Ranma Nibunnoichi - Reflections
A. V. Morgan
Part Thirty-Five: Cutting to the Quick
A universal feeling of dread greeted the arrival of Ranma and Fa Shen in the mirror trap. At the same time, there was a kind of relief, since the intrusion interrupted the bewildered Akane's rant over the fact that Happosai had been so callous as to trap even her pet pig, P-Chan, and the small commotion as the piglet evaded her attempts to snatch him up into a hug. It had been a small mercy that Akane had already been out of the fight and out of sight when Ryouga was transformed, but after the emotional upheaval following his date with Ranma, he really did not want to face Akane in his cursed form. Compared to the glory of making love with—and Mousse had been correct in his analysis of the lost boy's true feelings—a girl he believed to be Ranma, Akane's misdirected affection had lost most of it's allure. To further bewilder the youngest Tendo daughter, when Ranma collapsed in the faceted chamber, howling her frustration at the way Happosai snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, the little pig rushed to the red-head in an effort to console her.
"Dammit! We were so close!!!" Ranma cried, slamming her fist uselessly into the floor of their prison. In her mind flashed the scenes of Fa Shen's and her father's transformations, then her own effort to reclaim her identity, in spite of the dire consequences she could expect from Nodoka seeing her son revealed as a girl. There was no longer any hiding from her mother, and even if it killed her, there was a kind of relief that it had finally happened. However, the one consolation she had hoped for was that the warped, demented and perverted old man who had damned her would be the first to die. "All we had to do was finish him off!"
Fa Shen grabbed her twin, once again marveling at the sight of her own hand and its testament to her restoration, and hugged Ranma awkwardly from the side. "I'm so sorry, Ranma! It was my fault! I was so sure he was dead I… my overconfidence sucked you into dropping your guard too."
Ranma felt the warmth of her arms, and heard the self-recrimination in her voice, and quickly mastered her disappointment. "No. He's duped us all so many times, I should have known to be careful anyway. I just… I hope there's someone out there who can finish the job. He looked really bad, even Kasumi could take him at this point," Ranma snorted in dark amusement. She finally noticed Ryouga squatting pensively in front of her, looking up at her with big, damp eyes full of angst and concern. "Hey, P-Chan," she offered a faint smile, picking him up and hugging him gently.
Akane stared in abject disbelief. "B-but, but, P-Chan HATES you…"
The pig snorted in disagreement, turning a pained eye to Akane and then cuddling closer to Ranma's bosom. The image of Ranma's face, as he ran up to her, full of loss and shame and fatal resignation had sent a cold chill through Ryouga's heart. It was too easy to guess what she assumed would happen now that she had been revealed to her mother. It had been too easy to see that she accepted her fate, the certainty in her mind that Nodoka would make her commit seppuku. He knew that was not the case. Rather the opposite, Nodoka would expect Ranma to embrace her "revealed" gender and marry, and what had begun between them suddenly was free to grow without obstacles. Unfortunately, he had no voice and could not tell her. He could not let her know there was no more pressure to be a man, no reason to fear her feelings for him.
At the same time, the certainty of death had already freed Ranma from any fear of openly embracing the one she loved. Because Akane was present, Ranma said nothing as she held P-Chan. Even now, she would not break the promise that forbid her from revealing his curse. Instead, she just held him, marveling at the paradox of her emotions. Like the pledge to protect his secret, his weakness, the feelings came to her second hand. Just the same, the boy she had been all of her natural life had woken in the grip of those feelings, and the sensations evoked to express them. Whether she wanted to or not, she did love Ryouga. That had allowed "Ranko" to become a girl, and now it allowed Ranma to embrace all the experiences leading up to that moment as part of his own life. As far as she could tell, being a girl, physically or psychologically, did not really make Ranma less of a man. Seeing that she was doomed to die for it, she really had no reason at this point to not be more of a woman.
The sight of Ranma silently hugging P-Chan was enough to strike everyone dumb. Fa Shen's mind had followed the same path as Ranma's, and knowing about the intimacy between her and Ryouga, understood the dull horror of her twin's situation. Akane was just baffled. Unable to understand the behavior of either her pet or her "fiancé" it did not occur to her to explain to Ranma what she had learned that morning about Ranma's conception and Nodoka's intentions, if her "son" turned out to be a daughter. Soun and Genma, however, possessed a few more facts than Fa Shen, Ranma or Akane, and unlike Ryouga, were capable of expressing them. Naturally, they huddled off to the side and did so in their traditional manner by plotting. Aware that P-Chan was actually Ryouga, and knowing that Ranma was quite aware of this too, her behavior was quite revealing to the two fathers. If the pair were not painfully aware of the consequences of what Nodoka had witnessed, the sight would have disturbed and enraged them.
"Genma-kun," Soun began, acknowledging with the very way he addressed his old friend that their dream of uniting Ranma and Akane was dead. "It appears that the 'girl training' undertaken by the former 'Ranko' has borne unexpected fruit."
Genma swallowed hard, his mind shrieking in denial and frustration, but nodded. "It appears so."
"I have noticed that, er—Ryouga…?—Ryouga seems to have picked up and incorporated a great deal of Anything Goes Martial Arts in his, ah, rivalry with your s… child," Soun elaborated, thoughtfully.
