Ranma & Kaneda
By Ron Dow75
17: Knocked up? Getting into Her Bloomers
Nude among less than half-dressed girls, Ranma-chan
kneeled unladylike before the remains of her silk,
Chinese clothes. "These, these are the only clothes like
this I have!"
One sympathetic soul in the locker room asked, "How can
that be??" She also wondered how the redhead's waist
could be so unnaturally small.
Another girl without a bra nudged her, and whispered,
"Haven't you HEARD? This is Ranma Saotome! You know:
Pigtail, red hair?"
More than one girl gasped, "The one brainwashed..."/
"...abused..."/ "...tortured by her father!?"/ "--The
woman-hater!?!"/ ("Is that why she looks like she's
wearing an invisible corset?")
One with a bra said, "The one Nabiki told us about?"/
"The one she's arranging a birthday party for--?"/
"Quiet! It's supposed to be a surprise."
Distraught, Ranma-chan picked up the clothes in her
hands; she didn't care they were clammy and damp, "I can
only have what I can carry. We don't have much money."
She pressed the cold, wet material to her exposed bosom,
"I had to fight Pop to keep THESE!!"
The sympathetic soul with the large bare boobs said, "Aw,
you poor girl!"
More than one obviously female said, "Her father is
cruel..."/ "...and unusual!"/ "He needs to be
punished!"/ "The woman-hater!"/ ("Why would a man
like that want her to wear an invisible corset??")
But more common sense asked, "But Ranma's dad is a
martial artist. What can WE do Ranma can't do?"
The locker room door opened, and the girls of sixth
period P.E. saw the sempais of fifth. "What's going on?"/
"Why are you girls still here?"/ "What girl's having a
crisis this time?"/ "Anything interesting this time?"
One girl with a red bow in her dark brown hair had made
her way through the crowd outside far enough to see,
"Ranma!??!" Behind Sayuri, still lost behind the others,
Yuka asked, "Ranma?!? SHE'S the one with the crisis?!"
The girls in the locker room saw that it was time to get
dressed. A girl putting on her school blouse told them,
"I'll say. She says she'd rather die than go without her
special clothes."
Girls from Ranma's class asked, " "Special clothes"??"/
"Is that her attitude?"/ "Is that why can't she wear a
uniform like the rest of us?" / "Because it wouldn't
make her "special"?"/ "(If I had a waist like that I
wouldn't hide it in baggy clothes.")/ "If that's her
attitude, I don't know if I WANT to go to her birthday
party."/ "Maybe she's like Yuumei, and thinks she's too
good to exercise with us."
"Ranma's not like that!" Sayuri told them, pushing her
way in. "Didn't you hear Yuka tell you how Ranma's
efemininating Dad did to her?!"
(Yuka pleaded, "Let me through, please! I'm with them!")
A girl stepping into her blue jumper wondered, "
"Efemininating"?? Is that a word?"
Sayuri like all of the others had gym bags, "If there can
be a word like "emasculating", why shouldn't there be a
female equivalent?"
A girl zipping up her dress's back with practiced hands
answered, "Because people are more concerned with guys
not acting like guys than vice versa?"
A girl who pulled up a white sock answered, "Because a
girl who acted like a guy had better be tougher than a
guy?"
A girl who laced up a shoe added, "If she isn't, they'll
do to her what they do guys who aren't GUY enough!"
A girl who shouldered a sports bag said, "They'll keep at
her until SHE starts acting like a girl."
Yuka had finally been allowed to see Ranma-chan, "Is that
why she acts like she does! Like, uh...."
Sayuri put her bag down and kneeled beside Ranma-chan,
"Like "a caricature of a guy martial artist"? Of course
it is!" She put an arm around her bare shoulders, "Ranma-
chan acts the way she does because NOBODY has given her a
chance to be anything else."
Ranma-chan shook the offending arm off, her mind
elsewhere, "I won these clothes in a battle with a
Chinese martial artist who laughed at me for being a girl
in my kempo-gi!"
Yuka wanted to kneel down on the other side of Ranma-
chan. But her upperclasswomen from the previous class
were all ready and wanted out the door. Yuka had to stand
in front of Ranma. Looking at the girl down in the raw,
she asked, "Is that why those things are so important to
you, Ranchan?"
Sayuri, too, found she had to make way for them. "It's
like they said; these Chinese clothes were special
because they were her trophy. They were a symbol that she
WAS guy enough."
The one who'd mentioned Nabiki looked down at the
redhead's above average chichis, "A girl with THOSE
statistics would need a lot to assure herself she's
really a guy."
Ranma-chan looked forlornly at the wet shreds in her pink
girlish lap with hips, "I need Chinese clothes to keep
from havin' a kid."
This was a slap in the face of the martial arts persona
of Ranma Sayuri had been building, "You, you think
Chinese clothes will keep you from becoming pregnant??"
That brought comment from both sets of girls, "Now that's
just plain stupid."/ "Wait a minute! I've heard about
the ancient wisdom of the Chinese. Ranma went there to
learn it!"/ "And "Chinese clothes will keep a girl from
getting knocked up"? Unh, hunh."/ "Okay, that is plain
stupid. I'm out of here."/ "We, two by two."
The girls in the hall made room to let those of 2-E get
by, and still follow what was happening: "Wow! How
ignorant of girls did her daddy keep her?"/ "I know
Japanese parents don't like to talk about sex. But look
around at what is sold!"/ "They even give out copies of
the "Karma Sutra" to girls."/ "That's how TO have sex.
NOT how keep from getting its aftereffect!"/ "As we
speak, decades after its invention, Japan still hasn't
even legalized the birth control pill, yet!"/ "Right.
The excuse is it'll make girls WANT to have more sex."/
"Meanwhile the guys are given the message it's manly to
"conquer" girls."/ "Right: "Don't take "no" for an
answer"."/ "Humph! I'll bet WE'LL only get OUR pill
when there's a pill the GUYS want legal!" By now those
outside were moving into the locker room and were
starting to take their clothes off.
Sayuri tried to lift the focused redhead up off the
floor, "Come on; move over to the bench on the wall
beside the door."
Yuka joined her, "You need to put SOMETHING on, Ranchan.
Or you just MIGHT get with child."
Sayuri asked, "Yuka, how much do YOU know about
reproduction?"
Yuka said, "That's what Daddums tells me! Keep your
clothes on and--"
One girl stepping out of her dress suggested, "If Ranma's
not feeling right, she should see the nurse."
Another getting out of her blouse and slip at once said,
"What can the nurse do? Give her a hot compress?"
Ranma came to her feet, so fast she boobs took on a life
of their own, "Nothing hot!!" she panicked. "I CAN'T
become a guy now!! I have to stay a girl!"
One girl reaching around to unhook her bra said, "I wish
I could become a guy right now. Even with a sports bra,
these can be a pain at P.E.!"
A smaller B cup opened her front fastening bra, "Ranma,
going to the nurse is your excuse out of P.E.!"
A C pulling her sports bra past her neck said, "And how
is she going to get to the nurse's undressed like that?"
One who stepping out of her panties laughed, "Maybe the
nurse can examine her here: Ranma's stripped for a total
physical examination!"
Sayuri had almost gently pulled Ranma-chan over to the
bench, she told the others, "Ranma's a martial ARTIST!?
She LIKES things like physical exertion!"
The words clicked with Ranma-chan, "That's right! I'll
stay a girl, but DO physical stuff! That's what I do,
that's what's familiar, that'll take my mind off of this!
I'll lose myself in, in...."
...In a body that would NOT let her forget that she was a
girl. Ranma looked past the annoying boobs were the real
enemies, the hips. Those pushed out things affected her
fighting stance by making her knees come in. She would
call it knock-kneed if her center of her weight wasn't in
her belly. THAT, above jiggly fat deposits, both top and
bottom, the soft skin and thin muscles, thick but short
legs, and the annoying entrance between them, THAT above
everything else that screamed in a soprano voice this
wasn't a guy's body is what most nagged at her nerves.
Ranma-chan was bottom-heavy!! That should be okay for
somebody trained in the Saotome School of Lower Body
Martial Arts! She actually had MORE thigh muscle as a
girl. --But it WASN'T okay!!
She had no upper body strength to speak of. None that
compared to what she had as a guy! She had started to
become obsessed with upper body strength. It was what
best defined her guy's body besides the obvious. That
meant guys should punch more kick less. When she had
realized that she come to dwell on the meaning of her
school's name. It was no accident it, and she was named
Saotome ...meaning "Rice paddy Girl".
(OF course Ranma's resentful analogy wouldn't let her see
that rice paddy girls did a lot of upper-body work.)
...as if for the first time Ranma noticed, "These nipples
are big."
Yuka said, "They are hard. You need to warm them, cover
them. --You can have my gym clothes!"
Sayuri said, as a friend, "Yuka, your clothes won't fit
over Ranma's figure. MY clothes won't fit over it."
