Title: Together -- A Tale of Transformation and Tragedy
Author: Rowan Seven
Teaser: A magic fountain makes one of Nodoka's desires come true in a way she neither desired nor expected.
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ belongs to Viz Communications and Rumiko Takahashi. I am not making any profit off this story.
Author's Notes: - - indicates thoughts. # # indicates signs.
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Chapter 12 – The Way Things Are
Cologne paced the Nekohanten's dining space uneasily, hobbling around with her staff and what passed for her as a pensive frown on her features. Much as she loathed admitting it, a solution to her future son-in-law's current predicament eluded her. A normal Jusenkyo curse, while difficult, would be within her expertise. Her tribe had used the legendary cursed springs of Jusenkyo for their own ends for generations and possessed a veritable library of lore behind the inner workings of the powerful magic, but none of this pertained to a double Jusenkyo curse which was widely viewed as nearly incurable. After all, the reasoning had gone, what were the odds that somebody would be touched by the cursed waters twice unless it was deliberate? Some of her peers even argued that was why the magic of the springs of Jusenkyo was fluid enough to fuse with other curses, to allow those who chose to embrace their cursed forms to fully transform. -Apparently my ancestors never envisioned someone like Saotome Ranma coming along,- the Amazon elder thought cynically.
There were, of course, possible cures scattered all across the world. All that was needed was an artifact or spirit with enough power to cancel out Jusenkyo's magic and retrieve Ranma's true body, and myths were littered with those things. Such wish-givers, however, were problematic in that they could take an entire lifetime to find, and Cologne did not have the luxury of time. From what the Tendo girl had told her, her son-in-law was taking her transformation rather...poorly, and it was probably only a matter of time before someone did something desperate around here. Nerima had no shortage of fools and Ranma had no shortage of people who cared about him, whether they'd admit it or not. Such a dangerous combination was not promising. If only...
"Stupid Mousse," the wizened old crone cursed under her breath, an emotion stronger than mere frustration but weaker than anger coursing through her. As easy as it would be to blame the nearsighted martial artist for this, he wasn't the only one at fault and wild accusations would lead nowhere. Besides, at least Mousse's regret had finally caused the youth to do some much needed maturing, which was more than she could say about her own great-granddaughter's reaction to this mess. Too much fuming at Mousse and moping about Ranma, not enough constructive or even potentially helpful work. She really needed to sit down and have a long talk with Shampoo when she had a free moment.
The approach of a familiar ki caught her attention, and Cologne looked up from her musings. So, the Lost Boy had returned to Nerima. Poor timing on his part, but she couldn't say she was surprised since she knew the type of luck he usually had. She'd better fill him in on what was going on, though, so Ryouga didn't inadvertently make a bad situation worse as so typically happened around here...and who knows? Maybe he could drag Ranma out of his misery.
With a speed that belied her age, Cologne used her cane as a pogo stick and bounced out of the Nekohanten and onto the night streets of Nerima. A moment later a dazed and seemingly troubled Ryouga rounded the corner with an unconscious Ranma-chan draped over his left shoulder, and the old woman sighed. How predictable. "What have you done to my son-in-law this time, Ryouga?"
The elder's stern voice penetrated the depths of the Lost Boy's disturbed thoughts, and the dark-haired youth shook his head, leaving whatever mental mire he'd been entangled in, and turned panicked brown eyes on the ancient Amazon. "Cologne, there's something wrong with Ranma!"
"I'm already quite aware of Ranma's cursed condition, Ryouga," Cologne retorted a bit tersely, suddenly annoyed at the young man. Every minute she spent out here explaining what he would probably already know if he hadn't knocked Ranma-chan unconscious was a minute that wasn't being used to find a cure. "As would you, I'm sure, if you'd given Ranma a chance to explain himself before attacking her."
"That's not it!" Ryouga snapped back, voice full of worry. "Akane already explained Ranma's double curse to me, and that's not what's wrong! Ranma...she said she loved me, and she wasn't joking!"
Cologne sighed again. She didn't know what game Ranma was playing, but the cursed martial artist really should know better by now that such things seldom went well in Nerima. Ryouga was, likewise, as clueless and prone to overreaction as ever apparently. She'd have to lecture them both after she looked at Ranma and made sure Ryouga hadn't hit her too hard. "Bring Ranma inside the Nekohanten, boy, and I'll examine her."
Ryouga let out a sigh of relief and quickly walked into the Chinese restaurant, feeling better now that he had shared this problem and confident that the Amazon elder would fix it. -His faith in my abilities is almost flattering,- Cologne thought with a chuckle, but the soft laugh died in her throat as the Lost Boy walked past her and she took her first truly detailed look at Ranma's ki. Differences exist between the genders, and these distinctions extend to lifeforces as well. The male aspects of Ranma's ki, because of his curse and experiences as a female, had gradually become partially muted, but his lifeforce had still been recognizable as a man's. Now, though, Ranma felt female, and Cologne was left with the worrying suspicion that maybe Ryouga wasn't overreacting after all.
