"I'm home!" Ranma said in his pleasing tenor as he entered the living room from the porch. For the first time in a week, he'd returned to the Tendo home the same sex he'd been born. It had taken two additional stops for hot water on the way back from the doctor's office, but Ranma had refused to enter the Tendo compound in his cursed form. He couldn't just claim to be 'cured'. He would have to be seen as 'cured'.

Soun glanced over his newspaper, noted his future son-in-law was finally in the correct gender, smiled and returned to his reading. In response, Ranma dismissed Soun's reaction without even a glance. As he headed for the stairs, he spotted Kasumi in the kitchen pan frying new potatoes in sesame and vegetable oil. There was evidence of more food to be ready soon and it smelled great.

Without turning her head, Kasumi said, "Oh Ranma, there you are. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes."

"Thanks, Kasumi."

The eldest Tendo daughter turned down a burner before she spun to face Ranma. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

Ranma cocked his head, managed a small smile that he almost felt and replied, "I'm feelin' a little better." Whether or not his emotional state would improve further would depend heavily on how the meeting with his parents went.

"My offer still stands."

"Ooh. What offer might that be and does Akane know?" Nabiki said from the stairs. Ranma and Kasumi both turned to face the newcomer. Neither one wore what could be called a friendly expression. Her older sister's disapproval bothered Nabiki far more than Ranma's ever could. Determined not to let it upset her, she got on with the task at hand, which happened to be tweaking Ranma Saotome.

"Nice to see you're back to abnormal," she began.

"Thank you," Ranma stated coolly.

"I'll have to let Kodachi know. For a suitable fee of course." It was her way of trolling for a bribe from Ranma to not tell the Kuno girl.

"Nabiki," Kasumi said firmly.

"Sheesh. Can't anybody take a joke?"

Ranma's vision twitched for a split second. For an instant, he saw Nabiki not as she was, dressed in slacks and a sweater taken from Akane's closet. Instead she hung from barbed chains, in tattered shorts and the remains of a torn dark blouse, covered in bruises and bleeding out from a slashed femoral artery. Oddly enough, the image didn't bother Ranma at all. "Depends on what ya think is funny I guess."

'Swing and a miss,' Nabiki thought. "So, exactly what time did you get cured?" Nerima's answer to Donald Trump asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Ranma questioned.

The look of bafflement on her target's face was priceless to Nabiki. "I need it to settle to the betting pool."

The student body at Furinkan would bet on anything. Why should this have been any different? Ranma shrugged and stuck out his hand. "One thousand yen."

'About time he learned to do that', Nabiki thought. 'Now to see if I can teach him to negotiate.' She quickly countered, "500 yen."

"Deal." Nabiki pulled a 500 yen coin from her purse and stuck it in Ranma's palm. After tucking the coin into his pocket, he said "6:24 PM today."

'Damn, started too high. But let's see what happens when I raise the stakes.' With her best 'innocent' voice, Nabiki said, "I was wondering. Exactly what did Ryoga do that got you stuck in the first place?"

Ranma laughed and answered, "You ain't got that much money."

'Idiot,' Nabiki thought as she placed a smile on her face and said "I guess not." As she headed toward the dining room, she thought happily, 'Now I know it's something worth going after and all I have to do is ask Hibiki next time he shows up. Saotome, you big dumb jock, there are times you just make this too easy.'

At some point in the conversation, Kasumi had returned to her cooking. Ranma pulled the 500 yen that Nabiki had given him back out of his pocket and tossed it so it landed right next to the salt shaker. Kasumi snapped her head around to see where the money had come from.

"I know it ain't much, but could ya buy some ground pork next time ya go to the market?"

"Of course Ranma. Is there anything you'd like me to make with it?"

"Not really," Ranma replied ironically before he finally headed up the stairs. Moments later, he gave the bedroom door of the youngest Tendo two quick knocks.

"C'mon in," Akane said absently.

Ranma did and saw his fiancee twiddle a pencil in her hand while she read over notes taken during Chemistry class. "Dinner is almost ready," he said.

Akane turned her head when she heard Ranma's voice. "Where were you all day?" she asked sharply.

Ranma's perception twitched again. Akane wore the gown that she had almost got married in. A large trowel-like knife, suitable for cutting a wedding cake, replaced the pencil in her hands. Remembering that she'd asked a question, he spread his hands and waved at himself. "Uhh... This."

Akane consciously noticed that Ranma was male and issued a rare apology. "Oh, sorry."

