A/N: I have most of the first major story line written actually (Up to chapter 15), I'm just kinda of in the process of cleaning things up and actually posting them now. It's my first fanfic, and I am trying to keep a decent pace with the story while also allowing for some side bits here and there. I also marked this as M because I try to keep with the original Ranma's use of nudity for comedic reasons more than lude reasons, but didn't want to get in trouble if I crossed over what ever the T line is.
Disclaimer - I don't know Ranma or any of the characters in this story
Chapter 4
Nodoka awoke just before her alarm would of gone off, a smile breaking out over her face as she still felt her hand touching Ranma's. She slowly pulled free and turned off the alarm, then sitting up she pulled her robe on and made her way quietly to the door in the dark room. Looking back in briefly after sliding out into the hallway, she could see Ranma's and Mirei's heads touching while their bodies were splayed out with the covers partially off, almost mirrored images of each other. Nodoka regretted not having a camera to capture the cute scene, she'd have to talk to Nabiki about borrowing hers sometime.
After prepping some of the breakfast she returned to the room to wake up Ranma, letting him know he'd be going to school and should get a quick shower in now, and then he needed to try on the uniform she altered last night to see how things fit before she did the rest of them. Soon enough though the group was fed and heading out the door, Mirei with them as the daycare she went to part of the week was on the way to Furikan.
"Ranma! Get down!" Sachiko commanded the boy who was currently walking along the fence next to the sidewalk. While she normally wouldn't have cared, at the moment he was also carrying Mirei on his shoulders and the thought of her falling from such a height had her anxiety in overload.
Ranma hopped down next to her with a questioning look on his face. "Uhm Okay" he responded, not sure what he did wrong, Mirei had asked him to go higher…
"That's too dangerous, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Sachiko told him, putting a hand over her heart for emphassis.
"Higher!" Shouted Mirei, currently upset at the return to the sidewalk.
"No Mirei, that's too dangerous." Sachiko tells the girl only to receive a pouting look that quickly turned into crying, which then turned into hair pulling as she tried to pull him higher.
"Oww Oww Oww!" Ranma said while trying to dislodge the little girl from himself.
"Mirei, we're almost to your school, do you want them to see you having a temper tantrum?" Akane said while moving over to try and help get the little girl off Ranma.
That seemed to get the girl to calm down and let Akane pick her up and put her back on the sidewalk. "Good, I knew you were a big girl who behaves so well." Akane said giving the little girl a smile and taking her hand to continue walking.
"Jeeze, the girls gotta grip like a gorilla." Ranma says while massaging his head.
Sachiko gave him a glare in response. "Don't say that about our daughter, besides why did you think it would be okay to do such a dangerous thing like walking on the fence?"
"Huh, it's not dangerous, been doing it since I was about five years old." Ranma replied, and to make his point he proceeds to jump back up on the fence and perform some gymnastic flips along it before jumping back down. "See, noth'n too it." He says a bit cockily.
"She's not worried about you falling idiot, she's worried about Mirei getting hurt." Nabiki interjects, loving the look on his face as his ego is slightly deflated.
"But, it's perfectly safe, I haven't fallen in years." Ranma protest.
"Oh, so you know every fence here is well built and maintained? That none of them are rotted out or have weak points?" Nabiki asks him.
"Well...no...but it's fine, I can take a fall." Ranma replies.
Both girls just give him a glare as if to tell him he just made their point before walking past him and leaving him to ponder. Sachiko having to yell at him to hurry up after they get a bit ahead of him. Ranma wasn't quite sure about what had happened, but figured he'd ask about it later as they reached the day-care and Sachiko introduced him to the teachers there.
"So, how long do you give him if he's in Sachiko's class?" Nabiki asked her sister quietly as they walked a few feet back from Ranma and Sachiko who was busy telling the boy about her teachers.
"Ugh, if Achika and Mako figure it out, he won't survive lunchtime." Akane responds.
"Wanna bet on it, 500 yen?" Nabiki asked with a smile.
Regarding her sisters cheerful mood, Akane could feel something wasn't so innocent about this bet. "You know something, don't you?"
"Oh, lets just say our 'little brother' is in for a...rough, hard, and thoroughly exhausting start to his school life." Nabiki said, unable to stop herself from giggling at the thoughts of what was to come.
"Ugh, I don't know how Sachiko ended up with those two as best friends, but I almost feel sorry for Ranma. Almost…" Akane said while shaking her head slowly.
"Mr. Tanaka is the worst though, he teaches Japanese history so dryly you can feel the humidity sucked out of the room." Sachiko tells Ranma as they walk down the street after he asked what it was like at the school.
