Ranma and his friends belong to Rumiko Takahashi. They're used
here without permission.
------------------------------
newRanma 4: Learning
by Chris Jones
------------------------------
Ranma greeted Saturday morning with an enthusiasm she had
never mustered for school before. It was a half-day of school on a
day that Ranma would rather just sleep in on under normal
circumstances. Today she anticipated it like a starving man waits
for his next meal.
She rose early, eager for her chance to get out of the
house. She rushed through the breakfast Kasumi prepared for the
family and almost dragged Akane out of the house and down the
street for the school
She had donned a Tokyo Dodgers hat to cover the healing
scar on her scalp, but uneven red hair sill stood out from the
bottom of the hat in all directions.
Leaping out of the top of a pineapple statue at the front
gates, Principal Kunou stopped Ranma and Akane before they managed
to enter.
"What's the big deal!" Ranma protested. "We're gonna be
late!"
The principal smiled, his teeth glinting in the early
morning sunlight. He pulled a remote out of his pocket, causing
the gate to close behind him.
"Students no gonna wear hats at my school!" The man
exclaimed in this thick faux-hawaiian accent. "Be a good Keiki and
take offa hat, Okay?" He pulled out a pair of shears. "OR ELSE!"
Ranma clenched her fists. "No fighting," she whispered,
regretting her promise.
Akane put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Fine," Ranma said. "You want it?" She lifted up the hat,
revealing the long line of sutures and the crusted-over incision
they held closed. "Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get to see some
spinal fluid spurt out today!" she told the principal. "I got a
little bit of lymphatic fluid to come out of the stitches last
night, maybe I can do it again!" Ranma exaggerated further.
"Hmmm?"
The principal paled. The clippers hung loosely at his
side.
Surprising Ranma, he grabbed the Dodgers cap and set it
down gently over Ranma's scalp, covering the sutures back up.
"Keiki... this time, and this time *only*, you beat da
headmaster without a fight. You tell everyone I give you a hard
time, okey-dokey?"
Ranma and Akane giggled and Ranma nodded her assent. "I'll
tell 'em I had to whip your ass coming in."
"Good Keiki," the principal said, opening the gates back
up. "Now get to class before you gotta do water torture."
They both ran off, leaving the principal standing on the
front steps.
"Sometimes I wonder about him," Akane thought aloud.
Ranma nodded. "Something..." Something bothered her about
the principal's behavior. Something... just outside her reach.
Something important though. "Nah. Never mind." She'd figure it out
later.
After catching up with all her friends, Ranma gleefully
snoozed through first period.
All Ranma's friends eventually got around to asking to see
the 'site'. While Hiroshi and Daisuke both knew that Ranma had had
brain surgery, some of the more perverted members of her class
understood that Ranma had had abdominal surgery. At one point
there was a cry for her to take her shirt off so they all could
see despite the hat she was wearing. Ranma blushed and shook in
embarrassment and rage. Akane came to her rescue and punted all
the boys out of the classroom.
For the most part, Ranma was back to her life. As much as
she denied it, the half-day had taken more out of her than she
realized. She swore to step up her training and did several hours
of katas in the dojo on Sunday. The next day, Monday, she returned
to school eager to resume her schedule.
Lunch that day was an ordeal for both Ranma and Akane.
Ranma had sworn not to fight, but both Shampoo and Ukyou came
bearing gifts of food. Ranma *gleefully* accepted before she
realized how upset it made Akane.
Akane wanted to run off so she didn't hit Ranma, but stood
her ground.
After a few minutes several other girls and even a few
boys approached Ranma with hand-packed bentos and other treats of
food.
Unable to take her frustrations out, Akane just cried
helplessly into her hands as Ranma gorged herself.
Ranma felt a little guilty about Akane, but couldn't help
but accept all the free food. It was odd, she thought, the way all
the other girls and boys looked at her while she ate. She knew
that her body drew attention, but had never considered it before.
Now she was left to wonder if the people watching her were waiting
for their particular bento or candy-bar to be consumed, or if
there was some other reason for watching her so closely.
Since her sessions with what Tofuu-sensei called a
'Behavioral Specialist' didn't start for another day, Ranma
decided to go out after school with Hiroshi and Daisuke to take
her mind off the strange new thoughts.
The three left school and headed towards a pizza joint
that Hiroshi suggested. It had a large arcade with several new,
high-tech games that all three youths wanted to try. After a few
minutes of walking with the two, however, Ranma began to grow
uncomfortable. Their talk was 'manly', mostly about the sporting
events Ranma had missed while in the hospital, but she couldn't
help but feel their eyes lingering over her curves. They looked
away guiltily when Ranma turned back to face them, but otherwise
didn't even seem to be noticing they were doing it.
By the time she got home, Ranma was feeling absolutely
paranoid.
Akane was there, and was helping Kasumi (under heavy
supervision) prepare dinner. Ranma decided not to comment,
especially after all three of the Tendou girls came out of the
kitchen to talk to her.
"How was your day, Ranma?" Kasumi asked.
"Uh, okay, I guess," she said, suddenly uncomfortably
aware of Kasumi's proximity.
Nabiki smiled in her usual feral manner. "All the boys
have been missing your hot bod, you know," she teased. "I heard
you got some treats today at lunch--"
Akane snorted and stared at the ceiling in anger.
"Did you give any treats in return?" Nabiki asked.
"NO!" Ranma yelled, her face turning a bright red color.
