Ranma One-Akane
By Ron Dow75
3: Color Her Red, Too
Ranma discovered the hard way girls get sore after violent activity. {Especially the less-than-good-for-nothing boobs! All that extra soft stuff bein' yanked around!} Though she was loath to admit it, she would probably be feeling worse if she wasn't wearing a bra {Still, this ain't nothing like the kind of hurt I've had to put up with before I became a girl. So, why put up with a thing that's most uncomfortable when it's doing its job!?}
But she'd done it. Despite a quack doctor giving her something that gave the stupid body she was stuck in the say so on how she had to act, she'd broken free of that Akane's habits, and become Ranma, again! She'd single-handed taken on and defeated a platoon of attackers. Okay, they were high school jock-types, but still: When it came to a fight, there wasn't anybody that age better than her!
Her?? {Damned this body!! It just won't let me forget!}
"Akane? Akane?!" the girl's sister waved a hand in front of her face.
Her triumph interrupted, Ranma snapped her head around hard enough to move her long ponytail. She definitely told her, "My name is, Ranma."
Nabiki took hold of the back of her shoulders, and pushed, forcing her to step over the bodies of the fallen boys, "Your name is Akane Tendou. "Ranma/Wild Stallion" is just what we call you when you forget that. You have amnesia, dear sister." Nabiki hoped she hadn't gone too far. If a person knew what their post-hypnotic trigger was, it could weaken its effectiveness. But then again, Dr. Tofu's moxibustion/herb-burning treatment of arcane shiatsu points was supposed to be stronger than mere hypnotism.
Now that Ranma thought she had control of her martial arts' reflexes, she fought to regain control of the vocal cords and speech pattern {WHY do I think in this Akane's voice??}, "I want, to be called, Ran-ma."
Unable to walk and talk for herself at the same time, Ranma stumbled over the Kuno-creep. Nabiki's grip kept her from falling, then kept her going. "You'll be called Akane, because that's who we want you to be again! I know "Red Cloud" doesn't have the marquee value of "Wild Stallion"; but despite this liter of guys, you're not ready for a fighter's epithet. Look at Kuno-Baby," she said, glancing back at the trampled boy. "These same idiots are afraid of him—but do YOU really think he's a "Shooting Star"!?"
The sempai samurai, age 17, mumbled with his waking thoughts, "Red Cloud…Blue Thunder…"
= = =
The head {I don't WANT it to be cute: Not cute! Not cute!}, hands and feet {Boy, are they big for a girl. ' Must be why they're kinda clumsy.) still took up the lion's share of her body-awareness. But after that… As a girl, Ranma's center of gravity was now down in her belly; her lower body was where most of what mass she had as a girl was. And that had very un-guy-like, wide pushed-out hips that required her legs bend towards each other {Or is this Akane-girl just naturally knock-kneed?}. And all that was dead weight as she resisted being pushed into the school.
But this taller Nabiki-sister was stronger than she looked; "Either you're more of the passive-type than you'd have people believing, Akane (Which I refuse to believe), or the reason you've been letting me push you around this morning is because you've been indoctrinated that you have to go to school. No matter how reluctant you are to face the problems you have in it."
The body became tenser, blocking any further attempt of Ranma to claim her true identity.
Nabiki had to shove to get her through the main doors. "Come on! You can't hide behind the Amnesia Excuse all of your life!"
= = =
They were late, so the hallway was nearly deserted.
Nabiki helped Akane up the stairs by lifting an arm she had twisted around her back. Ranma felt angry and… She didn't have a word for it! It wasn't a feeling she was used to. All she knew is that it made her feel even more boxed in. Not only couldn't Ranma freely express herself, apparently the body felt IT couldn't, either.
The sister decided she could at least talk friendly, " "Red Cloud" isn't that bad of a name. Look at me; do you think I'M a "waving, fluttering cloud"? Do *I "BEND or YIELD to a power"? More like the other way around!
"Kasumi, now, IS a "hazy, mist-like cloud"!"
The Akane-habits knew the names of her family, of course, but nothing so far had prompted it to say them. Ranma thought this might be a good way for her to remember their names, "And what about, errr, 'our-father'?" Japanese would have to have two words for father, "my/our", and "somebody-else's".