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"Ranma has been cursed," Cologne pronounced flatly, watching the anxious, expectant faces of the three people gathered around her in the Nekohanten's main room. Akane and Soun looked nonplussed, and she could practically hear them think, "And?" Ryouga appeared stone-faced, but it was still easy for her to perceive his unsuccessfully hidden concern. Three hours had passed since she'd encountered Ryouga outside, and in those three hours she'd performed her extensive examination of the still unconscious girl and had the Lost Boy call the Tendo family and tell them that something was wrong with Ranma and that they'd better come over. She'd sent Shampoo on an errand, believing it would be for the best if she informed her great-granddaughter of Ranma's affliction later and in private. There was no need for another combustible personality to be present for what she was about to say.
"We believed that it was chance and Ranma's customary bad luck that caused him to be exposed to Nyannichuan's cursed waters twice," Cologne continued grimly, doing her best to keep a straight face despite her own feelings over what she'd discovered. "We believed wrong. It was all part of elaborate curse to transform Ranma into a girl...permanently."
The old matriarch's stony gaze preempted any possible interruptions to this announcement, enforcing a silence that none dared break. "Let me spare you from any illusions. I'm not merely talking about a physical curse here. Ranma is now a girl, in body and in mind. The curse has been changing her these past few months slowly but inexorably and right under our noses. Nodoka's extended stay, Ranma's leg injury, Mr. Tsung-zao's arrival, and who knows what else can all likely be traced back to this spell's machinations."
A detached part of Cologne's mind found Soun, Akane, and Ryouga's reactions interesting. A far cry from his usual overly emotional self, the Tendo father seemed calm and composed, his concerned eyes immediately darting over to his daughter, parental instincts for once winning out. Akane's face was a revealing combination of anxiety for Ranma, anger at herself for being oblivious to this, and disbelief as if she couldn't wrap her mind around the idea that Ranma, the teenage boy she'd lived with for the past two years, was now a girl. Ryouga looked torn between horror, disgust, and guilt, and the Amazon could already tell he was, like Akane, blaming himself.
"But you can do something, right? Ranma is your son-in-law!" Akane spoke emotionally, almost choking on those last words as she forced them past her lips. "Ranma's been cursed before and made out okay, so there must be a cure somewhere!"
Cologne sighed, not even trying to hide her own disappointment. "I'm sorry, child, but there's nothing I can do now. Had I seen Ranma earlier, perhaps I could've destroyed the curse, but it's too late now. The curse has already accomplished its purpose. Even assuming I could somehow restore Ranma's male form and wipe his memory of the past few months, his nature is female now and that won't change. Ranma is essentially a different person now."
"So you're just giving up?" Ryouga said incredulously. "After everything Ranma has done and all that he means to you and Shampoo, you're not even going to try to save him?! Ranma's never given up on any of us and deserves better, damn it!" Out of frustration, the Lost Boy slammed his right hand against the table, and if the ancient martial artist hadn't possessed the foresight to strengthen the wood with ki before calling this gathering the structure would've collapsed.
"Do you honestly think I'm any happier about this than the two of you are?" Cologne retorted coldly, glaring at both Akane and Ryouga in turn to make sure that they understood her feelings. "As a martial artist, Ranma had the most potential I'd ever seen in someone his age. As Shampoo's groom and my student, there's no telling what pinnacles he could have reached. If there was anything I could do, anything at all, I would do it. However, age has taught me to know the limits of my power, and I cannot perform miracles! This spell is more subtle and powerful than any Ranma has been inflicted with before, and it has changed not only what he is but who he is."
Soun stood up and walked behind his daughter, eyes never leaving her as he put a hand on her shoulder to give her his support and opened his mouth to ask a question. "Cologne, you said this is a curse, but who or what caused it? A curse as powerful as this one surely must've been deliberate."
Cologne nodded her head, thankful for the change in subject. "The magical agent appears to have been a cursed miniature fountain known as the Serpent's Desire. I don't have experience with the object personally, but the residual magical imprint and method matches what I've read about it. The fountain looks into the hearts of those who toss coins into its waters, selects a desire, and then makes it a grisly reality. Even something as insignificant as a momentary whim could become an unwelcome truth, so looking for the one responsible is pointless. Anyone who's dropped a coin in a small fountain could have been the one who set these events into motion."