"And stop staring at me like that!" she commanded as she turned
and ran away.
"What was that all about?" Kasumi asked.
Nabiki smiled wickedly. "I think Ranma-chan has finally
noticed what she does to the boys," she said.
"About bloody damn time," Akane grumbled under her breath.
"Maybe now she'll grow some modesty and not prance around here in
the nude all the time."
"It's not that bad," Kasumi said.
"It could be," Nabiki countered, smirking. "I do so need
to make sure my camera has film."
* * *
Once she calmed down, Ranma felt bad about yelling at
Nabiki. She didn't want Nabiki to be mad at her and was unsure how
to best apologize for her angry words. After the mischievous
glances Nabiki kept shooting her at dinner, Ranma suspected that
girl wasn't mad at her for her outburst. The redhead was still
uncomfortable with the situation and felt herself driven to find
out what was really going on inside Nabiki's head.
After dinner she took several minutes to calm down and
knocked on Nabiki's door.
She could hear the quiet grunts as Nabiki exercised
inside.
"Come in!" Nabiki called out in between deep breaths.
Inside, Nabiki was working out in a tiny bikini, laying on
her back doing leg lifts on her bed. She turned her head upside
down and was facing the door. Ranma found it rather uncomfortable
to talk to Nabiki, inverted as she was.
"Uhmmm... Sorry I yelled at you," Ranma offered, hoping it
would be sufficient to start the conversation.
Her eyes couldn't help but move up and down as Nabiki's
slender legs alternately rose up into the air and bent back down.
"It's okay. I enjoy teasing you," Nabiki said honestly.
"You have the cutest blush!"
Ranma's mouth worked up and down wordlessly as Nabiki
giggled in between breaths.
"See, there it is again! I swear, you're *so* easy to
manipulate, Ranma."
"Am not!" Ranma declared angrily.
"So are you hear to apologize or just fantasize about my
body, then?" Nabiki asked, reaching up and cupping her breasts
playfully.
Ranma goggled at the cleavage that showed from the top of
her bikini. She could feel the blush starting to creep burningly
onto her ears and down her chest. She had felt this feeling
before, usually because of one of Shampoo's machinations, but it
had never affected her in quite this way. Terrified, she ran out
of Nabiki's room, and out to the dojo.
"You'll have to pay the standard fee if you want to see
any more!" Nabiki called after her. She collapsed on her bed into
a fit of laughter.
After a little bit, Kasumi called her and her sister down
to watch an episode of 'Nurse Academy' she had taped while they
were at school
Ranma, hearing the familiar opening theme playing from
dojo, sneaked in guiltily to watch.
Nabiki, now clad in shorts and a tank top, shot
mischievous glances at the red-head every once in a while, but
Ranma would not be cowed out of the room.
* * *
The next day was Ranma's first appointment with the
psychologist Tofuu-sensei had recommended. She was apprehensive
about talking to anyone about the curse, but after Nabiki's cruel
teasing the night before, was almost eager to talk to someone,
*anyone* about the odd feelings running around inside her skull.
Makuna-sensei was a thin, older man with a thick mane of
hair that threatened to overwhelm his head. In his tweed suit, he
bore a startling visual resemblance to a scarecrow.
He bowed respectfully as Ranma entered his office. Much to
the red-head's relief, his eyes did not linger on her body.
"So, you're the Ranma that my good friend Tofuu has told
me so much about."
Ranma nodded nervously and sat in a chair when she was
prompted, rather than on the long couch at the end of the
psychologist's office.
"I've heard quite a bit about you," Makuna said, "but let
me tell you a little about myself before we begin. I've been a
behavioral psychologist for almost thirty years. In my time I've
performed many studies and helped men, women, and children with a
pretty impressive array of psychoses. Something I consider my
specialty is helping men and women who are homosexual or bisexual
to understand and deal with their feelings."
"Uhhh..." Ranma began, uncomfortable with the doctor's
words.
"I quite understand that you don't feel that you fall into
those groups," Makuna continued, "But you may have problems that
are similar to those I treat."
"Okay," Ranma replied nervously.
"More than anything, we're here to make sure that you're
allowed to develop normally in your unique situation. If you don't
mind," Makuna said, "I'd like you to begin by telling me how you
see yourself."
"I guess I don't understand," Ranma admitted.
"Tell me about yourself," Makuna prompted. "Tell me about
your life. Tell me what you like about yourself and what you
dislike. I understand that you have a fiancee through an arranged
marriage. Tell me how you feel about her."
"Uhhmmm... Okay," Ranma said, unsure of where to begin.
"Perhaps you should tell me about your curse," Makuna
said.
It was like a dam broke inside Ranma. Suddenly she found
herself telling the doctor about all her martial arts training and
the horrible day when she actually fell into Nannichuan. She
explained how the curse worked and all about the different people
she knew who were cursed.
Makuna listened patiently and took occasional notes.
Ranma continued on about all the different battles she had
had and all the times when she had to rescue Akane. She went on
about the fights she had at school, and then went back over all
the times her curse had been 'stuck', leaving her trapped as a
girl. Finally, she talked about the blatantly sexual teasing
Nabiki had ribbed her with.
When she finished, close to an hour had passed. Makuna-
sensei had gone through an entire legal pad worth of notes. She
felt strangely lightheaded after revealing so much about herself.
"Well," Makuna said a few minutes after Ranma stopped
talking. "What you have told me sounds like a story of a young man
who is trying to preserve his ideas about masculinity in a world
that grows more and more hostile to them by the day."