Yuka looked at Sayuri, "Yes, yours would. Of course
they'd be a little tight in the bust and a little loose
in the waist."
Sayuri said to her, "Be glad I'm not the type to use this
gym bag to hit you with." But she put her bag on the wall
seat, "But the sweatshirt is loose. Other than being a
little long, it should be okay."
When the girl took it out, Ranma saw that it wasn't too
bad. The yellow thing with the rolled up short sleeves
didn't look too girly. It was a sweatshirt.
Na Chino, the girl with the lousy joke, asked, "What are
your measurements?" She had brought a pair of buruma from
her gym bag. She was wearing another pair under her dress
instead of panties, as well as another sports bra.
Ranma-chan said, "Measurements?" She was about to tell
them, but looked down again at her dharma drum figure.
She covered her boobs with an arm, "I don't know!"
There was commentary on that, "She doesn't know??"/ "If
*I* had a waist like that, I'd want EVERYBODY to know its
size."/ "Men! That father of hers really HAS kept her
in the dark."/ "Oh, come on; it means she was never
interested to know in the first place."/ "Only
because she knew her the woman-figures wouldn't please
her woman-hater father."...
Ranma-chan was pulling the sweatshirt over her pigtail
when: Firm, cool hands touched Ranma's hips. Ranma
startled, and made to spin around into defending position
as arm. But there was no maneuvering room. She stopped
herself from bumping into soft, smooth bodies.
Na brought her firm, cool hands over to her own hips. "I
was right, my buruma will fit you." The shorthaired girl
was nearly Ranma's guy-height, but that only made the
girl-widths she shared with Ranma-chan look less
exaggerated.
Ranma cried, "Bloomers! No! I can't wear anything like
that!!"
Na told her, "The only thing we have left to offer you
are our school uniforms. Since this is the last class of
the day, maybe one of the shorter girls--"
There was a knock on the locker room door, and little
Miss Hinako announced, "I'm coming in, everybody!" as she
did. "You mischievous girls are TARDY! Mr. Shuaatsuneiga,
your P.E. teacher, asked me to see what the delay was."
She stood in the doorway, forgetting that anybody passing
in the hall....
Sayuri put herself in front of the bottomless Ranma,
"There was an accident, and Ranma's clothes became
ruined."
Miss Hinako peeked around at the half-covered girl. "Miss
Ranma should go to the office and get a spare uniform."
Ranma took Na's buruma and lifted her first leg into the
shorts, "That's okay! These ARE pants. I AM going to be
in P.E. Just like I'm scheduled. ...It IS the last class
of the day." And after that, she'd take care of Kaneda's
for the dirty trick he'd played on her that got her into
this locker room, and which got her INTO girls' gym
clothes! I wonder what kinda boxers he wears.
As Ranma-chan pulled up the tight shorts and adjusted the
elastic of the leg openings around her bubble butt, Miss
Hinako made to leave, "This is a mixed P.E. class. I want
all you young ladies to wear protective cups. I don't
want the boys getting naughty ideas."
Changing herself, Sayuri commented, "There's something
disturbing about somebody who looks my kid sister's age
saying something like that." Other girls agreed as they
started to leave the locker room for the playing fields.
Ranma-chan looked at her crotch, "Girls hafta wear cups,
too?"
Na handed Ranma a sports bra, "The kid doesn't know what
she's talking about. These don't have cups."
It looked enough like a bra for Ranma-chan to screw up
her face. "No, thanks. I've been doin' alright without
wearin' anything but a shirt."
Yuka had on only her buruma, "Doesn't that bother your
big nipples?"
Sayuri said, "...Among more weighty items."
Na offered Ranma-chan her sports bra again, "See? It's
not lacy, or silky or anything like that. It's really
more like a tight halter top."
Ranma-chan still didn't want to touch it. But as she
studied it and the words Na used to describe it, "...like
an undershirt?" She suddenly heard something in the
replay she liked, "Silk!?! Do you have one in silk?!"
Na gave up, "A silk sports bra? You have to be kidding."
She reached for her own sweatshirt.
Sayuri was down to her rather plain bra, "I bet somebody
does make something like that, though. Somebody always
does."
The gossip started among the girls, "Silk! Ranma's
Chinese clothes were silk!"/ "Ooo, and here I thought
Ranma wanted to be thought of as a tomboy..."/ "...a
tough..."/ "...a real guy's girl!"/ There was
giggling: "Ranma has a SILK fetish!"/ "How girly!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On their way to the playing fields, former gang girl Na
told Ranma, "Silk!? It goes against the whole idea of
sports bras."
Yuka told Ranma, "There are silk bra and panty sets! I
have some."
Sayuri said, "They're made in China. So they're
"Chinese". You probably can get some that have Chinese
prints on them." She was wearing her regular school
blouse.
Yuka smiled, "Oh, yes! Lingerie comes in all SORTS of
styles!"
Ranma-chan, still tugging at the red bloomers, said, "No!
It'd be another sacrifice of my male dignity." And being
in girls' bloomers surrounded by girls in bloomers was
more than enough already. "There's always a chance I
WON'T get pregnant: All I have to do is stay a girl."
Na said, "Staying a girl is how you GET preggers. And if
you're serious about not looking like you're interested
in the idea, you shouldn't have a bikini wax."
Sayuri reminded her, "Na, Ranma's a martial artist. Who
would challenge her?"
Na told her back, "Another martial artist? Anybody who
can take her unawares? Didn't I hear she's living with
her fiance?"
Ranma-chan made a "throat-ripper" claw of her hand, "He
knows better to try any of THAT stuff!" Then she had a
thought, "Wait! How'd I know!?"
Sayuri said, "You'd know."
Na told Ranma-chan, "Give me the word, and I'll
assassinate the ninja sneak attacker for you! I'll mangle
him and tie him up into bows!"
Yuka said, "After all, you wouldn't want to do it in your
condition, Ranchan."
Sayuri said, "Yuka, where'd you get that idea that women
can't do things like that even late into the third
trimester?!"
Ranma-chan cry was a vow, "I ain't, and I won't!!" She
jogged away from them, "I GOT to DO something and take my
mind off of all of this!" Her unrestrained boobs were
jumping about more than most girls'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Out on second base, Ranma-chan kept her mind on the ball.
They were tossing around the softball as a warm-up; and
in between her turns, she was stretching and taking
practice swings with an imaginary softball bat. She had
gotten her boobs back under control. Her melons just
suddenly appeared on her, unlike ones that gave a girl
time to learn how to wear them.
Ever since Juusenkyo she had had to devote a part of her
body-awareness skills to dealing with those boobs. It
took away that much more attention she could give other
things. That lessened her ability. Or so her resentment
thought. It was all a very strange situation where the
more her subconscious devoted itself to learning to cope
with the strange, new body, the more her conscious was
reminded how alien the body was, and the more numb she
got to it. She used one of her well-trained skills,
ignoring injuries, to counter another.
But she was a martial artist. That meant integrating body
and mind, letting her conscious master her subconscious,
not the other way around. The more she allowed the
situation to continue, the worse her skills WOULD
deteriorate.
But that meant remaining a girl! That meant practicing in
the very OTHER body. Practicing methodically and
intensely until she knew its all its differences, and how
to put even its obvious weaknesses to use. Practicing
until it became as familiar and comfortable as her real
body. It meant that THIS body WOULD become her other
half. It meant accepting herself as a girl.
Experimenting with that idea again, she lowered her
mental barriers down. Again she became aware that
...boobs were what defined a girl's upper body, not
MUSCLES!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Meanwhile while Ranma-chan was outside in short shorts,
Kaneda was in his guys' blue sweat pants and shirt. The
long, red haired guy did his last turn around the steel
high bar and let go. He did a double tuck and an easy
landing on the sand. It was best his class of guys had
seen that day, and they applauded.
But Kaneda's eyes returned to, guiltily, on Ranma-chan.
He had run out on her, leaving Ranma alone in the girls'
locker room. But he HADN'T been able to take it! It was a
real problem with him. Every time he was a girl and was
around pretty girls, she just, just had to--escape! No,
don't think about that! You're a guy now, you don't have
to think about it, now! Stay focused on being a guy!
Kane-chan had fled in a screaming panic, but what about
Ranma? She didn't look happy. At least she was where she
belonged. With luck and some time, Ranma would become
more comfortable being around girls. And people in
general. Kaneda was (almost) certain of it. Sure Ranma
seemed easy-going, but she didn't volunteer to be around
others. She didn't know how to be anything but an
outsider, so she had to be where the inside could come to
HER.
And if there's ONE thing I know about girls, they clump
together more than guys.
At least that's the excuse he gave himself when he
plopped down on the ground beside Hiroshi and Daisuke.
Hiroshi's eyes, too, were on the cute, redhead in the
revealing buruma, "She must not take the guy-act too
seriously. She shaves her legs."