Ranma could feel the sister relax a bit now that it seemed she didn't have to worry about an Akane/Red-in-the-Face eruption, "Daddy is Soun, "Fast Cloud". Lets just leave it at that."
Ranma said, "There's a family theme here in the names, right?"
Nabiki said, "And other families don't have themes?"
Ranma, the Wild Stallion, thought of Genma, the Dark, Unpolished Stallion, {Okay, point taken.}
= = =
When they got to the third floor, Nabiki pointed to the signs above the classroom doors. "1-F. Walk!"
Feeling the weight of her long hair as her head bent, Akane's body shuffled to the door in a blue dress with just ankle socks on her shaved legs. Nabiki called after her, "No excuses! You're not to get any special treatment! I give administration Dr. Tofu's note if you screw up!" {Like I said, quack.} It was only when she was about to turn the knob that the body raised her head, and pulled back her shoulders. {And pushed out as it squashed the boobs,} Ranma groused.
She went in. And smiled.
= = =
Ranma was standing out beside the classroom door, in front of the windows and small lockers, with a full bucket of water. She wasn't smiling.
Okay, she could understand why she was being punished. She was late.
But she looked up and down the hall. "So why am I the only one out here?" {Not only were those guys I beat up late, too: They cut out of their classes to get beat up!}
Ranma looked down past the bust she was keeping her upper arms away from {I don't want to hafta feel them any more 'n I have too; they remind me I'm not a guy right now! …But then, what doesn't.} The blue dress's jumper bib covered even more of what was below. Without moving them away from her lower abdomen, she couldn't see her hands holding the handle of the pail leaning against her thighs {' Like a weak girl.}, but she could see some of the water. She didn't like the reflection.
She looked away, her frown deepened. {You can't be late, but it's okay to get in fights, around here.} Suddenly she had a thought that made her so angry, she had to raise her fist: "What!!?! Is the real reason I'm being punished is for beating up guys!?!!"
The weight of the water pail won out against her bruised left shoulder. And centiliters were sloshed out as she was bent awkwardly to the side. {Stupid girls' narrow waist!}
= = =
In classroom 2-E, Tatewaki Kuno had changed into the normal boys' uniform of Furinkan High, gray slacks, belt and white shirt (short-sleeved even on this day). "Her spirit remains. What didst my eyes behold when I recovered from the unsportsmanlike-like attack upon my personage, but a field of mown pretenders to the throne that is her heart. It is true; it was but I alone who could still her red-hot fury. It is I alone who have rightful claim to her—"
Sitting next to him, Nabiki Tendou stopped the flat of her hand before it hit the desktop, "Kuno!" She also had to keep her volume down, "I TOLD you the only reason she didn't lay into you immediately this morning is because of that lucky strike you got in on her yesterday(!) As soon as she recovers her—"
"RrrM—No!! I will not let her recover!! What is the point of victory, otherwise!!?"
Bopd! The onsen souvenir paperweight that the teacher threw bounced off the top of the student's thick head, "Kuno! Go stand in the hall!"
Nabiki was relieved; if the kendo-jerk had kept his Akane-obsession going, she would've ended up out of the classroom, as well!
= = =
The smile was frozen on Ranma's face even after her teacher had closed the window that looked into the hall from the classroom. {Great! This Akane-girl was one-a those people that feel they gotta smile even when they don't wanna. I'd rather be angry!! At least I'd know it was my own feelings, not a girl's!} Girls just didn't get as riled up as guys did.
"I bet you thought you were cute, smiling like that all of the time," she muttered to herself. Ranma was determined to build up a head of steam and break out of the mental straightjacket she was in, "Girls are required to smile and not get angry because they're the weaker sex. They have to defer to the guys because they're soft. Girls just take what's given them. So, if a girl defeats a bunch of prize athletes?…. That's right: Athletes are the fake warriors of this Westernized world. An insult to everything I've worked MY whole life to become!"
"Akane Tendou!!" Speaking of 'prize athlete' and fake warrior, it was that upperclass-creep again, coming down the hall. Still in his black and blue kendo-gi, he held out his wooden bokken sword, this time, just to showoff {GRRR!!}. The handle of his pail of water rested on the bokken's shaft. The feat of {greater than female} strength was spoiled only in that he gripped his sword in the traditional samurai-way using both hands.