"He lacks much in the way of proper training and discipline, however, he possesses some extraordinary talent and potential."
"And, regrettably, no few flaws to offset them. In spite of this, he is the closest thing your child has to a peer."
"Ranma would not be the martial artist he… she is today, without him."
"Agreed. Agreed."
"It… it grieves my heart to think that it would come to this. Still, knowing what Nodoka intends, at least… at least there is some chance in this that Ranma could be able to live up to her expectations. It would be… unbearable… for all of us, if he… she was doomed to fail a second time," Genma sighed. Though his original fear, the seppuku pledge, had been dissolved, he had feared this happening with equal intensity. It was ironic that the Jusenkyo curse had proved to be the lesser threat, and that an equal danger had lain unnoticed all this time. It would have been better to never have had a son than to lose him in this fashion. "The joining of the schools will have to wait for the next generation, my old friend."
"Indeed. It seems there really is no rest for the wicked," Soun smiled grimly, seeing their dreams of retirement evaporate like the morning fog. It had been a minor miracle that Soun Tendo had become a respected member of his community. Now, for past misdeeds in the service of the same man who now shattered their aspirations, the kami had deemed it fit to deny Soun and Genma their fulfillment.
Genma adjusted his glasses and paused in thought for a moment, before announcing, "Well, if any of the girls had managed to finish Happosai off, Nabiki would have released us all by now. I suspect we will have more than enough time to break the news to the children." With a heavier heart than he had ever borne, he rose to his feet and approached Ranma. Clearing his throat for attention, he proceeded to explain to her all that had been revealed that morning in her absence, and the consequences she now faced. By the time he was done, Ranma was completely shell-shocked. In all the ways she might have imagined that her manhood would be undermined, she had never once suspected her very conception was in question. Just as she had resolved to preserve what remained of her manhood, by facing her death with dignity, even that was stripped from her. At the same time, the thing she had known would ultimately be denied to her, any hope of pursuing what she had started with Ryouga—however it had actually happened—was being thrust upon her with the same implacability as her original engagement to Akane.
"Y-you you WANT me to marry RYOUGA!?" she roared.
P-Chan squeaked in terror, at this perceived rejection.
"I believe Nodoka can be convinced to go along with it. She made it very clear that she considers it her daughter's obligation to produce a grandson who can grow up to be a man-among-men," Genma clarified, soberly. With a deep sigh, he continued, "I know this is very difficult for you, Ranma. It is certainly not what I would have ever desired. If… if you don't want to be married to him, I won't suggest it, however, your mother will see you married to a man."
Ranma cringed. The very idea made seppuku seem delightful. She knew in her bones that it would be very difficult to put herself into the position she had been in with Ryouga with any other man. Not impossible. Sex was fun. All she needed was a female body to know that temptation, however, marriage was a lot more to deal with than she was prepared for, even with Ryouga. Meeting Ryouga's eyes, she tried to convey this to him silently. Even more terrifying, the thought of her mother turning her into a "lady" made her insides twist in agony. Her mind flipped back to a moment, facing Copy-chan, where she was confronted with the prospect of following in her mother's footsteps. True, it had been the person she now thought of as Ranko who had that experience, but it was passed on to Ranma with everything else. If she tried to trace the route that thought had to follow to end up in her head now, the world spun and her skull ached. Too much of who she was remained the boy she had always been. In a small voice, she protested, "I can't do it. I can't not be a boy. She… she can't take that away from me. I'll go insane…"
P-Chan's eyes widened, as he finally understood her reaction.
It was at this point that Akane crouched down across from her and stared her in the eye. "Ranma…" she began hesitantly. Her mind raced through the weeks events, the stages that the current Ranko had gone through as Ranma's identity was torn away from her. She bit her lip and frowned, before coming up with an idea. "Maybe… maybe you don't have to."
"What?" Ranma froze, focusing to meet her gaze.
"I mean, what about Ranko?"
"What about Ranko?" Ranma frowned.
"Well, technically, she's Nodoka's daughter. She's got the original body. She's a lot more comfortable with the idea of being a girl. You're not alone in this. Don't you think you should at least talk to her, find out if she might be able to handle this obligation better than you?" Akane pointed out. "You might not be a perfect man to Nodoka, but that's no reason for you to abandon being a man altogether if you don't want to, right?"
Ranma grasped onto what her former fiancée was saying. It went without saying that if she did go back to China to regain her manhood, it would be enough for their fathers to renew the engagement. That alone would kill any possibility of being with Ryouga. While she did not want to be forced to marry him, anymore than she wanted to be forced to marry Akane, she did love him. He was willing to get a nyanniichaun curse just to be with her if she reclaimed her manhood with the nanniichaun. Because of her parents, Ranma realized, she could not escape marriage. She could only choose between Ryouga and Akane. Swallowing, she hardened her gaze and pointed out, "You know what will happen if I become a guy again, Akane."
"I… I know. That's not really the point, though," she looked down. "The point is, you have to be who you are. You have to be able to live with yourself. You've been a guy all your life, and well, from what I've learned, all babies start out female in the womb. They taught us that in school. Something causes some of them to become boys, and it doesn't really matter if it's genetic or magic. You were born a boy. You grew up as one. Just because there's something out there that can turn you into a girl… all that does is give you a choice. I think you deserve the right to make a choice, Ranma."