Kaneda knew the truth. He, too, guy and girl, had smooth,
practically hairless bodies. He had thought it was just
part of his genetics. It made him feel self-conscious
around the hairier guys. But even the hairy Japanese were
Asian, and it didn't stand out too much. And his martial
arts reputation MADE them accept that a bald groin was
something he did to improve his technique.
Daisuke agreed, "Ranma's got great legs."
Kaneda thought, Better hers than mine. Much better
legs. Of course, he was proud of HIS own legs.
Hiroshi, still staring, asked, "So, Kaneda, how far have
you gotten with Ranma?"
Kaneda, "Hunh?" Ranma had bent over to field a grounder.
The buruma rode up her buttocks.
Daisuke, still staring, "Don't play innocent. You're her
fiancée."
Hiroshi wanted to know, "So did you do it?"
Daisuke put his hand on Kaneda's shoulder, "Yeah, you
know...."
While Daisuke held Kaneda down at the shoulder and waist,
Hiroshi got Kaneda in a necklock, "I bet you, di, di --
You know!"
Kaneda told them, "Ranma's not ready yet!" Damn! If they
weren't friends, he could easily get out of this.
Daisuke knew that; he squeezed, "But YOU are! You say
you're always ready! Aren't you a man!?!"
Hiroshi told him, "Every girl knows the GUY has to make
the moves!"
Daisuke told him, "She could be suffering because you're
a coward!"
Kaneda stopped struggling for a moment, "She could?!"
Ranma-chan DID keep pulling at her buruma.
He shook the thought out of his head. "No! Ranma's going
to be my partner! It's going to be her dojo as much as
mine! We're going to build it up together! That means
trust."
Their grip slackened. Hiroshi asked, "What kind of talk
is THAT?! It's your DAD'S property!"
Daisuke said, "You really AREN'T going to be the man of
the family, are you?"
Kaneda said, "You take that back!!" And broke free of
their embraces. "I WILL be the man!" And he brought out
one of his wooden mallets.
Daisuke did back off, "Is that how you prove you're a
man!?"
Hiroshi was even further back, "It works for me."
Suddenly a softball hit the mallet, and was sent with
same force it'd come with back at home plate.
Still fighting with herself over whether to allow herself
to experience this other body, Ranma-chan, had been so
distracted her defenses were down. Where it was headed
didn't seem as threatening as it would if she were a guy.
There would be nothing in the way to get hit. And she had
a little extra padding. It would be a hard-knocks lesson.
She got the lesson: It hurt a little worse to be hit in
the crotch as a girl! Her knees came together as she
doubled over more out of surprise.
Bending forward, she jabbed a boob that was already sore
from before P.E. with the end of the softball bat: That
hurt worse!!
Overreacting in the now very rejected body, Ranma toppled
over backwards. She kicked the bat with one foot and the
ball with the other.
Ranma got up her injury-ignoring skills just in time:
After spinning high in the air, the bat came down hard on
her left cheek.
The guys had seen the whole thing.
Hiroshi said, "Tomobiki the 13th: This IS an unlucky day
for Ranma, isn't it!"
Kaneda leaped to his feet, "RANMA!!" While he was
running, he saw that he still had the offending mallet in
his hand. He tossed it. "Ranma, are you okay?!!"
But Ranma's teammates were already crowding around her,
"Oh, the poor GIRL!"/ "What a perfectly dreadful thing
to happen!"/ "Is she, is going to be *swallow*
alright?"/ "She should see a doctor at once!"
Sayuri asked, "How ARE you, Ranma?"
Ranma-chan knew enough to only touch her burning check,
"I'm okay! I get hurt worse 'n this all the time." But
the red of her angry and embarrassed face matched injury.
Yuka gulped, "You do!??!"
Na said, "That evil father of hers!"
"He shouldn't hit girls!"/ "His OWN daughter!"/ "In
her FACE!!?!"/ "What if he, like, damaged her for
life?!" There were exclamations at that thought.
Confused, Ranma-chan took her hand away from her cheek,
"What?? Is my face the only thing you care got--"
Kaneda found a way between the surrounding girls, "Ranma!
I came as soon as I could!" He scooped the pigtailed girl
up in his big, strong arms. "I'll take you to the
nurse's--"
Before he had a chance to get a firm grip on her, Ranma-
chan walloped HIM across the cheek, "Let GO of me,
coward!!"
Ranma-chan left his arms and fell butt-first to the
ground.
Na backed up the nearest girls to allow Kaneda to fly
cleanly over their heads.
THIS time Ranma-chan did rub her injury, "I hate bein' a
girl!"
Yuka said, "At least you didn't land on your face, you
poor dear."
Sayuri assured her, "That's right! You look just fine!"
Na told her, "That bruise you're getting on your cheek
will go away in no time!"
"You ARE still, kind of, pretty with that cheek."/
"...Just not as cute."
It took a second for Ranma-chan to realize which cheek
they were talking about. She took her hand off of her
padded buttock. "What's WITH all this concern about my
face!?!"
There were loud gasps. "You, you don't know!?!"/ " "A
girl's face is her life"!"/ "How can you NOT know!"/
"That evil father of hers DID take her on a mind trip!"/
"For a girl to have lived THIS long and have not been
told how pretty she is!?!"/ "It's heartbreaking!"
Daisuke kneeled beside her, "I'LL tell you how pretty you
are, Ranma!"
Hiroshi was standing beside him, "You are the still the
CUTEST girl--"
He fell back onto his own butt when Ranma-chan snapped to
her feet. She yelled at the jerks on the ground, "I
don't WANNA be pretty!! And cute's worse!!!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma-chan and Kaneda had matching gauzes and tapes on
their cheeks. They were walking home on the ground from
school, bookbags in hand. Both of them were also keeping
a wary eye on the other: Ranma because she was still
wearing the yellow sweatshirt and red buruma, and Kaneda
because he was waiting for Ranma-chan to mug him for his
clothes. Kaneda was being very careful. If Kaneda allowed
himself to look at her smooth, shapely legs the way his
libido wanted, Ranma WOULD strip him and turn into a guy.
THEN Ranma-kun would give Kane-chan a taste of the same
medicine! *Shudder*
Finally Kaneda tried to ease the tension, "Do you want to
borrow my shirt? I still have an undershirt on. I can
even give you that, since it doesn't matter most times if
guys don't have anything covering his chest." Even as he
was saying it, he knew he was digging his hole deeper and
deeper.
Ranma-chan glared, but kept her eyes off of the offender.
"Without pants, it'd still feel like a dress. Right now,
I'm in no mood to feel like I'm wearin' even a sort-of-a-
dress." Heaven knew the bloomers were shaped enough like
panties to make Ranma feel sick. But panties went UNDER
clothes, so she had to keep them outside. (Where they got
stares from every man and woman she passed.)
Kaneda explained, "I can't let you have my pants because
my uniform got shredded in the fight in the guys' lav!"
Ranma-chan said sourly, "Yeah, I saw the side you
retreated with. Don't you have ANY other underpants than
those polka dot ones?"
Kaneda told her, "Tell that to Kasumi! SHE'S the one who
plays dress-up with my girl-form."
Ranma-chan snorted, "Hmf! And you're not even man enough
to stand up to HER."
That got to Kaneda, "Hey! YOU try telling her what to
do!"
Ranma-chan said, "I WILL! Let anybody try to make ME wear
girls' stuff." The vow was hollow right now, though. Even
Ranma knew it; she explained to him, "I can't change
until I have some silk, OKAY!!?! That's the ONLY reason
I'm still a girl, you understand!"
Kaneda was puzzled, "I thought it was Chinese clothes you
had to have?"
Ranma-chan walked faster, "Which sounds better for a guy
to say?!"
Kaneda had to admit, "I wouldn't want to admit I felt
like I needed delicates." Again, that didn't help; Ranma
put more distance between them.
As Kaneda jogged to catch up, he noticed that up ahead
was a panda sweeping the alleyway called a street in
front of the Dr. Tofu's Clinic. "Hey, isn't that your
dad, Ranma?".
Ranma answered, "Geez! What do you think? Hey, Pop!
What're you doin' here?!" Perfect! Something else to help
her mood: That no-good doctor had not only put that
invisible corset back on her, he'd then pulled a sneak
attack afterwards that had hypnotized her!
The panda raise a paw to greet them, but froze when it
saw what Ranma was wearing.
Dr. Tofu was quick to get out the front door, "School
over already?" The man in round glasses and a black gi
said, "Let me introduce Mr. Saotome. He started working
here this afternoon." Their reaction wasn't what he'd
been getting since this afternoon. He asked, "Do
you...know each other?"
Ranma-chan glared back black-and-white beast, "Yeah, we
met before." As the panda found its snarl and growl,
Ranma-chan told it back, "Who are YOU to give orders: At
least *I* have clothes on!!"
