Pu and Mu Tsu. Ranma had directed them to put out a visible aura of ki prior to being hit with the water and switching to their smaller animal forms.

"So, mage, how goes the quest for to teach Ranma to love?"

He leaned in and whispered, "Just last week she proclaimed her love for me and we're already expecting our first child."

Ku Lon's eyes lit up. "Really?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Of course not." His vision blurred as he was rapped soundly on the head by the end of Ku Lon's staff. "Ow!" he rubbed the rapidly forming knot on the top of his head and glared at the diminutive woman. "That hurt!"

"It was supposed to." The pair watched as Ranma hopped around in terror as small purple and white cat leapt after her. "How is she, though?"

"Honestly? As happy as I've ever seen her. I don't know what she was like before, but since coming here last..." Harry pointed at Hermione. "She making friends and talking to people. We've been going out on dates. Not as many as I'd like, but I'll take what I can get at this point. She plans on taking me to Akane's grave for some Japanese ceremony. I can't remember the name, but it sounds like buns."

"O-bon?"

"Yeah, that one."

Ku Lon nodded. "She is making progress, then." They watched as Mousse transformed back into his human form and pulled the small cat off the now comatose Ranma's leg and gently stroking her back. The purring was audible from where they stood.

"And you?"

Harry shrugged silently. "I'd like to move a little faster, but I don't think it would be wise."

"Indeed. Terribly difficult, isn't it?"

"Yeah." He sighed. "I thought that this feeling would have gone away when I found out once I found out what she really was. But…"

Ku Lon nodded. "Yes. The body is what creates the initial attraction, but it is the soul that holds your interest." She reached up and patted him gently on the shoulder. "Do you have any experience breaking wild horses, Mr. Potter?"

Harry looked at her askance. "No. Why?"

Ku Lon's eyes sparkled a bit as she spoke. "Perhaps you should take up equestrian arts. Good luck, Mr. Potter."

"Gee, thanks."

She cackled and bounded away on her cane to Ranma. She flipped her body over and poked her sharply in the ribs several times before flipping her staff over and taking a golf swing at the red-head, sending her flying into Harry. Harry tried to catch her but ended up landing in a tangle of limbs on the ground. Ranma's eyes flew open and she snarled at Harry who quickly shouted, "Ku Lon did it!"

Ranma jumped up and lashed out at the old woman, starting a fight that took the two of them into the center of the village. Hermione walked over and offered a hand to help him off the ground and mentioned that she got the recordings she needed. Together, the two went looking for their friend so they could get home. It wasn't hard to find her – they just followed the trail of the other Amazons rushing to watch the fight.

-----

Ranma kept rubbing her ribs where Ku Lon had poked her and frowning surreptitiously at Harry. She took the omnioculars from Hermione and put Harry out of her head. She first watched Xian Pu transform into a cat before watching Mu Tsu change into a duck and back. She didn't notice anything at regular speed, so she slowed it down to half speed and watched again.

She frowned. Something definitely happened at the moment water hit the skin. She slowed the playback down further, and watched again.

Hermione noticed her concentration. "You see something?"

Ranma held up her hand. "Yeah, just a moment."

--------

"Stop." Ranma jumped up and pointed at the image of Mu Tsu projected on the wall. "Right there is when it happens." She pointed at the glowing blue field that surrounded the man and the trickle of water that was frozen just a fraction of an inch above his skin in the picture. Harry, with George Weasley's help, had managed to rig up the ominoculars so that the could project their images.

"Harry, can you zoom in on this section here and focus?" She indicated a section of Mu Tsu's aura that was projected onto a white back ground. "See how his Ki field is a uniform blue? The color is completely solid with gradations of hue the further it gets from his body." She pointed at the aura field, using her fingers to point out the color differences. "Advance one frame at a time, and stop when I tell you." The play back advanced slide by slide, until Ranma asked them to stop.

"Okay. Harry, can you pull up a clip of hot water hitting me and keep this portion of the video available?"

"Just a minute." Harry fiddled with the omnioculars for a second and did as asked, putting Mu Tsu's clip off to the side as Ranma's image floated in the air before them.

"Great! Okay, advance one slide at a time… And stop. Can you put these two side by side?"

Harry fiddled with the omnioculars again until the two images floated next to each other.

Ranma smirked and asked, "What do you see?"

Hermione and Harry both looked closely at the images and shrugged. "What are we supposed to see?"

