Rainy Day Confessions:
by Daniel Power
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
Chapter One: Pieces of a Nightmare
***************************
Perched on an old, decaying stone wall, Darien watched the rain drops fall and measured her new life of misery on every solitary one. She pictured in her mind her life taking the predetermined path of that of those water droplets, down. It formed all too vividly in her mind and felt painful, so she turned her head skyward to wash the images away.
"What are you going to do now, Darien?" Right now she needed someone to talk to and it didn't bother her to talk to herself in the new body, which felt very much a part of her in a few short hours. Still, as far as the 'he' in him was concerned, this other form was worlds away...and, he could handle this.
"A shrink maybe? Nah, I'd be laughed out of their offices, one by one. A friend to talk to? Yeah, right. A friend in a place like Japan where you're totally out of your element. Don't think so."
She could probably stand being a sex changing freak in familiar territory, but a sex changing freak an ocean away from home? Not a chance!
Dripping wet, Darien had a few changes of clothes, a couple paperback novels, her discman and some favorite CDs to her name. If ever there was a place for comfort, it definitely wasn't here.
"At least find a place to spend the night. An airport is still the best way to go, though." She said to herself. "Being miserable and warm is a guaranteed plus over miserable and freezing with the cold."
After wringing out her jacket, she started down the sidewalk. Holding back a sneeze, she lugged her suitcase over a shoulder.
"Geez, when did this get so damned heavy?!" She knew her answer before she finished the question. 'Right about the time you changed into a girl.'
After being hit with hot water and then cold, Darien had put two and two together to create a horrid picture of her dilemma.
"Hot and you're a guy. cold and you're a chick." Darien voiced her thoughts aloud as she strolled along roads empty of life.
Squeaking along the road in waterlogged shoes, Darien found herself in yet another bout with trouble. Being in the rain as a guy was the norm, but a girl? Soaken clothing pulled her down and threatened to slump off. That certainly wasn't good.
"Maybe I should ask for directions." The idea struck her like so much common sense.
'Directions, but of course. Only intelligent people come up with the great, obvious plans of action!' She slapped herself mentally.
She berated and battled with herself now more to keep from sinking into an emotional low than anything else.
Coming to yet another intersection, she peered down one that looked inviting. It was. Well lit homes bordered the road, an air of welcome invitation seemingly obvious.
Approaching one of the larger homes, Darien was confronted by a large gate and a sign of modest size. She read it, or what she could of it. It was in Japanese.
'..this being Japan and all.' She thought sarcastically.
She did make out "dojo", however, since she'd read that word several times at home. Darien had been a member of a well respected and admired dojo which his uncle ran. Nine years with school on the back burner and she had achieved a belt of modest rank, taking great pride in it and thoroughly enjoying the honor.
Pushing through the gate, she sloshed towards the front step.
********************************
"Ranma!" Akane had been spurned into yet another whirlwind of anger and chased a thoroughly amused Ranma though the household, a frying pan in one hand.
"Geez Akane, it wasn't that I didn't like it." Ranma struggled to apologize, dodging determined swings of the pan.
This, at least, was normal.
Weilding the frying pan as one would a mace, Akane finally struck home, sending Ranma sprawling to the floor.
"Say hello to the birdies for me, jerk!" Having said this, Akane stormed away.
"Oh my, I need my frying pan to cook supper," Kasumi said in passing, only stopping a moment to acknowledge the emotionally and physically battered Ranma, "Ranma, have you seen my frying pan by any chance?"
"mmphurglefphh.."
"Oh, Akane has it again? Oh my."
There then came a knock at the door which brought Ranma out of his stupor and stopped kasumi short in her search for the both elusive and firgurative mace.
"I wonder who that could be," Kasumi started for the front door, "we aren't expecting anyone."
She slowly reached the front porch, opening the door with gentle movements and a perfect smile that came naturally.
The source of the knock was a sight to behold and was certainly a victim of tonight's storm.