Ranma stared at her in amazement. In that moment, Ranma saw in her the same concern, the same compassion and friendship, the same support she had glimpsed in Ryouga when they opened up on their date. Somewhere along the way, Akane had seen Ranma as a genuine human being, and empathized with her. Ranma was instantly reminded of the moment when she offered friendship to a strange, awkward and lonely girl. In all the days that followed, the person who had been Ranma had been unable to determine if Akane had genuinely cared about him. Now, for the real Ranma, she had extended the same hand of friendship, with entirely different words, but with far more substance. The many feelings she had inherited towards Akane had been missing one vital ingredient, one simple thing. As that feeling suddenly sparked in Ranma's heart, she did not know if it was hope, or faith, or gratitude, but combined with everything else, the fledgling emotion she had struggled to understand suddenly matured into love. It was agonizing, since it immediately threatened to tear her heart in two different directions. At the same time, this love found her love for Ryouga and in the brief struggle they found each other to be true. Her eyes widened in surprise, as she became aware of her choices, the difficult, damning choices, she faced.
For a moment, Ranma forgot to breathe. Instead of having reached the end of the road, she now saw it was an unexpected turn. The path now ahead of her split into a fork, but she had a good number of steps to take before she was forced to choose. For the sake of Ranko alone, it was necessary to reclaim what she had lost. She hesitated to think how much harder than choosing between those who wanted her, choosing between those she wanted, would be. At least she could fight her way into a position where she could really make that choice. Just as she felt things begin to spin, she sucked in a sharp breath. Akane glanced up at the sound and Ranma met her eyes. There was something in the dark haired girl's eyes, something that responded to the gleam in her own. Rather than try to hide it, Ranma just smiled faintly and said, "Thanks, Akane."
Unnoticed by either of them, Soun and Genma silently thanked her too.
Nodoka had wandered into the back yard, deep in troubled thought, after confirming through Ranko the somewhat bi-polar gender she could expect in her new daughter and former son. Her head was spinning from the convoluted history that had been so recently unraveled. After viewing the tape showing Ranma's curse, Nodoka was having a hard time keeping Ranma and Ranko separate in her mind. That struck her as odd, because she was so used to believing they were two unrelated people. Twice, she had seen the dark haired boy turn into a red haired girl. Once in person and once on the tape. Impossibly, neither time had it truly been Ranma she had seen. The first time, she now knew, it had been Fa Shen. The drowned girl. Nodoka still could not make heads or tails of that part of things. What was a mother to make of the previous incarnation of her own child, in the flesh? It did lend strength to the argument that her son really should have been a girl. It did not help when she had also been shown the transformation of her "mythical" son into a person she was well familiar with. Ranko. It was so difficult to imagine Ranko had only come into existence with the curse. That was partly Happosai's fault for asserting that Ranko was the girl Ranma should have been, and Nodoka had clung to that idea citing the curse as the means she used to escape from her upbringing and assert herself. It did not help that she knew Ranko and Ranma was a complete stranger to her. It especially did not help that she had spent more than a decade nurturing such hopes about her son.
She could understand Happosai's actions now, at least. There had been so much she had not known, so much no one had known until the last minute. Nodoka could imagine what would have happened if she had learned of the curse before the mirror incident revealed all the things the curse had hidden. Ranko would still believe she was Ranma, Ranma and Fa Shen would have remained locked up somewhere inside her, and Nodoka would have concluded, based on the Ranko she knew, that "Ranma" was a man-among-men. The curse would have been a blemish upon her son, but the contract had always hinged on evaluating her son as a person more than a thing. Nodoka would have encouraged her son to rise above the curse or find a way to remove it, and she would have also encouraged his marriage to Akane to satisfy the pact between their families. Under those circumstances, "Ranko" would have died. Nodoka would have anguished over the loss of a girl she had come to love as a daughter. Every time Ranma's curse was activated, she'd see that girl again, but she would have to treat her as her son. It would haunt her, taunt her, torture her so that she never forgot what she had to lose to regain her son.
Happosai had forced her to confront a very different problem. By declaring Ranko the daughter she should have had, he had made it clear that Ranko could fulfill the obligation she expected to pass on to Ranma if the truth of his conception was ever revealed. By restoring Fa Shen, Happosai had forcibly ended the deception that was dividing her family and allowed Ranma, who had been stuck as a girl by some whim of fate, to reclaim her identity. As the story came out, Happosai had pointed out how Ranma had used the distraction of the fight to swap places with Fa Shen, who had been caught off guard and forced to pose as her son when they confronted her that morning. Happosai had even suggested why Ranma did so, believing that Nodoka would enforce the contract once the dust settled. Ranma did not even hesitate, in the face of certain death, to prevent another from dying in her place. That was incredibly manly, Nodoka thought, and as Happosai and Ranko both attested, and as she understood, she had been as willing to sacrifice her manhood to heal Ranko. Just as certainly, Ranma would endure another curse to regain that manhood. It was too much to believe that, somehow, she could get her son back. The only problem was the other thing Happosai and Ranko forced her to see. Her very manly son might have a need, a desire, to be female—at least on a part time basis.
