Oyu no Ranma
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic by Zorknot
Chapter 17: Winning
In this chapter, everybody wins. Except for the losers, but who cares about them? Also, another curse is revealed, and a couple of people die.
Disclaimer: The fog roiled darkly through the streets of London. Inspector Townsend's lantern barely made a dent in it as he exited his phaeton and walked down the cobblestone road to the alley where two bobbies kept watch over the remains. The stench of decay was strong, even enough to rise above the usual squalor of a London back alley. Townsend pulled a handkerchief from his great coat pocket and pressed it against his nose. He could already tell from the smell it had been a day or more since the crime occurred. The bobbies parted, recognizing him at once and Townsend shone his lantern over the body. The skin was half peeled away, pale flesh blotched black with decay. "Who would do this?" One of the bobbies asked, "Just leave a banana uneaten in an alleyway?" Townsend shook his head, "I doubt the man who did this gave it much thought. I don't think he even knew or cared that the characters and situations depicted in Ranma 1/2 belong to Takahashi Rumiko and the companies she's affiliated with."
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~~~~~Chapter 17: Winning~~~~~
~~~~~Akane~~~~~
Akane's muscles strained against the weight of the gigantic abomination she was lifting up. The abomination was an unholy amalgamation of a yeti, a bull, some kind of winged creature and… maybe an eel? It wasn't clear. The creature seemed rather surprised that Akane was lifting it, much less preparing to throw it to the other side of the ring. Akane, her bright blue hair tied in a tight bun, threw the huge thing and it cried out in four voices. It used its wings to soften its landing and it was on its hoofed feet in seconds, but this gave Akane ample time to materialize a gigantic mallet at least as massive as the girl herself. She twirled it around herself with impossible speed and readied herself in one of the stylish but impractical stances of the movies, her right leg outstretched, her left bent to such a degree that she was practically sitting down. It wasn't easy to move from that stance, and you were practically inviting your opponent to break your knee cap. She smiled. She wasn't adopting the stance because she was stupid. No, she told herself, as she made a subtle adjustment to her grip on the mallet, she was adopting the stance because she was just that much of a badass.
The winged bull-yeti thing advanced, and Akane started swinging the mallet almost a second before the thing got into range, allowing for the buildup of momentum. Mallet and creature met in an unholy matrimony celebrated with blood, fur, and tooth confetti. The yeti thing rolled over several times until it stopped outside the ring, a silly cross-eyed expression on its bovine face. In the next moment, it separated into four different people, each moaning in pain. "That's what I think of your stupid conglomerate!" Akane yelled. "We're already part of Jusenkyo. That's more than enough sharing for this girl. Besides four people in one body? That's just…perverted! I ought to beat each of you up individually just so you get that into your skulls."
There was a slow clap from behind her. Akane whirled around to see Mao's smirking, ghostly face. He had become more solid recently, so his features were more distinguishable. He looked a little like an Asian Guy Fawkes. Same beard design, but with a less prominent nose and rounder cheekbones. Also he kept his hair in a cue and usually wore Chinese robes. "Brava, brava. Don't be too hard on them, though. They're just trying to make the best of a bad situation. All four animals fell into a single spring. Each animal has to have a soul supporting it, but none of the souls can be complete because there isn't enough of a spring to sustain them all. For a few hundred years they battled each other for supremacy, but eventually they worked out a compromise. It's heartwarming really."
"I still don't like it. Honestly, it's just wrong."
Mao shrugged. "Your skills have improved tremendously," he noted, changing the subject.
"Yes!" Akane beamed, twirling her obscenely large mallet around once before causing it to disappear. "I was upset about being a partial soul before, but I think Jusenkyo must have taken away all the perverted parts of me. I was so conflicted all the time, you know? I kept second guessing myself. That's why that Ranma bastard was able to be better than me."
"He was less perverted?"
"NO! He was purely perverted. Just as I'm now purely clean. Purely righteous. I swear, when I see him again I will pound him into the dirt so far tourists will be taking pictures of his feet in Brazil."
Mao nodded as if this seemed perfectly reasonable. "Listen, some people are poking around the springs. One of them is already cursed and the other two are covered in waterproof soap but, well, they brought a rat with them."
"A rat?"
"Yes. Now most of us are in charge of animal curses so we don't care to gain influence over just another animal. But you and the other humanoid curses…"
Akane banged her fist into her palm. "You mean I could get out of here?"
"You've only been here for a day. It's hardly an eon of torment."
"Yes, but you were saying you've been here for thousands of years. What if this is my only chance and I miss it?"
"You don't think it might be a little…ah…perverted to share a body with a rat?"
"What? No of course not! What could be perverted about a rat? They can be dirty sometimes, but I'd make sure I stayed clean."
Mao clasped his hands behind him and looked up at the ceiling. "I was just thinking that since you took such offense to the Yeti-bull-chicken-eel conglomerate, you might decide that cursing a mortal creature to share your body might not be a palatable prospect."
Akane laughed. "Mao! That's a completely different thing! I plan to use the rat to cleanse the world of perversion. Those bull-yeti…whatever souls are just wanting to…I don't know, fart around Asia scaring people half to death."
"Fair enough," Mao allowed, "Well, it seems like the visitors are looking for newly formed springs. Which probably means they know about your spring. Still, you'd better get in the observation room before one of the other other humanoids steals your thunder."
"Right! Well before I go, I need to tell you something…" Akane approached Mao, grabbed his head and planted her lips on his. When she released him, she was pleased to see his eyes wide and his cheeks flush. She could barely see through him at all.
"What the…"
Akane smiled. "The only girls my age without boyfriends are perverted lesbians. So you're my boyfriend until I find someone better. That means no sleeping around or I kill you. Okay?"
"Akane, I…I mean…don't you?…"
"Thanks! Got to go," Akane ran off to to observation room, but stopped to turn around and say "Remember, I'll kill you!" in a sing-song voice.
Mao stood there with his bemused expression, waving goodbye. "I'll kill you too," he said.
Akane got into position in the observation room, smiling to herself. She didn't understand why anyone would want to be perverted. It was so much easier not to be. As she watched the group with the caged rat approach her spring, she assured herself that soon, no one would be perverted, and they would see how much better the world was.
She would help Jusenkyo rise out of the waters that imprisoned it, and then they would all see.
~~~~~Ranma~~~~~
Watching the Entaro kid leave, Ranma looked down at her school uniform. She pressed a hand on her skirt, feeling the warmth of her thigh through the material. She swallowed.
"What's wrong, president pro temp?" Hoko asked.
Ranma jumped. "I just…" she shook her head. She was having one of those existential moments she had had since the curse. Was she really here, in this body? Was she really a girl? Had she always been a girl? That last was a new question in the list. She had to face her father today, before she went on her date with Kuno. Before she left for China. She still had no idea what to say to him. "Uh…thanks for helping with my Pops the other day. I don't know if I said anything yet."
Hoko waved her off. "I just found the right people to help you. That's my skill, and you're a member a FuMa."
