Oyu No Ranma

by Zorknot

Ranma gets himself stuck as a girl early on. Now she's got completely new problems. In ch. 21 Ranma teaches Akane a lesson and then takes a nap, Nabiki tries to escape Azusa's frilly prison, and the ladle lady finally accomplishes what she was practicing for all this time.

11. If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother

Oyu no Ranma

A Ranma ½ fanfiction by Zorknot

Chapter 11: If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother

Where we learn how Akane's mother died, and one of Ranma's curses is cured…somewhat.

Disclaimer: This fanfiction uses material from the Ranma ½ anime and manga written originally by Takahashi Rumiko. If you enjoy this chapter, consider purchasing some Ranma merchandize from Viz media or another reputable source. And if you leave a review, that will be extra-spectacular. Like if firework explosions became sentient and joined the circus.

~~~~~Ch.11~~~~~

~~~~~Genma~~~~~

They comprised a motley crew: some in their thirties, some still children. A handful of girls, but mostly men and boys. Some of them wore vastly inappropriate uniforms. One boy was dressed as a baseball umpire. Genma smiled. No doubt that one went to school with Ranma.

"I don't know, Saotome…" Soun stood beside Genma arms crossed standing directly beneath the sign that read basics. "…What do you think?"

"I think we need to cull the herd. We're not prepared for this many students yet. We need five or six dedicated learners."

Soun nodded pensively.

"Oh, come on!" Nabiki made an exasperated movement and stepped forward from beside Genma. "Listen up, everybody! I know a lot of you are excited after our demonstration earlier today, but you should know that the tuition for the Tendo and Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts is fifty thousand yen a month. Since this is your first class, those of you who do not leave now will be obligated to pay us the first fifty thousand at the end of the session."

There were quite a few loud protests at this along the lines of "That's ridiculous!", "No one charges that much!", "Screw that! I'm leaving!", and "Hey! Will you go out with me?". That last was, of course, directed at Nabiki. Genma had to say, the girl did make an impression. Gone was the ratty old uniform that she had been using up till this morning. Now she wore a thick, silk, bright green uniform with a dark velvet fringe that fit her perfectly. The uniform, coupled with the eye patch she still wore, might have made her seem like a cosplayer if it weren't for her attitude. No one made any witty remarks about her looking like a ninja pirate, perhaps because, at an unconscious level, they suspected that she might actually be one. It was just a pity her skill didn't match up to her bravada.

Nabiki gave a little salute to her solicitor and called out "In your dreams, tourist!" The girl somehow made the words sound like heartfelt gratitude. Genma wondered how she could have determined that the boy was a tourist. Then he realized that she meant that the boy wasn't serious about martial arts. Which implied that she was. But wasn't she just going along with all this so that Genma would teach her a secret technique? Of course if she really wanted him to teach the umisenken to her, acting like she was serious about the Art would be a good first step. Maybe it was all a show? She was definitely hiding something. She was supposed to ask Grandmother Shiratori about Kasumi, but she had reported that she didn't get any "useable" information. That had to be some kind of prevarication. Greed was definitely her sin. She had a definite desire to hoard. What was she stockpiling now?

Genma gave up. Trying to work out the girl's machinations was like trying to unravel a knot of duct tape with a pair of chopsticks. For now, she was an ally and, for now, that was all that mattered. He just wished the two heirs to the school hadn't picked such unfortunate times to work. He would have to find a way to get them to quit that job at the restaurant. They could find another one that didn't impinge so much on their time. And maybe one that wasn't so…girly.

Genma gave a silent prayer to the spirits. Tofu mentioned he might have an idea of how to get around the curse from the vial Ranma drank. He just needed to do a few more experiments on Genma to figure out how Jusenkyo worked. Hopefully it wouldn't be too busy tomorrow and they could figure something out .

He watched as nearly all of the students left the dojo in cacophonous rush. Seven remained standing in the dojo. A good number to start with, considering there were liable to be a few dropouts.

"Wait." Nabiki held up a hand. She ran out of the dojo and was gone for a good minute before she came back in with a woman in a pink jogging suit. The woman looked like she was in her mid thirties. She had a strange lopsided hairstyle that covered up one eye. She looked completely out of place: nervous and almost about ready to break into tears.

"Why are you bringing her back in here?" one of the six, a teenaged girl in a white track suit with a white lily in her hair asked, not realizing the irony.

"She wants to take the class, and she's willing to pay. Isn't that right?"

The woman nodded. "Y-yes. "

Genma frowned. Why did Nabiki bring the woman back? She wasn't likely to learn anything but the most basic of moves. She was too old to become a master or anything. Besides she could barely walk, and what were those marks on her neck?

Oh.

Genma set his teeth. He looked at the other seven students, the lily girl, a sickly looking boy with rings under his eyes, a boy with thick eyebrows and a shaved head, an older man with an inordinate amount of muscles, two kids who looked like they wanted to be street toughs when they grew up... Nabiki was right to bring the woman back in. She probably belonged there more than any of the other students. And she wouldn't have to pay anything if Genma had anything to do with it. It was a delicate situation. He'd have to make sure other students behaved, and eventually the woman would probably have to contact some kind of professional. But she had to gain the confidence to do that first, and that was something martial arts could do for her. But how had Nabiki seen the woman's situation in such a short time? Why did she care so much? She wasn't beaten was she?

Genma scrutinized his friend Soun's face in profile, trying to detect signs of a child abuser. How well did he really know him? It had been a decade since…

He nodded realizing. It wasn't Soun. Of course it wasn't. Maybe everything else was an act, but Nabiki did want to help that woman.