Ranma nodded.
"Nabiki, your fiancee's sister, sounds like quite an
interesting person. I think you may be worrying too much about the
jokes she's playing on you."
"Maybe," Ranma said, not really agreeing with the doctor.
"Do you remember the first time you were aroused?" Makuna
asked.
Ranma blushed, but answered the question. "The first time
I saw... another girl's... urmmm... parts," she blurted out, "was
when I saw Akane in the bath that first time."
"But it didn't make you feel like you did when her sister
posed for you."
"I was surprised," Ranma said, trying to remember the
feelings, "But... no. I guess not. I was more afraid than anything
else."
"Everyone feels attraction, Ranma, be it to members of the
opposite sex, members of the same sex, both, or even both at
different times as in your particular case. I suspect that what
happened last night was your first true arousal. Nabiki probably
experienced hers much earlier in life. Due to the surgery you
recently had, this was probably the first time you *could* feel
arousal. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's quite normal, in
fact. If it happens again, you should try not to let it frighten
you."
"But I'm a*girl right now. I... I dunno. I don't wanna be
attracted to guys, but do I have to be attracted to girls when I
am one?" Ranma asked.
"That's for you to find out," Makuna-sensei asked, a
chuckle in his voice. "I take it that you don't think it's very
masculine for a woman to be attracted to other women?"
Ranma shrugged, unsure of how to answer the question.
"Most of your ideas about what it means to be 'manly' come
from your father," Makuna said, checking back over his notes.
"Would you say that's a true statement?"
"I guess so. My mom has some funny ideas about it, but
yeah, I think my dad has taught me most of what I know about being
a guy."
"Well, today has been a good start, but something I want
you to think about before we talk again is the fact that you don't
seem to consider your father very intelligent. If you found out
that all his ideas about what is masculine and feminine were
wrong, how would you feel? How would you react?"
"Okay," Ranma said, a little distrustful of the
assignment. It sounded a little like homework.
"Something else you might want to do is get a firmer idea
of how you feel about your female body. Do you like it? Do you
dislike it? Our time is up for today, but next time, why don't you
tell me about these things."
Ranma nodded. The doctor bowed again and led her to the
door.
For a second, Ranma glanced at the young woman waiting in
the room beyond. She had short, light colored hair and a pretty
face. She looked every bit as nervous and afraid as Ranma felt
when she first arrived.
"Have a good evening, Ranma," Makuna said in parting. "Are
you ready for today's session, Taiyoko?"
"Hai, Sensei," the light-haired girl said, hopping up and
running into the office as if it was her last refuge.
"Good to see I ain't the only one with weird problems,"
Ranma said as she left the office.
* * *
The next day after school, Ranma went out with Hiroshi and
Daisuke again. On their way to the pizza joint/arcade, Hiroshi
suggested that they stop at a manga shop to pick up some of the
latest books.
Hiroshi and Daisuke both immediately headed toward the
back wall of the shop where the proprietor kept all the ecchi
doujinshi. Ranma grimaced and walked over to one of the display
shelves. She was slowly working her way through all the Dragonball
manga, having missed so many while she was in China. The
shopkeeper knew that she simply couldn't afford to buy all the
back issues at once, so he kept a generous supply on hand. Ranma
picked up the next two in line, and began to wander around,
looking for anything else that caught her eye. There was a swords-
and-sorcery type book she had been interested in for a while, and
some of the samurai stuff looked pretty neat.
Right by the latest samurai manga display, there was a
tankouban showing a young woman with pink hair and a boy's school
uniform jacket holding aloft a glowing sword. Next to her was a
dark-haired girl that reminded Ranma somewhat of Akane. Behind her
were four other people in military-style uniforms, each with their
own swords.
"Hmmm..." Ranma mused to herself, nothing the obvious
combat potential of such an image. She picked up the book and
started flipping through the first few pages without looking at
the title. She read for a second and...
"Rose Bride? Wait a second here," she said, flipping back
to the cover. "Shoujo Kakumei Utena?" she read aloud. Underneath
it had a subtitle in roman characters. "La Fillette
Revolutionaire?"
Man, what a cheap trick, making a shoujo manga so that it
looked like a fighting manga. Ranma felt embarrassed for having
picked it up. After a few seconds, however, she felt the urge to
find out what happened after the scene she had just read. The
pink-haired girl, Utena, was about to get vengeance for her
overly-touchy friend who had just been made fun of by the captain
of the kendo team.
"Doesn't that sound familiar?" she asked herself. Sighing
deeply, telling herself that it was a *fighting* manga that looked
like it was shoujo title, she picked it up and hid it behind her
Dragonball book.
At the pizza shop, Ranma began to wish that she hadn't.
"So you like 'Shojou Kakumei Utena', Ranma?" Hiroshi
kidded.
"Shut up!" Ranma growled.
"Man, more sexual ambiguity in that story than at our
school!" Daisuke said, just before scarfing a slice of pepperoni.
"You know the main characters are all lesbians, right?"
Hiroshi asked.
"No, I didn't!" Ranma huffed in a matter of fact tone. Her
face was red, and her ears felt like they were on fire.
"Ah, don't let it bug you, Ranma," Daisuke said. "If it
makes you feel better, I've got a complete run of Utena at home.
It's a pretty good story, all things considered."
Ranma blinked in surprise.
