Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Ranma stories or characters.
Chapter 8.
"Mom, tell me you're kidding…" Ranma says as he enters into the kitchen the next morning, holding a cloth item in his hand.
Placing down the spoon she was using and lowering the heat on the stove, Nodoka turns around to deal with what she knew would be a tough thing for Ranma to accept.
"Ranma, I want you to know I love you, and that I put that with your uniform for two reasons, and if you can give me valid reasons why you don't think their right I'll take that from you and never mention it again. Okay?" She said, hoping to stop any petty arguments before they started.
Halted by his mothers request, Ranma stood there, eventually nodding to agree with his mom and waiting to hear the two reasons that had better be damn good.
"The first is that I saw you yesterday in pain. During this time where you're stuck for a while, your chest will also be more sensitive and without proper support not only will your back hurt, but the chaffing as you experienced will really just get worse day after day." Pointing to the object in his hand "That is designed to simply support, and keep things from moving around thus preventing the chaffing." Her tone taking on that of a teacher almost in its matter of fact tone.
"Second, the vice principal herself called me yesterday to say that you walking around with nothing to help hide your body beyond the simple adjustments I made to your shirts is causing trouble with the boys in school. You have two options with her, wear that sports bra, or wear the girls uniform as its more loose." She finished, hoping he wouldn't be angry at her for this.
'Damn it…Damnitdamnitdamnit' Ranma thought, he could of survived the pain, he'd been through worse training and she said it would only be about a week. But the girls uniform? No way was he doing that, Panda's would wear tutu's before that happened. Then an even worse thought occurred.
"Mom...people are eventually going to see it...like, what am I suppose to do about my friends? Guys don't wear this stuff." Ranma asked, wondering how Daisuke and Hiroshi might react.
"Well, that's a good question. If someone is going through a rough time and their friends tease them, are they really friends?" Nodoka asks her son.
"No...not really." A worried look on his face as he considers if he even has guys that are good friends yet.
"So ignore the bad ones, and pay attention to those that can accept you for who you are. That's the best any of us can do really, regardless of our age." Nodoka says, giving her son a hug.
After releasing him she tells him to go finish getting ready. Hoping that for his sake, his friends were some of the good ones.
Their usual group having now almost doubled in size after meeting the amazon party on the way to school, they could all feel the stares as they entered through the gate, even Nabiki feeling a little unnerved from the attention. Ranma was honestly glad for the amazon's to have joined them on the walk, as it distracted everyone from paying him any attention or asking why his jacket was buttoned all the way up again. While Lufa waited outside to be introduced once their homeroom teacher arrived, Ranma quickly took his seat and prayed for the day to be over quickly.
"Dude, you ask him." Hiroshi whispered to Daisuki in the seat in front of him.
"Are you fucking crazy, he still looks pissed and is still in his girl body, you ask him." Daisuki replied.
"Fine, we both do it after first period." Hiroshi demanded more than asked.
"Fine, let's just hope we don't die virgins." Daisuki retorts.
Soon the classroom president calls for attention as their homeroom teacher enters.
"Class, we have the good fortune of yet another student joining us this year, she's an exchange student from China and I hope you will all be able to make friends with her." Mr. Yashiro says before motioning with his hand for Lufa to enter. While most students had heard of or seen her from a distance the day before, the sight of her in the school uniform instead of the casual clothing didn't detract at all from her smooth elegance as she entered the classroom.
While Ranma was a bit unnerved as Lufa locked eyes with him during her entrance and through most of her introduction, the rest of the class knew it was an obvious sign that the new girl had a target. Achika and Mako looked at Sachiko with concern, while Sachiko herself didn't seem to be paying any attention to the new student but instead was staring at Ranma once again with a pensive look on her face.
Lufa was given a seat near the back of the room to her dismay, but the two girls next to her seemed friendly enough. First period went by quickly for Lufa, history being one of her better subjects though still having to take notes as Japanese history wasn't one of her strong points. She did find that while her reading and writing were good enough most of the time, she was having trouble with listening and needed to ask the girls next to her to repeat things sometimes.
Lotion was thankful to have been sat next to Akane, while Shampoo was across the room from them. The boys in class seemed to be far more interested in Shampoo and left them alone, and the girl seemed to warm up to her when she saw how much of a struggle it was for Lotion to keep up with the lesson due to the language barrier. Lotion regretted not being able to talk with Ranma more when he was in the village, but usually Shampoo was around him and they weren't on the best terms being rivals and champions of different matriarchs.
After first period was over, Akane introduced her friend Sayuri and Yuka to Lotion and they agreed to have lunch together. For the first time since she'd been told about this en devour by her mother, she wasn't feeling that knot in her stomach of anxiety. Maybe this trip wasn't going to be a waste of time trying to get Ranma, who only just yesterday compared her to a mountain she thought glumly.
Envy, Jealousy, and Anger were all words that usually described the other girls around her in the village, so it was no surprise to find similar looks from the girls in class as she introduced herself as the village champion. More worrisome was the boys, as they all seemed to be staring at her like Mousse tended to do when he didn't think she knew he was there. Her great-grandmother had told them all about the strict no-fighting rules, and she could see her dream of being with Ranma destroyed if she was sent home because she was kicked out.
It seemed simple enough, simply make it obvious she was only there for Ranma and the boys would take the hint and the girls would stop being so jealous and angry their boyfriends were paying her more attention. But if she couldn't just give one a good thrashing to make an example of, what else could she do is what she wondered during the first class.
