Final Approach Ranma

by Trimatter

Thanks to a government project, Ranma gets engaged to someone new a very nice boy. A Ranma Futaba kun Change crossover fusion whatever with a touch of Final Approach thrown in. [Completed]

2. Chapter Two

I don't own any of these characters or situations. They belong to someone else. Also this is done purely for fun, not profit. Any resemblance to persons living, dead, yet to be born, or visiting from other dimensions is purely coincidental. I'm doing this for fun.

Constructive criticism is always welcome.

I would like to thank the following from FukuFics 'dot' com for their input an pre reading: WarGiver, Sunshine Temple, J. St. C. Patrick, Alathon, Phoenix, and Pale Wolf.

Note: In answer to a few inquiries about Final Approach. Final Approach is a anime where the government tries to head off the nation crisis of declining birth rates in Japan by arranging marriages on the national level. This, by-the-way, is an actual crisis in Japan now.

Boldly going where others had gone before and meekly going where few have been.

- / - / - / - / -
- / - / - / - / -

Final Approach Ranma

Chapter 2

A Ranma/Futaba-kun Change crossover/fusion/whatever with a touch of Final Approach thrown in.

- / - / - / - / -

Ranma and her mother stood outside the neat, two story house and waited patiently for the door to be answered. It was a short wait, far too short for Ranma, who fought the urge to bolt right there. Though the time between the ringing of the doorbell and the door swinging open was small, it felt like forever. When it did open it revealed a middle aged man.

"Please come in," a tall, light haired man said with a bow. His hair was neat and manicured as well as his mustache. He had broad shoulders and a presence that could not be ignored. "Welcome to our home."

"Thank you for having us," Ranma's mother said politely while entering and motioning for Ranma to follow. "I take it that the young man standing next to you is your son."

A young man with blond colored hair stood next to the father. He was dressed casually in a muscle shirt and black slacks. He bowed politely and addressed the guests. "I'm Futana Shimeru," the man introduce himself. "Futaba should be down in just a moment."

"Pleased to meet you," Nodoka said with a bow. Ranma remained silent as she also bowed.

Upon rising, Ranma took a moment to examine the young man. What she saw gave her the creeps. She found that Futana's eyes were carefully scrutinizing her. As if he were trying to... Ranma wasn't familiar with the phrase "undressing with your eyes", but she now understood the feeling.

"This one's a pervert," Ranma thought to herself. "Let him try anything and I'll show him."

"Please," the father said grandly as he lead the two woman deeper into the house, "come into the sitting room. Futana would you please get some tea for our guests?"

With a nod the young man disappeared into another part of the house. A few minutes later a dark-haired young woman appeared carrying a service of tea into the room.

"Thank you, Futana," Mr. Shimeru said as the woman placed the service on the low table.

Nodoka was engaging Mr. Shimeru in conversation, totally missing what Ranma had picked up on.

"Was there another Futana, a guy, here a minute ago?" Ranma inquired to the newcomer.

She smiled a pleasant smile, but her eyes were tracing along Ranma's figure in the same creepy way the man had. "Yes,' she explained. "That was my - cousin. He just stopped by for a quick visit and had to leave. We have the same name - kind of like a family tradition."

Ranma just nodded and took in her surroundings while shaking off the feeling that he'd have to watch out for this woman in the future.

Upstairs a young man sighed heavily, straightened his collar, and screwed up his courage and began to descend the stairs. Why did this have to happen to him? The only thing good that came out of the whole mess was the annulment of an unwanted engagement to an abusive little munchkin. Kurin was gone, thank god, and now Futaba found himself trapped in another unwanted engagement to a complete stranger. What kind of person was this Ranma and what kind of 'unusual condition' did she have.

All he really found out from the visit from the government agents was that Ranma was the heir to a dangerous martial arts style and had an unusual condition that he tested a high tolerance for. What the unusual condition was the government men wouldn't say, only that the Saotomes would inform them.

"An heir to a martial arts school - my luck Ranma will turn out to be some violent, over-muscled tomboy - dammit!" Futaba thought as he descended the stairs. "I already have a girlfriend! Well, working on being a girlfriend. What I'm I going to do about Misaki?"

He continued his decent.

"There's no way I'm going to marry someone that I don't love. This whole thing is stupid," he thought determinately. "Besides, once this girl discovers my secret - and she will eventually if she stays here - that will be the end of it."

He smiled inwardly at that. Misaki was angry that he didn't tell her his secret, but if anything they were closer now than ever. If Ranma rejected Futaba because of his family condition, then this whole thing would be over with quickly and he could get on with his life. Honor or anything else be damned.

He stopped mid way down the steps. "I bet when she finds out, she'll think we're a bunch of freaks." Futaba shook his head and continued down the stairs. "No way anyone would put up with this. Well... maybe Misaki."

Futaba entered the room filled with dread.

And stopped.

Instead of some over muscled tomboy he had envisioned, there stood a very pretty, delicate looking young woman in a blue kimono that accentuated her blue eyes and contrasted nicely with her red hair. Futaba's heart skipped a beat. This was not what he was expecting.

"Wow. She's beautiful," Futaba thought as he stared at the redhead. He then shook his head. "How can someone who looks like that be the heir to a martial arts style? I mean, she doesn't look like a martial artist. "

As he entered the room, an older woman that he took for Ranma's mother stood up.

"You must be Futaba," the older woman said. He answered her with a deep bow. "I'm Nodoka, Ranma's mother. May I introduce you to Ranma Saotome, your fiancée for the next three months," Nodoka said in a formal tone.

Mr. Shimeru took his cue and formally made his part of the introductions. "Ranma, this is Futaba Shimeru, your fiancé."

Futaba bowed toward Ranma. Ranma returned the bow.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Futaba said.

"The pleasure is all mine," Ranma responded as her mother had coached her.

- / - / - / - /

Most of the time Ranma sat quietly and listen to her mother and Mr. Shimeru make small talk. Very little was said about the government project or anything really important to what led to the Saotome's being there. After what seemed like forever to the boy turned girl, the two adults rose as if on a unknown signal and headed for the door. The younger people followed.

"I'll visit every chance I get," Nodoka said to the son turned daughter. "And you be sure to do the same."

"Yes mother," Ranma said somewhat coolly, while thinking sarcastically, "Thanks for leaving me to explain the important stuff."

Nodoka smile fell a bit and looked at her child with uncertainty in her eyes. With a final renewed smile and a bow to the Shimeru's, Nodoka made her exit. She had left, leaving Ranma in the care of the Shimeru's.

An awkward silence filled the room. "Well," Mr. Shimeru said grandly. "Why don't we go back into the family room and get to know each other better."

The group reentered the room and seated themselves.

"So Ranma," Mr. Shimeru began. "Why don't you tell us about yourself?"

Ranma sighed, then smiled. "Why not? If I tell'em everything, maybe I can get out of this quicker."

The conversation was pleasant and strangely relaxing for Ranma. She didn't hold anything back when telling them of her training, adventures, and misadventures. The Shimerus seemed to take everything she said at face value, even the weirder parts of her life and didn't even raise an eyebrow when Ranma referred to herself using male pronouns. After a bit, Ranma found herself relaxing and probably telling more than she should of, but it was liberating. After a week of being 'proper', Ranma found it felt good to vent. But what Ranma found the most relaxing for Ranma was there was no crazy rivals after him, no violent tomboy, no demanding mother, no dishonorable father demanding that she be honorable, no demanding mother, no one demanding that he marry them, no demanding mother, no one drugging him...

... and no demanding mother.