"I've also got a complete run of Sailor Moon." Daisuke
admitted.
"You've also got about a bazillion Sailor Moon doujinshi,"
Hiroshi said, pulling one of the books out of Daisuke's bag. It
was entitled 'Lunatic Syndrome' and had a picture of Sailor
Jupiter and Sailor Mercury in an undressed state and entwined in a
deep kiss on the cover.
Ranma blushed again, shocked by what she had seen.
"Put that away, man!" Daisuke snapped. "Are you trying to
get us thrown out of here?"
"Personally, I like period war stories," Hiroshi noted,
pulling out a copy of 'Tora Squadron'.
"What was that one you had?" Daisuke asked. "'The
General's Dilemma'? Wasn't that a shoujo romance?"
Hiroshi nodded. "It was written by the same author. She's
a military otaku who spends a lot of time recreating weapon
design." He opened the book to display a squadron of doomed
Kamikaze bombers approaching an American battleship. "Look at that
design! You can see every bolt and seam on that carrier!"
"A lot of guys read shoujo," Daisuke said. "Just like a
lot of girls read shonen manga. Some are geeks, like Hiroshi
here--"
"Shut up, Dai."
"And some just kinda don't worry about it."
"Yeah, don't worry, bud. We won't tell Akane that you've
started reading girl's stories."
Ranma grimaced and dug into her pizza. She felt a little
better than before, actually. Hiroshi and Daisuke were still
staring at inopportune times, but they were kidding around and
treating her like a guy.
Later, the three headed to the back part of the shop to
try out some of the games.
Ranma may have been a girl, but she could still best all
takers at Super Turbo Street Fighter 3.141 GammaDeltaFoxtrot. Both
Hiroshi and Daisuke lost several hundred yen to her skill.
"Hey, check this one out," Hiroshi said, pointing at a
series of rather phallic looking chambers near the back of the
arcade. "It's a virtual reality game about giant robots!"
"Evangelion," Ranma read. "What's the deal?"
"You can either duel with other players, or fight monsters
called 'Angels'. It's pretty popular. They're even starting to
organize tournaments."
"Hmmm..."
They played the game for a bit, and Ranma got into it, but
the displays tended to make her a little dizzy.
On the way out of the arcade, Ranma noticed a familiar
person sitting at a booth in the Pizza shop. It took her a second
to place the face, but she remembered that it was Makuna-sensei's
patient, Taiyoko.
Smiling, Ranma waved at the girl.
Taiyoko froze, an expression of embarrassment and fear on
her face. She turned away, and stared at the wall.
Ranma grimaced, wondering what she had done.
"Guys, do I have something on my chest?" she said,
examining her shirt.
"Hmm, A pair of C-cup's I think," Daisuke noted. "Not that
common for a guy, but I suppose we can make an exception."
"Shut up, Damn it!"
"Got Ranma's goat again, Dai," Hiroshi noted. "You're two
for two tonight."
Ranma grimaced, and did her best to suppress a grin.
It felt nice to belong.
* * *
By the time Ranma made it home, dinnertime had come and
gone. She apologized to Kasumi, explaining that she had gotten
pizza with her friends.
"It's okay, Ranma-chan," Kasumi said sweetly.
Ranma winced at the '-chan' suffix, but held her tongue.
"Oh, I was going to put on a tape of today's Nurse Academy
episode," she said.
"Oh, I'll go tell Akane and Nabiki for you if you want,"
Ranma offered, her expression perking up dramatically.
"It's okay, Ranma-chan," Kasumi explained. "They've
already seen it."
Ranma blushed again. She hadn't been hiding it very well,
but now she was caught.
Kasumi stared deeply into the red-head's eyes. "I have
such a great time watching with you, so I decided to wait until
you got home today."
"You want me to watch with you?" Ranma asked, desperately
trying to figure out how to escape from this situation.
"I understand that Kakeri's going to get into a big fight
with Eimi! Don't you want to see what happens?"
Ranma looked around. There wasn't anyone in the front
room.
"Yeah. I guess so. Let's put it on. Do you mind if we keep
the volume kinda low?"
* * *
That night, Ranma dreamt of a red-headed, pig-tailed,
sword-weilding school-girl.
A guy who looked just like Kunou, except he had long hair
and was wearing a really nice military-style school uniform, had
challenged her to a duel. If Ranma/Utena won the duel, then the
short, dark-skinned Anthy/Akane would be free of Kunou/Saionji and
could come live in the girls' dorm with Ranma.
In the duel, Ranma/Utena drew Anthy/Akane's soul-mallet
and used it to knock Kunou off the roof of the dueling platform
high above Furinkan Academy.
Akane, free at last of Kunou's domination, declared that
Ranma was the victor in the duels, and therefore the groom of the
Rose Bride. They could sit and watch Nurse Academy reruns all day,
every day!
Akane leaned in closer to Ranma...
Further away, on the overly-symbolistic observation
platform, Ryouga/Touga, Ukyou/Miki, Nabiki/Juri, and
Kodachi/Nanami watched in amusement through opera-glasses.
"Can we get some privacy here?" Ranma demanded angrily,
just as Akane was about to pull the zipper down on the back of the
Rose Bride's wedding gown.
Ranma woke in a sweat. She was trembling, and her skull
ached anew.
"What the *hell* was that?" she asked out loud.
-----
~to be continued...
Apologies to Jim Lazar. The Evangelion game Ranma and his friends
play in this chapter is pretty much stolen directly from 'Garden
of Eva'.
here without permission.