That was the lingering mark of the curse, the price of surviving Fa Shen's resurrection. Ranma considered himself a boy, much as Ranko considered herself a girl, but they had both accepted the opposite sex as a valid and necessary part of being who they were. This was too difficult for Nodoka to understand. On one hand, it seemed obvious that truly understanding what it was like to be a woman could only make Ranma a better man. On the other hand, it was so perverse. In her traditional mind set, men and women were clear cut, mutually exclusive entities. Black and white. Yin and Yang. It just was not proper to blur the lines. But, as a mother, it grieved her to think that it could hurt her child, her children, to be forced to conform to such conventional roles. Ranko had stated quite plainly that it would hurt them, "I don't think anyone who has been both could give up one and not feel half dead." It was enough to make a mother want to scream and cry at the injustice.
Maybe if this last week had gone differently, maybe if Ranko had not been forced to cope with the loss of Ranma's identity and find some other way to define herself, she would have felt it possible and necessary to find a cure for the curse, to return to being the boy she believed herself to be. She had been able to get that admission out of her, before retreating to think. After hearing Ranko explain what Happosai was driving at with his "negotiations", Nodoka had pressed, "You say that, because of you, Ranma figured out what it is to be a girl. Until last night, you did not know you were not Ranma, so, how could this have happened? What really happened?"
Ranko schooled her thoughts. Happosai had forced the story out into the open, but what had been explained was more of an outline than a real explanation. "When I was Ranma, I always thought of myself as a guy, even when I was in my girl form. I mean, yeah, I'd be female and I had to deal with a lot of stuff that was girly an' stuff, but I never really pictured myself as a girl. I was always lookin' for a cure, a way to go back to being a guy, full time. It wasn't until after the last trip to the mirror, when the reflections got all the memories of bein' Ranma that I really stopped to think about some of the things I'd experienced as a girl," Ranko looked inward, trying to recover the thoughts leading up to her epiphany. "With the reflections, especially Copy-kun, I'd noticed how he brought somethin' out of me that made me… well, feel like a girl, feel like that was normal an' all. I realized that had been happening a lot, when I'd be in certain situations, but I never really noticed it or I pushed it off and tried not to think about it 'cuz I didn't wanna be too comfortable with bein' a girl. I mean, I told myself that I'd just gotten used to my curse.
"Well, when the reflections had all my memories, I realized they would be Ranma and Ranko from then on, so I was trying to think of who I was supposed to be," Ranko returned to the point. "It bugged me to give up bein' Ranma, but I'd already accepted it was best. It surprised me that I was upset about givin' up Ranko too. I suddenly realized that pretendin' to be Ranko had allowed me to become a different person from Ranma. A girl. I couldn't see that I was Ranko until I totally gave up bein' Ranma." Ranko sighed and looked down in remembered misery. "Of course, at the same time I realized I had to give that up too. We didn't know about Fa Shen yet. Pops had told me you had always wished for a daughter, when he came up with the idea of havin' the male copy be Ranma. I thought you'd probably want a normal daughter just as much as you wanted a normal son, so I let the female copy be Ranko. Of course, she was still stuck thinkin' of herself as Ranma in a girl's body.
"I was the only one who understood what it was to be a girl, and when I tried to explain it, they didn't really understand how it happened," Ranko pointed out, looking up again to see if Nodoka was following her. "Anyway, Akane came up with this idea of setting Ranko up on a date with Ryouga, since Copy-chan had fallen in love with him and she'd been a girl. The idea was that those feelings for Ryouga might help Ranko become a girl. Fa Shen waking up was unexpected and it sorta messed things up. She dragged me into this sort of dream where we met, and then found Ranma. You already know that part, and how he woke up in the female body as Fa Shen was waking up in the male body. Ranma would have woken up in a mind that had just figured out how to be a girl, so that's how it's my fault he can be one."
Nodoka had immediately thought of the conversations she had with "Ranko" on that date, and the sudden change in the girl when she came back from her walk with Ryouga. Nodoka had been worried, both by the length of their absence and her concern about what the girl had confessed. She could attest to how suddenly "Ranko" had embraced her femininity, and how eager she had seemed to confirm it. Nodoka certainly had suspected her of indulging, in spite of her warnings, when she undressed the girl and she was missing her panties. That had been bothering her, as Happosai drove home his point that Ranma might fight to regain his manhood, but might not eschew his recently acquired womanhood. As Nodoka stood now, gazing into the koi pond, she noticed the clothes floating in it. The billowing, heavy robes of the Chinese boy, and the sturdy travel clothes Ryouga had been wearing. She sighed, automatically bending to retrieve the articles, but as she gathered up Ryouga's outfit, she noticed a piece that did not belong. She had helped "Ranko" dress for the date, and had insisted on the black silk panties to match the rest of her outfit. She had no trouble recognizing them when they floated out of Ryouga's shirt as she pulled it out of the water. The boy's clothes dropped from her nerveless fingers as she collapsed heavily to her knees.