"Akane Tendou?!?" He asked when he was within charging distance of her. He stopped, and raised his bokken (and letting the pail's handle slide down the hiltless sword to be stopped by his own hand). He gave himself a smug smile, "Then it is true, you no longer respond to the name."
{Yes!! The anger worked!} Ranma triumphed. {Either I'm more me than her, now, or—} Ranma's mood crashed. That sickness was back that pumped blood into her sensitive tissues, moistened her hands and— {Will I EVER get my manhood back!!?!}
The guy's handsome face shown brighter, his voice sounded clearer, his aroma more—{Now, I KNOW this Akane-girl was one sick chick!!} When he spoke, she listened, "Then it is time you change your name to Kuno."
She heard him, alright; she just wasn't understanding him. "Change my name to "9-Abilities"? I haven't given up on being "The Wild Stallion", yet!"
As Kuno lifted the bucket with one hand, he said, "I am your Wild Stallion. And as for the 9 abilities of a wife—"
The trance was shattered, "WIFE!?! I haven't planned on being ANYbody's wife—Let alone yours, Kuno!!" The words came faster than Ranma could think of them, as if they came with the body's program. {Kuno?! The body called him that!?!! Man, is HIS name burned into her!}
Acting(?) dense, the samurai-teen said, "Trouble yourself not. You have not to make any plans. The Kuno clan wilst make all of the marriage arrangements. The contract can be—"
Ranma caught up with Akane, as both yelled, "I WON'T be anybody's WIFE!!" She lashed out, hit the pail, and sent it and the water in it crashing and splashing.
Kuno blinked, "I have never heard of a girl PREFERRING to be a concubine."
Their battle scream was cut short by the opening of classroom windows: The boys crowded their upper bodies through one: "Don't do it, Akane!" "If you want to be somebody's secondary—" "Choose me, instead, Akane!" "My dad engaged me to this girl, but if you don't mind being a—" "Give me another year to learn kendo!" "If you would rather be the husband, Akane—"
And the girls through the other: "Don't do it, Akane!" "If you cohabit with a guy—" "I wish Kuno the Rich would choose me!" "My dad engaged me to this boy, but you've inspired me to—" "Give me another year to learn archery!" "If you would rather be the husband, Akane—"
"Akane Tendou!!" This shout was her teacher's.
"Hai!" was her automatic response.
Keno cried, "She said, YES!!" and rushed to wrap his arms around—Ranma ducked just in time!
Ranma ran down the hall, "Okay, let's get this over with once and for all, Kuno!!" she told the monumental jerk-creep. "Outside, and away from distractions!!"
The students of Class 1-F broke out of their windows and into the hall. "After them!!" "Yeah, this just isn't just about them!" "The whole boy/girl balance of the school is at stake!!"
Kuno declared, "I follow, My Love!! You eagerness to consummate our relationship is only matched by—"
Ranma cried, "Cut that out, Kuno!! The only thing I'm interested in—" {Man!! Don't even say it! Can't you feel what the word's doing to this stupid Akane's body!!?}
Kuno rejoiced, "The Lady Akane can't even bring herself to protest too much!!"
Ranma turned a hall corner, "Keep saying things like that, Kuno, and I won't wait until we're outside!"
Kuno answered, "Please! We have reached the point where you can now call me Tatewaki!!"
Ranma stumbled as she nearly lost the use of a bare knee. "Why do I want to you to be "bringing me a sword"!!?!" {There's a double meanin' I can do without!!}
The chemistry lab she was passing exploded!
The concussion and debris stopped the crowd: "EEEEEE!"
Ranma was thrown through the already shattered windows to the outside!
The homeroom survivors of the Chemistry and Ordnance Club looked out the gaping hole in their wall. "Was that Akane who went out the hole in THAT wall?"
His front-half showing signs of the blast, Kuno dove through the missing windows, "I come to save you from your lonely life, My Love!!"
A second survivor said, "It must've been; that's Kuno jumping after her."
= = =
Kuno realized, "AAAA!! So High! –That was the third floor!!!"
