Sendai
By M. Zephyr
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.
Ranma x Akane. See the bottom of Chapter 1 for an author's note dealing with the entirety of this story.
Chapter 6. Interlude
On Saturday morning, Ranma came back into the bedroom from brushing his teeth, and saw his roommate just getting out of bed. The older man looked rather tired.
"Hey doc. How was Tokyo?"
"Good morning Ranma. The conference was very interesting, and I met a lot of old friends. Also, as long as I was in the neighborhood, I decided to go by and pick up copies of the girls' records from their gynecologist, in order to give them to the one they'll use here in Sendai - I already have someone in mind for that. That means the records won't have to be mailed here, so no one will know where they went. Their Tokyo doctor is an acquaintance of mine, and I asked him not to let anyone know that he gave me copies, so hopefully we cannot be tracked through him. Unfortunately, their doctor did not know of you, and I am not sure that I ever knew the name of your own g-y-n. So I was unable to do the same for your records."
"Um, doc, I don't even know what a ... gee-why-an is."
Tofu looked nonplused. "It's a doctor who specializes in the care and treatment of the female reproductive organs."
"Oh!" Ranma exclaimed in enlightenment. "One of those!" He gave a small shudder and said, "I don't need one of them. I'm a guy."
"Not when you get wet," Tofu responded in exasperation. "However, we can argue about that later. If I don't get moving, I'll miss my chance in the bathroom." He left the bedroom to begin his own morning rituals. Back in their room, Ranma was remembering how Akane once mentioned the possibility of being tracked through their school records, back when they were planning this escapade. The germ of an idea started growing within him, in connection with the telephone call he had received the previous day.
That afternoon, Akane was near the end of her shift at the hospital when the telephone rang.
"Hello? This is Akane Tendo."
"Hi 'kane, it's Ranma. I've got to go somewhere after work, so you'll have to catch the bus back by yourself. I'll explain as soon as I see you again, which will probably be sometime tomorrow."
"What? Where are you going? What's going on?"
"I'll explain tomorrow. Bye!"
The phone went dead.
"That baka! I'm going to wring his neck tomorrow!"
Much later that night, a pigtailed figure wearing dark clothes was making its way through the streets of Nerima, hoping that it was passing unobserved. After a slow and careful progress, it arrived at its destination: the gates of Furinkan High School.
‹Okay, first half is done. I got here, apparently without being observed.›
The wall around the school campus was quickly scaled, and he dropped to the ground on the other side. Approximately half an hour was then spent creeping along the building itself, but eventually an unlocked window was discovered, and Ranma was inside.
‹Home Ec classroom. Site of many disasters. Heh. Now to get down to the office.›
A few minutes later the young man was picking the lock of the door leading into the school office, thankful for once for the lessons taught by a less-than-honorable father. Another minute and the door swung open, after which he made his way over to the files marked 'S' and 'T'.
‹Okay, here we are, 'Saotome, Ranma.' A notice that a copy of the records were mailed to Masamune High School in Sendai.› He pulled the piece of paper out of the file, folded it, and shoved it into a pocket. He opened the other folder. ‹Likewise in the file marked 'Tendo, Akane.'› With both forms now in his pocket, the only link to where those records had been sent was in the memory of an overworked secretary. With any luck, no one would be asking her about them before the memory disappeared under the mountain of other details she had to deal with on a daily basis.
The files were put back, looking untouched. He was careful to lock the office door behind him, and to close the window of the Home Ec classroom after he slipped out again. He paused before scaling the outer wall again to extend his senses to try to determine if any potential witnesses were around on the outside.
‹Okay, up and over, and back to the train station. Sleep on the roof overnight, a bit uncomfortable, and then catch the train back in the morning. Hope nobody recognizes me in my disguise at the station in the morning. At least nobody should be asking questions about the possibility of my boarding the train tomorrow, since we're known to have left a week and a half ago, and I don't have to buy any tickets since I paid for the round trip back in Sendai.›
The figure settled down on the roof to spend a cold and restless night.
‹I got a feeling that Akane's gonna be really pissed with me, tomorrow. But she'll understand once I explain. I hope.› Somehow his mental voice did not sound as convincing as he would have liked. It was a very long night.
The front door of the apartment was torn out of his grip before he could even finish opening it.
"Ranma! Where have you been!"
"Oh, hi, Akane. Do you mind if I have a bite to eat first? I've only had a couple of light snacks that I was able to carry with me, since lunch yesterday."
Akane shoved him into a seat at the table. She grabbed a carrot out of the refrigerator and tossed it to him, while Tofu and Kasumi watched with amusement from the living room.
"Here, this will take the edge off. Now start talking, mister!"