"Right." Ranma looked down at her hand, small and soft on her lap. She liked her hand like that. Liked how deftly she could make it move. How it could still break boulders if she filled it with ki, and yet could do other things as well. And yet…"I was wondering if you had any advice. About how I can handle him?"
Hoko shrugged. "That depends. What do you want to accomplish?"
Ranma shook her head. "I don't know. I can't just keep avoiding him and my Mom. Especially My mom. I mean, sure they adopted this jerk, and I'm upset about it, but they're my family. I just want to find some way through this without feeling like some kind of dishrag."
"Okay," Hoko said, "Then, no, I don't have any advice."
"Ha ha," Ranma rolled her eyes. "Why not?"
"I could maybe tell you how to get rid of your impostor. There's a very slim chance I could help you convince your father to agree to kick the guy out. But I can't tell you how to change how you feel or keep you from feeling a certain way. That's incredibly complicated. I'm basically a behavioralist. I look at how people react to different situations, and I can make predictions based on that. But emotions? Thoughts even?" Hoko shook her head. "If I knew how to deal with those I'd be a lot more popular."
"What's your prediction then? How do you think this will turn out?"
"Well, that's easy. It will turn out okay. It always does for you, because no matter what happens, you adapt. You could lose all your limbs in a freak accident and you'd somehow find a way to make it work for you. Based off what you've told me, your father basically abused you all your life and kept you isolated with hardly any social contact, and yet you still want a relationship with him. Not only that, but you're one of the happiest people I know."
"You think I'm happy?"
Hoko shrugged. "It's an emotion, so I have no real idea. But you always think you can solve a problem, you always give people the benefit of the doubt, and you don't shy away from hard work as long as you can see some reason for it. Maybe you're dying inside for all I know, but that comes across as happy to me."
Ranma threw up her hands. "Oh! Well, then that's great. No need to worry then. I'll be happy no matter what!"
Hoko smiled. "I'm glad I could help!" And then Hoko gave a salute and left just as the teacher came in and class started again.
"Dang it," Ranma grumbled to herself, "I was being sarcastic."
Ranma couldn't think about it now. She had to concentrate on writing good notes for Akane. She listened intently to the teacher and wrote down a series of precise dots dashes circles squares and other simple symbols and numbers she developed as a short hand for the words she didn't know the characters for. Of course it wouldn't be that useful for Akane to have all the symbols without the meanings, but Ranma would figure something out later. Maybe he could have the chemistry club whip up some kind of computer program?
During a pause in the lecture Ranma shook out her hand and looked at her notes. She could actually read what the teacher had said! She did a little "I'm awesome" dance in her chair at that and then stopped herself, realizing how some people might mistake this for being happy. But that was ridiculous. What was the alternative? Just giving up?
And that was the moment Ranma figured out how to deal with Kumon and her family. She slapped her knee. Maybe school was good for something after all.
~~~~~Akane~~~~~
Compared to a human life, the life of a rat is hardly more than a bizarre fever dream of gigantic shapes, constant imminent death, and hunger. As such, when the rat was thrown into the waters of the newly formed spring of drowned intolerance, there was no reason to combat the idea that the world is made up of sexual and moral deviants who are bent on its complete corruption and decay. What else could explain the complete hell life was moments earlier? And now as a human, the rat was strong. Now she could defeat, and kill, and destroy all the perverts, and she could have all the cheese she wanted. She was a rat no longer. She was Akane Tendo.
She was also naked in a pool of water. A woman and two men were staring at her.
Perverts.
Akane willed her mallet into existence, but it wouldn't come. She wasn't in the dream space of the springs. She was in reality. But then her foot hit something partially embedded in the silt underneath her. She ducked down to grasp it and her hand closed around something heavy. The springs provided for her! Lifting the mallet out of the water and above her shoulder, she stalked out of the spring. The woman had an almost bored expression on her face while the two men stared. The closest man was thin and effete looking. He wore sandals, baggy pants, and a simple tunic shirt. His hair was in a long queue that hung past his waist. He had a curved scar under his right eye. He would be the first to die.
Akane trudged toward scar face, careful not to let the soft bottom of the spring trip her as she moved. As her foot descended at last onto solid ground she swung, her mallet shedding droplets of water, which glistened down around her as it approached the head of the thin man on an inevitable trajectory.
The man's eyes widened. Then the mallet reached his head, deforming his features as he was launched into the air, to the left,and now down to the ground. Akane smiled in satisfaction. "One down, two to go." She looked eyes on the other man. This man was fat and seemed to be bald underneath his uniform cap. He also seemed to be slightly crosseyed.
Or maybe he was just scared, because he was backing off "So sorry Ms Rat! I only help guide Mr. and Mrs. Customer! I run away now!"
Akane blinked. This was the Jusenkyo guide. She could see his link to the springs, see how his actions were nothing but the jiggling of an angler's lure. That left the woman. Only she was no woman. Sure she looked like a sophisticated Japanese lady in an ornate version of a shrine maiden's hakama, but she was a man wearing the body of a woman to suit his own needs. Akane could see more as well, she could see that the man had taken over the curse, had taken it from the springs. Oh this "woman" was a pervert most low…
The woman raised a hand in a stopping gesture.
Akane continued to swing her mallet toward her.
There was a pink cloud that left the woman's hand and hit Akane's chest with the faintest scent of strawberries.
The girl blinked. She was holding a VERY heavy mallet and the momentum of the swing staggered her forward and into the dirt in front of the woman's feet.
The woman tutted above her. "You have a lot of enthusiasm, young one, much like your mother. But you'll have to learn a little subtlety if you want to survive outside the springs."
Akane watched from the observation room, only now aware that she was no longer in the girl's body. "What happened?" she asked.
"Heh," A gawky woman who claimed to be the spirit of the spring of drowned duck chuckled, "She hit you with the girl curse. It's temporary, but the temp curses override the permanent ones in the short term."
"How can he do that? Why does the spring allow a cursed man to do that?"
"Cursed man?" The duck woman shook her head, "She isn't a cursed man, she's the curse herself. Nyanni took over her human host by convincing him she could get his girlfriend back. Took her over twenty years, but she did it. I think the guy still thinks he's in control, but she made him kill the love of his life, made him have sex with a man, give birth. It was the most wicked brainwashing by curse I've ever seen. She's my hero."
It all sounded very perverted to Akane. "Why the powers though?"
Duck lady gave Akane a level gaze. "How do you think you got here? You've never even been to China, right?"
"The old me never went, yes. I'm not that girl anymore."
"Okay, but how did the old you get marked for a spring all the way in Tokyo?"
Akane shook her head.
"I'll tell you how. Ol' Nyanni over there." Duck lady pointed to the screen, which showed the Japanese lady dousing the girl she had turned Akane into with hot water and putting the rat back into a cage. "Before she started playing with this Kosuke guy, maybe one person would get cursed in a decade, not counting the Musk. You know how many got cursed in the last ten years?"
"Why don't you just tell me?"
"Fine. Fifteen. And it looks like she's just getting started. If she wants a little leeway well then, by the rivers of Hell she can have it."
