Four Parts Ranma
by Mike Fenton
[Foreword]
These characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This is a
free fanfic, not intended for profit of any kind. You may
leave a review if you wish, however, if you prefer to get
feedback, you should visit the www-orangeangel-com forum.
The following narrative deals mostly with Ranma and Akane,
and it is written in a more traditional style than any of
my other works. In the following story, Ranma drinks from
the water that gave him the curse, and it has a strange
effect on him--he goes through a course of subtle
personality changes that become more profound as the story
continues. Ranma starts to realize that these changes are
triggered by events that cause people close to him to leave
him. Not only does his personality change, but his gender
changes--and in a way that getting splashed with water
cannot change...
***
Part 1: Horsing Around
It was a very old saying among the Amazons that to drink
from the Jusenkyo springs one had drowned in would leave you
with half a mind; and although no one doubted it, no one
could quite say what it meant, either.
No one could remember testing it, since even setting foot
near the forbidden springs was considered bad luck, and to
force someone who had been unlucky enough to drown there to
drink from that same spring would be considered even worse.
The springs themselves were very ancient and filled with
mystery, so finding the same springs would be difficult.
Even if you could find a guide to those springs, there was
no guarantee he would show you the exact same springs.
So, of course, there was no telling what awful thing might
happen--and therefore, there was no excuse at all for
Shampoo not to have noticed that she had accidentally given
Ranma a full glass of the water of nyanniichuan (or, "spring
of drowned girl") into which Ranma had drowned some time
ago.
"Aiyaa!" Shampoo said to herself, finally noticing what she
had done. The full glass of ordinary water remained on her
serving tray, as Ranma set the now empty glass on the
counter and began toward the exit of the Cat Cafe--having
noticed Akane entering.
Shampoo, unable to contemplate the mistake she had made,
took the ordinary water and poured it onto her own head--in
the vain hope that perhaps she had not actually made a
mistake, and could now demonstrate to her beloved Ranma that
she would not transform into the cat that she now
mysteriously transformed into.
There was nothing new about Shampoo changing into a cat like
this, but for Shampoo to be the most annoyed at becoming a
cat was something slightly new. The patrons of the shop
were mostly absorbed in their own conversations, ignoring
this relatively mild turn of events.
Ranma was absorbed in greeting Akane--who was acting
strangely irritated at Ranma. Akane made an angry gesture,
and Ranma flinched, then started to placate Akane--massaging
her back. All this behavior seemed very strange to Shampoo,
and she leaped after Ranma before fully realizing that she
was still a cat.
Normally, whenever confronted by a cat, Ranma would run
away--screaming in terror. Now, however, Ranma seemed
strangely torn within himself.
"Ranma!" Akane warned, but before Akane could stop him,
Ranma picked up Shampoo the cat and began to pet her.
"Nice kitty," he said, taking a moment to scratch her under
the chin.
Shampoo was at once struck by the oddness of this situation
and the pleasure of having her chin fur scratched this way.
She purred in her usual way and took a moment of unusual
contemplation.
"Ranma," she thought, "must have half mind, for sure."
Akane, who was unaware of the Amazon saying, said to Ranma,
"You realize that's a cat, right?"
"Huh?" he said, looking from Shampoo to Akane and back to
Shampoo. A moment later, he screamed in terror and bolted
from the shop in his normal way, tossing Shampoo high up
into the air. Shampoo landed in the way that all cats do--
exactly on all fours--straight on top of the counter.
Akane gave Shampoo a suspicious glance, then brushed it
aside--obviously thinking that Ranma had been seized by a
moment of normalcy, and that such things must eventually
happen in lieu of the usual terrors--which would fade in
time, after all.
It didn't occur to Akane that she had never gotten over
her own fear of tasting her own food or of losing her
beloved P-chan, but that was beside the point.
Akane did, however, notice an odd brooding in Shampoo's eyes
that even her cat form couldn't disguise. Shampoo then
turned an icy cat-glare at Akane, which forced Akane to
suddenly forget what she was thinking and to depart at once
from the shop.
***
It was obvious to Nabiki and Kasumi that Ranma had suddenly
changed. The usual half-aware smugness in his expressions
would sometimes fade into stony calm or quiet confidence.
Nabiki suddenly felt as though Ranma was, at times,
approachable and even affable. Later, she found herself
thinking about Ranma, and briefly wishing she could emulate
that side of him that she had seen in those moments.
Kasumi noticed that sometimes Ranma did not appear nervous
or flighty, and that she actually felt genuine concern or
warmth in his demeanor. It struck her as odd that Ranma
offered to help with the food and that he was even home as
soon as he was.
Akane and Soun--her father--were as oblivious as could be to
this sudden change, and Kasumi was never comfortable talking
about anyone's personality traits to their face, so Nabiki's
efforts at the dinner table to bring it up in conversation
were futile.
Genma--Ranma's father--noticed right away that Ranma seemed
to be seized by a completely separate personality, but he
shrugged it off in the usual way he always did in times like
this.
Ranma himself, not a complete fool, quickly picked up on
what Nabiki was trying to say. Although he denied it at the
time, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
In fact, Ranma was both blandly unconcerned and acutely
interested in this state within himself. It didn't quite
occur to him until later that his interest mainly depended
on which personality was in control.
The one thing he knew for certain was that this change in
himself was a constant problem, and that this condition
would appear at any moment for no particular reason.
He was, in essence, like two people living at the same time
in one body. Half of him found it very disturbing, and the
other half shrugged it off in the normal way that Ranma
generally did all things of this nature.
***
Now, the time went by in the usual way over the next few
days. People sometimes said that Ranma had become more
interesting than ever, and the girls at Furinkan high
school, in particular, began to whisper among themselves
about Ranma's manly charm and to give Akane the evil eye
whenever she passed.
Ranma, who had always kept Akane at arm's length in spite of
them being engaged, seemed delighted at this situation
(whenever he wasn't faintly amused by it). Akane, on the
other hand, was less than thrilled.
After school on this particular day, Akane was in a hurry to
leave and in no mind to confront Ranma, especially. When
she happened to notice him standing on a nearby tree branch,
she turned up her nose and strode away with a look that
threatened the stamping of her feet if things should turn
out even worse.
Ranma was puzzled for a moment, then muttered to himself,
"She's just jealous." He looked up and noticed an
attractive girl wearing a boy's uniform and a huge spatula
strapped to her back, standing on a branch just above him.
"Ucchan," he said, holding up his hand in greeting.
Ukyo (or "Ucchan" as many people preferred), folded her arms
and glared down at Ranma in irritation. "What's this I hear
about you dating other girls!? You have a fiancee,
remember? Me!"
"What'sa?" Ranma started, then said, "Dating?"
"You've been acting really strange, lately, Ranchan," she
said (using his boyhood nickname that she sometimes
preferred). "What's this all about?"
Ukyo was always straight-to-the-point, and Ranma realized
that he would get nowhere with her unless he was completely
honest. "I wish I knew," he said.
"Well," Ukyo said, giving him a nasty sideways glance, "I
can let it slide, for now. If I catch you, you'll have some
explaining to do. Don't think I won't."
Ukyo leaped from the tree and deftly landed as Ranma said,
"Sometimes it's good to be alive--"
Just then, a shoe hit him in the head, and he was just
starting to wonder who threw it when he heard Akane's
disembodied voice saying, "I am *not* jealous!"
Ranma smiled. It was a good pain, all-in-all. Ranma knew
what the score was, and the way he saw it, he was way ahead
on points alone. He had no idea why, but he was winning.
He wondered if maybe being multiple-personality was
attractive to girls.
Akane, who had been engaged against her will by her father
(and her sisters) to Ranma, was at least as relieved as she
was annoyed by this situation. If Ranma was interested in
others, then it would leave her free to be with whoever she
chose. Of course, she might never admit it, but she would
choose Ranma--in spite of him being a total jerk.
Ranma, for his part, expected Akane to choose him--and that
was the end of the matter, as far as he was concerned.
Never mind the fact that Ranma's father had promised him
long ago to another girl--named Ukyo. Once Ranma had
confessed the fact that Ukyo was attractive (an easy
confession for him), there was no doubt in Ukyo's mind that
Ranma would eventually be married to her.
Ranma knew quite well what Ukyo thought and had many times
encouraged her to continue thinking this way (which should
help explain some of Akane's attitude toward him).
He began laughing and noticed Tatewaki Kuno strolling by.