"Okay, let's try this." Ranma pointed at Mu Tsu's image. "Can you set this thing to repeat from back two slides and then forward past this slide for two more and do the same for my image?"

"Yeah, one sec." After a few moments, both images progressed slowly from pre-to-post impact.

"See anything now?"

Harry concentrated on the images as they repeated before him. He didn't know what it was he was looking for, but he did notice one difference. "The colors on your slides change, but Mu Tsu's don't."

Ranma smiled. "Yeap! What else?"

"Umm… Mu Tsu's aura isn't steady?" That was Hermione

"Right. There are a few other things, but those are the major issues." She pointed to Mu Tsu's repeating image set. "Right here is when the water impacts and in the next slide you see that his aura isn't constant. It's his aura blinked – too fast for you to notice, but it definitely went out."

"So, what does that mean?" Asked Hermione.

Ranma shrugged. "I think it's the magic working – my guess is the curse probably uses your own ki to initiate the change. It probably converts your ki into the amount of magic necessary to change the body and conserve power – this way the victim changes back and forth as many times as necessary without strain."

"So what's happening to you, then?" Harry pointed to the images of Ranma's aura. Rather than flicker like Mu Tsu's, Ranma's aura went from a constant steady blue with gradients to exploding outward in a solid blue.

Ranma looked at her own images and frowned. "It almost looks like a power surge or a short circuit."

"Are you aware of this happening?"

Ranma shook her head. "I can't feel it, if that's what you're asking."

Harry shut down the images. "Let's go to the lab. I want to try a few things."

-------

"Whatchyadoing?"

Ranma wanted to turn around and snarl. Instead, she took a calming breath and turned to face her assailant. "I'm doing homework, Cheli. Can I help you with something?"

Cheli shrugged. "I'm bored." She moved around Ranma's room, idly fingering the few possessions Ranma had on the bookshelf near the door. Ranma watched her from the desk she was seated at, her face passive.

"You could go practice the kata I assigned to you. Your footwork is still very, very sloppy."

"I don't want to do any more exercise."

"Don't you have anyone else you could call? I'm rather busy with homework right now." Ranma tried to keep the irritation out of her voice. She really did.

"Ewww!" Cheli wrinkled her nose up in disgust. "Why are you doing homework?"

"I'm very behind in terms of magic. I'd like to catch up."

"Hmm…" Cheli looked over her shoulder at the book Ranma had been reading. "Transfigurations?"

"Yes."

"Do you like it?"

Ranma shrugged. "It's hard."

"So why bother if it's hard?"

"All good things are worth working for. Worthwhile skills are never easy."

Cheli flitted from the book to a scroll of a carp hanging above the desk. "Where'd ya get that?"

"It was given to me by a friend."

"Oh." She looked closer at it and noticed block of ink in the upper right hand corner. She pointed at the characters on the side. "What's that?"

"It's a poem."

"What's it say?"

"It's the opening line to a famous work of Japanese literature. It reads, 'Gion shôja no kane no koe, shogyô mujô no hibiki ari."

"Japanese? That's cool, I guess. What's that mean?"

Ranma thought for a second. "I guess a good translation would be 'The bell of the Gion Temple echoes the impermanence of all things'."

Cheli snorted. "That's not a very good poem."

"If you say so. It's a Buddhist sentiment, anyway."

"Bhuddhism? That's weird?"

"It's… philosophy that is practiced throughout Asia." Cheli said nothing in response, simply leaning in closer to get a better look.

"What's with the ugly fish, then?"

Ranma pointed at the carp. "In Japan, they believe that the carp is the embodiment of courage and perseverance because it climbs up waterfalls. If the fish fights hard enough and long enough, it turns into a dragon and ascends to heaven."

"Oh." Cheli dismissed it and turned to examine the rest of the room. The bookshelf near the door was mostly empty except for some of Cheli's old text books. There was a chest and a wardrobe in the room, but besides the desk and painting above it, the room was bare and unadorned. A single white feather that looked like it was on fire rested on pillow on top of the desk.

"What's that?" She reached for it, only to be startled when Ranma gently grabbed her wrist and prevented her from grabbing it.

"That's something that I would ask you not to touch."

"Why?"

"It is a very personal reminder that people can change."

"Fine." Cheli tried to pull her hand free and failed. "Will you let me go?"