"How did she get the old me marked for a spring?"
The duck lady laughed , "Oh that was beautiful! See, she finally lets Kosuke see the love of his life after she's been married for like ten years already, right? And he's upset and all manly and crap. And she just feeds the heck out of that aggression and he ends up challenging his girlfriend's husband to a duel. Only of course the girlfriend tries to stop it. Oops! Now Girlfriend is bleeding out on the floor. Kosuke is distraught and prays to whoever will hear him to let his girlfriend live. Nyanni opens up a line of communication between us and the girlfriend, this Kirika lady, and in order to be alive to see her daughters grow up, she agrees for her youngest daughter, that would be you, to be marked to serve a spring."
Akane felt a frisson of rage at this, but she wasn't sure who to be angry at. Wasn't she glad she was serving Jusenkyo now? And if her mother wasn't dead what did it matter? And who cared if she WAS dead? She never knew her mother anyway. But something else bothered her. "I got here because the old me got possessed, right?"
Duck lady nodded. "Not just possessed, you got knocked out of your body by a cursed soul. Two cursed souls, if you count your mother, who is a sort of honorary spring servant herself after what she did to your sister."
"What did she…? No, I don't care about that. Just…What if I…what if the old me had never been possessed by Ranma?"
The gawky lady of the duck spring shrugged with bony shoulders. "Something else probably would have possessed you. When you get marked to serve a spring, you feel drawn to magical, dangerous things, and they are drawn to you. You're drawn to water too, similar to curse victims, but the mark also makes it almost impossible for you to swim effectively. Finally the mark messes up your coordination and concentration whenever you're around curse magic."
Akane nodded slowly as a hundred half-remembered frustrations promenaded through her mind. Now they all had a cause.
"The good news is that you're here. So neither you nor your other self is marked now."
Akane gave a faint smile and rushed out of the observation room without saying good bye to the duck lady.
Her rage curdled into a knot in her stomach, into something approaching fear. She swallowed. She was pure. She was righteous. She would destroy all of the perverts of the world. She…was going to have to find another goal. Because at that moment, the only thing she wanted to destroy…was Jusenkyo.
~~~~~Ranma~~~~~
Her mother's house loomed in front of her like the face of a rumbling volcano. She shook her head. She was the best. She had forgotten for a moment, but it was only a momentary lapse in judgment. It didn't matter if she was a girl. She was still Ranma Saotome, only more so. Even if she wanted to turn male just then, she wouldn't. She was female. She had made her decision. She would stick with it. At least until Akane could be a man. That was the deal she had made with her friend last night. That was what she would stick to. That didn't mean she had to be a dishrag though. That didn't mean she had to accept defeat.
She almost knocked on the door, but then she set her jaw and opened the door. This was her mother's house. She deserved to be here.
"Hey, little sis!" Kumon called out lazily from the other side of the table. He was having lunch. Nodoka was pouring his tea. Genma was a panda eating bamboo. "How was school? Did you confess to any boyfriends today?"
Ranma swallowed. She knew this was coming. She had to bend like a reed in the wind. "No confessions today, but I'll be going on a date tonight. I'm heading to Nadeshiko's after this. Going to pick out a dress."
The panda spit out his bamboo.
Nodoka managed to grab the kettle with her other hand, but some of the tea still spilled onto the table. "Will I be meeting this boy any time soon?"
Ranma took a breath. She felt like she was navigating a mine field by bicycle. "Maybe. I kind of like him, but then I'm also kind of hoping he'll agree to take me and Akane to China to help her get part of her soul back. Also he's a little…unaware. Not sure if it's going anywhere."
"So…you like boys then?" Nodoka asked.
Ranma set her school bag down and closed the door behind her. "I like both, Mom. Maybe its the curse. I don't know. It ain't like I understand it." She could see the look on the panda's face and sighed. "I don't think I can help it, Pops. I like this body. I like who I am when I'm like this. Things make sense for some reason. When I'm a guy it feels like…" It feels like I'm living someone else's life. Ranma almost said, but that was too complicated to explain. Instead, she said, "I've decided that I'm a girl." She felt the blood rush out away from her head as she said that. She staggered a little bit, but she held her ground.
"Cool." Kumon set his chopsticks down on the table and crossed his arms. "I guess that makes me the heir to the school then, huh?"
Another breath. "No," Ranma said, "It doesn't."
"How do you figure? You just said you're a girl. Girls can't be heirs."
This was the logic that Ranma had the hardest time defeating in the conversations she imagined on the way to her mother's house. Sure the heir should be the strongest martial artist regardless of gender, but then the whole idea of an heir was based on tradition, otherwise why couldn't they both be heirs? And if the whole thing was based on tradition, then girls couldn't be heirs. At least not if there was a son around. She had one argument though: "If you get beat by a girl, that makes you worse than one, don't it? I'm challenging you to a match. If you win, you get to be the heir, and I'll be your 'little sister.' If I win though, depending on what my parents decide, either I'm the heir to the school as I should be, or no one is and the school dies. And if I win, you will be my little sister."
"That doesn't make any sense! I'm a man."
Ranma shrugged. "You got a prick. That don't make you a man."
"Riiiight. I guess you would know all about that," Kumon smirked.
"Yes," Ranma said, "I would. I'll defeat you as a girl. As a woman," Ranma paused, not as used to the more mature form of the word. "And I'll either be heir… or the Saotome school will end. Do we have a deal or not?"
"Nah," Kumon said. "I'll pass. You can be the little heiress if you want. Besides, I don't fight girls."
Ranma was still fairly new to feminism, but she knew anger. As much as she would like to murder Kumon in fun and interesting ways for that comment, there was a time for it, and this wasn't it. "Thank you," she said, using full on, girlish politeness, "I'm glad we understand each other, little sister." Ranma took off her shoes and sat down at the table. "Whatcha makin' for tea ma?" she asked.
"Oh a little rice is all. I wasn't sure if you would be here."
"You can't call me little sister. I didn't agree to the challenge."
Being sure to use the most feminine forms of speech she knew, Ranma replied, "But little sister, if you do not accept my challenge, you have no honor. I have no reason to listen to anything you have to say regarding the subject."
"CUNT!" Kumon yelled, shaking the dishes on the table, the pictures on the walls, the nerves in Ranma body. A volley of vacuum blades would follow. Ranma struggled to move in time, but the effect of the temporary paralysis was too great.
Instead, the panda knocked Kumon to the floor before he could attack. Grabbing the kettle from Nodoka, Genma poured tea on himself. "You will honor the challenge, or you will not stay under this roof. Do you understand me?"
Ranma smirked. No way Kumon would agree. He'd hit the road, and that was almost as good as a win.
Kumon nodded slowly. "Alright, I agree to the stupid challenge," to the somewhat shocked Ranma he asked, "You want to do it now or what?"
Ranma swallowed. "No, not now. One week from now, when I get back from China. Fight to first knockdown."
"You're not going to use Nabiki's strategy, are you, son?" Genma asked.
"Ah…no, that's off the table. No sex stuff." Ranma might have kept that as a back up strategy if her father hadn't said anything, but she was a little relieved to have that particular joker out of the deck.
