Storms of Change
A Ranma ½ - Love
Hina Crossover
By: Kiikun
Disclaimer: Yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't own Ranma ½ or Love Hina and have not requested permission for their use. The pixies and imps have forced me to write this, so sue them please, not me. Actually, just sue the imps... the pixies are nice most of the time.
04 – Forming New Bonds
"Natsumi-san! Mutsumi-san's fainted!" Ikumi yelled out as she burst through the outer door of the furo into the hallway, clad only in a thin sheet of water that clung to her skin.
Nanami had the luck to be walking by at just that moment and was knocked down by the swinging door. "Itte! What hit me…," she trailed off as she looked up and saw proof that the newest resident of the household was a natural redhead. "Would you put some clothes on!" she yelled.
Hearing the voice near her, she spun around and looked down on the fallen dual ponytailed girl. "Nanami-chan! Mutsumi-san's fainted!" she said, trembling visibly and on the verge of tears. "W-w-what should we do!"
The younger girl got up, rubbing her sore rear, and moved to look into the open furo to see her eldest sister on the floor, apparently sitting against the wall. "Did she hit her head or anything?"
The redhead shook her head. "I caught her as she started to fall. Shouldn't we call a doctor or something?" she asked worriedly.
Nanami shook her head and sighed. "She'll be fine. I give her no more than three minutes and she'll be up and saying something like 'Ara ara, ohayou'," she mimicked.
Ikumi looked at the younger girl and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the awakening Mutsumi.
"Ara such a strange dream," the female Toudai ronin said as she regained consciousness. Looking around, she spots Nanami and Ikumi and smiles. "Ah, Ohayou."
The redhead just looks at her with, stupefied. 'She... thinks it was a dream?' she thought.
"So, what kind of dream was it?" Nanami asked with a small, mirth-filled smirk. "Was it about Kei-kun again?"
Mutsumi smiled a bit. "No, this guy was cuter than... Mou! Nanami-chan!" she pouted at her younger sister for teasing her about her childhood love.
Nanami grinned. "Ooh! Oneechan's got a new boyfriend! What's his name? Where'd you meet him? How old is he?" she said giggling.
Ikumi, still in shock because of the events of the past few minutes, didn't realize she started to fidget nervously.
The elder Otohime frowned and glared at her younger sister for a moment before she noticed the redhead's fidgeting and expression of slight fear and worry. She blinked in surprise as such an expression and the entirety of her 'dream' became clear in her mind.
Her brow furrowed in thought. 'That can't be possible.' She took in the redhead's expression again and couldn't think of any other reason for her to be afraid. "Ikumi-chan?"
"Y-yes…?" Ikumi squeaked. Being addressed directly broke her from her frozen state of shock, but didn't belay the other emotions flooding though her mind now. Her muscles tensed as she fought the urge to just disappear.
'She's not just scared... she's terrified!' Mutsumi thought with worry. Taking a moment to calm herself, she smiled. "Aren't you cold standing in the hallway like that?" she asked while motioning to her to come back in.
The redhead woodenly moved back into the changing area, followed by a now highly curious Nanami. The younger girl had also noticed the strange way she was acting and wanted to know why. She closed the door behind them out of habit.
Hearing the door click behind her, Ikumi turned to look wide-eyed at Nanami. The combat oriented part of her mind said that she was trapped unless she wanted to hurt one of them, but that was out of the question. She turned back to the older girl with a pleading look.
Mutsumi glanced at Nanami a moment and sighed. Turning back to Ikumi, she smiled again to try and calm her down. "It wasn't a dream, was it, Ikumi-chan?" she asked.
Ikumi froze again. To her, the question was equivalent of asking a criminal to admit his crime. She wanted to run. She wanted to lie. She just wanted to get away from the entire situation, but she knew it was impossible. They took her in when she had nothing. They gave her a name and a chance at normalcy, which she felt like she had never been given before. So she did the only thing she could think to do at the moment.
