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Ranma 1/2: New Challenges
Minor Disturbances

Chapter 6





Ranma was starting to get worried.

Ever since Akane had stated she was in charge of their
costumes, she had been in a very bubbly mood. That, and whenever she was
going to work on them, she kicked him out of the house. Just thinking of
the costumes her sewing skills could make was enough to send shudders
down his back.

He tried to get Kasumi to understand that, but she just smiled
sweetly and said, "Now Ranma-kun, I'm sure whatever Akane-chan makes
will be just fine."

He didn't understand; didn't she see the danger!?

Ranma sighed and continued down the street, knowing it was
fruitless to try and get back in the house. She would somehow sense his
attempt and boot him skyward. She had already done it twice. Afterward
she made him promise not to sneak back in until she told him it was
okay. All part of the "punishment" for not telling her the truth about
P-chan.

He almost wished she would just hit him instead and get it over
with.

"Ranchan!"

Ranma's head snapped up at the sound of his old friend's voice.
"Heya, Ucchan!" He hadn't even realized his wanderings had taken him
over to the okonomiyaki restaurant. Ukyo was currently outside and she
beckoned him inside, and he gladly accepted the invitation. "How's
business?"

"See for yourself," she gestured to the slightly more packed
than usual restaurant. Ranma nodded, sat down at the counter, and turned
back to see both Ukyo and Konatsu behind the larger grill, making
okonomiyaki. Yuri was wandering the restaurant as a waitress. "Kenji-
kun's in the back washing dishes and cleaning with Selah-chan."

"Sounds like you're doing really well for yourself," he
remarked. "I remember when you first opened your restaurant here, you
didn't have nearly as many customers as you do now." He smiled. "I
always knew you had it in you to be a great chef!"

"Arigato, sugar," she returned. He flipped the okonomiyaki she
was making onto a plate. "Here ya go, one `Saotome Special' just the way
you like it!" She placed the plate in front of him.

"But I didn't order..."

She cut him off. "Oh please, ya know it's on the house,
Ranchan."

He was about to try and refuse again, but his stomach had
started to growl as soon as he stepped in and smelled the delicious
food. Glancing across the room, he made eye contact with Yuri and she
nodded understanding.

Back when he and Akane started becoming a real couple, she had
persuaded him not to accept any more free food from either Ukyo or
Shampoo. `That would be taking advantage of them,' she had said. Shampoo
left soon after, but he still went to Ucchan's on occasion so he had
tried to convince his old friend to take payment. She had refused, so he
had taken to paying Kenji and Yuri in secret, who would place the money
in the cash register later. This way, everyone felt good. Ukyo still
thought she gave free okonomiyaki's to Ranma, and Ranma actually paid
for them (which did make him feel better, he admitted).

You see, there was still some part of Ukyo that hoped Ranma
would finally be hers. She had sworn off dirty tricks and destroying
things, but she could still be `cute' and nice and hope to still win him
over. After all, Ranma and Akane weren't married yet, and something
could still happen. Not that she wished anything bad on Akane, since she
had been a nicer friend to Ukyo than she deserved, considering what the
chef had done.

Ranma took his time eating instead of inhaling it. It was
another habit Akane was trying to break him of, and Ranma could actually
manage a decent pace on occasion. While he did so, he took the time to
look around.

Konatsu's new look still seemed a bit strange, but he figured
it was just another aspect of Nerima wierdness to overcome. The kunoichi
was actually wearing a pretty decent shirt and pants ensemble that made
him look like a rather nice guy, instead of a cute girl. The hair was
still the same, tied back in a ponytail, and Ranma noticed a few girls
actually sitting near him and admiring the view.

Ranma chuckled to himself at the turn of events. Usually, it
was guys that admired the view.

Of the course, the same could be said for himself. he added mentally. He still
thought of himself as a guy, but the curse didn't bother him as much as
it used to. Oh sure, he would probably take the chance to cure himself
if the oppurtunity presented itself, but he was content to live as is.
It was the annoying changes via water that bothered him the most.

