Ranma ½ – Happily Ever After

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ is the property of Takahashi Rumiko and all those other large corporations that publish and distribute Ranma ½. No profit is gained from this work, just a great deal of enjoyment writing it.

Chapter 36 – I Was Never Good at Keeping a Secret

"Are you sure this is OK, Ranma?" Akane asked as she rejoined Ranma from the dressing rooms.

"It looks fine," Ranma replied. "And you do look a lot more comfortable."

"Thank you," Akane said. "This is more comfortable."

Of course, the conversation was about what Akane was wearing. Although she was still wearing the top of the swimsuit, she was now wearing the shorts she had originally been wearing when they had arrived that morning.

It hadn't taken Akane more than a walk halfway to the Ferris wheel to realize that she didn't feel at all at ease being dressed in a swimsuit bottom that barely covered what it needed to cover (at least in Akane's opinion). The stares from the men (and women) were one thing, but the bottoms were rubbing Akane in a completely inappropriate way as she walked.

"I'm not even sure how Aka-chan convinced me to even wear this," Akane said as she took Ranma by the hand and they began to walk again in the direction of the Ferris wheel. "I wasn't even going to bring them, but she talked me into that… and this morning she convinced me to wear them under my clothes just in case I wanted to go down to the beach. And after lunch she told me how good I would look wearing it. I think it was when she said that she felt uncomfortable that she was the only one wearing a swimsuit."

"It does look good on you," Ranma commented. "I think it looks better on you than it does on me."

It was when Ranma saw the shocked look on a woman who had been walking nearby that Ranma decided that it might be best to continue this conversation later… in slightly more private setting.

"Akane, let's get in line for the Ferris wheel. Then I'll get you your cotton candy and your balloon."

Once out of view of Akane and once the shock had worn off, Akio no longer needed to be dragged but Akio let Aka-chan lead the way since she seemed to have a particular destination in mind.

Aka-chan did have a particular destination in mind. Since it wasn't unusual for Aka-chan to visit the resort three or four times every summer, she had a very good idea of where the quiet places were and one of those places was where she was leading Akio.

When Aka-chan and Akio arrived at their destination Akio didn't recognize the area even though he had been to the resort on a number of occasions, both with his parents and with Aka-chan. What he did recognize was that they were alone. It was just Aka-chan and him.

"Where are we?" Akio asked with a slightly nervous sound in his voice.

"It's one of the overflow picnic areas," Aka-chan said as she led Akio toward a bench near the far side of the picnic area. "This usually only gets used on the weekends and holidays. Otherwise there is usually no one here. During the day, it's a nice place to come if you want to have a quiet conversation with someone. At night, it's the perfect place for couples to make out."

At the words 'make out' Akio suddenly tensed.

"Not that that's what I want to do," Aka-chan quickly added. "I really just wanted to talk without having a whole bunch of other people around."

Aka-chan sat down on the bench and Akio sat down next to her.

"What did you want to talk about?" Akio asked shyly after a long moment of silence passed.

"Well, actually, what I wanted to talk about was…" Aka-chan answered, beginning to blush as she tried to figure out exactly how she was going to say exactly what she wanted to say. "… ahhh, well, what I wanted to say was…"

Aka-chan could feel the warmth growing on her face, but when she looked at Akio she saw that he was blushing also.

"We've been… well sort of… been going out for more than a year now," Aka-chan said slowly. "And I was wondering if… well… if you would consider being my ahhh… steady boyfriend."

The silence that followed could only be described as painful.

"I… I… I… would be honored to be your boyfriend," Akio finally replied. "Are you sure you really want someone who looks so much like a girl as your boyfriend?"

"You don't look like a girl. You look like a guy with a very beautiful face. And… yes I'm sure. I can't think of anyone else I would want as my boyfriend."

Akio smiled. "I guess that's good. I can't think of anyone else I would like as my girlfriend." After a moment Akio continued, "It's funny. When you and Akane went to the restroom I was talking to Ranma about how to tell you that I'd really like you to be my steady girlfriend. Ranma suggested that I take you to some quiet place and talk to you about it. He said I might be surprised by your reply."

"We really didn't go to the restroom… at first. I was so afraid that I had messed things up between you and me by wearing this swimsuit and by being so pushy. Akane said that she didn't think I needed to worry… that I just had to give you some time. Akio, what do you think about the swimsuit?"