She could tell that this information only increased the frustration Akane and Ryouga felt. Bad enough that they apparently couldn't do anything about Ranma's curse, but not even being able to punish the one who'd caused it? Worse yet, what if it had been their wish that had come true? Tossing a coin into a fountain was something that they'd all done before, usually without a second thought, and could they honestly say that they'd never wanted Ranma to be a girl, even for only a moment, if for no other reason than to make their own lives easier?
The Amazon matriarch had no words to comfort them. Indeed, hidden under her unfazed exterior, she was dealing with guilt and regret of her own. Logically, Cologne knew that the curse had likely gone out of its way to prevent her from seeing Ranma for more than a cursory moment these past months and that she couldn't be blamed for not realizing what was happening, but that didn't stop her from admonishing herself for not checking up on her son-in-law before events came to this. She should've known something atypical was going on from how 'normal' life had been lately. Too little, too late, though, and now all she could do was deal with the consequences.
"Is there...is there anything we can do at all?" Akane asked pleadingly, barely managing to maintain her composure in front of Cologne.
The old woman shook her head, feeling her true age. "As I've already said, no there isn't. It would take a miracle to undo what has been done, and there's no guarantee you'll find one even if you spend an entire lifetime searching. The only thing we can do is accept that Ranma is now...'Ranko' and move on. For what it's worth...you have my condolences."
There was more to say, of course, but her next words were intended for only certain ears. She met the Lost Boy's hostile, confused gaze and, when she'd gotten his attention, continued speaking. "I'll send Ranko home after she's woken up and I've explained matters to her. In the meantime, I suggest the two of you return to your house and tell Nabiki and Kasumi what to expect. Ryouga, I need your help with a few things before you leave."
Soun, emotions still unusually restrained, bowed respectfully. "Thank you for being honest with us, Cologne. I'll...inform my other daughters and also Ukyo of the situation. I'm sure you'll be busy enough with Shampoo and Mousse." Very gently, he helped his youngest daughter out of her chair and, holding her tightly, walked towards the exit. "Let's go, Akane."
A bell rang as the door shut behind the two Tendos, and Ryouga turned to face Cologne's unsettling gaze with a questioning look of his own. "What is it, Cologne? Do you have more bad news to tell?" He mentally winced at how bitter his words sounded and he knew he was being unfair, but he was so confused right now that he didn't know how to feel or how to act. Normally he'd blame Ranma, but that wasn't possible this time.
Cologne peered intently at the Lost Boy for a moment, carefully choosing her next words. "I wasn't completely honest with Soun and his daughter. While I can't be one hundred percent certain, I believe I know whose wish the curse based itself upon." Ryouga attempted to say something, but the wizened Amazon cut him off. "It wasn't you, if that's what you're worried about it. The spell's purpose was to transform Ranma into the epitome of a feminine woman and to make her fall in love with you, as you discovered earlier. Now, tell me, who do we know who would desire a domestic, womanly Ranko involved in a romantic relationship with a young man like yourself?"
It took a few seconds longer than the old woman would've liked for the Lost Boy to connect the dots, but eventually realization dawned on his features. "Nodoka," he whispered breathlessly, simultaneously feeling a sense of relief that it hadn't been his wish and pity for Ranma's mother who'd unknowingly inflicted such a fate upon her only son. "Why didn't you tell Akane and Soun this, though? Poor Akane, she's probably-"
"And how do you think she'd feel if she learned that the man she loves, in addition to being a woman now, loves you?" Cologne interrupted, watching Ryouga blanch as the thought sunk in. "She'll be told eventually, but right now Akane needs time to process these changes and better she does so in doses rather than all at once. Besides, you should be the first to know since you'll have to make a very important decision soon."
"Eh? What are you talking about?" Ryouga asked, puzzled. If matters weren't so serious, Cologne would've bashed her staff against his dense head even though it would almost certainly be a pointless exercise.
"Think about it, Hibiki. The woman Ranma has become is deeply in love with you. No matter how much you wish otherwise, that's something that won't go away and can't be ignored. You will have to deal decisively with Ranko, one way or another." The Lost Boy turned a shade of green, obviously sickened by the idea, but Cologne perceived that deeper thoughts were occupying his mind. Despite the nightmares Ryouga had told her about, the old woman had found no magical traces of the curse within the Lost Boy and it seemed that the spell had made no serious effort to change him. If what he'd told her about the blessed water he'd found was true, though, any magical influences would be gone now with no proof that they'd ever been there, and she couldn't help but wonder if there was more going on in him than met the eye. After all, it was surely more than a coincidence that he'd found a cure for his own curse and returned to Nerima just when it became too late for the same magic to work on any of Ranma's afflictions. Only time would tell, though, it seemed.
