Just A Little Time Chapter 3 Ranma's Conundrum, 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 3 - Ranma's Conundrum

Sixteen year old Ranma Saotome chewed a tiny mouthful of food suspiciously. He'd taken three nibbles and none of it was affecting him the way he expected. 'That's weird... I ain't dead... Maybe it's delayed,' Ranma thought. He only reluctantly started eating it when the others around the low table continued eating without any apparent concern. His old man (in his panda form) was packing it away as if there wasn't anything to worry about.

Ranma glanced down to his left. The little girl who claimed to be Akane's older sister was eating hungrily. 'Wish I knew what Akane and Nabiki got in mind.' His stomach growled. Ranma sighed a little and started eating at a more normal pace. 'It's gonna kill me either way I suppose.' The pigtailed martial artist sent a glance towards the two fathers. 'Even they're in on it.' That thought didn't comfort him. 'Damn! If Pop's in on it, it must've something to do with me getting married!' Certainly, the two men had tried numerous sundry plans in the past to get the two betrothed teens to wed. 'But why would Akane go along with it?' She usually hated their fathers' intervention as much as he did.

The one factor that completely didn't add up was the little girl. Little "Nabiki" had taken to martial arts training with enthusiasm although her patience and stamina were what Ranma had expected of a child so young. She seemed happy enough though. Nevertheless, he had found that practicing and actually teaching were two completely different things.

'They got to spring their plan soon. That kid's got to go home sometime.' That he was sure of. The little girl suddenly jumped to her feet and ran from the room. This jarred him out of his musing.

"Where'd Nabiki go?" a new female voice questioned. Ranma's head snapped around to find Kasumi standing in the doorway. The eldest Tendo daughter was not wearing her usual dress and apron. If Ranma didn't know any better, he'd say she'd just returned from a job.

'Aw man!' Ranma whined silently, 'Even Kasumi's in on it!' His life was truly hell.

Ranma decided that since the kid was temporarily out of the picture, he'd take the plunge. "Okay, Akane," he questioned, "What's going on?"

"What?" she replied, chopsticks poised halfway to her mouth.

"What kinda scheme have you and Nabiki hatched up this time? I ain't got no money." The others were regarding him strangely now. He turned to his father. "This has got to do with me 'n' Akane gettin' married, ain't it Pop?"

"Oh happy day!" Soun wailed, tears again pouring freely from him. Genma gave his son a puzzled look but continued to eat. Akane just sneered.

"Oh my. Whatever do you mean, Ranma?" Kasumi asked him.

The martial artist opened his mouth to respond but stopped just as Nabiki came back into the room looking a little annoyed. 'Stupid body!' she whined to herself.

"Nabiki," Akane suggested, "You should hurry and finish up if you want dessert."

"Ranma said I couldn't have no dessert," Nabiki replied but looked hopefully towards him.

"That's it!" Ranma declared, "This is gettin' way too weird. I'm outta here."

The little girl blinked and watched Ranma sprint across the lawn and leap over the backyard wall before disappearing from sight. 'What's eating him?'

# # # # #

Ranma walked along the fence-top about a block away from the Tendo Dojo. He wasn't sure where he should go. Things were too creepy to return to the dojo so soon. He'd decided to wait until he was reasonably sure the little girl was sent home. Unfortunately, that might take hours. 'And what if she spends the night?'

The growling of his stomach dictated his next stop. It needed food. Maybe he could bum a meal off of Ukyo or Shampoo. 'To heck with them,' he thought. 'This day's way too screwy.' Deciding not to ponder matters further until after he'd eaten, he headed for Ukyo's restaurant to have some of her okonomiyaki. 'Don't need the old ghoul after me again.'

# # # # #

Somewhere else in Nerima, something stirred. It was also hungry and it felt a possible source approaching. A jogger was nearing the turn along the canal at a brisk pace. She was wearing a designer sweatshirt, shorts, and running shoes. The woman trotted along distracted by her recent break up with her boyfriend. Therefore, she didn't see the danger ahead as a translucent tentacle snaked out of the water.

'You aren't going to get away!' the creature thought as it let others snake out. 'Yes, my pretty, come a little closer... That's right, just a little closer...'

With great speed, the tentacles wrapped themselves about the jogger's legs and held on. She yelled and struggled to get away but the creature didn't let go. The woman grew younger rapidly regressing from her late twenties to her teens and then childhood. She was awash in her now massive jogging outfit.