There, in the rain, stood a petit girl, soaken wet and leaking misery, not to mention copious amounts of water.
She had the blackest hair and the most unholy blue eyes that kasumi had ever seen.
With pattented courtesy and good will, kasumi addressed the girl, who looked almost comical in clothes that were sopping wet and too big for her. She had on black pants and a white turtleneck which was thankfully covered over by a leather jacket, given her current condition.
"You poor dear. You must be freezing! Why don't you come in and warm yourself?" Kasumi's smile was warm, her voice soft.
The girl gave her an almost quizzical look and took up a wary posture in her black boots. Several uncomfortable moments sped by before it dawned on the impeccable hostess that this girl might not know any Japanese.
Making a guess, and hoping for the best, kasumi began to speak soothingly again, this time in english.
"Your soaken, and you must be freezing. Why don't you come inside and warm yourself?"
She almost breathed a sigh of relief as the girl responded.
"No thanks. I just wanted directions to the nearest airport, if you don't mind."
"Airport? I'm afraid that there isn't one for quite a while in any direction. Why don't you come in, I insist."
The girl seemed to think this over for a moment and, after glancing over her shoulder at the night time tempest behind her, consented.
As both Kasumi and her guest ascended the stairs they gave each other the necessary introductions.
"My name is Kasumi."
"Mine's Darien. Pleased to meet you."
"Well Darien, why don't you go freshen up? The bathroom is just down the hall."
"Thank you," came the reply.
"For what?"
"Well, you see, this kind of thing isn't done that often where I come from."
"What thing?"
"Nevermind."
"Okay, and after you're ready you can come downstairs and join us for dinner once I've introduced everyone."
Having said this, Kasumi left Darien to her thoughts.
*******************************************
'Here's how it goes,' Darien instantly ran a plan through her head, 'you go and change back into a guy, get dressed, and make your escape through a window...they do have windows here don't they?' He hadn't seen any on his way through the house and he hadn't been downstairs yet.
With a little regret, she erased this obsurd idea from her head and turned her thoughts towards other things.
"Man, this is creepy. Who invites a complete stranger into their home and lets them loose? This isn't common in Japan, is it?"
Darien padded towards the washroom in stockinged feet. When she reached the bathroom, after difficult use of the directions she'd been given, Darien was quite unprepared for the next few dramatic moments. They shot by like a smudge on her memory and her senses.
Kasumi had just reached the top of the stairs, spotted Darien and hollared a "Oh, I forgot to tell you..." only to be cut off at the same instant by a "Kasumi! I've got the water for the wash!"
This second voice appeared alarmingly close to Darien, and he spun around only to be met by a bucket in the face. A loud "Clang" and a scream from the bucket keeper resounded in the hallway.
Pain shot through Darien's head and pushed her to the brink of blacking out. This was accompanied by an all too familiar and disturbing tingling sensation.
'This is going to be interesting' thought a dazed and anxious Darien. He slumped onto the floor and an unwelcome whack on the head via the cold floor. Then came the blackness...
************************************
Darien awoke to the sound of several muffled voices. Muffled or not, they were close. There were six voices as he soon found out when he sat up to observe the collection of people around him. They all became alarmingly quiet once he had moved.
Several people a sat around his bed on the floor. Three girls and three guys. One of the girls he recognized as Kasumi.
"Are you alright?" Kasumi addressed him almost immediately.
"I'd say that I was except that I can see two of you." Darien felt like he'd downed several pounds of belly button lint and topped it off with a casual jump into the abyss.
"You can change can't you!?...into a girl I mean."
Darien turned to address the curiosity. It was a boy in his teens who looked to be about his age. He had black hair done up in a neat ponytail and he wore dinstinctly Japanese clothes.
Darien gripped the back of his head in pain. A bump remained as a reminder of his recent transformation. He hung his head to ease the dizziness he felt and then replied.
"Yes, I can change." Darien's voice hinted at his distress.
