Just A Little Time Chapter 2 Nabiki's Walk through Wonderland, a ranma fanfic

Just a Little Time
By Douglas Helm and "Tuxedo" Will Wolfshohl
Continuing a Ranma ½ story kernel by Dark Oni

Those characters that are original and the story "Just a Little Time" are copyrighted ©2003-2004 ShoujoFiction dot com domain by Douglas Helm and Will Wolfshohl. Original kernel copyrighted ©1998 by Dark Oni.

This story and dozens of our other stories reside at ShoujoFiction dot com . Comments are welcomed.

Chapter 2 - Nabiki's Walk through Wonderland

Five year old Nabiki Tendo lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling. She was doing this on purpose. That way, she wouldn't have to look at the shadows of her changed room. The room was not completely dark though. A new feature, a nightlight, burned dimly in a wall socket near the door causing Nabiki a great amount of irritation.

Yet another confirmation of her change in status was that her regular nightgown had been exchanged for a set of bunny-footed pajamas. Not that her wardrobe as she knew it existed anymore. It along with the rest the trappings of her former age had disappeared. Still, this was something Nabiki detested. Normally, no one could accuse her of being into "cute" although her sister Akane had always held the title of tomboy of the Tendo family. Now, she was definitely cute. How could anyone take her seriously? At least her "play clothes" didn't look too bad. She'd been put in a pair of jean overalls and a green T-shirt after her bath.

Her bath earlier that night also had not been as bad as she had feared. Then too, Ranma did not watch her as he was initially requested. Due to her complaints, Soun assumed the job instead. It was still embarrassing to have her father monitor her in the furo but she understood the reasons. The furo seemed much bigger and she'd slipped just a bit once or twice while climbing in and out of it. Her father had lifted her out of it after her stumble and wrapped her in a huge towel. The former teen briefly wondered if Akane or Kasumi would take baths with her as they had done when they all were little.

'Nearly blew my cover with supper though,' Nabiki remembered then rolled over and sighed. A stuffed panda lay beside her. Despite her deep desire to throw the thing across the room, she just could not bring herself to do so. This brought her to a major revelation. 'Akane can cook... not up to Kasumi's standards but she can cook!'

# # # # #

"Hey! Mommy cooks good stuff!" Ranma's second youngest interrupted.

"Yes, honey, your mother makes very good 'stuff'."

"Not back then," Mrs. Akane Saotome confirmed, "I was hopeless. I tasted some of it." The aged martial artist made a sour face. How Ranma had managed to survive some of her earlier forays into cooking, she didn't know. She realized he must have loved her very much back then even to try it.

"True but you learned and now you're quite the chef, Akane-honey," Ranma complimented. "Now..."

# # # # #

Nabiki let her eyes slide shut, not wishing to fight the sleepiness that threatened to overcome her. She hated the thought of being sent to bed so early. Nevertheless, that didn't even come close to the mortification she felt when Ranma came in a few minutes later to read her a bedtime story.

'I didn't even know the dumb jock could read,' the middle Tendo daughter mused. 'Wonder what's happening with Yuri and Maki?' She had wanted to check in with her two regressed friends but Kasumi had firmly told her that she could not phone them so late. Whatever it was, she could tell her "little friends" tomorrow at school. A scathing comment at that point got her sent to a corner for a short time. Akane wanted to send her immediately to bed but Kasumi talked the teen out of it.

Not everything had changed though. Nabiki had always been an observant person and noted that Akane and Ranma still fought about silly things that they really shouldn't have fought about. In a way, this was reassuring. Genma seemed to be acting normally as well as her father who was as doting as ever. It was disconcerting to the former teen to think that she was attached to Ranma in some emotional way. 'You'd think I look up to him like my big brother or something,' Nabiki thought sourly. All the signs supported that conjecture though. A final yawn cut off any further thoughts. She squirmed a bit, gave a gusty sigh, and slipped into slumber well before her normal bedtime.

That morning, Nabiki slowly woke up. Everything was fuzzy. She had the sense that someone had called her name. She frowned slightly without opening her eyes. Maybe the whole ordeal had been a dream. She sure wasn't going to tell anyone about it. "Nabiki," the voice came again.