Ranma dropped her hand and stood. Ranma was only a little taller than Cheli. The teen reached up and gently touched a strand of Ranma's hair. "Are you a natural red-head? I thought Asians all had black hair." Though both had red-hair, Cheli's was extremely fine bright red, pulled back into a simply pony tail, where as Ranma's was a darker shade and thick, twisted into a braid.

"Yes." Ranma stepped back and put a bit of distance between them. "I got lucky, I guess."

"Hmm…" Cheli moved away from the desk and back to the book case. She picked up Ranma's shakuhachi. "What's this?"

Ranma gently reached around her and plucked the wooden flute from her hands. "It's a flute." She gently returned it to its resting place.

Cheli ducked under Ranma's arm and plopped down on her bed.

"Is there a reason you're here?"

The teen shrugged. "Like I said, I'm bored."

"You mentioned that already." Ranma stared at the teen, who just stared right back at her. Ranma just stared at Cheli until she broke eye contact and started looking around the room. Ranma went back to her homework, attempting to ignore the teen as she flitted about the room, examining Ranma's few possessions.

"Not a very feminine room, is it?"

Ranma didn't look at her or put down her pen. "I'm a tomboy."

"I don't see why my dad likes you so much. You seem pretty boring to me."

Ranma put down her pen. "Why don't you ask him, then?"

"I did."

"Oh?"

Cheli shrugged. "He said that you make him feel happy."

"So there you go. Any more questions? I want to get this done before tonight's experiments." Ranma nodded at the parchment spread out in front of her.

Cheli hesitated and seemed reluctant to leave the room.

Ranma sighed. "What do you want, Cheli?"

The teen sat back down on the bed. "My dad wants me to be nice to you, so…" She rolled her eyes and pulled her feet up on the bed to sit cross-legged on top of the comforter. "Plus, you've lasted a lot longer than any of my dad's other girlfriends."

Ranma didn't quite know what to say to that. In the end, she settled for a simple, "Thank you, I guess. Harry's a… very good person."

"If you say so."

"I do. He's my student, and he's my instructor in magic. He's a rare soul."

"Uh huh. Look Ranma, I may be fifteen but I'm not stupid."

Ranma snorted. "Whatever."

Ranma ignored her and turned back to her work. After a while, the teen got the message and left the room.

--------

Dinner was a fairly quiet affair. Cheli at quickly and went to her room, while Harry was studying his notes from the latest rounds of testing Jusenkyo victims. Ranma let her mind drift over her dinner and would find herself gazing over at Harry when she wasn't paying attention. Disgusted with herself, she finished the rest of her meal and cleaned the dishes before retreating to her room.

Her dreams that night left her even more disturbed. They were highly erotic, and involved her female self and a certain green-eyed man. She awoke with a start and cursed. Regardless of how her mind felt, her body had responded to the stimulus normally. She peeled of her underwear and wrapped a towel around her body, heading to the bathroom.

She took a long bath with the water as hot as she could stand. She was up well before the rest of the household, so she didn't have to worry about hogging the bathroom. The hot water helped her release the tension the dream had caused her, and before she knew it she had drifted back to sleep.

She awoke about an hour later and the water was still warm. She let out a sigh and thought about the last time she had woken up in the bath. She stepped out of the tub and drained the water, examining herself in the mirror. Her eyes narrowed as she examined her ribs. Her mind flashed back to the last time she was in China, remembering three distinct shots to the ribs from a certain matriarch.

She let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ku Lon."

Dressing quickly, she went back to her room and pulled out some pressure point and anatomy charts.

-------

"Whatchyadoing?"

Ranma banged her head against the desk, but was careful not to crack it. The last time she put a bit too much force into it and split the desk in half. She ended up having to repair the desk with a spell, but she wasn't sure she had done it correctly as the desk now had a funny wobble that hadn't been present before. "Homework. What do you think?"

Cheli wrinkled her nose in disgust as she flopped belly first on Ranma's bed. She pulled her torso up a bit so she could rest her elbows on the mattress and rest her chin in her hands as she stared at the older woman. "I don't see how you can stand to study so much."

"Your father says you could probably stand to study more."

"Yeah, well he's a stick in the mud, too."

"Hmm. I wonder if you make him that way."

"Ha ha. Funny." Cheli rolled onto her side so she was facing Ranma, head supported on one hand. "So what are you working on now, wonder woman?"

Ranma shrugged. "Repairing charms. I still haven't fixed this desk properly."

"You could just ask my dad to fix it. He's pretty good at those."