Ranma leaned his head back to see his two friends shoving each other forward while arguing in a whisper, both freezing a bit when they realized he was watching. Hiroshi seemed to take the opportunity though to finally shove Daisuki to the front. Ranma simply raising an eyebrow at their antics while waiting for Daisuki to speak.
"H...Hey...dude." Daisuki started, "Uhm you kinda jetted out yesterday before lunch, so we figured we should ask if you wanted to have it with us early." he said, using all his energy to keep his eyes locked onto Ranma's. Too look any lower was death he was certain.
Ranma grimaced, silently wishing he could of avoided this, which made both boys jump back a foot at the thought they've pissed him off.
"Yotaro's gonna join us too!" Hiroshi says in a higher voice than he intended, hoping to distract Ranma's gaze from them.
Ranma turned to see the quiet boy looking over at the mention of his name a confused look on his face. Behind Ranma both Hiroshi and Daisuki were bowing and nodding their heads at the other boy in hopes he'd just agree.
"Uh..yea, I'll join too…" The shy boy says, not wanting to start an argument over just lunch.
Ranma thought about his mom's words that morning, and figured it wouldn't hurt to give them a chance, if they turned out to be jerks he could just eat by himself. 'Besides, I need to spend spend some time not around the girls all the time, maybe the amazon's won't bother us if they just see me with guys.' He thought to himself.
"Okay sure, I'll see you guys at lunch." Ranma replies as the next teacher walks in.
"Alright you idiots, just turn around, this makes us look stupid" Ranma says to his friends as they all sat with the backs to each other on the roof at lunch. "Just try and keep your eyes up or who knows what rumors are going to be started."
The boys shuffle themselves around and go back to eating. The other three sharing looks at each other before Yotaro asked Ranma a question. "Hey uh...you okay?" he said worriedly
"Nope, curse is being a real pain in my ass lately." Ranma replies between bites.
"Are you stuck? We haven't seen you try and change back at all." Hiroshi asks.
"For a while, but I don't want to talk about it." Ranma finishes, before drinking some water.
The three boys nod, wondering what to say next when Daisuki see's Lufa sitting with some girls from class. "Hey, what can you tell us about the new girls, how do you know them? are they single?" he asks with a grin.
Ranma chokes on his water at the thought of Daisuki trying to defeat any of them in a marriage contest. "Uh, yea, I spent some time in their village off and on the last couple years, though I mostly know Shampoo the purple haired on, and Lotion the blue haired one as their fighters too, Lufa is really smart though and is training to be a healer." He answers.
"Okay, but do you know if they have some boys back home or are they looking for someone here?" Hiroshi asks.
"Uhm...they are definitely looking for...someone…" Ranma answers, not wanting to get into the crazy plans the elder had for him.
"You've gotta introduce us! Please!" Hiroshi and Daisuki say, immediately bowing to Ranma. Yotaro watching the two and holding his head in shame that he's somehow been dragged into this with them.
"You uh...realize their amazons right, like, the village is run by woman, considering you guys aren't fighters you'd just be like...house husbands or something." Ranma says, hoping these two would back down.
"You mean we'd have hot amazon wives. That's not a downside man." Hiroshi responds.
"I mean, you're a foreigner too, no one's going to really respect you either." Ranma replies.
"You think anyone respects us now?!" Daisuki asks, guessing Ranma didn't know how bad it was for regular guys in school. "We have nothing to lose Ranma, so come oooonnnn...pleeeease!" once again bowing and begging.
"Fine, but if you're dragged off and turned into slaves or something, I warned ya." he said finally giving up.
While the two idiots gibbered about being made slaves to the amazons, Yotaro got a worried look on his face. "They wouldn't really be able to do that would they, just take someone back as a slave/husband? That's a ton of broken laws, international ones at that." Yotaro asked.
Ranma Shrugged "I mean, sure you could tell the police but what are they going to do when you're in the middle of some mountains in China surrounded but a bunch of warrior women who prefer to be left alone?"
Yotaro seemed to go paler than usual at the thought of that. "It's fine though, just don't defeat any of them in a combat challenge and you'll be left alone." Ranma said as he finished his lunch. Packing up a bit early he jumped up and excused himself to head to the restroom.
"Hey...you guys notice something...Ranma isn't as...bouncy…" Hiroshi says, watching the small redhead heading into the building.
"Well he is keeping his jacket buttoned all the time now, probably to stop certain people from gawking." Yotaro says, glaring at his classmates.
"So..you were paying close attention too then?" Daisuke questions, though both of the boys were giving Yotaro a knowing look.
"Damn it…" Yotaro mutters
"Dude, you don't think he's wearing a...bra?" Hiroshi asks Daisuke.
Daisuke shrugs. "I asked my sister why she wore them back when I was a little kid, she said without one things felt worse."
"What do you think it looks like?" Hiroshi begins with a perverted smile.
"WE are not going down that train of thought...for so so many reasons. One of which is I like my dick firmly attached where it is, not rearranged by an angry redhead trying to imitate Picasso." Daisuke says pointing between himself and Yotaro who is nodding in agreement.
'This is some total and utter bullshit.' Shampoo thought as she sat in the office waiting to see the vice principle instead of getting to spend lunch with Ranma.
"Shampoo, please come in." Said Mrs. Takako with a stern look.
Taking a seat and crossing her arms, Shampoo clearly showed how annoyed she was by this situation. Mrs. Takako didn't seem phased by her though and simply took her seat and picked up the paper that was sitting on her desk.
"I'm told we had an incident this morning in your classroom, would you care to tell me what happened in your own words?"
"Stupid male grab me, I show him not allowed." Shampoo said with a smile.
"By show him, you mean throw him up against the wall, on the other side of the room, leaving him knocked out cold with a concussion and bruising in our nurse office." Mrs. Takako stated with a frown.