Ranma sighed. The Shimeru's were down right normal and Ranma discovered that it was rather nice to be around normal people for a change. There was no way in hell that she'd marry Futaba, she was sure of that. She may look like a girl, but that didn't mean she was one. But at least she could use the time to relax and maybe do something she rarely had time or peace to do: Think.

Any further musings that Ranma may have had were interrupted when Mr. Shimeru spoke to her. "When the government men visited us, they said you an usual condition. You mentioned something about a curse, could you go into more detail about it?"

Ranma swallowed hard and shifted around in her seat. She hated telling people about her curse. "Well," she started nervously, "it really started on the last leg of our training trip when my pop took me to 'this wonderful training ground' and..."

"... and that's how I got cursed." Ranma finished forty five minutes later.

There was silence in the room as each of the Shimeru family weighed Ranma's words.

"That's interesting," Futana said as she leaned forward, almost falling out of her top. "Would you mind showing us?"

"Futana!" The Shimeru patriarch scolded. "It is obviously an uncomfortable subject and we-"

"I don't mind," Ranma interrupted. "No one believes me until I show them anyway and the sooner I show you the better."

Ranma stood and looked around. "Is there anyplace that I can change? I don't want my kimono to get wet." She asked as she thought, "Besides, my mom would kill me if I damage her old kimono."

After ushering Ranma to the changing room of the furo, she removed her kimono and changed into a blue robe that she had brought with her. She hesitated as she considered something important. "Better take the panties off," she thought. "They hurt something awful when I change."

Upon returning to the family room, she found a kettle of warm water and several glasses of cold tap water on the table. The members of the Shimeru family sat on the long couch in expectation.

"They're going to think I'm some kind of freak," Ranma thought forlornly to herself, before looking at the silver lining, "But there is no sure fire way to get out of this."

"Now," Ranma said beginning the demonstration. "Hot water turns me back into a guy." She poured some hot water over her head reverting into his birth form. He let out the belt on the robe a bit to accommodate his male forms larger size. "And cold water turns me into a girl," he finished while picking up a glass and dumping it's contents over her head.

The room was silent as the occupants looked on Ranma with interest in their eyes. This was completely unexpected for the young Saotome. She was expecting gasps of shock, eyes wide in disgust or a lot of screaming and yelling. Instead the Shimerus looked almost blasé about it.

"And you think this is a curse?" Mr. Shimeru asked with the traces of a mirth in his voice.

Ranma looked at him for the briefest of moments before answering. "Of course it's a curse! How else would you describe it?"

Mr. Shimeru chuckled. His chuckling was joined by Futana and then Futaba.

"What's so funny?" Ranma asked. This was so far outside what she was expecting that she grew slightly irritated at the reaction she was getting. "Don't you think it's perverted?"

The laughing stopped and Ranma felt the temperature lower a bit in the room as the Mr. Shimeru cocked his head to the side and asked her. "What makes you think your curse is perverted?"

Ranma swallowed and nervously looked at the now neutral faces of the people in the room. "Well," Ranma said carefully. "It's just that's what everybody keeps telling me: My curse is perverted. That is... there's this... girl that I... kindasortslikealittle... keeps telling me I'm a pervert because of it."

Mr. Shimeru nodded as if he understood. "So because of that, you're a pervert."

"No!" Ranma objected. "Not really. Until recently I didn't know nothing about sex-, er, - I mean I don't, er -didn't... think that way."

The slip of the tongue didn't go unnoticed by Futana. She cocked an eyebrow and now took a renewed and deep interest in the redhead that she now knew was a virgin. "Ranma," Futana asked while leaning forward giving the cursed boy an eyeful of her cleavage. "What is a pervert?"

Futaba rolled his eyes, knowing his sisters partying and skirt-chasing ways.

Ranma tried not to ogled at the elder Shimeru child's barely contained assets and fumbled around verbally. "It's like... someone who is... perverted. You know. Like when someone does something perverted."

"So," Mr Shimeru asked pointedly. "Because you do something, like change sexes, that makes you a pervert?"

"No!" Ranma objected like before. "I'm not a pervert. I don't go stealing woman's underwear or grab their boobs like some of the other perverts I've seen do."

"So it's the actions that make one perverted then - not what you are, correct?" Mr. Shimeru asked.

Ranma sat and thought on that. It was true - it had to be true, otherwise she would be a pervert. "Yeah, I guess so," Ranma relented. "It's just hard to deal with sometimes. One second you're a guy, then next you're a girl."

Futaba nodded in understanding.

"Oh I wouldn't think it's that hard," Futana said smiling at the redhead and giving her an obvious look that made Ranma feel unclean. Ranma shivered involuntarily.

Mr. Shimeru nodded in understanding, he could relate to the problem that Ranma was having. Prejudice was one of the reasons why they kept the family secret so... secret. He seemed to ponder something before looking up at Ranma.

"I need to speak with my family about this," he said with a disarming smile. "Won't be a moment."

Ranma rose and bowed as she made her way back to the changing room. Secretly she smiled within. "Yes! This will be over with faster than I thought," Ranma thought to herself. "If the Shimerus pull out of the exper-, expat-,er, test, then my honor will be intact."

Before she could even make it to the changing room door, she heard her name called. "That was quick," she thought. Rather than having the Shimeru's wait for her to change, Ranma spun on her heel and headed back toward the family room.

"Ranma," Futaba said as he place a hand on Ranma's shoulder, leading her to the long couch. "I think you better sit down for this."

"Sit down for what?" Ranma asked, now wondering what was going on as she sat down to between Futana and Futaba on the long couch. Mr. Shimeru had moved to the easy chair across from her. "They must be asking me to leave and think I'll get upset," Ranma concluded.

"Can you keep a secret?" Shimeru asked seriously as he leaned forward. "Do you swear not to divulge anything that we may tell or show you."

Ranma was surprised and uncertain what was going on and hesitated. This was not quite what she was expecting. She had been burned badly in the past when it came to keeping secrets - the one with Ryoga came to mind, but the looks on the Shimeru family seem to speak volumes to her and she nodded. "I swear on my honor as a martial artist not to speak of whatever you show me."

Mr. Shimeru sized Ranma up and returned her nod. "You see, we don't think your 'curse' as you call it is a curse at all."

"Huh?" a puzzled Ranma asked. This was definitely not what she was expecting. "What else would you call a sex changing freak like me?" She asked bitterly.

Futana gripped Ranma by the shoulder and forced her to turn and face her.

"We would call it," Futana said as she shifted into the blond haired man from earlier, "normal."

Ranma's mind already laboring and overtaxed over the stress of her mother's "training" of the last week, meeting her new "fiancée", explaining her curse, the Shimeru family being unfazed by it, and now this. Ranma's mind did the only thing that it could manage to do at the moment: The Saotome Secret Technique.

In other words: It shut down.

With that, Ranma's world went unexpectedly black.

- / - / - / - /

Across the city, a meeting of great minds was taking place. One that would change the very shape of the future. One that will, for better or for worse, effect every human being on the Earth. One whose significance will be talked about and debated for hundreds of years to come, for it had changed the very direction what the human race thought of itself on a social, religious and philosophical level. Unfortunately we won't delve into that meeting here.

Instead, we'll move along to a meeting of not-so-great minds taking place at the Tendo Dojo.

"Saotome," Soun said over a game of Go. "I fear for the future of the schools."

"I too, old friend," the fat martial artist said as he pondered his next move.

"What I don't understand is why your wife went along with this insane scheme the government has," Soun stated somewhat pointedly. "She had always been so adamant about Ranma being manly."

Genma nodded. "I'm afraid it goes deeper that than, Soun." Genma said as he picked up one of the pieces, considered something, and then placed it in a new position. "I had a - discussion - with my wife over this."