The ex-middle Tendo daughter shifted slightly and then froze. She was snuggled up against something warm and firm. "Come on, Nabiki." This time the little girl identified the voice - it was Kasumi. She cracked open an eyelid and stared sleepily up at her huge big sister. "Let's get you up. You don't want to wake Ranma."

Nabiki stiffened. 'Darn it! It wasn't a dream!' She pondered how best to handle this situation. Ranma would be cranky but given how he'd likely react, and her small frame, she might get seriously hurt. Not to mention that if Akane found her like this, she was dead. Ranma might have qualms about hitting girls but Akane didn't. She decided not to move.

Observing no signs of movement, Kasumi gently lifted the five year old up and gave her a strong hug. Nabiki hugged the young woman back as they left Ranma's room. Looking back as she was carried, she could see Ranma and Genma in his panda form sleeping undisturbed. "Nabiki," Kasumi declared in a mildly chiding tone, "You should really try to stay in your own bed." When Nabiki didn't protest this, Kasumi smiled, patted her thigh, and put her down. "Why don't you use the potty and then we'll get you dressed."

"'Kay!" Nabiki chirped. Her body was demanding the facilities.

# # # # #

Nabiki was sent to "play" quietly before breakfast. The young girl didn't care for that idea but couldn't do anything about it. What she wanted to do was call her friends but she never got the chance.

She was dressed in a kindergarten uniform with a nametag なびき (Kanji characters) sewn to the blouse pocket. It had taken her a few moments to figure out that it said "Nabiki" but she was glad she could read it. Now that she thought about it, the others had similar nametags on their uniforms the day before.

Breakfast that morning was good although Nabiki was still feeling somewhat groggy. She had never been a morning person and at that moment, she really didn't have the desire to maintain her usual rigorous schedule.

'Then again,' Nabiki thought, 'I don't want to go to ELEMENTARY school.' Instead of finishing up her breakfast, she dawdled over it until Akane snapped at her. 'Boy, she's really getting an attitude.'

"Come on, Akane, leave the kid alone," Ranma mumbled around mouthfuls of food, "You'd be cranky too if you got pulled out of a nice warm bed." The young martial artist shot his father a dirty look.

"Well, I was rousted by you two yelling!" Akane hissed to the pigtailed teen. It was a good thing Nabiki went to school earlier than either Ranma or she did or they'd have to find somebody else to take her. She turned to her little sister and said, "Ranma needs to get you to school soon... So finish your breakfast NOW, young lady!"

'OKAY!' Nabiki thought with a flare of anger, 'That's it!' Her sister could take that sort of tone with Ranma but it wasn't going to fly with her. Twisting her hand, she chucked the remainder of her bowl of rice at Akane.

"NA-BI-KI?" Ranma asked in surprise.

"Oh my," Kasumi sighed.

Akane nodded, got up from her place, and walked around to where Nabiki was sitting and lifted the little girl up into a standing position. "Hey!" Nabiki squawked but her "big" sister didn't pay any attention. Instead, Akane lifted the back of Nabiki's school uniform skirt and delivered two firm swats to the small bottom. After a moment of pure shock, Nabiki started to cry.

"Now, Nabiki," Akane demanded, "You are going to clean up that rice." Nabiki's response was to plop down onto the floor and cry. She missed the exasperated look that Akane sent Ranma. The gender-changing martial artist got up, a frown on his face, and moved to stand beside Nabiki.

"Nabiki," Ranma said in a stern tone. The crying almost instantly abated into sniffles. The child looked a long way up at Ranma with a concerned look. "You stand up right this instant, young lady! That is no way for a future martial artist to behave." Instincts, if nothing else, seemed to be working in Nabiki's favor and she got to her feet. "Now," Ranma continued in a softer yet still stern tone of voice, "We are going to get you washed up and then you are going to school."

"'Kay," little Nabiki squeaked out.