Just as suddenly though, the creature withdrew; there was someone coming. It couldn't risk detection. The jogger's oversized clothing and tennis shoes glowed shrinking to fit her much smaller body. A Disney® sweatshirt and shorts now adorned a confused little girl.

The glow ceased as a man in his early thirties arrived, a scowl on his face. "There you are," he announced to the former woman who was sitting on the ground trying to figure out why she looked about seven.

"What?" she asked and found herself looking up into the face of her ex-boyfriend.

"Honestly, Fumiko... Where on earth were you going?" Still perplexed, the new little girl just sat there and stared up at the man not understanding her anger with him earlier that day. "Come on," he said and lifted her up, "Let's go home." A small part of her mind protested but the vast majority liked the idea. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

# # # # #

Ukyo Kounji looked up from the grill behind her restaurant counter and spied Ranma in the doorway. "Ranma-honey!" she sang happily. "What's up?"

"Akane's cooking."

The restaurateur smiled. "Can't be that bad. You're still walking."

"Yeah..." Ranma admitted, "That's the weird part." He didn't notice the odd look that his childhood friend gave him. "And there's something going on with Nabiki."

She decided not to comment but instead set about whipping up something Ranma was bound to enjoy. She hadn't expected her fiancé to show up and this was definitely a pleasant surprise. As she cooked, she observed Ranma. Even in this strange mood, he was attractive. The fact that he had come to her made him practically glow in her eyes. The brunette sighed mentally. 'If only Ranma would clue in.'

Ukyo, as with all of Ranma's fiancée's, hadn't yet grasped, or didn't wish to grasp, the fact that Ranma had only two real ambitions in life: Become the greatest martial artist in Japan and of greatest importance, get rid of his Jusenkyo curse. A romance or marriage would not further either goal. Not that he would want to dismiss their affections completely. There were plenty of fringe benefits for him like free meals and his reputation as a "man's man". Moreover, he had varying degrees of "like" for each of the beautiful young women chasing his heart. He just wasn't interested in admitting it to himself let alone anybody else.

As the silence continued, Ukyo decided to try and lift Ranma's mood. "Ranma-honey, you wanna tell me what happened?" When she presented him with his favorite variety of okonomiyaki, he smiled.

"Thanks!" he said then wolfed it down in a matter of seconds. As she set about making another one, Ranma shrugged and then explained, "Well, it all started with me coming home from school..." He related his day, not bothering to mention the attack or his transformation into a little kid. It was a one-time aberration and there was no sense in giving Ukyo ammunition that could conceivably come back to haunt him. He proceeded next to the martial arts workout with the little girl they introduced as Nabiki.

"Nabiki's a cute kid."

Ranma snorted. "I wouldn't say Nabiki was cute... or a kid."

"Oh, Ranma-honey, she really has cheesed you off, hasn't she?" Ukyo commented, "You usually aren't this grumpy with her."

"What worries me is the fact that Akane, our fathers, and even Kasumi's in on it." The chef blinked, started to open her mouth to ask what scheme he was talking about, and then closed it again. Ranma devoured his second helping as he had done the first. "Hey Ukyo! This ain't bad."

"How you can taste it..." Ukyo wondered but started cooking a third.

# # # # #

Soun Tendo looked up from the shogi board as a shadow passed over it. He smiled when he saw it was Nabiki. "Your Uncle Genma is winning."

"He's cheatin'!" Nabiki commented, noticing that the panda was moving pieces around while her father wasn't looking.

"No, I don't!" Genma-panda's sign protested.

Nabiki gave the sign a quizzical look and then at her father. "Uncle Genma doesn't do what?" she asked.

"He means he doesn't cheat." The five year old gave her best impression of a snort, which sent her father into laughter. Genma glowered.

He flipped the sign over. "I'm an innocent panda!" it declared.

"I can't read that, Daddy," Nabiki grumbled, not recognizing its Kanji components. 'Darn! I should be able to though.' When Soun told her what it said, his youngest daughter replied, "Nope!" This just made him snicker.

Stepping carefully, Nabiki settled herself onto her father's lap and tilted her head back to grin up at him. He smiled and gave her a hug. "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Is there any monsters?"

"Monsters?" Genma asked holding up another sign.

"No Nabiki."

