A Reflections Mini-Sequel
A. V. Morgan
Author's Note: It's All In The Reflexes focuses on a chain of events that is referred back to in the beginning of the official sequel to Reflections, Refractions, which is currently being plotted and written. I did not have a set length for Reflexes, just the idea of Akane going ballistic on Ranma and what the Amazons would think of that. Rather than make you, the readers, wait for Refractions, I decided to give you a little taste by exploring what started as a joke in the opening arc. Hopefully, it will be only 6-10 parts long. This also gives me some time to think about some of the responses I've been getting to Reflections of late. While Reflections could not avoid being confusing, the ending was rushed. I admit that. Try to remember, starting around Part Ten of Reflections, I surrendered to inspiration, with only token acknowledgement of other intentions or opinions. That opened the door for a lot of fun and interesting ideas to take root. The story really did not want to come to a close. I am not sure what I could or would change, if I fixed the ending, but most likely, I would expand the ending by a full volume (15 parts), giving a little more attention to the trip, the confrontations with Herb, and the evolution of relationships and curses. Note, I am not talking about changing the ending, just spacing things out a bit so that it makes a little more sense. I am just at the mulling over stage on that, so any comments or feedback would be appreciated. If I drastically revised or rewrote it, I would not have foundation for this story or Refractions. Of course, anyone who has stuck with me this far is obviously extremely tolerant and forgiving. I really appreciate that, and I am not going to insult that by gutting the story you've enjoyed thus far.
So, on with the show!
A. V. Morgan
Part Four
On her way to retrieve Ranma, Ranko passed by a villager's kitchen window. Now, this should not have been anything to be concerned about, but several other factors applied. One, she was cursed to turn into a boy with hot water. Two, her boyfriend had a similar curse, and she had noticed that he was going out of his way to be a girl around her, which was very frustrating. Three, she had responded by leaving her curse unlocked, so she could respond by becoming male—what else could she do when her significant other refused to remain the opposite sex? Four, walking around with an active curse was tempting the gods of chance and chaos. Summed up, and in conclusion, the inhabitant of that hut chose the moment she walked by to toss out his dish water, dousing Ranko. Naturally, it was just hot enough to trigger her curse. Stopping, and looking down at himself in disgust, he paused to strip off his shirt to wring it out, squirming uncomfortably as the panties the former girl had been wearing proved much too tight and constricting for his present endowments. Fortunately, the halter top was a simple, cotton athletic bra, stretching flat and tight over his broad chest. But it looked pretty stupid, so he stripped that off, tucking it into his pocket before slithering back into the damp, silk shirt.
"I swear, I need to get my underwear cursed too!" he spat, shaking his head free of moisture.
Making a mental note to check with Cologne, or the village archive, to see if there was any way to enchant panties and bras to turn into boxers and t-shirts, he shuffled on through the village. The last he saw, Ranma had been flying out of it towards the fields farmed by the tribe.
Lost in thought, he came within an inch of crashing head-long into Ukyo. With a start, Ranko dodged her, but his friend reached out and grabbed him by the shirt, whipping him off his feet into an abrupt throw that sent him flying. Colliding roughly with a wall, upside down, Ranko instantly slid down, cracking his head on the foundation stones of the hut. After collapsing in a heap, he rolled to the side and sprang up, ready to demand an explanation for the violent greeting.
"Ucchan! What the…"
"How DARE you, Ranma!?" Ukyo roared, slapping him sharply across the cheek.
"Ouch! Wha…" Ranko flinched back, raising a hand to his face. "Ucchan!"
"Don't call me that! You're not a real friend! You… you're sick, Ranma!" she accused hotly, still frothing over what she had just learned from Akane. "I can't believe you'd even THINK of doing something like that to Ranko!"
"Huh?" Ranko blinked. Pointing nervously to himself, he began, "But I'm…"
"I don't want to hear your sick excuses! I am SO glad I found out about this now!" she cried, anger suddenly giving way to a spill of tears. "To think, I was actually thinking seriously about keeping the engagement with you."
"Ucch… Ukyo…" Ranko swallowed, extending a cautious hand to his best friend. "I know what Akane must have said to you, but she's got it all wrong!"