"I'm sorry," she said just loud enough to be heard as she looked down at her feet, unable to look at either of them. Silent tears started to form in her eyes. 'They're going to send me away. I know it,' she thought.
Nanami looked between the both of them, thoroughly confused. Putting together the few pieces of information she had, the only idea that came to mind was that the redhead had snuck a boyfriend into the bathroom with her and Mutsumi walked in on them. It seemed to fit, but something still felt off. She just couldn't figure out what it was.
Mutsumi looked down at the redhead worried for her. "Why didn't you tell us?" she asked simply.
Ikumi didn't respond. In her mind there was nothing she could say that would bring their forgiveness.
Nanami broke the silence after a minute. "Oh, come on. Stop acting like it's the end of the world because Oneechan saw you with your boyfriend..." she tailed off when Mutsumi turned to her with a look telling her to be quiet. "What?" she asked indignantly.
The elder Otohime sighed and turned back to the redhead. "You asked me to keep it a secret," she paused to see her reaction, but none came. "I will," Ikumi's head shot up to look at her in complete disbelief, "but on two conditions."
Ikumi's shoulders slumped and she looked down again. 'And one of them is that I leave...'
"First, I won't lie to my family if they figure it out on their own." She glances over at her little sister. "Since Nanami-chan is here, I think she deserves to know. Second..."
'Here it comes...,' the depressed redhead thought.
Mutsumi paused a moment when she noticed Ikumi tense again. With a mental sigh, she continued in a much softer tone. "Second, I still want to know why."
The redhead blinked for a moment without looking up. She was absolutely sure she had heard wrong, but couldn't resist the tiny flicker of hope that caused her to squeak out "Wh-what?"
The taller girl smiled slightly and gently placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders. "I want to know why you didn't think you could trust us with this," she said with a tiny bit of hurt in her voice.
Ikumi winced a moment when she heard the slight pain in her voice and her words. She looked up at Mutsumi with unshed tears still in her eyes. "I do trust you!" she exclaimed, then looked away. "It's just… I'm not normal. I'm a freak!"
Mutsumi pulled the redhead into a gentle hug. "You're unique. That's not something to be ashamed of. But it still doesn't explain why you didn't say anything about it."
"I thought you might send me away," she mumbled just loud enough to be heard in the small room. The tears that had been threatening to flow finally overcame their restraints as the redhead sobbed. "I don't wanna be sent away again!" she cried out loud enough to be heard down the hallway as she latched onto Mutsumi's waist tightly, but not tight enough to break anything.
Both Otohimes in the room blinked at the outburst and felt sorry for her. Mutsumi hugged the redhead a bit more firmly while smoothing her flaming locks out in an attempt to calm her. "Shh. It's ok. We would never send you away because of that," she murmured softly in a way that was somewhere between sisterly and motherly.
Nanami came up behind the sobbing girl and hugged her around her midsection as well. "I don't know what's going on, but whatever your secret is, if Oneechan can forgive you for it then no one should have ever sent you away because of it."
Outside in the hallway, a lone figure stepped back from the closed doorway where they had been listening to the conversation. The figure smiled and headed back down the hallway unnoticed by the occupants of the furo.
Minutes passed before Ikumi calmed down enough to regain control of herself. Loosening her bear hug, she moved back a bit from where she had been crying into the older woman's chest. "Th-thank you, Mutsumi-san, Nanami-chan," she said hoarsely without looking up from the floor.
Mutsumi smiled down at the redhead. "There's no need for that. Like I said, we would never send you away because of your... 'ability'? What should we be calling it?"
She was quiet for a moment before she looked over at Nanami. "You really won't tell anyone?" she asked.
The younger girl looked back at her with a slightly hurt frown, causing Ikumi to wince internally. "You really think I'll go blabbing about something that has you this worried? I'm not Baka-Tsukuro. I'll leave telling whatever 'it' is up to you and Oneechan."
The redhead smiled and turned back to look at Mutsumi. "I've just been thinking of it as a 'change'. I don't know or remember anything else about it. It was just luck I learned how to change back," she sighed.