"I think it looks pretty on you," Akio answered, a slight bit of blush still showing in his cheeks. "But you don't have to dress like that for me."

"I know."

Both sat silent for a moment until Aka-chan asked, "Akio, will you give me a proper kiss?"

"A proper kiss?"

"On the lips, with our arms around each other."

"I… I… guess so."

Aka-chan smiled and extended her arms and moved in close to embrace Akio. Akio did the same although somewhat tentatively and when Aka-chan wrapped her arms around Akio she could sense that Akio was having trouble finding an appropriate place to put his hands.

"You can put your hands anywhere you like," Aka-chan whispered. "I'm sure it will feel wonderful."

After about a second Akio's hands came to rest just below the back strap of Aha-chan's swimsuit. Akio's hands felt so warm on her back.

"That feels so nice," Aka-chan purred. "Now let's kiss."

And they did.

Ranma couldn't remember if he had ever ridden on a Ferris wheel before, but with Akane at his side in the gondola, that didn't really matter.

Although this Ferris wheel was not particularly large, it moved slowly enough to allow Akane and Ranma some time to talk… and hug and kiss of course.

"You should have seen that lady's face when I said that the swimsuit looks better on you than on me."

"I can only imagine what she thought when she heard you say that. The bottoms wouldn't be particularly useful to you as a boy."

"Probably not… considering they weren't very useful in my girl form either."

"Do you really think that the top looks good on me? … It doesn't show too much?"

"I think it fits you fine. And I really do think that it looks better on you than it does on me."

"That's because my breasts aren't as big as yours," Akane comments with what sounded to Ranma as a touch of sadness. "I keep telling you that."

"Akane, does that bother you?" Ranma asked. "I mean, does it bother you that when I'm in my girl form my breasts are bigger than yours?"

Akane force a smile to her face and sighed, "Not really any more."

"But it did?" Ranma pressed.

"Yeah it did," Akane answered. "Especially when we first met. I thought it was so unfair that not only had my father arranged a marriage for me to a guy who turned into a girl, but when he was a girl he had a better shape than I had."

"I didn't help the cause one bit with some of the comments I made."

"No you didn't. Some of the things you said were really rude."

"Yeah they were, weren't they? You know, I never really thought that you weren't pretty. It was that I really didn't like the way my father had arranged the whole thing. I didn't even find out why we were in Nerima until we arrived there. I was being mean to you when you really didn't deserve it. I'm sorry."

"I didn't help the cause either. I probably found out about the arrangement about the same time you did and if you haven't noticed, I can really be stubborn at times."

"Really," Ranma said with a broad smile. "I hadn't noticed… probably because I can be just as stubborn."

Both Akane and Ranma sat quietly until Ranma asked, "So it doesn't bother you any more?"

"No," Akane answered. "In fact it feels really nice when I cuddle up to you when you're a girl."

Akane sat quietly for a moment and then asked. "Would you like it if my breasts were bigger?"

"No I don't think so," Ranma replied as he traced along the edge of Akane's swimsuit top with his fingertip. "I think your breasts are perfect just the way they are."

"Hmmm… You do, do you?" said as she cuddled up next to Ranma. "If you keep doing that we might start doing something that we won't have time to finish before the ride is finished."

"You think so?" Ranma replied as Ranma's fingertip moved within the bounds of the cloth of the swimsuit. "Then we'll just have to ride again."

The view from the gondola of the Ferris wheel (when Akane and Ranma took the time to take in the view) showed a panorama of the amusement park and the whole resort area and revealed to them a part of the park they had not realized existed.

Beyond the main part of the amusement park was a pier that extended some distance outward into the lake. The pier was quite wide and at least from what they could tell from the Ferris wheel, seemed to be lined along either side with various booths and attractions.

"Are you sure that you want to get that close to the water?" Akane asked as they walked down the midway of the amusement park. Akane had a large cotton candy on a paper cone in one hand and in the other held a string that was attached to large red balloon.

"I think I'll be safe as long as I don't get to close to the edge," Ranma replied after finishing a bite of his cotton candy.

"Or a trap door in the pier doesn't open up underneath you."

"Oh you are the optimist."

"Just previous experience. It seem that no matter how hard you try to keep your curse a secret, things happen."