Soun studied the moved piece and realized Genma must be just as disturbed over this turn of events as he was. Not once during the game did either one of them try to cheat. Soun also mused over Genma's definition of 'discussion'. Genma was still covered in bandages from the last 'discussion' he had with his wife.

"What do you mean old friend?" Soun finally asked as he fiddled idly with one of his pieces.

Genma sighed. "You know I told you the story about how I made the promise to make Ranma a man among men?" Soun nodded for him to continue. "Well there is another part of that story I haven't told you about."

Soun remained silent, wondering what foolish thing his friend did this time. Soun waited for Genma to continue. Genma lifted a cup of Sake to his lips and then lowered it without taking a sip. This surprised Soun - Genma must be more troubled by this than he thought.

"I mean the real reason," Genma said somewhat quietly, "why Ranma was to be raised a 'man among men' was to provide my wife with many grandchildren."

Soun nodded in understanding before commenting, "She does seem rather fixated on that."

Genma return Soun's nod. "More than you know."

Soun eyed his portly friend and watched Genma's face as he visibly assembled his thoughts. Thinking was usually difficult for the Saotome patriarch because he lacked practice on how to put thoughts together. Usually what thoughts he did manage to put together, didn't amount to much anyways.

"You see," Genma explained after a few moments of silence. "My wife wanted another child, a daughter, to complete the family." He fell silent for a brief moment before continuing. "Between the time Ranma was born and we left on our training trip, Nodoka and I tried to have more children."

Soun left eyebrow raised at that, but remained silent.

Genma let out an affirming grunt and continued. "We tried for years and finally went to a doctor. We found that Nodoka couldn't have anymore children. I forgot the exact reason, but since then my wife has been obsessed with grandchildren."

"That explains some things," Soun said. "But it doesn't explain why she went along with this experiment."

"Honor plays a big part in it," Genma said while raising the cup of Sake to his lips, this time taking a sip from it. "She truly feels that to turned down a request from the Emperor would be dishonorable - and knowing her she'd probably be right. Also she wouldn't want the family to be looked upon in a unfavorable light - in any case, this whole thing plays into her ulterior motive well."

"How so?"

"I think Nodoka doesn't care at this point whether Ranma sires a child or bears one. As long as she gets grandchildren out of it. She's looking at this whole test as a way of increasing the odds."

Soun rubbed his chin in contemplation, then nodded. "Yes, I see. If Ranma hates the boy - and I have no doubt he will - this may push him enough to settle down and marry Akane." Then Soun happily announced, "Then the schools will be joined!"

"Or he could settle down and marry anyone else for that matter," Genma pointed out deflating Soun before he got started. "But if the experiment works out and Ranma does settle down with this Futaba... either way Nodoka feels this is a win-win situation for her."

Soun looked at the game board without really looking at it. Both men were silent, lost in their own thoughts.

"A cleverly played game, eh Saotome?" Soun mused out loud.

Genma looked up at his old training partner. "I don't think I played that last move very cleverly-"

"No, no, no old friend," Soun said in a voice laced with mirth. "I meant your wife. She couldn't ask for a better situation to get what she wants."

Genma nodded with a grunt. The two friends sat in companionable silence for a few moments.

"Saotome," Soun asked suddenly. "How good is you wife with that sword of hers? She always seemed rather clumsy with it."

Genma let out a snort. "Don't let that fool you, old friend. She was trained in one of the most dangerous kendo schools: Drunken Ryu Kendo. She had been trained by Won Fei Hung himself."

Soun's eyes widened at that. "You mean to tell me that your wife was trained by Won Fei Hung, the Drunken Master himself?"

Genma nodded, never taking his eyes off the Go board. "She was his prodigy. Nodoka is so good now that she doesn't even have to be drunk to use the schools techniques. She can get into the state of mind necessary without the use of drink."

The room fell silent as Soun digested that tidbit. "She truly is formidable then," Soun muttered.

"Yes," Genma agreed. "I first met her while watching a kendo tournament and witnessed the true might of Drunken Ryu Kendo. I begged to learn and she tried to teach it to me, however there were some drawbacks during the training."

"What was that?"

"Well," Genma said sheepishly. "During the training, I drank a little too much..."

"I'm not surprised," Soun thought to himself.

"... and woke up in bed - beside her."

Silence fell between them as Soun digested the meaning behind the tale.

"So that's-" Soun began, only to be cut off by a nod from his friend.

"Quite," Genma said. "That's how we ended up married."

- / - / - / - /

"Wha- What happened?" a confused Ranma asked as she slowly sat up, a cool rag falling from her forehead as she did.

"I'm sorry," Futana, back in her female body, said not-so-sheepishly. "You fainted when I changed."

"Then it wasn't a dream," Ranma thought as she blink-blinked recalling what happened. Then she realized what Futana said and protested, "I don't faint."

"You did," Futana pointed out.

"I don't faint," Ranma firmly stated.

"Okay," Futana said with a roll or the eyes. "You passed out."

"I don't pass pass out either," Ranma snorted as she sat up a little more.

Futana crossed her arms in exasperation. "Okay, how about this," she began. "Your brain decided that after a hard day of thinking that an unexpected nap was in order."

Ranma glared at the slightly older woman, thought a bit on that and then nodded. "Sounds about right."

Ranma rose to a seated position with the unasked for help of Futana and Futaba. Ranma cocked her head from one side to the other, making popping sounds, and stood up and stretched.

"Sorry about this," Ranma said while rubbing the back of her head. "I didn't mean to worry anybody."

"It's quite all right," Mr. Shimeru said sagely. "You probably weren't expecting what we had to show you."

Ranma now fully aware, turned to the dark hair woman. "So are you a guy are a girl?"

Futana laughed lightly. "I was born a girl and was able to change into a boy when I hit puberty."

"So you're really a girl?" Ranma asked carefully trying to not offend her hosts.

"Yes and no," Futana answered. "Let's just say I get great enjoyment from playing both sides of the field."

Futaba snorted.

"What?" Futana asked innocently as she leaned forward to see Futaba around Ranma.

"Your the biggest womanizer I know of," Fataba said to his sister. "Nothing in skirts is safe from you."

Ranma tried to wrap her mind around that: a woman being a womanizer. It was too big and didn't work out very well. "How," Ranma ventured to Futaba, "can a woman be a womanizer?"

"The same way your fiancé can be a girl."

"Huh?"

With that Futana reached around from the back at Ranma's partially open robe and opened it further, exposing Ranma's breasts. Futana then grabbed both of them and cupped and squeezed them together for Futaba to see.

"What the hell do yo-" Ranma started to protest and stopped as she noted something was happening to her fiancée. Futaba's eyes bulged out and a blushed rushed over his face then a definite and noticeable change happened. Ranma was suddenly staring slack jawed at a green-tinted hair girl that replace the black haired boy.

The silence that followed dragged on for a full minute. During that minute, Ranma's hands rose up on their own accord and patted down the front of the green haired girls chest. Feeling that Futaba's breasts were real, Ranma quickly retracted her hands and blink-blinked at Futaba.

"So you're really a girl?" Ranma finally asked, feeling a little too stunned to say anything else. Futana took advantage of Ranma's distraction and continued to knead and feel her breasts from behind.

"No," Futaba answered. "I'm kind of both."

"How can you be kinda both?" Ranma demanded still ignoring the now male hands that were lightly pitching at her nipples, causing them to stiffen involuntarily at the touch. "Did your family vacation at Jusenkyo or something?"