"Is not my fault he weak." Shampoo said shrugging her shoulders.
"But you do know our strict rules about fighting, your great grandmother said she made it very clear too all three of you, or should I give her a call to come over and help me explain again?" Mrs. Takako had to hold back a smile as she watched the young woman in front of her snap out of her arrogant attitude.
"No...no. But you want Shampoo let boys touch?" Shampoo said defensively, hoping to redirect away from the elder getting involved.
"All improper behavior will be dealt with, by the teachers and administration, not students. When the boy regains consciousness I'll be talking with him and his parents about this. What I want...is for you to refrain from fighting and tell a teacher so the matter can be dealt with properly."
Shampoo sighed, knowing she wasn't going to win this. "So...I go say sorry?" hoping that was the extent of her punishment.
"That is a good start, but as learning Japanese is key to your time here in Japan and at our school, you'll be getting the opportunity during your lunches to write an apology letter to the boy, as well as a short essay on say, Ghandi and his principles of peace." Mrs Takako said, handing the young woman and small book on Ghandi, in Japanese.
'Shit.' Was all that Shampoo could think sitting there and holding the book.
"Ranma stay girl often?" Lufa asked to the girl next to her.
"No, usually he uses his thermos and changes right back after something happens." She whispers back.
Lufa found that very curious. In the village Ranma was generally smiling unless suffering under some training, and even then would smile if asked how it was going. But all day Ranma has been upset, and uncomfortable judging from how much he was adjusting his position in his seat, and not once even tried to change back, his thermos absent entirely. A thought entered her head, a very scary thought, one she was hoping wasn't possibly the case.
"Ranma, you help read book together?" Shampoo asks as she hugs him from behind. 'Getting Ranma to read this stupid book to me will make the punishment not so bad' she thinks to herself.
Ranma winces in pain from both the overpowered hug and the rest of her body disagreeing with most anything stomach related. "Not now Shampoo, I'm not in the mood." He replies testily while trying to peel her off him and not having much luck.
"Shampoo, you know Ranma has much study to do himself." Lufa says coming up behind the two as they are all meeting at the gate. 'Studying I plan to be helping with!' She thinks to herself with a smile.
"Ranma friend, friend's help friends in trouble." Shampoo replied to the green haired girl, while giving Ranma a pouting look as he detaches himself from her finally.
"Friend also not drag down friend cause of own mistake" Lotion says joining the group along with Akane and seeing Shampoo up to her usual tricks to try and get Ranma's attention.
"You got in trouble Shampoo?" Ranma asks the girl who suddenly has an embarrassed look on her face.
"Is not my fault, stupid male touch me, he weak and not handle throw well." Shampoo says looking away and crossing her arms.
"Well on the bright side, I don't think you've got to worry about any of the other guys or girls doing that anymore…" Akane says while rolling her eyes.
"Is good then, I only here for Ranma." She says, grabbing for his hand only to find he'd already jumped up to the top of the entrance.
Ignoring Shampoo, Lufa turns to Lotion. "How was your day?" she asked.
"It was hard, but Akane was great help. Teachers talked too too fast." Lotion said. "Akane's friends are also nice, had lunch with them, they say we should join sports teams, but it not really fair I say. How about you?" Lotion finished, struggling at times with her Japanese.
"The Teachers talk fast, had ask the girls next to me for help, but they nice and had lunch with them. They talked about drama club and culinary club, but I don't think have time for clubs with restaurant." Lotion says recounting her day.
"Ugh...the drama club!" Akane bemoaned angerly. "Don't give those assholes the time of day I say. My first year here they wanted me to do Romeo and Juliet...as Romeo. At the very start of this year they were trying to get Sachiko so they could do the The Bamboo Cutter and the Moon Child because they wanted her to bring Mirei. They are totally a bunch of self absorbed jerks."
"Yes, and thankfully my big bad sisters nearly got their leader suspended for all the harassment they were causing." Sachiko says walking up with Nabiki, putting her hand on Akane's shoulder.
"Those dopes deserved it, once Mrs. Takako heard about the rumors they were threatening to start she was on a war path." Nabiki states with a smirk. "It really is a shame we never got any concrete evidence to get that jerk expelled like we did that crazy Kuno, though it is fun to see him wilt away when I'm nearby."
The group headed head home now that everyone was there, with Ranma turning it into a game almost of dodging Shampoo's attempts to get close and get a hold of him. "You know Sis, your martial arts school, if reversed, does kinda have its uses" He says while once again dodging a grab for his hand by Shampoo.
This gives the three amazons pause as they all look at the girl they considered not a combatant. "You are a martial artist?" Lufa asks confused.
"No!" She says, waving her hands in front of her. "I just made it up to get Ranma to go out with me!"
Suddenly, all three amazons stopped and looked at her strangely. "Why you go out with brother?" Lotion asks first.
"Ugh...Didn't your Elder tell you what happened?" Sachiko replies, having figured she would of told them.
The three girls all shake their head, leading to Sachiko grimacing at the idea of having to explain things, then she realized she didn't have too…
"Ranma, they're your friends, so I think you should be the one to explain things too them, why not go back with them now and get it sorted out." She quickly said before grabbing Akane and Nabiki's hands and heading down the road quickly.
Ranma's look of surprise slowly turned to terror as the three Amazons gave him a questioning look. "Sooo…..uhm...she wasn't always my sister you see…" He begins, telling them the tale as they make their way back to the restaurant.
Later that evening Shampoo, Lotion, and Lufa found themselves downstairs sitting around one of the restaurants tables having some tea and still trying to decompress the information Ranma had shared with them.