She wanted to help her, because she hadn't been able to help her mother.

~~~~~furo~~~~~

The following night, after her challenge for the day, and after a short spar with Akane, Ranma soaks in the furo. She feels weary, not from working too hard or from stress this time, but from a vague frustration that seems to eat at her edges. It's something about how easy her challenge was today. So disappointing. And her spar with Akane somehow just made it worse. It's something about work. About always doing the right thing. Maybe it has something to do with being a girl. She wonders idly how the first class went last night and resolves to ask her father or Nabiki as soon as she gets out.

Ranma sinks under the surface of the steaming water for a moment to wet her face and hair. Her radiant face and fiery hair. She smiles. She's beginning to look forward to Kuno everyday at school. She's finding it harder to convince herself she shouldn't date him for real. Make him her boyfriend. But she might be a man again in five and a half months. And then the mixed signals she gets from Akane confuse her too.

And there's the fact that what Tasuke said to her might have been completely bogus. Maybe Ranma's not just a girl because she's physically a girl. Maybe she's a girl because she wants to be.

Ranma hears the door slide open. She looks up to see Kasumi standing naked except for a towel she's holding in front of her. Ranma feels an involuntary twinge of nausea from seeing the older Tendo sister. She's really had enough of her lately.

"Please excuse me if I'm intruding," Kasumi says sweetly, nervously.

Ranma grunts in acquiescence. She clasps her hands together behind her head and looks up at the ceiling. She knows she hung the "do not disturb" sign on the door. She wonders if anyone in the Tendo family actually bothers to read the sign or if it's just there for a false sense of security.

Kasumi washes herself methodically, but efficiently. Soon she's lowering herself into the furo, and Ranma is analyzing her assets. Kasumi is more mature in almost every sense of the word, and it makes Ranma vaguely irritated. Where she is cute, Kasumi is beautiful, and part of her wants to punch the older girl's face in. And no girl has any right being that tall.

"Did you read the scroll?" Kasumi isn't looking at Ranma. She's looking at some spot on the wall.

"I skimmed it a bit." The Wheel of Eight Desires. The scroll is kind of neat, even if it doesn't seem to have much to do with martial arts or explain anything about why Kasumi is a bitch sometimes or why she has knives that come out of her skin when she's angry. It ties each of the four basic elements with two desires and puts them in an arrangement of concentric circles: the elements in the center, then the two desires spreading out from each element, and finally, at the edge, a further description of the desire. But it doesn't seem as important as Kasumi is saying it is. It barely even seems to relate to her. The two desires in the section marked "air" are Lust and Pride. And the description for Pride reads "desire to be free of resistance."

But that's not what Ranma wants. She wants to be acknowledged as the best. She wants to be able to be Akane's and Nabiki's friend without running into a hundred conflicts. She wants to see her mother without having to worry about a seppuku pledge. None of that has anything to do with wanting to be free of resistance… Does it? Ranma shakes her head. She figures the scroll is just another quack method of trying to tell a fortune. Like looking at people's blood type or the year they were born and trying to make guesses as to how they might act. A fun idea, but ultimately a lame waste of time.

Kasumi lets out air through her nostrils, which, despite her mild smile, Ranma is beginning to learn means she is rather annoyed."I'm better now, Ranma. I am sorry for my outburst yesterday morning, but it was necessary, and I learned something from it."

Ranma raises an eyebrow. She manages to repress an urge to make a remark to the effect that maybe the thing that Kasumi learned was that she was an evil bitch… and just hears the older girl out.

"I've been repressing my anger for a long time. It's a strategy that has worked, for the most part, but maybe…" Kasumi sighs. "I don't know..."

Ranma rolls her eyes impatiently. "What is it?"

"I've been doing all these things for my family, Ranma. You understand? For them. And now they won't talk to me. "

"And you think I will?"

Kasumi looks directly at Ranma briefly. A look not of anger, but of sorrow. "I don't love you. You're a stranger to me. That makes it easier."

Ranma shrugs. She sinks down further into the water. Her foot accidently touches Kasumi's calf, and she sits up reflexively. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Kasumi doesn't seem to be talking about the accidental brush of skin. "You're just the catalyst for something that would have eventually happened anyway."

"Whatever." Ranma looks at the gently rippling surface of the water. "You gonna spill your guts now or what? I don't want to get all wrinkly here."

Kasumi crosses her arms. She's looking down. "Nabiki considers you part of the family. From the way she acts, Akane feels the same way. I had to pay Nabiki to talk to me. She never charged me for anything before."

"That's nice to hear, I guess but…"

Kasumi holds up a hand. "Ranma-chan, if you want to be a part of this family, you need to know how our mother died."

"You said she got killed?"

"Yes. She was murdered." Kasumi's nails are biting into the flesh of her arm. Blades are wavering in and out of the skin of her forearms, shins, and face. "She was stabbed by the sword of a man who said he was her fiance."

~~~~~?~~~~~

Kirika wiped her hands dry on her apron as she walked out of the kitchen to see who the visitor was. Her eyes widened when she saw him. He was about a head taller than her. Black, shining hair in a long braid, dark, piercing eyes. He wore a white jacket in a Chinese style, only it had a much larger collar than was normal. The tips of the collar rose almost to his nostrils. He was clean-shaven, and his jacket was open to reveal a well-muscled chest.

Okata Kosuke looked really good, especially considering he had supposedly died ten years ago.

"Hello, Kaa-chan," Kosuke said with a smirk. In his right hand he held a solid-looking bo staff. He gripped it lightly, as a seasoned traveler might. Like he had his hand on the shoulder of an old friend.

"Hello, Okaa-san," She said without a trace of humor.

It was an old joke of theirs, developed when they played together as children. Kosuke would do something crazy, like hang upside down on monkey bars and Kirika would tell him to get down. Then Kosuke would say, "Okay KiriKA-chan!" Emphasizing the Ka so it sounded like he was calling her "Kaa-chan" or "mom." It wasn't long before the "Kiri-" wasn't necessary, and it wasn't long before Kirika realized that she could use the first two syllables of Kosuke's family name the same way. And soon they were calling each other "mother" every time they saw each other. Other kids picked it up. Even Kirika's husband, Soun had picked it up, though now it made a different sort of sense. She was a mother now. She had three children.

"I have returned to you. I would have you honor our engagement." His voice was a melodious tenor that quivered through her insides dangerously. The man could charm the socks off a unicorn. He had always had charisma. He had always been quick with retorts. Soun, by contrast, had always been so clumsy, so nervous even at his most calm. But Soun had never lied to her. Could barely keep a secret, he was so honest.