Suddenly, she did not need to ask how Ranma had learned that sex would generate ki that would heal Ranko. She could not even utter her shock. The scene in the bathroom with "Ranneko" returned. Before bathing, the girl had disposed of the tampon, and Nodoka had noted faintly that the girl seemed to have a very light flow. Not that mere spotting was unusual for an irregularity in a period. Now that she thought about it, though, the blood had stained the wrong end of the tampon. Nodoka closed her eyes. How many times had she been fooled because she wanted to be? At the same time, she recollected Ranneko's concern about the threat to Ranma's manhood, the way she had accused her self of being the threat. It was incredible how very honest her child was in her deceit. Nodoka tried to imagine what it meant, that she broke up with Ryouga, remembering that she brought the boy to his knees with a few words. Nodoka hoped this meant the girl had lost her virginity before her son awoke. At the same time, Ranma knew then how to cure Ranko, and struggled with her desire to help and the consequences of doing so, begging Nodoka to tell her what she expected of her son. Trying to make her understand the connection between girl and boy, and the necessity for one of them to "die" for the other to live. Even confessing the absurdity of abandoning the refuge of her present form, her adopted identity, to accept the death her mother promised her. For the first time, Nodoka could understand the pain and suffering of her son. The efforts he had gone to, not just to protect himself, but to protect her from suffering a fatal disappointment.
Picking up the panties and crumpling them in her hand, she realized that there was no price her son would not pay to do what he felt was right. At that moment, she could hardly fathom the state of his honor, or the impact it could have on family honor, but the integrity he showed in this impossible situation was inspiring. "Oh, my son!" she hugged herself and hunched forward as tears erupted from the depths of her soul.
As soon as Nodoka wandered out to think, Ranko turned to Happosai and asked him when he planned to let everyone out. This roused the others to jump in and comment on all of the dirty tricks he had pulled that morning. This was accompanied by no few threats, and ominous predictions of the suffering he would endure when those he had trapped were free to take their revenge. Considering that Happosai was almost as weak as Ranko, the old master was somewhat concerned, as he too believed that Soun, Genma, Ranma, Fa Shen, Akane and Ryouga would be eager to resume the battle once they were free. In spite of the fact that Happosai had intended to see the mess with Nodoka cleared up, he had not meant to reveal the truth in such a spectacular fashion. His pride, temper and impulsiveness had gotten the better of him. True, it had been great fun. He was quite impressed that the heirs to his school, and a couple of their friends, had managed to beat him to a stand still. That finishing move by Nabiki and Kasumi would endure in his memory as one of the most brilliant pieces of improvisation in combat he had ever encountered. All three of the Tendo sisters deserved recognition for that one, as it had been Akane's cooking that finally took the fight out of him.
Brushing a tear of sentiment from his eye, Happosai finally answered Ranko's question. "I really don't plan to keep them locked up much longer. I need to see what Nodoka intends to do about Ranma, and I am in no condition to resume the fight. I won, fair and square, and I think that entitles me to some rest," he pronounced.
"You did NOT win, you old goat. You just barely saved your own skin," Ranko grumbled. "If you had not taken hostages, Mom would have taken your head. And don't go sayin' you fixed this mess, since you also made it impossible for Ranma and Fa Shen to heal me, for all sorts of reasons!" Ranko lowered her voice and leaned in close to him, "Do you have any idea the kind of hell on Earth we'll get if Mom figured out about Ranma and Ryouga?"
Mousse, ever the one with a sharp ear out, turned roughly towards Ranko and asked, in his normal clarion voice, "Oh? When did you figure out he popped her cherry?"
This made all of the girls, and even Cologne, stutter and gape in shock.
"Who?" Cologne inquired, with a sly smile.
"What!?" Nabiki, Ukyo and Shampoo reared up.
"Oh! Oh my!" Kasumi fanned herself, blushing.
"Mousse!!!" Ranko fumed. With a sharp glare she let him know he was signing his name under Happosai's on the hit list. "Just shout it to the world, you blind idiot! Are you insane!?"
Nabiki was already shuffling facts, considering means, motive and opportunity, and quickly boiled down the probable who, when, where and why. "What" was already obvious, once Ranko endorsed the slip by challenging Mousse. "I don't believe it!" Nabiki laughed. "Sounds like Ryouga hit a home run on his date last night!" That made the fiancées choke in disbelief, but the frantic looks on Ranko's and Mousse's faces left them no grounds for voicing denial. Nabiki just hugged herself and tried to stop laughing long enough to add, "I wonder if it happened before or after Ranma woke up!? It's too rich! This could only happen to Ranma!"
Shampoo and Ukyo turned to each other, remembering the way Ranma had been acting when she got home, and what she said about her awakening. It sure did not sound like Ranma woke up in the middle of a "fight" with Ryouga. Shampoo remembered her joke about Ranma getting knocked out and knocked up with instant, blushing, chagrin. "Oh! Shampoo be sick! Shampoo think Ranma wake up during!"
That was too much for Ukyo. She snatched up her spatula and shot to her feet, "I'm gonna kill that pig!"
"Ukyo! Keep it down!" Ranko begged, snatching a glimpse outside to where her mother was pacing in thought.
Cologne was trying, with all her dignity, to contain herself, but a shared look with Shampoo, who was staring at her with horrified realization, forced her to release a cackle of mirth. When she seemed unlikely to stop, the others regrouped around the table and stared at her in suspicion. Nabiki narrowed her eyes, "I admit, it's funny as hell, but, I get the feeling she's laughing about something more than I am. Come on, Granny, spit it out."