------
Mousse nonchalantly dodged the barrage of throwing spatulas as he walked through the front door of Ukyo's restaurant. They were only half-heartedly aimed at him, anyway. "May I come in, Ukyo? I'd like to talk to you for a bit."
"We're closed, Mousse. Read the sign next time if you can," the okonomiyaki chef retorted angrily. It was obvious even to the nearly blind Chinese martial artist that she was still upset at him, but he could also tell from her voice that she'd been crying recently and there were a few things he felt she needed to hear.
"What happened to Ranma isn't your fault, Ukyo," the Master of Hidden Arts spoke kindly, dodging a second wave of spatulas that were suddenly hurled at him and taking a seat at the counter. For a brief instant, he wondered what he was doing here, but a close look at the young woman and her ruffled state from this distance reassured him that he was doing the right thing. Normally he wouldn't have given Ranma's dark-haired fiancée a second thought, but ever since his last altercation with his former rival he'd made a greater effort to be more contemplative and not so hasty in his judgments, and it had occurred to him that Ukyo was all by herself right now. Akane had her sisters, her father, and perhaps even the Lost Boy to help her deal with her loss, and Cologne would do everything in her power to help her great-granddaughter cope, but Ukyo had no one to turn to. She was all alone, and in her loneliness and despair she might...well, better safe than sorry, Mousse thought, and if there was one thing Nerima didn't need right now it was another tragedy.
"Of course it isn't my fault! It's your fault!" Ukyo nearly screamed at him, fuming. "You're the one who took advantage of Ranma while he was still weak from the lack of training he'd done while his mother was around! You're the one who knocked him into that barrel of Nyannichuan water and double-cursed him! You're the one who took my Ranchan away from me!" She unsheathed the large spatula from her back and slammed it against Mousse's head. The male martial artist didn't attempt to dodge this time, and his head slammed into the wooden counter with enough force to crack the surface and break the frames of his glasses.
Calmly, Mousse sat back up, withdrew another pair of glasses from his voluminous white robes, and gazed at the young, emotionally charged woman sympathetically. "Feel any better?"
Ukyo glared icily at him, but slumped over in defeat and sighed sadly a moment later. "No, can't say I do, sugar, and as much as I hate to admit it beating you up probably won't help me any. Why have you come, Mousse? The answer better be good if you don't want me to throw you out of my store headfirst."
Mousse, no stranger to pain, shrugged. "I'm worried about you, is all. This news has hit everyone pretty hard, and I wanted to see how you were dealing with it. You don't really have many people to talk to if you're hurting, after all." Almost unconsciously, he looked around the empty, darkened restaurant.
"I'm fine, Mousse," Ukyo replied tersely, peering at the martial artist through uncombed brown bangs no longer held in place by a hair band. "Just peachy. I only lost the love of my life to a curse that took him right out from under my own two eyes. That's just a small loss, after all, and it's not like there was anything I could've done..."
"There wasn't," Mouse interjected forcefully, knowing she didn't believe her own words and trying to reassure her. "From what Cologne has told me, this curse remained undetected for so long by being uncannily subtle and making every change and occurrence look natural. There was no way you could've known-"
"Of course there was!" Ukyo interrupted, and even with his poor eyesight Mousse could see the guilt in her eyes. "I saw and talked to Ranma everyday at school! I was there when this curse was changing him, and I should've noticed something! Anything! Looking back, there were so many signs that should've clued me in. Ranma's diminishing complaints about being forced to act like a girl, his newly discovered love for home ec class, and heck, most tellingly how he virtually stopped his martial arts training. The Ranma I knew would've never stopped his training for so long, no matter what the risk!"
"What...what kind of friend am I that I was so blind that I didn't see any of this?" Ukyo asked rhetorically, tears streaming down her face as the anger she'd been harboring finally collapsed against the deep pain she felt. She lowered her head against the counter, ashamed of and hating herself. The one time Ranchan had truly needed her and she hadn't done anything, hadn't even known anything was wrong. She was despicable and just wanted to hide and fade away. It would be so easy...
The Chinese martial artist gently put a comforting hand on her left shoulder, the fact that she didn't even try to brush it away worrying him to no end. "You could easily say the same thing about any of us, Ukyo. No one who saw Ranma thought there was a problem, and even if someone did they can't honestly have expected it would have turned out to be something like this. Everyone here is as innocent or guilty as anyone else. If you continue to blame yourself, you're only doing what the curse wants you to do. I did some research of my own, and what the Serpent's Desire attempts to do isn't just make the one who made the wish unhappy but the other people affected miserable too. It's our lives the curse wants to ruin, Ukyo, so don't let it."
