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Ranma stood in the center of the room, one hand held behind her back, presumably to hold closed the drafty gown she had pulled on. Her clothing was piled neatly on a corner of the desk. She was staring at the ground, her face red. She just prayed that no one commented on the panties that were sitting atop the pile or the bra folded beneath them. Her mother had bought them for her, having decided that Ranma was both her son and her daughter and that it was time her daughter started dressing appropriately. Of course, her mother's idea of what was appropriate were as skewed for her female side as they were for her male side.

She wanted her son to be a stud, running around with any girl who'd have him. She also wanted her daughter to have an active social life before selecting a life partner. She was prepared to accept that her daughter Ranma would likely would never have children of her own, as she felt that the girl might never come to appreciate the strength and grace of the male form. But she was dead certain that her son Ranma would and she was anxious for him to start bedding any of the willing girls who constantly threw themselves at him. It didn't matter to her that one of those girl's was his cousin and another his 'sister'. She just wanted him to start bedding any willing female. She wanted grandkids, damn it, but she didn't want them when she was too old to appreciate them.

In order to help her daughter with this goal, she started purchasing what she felt were proper female garments. And in her mind, that meant skimpy black lace and soft silky undergarments and sleepwear. She did the same for his male side, buying tight jockey shorts, wildly patterned briefs, thongs and g strings for him.

The results were that Ranma now had a closet full of feminine frills. Not even Akane had ever seen any of them, something Ranma was grateful for. But her secret was about to come out as she noticed her fiancee glance at the pile and look at her blankly before a lightbulb went off in her head. She hung her head further, refusing to look at the other girl.

Akane raised an eyebrow at the frilly panties, but refrained from saying anything. She quickly gathered that they had been a gift from Ranma's mother and briefly wondered what else the Saotome Matriarch had bought him if he was forced to wear such frilly and feminine undergarments. She shuddered at the thought, knowing how much Ranma hating wearing such girly things and if he had worn those, she did not want to know what else her future mother-in-law had purchased for him. A small voice wondered if Ranma could be persuaded to model them for her, but she ruthlessly crushed the voice. It was the wrong time to be thinking like the pervert she could now privately admit she was, even if she could only admit it to herself.

"Here's the water you wanted, Ranma." Dr. Yasamoto said, handing Ranma the two plastic cups.

Ranma took the cups and tested the temperature. He raised his head and dumped the hot water over it. His form grew quickly, loosing the soft feminine curves in favor of his hard masculine planes. His hair had darkened to black and his chest shrank. Muscles bulged on his limbs. The change took less than a second, but Yasamoto could tell that it wasn't a trick of some kind. She had really just seen a short redhaired girl transform into this handsome black haired boy. The gown was considerably shorter on his larger body, barely covering enough of him to remain modest. There was no doubt in her mind that the person she was looking at was male, even if the main evidence was still hidden.

"Wow. I've never seen anything like that. So this is your real form?" she asked.

Ranma grinned, causing her heart to give a flutter. She could certainly see why Ranma would attract so much attention from the female of the species. There was an almost palpable aura of confidence and strength radiating out from the young man, something most teens and many adults were lacking. If this was what he was like at 17, she'd look forward to seeing him at 25.

"Yup, it's the body I was born and raised in. At least until that idiot brought us to Jhusenkyo." Ranma dumped the cold water over his head, changing back to his female form. "This is what I got after taking a dip in the pool."

She shook her head. She'd known Tofu attracted the unusual, but this was odd even for him. "Let's finish this test than, I hear you have other's to get to." She motioned to the table behind the red head. "Hop up on there and will do the easy stuff first."

She spent the next little while running Ranma through the tests of a regular checkup. She checked his eyes and ears, took readings on his hearts rate, almost screaming as it slowed to a crawl. She threw the girl glare at that and Ranma cocked a grin before allowing her body to resume it's 'normal' functions. She had Ranma breath into the lung testing, surprised again when Ranma was able to keep the little ball float for three times the longest she had ever seen. She had to stop the breath retention test after five minutes, knowing that the girl had a lot to go through the rest of the day. She finished the easy tests by taking three blood samples for testing.

She put her instruments away and pulled out a pack of different equipment. Each piece was sealed in its own bag. "Now comes the embarrassing part. I'll need to ask some very annoying and humiliating questions while doing very odd and uncomfortable things to your most private places. I need you to place your knees in the saddle and your feet in the stirrups. I think it'd be best if you didn't try to see what I'm doing, given your background. You can look at Akane and answer my questions while I do what I need to. The good news is, I'm almost certain that I won't find any problems, but the bad news is, you'll have to set a regular appointment with Takeyosan. I'll send Tofu the results of all the tests and he can pass them on to you. You needn't worry about your privacy- they'll be sealed and he will never need to see them without your permission."