"You sure you don't want to make it for a year from now? Or maybe a decade? It's going to take you a long time to catch up to me," Kumon laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back.
Ranma kept silent. She wanted to boast that she could fight him right now, but she knew she wouldn't win. She had just about figured out Kumon's technique, but she hadn't figured out a way to counter it yet. She needed time.
"Fine then," Kumon said. "A week from now and I'll whup your pansy, half girl ass." He got up from the table and left.
"Would you like anything from the kitchen?" Nodoka asked.
"No, mom, I-"
"Why are you doing this?" Genma asked abruptly. "Is this about Akane again? You know there are other ways to get close to a girl."
"I'm not trying to get close to a girl! At least, not anymore. I'm comfortable like this, Pops. When I'm a guy, I just feel this constant pressure…"
"I thought you were back to wearing boxers?"
Ranma was confused for a moment, then she smacked her forehead. "Pops, I mean an emotional pressure, not a pressure in my underwear!" Nodoka snickered behind her hand before she left for the kitchen. "Pops, I'm a girl. You just gotta, I don't know, accept that. Or not."
Genma shook his head. "I don't accept it. I can't help but think this is some other lame brained idea that has gotten into your head. Or another curse. That's possible isn't it?"
"Pops…"
Genma held up a hand. "I don't accept it, but I accept you. What I said and did when I was…hungry…I can't say that wasn't me. That was a part of me I struggle to control. But it's a small part. You should know…" Genma took a breath. "Even if what you say is true…you're still my son. It took balls to come back here, to stand up to that boy, to me and your mom, I don't care how much of a girl you are. We should have talked to you about adopting that kid first. We're just trying to do the right thing. I'm trying to do the right thing. I ruined that boy's life, Ranma, you see what I'm saying here, right?"
You ruined my life too, Pops! Part of Ranma wanted to say. She was still pissed about the whole thing, but she took a breath. "Pops…I'm trying to be okay with this. I just can't do that and keep pretending to be a guy at the same time. It ain't going to work."
"Pretending?"
Ranma opened her mouth to take the word back, then she closed it and shrugged. She'd been playing the Man among Men game all her life. Learning the rules and trying her hardest to follow them. How much of that was Genma's severe interpretation of gender roles and how much of it was actual societal norms Ranma wasn't sure, but the word covered how she felt. "I don't know the rules for being a girl, Pops. If I did, maybe I wouldn't like it any better. I just want to be who I am, and this seems to be the only way I can do that."
Genma sighed. "Your mother said you seemed happier as a girl." He shook his head, "You should talk with her. You've had enough of me."
Ranma smirked, "Yeah Pops, you'd think ten years alone with me would be enough."
"You'd think," Genma said with a sad smile. He patted Ranma's head, something he hadn't done in ages, and then he left the dining area.
Ranma picked up a triangle of rice , plucked the pickled cabbage from the back of it and popped it in her mouth before heading to the kitchen. It tasted sweet…and sour. Par for the course really.
~~~~~Akane~~~~~
She shivered after the change. Nyanni or Kosuke or Tasuke or whatever she wanted to call herself at the moment was siting down on a simple wood stool next to an equally simple table. Looking around, the whole place looked like the second little piggy's house. Built of sticks. Akane always had a lot of empathy for the second pig. He was aware of the danger. He prepared. It just wasn't enough. That's how it always was for Akane. She would think she was doing well. That she had things figured out, and then the moment of truth would come… and she'd fail. Then she would get better, prepare more, and it still wouldn't be enough.
"Are you going to behave now? Or should I bring in a cat next time?" The woman leaned forward, her legs crossed. She wore a simple blue cheongsam and no jewelry. "By now someone from the springs has told you who I am. What…I am."
"You killed my mother." Akane said sharply, shivering again.
"Yes, well, she's being resurrected almost as we speak so I wouldn't be too upset about that. Besides, you killed my husband. I would say we're more than even."
"I killed him?" Akane blinked. She had hit the guy pretty but…She shook her head, "Doesn't matter. He was a pervert. He needed to die." Akane told herself it was only a matter of time before the woman before her would share the man's fate.
Nyanni nodded, "I agree. Annoying sycophant. He had his uses, but I was planning on killing him myself." She leaned back looking off in the distance in thought, "I think I'll leave my daughter here. The Amazons know a thing or two about raising young girls. You would have done well here. The elders would have known you were marked, would have corrected the problem much earlier."
Akane wrapped her arms around her knees for warmth.
"Oh I'm sorry. It's a bit chilly, isn't it?" Nyanni grabbed a pitcher of water and splashed it on Akane, causing her to scream involuntarily from the cold wetness. Nyanni smiled. "This is fun. I haven't gotten to do this in a long time."
Nyanni had to sleep eventually, Akane told herself, she'd get her then.
"No, actually that's not true. I don't have to sleep. Neither do you. That's part of the deal."
Akane backed away from the smiling lady.
Nyanni chuckled, "I know everything Jusenkyo knows. In many ways, Jusenkyo is like a corporation. An entity made up of lots of smaller entities. You could say that I have a considerable amount of stock in Jusenkyo. It gives me certain privileges."
"What do you want with me?" Akane asked, standing up so the lady wouldn't seem as intimidating.
The lady stood as well. "I want you to join me."
"Join you? How?"
Nyanni gaze drifted again. Was it a trick of the light, or did the color of her eyes shift, like a kaleidoscope through a spectrum of shades? "There were so many of them. So many drowned. Infants, most of them…but older children too. Even young women…All of them joined with me." She shook her head. "They gave me their springs and their essence joined with mine. You could say that I'm something of a tatterdemalion. Except that I'm less sad, and more angry."
"I'm not sure what you're saying."
"You didn't want to join the yeti-eel-ox-chicken conglomerate, but they don't have the power I have. The cohesiveness, the clear goal. They still think of themselves a separate entities, and why wouldn't they? They are only four. I am thousands."
Akane steeled herself for a fight against an unknown opponent. "I didn't want to join them because sharing a body is perverted. I am pure, unsullied. I will not be diluted by them nor by you."
Nyanni frowned. "Your definition of perversion keeps changing, it's hard for me to know where you stand. For me it has always been simple. For me the problem has always been men."
"Then why don't you kill yourself? That's at least half a man down right there."
"That wouldn't accomplish anything. It would be a drop in the bucket. Besides it is the male mindset that is the problem."
"A mindset? That sounds pretty complicated."
"Women are getting killed, you miscreant! Just for being women. How can you say that isn't worth eradicating?"
Akane frowned. "I don't see how doing something evil like that is a male thing. Isn't more the abuse of power? A true man wouldn't do that. He wouldn't let power corrupt him to the point where he would think that any group was worth eradicating. A true woman would be the same."
"Are you a true woman, Akane? Is that why you killed my husband?"
"I killed him because he was a pervert," Akane said advancing on the lady.
"How did you know he was a pervert?" Nyanni asked
"Of course he was a pervert! He had to be! Because he…because.."