Well, at least Mirei is cute… Lotion says, that being the best thing she can think of given their situation.
That doesn't change that fact that we just went from trying to bring home a warrior husband, to so much as being second wife to a non-warrior foreigner… Lufa grumbles.
Not to mention I just lost so much on the betting pool...all the times in the village and he still never even kissed any of the girls after him, or let them kiss him. Who knew he not scaredy cat virgin, but really ignorant boy who think courtship is martial arts, only not like our martial arts courtship? Lotion remarked with a groan.
It doesn't matter. Shampoo says, finally looking up from her tea and joining the conversation. I show Ranma I'm still the best choice for him, he'll treat me like I'm first wife, maybe even just forget about her and come back with me anyway. Shampoo said with determination in her eyes.
Didn't you hear the elder, that isn't going to work, you'll piss off his mom if you try to make him leave his daughter, and for what ever reason the elder has, if we piss off his mom we're going to be sent back to the village immediately. Lufa tells Shampoo
Shampoo gritted her teeth at that. Fine, I just make little girl love me more and want to go back to the village. Shampoo says, earning her a quick whack to the head from her great grandmother who was suddenly behind her.
You all will do nothing to the little girl besides be on your best behavior and follow any instructions you're given, or so help me I'll kick you into Jusenkyo from here. Ranma's bloodline is incredibly rare, something the tribe's been trying to add since practically its inception. So instead of sitting around grumbling about your lot in life, I suggest you figure out how you're going to get that boy to take an interest in you beyond just friends. Cologne says to the girls with a serious tone.
Shampoo's been trying for years, but Ranma not know relationship even if wrapped up in fake martial arts. Now he's got a child and education to worry about besides just the training he did in the village. It seems like an impossible task just to get him horny, let alone infatuated. Lufa complains.
You all are thinking of Ranma as a normal male, but he's not been around people nearly as much. Instead, think about what Sachiko did to snare him, and adjust to the current "situation". Just remember what I said about his family, don't upset them...or else. Cologne says, leaving the threat open to their own imaginations.
You should know that in light of his past, he is finally starting to awaken a bit, so just because something didn't work in the past, doesn't mean it will always fail. She says with a coy smile.
Now get to bed, you still have school in the morning and then we open in the evening. Cologne finishes, waving the girls up and off to their rooms.
Ranma laid his head on his desk as soon as he got into the classroom, hoping to catch even just five more minutes of sleep after a restless night of having to get up to use the restroom frequently and then having trouble falling back asleep. Having felt like a zombie the whole morning and almost putting his hands into hot water when washing up, he hoped this Friday would just be over with so he could crawl back in bed with a hotpad.
"You know Ranma "chan", I saw something awfully strange yesterday…" Jiro says after taking his seat.
Popping one eye open to look over at Jiro, who obviously didn't like him after the last week of dirty looks and cold attitude finally said his first words to him. 'Why can't I just get some sleep…' Ranma thought bitterly without replying to the boy.
"It seems that for some reason, a girl was in the boy's bathroom after lunch…" he continued, loud enough to get some of the other students attention while Ranma just gave him an annoyed look.
"They left before I could get a look at who it was, but as you're the only "girl" I know who uses the "boys" bathroom, you wouldn't happen to know any others that might have left This behind?" Jiro says with a smirk, holding up an unopened sanitary pad in his hand.
While Ranma's face turned crimson at the sight of it, the rest of him was frozen as he began to hear some snickering coming from behind him. 'Shit, it must of fallen out of my pocket…' Ranma thought bitterly.
"Jiro! You fucking jerk!" Ranma hears from behind him from a familiar voice, sitting up and looking behind him he see's Sachiko standing up and her face livid with anger as she points at the boy.
Jiro laughs at her though. "Oh no, your baby sister is all mad at me Ranma "channnn", maybe she needs this too?" He says while flipping the package over at Sachiko. "Unless of course she's gotten herself knocked up aga." He's unable to finish though as Ranma slides over his desk and yanks his face down next to her's by his collar. His face stunned at first, returns to a cocky smile as he folds his arms over his chest.
"What are you going to do, fight me? We both know you can't touch me in this school with out getting suspended, or worse." he arrogantly says to her face.
Ranma gives the boy a tooty predatory grin. "A fight would mean you had a chance, I haven't heard about any rules regarding outright slaughter, though that would create far to big of a mess here…" He says, looking around the room as if he was considering just what might need to be cleaned up.
Jiro's confidence waivered as his smile seemed to crack as he saw the seriousness in Ranma's eyes. He tried to grab for the hand that was holding him down to eye level with Ranma, which Ranma let him, only to begin laughing in Jiro's face as the boy was unable to even budge it with all his strength. "Let go of me you freek!" Jiro yelled in desperation, pulling back an arm to try and strike Ranma.
Quickly striking out and poking him in several places with his free hand, Ranma watches the boy's body go limp, only held up by Ranma's grip on his collar.. "Lets take this somewhere its easy to clean up." Beginning to drag the boy out of the classroom with just one arm, students still milling in the doorway quickly jumping away.
"Oh Shit!" Sachiko mutters before starting to chase after the two. Her friends and Lufa following close behind.
Ranma ignores his sister's calls to stop as he drags Jiro down two flights of stairs, seemingly heading for the locker rooms before turning sharply into the main office. Thankfully seeing the one person he wanted to he proceeds to walk right past the shocked receptionist and up to Mrs. Takako who was talking to a teacher until they both caught site of him and Jiro.