Kuno seemed to be slightly more perturbed than usual, as
Ranma appeared and landed--squatting in his usual way on top
of Kuno's head, continuing to laugh as he did so.
Kuno merely rolled his eyes and said, "Ah, Ranma. Just the
villain I was searching for."
"Yo, Kuno," Ranma said.
Kuno immediately produced a wooden practice sword and drove
it toward where Ranma had been squatting a moment ago.
Ranma neatly leaped over it, doing a split. Then, as Kuno
continued stabbing and slashing at Ranma, Ranma nimbly
dodged and ducked each time. "How's it hangin' Kuno?" Ranma
asked, very calm and casual.
"How dare you!?" Kuno spat, continuing to slash at Ranma.
"Attempting to toy with my beloved Akane in this fashion is
simply unforgivable! Ranma, you will pay!"
Ranma realized that his laughter was what had probably set
off Kuno, but this did not hinder him from laughing once
again, as he continued to easily dodge and duck the blade of
Kuno. He then suddenly realized how familiar all of this
was--and in a way that seemed very alien to him. Suddenly,
he saw some of the faces of the girls who were watching and
recognized the look of stunned amazement on their faces.
He began to think that this situation was far too familiar
to them, in particular, and that if this were to continue
much longer, they would only grow annoyed at both of them.
These same girls had started to become familiar with Ranma's
"manliness," and would be all the more disappointed and
disgusted with him.
Now all this merely took a moment for Ranma to realize, so
it was no problem for him to leap over Kuno and restrain him
from behind--forcing him to release his weapon. Some of
those who witnessed this event said later that Ranma had
"teleported" behind Kuno, but Ranma was simply very fast.
"Whoa, there!" Ranma said. "Watch where you're stickin'
that thing! You could really hurt somebody!"
"Wha--!" Kuno floundered, as Ranma released him, a moment
later.
"If you wanna play," Ranma heard himself saying, "you gotta
learn to be a little nicer. All right? No flingin' that
stick around anymore."
Kuno was off-balance by this kind of attack--usually being
the one making demands of Ranma from his usual position of
authority. Kuno had expected Ranma to be angry or petulant,
but this was totally different. "Now, look!" Kuno said, a
little hesitantly. "I am not to be spoken to in this
manner! I am your elder!"
Ranma seemed outside himself as he turned a look of such
patronizing amusement to Kuno that Kuno flinched in shock.
Ranma then turned and left the school grounds, as Kuno
trembled in amazed humiliation.
Many of the girls--who had not quite seen how Ranma had
looked at Kuno, but were only amazed at Kuno's shock--
nearly swooned in delight at Ranma's stunt and trampled over
Kuno in chasing after Ranma (just as Kuno was beginning to
get his composure back).
Ranma, by now, had snuck away to the safety of his fence
tops--where he continued strolling, as usual, just as if he
were merely walking down the sidewalk.
***
"I'm sorry," Ranma said. His casual manner made it clear to
Akane, however, that he felt she had been making a bigger
deal out of it (whatever it was) than it was worth.
Akane waited a moment, half expecting Ranma to continue,
then said, "Fine. But you should have said something,
earlier."
Ranma sighed, lowered his gaze and turned to leave.
Akane was about to add something when Nabiki appeared at her
doorway and bumped into Ranma. "Oops!" Nabiki said, just as
Ranma looked up and said, "Excuse me!"
Ranma then quickly and smoothly navigated his way around and
down the hallway, disappearing down the stairs.
Akane slowly digested what had happened as Nabiki took
another look and then disappeared briefly into her own room.
Ranma had apologized, and sincerely. In spite of this, and
the fact that Akane knew it had been sincere, she still felt
angry that Ranma had apologized in such a casual way. She
had even forgotten what it was he had apologized for in the
first place, but that wasn't the issue.
Akane growled and groaned, wishing she could rip Ranma limb
from limb. Then she realized that she was getting angry at
Ranma over something she couldn't even remember, and that
made her even more angry. Then she saw herself in the
mirror, and the grotesque mask that she assumed was her face
made her even more angry.
"Dammit!" she swore, pounding her own innocent head with her
fist, then stopped as she started to see stars.
More than ever, she felt that she had somehow wronged Ranma,
and that she needed to say something encouraging to him.
She nevertheless was convinced that it was still all Ranma's
fault and that someone should give Ranma a thorough beating
for it. Exhausted with the contradictions in her emotions,
she sat at the edge of her bed, just as Nabiki appeared at
her door.
"You see what I mean?" Nabiki asked, not bothering to
preface her question with a topic.
"I don't understand anything, anymore," Akane muttered. "Is
it wrong for me to still hate that jerk, even after he
apologized like that?"
"Huh?" said Nabiki.
Akane found herself inexplicably crying again--her usual
reaction to strange, conflicting emotions--and she wiped
away a few tears. "Is Ranma a better person than me?
Should I hate myself more than Ranma?"
"Ranma apologized?" Nabiki asked, still a little stunned
from Akane's earlier revelation. "To you?"
Akane suddenly found herself imagining that Ranma was
nothing more than a bloody mess in an alley, somewhere, and
she had been the one who had hacked him up. Akane trembled
and gusted with sobs.
Nabiki, hardly bothering to notice Akane, absently told
herself, "Now, that is a little hard to believe. I
wonder..."
As Nabiki wandered off, Akane tried to set her mind at ease,
but the only thing she could think of was how strange this
situation was and how she couldn't stop herself from crying,
no matter how she tried.
It was just about then that P-chan entered--Ryoga in the
form of a small pig, actually--and tried to absorb this.
For several minutes, all he could do was stare in wonder at
Akane and think of how useless he was. No matter how he
prodded her with his snout or whether he sat in her lap or
even danced a little piggy dance, Akane ignored him--her
face buried in her hands.
Just as Ryoga was thinking it was hopeless and started to
walk away, Akane spoke up.
"P-chan, just go away. Leave me alone."
She emphasized her words by kicking him out the door and
slamming it shut.
Even as his heart had sunk and he had been stalking away,
some corner of his mind had held onto the hope that Akane
would change her mind and comfort herself with picking him
up and petting him. It was an indignity to him, but his
honor could not bear to see her in such distress.
Now he simply felt as though nothing in the world could
possibly be worse than his own state of being. If there was
a hell, he began to think that he was now truly in it.
***
Genma was disappointed with Ranma.
Ranma usually gave Genma a good workout, and frankly, Ranma
was usually far too much for Genma to handle.
Today, Ranma was leaving openings left and right, and
getting knocked down to the dojo floor over and over and
over... It was getting downright embarrassing.
Even worse still, Ranma's attitude had become dull and
careless. To be sure, Ranma sometimes had a habit of
becoming obtuse and carefree, but that was different.
Subtle, but different.
Always, there had been a subtle sharpness to his attitude.
Now, it seemed that edge was gone. Genma was at his wit's
end.
"Ranma!" he barked. "Fight back, dammit!"
"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma answered. He got up for a moment,
only to immediately be knocked to the floor again by a well-
placed kick from his father.
Ranma again slowly got up, checking his wrist for his pulse
and deliberately slowing his breath and heart rate.
Genma scowled to himself, unable to recognize that habit in
Ranma. In fact, Genma had never encouraged any particular
habit in Ranma. So, to see Ranma checking his energy and
making the most efficient use of his motions was disturbing.
Ranma smiled and lazily said, "You're no fun today, Pop."
Genma was a little shocked at this statement, and Ranma
could have easily attacked Genma at several angles in that
moment. Instead, Ranma slowly took a towel and wiped a bit
of sweat from his forehead.
"Are we done?" he asked.
Genma wanted to swat Ranma down to the floor again, but he
was worn out. Without Genma realizing it, Ranma had
defeated him in the simplest way Genma could be defeated--by
taking advantage of Genma being out of shape. Genma smiled
as he recognized it.
"I see this new personality has made you adjust your
tactics, Ranma," he said. "But using your face to bruise
someone's fist is a stupid way to fight."
"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma said, standing proudly in a way that
Genma couldn't recall before.
Just then, the door slid open and Ryoga appeared--fire in
his eyes and steam drifting from his head (suggesting that
he had just doused himself with hot water to change back
from being a pig). "Ranma!" Ryoga said, clenching his fist
in baleful anger.
"Now, this looks interesting," Ranma commented.