"But..." Nabiki thought for a moment and then grinned to herself. "Yuki said that somebody gots made inta a baby."

"And she said there was a monster?" The child nodded. "I think," Soun remarked, "She was just trying to scare you." Her father didn't sound pleased about that. "You know if there was a monster, your daddy and Uncle Genma would go out and fight it for you."

Despite how dubious this sounded to Nabiki, it made her feel safe. Squirming away from her father, she went in search of Kasumi. Maybe her big sister knew what was bothering Ranma.

# # # # #

She had just found Kasumi in the living room when Akane also came in. "There you are," Akane declared, "What were you up to, Nabiki?"

"Nothin'," the youngster answered innocently.

"Is that so? Well, it's time for your bath."

"I had one yesterday."

"Yes, but you were working out with Ranma," Akane countered.

"Akane," Kasumi interjected tiredly, "Do you have to give her a bath now?" When both girls regarded their sister, she explained, "I was going to have a nice long soak."

"In that case, Kasumi," Akane suggested, "You can take Nabiki with you."

"Yeah!" Nabiki quickly agreed. 'This'll give me a good opportunity to talk with Kasumi.'

"But Akane..."

"Well, you'll just have to wait."

"Fine..." Kasumi sighed. "Come on, squirt."

'Squirt?' the little girl thought but followed her eldest sister.

# # # # #

A short time later, Nabiki squirmed a little bit in the furo, which was like a small swimming pool to her now. She had an incessant desire to splash about and burn off some of this newfound energy, but she couldn't. Kasumi was in it with her. The little girl had been looking forward to bathing - it was fun, and she had thought her sister would want to play. She had been wrong. Kasumi said she was exhausted and had insisted that Nabiki sit still, a difficult proposition for any five year old.

Instead, she reminisced about the change in her eldest sister. She and her sisters had gone to bathhouses and hot springs many times over the years but Kasumi hadn't been this dull. To five year old Nabiki though, she was dull beyond belief. The nineteen year old maiden just sat there like a lump with her eyes closed.

As Nabiki sat in the warm water, she decided she would have preferred her father to watch over her, or even Akane. This Kasumi was no nonsense, i.e. Nabiki hadn't been allowed to dawdle in her washing before entering the furo. It was definitely not the leisurely bathing experience she was accustomed to as a teen.

She tried to think of her day. Nothing she or her regressed friends had discovered so far brought them any closer to returning back to normal. In addition, everyone she had spoken to who knew her remembered her as five and not seventeen. Of course, she could hardly walk away for five minutes without some grownup sticking their nose in her business.

The world was a lot bigger to her. Things, which Nabiki could practically do in her sleep before, were beyond her. She remembered doing them but the knowledge seemed just out of reach. The approval and comfort of her family and Ranma now gave her great solace. A sound from outside caused her to lose her train of thought. A common event since her unwanted transformation.

"Kasumi, do you think Ranma's mad at me?" the child asked. He was acting rather odd and this seemed like a safe topic of conversation to break the silence.

Her older sister opened her eyes and stared at her for a moment before smiling slightly. "No... I think something else is bothering Ranma."

"Um..." the little girl replied. 'This ain't no fun!' "Can I get out now, please Kasumi?"

"Sure." If she didn't know any better, she would have thought her sister's tone sounded almost grateful. Kasumi got out, helped the younger girl out, and wrapped a large towel around her. Then she instructed, "Go find Akane, and she'll help you get changed into your pajamas." She then climbed back in.

The little girl blinked, shrugged mentally, and left the bathroom. Kasumi was acting weirder than Ranma. Then again, she discovered that her elder sister now had to work a full-time job outside the house. She wished she could help out her family like she had before. Nanami was mean for taking her money.

Akane, when Nabiki found her, sighed and then shook her head. "Honestly." The now middle Tendo daughter muttered. "Want me to read you a story after we get you dressed?" she inquired.

"I want Ranma to," Nabiki answered.

Akane smoothed out her sister's hair. "He's gone out, Nabiki. Besides, I don't mind reading to you."

The little girl considered then offered, "Akane, can I read to you instead?" Her now older sister smiled at her and nodded. "Neat!" Nabiki squeaked and ran for the stairs, her towel falling off in the process. "I'll get the book!"

"Nabiki Tendo!" Akane called out and hurried off after the youngster.