Kirika brushed a few strands of blue-black hair from her forehead. "You would, huh? Did you happen to see the name in front of the house? This is the Tendo residence. I am Tendo Kirika, wife of Soun. I haven't seen you in almost fifteen years, Kosuke. I can't even say I know you anymore."

She wasn't sure if she could ever say that.

Kosuke nodded. "So it is simply a matter of challenging your husband. Where might I find him?" He looked behind her looking for an opponent.

Kirika crossed her arms. "My husband is in the dojo, training my three daughters."

If Kosuke heard the emphasis Kirika placed on the words, he gave no indication."Oh. How convenient. I guess I'll go over there then." Kosuke turned around.

Kirika grabbed his shoulder before he could walk out. "No you won't." Her eyes glanced at the sheathed sword and knife at Kosuke's belt. "I don't love you, Kosuke. I don't know what makes you think you can show up alive after all this time and just expect me to be waiting for you, but whatever it is, you need to cease contact with it, because it's making you insane."

He turned to face her again. "Do you think I was just biding my time these years? I've been all over the world, Kirika. I've learned everything I can, fought with gods, made countless sacrifices, just so I can be with you again!"

Kirika wondered if it was true. The man seemed sincere enough, but he was also the person who had taught her not to trust her impressions of people. She sighed. It didn't matter anyway. "If that's true, I'm sorry, but I thought you were dead. I moved on. You have to accept that."

Kosuke smiled. "No, I don't." In a blur of movement, he was gone.

Kirika felt a chill in her stomach. Just five minutes ago she had been cutting carrots for a salad. And now her ex-fiance was back from the grave and about to challenge her husband, possibly to the death. It was unreal. Like in the moments before a car crash.

She squeezed her eyes closed, shaking herself free of her shock. She swallowed, opened her eyes, and almost dove into the kitchen. She grabbed the knife she had been using to cut carrots and cut a slit into her long skirt so that she could run without as much impediment. Then, still holding the knife, she rushed toward the dojo.

Kosuke was already facing Soun when she entered the dojo. The two men were really of equal height, but Kosuke had always seemed larger a decade and a half ago, and he seemed even more so now. Kasumi was standing, seeming unsure of what to do, while Nabiki was holding Akane, trying to keep her from getting upset. They were all in their kenpo uniforms. Kasumi must have just finished sparring with her father. "Get out, girls!" Kirika yelled, "This is too dangerous!"

Her eyes wide, and not taking a moment to argue, Nabiki grabbed her little sister's hand and ran out of the dojo. Kasumi however, was bringing her fists up in a fighting position. "This man insulted me, Mother. He just challenged father when we were in the middle of a spar. He should pay for that."

Soun, spirits bless him, turned away from Kosuke to tell Kasumi, "You're not old enough to accept challenges on behalf of the school yet, honey. Maybe in three or four years…"

"I'm almost ten!" Kasumi protested.

"Do you accept my challenge or not, Tendo?" Kosuke asked in an irritated, yet slightly mocking tone.

Soun turned back to Kosuke, grim-faced. "I do not recognize your challenge, Okata-san. You couldn't challenge me for my wife any more than you could challenge a mountain to give up a cloud. Under different terms, I'd be happy to fight with you. Even better, we could go have a cup or two of sake and reminisce. You can tell me what you've been up to all this time, since apparently you haven't been dead."

Kirika smiled. "How could you love that Tendo boy?" her friends had asked, "all he ever wants to do is drink sake and read poetry. He can't even fight all that well." They didn't understand that it was precisely those attributes that attracted her to him in the first place. And Soun could fight. She had seen him do it. It just wasn't something he liked to do with any seriousness if he could avoid it.

Kirika gave her husband a questioning look. Should she step in? She was a highly skilled martial artist in her own right. She had no problem taking down most of the challengers, it was just the superpowered ones she left for her husband. But she didn't want to embarrass him. There was a big difference between a fight with some street tough and a formal challenge with a worthy opponent.

Soun responded with a shrug. She could step in if she wanted to.

"Stop this madness right now, Kosuke!" Kirika walked to her husband's side. "The best you could hope for is to be a friend and you are seriously endangering that possibility." Seeing Kosuke with the eyes of a combatant though gave her pause. He had certainly not been slacking off the last fifteen years, and though she was loathe to admit it, she had. Taking care of the house and three kids while managing the finances at her father's company left very little time for proper training.

"Tsk tsk tsk," Kosuke shook his head. "You're still telling me what to do, Kaa-san. Are you afraid of me? Did you forget how fearless you once were? How you refused to let anyone tell you you were second best? I can help you remember. I have lived with the Amazons of China. They have many special shampoos. It will be like we were never apart."

Kirika frowned. Chinese Amazons? Shampoos? None of it made any sense. But if anything that made her even more frightened. "We were never together, Kosuke! Not really. You just used me to get ahead in your stupid gang."

"Our stupid gang, Kirika. We were partners. Co-leaders. We never let anyone screw with us, remember that? Remember how you met this wimp? What was he doing? Stealing underwear? And you beat him to within an inch of his life as I recall."

Soun's face reddened. Eleven years after he and Genma managed to get rid of that terrible creature Happosai and he still got the shakes whenever he was reminded of that time. Kirika put an arm on her husband's muscular shoulder. "You didn't see how strong he was. You were too busy organizing your gang war."

"He poisoned your mind against me," Kosuke grumbled sourly, " If you had been with me, we could have beaten them."

Kirika shook her head. "It wouldn't have mattered, Kosuke. If it wasn't that time it would have been some other time. Eventually reality would have caught up with us. That time it was against a gang using sticks and chains. Maybe if we kept on going it would have been against guns and drugs. If you hadn't gotten beaten the way you did. If your parents hadn't sent you to China…"

"I'd be married to you right now, instead of this underwear stealing creep!"

The muscles in Soun's shoulder shifted under Kirika's hand as he crossed his arms. "Look, that was a long time ago. We're almost twice as old as we were back then. Let's just put it all behind us. What happened in China anyway? We received a note about ten years ago saying you had died. Kirika was very upset. How is it you've turned up now?"

Kosuke stalked closer to Soun. "You have NO IDEA what I have suffered! "

"Get away from my father, you creep, or you'll be sorry!" Kasumi yelled.

