Twin Trouble by Lioconvoy
Pre-chapter note: Ranma is female for much of this chapter, but will never use female pronouns when things are from his point of view. Natsume will also typically refer to Ranma as a male, and Ryoga switches pronouns depending on his train of thought.
Chapter Eleven: Escaping
As Ranma finished his shower he wrapped his towel around his female form. After dinner Akane and Nabiki admitted they were just picking on him, but… if they could see him that way, others probably did as well. It hadn't really bugged him that much that he did such a good job at playing a girl before, but now?
Walking over to his locker, not looking anywhere but at his destination, he sighed. If only he could attend school as a guy. Then he wouldn't have to worry about Akane seeing him more and more as a girl.
Putting the fuku back on, he couldn't help but frown. His fear of Kasumi was the reason he did this in the first place. He tricked himself into seeing it as stealth training and that allowed him to have fewer problems with his behavior. Now though, more troubles were arising with every day.
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"Mother I'm home!" Natsume called as she entered their apartment. She only had the one morning class today and she had a bit of time before work. Her mother came from her room dressed in a black mini-skirt, white sleeve-less blouse, and black heels. "Mom?"
"Natsume? I wasn't expecting you home." Nodoka blushed, she didn't want her daughter finding out she was raiding her closet.
"Are you okay? You're not having a mid-life crisis or something?" It wasn't as if her mother didn't look good in her clothes, the older woman was only a bit taller than she was, but her mother always wore kimonos. It was some dumb family thing, something she herself chose not to follow. She was only a Narita in name, whether her grandfather approved of it or not, she was a Saotome. Not exactly something to be proud of, but the Saotome clan didn't have a dress code.
"No, it's just in my night classes, I'm surrounded by younger people and my kimonos make me feel so much older than I actually am, yes I'm a mother of two, but I'm no granny." The mother of two had a weak smile on her face.
The older child of Genma smiled back at her mother. "I guess when we see Ranma this Sunday we can go shopping for the both of you."
"Ranma doesn't have any female clothes of her own? Now that won't do." If her only son was now a girl, then she would expect her to dress like a girl.
"Well Ranma's only really a girl for school, and Kasumi already got him some uniforms, he really just needs undergarments of his own. I guess a few outfits wouldn't hurt for when we get together though. I mean I'd love to see him as a guy, but if Grandpa found out…"
"Why are you calling her a he? Isn't Ranma a girl now?"
"Mom, I told you already, Ranma's only part girl. He and pop can change back to their original forms with hot water. Cold water puts them in their cursed forms but hot water changes them back." Why did her mother have the impression Ranma was stuck as a girl.
"Then why is your father still at the Zoo? I visited him both yesterday and today, and he was still a panda in a cage." If Genma could change back with hot water, then why didn't he change back when the Zoo keepers bathed the animals?
"Dad's still there? I would have figured he would have escaped by now." Was her father stuck as a panda now? Did that mean her brother might get stuck a girl?
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Genma cried. Before getting caged there were random water splashes all the time. When he wanted to be human he ended up a panda. When he accepted being a panda for the time being; to hide or just be lazy, he ended up back as a man. Why was it now no hot water came his way? The idiotic Zoo Keeper always bathed him in freezing cold water; it was a wonder he hadn't gotten a cold. There had to be a Kami somewhere up there laughing at him.
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Ranma approached the principal's office. He couldn't think of anything he had done wrong since running in the halls on the first day of school but as he was eating his lunch he was called to appear before Mrs. Ninomiya.
"Please come in Ms. Saotome and close the door behind you."
The redhead shuddered as he did what he was told. The principal had called him Saotome, not Narita. Did she know about Kasumi's deception? He grew pale, in a fight he was sure he could take the older woman, but either way the secret would be out. As much as he wanted to be a guy at school, there were both Kasumi and his grandfather who he was afraid of.
Hinako could feel the fear increasing in Genma's daughter. "Usagi, do you know why you're here?"