Ryoga unceremoniously charged straight at Ranma, apparently
intending to kill Ranma with one sharp punch to the head.
Ranma was on his guard, however, and Genma was relieved for
the moment that Ranma seemed back to his usual self.
Ranma leaped and dodged and ducked until forcing Ryoga to
overextend himself--making him vulnerable to a sharp kick
from Ranma that sent Ryoga right through the floorboards
into the ground below the dojo.
"Damn, Ryoga," said Ranma, somewhat playfully. "I'm
starting to think you mean it, this time."
Ryoga returned with fury in his eyes, and carefully observed
Ranma's every move with an intensity that was almost
scorching.
Genma suddenly wanted to call out to Ranma to be careful,
but Genma knew that he didn't dare break Ranma's
concentration. Ryoga seriously looked as if he wanted to
murder Ranma, this time.
The first punch Ryoga threw nearly ended Ranma right there,
but Ranma was just fast enough to only suffer a nasty
scratch--and to realize just how deadly serious Ryoga was.
Ranma took a taste of his own blood and locked his
concentration completely on Ryoga, then.
What then happened was a blur of punches and kicks, followed
by several moments of the two just standing, eying each
other's movements. For what seemed like an hour, the fight
continued until at last Ryoga found the break in Ranma's
concentration that he was looking for, and smashed his fist
into Ranma's face, knocking him cold to the floor.
Ryoga was about to continue pounding Ranma when Akane
appeared, pleading with him to stop.
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" she was yelling.
Ryoga had been so lost in the haze of his anger that he
hadn't noticed all the new observers. He looked around and
noticed Genma for the first time, and Soun Tendo, Kasumi,
Nabiki... His head began to swim.
"Akane," he started, but Akane pushed him out of the way and
hovered over Ranma, checking him.
Ranma was okay, of course. The beating he had taken from
Ryoga was nothing compared to some of the beatings Akane had
given him in the past. Still, it had given Akane a scare,
and it drove home to Ryoga the fact that no matter whether
Akane liked P-chan, she would never like Ryoga--never mind
love him the way that he loved her.
As Ryoga ran away, he began to think that Akane probably
didn't even like P-chan anymore, either.
Standing next to this scene, Soun began to rub his chin and
then remarked, "Say, Saotome. Is it just me, or is Ranma
somehow... different?"
"Hmm..." Genma replied. "Perhaps..."
***
So now, without having ever heard that old Amazon saying,
the others in Ranma's life were all, nevertheless, aware
that Ranma truly only possessed about half his own mind.
The other half was as mysterious as the body he changed into
whenever splashed with cold water.
The odd thing was, however, that no one had tested his
mysterious condition until a few days later.
It had happened in much the same way that it always seemed
to happen. Ranma was returning home from school when a
sudden downpour burst from the sky, flinging cold water
every which way the wind blew. Ranma, as usual, groaned and
used his books as a makeshift umbrella till finding himself
under the relative shelter of a shop front.
Akane had been nagging him the whole way about something,
but Ranma brushed it off until finding shelter.
"But Ranma," Akane insisted. "You--"
"Ooo!" Ranma exclaimed, noticing that they were standing in
front of an ice cream stand. "Gotta get some! Gotta get
some!"
Akane sighed deeply and folded her arms in the usual
irritated way, as Ranma bounced excitedly while ordering
some ice cream. The man served him up a cone and then
monotonously added the amount that it would cost.
Ranma was a bit taken aback by this additional statement,
and he attempted for a brief moment to use puppy-dog eyes to
get out of having to pay, but it apparently wasn't going to
work, this time.
Normally (in girl form), Ranma would either get treats for
free or he could nearly always count on someone else to buy
treats for him. He assumed that it wasn't working because
Akane was standing nearby, thereby cutting back on his
cuteness--which was odd, since he just assumed it would work
the other way around. Akane would never give Ranma even
one yen, so Ranma forked over some of his own spare change
and moved on to the next shop.
The next shop over was a beef bowl place, and some rather
rude young men pushed and shoved Ranma out of the way
without so much as an apology. This struck Ranma as very
odd, and he become annoyed at trying to figure out why
people were treating him so strangely. He became even more
annoyed when Akane again interrupted his train of thought.
"Well, what do you expect?" Akane said. "You're still a g--"
"Shut up, Akane!" he said, scratching his head. "I'm tryin'
to think."
"Fine!" Akane answered.
"That's better," Ranma added, looking around for something
familiar. He glanced across the street and happened to
notice a local dress shop. He then dashed across the
street, immediately going inside.
Akane was stunned with shock, then suddenly had a moment of
insight. Akane realized that the normal thing for Ranma to
do would be to assume that because he was still dressed as a
guy, that people would naturally treat him like a guy--so,
the obvious solution would be to change into women's
clothing.
Akane was about to chase after him, but then thought better
of it and just casually crossed the street--a devious smirk
suddenly appearing on her face.
Sure enough, when Akane entered the shop, Ranma had already
changed into an adorable dress and was posing without having
really *looked* at any of the many mirrors in the shop.
Naturally, there were several young women standing around--
all terribly engrossed by this new attraction. It took a
few moments for Ranma to realize that they were all staring
at him in horror and amazement.
Ranma had a long, sickening moment to slowly realize several
things all at once:
"Oh, crap!" he thought. "Am I actually still a guy?"
"Wait!" he thought. "I just came out of the pouring rain!
How could I still be guy?"
"Geez!" he thought. "Why are these girls looking at me like
that?! If I'm a guy, I must look like a total *pervert!*"
Ranma slowly turned to take a good look at a nearby mirror,
and he flinched in shock when he saw himself. He was,
indeed, a guy. For a moment, he had an overwhelming urge to
leap for joy that he hadn't changed into a girl for once in
a long time, and the next moment he had an overwhelming urge
to hide himself under a rock somewhere.
He became stunned with embarrassment, however, when several
of the girls started giggling uncontrollably. Several of
the other girls started throwing things at him, yelling,
kicking and screaming, as Akane rolled her eyes and
muttered, "Idiot."
***
At supper, later that evening, Akane recounted the story in
loving detail to a delighted Nabiki and somewhat mortified
Kasumi and Soun. Genma was mildly amused, but he also
seemed a little wary. Genma then at once threw cold water
on Ranma, and proclaimed:
"Well, I'll be! You really are cured!"
Ranma looked up, briefly annoyed, then turned back to his
food very casually.
Akane, who had been watching Ranma's reaction, was even more
intrigued. She had seen Ranma retaliate over much less than
this, and she knew that Ranma could never hide his anger
this well.
Nabiki, who was already well ahead of Akane, suggested, "I
wonder what else Ranma is cured of."
A moment later, Genma returned with a cat and tossed it on
top of Ranma's head. The cat clung to Ranma's face for
another moment, as Ranma sighed. He then removed the cat
from his face and calmed it--gently petting it and speaking
to it in a soothing manner. In no time at all, the cat
curled up in Ranma's lap, and Ranma continued eating his
soggy rice.
For the next hour or so, the others had returned with dozens
of cats--just to make certain that this wasn't a fluke.
Eventually, they were forced to admit that Ranma had indeed
been cured of more than one ailment, even if he was still an
idiot.
Akane--who had seen Ranma pick up Shampoo the cat one
moment, then toss her away in terror the next moment--was a
little skeptical about the "cure" part of the equation, but
she had to admit that she was impressed with his endurance.
Later that evening, Ranma impressed them all with his sudden
understanding of the Chinese language. Akane--who had taken
up Chinese several years ago as a hobby--tested Ranma on his
ability to use proper grammar, and Ranma tested her on
proper pronunciation.
For an hour or so, Ranma and Akane did nothing but test each
other's Chinese ability--each one thought they had the upper
hand, in spite of Ranma's inexplicable fluency.
For Genma and Soun, it was refreshing to see Akane and Ranma
communicating so well with each other, but it was irritating
that they couldn't understand a word of it.
Ranma and Akane seemed to be in a heated argument (over the
proper usage of a particular group of symbols), so Soun and
Genma went out to the backyard porch to unwind with a little
shogi.
Akane and Ranma were starting to growl, and the look of
playful intensity on Ranma's face made Akane start to break
up and laugh.
"Laugh it up, huh?" Ranma said (in Chinese).
"You should see your face!" Akane said (also in Chinese).
It then seemed to occur to them that they could hold an
entire conversation without fear of the others overhearing a
word, and Ranma said, "I'm really worried."