"No, honey!" Kirika gasped, but the words were already out of her daughter's mouth. The atmosphere seemed to grow thick with tension. Time seemed to pass more slowly. Kirika whipped her attention back to Kosuke. He was glaring at Kasumi, eyes burning with hate. He lifted his shoulder slightly and Kirika tightened her grip on her husband's shoulder. She knew instinctually, in that instant, that Kosuke was going to attack. Even as she began to push Soun away she saw the glint of metal as as the sword was pulled out of its sheath.

Kosuke was fast. Too fast even for himself. Pulling out the blade and swinging it was accomplished in a single, rapid, fluid stroke. There was no way for him to stop the blade as it arced upward, inexorably toward Kirika's torso and through it. She saw Kosuke's eyes widen in horror as the blade tore through cloth,skin, muscle, and bone with equal efficiency. Her eyes moved slowly to her side so that she saw, rather than felt the blade exit out the other side. With the last strength of her arm, she pushed her husband away so that the blade wouldn't reach him. She began to hit the floor then. She hit roughly; having used her arms to push Soun away, they weren't available to break her descent. Not that it mattered. She was dead. Her body just didn't realize it yet.

Her body was fast on the uptake though. Spots were already starting to form in Kirika's eyes as she watched Kosuke screaming at her. "No!" he cried. "I will not let you escape! You will be mine!" Even as she was watching her ex-fiance scoop her blood into a vial, she was already feeling delirium creep in.

Wouldn't it be funny, she thought, if she came back in ten years to kill Kosuke? That would be…ironic… she would miss Soun and the girls though. She didn't know where she was going but she would miss them.

"Love you," she gurgled through the blood in her throat, "Love you all."

No.

Wait!

She couldn't die!

She had to stay with them. Kosuke would kill them! She had to…she had to…

She realized she had been grabbing at the air even as all the strength went out of her. She slumped to the ground. She felt herself rising. She saw Kosuke chanting some sort of incantation over a vial while Soun and Kasumi held her body. She saw Nabiki and Akane crying outside the dojo. She saw children playing in a playground. They were calling each other names… She felt herself pulled…

~~~~~furo~~~~~~

Kirika blinks. Her surroundings are familiar. It looks like her furo, but there's a young woman in the water with her. Kirika blinks again. "What…"

No. The voice is all wrong.

The young woman is her daughter. It's Kasumi. Only ten years older. Kirika closes her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Kasumi asks. "Are you feeling faint?"

"M-maybe," Kirika opens her eyes and looks down at her body. A young body. Definitely female. Kirika lets out a sigh of relief. At least it can't be Nodoka's child. Nodoka had a son. "What were we just talking about?" Best to keep up with appearances. Hopefully she won't intrude on this young girl's life more than a few minutes, and she doesn't want to cause problems for her.

Kasumi glares at her. "We were talking about my mother." She gets up out of the water. "I'm sorry. I can't handle this. I'm going to…I have to go if you're going to be like this."

Kirika gets up as well, "No, wait, don't go." She hates to see Kasumi mad at her. Even if it's selfish, she wants what few words she has with her daughter to be pleasant. It's strange having her daughter be taller than her though. "Please, tell me what happened after I…I mean…tell me what happened with Ko- with the man who killed your mother. Did he attack Soun or you?"

Kasumi lowers herself slowly to sit on the lip of the furo, wrapping her towel around herself as she does so. Kirika does the same. Kasumi gives her a strange look. Can she tell? "Yes…" she says slowly. "He did attack. But father was too fast. I think Father would have killed him, but Okata declared it a stalemate and ran away."

Kirika nods. "Good. And Akane and Nabiki were okay?"

"Yes? You know how they are, don't you? You've been living with us for two weeks now?"

"Oh, of course. Silly me," Kirika laughs nervously, "So did Okata ever come back?"

"No." Again there is a pause. Kasumi seems to regard her with a sort of confused suspicion for a moment, then she continues. " Far from it. I had to track him down."

Kirika frowns. "What do you mean?"

"I was the heir to the school. The day after we buried mother I made a solemn vow to take vengeance for her death."

"But you were only nine! "

Tiny blades protrude out of Kasumi's skin for a fraction of a second before they are gone again. "I wasn't stupid. I knew I would have to train before I went after him. Father was regrettably not available due to his grief. During the day, I took care of household duties while at night I trained at any place that would teach me."

"The Wheel of Eight Desires," Kirika whispers. She had wanted to save her daughters from that training, but the evidence is on her eldest's face.

Kasumi nods. "I knew what I desired most of all was vengeance, and so I forcibly denied myself any release from that desire. I would refuse to spar with anyone in case I might inadvertently get satisfaction from defeating them. I kept to menial tasks and tried not to engage with anyone. Eventually I found that trying not to talk to people causes them to get angry with you, and forces you into altercations, so I found ways of talking without talking."

Kirika shakes her head. "Oh, but that's exactly the wrong thing to do! You have to let out your desire in little bursts. Learn to control it. Otherwise…"

Suddenly there is a splash, Kasumi's arm is sprouting a dozen sharp edges and one is dangerously close to Kirika's neck. Her eyes are wide. Is she going to get killed again, this time by her own daughter?

Slowly, though, Kasumi retracts her blades. She lowers her arm, and looks down. "I know that now. I just don't know how to stop."

"You're a smart girl, Kasumi," Kirika smiles, "you'll figure it out. Just don't give up on yourself okay?"

Kasumi frowns. "Hmm. Are you sure you're okay? You didn't hit your head or anything?"

Kirika shrugs. She sighs. "Kasumi?"

"What?"

"This may sound strange, but would you mind if I gave you a hug?"

The look Kasumi gives her is something approaching fright.

"I know you won't hurt me," Kirika tells her.

Kasumi thins her lips. She gives a small, rapid nod.

Before either of them can think better of it, Kirika hugs her daughter in a strong embrace. Tears start welling up in her eyes. She thanks the spirits for giving her this extra moment with Kasumi, even if it means stealing it from a living soul. Even now she can feel the other soul rising up again to regain control.

"How do you do this, Ranma?" Kasumi asks. "How do you manage to make everyone hate you and love you at the same time?"

What did she call her? Ranma? But Ranma was a boy. This can't be Ranma's body. Kirika's fear is mixing with the fear of the owner of the body.

There's something feral there, waiting to take control.

The Wheel of Eight Desires again she guesses.

Kirika releases Kasumi gently and gets out of the furo before anything regrettable happens.

With tugs and jerks Kirika feels herself shoved forcibly down into the dark miasma of unconsciousness.