------------------------------
newRanma 4: Learning
by Chris Jones
------------------------------
Ranma greeted Saturday morning with an enthusiasm she had
never mustered for school before. It was a half-day of school on a
day that Ranma would rather just sleep in on under normal
circumstances. Today she anticipated it like a starving man waits
for his next meal.
She rose early, eager for her chance to get out of the
house. She rushed through the breakfast Kasumi prepared for the
family and almost dragged Akane out of the house and down the
street for the school
She had donned a Tokyo Dodgers hat to cover the healing
scar on her scalp, but uneven red hair sill stood out from the
bottom of the hat in all directions.
Leaping out of the top of a pineapple statue at the front
gates, Principal Kunou stopped Ranma and Akane before they managed
to enter.
"What's the big deal!" Ranma protested. "We're gonna be
late!"
The principal smiled, his teeth glinting in the early
morning sunlight. He pulled a remote out of his pocket, causing
the gate to close behind him.
"Students no gonna wear hats at my school!" The man
exclaimed in this thick faux-hawaiian accent. "Be a good Keiki and
take offa hat, Okay?" He pulled out a pair of shears. "OR ELSE!"
Ranma clenched her fists. "No fighting," she whispered,
regretting her promise.
Akane put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Fine," Ranma said. "You want it?" She lifted up the hat,
revealing the long line of sutures and the crusted-over incision
they held closed. "Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get to see some
spinal fluid spurt out today!" she told the principal. "I got a
little bit of lymphatic fluid to come out of the stitches last
night, maybe I can do it again!" Ranma exaggerated further.
"Hmmm?"
The principal paled. The clippers hung loosely at his
side.
Surprising Ranma, he grabbed the Dodgers cap and set it
down gently over Ranma's scalp, covering the sutures back up.
"Keiki... this time, and this time *only*, you beat da
headmaster without a fight. You tell everyone I give you a hard
time, okey-dokey?"
Ranma and Akane giggled and Ranma nodded her assent. "I'll
tell 'em I had to whip your ass coming in."
"Good Keiki," the principal said, opening the gates back
up. "Now get to class before you gotta do water torture."
They both ran off, leaving the principal standing on the
front steps.
"Sometimes I wonder about him," Akane thought aloud.
Ranma nodded. "Something..." Something bothered her about
the principal's behavior. Something... just outside her reach.
Something important though. "Nah. Never mind." She'd figure it out
later.
After catching up with all her friends, Ranma gleefully
snoozed through first period.
All Ranma's friends eventually got around to asking to see
the 'site'. While Hiroshi and Daisuke both knew that Ranma had had
brain surgery, some of the more perverted members of her class
understood that Ranma had had abdominal surgery. At one point
there was a cry for her to take her shirt off so they all could
see despite the hat she was wearing. Ranma blushed and shook in
embarrassment and rage. Akane came to her rescue and punted all
the boys out of the classroom.
For the most part, Ranma was back to her life. As much as
she denied it, the half-day had taken more out of her than she
realized. She swore to step up her training and did several hours
of katas in the dojo on Sunday. The next day, Monday, she returned
to school eager to resume her schedule.
Lunch that day was an ordeal for both Ranma and Akane.
Ranma had sworn not to fight, but both Shampoo and Ukyou came
bearing gifts of food. Ranma *gleefully* accepted before she
realized how upset it made Akane.
Akane wanted to run off so she didn't hit Ranma, but stood
her ground.
After a few minutes several other girls and even a few
boys approached Ranma with hand-packed bentos and other treats of
food.
Unable to take her frustrations out, Akane just cried
helplessly into her hands as Ranma gorged herself.
Ranma felt a little guilty about Akane, but couldn't help
but accept all the free food. It was odd, she thought, the way all
the other girls and boys looked at her while she ate. She knew
that her body drew attention, but had never considered it before.
Now she was left to wonder if the people watching her were waiting
for their particular bento or candy-bar to be consumed, or if
there was some other reason for watching her so closely.
Since her sessions with what Tofuu-sensei called a
'Behavioral Specialist' didn't start for another day, Ranma
decided to go out after school with Hiroshi and Daisuke to take
her mind off the strange new thoughts.
The three left school and headed towards a pizza joint
that Hiroshi suggested. It had a large arcade with several new,
high-tech games that all three youths wanted to try. After a few
minutes of walking with the two, however, Ranma began to grow
uncomfortable. Their talk was 'manly', mostly about the sporting
events Ranma had missed while in the hospital, but she couldn't
help but feel their eyes lingering over her curves. They looked
away guiltily when Ranma turned back to face them, but otherwise
didn't even seem to be noticing they were doing it.
By the time she got home, Ranma was feeling absolutely
paranoid.
Akane was there, and was helping Kasumi (under heavy
supervision) prepare dinner. Ranma decided not to comment,
especially after all three of the Tendou girls came out of the
kitchen to talk to her.
"How was your day, Ranma?" Kasumi asked.
"Uh, okay, I guess," she said, suddenly uncomfortably
aware of Kasumi's proximity.
Nabiki smiled in her usual feral manner. "All the boys
have been missing your hot bod, you know," she teased. "I heard
you got some treats today at lunch--"
Akane snorted and stared at the ceiling in anger.
"Did you give any treats in return?" Nabiki asked.
"NO!" Ranma yelled, her face turning a bright red color.
"And stop staring at me like that!" she commanded as she turned
and ran away.