Akane, noticing the serious tone, suddenly became serious
and said, "You are?"
"Yeah," Ranma said.
Akane frowned for a moment, then beamed, saying, "Wow!
That's so great!" When Ranma looked a little annoyed, Akane
added, "I mean, it's great that you admit it. Normally you
never tell me anything, Ranma."
"Yeah," Ranma said.
"So?" Akane asked. "What are you worried about? You've
gotten cured, haven't you?"
Ranma then said something that even Akane couldn't
translate, and added, "But it's not the same, you know?"
Now normally, Akane would protest her ignorance, but she
found herself agreeing with Ranma. Something in Ranma's
manner suggested to her that Ranma needed her to understand,
and that asking stupid questions would just cause him to
worry more--or worse, begin to lose patience with her.
"I'm so glad, Akane," he said. "I know I can trust you."
Akane agreed again, knowing that the missing thing to which
she was agreeing was vital, and also knowing that not
knowing could possibly cause serious harm, but agreeing all
the same.
"Don't tell anyone else," Ranma added.
"I won't," Akane said, and she could hardly be more honest
about that.
Of course, without having realized it--because it wasn't his
normal personality, or because this personality did such
things habitually--Ranma had used an obscure idiom to relate
the idea of his having two distinct people in one mind.
Akane merely assumed that Ranma was referring to some change
in his attitude (the theory that she was operating under),
and that that was the end of the matter.
So, when Ranma said, "I don't know if it's really me, or
whether anyone else would be able to understand--" Akane
just assumed that he was speaking metaphorically.
***
And just at that moment, Genma hit his hand in realization,
got up from the game he was playing with Soun, and threw a
cold bucket of water on himself, explaining that, "The curse
has probably just run its course!"
A moment later, he was in panda-form. He held up a sign,
saying, "Or maybe not..."
***
What later occurred between Ranma and the others was mostly
in keeping with this pattern. Ranma showed some part of his
normal personality, found himself involved in one silly and
dangerous situation after another as a result--often with
humorous effects, when judging from a point of view other
than Ranma's--and generally made himself a nuisance until
someone punished him for not showing more of his new-and-
improved personality.
Whenever someone would ask Akane about it much later, she
would sigh and explain that Ranma simply had a knack for
getting into trouble. It spared her the task of explaining
how Ranma would encounter Happosai or Cologne or any number
of other improbable people and wind up battling through some
mock-heroic scenarios.
But for all of Ranma's adventures, he never encountered
Ryoga--the guy he considered his main rival. Ryoga had run
away for the last time, it seemed.
Ryoga had always been the anchor in Ranma's stormy seas of
Akane's angst, and Ranma had always depended on Ryoga's
stern and serious attitude to help guide Ranma away from the
more fantastic stunts of stupidity Ranma sometimes found
himself in.
Ranma knew that only Ukyo would sympathize with him, but
Ukyo was the last person Ranma wanted to see.
Deep in his heart, Ranma felt that he was betraying himself
in some vague way, and he could not bear to have Ukyo's
emotional support. Ukyo had been untainted by the stink of
any real curse, and he wanted her to remain that way.
Ukyo would no doubt have some rapport with his new
personality, and she would delve into it until involving
herself or maybe even losing herself in it. Ranma didn't
trust it, though, and he was fairly certain it had something
to do with his curse--which was not to say that he hated
this new personality.
Sometimes--when dueling with pastry monsters, or fending off
panty raids, or even just the usual domestic disturbance
battles--he found himself feeling as if his heart was going
to burst with pride, and that his picture of himself had
seemed a lot darker and blurred than this new one. It was
inevitably in these moments that he started to understand
why this strange personality seemed so magnetic to other
people. People simply wanted to share in that warmth he
felt toward himself.
It was a burden, too, because he began to feel more than
ever now that the one person he wanted to show off this
personality to was Ryoga. He had already outshone Miss
Hinako--his English teacher--several times, and although it
was very satisfying to put the charming half-girl, half-
adult in her place, he just didn't feel the satisfaction of
having outshone someone as grim and serious as Ryoga.
Somewhere between the third or fourth pickle at dinner, he
was just beginning to think that he should confront Kuno
again--for the sport of it, of course--when Akane broke his
concentration and announced that Ryoga was getting married.
"Say what?" Ranma asked.
"It's true," Akane answered, holding out a letter to Ranma.
"Gimme that," Ranma said, and immediately read through it.
It seemed at long last, Ryoga was going to tie the knot with
Akari--a girl he'd met some time ago that had had a strange
fascination with pigs and had fallen deeply in love with him.
Ranma took brief amusement out of the last line, "The
wedding will be held some time in the month of May."
"That's Ryoga, all right," Ranma said, a measure of relief
in his voice. "I wonder if he can keep to that narrow a
schedule."
Akane smiled for a moment, then frowned and said, "Are you
okay with this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Akane said, clearing her throat, "after everything
that happened last time."
"Well," Ranma instantly replied in a very casual tone that
told Akane he was drifting into his alternate personality
again, "he is my best friend and rival. You'd have a hard
time tryin' to keep me away."
Ranma looked at Akane seriously for a moment--which annoyed
Akane. She could never tell what he was thinking, even
before he developed a split-personality. Now, it was just
daunting to her to see Ranma stare at her like that. "What?"
Akane finally said.
"It's gotta be a little hard for you, though," Ranma said.
"He really looked up to you, after all."
Akane grimaced and said, "You think I should apologize?"
"Your choice," Ranma replied. "If it were me, though, I'd
play one last little prank on him, for old time's sake."
"You would," Akane said, looking a little reproachful.
Ranma was just about to explain what he meant when Akane
took the letter back, saying, "Don't bother."
***
It was deeply disappointing to Ranma that Akane wouldn't go
along with his gag, because Akane would naturally be the
centerpiece of a perfect practical joke on Ryoga. Ryoga
would hardly notice something as banal as a rip in his
tuxedo pants or slipping on a banana peel, and changing him
into P-chan during the ceremony would probably be going a
bit too far. Letting him think for a moment that he had a
real shot at Akane would probably be just enough for a real
laugh without getting him into *too* much trouble.
He, instead, contented himself with knowing that Ryoga
wasn't committing suicide or doing some outrageous training
to upstage him, anymore. Ryoga wasn't about to become an
irresponsible jerk like Ranma, so Ryoga would think of his
family from now on.
All the same, Ranma was starting to think fondly of his old
battles with Ryoga, and he more than once caught himself
thinking about going out to find Ryoga just so they could
spar with each other one more time.
It was difficult, but he found that this stranger within him
understood quite well how to cope with this situation.
There would always be newer and better rivals. Whatever the
change in the battlefield or the contestants, the pride he
would feel would never change. For all his vaunted
strength, Ryoga could never truly match Ranma in speed nor
adaptability. Ryoga would only, ultimately, hold him back
from being able to face a real challenge.
When it came time to go to the chapel--and they had to
hurry, because they had been waiting some time for Ryoga to
show up--the others were impressed by Ranma's maturity.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened at the ceremony, and
the priest even remarked that he'd never seen a marriage go
so smoothly.
Afterward, Ranma and Ryoga had embraced each other in mutual
friendship, wishing each other genuinely the best of luck.
For Soun Tendo, it was a day of great sadness and joy--to
think that he could witness such an event, even if it wasn't
for one of his own daughters. For Genma Saotome, it was an
annoying waste of time that he had been sincerely hoping
would be ruined somehow by Ranma. For Akane and her
sisters, it was like a moment of surreal fantasy that they
thought they would wake up from at any moment.
When they returned to the Tendo household, Ranma could not
shake the feeling that he was to be next to go through this
merry-go-round of formalities and uncomfortable clothes, and
it stunned him into grim silence.
As a matter of fact, it would mean absolutely nothing for
Ranma to have a wedding ceremony--he was simply not old
enough to be legally married, so any marriage would be
strictly for show. Ryoga, however, was in the same
situation, and it didn't matter. Ryoga could not reasonably
expect to date anyone after this, and that made all the
difference in the world--though he had never *really* dated
anyone other than Akari.
It was acutely obvious to everyone else what Ranma was going
through--especially to Akane, the one to whom he would be
wed--so they steered well clear of Ranma and his brooding.