"No!" Futaba exclaimed. "This is normal for my family. Instead of having just an X and Y paired chromosomes, we have an extra X chromosome that can swap places under the right conditions."

"What in the hell does the english alphabet have to do with this?" Ranma asked, not really understanding. "I asked you about your curse AND WILL YOU STOP DOING THAT!"

Futana quickly withdrew her, that is, his hands from Ranma's breasts as if they'd caught fire. Which was almost the case as Ranma's aura flared in irritation at being felt up. Mr. Shimeru cleared his throat to bring order back into the room.

Futaba shook her head. "It's not a curse," she explained. "It is normal for my family to change genders when we are... excited or something."

Ranma eyed the other girl. "Excited or something? Like how?"

Futaba looked at Ranma with a slight blush on her cheeks. "Ranma," she said quietly. "You are a very beautiful girl. That's enough excitement for anyone."

Ranma looked at Futaba in confusion before a light - dim one at that - lit up a dark corner of her mind -a dark corner that was taken up by scenes from 'The City Nights'. Looking down she finally notice that her robe was open fully exposing her generous assets to her hosts. Somehow Ranma's under-trained mind managed to put two and two together and get six and three quarters and with a small 'eep' Ranma closed the front of her robe and disappeared into the changing room.

After a few minutes where the Shimeru family stared blankly at one another, Ranma reentered the room in a red top and a nicely cut black skirt. She sheepishly looked at the others in the room before a determined look formed on her face before announcing, "We've gotta talk."

- / - / - / - / -

A few days later Ranma and Futaba were walking toward the school that Ranma would be attending for the next three months. Futaba was in his school uniform that comprised of a white, long sleeved button up shirt worn under a black jacket with matching trousers. Ranma on the other hand was dressed in the female version of the Komatane High School uniform - a spare one loaned to her by her 'fiancé'. Unlike Furinkan where it was a jumper type of dress, the ones at Komatane High were of the sailor suit type.

Ranma's uniform consisted of a skirt that ended just at the knees, a short pull over top that sported a broad, sailor type, white collar trimmed in a purplish strip that matched the color of the outfit. It also sported a green kerchief that was joined in the front with a purple slide. Ranma would've liked to wear her trademark black and red chinese outfits, but her mother had insisted on proper attire during Ranma's stay with the Shimeru's. Ranma also promised to stay a girl as much as possible during her stay and the dress code was strictly enforced at her new school. Between those two conditions she had to wear the uniform.

But really the main reason was her promise on her personal honor. There was no way she was going to be like her father.

"When we get to school, we are just friends - right?" Ranma said firmly.

"Right," Futaba agreed. "But remember: We can't keep this secret too long, the experiment is already making it into the newspapers and it will be only a matter of time."

"Yeah, yeah. Only thing we have to do is sit tight for the next three months and then get on with our lives, right?" Ranma continued, as if not hearing Futaba.

"Right," Futaba agreed.

"Nothing against you or anything, but I'm not marrying nobody right now. Especially a guy," Ranma said. "Right?"

Futaba sighed and stopped. "Ranma," he said to the redhead. "We been over this last night, the night before, and this morning. What are you worried about?"

"I just thought that we'd go over it one more time," Ranma said. "I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea."

"Well no one will," Futaba said. "I'll have to explain our plan to Misaki when we get to school."

The night of Ranma's arrival at the Shimeru's, they all sat down and talked about the next three months. It was a productive talk as far as Ranma was concerned, she learned that Futaba had someone he was already interested in and neither one of them wanted to pursue the engagement. With a united front, Futaba and Ranma worked on coming up with a plan and sticking to it. Failing that, they went with Mr. Shimeru's suggestion of a simple plan: Ranma and Futaba would go through the motions of the engagement, wait out the next three months and then get on with their lives. Honor intact.

The plan was simple. The plan was foolproof. The plan was perfect. And Ranma wondered what could go wrong - because of her past experience, she knew it usually did.

"Say," Ranma ventured. "You don't think that those government guys are watching us or something?"

"I doubt it, but just in case you'll should stay in your girl form - and we already talked about that too," Futaba pointed out. He stopped in his walk, causing Ranma to stop in hers. "Are you all right?"

Ranma looked at Futaba and then down the road that they were walking on. "Yeah," Ranma finally answered, "It's just that I wonder what else can happen to me now to screw my life up even more."

The two resumed their walk in silence for awhile before Ranma piped up again. "What's the name of your school again?"

"Komatane High," Futaba answered. "It's a little abnormal. I think you'll find it nothing like Furinkan."

Ranma snorted unladylike. "You don't know Furinkan."

"It's that bad?"

"You wouldn't believe it." Ranma answered with a shake of her head.

- / - / - / - / -

Ranma found herself standing before the principal, in an office that was decorated with different portraits and busts of super heros. The principal himself was an odd little man with a rounded head with a equally round mark on his forehead. Ranma was glad that there wasn't a palm tree growing from the top of the man's head, but still, her weirdness detector still rang loudly in her mind.

"Miss Saotome," Principal Hirouin said jovially. "We have made arrangements for you to be in the same class as Futaba."

"Yes sir," Ranma said. "How much do you..."

"Oh, I know everything," the round headed man said. "Don't worry, I've been informed of your allergy to hot water... just concentrate on your school work."

"Um. Yeah. Thank you," Ranma muttered as she thought to herself, "Does everyone know what's going on?"

"By the way," Principal Hirouin asked mirthfully. "Do you believe in justice?"

Ranma blink-blinked at the odd little man, caught off guard by the question. "I, um, used to," she answered. "I wonder sometimes."

This brought Principal Hirouin up short. He blink-blinked at the redhead. "Why do you wonder, Miss Saotome?"

"With a life like mine," Ranma answered with a shrug, "sometimes you feel that there ain't no justice."

Principal Hirouin looked at Ranma for a brief moment before saying, "Well maybe in your time here, you'll discover justice in education. You see, that's my motto: Education with justice!"

Ranma blink-blinked in silence before muttering, "Ah... right," as she thought, "Is every principal in Japan weird?"

Principal Hirouin reached over and had the secretary summon Ranma's new home room teacher to the office.

In the large faculty room near the main school office, a man sat going over the files of one Ranma Saotome. He carefully studied the attached picture of a young, black-haired pigtailed man that seem to be glowing with a friendly cockiness.

"Ranma Saotome," the man thought. "My new transfer student... yes, maybe we can be friends. Looking at his file, he seems in need of strong male bonding."

Lost in his own personal fantasy, the man hugged the photo of Ranma to his chest, almost weeping with overpowering joy. Before he got too lost in his fantasy however, the loud speaker mounted on the wall paged him. "Mr. Sabuyama, please report to the principal's office at once."

The man rose from his chair in barely contained excitement. He carefully replaced the photo of Ranma into the file, giving it a small caress as he did, before closing it and heading for the principal's office. Soon the handsome, tall, dark hair man in his mid-to-late twenties wearing a tweed sports jacket with matching trousers entered the principal's office.

Ranma was glad to see that her new teacher seemed more normal than the principal.

"Good of you to come," Principal Hirouin greeted the newcomer. "I would like to introduce you to your new student, Miss Ranma Saotome."

"M-miss Ranma Saotome?" Mr. Sabuyama asked, obviously shocked. "I thought the new student that was transfer from Furinkan was a male!"

"Yes, she is the transfer student from Furinkan," the principal confirmed. "This is Ranma Saotome, she will be attending here for the next three months or longer."

"No chance in hell, three months and I'm out of here," Ranma thought at the principal's comment.

"B-but Ranma Saotome is a male," Mr. Sabuyama protested. "I looked up his file just this morning."