"What do you mean 'change'?" Nanami asked.
Ikumi opened her mouth to speak but was beat to the punch by Mutsumi. "I think it would be better to show her than just tell her," she said with a smile.
The redhead thought for a second then sighed. "Your right," she said and turned to move through the doorway separating the changing and washing areas but was stopped by Mutsumi's hand on her shoulder. She looked back at her confused.
Mutsumi smiled and held out a towel. "You should cover yourself."
Ikumi blinked stupidly for a second then looked down at herself. She blushed and started to wrap the towel around her waist. She blushed even deeper after realizing just how long she'd been like that. She tried to calm herself down by saying it was ok because they were all girls and ignored the vague sense of deja vu from that thought.
She filled one of the wooden wash buckets with hot water from the tub as the two Otohimes moved in with her. With the bucket in her hands, she looked from Nanami to Mutsumi and back as she prepared herself for the younger girl's reaction. With a deep breath, she dumped the water over her head.
Nanami blinked as she saw Ikumi's hair turn from red to black, her chest shrank, grew a few inches in height, and became more masculine. She blinked a few more times just to confirm her eyes weren't lying to her.
Seconds passed in silence as the dual ponytailed Otohime stared at the now male Ikumi.
"W-what...?" she sputtered out in complete disbelief of what she had just witnessed. She looked up at her sister for a moment before looking back at the former redhead. "Ikumi...?"
He wasn't able to look directly at either of them and only nodded. "Sorry 'bout this," he said quietly on impulse.
"You don't need to apologize Ikumi...-kun?" Mutsumi said sounding unsure if she should be using the masculine naming suffix.
"How...? What happened to you?" Nanami asked in a tone of complete confusion.
Ikumi sat morosely on the edge of the tub. "Every time I touch hot water... I turn into a boy. Cold water turns me back. I don't know why my body is like this. I don't even know what I am," he said.
Mutsumi stepped past her younger sister and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. You're still you whether you're girl or boy, right?" Ikumi nodded and she continued. "Then does it really matter which you are?"
Ikumi thought for a second before replying. "Maybe not, but I just wish I knew. I just feel like I've lost everything since I woke up."
Mutsumi hugged him. "Don't worry about it. It will all come back to you eventually, right?"
"I hope so," he said with a sad smile as he turned to the elder Otohime. Now, had Ikumi been paying more attention to his surroundings than the person next to him and his internal turmoil, he might have had a moment's warning before suddenly becoming drenched.
"Wow, it really does work," Nanami said with a sense of awe, while still holding the still dripping wash bucket. She completely missed the looks of stunned surprise from the two elder girls as she moved quickly to the furo and splashed some of the hot water on the aquatransexual. She watched closely as Ikumi's form once again shifted to male with a grin. "This is so cool!"
"Nanami-chan!" Mutsumi exclaimed after overcoming the suddenness of her little sister's 'attack'. "Stop splashing Ikumi-chan!"
"But…! It's so cool how she changes!" the dual-ponytailed girl defended herself.
The elder Otohime frowned at her younger sister. "That doesn't mean you should keep doing it. You didn't like it when Tsukuro-kun was always pulling your hair, right?"
Nanami cringed. "Okay! Okay!" she said after dropping the bucket. "I'll stop! Just don't remind me of that again."
Ikumi-kun looked between the two. "Huh?"
Mutsumi laughed lightly. "Tsukuro-kun used to play 'horsey' with Nanami-chan."
"Stooooop," the youngest of the three whined.
She just laughed for a few more seconds before stopping suddenly. "Ara? Isn't it almost time for dinner?" she asked.
"Um…" he said while looking at the still cringing Nanami, who had her hands up to her hair to guard her ponytails. "I think so."
"Then we should finish our baths," she said with a smile.
Ikumi-kun blushed slightly and looked away from the sisters. "I was finished," he said as he moved to fill a bucket with cold water to change back.
Mutsumi smiled sweetly. "But you must be cold from standing around all wet. You should soak a few more minutes to warm up."