# # # # #

Ranma and Nabiki were walking a short distance from the Tendo Dojo when Ranma stopped and gave Nabiki a small frown. The youngster looked up at him in puzzlement. "That was very naughty of you, Nabiki," Ranma scolded. He squatted down to regard her. "No dessert tonight."

The child fought to stop herself from crying. Why should she care what he thought? Yet for some reason, she did. "Okay." Ranma smiled, a much-needed gesture in Nabiki's mind, and stood up again.

'Well...' Nabiki mused, 'At least, I don't have to walk to school with Akane.' She loved her sister but the youngest Tendo wasn't in a very good mood and said sister had a reputation for violence.

"You leave teasing Akane up to me, Nabsy-cakes," Ranma commented and gave her a large grin.

"But it's sooo fun!" Nabiki remarked and grinned back. 'And this solves the problem of finding the girls. Ranma will pick them up and take us to school. 'Who'da thunk the dumb jock could be so responsible?'

The young martial artist's behavior did puzzle her somewhat though. After all, he rarely had any interest outside of martial arts, food, and sleep. He and his father had mostly been leeches on their family and worse, their finances. This new Ranma still fought with Akane but seemed to be taking on more responsibilities.

The pair's first stop was Maki's house. Her friend bounded out and hugged Nabiki happily. She had to admit looked cute in her uniform complete with yellow cap and nametag.

"Nabiki! You won't believe..."

"Shhh..." Nabiki motioned and watched Ranma carefully. She took a moment to read Maki's own nametag, "まき (Kanji characters) Ma-ki."

"What?"

"That's what it says, Maki."

"I know that!" Maki huffed, looking at Nabiki as if her now diminutive friend had lost her mind. After the trio had started walking again, Maki complained, "It was awful!"

"What?"

"Bedtime and my bath! And..." The little girl trailed off and shook her head violently. "It was just bad."

"Could be worse," Nabiki commented softly.

"Huh?" her friend asked.

"You could be wearing a diaper."

"Urk!"

Despite her best intentions, Nabiki found that she didn't have an interest in talking about their situation, at least in any way that would get things resolved and back to normal. Things kept distracting them. Yuriko's house came into view. Nabiki suspected her other friend was looking outside waiting for them because the little girl literally burst from the house. Then she rushed down the sidewalk and took refuge behind her two friends.

"Yuriko!" Nanami shouted with exasperation, "You forgot your lunch!"

"Give it here. I'll take it," Ranma volunteered.

"You're way too nice to them, Ranma," Nanami snipped with annoyance as she handed the lunch box to him. The twelve year old did envy her little sister a bit having such a hunk walk her to school.

"Well, you were like that once, ya know." Nanami scowled then walked back to her house. Nabiki noticed that Yuriko was looking hopeful. Ranma was most likely an ally and that was a good thing.

"ゆりこ(Kanji characters) Yu-ri-ko!" Nabiki said, again sounding out the individual Hiragana characters on the nametag. She felt relief and proud that she could still read. Yuriko gave her a puzzled look. "That's what it says!" Nabiki beamed pointing at her friend's nametag.

"Oh..." the little girl replied a bit embarrassed, "I wasn't sure. Knew it said 'riko though."

"Come on," Ranma interrupted, "We don't wanna be late."

"So?" Maki prompted Yuriko as they walked.

"Bad..." Yuriko replied with a nervous look making sure Ranma didn't overhear her. "Really, REALLY, bad."

"Oh come on," Nabiki said dismissively.

"Mommy freaked out 'bout my dirty uniform," Yuriko stated grimly.

"You girls'll just havta be more careful next time is all." This shocked all three girls. Each one hoped that they didn't look guilty; they certainly felt it.

The rest of the trip to school was uneventful, except for the minor detail that Nabiki yet again took off after a stray cat. She got about fifty feet before Ranma's voice stopped her short. His scolding was rather stern but she got to ride atop his shoulders. 'Now this is THE way to travel!' Nabiki thought and allowed herself to giggle in delight.