Through her tears, Ukyo looked up at Mousse' sympathetic, concerned face and suddenly felt a little bit better. Not much, mind you, but it was comforting to know that someone cared about her. "Thanks, Mousse." She sniffled once, and then she grabbed her combat spatula and brought it down over the martial artist's head again. "And that's for becoming so uncharacteristically perceptive all of a sudden, you jerk. Where have you been hiding it all this time?"
Mousse pulled his face out of the counter once again and chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Probably behind my blinding obsession with Shampoo." He sighed. "As terrible as it sounds, I'm actually glad that I had my own denouement the other week instead of now. It's given me time to think and learn some painful truths, and without that knowledge I wouldn't be of any help to anyone currently. It's...a nice feeling, to actually feel halfway useful for a change."
"You've never been useless, Mousse, no matter what anyone has told you," Ukyo said suddenly, surprising both herself and him. She hastily walked over to her restaurant's grill and turned it on, grabbing some batter, vegetables, and fish from nearby. "While you're here, would you care for an okonomiyaki or two? It's the least I can do, considering that I creamed you against the head twice."
The young, Chinese martial artist smiled his first true smile in days. "Sure, Ukyo, that would be lovely."
"Good. I'll put it on your tab, sugar."
Mousse face-vaulted.
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"Akane."
"Ryouga."
A moment of silence followed this chance encounter as the two friends struggled to find words, each looking uncomfortable standing still in the dark, quiet park. Akane was wearing her jogging outfit again and had been running laps when she'd seen the Lost Boy walking by. Ryouga had been wandering randomly, deep in thought and not particularly caring where he ended up which was probably why he was still in Nerima as opposed to the other side of the country.
By unspoken agreement, the two walked over to a bench that overlooked a pond. Ryouga waited for Akane to sit down first before taking his own place on the opposite end of the wooden seat. Almost reluctantly, he asked the question that needed to be voiced but which neither of them were eager to discuss. "So...how's Ranko doing?"
Akane sighed melancholically. "Not bad, all things considered. She was a bit shell-shocked for a night or two after learning about the curse, but now she actually seems...happy, albeit uncertain how she should act around others. She's been spending most of her time either in her room or helping Kasumi out in the house."
"And yourself? How are you holding up?" Ryouga asked, concern plainly visible on his face as he turned to look at her anxiously.
The young, blue-haired woman shifted uncomfortably. "I...I honestly don't know. I was angry at first, and when Cologne brought Ranko to the Tendo Dojo I wanted nothing more than to bash the redhead with my mallet until Ranma came back. I even tried to force her to act like Ranma, hoping it would help, but it didn't change anything at all and she looked so...vulnerable. Now, I just feel numb. Watching her...it's like seeing a different person, but, every now and then, she'll say or do something that is disconcertingly like Ranma, and it freaks me out. I think...I think I might've loved him, you know."
Akane, eyes and face downcast, missed the grimace of pain that crossed Ryouga's face as she said this. "Yes, I know," he answered as normally as he could, suppressing his own emotions for the sake of the woman he loved. "Ranma...as much as he tried to deny it, I think he loved you too."
The youngest Tendo laughed bitterly. "Figures that it would take a tragedy for me to finally realize how I feel. Even if it wasn't love, there was definitely something between us, but now...I'll never know for sure what it was. Ranma and I...we wasted so much time arguing, fighting, and ignoring each other, and I can't help but wonder now how things would be different if we'd actually given ourselves a chance instead of stubbornly resisting every step that brought us closer together. All the things left unsaid and undone between us...they're going to remain that way forever."
"All that's left now are regrets," she continued gloomily. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life wondering if there was anything I could've done to save Ranma. Cologne's right, and I've accepted that he's dead and gone now. Just looking at Ranko drives home that point beyond refutation, but I lived with him while all this was happening. I was only a few rooms away while he changed inside, became a different person, and, although I knew something was amiss, I never pressed him about it, simply chalking everything up to his need to fool his mother. I could've done something, but...I didn't. What kind of person does that make me?"
"I might ask myself that same question," Ryouga remarked despondently, eyes going distant as memories of the past few months passed through his mind. "Ranma...he told me that something was wrong with him, that he was enjoying pretending to be Ranko too much. He shared his problems with me, and what did I do? Suggest he talk to Dr. Tofu and left it at that. Akane, you can't blame yourself. You experienced Ranma's curse as he did, so slowly and subtly that everything that was happening seemed natural. I, on the other hand, saw a jarring slideshow that should've clued me in that there was something seriously wrong." -Those nightmares should've been enough to make me realize that things weren't normal.- "If anyone is to blame for what's happened, it's me."