The boy's eyes abruptly changed to reflect the misery he knew shone in his own.
Trying to lighten the mood somewhat, Kasumi began the introductions.
"Darien, this is Akane," she motioned toward a girl with short blakc hair wearing a school uniform.
Now she introduced a girl with short, brown hair in casual jeans and sweater who bowed while staring at Darien in mild curiosity, "and this is Nabiki."
"This is my father Soune Tendo." The man had on a brown martial arts gi and had black shoulder length hair accompanied by a moustach.
"Pleased to meet you, Darien."
"I'm Genma Saotome," a large man clad in a white gi and bandanna interupted. "Pleased to meet you. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he said this, "And this is m'boy Ranma."
Ranma bowed at the waist in his sitting postion.
Not used to all this bowing, Darien did nothing.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Akane burst out into apology, letting know how very sorry she was for running into him.
"No worries. I'm okay."
"Really?"
"Really."
'No, you're not.'
Kasumi explained that she has already taken the liberty of introducing him to eveyone and why he was here during his little "nap". When she was finished speaking, Darien had the opportunity to lift some heavy questions off his mind and put them to use.
"Don't I seem odd to you?"
"No, why?" Came Kasumi's response.
"I mean, I can change into a girl! Of all the insane, stupid, odd, perverted...."
It was then Ranma who spoke up. "It's not as strange as you think." At this point he picked up a bucket and that sat next to him and emptied its contents over himself.
Voila! Instant female! Just add water.
Darien gasped in shock. "Y-you can change too!"
"Oh yeah, we're quite used to it around here." said Nabiki. "There's changing sex, turning into a duck, panda, and a cat. You name it, we got it. To be honest, I'm surprise we're not rolling in the dough from tourist expenses."
It bewildered Darien for only a moment since being able to change himself made it slightly more believable.
Bringing his surprise to a stand still, Darien began his thank yous and ultimately...
"Sorry to have been so much trouble. Well, I must be going now."
"Won't you tell use how it happened?" Akane asked.
"I'd definitely like to know." Ranma added.
And so began Darien's tale about the vacation from hell and abandonement and finally his current exile.
"...so my parents won't take me back."
"But their your parents! How could they do that?!" Akane's eyes flashed fire and brimstone for an instant.
"So you were knocked in too, huh?" Ranma voice sounding sympathetic.
Then came the inevitable tale of Ranma and his father to its tragic conclusion.
"You can change into a panda?!"
"Yes, yes I can."
"And it just doesn't bother you in the least that you're on the endangered species list? Wow!"
Father Saotome looked at him skeptically.
Darien spoke after everything had stopped for a dramatic pause. Wind whistled by the dojo and leaves were tossed by the disturbance. "This is just too much, I'd better be going." He motioned to get up.
"Aren't you going to stay for dinner?" Kasumi spoke wholeheartedly and with a smile.
Darien thought that going was the best thing he could to keep a grip on his sanity. Changing into a girl was enough strangeness for him, but his stomach had entirely different plans. It gurlged audibly.
"Maybe I should say, then." He said with a smile to match hers. Besides, nothing was going to make him capable of saying "no" to her smile.
"Well, I guess I should get read to eat then." He got up, kicking blankets this way and that.
"Uh, Darien." Cautioned Ranma.
Darien had been stripped to his boxers before being put in bed. He now stood in his underthings in front of all of his newfound hosts.
Akane's face turned beet red.
Nabiki voiced a "Wow!"
Kasumi managed her slightly detached "Oh, my!"
"Iee!" Darien turned crimson and attacked the bed sheets as if they were his last lind of defense.
"Baka."
************************************
(The next morning...)
Darien woke from a fitful sleep filled with nightmares. He could deal with these attacks of imagination since, at the moment, he didn't know where they ended and his life began.
After dinner last night the Tendos had insisted that he spend at least a few days with them before going on his merry way. Darien had been intent on leaving until they consoled him about his curse by saying that spending time with Ranma, who has had his curse awhile, could help him cope with his own.