"Like that lady who is always washing the sidewalk whenever I walk by."

"Like the lady who washes the sidewalk when you walk by… Although by now you should know that she's there."

"You would think that I would."

"Ranma, I really don't understand why it's so important to you to keep the curse a secret right now."

"I don't know. It's been nice not having people look strangely at me… and not having to explain about Jusenkyou… and not having people ask if we have sex together when I'm a girl."

"That has been nice. I can imagine some of the questions we'll get when we get home."

"Especially from Miyuki."

"I know what Miyuki is going to ask. Care to imagine some of the questions my father is going to ask?"

Ranma stopped walking and shuddered. "I'm not sure I want to go home to face that?"

Akane, who had taken another step, turned to face Ranma and said, "It won't be that bad."

"Maybe not for you, but I'm the one who's soiling his lovely baby girl."

"Stop that!" Akane said with a broad smile. "Let's go and check out what's on the pier… and I'll make sure you stay away from the edge of the pier."

Ranma thought quietly for a moment to himself and then removed his wedding ring and placed it in his pant's pocket.

"Why did you do that?" Akane asked with a perplexed look on her face.

"Just in case that trap door does open up underneath me," Ranma said as he placed his free arm around Akane and they began to walk again. "I wouldn't want to lose this."

The pier turned out to be a shopping district in miniature, featuring souvenir shops, small restaurants and Sushi bars. There were several arcades and even a place for Karaoke (which both Akane and Ranma thought best to avoid).

Many of the people from the inn had found their way to the pier after spending most of their day on the beach. That included the high schools students who were hanging out at one of the arcades (another place for Akane and Ranma to avoid).

The outermost portion of the pier was open and provided benches for people to sit to take in the view of the mountains that (at least on three sides) surrounded the lake. There were several old men and some young boys fishing from the edge of the pier.

Aka-chan and Akio had also found their way to one of the benches facing out toward the middle of the lake. They were sitting with Aka-chan resting her head on Akio's shoulder. Akane and Ranma thought it best not to disturb them… at least at the moment.

Akane and Ranma had not really done much in the way of shopping for gifts for family and friends at home and this provided them with an ideal opportunity. One of the very first purchases though was a camera. Akane had brought her camera with her to the inn but for some reason it never occurred to Akane to bring it with her today. Almost every one of the souvenir shops sold 'inexpensive' one-use cameras, so Akane and Ranma purchased several of them (probably at a premium price, what that was to be expected and the penalty for Akane forgetting to bring her camera).

"Ranma, before we leave today, I'd like to have Aka-chan or Akio take a picture of us on the pier with the mountains in the background."

"That sounds like a good idea. Now what kind of souvenirs would you like to get for people?"

"I really don't know," Akane answered. "Although I did see some candy Kasumi gets sometimes for special occasions… but other than that I really don't know."

"Well let's shop for a while and see what we can find."

It didn't take more than an hour of shopping for Akane to find two shopping bags full of souvenirs (which Ranma was carrying since Akane's hands were occupied with the large red balloon). They made no real decision about who would get what gift (other than the box of candy for Kasumi). They also bought a stack of postcards to send home showing the resort, the amusement park and the surrounding landscape.

As they were walking out of a tee shirt shop, they met Aka-chan and Akio who were walking hand in hand.

"We were just coming to look for you," Aka-chan said. "I was hoping to convince you to come down to the beach with us. The water is really nice and it doesn't get deep very quickly."

"I'm not sure that would work out," Ranma quickly said. "But Akane and I were wondering if we could ask a favor of you. We'd like to have a picture of us taken at the end of the pier with the mountains in the background."

"I'd be glad to take a picture," Aka-chan replied, "but I have a much better spot to do that. It not only shows the Mountains in the background, but it shows the amusement park and the rest of the resort also. It's a much better picture."

Aka-chan led Akio, Akane and Ranma down the pier back toward the shore, but about halfway she cut down the gap between two of shops. Behind the shops was an open area (much larger than Ranma imagined) between the back of the shops and the edge of the pier.

In this particular spot the pier had a small area that extended out from the edge. There was a stairway that led down to the water.

"Before this area became primarily a resort," Aka-chan explained, " there was a small fishing industry on the lake. They docked their boats down below, under the main pier. They don't fish on the lake commercially any more, so this is all that's left. There is only a small portion of the original boat dock below, but this is an ideal place for pictures and not too many people know about it."