In fact, they had steered so far around him that no one
noticed that--somewhere between the wedding chapel and the
Tendo home--he had somehow changed to girl-form.
by Mike Fenton
[Foreword]
These characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This is a
free fanfic, not intended for profit of any kind. You may
leave a review if you wish, however, if you prefer to get
feedback, you should visit the www-orangeangel-com forum.
The following narrative deals mostly with Ranma and Akane,
and it is written in a more traditional style than any of
my other works. In the following story, Ranma drinks from
the water that gave him the curse, and it has a strange
effect on him--he goes through a course of subtle
personality changes that become more profound as the story
continues. Ranma starts to realize that these changes are
triggered by events that cause people close to him to leave
him. Not only does his personality change, but his gender
changes--and in a way that getting splashed with water
cannot change...
***
Part 1: Horsing Around
It was a very old saying among the Amazons that to drink
from the Jusenkyo springs one had drowned in would leave you
with half a mind; and although no one doubted it, no one
could quite say what it meant, either.
No one could remember testing it, since even setting foot
near the forbidden springs was considered bad luck, and to
force someone who had been unlucky enough to drown there to
drink from that same spring would be considered even worse.
The springs themselves were very ancient and filled with
mystery, so finding the same springs would be difficult.
Even if you could find a guide to those springs, there was
no guarantee he would show you the exact same springs.
So, of course, there was no telling what awful thing might
happen--and therefore, there was no excuse at all for
Shampoo not to have noticed that she had accidentally given
Ranma a full glass of the water of nyanniichuan (or, "spring
of drowned girl") into which Ranma had drowned some time
ago.
"Aiyaa!" Shampoo said to herself, finally noticing what she
had done. The full glass of ordinary water remained on her
serving tray, as Ranma set the now empty glass on the
counter and began toward the exit of the Cat Cafe--having
noticed Akane entering.
Shampoo, unable to contemplate the mistake she had made,
took the ordinary water and poured it onto her own head--in
the vain hope that perhaps she had not actually made a
mistake, and could now demonstrate to her beloved Ranma that
she would not transform into the cat that she now
mysteriously transformed into.
There was nothing new about Shampoo changing into a cat like
this, but for Shampoo to be the most annoyed at becoming a
cat was something slightly new. The patrons of the shop
were mostly absorbed in their own conversations, ignoring
this relatively mild turn of events.
Ranma was absorbed in greeting Akane--who was acting
strangely irritated at Ranma. Akane made an angry gesture,
and Ranma flinched, then started to placate Akane--massaging
her back. All this behavior seemed very strange to Shampoo,
and she leaped after Ranma before fully realizing that she
was still a cat.
Normally, whenever confronted by a cat, Ranma would run
away--screaming in terror. Now, however, Ranma seemed
strangely torn within himself.
"Ranma!" Akane warned, but before Akane could stop him,
Ranma picked up Shampoo the cat and began to pet her.
"Nice kitty," he said, taking a moment to scratch her under
the chin.
Shampoo was at once struck by the oddness of this situation
and the pleasure of having her chin fur scratched this way.
She purred in her usual way and took a moment of unusual
contemplation.
"Ranma," she thought, "must have half mind, for sure."
Akane, who was unaware of the Amazon saying, said to Ranma,
"You realize that's a cat, right?"
"Huh?" he said, looking from Shampoo to Akane and back to
Shampoo. A moment later, he screamed in terror and bolted
from the shop in his normal way, tossing Shampoo high up
into the air. Shampoo landed in the way that all cats do--
exactly on all fours--straight on top of the counter.
Akane gave Shampoo a suspicious glance, then brushed it
aside--obviously thinking that Ranma had been seized by a
moment of normalcy, and that such things must eventually
happen in lieu of the usual terrors--which would fade in
time, after all.
It didn't occur to Akane that she had never gotten over
her own fear of tasting her own food or of losing her
beloved P-chan, but that was beside the point.
Akane did, however, notice an odd brooding in Shampoo's eyes
that even her cat form couldn't disguise. Shampoo then
turned an icy cat-glare at Akane, which forced Akane to
suddenly forget what she was thinking and to depart at once
from the shop.
***
It was obvious to Nabiki and Kasumi that Ranma had suddenly
changed. The usual half-aware smugness in his expressions
would sometimes fade into stony calm or quiet confidence.
Nabiki suddenly felt as though Ranma was, at times,
approachable and even affable. Later, she found herself
thinking about Ranma, and briefly wishing she could emulate
that side of him that she had seen in those moments.
Kasumi noticed that sometimes Ranma did not appear nervous
or flighty, and that she actually felt genuine concern or
warmth in his demeanor. It struck her as odd that Ranma
offered to help with the food and that he was even home as
soon as he was.
Akane and Soun--her father--were as oblivious as could be to
this sudden change, and Kasumi was never comfortable talking
about anyone's personality traits to their face, so Nabiki's
efforts at the dinner table to bring it up in conversation
were futile.
Genma--Ranma's father--noticed right away that Ranma seemed
to be seized by a completely separate personality, but he
shrugged it off in the usual way he always did in times like
this.
Ranma himself, not a complete fool, quickly picked up on
what Nabiki was trying to say. Although he denied it at the
time, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
In fact, Ranma was both blandly unconcerned and acutely
interested in this state within himself. It didn't quite
occur to him until later that his interest mainly depended
on which personality was in control.
The one thing he knew for certain was that this change in
himself was a constant problem, and that this condition
would appear at any moment for no particular reason.
He was, in essence, like two people living at the same time
in one body. Half of him found it very disturbing, and the
other half shrugged it off in the normal way that Ranma
generally did all things of this nature.
***
Now, the time went by in the usual way over the next few
days. People sometimes said that Ranma had become more
interesting than ever, and the girls at Furinkan high
school, in particular, began to whisper among themselves
about Ranma's manly charm and to give Akane the evil eye
whenever she passed.
Ranma, who had always kept Akane at arm's length in spite of
them being engaged, seemed delighted at this situation
(whenever he wasn't faintly amused by it). Akane, on the
other hand, was less than thrilled.
After school on this particular day, Akane was in a hurry to
leave and in no mind to confront Ranma, especially. When
she happened to notice him standing on a nearby tree branch,
she turned up her nose and strode away with a look that
threatened the stamping of her feet if things should turn
out even worse.
Ranma was puzzled for a moment, then muttered to himself,
"She's just jealous." He looked up and noticed an
attractive girl wearing a boy's uniform and a huge spatula
strapped to her back, standing on a branch just above him.
"Ucchan," he said, holding up his hand in greeting.
Ukyo (or "Ucchan" as many people preferred), folded her arms
and glared down at Ranma in irritation. "What's this I hear
about you dating other girls!? You have a fiancee,
remember? Me!"
"What'sa?" Ranma started, then said, "Dating?"
"You've been acting really strange, lately, Ranchan," she
said (using his boyhood nickname that she sometimes
preferred). "What's this all about?"
Ukyo was always straight-to-the-point, and Ranma realized
that he would get nowhere with her unless he was completely
honest. "I wish I knew," he said.
"Well," Ukyo said, giving him a nasty sideways glance, "I
can let it slide, for now. If I catch you, you'll have some
explaining to do. Don't think I won't."
Ukyo leaped from the tree and deftly landed as Ranma said,
"Sometimes it's good to be alive--"
Just then, a shoe hit him in the head, and he was just
starting to wonder who threw it when he heard Akane's
disembodied voice saying, "I am *not* jealous!"
Ranma smiled. It was a good pain, all-in-all. Ranma knew
what the score was, and the way he saw it, he was way ahead
on points alone. He had no idea why, but he was winning.
He wondered if maybe being multiple-personality was
attractive to girls.
Akane, who had been engaged against her will by her father
(and her sisters) to Ranma, was at least as relieved as she
was annoyed by this situation. If Ranma was interested in
others, then it would leave her free to be with whoever she
chose. Of course, she might never admit it, but she would
choose Ranma--in spite of him being a total jerk.
Ranma, for his part, expected Akane to choose him--and that
was the end of the matter, as far as he was concerned.
Never mind the fact that Ranma's father had promised him
long ago to another girl--named Ukyo. Once Ranma had
confessed the fact that Ukyo was attractive (an easy
confession for him), there was no doubt in Ukyo's mind that
Ranma would eventually be married to her.
Ranma knew quite well what Ukyo thought and had many times
encouraged her to continue thinking this way (which should
help explain some of Akane's attitude toward him).
He began laughing and noticed Tatewaki Kuno strolling by.