"You know, usually that's true!" Ukyo snapped, bracing her hands on her hips, glaring through liquid eyes. "Akane's always been wrong about Ranko, but I'm not buying it this time. She SAW you with Fa Shen! I don't know what you did to Ranko to make her cover for you… Akane also heard you talking about having sex with Ranko, PLAIN AS DAY!!!" she shouted. Taking a quick breath, she lowered her voice and raised a tight fist toward him, "Well, listen to this. You so much as lay a hand on Ranko, and I will take your head clean off. It's just wrong, Ranma! I don't know what happened to you, but you and Fa Shen need help."
Ranko was completely flabbergasted. He should have known Akane would not hesitate to spill all the details. All it took was for her to get angry enough, self-righteous enough to assume everyone would see she was the injured party, and she would overcome her concern over how "Ranma's" actions reflected on her. What better way to dissociate herself from the "pervert" than by using proof of his perversions to damn him. Fighting for coherence, Ranko ground out through clenched teeth, "You don't understand…"
Ukyo lunged forward and hissed, "I don't want to understand. I don't want to know how you think you can justify this. I know guys, Ranma. I thought you were different, but you're just like the rest. As soon as you 'get some' you can't walk away. You're gonna sleep with Fa Shen until she figures out that you're just using her. I can even see how you got her to conspire with you against Ranko… I bet you told her that a neat little three way with her would be a lot of fun. Well, wake up. I am not going to let you use MY Ranchan like that!"
Ranko began shaking, as the urge to explode welled up inside him. "I can't believe you! That is just… sick!" he growled, bringing his head up to fix Ukyo with a dangerous look. "You have it all wrong, Ukyo. For one thing, I AM NOT RANMA!" he emphasized in a very low voice, doing everything he could to keep from bellowing at her. A spark of doubt entered Ukyo's eye, as it finally registered that Ranko's clothes were damp. Stepping forward, Ranko continued, "Akane doesn't know what she's talking about, because SHE WON'T LISTEN to any of us! SO, when you feel up to LISTENING maybe we can talk about this." Whipping away from the brown-haired girl, Ranko stomped off. Finding Ranma could wait. Akane needed to be dealt with NOW.
Ukyo stood in place, devastated by comprehension. "R-Ranko…?"
Ranko did not even pick up the plaintive call. His attention was focused on sustaining some mental separation between himself and Ranma. The last thing he could afford in a confrontation with Akane was to slip into that old mindset that made him her whipping boy. Even with the offended rage his confrontation with Ukyo had summoned, Ranko was not inclined to hurt Akane, but if he dropped his guard for the sake of boyish affection, Akane would hurt him and nothing would get resolved. He stormed along, repeating over and over the mantra, 'I am the eye of the storm. My will is a pillar of calm. I wrap the rage around me, so I come to no harm. I am the eye of the storm.' Ranko did not want to make the mistake Ranma had made in failing to use Fa Shen's Pillar of Calm technique while confronting Akane. It was ironic that the technique required intense anger to focus and project serenity. Since Akane did not have any chi discipline, when Ranko transferred the Pillar of Calm to her, it would completely dissipate her rage. When he turned onto a path and spotted Akane facing him at the other end, he felt ready.
To his irritation, Akane froze, turned on her heel, and walked directly away.
"Akane! Wait!" he called out, sprinting to catch up.
Over her shoulder, she shouted, "I'm not talking to you!"
Growling, Ranko grabbed her by the shoulder and replied, "Fine! At least listen!"
Turning and taking a step back, Akane put up her guard and snarled, "Why? So you can make excuses? I don't want to hear it!"
Already, they had been noticed and villagers scooted closer to watch the fireworks. With a sigh, Ranko schooled his features, nursing his calm. "You deserve an explanation. Don't you at least want to know what is really going on? Don't you want to know the truth, before you go on telling people what you THINK happened?" he challenged.
Akane bit down on a retort. She expected Ranma to deny his guilt, to proclaim her ignorance and stupidity or insult her. The anger that had fed on her all day had begun to exhaust her, but the underlying hurt was throbbing. Allowing that agony into her voice she protested, "Do you really think knowing all the sordid details is going to make up for what you did?"