Aka-chan was right. There was no one else there except for a mother and father and two young boys, one young girl and a baby who had found this spot to get away from the crowd on the pier. The mother sat on a bench along side the rail of the pier and it was obvious (at least to Akane) that she was nursing her baby under a blanket. The two boys and the girl were playing a game of tag while their father sat on a bench trying to catch his breath.

"Maybe we should come back later," Ranma said when he realized what the mother was doing.

The mother, hearing what Ranma had said, lifted her head and said, "It's all right. If it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me… and I think Akane is almost done."

Akane and Aka-chan looked at each other and began to laugh.

Aka-chan was right about something else also… the view was spectacular. Although almost the same picture was available from the end of the pier, with the change in angle the mountains in the background now perfectly framed the amusement park and the main resort building.

"If you stand out by the steps," Aka-chan explained as she walked toward the back wall of one of the shops, "and I stand here, you can see the whole amusement park in the background."

Akane and Ranma walked out to the extension of the pier where the stairs descended to water level. Both looked to make sure there was little or no chance of the water from the lake coming in contact with Ranma. Ranma even looked down at the pier deck, making sure that there wasn't a conveniently placed trap door.

"Are you going to hold on to the balloon for the picture?" Ranma asked.

"Yep!" Akane responded. "I have one hand to hold onto the balloon and one hand to hold on to my darling husband."

Akane put her free arm around Ranma and rested her head against Ranma's shoulder. And even though nothing was said, the children put their game on hold while Aka-chan snapped the picture.

"Now, I have a favor to ask of you," Aka-chan said walking back to Akane and Ranma and handing Akane the camera. "Will you take a picture of Akio and me?"

"I'd be glad to," Akane replied.

With the picture taking complete (Aka-chan had asked the father if he could take a picture of Akane, Ranma, Aka-chan and Akio), Akane and Aka-chan sat down with the mother (who had finished feeding baby Akane) to explain what had been so funny while Ranma and Akio played with the other children.

The family was staying at one of the onsen on the lake as part of company sponsored vacation. It had been quite some time since the family had had any real vacation and they had almost not come along this one since little Akane had just turned six month old, but her husband's supervisor was fairly insistent that they go.

Akane explained that she and Ranma had just been married and were on their honeymoon.

"Your husband seems to be very good with children," the mother commented. "Kiyoshi and Ojima can be real terrors when they want to be, and their sister Takame isn't much better."

"Ranma is very good with children," Akane said, "because sometimes he isn't much more than a child himself."

"I heard that," Ranma said as he and Akio walked over to where Akane and Aka-chan were with the mother and little Akane. "Just because it's true doesn't mean you have to tell everyone."

"She is beautiful," Ranma said looking at baby Akane.

While he was looking at the baby, something clicked in Ranma's mind. "Would you mind if I took a picture of my wife and Aka-chan and your daughter? I think I'd really like to have a picture of the three Akanes."

"I don't mind," the mother replied, "as long as you send me a copy of the picture."

"Akane… Aka-chan… why don't you sit down on the bench," Ranma directed. "Akio could you hang on to Akane's balloon?"

"No problem," Akio answered

Ranma's request caught both of the Akanes off guard and by surprise.

"Are… are you sure it's all right?" Akane asked baby Akane's mother.

"It fine," the mother replied with a broad smile.

The mother stood up from the bench and, once Akio had taken the balloon from Akane's hand, both Akane and Aka-chan sat down on the bench.

"Now turn toward each other a little bit," Ranma directed.

After doing so, the mother placed baby Akane in Akane's arms. When Akane tried to protest, the mother said, "You're the newlywed. I think this is something you need to get used to doing."

Baby Akane's mother showed Akane how to hold the baby and how to support her head. After adjusting the baby's outfit slightly, mom stepped back and said, "You look like a natural. Now smile and don't look like you're scared to death."

Akane was half expecting the child to start screaming at the top of her lungs since she was no longer in her mother's arms, but that wasn't what happened. The baby made a happy cooing sound and gently wriggled in Akane's arms… and baby Akane had a happy baby smile on her face. A warm feeling began to spread throughout Akane and she could feel her heart pound ever so slightly. Akane realized that she felt very comfortable with a baby in her arms. She knew that someday it would be Ranma and hers baby that she held and that made Akane feel wonderful.