"Because he was a man?"
Akane frowned. She felt like she was missing a negative somewhere in a math problem. She shook her head. She'd figure it out later. "I'm not going to join you. I don't care what you say."
Nyanni sighed. "Then I guess I'll have to kill you." She lowered her hand and a pink glow grew there.
Akane closed her eyes. She hoped houses made of sticks blew down as easy as in children's stories. Before Nyanni could raise her hand, Akane ran into the wall at full speed, hitting it with her shoulder. But though the wall bowed out and she could see daylight through the cracks, the house was well-made.
"A nice attempt, but I'm afraid-"
Akane charged Nyanni instead, her shoulder hitting the older lady's solar plexus and knocking her down. Akane picked up the table, lifted it high above her head and slammed it down on Nyanni's face with a sickening crunch. She lifted the table and did it again. Then, tossing the table aside she took the chair and broke it into timbers against the floor. Taking one of the sharper pieces of wood, Akane stabbed it through the lady's eye, ramming it against the sphenoid bone.
A hand shot up grabbing Akane's wrist. A glowing, pink hand.
Akane felt the strength leave her body. She felt another consciousness start to push her out, something hopelessly lost and afraid. Something that didn't know whether it was a rat or a girl.
I'm stronger than you, Akane told it, give me control.
Still the consciousness resisted, and the girl Akane turned into staggered for a bit.
Nyanni threw her into the floor. Face horribly deformed, one eye ruined, Nyanni sucked in breath through her mangled mouth, and advanced on the girl wielding the piece of wood, only now it glowed pink, and suddenly it was on fire.
Akane felt the frustration again. That constant feeling of almost succeeding, of getting almost everything right except for the crucial detail. Not this time, she told herself and the hopeless soul riding the girl. I'm claiming this body. Get. Out.
And then she was in control. But still naked, still weak, still scared. Akane grit her teeth and scrambled up to her feet. Nyanni's face was healing as Akane watched. Bones popping back into place, vitreous humor pulling back into a reforming eye. Nyanni pulled back to strike with the burning wood and Akane back pedaled to the wall. Her bare back felt the smooth knots of reed and bamboo, cold and unyielding. "Kosuke!" Akane called out. Nyanni paused. "Are you going to kill me too, Kosuke?"
Nyanni's jaw reformed enough for her to say "He's gone, brat. He's been gone for a long time." She swung the burning wood toward Akane, but Akane was able to dive clumsily to the floor in time to miss the blow.
As she rolled away from the next attack, she searched for some kind of weapon, but there was nothing. She got herself up into a crouch, panting from all the exertion that the unused girl's body was going through. "I'm sorry…" Akane panted, "For killing your husband."
The lady with the burning piece of wood paused.
"It was you, wasn't it, Kosuke? That kept her from killing him?"
The lady lowered the wood. "She could never have loved a man."
Akane couldn't hide her look of disgust, but she recovered. "I still remember being perverted." She said. "It must be so confusing for you, not being pure, like I am now." She felt something stir within her when she affirmed her purity. There was a source of energy if she could just tap into it…
The lady had her own look of disgust. "You're not Kirika's daughter. Not really. You're a demon just like she said. Nothing close to 'pure.'"
"No, I'm not that woman's daughter, it's true. That girl was weak, confused, perverted by loneliness and sorrow. I'm something better. I am pure, righteous. And my purity gives me strength." Akane found the energy she was seeking and tapped into it. A pale blue glow enveloped her and then there was he familiar weight of the mallet in her hands. She wasn't using her muscles to wield it, just obscene amounts of spirit energy. Akane smiled. "I'll make your death as quick as possible," she said, and swung the mallet into the lady's skull.
She kept swinging until there was nothing but a bloody pulp on the floor. Then she swung a few more times to be sure. Blood splattered everywhere and it mingled with Akane's hair and the sweat on her skin. Soon her ki reserves sputtered out and all she could do was collapse naked in the growing pool of red. She was completely exhausted. She never felt more alive.
Finally…she had won.
~~~~~Ranma~~~~~
The parking lot of the hospital wasn't very large. Situated in the city, most of the vehicles were parked in a multi-tiered structure hidden from view behind the main edifice. Still, there was a considerable amount of space for staff and visitors and it was a good area to meet without too many eavesdroppers. Ranma wore her usual black and red outfit, although it was the girl version that actually fit her decently. And she had let Nodoka brush out her hair and put it in a ponytail. She found an old brass locket to stick the dragon whisker in and wore that in case there was an accident. The final difference in her usual look was that she left the top tangs of her shirt unbuttoned. All anyone could see was the top of her sports bra, but while she wasn't showing any cleavage, the look seemed more feminine, without being too far away from what she was comfortable with.
Ranma glanced back at her mother. She stood behind her in her usual kimono. "You might not want to be here, Mom" Ranma suggested, "Things are gonna get pretty weird."
Nodoka smiled. "Ra…Megumi?"
Ranma shrugged and nodded to say that the second name was probably better.
"Megumi-chan, Kirika was my best friend, and I'm well aware of how…weird things can get. A day ago I had a son after all."
"I'm sorry, Mom."
Nodoka held up a hand. "You fulfilled your contract. You are you're own person. You have nothing to be sorry about. But I miss my friend, and I want to get to know my daughter. I don't plan on leaving."
Ranma nodded and approached Akane, Ryoga, and Nabiki on the side of the lot.
"Megumi," Nabiki strode out the loose formation of the group as she addressed her "Maybe you can talk some sense into my sister?"
Ranma glanced at Akane, who had a very serious expression and who was wearing her yellow martial arts gi and was sporting a new, short hairdo. She might have been going for a boyish look, but it really just made her look cuter. "Uh…"
Akane crossed her arms. "I'm not your sister, Nabiki. I'm your brother. If Ranma can be a girl, I can be a guy. I mean if we wanted, we could stick my consciousness into one of the men we found in a coma the same way you want to stick mom into one of the women. So why does it matter what body I wear?"
"Akane, you're nothing like a boy!," Nabiki argued, visibly frustrated. "You don't move like a boy, you don't talk like a boy. You can be strong, and all the other things you like without being a boy. Heck you can even hate men if you want."
Akane shook her head. "It's not about what I want to do. It's about who I am. I think if I want to be happy, I need to be a man."
"Um…why can't you just do like she says, Nabiki?" Ranma asked. "I mean, if you can transfer one soul…"
"It's not like changing out a battery, Megumi! You should know that much! These people are in comas, but their souls are still tethered to their bodies. Mom's going to have to work out some kind of deal with the lady we put her in, and it might not work out, but we have to try because we don't have options. But Akane wants to possess some guy's body because of…well I'm sorry, but it's basically penis envy."
Ranma hadn't considered that the people in comas would still have their souls. She had been thinking they were basically empty vessels. But when she had possessed Akane that one time, it had not been pleasant. Almost like getting consumed.