Kuno seemed to be slightly more perturbed than usual, as
Ranma appeared and landed--squatting in his usual way on top
of Kuno's head, continuing to laugh as he did so.
Kuno merely rolled his eyes and said, "Ah, Ranma. Just the
villain I was searching for."
"Yo, Kuno," Ranma said.
Kuno immediately produced a wooden practice sword and drove
it toward where Ranma had been squatting a moment ago.
Ranma neatly leaped over it, doing a split. Then, as Kuno
continued stabbing and slashing at Ranma, Ranma nimbly
dodged and ducked each time. "How's it hangin' Kuno?" Ranma
asked, very calm and casual.
"How dare you!?" Kuno spat, continuing to slash at Ranma.
"Attempting to toy with my beloved Akane in this fashion is
simply unforgivable! Ranma, you will pay!"
Ranma realized that his laughter was what had probably set
off Kuno, but this did not hinder him from laughing once
again, as he continued to easily dodge and duck the blade of
Kuno. He then suddenly realized how familiar all of this
was--and in a way that seemed very alien to him. Suddenly,
he saw some of the faces of the girls who were watching and
recognized the look of stunned amazement on their faces.
He began to think that this situation was far too familiar
to them, in particular, and that if this were to continue
much longer, they would only grow annoyed at both of them.
These same girls had started to become familiar with Ranma's
"manliness," and would be all the more disappointed and
disgusted with him.
Now all this merely took a moment for Ranma to realize, so
it was no problem for him to leap over Kuno and restrain him
from behind--forcing him to release his weapon. Some of
those who witnessed this event said later that Ranma had
"teleported" behind Kuno, but Ranma was simply very fast.
"Whoa, there!" Ranma said. "Watch where you're stickin'
that thing! You could really hurt somebody!"
"Wha--!" Kuno floundered, as Ranma released him, a moment
later.
"If you wanna play," Ranma heard himself saying, "you gotta
learn to be a little nicer. All right? No flingin' that
stick around anymore."
Kuno was off-balance by this kind of attack--usually being
the one making demands of Ranma from his usual position of
authority. Kuno had expected Ranma to be angry or petulant,
but this was totally different. "Now, look!" Kuno said, a
little hesitantly. "I am not to be spoken to in this
manner! I am your elder!"
Ranma seemed outside himself as he turned a look of such
patronizing amusement to Kuno that Kuno flinched in shock.
Ranma then turned and left the school grounds, as Kuno
trembled in amazed humiliation.
Many of the girls--who had not quite seen how Ranma had
looked at Kuno, but were only amazed at Kuno's shock--
nearly swooned in delight at Ranma's stunt and trampled over
Kuno in chasing after Ranma (just as Kuno was beginning to
get his composure back).
Ranma, by now, had snuck away to the safety of his fence
tops--where he continued strolling, as usual, just as if he
were merely walking down the sidewalk.
***
"I'm sorry," Ranma said. His casual manner made it clear to
Akane, however, that he felt she had been making a bigger
deal out of it (whatever it was) than it was worth.
Akane waited a moment, half expecting Ranma to continue,
then said, "Fine. But you should have said something,
earlier."
Ranma sighed, lowered his gaze and turned to leave.
Akane was about to add something when Nabiki appeared at her
doorway and bumped into Ranma. "Oops!" Nabiki said, just as
Ranma looked up and said, "Excuse me!"
Ranma then quickly and smoothly navigated his way around and
down the hallway, disappearing down the stairs.
Akane slowly digested what had happened as Nabiki took
another look and then disappeared briefly into her own room.
Ranma had apologized, and sincerely. In spite of this, and
the fact that Akane knew it had been sincere, she still felt
angry that Ranma had apologized in such a casual way. She
had even forgotten what it was he had apologized for in the
first place, but that wasn't the issue.
Akane growled and groaned, wishing she could rip Ranma limb
from limb. Then she realized that she was getting angry at
Ranma over something she couldn't even remember, and that
made her even more angry. Then she saw herself in the
mirror, and the grotesque mask that she assumed was her face
made her even more angry.
"Dammit!" she swore, pounding her own innocent head with her
fist, then stopped as she started to see stars.
More than ever, she felt that she had somehow wronged Ranma,
and that she needed to say something encouraging to him.
She nevertheless was convinced that it was still all Ranma's
fault and that someone should give Ranma a thorough beating
for it. Exhausted with the contradictions in her emotions,
she sat at the edge of her bed, just as Nabiki appeared at
her door.
"You see what I mean?" Nabiki asked, not bothering to
preface her question with a topic.
"I don't understand anything, anymore," Akane muttered. "Is
it wrong for me to still hate that jerk, even after he
apologized like that?"
"Huh?" said Nabiki.
Akane found herself inexplicably crying again--her usual
reaction to strange, conflicting emotions--and she wiped
away a few tears. "Is Ranma a better person than me?
Should I hate myself more than Ranma?"
"Ranma apologized?" Nabiki asked, still a little stunned
from Akane's earlier revelation. "To you?"
Akane suddenly found herself imagining that Ranma was
nothing more than a bloody mess in an alley, somewhere, and
she had been the one who had hacked him up. Akane trembled
and gusted with sobs.
Nabiki, hardly bothering to notice Akane, absently told
herself, "Now, that is a little hard to believe. I
wonder..."
As Nabiki wandered off, Akane tried to set her mind at ease,
but the only thing she could think of was how strange this
situation was and how she couldn't stop herself from crying,
no matter how she tried.
It was just about then that P-chan entered--Ryoga in the
form of a small pig, actually--and tried to absorb this.
For several minutes, all he could do was stare in wonder at
Akane and think of how useless he was. No matter how he
prodded her with his snout or whether he sat in her lap or
even danced a little piggy dance, Akane ignored him--her
face buried in her hands.
Just as Ryoga was thinking it was hopeless and started to
walk away, Akane spoke up.
"P-chan, just go away. Leave me alone."
She emphasized her words by kicking him out the door and
slamming it shut.
Even as his heart had sunk and he had been stalking away,
some corner of his mind had held onto the hope that Akane
would change her mind and comfort herself with picking him
up and petting him. It was an indignity to him, but his
honor could not bear to see her in such distress.
Now he simply felt as though nothing in the world could
possibly be worse than his own state of being. If there was
a hell, he began to think that he was now truly in it.
***
Genma was disappointed with Ranma.
Ranma usually gave Genma a good workout, and frankly, Ranma
was usually far too much for Genma to handle.
Today, Ranma was leaving openings left and right, and
getting knocked down to the dojo floor over and over and
over... It was getting downright embarrassing.
Even worse still, Ranma's attitude had become dull and
careless. To be sure, Ranma sometimes had a habit of
becoming obtuse and carefree, but that was different.
Subtle, but different.
Always, there had been a subtle sharpness to his attitude.
Now, it seemed that edge was gone. Genma was at his wit's
end.
"Ranma!" he barked. "Fight back, dammit!"
"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma answered. He got up for a moment,
only to immediately be knocked to the floor again by a well-
placed kick from his father.
Ranma again slowly got up, checking his wrist for his pulse
and deliberately slowing his breath and heart rate.
Genma scowled to himself, unable to recognize that habit in
Ranma. In fact, Genma had never encouraged any particular
habit in Ranma. So, to see Ranma checking his energy and
making the most efficient use of his motions was disturbing.
Ranma smiled and lazily said, "You're no fun today, Pop."
Genma was a little shocked at this statement, and Ranma
could have easily attacked Genma at several angles in that
moment. Instead, Ranma slowly took a towel and wiped a bit
of sweat from his forehead.
"Are we done?" he asked.
Genma wanted to swat Ranma down to the floor again, but he
was worn out. Without Genma realizing it, Ranma had
defeated him in the simplest way Genma could be defeated--by
taking advantage of Genma being out of shape. Genma smiled
as he recognized it.
"I see this new personality has made you adjust your
tactics, Ranma," he said. "But using your face to bruise
someone's fist is a stupid way to fight."
"Yeah, yeah..." Ranma said, standing proudly in a way that
Genma couldn't recall before.
Just then, the door slid open and Ryoga appeared--fire in
his eyes and steam drifting from his head (suggesting that
he had just doused himself with hot water to change back
from being a pig). "Ranma!" Ryoga said, clenching his fist
in baleful anger.
"Now, this looks interesting," Ranma commented.