Cologne struggled to get a grip on herself, gesturing to Shampoo to spell things out. With a heavy sigh, shaking her purple head, Shampoo tried. "Great-Grandmother tell you all, Ranma and Ranko both amazon womans by reincarnation. In tribe, there three steps in marriage. Is first, must face future husband in combat to show strength. If man can defeat amazon woman is then she must give kiss of marriage if she want claim husband. Even if woman can beat man most time, if even one time man defeat in battle, she can claim. Even if woman no sure, can always kiss later and take man to bed for make marriage bond. If woman no want husband, but just good time, she be very careful no kiss if he ever beat in past."
Cologne finally got her breath back and picked the thread up, while everyone stared in growing comprehension. "Ahem. In spite of the fact that Ranma regularly defeats Ryouga, when he first mastered the shishihokodan, Ryouga defeated Ranma several times in quick succession. If it should be found that Ranma kissed him, declared her love, and then slept with him, Ryouga is now Ranma's husband by amazon law."
Ranko swallowed hard. "But, it wasn't really Ranma who started it. I mean, if he woke up in the middle of it… and for that matter it was actually me who fought Ryouga… it can't apply, can it?" she entreated.
Cologne paused thoughtfully and then amended, "Those are good points, and from the interpretation of marriage laws as they apply to you and Shampoo, such that he would not be considered Shampoo's husband if you did not qualify, it could be argued that the marriage is not valid. However, this would take a ruling of the council to resolve since Ranma was technically a part of you during all your past battles. They might well decide that you, and not Ranma, have the valid claim to Ryouga—or he to you—and that you consummated the marriage by proxy."
"What…?" Ranko asked in a very dead tone.
"Well, to establish that this does not involve Ranma, it would be necessary to reveal the actual circumstances, and thus, let it be known that this union was consummated by a projection of you," Cologne elaborated with a fierce grin.
"No way!" Ukyo shouted.
"Not good! Shampoo already claim Ranko her Airen! Shampoo no lose to lost boy!" Shampoo joined Ukyo in towering rage.
"And I have to conclude my challenge for Ranko to be my wife!" Mousse cried, panicking at the thought of seeing his plans shattered so unexpectedly. "Even if she consummated a marriage with Ryouga, the council must rule on Shampoo's claim, and that gives me time to make my own claim!"
Cologne sighed, "This is true Mousse. As Ranko did not personally engage in this activity, it would take a ruling of the council to declare her responsible for that act. It would be wise, I think, for Ranma to be informed of the legal specifics before she ventures into any other, ah, indulgences."
"What about Fa Shen?" Happosai asked, grinning madly through the whole exchange. He was quite familiar with certain quirks of amazon law, and it was not impossible for them to be interpreted in such a way that a person in Ranma's situation could end up legally married to him or herself.
"As far as I recall, there has only been one fight between Ranma and Fa Shen, and as it happens, Fa Shen currently resides in the incarnation she fought against. Since they are both amazons, only a formal marriage challenge can set the ball rolling, so the two of them could make like a pile of bunnies and it would not make one whit of difference," Cologne smirked.
"So, I might be married to Ryouga because he's not an amazon," Ranko fumed. She searched her self and easily found the foundation of emotions for Ryouga that Ranma had apparently embraced, either as "Ranko" or as a consequence of what she started. It did not escape her that Ryouga was the one good reason Ranma had to be a girl. That had been the whole point, after all. If Ranma fell for it, it was a safe bet she could too. It was not a completely horrifying thought, but the very idea of competing against Ranma, or watching Ryouga try to chose between them, was very disturbing.
Just then, the sound of Nodoka crying out in the yard caught everyone's attention. She had collapsed next to the koi pond, clutching a bit of black fabric in her hand as she hugged herself and cried with great, racking sobs. Ranko was instantly alarmed, and began to struggle to make her body take her out to her mother's side. There was no lack of strength in her body, but a kind of paralysis of will that made it so hard to command her own limbs. So, she shot to her feet, and then her body stopped receiving commands as that one impulse sapped all her psychic energy. Ukyo was there to catch her before she toppled over in an uncoordinated heap. By the time the girl had the leverage to help Ranko walk, Nodoka had risen to her feet and shaken off her outburst of grief. Standing tall and proud, she turned and reentered the house. She paused, to lay a comforting hand on Ranko's cheek, then pressed on to confront the master.
"I need to speak to my son," she commanded.
The people inside the mirror had begun to despair of ever being released by the time the portal over head lit up, alerting them that someone had opened the mirror. It was with some surprise that they saw Nabiki appear at the mouth of their prison, and then drop, as if choreographed, right into her father's outstretched arms. There followed a bit of commotion as everyone tried to ask at once what had happened, why she was being trapped, what Happosai was up to now and if he was still weak enough for them to finish off if they managed to escape. Nabiki cleared her throat and called for silence before making her announcement.
"Happosai is as helpless as a baby. Fa Shen's final attack took the fight out of him and a bowl full of Akane's cooking put him down for the count," she declared. She quickly described the end of the fight. "Once she understood that he had you all hostage, Nodoka realized she could not finish him off. He offered to negotiate, and we called in reinforcements. Cologne and Shampoo came over, and so did Ukyo and Dr. Tofu. Between Cologne and Tofu, Happosai is under control, but here's the bad news." Nabiki paused dramatically. When everyone was about to burst, she dropped the bomb. "Happosai told Nodoka the truth. Everything."