# # # # #

Nabiki's plans to compare notes with the others after Ranma left were quickly dashed. Their teacher came out and herded all three of them into the same classroom a few moments after they arrived. They prepared to be bored stiff with kindergarten work but that was not to be the case. Despite being juniors in high school the previous day, they were finding the curriculum oddly challenging. Nabiki wasn't having as much trouble as Maki or Yuriko but she did make a few mistakes.

'I wish they wouldn't stare!' Nabiki huffed to herself, 'So I screwed up!' Coloring inside the lines was harder than it looked. Maki and Yuriko were looking at her as if she'd lost her mind. The other kids didn't seem to find it so unusual. 'At least I'm not bored.'

Their first chance to talk was at recess. Nabiki hustled them into a corner of the schoolyard taking a few toys with them as cover. Nabiki usually held her cards close to her chest but she was experiencing some feelings of anxiety and needed an outlet. "I ticked Akane off good."

"How?" Maki asked then followed up, "And ain't that a little dangerous?"

"Oh yeah," Nabiki replied, "I found it out the hard way." She proceeded to tell them what had transpired since she had left them the day before. "I was gonna call you guys but Kasumi wouldn't let me."

Yuriko said softly, "Guess I don't feel so bad now."

"Huh?" Nabiki and Maki questioned.

"Well, you know when I said Mom-my freaked out?"

"Oh..." Maki said knowingly.

"What?" Nabiki prodded. She wasn't getting it. Thankfully, Maki saved her friend from the embarrassment of having to explain by whispering in Nabiki's ear. "Urk!"

"So what now?" Yuriko wondered.

"Well," the former middle-Tendo daughter offered after some thought, "We're the only ones that know anything's changed. I say we inves... check out where we gots changed."

"What?" Maki exclaimed. Her friends hushed her and looked around nervously. "Are you nuts?"

"Who else is gonna do it?" The other two shrugged. "So we'll do it at lunchtime. They should let us out to play. We'll sneak out and have a look around. We'll make it there quick 'n' be back 'fore anybody misses us."

"I don't know," Yuriko interjected

"If I havta, I'll go by myself," Nabiki stated confidently, although she wasn't feeling it.

"No," Maki declared, "Either we all go or nobody goes."

"Oh yeah?" Nabiki asked. She wasn't used to having Maki standing up to her.

"Yeah," Maki said firmly. Before further discussion could take place, a couple of girls wandered over. Soon after that, recess ended and it was back to lessons.

# # # # #

Yuriko looked nervously about while chewing on the tip of her thumb. It was all she could do to stop from putting it fully into her mouth. "Would you quit bein' such a baby, Yuri?" Maki demanded. She was irritated that they were out here searching for clues but finding absolutely nothing.

"Can't we go?" the little girl asked her friend around her thumb.

"Lunch is almost over. Guys, I don't wanna get inta trouble," Maki complained.

Nabiki sighed, kicked a pebble in disgust, and turned to regard her two friends. "Yeah, there's nothing here."

"Can we go?" Yuriko pleaded, "This place gives me the creeps."

"Oh please!" Maki scoffed.

"Yuriko's right, Maki," Nabiki countered. 'And the last thing I need is for us to be spotted out here.' They were already pressing their luck. "Let's get back to school."

Unbeknownst to the three youngsters, they had already been spotted although it would be some time before the news would come back to haunt them. It would take Ryouga Hibiki several days to find the Tendo Dojo so he could report it to Akane.

The three kindergarteners made it back to school with only a minute to spare. Their teacher didn't even ask them where they had been, which was fortunate. Nabiki doubted she could have lied well enough to avoid trouble.

The afternoon passed quickly and all three girls became engrossed in the lessons that they were having. Nabiki had to admit the math lesson was fun. It was a refreshing change, at least that's how she saw it.

When Yuriko's "big" sister arrived as expected to walk them home after school, Nabiki promised herself that she was not going to lose her temper with Akane again. She didn't want to provoke her sixteen year old sister. She also hated to admit it but Ranma was right - what she had done wasn't very nice.

# # # # #

Ranma Saotome ran along the top of the fence. 'Oh man, I'm gonna be late!' Akane was going to be miffed at him and Nabiki too. 'I promised her yesterday that she could workout with me.' It likely wouldn't happen now and Nabiki would be mad at him. A promise was a promise and Ranma tried to keep promises.