"Ugh, why can't they just teach the cool stuff, all the battles and fights and stuff? Who cares about some guys jus...Watch out!" Ranma shouts, grabbing Sachiko by her shoulder and sliding her behind him as something triggers his danger instinct, only to be splashed in the face by an old woman throwing water on the pavement to keep the dust down.
Ranma grumbles as he digs out the small thermos his mom gave him and changes back. "Not even at school and already had to use it…"
"Uhm...Thanks for helping me not get splashed." Sachiko says, not quite sure what just happened as she was moved so quickly.
"Huh?" Ranma says, "Oh...no problem. Probably worse if you got wet, I'm getting use to damp clothing…"
As the group entered the school Ranma found his shoe locker and was changing to the brand new indoor shoes he'd brought, when he looked over to see Akane shoving letters into a bag that she then handed to Nabiki. Looking at Sachiko for an explanation she just shook her head as if to say its best to leave it alone. The girls headed to class while Ranma went to the office to get his class assignment, and refill his thermos from the water cooler/heater.
A few minutes after the bell rang, Ranma was standing outside a classroom with the office administrator waiting for the teacher to call him inside. Ranma soon walked in when called and was holding two cups of water while the administrator held his bag and a towel.
"Everyone, we will be having a new student join us today, he has a bit of a special circumstance that needs to be explained, and well...seeing is believing." Homeroom teacher Mr. Yashiro announced, then nodding at Ranma to explain.
Ranma wasn't really looking around the room as he thought about how much this sucked to have to do, but there was no other way around it. Finally taking a deep breath he looked up and began. "My names Ranma Saotome, I've been traveling and training in martial arts for most my life with my pop, up until a couple weeks ago I was in China and ended up getting a curse. Cold Water…" Ranma trails off as he lowers his head and pours the water on it.
"Turns me into a girl." Ranma straightens back up to see the classroom in complete silence, every single student besides Sachiko in shock. Quickly shaking a bit of water out of his hair though has quite an effect on the students bodies as two boys pass out and many others have to reach for tissues.
"Hot water…" He proceeds to dump the other cup the same way over his head. "Turns me back to a boy." He quickly hands the cups to the assistant in exchange for the towel which he uses to wipe up the water, the whole time the class is silent, their eyes following him but no one makes a peep. His now damp shirt is clinging to his chest and it seems a few of the girls now are also getting out tissues.
Handing back the towel and taking his bag he finally stands back up and looks at the class. "I'm always a guy up here." He says pointing to his head. "So no, I don't like guys now or when I'm a girl." he finishes, staring down the boys mostly who were obviously lost in some dirty thoughts. Surprisingly though a few girls seemed disappointed by this news too but he didn't have time to dwell on that as the floodgate of questions seemed to open up.
"Is it painful?"
"No."
"Which body do you like better?"
"I'm a guy!"
"Are you single?"
"Uhh?"
"Are you related to Sachiko Saotome?"
"She's my sister."
That answer seemed to suddenly redirect all the attention in the classroom to Sachiko who was currently hiding behind the largest textbook she had. All the loud questions seemed to die down into murmurs, which finally let the teacher regain control of the chaos that was going on.
"Students, that's enough for now, Ranma, take a seat here in the front." Pointing to an open seat at the front of the room. Mr. Yashiro then started to talk about some after school activity plans.
Ranma took his seat, looking at the two boys to either side, one of which gave him a smile that he didn't really think felt like a smile, while the other was doing his best to not even look in his direction. The girl directly behind him seemed very pleased though, pushing her thin round glasses up a little, while she gave him a smile that seemed to be more than friendly. 'Great first impression you made, probably all think I'm a freak…' He thought to himself.
In what seemed just seconds after they'd set back down after greeting their first teacher, Ranma had a couple of notes on his desk passed from the girl behind him, a quick glance seemed to show she was hiding multiple more. Sitting in the front though made reading and replying nearly impossible as the teacher seemed to be staring at him more than anyone else. Finally, with his back turned to write on the chalkboard Ranma opened up the notes to see what it said.
# What sweets do you like? #
# Do you like long or short hair? #
# Does it feel better to do it as a guy or a girl? #
The last one Ranma wasn't sure what it was talking about, so simply flicked it into the waste bin when the teacher wasn't looking. He quickly answered yes to the sweets note, but the second one gave him pause, did he care? Trying to think on this he pictured Sachiko and the Tendo sisters, of which only Nabiki had short hair and considering he wasn't a fan of her so far, put down long as his answer before quickly handing them back to the girl behind him as she handed him three more. But the teacher soon turned around before he could look.