"I didn't do anything, Akane! I'm not…" but before Ranko could reveal that he was not Ranma, Akane was already reacting to the words, hearing the denial she expected.
"God! I knew it! I knew you'd keep trying to deny it!" the flames of fury swiftly engulfed her.
"Shit!" Ranko cursed, recognizing that he had to strike now, quench the flames, and then try to straighten things out. As quick as the realization, his hand snapped out, aimed for the center of Akane's chest. Unfortunately, Akane shifted her weight and flinched at that moment, causing Ranko's hand to land squarely on her right breast.
"Oh, no…" he muttered, in that instant of realizing what he'd done.
Akane growled in hate, "God DAMMIT! You just CAN'T keep your HANDS to YOURSELF!" The words she stressed were emphasized as she jerked back, cocked her right fist, slapped her left hand across Ranko's cheek with a sharp crack, and then stepped in to deliver a brutal roundhouse to the other side of his jaw. Ranko flew sideways off the path, over the lip of the ravine concealed by bushes, and headlong down into the creek below.
As he splashed into the water, Ranko was still stunned at the unexpected sensation of soft, warm flesh occurring where his hand should have encountered the solidity of her breastbone. The shock of cold water helped restore normal thinking. 'I guess that would screw up the technique…' she thought miserably. "Akane's a jinx!" she hissed. The insufferable tomboy had clobbered all three of the triplets now, and still they had not gained a millimeter in driving any sense into her stubborn, reactionary skull. Scrambling to her feet, and up the steep bank of the creek, Ranko burst back onto the path. "Akane!" she called out, whipping her head around to spot the raven-haired girl.
"You too late," an amazon pronounced. "Man-girl just defeat Ranma and run off again."
"Uh, yeah… I kinda know that already!" Ranko rubbed her jaw. "Dammit!"
"You tell Ranma, better hurry up and give kiss. Be bad she accidentally attack Ranko in boy form," another amazon added, just as Ranko was opening her mouth.
"Maybe you tell Akane, kiss of marriage much better than kiss of death. She be more careful, yes?" the first counseled soberly.
"Maybe she stop resisting Ranma when try to kiss."
As they walked off, Ranko remained standing with her mouth open. She had been that close to explaining that this fight had not been with Ranma at all. "What was I thinking!?" she wailed softly. Frowning in thought, she searched her mind to see if Akane had been officially declared an ally of the tribe. Coming up with nothing, she realized why the tribe members were so quick to endorse the "man-girl" view of Akane. An outsider GIRL would have to be insane to cut loose like that on an amazon, even if "she" was only an honorary woman. With a stricken look, Ranko realized something truly horrible. "Oh, God. Ranma can't EVER be defeated by a girl! ShitshitshitshitSHIT!"
Suddenly, it was more important to find Ranma than Akane.
"I'll deal with you later, Tomboy," she promised, resuming her original search.
Ranma was not hard to find, having made his way back from the fields by the time Ranko was crossing the center of the village. Literally running into each other, the two picked each other up, and Ranko dragged an unresisting Ranma off to lunch. On the way, she carefully pointed out to Ranma the danger of allowing himself to be defeated by an outsider girl. His typical aversion to fighting girls was fine, if it kept him out of fights, but IN a fight, he could no longer afford to drop his guard. Fighting girls was much preferable to having to kill them.
"We have to get these stupid laws changed!" Ranma declared.
"Hey, I agree with you," Ranko insisted animatedly. "That's been my plan since Cologne cornered us into accepting our 'heritage'. But, it's not going to happen quickly, so we have to be careful until we can do something."
"I still say we should have resisted becoming amazons," Ranma complained.
"I wish we could have. But what's the choice? They don't ever back down. One on one, MAYBE the elders can take us on and win. With the three of us working together, I doubt any of the amazons could beat us. But short of killing them, we can't really beat them for good," Ranko paused at the mouth of an ally, gesturing for Ranma to block the entrance while she pulled off her shirt, slipped back into her halter and adjusted her clothes. Having gotten used to the support, she quickly became too uncomfortable walking around in girl form without a bra of some sort. Not surprisingly, the thought next to "bra" was labeled "pervert". She frowned and shook her head. "Speaking of bras… I mean… killing, what are we going to do the next time we see the old letch?" she inquired, stepping out of the ally and resuming their walk to the Matriarch's House.