Akane only half heard Ranma say, "All right, everyone smile."

After all of the pictures had been taken (Aka-chan was given her chance to hold baby Akane), Ranma exchanged address information with baby Akane's mother and father. Akane had retrieved her balloon from Akio and was walking by the railing, looking out over the lake, thinking about how it felt with the baby in her arms. Aka-chan was talking with Akio and said something that made him blush brightly and the children had returned to their game of tag.

Akane looked at the railing. The top rail was a little wider than a balance beam. It reminded her about the Gymnastics' Club. She wondered how Miyuki and Hikari and Yuka and Sayuri and the rest of the members of the Gymnastics' Club were doing… if they had worked things out with the coach… if there even was a Gymnastics' Club for Akane to return to.

Takame had perched herself on the rail. As young as she was, she had excellent balance and Akane thought to herself that Takame might be a very good gymnast… with a little practice.

Akane wasn't sure what brought her back to reality from her reverie, but she suddenly realized the danger Takame was in. The top of the rail was at least five meters, if not more, above the water level below. Akane was just about to say something to the child when the voice of the father called out, "Takame, get down from there before you hurt yourself!"

The yell broke Takame's intent concentration and she almost immediately began to lose her balance. She began to windmill her arms in an attempt to stay on the rail.

Akane's reaction was immediate. The distance between her and the off balance girl wasn't that far and Akane ran to catch Takame before she fell to the water below, but Takame was already beginning to fall in that direction and the Akane knew she could not quite cover the distance in time. Akane made a lunging jump and wrapped her arms around the falling girl.

A red balloon floated skyward as Akane and Takame tumbled toward the water below.

Ranma didn't think. He watched the events unfold before his eyes in a terrible slow motion that always seemed to occur when Akane was in danger. He knew the consequences of what was happening and the danger Akane was in and he knew exactly what his course of action would have to be. Ranma didn't think… he just did what he knew he had to do.

As Ranma ran toward the railing he heard the two distinctive splashes of Akane and Takame hitting the water. He knew he didn't have much time. Takame's swimming skills were an unknown, but every second took Akane deeper into the water.

Two steps before the railing, Ranma jumped up and lighted on the top rail. A second push off the railing sent him out from the pier. In the short time he had before he hit the water he saw Takame's head break the surface of the water. She began thrashing almost immediately in an attempt to keep her head above water. He also saw the spreading concentric rings that marked where Akane had entered the water.

Ranma took a deep breath before he hit the water feet first and as soon as he was fully submerged he flipped and with all of the strength he could gather took a single stroke to force him toward the bottom.

The real danger was not Akane's inability to swim or the fact that she tended to sink like a very large rock. It was that, in her panic, she tended to forget to hold her breath when she was submerged. That was why Ranma had to find her quickly. She was a drowning victim just waiting to happen.

Working in Ranma's favor was that the water was not particularly cloudy and that the water where Akane entered was less than ten meters deep. Considering Akane's buoyancy, she should have sunk straight to the bottom below where she had entered.

And that was the case. It didn't take any more than a few seconds (although Ranma was sure it was more like an hour) to find Akane on the bottom. Another bit of luck had also played in their favor. Akane had remembered that breathing under water was bad and was holding her breath (Ranma could see Akane's bulging cheeks) and was making a vane attempt to swim toward the surface.

Akane was a constant amazement to Ranma. As graceful as she was on the balance beam was her lack of coordination in her attempts to swim, but she was trying.

Three more strong strokes brought Ranma close enough to Akane for him to put his arm around her and begin swimming to the surface. Ranma had to hurry though. Akane would not be able to hold her breath much longer. Putting whatever strength Ranma had left in him into one enormous stroke, Ranma and Akane broke the surface of the water just as Akane began to gasp for air.

Holding Akane's head above water, Ranma surveyed the scene. Akio had entered the water and was swimming with Takame toward what remained of the boat dock at the bottom of the stairs. Aka-chan, the mother (with little Akane in her arms) and father were running down the stairs and arrived at the bottom just as Akio reached the dock with Takame. The father helped hoist his daughter on to the dock and then Akio swam back to help Ranma with Akane.