It wasn't until the change of classes that he could try and look again, but he was quickly swarmed by most of the class as they asked about things from favorite colors to sports, with a few that seemed to imply something but he wasn't sure what they were talking about. He was thankfully saved by the next teacher entering, which seemed to be the history teacher Sachiko had warned him about. By the time the bell rang for lunch, Ranma and what looked like the rest of the class were in a dazed state brought on by cranial dryness.
A shriek of chairs being moved signaled the mob closing in around his desk once again. Before he could even place the lunch his mom had made on his desk he was being asked to join just about everyone for lunch. Standing up he see's Sachiko standing at her desk with two other girls and gets an idea.
"Sorry, promised to have lunch with my sister, bye!" he shouts over the crowd as he leaps backwards towards Sachiko's desk.
"See ya outside." He says to her as he then walks to an open window and drops out to the shock of everyone.
"We're on the third floor you idiot!" She screams after him and rushes to the window, only to see him now running towards a tree. Looking at her friends they grab their lunches and head out to follow.
Sachiko and her friends soon arrived below the tree and a bit out of breath. "Where is he, this is the right tree isn't it?" Sachiko said to her friends, when suddenly the boy in question flipped out of the tree and landed just inches in front of her, managing to not spill his Bento at all.
"Ahh!" Sachiko screamed in surprise, stumbling back a few feet into her friends. "What the hell Ranma!"
"Oh...sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said regretfully.
"Its...Its fine, just don't do that again please" She replied, getting her breath back and then helping to spread out the thin picnic blanket her friend brought before they all took a corner to sit on.
"Ranma, these are my best friends Achika and Mako, they know about you and Mirei unlike the class, and their trustworthy." Sachiko said, pointing to each one to introduce them.
Achika struck Ranma as an out going person as she seemed almost bouncing in her seat waiting for Sachiko to finish the introduction. She was a little shorter than Ranma and Sachiko, more about Akane's height. She wore her black hair up in a bun tied with a red ribbon that's tails hung down to her neck, framing her thin face. She was the thinner of the two friends, with not much in the way of curves showing through the frumpy school dresses.
Mako though was sizing him up as she looked over him, the smile she gave at the end was unnerving to say the least, as it seemed almost...predatory. She was the shortest of the group, maybe only two inches above his girl form, but similar to his girl form she had more curves than the other two girls on the blanket. She had her brown hair tied into a single braid that hung down past her shoulders, and a more roundish face and nose.
Seeing that Sachiko was done with the introduction as she started to eat, Achika quickly jumped at the chance to talk. "Sachiko, you said he was cute...not the whole class is going to have to change their panties after class hot!" She said giving her friend a poke in the side.
"Not to mention his female body pretty much killed Hiroshi and Daisuke when he shook the water out of his hair." Mako added, laughing at the thought of the two boys who had passed out with nosebleeds.
"His wet shirt at the end got Hachiko, I saw her slump for a bit after putting her head down." Achika continued.
"Pretty much everyone in class is going to have a restless night after that show...maybe even Sachiko now that her little stud muffin is back." Grinning, Mako looks towards Ranma with a mischievous grin. "Does she call you "daddy" too?"
"MAKO!" Sachiko says, her face bright red with embarrassment and a bit of anger. "I said we aren't a couple or anything like that." The last part in a whisper after it seemed everyone near by looked their way at her outburst.
"You say that, but you already lied about his looks, how do I know he's not getting himself some hot high school milf action too?" Mako retorts quietly, earning a look of death from Sachiko.
"What show are you talking about, what's a milf and why would she call me daddy?" Ranma interjects, not sure why their whispering but doing it also just in case.
The two friends stop and stare incredulously at Ranma's ignorance before turning to Sachiko. "He can't really be…" Achika begins "This incredibly innocent…" Mako finishes.
"Sorry girls, but he really is incredibly..."innocent", mom did spend a good amount of time explaining exactly what happened though, so don't go trying my stupid secret technique on him." Sachiko says with a groan.
The two girls look back at Ranma with wide eyes before looking at each other and grinning. "Sounds like he's…" Mako begins this time. "in need of some..." Achika says before both finish "lessons", both giving him a look that sets off alarms in his brain before Sachiko whaps them both on the back of their heads.
Ranma decides its time to flee and stuffs the rest of his bento in his mouth and heads back to the classroom before they can say anything else.
Returning to his desk he see's it's covered in notes, but before he can do much about them the bell rings to signal the end of lunch and students begin to file back in. The guys giving him a wide berth for the moment, while the girls mostly seemed to find a reason to walk past his desk and say hello as he was stuffing the mound of notes into his satchel to try and go through later. Sachiko and her friends return and while she tries to ignore him, the two friends are giving him strange looks, while the rest of the girls in the class are glaring at them.