Akane gazed at him sympathetically, and, in this shared moment of grief and guilt, Ryouga surprisingly felt closer to the woman he loved than he ever had before. It was a strange sensation, to realize that misery could bring two people so tightly together and breakdown any impediments to understanding, but it was also a painful knowledge. The Lost Boy wanted to take Akane in his arms, hug her, and reassure her that everything was going to be okay and tell her that he loved her, but he couldn't. With this degree of intimacy and openness he knew that he'd merely be taking advantage of her in a moment of fragility, and that...wasn't right. He loved her, but right now...she needed his friendship more, and he had to accept the fact that was perhaps all he could ever realistically expect to be to her.
"What a sorry pair we must look like," Akane commented ruefully and with uncharacteristically dark humor. "Both sitting here, blaming ourselves for things we know we shouldn't but still do, probably on the verge of tears, and with no idea where we go next. Tell me...Ryouga, do you think things will ever get easier? That these regrets will one day be less painful?"
Ryouga sighed and forced himself to answer despite his own heavy emotions. He wasn't used to this degree of commiseration and the aching feelings and epiphanies that came with it. "I don't know Akane, but no matter what tomorrow may bring...I will always be your friend, no matter what."
-Even if I wanted to be so much more...-
------
An hour had passed since Ryouga's conversation with Akane, and he was still sitting on the bench, alone now. The talk had drained him emotionally, and he felt exhausted. Not even any of his numerous fights with Ranma had usually left him this tired. Then again, dueling Ranma had also rarely left him heartbroken, with only the broken shards of youthful dreams and a few scattered moments of happiness and near realization to comfort him. The thought of his former rival brought a sardonic chuckle to his mouth. -It figures,- he thought to himself, -that in death you'd make Akane's love harder to earn than you ever did in life.-
The sound of cautious footsteps approaching caught his attention, and the Lost Boy looked up to see who was drawing near. His sharp hazel eyes quickly found and identified the figure, and he stiffened noticeably. It was her.
"Ryouga," Ranko said timidly, wearing a nervous smile as she stepped closer and, despite her obvious anxiety, it was clear that she was happy to see him. A dark blue dress modestly complemented her figure, and her long, red hair hung down freely. With some relief, the Eternally Lost Boy noted that she wasn't wearing any make-up that he could discern. She was a painful enough reminder of what had happened as is without further evidence of the transformation to drive home the point. "Could we talk for a bit?"
Despite his discomfort, the cursed Hibiki begrudgingly nodded. Like it or not, Cologne was right and he couldn't put this moment off forever and, truth be told, he was actually a bit surprised that Ranko had waited as long as she had before looking for him. Perhaps he-, no...she had needed time to adjust to the news as well.
The young redhead walked over to the bench and, sensing Ryouga's unease, sat down on the opposite end although she plainly wanted to be closer to him. The two youths spent a few moments in tense silence, listening to the quiet, nocturnal noises around them and looking everywhere except at each other. Gathering her courage, though, Ranko finally turned to her companion and opened her mouth to speak. "I'm happy now, if that'll comfort you any."
The Lost Boy remained silent, and Ranko took this as a cue to continue. "Everyone's blaming themselves for what happened to me. I see the guilt and regret in Akane's eyes every time she looks at me, and you're no different. Please...stop it. Perhaps you might've been able to do something, but I'm the only one truly at fault here. I suspected something for the longest time but did nothing about it. The truth is...a part of me didn't want to stop what was happening. Life was...well, for the first time in a long time, life was good. No new fiancées were showing up, my old ones weren't bothering me, and no one was trying to kill me. Even though I had to pretend to be a girl, it was the closest to a normal life I could ever remember having."
She laughed tiredly once and faced forward, finally attempting to voice the thoughts that had occupied her head ever since Cologne revealed what had happened to her. "I'm actually not all that upset about the curse. In a way, it's a relief to know that all the doubts and...questions I've had recently came from elsewhere, and it would be incredibly disturbing if I had decided to become a girl entirely on my own. At any rate, I'm happier now." She stressed those last words, wanting Ryouga to believe them as much as she did. "I wasn't unhappy as Ranma per se, but...I was trapped in a growing spiral with no end in sight. No matter what I did, somebody was always either angry or sad because of me, and, as egocentric as I am, I hated how Nerima revolved around me. It was like…like I was the star of my own messed-up manga and my life an endless series of warped adventures. And now...I'm free." She didn't try to hide the happiness in her voice as she said that.
"You've given up then," Ryouga remarked contrastingly morosely, bending over and resting his chin on his hands. "I knew it was a longshot, but I'd been hoping that maybe the knowledge that a curse had changed you would motivate you to resist it and fight back, refuse to become something you weren't against your will. Instead...you've accepted it and let the curse win." He sighed glumly. "Ranma would have never let anyone or anything defeat him."