Polite words were met in kind. "That's alright. I just wanted ta get today's assignments so I can work on 'em after we eat."

Akane looked at Ranma, not quite as if he had two heads, but as if any interest in school and schoolwork was drastically out of character for him. Which it was. "You know, if you keep keeping up with your studies, people are going to think you're sick," she said jokingly.

"Maybe I am," Ranma replied distantly. Unlike his fiancee, he was dead serious.

-----

Dinner was a surreal experience. 'Nightmarish' not being quite the right word. His imagination altered his perceptions. Akane kept appearing as a western bride in his eyes, except for the one time he'd said something to upset her, he couldn't remember what, and she'd looked like a fire breathing, red skinned demon. A beautiful demon, but still. Nabiki was invariably bound, beaten and suffering from some fatal injury. Even Soun changed appearance twice. The first time dressed as Happosai, complete with a giant bag filled with women's underwear slung over his shoulder. The second time bent over with a gigantic boulder on his back that would inexorably crush him under its weight.

His own hands burned with a heatless blue fire. Or wore brilliant white dress gloves. Or dripped blood. Or grew scales and claws. Or bore a wedding ring.

Only Kasumi never changed. Ranma wondered why he didn't see her as a mindless robot capable of only cooking, cleaning and saying "Oh my", or as a nurse, or as someone's wife or mother. But that was because at that moment, Ranma needed her exactly as she was.

After dinner, Ranma went upstairs, did his homework in mechanical fashion without thoughts of revenge to motivate him and went to bed. He didn't fear what his dreams might bring. It was too late for that.

-----

Ranma's dreams were violent, bloody and completely forgotten by the time Akane dumped a bucket of water on him as an early morning wake up call. After the traditional "What'd'ya do that for!"/"You're going to be late for school!" exchange, Ranma realized that he didn't remember any dreams or nightmares that he might have had. And glad he was of it. Sometimes it was best to let one's subconscious run amok without knowledge of the details.

-----

There is a major disparity between public and private schooling in Japan. Public school students are expected to attend half days of school on Saturdays two or three times per month. Private school students get to keep their Saturdays for themselves. Which explained why Kodachi normally chose Saturday to show up. She didn't have anywhere else she was supposed to be.

Ranma and Akane briskly walked toward school side by side. Akane kept a wary eye out for Kodachi while Ranma barely opened his eyes at all. The changes in perception that had plagued him the previous night hadn't gone away, they just kept finding new targets.

'I wonder if this is how Kuno sees the world,' Ranma thought to himself. Salarimen were all faceless zombies. Clouds took on a variety of shapes to his eyes, but that was almost normal. Simple homes became mighty fortresses. Walls tripled in height and transformed from simple bricks into massive stone fortifications. Birds became mechanical creatures, novel in their construction.

"Oh Hohohohohoho!" The familiar cry gladdened Ranma's heart. He couldn't wait to see what Kodachi turned into. He stopped to find out, forcing Akane to stop as well. She was instantly suspicious at Ranma's reaction, but would have been equally suspicious had he continued on. Trust being something she automatically expected from her fiance while seldom giving it in return.

Black rose petals showered down from the tree branch on which Kodachi stood. Her ribbon spiraled lazily to direct the flow of her preferred calling card. Akane glared at the crazed gymnast. Ranma was disappointed. The only change to Kodachi was the fact she was hanging from the branch by her neck, strung up with her own ribbon. Turning purple to match her leotard as she strangled to death.

"Oh dearest Ranma, set aside that base born commoner and realize the true ecstasy that is yours for the taking." Paralysis bombs were ready to take out the Tendo girl while preventing her beloved from fleeing the passion Kodachi planned to give.

"Get a life you nutjob!" Akane shouted.

Ranma smiled with the knowledge of how easy it would be to make his vision match reality. Or the other way around. He wasn't sure which. Kodachi noticed his smile and thought that finally Ranma was showing his feelings for her. That her dreams of being conquered by Ranma would finally come true. Then she saw his eyes and fear penetrated to the core of her being.

"What got into her?" Akane asked as Ranma's suitor bolted from the scene.

"I got no clue," the puzzled not currently a martial artist replied.

The school was pretty much the school in Ranma's perception. Except that anything related to cold water; hoses, water fountains, toilets, what have you; took on a demonic aspect that oddly pleased him. It was nice for things that were dangerous to him to actually look the part.