Kaneda 'explained' to the Doctor, "You know of the
legends of great warriors? Like Momotaro: He had a dog, a
monkey and a pheasant. The panda is like Ranma's mascot."
Dr. Tofu chuckled, "Of course! Now the legends make
perfect sense. --That is why Momotaro's animal companions
were so intelligent!"
Ranma-chan said, "I wouldn't say THIS one was so smart."
Kaneda said to her, "Just be glad your Dad didn't do what
the Japanese general Yoshitsune did and fall into the
"Spring of Drowned Genghis Kahn"."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Tofu invited them into his office in the clinic.
While the panda was forced to hold a dish of anpan/sweet
bean buns for the guests, the Doctor pushed hot water out
of a carafe into a serving teapot. He chuckled again,
"You don't say? Ranma's father? Not much of a family
resemblance." He didn't laugh because by now he'd figured
most of the truth out. Though he wasn't sure, yet, what
happened when hot water came into contract with Ranma.
("Ranma" WAS normally a male name, but after meeting Mr.
GENMA Saotome, there was no guarantee that meant
anything.)
He turned with the teapot. Of course, the way Ranma was
dressed he wasn't about to spill any hot water on her.
And the redhead sitting in one of his chairs was
obviously in no mood to accept any apologies. It looked
like she had an appetite when she was upset. She was
eating two buns at once, two fisted-style.
He set the small china teapot down on the table.
Standing beside the Doctor, Kaneda offered, "Here, let me
pour you some tea, Sensei!" Dr. Tofu WAS Kaneda's coach;
the one man he respected above all others.
Tofu sensei-like accepted, "How thoughtful. Here's my
cup, Kaneda." He turned back around, "Ranma, whatever
happened to you and Kaneda's faces?"
Ranma-chan swallowed the large piece of bun that was
left, "It was in P.E. class. I don't wanna talk about
it." The laser glare was directed, though, at the panda.
Without moving the tape or gauze from her face, he looked
at the injury. "I see. I've seen worse," and he chuckled
again, "and more embarrassing."
Ranma-chan's face reddened. "This ain't what got
embarrassed." But the fuss they made over it, perversely,
saved her face. But it'd ONLY been because I was a
girl!
Dr. Tofu said, "Oh, I see. Well, I can give you something
I am sure will help. I'll let you apply it yourself, if
you like." And he went for it.
When the phone rang, he called back, "Mr. Saotome! Will
you get that for me? Thanks!"
When the panda picked up the receiver, it "said", BWA-
OW?! B'raffu, R'rrura!..."
Kaneda took the phone from the unintelligible animal,
"Here! Let me!
"Hello, this is the Dr. Tofu's Clinic. Can I ask who's
calling?"
Ranma-chan told the idiot animal, "What's the big idea of
picking up the phone when you can't even talk!?! If
you're gonna be a panda, you should act like a pan--"
Suddenly she felt like the idiot. Change "panda" to
"girl" and--
Kaneda said, "Yes, I see. Bye." He hung up the receiver.
He told Ranma-chan, "Come on, Ranma, we have to go."
Ranma-chan said, "Hunh?? But the doctor's getting me
something." Wait a minute! Why am I trustin' that guy
after what he did!?!
Kaneda told her, "I'm serious, Ranma. That was the storm
warning! Every time she passes by, it's a disaster around
here. The Doctor's patients know to stay away until the
worse is over."
Ranma-chan asked, "She?? What kind of girl has the power
to--You don't mean our acting principal, that little
brat?"
Kaneda said, "No! I don't mean anybody LIKE Miss Hinako!
Miss Hinako only has power over people's Chi energy. The
one I'm talking about has power over people's emotions!"
Ranma-chan asked, "You sure you're not exaggerating?"
Dr. Tofu came back from his medicine vault, "Here we go,
Ranma! Kaneda! Mr. Cha gets this herbal salve straight
from China. I get many of my harder to find items from
him. He's the herbalist for the Kuno estate."
Ranma-chan thought, Another good reason not to trust
this guy. So why do I?
But Kaneda accepted it, "Thank you, Dr. Tofu. But we
really should be going, now."
Dr. Tofu asked, "Ranma, would you like something in
silk?"
Ranma-chan's eye widened, "You KNOW about that!?!"
The Doctor smiled, a bit of relief showing on his face,
"I was guessing: You're not wearing the silk clothes I've
seen you in, and ARE wearing something most young women
don't wear after school hours. You're upset and have the
same curse as Kaneda." He invited her to sit down.
Ranma looked at him as if she'd been tricked—again--by
this character. "DO you have any silk?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma-chan was soon wearing black, silk, Chinese pajamas
with red trim, and underneath was a pair of matching
boxer shorts.
Dr. Tofu handed her some elastic bands to shorten the
very long legs and sleeves. "These were a present from
Mr. Cha. You can have them, I never wear them." Then he
chuckled again, "He has a matching pair he does wear."
Kaneda thought, "His and His" pajamas?? I can't believe
Dr. Tofu is like that.
But Ranma-chan knew, "I've seen people, both men and
women, wear something that looks like pajamas out in the
streets of China." She almost smiled as she moved on from
the ankles to the sleeves, "These are definitely men's."
Dr. Tofu smiled, "So, you ARE male. I have talked with
the priest of the temple that gave you the shiatsu
corset. I'll be glad to remove the visible effects."
Ranma-chan looked at the doctor as if may, perhaps, he
WAS somebody he could trust. Until: "Only the "visible"?"
Dr. Tofu said, "You are still bound to "Shinpiko" by the
Contest of the Corset." Shinpiko was the Doctor's code
name for Kaneda's secret identity, before it became Akane
Saotome.
Kaneda looked at the door, expecting somebody to come in
at any moment, "Are you sure you want to do it, NOW!??
Maybe later would be a better time!"
Ranma-chan directed her anger at Kaneda, "No, now! You
just want me to keep this stupid wasp waist! It makes me
even look MORE like a girl, like I really DID lose to
you." Then, "Go ahead, Doc!"
As Ranma-chan lifted her pajama shirt and let him work on
the nerves of his middle back, Dr. Tofu informed her,
"When a person with your curse changes from a male to a
female, there is always a small chance that the
transformation will not be entirely complete. Now a few
spermatozoon normally will not cause fertilization, but
it has been known to happen."
Ranma-chan nodded, "I wasn't told the details, only that
since magic made me like this, magic can keep me from
goin' all the way over! The Chinese guide said I could
become stuck!!"
Dr. Tofu patted her back, telling her he was done, "Only
for the duration of the pregnancy. But if you are told
silk will keep you from inseminating yourself, it
probably will."
Ranma straightened up, " "Probably"!?!"
Dr. Tofu said, "Magic is like advanced Chi techniques. It
works ONLY if it's built on a concept the user
understands. It further helps if the one who it's
directed to understands it. THAT is why a martial artist
yells out what technique he is using. He wants to make
the subconscious link. It all has to do with association.
"Do YOU understand why silk would prevent you from
getting pregnant?"
Ranma-chan firmly nodded, she had to two weeks to burn it
into her mind, and "A silk worm spins its thread to make
a cocoon. It makes a cocoon to change INTO an adult. It's
not sexually mature enough to have kids when it makes its
silk!"
Kaneda didn't point out the flaw in the logic. It
would've weakened the magic. Ranma's WISHING it would
work was most of the reason the magic would work. It was
Ranma's greatest "If only" power.
Ranma-chan, feeling relieved that she had more than
wishful thinking to keep her from getting stuck as a
knocked-up girl, sat down. The Doctor suggested,
"Alright, Ranma, let's have a look at your cheek, now."
Suddenly, no longer worried about Ranma-chan, Kaneda had
to ask, "Doctor! *I* don't wear anything silk!!"
But from outside the office, Kasumi called, "Hello?"
As soon as she opened the door, Dr. Tofu's glasses fogged
up.
Kasumi said, "Hello, there! Good afternoon, Doctor Tofu."
Tofu's only firm grip on reality was Ranma-chan's head.
He twisted it. Vertebrae snapping out of place were
clearly heard. Ranma-chan gave a warrior's muffled
scream. Kaneda winced!
Dr. Tofu smiled like an idiot in the direction of, "Hi,
Kasumi! You're here for the prescription, aren't you!
You'll be sure not to tell the authorities how I deal in
contraband, will you? *Ha, ha!*"
Kasumi cried, "Doctor! You weren't supposed to let Kaneda
know!"
Dr. Tofu headed for the door, "That's right! I won't let
your brother know you sneak birth control pills in his
food!"
The End of this chapter
[Note: The birth control pill was finally legalized in
Japan in 1999. It was only allowed because of the arrival
of Viagra. Abortion was one of the highest in the world.
[Yes, the legends about Momotaro and Yoshitsune are real.
The Juusenkyo explanation is mine.
[And, yes, "buruma" is Japanese for "bloomers".]