"What was that all about?" Kasumi asked.
Nabiki smiled wickedly. "I think Ranma-chan has finally
noticed what she does to the boys," she said.
"About bloody damn time," Akane grumbled under her breath.
"Maybe now she'll grow some modesty and not prance around here in
the nude all the time."
"It's not that bad," Kasumi said.
"It could be," Nabiki countered, smirking. "I do so need
to make sure my camera has film."
* * *
Once she calmed down, Ranma felt bad about yelling at
Nabiki. She didn't want Nabiki to be mad at her and was unsure how
to best apologize for her angry words. After the mischievous
glances Nabiki kept shooting her at dinner, Ranma suspected that
girl wasn't mad at her for her outburst. The redhead was still
uncomfortable with the situation and felt herself driven to find
out what was really going on inside Nabiki's head.
After dinner she took several minutes to calm down and
knocked on Nabiki's door.
She could hear the quiet grunts as Nabiki exercised
inside.
"Come in!" Nabiki called out in between deep breaths.
Inside, Nabiki was working out in a tiny bikini, laying on
her back doing leg lifts on her bed. She turned her head upside
down and was facing the door. Ranma found it rather uncomfortable
to talk to Nabiki, inverted as she was.
"Uhmmm... Sorry I yelled at you," Ranma offered, hoping it
would be sufficient to start the conversation.
Her eyes couldn't help but move up and down as Nabiki's
slender legs alternately rose up into the air and bent back down.
"It's okay. I enjoy teasing you," Nabiki said honestly.
"You have the cutest blush!"
Ranma's mouth worked up and down wordlessly as Nabiki
giggled in between breaths.
"See, there it is again! I swear, you're *so* easy to
manipulate, Ranma."
"Am not!" Ranma declared angrily.
"So are you hear to apologize or just fantasize about my
body, then?" Nabiki asked, reaching up and cupping her breasts
playfully.
Ranma goggled at the cleavage that showed from the top of
her bikini. She could feel the blush starting to creep burningly
onto her ears and down her chest. She had felt this feeling
before, usually because of one of Shampoo's machinations, but it
had never affected her in quite this way. Terrified, she ran out
of Nabiki's room, and out to the dojo.
"You'll have to pay the standard fee if you want to see
any more!" Nabiki called after her. She collapsed on her bed into
a fit of laughter.
After a little bit, Kasumi called her and her sister down
to watch an episode of 'Nurse Academy' she had taped while they
were at school
Ranma, hearing the familiar opening theme playing from
dojo, sneaked in guiltily to watch.
Nabiki, now clad in shorts and a tank top, shot
mischievous glances at the red-head every once in a while, but
Ranma would not be cowed out of the room.
* * *
The next day was Ranma's first appointment with the
psychologist Tofuu-sensei had recommended. She was apprehensive
about talking to anyone about the curse, but after Nabiki's cruel
teasing the night before, was almost eager to talk to someone,
*anyone* about the odd feelings running around inside her skull.
Makuna-sensei was a thin, older man with a thick mane of
hair that threatened to overwhelm his head. In his tweed suit, he
bore a startling visual resemblance to a scarecrow.
He bowed respectfully as Ranma entered his office. Much to
the red-head's relief, his eyes did not linger on her body.
"So, you're the Ranma that my good friend Tofuu has told
me so much about."
Ranma nodded nervously and sat in a chair when she was
prompted, rather than on the long couch at the end of the
psychologist's office.
"I've heard quite a bit about you," Makuna said, "but let
me tell you a little about myself before we begin. I've been a
behavioral psychologist for almost thirty years. In my time I've
performed many studies and helped men, women, and children with a
pretty impressive array of psychoses. Something I consider my
specialty is helping men and women who are homosexual or bisexual
to understand and deal with their feelings."
"Uhhh..." Ranma began, uncomfortable with the doctor's
words.
"I quite understand that you don't feel that you fall into
those groups," Makuna continued, "But you may have problems that
are similar to those I treat."
"Okay," Ranma replied nervously.
"More than anything, we're here to make sure that you're
allowed to develop normally in your unique situation. If you don't
mind," Makuna said, "I'd like you to begin by telling me how you
see yourself."
"I guess I don't understand," Ranma admitted.
"Tell me about yourself," Makuna prompted. "Tell me about
your life. Tell me what you like about yourself and what you
dislike. I understand that you have a fiancee through an arranged
marriage. Tell me how you feel about her."
"Uhhmmm... Okay," Ranma said, unsure of where to begin.
"Perhaps you should tell me about your curse," Makuna
said.
It was like a dam broke inside Ranma. Suddenly she found
herself telling the doctor about all her martial arts training and
the horrible day when she actually fell into Nannichuan. She
explained how the curse worked and all about the different people
she knew who were cursed.
Makuna listened patiently and took occasional notes.
Ranma continued on about all the different battles she had
had and all the times when she had to rescue Akane. She went on
about the fights she had at school, and then went back over all
the times her curse had been 'stuck', leaving her trapped as a
girl. Finally, she talked about the blatantly sexual teasing
Nabiki had ribbed her with.
When she finished, close to an hour had passed. Makuna-
sensei had gone through an entire legal pad worth of notes. She
felt strangely lightheaded after revealing so much about herself.
"Well," Makuna said a few minutes after Ranma stopped
talking. "What you have told me sounds like a story of a young man
who is trying to preserve his ideas about masculinity in a world
that grows more and more hostile to them by the day."