Ranma tried desperately to keep from screaming as the doctor began to poke and prod at his nether regions. Only Akane holding his hand kept him from running away. He kept his eyes on her face, his ears rushing with the blood pooling in his head due to his embarassment. The exam was every bit as humiliating and intrusive as he had heard. Akane was murmerring wordless little sounds to try and comfort him while the doctor peeked at the area between her legs. Ranma knew that after this, he'd never be able to deny being a girl again. To do so would be to lessen what was happening and as much as he'd rather forget the whole thing, it was being burned into his mind. He'd never again be able to think of a girl as weak, knowing as he now did the pains they had to go through in order to stay healthy.

Finally, he heard a snapping sound and risked a peek at the doctor to see her removing her gloves and tossing them into the trash bin behind her. It was filled with the tools and wrappings of what had been used during the exam and Ranma immediately looked away, gulping. "All done Doc?" he asked quietly.

The doctor smiled kindly at him. "For today, we are. I'll need to see you again, so you'll need to set up a meeting with Takyeo for about two months from now. After that, we'll arrange a regular appointment for you. Now, Akane and I will leave you alone to get dressed, and then Tofu can bring you next door for the rest of the tests. I will send the results of the tests I ran today to Tofu's office, but rest assured, they are confidential and he will not read them. Unless of course, you wish him to be made aware of the results?"

Ranma looked up at Akane who nodded gently, still holding her hand. "It might be best if he is told, since I probably wont understand and he'll be able to explain them to me."

Makoto laughed. "I'll make them as easy to understand as I can when I send them over, Ranma. But it's probably a good idea to have Tofu aware of the results. He'll be your normal doctor, and he needs to know about any problems that might come up."

Ranma's head twisted to look at her. "Problems? What kind of problems?"

"I'll give you some pamphlets about a few of the more serious problems." She raised an eyebrow as she took the two of them in. "I doubt you'll have to worry about getting pregnant, unless there's more to Akane than meets the eyes?"

The two teens stared at her, their eyes wide in shock. Strangely, she managed to catch a flick of longing on Akane's face mirrored on Ranma's. Perhaps, she thought to herself, Ranma's fear about becoming a girl are more than just his imagination. He almost seemed . . . intrigued when I mentioned the possibility of Akane also being cursed. "Anyway, we'll leave you to get dressed. When you're done at the hospital, you'll probably be hungry. There's some good restaurants around here. You should try Johnny's. The best burgers and western food in town."

"We'll think about it, Doc." Ranma stated, still feeling weird from the doctor's exam. "Can I get dressed now?"

Makato grinned. "Sure, Akane and I will just wait out in the reception with Tofu. You can put the gown in the hamper behind the door."

Ranma eagerly rolled out of the strange contraption and to her feet, grabbing the back of the gown to hold it closed until the pair left. She dressed as quickly as she could, trying her best to ignore the feel of the bra and panties. She kept her head down as she exitted the room, her face as red as her hair. The knowledge that Tofu knew what had just been done was nearly as embarrassing as the exam itself. She spared a quick glance at Akane, who smiled warmly and took her hand again. Ranma had to admit, while she would usually scoff at showing any weakness, especially in front of Akane, right now, she needed the comfort the more experienced girl was offering.

"Can we get out of here now?" Ranma asked, impatient to finish with these tests.

Tofu chuckled. "Excuse my young friend here, minna-san. He's new to all this." Tofu checked his watch and bowed. "However, we are on a tight schedule and we do need to leave if we wish to finish these tests today and not have to come again tomorrow."

Ranma and Akane bowed to the doctor and receptionist as Tofu slipped into his street shoes. They made their way over and slid into their own before a thought struck Ranma, who turned back to the desk.

"Didn't we need to make another appointment and stuff?" she asked.

The two older woman smiled and chuckled. Takeyo looked down at her book and asnwered. "Your fiancee set it up already, Ranmachan. She also has the pamphlets and information Yasamoto-sensei told you about."

Ranma turned to see and noticed that in her left hand, Akane was clutching several pamphlets and leaflets. "So when do I have to come back?"

Yasamoto replied. "Most woman usually come in two or three times a year, but in your case, I'd suggest at least four times a year. Maybe more. For now, we setup an appointment in two months, barring any changes in your situation."

Ranma shuddered as the thought of what some of those changes could mean. "So we'll see you in 2 months then? Thanks doc, obaasan. I know I ain't shown it, but I really appreciate your seeing me. Most doctors would of locked me up as a freak or something."