By Ron Dow75
17: Knocked up? Getting into Her Bloomers
Nude among less than half-dressed girls, Ranma-chan
kneeled unladylike before the remains of her silk,
Chinese clothes. "These, these are the only clothes like
this I have!"
One sympathetic soul in the locker room asked, "How can
that be??" She also wondered how the redhead's waist
could be so unnaturally small.
Another girl without a bra nudged her, and whispered,
"Haven't you HEARD? This is Ranma Saotome! You know:
Pigtail, red hair?"
More than one girl gasped, "The one brainwashed..."/
"...abused..."/ "...tortured by her father!?"/ "--The
woman-hater!?!"/ ("Is that why she looks like she's
wearing an invisible corset?")
One with a bra said, "The one Nabiki told us about?"/
"The one she's arranging a birthday party for--?"/
"Quiet! It's supposed to be a surprise."
Distraught, Ranma-chan picked up the clothes in her
hands; she didn't care they were clammy and damp, "I can
only have what I can carry. We don't have much money."
She pressed the cold, wet material to her exposed bosom,
"I had to fight Pop to keep THESE!!"
The sympathetic soul with the large bare boobs said, "Aw,
you poor girl!"
More than one obviously female said, "Her father is
cruel..."/ "...and unusual!"/ "He needs to be
punished!"/ "The woman-hater!"/ ("Why would a man
like that want her to wear an invisible corset??")
But more common sense asked, "But Ranma's dad is a
martial artist. What can WE do Ranma can't do?"
The locker room door opened, and the girls of sixth
period P.E. saw the sempais of fifth. "What's going on?"/
"Why are you girls still here?"/ "What girl's having a
crisis this time?"/ "Anything interesting this time?"
One girl with a red bow in her dark brown hair had made
her way through the crowd outside far enough to see,
"Ranma!??!" Behind Sayuri, still lost behind the others,
Yuka asked, "Ranma?!? SHE'S the one with the crisis?!"
The girls in the locker room saw that it was time to get
dressed. A girl putting on her school blouse told them,
"I'll say. She says she'd rather die than go without her
special clothes."
Girls from Ranma's class asked, " "Special clothes"??"/
"Is that her attitude?"/ "Is that why can't she wear a
uniform like the rest of us?" / "Because it wouldn't
make her "special"?"/ "(If I had a waist like that I
wouldn't hide it in baggy clothes.")/ "If that's her
attitude, I don't know if I WANT to go to her birthday
party."/ "Maybe she's like Yuumei, and thinks she's too
good to exercise with us."
"Ranma's not like that!" Sayuri told them, pushing her
way in. "Didn't you hear Yuka tell you how Ranma's
efemininating Dad did to her?!"
(Yuka pleaded, "Let me through, please! I'm with them!")
A girl stepping into her blue jumper wondered, "
"Efemininating"?? Is that a word?"
Sayuri like all of the others had gym bags, "If there can
be a word like "emasculating", why shouldn't there be a
female equivalent?"
A girl zipping up her dress's back with practiced hands
answered, "Because people are more concerned with guys
not acting like guys than vice versa?"
A girl who pulled up a white sock answered, "Because a
girl who acted like a guy had better be tougher than a
guy?"
A girl who laced up a shoe added, "If she isn't, they'll
do to her what they do guys who aren't GUY enough!"
A girl who shouldered a sports bag said, "They'll keep at
her until SHE starts acting like a girl."
Yuka had finally been allowed to see Ranma-chan, "Is that
why she acts like she does! Like, uh...."
Sayuri put her bag down and kneeled beside Ranma-chan,
"Like "a caricature of a guy martial artist"? Of course
it is!" She put an arm around her bare shoulders, "Ranma-
chan acts the way she does because NOBODY has given her a
chance to be anything else."
Ranma-chan shook the offending arm off, her mind
elsewhere, "I won these clothes in a battle with a
Chinese martial artist who laughed at me for being a girl
in my kempo-gi!"
Yuka wanted to kneel down on the other side of Ranma-
chan. But her upperclasswomen from the previous class
were all ready and wanted out the door. Yuka had to stand
in front of Ranma. Looking at the girl down in the raw,
she asked, "Is that why those things are so important to
you, Ranchan?"
Sayuri, too, found she had to make way for them. "It's
like they said; these Chinese clothes were special
because they were her trophy. They were a symbol that she
WAS guy enough."
The one who'd mentioned Nabiki looked down at the
redhead's above average chichis, "A girl with THOSE
statistics would need a lot to assure herself she's
really a guy."
Ranma-chan looked forlornly at the wet shreds in her pink
girlish lap with hips, "I need Chinese clothes to keep
from havin' a kid."
This was a slap in the face of the martial arts persona
of Ranma Sayuri had been building, "You, you think
Chinese clothes will keep you from becoming pregnant??"
That brought comment from both sets of girls, "Now that's
just plain stupid."/ "Wait a minute! I've heard about
the ancient wisdom of the Chinese. Ranma went there to
learn it!"/ "And "Chinese clothes will keep a girl from
getting knocked up"? Unh, hunh."/ "Okay, that is plain
stupid. I'm out of here."/ "We, two by two."
The girls in the hall made room to let those of 2-E get
by, and still follow what was happening: "Wow! How
ignorant of girls did her daddy keep her?"/ "I know
Japanese parents don't like to talk about sex. But look
around at what is sold!"/ "They even give out copies of
the "Karma Sutra" to girls."/ "That's how TO have sex.
NOT how keep from getting its aftereffect!"/ "As we
speak, decades after its invention, Japan still hasn't
even legalized the birth control pill, yet!"/ "Right.
The excuse is it'll make girls WANT to have more sex."/
"Meanwhile the guys are given the message it's manly to
"conquer" girls."/ "Right: "Don't take "no" for an
answer"."/ "Humph! I'll bet WE'LL only get OUR pill
when there's a pill the GUYS want legal!" By now those
outside were moving into the locker room and were
starting to take their clothes off.
Sayuri tried to lift the focused redhead up off the
floor, "Come on; move over to the bench on the wall
beside the door."
Yuka joined her, "You need to put SOMETHING on, Ranchan.
Or you just MIGHT get with child."
Sayuri asked, "Yuka, how much do YOU know about
reproduction?"
Yuka said, "That's what Daddums tells me! Keep your
clothes on and--"
One girl stepping out of her dress suggested, "If Ranma's
not feeling right, she should see the nurse."
Another getting out of her blouse and slip at once said,
"What can the nurse do? Give her a hot compress?"
Ranma came to her feet, so fast she boobs took on a life
of their own, "Nothing hot!!" she panicked. "I CAN'T
become a guy now!! I have to stay a girl!"
One girl reaching around to unhook her bra said, "I wish
I could become a guy right now. Even with a sports bra,
these can be a pain at P.E.!"
A smaller B cup opened her front fastening bra, "Ranma,
going to the nurse is your excuse out of P.E.!"
A C pulling her sports bra past her neck said, "And how
is she going to get to the nurse's undressed like that?"
One who stepping out of her panties laughed, "Maybe the
nurse can examine her here: Ranma's stripped for a total
physical examination!"
Sayuri had almost gently pulled Ranma-chan over to the
bench, she told the others, "Ranma's a martial ARTIST!?
She LIKES things like physical exertion!"
The words clicked with Ranma-chan, "That's right! I'll
stay a girl, but DO physical stuff! That's what I do,
that's what's familiar, that'll take my mind off of this!
I'll lose myself in, in...."
...In a body that would NOT let her forget that she was a
girl. Ranma looked past the annoying boobs were the real
enemies, the hips. Those pushed out things affected her
fighting stance by making her knees come in. She would
call it knock-kneed if her center of her weight wasn't in
her belly. THAT, above jiggly fat deposits, both top and
bottom, the soft skin and thin muscles, thick but short
legs, and the annoying entrance between them, THAT above
everything else that screamed in a soprano voice this
wasn't a guy's body is what most nagged at her nerves.
Ranma-chan was bottom-heavy!! That should be okay for
somebody trained in the Saotome School of Lower Body
Martial Arts! She actually had MORE thigh muscle as a
girl. --But it WASN'T okay!!
She had no upper body strength to speak of. None that
compared to what she had as a guy! She had started to
become obsessed with upper body strength. It was what
best defined her guy's body besides the obvious. That
meant guys should punch more kick less. When she had
realized that she come to dwell on the meaning of her
school's name. It was no accident it, and she was named
Saotome ...meaning "Rice paddy Girl".
(OF course Ranma's resentful analogy wouldn't let her see
that rice paddy girls did a lot of upper-body work.)
...as if for the first time Ranma noticed, "These nipples
are big."
Yuka said, "They are hard. You need to warm them, cover
them. --You can have my gym clothes!"
Sayuri said, as a friend, "Yuka, your clothes won't fit
over Ranma's figure. MY clothes won't fit over it."