~~~~~?~~~~~

In the dark back room of a restaurant in China, a woman with severe features smiles at a glowing orb. "You thought you could escape," she says in a voice that's almost a growl. "But you are mine. We are destined, and not even death can change that."

The woman turns on a stove and places a kettle on it. She has lived long enough to know that success should be savored. She will wait for the water to heat up. Then she will change, emerging from the kitchen like a moth from a chrysalis …to murder her family.

Again.

~~~~~Ranma~~~~~

Ranma looked at the scroll again.

The Wheel of Eight Desires

Air

...Pride

...-Desire to be free of resistance

...Lust

...-Desire to change oneself (by obtaining someone/something)

Water

...Sloth

...-Desire to follow the path of least resistance

...Greed

...-Desire to hoard

Earth

...Zealotry

...-Desire to support resistance

...Envy

...-Desire to change others (by obtaining someone/something)

Fire

...Wrath

...-Desire to create resistance

...Gluttony

...-Desire to consume

Ranma turned the scroll around in her hands, looking at all the symbols and words to try to get a better sense of it. She was feeling a tension throughout her body. There was a frenetic energy jiggling her insides.

Ranma put the scroll down. She stood up out of the bed. She realized what she was feeling, and she didn't like it one bit.

She was afraid.

She remembered Kasumi getting into the furo. She remembered her starting to talk about her mother and then…

Snippets. Small bursts of incredibly strong emotion. Something about the Wheel of Eight Desires. Something about death and sorrow. Something about pain.

And then she found herself on the floor of the furo room naked without any idea how she got there. Not knowing what else to do, she got dressed, and went to her room.

She had thought she might be able to figure out why she had blacked out from the scroll, but instead she just felt more lost. The mounting uneasiness had crept up on her while she sat. And now… she was scared.

She swallowed. "It's nothing," she told herself out loud. "I was taking a bath wasn't I? It was just the hot water messin' with my brain."

Damn, Ranma thought, that should have sounded perfectly reasonable. But it did not. There was something wrong with her. Something her fists couldn't save her from. She let out a guttural cry of frustration.

Ranma stiffened. The cry sounded like something a cat might make.

She squeezed her eyes shut. Kasumi was right. Her nekoken was getting triggered even without any cats around. She needed to see Akane. Akane could make her more calm.

Ranma remembered when Akane massaged her back. She had purred then.

She shook her head rapidly. That was completely different. I was still in control then. I did that on purpose.

Ranma grit her teeth. She knew that wasn't true. She hadn't been in control then and she wasn't in control now. The only difference was that then she had someone she trusted with her.

Ranma nodded. She grabbed the scroll and left her room. Akane was still in the dojo, practicing a kata.

Ranma watched for a while. The kata suited Akane well. A lot of solid stances and strong attacks. She incorporated several jumping moves as well, yet somehow even these seemed precise, balanced, and unyielding. Watching her was like watching a sculptor carve into marble. For a moment, Ranma forgot her reason for being there.

"Awesome!" Ranma said after Akane was done. "That was. Wow, Akane that was…when did you come up with that?"

Akane blushed. "It's just some of my favorite moves put together. It's not pretty like what you do. And it's a little too fancy for dad. He's all about the basics. I just wanted to put the jumping I've been practicing with the other things I like."

Ranma shook her head. "Akane, you should fight like that all the time. You're usually so angry when you fight and you get so sloppy… I mean, no offense, but that was beautiful."

Akane frowned. "Thanks, I guess. But it wasn't beautiful. It was too rough and heavy. Too slow. There isn't any art to it. I'm just…"

Ranma put her hand on Akane's shoulder and looked into her eyes. "Akane. There are different types of Art. You aren't me. You aren't your father. You're you. And you're pretty cool…When you aren't stomping around like an angry gorilla."

"Hey!" Akane backed away scowling. "You're not exactly the queen of equanimity or anything."

Ranma looked down. She had a few of her own blow ups, it was true. "Fair enough. You've at least managed to keep from hurting anybody."

Ranma felt a warm arm around her shoulders. "She deserved that, Ranma. Even she says so. It all worked out. Stop beating yourself up over that."

Ranma viewed Akane's face. Her expression was sincere. But how understanding would Akane have been if Nabiki had been more seriously injured? If she had died? She shook her head. "Something's wrong with me Akane. Maybe the Nabiki thing is part of it. I don't know."

Akane removed her arm, but took Ranma's hand in hers. "What is it, Ranma?" she motioned for Ranma to sit down with her and Ranma did so. Akane's face was full of genuine concern. She was her friend. She was there for her. And Ranma had to ruin it by wanting to kiss her.

Ranma turned away. "I told you about how Kasumi attacked me, right?"

"I'm still finding that hard to believe, but yeah, I guess so."

"Remember about that scroll?

"The Tire of Desire?"

Ranma chuckled, but still kept from looking at Akane. "The Wheel of Eight Desires, yeah."

"She said your cat fist thingy might have something to do with that, right?"

Ranma's eyes drifted to Akane's hand on hers. "I'm blacking out. I did it for the second time just a little while ago. I can almost handle acting like…you know. But I can't even remember what I'm doing…"

"You need to see Dr. Tofu again," Akane stated.

"But we've got school, and work…" Ranma protested, looking at Akane's face in spite of herself.

"Go now, dummy, before he closes for the night. Or miss a day of school. It's not that big a deal. I'll take notes for you. This is too important."

Of course it wasn't school per se that Ranma was worried about.

Akane sighed and released Ranma's hand. "Look, I honestly don't know if it has anything to do with it, but I know I've been a little quiet recently. It's just that our conversation at Yui's the other night got me thinking."

Ranma searched her expression, but she wasn't sure what she saw there.

"I'm not a bisexual, Ranma. I like men. That day at Tofu's I was confused, because I had started to think of you as a man in a girl's body. But you aren't, are you?"

Ranma felt the tension returning, only for another reason now. She could hear part of her yell as if from a great distance, that yes she was a man. But that felt like a lie now.

Akane continued. "I'm sorry, Ranma. I kept trying to make you more like a girl. But I think, part of me just wanted to be with a man in a totally safe way. I may have unconsciously led you on."

Ranma got up abruptly. "So I'm too much of a girl now? "

Akane didn't say anything.

Ranma closed her eyes. "Akane, I've just about had it. I'm sorry we ever talked about this stuff, because it's made things way too weird. I know you've had guys all over you for a while, but just because I'm half lesbian does not mean I'm into you, okay? We're friends. That's it. That's all it's ever going to be. Just like we said a Tofu's."

"But, Ranma, that's great! That's exactly what…"

Ranma held up a finger. "Hold that thought? Because I'm a little irritated right now and I don't want to accidently kill you or anything." She attempted to compose herself. "I'm going to go see Tofu. I don't know when I'll be back. So goodbye." Ranma stopped in the doorway of the dojo to strike a pose. "Me and my incredibly sexy body are leaving."

It was a few minutes before Ranma realized she was running. And another minute before she realized she was running on all fours. She forced herself to stop and stand. Of course Akane was just a friend. Of course she wasn't going to be interested in anything more. Ranma didn't even really want anything more.

Except that part of her did.