'This class is so weird, why is everyone looking at each other and saying strange stuff. Junior high was a lot easier, if someone gave me a look I could just fight them.' Ranma thought as he looked around, most people not making eye contact with him. Seeing the teacher slide open the classroom door he was grateful for the distraction, until he realized it was Math class.
"Ranma, how about you start on your homework while I clean up, I can help you with anything after I finish, or Sachiko might be able to answer too." Nodoka says while taking a load of dishes in from the table after dinner. Sachiko was already pulling out her homework books, Kasumi having taken Mirei upstairs to have a bath.
"Ugh...okay mom." Ranma says, getting up from the table to retrieve his satchel from by the door where he'd left it after returning home and heading to the dojo to practice and work out some frustration.
Dumping out the satchel on the table created a large mound of the notes from class, what caught both teenagers eyes though was the light pink pair of panties that was also now sticking out of the pile. Before either of them could say anything in the awkward moment, Nodoka returned to get the last of the plates, her eye's widening at the sight of the panties there among the notes.
"Son...why is there a pair of panties on the table?" Nodoka asked, her voice breaking a bit at having to say such a thing.
"Uhm...maybe one of the guys in class is trying to make fun of me?" Ranma answered, cupping his chin as he tries to think of who it might have been.
Using her pencil, Sachiko picks up the pair of panties for a closer look. "I don't think a guy is going to leave his phone number…" She states dryly.
"Oh, maybe she didn't have any paper for a note, and so just needs me to call to find out what she wants?" Ranma says, still a bit stumped on why the item was in the pile..
"No!" Sachiko blurts out. "Its uh...probably embarrassing...a girl should probably make the call." She says, looking at Nodoka for help as she continued to keep the article of clothing on the end of her pencil and head into the kitchen. Nodoka follows her back while wondering how her son could miss the obvious intentions of said article.
In the kitchen Sachiko quickly moves towards the trash and dumps the article in, then quickly rinses off her pencil, giving a little shudder at the thought of the whole thing. Turning around she see's Nodoka in the entrance, a smile on her face as she's looking into the distance.
"Mother, if you are thinking about future grand children over this I'm taking Mirei and running." Sachiko says with a scowl.
"Oh my, I hadn't even gotten that far dear" Nodoka said, giving her daughter a sly grin. "It's just, he must of made a great impression to receive such a...gift".
Sachiko rolls her eyes at the eccentricities of the woman in front of her. "Well, if you count how he also gave every guy in the class a shaking wet t-shirt show, I have to wonder about your definition of manly…"
The vision of that did not sit that well with Nodoka, a look of worry on her face. "Why would he do such a thing?" she asked
"He was just showing his curse off at the start of class, but well, he didn't really care that his shirt was wet and he wasn't wearing a bra. The boy's uniform is just a white dress shirt mom if the Jacket part isn't buttoned, and no one leaves it buttoned during the day." Sachiko explained, emphasizing the white part.
"Oh...Oohhhh." Nodoka says, realizing that she was going to need to sew in something to help prevent...free shows when ever Ranma got soaked like he was prone too.
They were interrupted though by a call from Ranma at the table. "Hey Sachiko, I think some of these are for you."
Returning from the kitchen they saw he was sorting through the various notes, putting them into piles. "I got a bunch of phone numbers, some questions about stuff I know, a bunch I don't understand, and then a few saying some stuff about you I don't really get." He said, pointing at the piles.
Grabbing one from the pile he made for her, she had a good idea what it would say, the expression on her face confirming that. Quickly gathering them all up, she proceeded to the kitchen once again to throw them away, returning visibly upset with her fist clenched. She heads up the stairs where a door is heard slamming soon after.
Ranma for his part realized that the notes obviously weren't nice felt stupid once again. "Shiii...Cra...Uhm...Dang it.." Ranma said, hoping to avoid a scolding from his mom right at this minute. "I'm sorry, I couldn't read the words they were using so wasn't sure...I should of known they were being jerks. They're probably saying the same things to me in that pile." He apologized to his mom.
"Ranma, how about you put those away for now. While I don't want to, you're seventeen years old and should probably know more of those words than I'd like. We'll review them before bedtime together so you will at least have an idea of what your peers are saying. For now, why don't you start on your English, it by far needs the most work." Nodoka said while heading up the stairs to check on Sachiko, though stopping before she took the first step to look back at Ranma.
"She's not angry at you Ranma, but you should still say sorry when she comes back down."