The group exchanged farewells and the three left the office. They exitted the building and walked around to a side entrance to the hospital. They could have gone through the connecting walkways, but that would put them in the maternity ward and Tofu didn't think Ranma was stable enough at the moment to handle that. So they walked around and entered near the long term care facility, taking the elevator to the Radiology labs were the full body xray machines, MRI's and CAT scans were handled.

As they rode the elevator, Ranma had stationed herself in front of Akane, ostensably to provide some protection from the mass of people getting in and out of the car, but in reality to provide an excuse for allowing Akane to place her arms around the smaller girl's waist. Akane also allowed her chin to rest on Ranma's head. They rode in silence, huddled together in the back with Tofu standing to their right.

They reached their floor and walked out, making their way to the reception desk to sign in.

Tofu smiled as he recognized the person behind the counter. "Konnichiwa, Oneilsan. How are you today?"

The man behind the counter looked up from his paperwork and smiled as he took them in. "Konnichiwa, Tofusan. I'm doing well. I'm surprised to see you, you're not on any of my lists for visitors or patients."

Tofu chuckled and motioned to Akane and Ranma who were looking around the brightly lit reception. It was surprisingly empty of people. "I'm only here to provide my support. Ranma here is going to be seeing Yosami-sensei for some tests."

Oneil looked down at the papers in front of him, rifling them to find the file he needed. he pulled it out of the stack and flipped through them. Confused he looked up at his former dormmate. "Tofu, it says here that Saotome Ranma is a male, age 17, here for a brainscan and full xrays. It also says that Saotome Ranma is a female, age 17, here for brainscans and full xrays." He nodded to Ranma and Akane who were still holding hands but had moved a little further away from each other. "Which one's the guy?"

Tofu nodded. "Actually, Saotome Ranma is one person, who is both male and female. The redhead is Ranma. The other girl is Tendo Akane, Ranma's fiancee."

Oneil studied the pair, who were blushing faintly. "Hermaphrodite?" he asked, knowing Tofu's reputation for unusual clients.

Tofu shook his head. "Nope, Aquatransexual."

Oneil looked startled. "What?"

"Ranma here was cursed whil on a training trip with his father. When he's splashed with cold water, he turns into the girl you see. When splashed with hot, he turns back to his normal self."

Oneil frowned. "That must be hard on the guy."

Ranma spoke up, having tired of just standing there. "It is. My pop's an idiot and he did a lot of stupid things in the name of training. Jhusenkyo, that's were we got cursed, is actually on of the milder screwups he's managed to do to my life."

"Actually, that's why were here. Akane and Ranma have noticed some behaviour differences when Ranma's in his cursed form and we're here to test a theory we have. We think there's a clot or bone chips pressing on part of Ranma's brain and that's what's causing his behavioural changes."

Oneil nodded. "That could make sense. We had a young man here last month who had a clot removed. Before the surgery, he was a paranoid delusional and selfabsorbed idiot. Since the surgery, I hear his IQ's gone up nearly 40 points and that he's almost rational. He's sent letters of apology to the people he harrassed and has even pledged to make public apologies to them as soon as he's out of here."

"Kuno was here?" Akane asked with a grin.

"Who?" Oneil asked, looking through his charts.

Ranma waved him off. "Nevermind, Oneilsan. Akane was making a joke. We know an idiot who's a lot like that. Name's Kuno Tatewaki. If it wasn't for all their money, the whole family would be in a nut farm."

Oneil shrugged. He wasn't going to argue with the girl. He'd heard things about Nerima that sounded like they came out of a bad Western telling of Asian stories. He'd never believed them, but if Tofu was here claiming the cute girl was really a guy, who was he to argue. He'd seen a lot of strange things since moving to Japan with his wife to be closer to her family. It had been a difficult transition since his wife was as Irish as leprechauns and her family were professors of mythology who had studied and worked in various European universities before deciding to adopt her and return to their home in Japan. Being the only white girl, with red hair and green eyes to boot, had been hard on her as she grew up. Despite the efforts of her family, she was always seen as something of an outsider. Especially since she somehow grew up with an Irish accent to her Japanese, which was very strange since she had never been back to Ireland since she was adopted only a few months after her birth.

"Yosami should be here in a minute or two. He was just finishing lunch and went down to drop some xrays off at processing for them to be sent out." Oneil stated. He again studied the chart detailing the tests that were scheduled. He looked at the red head with a grin. "Going through the gauntlet, I see. Two sets of full xrays, MRI's and Cat scans, and specialized testing for the skull and brain pan. That's going to take a while. The MRI's alone can take 45 minutes for a single pass."

Ranma groaned. She had known that the tests would take time, but this was too much. It would be hours before she'd get a chance to eat. Sighing, she put aside her hunger for the time being, resolving to simply eat more the next chance she had in order to make it up to her stomach.