Yuka looked at Sayuri, "Yes, yours would. Of course
they'd be a little tight in the bust and a little loose
in the waist."
Sayuri said to her, "Be glad I'm not the type to use this
gym bag to hit you with." But she put her bag on the wall
seat, "But the sweatshirt is loose. Other than being a
little long, it should be okay."
When the girl took it out, Ranma saw that it wasn't too
bad. The yellow thing with the rolled up short sleeves
didn't look too girly. It was a sweatshirt.
Na Chino, the girl with the lousy joke, asked, "What are
your measurements?" She had brought a pair of buruma from
her gym bag. She was wearing another pair under her dress
instead of panties, as well as another sports bra.
Ranma-chan said, "Measurements?" She was about to tell
them, but looked down again at her dharma drum figure.
She covered her boobs with an arm, "I don't know!"
There was commentary on that, "She doesn't know??"/ "If
*I* had a waist like that, I'd want EVERYBODY to know its
size."/ "Men! That father of hers really HAS kept her
in the dark."/ "Oh, come on; it means she was never
interested to know in the first place."/ "Only
because she knew her the woman-figures wouldn't please
her woman-hater father."...
Ranma-chan was pulling the sweatshirt over her pigtail
when: Firm, cool hands touched Ranma's hips. Ranma
startled, and made to spin around into defending position
as arm. But there was no maneuvering room. She stopped
herself from bumping into soft, smooth bodies.
Na brought her firm, cool hands over to her own hips. "I
was right, my buruma will fit you." The shorthaired girl
was nearly Ranma's guy-height, but that only made the
girl-widths she shared with Ranma-chan look less
exaggerated.
Ranma cried, "Bloomers! No! I can't wear anything like
that!!"
Na told her, "The only thing we have left to offer you
are our school uniforms. Since this is the last class of
the day, maybe one of the shorter girls--"
There was a knock on the locker room door, and little
Miss Hinako announced, "I'm coming in, everybody!" as she
did. "You mischievous girls are TARDY! Mr. Shuaatsuneiga,
your P.E. teacher, asked me to see what the delay was."
She stood in the doorway, forgetting that anybody passing
in the hall....
Sayuri put herself in front of the bottomless Ranma,
"There was an accident, and Ranma's clothes became
ruined."
Miss Hinako peeked around at the half-covered girl. "Miss
Ranma should go to the office and get a spare uniform."
Ranma took Na's buruma and lifted her first leg into the
shorts, "That's okay! These ARE pants. I AM going to be
in P.E. Just like I'm scheduled. ...It IS the last class
of the day." And after that, she'd take care of Kaneda's
for the dirty trick he'd played on her that got her into
this locker room, and which got her INTO girls' gym
clothes! I wonder what kinda boxers he wears.
As Ranma-chan pulled up the tight shorts and adjusted the
elastic of the leg openings around her bubble butt, Miss
Hinako made to leave, "This is a mixed P.E. class. I want
all you young ladies to wear protective cups. I don't
want the boys getting naughty ideas."
Changing herself, Sayuri commented, "There's something
disturbing about somebody who looks my kid sister's age
saying something like that." Other girls agreed as they
started to leave the locker room for the playing fields.
Ranma-chan looked at her crotch, "Girls hafta wear cups,
too?"
Na handed Ranma a sports bra, "The kid doesn't know what
she's talking about. These don't have cups."
It looked enough like a bra for Ranma-chan to screw up
her face. "No, thanks. I've been doin' alright without
wearin' anything but a shirt."
Yuka had on only her buruma, "Doesn't that bother your
big nipples?"
Sayuri said, "...Among more weighty items."
Na offered Ranma-chan her sports bra again, "See? It's
not lacy, or silky or anything like that. It's really
more like a tight halter top."
Ranma-chan still didn't want to touch it. But as she
studied it and the words Na used to describe it, "...like
an undershirt?" She suddenly heard something in the
replay she liked, "Silk!?! Do you have one in silk?!"
Na gave up, "A silk sports bra? You have to be kidding."
She reached for her own sweatshirt.
Sayuri was down to her rather plain bra, "I bet somebody
does make something like that, though. Somebody always
does."
The gossip started among the girls, "Silk! Ranma's
Chinese clothes were silk!"/ "Ooo, and here I thought
Ranma wanted to be thought of as a tomboy..."/ "...a
tough..."/ "...a real guy's girl!"/ There was
giggling: "Ranma has a SILK fetish!"/ "How girly!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
On their way to the playing fields, former gang girl Na
told Ranma, "Silk!? It goes against the whole idea of
sports bras."
Yuka told Ranma, "There are silk bra and panty sets! I
have some."
Sayuri said, "They're made in China. So they're
"Chinese". You probably can get some that have Chinese
prints on them." She was wearing her regular school
blouse.
Yuka smiled, "Oh, yes! Lingerie comes in all SORTS of
styles!"
Ranma-chan, still tugging at the red bloomers, said, "No!
It'd be another sacrifice of my male dignity." And being
in girls' bloomers surrounded by girls in bloomers was
more than enough already. "There's always a chance I
WON'T get pregnant: All I have to do is stay a girl."
Na said, "Staying a girl is how you GET preggers. And if
you're serious about not looking like you're interested
in the idea, you shouldn't have a bikini wax."
Sayuri reminded her, "Na, Ranma's a martial artist. Who
would challenge her?"
Na told her back, "Another martial artist? Anybody who
can take her unawares? Didn't I hear she's living with
her fiance?"
Ranma-chan made a "throat-ripper" claw of her hand, "He
knows better to try any of THAT stuff!" Then she had a
thought, "Wait! How'd I know!?"
Sayuri said, "You'd know."
Na told Ranma-chan, "Give me the word, and I'll
assassinate the ninja sneak attacker for you! I'll mangle
him and tie him up into bows!"
Yuka said, "After all, you wouldn't want to do it in your
condition, Ranchan."
Sayuri said, "Yuka, where'd you get that idea that women
can't do things like that even late into the third
trimester?!"
Ranma-chan cry was a vow, "I ain't, and I won't!!" She
jogged away from them, "I GOT to DO something and take my
mind off of all of this!" Her unrestrained boobs were
jumping about more than most girls'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Out on second base, Ranma-chan kept her mind on the ball.
They were tossing around the softball as a warm-up; and
in between her turns, she was stretching and taking
practice swings with an imaginary softball bat. She had
gotten her boobs back under control. Her melons just
suddenly appeared on her, unlike ones that gave a girl
time to learn how to wear them.
Ever since Juusenkyo she had had to devote a part of her
body-awareness skills to dealing with those boobs. It
took away that much more attention she could give other
things. That lessened her ability. Or so her resentment
thought. It was all a very strange situation where the
more her subconscious devoted itself to learning to cope
with the strange, new body, the more her conscious was
reminded how alien the body was, and the more numb she
got to it. She used one of her well-trained skills,
ignoring injuries, to counter another.
But she was a martial artist. That meant integrating body
and mind, letting her conscious master her subconscious,
not the other way around. The more she allowed the
situation to continue, the worse her skills WOULD
deteriorate.
But that meant remaining a girl! That meant practicing in
the very OTHER body. Practicing methodically and
intensely until she knew its all its differences, and how
to put even its obvious weaknesses to use. Practicing
until it became as familiar and comfortable as her real
body. It meant that THIS body WOULD become her other
half. It meant accepting herself as a girl.
Experimenting with that idea again, she lowered her
mental barriers down. Again she became aware that
...boobs were what defined a girl's upper body, not
MUSCLES!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Meanwhile while Ranma-chan was outside in short shorts,
Kaneda was in his guys' blue sweat pants and shirt. The
long, red haired guy did his last turn around the steel
high bar and let go. He did a double tuck and an easy
landing on the sand. It was best his class of guys had
seen that day, and they applauded.
But Kaneda's eyes returned to, guiltily, on Ranma-chan.
He had run out on her, leaving Ranma alone in the girls'
locker room. But he HADN'T been able to take it! It was a
real problem with him. Every time he was a girl and was
around pretty girls, she just, just had to--escape! No,
don't think about that! You're a guy now, you don't have
to think about it, now! Stay focused on being a guy!
Kane-chan had fled in a screaming panic, but what about
Ranma? She didn't look happy. At least she was where she
belonged. With luck and some time, Ranma would become
more comfortable being around girls. And people in
general. Kaneda was (almost) certain of it. Sure Ranma
seemed easy-going, but she didn't volunteer to be around
others. She didn't know how to be anything but an
outsider, so she had to be where the inside could come to
HER.
And if there's ONE thing I know about girls, they clump
together more than guys.
At least that's the excuse he gave himself when he
plopped down on the ground beside Hiroshi and Daisuke.
Hiroshi's eyes, too, were on the cute, redhead in the
revealing buruma, "She must not take the guy-act too
seriously. She shaves her legs."