"Oh that," Mr. Hirouin said with a dismissive wave. "Turns out that they have two Ranma Saotome's at Furinkan - one boy and one girl. Just like what we have here with the two Futaba Shimeru's."

Crestfallen and clearly acting disappointed, Mr. Sabuyama seem to ponder the words of the principal. Shaking off whatever occupied his mind, Mr. Sabuyama cleared his throat and introduced himself. "Welcome to Komatane High Miss Saotome, I'll be your homeroom teacher, Mr. Sabuyama."

"Uh... yeah, I mean, hi, er... thanks," Ranma said awkwardly, thrown off by this man's demeanor.

"I'm also a friend to all the bright young males here," Mr. Sabuyama added with a winning smile that seemed to gleam.

"That's... nice," Ranma commented in confusion to what that statement meant before she followed her new teacher to her class.

Out in the hall, Ranma found herself trailing behind Mr. Sabuyama. She took the opportunity to study him and pondered why he had a change in attitude. He came into the office acting like a normal teacher, then... he started weirding out. Ranma caught little snippets of him muttering to himself with phrases like: "I can't believe Ranma's a girl...", "supposed to be a male...", and "Oh Ranma, my ideal of youth...".

Curious as to why he was muttering like this about her, Ranma decided to find out what the matter was. So using her highly honed skill in tactfulness, she asked: "What the hell's your problem?"

Mr. Sabuyama stopped in the middle of the hall and turned to face Ranma. He narrowed his eyes on the smaller girl and said, "I was expecting the male Ranma Saotome to show up today. I was hoping that we could become... friends."

Ranma blink-blinked as she looked up at the teacher, lost to any connotations that possibly could be in his statement. She shrugged her shoulders and reached out with a hand, "I guess we could be friends, if you want."

The older man suddenly straightened and folded his arms over his chest. He looked down upon Ranma's outstretched hand as if she were holding a bug in it and snorted. Ranma dropped her arm in confusion.

"What I like are steamy male relationships," Mr. Sabuyama said while suddenly pointing at Ranma, making her lean back away from his invading finger. "A girl like you would be nothing but trouble for that kind of relationship!"

Ranma looked cross-eyed on the tip of the finger before her nose and allowed her mind to concentrate on what could be the problem. With her limited knowledge and not really fully understanding the why's and what's of situations like this, she drew a blank. She rethought using everything that she picked up in her 'facts of life' training that her mother put her through the previous week and still drew a blank.

With nothing coming to mind, Ranma continued to stare cross-eyed at his finger in front of her nose before she grunted in an affirmative manner.

Withdrawing his arm, Mr. Sabuyama turned on his heal and headed down the hallway. Ranma blink-blinked at his retreating back and followed, this time at a respectful distance. For some reason that she couldn't quite figure out, Ranma found herself being glad as hell to be in girl mode at the moment.

- / - / - / - / -

Apparently Misaki was informed of the experiment with everyone else, since she was considered an 'involved party' in Futaba's life. Still, she greeted Ranma warmly as they meet before class. Futaba was there, but was being harassed by members of what Ranma assumed was the wrestling team. Ranma and Misaki didn't have much time to say much of anything before Mr. Sabuyama returned to the classroom and had Ranma do her introduction to the rest of the class.

It couldn't have gone anymore weirder.

After writing her name on the blackboard as she was asked to, she turned to address her new classmates.

"My name is Ranma Saotome, pleased to meet'cha." She said clearly. "I'll only be attending for the next three months, but I hope we'll get along in that time."

A hand raised. The owner of the hand was a blond hair girl, her hair done in a long ponytail that extended down to her waist and tied off with a small bow. She wore glasses and gave off an air that reminded Ranma of Nabiki.

Mr. Sabuyama called on the girl,"Yes, Negiri?"

"Is it true that your transfer here was part of the RTP committee project?" the blond asked with what Ranma swore was dollar signs in her eyes. Yes, definitely like Nabiki, Ranma concluded.

"Umm..., well. Kinda," Ranma stammered out, caught off guard by the question. "Aww, man," Ranma lamented before complaining to herself, "Crap! How'd she find out? I was hoping to keep that under wraps for longer than this - like four months."

The classroom broke into quiet mummers as the students speculated among themselves over the newest addition to their class being engaged to one of them.

"So, who are you engaged to?" Negiri asked pointedly. The rest of the class leaned forward in their desks, waiting for the redhead's response.

"I'm..., er..., um...," Ranma was at a loss. She didn't want to say and looked around the classroom in hopes of getting out of answering the question. She caught a nod and reassuring look from Futaba. Ranma's sighed and her shoulder's sagged as she answered, "Futaba Shimeru."

"Noooo!" a cry rang out in the classroom from - Mr. Sabuyama. His face betrayed several emotions: Surprise, shock, grief, and finally hate. The last being directed at a certain redhead. Mr. Sabuyama stood by his desk, shaking with overpowering emotion before calming.

"I need to make a phone call," he said quickly as he stalked across the room, towards the door. He gave Ranma a wide berth as he passed her before addressing the class, "Study quietly."

Ranma, still at the front of the class stared at the closed door that the teacher just exited and blinked. "What in the hell is his problem?" she asked to no one.

Silence ruled the classroom for all of three seconds before every person in the room started to bombard her with questions.

- / - / - / - /

The classes were as boring as the ones at Furinkan. Ranma kept finding herself dozing lightly in spite of her best efforts to stay awake. The teacher, whose name Ranma didn't bother to catch, didn't seem too interested in keeping her awake and Ranma took the opportunity to... meditate on life in general. So what if her mantra sound suspiciously like a light snore? It got the job done.

It was after one unusually loud... chat, an eraser made contact with the forehead of Ranma. She was so into her meditation that she failed to sense its approach and therefore, failed to dodge. A halo of chalk dust surrounded Ranma's head as the eraser fell onto the floor.

"Huh? Wha-?" Ranma said intelligently as she became aware of her surroundings.

"Miss Saotome," The instructor intoned. "If you can't stay awake in class, maybe you can in the hallway - holding buckets."

"Ahhh... no. That's okay," Ranma said sheepishly. "I'm very sorry, I'll stay awake."

The instructor eyed the redhead. Ranma realizing that she wasn't acting 'proper', stood and bowed toward the teacher. "I'm very sorry sir," Ranma said, trying to sound sincere as she could manage. "I won't disturb the class again."

The man glared at the girl before snorting and returning to his lecture.

Light chuckles and giggles filled the room at Ranma's expense as she sat back down with a sigh. This was not fun. Ranma looked around at the faces around her and then back at the front where Mr. - whoever - was explaining... something that she wasn't sure of, and to the girl sitting to her right. Ranma had found herself sitting two seats up from where Futaba was sitting next to Misaki, his girlfriend.

Seeing nothing else to do, Ranma settle into her seat further as the teacher droned on and on.

- / - / - / - /

Everyone relaxed between classes as the teachers were switched out. During the respite, Misaki, Ranma and Futaba got the opportunity to chat with one another. There didn't seem to be any awkwardness, despite the circumstances that brought Ranma to this school.

"Futaba told me of what your plan is," Misaki said reassuringly to Ranma. "I'm not blaming you for what's happened."

"Ah.. thanks," Ranma said, slightly stunned. No one blaming her? But didn't everybody blame her?

"Futaba tells me you're the heir to a martial arts school," Misaki said as the three of them relaxed in their seats. "How good are you at martial arts?"

"Heh, I'm the best," Ranma stated. "I've trained in the art since I was able to walk."

Misaki eyed her new classmate. "Are you going to try out for any clubs?" she asked.