~~~~~v~~~~~

Ranma blinked. She couldn't believe what Tofu had just told her. She was sitting on a cushioned stool in Tofu's office, the hot water in his electric thermos bubbling cheerfully in the background. Tofu had calmed her down quickly after she had gotten into the clinic, saying the black outs were probably something related to the curse she had given herself and that he might have a solution to the problem, but what he was saying was almost unbelievable. She turned to her father who was nodding happily. "I helped with the experiments myself, Son. This could work." Genma was calling her "son" again. She didn't like how that bothered her.

Dr. Tofu held up a hand to urge caution. "Your father's curse might work differently than yours. And when you drank the nyannichuan silt it may have changed how the trigger works."

Ranma squeezed her eyes shut. "Wait. Just…wait. How does this work again?"

Tofu nodded slowly and got up. "I'll get you some tea while I explain." After he retrieved a mug and some tea leaves, he started. "The Jusenkyo curse is triggered by water, right?"

"Yeah?"

"But the human body is seventy-five percent water. How is it that you don't continually de-trigger the curse, seeing as the body is naturally warm?"

Ranma shrugged. "Not warm enough, I guess."

"That's what I thought," Genma shook his head excitedly. "But Tofu tried pouring water that was the same temperature as blood and it turned me human again."

Tofu set the tea down to let it steep. "There could be other reasons of course, but what if it's the twenty-five percent that isn't water that makes all the difference?"

Ranma looked at Tofu's and Genma's faces. She still wasn't getting it.

Tofu was beginning to look impatient. "Ranma, this tea I'm making for you… If your father was a panda, and I threw it at him, do you think he would change back?"

"Sure. That'd work." Such a thing had happened often enough for Ranma to consider herself something of an expert in the phenomenon.

"What if someone poured heated oil on him?"

Ranma smiled wistfully at the idea for a moment before answering. "Uh…I don't know, but…I guess it wouldn't do anything?"

Tofu smiled. "Yes! Precisely! Because even though the oil is hot enough, there isn't any water in it, is there?"

"Sure… But what does this have to do with…"

"Let me try," Genma said, stepping in front of Ranma. "There has to be enough water to trigger the Jusenkyo curse. But the Jusenkyo curse is a powerful force. It doesn't need to be very precise. It's like your dad. This other curse you've given yourself, on the other hand, this stupid water aversion thing, is manmade. It's relatively weak, so it needs to be more precise and tricky, like you. Now tell me, Son. When I beat you in a spar, how do I do it?"

"Beat me? Gee, pops, I don't know if I can remember back that far."

Genma crossed his arms. "How about yesterday morning."

"Hey! That was a fluke! If Nabiki hadn't been there I would have…"

"I used Nabiki to get you in a position where I could grab both your arms in a hold. I overpowered you."

It had been so humiliating. She had tried kicking, but she couldn't get a good enough angle. She couldn't move. She'd been helpless. She had begun to hear the sound of cats yowling… Ranma willed the memory out of her head. It was a fluke. She was the best. She just had to figure out how to make sure it didn't happen again.

"I still don't get it. How can Jusenkyo over power the other curse? They aren't even fighting."

"No, Ranma, your father's analogy is apt. The Jusenkyo curse is powerful, so there is considerably more leeway in getting it to trigger, while the other curse is weak. I suspect that all you have to do to turn male again is find something that's just dense enough so that the avoidance curse doesn't repel it, but that is still watery enough for the Jusenkyo curse to trigger."

Genma nodded "We worked all day looking for a suitable substance, but we finally found something, didn't we, Ono-kun?"

The young doctor produced a pitcher of a slightly cloudy liquid with little bubbles on the surface. "My mouth is so dry though now, I fear I may never recover."

"I think I may have recuperated some, Ono-kun," Genma said with an air of brave forbearance. He rose and moved next to the pitcher. "No sacrifice is too great for my son." He started to make sucking noises and positioned his head over the pitcher.

Ranma got up and backed away. "No way am I gonna let you pour that over me!"

Tofu and Genma started laughing heartily. Genma had to sit down on the gurney he was next to to gather himself. He and Tofu had apparently gotten friendlier in the last week or so. Goody goody.

Tofu recovered and held up a hand. "It's just a soap and water mixture, Ranma. A fifteen percent solution. Of course the soap starts out at its own dilution, so it it's difficult to say exactly how much solid matter is in there, but it didn't come from us, you don't have to worry."

Ranma edged closer. "You sure? It looks an awful lot like spit to me."

Tofu made an effort to make a more serious face. "If you look more closely you can see a rainbow swirl pattern"

It was true. Ranma could see the tiny oil slick patterns when she looked at the surface. "I don't get it. I wash my hair almost every day with shampoo and water, how come it never did anything?"

