CURSES!

A Paladin Jag Fan Fic

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ (no matter how much I wish I did). All characters are the property of their respective owners and no copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 2

Tendo Dojo

Looking into the koi pond, Akane adjusts the loose robe she's wearing, she slides her arms out of the sleeves. Don't want to rip the robe. OK. You can do this; you have to do this. Just breath.

"Are you sure about this?" Ranma asks nervously.

"Yes." Closing her eyes. I need to see it for myself.

"Okay, here we go." Ranma carefully pours water over Akane's head.

Feeling the change she opens her eyes. The first thing she notices is that everything looks different, smaller. Looking down she sees her body, scales glinting red, orange and gold in the afternoon sun.

It's true. I- I'm a dragon!

"Akane. Are you OK?" Ranma hesitantly asks.

She just stares blankly at her reflection in the koi pond. She's big- no huge, easily thirty… thirty-five feet long. Her head alone is more than five feet long.

"Bwha- My little girl is a dragon! The schools will never be joined now!" Soun wails, tears flooding the porch.

"Father…" Kasumi starts but is cut off.

"I'm a monster!" Akane-ryuu wails mournfully.

"NO!" Ranma growls. Then more calmly. " No, you're not a monster. This is just a curse. You're no more a dragon than I am a girl. Besides you're…" Ranma falters, looking embarrassed. I can't tell her she's still cute like this, she'd never believe me. Besides I wouldn't hear the end of it from everybody else.

"Y-You don't think so?" Akane-ryuu asks quietly.

"Well, no. I mean look, your voice didn't change. It's not like you want to go and destroy all of Tokyo like Godzilla or something, do you? You're the same person inside no matter what the curse makes you look like on the outside… What's so funny?" Ranma, confused by the strange sight of a dragon giggling, asks.

"Of course I don't want to destroy the city, just Happosai." Akane-ryuu continues soberly. "But what will other people think about the curse?"

"They'll get used to it, just like they did mine." Ranma states with a shrug.

"I guess. It's not like I can do anything about it now anyway. Kasumi, can you get me some hot water?"

Nabiki watches as Akane ducks around the corner of the house to change back. Well, looks like loverboy is finally starting to show how we all know he feels. I hope he doesn't blow it Sis, you need the help now more than ever. And I need to help out however I can too, I owe you that much at least for all the trouble I caused at your 'wedding'.

The Next Day

"Well, you managed to make it all through school without getting splashed." Ranma says from his usual perch on the fence as he and Akane walk home from school. "How did your friends take it when you told them about your curse?"

" I didn't."

"Why not? You know they'll find out anyway. You're gonna be a water magnet just like me. I'm surprised you haven't gotten wet yet today."

"I just didn't feel like it, Ok!" Akane snaps.

Ranma is saved from a terminal case of foot in mouth disease by the sight of a backpack-laden figure turning the corner in front of them.

"Let's see, if I'm in Kyoto now, then I need to go east to get to Okinawa then go south to get to Sapporo…"Ryoga mutters to himself as he looks over a map labeled 'Arizona'.

"Ryoga!" Akane calls cheerfully to him.

"Akane? What are you doing in Kyoto?" Ryoga asks, suprised.

"This is Nerima, bacon breath." Ranma replies.

"Ranma, stop picking on Ryoga." An aggravated Akane says. "What are you doing here? The last time we saw you, you were going to go visit Akari."

Ryoga blushes and puts a hand to the back of his head. "Well… I'm still on my way there."

"Man, you are pathetic. It's been almost a month since you left." Ranma laughs.

Ryoga growls at Ranma as Akane goes to step in between them.

SLPASH! The ladle lady strikes.

Ryoga's eyes bug out at the sight of Akane-ryuu. "W-W-What?"

"Great." Ranma groans. "I told you you'd be a water magnet, Akane"

"A-Akane! How?" Ryoga stammers then his eyes narrow. "Raaanma! This is all your fault, isn't it!" He begins to glow as he steps toward Ranma. But he is suddenly interrupted by Akane-ryuu as she swings her head into Ryoga's path.

"Stop! It's not his fault."

"B- B- But…" A confused Ryoga says.

"Sure it is. The water was meant for me. If I had kept a hold of it you wouldn't have gotten cursed." Ranma says glumly.

Just then the poor old ladle lady noticed Akane-ryuu. "Ahhh! Monster!"

Upon hearing this, Akane-ryu runs off down the street, trailing tears behind her.

"Argh! Just what we needed now." Ranma moans. "Akane!" he calls after her, as he tries to catch up to the surprisingly fast dragon.