"I...I need to talk to you. Before I rip this jerks dick off and shove it down his throat, multiple times." Ranma says in an overly polite manner, the red aura glowing faintly around Ranma though leaving no room for sarcasm.
Taken aback by the situation, it takes a moment for Mrs. Takako to respond before she simply nods and holds the door open for Ranma to enter after he simply lets go and leave's Jiro's body crumpled on the ground, the smell of urine beginning to become pungent. "Take him to the nurse's office please." She says to the teacher she was previously talking to before entering and shutting the door to her office. Leaving the girls in the lobby to wait.
Walking towards Ranma she could see Ranma sitting in one of her chairs looking absolutely exhausted, slouching into it, his arms drapped over the chair, while his legs seemed to just hang and pull at his upper body. Reaching out she put her arm on his shoulder, only for him to flinch at the touch.
"It's okay, take as much time as you want, we'll talk what happened when you're ready." She told him before heading to her chair and finding some inconsequential paperwork to busy herself with. It would be almost five minutes before another word was spoken in the room though as she watched Ranma slowly compose himself while the adrenaline wore off.
Shifting himself up into the chair he looks at the vice principle before sighing. "I'm a just gonna head home. I don't think this school thing is gonna work out…" He says, though doesn't make any move to get up from his seat.
His statement didn't even seem to phase her, she simply looked straight at him for a few seconds before responding. "Well I can hardly keep you here physically, I would like to know what happened as you understand I'm going to have to fill out paperwork regarding this incident, and I would prefer to get your side of the story along with others. First though, do I need to call for a doctor for the young man you dragged down here?"
"Huh? oh..no, I just used some pressure points to make his body all numb, should already be wearing off by now." Ranma replied.
"Good, now why don't you walk me through what exactly happened Ranma." She said, some relief showing as her shoulders lost their tension.
"I didn't sleep well last night so I was just laying my head on my desk when Jiro started talking about how he found a sanitary pad on the ground in the boys bathroom after I left, probably fell out of my pocket yesterday after lunch. Sis then yelled at him, and he said she probably didn't need one as she was likely knocked up again and called me a freak, that's when I dragged him down here." Ranma said, his left leg shaking a little while he rubbed his hands together.
"It..It took a lot…" Ranma's voice drops almost to a whisper.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that, could you say it again please?"
"It..It took a lot to do as little as I did to him." Ranma said, looking out the window in the room rather than make eye contact as he could feel the tears starting to well up in his eyes.
"This whole week has been crap, can't practice as much or do PE, feel like someones just tightening a vise around my stomach, and its...disgusting. I thought I could get through it if I just didn't tell anyone, and now the whole stupid school will know!" Ranma furiously complained before breaking down sobbing.
Mrs. Takako was using everything in her thirty years of being an educator to maintain her composure. Ranma had gone from living a "good" life on the road as far as he was concerned, to being subject to the brutal realities of society and responsibilities few his age understood. Throw in a gender swapping curse with all the bells and whistles and it was obvious he wasn't capable of handling it on his own, but his fierce pride made him unwilling to ask for help from what his mother told her. Well she sat there wondering what exactly she could even do for him now, a loud banging came from her door.
"Mrs. Takako, let me help, please." Came Sachiko's muffled voice through the door.
At this point something was better than nothing, so she turned to Ranma. "Would you like for Sachiko to be here, I can give you some time alone to talk while I go check in with the nurse." She asked, holding out the tissue box to him. Ranma looked up and took the box, doing his best to take some deep breaths and stop crying before nodding his head at Mrs. Takako.
Moving to the doorway, she opened the door to a busy scene of the receptionist trying to get Sachiko to back away, the other three girls from class standing near by, and the janitor cleaning up the mess on the floor. In the hallway were various students milling about, either curious or possibly having some business in the office but unwilling to enter into the chaos directly.
"Sachiko, you have a few minutes then I'll be coming back in. You three and those in the hall, back to class, office is closed until after lunch to students." She quickly barked out to the room. Then looking at the receptionist. "Get Ranma's mother on the line, let her know I'd like to see her as soon as possible, the other boys parents as well need to be notified and a meeting scheduled." With that she went out into the hallway to make certain the crowd thinned and students didn't lollygag around the hallways before heading to see the nurse.
Sachiko shut the door and then hurried over to Ranma to find him still occasionally choking back a sob. She grabbed the other chair next to him and swung it around so she could sit and face him before reaching out and taking his hand.
"Ranma...it's going to alright, Jiro's a jerk and nobody in class really likes him." She says giving his hand a squeeze.
"...They must all think I'm even more of a freak now that they know…" Ranma says bitterly.
"Ranma...most of us girls already figured it out..." Sachiko says, hoping it didn't make things worse.
"What? How? Ranma said, his eyes finally focusing on hers.
"Ranma...we've all been dealing with it for years...hiding it from the boys just about as long. No offense but you're absolutely terrible at hiding a secret, I hope you never try to gamble with a poker face so bad." Sachiko said, giving him a small smile at the teasing.
"But...if you all knew...why did no one say anything…" Ranma questioned.
"I can't speak for all the girls, but probably because we're not idiot boys who don't understand what its like and just make crude remarks." Sachiko answered.
Ranma wasn't sure what to say after that, his last time in school during Junior high, and weaknesses were just mercilessly teased by everyone in class. While he wasn't on the receiving end, to his face at least, he had been a cocky jerk who'd made fun of others in gym class for failing because that's what his dad always did during their training, so isn't that just normal for everyone he wondered?
"They also know you're totally wearing a bra, if that's what you're thinking about next." Sachiko says after watching his gaze become distant and unfocused.
Sucking in a large breath of air suddenly, Ranma quickly refocused on her only to ask. "They do!?"
