Chapter 5: Siblings

Ranma froze in place, her mind currently overwhelmed by the unexpected recognition she received from Akane, to say nothing of the warm and soft embrace the girl was now giving her. The good news was she hadn't passed out from the contact like a certain fanged idiot would.

"So, um, you really remember me, huh?," Ranma said tentatively.

Akane pulled back slightly and gave a gentle smile, her hands on the redhead's shoulders. "Of course I do, silly. Did you really think I would ever forget my little sister?"

Nope, nevermind. That did it.

X

"So how long do we have to wait?"

"Don't worry. It'll be soon."

"I hope so. Where did you even get this stuff anyway?"

"Found it in Daddy's old things. I guess he just grabbed a bunch of it without looking."

"Oh, right. That whole thing. Oh, I really hope this works.

"Me too. One last fun thing for us."

"Hey, come on. Nabiki's not going to actually kill us."

"No, I mean…Momma's gonna be taking me away soon."

"What? Why?"

"Momma said she found a special place for me to learn some cool stuff. She really wants to do the training trip better than Daddy did."

"Oh. Makes sense I guess."

"Yeah…"

"So…how long will you be gone?"

"Don't know. I hope it's not longer than Daddy's training. Really hope it doesn't end the same, too."

"Oh…but…you're coming back, right?"

"Well, duh. What would I do without an annoying tomboy that's always taking my manga before I can read it."

"Oh sure, and how will I ever survive without a dumb jerk who's always borrowing my clothes without asking."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"Hey, I'm gonna miss ya, Big Sister."

"Me too, Little…um…Sister, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Right. I'll miss you too, Little Sister."

"Hey, you know what, don't worry. No matter what happens, we'll always be sisters forever."

"Yeah, sisters forever."

"..."

"..."

"Sounds like it's showtime."

"Oh, wow. That scream was huge!"

"See? I told ya it'd work."

"ALRIGHT, WHERE ARE YOU BRATS?!"

"Pft."

"Hey, quiet. She'll find us."

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'LL-"

"Oh my, Nabiki. Green is certainly a very bold color for you. I'm not quite sure Mother would approve though."

"Where are they, Kasumi?"

"Who? Akane and Ranma?"

"Who else is going to put hair dye in my shampoo bottle?"

"Oh. Well I do recall seeing them going up stairs."

"Thank you, Kasumi. Oh, you two are going to get it now. DON'T THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME!"

"Oh dear, such a mess. Now…what do you two have to say for yourselves?"

"...Ranma did it."

"Hey!"

"Now, Akane, are you really going to claim you had no hand in this?"

"Well…"

"I had really hoped you would know better. What will Mother think when she finds out?"

"Sorry, Sis."

"And Ranma. With everything your mother has gone through, do you really want to cause her additional stress now?"

"Right. Sorry, Kas. But you thought it was funny, too. Didn't ya?"

"Oh, I could never admit to such a thing. Now, I'll be going upstairs to have a little chat with Nabiki. You two should go and take some time to think about your actions. Hmm, I do believe the park in Tomobiki is rather nice this time of year."

"..."

"..."

"Race you!"

"What? Hey, wait up. No fair getting a head start 'Kane!"

X

Ranma opened her eyes and blinked as she slowly came to, staring up into the sky. Vaguely, she could make out a voice calling out to her.

"Little Sister, are you alright?"

She stiffened slightly, before recognizing the voice as coming from Konatsu. Turning her head slightly, she could see the ninja girl looking down at her with concern, along with Nabiki who just looked bemused. She smiled and settled back, enjoying the comforting warmth of-

Wait.

It quickly occurred to Ranma that her head was currently nestled in someone's lap, and it didn't take her very long to realize who that person must have been.

"Eep!"

With an audible pop, she found herself back on her feet several meters away, clutching her chest and breathing heavily.

"Okay, you are definitely going to be teaching me that move, Saotome," Nabiki said with a grin.

"I'm afraid that we must respectfully decline that request, Miss Nabiki," Konatsu said with a regretful expression on her face. "What Miss Ranma just performed is based upon my family technique, so it should really remain within my family."

"Hey now, Kochan, babe. We're basically family already. I mean, Akane is my sister, Ranma is Akane's sister, and you are Ranma's sister. See, it's the transitive property, so it's perfectly fine to show me all your amazing ninja secrets."

"Y-you mean I have even more sisters now?" Konatsu asked with a wonderment that quickly turned to confusion. "Wait, Mother never said anything about having more children. So how is Miss Akane…?"

"Technically, Ranma and I are spiritual sisters," Akane responded while standing up and brushing off her skirt. "I'm not really sure that qualifies for secret family techniques. This is really something we should be discussing at home though." She then turned and gave a determined stare at Ranma. "You are coming to visit. Right?"

"Oh, sure. That should be no problem," Ranma said with a nervous laugh. "Ain't that right, Big Sis…uh, Konatsu?"

"Oh, yes. Mother said that she would be working late tonight, so we should have more than enough time. Can I really visit your home, Miss Nabiki?"

"Hey, if you show me more of that ninja stuff, you can visit anytime, Kochan."