The aquatransexual's blush deepened, but didn't stop from pouring the cold water over his, now her, head. "I-I'll be fine," she said, nervousness making her voice crack slightly. "Let's go see if we can help Natsumi-san with dinner," she said glancing to Nanami before going back into the changing room to dry off and get dressed. Nanami followed shortly behind her and closed the sliding door.
Mutsumi frowned slightly to herself as they left. The strange things about her new little sister kept growing and she was worried about what else she was hiding, or what was still hidden from her. She could only guess at what Ikumi was truly going through. First amnesia, then her ability to change between genders, and now whatever memories were surfacing were apparently not all pleasant.
She sighed as she began washing her arms. 'She's been hurt too much, even if she doesn't remember it all. I won't let anyone else hurt her,' she silently vowed.
Akane sat alone in her hospital bed as she gazed out the window as the sky turned with the colors of sunset. About two weeks have passed since... that day. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She had already spent enough time dwelling on it.
She knew she was to blame. Every way she looked at it all angled it back to her own rage. It was easy to try and blame it on Genma, the Amazons, Ukyo, or even Ranma himself, but having the time and solitude of her hospital stay left her mind to roam over everything that had happened, trying to think what could have prevented it. Everything pointed at her being the cause. She was the one that dumped the water on the Jusenkyou victims, knowing what the effect would be. She was the one too blinded by rage to see what was really happening. She was the one that... killed him.
She shook her head to break from that train of thought. She had wandered there too many times now. Tears wouldn't bring him back.
A knock at the door dragged her fully back to reality.
'Aren't visiting hours over?' Akane thought. 'Plus, Oneechan's already been here... Must be one of the staff.' "It's open," she called out.
She was doubly surprised when she saw who it was. First was the fact that it was Kuno's twisted sister, Kodachi. Second was the condition she appeared to be in.
Kodachi was clad in a hospital gown much like Akane was. She was also holding onto a tall metallic pole with a wheeled base and a bag of yellowish fluid hanging from the top with a thin tube leading down from the bag and ending at a needle in her arm.
Kodachi looked sadly at the bedridden girl as she stepped into the room, pulling the IV pole with her. "Brother told me you had been placed in this hospital too. The staff refused to tell him what room you were in though," she said in a weak, measured voice.
Akane looked away. "And you're going to tell him where I am. I deserve it."
The gymnast shook her head and sighed. "I won't tell him. Let him pine over loves that despise him. He'll learn sooner or later," she said as she moved fully into the room and closed the door behind her. "I have," she said with a depressed sigh.
Akane looked back at her questioningly. "What do you mean?"
Kodachi shook her head sadly and sat in one of the chairs near the Tendo's bed. "My stay in this institution has been... enlightening. It is as if I have lived within a dense miasma for so long that I had forgotten that there was anything else. Thanks to the physicians here, the fog has begun to lift from my mind." She paused to take a deep, calming breath. "I don't think Ranma-sama had ever loved me...," she said sadly.
The short-haired girl stared at the gymnast, stunned. In her defense, nearly everyone that speaks with Kodachi over the next few months will be stunned with the difference. "Then," she spoke after a few moments, "why are you here?"
Kodachi took another deep breath before looking at Akane. 'These breathing exercises that Nagai-sensei taught me help a lot. It wouldn't do to lose control and harm the poor girl,' she thought to herself before speaking. "I have come to visit you for two reasons," she said, then paused for another of her 'calming breath' exercises.
Akane was starting to get nervous at the way Kuno's sister kept taking long, deliberate breaths. She knew she couldn't defend herself with her arm and leg in these casts. She felt around behind her to find the nurse station call button, trying to look inconspicuous.
"First, I would like to apologize for the things I have done to you and Ranma-sama," she said while bowing slightly from her sitting position. "I can only hope some of the things I remember now are... exaggerated from what truly happened."
The bedridden girl relaxed slightly upon hearing the apology, though she didn't release the call button, just in case.