"Heya Ranma-kun," a familiar voice said, and Ranma detected a
note of pain in that voice.

He turned to see his two main school buddies on their way out.
"Hiroshi? Daisuke? What happened to you two?"

They were both arrayed in a variety of casts and bandages, and
Daisuke was using a crutch to walk. "We were... involved in a minor
scuffle," he said.

"More like a bully beat us up!" Hiroshi countered. He turned to
Ranma. "Some new martial artist in town tested his skills on us. We
tried using some of what you showed us, but..."

Ranma's eyes narrowed and he cracked his knuckles. Despite the
few moves he had shown them, out of fun, neither of them could be
classified as martial artists. And if there was someone beating up on
innocents... "Who did this?" he demanded.

"Some guy named, Sukebe, I think," Hiroshi said thoughfully,
after a moment.

"Yeah, and he had a little guy with him that looks a lot like
Sasuke," Daisuke added. "Be careful Ranma-kun. He's dangerously
powerful, even for you."

"Heh, ain't been an opponent yet I couldn't beat." He sobered.
"Take care of yourselves guys, I'll get him for ya. Doncha worry."

The two near-invalidates looked at each other. "Sure, Ranma-
kun," Hiroshi said. "See ya later."

He waved the two off and returned to his meal, finishing it off
in few minutes, while Ukyo came back up to him. "What was that all
about?" she asked. He told her. "A new martial artist in town, eh? I
suppose he'll come to challenge you sooner or later, Ranchan." She
smirked. "After all, that's the way it goes around here."

He shared a laugh with her, and then departed, after palming a
few bills into Yuri's hand as she passed.

Yes, it actually felt good to pay honestly.






"This is the day!" she announced to herself.

Somehow, it didn't sound as grand when spoken in a little
girl's voice. Oh well, she would fix that later in the day. Now, she
just had to gather up her courage and do it.

Ninomiya Hinako looked at her little girl body in the mirror
and sighed. How was she ever going to land that hunk of a man looking
like this? Besides, weren't there laws against that sort of thing?
she told herself. I am a real woman. Soun-chan has to see that! She
cocked her head. She shook her head at
her mirror image.

She went over to the table, picked up an object and went back
to the mirror and watched as she grew into her other, voluptious, body.
She smiled. "I guess I'll just have to comfort him and make the loss of
his wife less painful for him," she decided. "And maybe this dance is
just what he needs!" She set down the rounded bowl that contained her
fighting fish and proceeded to apply a bit of make-up to her face.

She had been selected as the head chaperone for the dance by
the principal (to keep the deliquents in line, naturally), but that also
meant she was in charge of finding other chaperones. And if she found
enough and got Soun to be one of them, she could enjoy a dance or two
with him!

She knew it would take time to work her way into his heart, but
that was time she would be willing to spend. After all, that's what she
determined was her mistake the first time: she went too fast and his
girls strongly objected, so a change in strategy was in order. If she
could slowly and surely work her way into their lives... Plus, Nabiki
would be graduating soon and, if rumors were correct, she would be
moving out to attend college immediately afterward. That nice Tofu-
sensei was finally courting Kasumi, and even Ranma and Akane were
getting along better.

If things kept up like they were, his girls would be gone soon
and she knew he would start to feel lonely. "Well, that's what I'm here
for! And this dance is the perfect first step on the road towards our
mutual happiness!" She giggled to herself, and that's when she realized
she had stepped too far away from the bowl and reverted to child-form.
"Aw, rats!"

She sighed and went back to bowl, regaining her older body
almost immediately. "I also have to do something about this. He won't
want an age changing freak for a wife!" She grumbled. "This is all
Happosai's fault. He turned me into a freak just so he could have help
to steal panties. And rumor also has it he's gone now, never to return.
The one chance for my cure..." She brightened and snapped her fingers.
"That's it! He must've left behind some ancient scrolls and stuff! If I
search through them, I may find the ones that detail my condition and
list a way to stay as an adult. Or at least stay longer as an adult."