She had called him Usagi, not Ranma, maybe she didn't know his secret, but why Saotome? "No ma'am."
"Your mother and I went to school together, I knew your father too. You seem to take after Nodoka rather than Genma so my warning is simple, you are not to encourage males to take acts of perversion to get the attention of females they are interested in."
"I would never do that ma'am." A warning, that was why she wanted him here? Ranma couldn't stop himself and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Hinako smiled with her back still turned to Nodoka's child. She wanted to giggle at Usagi's reaction, but it would be bad for her image. "Did you think you were in trouble? Is there something you're doing wrong that I should know about? Or were you afraid I would punish you for using your grandfather's family name instead of your own?"
"Um, the latter. How did you know I was a Saotome?" No reason for her to know he was really a guy if she didn't already.
"As I said, I knew your mother and father. I was at their wedding too. I heard Nodoka finally divorced him, but as I understand it she only got Natsume, and you remained with Genma." The poor girl, still even without her mother's influence, Usagi was very much like Nodoka.
"I do live with my father, and right now we're both staying with the Tendo's. It was Kasumi's idea that I'd use Narita instead of Saotome at school in case father had any enemies around." He hadn't noticed it at first but he was being pretty familiar with the principal and although she still had her back turned to him, she was being just as familiar with him.
"Hiding you from Goro right under his nose. Genma would never be so clever himself. I'll have to meet the Tendo twins' older sister; she seems like a bright girl. Although if she was still a student here, she would have some harsh punishments coming her way too." There was a time when Goro Narita was a kind man. Then his wife Ron died, and he became obsessed with making sure the family legacy was eternal. He tried constantly to engage his daughters to the 'right' family. When they didn't approve of his choices, he had their choices fight him and only if they were victorious would he allow them to marry his precious daughters. Genma had beaten Goro, and Goro was willing to pass his school on to the fat young man. For some reason though, Genma ran away, taking his second child with him. What had motivated the fool? "Have you ever met your mother?"
"I'll be meeting her for the first time this Sunday. Natsume and Kasumi are friends, so Natsume came here when she heard I was attending Furinkan." So even the principal knew of his grandfather. Was he really that bad?
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Goro hung up the phone with Ryozo Hibiki. How stupid did Genma think he was, Usagi Narita? That could only be Ranma. The fool thought making his boy cross-dress and using the name his daughter wanted for their second girl would trick him?
Well the joke was on Genma. If he was going to make Ranma pretend to be a girl. Then he would engage his 'granddaughter'. The lost martial artist had a very prominent school even if he was only around to teach in it some of the time. Engaging 'Usagi' to his son would boost the Narita's school's reputation. If the boy was as stubborn and stupid as his father, he'd probably go through with it, just to prove he wasn't Ranma.
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The youngest Saotome left the principal's office with a very scared look on his face. Although on the inside he was smiling brightly, it seemed Mrs. Ninomiya would be a friend. The look of fear was only so the principal wouldn't look bad.
He was to tell everyone that the Principal gave him a two hour lecture, but the truth was that she mostly talked about his mother and father, and a little about his grandfather and great grandfather. He really would have loved to meet Natsume Narita, the man his sister was named after sounded pretty cool.
Goro Narita, on the other hand, sounded like someone he didn't want to meet at all. His sister made him sound bad, but what Ms. Hinako said made him sound worse. If he found out where he was, would he really try to kidnap him?
Well, there was only one more class period left, after that he was going home to change. He needed some time as a guy badly.
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Ryoga tried retracing the steps he had taken yesterday to Furinkan High. Somehow he ended up in a shopping district this time. It was probably somewhere in between Nerima and where his school was because he saw 'her' with a date. What was that guy, her fifteenth boyfriend?
He really wanted to see Usagi, especially after what his father had told him. She was now his fiancée, or at least she would be after the Omiai on Sunday. He just met her yesterday and her grandfather called his father to bring them together. The only one who knew about his feelings for Usagi was Miura, so destiny had to be bringing them together.