"If there was anyone who deserved it…" Ranma grit his teeth. With a shake of his head, "I'm not gonna go all Ryouga about it, but I did vow to kill Happosai for exposing everything to Mom. I don't think Fa Shen would even hesitate. She was not holding back in that fight any. He only got the drop on us with the compact 'cuz we thought she DID kill him."
Ranko chuckled, "That was some quick thinkin' on Nabiki and Kasumi's part, though, wasn't it?"
"Heh. Nice to see Akane's cooking was good for somethin' at least," he grinned evilly. He sobered up quickly, remembering that it was the same cooking that had resurrected a bit of the old ultra-violence. "I'm gonna have to kick myself for thinkin' it was a good thing she was back to 'normal'. Maybe you should lock yourself as a girl until we get this mess with Akane cleared up. I don't like the idea that you'd be forced to give her the kiss of death if she got caught beating you up by mistake."
"What about Fa Shen's plan?" Ranko reminded him.
"I dunno. It doesn't look like we really mastered the curses yet. I suppose we could just switch back and she could fight Akane in this one, since it won't change accidentally with water," Ranma shrugged. With a sigh of exasperation, he added, "Of course, we have to get the damn compact back from Akane if we wanna try that. I guess we'll have to work on getting that back by tonight."
"And have Fa Shen pose as you just to beat Akane up?" Ranko got wide eyed.
Ranma studied her. "If you could stay a guy right now, would you be able to do it?"
Ranko rubbed her knuckles, "Heh. She's askin' for a real fight, that's for sure."
"But could you… you know. Do you think you could bring yourself to knock her out?"
Ranko shook her head sadly. "I don't know if I could do that to Ryouga anymore."
"And they say you always hurt the one you love…" Ranma mused.
"Like we haven't? Beating people up isn't the only way to hurt them, Ranma."
"I wish Akane believed that," Ranma pouted.
Ranko grimaced, shoving her hands into her pockets. They continued in silence, until they were almost at the house. "We can't have Akane going around sayin' stuff like she did to Ukyo. What if that gets back to Mom? We kinda gave her the idea that it was just the one time, and it would never happen again. You know she wants us to be like brothers and sisters, an' havin' sex together is definitely going to upset her. I don't think it'll matter to her that there's more to it than that."
"HER kids can't do anything disgraceful…" Ranma rephrased it. "Do you think…?"
"Oh yeah," Ranko did not even need to hear the question. "There's no more seppuku contract, but that don't mean we won't have to gut ourselves or slit our throats if we 'dishonor' the family."
"Kinda makes you think maybe we don't need the circuit that badly, huh?"
"The problem is, we don't know that. I'd hate to need it and not know how to use it."
"Another no win situation."
"I'll say this," Ranko turned to him, stopping at the gate to the Matriarch's yard. "Once you and Fa Shen are back in your own bodies, we are NOT using it again where any one can find us. We'll save it for training trips, and once we've got it mastered, we'll only use it if we HAVE to."
"Agreed," Ranma nodded sternly.
Entering the house, they were greeted by Ryouga, "About time, you two. Fa Shen finished cooking about fifteen minutes ago, but she wouldn't serve anything until you got here." With that, she grabbed them and tried to drag them into a closet.
"Come on, Pork-butt, the dining room is this way," Ranma grabbed her by the shoulder and reoriented her. The look of surprise when she stiffened and became immovable was precious.
Ryouga turned around and declared, prodding Ranma in the chest with a stiff, rock-hardened finger, "Do. Not. Call. Me. THAT! I am sick and tired of the pig references, and I am NOT going to take any comments about my anatomy! Got it!"
"Hey, man. You know I don't mean nothin' by that, an' I DO turn into a girl too, remember?" Ranma held up his hands defensively.