Ranma nodded.
"Nabiki, your fiancee's sister, sounds like quite an
interesting person. I think you may be worrying too much about the
jokes she's playing on you."
"Maybe," Ranma said, not really agreeing with the doctor.
"Do you remember the first time you were aroused?" Makuna
asked.
Ranma blushed, but answered the question. "The first time
I saw... another girl's... urmmm... parts," she blurted out, "was
when I saw Akane in the bath that first time."
"But it didn't make you feel like you did when her sister
posed for you."
"I was surprised," Ranma said, trying to remember the
feelings, "But... no. I guess not. I was more afraid than anything
else."
"Everyone feels attraction, Ranma, be it to members of the
opposite sex, members of the same sex, both, or even both at
different times as in your particular case. I suspect that what
happened last night was your first true arousal. Nabiki probably
experienced hers much earlier in life. Due to the surgery you
recently had, this was probably the first time you *could* feel
arousal. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's quite normal, in
fact. If it happens again, you should try not to let it frighten
you."
"But I'm a*girl right now. I... I dunno. I don't wanna be
attracted to guys, but do I have to be attracted to girls when I
am one?" Ranma asked.
"That's for you to find out," Makuna-sensei asked, a
chuckle in his voice. "I take it that you don't think it's very
masculine for a woman to be attracted to other women?"
Ranma shrugged, unsure of how to answer the question.
"Most of your ideas about what it means to be 'manly' come
from your father," Makuna said, checking back over his notes.
"Would you say that's a true statement?"
"I guess so. My mom has some funny ideas about it, but
yeah, I think my dad has taught me most of what I know about being
a guy."
"Well, today has been a good start, but something I want
you to think about before we talk again is the fact that you don't
seem to consider your father very intelligent. If you found out
that all his ideas about what is masculine and feminine were
wrong, how would you feel? How would you react?"
"Okay," Ranma said, a little distrustful of the
assignment. It sounded a little like homework.
"Something else you might want to do is get a firmer idea
of how you feel about your female body. Do you like it? Do you
dislike it? Our time is up for today, but next time, why don't you
tell me about these things."
Ranma nodded. The doctor bowed again and led her to the
door.
For a second, Ranma glanced at the young woman waiting in
the room beyond. She had short, light colored hair and a pretty
face. She looked every bit as nervous and afraid as Ranma felt
when she first arrived.
"Have a good evening, Ranma," Makuna said in parting. "Are
you ready for today's session, Taiyoko?"
"Hai, Sensei," the light-haired girl said, hopping up and
running into the office as if it was her last refuge.
"Good to see I ain't the only one with weird problems,"
Ranma said as she left the office.
* * *
The next day after school, Ranma went out with Hiroshi and
Daisuke again. On their way to the pizza joint/arcade, Hiroshi
suggested that they stop at a manga shop to pick up some of the
latest books.
Hiroshi and Daisuke both immediately headed toward the
back wall of the shop where the proprietor kept all the ecchi
doujinshi. Ranma grimaced and walked over to one of the display
shelves. She was slowly working her way through all the Dragonball
manga, having missed so many while she was in China. The
shopkeeper knew that she simply couldn't afford to buy all the
back issues at once, so he kept a generous supply on hand. Ranma
picked up the next two in line, and began to wander around,
looking for anything else that caught her eye. There was a swords-
and-sorcery type book she had been interested in for a while, and
some of the samurai stuff looked pretty neat.
Right by the latest samurai manga display, there was a
tankouban showing a young woman with pink hair and a boy's school
uniform jacket holding aloft a glowing sword. Next to her was a
dark-haired girl that reminded Ranma somewhat of Akane. Behind her
were four other people in military-style uniforms, each with their
own swords.
"Hmmm..." Ranma mused to herself, nothing the obvious
combat potential of such an image. She picked up the book and
started flipping through the first few pages without looking at
the title. She read for a second and...
"Rose Bride? Wait a second here," she said, flipping back
to the cover. "Shoujo Kakumei Utena?" she read aloud. Underneath
it had a subtitle in roman characters. "La Fillette
Revolutionaire?"
Man, what a cheap trick, making a shoujo manga so that it
looked like a fighting manga. Ranma felt embarrassed for having
picked it up. After a few seconds, however, she felt the urge to
find out what happened after the scene she had just read. The
pink-haired girl, Utena, was about to get vengeance for her
overly-touchy friend who had just been made fun of by the captain
of the kendo team.
"Doesn't that sound familiar?" she asked herself. Sighing
deeply, telling herself that it was a *fighting* manga that looked
like it was shoujo title, she picked it up and hid it behind her
Dragonball book.
At the pizza shop, Ranma began to wish that she hadn't.
"So you like 'Shojou Kakumei Utena', Ranma?" Hiroshi
kidded.
"Shut up!" Ranma growled.
"Man, more sexual ambiguity in that story than at our
school!" Daisuke said, just before scarfing a slice of pepperoni.
"You know the main characters are all lesbians, right?"
Hiroshi asked.
"No, I didn't!" Ranma huffed in a matter of fact tone. Her
face was red, and her ears felt like they were on fire.
"Ah, don't let it bug you, Ranma," Daisuke said. "If it
makes you feel better, I've got a complete run of Utena at home.
It's a pretty good story, all things considered."
Ranma blinked in surprise.
"I've also got a complete run of Sailor Moon." Daisuke
admitted.