"Ranma always won because he never wanted to lose. This time, I...he...did," Ranko said gently, raising her left hand but stopping just short of resting it on the Lost Boy's shoulder. "Besides, pretending to be someone I'm not was what got me into this mess in the first place, and if I forced myself to act like who I was despite what I now feel...do you really think it would help any? I'd merely be living another lie, one that wouldn't fool anyone I care about, and I'm tired of lying. The truth is...I'm a different person now. How I view the world and what I want out of life...they're no longer the same. I no longer feel the same, neither about myself...nor you. I lo-"
"No you don't," Ryouga interrupted tersely, refusing to look at her. "It's the curse. The curse is making you feel what you feel, and it isn't real. It's not true love, it's not-"
"It's as real as I am!" Ranko shouted, surprising both herself and the Lost Boy with the intensity of her outburst. "The curse may have made me what I am now, but that doesn't make who I am and what I feel any less real! These emotions…they didn't develop overnight, Ryouga. They've been growing and taking shape over the past few months, just as I have, and I am not lying when I say I love you. I love you so much it hurts. I love you so much that, even though you can barely stand to look at me, there is nowhere else I'd rather be than here next to you right now. I love you."
"And what do you expect me to do?" Ryouga demanded, voice filled with anger and confusion as he finally confronted her and the tentative control he'd been exerting over his emotions cracked. "I don't love you, and to be honest you terrify me! I can't look at you without being reminded of Ranma and what happened to him! We knew each other since junior high and fought each other ever since! For two years we battled in Nerima over Akane, and I hated him! I hated how he was always better than me, how without even trying he had the love of the woman I cared for, and most of all how he took everything he had that I wanted for granted! You may have felt trapped, but did you ever stop and think how lucky you were to have so many people who cared about you? You were a fool, but you were a loved fool which was more than I could say about me."
The Lost Boy's voice thickened with emotion and grief as he continued his tirade to the solemn Ranko. "I hated you with a passion, but I also envied you! It was my dream to surpass you and prove myself to Akane, to become the man she loves! No matter how dark and lonely the world was, I had a dream to fight and live for! Now, because of you, it's broken! I can't win Akane's love, not without doing something even worse than pretending to be P-chan and for which I could never forgive myself. With how easily I get lost, I can barely even be her friend! As for surpassing you...it's meaningless and not even a challenge now. Ranma is dead, but you are still alive and saying that you love me. Do you have any idea how sick I feel when I hear that? How much it feels like I'm desecrating Ranma's memory listening to you say that? I'm sorry, Ranko, but I can't forget about the past and who you used to be, and if you think a pretty face is enough to convince me otherwise then you're going to be disappointed!"
"I'm cursed, not stupid, Ryouga," Ranko retorted sadly, meeting his angry gaze with a forlorn and penetrating one of her own. "Of course I don't expect that. I'd be disappointed in you if you did let me throw myself at you. I've done some serious thinking lately, Ryouga, and do you know what I've realized? The good things in my life...my friends as Ranma, they're gone. No matter how hard Akane tries, she'll never be able to put Ranma behind her with me, Ucchan is having an even harder time dealing with this than you are, and the Tendos don't know what to do or how to act around me. As long as they can't let go of who I was they'll never be able to accept me for who I am, and that hurts because they still mean so much to me! You...you were the closest thing Ranma had to a best friend, and you mean so much to me now...I don't want to lose you too!"
"Please," the young, beautiful, and lonely woman begged, sounding like she was nearly on the verge of tears. "I know you can't forget the past and who I used to be...but do you think you could try to get to know the new me? Would you...would you be willing to start over again as the people we are now rather than who we were? To give us a chance to be friends and see where things go from there? Please, Ryouga...I don't want to be alone..."
Looking into the depths of Ranko's blue eyes, Ryouga felt terrified by the despair and desperation visible within them, a mirror of his own haunting depression on many lonely nights. Seeing her now, he knew with chilling clarity that if he abandoned her there was no telling what she'd do next...or if she'd even be alive tomorrow. As much as she disgusted and frightened him, could he really refuse her simple request, deny her the hope that she could keep some of the relationships that meant so much to her?
No, he couldn't, the Lost Boy concluded grudgingly. Ranma was dead and, as much as people said otherwise, he was partly responsible, and he didn't want to live with another death on his conscience. "Hibiki Ryouga," Ryouga said gravely, feeling a strange mix of heavy emotions he couldn't begin to describe inside as he turned away again so he didn't see the joyous smile that graced the redhead's lips. "And you are...?"
"Ranko. Saotome Ranko. I can't begin to tell how pleased I am to meet you, Ryouga," Ranko replied happily, meaning every word of it. "I hope...I hope this will be the start of something beautiful."