"Not at the moment," Ryouga reminded her old rival. With some regret, she remembered that the best part of being Ranma's boyfriend for a night was that all the animosity between them had been dispelled. Even after Ranma discovered he was the genuine son, and things began to fall apart, Nodoka had reacted to the following revelations of Ranma's curse, original gender, and intimacy with Ryouga, by forcing Ranma to choose between Ryouga and Akane. Ranma had come very close to giving up manhood altogether for Ryouga. Then Ranko somehow took back the part of her that had made Ranma want that. The change had been much harder on Ryouga, who had tempted fate by proclaiming she would get a girl curse out of love for Ranma. The whims of fate had made her live up to that promise, but instead of Ranma, Ryouga's only hope had been with Ranko. By rejecting onna-Ryouga's advances for Ranko's sake, Ranma had all but resurrected their rivalry. Instead of Akane, Ranko was the potential focus, and what Ryouga had overheard about Ranma's alleged interest in her had put her on edge.
Sensing that there was something really bothering Ryouga, Ranko asked, "What's got you so upset, Ryou-chan?"
Ryouga turned to her, "While you were getting Ranma, I had a little talk with Fa Shen. She says there's something you all have to explain to me, after hearing what Akane's been saying about you." Fa Shen heard their voices in the hall and called them to the table, so Ryouga paused while she was led into the correct room by Ranko. As they were all getting seated, she continued, "Fa Shen told me to ask you what happened when you cured Ranko, Ranma."
Ranma gulped and looked at the former drowned girl. "Are you sure about this, Fa Shen?"
"It's time we started telling people," Fa Shen nodded, gesturing between them. "I'd prefer to just explain it to Akane, but she won't listen to us. Now we have to tell Ryouga…"
"And Ukyo," Ranko interrupted, quickly sketching her confrontation with the chef.
"…fine, and Ukyo, now," Fa Shen rephrased with a sigh. "We'll have to get to her next, however. Unless you want to skip lunch and go looking for her?" she offered her siblings. As expected, they clutched their bowls defensively, looking pained at the suggestion of forgoing food. "Right. So, it all started when Ranma and I got together that first time to heal Ranko…"
"First time?" Ryouga interrupted, in a strained, suspicious voice.
"The first time, Po… p-p-pass the serving tray, please," Ranma whipped around to stare at Ranko, desperately avoiding a reflexive "Pork-butt" comment. Coughing and clearing his throat, as he took the tray from Ranko's hands, he continued. "Ryouga, do you remember how Ranko was healed almost instantly with just that 'one time'?"
Ryouga nodded, with eyes narrow. "But, it wasn't just one time. Why?"
"Well, there's something we didn't tell anyone… The part that explains why we sorta have to keep doing it from time to time," Ranma tried to put it more reasonably.
Ryouga's eyes widened, and she turned to Ranko in alarm, "Don't tell me the cure wasn't permanent!? Do you mean, they have to keep having sex to keep you alive?"
The trio stared at the lost girl in surprise. For a moment, they imagined what they would have done, if they had discovered such a thing was necessary. Ranma and Fa Shen turned to Ranko, looking at her and wondering what it would be like if her survival was dependant on that. With a shake of her head, Ranko ignored them and informed, "No. The cure worked fine. There was just a side effect."
"What do you mean?" Ryouga frowned over her relief.
"For one thing, when Fa Shen and I have sex, it forces us to switch bodies," Ranma began.
"And, it also creates a kind of circuit that draws raw ki from our soul," Ranko added.
"Huh?" Ryouga blinked.
Very carefully, over the next hour, the triplets explained everything they had learned about the strange legacy of the Mirror of Broken Souls. Once they were sure Ryouga understood the mechanics, and their reasons for the second and third unions, they tentatively proceeded to explain where things had gone wrong. "I don't know what she tracked me down for," Ranko commented, after a quick sip of tea. "To keep from accidentally hurting her, I had to bottle all that chi up. I can only hold so much of it before it starts to burn me, so I tried to signal to Ranma and Fa Shen to stop. I didn't want to be fighting for control of the power an' dealing with Akane at the same time. They missed the signal, so I stripped off my shirt so some of the heat could dissipate, and that's when I dropped the compact."