"You've also got about a bazillion Sailor Moon doujinshi,"
Hiroshi said, pulling one of the books out of Daisuke's bag. It
was entitled 'Lunatic Syndrome' and had a picture of Sailor
Jupiter and Sailor Mercury in an undressed state and entwined in a
deep kiss on the cover.
Ranma blushed again, shocked by what she had seen.
"Put that away, man!" Daisuke snapped. "Are you trying to
get us thrown out of here?"
"Personally, I like period war stories," Hiroshi noted,
pulling out a copy of 'Tora Squadron'.
"What was that one you had?" Daisuke asked. "'The
General's Dilemma'? Wasn't that a shoujo romance?"
Hiroshi nodded. "It was written by the same author. She's
a military otaku who spends a lot of time recreating weapon
design." He opened the book to display a squadron of doomed
Kamikaze bombers approaching an American battleship. "Look at that
design! You can see every bolt and seam on that carrier!"
"A lot of guys read shoujo," Daisuke said. "Just like a
lot of girls read shonen manga. Some are geeks, like Hiroshi
here--"
"Shut up, Dai."
"And some just kinda don't worry about it."
"Yeah, don't worry, bud. We won't tell Akane that you've
started reading girl's stories."
Ranma grimaced and dug into her pizza. She felt a little
better than before, actually. Hiroshi and Daisuke were still
staring at inopportune times, but they were kidding around and
treating her like a guy.
Later, the three headed to the back part of the shop to
try out some of the games.
Ranma may have been a girl, but she could still best all
takers at Super Turbo Street Fighter 3.141 GammaDeltaFoxtrot. Both
Hiroshi and Daisuke lost several hundred yen to her skill.
"Hey, check this one out," Hiroshi said, pointing at a
series of rather phallic looking chambers near the back of the
arcade. "It's a virtual reality game about giant robots!"
"Evangelion," Ranma read. "What's the deal?"
"You can either duel with other players, or fight monsters
called 'Angels'. It's pretty popular. They're even starting to
organize tournaments."
"Hmmm..."
They played the game for a bit, and Ranma got into it, but
the displays tended to make her a little dizzy.
On the way out of the arcade, Ranma noticed a familiar
person sitting at a booth in the Pizza shop. It took her a second
to place the face, but she remembered that it was Makuna-sensei's
patient, Taiyoko.
Smiling, Ranma waved at the girl.
Taiyoko froze, an expression of embarrassment and fear on
her face. She turned away, and stared at the wall.
Ranma grimaced, wondering what she had done.
"Guys, do I have something on my chest?" she said,
examining her shirt.
"Hmm, A pair of C-cup's I think," Daisuke noted. "Not that
common for a guy, but I suppose we can make an exception."
"Shut up, Damn it!"
"Got Ranma's goat again, Dai," Hiroshi noted. "You're two
for two tonight."
Ranma grimaced, and did her best to suppress a grin.
It felt nice to belong.
* * *
By the time Ranma made it home, dinnertime had come and
gone. She apologized to Kasumi, explaining that she had gotten
pizza with her friends.
"It's okay, Ranma-chan," Kasumi said sweetly.
Ranma winced at the '-chan' suffix, but held her tongue.
"Oh, I was going to put on a tape of today's Nurse Academy
episode," she said.
"Oh, I'll go tell Akane and Nabiki for you if you want,"
Ranma offered, her expression perking up dramatically.
"It's okay, Ranma-chan," Kasumi explained. "They've
already seen it."
Ranma blushed again. She hadn't been hiding it very well,
but now she was caught.
Kasumi stared deeply into the red-head's eyes. "I have
such a great time watching with you, so I decided to wait until
you got home today."
"You want me to watch with you?" Ranma asked, desperately
trying to figure out how to escape from this situation.
"I understand that Kakeri's going to get into a big fight
with Eimi! Don't you want to see what happens?"
Ranma looked around. There wasn't anyone in the front
room.
"Yeah. I guess so. Let's put it on. Do you mind if we keep
the volume kinda low?"
* * *
That night, Ranma dreamt of a red-headed, pig-tailed,
sword-weilding school-girl.
A guy who looked just like Kunou, except he had long hair
and was wearing a really nice military-style school uniform, had
challenged her to a duel. If Ranma/Utena won the duel, then the
short, dark-skinned Anthy/Akane would be free of Kunou/Saionji and
could come live in the girls' dorm with Ranma.
In the duel, Ranma/Utena drew Anthy/Akane's soul-mallet
and used it to knock Kunou off the roof of the dueling platform
high above Furinkan Academy.
Akane, free at last of Kunou's domination, declared that
Ranma was the victor in the duels, and therefore the groom of the
Rose Bride. They could sit and watch Nurse Academy reruns all day,
every day!
Akane leaned in closer to Ranma...
Further away, on the overly-symbolistic observation
platform, Ryouga/Touga, Ukyou/Miki, Nabiki/Juri, and
Kodachi/Nanami watched in amusement through opera-glasses.
"Can we get some privacy here?" Ranma demanded angrily,
just as Akane was about to pull the zipper down on the back of the
Rose Bride's wedding gown.
Ranma woke in a sweat. She was trembling, and her skull
ached anew.
"What the *hell* was that?" she asked out loud.
-----
~to be continued...
Apologies to Jim Lazar. The Evangelion game Ranma and his friends
play in this chapter is pretty much stolen directly from 'Garden
of Eva'.