"Hey Ryoga!"
That voice! Turning around the lost boy saw his best friend. His luck just kept getting better and better. "Ranma!"
"Lost again?" To think he had just seen Ryoga yesterday and here he was again. Ranma wondered if things might finally be going his way.
"You know me." Ryoga rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where Furinkan High School is?"
"I do, but I'm not exactly heading in that direction." He wasn't sure how people would react to seeing his male form, and he'd really rather not find out. Even if no one put together that he and Usagi were one and the same, there was still the question why wasn't he a student? The pigtailed boy couldn't help but be a little curious why his lost friend wanted to go back there though.
"Well, if I were you I wouldn't continue in the direction your going. Please, there's someone I really want to see." Ryoga really hoped he could at least steer Ranma in a direction other then the one he was currently heading. If she saw him… it wasn't even his fault, but she blamed everything on his friend and…
"RANMA SAOTOME! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"What was that?" The youngest Saotome's eyes widened as he heard a shout from nearby. Ryoga was right in front of him, and that voice was feminine. What was going on?
"What was what? Are you okay Ranma, I think I saw a clinic around here, maybe we should visit it." Number fifteen must have dumped her. Now he really needed to get Ranma out of here, he could not allow those two to cross paths. His dignity was riding on Ranma and her not meeting.
"Ryoga you're telling me you didn't hear someone shout; 'Ranma Saotome this is all your fault'? I mean the voice even sounded like you, but different." It was definitely a girl who blamed whatever on him, he was sure of it. Could it be Ukyo, that was the only girl, if Ukyo was a girl, he could think of that he had wronged in such a way.
"I didn't hear anything, we should really stop standing around here." Massive amounts of sweat flowed from Ryoga's forehead and his bandana was now drenched. Everything had been going his way, and now…. Maybe she was rampaging in another direction.
"Ranma?"
No such luck, she was here. Ryoga got himself in between her and Ranma. Ranma didn't deserve what she was about to deal him. "Ryoko, calm down. This isn't his fault."
"Not his fault? He ruined my life!" Ryoko pushed her brother out of her way. She was going to make Ranma pay for not meeting her. "DIE RANMA SAOTOME!"
Now Ranma was confused, out of nowhere this girl who looked like Ryoga started attacking him. Her spirit wasn't that strong, but as they say, 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Her fist punched a hole in a concrete wall a moment after he dodged it. Given that she didn't appear to have any real skill to go with her monstrous strength, Ranma leapt atop a department store. Running wasn't really his thing, but neither was beating up a girl who didn't know how to punch right.
"YOU COWARD!" Ryoko kicked a fire hydrant after her target got out of range. Since the fight was over, she again ignored her brother and went stomping off with a slight limp, her thumb hurt too. One day, one day Ranma Saotome would pay.
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The redhead sighed, that crazy girl just had to get her wet. Who in the world was she? Ryoga seemed to know her. Well the lost boy was probably the best place for answers. Although Ranma really wanted to change back into a guy, if he did that he might lose Ryoga. Well the Ryoga was his friend, he might as well know about his curse. Doubling back Ranma found the bandana clad boy not far from where he had just been attacked by the girl. "Hey Ryoga!"
Ryoko, and Ranma crossing paths was a bad thing. Next time he found Ranma, or vice versa, he'd have a lot of explaining to do. Still with his sense of direction, that would hopefully be a while. Another voice calling him… it was either Usagi or Noriko. Hopefully it was Noriko, that would mean he was already in Hokkaido. Turning around it was Usagi… with her hair in a braid and wearing Ranma's clothes?
"Ryoga, who was that girl?"
Ranma's clothes, Ranma's personality. This wasn't Usagi, it was Ranma he really did have a curse, but… Usagi looked so much like him. Noriko too for that matter. Ryoga had a bad feeling, just like in the Manga, Ranma had been tricking him. Still if that was the case, why had Ranma's grandfather arranged for an Omiai. "Ranma?"
