Chapter 67: What's in a Name?
Akane stared at the 'apologies for the misunderstanding regarding thine birth sex' banner Tatewaki was hanging from the school roof, and decided to take some joy in the fact that he was on the school roof and not in their way. Even if it didn't really matter as now the school was busy whispering about what Akane 'not bothering with gender' meant.
Nodoka adjusted her kimono as she stood outside the Oozora home. She was going to do it today. She had made up her mind. She was going to push to prove once and for all if Ran was her child.
She nodded to herself and knocked on the door. One of the thuggish men who worked for Oozora-san opened the door and showed her into the genkan. Hibari appeared a moment later to greet her.
"Auntie Nodoka, what a surprise!" the girl said.
Nodoka noticed her hair had changed to blonde. Teens these days, always dyeing their hair…
"Hello, Hibari-chan. Is Ranma around?"
"Umm… possibly?" the blonde replied. "W-why don't I take you to one of our tea rooms while I go looking for him?"
"That does sound nice," Nodoka said, smiling as she followed the blonde down the hallway.
She saw how the girl was nervous, and felt it was evidence in favour of her theory. Nodoka tried to give the young girl a reassuring smile as they walked towards the tea room. She was fairly certain Hibari knew about her suspicions, and wanted to keep the girl from worrying.
They reached the room, Hibari sliding the door open and starting to tell Nodoka she could wait there when a young man walked around the corner. A young man with messy shoulder length hair, like she remembered Ranma always having. A face that was indeed the perfect mixture of rugged and bishonen. The manly energy he radiated was undeniable. There was a confidence to his walk that reminded her of her husband when they first met. Which had to mean he was…
"R-Ranma?" Nodoka asked, stepping forward.
The boy froze, looking shocked to see her. There was a sadness and loneliness in his eyes, and she couldn't help but hurry forward to hug him, suddenly feeling awash with guilt over having mistaken someone else for him.
For his part, Gekijirou tried not to breath, staring over Nodoka's shoulder at Hibari with terror in his eyes. He'd heard about the seppuku pledge and Nodoka's habit of carrying a katana around. He also hadn't bound his chest for the day yet, and had no idea how Ranma's mother might react if she noticed a softness she wasn't expecting while thinking he was Ranma.
"Uhh… Auntie, th-that's not Ranma," Hibari said, hurrying over to them.
Nodoka blinked, breaking the hug, but keeping her hands on Gekijirou's shoulders as she turned to Hibari. "N-not Ranma?"
"Taiga Gekijirou, ma'am! I just moved in!" he blurted, while hoping to escape quickly.
"Oh! I'm sorry," Nodoka said, finally letting go of him. "You just looked like I thought Ranma would…"
Gekijirou was about to make a break for it when another teen rounded the corner, toweling off some sweat from his morning workout.
"What's all the…" he started before freezing as he saw Nodoka.
Nodoka, for her part, blinked. The boy looked so much like Ran. If you had asked her to picture Ran as a boy, well, apart for the hair and the height he's what she'd have pictured. He even wore his hair the same way. He looked like a deer in the headlights, before his body language seemed to shift to be… softer.
"Oh! Hello aunti—mrmph," he started in a slightly high voice, only to have his mouth covered by Hibari.
The blonde girl placed another hand on his chest, which, for some reason, caused him to look down and then go pale. Hibari shot him a look, and he nodded. The blonde slowly removed both her hands.
"I'm dead," Ranma whispered to himself, Nodoka barely hearing him.
"R-Ra…nma?" Nodoka asked slowly, not wanting to make any rash assumptions this time around.
"… yes?" he replied with a soft voice and a glance towards Hibari.
The blonde took in a deep breath, before nodding. "Auntie Nodoka… it's a long story, but, may we ask that you listen to the full story before drawing any conclusions?"
Nodoka was confused, but nodded.
Hibari led her into the tea room, gesturing for her to sit down at the table. She then pushed both the boys into the room, seating them as well. Gekijirou protested, but his presence was apparently useful to explain… something. Hibari then hurried out of the room, coming back a few moments later with a glass of water and a thermos. Nodoka and the boys had sat in awkward silence while she'd been gone, Nodoka unsure what to make of her son's expression. Or his existence, when she'd thought Ran was him… his eyes, though. They felt the same as the redheaded girl.
The blonde then sat down between the two boys and gave a nod.
"So, I'm guessing you've figured out part of what's going on, but don't understand how it could be going on?" Hibari asked.
It was Nodoka's turn to nod. "Ranma is… he's taller and has quite a different… build from Ran. Yet it feels like…"
Ranma leaned over to Hibari, and whispered, "Maybe we can still—"
"How did that work for Shampoo?" she asked, cutting him off.
"N-not great," he mumbled.
Hibari turned back to Nodoka. "I think a visual demonstration is the best place to start."
She then poured the glass of water onto Ranma's head. Nodoka gasped as he shrank into the redheaded girl she'd felt such a strong connection to. Ranma looked up at her with a guilty expression.