"Ah Fluffy!"

"Fluffy?" Ranma questioned as he stopped dead and turned to look around.

"Look out, mister!" came the call of a girl. Quickly locating her voice, he saw a girl about nine years old. Ranma also saw the sleek, grey-furred form of a cat racing towards him.

"C-C-CAT!" he shouted and leapt away in an attempt to get away from the scary creature. As the sixteen year old fell towards the water of the canal, the cat raced down the street with the little girl in hot pursuit.

"Stupid cat!" Ranma now in girl form shouted when she surfaced. Swimming towards the shore, she climbed out, gracefully leapt over the fence, and started wringing out the bottom of her sopping wet shirt now tightly stretched over her substantial female endowments. 'So... how do I apologize to Akane? Why do I have to apologize to Akane?' When nothing came to mind, she shrugged. If she had set her mind to apologize to Akane, she would.

As the female Ranma continued to mull things over, she didn't notice the almost clear tentacle reaching out for her. The light blue appendage gently wrapped itself around Ranma's ankle without eliciting a response. Suddenly, Ranma felt very strange. Her body was tingling and she had a falling sensation in her stomach. She closed her eyes and placed a hand on her forehead, rubbing it. "What's going on here?" she whispered to herself but immediately, she noticed something was wrong. The ever-squeaky tone of her female voice seemed to have somehow become... higher? She felt something else as well. Her shirt no longer felt so tight. Opening her eyes and shirt, Ranma confirmed her suspicions. Her breasts had gotten smaller and were continuing to shrink. Also, the ground seemed even closer than it normally did in her girl form. Ranma's mind raced with the possibilities. Had she fallen into another cursed spring? Had one of her enemies cast a spell on her? As she contemplated what might have happened, her breasts flattened completely against her chest, their former positions marked only by two small bumps. Her shirt now hung loosely on her. Her pants and boxers fell from her shrinking hips piling on the ground. She could see that her suddenly revealed legs were no longer firm, full, or sexy. They were skinny, like a child's, and they were getting even smaller.

Ranma started to feel angry. It was bad enough being stuck in a girl's body but it was even worse to be made out to be a little kid! She'd show whoever did this to him. Then he realized where his pants were.

"Eek!" the redhead exclaimed and bent down to gather up the fallen clothing. It was one thing to show one's chest. It was quite another to have one's lower portions exposed to the world. When faced with a situation you can't immediately beat up, it was time to deploy the "Final Attack" of the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, i.e. run away. She'd find some hot water, figure out what the heck was going on, and then "he'd" make them (whoever them was) pay dearly!

The little redhead felt something snap off her ankle as she jumped back up to the top of the fence she'd fallen from earlier. It took some effort, which was quite atypical for such an elementary jump to a martial artist. Ranma started to crouch but checked it as she felt her balance slipping. She didn't see anything. 'Darn it!' Here she was stuck in a kid's body and she had the feeling that she was late for something. 'Why is my life so complicated?' Ranma wondered as she started to move down the fence-top. By way of answering, it started to rain.

# # # # #

Bubbles rose up in an angry stream from the depths of the canal while a sore tentacle retracted under the fence and into the water. The creature was still hungry. It needed energy. 'And when I have that energy, I will devour every living... No, that was last time I was awake. It's also not very cute,' the entity thought for a moment, 'Oh! I know. I'm so hungry, I can't even remember what I was going to do the next time I woke up!' It was not going to show mercy to its next target.

# # # # #

Ranma soon discovered that running down the fence was nearly impossible and even walking on it was a chore. After the third time she nearly fell off, the pigtailed girl gave up. She trudged home along the street. During the ordeal, an elbow got scraped as well as a patch of skin on her palm, both which stung. The little girl sniffled as she walked then shook her head.

'I better not be crying!' She was thankful that no one had seen her. 'What kind of martial arts is this? Martial Arts Body Swapping?' Eventually, he arrived home at the Tendo Dojo. Picking up his pace, the young martial artist ran forward and opened the door. "I'm home!" Her squeaky voice made her wince.