There was instant mayhem. The two fathers ran around the faceted chamber shouting in anguish that they were all doomed, while Ranma squared herself, meeting Nabiki's eye. "How did she take it? Pops an' everyone explained the Togenkyo thing to me when I got here. I dunno if she still wants to make a girl out of me or what, but…" she shrugged, trusting Nabiki to guess what she had been thinking.
"After she thought about it, she said she needed to speak to you. Happosai tried to make her understand about Ranko and Fa Shen, and pointed out a lot of reasons why she should let you decide about being a man again. She clammed up, though, saying she wants to speak to her 'son'. Happosai sent me in to explain what was going on and to warn you not to attack him. Ranko 'gave her word as a martial artist' to protect him, but she's just a hostage to get you all out. So, you have to kill him later, people," Nabiki warned, with a sharp gleam in her eye. She then pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to Ranma. "Before I went in, Nodoka told me to give this to you."
Ranma took the wad of black cloth from Nabiki's hand and shook it out. With a gasp, she recognized the panties Ryouga had kept as a souvenir of their date. P-Chan gave a strangled, piggish wail and tried to snatch the panties out of Ranma's hands. On pure reflex, she jerked them out of his reach and commanded, "Stop it, P-Chan!" Rubbing her fingers over the silk, letting it sink in what it meant for her mother to give her this, she ignored the questions that came from the others. With a heavy sigh, she looked down at the pig and caught his eyes. "She knows," she acknowledged, sagging in defeat.
Ranma had spent much of the time waiting, trying to think up ways to convince her mother to accept her intentions to become a man again. Akane had given her a reason to fight, to make her own voice heard for once, but Nodoka had found a way to silence her without a word. Before anyone could react to her cryptic declaration, the world tipped on it's side and the group tumbled across the grass of the Tendo back yard in a pile.
Looking up they spotted Nodoka, standing on the edge of the engawa with the mirror upturned in one hand, the other poised to pat it again on the back. "Oh, my. How can anyone get used to things like this?" she muttered to herself, before examining the people struggling to their feet. As she spotted the girl dressed in the distinctive Chinese clothes, a bit of steel went into her posture. Not taking her eyes off of Ranma, she declared, "I need to speak to my son. Everyone, please go inside and take a seat. We will be with you shortly."
Ranma remained where she was, studying her mother's face in desperate hope of some clue about where this interrogation would lead. The others quickly filed inside and Nodoka finally approached her child. Allowing the warmth, love and longing of a decade to fill her face, she pulled the girl into her arms. "Oh, my son! My Ranma! Too many times I have thought I'd found you. I can hardly believe this time it is you."
Ranma instantly melted in her embrace, her arms going around her mother with a gentle strength that belied her delicate stature. "Mom!" It was all she could say. It seemed like she had so much to apologize for, so many disappointments to make up for, but even the speech she had meant to make, to address all her failings, had been rendered pointless by her mother's message. In a very real sense, her mother had caught Ranma at her very worst and most inexcusable, but her greeting conveyed nothing but love.
After a moment, Nodoka relaxed and held her child at arms length to look in her eyes. Ranma looked back openly, sad but unashamed, and that made Nodoka pause. Her eyes traveled down and she saw the underwear clenched in one of Ranma's hands. Looking up, and taking that hand in her own to draw attention to what it carried, she asked, "Would you explain this to me?"
Ranma glanced down at her hand and back up. It seemed beyond her to explain the complex situation that she had fallen into. The actions themselves were unimportant, though. The reason why was what her mother needed to understand. "Copy-chan only wanted one thing in her short existence. Ranko gave it to her, and… and I hold onto it for both of them. I didn't see any reason to keep Ryouga from having something to hold onto too."
Nodoka took the girl's chin in her hand and tilted her head up a bit. "Was it you?" she asked.
"The last time," Ranma admitted.
Nodoka gave a questioning look.
"I… it was happening when I woke up. It was… overwhelming. I didn't even know what it was until I recovered enough to find the memories. It was all over before I knew what I had done, and then… I had to be her to deal with it."
"Do… do you feel what she felt?"
"I have to, or I can't… I can't live with it."
"You love him."
"I…" Ranma looked down. "I don't really have a choice."
Nodoka nodded sadly. Clearing her throat, she corrected, "Actually, you do have a choice, but from this I can see it will not be an easy one for you to make." She turned, still holding Ranma's hand, and led her into the house. Ranma noticed that Happosai was sitting in Ranko's lap, her hand pressed to his chest protectively. She looked so weak. The only real protection she could offer the old man was her commitment to putting herself between him and all harm. Meeting her eye, Ranma understood. It was almost frightening how much understanding there was between them. Ranma saw P-Chan waiting for her, saving her a seat around the table, and moved over to pick up the piglet and kneel. Nodoka saw this as she sat down to Ranma's left. Without a word, she picked up the tea kettle and poured the pair of them a drink. She finished this normal, domestic gesture by dumping the remaining contents of the kettle over P-Chan, catching everyone by surprise.
"RYOUGA!!!" Akane was instantly on her feet, a column of spectral fury erupting from her shaking form.