Kaneda knew the truth. He, too, guy and girl, had smooth,
practically hairless bodies. He had thought it was just
part of his genetics. It made him feel self-conscious
around the hairier guys. But even the hairy Japanese were
Asian, and it didn't stand out too much. And his martial
arts reputation MADE them accept that a bald groin was
something he did to improve his technique.
Daisuke agreed, "Ranma's got great legs."
Kaneda thought, Better hers than mine. Much better
legs. Of course, he was proud of HIS own legs.
Hiroshi, still staring, asked, "So, Kaneda, how far have
you gotten with Ranma?"
Kaneda, "Hunh?" Ranma had bent over to field a grounder.
The buruma rode up her buttocks.
Daisuke, still staring, "Don't play innocent. You're her
fiancée."
Hiroshi wanted to know, "So did you do it?"
Daisuke put his hand on Kaneda's shoulder, "Yeah, you
know...."
While Daisuke held Kaneda down at the shoulder and waist,
Hiroshi got Kaneda in a necklock, "I bet you, di, di --
You know!"
Kaneda told them, "Ranma's not ready yet!" Damn! If they
weren't friends, he could easily get out of this.
Daisuke knew that; he squeezed, "But YOU are! You say
you're always ready! Aren't you a man!?!"
Hiroshi told him, "Every girl knows the GUY has to make
the moves!"
Daisuke told him, "She could be suffering because you're
a coward!"
Kaneda stopped struggling for a moment, "She could?!"
Ranma-chan DID keep pulling at her buruma.
He shook the thought out of his head. "No! Ranma's going
to be my partner! It's going to be her dojo as much as
mine! We're going to build it up together! That means
trust."
Their grip slackened. Hiroshi asked, "What kind of talk
is THAT?! It's your DAD'S property!"
Daisuke said, "You really AREN'T going to be the man of
the family, are you?"
Kaneda said, "You take that back!!" And broke free of
their embraces. "I WILL be the man!" And he brought out
one of his wooden mallets.
Daisuke did back off, "Is that how you prove you're a
man!?"
Hiroshi was even further back, "It works for me."
Suddenly a softball hit the mallet, and was sent with
same force it'd come with back at home plate.
Still fighting with herself over whether to allow herself
to experience this other body, Ranma-chan, had been so
distracted her defenses were down. Where it was headed
didn't seem as threatening as it would if she were a guy.
There would be nothing in the way to get hit. And she had
a little extra padding. It would be a hard-knocks lesson.
She got the lesson: It hurt a little worse to be hit in
the crotch as a girl! Her knees came together as she
doubled over more out of surprise.
Bending forward, she jabbed a boob that was already sore
from before P.E. with the end of the softball bat: That
hurt worse!!
Overreacting in the now very rejected body, Ranma toppled
over backwards. She kicked the bat with one foot and the
ball with the other.
Ranma got up her injury-ignoring skills just in time:
After spinning high in the air, the bat came down hard on
her left cheek.
The guys had seen the whole thing.
Hiroshi said, "Tomobiki the 13th: This IS an unlucky day
for Ranma, isn't it!"
Kaneda leaped to his feet, "RANMA!!" While he was
running, he saw that he still had the offending mallet in
his hand. He tossed it. "Ranma, are you okay?!!"
But Ranma's teammates were already crowding around her,
"Oh, the poor GIRL!"/ "What a perfectly dreadful thing
to happen!"/ "Is she, is going to be *swallow*
alright?"/ "She should see a doctor at once!"
Sayuri asked, "How ARE you, Ranma?"
Ranma-chan knew enough to only touch her burning check,
"I'm okay! I get hurt worse 'n this all the time." But
the red of her angry and embarrassed face matched injury.
Yuka gulped, "You do!??!"
Na said, "That evil father of hers!"
"He shouldn't hit girls!"/ "His OWN daughter!"/ "In
her FACE!!?!"/ "What if he, like, damaged her for
life?!" There were exclamations at that thought.
Confused, Ranma-chan took her hand away from her cheek,
"What?? Is my face the only thing you care got--"
Kaneda found a way between the surrounding girls, "Ranma!
I came as soon as I could!" He scooped the pigtailed girl
up in his big, strong arms. "I'll take you to the
nurse's--"
Before he had a chance to get a firm grip on her, Ranma-
chan walloped HIM across the cheek, "Let GO of me,
coward!!"
Ranma-chan left his arms and fell butt-first to the
ground.
Na backed up the nearest girls to allow Kaneda to fly
cleanly over their heads.
THIS time Ranma-chan did rub her injury, "I hate bein' a
girl!"
Yuka said, "At least you didn't land on your face, you
poor dear."
Sayuri assured her, "That's right! You look just fine!"
Na told her, "That bruise you're getting on your cheek
will go away in no time!"
"You ARE still, kind of, pretty with that cheek."/
"...Just not as cute."
It took a second for Ranma-chan to realize which cheek
they were talking about. She took her hand off of her
padded buttock. "What's WITH all this concern about my
face!?!"
There were loud gasps. "You, you don't know!?!"/ " "A
girl's face is her life"!"/ "How can you NOT know!"/
"That evil father of hers DID take her on a mind trip!"/
"For a girl to have lived THIS long and have not been
told how pretty she is!?!"/ "It's heartbreaking!"
Daisuke kneeled beside her, "I'LL tell you how pretty you
are, Ranma!"
Hiroshi was standing beside him, "You are the still the
CUTEST girl--"
He fell back onto his own butt when Ranma-chan snapped to
her feet. She yelled at the jerks on the ground, "I
don't WANNA be pretty!! And cute's worse!!!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma-chan and Kaneda had matching gauzes and tapes on
their cheeks. They were walking home on the ground from
school, bookbags in hand. Both of them were also keeping
a wary eye on the other: Ranma because she was still
wearing the yellow sweatshirt and red buruma, and Kaneda
because he was waiting for Ranma-chan to mug him for his
clothes. Kaneda was being very careful. If Kaneda allowed
himself to look at her smooth, shapely legs the way his
libido wanted, Ranma WOULD strip him and turn into a guy.
THEN Ranma-kun would give Kane-chan a taste of the same
medicine! *Shudder*
Finally Kaneda tried to ease the tension, "Do you want to
borrow my shirt? I still have an undershirt on. I can
even give you that, since it doesn't matter most times if
guys don't have anything covering his chest." Even as he
was saying it, he knew he was digging his hole deeper and
deeper.
Ranma-chan glared, but kept her eyes off of the offender.
"Without pants, it'd still feel like a dress. Right now,
I'm in no mood to feel like I'm wearin' even a sort-of-a-
dress." Heaven knew the bloomers were shaped enough like
panties to make Ranma feel sick. But panties went UNDER
clothes, so she had to keep them outside. (Where they got
stares from every man and woman she passed.)
Kaneda explained, "I can't let you have my pants because
my uniform got shredded in the fight in the guys' lav!"
Ranma-chan said sourly, "Yeah, I saw the side you
retreated with. Don't you have ANY other underpants than
those polka dot ones?"
Kaneda told her, "Tell that to Kasumi! SHE'S the one who
plays dress-up with my girl-form."
Ranma-chan snorted, "Hmf! And you're not even man enough
to stand up to HER."
That got to Kaneda, "Hey! YOU try telling her what to
do!"
Ranma-chan said, "I WILL! Let anybody try to make ME wear
girls' stuff." The vow was hollow right now, though. Even
Ranma knew it; she explained to him, "I can't change
until I have some silk, OKAY!!?! That's the ONLY reason
I'm still a girl, you understand!"
Kaneda was puzzled, "I thought it was Chinese clothes you
had to have?"
Ranma-chan walked faster, "Which sounds better for a guy
to say?!"
Kaneda had to admit, "I wouldn't want to admit I felt
like I needed delicates." Again, that didn't help; Ranma
put more distance between them.
As Kaneda jogged to catch up, he noticed that up ahead
was a panda sweeping the alleyway called a street in
front of the Dr. Tofu's Clinic. "Hey, isn't that your
dad, Ranma?".
Ranma answered, "Geez! What do you think? Hey, Pop!
What're you doin' here?!" Perfect! Something else to help
her mood: That no-good doctor had not only put that
invisible corset back on her, he'd then pulled a sneak
attack afterwards that had hypnotized her!
The panda raise a paw to greet them, but froze when it
saw what Ranma was wearing.
Dr. Tofu was quick to get out the front door, "School
over already?" The man in round glasses and a black gi
said, "Let me introduce Mr. Saotome. He started working
here this afternoon." Their reaction wasn't what he'd
been getting since this afternoon. He asked, "Do
you...know each other?"
Ranma-chan glared back black-and-white beast, "Yeah, we
met before." As the panda found its snarl and growl,
Ranma-chan told it back, "Who are YOU to give orders: At
least *I* have clothes on!!"