Akane was still gasping for air as Ranma swam with her toward the dock. Ranma was happy for Akio's help. Akane's tendency to sink made the task of bringing her to safety a tiring task, but with Akio's aid they made it to the dock without letting Akane's head slip below the water even once.

When Ranma and Akio reached the dock with Akane, Ranma grabbed onto the edge of the dock and continued to support Akane while Akio climbed up on the dock and assisted Aka-chan with lifting Akane up on to the dock.

Once Akane was out of the water, Ranma lifted himself out of the water and sat down next to Akane.

"Are you all right?" Ranma asked in a higher pitched voice.

Akane had finally caught her breath. "I'm fine Ranma. I'm sorry."

"That's OK," Ranma said as he gave Akane a hug. "I managed to teach you how to cook. Maybe my next project should be to teach you to swim. Do you feel well enough to stand?"

"I'm fine," Akane replied, still with a sad smile on her face..

Ranma stood and extended his hand to Akane who lifted herself to her feet with Ranma's aid.

"Thank you for your help Akio," Ranma said once he was sure that Akane was stable on her feet.

There was no reply… only the open-mouthed stares of the mother, father, Aka-chan and Akio… and silence. It took a moment for it to register why they were staring.

Aka-chan broke the silence with the single word question, "Ranma?"

To say the least the situation was uncomfortable. Ranma sat on the bench wishing that his cloths, which were clinging to his now female figure, would dry more quickly. Akane and Akio were also sitting on the bench (to either side of Ranma), with Aka-chan and the mother, father and all of the children gathered around.

The situation wasn't really any different than any time before when Ranma's curse was revealed at an inconvenient time, but today it seemed all that much worse to Ranma. Ranma still wasn't sure why.

The explanation of the curse followed its normal course, beginning with an explanation of Ranma's time on the road with his father and finishing with the a description of the ill-fated visit to Jusenkyou and how the curse worked. Ranma couldn't remember how many times he had explained it to people.

And there were always questions. They usually followed a predictable pattern… except for today. Today there were questions no one had asked before.

After listening to the story the first question that anyone asked (after a suitable period of stunned silence) was from the mother, "So are you a man or are you a woman?"

That was the first time (at least as far as Ranma could remember) that anyone had asked that. It took Ranma a moment to answer. "I was born a boy… and I still think of myself as being male… but I guess I'm both… I guess."

Ojima, the younger of the two boys, asked, "Does it hurt when you change from a boy to a girl, or from a girl to a boy?"

Ranma could think of a number of occasions that there had been pain associated with the change but Ranma decided that being bound in an iron corset or being beaten by a locker room full of high school girls really didn't count. "I really don't feel anything when the change happens."

"There have even been a few times when Ranma didn't even notice the change had happened," Akane added.

"Do you think of Ranma as a man or a woman?" the mother asked Akane.

Not even a single heartbeat passed before Akane answered, "Ranma is my husband and I love him. He will be the father of our children. I don't think of Ranma as anything other than a man… who has a softer side because he understands what it means to be a woman."

Akane spoke with conviction. Hearing Akane declare how she felt made Ranma's heart throb. He realized that he had never been so happy in his entire life.

It wasn't very long before the family excused themselves after thanking Aka-chan, Akio, Akane and Ranma for rescuing Takame.

"Takame looks like she might be very good at gymnastics," Akane told Takame's parents, "especially the balance beam. She should just find safer places to practice."

"I'll keep that in mind," the mother replied.

Just before the family walked away, Kiyoshi, the older of the two boys (who Ranma estimated to be about twelve), walked up to Ranma and said, "I think I like you better as a girl than as a guy. If I were a little older and you weren't already married… and you weren't really a guy… I might ask you to go out on a date with me."

Kiyoshi had spoken loud enough that he could easily be heard and everyone was at least mildly shocked by what he had said.

"Kiyoshi!" his mother bellowed, "That is completely unacceptable behavior. You will apologize this very minute!"

"Please," Ranma said, "that isn't necessary. He's not the first guy to try to get a date with me. And he's quite a bit cuter than most of the others that have tried. If he were a little older and I wasn't already married… and if I wasn't really a guy I might take him up on his offer."

Ranma smiled sweetly at Kiyoshi who suddenly began to blush brightly. He quickly walked away ahead of his parents.