"Second, I wish to know what truly happened that day. As you most likely know, my dear brother is not one to be listened to if you wish the truth," she said while making eye contact once again with the Tendo girl.
Akane looked away to try and hide the sadness on her face from the Black Rose at being turned back to remembering 'that day'. "Why me?" she asked.
Kodachi, correctly assuming it wasn't a rhetorical lamentation, replied. "Because, of what Tachi has told me, you are one of the few people that possibly knows the whole story."
She sighed, knowing it would be hard to recount the events even thought she'd run them through her mind dozens upon dozens of times already. She took a moment to think as well, since Kodachi didn't know about the curses, that she would have to adapt what happened a bit. Resigning herself, she started to speak. "It was my fault," she started, sadness evident in her voice. "Ranma is... was a heavy sleeper, so I would do things to wake him up. That morning I was angry at him and... threw a cat in on him."
Kodachi seemed to remember something for a moment about some ranting her brother did a while back. "What would a cat have to do with this?"
Akane paused for a moment to collect herself again after being interrupted. "Uncle Saotome tried to teach Ranma an unbeatable technique when he was just a kid. It involved throwing Ranma, wrapped in fish products, into a pit of starving cats... repeatedly. Ranma was terrified of cats afterwards and sometimes would revert into acting like a cat himself. That was the technique. The Neko-ken."
'So, maybe there is some merit to my brother's rantings,' Kodachi thought for a moment. "If that is so, then why did you even allow cats onto your property?"
Akane was caught off-guard by one of the holes in her story and tried to recover. "They... um... sometimes sneak in. That one made it into the house and I saw her before I could get to any of the other things I usually woke him up with..."
Kodachi nodded her acceptance of the story, even knowing it was just that and not fact. There was something the girl was hiding, but maybe she would learn of it from the others she planned to ask.
Akane felt relieved momentarily that the gymnast had accepted the fabrication. After a moment to get her thoughts back on track, she continued. "After I did that, I left him alone. I think I heard him outside screaming about the cat, but I didn't see him again until lunchtime at school. I was still angry at him... and then a fight between Ukyo and me started. I don't remember much of it, but I do remember seeing Ranma. He had reverted into the Neko-ken and stopped the fight by jumping on me from behind, then jumping on her, forcing her to sit on the ground so he could curl up in her lap. He usually did that with me. I looked up from the ground to see him in Ukyo's lap with his face to hers. I hit him with my mallet, hard, and sent him flying into the sky like I usually did. I was just so unthinkingly angry at the time. I had hit him into a storm cloud... and that he never fell back down," she said and then started to sniffle as tears welled up in her eyes yet again at remembering the final details. "I... heard him screaming, and didn't even care. I killed him and didn't even realize or care about it until I had woken up in here after Ukyo had nearly beaten me to death..."
Kodachi took calming breath. 'Perhaps some of my memories of this girl are not as exaggerated as I thought,' she thought. After another breath she reached out and placed her hand on the sobbing girl's shoulder to comfort her, causing her to flinch and pull away slightly. "The past cannot be changed, only atoned for. Some day we all may have a chance to atone."
Akane started to calm after hearing that. The tears didn't stop flowing, but she regained the ability to speak. "Th-Thank you," she said, turning to look anew at the girl she had always considered at least slightly insane. "But I don't think I'll ever be able to for what I did..."
"I do not think most see their chances until they are before them, or have already passed. You only need to keep aware to see them," Kodachi said with a slight smile before sitting back in her chair. "There is one more thing I wish to ask. Was not the pigtailed girl there? My brother's ravings may not be wholly truthful, but he doesn't usually claim people there who are not."
Akane looked away slightly. She may not be as bad a liar as Ranma was, but she didn't trust herself at the moment to not give away her lies. "She was there too, but I don't remember anything she did," she said, hoping Kodachi wouldn't pry any farther since she couldn't think of anything else that wouldn't be flat out saying that the pigtailed girl WAS Ranma.