She smiled to herself, picked up her fishbowl, and left her
apartment.






One lovely walk later brought her to her beloved's house. The
appreciative looks she had gotten from guys on the way over had done
nothing but boost her confidence. She knew she had a great female body
(when she was in her her older form), but it was nice to have it
validated.

Stepping though the gate and up to the door, she gathered her
courage and rang the doorbell. A minute later, the eldest daughter
answered the door.

"Oh, Ninomiya-san," she said sweetly. "Welcome to our home.
Would you like to come in?"

The teacher bowed slightly in respect. "I would love too,
Kasumi-san."

"I'm afraid Ranma-kun is out at the moment," Kasumi supplied.
"Or were you here for Akane or Nabiki?"

Hinako shook her head. "Neither. As a matter of fact, I was
just here to speak with your father on a school matter."

Kasumi led her to the living room where Akane, and another
woman Hinako recognized as Ranma's mother (she had met her a couple of
times before about school matters), were seated and apparently doing
some sewing. "I'm sorry. Otousan is out with Saotome-ojisan at the
moment."

Hinako thought to herself.

"You are more than welcome to join us, dear," Ranma's mother
offered. "We were just engaged in a little girl talk, but I would love
to hear how Ranma is doing in school."

"I'd love to! As a matter of fact, you might
be able help me." She ignored the dark look she got from the youngest
Tendo daughter. Nodoka urged her to continue as Kasumi sat down and
assisted Akane in her sewing. "There is a school dance coming up at the
end of the week, and I was wondering if you would like to help me
chaperone it?"

Nodoka smiled. Truth be told, she loved it when people needed
her. For ten years, neither her son nor husband needed her, and even
now, that was the case. Genma hung around with Soun, and her son rarely
came to her for advice. She had begun to feel useless. "I'd love to! Is
that what you were going to ask Soun-san?"

Hinako nodded nervously. "Yes, I was hoping Soun-ch, I mean,
Tendo-san would like to come."

Nodoka caught the slip, though Akane missed it, so intent on
her sewing was she. Kasumi also missed it, she was intent on helping her
younger sister.

Nodoka had also heard the stories of Ranma's teacher and her
attempt at marrying the Tendo patriarch. Hinako seemed like a nice
enough young woman, and anything Nodoka could do to help the process of
love along...

"I see you fancy my husband's longtime friend?" she asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Hinako asked back.

The Saotome matriarch patted Hinako's shoulder. "It's nothing
to be ashamed about. Soun-san would be lucky to have someone like you to
love."

Akane did catch this. "Satome-obasama, I don't think it's a
very good idea. Father is still not completely over mother."

"And that's precisely why he needs someone like Hinako-san,"
Nodoka countered. "You are young, Akane-chan. When you get older you
will realize that adults long for companionship, despite the loss of a
spouse. I've seen this in Soun." Akane frowned and Nodoka turned back to
Hinako. "I'd be glad to help in any way I can, Hinako-san. I will make
sure he attends the dance as a chaperone. It will be up to you, then."
She winked.

"Arigato, Saotome-san," Hinako offered. "I really appreciate
this."

"No problem, dear," Nodoka replied. "You can repay me by telling
me how Ranma's doing in school..."







Ranma was nabbed on the way home. He was almost to the Tendo
Dojo when a pair of arms grabbed him and pulled him into an alley. He
was going to resist, when he recognized the hands, or more importantly,
the ring on one of the hands.

"Akane! What's the big immmppph..." He couldn't say anymore
since her lips were now hot on his.

When she released him afer several moments, she smirked at the
happy-goofy expression on his face and felt proud that she could do this
to him. Then she sobered. "Ranma, we have a problem."

He snapped out of his daze. "Huh? What?" He hadn't exactly
gotten all four gears back after that kiss.