"Nabiki, you idiot!" Everyone turned to look at Akane. It was the most angry she had been since getting the Jusenkyo soulectomy. "Pay attention. I don't want to possess some man's body. I was just saying that I could, theoretically. I can probably find some other magic thing to change myself with. Maybe I'll go for surgery or something. But it's not about the body I wear. Ranma's a girl, whether she's a man or not. Maybe that wasn't always the case, but now it is. I'm a man, whether or not I'm physically a girl. I'm the heir to our school. I'm the one who will take over for Dad after he retires. I care more about honor and glory than I do about harmony and good will. I'm a man, Nabiki."
Ranma looked between Akane and Nabiki, trying to decide which of them was being more sexist. Part of her still wanted to protest that she was a guy too, but did she really care about honor and glory any more? Well, a little, sure, but wasn't family harmony more important than honor? Wasn't it better that she didn't have to commit seppuku? What good was glory if you were being an asshole? Isn't that just obvious? Or did she just think it was obvious because she was a girl, and that's how girls thought?
Nodoka cleared her throat. "Excuse me, but may I suggest taking care of the task at hand? Akane-chan's other problems can wait I think, for at least a little while.
Ranma gave her mom a look of gratitude. It was good that she was here after all.
Ryoga, who up until that point was busy leaning uncomfortably against a BMW and definitely NOT taking a side in any arguments that might be going on between attractive females, straightened up "Right. I think we're getting close to the shift change. My name is Hibiki Ryoga, by the way. You must be Megumi's mom. It's nice to meet you." Ryoga gave a polite but quick bow.
"Please take care of me," Nodoka bowed in turn. "It's been so long, I almost feel like I should introduce myself to all of you. Nabiki and Akane, you've grown so much. But again, I'm anxious to see this come to a conclusion."
"Okay then. Let's go!" Ryoga bounded off away from the hospital toward a grassy hill and a chain link fence. A Wonderburger sign stood in the distance.
"Ryoga, that's not the way to the hospital," Nabiki called out, "It's this way!" she pointed to the train station Ranma and her mother just left. "I mean…" Nabiki smiled sheepishly, a canine poking out cutely from her lip.
Ranma wordlessly raised an index finger toward the hospital entrance.
Nabiki nodded slowly, clearly suspicious of Ranma's directions, but aware that her judgment was off. "Just come back here, the others are going to have to lead us."
Ryoga managed to slow himself down just before crashing through the fence. He turned around. At that moment, the sprinkler system rose out of the ground next to Ryoga and started spraying water, dousing him and turning him into a pig before he could do anything about it. The piglet shot into Nabiki's arms.
"Akane, do you mind getting Ryoga-baby's things? I mean, as long as you're going to be a man and everything?"
Akane bowed deeply with a flourish and retrieved Ryoga's backpack and clothes, getting pretty soaked herself in the process. "Can we get on with this now?" She asked, handing Nabiki Ryoga's pack.
"Sure," Nabiki said as she absently reached for the back pack. "Holy crap this is heavy!" Stepping back to adjust to the weight, Nabiki missed the small ledge that marked the edge of another grassy area of the parking lot. She tripped and fell onto the grass. As she tried to get up again, another set of sprinklers lifted out of the ground and pelted her with water.
"That's strange," Ranma remarked to her mother, "Nabiki isn't normally this clumsy." Then Nabiki stood, and Ranma saw what the problem was.
Nabiki was a little taller, with wider shoulders, a flat chest, and, presumably, a penis. Of course it made some sense that if Nabiki could share one curse with Ryoga, she could share all of his curses, but this was still a bit unexpected.
"Honestly," Akane commented, arms crossed over her breasts, "this is just completely unfair."
~~~~~Akane~~~~~
She woke with a start, sucking in breath. She sat up, eyes still blind from sleep, her hand found the handle of her mallet and she relaxed. Akane was in a simple bed in a room perhaps a little larger than the one she had collapsed in following her battle with the spirit of Nyannicuan. An old lady of ridiculously small stature and large, lemur-like eyes stared menacingly at her as she perched on a gnarled, wooden stave. "Explain yourself, out lander," the old lady demanded.
Akane's grip on the mallet tightened, but she set it beside her on the bed, really no more than a wooden pallet with a feather duvet and sheets. Realizing she was exposed, she covered herself with one of the sheets. She wondered how she might make it into a toga so she wouldn't be at such a disadvantage. She wanted both hands free.
"Are you shy?" the old lady scoffed. "You kill the most powerful warrior ever to enter Nyuuchezu and you're shy?"
"I am pure. Unsullied. Free of perversion," Akane answered. "That abomination you call a powerful warrior wanted me to serve her, like some sort of slave. I am my own woman."
"You're a Jusenkyo curse."
"A temporary situation."
"Oh? You know of a way to remove your ties to that place?"
Akane grimaced. "The knowledge will come when the need arises."
The old lady cackled. "Oh you are so young to think that! Would that I had the knowledge to defeat my enemies when the need arose! I would certainly have a few more friends beside me."
Akane stood, uncomfortable at the old woman's words. She held the sheet with one hand so that it covered her as she stood, with her right hand she gripped the mallet, but set the head of the massive instrument upon the ground. "This is the Amazon village? I think Ranma told my old self about this place. There is a girl named Shampoo that lives here?"
"My great-granddaughter's name is Shan Pu. The outlander Saotome Ranma insulted her and then ran away like a coward. Shan Pu is a day away from the airport which will carry her to Tokyo to best the miscreant in honorable combat."
"She is not planning on killing Ranma?"
The old lady frowned. "If it comes to that. The hope is that Shan Pu will learn from the foreigner, grow stronger, and defeat the foreigner honorably among witnesses. But I fear Saotome Ranma is too much of a coward, and Shan Pu much too impatient for that to occur. Our laws exist to make us stronger, not snuff out strength like one would a candle's flame. It is why we have not snuffed you out despite the risk you pose."
Akane frowned, feeling a sense of unease. "I pose a risk?" It wasn't the sort of phrase she was used to hearing about herself. Or at all really.
Akane gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. She hadn't been speaking Japanese. She'd been speaking Mandarin. "I'm dangerous?" She repeated in Japanese, but the translation seemed off, inaccurate. She could make a truer translation, but those words were darker, more indistinct, as if they were behind smoke or fog.
"You are a native speaker of Japanese," the old woman stated, "but you've only been speaking that language for, what is it? Fifteen years? Sixteen? I have spoken my dialect of Mandarin for much longer. The agents of Jusenkyo have spoken it for centuries. So I will continue to speak in Mandarin as I tell you that you are not your own woman, as you claim. You are an agent of Jusenkyo, and that is why you pose a risk to us. Just as the one you killed posed a risk to us."
Akane grit her teeth. This was a test of her purity. She would not allow this challenge to sully her. "This form that I use to speak and interact with you…is just a tool. An imperfect tool, which I will make more perfect in time. I am pure and without fault, it is only this imperfect instrument which creates errors."
The old lady lifted an eyebrow. "I did not realize! Tell me, oh pure and perfect one, do you have a name?"
"My name is Tendo Akane." Akane said proudly.
The old lady shook her head and tutted. "No, I'm afraid not. The you who can be named is not truly you."