"But then I wouldn't learn it, would I?" Ranma flipped another page, briefly taking notes in the margins.

"But why bother if he's able to do it for you?"

"Because I might not always have someone around who can do it better than I can. It took me a while to appreciate the necessity of being good at everything, but I don't mind so much anymore." She turned a page in her book and kept reading. "Why are you here again?"

"I'm bored."

Ranma snorted. "Go play in the backyard or something."

"We don't have one."

"I know. It's a figure of speech." She gave up on her homework for now and stood up from the desk. "Move over." Cheli rolled over until she was on her back and sat up, moving back against the wall. Ranma sat on the bed as well, scooting back until they were side by side.

"He really does like you, you know."

Ranma nodded. "I know." She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. "Do we really have to talk about this again?"

"Yes!"

"Why?"

"Because!"

"Great justification."

"And?"

"And nothing. I can't believe I'm even talking to you about this."

"He's my dad. I just want to see him happy."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I guess I do too."

"You could make it a lot easier on him, you know."

"It's… difficult."

"Why's that?"

"Long story. Just trust me on this one." She put her hands behind her head and stared up at the ceiling.

"Is it about that whole you were a man thing? He explained it to me. I don't know if I believe it, but still… seems like an excuse to me." Cheli pushed herself back against the wall next to Ranma and stretched her legs out in front of her. "Aren't the least bit curious?"

Ranma looked at her askance. "Would you suddenly be willing to sleep with women if you were forced to switch sexes?"

Cheli giggled. "I think it would be fun to have a penis."

"For a day maybe. But to be stuck that way for the rest of your life?"

"I could see how that might be difficult." Cheli haltingly asked, "Is the change complete? I mean, did your mind change as well?"

"I don't know." Ranma shrugged. "I'm still me, if that's what you're asking." Ranma tapped her chin with her index finger. "I guess I like ice cream more now than I used to as a guy, but that could just be because I never really had it when I was young."

"Oh."

"I'm sure I'd try, at least." Cheli bit her lip as she thought. "It would give you an interesting perspective."

"Maybe. But you're also a hornball. I'm not wired like that."

"That's too bad. I'd bet it would be fun. Compare and contrast, you know?"

Ranma snorted. "You're welcome to it."

Cheli turned so her back was facing Ranma. "Will you do my hair again?"

Ranma grunted. "Okay, but sit in front of me so I don't throw something out twisting around. I'm getting old, you know." Ranma spread opened her legs into a butterfly position and patted the bed in front of her. "Will you grab that comb of the desk while you're up?" Cheli popped up and crawled over to edge of the bed and grabbed the comb before sitting down between Ranma's legs, her back to Ranma.

Over the past two months, this had become sort of a routine for the girls. Cheli got bored easily and would pester Ranma. Somehow, Ranma had wound up becoming the teenager's personal hair dresser. It gave her something to do with her hands while Cheli was in her room.

"Which side has it better? Men, or women?"

Ranma shrugged and combed out her hair. "I can't say I know, really."

Cheli twisted around violently, yanking her hair out of Ranma's hands as she turned to stare at her. "WHAT?"

Ranma winced. "Volume, please. I might be 'old,' but I can still hear you. Turn back around."

"No way!" Cheli snorted.

"No way what?"

"You're still a virgin? Aren't you, like, 50?"

Ranma gave a rather violent tug on Cheli's hair, eliciting a satisfying grunt from the girl. "I'm in my mid-thirties, if you must know, like your father."

"But that's just it! You're like, ancient! And you haven't had sex yet? That just seems, so… weird! Didn't you like, get married once or something?"

"No, I did not get married. I had a fiancée, but… that person died before it ever got to that stage."

Cheli just shook her head in disbelief. "That's so messed up. Didn't you, like, fool around or anything?"

"Stop shaking your head. You're messing me up."

"Sorry."

"My life was never normal, Cheli."

"Yeah, but I mean… aren't you worried about it growing shut, or something?"

"I really don't want to talk about this with you."

"But I've seen you giving my dad the calf-eyes the last couple of weeks. Why don't you just admit it and do the deed?"

Ranma snorted. "I have not been giving your father the 'calf-eyes." I don't want to discuss this with you."

"Why not?"

"I've known you for two months. What makes you think I want to discuss my sex life with you, particularly since it concerns your dad?" Ranma combed the girl's hair with a bit more force than necessary.