'Still she doesn't speak the whole truth. Surely if there were two individuals inflicted with this Neko-ken, would they not have both fought my brother or been seen together? Yet this girl claims the pigtailed girl had nothing to do with anything... Strange,' she thought.
After a minute, Kodachi stood and bowed slightly. "Thank you for telling me a more truthful tale of what happened than what I would hear from my brother," she said, then straightened herself and smiled slightly. "I believe brother dearest would wish to pay for your stay in this institution, once he is reminded that even with your sister's swindling ways, your family is not as well off as ours." Her smile faltered then. "I also offer my aid in any funeral services for Ranma-sama," she said sadly.
Akane winced at the mention of funeral services and let a slight depression fall over her. Her only response to the offers was an accepting nod.
Kodachi excused herself silently, but paused before closing the door. "Get well, Tendo Akane. I do not think even Ranma-sama would have wanted to see you broken by this," she said, then waited. After a few moments of unresponsiveness, she sighed and closed the door.
Author's Notes: DONE! Sorry for the wait. The bath scene hung me up in at least 3 places and I've just realized I haven't fully thought out the Kuno aspect of the Nerima fallout beyond the basics. Also was running half on discarded ideas. I seem to have run my chapter length for this up to Love Remix's minimum. Maybe I'll keep up this size if it fits.
I'm changing the last chapter's title from 'History Repeats' to 'Lightning's Second Strike'.
OMAKE! (WARNING: Lime... at worst) (might have been better in 03, but here because the scene ended here :P)
Mutsumi stood in the doorway covered only with a towel she was holding in front of her. She had expected to see a redhead in here, not a boy standing there in the nude. She froze in surprise and awe.
Before Ikumi-kun's mind could reboot to working levels, Mutsumi turned and walked back out of sight. He sank back into the water as a wave of depression washed over him. 'She saw me...' He sat there afraid of what was going to happen next.
Click
'That didn't sound like the outer door closing,' he thought before turning to look in the direction of the open doorway. 'It sounded more like it was… being… locked…' His thoughts trailed off as his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates at the sight he saw in the doorway.
Mutsumi stood in the doorway, sans towel, with a seductive grin on her face. She stepped up to him slowly. Gently placing her hand under his chin, she made him stand up from the water. After he seemed stable, she stepped back to look him over once again. "Ara maa, such a big boy," she said with her grin turning feral, "And I have you all to myself."
Ikumi-kun started sputtering and stumbling backwards until he was against the wall. "B-b-b-but M-Mutsumi-san! W-w-we can't!" he protested waving his arms wildly trying to keep her back.
"Says who?" she asked, grin firmly in place and her eyes roving all over the male specimen before her. "You seem to be perfectly healthy," she said, licking her lips, "and are much more handsome that I've ever dreamed my Kei-kun to be." She started moving forward into the furo with him.
"I-i-it's n-not what you think, M-Mutsumi-san!" he continued to exclaim while looking around for a way out when his eyes landed on the faucet on the other wall. 'Cold water!' he screamed in his mind and dove sideways just as the elder girl nearly pinned him to the wall.
Mutsumi pouted cutely as he made her final lunge, only to see him dive sideways and away from her. She turned to continue her chase as she saw him fumbling with the faucet and buckets. 'What's he doing?' she thought.
Panicking, Ikumi-kun filled the bucket with cold water while trying to keep and eye on Mutsumi-san. Just as she exited the furo and nearly grabbed him again, he rolled sideways with the bucket, dumping it on himself in the process, causing him to turn back into a female. "See Mutsumi-san?" she asked, panic still in her voice. "It's me!"
Mutsumi looked down at the obviously natural redheaded girl lying on the ground with a mild look of shock. "Ikumi-chan?" she asked, receiving a frantic nod. After a few seconds of thought, the grin returned to her face. "This just makes it more interesting!" she exclaimed and pounced on the shocked redhead.
Super Special Thanks to:
MGsaintz (as usual) - for the same things as usual... and sticking the Omake idea in my head...
Thanks to:
Shinji's Forum
FukuFics Forum
and everyone who reviews :)