Ryoga unceremoniously charged straight at Ranma, apparently
intending to kill Ranma with one sharp punch to the head.
Ranma was on his guard, however, and Genma was relieved for
the moment that Ranma seemed back to his usual self.
Ranma leaped and dodged and ducked until forcing Ryoga to
overextend himself--making him vulnerable to a sharp kick
from Ranma that sent Ryoga right through the floorboards
into the ground below the dojo.
"Damn, Ryoga," said Ranma, somewhat playfully. "I'm
starting to think you mean it, this time."
Ryoga returned with fury in his eyes, and carefully observed
Ranma's every move with an intensity that was almost
scorching.
Genma suddenly wanted to call out to Ranma to be careful,
but Genma knew that he didn't dare break Ranma's
concentration. Ryoga seriously looked as if he wanted to
murder Ranma, this time.
The first punch Ryoga threw nearly ended Ranma right there,
but Ranma was just fast enough to only suffer a nasty
scratch--and to realize just how deadly serious Ryoga was.
Ranma took a taste of his own blood and locked his
concentration completely on Ryoga, then.
What then happened was a blur of punches and kicks, followed
by several moments of the two just standing, eying each
other's movements. For what seemed like an hour, the fight
continued until at last Ryoga found the break in Ranma's
concentration that he was looking for, and smashed his fist
into Ranma's face, knocking him cold to the floor.
Ryoga was about to continue pounding Ranma when Akane
appeared, pleading with him to stop.
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" she was yelling.
Ryoga had been so lost in the haze of his anger that he
hadn't noticed all the new observers. He looked around and
noticed Genma for the first time, and Soun Tendo, Kasumi,
Nabiki... His head began to swim.
"Akane," he started, but Akane pushed him out of the way and
hovered over Ranma, checking him.
Ranma was okay, of course. The beating he had taken from
Ryoga was nothing compared to some of the beatings Akane had
given him in the past. Still, it had given Akane a scare,
and it drove home to Ryoga the fact that no matter whether
Akane liked P-chan, she would never like Ryoga--never mind
love him the way that he loved her.
As Ryoga ran away, he began to think that Akane probably
didn't even like P-chan anymore, either.
Standing next to this scene, Soun began to rub his chin and
then remarked, "Say, Saotome. Is it just me, or is Ranma
somehow... different?"
"Hmm..." Genma replied. "Perhaps..."
***
So now, without having ever heard that old Amazon saying,
the others in Ranma's life were all, nevertheless, aware
that Ranma truly only possessed about half his own mind.
The other half was as mysterious as the body he changed into
whenever splashed with cold water.
The odd thing was, however, that no one had tested his
mysterious condition until a few days later.
It had happened in much the same way that it always seemed
to happen. Ranma was returning home from school when a
sudden downpour burst from the sky, flinging cold water
every which way the wind blew. Ranma, as usual, groaned and
used his books as a makeshift umbrella till finding himself
under the relative shelter of a shop front.
Akane had been nagging him the whole way about something,
but Ranma brushed it off until finding shelter.
"But Ranma," Akane insisted. "You--"
"Ooo!" Ranma exclaimed, noticing that they were standing in
front of an ice cream stand. "Gotta get some! Gotta get
some!"
Akane sighed deeply and folded her arms in the usual
irritated way, as Ranma bounced excitedly while ordering
some ice cream. The man served him up a cone and then
monotonously added the amount that it would cost.
Ranma was a bit taken aback by this additional statement,
and he attempted for a brief moment to use puppy-dog eyes to
get out of having to pay, but it apparently wasn't going to
work, this time.
Normally (in girl form), Ranma would either get treats for
free or he could nearly always count on someone else to buy
treats for him. He assumed that it wasn't working because
Akane was standing nearby, thereby cutting back on his
cuteness--which was odd, since he just assumed it would work
the other way around. Akane would never give Ranma even
one yen, so Ranma forked over some of his own spare change
and moved on to the next shop.
The next shop over was a beef bowl place, and some rather
rude young men pushed and shoved Ranma out of the way
without so much as an apology. This struck Ranma as very
odd, and he become annoyed at trying to figure out why
people were treating him so strangely. He became even more
annoyed when Akane again interrupted his train of thought.
"Well, what do you expect?" Akane said. "You're still a g--"
"Shut up, Akane!" he said, scratching his head. "I'm tryin'
to think."
"Fine!" Akane answered.
"That's better," Ranma added, looking around for something
familiar. He glanced across the street and happened to
notice a local dress shop. He then dashed across the
street, immediately going inside.
Akane was stunned with shock, then suddenly had a moment of
insight. Akane realized that the normal thing for Ranma to
do would be to assume that because he was still dressed as a
guy, that people would naturally treat him like a guy--so,
the obvious solution would be to change into women's
clothing.
Akane was about to chase after him, but then thought better
of it and just casually crossed the street--a devious smirk
suddenly appearing on her face.
Sure enough, when Akane entered the shop, Ranma had already
changed into an adorable dress and was posing without having
really *looked* at any of the many mirrors in the shop.
Naturally, there were several young women standing around--
all terribly engrossed by this new attraction. It took a
few moments for Ranma to realize that they were all staring
at him in horror and amazement.
Ranma had a long, sickening moment to slowly realize several
things all at once:
"Oh, crap!" he thought. "Am I actually still a guy?"
"Wait!" he thought. "I just came out of the pouring rain!
How could I still be guy?"
"Geez!" he thought. "Why are these girls looking at me like
that?! If I'm a guy, I must look like a total *pervert!*"
Ranma slowly turned to take a good look at a nearby mirror,
and he flinched in shock when he saw himself. He was,
indeed, a guy. For a moment, he had an overwhelming urge to
leap for joy that he hadn't changed into a girl for once in
a long time, and the next moment he had an overwhelming urge
to hide himself under a rock somewhere.
He became stunned with embarrassment, however, when several
of the girls started giggling uncontrollably. Several of
the other girls started throwing things at him, yelling,
kicking and screaming, as Akane rolled her eyes and
muttered, "Idiot."
***
At supper, later that evening, Akane recounted the story in
loving detail to a delighted Nabiki and somewhat mortified
Kasumi and Soun. Genma was mildly amused, but he also
seemed a little wary. Genma then at once threw cold water
on Ranma, and proclaimed:
"Well, I'll be! You really are cured!"
Ranma looked up, briefly annoyed, then turned back to his
food very casually.
Akane, who had been watching Ranma's reaction, was even more
intrigued. She had seen Ranma retaliate over much less than
this, and she knew that Ranma could never hide his anger
this well.
Nabiki, who was already well ahead of Akane, suggested, "I
wonder what else Ranma is cured of."
A moment later, Genma returned with a cat and tossed it on
top of Ranma's head. The cat clung to Ranma's face for
another moment, as Ranma sighed. He then removed the cat
from his face and calmed it--gently petting it and speaking
to it in a soothing manner. In no time at all, the cat
curled up in Ranma's lap, and Ranma continued eating his
soggy rice.
For the next hour or so, the others had returned with dozens
of cats--just to make certain that this wasn't a fluke.
Eventually, they were forced to admit that Ranma had indeed
been cured of more than one ailment, even if he was still an
idiot.
Akane--who had seen Ranma pick up Shampoo the cat one
moment, then toss her away in terror the next moment--was a
little skeptical about the "cure" part of the equation, but
she had to admit that she was impressed with his endurance.
Later that evening, Ranma impressed them all with his sudden
understanding of the Chinese language. Akane--who had taken
up Chinese several years ago as a hobby--tested Ranma on his
ability to use proper grammar, and Ranma tested her on
proper pronunciation.
For an hour or so, Ranma and Akane did nothing but test each
other's Chinese ability--each one thought they had the upper
hand, in spite of Ranma's inexplicable fluency.
For Genma and Soun, it was refreshing to see Akane and Ranma
communicating so well with each other, but it was irritating
that they couldn't understand a word of it.
Ranma and Akane seemed to be in a heated argument (over the
proper usage of a particular group of symbols), so Soun and
Genma went out to the backyard porch to unwind with a little
shogi.
Akane and Ranma were starting to growl, and the look of
playful intensity on Ranma's face made Akane start to break
up and laugh.
"Laugh it up, huh?" Ranma said (in Chinese).
"You should see your face!" Akane said (also in Chinese).
It then seemed to occur to them that they could hold an
entire conversation without fear of the others overhearing a
word, and Ranma said, "I'm really worried."