------
-Knock knock-
Nodoka opened the door to the house, staring at her guest in abject surprise for nearly a minute before finally managing to form words. "Genma?" Before her was her husband, a little heavier and with less hair than she remembered, but it was unmistakably the man she loved. Although she knew it was unseemly, she couldn't resist the urge to step outside and throw her arms around him to make sure he was real and that this wasn't another dream of hers. He returned the hug, but as good as it felt to be held again she could tell there was something wrong.
"Genma, what is it?" she asked worriedly, looking up at him and concerned at the guilt she saw etched in his features. A horrifying thought occurred to her. "Did something happen to our son?" Her husband winced, confirming her worst suspicions. She let go of him and stepped back, doing her best to contain the dread and fear that threatened to overwhelm her. She needed to stay calm until she learned what had happened and what she could do to help. She didn't even want to think about the possibility that there was nothing she could do for her son. "Genma...what's going on?"
The old martial artist opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, and sighed. "It's...a very long story, Nodoka, one that I share a lot of blame in. I'm going to tell you everything, but while I'm speaking...please don't interrupt. I promise you, all of your questions will be answered by the end."
She nodded, the solemnity of his words increasing her worry, and led the way back into the house. Genma followed, and the two found chairs to sit in and began to talk.
Fighting the lump growing in his throat, Genma confessed everything. He started with his and Ranma's departure so many years ago and gradually worked his way up, voice choking with emotion as he recalled the good and bad times of the past. With some hesitation and a demonstration of his own curse, he told the story of Jusenkyo and from there let his vision grow unfocused, believing that if he could see his wife and the expression on her face clearly he'd never be able to gather the resolve again to continue. In a timorous, haphazard fashion, he talked about the time he and Ranma had spent living with the Tendos and their experiences in Nerima.
Finally, he reached the present and revealed the tragedy that awaited him when he had returned to the Tendo Dojo from his own journey. He described Ranma's new curse and how their son was now a girl. Even if he had wanted to, he doubted he could've hidden the regret and guilt that saturated his words as he spoke. Everything was his fault, really. If only he'd been a better father to Ranma, if only he'd done more research before taking him to Jusenkyo, if only he hadn't run away so he didn't have to see the pain his own actions were causing...
Genma raised his head and gazed at his wife, expecting her to be disconsolate, enraged, full of loathing for the irresponsible coward she had married, or perhaps even about to force him to commit seppuku. Instead, he was surprised at the look of horror on her face.
-It's an antique from ancient China called the Serpent's Desire that I use to lure in customers. They see this intricate work of craftsmanship, come to my booth to look at it, and hopefully buy whatever I'm selling at the time.-
"Tell me...tell me again, what did you say caused this curse?" Nodoka asked, feeling a growing sense of dismay as she slowly took in her husband's story and remembered the words of the salesgirl she'd met by chance what suddenly seemed like ages ago.
A bit uncertainly, Genma answered. "Cologne – she's the Amazon matriarch I told you about – claims it was a small, magic fountain called the Serpent's Desire. It looks into the hearts of those who drop coins in its waters and chooses a desire to make into a grisly reality."
-It's supposed to grant desires if you drop a coin in it. The mirrors look into your heart and discern what you want, and the magic of the fountain chooses a desire and makes it come true.-
"By the gods," she said, turning pale as her strength left her and she collapsed back into the chair she was sitting in, "what have I done to my son?" She turned anguished eyes on her husband. "Genma...the curse, I was the one who tossed the coin into the fountain. It was my desire that the Serpent's Desire made real. My poor son...how can this ever be forgiven?"
Fool he may have been, but Genma was also Nodoka's husband and loved her dearly. Seeing her like this...it broke his heart, and he rose from his own chair, walked over, and kneeled down beside her, gently resting his hands on her left arm. "There's nothing to forgive, Nodoka. You had no idea that Ranma and Ranko were the same person. I'm the one who should be blamed. If I had told the truth from the beginning and faced the consequences like a real man, none of this would've happened."
"I was the one who forced you to make that promise," Nodoka spoke self-accusingly, feeling even guiltier hearing her husband's willingness to accept all the blame himself. "And my heart is still the one that caused this. If I hadn't stopped at that kiosk and seen that fountain, Ranma, my son...would still be Ranma."
"Nodoka...it's not your fault," Genma said again, reassuringly and consolingly. Nodoka only shook her head and looked away. When she'd seen her son and husband off at the start of their training trip, she'd been composed, wishing them the best even though it had hurt inside not knowing when she'd see her loved ones again. Over the long, lonely years that followed, she'd stoically endured, believing the training was for her son's own good even as she desperately longed for news of her husband and child. In all that time, she had done her best to be the wife and mother she believed she needed to be and hadn't shed a tear over the missing people in her life.
Today, that changed, and Nodoka started crying as, far away, Tomoko laughed in triumph.