Ranma cocked her head in thought before shaking it, "Nah, I'm only going to be here for three months. Besides I never got into any of that at my old high school - I don't see any reason to now."

Misaki nodded absently as Futaba rolled his eyes slightly. "If you knew some of the clubs here," he commented. "You won't believe how aggressive they are when it comes to recruiting new members."

Ranma gave Futaba a questioning look.

"Let's just say when it comes to new members," Futaba continued, "they're not afraid to get physical."

Ranma gave him a warm smile and cracked her knuckles. "Just let them try," she said evenly.

"No. Not with you," Misaki clarified. "With each other - the clubs will fight among themselves."

Ranma blinked at her classmate before her shoulders sagged. "Damn. I was hoping for a workout."

Silence fell among them for a moment before Ranma cocked her head again, making popping sounds. "Can I ask both of you something?" she ventured.

"Sure," Futaba answered with a shrug.

"What's with Mr. Sabuyama? He seems really... odd."

Misaki and Futaba looked at one another before looking back at the redheaded girl.

"Mr. Sabuyama is... gay," Futaba answered carefully.

"He didn't seem too happy to me," Ranma responded without missing a beat. "In fact earlier he seemed pretty upset that I wasn't a guy like he thought I was going to be."

Misaki giggled as Futaba just stared at Ranma. Misaki's giggling subsided when she realized that Ranma wasn't joking - she hadn't a clue to what Futaba's answer meant. Ranma, for her part, just stared blankly back at them.

"Ranma," Futaba began carefully. "When I say the Mr. Sabuyama is gay, I mean he is a homosexual."

Ranma blinked dumbly at Futaba.

Misaki just shook her head. "Ranma where have you been all you life?"

"Oh, traveling and training in the art," she responded innocently. "Why?"

"Ranma," Misaki said while trying to figure out how anyone could be this ignorant. "What Futaba means is that Mr. Sabuyama is into guys."

By looking at Ranma's face, it was obvious that she still didn't get it.

"Ranma," Misaki said patiently. "You know about sex - right?"

Ranma recalling her mother's lessons in that area, nodded her head jerkily.

"Well," Misaki attempted to carefully word. "Mr. Sabuyama is into guys, like guys would be into girls. Understand?"

Ranma rolled that around in her mind. Misaki and Futaba's words pin-balled off of several ideas that lurked in the darkest recesses of her mind, ideas that she vaguely had a grasp on. Using her powers of deduction, Ranma manage to reach the only conclusion she could. "You mean Mr. Sabuyama is like Futaba, he changes into a girl and chases guys?"

Futaba and Misaki face-faulted hard against the desktops.

- / - / - / - /

Ranma rinsed the sweat out of her hair and quickly soaped up, gymnastics was surprisingly fun and blended itself well with her martial arts style. Though the instructor was a taskmaster, Ranma found the exercises easy and went a little overboard. Most of all, it put the disquieting knowledge of Mr. Sabuyama's nature out of her mind for the moment.

"The uneven bars were the most fun," Ranma thought as she rinsed the soap from her hair. "Though I shouldn't have played tag with the ceiling."

Ranma removed the bar of soap from the pocket in the tiled wall and ran it across her arms. "Misaki was right, no sooner that I dismounted with a quadruple twist, I had the captain of the Gymnastics Team try to get me to join."

Ranma bent over and started scrubbing her legs. "Then after I explained it was all martial arts, then the captain of the Martial Arts Team is right there and tries to get me to join."

Standing upright, Ranma ran the soap over her torso. "Then he tries to test me to see how good I am, and I end up pinning down in nothing flat and the captain of the Wrestling Team shows up and..."

She sighed. "This school is as crazy as Furinkan," she lamented, recalling how each club was issuing challenges for the right to have Ranma in their team. "At least I put a stop to it by pointing out I'll only be here for a short time and didn't feel right joining any team because of that."

Ranma felt the cool water cascade down her body, taking the remains of the soap with it. She sighed in relief that the showers in the girls locker room had individual stalls, not one big open area like the boy showers at Furinkan. With the green tiled wall before her where the shower head was mounted and the grey-colored stall walls towering over her on either side, and the chest height stall door behind her, it was easy for her to ignore the other naked girls in the room. The locker room was another matter.

She had found the locker room a bit of a challenge. It seemed that every other girl coming up to her, half naked and asking her questions. They were all trying to be friendly and help the 'new girl' fit into her new environment. Misaki was there, seeing that they were in the same class, and helped the obviously distressed Ranma by deflecting some of the girls that were curious about the newcomer. If Ranma wasn't as desensitized to the female flesh as she was, thanks to the curse and Shampoo always glomping her in the furo, she'd have nasally bleed to death by the time the sixth pair of boobies jiggle by her.

Ranma wasn't too thrilled about the gym uniforms either. The tee-shirt was fine since they matched the male version nicely. The shorts though, resembled bikini bottoms and looked close enough to panties for Ranma's comfort. Ranma sighed and reminded herself the her honor rested on her sticking through this.

"Just two more months, twenty eight days, fourteen hours, forty minutes and thirteen seconds if I figure right," Ranma thought to herself as she dressed back into her school uniform.

"It's okay you know," Misaki whispered softly to Ranma as they walked back to their classroom, relatively alone. Ranma blinked at her. "I know, Futaba told me about your curse."

Ranma paled.

"What's wrong?" Misaki asked, noticing that Ranma's face drain of blood.

"I'm not a pervert," Ranma defended herself in hushed tones. "It's a curse, I can't help it."

Misaki looked at the now quaking redhead. "Ranma, it's okay," she said in soothing tones. "I don't think you're a pervert."

Ranma stopped shaking and looked at the smiling face of her classmate. For some reason it put her at ease. "Y-you don't?" Ranma asked, with a mix of confusion and hope.

"No you're just someone whose has an idiot for a father," Misaki said while smiling broader. "Besides, from what I saw in the locker room, you're as much a girl as the rest of us."

Ranma's right eyebrow twitched.

- / - / - / - /

Time went by quickly and to Ranma's surprise, quietly. Over the course of the last few weeks, Ranma noticed that Futaba would show up in girl form from time to time. Futaba had explained the ruse of having two identities and Ranma was surprised that no one was able to figured it out. Then again, Ranma herself got by pretending to be Ranko Tendo without anyone catching on. How may people can do a complete sex change from male to female right down to the plumbing? Ranma decided to let that thought go - it hurt her head too much to think about it.

The clubs had left her alone after she'd explained that she was just there temporarily. She did offer to help out with the Martial Arts Club during her stay. They were not much of a challenge, but it kept her somewhat occupied.

At the moment Ranma was at her favorite part of the school day: Lunch. Nothing else, not even P.E. came close to the sheer pleasure of mass inhaling vast quantities of food. Over the last few weeks, Ranma discovered that Mrs. Shimeru was almost as good a cook as Kasumi. Especially when it came to packing lunches. She also didn't seem to mind when Ranma asked for an extra helping 'to make it through the day'.

As Ranma ate, blurring her chopsticks, she noticed her fiancée in girl mode, dressed in a female uniform enter the room.

"He - she, whatever, is cute as a girl," Ranma caught herself thinking, before scolding herself for thinking what she suspected were perverted thoughts. "Why is he in his girl form this time?"

Ranma watched Futaba as she gracefully crossed the room. Futaba waved to an classmate and sat down next to the redhead. With chopsticks in hand with bits of food dangling from them, Ranma continued to stare at her currently female fiancée.

"What?" Futaba asked, noticing Ranma's stare.

Ranma realizing what she was staring, snapped out of it. "I was just wondering... why are you like that right now?"