"Akane snatched it up and dumped us out…" Ranma tacked on.
"…while we were still, er… busy," Fa Shen completed, blushing heavily.
"Why didn't you just explain it then…" Ryouga demanded in frustration.
"Well, Akane sorta blew up, and the sentries chasin' her were standin' right there practically," Ranko elaborated with frustrated gestures. "She's so mad at all of us that we can't get her to listen for two seconds. She even forgot she's not supposed to be bashing Ranma all over the place!"
Ryouga pursed her lips in thought, then dismissed everything to focus on the part she really wanted clarified, "So, fine. You did it to see if you could master the curses if they weren't reversed. That's what you were doing at the river, before I ran into Ranko."
"And it seemed to have worked at first, but only because…" Ranma cut off, recognizing that he was about to admit to having the hots for Ranko. "Ranko, do you want to tell him about what it was like with the copies?"
Ranko guessed what Ranma wanted her to explain. "I discovered that the reflections had a way of bringing out different sides of me. The girl copy brought out my boy side, and the boy copy brought out my girl side," she admitted. Turning to face Ryouga, she carefully described the feelings she had experienced with Copy-kun. "The first time I felt it, I still thought I was Ranma. I was convinced I was a guy. The second time, he snuck up on me in the bath, and as soon as he touched me it was like you and me and the koi rod. I… I just responded like I was a girl, completely. I was so scared, I tried to kill him."
"But, they're gone. What does this have to do with anything?" Ryouga wanted to know.
"Well, the three of us have the same sort of effect on each other," Ranko revealed.
"There's a physical side and a mental side. So, if we're both girls, Ranko brings out the guy in me more than I bring out the guy in her," Ranma confessed. He then proceeded to explain how that had caused him to overcome the lock in Fa Shen's body, to transform into a boy. "Fa Shen tested it with me, and I brought out the girl in her, and triggered her change. But it's not really control."
"I heard Fa Shen saying she was still stuck as a girl, to Ranko, when Akane was accusing you of wanting to sleep with Ranko," Ryouga reminded them. Uneasily, she asked, "Where did Akane get the idea that you want that?"
Ranma sighed, "Well, I actually SAID something like that. Wait! Lemme explain!" Ryouga stopped just short of strangling Ranma, only then realizing she had moved to attack. Subsiding, she nodded for Ranma to continue, "What we were talking about is how Ranko feels everything we do in the circuit, so it's not like she isn't already involved, and how we had no idea what would happen if she was actually HAVING sex with one or both of us. We don't know what would happen, and I was pointing out that the only way to find out was…"
"To have sex with Ranko," Ryouga sagged in depression. With a heavy sigh, she announced, "I don't know what to think. I mean, yeah, I can understand you wanting to know how this thing works, but to have to… It makes me want to… Bweee! Snort!"
The triplets jumped up as Ryouga seemed to vanish, while her clothes collapsed in on themselves. Coming around the table, they found the little girl-pig struggling to crawl out of her clothes.
"Man! Talk about depressing!" Ranma quipped.
Ranko picked up the clothes and her fiancé, and slipped into the bath. Once Ryouga was changed back, and dressed, Ranko led her back into the dining area. As usual, the activation of her pig curse had a very sobering effect on Ryouga, forcing her to bottle her emotions away, for fear of falling into a depressive loop. While she collected her wits, the other three cleared the table and rinsed the dishes. When they returned to their seats, Ryouga was ready with a new question.
"Obviously, this isn't casual sex. You wouldn't risk it unless you wanted to trade bodies. I can see why you thought doing that would make it easier to master your curses, but," she reached her point, "Why do you really want to master your curses? I mean, come on, Ranma. I know it was Ranko the whole time, but because she thought she was you, she hated her curse and tried everything to get rid of it. When you came back in a hundred-percent-girl body, you couldn't wait to get a guy curse, and you even had it locked. For all intents and purposes, you and Fa Shen are normal. Why would you even want to be able to change sex?"
"I know, I know," Ranma bowed his head. "I don't have Ranko's excuse. She really is as much a boy as she is a girl. A blending of me and Fa Shen."