"H-hi," Ranma mumbled.
"It's magic, from China," Hibari explained. "He was accidentally subjected to it earlier this year. Cold water turns him into a girl. Hot water—"
She poured the thermos onto the redhead, and the girl turned back into a boy. "Hot water reverses it."
Nodoka stared, nodding slowly. "So, then… does the magic mean… does it give you the mind of a girl as well as the body, when you're transformed?"
"Uh…" Ranma began, trying to figure out which option would make his life the easiest, as his father had always taught him.
"No," Hibari said, cutting off her fiancé from making any blunders. "The mind and the body are distinct."
"Oh… that…" Nodoka began, feeling guilty about how much that hurt. She'd built up her hopes that she'd, against all odds, stumbled into having a daughter like she'd always wanted. The daughter she'd put so much effort into learning how to protect. Now that was torn away, and… she was ready to love her son, the son she'd expected to have, but…
"Which isn't to say that he's never feminine," Hibari said, which confused Nodoka and caused Ranma to shoot Hibari a look of pure terror. "I had Uncle Genma tell me the exact wording of your agreement. It required Ranma to be a man among men, but it did not specify he couldn't be more than that. So his being manly sometimes and womanly other times isn't a problem."
Nodoka was quiet, not sure how to process that.
Hibari nudged Gekijirou.
"Huh? Oh. Ya want me ta mention him bein' manly? I… I ain't sure how best ta start, but he's cool when he's bein' a guy. Which does seem ta be usually?" the lad explained. "And, uh, I've got lotsa trainin' on how ta be a proper man. Basically a professional opinion."
Hibari stared at him for a moment, before muttering under her breath: "I suppose poor communication skills are manly."
Ranma and Gekijirou both seemed ready to protest.
"W-why didn't you tell me? Right away?" Nodoka asked, able to work out her feelings about that at the very least.
"I was stuck as a girl," Ranma replied. "I… uh… I did it voluntarily to overcome a challenge, 'cause a martial artist ain't supposed ta back down from a challenge, but… I couldn't undo if I'd wanted ta when ya came. An' I thought I'd be dead fer sure if I couldn't prove I could be a guy still."
Memories of Ran mentioning cramps and blood flashed in Nodoka's mind. She reached a hand out, grabbing one of Ranma's across the table.
"I am a poor mother, doing so little for my own child for her first period… I'm so sorry, Ran," she said, looking at Ranma with soft eyes.
"I… uh… yer n-not gonna kill me fer havin' had one?" Ranma asked, still pale.
"Of course not?" Nodoka replied.
"You, um, said 'Ran' instead of 'Ranma', auntie," Hibari said as a soft correction.
"F-force of habit," Nodoka said softly. "I… well, as I'm sure you knew, I suspected Ran was my child. I hadn't realised magic was involved, though… but I asked someone for help understanding what I suspected, and I directed to meet some other young women born male in Shinjuku. They explained to me that they had, generally, completely abandoned the names they were born with. As—as the promise had specified 'Ranma' had a standard to meet, I thought I could argue Ran was fine as her name had not been mentioned… the name could be dead so that the child could live."
All three teens blinked. None had expected Nodoka, the traditional honour obsessed artifact of the Edo era, to have gone to the queer part of Tokyo.
"A-and… you accept those women as… well, women, ma?" Ranma asked.
Nodoka gave a slow nod. "After meeting them, and talking to them… yes? I had thought you were the same, and had simply seen a shy young woman who I wanted to call my… that I am still happy to call my daughter when you want to be, and my son when you prefer that."
Ranma felt giddy, receiving acceptance from one of his parents after the stubbornness of his other one.
He wanted to hurry around the table, to hug his mother, when one more question entered his mind. He turned to Hibari, giving her a look he hoped she would read correctly. She nodded, and he hoped she was nodding to the correct unasked question as he turned back to his mother.
"And Hibari? I… I love her, and I need to know you'll accept her too," Ranma said.
"Accept—oh! Is that why your hair colour changed to red too, dear?" Nodoka asked, getting a soft nod and slightly shy from Hibari. "I would have never gue—Of course I accept you. You're such a delightful young woman that the only thing I disliked about realising Ran was Ranma was that I thought I wouldn't have you as a daughter-in-law."
Thrilled by the answer, both Ranma and Hibari rushed around the table to hug Nodoka. She happily returned their hugs, especially as Hibari found herself tearing up at the acceptance of a parental figure. While Hibari wouldn't ever dismiss the degree she cherished Fumiko's presence in her life, Fumiko and Hibari's father were only just dating, and Fumiko's acceptance was so much more of a guarantee. This had been a gamble and had held higher stakes.
Across the table, Gekijirou sat awkwardly, blushing slightly and not sure what to do. He tried to get up, hoping to sneak out quietly, when the other two teens turned to look at him.
He froze in his partially crouched position. "Uh… I was goin' ta just…"
Hibari turned to Ranma. "Maternal figures are still important for boys, right?"