Futaba looked embarrassed. "Well... okay, it's like this: I got a little excited watching Misaki on the track and felt the change come over me. So my male half went home sick, while my female half came to class the rest of the day."

Ranma resumed inhaling her food, pausing to ask, "From just watching her on the track? What's so exciting about that?"

Futaba blushed slightly. "It's the way she moves when she jogs."

Ranma stared dumbly at the green-tinted haired girl, not understanding the explanation at all.

"Does the school know?" Ranma asked, changing the subject.

"The principal knows and keeps it secret. He says he owes my mom," Futaba explained while munching on her lunch. "Seems like my mom has a lot of pull."

Ranma stopped inhaling her food for a moment - a breif moment, before polishing her lunch off. "About your mom," Ranma ventured. "What does she do? I mean, I hardly ever see her."

Futaba cocked her head to one side in concentration. "I really don't know," she answered. "I know a helicopter has picked her up for work once or twice. I never really thought about it."

Ranma blink-blinked at her now currently female fiancée. Shaking her head slightly, she asked, "About Misaki, how'd she find out about you?"

Futaba sighed. "Doesn't matter, she knows. When she first found she was angry with me. It took a while for her to forgive me."

Ranma sat and digested that bit of news. "Wait," she said as she realized something. "How can you two be together when..." Ranma finished the question with a wave of her hand at Futaba's current female state.

"I'm working on it," Futaba explained. "My sister, Futana, has better control of it, but it is not complete. I've been trying different types of meditation, but so far no luck."

"How about your dad?" Ranma asked. "Surely he knows a way to control your - condition."

Futaba thought a bit and looked at Ranma in the eyes. "I can't tell you here, but I'll have him explain more when we get home."

Ranma nodded.

- / - / - / - /

Ranma followed Futaba , who was back as a guy, entered the Shimeru residence, kicked off their shoes and headed deeper into the house. Along the way they lost their book bags and placed their lunch boxes in the kitchen. Ranma noted that Mrs. Shimeru was absent as they made their way to the main room. There, they presented themselves before Mr. Shimeru, who had his nosed buried in a newspaper.

"Dad?" Futaba asked carefully. "Can you explain some more about our family condition to Ranma?"

"I don't know if there is anything left to explain," Mr. Shimeru said as he looked up from his newspaper. "We pretty much explained everything to her on her first day here. Is there something the matter?"

"For your... condition, is there anyway to... stay a guy if you wanted to?" Ranma asked carefully. She was dimly becoming aware of her cluelessness in certain areas of her life and she didn't want to offend.

Mr. Shimeru eyed the couple. He carefully folded the newspaper and set it aside. Being a parent, he noticed that the two were standing side-by-side. Closely side-by-side. Could it be...?

"I thought you two agreed to just go through the motions of the engagement," he said as he looked over the young couple. "When did you change your mind?"

Ranma and Futaba stared dumbly the elder Shimeru before a "Huh?" and "What?" came from the pair at the same time.

"Why are you be interested in Futaba staying a man?" questioned Mr. Shimeru quickly with a cocked eyebrow.

"Well...," Ranma began, slightly nervous as to her host's behavior. She turned to Futaba for any answers and upon seeing nothing helpful coming from him, she turned her attention back to Mr. Shimeru and continued. "It's just that... there is a girl that Futaba likes and she likes him, but he keeps changing. I just what to know if there is anything that would keep him a guy so that they can be together."

Mr. Shimeru nodded his head. Yes, something has changed. Apparently the unexpected had happened and the two were taking the engagement seriously now.

"I... see," Mr. Shimeru said quietly. "Well, there have been reports in the past where members of our clan have managed to control the change. You see there is a special gland that secretes the hormones that triggers the change. The gland is usually activates when we are excited, but there are reports that it can be controlled consciously by meditation. Futana is close, but her control is far from prefect."

Futaba pondered his father's words. "I've been trying to stay a guy by practicing meditation. Is there a special type of meditation I can try?"

"I've only heard stories, "Mr. Shimeru clarified. "Nothing certain - I can give you what books I have on it, but I'm afraid those stories mentioned that it took years of hard work to accomplish it. I'm afraid that when it comes to a physical relationship you two may have to settle for switching sexes."

Ranma blinked-blinked at the mustached man, completely lost now to where the conversation was going. Futaba's right eyebrow began to twitch since he was quicker on the uptake.

"Dad, are we talking about the same thing?" Futaba asked, in an exasperated way.

"You're asking about staying a guy so that you two can..." Mr. Shimeru voice trailed off as he realized that he was missing part of the puzzle.

"Dad!" Futaba complained loudly. "We're not like that!"

"Oh," Mr. Shimeru said dumbly to the pair. "Well... to answer your question Ranma, there is away to control the change, but it takes time."

"If it's a technique, I'll have it down in no time" Ranma said, "I can learn it and help Futaba practice it."

"You can try," Mr. Shimeru answered with a side long glance at the redhead, "I never was able to get as close as Futana has. Not many can. I had to give birth to Futana and Futaba."

The hollow sound of Ranma's head hitting the floor resounded through the room. Mr. Shimeru rushed over to Ranma as Futaba was helping her back into her feet while checking her over for injuries. The Shimeru's quickly got Ranma onto a seat before continuing.

"You gave birth to your kids?" Ranma asked, stunned at the revelation. "You mean to tell me that you are their mother?"

"Yes and no," the Shimeru patriarch said. "I did give birth to them, but I am their father."

Ranma brain shorted out for a moment before reengaging. "You can't be their father. Father's are men and men can't give birth," Ranma pointed out trying to grasp the situation better.

Mr. Shimeru sighed.

"Ranma," he said softly and patiently. "It's the only way for my line to continue. If the only way you were able to have kids was to bear them yourself, would you do it?"

"No way! I'm a guy," Ranma answered quite defensively. After living with the Shimerus for the last few weeks, Ranma was now unsure what really made a man a man and a woman a woman. In this household they seem so interchangeable and it scared the hell out of her. Especially Futana.

Mr. Shimeru leaned forward, pealed off his fake mustache and changed to his girl form. The male clothing sagging about her now lighter frame. "Are you saying I'm less of a father because I bore my children?."

Ranma opened her mouth, but her protest died on her lips.

"Tell me Ranma," Mr. Shimeru began while changing back into his guy form. "What would happen if you married a woman that you loved deeply, only to find that she couldn't carry a baby for medical reasons? What would you do if you both badly wanted children of your own? Could you see yourself carrying you and your wife's child?"

Ranma opened her mouth in an obvious retort, but was stopped by Mr. Shimeru's upheld hand. "No," she, now he said. "Think about it. Truly think about it."

Ranma stared at the older woman, man - whatever and contemplated the question. Ranma knew her life was getting weirder and weirder, but carrying a baby? To have kids? If it was the only way?

To have a family?

With the women Ranma loved?

"I don't know," Ranma finally answered truthfully.

Mr. Shimeru nodded in satisfaction at the younger girl. "You see Ranma, under the right conditions you'd be surprised at what you are capable of doing."

"But havin' a kid," Ranma said quietly with a shake of her head. "I don't know."

"You're still young," Mr. Shimeru said with a smile. "You don't have to know at this point in your life. But if it ever comes down to doing what I had to do to have kids, it won't make you less of who you are."

Ranma nodded dumbly as another mental barrier between male and female fell in her mind.

- / - / - / - /

Ranma was washing herself down with lukewarm water, warm enough to be more comfortable than cold, but not enough to trigger the change. She had promised on her honor to stay female as much as possible for the duration of the experiment, and since her honor is the only real thing she had left, she stuck to the agreement. Ranma was in the midst of lathering up her body when Futana knocked softly on the bathroom door and entered.