"Yeah, look I'll explain everything, let's got somewhere where can talk." Ranma grabbed Ryoga by the arm. Before he came across Ryoga he had passed by a diner that looked fairly empty, they could talk there.
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Akane watched as some of her classmates practiced a scene. Ranma said he wasn't staying after school today to do some thinking. Maybe she and Nabiki pushed him too far last night when they insinuated he liked Ryoga. If they hadn't then Kasumi really did after turning him into a girl.
Because the pigtailed boy had to go to school as a dumpling haired girl, he probably didn't spend enough time as a guy. That waterproof soap he used kept him as a girl for the whole day, so he couldn't be a guy if he wanted to.
She had chimed in on Nabiki's insults as revenge for Ranma always bragging he was better than her. Sure he was, but he didn't need to rub it in. Still rubbing in the fact that he made a better girl than a guy probably hurt him a lot worse than when he reminded her he was better at the Art. She knew there were others better than her, the school's opinion was that she was the number three top fighter.
Their parents placed them in this engagement, but she found that she did like Ranma. He already confessed he liked her. It was because of that confession she changed the way she wore her hair, Kasumi even offered to let her borrow her rosebud earrings so she could look even more like Makoto Kino. She declined that offer, as she wanted Ranma to like her, not the character, she was emulating.
"Akane it's time for your scene."
"Coming." She had to put Ranma aside in her thoughts for now and focus on the play. Playing Juliet was a dream come true, and right now it was more important than Ranma.
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Although there were still students at school, the troublemakers didn't seem to partake in any after school activities, so Hinako had taken off a little early. As she sat down in the empty diner she noticed Usagi and a boy in a booth not too far from her. It didn't look like they had noticed her so she moved from the table to the booth behind Usagi and her boyfriend. She did this for two reasons, the first was not to be seen, and second was to hear what sort of boy Nodoka's daughter was going out with.
After their food arrived Ryoga started eating his hamburger. Neither he nor Ranma had said anything in the last five minutes. He didn't know where to start, and the redhead probably didn't either. This conversation would be about their secrets, and he was pretty sure neither of them wanted to have it. Well since Ranma hadn't pressed him yet, he put down his hamburger. "You're Usagi and Noriko aren't you?"
"Usagi yes, not Noriko, who's she?" Ranma played with his French fries. He felt very guilty about deceiving his friend which was why he let Ryoga go first.
"She's this girl I run into whenever I end up in Hokkaido, or at least she says it's Hokkaido. She looks like you do now, except she has long black hair she wears down. She's a bit of ditz too."
"Well I've never been to Hokkaido, I've been all around Japan, Korea, and China, but pops has always stayed clear of Hokkaido for some reason. I've asked him about it, and he's never said the reason. The first time I saw you since I left for China was yesterday." So besides his sister there was another girl who looked like him, but why? His looks came from his mother's side of the family and his mother didn't have any siblings did she? That was why his grandfather was so intent on marrying him or Natsume off, wasn't it?
"So she's not you?" The lost boy wasn't entirely sure if he could trust the redhead, not after yesterday. Not to mention what his father told him this afternoon too. He was going to have an Omiai with Usagi Narita.
"No, look Ryoga, I didn't mean to deceive you. I'm hiding from my grandfather. I've been told by both my sister and my principal that's he's worse than my old man." The lost boy might question him about that. Ranma decided to answer it before Ryoga asked. "Natsume Narita really is my sister, and Goro Narita is my grandfather."
And here he thought Ranma was an only child. Although as far as he knew, Ranma thought Ranma was an only child. His friend thought he was an only child too. He didn't want to talk about Ryoko, not with the other things that would come up. For some twisted reason the redhead's grandfather planned to engage the two of them, that wasn't something he wanted to talk about either. "Why don't you change back?"