Rousing himself, Darien dressed in a plain pair of khakis and a T-shirt, deciding that formal wear probably didn't matter here. He then took the stairs down to the kitchen, letting his nose lead the way.
He found all the Tendos and Saotomes gathered around the dining table.
"Something sure smells great!" he couldn't help but say.
"It's Kasumi's cooking, so naturally." Ranma motioned him towards a place at the table.
"I hope you like it," Kasumi said as she placed a plate of steaming breakfast in front of him, all smiles.
It was times like this that Darien knew he had to try and cope with what it meant to be Japanese. He managed now, barely, fumbling with the chopsticks.
Akane giggled when Darien gave up in frustration. After her quick lesson, he seemed to do fine.
Kasumi's cooking was divine! What spell she had woven over it, he couldn't guess. Definitely entertainment for the tastebuds.
"This is delicious!"
"I'm glad you like it." Kasumi chirped. Picture perfect smile.
"Well, I'm off," Ranma jumped up from the table and turned to Darien, "I'll see you after school, okay?"
"Sure."
Akane called from inside the house, "Let's go. Ranma!"
Darien noticed that Nabiki had gone as well. "What'd they do, sniff their food?"
Without thinking, Darien began collecting dishes and clearing the table. Spotting the kitchen, he trudged off toward it. It was a simple enough chore, and Darien always did it at home. No harm done...or was there?
It certainly sparked the interest of one, Soune Tendo.
"Quite a nice boy, isn't he?"
"Definitely," came Genma's response, "my friend, definitely."
Having been relieved of cleaning duty so suddenly, Kasumi shrugged and followed the dish laden Darien into the kitchen.
Darien took it upon himself to begin chores around the house under the careful instruction of Kasumi, whom he'd had to persuade to let him repay them in some way.
The rest of the day went by uneventful for the most part, aside from Darien having changed genders a few times while doing the laundry and washing the floor. Luckily, these jobs were done with hot water as well.
This all seemed innocent enough, but these actions of good will and intent began to put the wrong ideas in the mind of the wrong person.
"Likeable boy, isn't he?"
"Definitely," came Genma's response, "my friend, definitely."
*****************************
"...and so I keep asking myself the same question: 'What am I going to do now?'"
Darien and Kasumi sat on the patio adjacent to the back yard, swapping life stories and asking the proper questions to get acquainted. Once they had gotten back from school, Akane and Ranma had shown Darien around town. They had gone to see a movie and had supper at the Cat Cafe. He'd met Shampoo and had to explain his terrible story all over again. By the time Darien ahd the others had left, he had had a good picture painted in his head of Shampoo. She was a somewhat strange girl...okay really strange, but not much stranger than himself right now, except for the whole 'can change into cat with water bit.
It was now Kasumi's trun to speak, "I'm so used to doing all the work around here...since my mother passed away...that I don't get much time to myself. That is, until I had your help today. It was good to be actually bored for once, but I know that sounds silly."
"No, I understand. I can see how boring would be good." He didn't, but no way was he going to say so. It certainly wasn't silly, though.
Darien sat back and let the warm, night time breeze tickle his face. The wind was heavy with the smell of cherry blossoms and wild flowers. He stared out into the Tendos manicured back garden with its rock garden and open spaces. Lights lit the windows of neighbouring houses. The night air was painted with their glow and it was quiet...so quiet.
Darien closed his eyes. He knew what was happening. This place so far away from home was trying to seduce him, to set him on a road that was not familiar and well worn, but overgrown with things new and unknown.
'But you want it to...don't you' he thought
He felt eyes on him and turned to see Kasumi looking at him. What was it he read on her face, curiousity?
"Is something wrong?" Darien said, effectively pushing past the uncomfortable moment.
"No, nothing at all."
"Alright. Kasumi, could you point me to the bathroom again? I need to get a wash."