Ryoga just stares at the bizarre sight. "What is going on! First Akane gets cursed, then she defends Ranma, saying 'It's not his fault.', then Ranma says it is. She always blames him, why not now, when he says it is his fault! Aaarrrgh! Ranma this IS all your fault!" He then runs after Ranma, in the wrong direction, bellowing "Prepare to die!"

Ranma turns the corner to try to find Akane but she is nowhere to be seen. Great! I lost her. How can you lose a 30-foot dragon? She has to be around here somewhere. He then jumps onto a nearby roof to look for her. He spots some movement down by the canal but it seems too small to be Akane-ryuu. Thinking it might be just her tail, he jumps down and heads over to it.

"Akane? Is that you? Hey, Tomboy. Do you here me?" He calls out to her, only hearing some soft sobbing.

He sees some movement in the shadow of the bridge and comes closer for a better look. "Akane." He stops. There she is, only now she's about a foot long and curled up in a tight ball. "What happened? You shrank."

Akane-ryuu just whimpers then says weakly, "Leave me alone. I'm just some kind of freak. You don't have to pretend to be nice to me. I'm sure Daddy will let you marry Kasumi or Nabiki instead."

"Oh come on. What happened to the macho, violent, tomboy that never gave up no matter how hard something was? What are you gonna be, some kind of weak little girl? How about giving up the art while you're at it, or maybe take up knitting instead? Naw, you'd just make a mess of that. Guess you'll just have to…"Ranma stops as Akane-ryuu starts laughing.

"Ranma you idiot, that's not how you're supposed to try to cheer somebody up." She says as she unwinds herself. Leave it to him to try to pick a fight just to distract me.

"Hey, it worked didn't it? Besides, you know I ain't marrying either of your sisters. You know how I feel about you, even if I ain't any good at saying that kind of stuff." Ranma says while blushing. I had a hard enough time finally saying it after the wedding got destroyed.

"I know, but how can you still feel that way after this curse?"

"You tell me." Ranma says as he jumps into the canal. "You told me back then that the curse didn't really matter, that I was still me on the inside. Well, so are you." She gets out of the canal and sits next to Akane-ryuu.

Akane-ryuu sighs and says, "I guess so." She then thinks about how she's smaller now. "How do you think I shrank?"

"No clue. Maybe we can ask Dr. Tofu, he might know."

Akane looks troubled, "Do you really think we should? Maybe he's to busy, or he might not know."

Ranma-chan rolls her eyes. "You're gonna have to tell people sooner or later. Besides, you know he's not gonna make fun of you."

"No, he won't. He'll feel sorry for me. I don't want his pity. I know this might seem silly to you but, even though I don't have a crush on him anymore, his opinion is still important to me."

"You sure you're over that crush?" Ranma-chan asks sullenly.

"Oh, don't start getting jealous. I already told you, I'm just worried how people will look at me now."

Tofu Clinic

Dr. Tofu looks up as Ranma-chan enters through the doorway.

"Oh hello, Ranma. Need some hot water?"

"Sure, Doc. Could you make enough for two?"

Dr Tofu raises his eyebrows at the request then notices something draped across Ranma's shoulders. "What, or should I say 'Who', is this?"

Akane-ryuu slides down to the floor, looking embarrassed. "It's me, Dr Tofu… Akane."

"Well, this is a surprise. When did this happen?" he asks as he gets some water ready.

Ranma tells him about the day before and how Akane get her curse, then about her shrinking.

"Hmm… interesting." Dr Tofu hands Ranma the hot water.

Ranma then takes off her top, leaving her in her undershirt, and uses the water. She then takes the water and her top and puts them in an examining room. "Here Akane, I figure you want some privacy."

Akane emerges a minute later, blushing profusely because she's dressed only in Ranma's over-shirt. "Dr Tofu, do you think you might have anything else for me to wear?"

"I might have some pants. Let me look." He comes back a couple of minutes later with a pair of scrub pants.

Akane flees back into the exam room to put them on.

"Thank you Dr Tofu." Akane says after she returns.

"You're quite welcome. Well, as far as you changing size as a dragon is concerned, it might be a natural ability. Some legends say that dragons could change size at will. You might try thinking small or large to see if you can do it consciously. Also, you should try to figure out if you have any other abilities, like flying or breathing fire."

I could fly? Akane thinks to herself. That might be fun…

Authors notes.

Thanks to my Beta 'XTOR49'. It is now official, I don't use commas properly.

Special Thanks to my wife, who let me have enough time on the computer to write this.

And, thanks to all of my readers!

Next chapter coming soon.