"Yea, it was an...obvious...change. There are probably some boys that figured it out, but they aren't likely to say anything now unless their suicidal." Sachiko said.
Ranma sighed, all his secrets having been exposed long before he thought. "So...what do I do now?" He says while finally seeming to relax and stretch out a bit, leaning his head back and rubbing his eyes a bit.
"Well, you can come back to class and stop being paranoid about it all and tell anyone that gives you trouble to fuck right off, you might get in trouble for language, but not kicked out. Or dig a hole and live as a moleman." Sachiko replies with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Does mom know you use so many dirty words?" Ranma says, mildly shocked at his sisters cursing today.
"Not if you keep your mouth shut, which you should less Mirei's next birthday party be attended by a certain magical girl in full costume and her pet panda…" Sachiko says with an evil look.
Ranma's eyes go wide at the thought. "You wouldn't!"
"Oh try saying a mild curse in front of Mirei and your mom...then think about what she'd do if her darling daughter had the mouth of a sailor?" She said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Do we have an understanding now?" Sachiko said in a terrible mob boss impersonation.
"Okay okay, jeeze…" Ranma says with a small laugh. "Though she can have the pet panda dressed up all she wants."
Seeing the small laugh fade though, Sachiko's face returned to a worried look as she stumbled on how to ask her next question.
"Ranma...you weren't…"
"You wouldn't have…"
"Were you going to hurt him?" Sachiko finally gets out.
Ranma's face seems to drop at first, before he tenses up, his fist clenching up as he keeps his eyes looking down at them. 'I just suddenly felt angrier than I ever had, even after Jusenkyo with pops, if it hadn't gone away quick, I don't know." Was his only response.
"Hey, its okay, you're okay." She said soothingly while giving his hand a squeeze.
"Why did he do it? I never even talked to him before?" Ranma asks her, making eye contact again.
Sachiko let out a long breath. "Jiro hates me because at the start of the school year he tried to look cool in front of some soccer team boys and ask me out. He didn't know about Mirei, but they did and basically set him up to be called a bunch of names. He still blames me for it cause he's an idiot and still tries to kiss up to the soccer team." She explained.
"That's it?" Ranma asks, surprised by how simple it sounds.
"Well, its obvious he's got a problem with your curse. The idiot's probably got the hots for your girl side, or he's pissed that all the girls are paying attention to you. I can't begin to understand that shitheads brain though and what little is going on in there." Sachiko says with a shrug.
Before they could say much more, Mrs. Takako returned and gave the two a small smile before taking her seat.
"How are you two doing? Do you think you can return to class Ranma?" She asks the two.
Ranma's body tenses at the mention of returning to class and he doesn't respond. Sachiko moves her chair around to the side of his so she's not sitting with her back to the vice principal. Sitting back down she puts her hand on Ranma's shoulder to give him a nudge. "Come on, you can do it, the girls aren't going to bite, and your friends are worried about you too I bet." She says.
Ranma gives her an incredulous look. "My friends that are just two "horny" guys and a nerd who's probably too afraid to say no to having lunch with us?" he responds.
"Ranma, you've met my friends, and your probably the only one in this school who can't be called "horny"…" She says while rolling her eyes while Mrs. Takako fakes a cough to hide the laugh at Sachiko's comment, before returning to questioning her life choices that led her here.
"Fine, but if anyone starts something I'm just jumping out the window and heading home." He says, pushing himself up and out of the chair.
"While that would be a wiser decision, though I would hope you stop by the office to let us know for attendance sake Ranma." Mrs. Takako says. "I may call for you when your mother gets here, you too Sachiko. This isn't over Ranma, but I prefer to talk to all parties and their parents involved before determining your punishment for...getting into a physical altercation."
"Thank you Mrs. Takako." Sachiko says as she stands and makes to leave, giving Ranma a look and nod to the vice principal to do the same.
"Oh yea, uh Thanks." He says before quickly adding "Mrs. Takako."
"The Amazon's sure were all over you after school Sachi-chan." Nabiki says, sitting down at the main table with a bag of potato chips, joining Sachiko who was flipping through a manga and Kasumi who was going through a fashion magazine.
Looking up from her manga she rolls her eyes at Nabiki. "I'm pretty sure that's just because I had Mirei while mom and Ranma were still in the office."
"Well, they do gotta make nice with you two if they have a hope and prayer of snagging our clueless boy wonder." Nabiki said with a laugh.
"He's not really clueless, it's more his dad just lying to him about it being "bad" and "wrong" to even think about girls. He was in a village full of girls like Shampoo, the walking wet dream of high school boys, and it sounds like he spent the whole time trying to not do anything for all the wrong reasons." She complained while snagging a chip. The three girls sharing a moment to be jealous of the said purple haired girl's ridiculous figure.
"You think he's ever even seen a movie without martial arts or explosions in it?" Nabiki asks.
"Not with me, both of the movies I took him too were Bruce Lee films, there was a girl to rescue in one of them, but it was so minor it doesn't seem like he picked up on it." Sachiko replied.
"Maybe that's what he needs, some sort of movie night with some romance." Kasumi says thoughtfully.
"Good luck, anything with enough of the "good" action is probably too adult for him. We'd need something PG in the romance department, but R in the action department…" Sachiko says grouchily. The girls thought for a bit, but were having a hard time coming up with a movie that would meet such strange requirements.
"What if...he didn't have a choice but to watch some romance movies? Like, we do a movie night and he gets to pick one, but so do others, and he's not allowed to leave." Nabiki suggest.