*End Chapter One*
by Daniel Power
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
Chapter One: Pieces of a Nightmare
***************************
Perched on an old, decaying stone wall, Darien watched the rain drops fall and measured her new life of misery on every solitary one. She pictured in her mind her life taking the predetermined path of that of those water droplets, down. It formed all too vividly in her mind and felt painful, so she turned her head skyward to wash the images away.
"What are you going to do now, Darien?" Right now she needed someone to talk to and it didn't bother her to talk to herself in the new body, which felt very much a part of her in a few short hours. Still, as far as the 'he' in him was concerned, this other form was worlds away...and, he could handle this.
"A shrink maybe? Nah, I'd be laughed out of their offices, one by one. A friend to talk to? Yeah, right. A friend in a place like Japan where you're totally out of your element. Don't think so."
She could probably stand being a sex changing freak in familiar territory, but a sex changing freak an ocean away from home? Not a chance!
Dripping wet, Darien had a few changes of clothes, a couple paperback novels, her discman and some favorite CDs to her name. If ever there was a place for comfort, it definitely wasn't here.
"At least find a place to spend the night. An airport is still the best way to go, though." She said to herself. "Being miserable and warm is a guaranteed plus over miserable and freezing with the cold."
After wringing out her jacket, she started down the sidewalk. Holding back a sneeze, she lugged her suitcase over a shoulder.
"Geez, when did this get so damned heavy?!" She knew her answer before she finished the question. 'Right about the time you changed into a girl.'
After being hit with hot water and then cold, Darien had put two and two together to create a horrid picture of her dilemma.
"Hot and you're a guy. cold and you're a chick." Darien voiced her thoughts aloud as she strolled along roads empty of life.
Squeaking along the road in waterlogged shoes, Darien found herself in yet another bout with trouble. Being in the rain as a guy was the norm, but a girl? Soaken clothing pulled her down and threatened to slump off. That certainly wasn't good.
"Maybe I should ask for directions." The idea struck her like so much common sense.
'Directions, but of course. Only intelligent people come up with the great, obvious plans of action!' She slapped herself mentally.
She berated and battled with herself now more to keep from sinking into an emotional low than anything else.
Coming to yet another intersection, she peered down one that looked inviting. It was. Well lit homes bordered the road, an air of welcome invitation seemingly obvious.
Approaching one of the larger homes, Darien was confronted by a large gate and a sign of modest size. She read it, or what she could of it. It was in Japanese.
'..this being Japan and all.' She thought sarcastically.
She did make out "dojo", however, since she'd read that word several times at home. Darien had been a member of a well respected and admired dojo which his uncle ran. Nine years with school on the back burner and she had achieved a belt of modest rank, taking great pride in it and thoroughly enjoying the honor.
Pushing through the gate, she sloshed towards the front step.
********************************
"Ranma!" Akane had been spurned into yet another whirlwind of anger and chased a thoroughly amused Ranma though the household, a frying pan in one hand.
"Geez Akane, it wasn't that I didn't like it." Ranma struggled to apologize, dodging determined swings of the pan.
This, at least, was normal.
Weilding the frying pan as one would a mace, Akane finally struck home, sending Ranma sprawling to the floor.
"Say hello to the birdies for me, jerk!" Having said this, Akane stormed away.
"Oh my, I need my frying pan to cook supper," Kasumi said in passing, only stopping a moment to acknowledge the emotionally and physically battered Ranma, "Ranma, have you seen my frying pan by any chance?"
"mmphurglefphh.."
"Oh, Akane has it again? Oh my."
There then came a knock at the door which brought Ranma out of his stupor and stopped kasumi short in her search for the both elusive and firgurative mace.
"I wonder who that could be," Kasumi started for the front door, "we aren't expecting anyone."
She slowly reached the front porch, opening the door with gentle movements and a perfect smile that came naturally.
The source of the knock was a sight to behold and was certainly a victim of tonight's storm.