"I hope you haven't scarred him for life," Akane said. "And didn't he have a conversation about something like this once before?"

Ranma rubbed his head and answered, "I do seem to remember us talking about something like this before."

Aka-chan and Akio just stood and stared.

"Ahhh, I was wondering," Akio asked uncomfortably, "would you like me to try to find you some hot water?"

"That would probably be a good idea," Ranma replied.

"I'm not sure where you'll find any hot water on the pier," Aka-chan said. "The changing rooms by he main building may be the only place."

"Let me give it a try," Akio said as he began to walk away.

For a moment the look on Aka-chan's face said, 'Please take me with you', but then an uncomfortable smile appeared on her face and she said, "Try the ramen restaurant. They may be able to heat some water for us."

Aka-chan had been right. Akio returned empty handed. The ramen restaurant might have been able to heat some water but were unwilling to since they were very busy (it was getting to be dinner time after all).

But the time while Akio was gone gave Aka-chan, Akane and Ranma time to talk.

"At least I understand now why you asked about the rinse water for the hot spring back at the inn," Aka-chan said after Akio had disappeared into the access passage way.

"Normally I wouldn't worry about it," Ranma replied, "but I didn't think it would be a good idea for me to change while there were children around."

"It probably wouldn't," Aka-chan agreed. "So you've known about the curse all along Akane?"

"When Ranma and I were first introduce he was in his girl form," Akane answered. "I didn't actually find out that Ranma was a boy until I walked in on him in the bath."

"I bet that was a surprise," Aka-chan said, forcing a smile to her face.

"A little bit of one," Akane said. "That was the first time I hit Ranma over the head with the dining room table."

"The first time?" Aka-chan queried.

"Since we were first introduced," Ranma said, "I've given Akane plenty of reasons for her to hit me over the head with whatever furniture was available. When we first met I really wasn't interested in marrying Akane. That's why I didn't tell her I was a boy at first."

"Akane was telling me that neither you or she were happy with the arrangement," Aka-chan commented. "So this curse… is there some way you can break it?"

"We haven't found a way yet," Ranma answered, "but not for lack of trying. We've been trying to break the curse for quite some time."

"We've?" Aka-chan said. "You mean there are others like you?"

"Not exactly like Ranma," Akane responded. "Let's see… Ryoga turns into a black pig… Shampoo turns into a kitten… Mousse turns into a duck…"

"Don't forget my father," Ranma interjected. "He turns into a panda. And Mizuki is a black pig that turns into a girl."

"And Pantyhose Taro changes from a handsome guy into a really ugly monster," Akane added.

"And that's when you call him 'Pantyhose'," Ranma quipped. "You should see what happens to him when he gets splashed by cold water."

"I get the point," Aka-chan said, now honestly smiling… almost laughing. "So the fact that your husband is sometimes a girl doesn't bother you?"

"No it doesn't," Akane said. "In fact I kind of like it. Like I said before, it gives Ranma a softer side… a different point of view when it comes to my feelings… and the feelings of other girls."

Aka-chan stood silently for a moment. By the look on her face both Akane and Ranma knew what Aka-chan wanted to ask next. The question had not come up before but Akane assumed that was because of the children being there.

"Do you… I mean do the two of you… Do you and Ranma ever…" Aka-chan stammered, trying to force the question out, blushing all the more with every attempt.

"Do Ranma and I ever have sex together when he's a girl?" Akane finally said, trying to spare Aka-chan from actually having to ask the question herself. "Yes we do, but not because he's a girl, but because he's my husband. Maybe that's just an added benefit of the package. Am I interested in having sex with other girls? No, the only person I am interested in making love with is Ranma."

After another moment of thought Aka-chan grinned and asked, "So this morning, when I came to your room to wake you up and I saw the swimsuits on the floor…"

"We had a little too much to drink last night and we got silly," Ranma answered before Aka-chan had the chance to finish her question. "Akane and I were trying them on."

"So you tried on the pink one Ranma?" Aka-chan asked.

"No," Akane said. "I tried on the pink one. Ranma tried on this one."

"That must have been a sight to see," Aka-chan said, almost bursting out in laughter. "This swimsuit is way too small for your breasts. Even the pink one is probably too small but at least it would cover everything you don't want showing."

Akane and Ranma looked at each other and began to laugh… and Aka-chan joined them.