Cheli shrugged. "I guess you have a point." Neither spoke for a while as Cheli got lost in the rhythm of the comb, relaxing as she leaned back against Ranma's stomach.

"I never knew my mom."

Ranma's hand's paused. "I know. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You had nothing to do with it."

"It's just that… I understand. I lost my mother when I was four."

Cheli looked at her hands. "How did she die?"

"She didn't." Ranma sighed. "But she is dead to me."

"I don't understand."

Ranma paused in her brushing. "Do you really want to know?"

"Uh huh!"

Ranma resumed brushing, her tone calm. "She… attempted to kill me when I was sixteen."

Cheli paled. "Sorry about that."

Ranma waved the apology away. "Like you said, you had nothing to do with that."

"Do you think you and my dad will get married?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"It's just…" Cheli trailed away. "You've known him now for a while, and between all the magic and the martial arts, he's just… I've never seen him so happy."

"Thanks, I guess." Ranma smiled. "I've been pretty happy, too. How do you want me to do your hair?"

"Oh, umm… Can you do a bun this time?"

"Sure." Ranma fell silent as she worked on her hair, and after a few minute she was done. "Alright, I'm all done here. You wanna get up?"

"Not really." Cheli leaned back more and relaxed completely. "Your room's pretty comfy, and I've got nothing else to do.

Ranma let out a soft chuckle. "I thought you hated me?"

"I did, I think. I don't anymore."

"Oh, why's that?" Ranma asked.

Cheli sat up and hopped over Ranma's legs, sitting next to her. "Can I lie down?"

"I'm never gonna get you out of here, am I?" Ranma pulled her legs under her body, giving the younger red-head space to stretch out.

"Not really." With that, Cheli stretched out and lay down, getting comfortable on the bed.

Ranma just smirked at her. Cheli returned the expression with a glare that had no heat.

"You're just so..." the teen growled. "infuriating."

Ranma laughed. "I could say the same about you."

"Yeah, but I'm not perfect like you are."

"I'm far from perfect, Cheli."

Cheli held up her hand and started ticking off points on her fingers. "You're gorgeous, a kick ass martial-arts kung-fu master, pretty decent at magic and you don't suck at anything. Sounds pretty perfect to me."

Ranma chuckled mirthlessly. "I suck at a lot of things, Cheli. Someone described me once as an 'idiot savant.' I'm only good at a few things, and those few things happen to involve fighting. I've been doing it my whole life, and it's about the only thing I know. I can't balance a checkbook, I'm incapable of making friends, and I don't know how to ask for help."

"But your friends with my dad."

"Your dad is a pretty special person."

"So you do like him?" She grinned.

Ranma gave her a playful swat. "Will you cut that out?"

"You seem to be doing okay talking to me."

Ranma bit her lip. "This isn't easy for me, you know. I'd rather fight a dragon than talk to people."

"A dragon would tear you apart."

"As if."

"It totally would."

Ranma sat up. "Let me show you something." She started unbuttoning the ties on her shirt when Cheli squawked. "Relax." She pulled her right arm out of her shirt and pointed to a scar that ran the across her shoulder and disappeared under her sports bra on her left breast. "A dragon gave this to me in Romania."

Cheli just looked at her with wide eyes, taking in all the other scars that were visible on Ranma's skin. Most were faint, but a few stood out. She hesitantly reached forward. "Can I?"

Ranma shrugged. "Sure."

Cheli traced the top of the scar. The skin felt… softer than the surrounding tissue. "What happened to the dragon?"

"I killed it."

"Really? How?"

"It surprised me and gave me this. I got pissed and kicked it as hard as I could. I ended up crushing its skull."

"There's no way you can kick that hard."

"You saw me destroy a patch of forest up at the Lupin's place, or did you forget?"

"Oh yeah." Cheli's eyes took on a distant look. "So you killed it with a kick? Yuck."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty messy. I don't like killing stuff, but sometimes you have to do it. But it's easier to talk about that than other stuff."

Cheli looked down and noticed another scar on her side that wrapped around to the back of Ranma's kidney. She traced it with her finger. "What happened here?"

"That's where my mother attempted to slice me in half with a sword." Ranma quickly put her arm back inside her shirt. "Showtime's over. I should get back to work." Ranma hopped off the bed and sat back down at the desk again. "You can stick around if you want, but I do need to finish this."

"Alright." Cheli rolled over, and looked at the desk. "I guess that's why I don't really hate you anymore, you know?"