"Baka," Akane groaned. "Hinako-sensei is going after dad again!"

Ranma's last gear snapped into place. "How do you figure that?"

"She stopped by earlier today to invite him as a chaperone,"
Akane explained. "Your mother was there and got invited as well. Now
she's planning on helping Hinako-sensei!"

Ranma sighed. He didn't really want to get involved this again.
"Akane, I don't see what the big deal is. If your dad didn't like
Hinako, it would be no problem to keep them apart. But she seems to
really like him, and your dad hasn't said one way or the other. Maybe we
should just leave them alone and see what happens?"

Akane grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close. "I
willl NOT have that chi-draining vampire as a mother!" she practically
yelled. "Is that clear!?"

Ranma gulped and nodded.

"Now, will you help me?" she asked in a calmer tone.

He sighed again.
"Alright, I suppose."

She smiled sweetly. "Thank you, Ranma. Allow me to show you my
gratitude." She slid her arms around his neck and drew him him for
another good kiss.

he thought.






Ranma finished putting the finishing touches on her outfit and
grimaced as she looked in the mirror. she wondered.

Her outfit consisted of a fabulous red and black, sleevless
Chinese dress that was slit up the side to her thigh. A diamond shape
was cut out of the front of the dress, displaying a generous amount of
cleavage. Matching red pumps and earrings complemented the ensemble. Her
hair had been let out of the pig-tail now now flowed freely down her
back.

The person in the mirror now looked completely unlike the
person Saotome Ranma used to be. And that, Akane had said, was the
point. She couldn't do it, since Hinako would recognize her. But female
Ranma could do disguises very well. The idea was to have onna-Ranma brag
to Hinako about how she had just proposed to Soun in the hopes in would
dishearten Hinako from pursuing the Tendo patriarch.

At least that's how the plan would have gone, if not for the
timely arrival of Ranma's mother in the room.

*Knock, knock* The door opened and Ranma froze.

"Ranma, I was wondering if..." Nodoka also froze as she beheld
her son, now daughter, in a daring one-piece Chinese dress. "You do have
a good reason for you current state of attire?"

Ranma gulped. "Uh, yeah! I was just... I mean.... well...
Aka... um..."

"The truth, son."

The red-head sighed. "Akane wanted me to help break Hinako away
from her father," Ranma said quietly.

"I see." Nodoka sighed. "Son, you know it's not very manly to
interfere in relationships that do not concern you." She tapped the
cloth bundle she carried for emphasis.

Ranma sweatdropped. "Um... but, it concerns Akane and she's my
fiancee so.. Plus, Oyaji and Tendo-san interefered with me an' Akane's
relationship all the time!"

She saw her mother shake her head. "Your relationship is a
matter of giri, family honor. Tendo-san's realtionships are his own. And
Akane should have no say in those either, but she is not my daughter
yet, so it is not my place to correct her. Is this understood?"

The red-head drooped. "Yes, momma."

"That's better." She brightened. "Oh, but this goes along with
what I wanted to talk to you about. You see I, well... I really miss
Ranko."

"Momma?" Ranma asked, confused.

"I miss the times we spent together, and since it appears I
won't have any more children, I wanted you to be my... daughter, as well
as my son."

It took all of Ranma's self-control to prevent a face-fault.
"Uh... What do you mean?"

"Well, it appears you will have your condition for awhile, so it
stands to reason you should learn how to dress and act like a lady for
when you are female. Plus, since it seems your father has neglected your
social training, I will endeavour to correct this oversight."

Ranma suddenly felt like firing off a Shishi Houkodan, but
managed not to with his mother in the room. "Yes, momma."

"Now, that looks nice, but let's see what other female outfits
you have..."

I think I'd rather you use the katana...






The stars were a wonderful thing. There was almost something
magical about those many pinpoints of light that decorated the night
sky. They made you think, filled you with a sense of wonder, and pulled
your deepest wishes out of you.