"Your father asked that too. My guess is that it's because you're either putting pure shampoo in your hair, or washing it off with pure water. Some of it probably does reach your skin once it's diluted enough, but not enough to trigger your curse."

Genma adjusted his glasses. "The water needs to completely surround a major chakra for the curse to trigger. The head chakra is very wide and so it takes more water to trigger there." It was a little strange to hear her father talk about chakras. He hadn't mentioned them since when Ranma was first learning how to control her ki. They were the areas where spiritual energy from the environment collected in the body.

"I prefer to call them nerve ganglia, but I won't quibble." Dr. Tofu picked up the mug from next to the thermos and handed it to Ranma. "Here's your tea."

Ranma sipped it tentatively. It was a little too hot yet. She eyed the pitcher full of soap water with a feeling of uncertain tension. Could the solution really have been so simple all along? And now that she had it, assuming it worked, did she want it? What would being a boy get her? What would she lose?

Then Ranma remembered. There was one thing she needed to do. And she needed to be a boy to do it.

Ranma resolutely set her mug of tea down on the counter. Then she picked up the pitcher and poured the contents over her head.

The once familiar, giddy feeling of expanding and of bones and organs shifting greeted Ranma. He was a he once again. And he suddenly deeply regretted his choice of underwear.

The gut wrenching pain and nausea crumpled him to the floor, his eyes wide as he grabbed his crotch with both hands. Everything seemed to be intact, it was just that the sudden interaction of certain areas of anatomy with certain tightly fitting articles of clothing produced a decidedly noisome sensation. Taking a few deep breaths, he managed to right himself. Things were still fairly tight, but despite the overall increase in the size of his body, his hips had actually lost a centimeter or two in width, which saved his area of interest from any lasting damage.

"Well, I suppose now we have an idea of what the water repelling curse was feeding off of," Tofu said somberly.

"What?" Ranma asked managing to maneuver himself into a sitting position.

Tofu reached for Ranma head and plucked a hair from it.

"Hey!"

Tofu held it in front of Ranma's eyes. The hair was bright red.

Ranma scrambled up to his feet. He looked at his ghostly image in the glass cabinet next to Tofu's book case. His hair was black. No. Mostly black.

"You've had the newer curse for a little over two weeks now, right?" Tofu asked.

Ranma nodded slowly.

"That's about ten percent of the six month time table the lady who gave you the vial provided. It's seems that ten percent of your male body has been absorbed by the curse."

"But we've stopped it in time, right? He won't lose anymore of himself will he?" The worry his father expressed infected Ranma. He studied his features in the glass. His eyebrows were just a little thinner, his eyes, instead of being slate gray, were now a grayish blue. He could tell from the way his shirt hung off of him he had lost maybe a centimeter of width from his shoulders, maybe a centimeter of length in his torso.

"There is one way to find out," Tofu said. "Ranma, would you please step away from the display case?"

Ranma backed away and then looked at Tofu. The young chiropractor's glasses were glinting as he held a bucket of water. Very shortly after Ranma realized this, he found that Tofu wasn't holding a bucket of water any longer. The water was arcing gracefully toward him. He wanted to move out of the way, but there was no time. The water hit him coldly and wetly and spilled onto the tiled floor.

"What did ya have to do that for?" Ranma asked. He was cold. He was wet. He was still a he.

"The curse appears to be either broken or dormant," Tofu declared. "We've managed to interrupt its power source."

"You hear that, Son? You're cured!"

Ranma laughed nervously. "Cool," he said, shivering, "What's the catch, doc?"

Tofu shrugged. "You still have the Jusenkyo curse. If you get hit with hot water you'll be a girl again and the water avoidance curse might turn on again."

Ranma nodded, "Figured as much." He shivered again. "I need to change clothes."

Genma smiled like a cat that had swallowed several canaries, a sight that disturbed Ranma at a gut level. "I have some of your old clothes here in my pack."

"Great." Ranma picked up his father's pack and started walking toward the bathroom. He stopped. "Hey, how come the waterproof curse got more powerful whenever Akane or Pops touched me?"

Tofu rubbed his chin and looked down in thought. "Your father has a Jusenkyo curse. It might have been able to feed off of that. As for Akane though…" Tofu shook his head. "I have no idea. There must be something about her that the curse can feed off of, but I couldn't tell you what it is. Her effect is strong too, even stronger than the effect of your father. It's almost as if it were able to feed off of her directly, but I don't know how that could be."

Ranma nodded, frowning at the mystery. With a shiver, he slid open the door and left Tofu's office for the bathroom. He almost went into the women's bathroom. The bathroom where he had almost kissed Akane. She had wanted to kiss too. He knew she had.. But now she was saying she liked guys. Well I'm a guy now, ain't I ? Ranma thought. But it wasn't that easy. What was he going to do, start fawning all over her? Act like one of her challengers? The thought disgusted him. He just wanted to be close to her. To help her out if she needed it, to feel like she'd help him in return.

No, he decided. That whole thing was a mistake. A completely separate thing. He wanted a friend, not a…kissperson. Not someone who just wanted some kind of erotic satisfaction. Still, if he could find someone who could be both…

He went into the men's bathroom. It smelled of urine. He sighed. He'd always been something of a neat freak and having cleaner restrooms was a subtle advantage of being a girl that he hadn't fully appreciated. He undressed, putting his wet clothes on the sink instead of the floor, where the drain in the center seemed to tell a woeful tale of the vagaries of men with poor aim.

He was pleased to see that aside from the abuse received from the restrictive underwear, the lower parts of his body had not been noticeably affected. Before he put on his boxers, he went to one of the stalls and enjoyed a quick pee standing up. You had to take the bad with the good, he supposed. Feeling a little better, he put on the dry clothes and gave himself another look in the mirror.

The changes weren't too bad, really. He especially liked the red in his hair. Far too complete to be a dye job, it looked like lava seeping out of the earth. Sure to turn a few heads, and yet it was more subtle then the wannabes who dyed their hair blond. Yep, Ranma decided, he may be nine tenths of the man he was, but if anything he was even more of a bad ass.