Ryouga, was so stunned by Nodoka's action that he did not react immediately. He was much too large in human form for Ranma's lap, so he had slid down on his but and now leaned back into the petite girl, his legs akimbo, and nothing but a brilliant shade of red to wear. Nodoka casually glanced down and smiled in appreciation of the boy's endowments. Lifting her eyes, ignoring the efforts of Shampoo, Ukyo, Mousse and Fa Shen to restrain Akane, she questioned Ryouga, point blank, "Ryouga-chan, do you love Ranma?"
Ryouga, suddenly realizing it was not a nightmare, scrabbled to cover himself and hide behind Ranma. His eyes darted over where a cloud of dust and debris shrouded the five teens on the other side of the room, and cringed at the sound of Akane revealing her entire repertoire of curses and threats. The shouts and cries of those trying to subdue her drowned much of it out. While few people would find much to praise about Akane's cooking, everyone would agree that it was creative, and she was investing all of this talent in naming the many ways she intended to serve Ryouga on a platter. If he was not paralyzed with fear, he would have already raced out of the house, clothes or no clothes.
"Ryouga-chan?" Nodoka waved a hand in front of his face.
With a start Ryouga turned and focused on her, "Huh?"
"Do you love Ranma?" Nodoka repeated.
Ryouga felt the girl he was hiding behind go stiff in anticipation of his answer. Without even thinking, he slipped his arms around her from behind and hugged her to him, firmly but gently, "I do."
The quiet, confident response cut through the chaos across the room, and Akane sat bolt upright, dislodging the people piled on top of her. "I don't believe it!"
Ryouga turned to her, trying not to cringe, "It was your idea, Akane."
Akane blinked. "You pervert!" There were tears of grief and betrayal streaming down her face. Denied her vengeance, the true emotions that moved her finally took over. "I hate you! I never want to see you again!"
Ryouga flinched in agony, his long held dread finally realized, and only the feel of Ranma in his arms could keep those words from slashing his heart to ribbons. "A-Akane…"
"Shut up! I thought you were my friend!" she sobbed in anger. "You… you… bastard! You were using me! J-just like… just like you're using Ranma!" she pointed, the anger and betrayal truly evoking hatred as she tipped over the edge. "Well! You can't have him! Ranma is MY fiancé and YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!!!" she roared, her mind running down that familiar road, lured on by a shared look as she opened up to Ranma in the mirror trap.
Nodoka, unaware of the history of Akane and P-Chan, listened to this and frowned in motherly concern. "Oh, dear. This is what I was afraid of."
Everyone looked at her.
Nodoka heaved a heavy breath and turned to Ranma, as Akane paused to see what she was about to drop on Ranma. "Ranma, my son. I see two choices for you. You can remain my daughter, and marry Ryouga… after… after…" she cut herself off. "If it were not for your engagement to Akane, the pact between our two families, you would HAVE to marry Ryouga after last night. If… if you truly wish to return to being my son, then, then you will marry Akane. I… I won't forbid you to take the curse in any case. To preserve your honor as a girl, as MY daughter, you must marry Ryouga. To preserve the honor of the family, you must marry Akane. Because… because you cannot do both, you must decide which one to be with, and by that, whether you are my son or my daughter."
"Nodoka…" Genma came over to her side, and stared at her in bewilderment. He searched for her eyes, trying to get her to look at him and offer some explanation for what she had just declared.
"Genma!" she looked up. "You have enough to answer for, I beg you, do not add to it now!" It had been hard enough to make her decree. She did not have the stomach to explain herself right now. Happosai had pushed her too far, forcing her to see that Ranma needed to decide for himself, but as the head of their clan, she had to balance the outcome in the scales of honor. Fortunately, because of Ranko, she had the slack she needed. As long as her line was continued, the obligation she bore could be passed on. The additional obligation Genma had added was a separate matter and justification for one of her daughters to become a man and fulfill it. She had assumed this would work for Ranma, but as a girl, her son had unwittingly complicated everything. She hesitated to even ask what it would do to a person to be fought over by a man and a woman. Turning to the wizened old master, she spat with barely restrained hatred, "Are you satisfied, old man?"
Happosai nodded, "It will do. Still too rigid in your thinking, Nodoka, but I suppose this is the best I can expect from you for now."
"Fine. Now, let my daughter go and leave this place. I am exhausted trying to stay my hand. The very sight of you makes me want to kill you."
Happosai cackled cheerfully, and had to rub it in. "Very well. Soun! Genma! We're leaving on a training trip! Make it quick before Nodoka goes for her sword." The two men froze in terror. They could not describe how eager they were to set hands on their master in his weakened condition, but Happosai had just stumped them. If they followed their usual plan, they would have to appear to go along with the old man's demands and pander to him until they could kill him. They could look like real men and refuse his command, but lose the opportunity to end his miserable existence. Ah, well, if ever there were two men who were happy to be cowards and appear brave, it was Soun and Genma. They loudly declared the end of their days of bending to his whim, and proceeded to pack him in a box addressed to Ethiopia.
"You two are so pathetic," Nabiki drawled as they lugged the box out the door and handed it over to a hastily called freight shipping truck. "You know that, don't you?"
While the little meeting dissolved into such odd tasks, Ranma, Akane and Ryouga still remained frozen in place, stunned by Nodoka's declaration. Ranma could feel their eyes on her, boring into her, and could not bring herself to look away from where Nodoka was sitting when she dropped the bomb. She stared out the open shoji, over the compound wall and into the deep blue sky, wondering if she had been damned or saved.