Yes, Ukyo decided, a night of star-gazing tended to give one an
enlightened perspective. Like this night where she found herself
relaxing in a lounge chair on the top of her restaurant. The cool crisp
night air breezing gently by, just enough to keep her cool, but not
enough to be really cold.

Reflecting back, she remembered where her only wishes were that
Ranma would come to love her as she loved him, even though she could see
now that it wasn't so much love as it was an obsession or infatuation.
She was concerned about honor first and salvaging her reputation when
her fiance left her by the roadside all those years ago.

When she met him again, she realized she couldn't hope to beat
him up as she had originially planned. Then he had to go and call her
`cute' and she thought that maybe she could save her honor by fulfilling
the engagement and marrying him. After all, it seemed that his current
fiancee didn't love him and that he didn't like her. Then it turned out
he was pursued by two other women; a voluptous Chinese Amazon and a
crazy gymnast.

She shivered just thinking back on those days. It was her worst
nightmare come back to her. She could practically hear the taunts from
the other girls when she was younger that she was no good and that no
man would like her. She became even more determined to prove them wrong
by `winning' Ranma, almost at any cost. That if Ranma would just marry
her, than everything would be okay and her self-esteem would be
validated.

She shook her head and realized just how wrong she was. Oh
sure, she liked the pig-tailed martial artist, but it wasn't him she
loved; she just loved the idea of being in love and having some strong,
handsome guy love her. She was too stuck on gettting her fiance, that
she missed the other decent guys around her.

Ryoga, on the times they had worked together, she had found to
be a nice guy. She had harbored some secret feelings for him, but she
was too hung up on Ranma to give him a chance. A smile came to her face
in rememberance of the times he had helped her. Saving her from the
ghosts in the tunnel of lost love, and from the monkey man of Tokengyo
island.

True, he was infatuated with Akane at the time, but she felt
sure he would've come around to her if Ukyo sent the right signals. It
might have been a good match since they seemed to get along well and,
after all, Akane didn't love him. But now, Akari held his heart and Ukyo
had missed her chance.

"Ukyo-san?" a voice intruded on her thoughts.

"What do you want, Kenji-kun?" she replied tiredly.

He walked over to her
nervously. "You're... not mad at me, are you?"

She chuckled. "Naw, I remember how Ranchan used to get into the
same embarassing situations and Akane clocked him for it, even though it
turned out later it wasn't really his fault." She sighed. "Guess I'm
just givin' ya the benefit of the doubt. Plus, it's not like I'm really
jealous of you and Selah."

He sat down next to her chair. "You know the fact that she
thinks I'm her fiancee is not my fault. She's too young for me, for one
thing!"

"It's okay," she said simply.

Kenji nodded, lay back, and for a few minutes nothing was said.
Both were content to watch the stars and relax from the day's
activities. Finally, Kenji asked, "You do this often?"

"Stargazing?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged. "I suppose."

"Not me." There was a note of sadness in his voice.

Ukyo turned on her side to look at him. "Really? Why not?"

Now it was his turn to shrug. "Never really had time for it I
guess. Mom usually trained us hard during the day so me and sis usually
went to bed early. She was a merciless taskmaster. And the times I still
had energy after that, Dad tried to teach me some of his wind tricks,
when he was home. He was gone a lot. So I was either asleep or too busy
training."

Ukyo slowly saw the ninja boy in a new light. It didn't seem
like he had much fun as a child, so he turned to humor and jokes as a
way to release. Still, it sounded better than her childhood. Though
looking at him now, with his shoulder-length black hair with the white
streak down the middle, his angular face, and his lithe athletic body,
brought new feelings forth in her.

When she had first seen him, there was a small physical
attraction she felt for him, and she seized the impulse to try and make
a relationship. That was after Ranma had all but left her for Akane and,
deep down, she was just trying to prove to herself that she was still
attractive. It was great at first and as she threw herself into it. Then
as soon she was out of the picture in a coma, he made a date with
another woman.