"I'm sorry, we probably look like we're on a date. I really hate this, but everyone saw me come in as a girl and if I change, who knows how people will react. I don't want my curse becoming public knowledge." The pigtailed boy frowned, he had gone on this excursion to spend time as a guy and here he was spending even more time as a girl. Worse he was once again spending time alone with Ryoga as a girl.
"I guess that makes sense. So who does know?"
"Just you, the Tendos, Mia, Natsume, and possibly my mother. I want to tell Miura, but if I tell him I have to tell Mutsumi and Karumi too, and I don't really know Mutsumi well enough." This afternoon he was afraid the principal might have known too, but fortunately that wasn't the case. Could he do a better job keeping his secret than the Ranma of the manga? What would happen if Cologne and Mousse ever showed up? In the manga they were the reason the curse became public knowledge in the first place.
"I guess it's a good thing that manga wasn't that popular. I'm sort of curious how things will go with Ukyo." Maybe, just maybe he could keep from talking about his secret. Ranma seemed easy to distract, and what were the chances of Ranma ever encountering his sister again?
"The manga says Ukyo's a girl? I really hope what I remember wasn't mistaken and he was a guy." Ranma paled a little. If Ukyo was a girl, how much trouble would he be in for with Akane. While on the subject of girls… "Okay, you know my secret Ryoga, who was that crazy chick?"
The redhead wasn't as easily distracted as he thought, well now it was Ranma's turn to lose respect for him. "That was Ryoko, my twin sister."
"Your twin sister? I thought you were an only child?"
Ryoga rubbed the back of his head. "Well you see neither Ryoko or I wanted people to know we were twins because of what happened with school. Did you ever think it was weird that with my sense of direction I made it to school everyday?"
"Yeah, more than a few times, so?" Ranma looked the lost boy in the eyes. Ryoga was a twin, why was that such a big secret? Wait… "Ryoga are you saying you didn't make it to school everyday? Why in the world did your sister take your place?"
"I did make it to school everyday, just sometimes it was her school, and vise versa, Ryoko ended up at ours. If we didn't attend the schools we ended up at our absences would have racked up pretty quickly, so I would take Ryoko's place, and she'd take mine. That's the reason I was so uncomfortable with the Otaku Club. They were guys that 'chose' to dress like girls, where half the time I 'had' to. Also the reason I was uncomfortable around real girls is because Ryoko's friends knew whenever we switched places and then stared at me a lot in the locker room. I kept my eyes from them, but they were always looking at me." His sister would tease him, saying her friends liked what they saw.
"You could pull off looking like a girl?" The redhead examined Ryoga closely. He was surprised his sister's whole school didn't know he was a guy.
"Have you forgotten, I was skinnier then. That's why Ryoko could pass as me, that and she was flat chested, she's really grown in the last year although she's still smaller than you." He wasn't very proud of the fact he could pass as his sister back then, but unfortunately he could. Even more unfortunate was whenever his mother was home she enjoyed dressing him and his sister as twin girls. He was overjoyed when he found out his father decided to put him and his sister in a school with a dormitory and arranged for them to be walked from the dorms to the school, and back again. It was unfortunate that Ikari and Nagasa went to that same school, but no one else there knew him or Ryoka, so no one would wonder about what Ranma was now learning.
"Okay, so why is Ryoko so mad at me? Just what did I do to her. I'm guessing the days we didn't fight over food that was her, but still that doesn't really explain anything."
"That 'challenge', it wasn't a challenge at all. She wanted to confess her feeling for you before you left for China. When you didn't show she started to hate you, and now whenever her relationships fall to pieces, she blames you. I keep trying to tell you it's not your fault, but she won't listen to me." He had also told her not to confess to Ranma in the first place. Sure the pigtailed boy was his friend, but he didn't think Ranma was worthy of his sister. That and Ranma might think the confession was coming from him. A scary thought just crossed his mind, he didn't want Ranma thinking he liked him then, and now he actually did like his friend. Even though it was Usagi he fell for, she was still Ranma.