"Maybe? But if its just us girls he would feel really awkward and probably make a run for it. We'd need to get his guy friends over too. My friends would want to come also, and then the amazons will demand in probably…" Sachiko trails off thinking about how many people that would be.
"So make it a big co-ed slumber party, though Auntie will probably want the boys to make do with the Dojo, while the girls go to the house, less something totally improper happen." Kasumi says, doing her best Nodoka impersonation at the end before breaking out laughing.
"Yea, and I bet Mrs. Saotome will totally go for it, you know she want's Ranma to have more "normal" social interactions, just gotta get everything else planned out." Nabiki said, her eyes glossing over as she thought through more of the plan.
"Heck, I'd like some normal social time period, feels like I haven't done anything but study or deal with something Ranma related the last few weeks." Sachiko says.
"Alright then, I declare operation "Stalion Libido" officially a go. Lets aim for two Saturdays from now, should give everyone time to make plans, Kasumi you'll figure out food and drink, I'll get us a proper screen and projector, and Sachiko you're in charge of invitations." Nabiki said like she was a general in a war meeting.
"We're not calling it that…" Sachiko said defiantly.
"Oh, we could come up with "better" ones if you want." Nabiki says, giving Kasumi a knowing glance.
"Wild horse whisperer"
"Glistening Unicorn"
"Sleepless in Nerima"
"Stop...stop stop stop...fine...Stalion Libido it is...have I told you two I can't wait for you to actually get boyfriends that last longer than two dates…" Sachiko says, her face laying in her hands at how awful those names were.
"Well…If Ranma had an older brother…" Kasumi says, her eyes losing focus at the thought.
"It's not my fault high school boys have such limited...resources." Nabiki said with a shrug.
"I'm going to go figure out the invites while you two get lost in your little fantasies." Sachiko says as she stands up to leave the table and head to Akane's room.
"Mom...are you sure I gotta do this?" Ranma asked his mother once again, stepping off the bus with her in a neighborhood he'd never been in before. It looked to be a commercial area, with stores and businesses along the street. "Akane and Lotion were going to have a spar after the kids class and I wanted to see how they compared." He said grumpily.
"Part of the deal with the school was that you'd start seeing a counselor Ranma to help you deal not just with your...anger, but all the other issues you're dealing with right now. You've gotten a lot of things dumped on you in a small amount of time dear, having someone you can talk to about it all privately will really help you I think if you'll just give it a chance." His mother replied, a vein popping on her forehead at the annoyance of her son once again trying to get out of this, having lost count since this mornings breakfast.
Ranma's shoulders slumped as he seemed to finally give up as his mother held open the door to the building they were standing in front of, leading into a drab office reception space. While his mother went to talk to the woman at the desk Ranma took a seat and stuffed his hands in his pockets begrudgingly. Not only was he having to do this, but his mom had insisted he wear one of the "normal" outfits she'd picked up for his female side. While it was still just a simple white button up shirt and tan slacks, it was obviously not from the men's aisle, and how she'd gotten a pair of sneakers in his female's shoe size was a mystery to him. What else his mother had purchased in secret for his female side worried him as he sat there until he heard his name called.
"Mr. Saotome, a pleasure to meet you." Said a woman who looked to be in her early thirties as she extended a hand to him, earning a quirked eyebrow from Ranma in response. "I'm Dr. Suzuki, your mother has told me some interesting things about you, but how about we go to my office and get acquainted better." She said with a smile.
Ranma looked at the woman holding out the hand, her short black hair reminded him of Nabiki's while the cream colored silk blouse, black knee length skirt, and black stockings seemed more akin to a board room than a doctors office he thought. But the woman's green eyes behind a thin-rimmed pair of glasses and her smile put him at ease for some reason and he wordlessly accepted her hand as he got up from his seat and followed her down the hallway. Entering into a room he saw a large desk with bookcases behind it as well as various framed plaques hanging on the wall. The other half of the room sat two large comfortable chairs and a sofa all facing an oval glass coffee table with a pitcher of water and two glasses sitting on it.
"Please, take a seat anywhere you'd like." Dr. Suzuki said as she headed to her desk to retrieve some things.
Ranma at first considered the couch, but ended up picking the seat with the view out the windows. Dr. Suzuki soon returned with a clipboard, folder, and notepad and sat in the opposite chair. Once she was situated she began to tell Ranma about their meetings.
"While your mother has told me a great deal about you Ranma, your training trip, becoming a father, returning to school, the gender curse, and the Amazons among it all. I want you to understand that everything we say here is private between just me and you. The only thing I must share is with the school and if I felt you were a danger to others as that is part of the agreement from your recent altercation." She said with quite a serious look that for some reason made Ranma want to sit up straighter.
"Uh...Okay." Ranma replied after she failed to continue on and was giving him an expectant look.
"While I try not to dictate the topics during my meetings, I will reserve some time at the end to discuss the school incident. To start with though, why don't you tell me how you're doing with all these changes in your life recently." She asked.
Ranma slumped back into the chair as he tried to think of where to even begin, a blush across his face when thinking of some of the more embarrassing things. Seeing that Ranma wasn't getting anywhere on his own, Dr. Suzuki broke through his train of thought. "How about we start with the first big change for you, the gender curse. Your mom said you'd be able to show me it next time but that it isn't possible at the moment?" A hint of skepticism in her voice.
"Uh sure. The basics are I fell into a curse pool in China, cold water I turn into this girl body, hot water turns me back. The bodies share the physical stuff, like like cuts and bruises transfer, I can't change during my period without all the cramps going to my...guy parts which is too painful to really stand. But I'm a guy though, up here, always." Ranma replies pointing at his head, hoping it sounded simple enough.