Akane, noticing the serious tone, suddenly became serious
and said, "You are?"
"Yeah," Ranma said.
Akane frowned for a moment, then beamed, saying, "Wow!
That's so great!" When Ranma looked a little annoyed, Akane
added, "I mean, it's great that you admit it. Normally you
never tell me anything, Ranma."
"Yeah," Ranma said.
"So?" Akane asked. "What are you worried about? You've
gotten cured, haven't you?"
Ranma then said something that even Akane couldn't
translate, and added, "But it's not the same, you know?"
Now normally, Akane would protest her ignorance, but she
found herself agreeing with Ranma. Something in Ranma's
manner suggested to her that Ranma needed her to understand,
and that asking stupid questions would just cause him to
worry more--or worse, begin to lose patience with her.
"I'm so glad, Akane," he said. "I know I can trust you."
Akane agreed again, knowing that the missing thing to which
she was agreeing was vital, and also knowing that not
knowing could possibly cause serious harm, but agreeing all
the same.
"Don't tell anyone else," Ranma added.
"I won't," Akane said, and she could hardly be more honest
about that.
Of course, without having realized it--because it wasn't his
normal personality, or because this personality did such
things habitually--Ranma had used an obscure idiom to relate
the idea of his having two distinct people in one mind.
Akane merely assumed that Ranma was referring to some change
in his attitude (the theory that she was operating under),
and that that was the end of the matter.
So, when Ranma said, "I don't know if it's really me, or
whether anyone else would be able to understand--" Akane
just assumed that he was speaking metaphorically.
***
And just at that moment, Genma hit his hand in realization,
got up from the game he was playing with Soun, and threw a
cold bucket of water on himself, explaining that, "The curse
has probably just run its course!"
A moment later, he was in panda-form. He held up a sign,
saying, "Or maybe not..."
***
What later occurred between Ranma and the others was mostly
in keeping with this pattern. Ranma showed some part of his
normal personality, found himself involved in one silly and
dangerous situation after another as a result--often with
humorous effects, when judging from a point of view other
than Ranma's--and generally made himself a nuisance until
someone punished him for not showing more of his new-and-
improved personality.
Whenever someone would ask Akane about it much later, she
would sigh and explain that Ranma simply had a knack for
getting into trouble. It spared her the task of explaining
how Ranma would encounter Happosai or Cologne or any number
of other improbable people and wind up battling through some
mock-heroic scenarios.
But for all of Ranma's adventures, he never encountered
Ryoga--the guy he considered his main rival. Ryoga had run
away for the last time, it seemed.
Ryoga had always been the anchor in Ranma's stormy seas of
Akane's angst, and Ranma had always depended on Ryoga's
stern and serious attitude to help guide Ranma away from the
more fantastic stunts of stupidity Ranma sometimes found
himself in.
Ranma knew that only Ukyo would sympathize with him, but
Ukyo was the last person Ranma wanted to see.
Deep in his heart, Ranma felt that he was betraying himself
in some vague way, and he could not bear to have Ukyo's
emotional support. Ukyo had been untainted by the stink of
any real curse, and he wanted her to remain that way.
Ukyo would no doubt have some rapport with his new
personality, and she would delve into it until involving
herself or maybe even losing herself in it. Ranma didn't
trust it, though, and he was fairly certain it had something
to do with his curse--which was not to say that he hated
this new personality.
Sometimes--when dueling with pastry monsters, or fending off
panty raids, or even just the usual domestic disturbance
battles--he found himself feeling as if his heart was going
to burst with pride, and that his picture of himself had
seemed a lot darker and blurred than this new one. It was
inevitably in these moments that he started to understand
why this strange personality seemed so magnetic to other
people. People simply wanted to share in that warmth he
felt toward himself.
It was a burden, too, because he began to feel more than
ever now that the one person he wanted to show off this
personality to was Ryoga. He had already outshone Miss
Hinako--his English teacher--several times, and although it
was very satisfying to put the charming half-girl, half-
adult in her place, he just didn't feel the satisfaction of
having outshone someone as grim and serious as Ryoga.
Somewhere between the third or fourth pickle at dinner, he
was just beginning to think that he should confront Kuno
again--for the sport of it, of course--when Akane broke his
concentration and announced that Ryoga was getting married.
"Say what?" Ranma asked.
"It's true," Akane answered, holding out a letter to Ranma.
"Gimme that," Ranma said, and immediately read through it.
It seemed at long last, Ryoga was going to tie the knot with
Akari--a girl he'd met some time ago that had had a strange
fascination with pigs and had fallen deeply in love with him.
Ranma took brief amusement out of the last line, "The
wedding will be held some time in the month of May."
"That's Ryoga, all right," Ranma said, a measure of relief
in his voice. "I wonder if he can keep to that narrow a
schedule."
Akane smiled for a moment, then frowned and said, "Are you
okay with this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Akane said, clearing her throat, "after everything
that happened last time."
"Well," Ranma instantly replied in a very casual tone that
told Akane he was drifting into his alternate personality
again, "he is my best friend and rival. You'd have a hard
time tryin' to keep me away."
Ranma looked at Akane seriously for a moment--which annoyed
Akane. She could never tell what he was thinking, even
before he developed a split-personality. Now, it was just
daunting to her to see Ranma stare at her like that. "What?"
Akane finally said.
"It's gotta be a little hard for you, though," Ranma said.
"He really looked up to you, after all."
Akane grimaced and said, "You think I should apologize?"
"Your choice," Ranma replied. "If it were me, though, I'd
play one last little prank on him, for old time's sake."
"You would," Akane said, looking a little reproachful.
Ranma was just about to explain what he meant when Akane
took the letter back, saying, "Don't bother."
***
It was deeply disappointing to Ranma that Akane wouldn't go
along with his gag, because Akane would naturally be the
centerpiece of a perfect practical joke on Ryoga. Ryoga
would hardly notice something as banal as a rip in his
tuxedo pants or slipping on a banana peel, and changing him
into P-chan during the ceremony would probably be going a
bit too far. Letting him think for a moment that he had a
real shot at Akane would probably be just enough for a real
laugh without getting him into *too* much trouble.
He, instead, contented himself with knowing that Ryoga
wasn't committing suicide or doing some outrageous training
to upstage him, anymore. Ryoga wasn't about to become an
irresponsible jerk like Ranma, so Ryoga would think of his
family from now on.
All the same, Ranma was starting to think fondly of his old
battles with Ryoga, and he more than once caught himself
thinking about going out to find Ryoga just so they could
spar with each other one more time.
It was difficult, but he found that this stranger within him
understood quite well how to cope with this situation.
There would always be newer and better rivals. Whatever the
change in the battlefield or the contestants, the pride he
would feel would never change. For all his vaunted
strength, Ryoga could never truly match Ranma in speed nor
adaptability. Ryoga would only, ultimately, hold him back
from being able to face a real challenge.
When it came time to go to the chapel--and they had to
hurry, because they had been waiting some time for Ryoga to
show up--the others were impressed by Ranma's maturity.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened at the ceremony, and
the priest even remarked that he'd never seen a marriage go
so smoothly.
Afterward, Ranma and Ryoga had embraced each other in mutual
friendship, wishing each other genuinely the best of luck.
For Soun Tendo, it was a day of great sadness and joy--to
think that he could witness such an event, even if it wasn't
for one of his own daughters. For Genma Saotome, it was an
annoying waste of time that he had been sincerely hoping
would be ruined somehow by Ranma. For Akane and her
sisters, it was like a moment of surreal fantasy that they
thought they would wake up from at any moment.
When they returned to the Tendo household, Ranma could not
shake the feeling that he was to be next to go through this
merry-go-round of formalities and uncomfortable clothes, and
it stunned him into grim silence.
As a matter of fact, it would mean absolutely nothing for
Ranma to have a wedding ceremony--he was simply not old
enough to be legally married, so any marriage would be
strictly for show. Ryoga, however, was in the same
situation, and it didn't matter. Ryoga could not reasonably
expect to date anyone after this, and that made all the
difference in the world--though he had never *really* dated
anyone other than Akari.
It was acutely obvious to everyone else what Ranma was going
through--especially to Akane, the one to whom he would be
wed--so they steered well clear of Ranma and his brooding.
In fact, they had steered so far around him that no one
noticed that--somewhere between the wedding chapel and the
Tendo home--he had somehow changed to girl-form.