"I can swear to you on my blood and life that I am indeed Tendo Akane! No one, not even my previous self, is more Tendo Akane than I am. I am pure, unadulterated, untainted. I am wholly and uniquely me!"
The old lady smiled sadly. "And that is why you cannot possibly be Tendo Akane. Because if Tendo Akane were here, she would doubt."
Akane frowned. "You know nothing about me or my previous self. Why do you speak this nonsense?"
"If you could understand, it would not be nonsense." The old lady lowered herself to the ground and started to walk away. Pausing at the door she said, "You may call me Elder Ku Lung. I'll make sure you get some clothes and a good meal. Then, unfortunately I'll have to see you on your way. I suspect you would make an excellent Amazon, but you are not yourself, and someone who is not themselves cannot be trusted."
Ku Lung left the the wooden structure and Akane was left staring at a thick bamboo door. "I don't trust you either, you old crone!" Akane called out after the woman. Akane was reminded of Grandmother Shiratori, always insulting her. Always belittling her in subtle and not so subtle ways as she walked to school minding her own business. She was not that Akane anymore. She would not allow such slights to go unchallenged. She charged out of the wooden structure, her hand letting go of the sheet around her as she gripped her mallet with both hands. Naked outside amidst a town full of people she over took the elderly Ku Lung and stood in her path. "Acknowledge me, old woman. Admit that I am Tendo Akane, or die."
Ku Lung's wizened face did not look as though it was accustomed to bewilderment, but it made the expression regardless. She climbed onto her walking stick and stared up at Akane as if examining an errant rain cloud.
All around her, Akane could hear the sounds of the town, the noises from the people selling goods, the sounds of water being carried, of women sparring and training against dummies, of men beating woven mats free of dust, all quieting around her until there was an almost unbearable silence. She could feel their eyes on her naked body. Perverts all of them. All of them deserving of death. Except…
The old woman jumped off her walking stick and disappeared. Akane felt something jam into her back. It had the jangling sensation of an activated pressure point. Akane twirled around to face her attacker but ended up on the wispy grass of the village instead. Above her, the face of Ku Lung loomed. "I may have been wrong, girl. You might be salvageable after all."
Akane tried to move, but only managed to shiver in the mountain air. How could she let herself be seen like this. By a whole village of people? Naked? It was almost as if…
"I have defeated you when you challenged me among witnesses. You are now my servant until I release you or until you can defeat me. Swear to me that you will not voluntarily harm the village of Nyuchezu or its people, nor allow harm to come to them if you are capable of preventing it. Otherwise, I will have to kill you."
Akane grit her teeth. Blood was rushing to her head, warming her cheeks. Her eyes started to water, and she used all her willpower to keep the moisture from becoming tears. Everyone was looking at her. Well, let them look! "I am Tendo Akane!" she yelled out, her voice breaking only slightly, but enough so that there was no hiding her embarrassment.
They all knew who she was now. They would all remember her as the woman who attacked one of their leaders while wearing nothing but air. They would snicker and point and call her Tendo Akane…the pervert. "I am Tendo Akane" she repeated. More quietly now. But with steel behind her voice. "And I so swear." There was a twanging of some cord within her, and sense of something echoing in the distance.
Ku Lung nodded. "I believe you now. I acknowledge you, Tendo Akane." She touched the tip of her stave to Akane's back. "Now rise…and get inside before the whole village sees you, you silly cow!"
Akane stood. She gripped her mallet so her front was hidden somewhat by the head of the weapon. She closed her eyes. It was too late. They had seen everything. She would hold on to some semblance of dignity. She would not act like her old self, a little girl afraid of what she was. She was pure. Even naked in the middle of a village, she was herself, Tendo Akane, unsullied and untainted. Let them see that. Akane changed her grip so that her mallet was at the ready, to her side. She strode smoothly without haste back into the large bamboo shack she had vacated earlier.
But once inside she rushed to the bed and wrapped herself back in the sheet. She pulled her knees to her chest and rocked chattering from the cold she had felt outside and from within. I'm just as bad as they are, a new voice cried within her. How could I just prance around naked like that? I'm a pervert! A pervert! But no, she was better somehow. Her purity transcended…oh shut up! It's bullshit. It's all fucking bullshit!
Out loud, gripping the handle of her mallet with both hands, she whispered in a quivering breath. "But it's all that I have!"
The mallet glowed with a soft, white light.
~~~~~Ranma~~~~~
After an interesting trip to the bathroom, Nabiki and Ryoga were back to their normal forms and they were all dressed as nurses or lab techs and rushing along a hospital hallway with a gurney and a stolen coma patient in tow.
"Tell me again how you got hospital IDs for all of us?" Ranma asked.
"Magic," Nabiki informed her.
Ranma nodded. "Oh. Right."
Nabiki sighed, "I got Tofu to register us all as temporary volunteers. All of us except your mom. I didn't know she was going to be with us. So look busy and say things like 'STAT' as much as possible or someone might make you clean up some bodily fluids."
Ranma wrinkled her nose. "Okay, got it…uh stat!" she looked down at her white dress and shoes. "Nurses actually wear this? It's not just a sex costume?"
"I had some scrubs you could have worn, but you wanted to be a girl, so deal with it." Nabiki snapped. "I hope you're paying attention to where we're going. It feels like we've been going in circles."
"Yeah," Ryoga navigated the gurney around a corner wearing pink orderly scrubs. "I swear we passed that water fountain twice already."
"That was the first turn we've made and the room is at the end of this hallway," Ranma said, exasperated. "And I'm trying to stick to a form for Akane's sake."
"You don't have to bother." Akane said with a shrug as she opened the door to the empty room they had scouted out previously. "Be a guy if you want to be a guy." Akane wore blue scrubs that were too big for her. She had the waist tied in a knot around her middle.
The nurse uniform was embarrassing enough to make Ranma consider it, but she had made a promise and she would keep it. "I just don't understand why I'm the only one dressed this way."
"Okay! Gods! You got me! It's a sex costume!" Nabiki said. "Just shut up already. You look amazing."
Ranma felt heat rise to her cheeks. She'd forgotten about Nabiki sharing Ryoga's…feelings. She whirled around to her mother, who was trying to stifle a laugh "I'm sorry, honey, but you were so gung ho! And the costume is really rather subdued. Not much different from the real thing when I was a nurse."
"Let's get everything set up," Nabiki prodded, "This plan isn't exactly fool proof." Nabiki got out a canister of salt and some chalk. She carefully poured out a circle in an empty area of the hospital room floor, and another around the stretcher that held the comatose patient. "Akane, you get into this circle with me. Ryoga, you stand next to the body."
"She's a person, Nabiki," Nodoka chided.
"What do I do?" Ranma asked.
"I don't know! Uh…" Nabiki thought for a moment. "Your mom can watch out for people getting too curious and you can knock them out if they try to get inside, how about that?"
"I don't see why you need all this set up. Akane's moved from me to her easily enough," Ranma grumbled.