"Well…" Ranko demurred.
"Yeah, you've been more of a girl in your own mind, but I'm betting that's mostly because you're still sorting out all of Fa Shen's memories," Ranma waved her objection off. "That's your weak side, so you're concentrating on it, but, what do you think you'll be once you have both of our lives sorted out?"
"Er… both," she replied lamely.
"Right, so, you need the curse, and you need to master it." Ranko nodded, and Ranma turned back to Ryouga, "Now me, I'm just a guy who's lived in a girl's body sometimes. That never really bothered me… er, I mean, that's not a problem as much as dealin' with people like my dad, who think girls are worthless. Ranko can tell you, that's what I hated about bein' a girl. The rest of it was just hating the curse and having no control of my life because of it."
"So, what, are you saying you actually liked being a girl?" Ryouga looked perplexed.
"Ryouga, I can't really admit that," Ranma looked around nervously, before lowering his voice and stating carefully, "but it is true. I didn't know how true it was until I had sex with you."
Ryouga blushed uncomfortably.
"I know we sorta agreed not to talk about it, but there it is. You made me realize that I had somethin' there I did not wanna give up. There are other advantages to being able to turn into a girl, but what it boils down to is the fact that there's a part of me that only works as a girl," Ranma cleared his throat and crossed his arms, "Of course, there's one more thing."
"I am sure I've heard enough," Ryouga frowned.
Ranma shook his head and looked unhappily at Ranko. With a sigh, he proclaimed, "I don't think I have a chance with Akane without the curse."
"Huh?"
"Think about it, Ryouga, in Akane's mind, Ranma is this guy who turns into a girl. As much as she acts like that offends her, the first time she met me—through Ranko, and again as myself—I was a girl. She's told me again and again, that the curse didn't affect anything, but really, she accepted that the curse was part of who I am. Without it, she can barely tolerate me," Ranma murmured unhappily.
"You don't really believe that, do you?" Ryouga jeered.
"I dunno. You remember how she was when she found out you'd slept with me, Ryouga," Ranma reminded her. "Well, finding out you were P-Chan at the same time kinda made her snap, but she let go of Ranko and started gunning for me. She turned herself into a boy, thinkin' that would win me. We were getting along okay on the trip. She was freaked out about things, 'cuz she was a boy at the time, an' I was the girl. Still, that's the best we've ever gotten along. Then I got my curse and locked it, becoming a boy full time. Next thing you know, she's treating me like a punching bag again."
"It can't be just because you're a boy, Ranma," Ryouga argued.
"I don't think it's me, Ryouga. I think it's her! She was ready to make bacon outta you when you were a boy. But, you turn into a girl, and suddenly she's forgiving you and plotting to sleep with you to 'practice' being a boy for me!" Ranma snapped. That made Ryouga blink. She remembered very well how Akane had strong armed her into that.
"But…"
"But what, Ryouga? She's always had a problem with boys. Either because she was treated like one growing up, or because they were all after her because she turned out to be a girl…"
"Cute girl," Ranko interrupted, glaring at her sibling.
"But what you are saying," Ryouga pushed on, "is that you wanna be a girl for Akane?"
Ranma laughed, "It sounds crazy, doesn't it?"
"Well, yeah!"
Ranma shrugged, "Well, it's your fault, Ryouga."
"What the hell do you mean by that?"
"I mean, you did it first. I got the idea from you."
"Huh?"
"Why did you offer to be a girl for me, Ryouga?"
"'Cuz I thought that's what you wanted, needed, from me!"
"Yeah. Exactly."
Ryouga stared at him. Standing up and leaning over, "But! Are you insane! When Ukyo and Akane talk about doing that for you, you… all of you, flip out!"
Ranma deflated. Looking up at Ryouga, he sighed, "I know, that makes me a hypocrite. What can I do? I'm already messed up, I've already been through hell with this, and I can't go back to what I was. I really don't want either of them making the same mistakes, going through the same hell, as me. And it never ends. I thought I was doing this for Akane, but…"
"Doing it only hurt her," Ranko stated in a small voice.