There, in the rain, stood a petit girl, soaken wet and leaking misery, not to mention copious amounts of water.
She had the blackest hair and the most unholy blue eyes that kasumi had ever seen.
With pattented courtesy and good will, kasumi addressed the girl, who looked almost comical in clothes that were sopping wet and too big for her. She had on black pants and a white turtleneck which was thankfully covered over by a leather jacket, given her current condition.
"You poor dear. You must be freezing! Why don't you come in and warm yourself?" Kasumi's smile was warm, her voice soft.
The girl gave her an almost quizzical look and took up a wary posture in her black boots. Several uncomfortable moments sped by before it dawned on the impeccable hostess that this girl might not know any Japanese.
Making a guess, and hoping for the best, kasumi began to speak soothingly again, this time in english.
"Your soaken, and you must be freezing. Why don't you come inside and warm yourself?"
She almost breathed a sigh of relief as the girl responded.
"No thanks. I just wanted directions to the nearest airport, if you don't mind."
"Airport? I'm afraid that there isn't one for quite a while in any direction. Why don't you come in, I insist."
The girl seemed to think this over for a moment and, after glancing over her shoulder at the night time tempest behind her, consented.
As both Kasumi and her guest ascended the stairs they gave each other the necessary introductions.
"My name is Kasumi."
"Mine's Darien. Pleased to meet you."
"Well Darien, why don't you go freshen up? The bathroom is just down the hall."
"Thank you," came the reply.
"For what?"
"Well, you see, this kind of thing isn't done that often where I come from."
"What thing?"
"Nevermind."
"Okay, and after you're ready you can come downstairs and join us for dinner once I've introduced everyone."
Having said this, Kasumi left Darien to her thoughts.
*******************************************
'Here's how it goes,' Darien instantly ran a plan through her head, 'you go and change back into a guy, get dressed, and make your escape through a window...they do have windows here don't they?' He hadn't seen any on his way through the house and he hadn't been downstairs yet.
With a little regret, she erased this obsurd idea from her head and turned her thoughts towards other things.
"Man, this is creepy. Who invites a complete stranger into their home and lets them loose? This isn't common in Japan, is it?"
Darien padded towards the washroom in stockinged feet. When she reached the bathroom, after difficult use of the directions she'd been given, Darien was quite unprepared for the next few dramatic moments. They shot by like a smudge on her memory and her senses.
Kasumi had just reached the top of the stairs, spotted Darien and hollared a "Oh, I forgot to tell you..." only to be cut off at the same instant by a "Kasumi! I've got the water for the wash!"
This second voice appeared alarmingly close to Darien, and he spun around only to be met by a bucket in the face. A loud "Clang" and a scream from the bucket keeper resounded in the hallway.
Pain shot through Darien's head and pushed her to the brink of blacking out. This was accompanied by an all too familiar and disturbing tingling sensation.
'This is going to be interesting' thought a dazed and anxious Darien. He slumped onto the floor and an unwelcome whack on the head via the cold floor. Then came the blackness...
************************************
Darien awoke to the sound of several muffled voices. Muffled or not, they were close. There were six voices as he soon found out when he sat up to observe the collection of people around him. They all became alarmingly quiet once he had moved.
Several people a sat around his bed on the floor. Three girls and three guys. One of the girls he recognized as Kasumi.
"Are you alright?" Kasumi addressed him almost immediately.
"I'd say that I was except that I can see two of you." Darien felt like he'd downed several pounds of belly button lint and topped it off with a casual jump into the abyss.
"You can change can't you!?...into a girl I mean."
Darien turned to address the curiosity. It was a boy in his teens who looked to be about his age. He had black hair done up in a neat ponytail and he wore dinstinctly Japanese clothes.
Darien gripped the back of his head in pain. A bump remained as a reminder of his recent transformation. He hung his head to ease the dizziness he felt and then replied.
"Yes, I can change." Darien's voice hinted at his distress.