People were another story. Ukyo, who he still wasn't talking to, was a guy. Just as if she'd fallen into the Spring of Drowned Man. Most of the other female students had their heads replaced by balloons with faces painted on them. Airheads, the whole lot of them. The male students became walking, talking condoms dressed in Furinkan High School boys uniforms. It was an image Ranma successfully forced out of his head as too disgusting even for his warped mental state.

"Stand aside from the beauteous Akane Tendo thou foul cur!" Tatewaki Kuno called out from across the schoolyard.

Ranma smiled again as he turned to face the would be samurai. This one, he'd been looking forward to. As expected, Kuno was a clown. It was all there: Big floppy shoes, full makeup, round red nose, mismatched baggy clothes, his sword replaced by a cane. No wait, that last one was reality. Kuno had got his leg broke at the wedding and although the bone had knitted quickly, he still wasn't completely up to snuff.

As a martial artist, Ranma would never attack a weakened opponent. Which, he realized, explained why Happosai was still breathing. But the cursed youth remembered that he wasn't a martial artist just then. If Kuno took a swing at Ranma (or Akane), he'd regret it for months.

Kuno hobbled over to where Ranma stood. Akane, disgusted by the upperclassman and the real sword he'd used at her wedding ceremony, moved off to the side. She secretly hoped that Ranma would pound Kuno just a tiny bit. Kuno spun the cane in his hand and raised it above his head while putting all his weight on his good left leg.

Nearby, Hinako Ninomiya noted the impending fight. Stopping delinquency, Ranma's in particular, was why she'd been assigned as his homeroom teacher for a second year. Pulling a 5 yen coin from her pocket, she quickly stepped to where she'd have a clean shot at both of them. "Aka Ja Byo Tsu Ma," she called out sucking battle aura from the combatants. Kuno's aura drained away, felling him on the spot while changing the teacher into her adult form.

Ranma's aura, augmented and tainted by the intense hatred he felt for Ryoga, was more than she could handle.

"EYYYAAAAAHHHHHH!" the well meaning educator screamed as if her body had been engulfed in flames. Which to Ranma's eyes, it had. Knowing the image was true in some sense, he cut off the aura flowing from him by sheer force of will. The screaming stopped.

"Miss Hinako!" Akane cried as she raced towards her teacher.

Hinako knew she had to get rid of the contaminated aura she'd drained or die. Forcing her hands into a crude circle, she shrieked, "Eight Treasures Change Return!" There was no target, by mere chance her hands pointed at the ground. A huge sickly yellow ball of energy slammed into the ground kicking up debris that scattered all the way to the school walls. Akane, Ranma and Kuno were all hit, but took no significant damage.

A fully adult Hinako gasped for breath as she knelt on damaged grass. Akane swiftly tucked her shoulder into the teacher's armpit and took most of their combined weight as the woman struggled to stand.

"What... What... have you done to me?" Hinako wailed plaintively. Akane was too surprised to be mad. Five small holes, three on her breast, two on her back, had burned through the teacher's clothing. Without knowing how they knew, all three understood that Hinako Ninomiya's aura draining ability was gone forever.

"I... I... don't know," Ranma stammered.

Akane's surprise had already transformed to shock and then anger. "My God Ranma. What did you do to her?" she nearly screamed. Had Akane not been busy supporting a loudly crying woman, she would have certainly attacked Ranma. Who might have actively defended himself as Akane had transformed into a demon once again.

"I don't know what happened! I didn't mean for this to happen! It was an accident! Miss Hinako, I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Ranma said honestly. He reached out to comfort her, but Hinako moaned in fear and buried her head into Akane's shoulder.

"Go away," the sobbing woman repeated over and over.

Ranma looked at the crowd that had gathered and was still gathering. Finally, they all looked normal. Reality and his mind's eye had been forced into agreement. No one spoke.

Ranma heard one final "Go away" and raced from the schoolyard to comply. Minutes later, he found himself under his favorite bridge. One of the few places where he ever felt at peace. But not then.

"By all the gods... What have I done?" Ranma asked himself as he fell to his knees and wept.

-----

End Part 4

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Author's notes: To the reviewer Ryo... I don't think Ryoga would rape Ranma either. But given the Koi fishing rod story, I do think he's capable of rape. I consider any sex performed while under the effects of mind control, love potions, et cetera as rape. Because rape isn't about sex, it's about control. In this story, regardless of how I write him in other stories, Ryoga did what he did and that's the narrative hook I'm working with.