Dr. Suzuki wrote down some notes on her notepad quickly before continuing her questions. "And how do you feel about it?"
"Feel about it? I hate it. This body is nothing but trouble, everything feels weird, things taste different, my balance is off, not to mention this whole period thing is a total pain in the ass!" Ranma said, crossing his arms, a look of disgust on his face.
Dr. Suzuki gives a small chuckle at the last part as she finishes another line of notes. "I don't think any woman is going to disagree with you there Ranma. Do you have anything positive to say about your time as a girl?"
"Positives?" Ranma answered with an unsure face before having to think for a bit. "I guess, Mirei really likes it, though I'm not to sure about being called a magical girl…" He finally replies.
"Do you feel like being a girl sometimes will help you raise a daughter?" Dr. Suzuki asks him next.
Ranma's face seems to drop at the question, he looks down at his lap for a bit before replying. "I'm not a real girl, so I don't know how that's going to help me raise Mirei. I didn't even have a normal life so the best I can do is try to not be...me." He says with a tinge of anger.
"How do you feel about how you were raised?"
"Pops didn't do nuthin right except for the Art, everything else he screwed up it I keep find'n out." Ranma snaps back while looking at Dr. Suzuki.
"Would you rather have not learned the Art at all then and stayed with your mother?"
"I...well...but then…" Ranma had to slow himself down before he could think on the question.
"I love the Art, it gives me drive, purpose, and challenge in my life. But if I'd just stayed home, maybe Sachiko's life wouldn't of been so screwed up, and the Amazon's wouldn't be following me around, I wouldn't be stuck with this curse, and my mom wouldn't have had to been so lonely." Ranma explained with regret in his voice.
It took Dr. Suzuki a little time to finish writing the notes this time, finally looking up from them she gave him a reassuring smile. "We often dwell on mistakes in our past, thinking of how we could of done thing differently, better, perfectly. But its those mistakes that help guide us in the future, to not make similar mistakes. Are there any mistakes you're worried about repeating?"
Ranma pours himself a glass of water while thinking over the question, his mouth feeling dry at the thoughts of all the problems his father caused him. "I just...I just don't wanna be like pops and make everyone else miserable." he finally says.
Dr. Suzuki didn't move beyond giving him a subtle nod, her eyes staying focused on his, giving him the feeling that they were exerting a kind of pressure to go further.
"He just cares about himself. He left mom, he treated me like a prize to show off, or a disappointment to punish, and then I find out he'd planned to just marry me off so he'd not have to work at all while I run some Dojo for him." Ranma feels more exhausted than angry as he talks about his father. "So now I'm stuck with a busted education, no idea how to be a dad, and I'm just making it harder for everyone else."
"Why do you think you're making it harder for everyone?"
"Well obviously I barely know what I'm do'n with Mirei, I don't know manners, or what's appropriate, or how to do any kids stuff. Then Sachiko's gotta deal with me at school and all the rumors and jerks, not to mention when people do figure out I'm Mirei's dad it's gonna be a mess. The Tendo's gotta house and feed me, mom's stressing out about all my problems, and now there's a bunch of Amazons following me around for some sort of courtship thing? Anytime pops and I would get into this much trouble, we'd be half way across the next mountain range, but I promised mom I'd stick around…"
"That's quite the list. You mentioned that when you and your father were in trouble, that you'd make a run for it, but that you also don't want to be like your father. Does that mean you want to work on solutions to these problems?" Dr. Suzuki asks Ranma as she continues taking notes.
"Well yea, but like, I'm just good at fighting things, and none of these are things I can just issue a challenge too." Ranma replies with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Well, not in the physical sense no. But are these challenges any different from learning a new technique?" Dr. Suzuki asks him.
"Huh?"
"Well, could you not find someone or something to learn how to be a better father? Martial artist find masters and scrolls to learn from all the time correct?"
Ranma gave her a questioning look. "Uhm, yea, but there aren't any Dojo's that specialize in parenting, and I've seen lots of strange dojos."
"True, but there are parenting groups, classes, magazines, and books. There are many ways to gain knowledge Ranma, I think it might just be a case of finding what works best for you in this sense."
"More classes and books? My brains already set to blow with the homework I gots to make up." Ranma moaned while slouching in the seat.
"Then I would suggest the parenting groups, there are some that are geared towards younger parents. Even though it is rarer than say in some western countries, you are hardly the only teenager to be a parent in Japan."
Mulling it over in his head, Ranma couldn't come up with a good excuse to not try it out. "Fine...I guess I can go…" He said a bit defeated.
"Good, I'll pass along some information to your mom afterwards." Dr. Suzuki replies with a smile. "Does it feel good to have a plan to tackle one of your problems?" She asks.
"Uhm..maybe, feels like I just have more stuff to do." Ranma replies.
"True, but did just reading a scroll or watching another master give you the results right away? You needed to practice yourself before you'd make progress."
Ranma nodded, no matter how good he was, training was always required to not just learn a new technique, but to also learn how best to employee it.
"So do you think we should try and find some more solutions to your problems?" She said with a wide smile.
"Sure, but I'm not sure how you're going ta help me deal with a bunch of amazons…" Ranma replied.
Ranma and Dr. Suzuki spent the rest of the seemingly short time going over the issues he'd listed and doing some simple brainstorming before her alarm went off to signal they still needed to talk about the school issue. In the end though Ranma left the office in a silent contemplative look on his face while his mother entered at Dr. Suzuki's bequest so she could give her some material. While on their walk home Nodoka was anxiously watching her son, hoping he might share about the visit but he seemed occupied with his own thoughts the whole way home.