"Why's that?" Ranma turned in her chair.

"You treat me like an adult. You're fair and honest. You make my dad happy. He's finally getting over my mom, and it's hard to hate anyone that can do that for him. Even if you guys don't work out, you've done more for him than anyone I know." She shrugged. "I appreciate it. Plus, you don't mind that I bother you."

"Oh, I mind, I just take it out on you later at the dojo.

Cheli sat up and pointed at her. "I knew it!"

"What, you thought I was that sadistic by nature?" Ranma smirked.

"Yeah!" Cheli had a smile, thought. The teen got up off the bed. "Ranma?"

"What?"

"He's my dad. Family comes first."

"I know. He's pretty tough, Cheli. I wouldn't worry about him."

"But I do. I love him. Even if he's not been the best dad in the world, he's still mine. He'll always be that for me, regardless of what he turns out to be for you."

---------

"Earth to Ranma! Come in Ranma!"

She started and nearly fell off the stool in the lab. "Sorry."

Harry frowned at her. "You alright?"

"No."

"What's wrong?"

"Ku Lon did something to me last time we visited. It's made… unable to concentrate very well recently."

"Oh, okay. Anything I can help with?"

"Y… No. It will go away eventually."

"If you say so. Just let me know what I can do."

"Don't worry about it. It should be over soon enough." Like next year, though Ranma bitterly. She really was going to pay the old hag back in spades next time they met. The old Amazon had hit a series of pressure points designed to increase sex drive. It would last for about a year or until pregnancy, which was the main reason for its existence anyway.

The only problem was, Ranma's body was female, and it was responding like a female's body. That meant that Harry's had played an increasingly large role in Ranma's fantasies. While she was willing to try dating Harry, she was far, far from comfortable with any sort of physical intimacy at this point. She could find temporary relief in meditation or masturbation, but both had the tendency of making her spacey. This had only been the first month, and already the… urges were getting stronger.

This might be a good time for a training trip. Yeah, a training trip alone, with Harry… GAAAAHHH. ALONE. A training trip ALONE! Ranma wanted to bash her head against the marble countertop, but she was pretty sure she'd only succeed in breaking the counter, not driving these thoughts out of her head.

Ku Lon was going to die. Okay, well, maybe not, but she could at least inflict an equal amount of pain on the old hag. Maybe she could sick Happosai on the Amazons for punishment?

Worse, Ranma was pretty sure that Hermione suspected. She'd caught the witch hiding a smirk as Ranma stared at various parts of Harry's anatomy or mentally chiding herself for becoming distracted. She knew Cheli was already aware. All in all, it just made for a lot of mental turmoil, as her body was ready but her mind still on the fence.

"Ready for the next experiment, Ranma?"

"Mmm? Experiment?" Ranma shook her head to clear the cobwebs. "Oh right. Yeah, go ahead." Harry stepped close and cast a revealing charm on her to detect any magical traces. With Hermione watching through the omnioculars, she was hit with repeated blasts of hot and cold water.

----

"Harry?"

"Hmm?" He looked up from his bench. Ranma was leaning on the lab counter, giving him a soft smile.

"Can I come with you to see the giants tonight?"

"I guess. You don't want to stay here with Hermione?" he asked.

"And get splashed left, right, and center? No thanks."

Harry shrugged. "Why not? Maybe you can help me look for the stone, as well."

Ranma smiled. "So, it's a date, then?"

Harry smiled. "Yeah, it's a date. Just don't expect flowers or chocolates."

Ranma wrinkled her nose. "Don't want them, anyway. Come get me when you're ready. I'll be in my room." She flashed him another smile before heading out. "See you in a bit."

Harry watched her leave. He was unable to concentrate on his notes at all afterwards, however. With a smile and a sigh, he closed his lab book and decided to call it a day. Ranma might not want flowers and chocolates, but he'd keep looking for the Stone - then he could give her something she'd appreciate.

------

Wow... Um.. where did this one come from? I'm sorry, this is not the way I imagined this going, but it flowed well, so I kept writing. The whole bit with Harry's daughter was completely not planned, but oh well. I like it, and so I'm happy. I still have my end in mind, and I think I can get there in one or two more chapters.

I don't know how long it will be until I can post the next chapter, but right now the words are flowing, so it might only be a day or two. I'm sure this chapter could use a little editing and filling out, but, at the same time, I just want to get it out there.