# # # # #

Ranma stopped in his narration as his daughters snickered. He glanced at Soun who just grinned at him. Akane shifted their youngest to a more comfortable position then said, "You know things get more interesting." The girls just giggled again as Ranma took up the story.

# # # # #

When Ranma got home from Ukyo's restaurant, he expected a yelling match with Akane to ensue. It usually happened that way. It was therefore a surprise to him when she only frowned and wondered, "So, where did you go?"

"Ukyo's."

The frown deepened. "All this time?"

"I wasn't there THAT long, Akane."

She made a disapproving noise then requested, "Well, Ranma, please go check in on Nabiki for me. I'm sure she's stayed up just to say goodnight."

He blinked. He was about to open his mouth to comment that it wasn't necessary then decided against it. Maybe this was the climax of Akane and Nabiki's scheme. He was both curious and terrified of what it could be.

Things were really weird today. As he headed for the stairs, he pondered Ukyo's reaction to him. His time there only caused him to become more perplexed. 'Ukyo acted surprised when I told her about Akane's cooking.' The spatula-wielding martial artist had thought Ranma was being paranoid when he mentioned a possible plot against him between Nabiki and Akane. 'Why didn't she believe me?' He sighed and walked down the hall towards Nabiki's room.

The pigtailed martial artist couldn't help but be anxious. Nabiki's schemes were always to her advantage. They usually caused him great embarrassment and more often than not, a loss of money. Still, she usually didn't involve others in them. There was no escaping that she'd dragged Akane and their fathers into it and that was troublesome. How big was the conspiracy? 'Maybe even Ukyo's in on it.' He shook that off.

When he noticed Nabiki's door, it puzzled him. It was open and there was a soft glow. Creeping forward, he was surprised by the change the room had undergone. The teenage décor he remembered from the few times he had seen it was gone. This was most assuredly a little girl's room. Therefore, he wasn't surprised to see the youngster everybody was claiming was Nabiki lying in bed. Her tiny form was lit by the glow of a nightlight, an arm wrapped around a stuffed toy panda.

"Uh... Nabiki?" He tapped on the door prepared to see the seventeen year schemer leap into view. That didn't happen. The little girl stirred, not what Ranma wanted. 'What's everybody up to?' Nabiki had to be around somewhere. "Nabiki!" he hissed in a softer voice. Instead, the little girl turned and peered at the doorway with a frown.

She gave Ranma a sleepy look. It was only when her brain realized who it was that she smiled. Pushing out of bed, Nabiki padded over to Ranma and stretched up her arms for a hug. The pigtailed teen just looked down at her with confusion.

When a scowl crossed his face, the youngster let her arms fall. She felt unhappy that Ranma was mad at her. She gave him an unhappy look. She shouldn't care what he felt but she did. 'The kid must be named Nabiki too. Ain't her fault she's stuck in this.' Ranma's face smoothed out and he bent down. "Hey, don't cry or nothin'," he remarked. "Akane said you were in bed."

"I was," Nabiki replied. "I waited up for you, Ranma." At least, she had tried but ten minutes after hitting the pillow, she had fallen asleep. Ranma blinked and then shook his head but he wasn't looking so serious. Deciding to take advantage of Ranma's position, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thanks for lettin' me workout with ya." The little girl was happy when his arms came around and hugged her gingerly. She wiggled, snuggling her head under his chin, and closed her eyes.

Carefully Ranma straightened. He wasn't sure what this scheme was, or why the kid was here, or what had happened to Nabiki's room. Happily, at least she didn't have Nabiki's mercenary personality. Moments later as Ranma was wondering what to do with the obviously sleeping child he was holding, Akane appeared.

She smiled but sighed. "Honestly, Ranma," she berated him softly. "I wish you had waited to go to Ukyo's until after Nabiki was put to bed."

"Um..." Ranma said, her statement puzzled him.

"She was disappointed that you weren't around to read her a story."

Ranma regarded Akane and for some reason suddenly found himself thinking, she looked cute. He shook that off and peered down at the small figure in his arms. "Akane?"

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

The raven-haired girl blinked and gave Ranma a funny look. "Are you okay, Ranma? You've been acting weird all day." Before he could answer, she requested, "Go put Nabiki back in bed. She has school tomorrow."

"Me?" Ranma asked and then decided to provoke a reaction, "Aren't you the one who says I'm a pervert?"