The boy's eyes abruptly changed to reflect the misery he knew shone in his own.
Trying to lighten the mood somewhat, Kasumi began the introductions.
"Darien, this is Akane," she motioned toward a girl with short blakc hair wearing a school uniform.
Now she introduced a girl with short, brown hair in casual jeans and sweater who bowed while staring at Darien in mild curiosity, "and this is Nabiki."
"This is my father Soune Tendo." The man had on a brown martial arts gi and had black shoulder length hair accompanied by a moustach.
"Pleased to meet you, Darien."
"I'm Genma Saotome," a large man clad in a white gi and bandanna interupted. "Pleased to meet you. He pushed his glasses up his nose as he said this, "And this is m'boy Ranma."
Ranma bowed at the waist in his sitting postion.
Not used to all this bowing, Darien did nothing.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Akane burst out into apology, letting know how very sorry she was for running into him.
"No worries. I'm okay."
"Really?"
"Really."
'No, you're not.'
Kasumi explained that she has already taken the liberty of introducing him to eveyone and why he was here during his little "nap". When she was finished speaking, Darien had the opportunity to lift some heavy questions off his mind and put them to use.
"Don't I seem odd to you?"
"No, why?" Came Kasumi's response.
"I mean, I can change into a girl! Of all the insane, stupid, odd, perverted...."
It was then Ranma who spoke up. "It's not as strange as you think." At this point he picked up a bucket and that sat next to him and emptied its contents over himself.
Voila! Instant female! Just add water.
Darien gasped in shock. "Y-you can change too!"
"Oh yeah, we're quite used to it around here." said Nabiki. "There's changing sex, turning into a duck, panda, and a cat. You name it, we got it. To be honest, I'm surprise we're not rolling in the dough from tourist expenses."
It bewildered Darien for only a moment since being able to change himself made it slightly more believable.
Bringing his surprise to a stand still, Darien began his thank yous and ultimately...
"Sorry to have been so much trouble. Well, I must be going now."
"Won't you tell use how it happened?" Akane asked.
"I'd definitely like to know." Ranma added.
And so began Darien's tale about the vacation from hell and abandonement and finally his current exile.
"...so my parents won't take me back."
"But their your parents! How could they do that?!" Akane's eyes flashed fire and brimstone for an instant.
"So you were knocked in too, huh?" Ranma voice sounding sympathetic.
Then came the inevitable tale of Ranma and his father to its tragic conclusion.
"You can change into a panda?!"
"Yes, yes I can."
"And it just doesn't bother you in the least that you're on the endangered species list? Wow!"
Father Saotome looked at him skeptically.
Darien spoke after everything had stopped for a dramatic pause. Wind whistled by the dojo and leaves were tossed by the disturbance. "This is just too much, I'd better be going." He motioned to get up.
"Aren't you going to stay for dinner?" Kasumi spoke wholeheartedly and with a smile.
Darien thought that going was the best thing he could to keep a grip on his sanity. Changing into a girl was enough strangeness for him, but his stomach had entirely different plans. It gurlged audibly.
"Maybe I should say, then." He said with a smile to match hers. Besides, nothing was going to make him capable of saying "no" to her smile.
"Well, I guess I should get read to eat then." He got up, kicking blankets this way and that.
"Uh, Darien." Cautioned Ranma.
Darien had been stripped to his boxers before being put in bed. He now stood in his underthings in front of all of his newfound hosts.
Akane's face turned beet red.
Nabiki voiced a "Wow!"
Kasumi managed her slightly detached "Oh, my!"
"Iee!" Darien turned crimson and attacked the bed sheets as if they were his last lind of defense.
"Baka."
************************************
(The next morning...)
Darien woke from a fitful sleep filled with nightmares. He could deal with these attacks of imagination since, at the moment, he didn't know where they ended and his life began.
After dinner last night the Tendos had insisted that he spend at least a few days with them before going on his merry way. Darien had been intent on leaving until they consoled him about his curse by saying that spending time with Ranma, who has had his curse awhile, could help him cope with his own.
