Chapter 20

The air was quiet as Soun, Genma, Ryoga, Mu Tsu, Ranma and Kiagi watched in horror as the cask of Nannichuan had broken, causing its contents to be spilled all over Akane.

Everyone was in a state of shock. Everyone except for Akane who was still oblivious to the current situation. "What are you all looking at?" Akane asked, before gasping at the sound of her voice. "Is that me?" she asked, before looking at her hands.

They were huge, strong looking hands which felt out of place to Akane until she noticed a tight constricting feeling in her underwear. Ooh. Ranma thought to herself, wincing as she saw Akane's expression I know that feeling. It was now painfully clear what had transpired. Akane was now a boy!

"Are you ok, Akane?" Ranma asked as she reached up to Akane's shoulder and rested her hand upon it. Akane looked as though he was in a trance. He turned to face Ranma, who was now so much smaller than she was seconds ago.

"I guess I'm a little taller now." he said, before crumbling and wrapping his arms around Ranma, sobbing severely.

Kiagi put his hand on Ranma's shoulder whispered into her ear. "I think you should take him into the back" he said, before turning toward the pack of frightened idiots "I'll handle them."

As Ranma led Akane into the back, Kiagi looked as though he was about to burst with rage. "Now, would someone care to tell me what that was all about?" he said, cracking his knuckles.

In the back room Akane was sat waiting for Ranma to return with some hot water. Well, I got what I wanted. He thought to himself as he looked down to inspect his new form.

His school dress was ripped at the seams and his shoes gripped his feet tightly. The pain in his feet however was nothing compared to the pain he felt in his panties. Guess I should probably take these off. He thought as he reached his hands underneath his skirt and grabbed his underwear.

It didn't require much force, as the underwear, much like the dress was ripped to the point of coming away. As the panties ripped off, Akane felt a massive relief as the pain subsided. At that point, he looked around to see if Ranma had come back. Where the hell is she? He thought to himself before he spotted the large mirror on Kiagi's mantle. I wonder what I look like as a guy.

Standing up, he walked over to the mantle and observed his new face. His eyes stayed the same shade of brown; he was taller and had shimmering golden hair. He was handsome. Really handsome. In fact Akane would even dare to say that he was gorgeous. "Not too bad" he said, admiring his reflection and smiling. "I hope it's true what people say about blondes."

"Well aren't we vain." Ranma said from behind as she entered the room, causing Akane to almost jump out of his skin. "It's just a shame that from where I'm standing, you look like a cross-dresser."

Catching his breath, Akane turned to face Ranma and was about to shout at her for insulting him, until he caught a glimpse of the redhead as she stood there. God damn! He thought to himself as he stared at her eyes and froze. Has she always looked that good?

His eyes slowly fixated on Ranma's deep blue eyes, before following her long ruby hair and tracing the pale skin of her neck and moving down towards her-.

"Hey Akane, eyes front!" Ranma shouted, snapping Akane out of his train of thought. "You plan on staring at me any longer?"

"I wasn't staring!" Akane shouted back "I wasn't doing anything"

"Oh really," Ranma said, rolling her eyes before pointing towards Akane's skirt. "Then explain that!" Akane looked down to see what Ranma was talking about and became near catatonic when he saw it.

He blushed immensely as his hands scurried over the bulge in his skirt and attempted to cover up. Ranma burst into laughter as she watched Akane failing to hide his erection, causing him to blush even more. "I knew you liked me Akane," Ranma giggled "But I didn't think you'd pop a boner after just looking at me."

"Shut up Ranma!" Akane said, embarrassed about his current situation "Did you bring the hot water?" Unable to control the laughter Ranma was now useless to Akane as she fell to her knees and began slapping her thigh.

"Here," she laughed, passing the kettle along the floor with her foot. "Now, who's the pervert?"

"Ah shut up, it wasn't my fault." Akane said as he tipped the kettle of his head and returned to her normal form. "It's not like I could control it or anything. It's like it had a mind of its own."

"Welcome to manhood." Ranma said when she finally stopped laughing and a thought came to her. "I wonder where the Nannichuan came from anyway."

Akane straightened her torn dress as best she could. "Who knows." she said "Our dads probably ordered it to use on you. Guess their plan backfired didn't it?"

"It could be worse Akane." Ranma said as she stood up and whispered into Akane's ear "At least you're cute as a guy." she said, causing Akane to blush immensely.