Falling through the damp, windy air, goosepimply, singed, scratched and her school uniform a mess, Ranma had a bigger problem: {Damned, stupid, idiotic skirt!! Stay down!! Stay down!!} It wasn't her modesty she was worried about: {I gotta see to land right!!}
(Wait!?!! Does this body KNOW how to land right!!?!}
Getting the skirt out of the way enough, Ranma was able to see, "A swimming pool with water in it! It'll be freezing, but at least it'll break—Come on! Come on!!" {Didn't that stupid Akane-girl learn how to dive!?!!}
Because of that health hazard called a skirt, Ranma had no time to teach—
SPLATCH!!
Kuno landed moments later. His panic had robbed him of any lessons in diving he may've learned.
SPLATSH!!
Face down and limp, Kuno floated to the top of the cold, cold water.
While Ranma: {I can swim! I can swim!! I've done it since I was a little kid!!!} Something else to stress out about!! {C'mon, body!! If there ever was a time to let me take over, this is it!!! It's both of us stayin' down, for GOOD, if I'm not allowed to –Don't open your mouth!!! *Ngahh* You wanna drown *Gulp* that much quick— *Glug!*—)
= = =
Ranma felt a solid male form envelop her as it brought her waterlogged body to the surface. Ranma did not appreciate what was happening at all. {I'd almost rather this become the Pool of Drowned Girl….}
That indignation became all the grater when she opened her eyes and saw Kuno.
He swam her past another guy in a kendo-gi in the pool with them.
Steadying himself against the side, with his other hand he lifted her up out of the pool and onto the edge. Kuno then joined her.
She felt him roll her over. {This is it. This is how I'm gonna get my first kiss…and it's gonna be from a guy…} And she couldn't find the breath to do ANYthing to stop it. (Not just any guy, either, it was a guy who—}
Water spouted out of her mouth as Kuno pressed the heels of his hands against her solar plexus! He wasn't kissing her!?! He wasn't even giving her mouth-to-mouth respiration!??!
Surprisingly capable, his special technique drew air in to replace the cup of water expelled with each massage. Finally, after the long minutes since splash down, she heard Kuno speak, "When a mind is overwhelmed with stress, the body takes over. Do not become overwhelmed."
…*Cough*… {There, there's something wrong…with that voice.}
"Itoko no kata!! She is MY prize!" (Now THAT sounds like the Kuno that gets under my skin.}
The NEW Kuno commanded, "Silence! This is not the time for that!"
When Ranma could focus, she saw Kuno kneeling beside her.
…And Kuno standing over her.
There were TWO of them!!?!
TWINS!!?!!
No: The other one was wider, taller, browner, more weathered and chiseled…in his late twenties, early thirties, Ranma guessed.
But there was no mistaking the family resemblance.
But when THIS Kuno spoke, "Are you all right, Miss? Nod, if you are. Fine! I apologize for not giving you mouth-to-mouth respiration. But it is frowned upon when a man in my position does it."
Ranma felt herself being lifted in his steel hard arms. Again she resented being the damsel. "*Cough* Who, *Cough!* who are you?"
He started carrying her back towards the school, "I am the acting headmaster."
= = =
Meanwhile, Dr. Tofu Ono was between patients. Going down his secret stairs, he analyzed to himself, "I hope I did the right thing by prescribing that less than standard treatment for Akane. Could my Diagnostic be wrong? Then again, it told me that I had to be at the Tendous at just that moment. Poor Akane would've runaway to who knows where, if I hadn't been there."
The End
For those who have problems with which of the interpretations for their names I've chosen, I'm writing in English, and am looking to have a little fun.
No, I did not make up the Chemistry (and Ordnance) Club. See the video, "RANMA ½; TV Series Vol. 4": EPISODE EIGHT. It is the one where Ryouga returns for the 2nd time, and the club attempts (miserably) to blow up him and Ranma up. It is also the one where Akane loses her long hair.
Ranma wasn't given the standard First Aid treatment because I was looking for storyteller's moments.
As for the acting headmaster, I will use him to explain many of the things that happened at Furinkan High before the real Headmaster showed up. Plus, of course, he will take an interest in Ranma One-Akane; one like no other Alternative-World Ranma character's.
Because of a criticism of the Doctor's prescription, I have decided to reveal something about Dr. Tofu earlier than I had planned. It is something that I always thought best explained a lot about him…and Kasumi.