"You're late! You stay right there, Ranma!" came the shout of Akane.

'Oh man! She seems mad!' A huge Akane soon appeared in the hallway carrying a teakettle and a towel. "Sorry, Akane, but look what happened to me. I was on my way home and a c-c-ca-thing came racing by. I fell into the canal."

"And I keep telling you not to run on the fence near the water." Akane cooed, "Are you ready to change back, honey?"

'Honey?' "If I can change back," Ranma grumbled unhappily, "Ain't like this is normal or nothing." He didn't see the puzzled look Akane gave him as she lifted the kettle up to pour the hot water over the little redhead.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that Nabiki apologized to me."

"Gaah!" Ranma exclaimed as she got water in her mouth. The water was just hot enough to trigger the transformation. Much to his great relief, he felt his muscles bulking out. He felt his legs and arms growing. His chest broadened but remained flat. Akane didn't look so intimidating; in fact, Ranma quickly passed her in height. "Hey! I'm back to normal!" He completely filled out the clothes he had been holding on to for dear life only a moment ago.

"Well, of course you are, Ranma," Akane confirmed. "Now I have GOT to start dinner. I've put Nabiki in the dojo. She's waiting for you."

"You're cooking?" Ranma asked. He had a sinking feeling. He was sure the gods had it in for him today.

"Yeah... Kasumi won't be home until later. Now get to the dojo. Nabiki's waiting for you." Ranma's form slumped.

'My life is hell.' Akane cooking and Nabiki waiting for him. Why couldn't he just become a great martial artist, open up his own dojo, and have a pack of kids? The martial artist blinked. "Where the heck did that last part come from?" Shaking his head, Ranma made his way toward the dojo. He noted with interest that his father and Mr. Tendo weren't quivering in fear at the prospect of eating Akane's cooking. 'Poor bastards likely don't know she's cooking.'

As he walked, he checked his wallet. He only had about 2000 yen. The teen hoped it was enough to satisfy Nabiki's latest blackmail scheme or whatever it was she wanted to see him about. Maybe she had taken a photograph of him as a little girl. It would not bode well to have that be shown around town. He'd never live it down.

When Ranma got to the entrance of the dojo, he paused in bewilderment. Nabiki was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a girl perhaps five or six years old standing inside wearing a standard gi. Her pageboy haircut was familiar but he didn't recognize her from the back. "Hey..." he started but didn't get any further because the little girl quickly turned.

"I've been waitin' FOREVER!" little Nabiki Tendo whined. She gave Ranma an annoyed look.

The pigtailed martial artist just stood there and blinked. The face of the child was definitely that of Nabiki or rather, Nabiki's younger twin. Even the voice was similar. 'Where'd they find a kid that looks like Nabiki?' He paused giving the child a weak smile. 'What are Nabiki and Akane up to?' They'd obviously told this kid who he was. But why? He looked around the dojo again and didn't see the seventeen year old Tendo sister anywhere or anyone else for that matter.

When Ranma didn't make any sort of reply, Nabiki asked softly, "You ain't mad at me, are ya Ranma?" When again he didn't respond, she decided to pull out all the stops. Her new cute little body had to be good for something. Running over, she flung her small arms around Ranma's legs and hugged him. "Promise you ain't mad?"

"Um... Y-yeah," Ranma muttered. 'What are those two up to?' "So um... Akane said you wanted to workout."

"You bet," Nabiki declared. At first, she hadn't liked the idea but the chance to watch Ranma was always appealing and she had extra energy to work off. So, why fight it? Besides, why should Akane have all the fun? Maybe she had been missing something all this time. Still, she was going to do this her way. "But I want a hug first."

"You're kidding, right?" Ranma asked. The little kid gave him a hurt look then stretched her arms upwards. The last thing Ranma wanted to do was hurt the kid's feelings so he bent down and lifted her into a hug. Nabiki squirmed for a moment so she could hug Ranma back and giggled. 'This is just way too weird!' Ranma thought.

End of Chapter 2

Coming next in Chapter 3 - Ranma's Conundrum