Meanwhile in the store, things were not so relaxed. As Kiagi stood behind the counter, with flames bursting from his hands he was anxiously waiting for an explanation to arise. "So," he said as he began to play with the fire in his hands. "Would anyone care to begin?"

For a few moments, the room was quiet. Then Soun finally plucked up the courage and began to explain. "Well you see," he said, rubbing the back of his head "A couple more months ago when you fought Ranma, we felt as though his feminine side let him down in the fight."

Genma nodded and began to add his own two cents "I didn't train my boy to become a sissy." He said "So Soun and I purchased a cask of Nannichuan in order to remove his feminine form once and for all."

"Everything would have gone perfectly if Saotome hadn't gotten selfish and tried to steal the Nannichuan for himself." Soun said "That's why I chased him here and tried to get it back."

"But that doesn't explain you two" Kiagi said, pointing towards Ryoga and Mu Tsu, who both had hung their heads in shame.

"We both wanted to remove our own curses." Ryoga said, to which Mu Tsu nodded. "We're sorry for what happened to Akane, and for the damage to your store."

"The four of you are idiots." Kiagi said bluntly "Perhaps you weren't informed of this but I believe that you need to know. Jusenkyo curses are permanent. They can never be broken."

Kiagi's statement hit all four of its targets like a ton of bricks. "But what about instant Nannichuan?" Mu Tsu asked "That stops you from changing for a limited time."

Kiagi nodded. "True enough instant Nannichuan prevents a man from changing, but it only works as a sample product" he said, crossing his arms "This works in the same way that instant spring of drowned frog would turn you into a frog for a limited time despite you already having a curse. The instant product is only a demonstration of what curse water can do. It's simply a less dangerous form of the real thing."

At this time, Soun had taken in all that Kiagi had to say and was furious. "This is all your fault, Saotome!" he said, grabbing Genma by his shirt "Thanks to you, my little girl has to live with this curse for the rest of her life."

"Well, look at it this way," Genma said, panicking "At least now, Ranma and Akane are the perfect couple."

"Saotome!" Soun growled, before embracing his dear friend and smiling "You're absolutely right" Kiagi was slightly surprised by how passive Soun's temperament could be.

"Well," He said. "That happened."

It was at this time, Ranma and Akane came out from the back room and entered the store. Soun immediately jumped up and wrapped his arms around his daughter before crying hysterically. "Oh my baby!" he said "Everything's going to be alright, I promise."

"Dad, come on stop it" Akane said as she turned to face Kiagi "Kiagi is there any chance you could fix my dress please, it's pretty torn up."

Kiagi smiled and raised his hand "It would be my pleasure" he said, snapping his fingers and repairing the dress instantly "And I'd like to just say, welcome to the cursed club!"

"Thanks." Akane said, bowing and then turning back to her father. "Dad, me and Ranma aren't going to school today, could you just tell them we're sick or something? She asked.

"Yes my dear," Soun said, wiping his tears away "I'll tell them."

"I'd still prefer that you came to work today though Akane." Kiagi said "I wish to speak to you later." "Ok" Akane said before she and Ranma left the store.

"What happened in here?" Bosu asked as he entered the store having just come back from the candy store.

"You have some cleaning to do, Bosu." Kiagi answered passing him a broom and leaving him to his own devices.

As they walked back home, many things entered Akane's mind. How was she going to tell her friends about her new curse? Would people think of her as a freak, the way they did with Ranma at first? Would she be able to cope with having a curse ay all?

"It's a lot to think about, isn't it?" Ranma said, as she walked alongside her.

"But at least you're not going into this blind." Akane was confused by Ranma's last statement.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Well I mean that when I got cursed, I didn't really know anything about it." Ranma answered "But you already know all about curses and stuff like that. Plus you've got someone who has the exact same curse that you do, well almost."

Akane took in everything that Ranma had said and realised something. "You know what you've actually got a good point there." she said "Did you mean what you said earlier when you called me a cute guy?"

Ranma blushed deeply. "Well I, I mean you, I erm." she said, twiddling her thumbs before covering her face "Oh god"

This caused Akane to giggle "Ranma has a boy she likes" she chuckled, causing the redhead to become very embarrassed.

"Hey shut up!" Ranma said "You're the one who popped up earlier"

This caused both girls to break into laughter as they remembered the embarrassing scene from earlier. "You're gonna have to teach me to control that by the way" Akane said, to which Ranma chuckled.

"Sorry Akane" she said "But it doesn't come with a manual."