Rousing himself, Darien dressed in a plain pair of khakis and a T-shirt, deciding that formal wear probably didn't matter here. He then took the stairs down to the kitchen, letting his nose lead the way.
He found all the Tendos and Saotomes gathered around the dining table.
"Something sure smells great!" he couldn't help but say.
"It's Kasumi's cooking, so naturally." Ranma motioned him towards a place at the table.
"I hope you like it," Kasumi said as she placed a plate of steaming breakfast in front of him, all smiles.
It was times like this that Darien knew he had to try and cope with what it meant to be Japanese. He managed now, barely, fumbling with the chopsticks.
Akane giggled when Darien gave up in frustration. After her quick lesson, he seemed to do fine.
Kasumi's cooking was divine! What spell she had woven over it, he couldn't guess. Definitely entertainment for the tastebuds.
"This is delicious!"
"I'm glad you like it." Kasumi chirped. Picture perfect smile.
"Well, I'm off," Ranma jumped up from the table and turned to Darien, "I'll see you after school, okay?"
"Sure."
Akane called from inside the house, "Let's go. Ranma!"
Darien noticed that Nabiki had gone as well. "What'd they do, sniff their food?"
Without thinking, Darien began collecting dishes and clearing the table. Spotting the kitchen, he trudged off toward it. It was a simple enough chore, and Darien always did it at home. No harm done...or was there?
It certainly sparked the interest of one, Soune Tendo.
"Quite a nice boy, isn't he?"
"Definitely," came Genma's response, "my friend, definitely."
Having been relieved of cleaning duty so suddenly, Kasumi shrugged and followed the dish laden Darien into the kitchen.
Darien took it upon himself to begin chores around the house under the careful instruction of Kasumi, whom he'd had to persuade to let him repay them in some way.
The rest of the day went by uneventful for the most part, aside from Darien having changed genders a few times while doing the laundry and washing the floor. Luckily, these jobs were done with hot water as well.
This all seemed innocent enough, but these actions of good will and intent began to put the wrong ideas in the mind of the wrong person.
"Likeable boy, isn't he?"
"Definitely," came Genma's response, "my friend, definitely."
*****************************
"...and so I keep asking myself the same question: 'What am I going to do now?'"
Darien and Kasumi sat on the patio adjacent to the back yard, swapping life stories and asking the proper questions to get acquainted. Once they had gotten back from school, Akane and Ranma had shown Darien around town. They had gone to see a movie and had supper at the Cat Cafe. He'd met Shampoo and had to explain his terrible story all over again. By the time Darien ahd the others had left, he had had a good picture painted in his head of Shampoo. She was a somewhat strange girl...okay really strange, but not much stranger than himself right now, except for the whole 'can change into cat with water bit.
It was now Kasumi's trun to speak, "I'm so used to doing all the work around here...since my mother passed away...that I don't get much time to myself. That is, until I had your help today. It was good to be actually bored for once, but I know that sounds silly."
"No, I understand. I can see how boring would be good." He didn't, but no way was he going to say so. It certainly wasn't silly, though.
Darien sat back and let the warm, night time breeze tickle his face. The wind was heavy with the smell of cherry blossoms and wild flowers. He stared out into the Tendos manicured back garden with its rock garden and open spaces. Lights lit the windows of neighbouring houses. The night air was painted with their glow and it was quiet...so quiet.
Darien closed his eyes. He knew what was happening. This place so far away from home was trying to seduce him, to set him on a road that was not familiar and well worn, but overgrown with things new and unknown.
'But you want it to...don't you' he thought
He felt eyes on him and turned to see Kasumi looking at him. What was it he read on her face, curiousity?
"Is something wrong?" Darien said, effectively pushing past the uncomfortable moment.
"No, nothing at all."
"Alright. Kasumi, could you point me to the bathroom again? I need to get a wash."
*End Chapter One*