The four started to make their way to the Tendo home, Nabiki and Konatsu in the front while Ranma lagged slightly behind along with Akane. As they reached an intersection near the high school, Nabiki looked around with an annoyed expression. "Really, Kasumi didn't even wait for us?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Akane responded. "Kasumi said she was setting up a special meeting with her team after school today."

"Her team?" Ranma asked.

"Yup, the basketball team. They just missed making it to nationals last year, and Big Sis took it rather personally, so now she's really pushing the team to make it all the way this time. Honestly, she really should have been captain back then too, even if she was a first year."

"Oh wow, I never woulda pegged Kasumi for…" Ranma paused as this math managed to be simple enough for even her to do. "Wait, she's in second year of high school now?"

"Well yeah. She has a February birthday, remember? Really, her being the youngest on the team last year just makes it all the more impressive."

"More tiresome if you ask me," Nabiki said. "Oh, I should probably apologize in advance. When Kasumi gets home, she'll definitely try to rope you both into scrimmage practice with her as well."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad," Akane said. She then smiled and gave a wink to Ranma. "Besides, with me and my little sister teaming up, we should do just fine. Right, Sis?"

"Yeah, sure. I guess," Ranma mumbled while looking down.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Akane leaned in and whispered, "So, what's bugging you? It's not the basketball thing, is it?"

"No, it's not that. It's…um…it's nothin'," Ranma mumbled while looking away.

"Hey, now. You can tell me, Little Sis."

Ranma stayed silent and tried her best to suppress her wince, but her ninja stealth failed her this time.

"What? What do…oh!" Akane said with a start. "Oh, I almost completely forgot about that. I'm sorry." After a moment, a small giggle escaped from the short haired brunette's lips which then grew into a full grown laugh.

Ranma looked over in confusion at the reaction.

Akane gave a little smirk over to her. "Oh, you know. Just thinking about a boy that went through a whole school day wearing a girl's uniform." On seeing Ranma's wide eyed stare, she continued. "Hey, come on. You have to admit that's at least a little bit…um…" She trailed off and stopped in her tracks as she looked forward.

Stopping as well and following Akane's eyeline, she saw the other two looking back at the girl. Konatsu seemed even more worried than usual, and as for Nabiki. Well, Ranma could remember from her previous life times when the middle Tendo sister was upset, but she'd always display it behind a calm appearance. This, however, was the first time she'd ever seen the girl pissed off.

"Akane, Sister dear," Nabiki said, her calm voice contrasting with the look in her eyes. "I know you weren't referring to anyone here just now, right?"

"Uh, I…" Akane glanced over to Ranma, who couldn't really do anything but remain confused. "N-no, of course not."

"Good, and we're certainly not going to make jokes like that, especially when anyone currently present can hear it. Don't you agree?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely."

"Good, as long as we're all in agreement then. Let's go, Kochan." Nabiki then spun on her heels and continued on, Konatsu following close behind.

Akane stood in silence until the two rounded a corner and were out of sight. She then sent a glare over to Ranma. "Thanks a lot for the help there."

"Huh?"

"You could have mentioned I was just teasing you."

"Um, you were?"

"Well, yeah. I saw that look when I called you 'little sister', so I guess that's not exactly correct. I was trying to relieve the tension a little, but then Nabiki had to go and act weird about it."

The newly retrieved memories flashed through Ranma's mind again and the words Akane just said hurt her even more for some reason. "Um, but, didn't we promise to be sisters forever?"

Akane gave a reassuring smile back. "Oh, of course we are."

A wave of relief that Ranma also didn't quite understand washed over her. "Okay, good." She then started walking again, hoping to at least get to the Tendo house before any more surprise revelations could be sprung.

"Yeah," Akane continued while walking beside her, "it's just, I mean, it still feels strange to call you 'sister' when you're a boy. I…Ranma? Akane paused as she noticed the redhead currently faceplanted on the ground.

"W-what?!" Ranma managed to get out and she started to stand back up.

"Um, you are a boy right now, aren't you?" Akane asked with her head tilted in confusion.

"I…I…" Ranma quickly went through her regained memories of her current life, but, other than a few glimpses of red hair, she couldn't figure out her form in any of them. Although…it was pretty dark in that one memory, but…was that bit of hair in front of her face black? Seeing that Akane was still waiting for a response and feeling far too flustered to make something up, she decided to go with the only thing she could at the moment. Go with how she really felt. "I'm a girl, Akane."

"Oh. But, why did you get upset then?"

"I…well…" She recalled the excuse made to Konatsu the previous day as she, just like she had to do with pretty much everyone else, looked up at the other girl. "I just don't like being called little, okay?"

Akane stared back for a moment before breaking out into laughter, Ranma joining in shortly afterwards. Once they managed to both calm down, she put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Hey now. I'm sure you'll hit your big growth spurt in no time. Then I'll be able to refer to you as my really big little sister."

Ranma managed to give a smile despite her previous life letting her know exactly how 'tall' she'd get. "Yeah, thanks."

"Oh, and let me know whenever you are in 'guy mode' so I can make sure to call you 'brother' then."

Ranma's smile faltered as the memory of the previous night flooded back to her. "Um, about that…"

"What, you're not still trying to hide it are you? Oh no, is your mom still being all weird about the whole thing?"

"I…it's just…can we maybe talk about this when we get to your house?"