Ranma 'eeped' and shut her eyes tightly.

"Hope you don't mind," Futana said smiling as she sat down next to Ranma and grabbed a bar of soap. "I just need to clean up before going out."

Ranma jerkily shook her head, sending water droplets across the room.

Futana noticed Ranma's tightly shut eyes.

"Ranma," she said gently. "It's okay. We're all girls here. I have nothing that you haven't seen before. Open your eyes."

Ranma shook her head again.

"This is going to take some work," Futana thought to herself before saying firmly, "Ranma, open your eyes. I won't bite." As an afterthought she mentally added, "Yet."

Ranma pried one eye open and looked at a naked Futana beside her and immediately shut it again.

"No. No way," Ranma protested. "I'm not going to be a pervert."

Futana smiled. This was fun. "And why would looking at me make you a pervert?" she asked.

"Because your nak-, er... you... don't have any clothes on," Ranma stammered out.

"And because I'm naked, that make you a pervert?" the dark haired girl asked.

"No!" Ranma protested. "I-it's just that..." Ranma started mentally grasping for straws, "... you'll think I'm a pervert."

"No I won't," Futana said firmly and then more playfully, "C'mom, open your eyes and let's see those peepers."

Ranma was now visibly trying to control her breathing. Years of self discipline went out the window ever time she got caught in a situation like this. Ranma was always at a loss and never could think of ways out of things like this.

"Are you afraid?" Futana asked mockingly.

"I ain't afraid of nothin'," Ranma said with her eyes still glued shut.

"I think you are," Futana said coyly as she lathered up. "For such a big, bad martial artist, you sure scare easily."

"I ain't afraid of nothin'," Ranma reaffirmed. Futana was pushing all the right buttons.

"Prove it," Futana dared. "Open your eyes."

Ranma, despite of the coolness of the water she'd been using, started to sweat. She swallowed hard, desperately trying to find a way out of what her pride had gotten her into. Finding no solutions, Ranma lowered her head and opened her eyes.

"They're open," Ranma said flatly.

Futana bent over from her seated position in order to confirm this. "I can't see," she stated. "Your hair is in the way. Look up - don't be scared."

Ranma was caught between what she felt was decency and what something she'd never admit to: fear. Screwing up her courage, she slowly raised her head. What greeted her was Futana in all her naked glory, smiling at her.

"See?" Futana said mirthfully. "I'm not that bad looking."

"No, that's not it," Ranma said in her defense while trying not to look at the other woman's naughty bits. "It's just that... I'm really a guy and for you to be here-"

"Doesn't make you a pervert," Futana firmly finished Ranma's sentence.

Silence fell between the two as Futana continued to wash up and Ranma tried to think of a snappy comeback. This being Ranma, nothing came to her mind.

"You know, if you think about it," Futana said while rinsing the soap from her body. "You're pretty lucky."

Ranma blink-blinked at that. "What do you mean lucky?"

"Well you can change by using water," Futana said as she stood, putting a particularly very naughty bit of her anatomy at eye level with the still seated Ranma. "We change when ever we get excited."

Bug eyed from the view, Ranma watched Futana ease herself into the furo. Ranma collected enough of herself to finally stammered out, "Y-you c-call t-that l-lucky?"

Futana nodded from her new place. "Sure. You can play both sides of the field," she explained. "I can too - after some mental discipline, but I can always slip in an awkward moment. You would not have that problem as long as you avoided water."

"Both sides of the field?" Ranma wondered. "What do you mean by 'both sides of the field'?"

Futana blink-blinked at the redhead. "You mean you never thought of... 'doing it' with anybody?"

Ranma blink-blinked in return. She cross referenced the term 'doing it' with what she knew, completely unaware of the sexual connotations, and came up with a blank. Ranma blink-blinked again before asking, "Doing what?"

Futana looked dazed at Ranma for a moment, then shook her head. "Ohh," she thought with controlled lust. "She is so ripe for the plucking."

The quietness between them grew into a uncomfortable silence. Ranma didn't like the look that seem to light in the back of the other girls eyes. She shifted on the washing stool to get a little more comfortable.

"What?" Ranma asked, breaking the silence.

Futana came back to the here and now. "Doing it," she explained, "is another term for sex. You do know what sex is, don't you?"

Ranma nodded her head jerkily, not wanting anymore lessons in the 'facts of life' at the moment.

"Well," Futana continued, "both sides of the field means you can have sex with girls... and guys."

Ranma's eyes widened at the realization. "No way. No way in hell."

"Why?" Futana questioned. "You have the body for it. It would be a shame to waste it."

"No way," Ranma stubbornly said. "I don't think that way." "I can't think that way," she mentally added, reaffirming her vocal objections.

"You don't now," Futana pointed out. "What about later? Don't tell me you haven't been curious. You'd have to be dead not to be. You can't tell me you haven't checked your girl form out."

Ranma remembering her explorations, when she was alone in the Tendo's furo, and how it felt during her week of 'training', just stared at the smiling woman in the bath as a raging blush crept over her face and upper torso.

"You have!" Futana gleefully said as Ranma blush deepened into incredible levels. "I can tell by the look on your face."

"I don't want to talk about it," Ranma mumbled, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. Her blush deepened to red-hot poker levels as Ranma desperately tried to get herself under control. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest, Ranma swore she heard it thumping in her ears.

"That's okay," Futana said as she rose from the furo, water cascading off her naked form, giving Ranma an eyeful. "But when you're ready to talk - or anything more - you'll know where to find me."

Ranma watched the older girl move with grace out of the bathing room, trying to keep her emotions and other unfamiliar and... new, exciting, and graphically perverted thoughts in check- she wasn't very successful since the free show Futana was giving her. Once Ranma was alone, she managed to calm down from the unexpected - excitement - and reactions of her body of the moment. As she was relaxing, she focused and pondered on the older girl's behavior, trying to see what Futana was leading up to and feared the conclusions.

"I wonder what that was all about?" she said out loud, hoping to convince herself that she was still as innocent before this all started.

Picking up her bath where it was interrupted, she sighed at her lack of knowledge that led to her fear. This was also accompanied by the realization that there was more in life that she needed to know other than martial arts - and that was a slightly depressing realization.

- / - / - / - /
- / - / - / - /

Notes:

Yes, yes - I know: I should be working on my other story. But thanks to this one, I managed to overcome a nasty bout of writer's block that had stalled me. Doing this was easier than beating my head on the desk - and it hurt less too.

As for the reviews from the last chapter, I was completely caught off guard by the number of responses that I received. This story really seemed to strike an unexpected cord in many people. For the most part, people seemed to like the story except for my depiction of Nodoka. There, the reaction ranged from 'worst mother of the year' to 'I want to reach out and bitch-slap her'.

Good. Then I succeeded in communicating what I wanted to about Nodoka's character.

Then there was the reviews that wanted either Ranma to 'F it' and bail or go postal. While I originally had a long, draw-out explanation to post at the end of this chapter, I decided to trim it down to this: I wanted to try to start Ranma as in character as I could within the limitations of the plot. Having Ranma do some of the things suggested, while might be fun, would not have been in Ranma's character. Doing some of the suggestions, in the end, would have made the character irrelevant.

Those who suggested Ranma committing suicide to avoid a request from the Emperor: Not only that would be a big dishonor for Ranma, but to his whole clan as well. Dishonoring himself and others is not something Ranma would do.

Remember: Being dead is one thing, being dishonored is far, far worse.

Thanks for reading.