"Great, so I still have a Hibiki on my case, even if it isn't the one from the manga." Ranma wondered just how much trouble he'd have with Ryoko in the future. It wouldn't be half as fun as the stuff the fictional Ranma and fictional Ryoga went through in the Takahashi's works.
"It looks like neither of us can escape misery." Ranma had his sister wishing him dead, and Ryoga himself was engaged to Ranma. Or would be. He had the impression his friend didn't know about Sunday and he really didn't want to be the one to tell him about it. It was just his luck, the first girl he fell for is really a guy. Well not the first girl, Usagi was the second girl he ever fell for, the first one was when he was six though.
The waiter finally reached Hinako's table, considering how empty the place was she wondered why it took him so long. Still, while she was waiting she overheard some very interesting things. Usagi was Nodoka's son not her daughter. What was Usagi's real name, well one thing was certain, she'd be having another chat with the redhead tomorrow. She would allow Usagi to continue to keep her secret, but she wanted to be let in on all of it. Dropping that train of thought the brown haired woman looked at her menu. All this time waiting on the waiter and she hadn't decided what she wanted.
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Kasumi entered Ranma's room. Unlike the twins room it was fairly clean, the cursed boy didn't leave much for her to tidy up. Still, she noticed something sticking out from under the bed, picking it up she found it was a mail order catalog.
"Jusenkyo Products." After reading its title out loud to herself she started looking through the catalog. Ranma had water proof soap circled. He must be going through a lot of it. Thumbing though it a little more she found something that caught her interest, instant Jusenkyo packets.
The article said the that curse obtained from the instant packets lasted 24 hours and could only be used on a person once. A devious little idea came to mind. It would be interesting to see her Tofu as a girl, and of course if he was a girl then she would need to be a guy. If they were married they could do more with the reversed genders, but it still could be a lot of fun. Tofu would probably make a very cute and very shy girl.
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At home Tofu sneezed. Kasumi must have had another idea to make their relationship more exciting. The only Ono child frowned, it couldn't be worse than bungee jumping off Tokyo Tower at least.
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Lio's Corner:
-Ranma has only read up to volume seven of the Ranma ½ manga. So his for knowledge only goes as far as the Martial Arts Take out Race story. That's why he's unaware of what the manga say about Ukyo.
-Chrysicat: Thanks for mentioning the triple post. I fixed it as soon as I could.
-Howard Russell: You're about to find out just how bad Goro is the next chapter. He and Nodoka have a little chat.
Do the Japanese have fanfiction too?
-Euphemism: I don't know why, but Kasumi just ended up evil in this story. It wasn't really intentional it just happened.
-Manga/Anime that does exist in this world: Ranma ½(Manga only), Guyver, Flame of Recca, Dragonball, Sailor Moon, AI Love You, Ai Yori Aoshi, and Maharomatic.
-Manga/Anime that does not exist in this world: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dear Boys.
-WarGiver's Omakes are not apart of the actual story continuity, however if you enjoy them, check out his fanfiction(dot)net account too.
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WarGiver's Omake:
Kasumi was about to leave Ranma's room when she noticed a glass of water siting abandoned on a table. She reached for it to take to the kitchen when she saw the water vibrate. Before she could blink it vibrated again, and again. After a moment she realized the vibrating was getting worse. After a minute it she was feeling it, she heard her father yell earthquake, and yet she was unable to take her eyes off the glass.
Finally, after a few minutes, just when the water would have spilled from the shaking it stopped. Kasumi took the glass carefully and started downstairs. She only reached the door when for the second time in a few days she realized she might have gone too far with her pranks.
She turned to the window and considered jumping and running when she heard the yell.
"Kasumi Tendo! Because of you we are seeing Hell!!!"
She recognized the female of the pair as Ranma's girl form, but had no idea of the male half of the duo, nor did she want to learn so soon. realizing jumping was out, she chose to hide in her room.