Kaneda 'explained' to the Doctor, "You know of the
legends of great warriors? Like Momotaro: He had a dog, a
monkey and a pheasant. The panda is like Ranma's mascot."
Dr. Tofu chuckled, "Of course! Now the legends make
perfect sense. --That is why Momotaro's animal companions
were so intelligent!"
Ranma-chan said, "I wouldn't say THIS one was so smart."
Kaneda said to her, "Just be glad your Dad didn't do what
the Japanese general Yoshitsune did and fall into the
"Spring of Drowned Genghis Kahn"."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Tofu invited them into his office in the clinic.
While the panda was forced to hold a dish of anpan/sweet
bean buns for the guests, the Doctor pushed hot water out
of a carafe into a serving teapot. He chuckled again,
"You don't say? Ranma's father? Not much of a family
resemblance." He didn't laugh because by now he'd figured
most of the truth out. Though he wasn't sure, yet, what
happened when hot water came into contract with Ranma.
("Ranma" WAS normally a male name, but after meeting Mr.
GENMA Saotome, there was no guarantee that meant
anything.)
He turned with the teapot. Of course, the way Ranma was
dressed he wasn't about to spill any hot water on her.
And the redhead sitting in one of his chairs was
obviously in no mood to accept any apologies. It looked
like she had an appetite when she was upset. She was
eating two buns at once, two fisted-style.
He set the small china teapot down on the table.
Standing beside the Doctor, Kaneda offered, "Here, let me
pour you some tea, Sensei!" Dr. Tofu WAS Kaneda's coach;
the one man he respected above all others.
Tofu sensei-like accepted, "How thoughtful. Here's my
cup, Kaneda." He turned back around, "Ranma, whatever
happened to you and Kaneda's faces?"
Ranma-chan swallowed the large piece of bun that was
left, "It was in P.E. class. I don't wanna talk about
it." The laser glare was directed, though, at the panda.
Without moving the tape or gauze from her face, he looked
at the injury. "I see. I've seen worse," and he chuckled
again, "and more embarrassing."
Ranma-chan's face reddened. "This ain't what got
embarrassed." But the fuss they made over it, perversely,
saved her face. But it'd ONLY been because I was a
girl!
Dr. Tofu said, "Oh, I see. Well, I can give you something
I am sure will help. I'll let you apply it yourself, if
you like." And he went for it.
When the phone rang, he called back, "Mr. Saotome! Will
you get that for me? Thanks!"
When the panda picked up the receiver, it "said", BWA-
OW?! B'raffu, R'rrura!..."
Kaneda took the phone from the unintelligible animal,
"Here! Let me!
"Hello, this is the Dr. Tofu's Clinic. Can I ask who's
calling?"
Ranma-chan told the idiot animal, "What's the big idea of
picking up the phone when you can't even talk!?! If
you're gonna be a panda, you should act like a pan--"
Suddenly she felt like the idiot. Change "panda" to
"girl" and--
Kaneda said, "Yes, I see. Bye." He hung up the receiver.
He told Ranma-chan, "Come on, Ranma, we have to go."
Ranma-chan said, "Hunh?? But the doctor's getting me
something." Wait a minute! Why am I trustin' that guy
after what he did!?!
Kaneda told her, "I'm serious, Ranma. That was the storm
warning! Every time she passes by, it's a disaster around
here. The Doctor's patients know to stay away until the
worse is over."
Ranma-chan asked, "She?? What kind of girl has the power
to--You don't mean our acting principal, that little
brat?"
Kaneda said, "No! I don't mean anybody LIKE Miss Hinako!
Miss Hinako only has power over people's Chi energy. The
one I'm talking about has power over people's emotions!"
Ranma-chan asked, "You sure you're not exaggerating?"
Dr. Tofu came back from his medicine vault, "Here we go,
Ranma! Kaneda! Mr. Cha gets this herbal salve straight
from China. I get many of my harder to find items from
him. He's the herbalist for the Kuno estate."
Ranma-chan thought, Another good reason not to trust
this guy. So why do I?
But Kaneda accepted it, "Thank you, Dr. Tofu. But we
really should be going, now."
Dr. Tofu asked, "Ranma, would you like something in
silk?"
Ranma-chan's eye widened, "You KNOW about that!?!"
The Doctor smiled, a bit of relief showing on his face,
"I was guessing: You're not wearing the silk clothes I've
seen you in, and ARE wearing something most young women
don't wear after school hours. You're upset and have the
same curse as Kaneda." He invited her to sit down.
Ranma looked at him as if she'd been tricked—again--by
this character. "DO you have any silk?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma-chan was soon wearing black, silk, Chinese pajamas
with red trim, and underneath was a pair of matching
boxer shorts.
Dr. Tofu handed her some elastic bands to shorten the
very long legs and sleeves. "These were a present from
Mr. Cha. You can have them, I never wear them." Then he
chuckled again, "He has a matching pair he does wear."
Kaneda thought, "His and His" pajamas?? I can't believe
Dr. Tofu is like that.
But Ranma-chan knew, "I've seen people, both men and
women, wear something that looks like pajamas out in the
streets of China." She almost smiled as she moved on from
the ankles to the sleeves, "These are definitely men's."
Dr. Tofu smiled, "So, you ARE male. I have talked with
the priest of the temple that gave you the shiatsu
corset. I'll be glad to remove the visible effects."
Ranma-chan looked at the doctor as if may, perhaps, he
WAS somebody he could trust. Until: "Only the "visible"?"
Dr. Tofu said, "You are still bound to "Shinpiko" by the
Contest of the Corset." Shinpiko was the Doctor's code
name for Kaneda's secret identity, before it became Akane
Saotome.
Kaneda looked at the door, expecting somebody to come in
at any moment, "Are you sure you want to do it, NOW!??
Maybe later would be a better time!"
Ranma-chan directed her anger at Kaneda, "No, now! You
just want me to keep this stupid wasp waist! It makes me
even look MORE like a girl, like I really DID lose to
you." Then, "Go ahead, Doc!"
As Ranma-chan lifted her pajama shirt and let him work on
the nerves of his middle back, Dr. Tofu informed her,
"When a person with your curse changes from a male to a
female, there is always a small chance that the
transformation will not be entirely complete. Now a few
spermatozoon normally will not cause fertilization, but
it has been known to happen."
Ranma-chan nodded, "I wasn't told the details, only that
since magic made me like this, magic can keep me from
goin' all the way over! The Chinese guide said I could
become stuck!!"
Dr. Tofu patted her back, telling her he was done, "Only
for the duration of the pregnancy. But if you are told
silk will keep you from inseminating yourself, it
probably will."
Ranma straightened up, " "Probably"!?!"
Dr. Tofu said, "Magic is like advanced Chi techniques. It
works ONLY if it's built on a concept the user
understands. It further helps if the one who it's
directed to understands it. THAT is why a martial artist
yells out what technique he is using. He wants to make
the subconscious link. It all has to do with association.
"Do YOU understand why silk would prevent you from
getting pregnant?"
Ranma-chan firmly nodded, she had to two weeks to burn it
into her mind, and "A silk worm spins its thread to make
a cocoon. It makes a cocoon to change INTO an adult. It's
not sexually mature enough to have kids when it makes its
silk!"
Kaneda didn't point out the flaw in the logic. It
would've weakened the magic. Ranma's WISHING it would
work was most of the reason the magic would work. It was
Ranma's greatest "If only" power.
Ranma-chan, feeling relieved that she had more than
wishful thinking to keep her from getting stuck as a
knocked-up girl, sat down. The Doctor suggested,
"Alright, Ranma, let's have a look at your cheek, now."
Suddenly, no longer worried about Ranma-chan, Kaneda had
to ask, "Doctor! *I* don't wear anything silk!!"
But from outside the office, Kasumi called, "Hello?"
As soon as she opened the door, Dr. Tofu's glasses fogged
up.
Kasumi said, "Hello, there! Good afternoon, Doctor Tofu."
Tofu's only firm grip on reality was Ranma-chan's head.
He twisted it. Vertebrae snapping out of place were
clearly heard. Ranma-chan gave a warrior's muffled
scream. Kaneda winced!
Dr. Tofu smiled like an idiot in the direction of, "Hi,
Kasumi! You're here for the prescription, aren't you!
You'll be sure not to tell the authorities how I deal in
contraband, will you? *Ha, ha!*"
Kasumi cried, "Doctor! You weren't supposed to let Kaneda
know!"
Dr. Tofu headed for the door, "That's right! I won't let
your brother know you sneak birth control pills in his
food!"
The End of this chapter
[Note: The birth control pill was finally legalized in
Japan in 1999. It was only allowed because of the arrival
of Viagra. Abortion was one of the highest in the world.
[Yes, the legends about Momotaro and Yoshitsune are real.
The Juusenkyo explanation is mine.
[And, yes, "buruma" is Japanese for "bloomers".]