The thought made him frown though. If Tofu hadn't come up with the cure, he might have turned completely into a girl. And he might have just chalked it up to the vial not working properly. The Tasuke lady obviously wanted him to be a girl for some reason, but why? And why was Ranma suddenly feeling this strange déjà vu when he thought of Tasuke…like he had seen her somewhere before, before he had seen her?

Ranma pulled the vial out of his pigtail. He turned it in the light of the bathroom for a while, making its pearlescent surface reflect back in subtly different shades of color. He set it resolutely on the sink. "I don't know, and I don't care. I'm done with you, lady." With that, he gathered up his clothes and left the restroom.

~~~~~Genma~~~~~

Genma sat down on the waiting room couch. He and Tofu had moved there after Ranma left to change. It was past closing time and Tofu had to lock up. Genma marveled at the young doctor. So talented and only in his twenties. But he pitied the man too. There was a fragility there that came from growing up too fast. He didn't have a solid foundation. He hadn't failed enough in his life to know how to deal with it. "Have you reached a decision about Kasumi?"

Tofu's eyes found Genma's around his glasses. Then the young doctor looked down and sat across from him. "In short… no."

"You know you can't let her control you like that."

Tofu's head rose and he stared off at the bathroom where Ranma was changing. "She's a good kid. Honest. Ready to fight for what she believes in. She didn't deserve the flensing point. I don't understand why K-Kasumi would make me do that."

Genma frowned when he realized Tofu was talking about Ranma as if he were a girl, but he didn't want to sidetrack the conversation. "Kasumi was angry at him. What she did was petty and childish. That's all. Maybe she even realizes it now, but you can't just let it go. You have keep her from using you like that again."

Tofu shook his head. "We'd have to perform a ritual to undo the bond. She'd have to agree to it… and…" the young man sighed, leaning back in his chair. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I still love her, Saotome-kun." He looked up at the ceiling forlornly. "It doesn't make any sense, but if anything I love her more now that she's done this. How can I tell her I don't trust her? How can I ask her to undo our bond?"

Genma thinned his lips. "If you truly love her, you should love her as an equal. Not like an animal loves his master."

"Why not? Isn't love supposed to be unconditional?"

Genma looked away. "There are always conditions. Boundaries that should not be crossed. You trust the one you love not to cross those boundaries. The more you trust, the more you love. Without conditions, love is meaningless. You could as easily love a fencepost or a ham sandwich as a human being. If you don't let Kasumi know that she crossed a line, you're not only demeaning yourself, you're demeaning her as well." Genma grimaced. I should have stayed, he thought, I shouldn't have signed that damn contract. I should have told her no.

A moment or of silence, then Genma heard rustling as Tofu stood. Genma looked up at him. "Maybe you're right. I should talk to her tomorrow," Tofu said.

Genma shook his head slightly. "Call her. Tonight."

Tofu gave a small nod, then went into his office. Maybe for a cup of tea. Maybe to think. Maybe to finally call the girl. Genma didn't know which.

There were heavy footsteps as Ranma trudged into the waiting area from the restroom hallway carrying his pack on his shoulder. He had a sour expression on his face. He barely spared a glance as he went to the genkan in front of the door and searched in the pack to retrieve his larger, male form shoes.

"Where are you going?" Genma called as he stood.

"I'm going to see Mom." Ranma put his shoes on and went out of the door.

"Damn it all," Genma growled. He hurriedly put his own shoes on and ran after his son. He caught up with him a block or so down the dimly lit street. "You're going the wrong way"

Ranma turned around without saying anything, his face in shadow from the streetlamp overhead.

"You remember what I told you?" Genma walked alongside Ranma as he passed. About how we left your mother back then?"

Ranma nodded grimly.

"You remember she made us sign a contract that you would be a 'man among men?'"

"Yeah, I remember."

"You realize that we're going to have to be careful about what we tell her and how we act? Even though you're a boy now, if she doesn't think you're manly enough, she'll force both of us to commit seppuku."

"I know! I still got to see her. "

Genma held up his hands. "Okay, Son. Okay." He let Ranma walk a few steps ahead of him. He closed his eyes for a moment. Thank you, Son, for giving me courage. After a full decade and almost six months, Genma was finally going home.

Please, Nodoka, Genma looked up at the streetlight he and his son passed under. Be sane. Don't make us leave again.

~~~~~End of Chapter 11~~~~~

Authors Note:

As always, thank you for your reviews. I got some good critiques on Kasumi's behavior in the last chapter. I wanted to try to make her a little more understandable this chapter, but I'm not sure I've done that. She's a complex character. Maybe I should have kept her simple for the sake of the story, but her back story kind of ballooned out of control for me when I was working it out and I'm struggling to reveal it in little bits and pieces. There's still a good chunk to come as soon as I find out where to put it. I'm still honing my writing; so I welcome any suggestions. As I hint in this chapter, Nabiki has a major back story chunk too, which I can't wait to get into.

There's a good solid clue in this chapter as to the reason why scenes in hot water are written in present tense. It's related to the reason why all the pov characters have Jusenkyo curses. I think you can probably figure it out, but then, I know what's going on so I can't tell how easy it is to guess. At any rate, all will hopefully be made clear soon.

Ryoga should show up again in chapter thirteen, the way things are going. In the canon storyline, Ryoga shows up a week after he first shows up on Furinkan; that's a lot of time to get through and there was a little too much going on for me to try the "one week later" gag. Also, because it happens to work so far, my fanfiction chapters are going to loosely follow the manga chapters. So as long as I have Ryoga show up by at least chapter fourteen, I figure I'm doing alright as far as pacing is concerned.

Oh and for those of you who are looking for writing tips, one thing I learned with this chapter is that it's a very good idea to make outlines of the chapters you've already written. It saves a buttload of time when you're making continuity checks. A few chapters ago I started putting things into a rough timeline to keep everything straight and it really saved me this time. I made a last minute change to an important plot point in chapter eight and I had forgotten that I had altered it. It would have made things rather confusing for people who remember things. Here I just have to worry about feeling a bit embarrassed by an observant reviewer, but that sort of thing could cause a novel to be thrown across the room.

Thanks for reading!