Again she felt the heartbroken twinges and rejection, and
pushed him away to cover it up. She was upset at him, but later saw that
she was being unfair and tried to make the relationship work yet again.
And that's when the little water witch showed up, widening the gulf
between them yet again.

"I guess I can understand," she said slowly, then turned on her
back to gaze at the starry sky once more. "Most of my life was spent
training to get revenge on Ranchan." Her tone shifted. "So why did you
come up here?"

"You really... want to know?" he asked sheepishly.

Now she was intrigued. "Come on, spit it out, sugar."

He sat up and turned away from her, seemingly gathering his
thoughts. "Well, I guess that day I missed, `cause I was being chased
around town by animal control," he muttered something under his breath,
but Ukyo didn't catch it. "Apparently, a... uh... costume dance was
announced..."

Her breath caught.

He forged on. "And I was wondering if... well... you know, if
y-"

"Kenji-chan!" came a high pitched, little girl's voice. "There
you are!" Selah stomped over to them and Kenji sighed. "You were
supposed to watch that movie with me tonight!"

The former-amnesiac spared a hopeless glance at Ukyo, before
allowing Selah to drag him away by the hand. He knew if he protested,
the little girl would just throw a fit and he didn't want to upset her.
Besides, he had promised to watch movie on the TV tonight; he had just
forgotten.

Ukyo watch him leave, and something with in her caught. So many
missed oppurtunities had already passed her by, could she afford to let
this one go?

"Yes."

Kenji stopped and turned around. "Huh?"

She sat up and smiled at him. "I said yes. That's what you
wanted to hear in response to your question, ne?" Relief flooded his
face and he smiled back at her. "Now get goin', don't want to miss that
movie."

He nodded. "Thanks Ukyo-san." And then he was gone, back down
the small ladder and into the second floor through the trapdoor.

Ukyo laid back down, smiling to herself. Yes, an enlightning
experience gazing at the stars was.







The three gremlins once again awoke to face the night. There
was plenty of mischief to do this night, and they had already had some
great fun the previous two nights, wrecking machinery. One of the
gremlins pointed north and declared, in the gremlin tongue, that this
was the way they should go. The other two disagreed and said they should
head south. Being overruled as such, the three gremlins headed to the
south end of the alley.

Ain't gremlin democracy great?

Upon reaching the south end of said alley, they glanced around
for potential targets. They could go left or right down the street, or
straight ahead into the park and ambush some late night joggers.

This time it was decided by Junken-pow between the two gremlins
who had voted for south. The decision to enter the park was made, and
the three musket-er-gremlins continued on. They hadn't gone too far in,
when they were confronted by their their first target.

They sprang to the attack, but were repelled by three vicious
strikes. Thus surprised, they took a moment to gauge the thing that had
hit them with lightning speed. It walked upright like a human, but was
covered in hair. A few pieces of clothing could be seen through the
hair, and it's hands ended in claws. It's visage was quite fearsome and
it didn't look happy.

A thought managed to penetrate the three small gremlin brains,
and it was, So unanimously decided, they
quickly departed northward from whence they came. As they made their way
across the street and back to the alley, disaster struck again.

The first two gremlins made it across easily enough, but the
third ran afoul of a speeding car and, very zen-like, became one with
the road.

The two remaining gremlins left their dearly departed companion
behind and rapidly fled northward. One gremlin whapped the other and
said a few things in gremlin-speak. If you were there and were able to
translate what was said, it would've come out like this:

"Baka! I told you we should've gone north!"


----------------------------------------------

Author's notes:
This chapter was for the Hinako fans! And I know Nodoka wanting Ranma to
be Ranko has been done in many fics, but it just makes sense to me, so I
thought I'd spend a little time doing it in mine. There are fics that do
it better than I will, like `Girl Days', which I suggest everyone who
likes Ranma 1/2 should read! Very good stuff there.