"Sure mom. Thanks." Ranma replies, feeling a little less guilty for causing Sachiko to be so upset, and wishing he could just find out who wrote those notes and challenge them.
"Yeeeaaaawwwwww" Ranma yawned as he opened the door to leave the upstairs bathroom after brushing his teeth. Suddenly stopping before moving through the door though as he sensed something there. As he lowered his head he saw a blue patch of hair and one thought went through his head 'Crap'. Sure enough the youngest Tendo was looking at him with a mixture of surprise and displeasure. As both were blocking each others way, they stood there in an awkward silence for some seconds.
Akane was the first to act, taking a step back as she broke eye contact with Ranma. "Well, go on…" She said, holding out her hand as if to direct him.
"Th..Thanks." He replied as he moved through the doorway.
But after only a few steps she called to him. "Wait." Turning around he saw her fist were slightly clench, and she seemed to be breathing slowly.
"I...I want to apologize. For last night." She said slowly, now looking him in his face.
Ranma scanned around him, was this a prank he thought at first, but not seeing anything he turned back to Akane and replied. "Okay."
"I jumped to conclusions, and accused you of things you didn't say. I'm sorry." She said, giving him a deep bow.
Ranma returned the bow too her surprise. "It's okay, mom told me you've had to deal with a bunch of jerks that were bugging her, so you're defensive of her. Thanks for that." Ranma replied. "I think today I found out a bunch of kids in class are jerks too...mom had to teach me a bunch of...rude words, I think she was more embarrassed than the biology lesson she gave me the first night." He said with a chuckle.
Akane couldn't help but laugh at the idea of Auntie Nodoka saying crass things like the kids at school. "Did she really? We're not even allowed to swear above a grade school level around here with out a lecture…" she said holding a hand up to her face to stifle her laugh.
"Yea, wish I could just pummel the lot of'm, but mom's gonna kill me if I get in any fights that aren't life or death it seems. It feels like forever since I even had a good spar, morning practice by myself doesn't really cut it." Ranma said, loosing the tension he had around the young Tendo at the thought of a good fight, even throwing a few punches in the air.
"If you want, I've got a demo class this Saturday after the half day at school to do, we could spar then and it would probably help sell the class. Its a kids class though, so more showy, less actual violence." Akane offered.
"Really? That would be great! I uh...kinda wanted to spar with you more, you're not half bad." Ranma said, suddenly feeling nervous paying her a compliment.
Akane's face turned red at the compliment and she quickly ducked into the bathroom to hide it. "1:30 after school, ask my dad for a Tendo Dojo Gi so you look official." She said loud enough for him to hear before closing the door.
The rest of the regular school week felt like a blur to Ranma as he woke up early to practice, help cook or watch Mirei. School calmed down a little, with the girls not being as...aggressive, as the first day but still sending notes and invitations to join them for lunch, or after school dates. Ranma also made friends with Hiroshi and Daisuke who turned out to be the two that fainted during his demonstration. Yotaro, the boy who sat to his left would join them for lunch sometimes, it turns out he was actually one of the better students in their grade and was training to be a pianist. The boy on his right though, Jiro seemed to personally have a grudge against him or something and just brushed him off.
The curse though caused nothing but trouble as more and more people in the school witnessed it and the rumor mill went wild. His shoe locker started to look like Akane's as students even in upper grades started to become interested, with far too many being to his girl side than he liked. It turned out Nabiki was behind a little scheme though she setup for Akane, she'd collect all the letters, and the top five who paid the most to her, would actually get answered. Ranma wasn't sure what to do with the five he got each day, and thankfully didn't have to be nice in the replies to rude questions, but the small cut he got in return gave him some pocket money which he'd never had before.
Though he didn't have much time to spend any of it as his schedule was set in stone as his mother wanted him home and studying as soon as possible while she continued to look for a tutor. He had set a goal that by the first half of the school, he'd be equal to the classes lowest scores, but his current scores were hovering in the 'teens and his English wasn't even Mirei's level of Japanese. Sachiko had a brilliant idea though, and checked out simple children's books in English for Ranma to practice with, and once he was good enough he'd read them to Mirei, translating for her as they went.
Drifting off to sleep Friday night, Ranma felt like his brain had been through an underground fighting tournament. Little things kept popping up in his mind from classes, wondering what all the things he didn't understand really were. Then a stray thought seemed to break through the noise, 'Where is pops?' and his mood soured a bit. The sleep that night was restless and tense, Ranma was flailing about. Nodoka woke up, and seeing Ranma distressed in his sleep she slid over and held him, which seemed to calm him down and soon she was almost asleep again when she barely noticed something 'Why is he purring?'