Akane went pink and looked away. "Jeez, that only happened the one time," she huffed remembering the time she had walked into the bathroom and found Ranma there in boy form instead of girl form as she had expected. "It was my fault anyways." She looked at Ranma and continued, "You know Dad wouldn't let you near us if he thought you were a danger. Even Happosai, the master of perversion, is harmless around kids." She gave him a soft smile.

'Damn!' Ranma thought when Akane smiled, she looked even cuter. 'I'm in big trouble.'

"'Sides, you'd be the last person to hurt Nabiki. You're always looking out for me... I mean her." Akane's cheeks flushed again and she turned away.

Finding this situation quite atypical of his usual fair, Ranma avoided making a snide remark about Akane always needing rescuing. Instead, he admitted, "Well... You are kinda cute." Hoping she couldn't recover quickly from such an unexpected remark, Ranma moved into Nabiki's remade room and settled the little girl back into bed. He mentally patted himself on the back for avoiding the trap for yet another day.

# # # # #

The next morning, Nabiki Tendo balanced drowsily on the toilet grumbling about the size of her internal organs as her equally small feet dangled above the floor. Giving a massive yawn, she sleepily finished up, washed her hands, and padded out of the hallway. She paused and listened. It sounded like Kasumi, or maybe it was Akane, was in the kitchen. She couldn't be sure anymore in this mixed up reality. The little girl decided to head back upstairs.

'Maybe I can crawl in with Ranma,' Nabiki mused. "That'd be one way of getting warm," she giggled softly. 'I don't like him like a boyfriend or nothing,' she told herself although she wasn't stupid enough to deny she had developed affection for this Ranma.

Nabiki had given little thought to this. Had she misjudged Ranma somewhat? It was hard to compare since this world's Ranma was so different from hers. 'But how do I get back?' There was the problem of seeking help. 'If I tell Akane or Ranma, they'll think I'm nuts!' So would any other grownup she knew for that matter. She sighed, pushed the thoughts of leaving away, and stopped outside of Ranma's room. She was about to slide the door open when there came a shouting of voices.

Startled, Nabiki jumped back, only just avoiding being trampled, as Ranma raced from the room. Genma quickly followed. "Come back here, boy!" Genma bellowed.

"Stupid panda!" Nabiki grumbled towards the vanishing figure of Genma then raced after the father and son martial artists. As she ran down the stairs and through the hallway, and into their backyard where the koi pond was, she heard the sounds of early morning battle.

The five year old arrived just in time to see Ranma punt his father into the backyard wall. "Give it up, old man!" Ranma taunted from a safe distance. "You're gettin' too old for this!"

"Is that the best you can do, boy?" Genma growled as he leapt to his feet.

The "battle" playing out before her made the usually reserved Nabiki giddy with excitement. She bounced around the engawa acting as a one-person cheering section. Her high-pitched shouts mixed easily with the battle cries of the two combatants. All this noise roused the rest of the house and soon Nabiki found herself being held firmly by Akane who was still dressed in her pajamas.

"If you're that energetic, Nabiki," Akane instructed, "Let's go get you dressed for school."

"No!" Nabiki protested, "I wanna see who wins!" Ranma had already bested his father twice more.

"Nabiki..." Akane began but then she stopped as Genma lunged. "Not again..." The teen sighed. This time, the pigtailed youth couldn't avoid his father's attack so was flung headfirst into the pond. There was a spectacular splash. Genma got soaked and changed. As Nabiki watched, her eyes grew wide.

"Not again!" wailed a red-haired little girl. Ranma looked down at his now very small frame. 'I'm little... I thought it was a one shot thing.' Then fear took hold of him - his father wasn't above attacking him in female form and this smaller version would be even more at a disadvantage. She scrambled up, slipped, and fell face first into the water.

Genma-panda gave a sad sigh and shook his furry head. Nabiki managed to read the sign that the panda held up, simply, "Sorry." Sadly, the transformed father waddled towards the house. Ranma stood up fuming and bewildered. She scrambled out of the pond only to stand on the grass in an overly large and very damp shirt, which stretched down to his feet. Her pants and boxers remained in the pond where they had fallen off her five year old body.

Nabiki, not one for swearing at any time, voiced her shock in a much-unexpected way, "Holy shit!" Little Ranma just plopped down onto the grass and burst into tears.

End of Chapter 3

Coming next in Chapter 4 - New Friends