"Uh… I think so? I mean… I'm feelin' a little mixed up right now, but… I think so?" the pigtailed boy replied.
Hibari nodded and turned back to Gekijirou. "And dad said it was just you and your father for a while, so…"
"Well, yeah, but… I barely…" he mumbled, continuing to blush. "When mum found out and she… I'm not sure I…"
Nodoka gave him another once over, before letting out a gasp. "Oh! The way you were sitting, I thought you just had impressive chest muscles…"
She stood up, Ranma and Hibari both happy to let her, and walked over to give Gekijirou a hug. "If you need a maternal figure, I would be honoured to fill that role, young man."
Gekijirou turned into a blushing mess with the hug, and Hibari swore she could see smoke coming off of him.
"This is filling me with very confusing feelings," the boy muttered, red as a stop sign.
Nodoka broke the hug, looking at him in confusion. "What's wro—oh. Oh my. I suppose that's to be expected from a healthy young man."
Hibari raised an eyebrow at Nodoka's acceptance that any healthy young man would be attracted to her. Clearly that was where Ranma inherited his confidence in both his looks from. (As well as the actual looks he was so confident in.)
Genma and Ibari had both been out on business that afternoon, postponing either being told about what had happened. Tsugumi and Suzume, however, were both thrilled by the news. Tsubame looked like her soul escaped as she slumped against the living room table.
Hibari wasn't sure which of her sisters' reactions was her favourite.
Once they'd told the other Oozoras, Nodoka asked if she could take Ranma and Hibari both to meet her friend who had helped her to understand things. The pair were more than happy to, even if Ranma felt mildly guilty showing up as a guy to meet this person. At least until Hibari reminded them he could do a quick demonstration to explain why his mother thought he was a girl.
The three of them set out soon enough. The walk was quiet enough, Ranma just happy to spend honest time with his mother, while Hibari's mind was racing with who it could have been that had managed to convince Ranma's highly traditional mother to meet and talk to trans women in Shinjuku.
Her question was answered shortly after, as she found herself in front of a rather familiar cafe. She exchanged a glance with Ranma, whose smile seemed to show he was thinking the same thing she was. They both grinned as they walked into the cafe behind Nodoka.
Fumiko looked up from the counter as the doorbell rang, her smile getting warmer as she saw Nodoka. "Ah, the woman from…"
She trailed off as she saw Ranma and Hibari as well.
"I should have known, shouldn't I?" Fumiko asked, her smile turned into something more like a smirk.
"They do look alike," Hibari replied.
"Oh! You know each other?" Nodoka asked.
"We work here, part time," Ranma said with a grin. "I've learned a whole bunch 'bout makin' coffee an' tea an'… other stuff."
"And it's not getting in the way of schooling?" Nodoka asked.
"It's only one or two nights a week," Fumiko explained.
"I've been helping Ranma with school, and I'm top of my class, so he's all good," Hibari added.
"Ah, good to hear," Nodoka said, before turning back to Fumiko. "I suppose working with my child helped you learn about all these things? Also, I really should thank you for being so understanding with them."
"Oh, uh… it wasn't hard," Fumiko replied.
Fumiko then looked around, making sure the cafe was indeed empty, before nodding to herself. She asked to talk to Hibari and Ranma for a moment, quietly pulling them over to check if they thought Nodoka could keep secrets. They both leaned towards her probably being able to, but decided to ask her directly.
Nodoka was confused, but gave a nod. "How important of a secret?"
"Top tier classified," Hibari replied, having worked out what Fumiko was thinking.
"I swear upon my honour then," Nodoka said.
Fumiko smiled. "I've seen you take that a bit—very seriously, so… I am certain I can trust you with this… You see, I have been dating Hibari's father for a few weeks now."
"Oh! Congratulations! He's raised such wonderful daughters, he must be a good man," Nodoka replied with genuine happiness. "Ah! If that works out you would be Ranma's mother-in-law as well! I hope… was that the secret?"
"Ah, no, no. It's… there's a reason I knew those girls in Shinjuku. And why Ranma and…" Fumiko paused, waiting for a nod from Hibari, which she received. "And Hibari work here. I'm… I'm like her."
Nodoka let out a gasp, before smiling. "How wonderful for Hibari! And for Ran—ma!"
"The slight issue, though, is that, apart from Hibari and Ranma, no one knows. I… I do not think Ibari would react well just yet, though I am working on his boundaries," Fumiko explained. "I could use another ally, though. Can I count on you?"
Nodoka nodded, eyes sparkling. "For the sake of my sometimes-daughter and my future daughter-in-law, of course!"
Ranma smiled, thrilled how well this had gone.
Now he just needed to figure out how she'd handle the whole 'Shampoo/Shui' thing…
Author's Notes: Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been busy writing original fiction for Scribblehub lately. If anyone is curious, I'm there under Beedok as well. I hope my stories there would appeal to most readers of this fic.