Nabiki held the bridge of her nose. "Ranma-baby, you're being incredibly male right now. I know you're used to being the one taking care of things, but can we just pretend I know what I'm doing for half a minute?"
Ranma held her hands up in a "I give up" gesture.
"Okay now…Ryoga is my familiar," Nabiki talked as if she was trying to remember the answer to a complicated problem she worked out earlier. "He and I have a connection. Akane has Mom inside her, but to get Mom in the new body the soul needs a path. A connection to follow. The body, I'm sorry, Karada-san here, isn't going to accept mom right off the bat probably. They need to make some kind of agreement, and we need the circles so that other spirits don't come wandering in while that happens and Mom doesn't get pushed out. So Akane, when I say, I want you to relax and…"
"No," Akane said softly.
"What?"
"Ryoga, change places with me," Akane stepped out of the circle with Nabiki.
"Akane! It isn't going to work like that. Mom has to leave you and go to Karada-san through a connection. Like a liquid poured down a funnel."
Akane shook her head. "She's too weak, Nabiki."
"No, Akane, she's not. She'll follow the connection, she'll get inside that body there, and then she'll be back. She'll be our mother again. We'll be a family again."
"I've been barely able to hear her for an hour. I thought she was gathering her strength, but…Nabiki I was focusing on her, just now and I finally heard her. She's saying goodbye." Akane stepped into the circle with Ryoga and Karada-san.
"No, she's not saying goodbye. You're hearing her wrong. She's just weak. She'll be strong after we get her a new body. Just get back into this circle and we'll…"
Akane swallowed. "Nabiki, Auntie Saotome is right, this isn't a body, it's a person."
"I know that! She gets to live and Mom gets to live. It's a win win! She can work something out!"
"Mom healed you. When Ranma punched you before, you would have died. Mom healed you."
"Yes, I'm aware of this."
Akane took in a breath…"When she did that, she had to use up a portion of her soul. She's been fading ever since. Before Ranma got her name she was sustaining herself on her soul, but she hasn't been doing that with me. She's been keeping herself away on purpose. And now she's almost gone."
"We can save her, Akane! That's the whole point of us being here! " Nabiki was almost screaming now. "Ranma! Grab her! Drag her back here!"
Ranma hesitated. Something about what Akane was saying made a little too much sense.
Akane put her hand on Karada-san's shoulder. "There is someone we can save here. I think, if I can do what Ranma did for you."
Nabiki stepped out of her circle. "Akane, no. We don't know this person. She could be anybody. We're here to save Mom. Whoever this is, she's…"
"Unimportant?" Akane asked, tilting her head.
"I didn't say that. Akane, this is just you being mopey and depressed. You need to fight remember? Don't give up so easily."
Akane closed her eyes. "I am fighting, Nabiki. I'm fighting you. I'm fighting Kasumi. I'm fighting Dad. I've tried being all of you, but it never worked. I can't manipulate things so it feels like I'm in control, I can't pretend things don't exist, and I can't run away from everything else I care about. I have to do this because it's the right thing to do."
"You bitch! You're killing her! You're killing your own mother!" Nabiki lunged at Akane fists clenched.
Akane never opened her eyes. She just stepped to the side and Nabiki swiped at air, lost balance, fell to the floor. "If Mom doesn't want this to happen, it won't happen. It's her choice, I'm just…letting her go." She placed her hand lightly on the comatose woman's forehead. "Mom? There's someone here who could use your help."
Nabiki got up. She held her hands out to Akane to get her to stop "Let's give this some thought Akane. You don't want to do anything rash…"
Akane smiled serenely as blue light shone from her eyes and from her hand. "Mom always hated it when people told her that."
The light increased in intensity and then winked out. Akane closed her eyes.
Nabiki had her back to Ranma so all the redhead could see was her lowered head. "I planned this for a week. I got myself cursed…I never even got a chance to say goodbye!"
Ryoga rushed to her, embraced her.
Akane held the comatose woman's hand. "Nabiki," she said with just a touch of the frustration that would have consumed her before, "Honestly, you spend so much time being sneaky. I don't know why you can't just ask people what they want."
Nabiki screamed into Ryoga's shoulder and beat his back with her fists.
"Megumi." Ryoga said in a growl. "You and Ranma really are the same person. This is all your fault."
"What?" Ranma asked, "What did I do?"
"You made Nabiki's life a living hell!"
"You punched her in the eye, you destroyed her mother's soul when you asked her to heal the wound. You let Akane carry Mom instead of you. It's all your fault, you wretched witch!"
Ranma stepped back, her back bumping into her mother. She felt hands on her shoulders. "My daughter may be a witch, young man, but she is not wretched."
Ryoga set his jaw. He picked Nabiki up in a fireman's carry over his shoulder. He picked a direction, and ran, through the wall, through all barriers to nowhere in particular.
The woman in the bed stirred. Her eyes opened. "Hunh?" she rasped.
"Don't try to talk," Akane told her. "You were in a coma for a long time. My name is Tendo Akane, son of Tendo Kirika, heir to the to Tendo school of Anything Goes. Please take it easy on me." Akane chuckled nervously at the introduction.
Ranma felt some chord in the universe vibrate, and was it just a residual glow from her mother leaving her, or was Akane's hair now a more definite shade of blue?
"Tendo?," The woman rasped. "Tendo! You're in danger! Don't trust…don't trust…Shiratori!"
Akane's recently blue eyes found Ranma's. Shiratori. As in Grandmother Shiratori. Ladle lady Shiratori. Nabiki's mentor.
~~~~~End of Ch. 17~~~~~
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~~~~~Author's Note~~~~~
So…yeah.
Thank you for your reviews, favorites, and follows. This chapter is dedicated to the people who were worried Akane was too passive and was just going to get rescued by Ranma again. I don't think there was any real danger of that happening, but I think Akane became a little bit more awesome because of those reviews. So yeah, I listen to you. I might twist your theories and suggestions into gnarled perversions of your original intent, but I listen. Just like Akane's declaration of manhood. Someone suggested that Akane get a male curse. I might have done exactly that except for then I'd feel like I was just doing what that reviewer said to do. So nyah.
I suspect someone is going to say Akane's OOC (sorry, kind of the idea, but I think there is enough of her in there, even if she dips a little close to Kuno territory). And that Cologne's name should be Ku Lon (sorry, I found a Chinese dictionary and couldn't find "Lon" anywhere in it, but I did find "Lung" and anyway, I like the sound that I hear in my head better with Ku Lung) And that life and death should have greater significance than perceived social improprieties (sorry,...). I am aware of these issues, and I am willfully ignoring them. Unless Will Ferrell and Judy Dench play a married couple in a movie with cyborgs in it. If that happens, then I will totally fix everything I've mentioned, but someone will have to remind me.
At any rate, I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I've enjoyed writing it. The next one might come a little slower since I might work on Thyself Known for a while (and some original stories, and real life stuff and so on) . I'll probably separate this into another book when Ranma gets to China. I'm hoping to wrap up a few plotlines by then so that someone can come in fresh without their heads exploding, but I might just keep going, since people's heads are probably going to explode regardless.