"Em. Heh-heh, okay." Chomp. "Well, you remember that the school got our records from Furinkan, right? But I recalled how you once said that people might be able to track us through our school records. So I got to thinking. The only thing anyone could find would be a single notice added to our files in Nerima, saying where the records were sent. That, and the possibility that the secretary who mailed them might remember where she sent them. You remember that old biddy, right? Give her a week, and she won't even remember our names, let alone the name of a school or city that probably didn't occupy her attention for more than five minutes.
"So I caught a train down to Nerima, broke into the high school last night, and removed the information on where our school records were sent."
Tofu looked at him with something between awe and disgust. "You do realize that that is called burglary, Ranma? It's not something people tend to be too forgiving about."
Akane was staring at him, aghast. "What if you'd been caught? Forget the police! What if Ukyo, Shampoo, Cologne or one of the Kuno's spotted you and decided to follow you? You could have led them right here!"
"Give me a little credit, Akane! It was late at night when few people were around. I used the Umisen-ken, and kept an eye out for anyone who might have spotted me. If I had been spotted, I was prepared to lead them on a wild goose chase. I spent last night on the roof of the train station so I wouldn't have to walk through the streets this morning. I was careful!"
"Careful? You?" she scoffed. "With the kind of luck you have, it might not matter how careful you tried to be!"
"Look, it's done. I did it. No one saw me. No one followed me. Now let it drop! I'm going to get cleaned up if you don't mind." Without waiting for a response, he jumped up from the table and stormed down the hallway to his room. Akane followed.
"I do mind!" she shouted angrily, slamming the door shut behind her and spinning around to push the astonished boy down onto Tofu's bed. She stood there glaring down at him.
"Okay, if this was such a great idea, why didn't you discuss it with me? Why did you sneak off without me? You didn't think that I'd be willing to help? Or you just couldn't bear the thought of having my help?"
"No! I didn't want to argue about it, and it would have been a mistake for you to come along. As you yourself rightly pointed out, there was a strong risk of discovery, and that risk would have been a lot higher with two people! Besides, I haven't trained you in the Umisen-ken yet, so you couldn't have used it to avoid being seen!"
Akane fumed. "Okay, I'll grant you that. And maybe you're right that if it was going to be done at all, then it was best that you do it alone. But that doesn't change the fact that you made this decision on your own without consulting me! Without talking to me about it at all. When I think of us together, I think just that. 'Together.' As in partners. I have no intention of ever being some trophy that you keep back at the house, with no voice in the decisions that affect both of our lives!"
Ranma looked down at the floor, ashamed. "Um, you're right. I'm sorry. I just hated the idea of arguing with you so much that I decided to just go and do it, and tell you afterward. I suppose that was pretty selfish. I should have discussed it with you, even if that meant we did argue, rather than hurting your feelings by making a decision without consulting you."
Akane closed her eyes, and let out a hissing breath. "Ranma, if we're going to make this work, then you need to grow up and start treating me as an equal. You can't keep screwing up, then saying that you're sorry, and expecting that that's always going to solve everything. You need to start thinking in terms of 'us', not just 'you', or else there's not going to be any 'us'."
She looked at him pleadingly. "Please try to understand this, baka, because it's important, and I would like to have a chance at there being an 'us'."
"I understand, Akane. I'll try, I promise. No more making decisions by myself about anything that affects both of us."
She sighed, and looked down at him with fond exasperation. "Okay, Ranma. It sounds like it may have worked out this time, so we'll forget about it. Next time, however, the mallet comes back out!"
Ranma shuddered.
The next morning at breakfast, Akane saw an ad in the newspaper for a new restaurant which had just opened down the street from the dojo. According to the ad, it also had a dance floor. She sighed reminiscently as she remembered a school dance that had been fun in middle school - she hadn't really had any opportunities to enjoy dancing since then. She looked speculatively over at Ranma. She wanted to get over the last of the hurt left from the previous day's argument, and thought gleefully of how to both do that and 'punish' him at the same time. She started to make puppy dog eyes at her fiancé.
"Oh, Raaanmaaa. I enjoyed our last date so much, how about if we go out again tonight? Hmm?"
Of course, every alarm bell in Ranma's head went gone off. At the same time, he found it very hard to ignore that look. He glanced down at the ad under his fiancée's tapping finger.
"You want to go to that restaurant to eat tonight? Um, sure, that sounds great. What do they serve?"
"Who cares? They've got a dance floor and a live band! Will you dance with me while we're there, Ranma? Pleeeaaase?" She batted her eyelashes at him, in much the same way that onna-Ranma would when trying to get extra scoops of ice cream.
"Oh, jeez." Yep, the alarm bells had been correct. Ranma fiddled with his pigtail, trying to figure a way out of this dilemma, but the eyelashes worked just as well on him as they did on the guy serving the ice cream. "Okay, Akane, you win. I'll dance with you. I bet I won't be any good, though."
"Thanks, Ranma! It'll be great! You'll see." Akane was beaming at him happily.
Kasumi giggled at her younger sister's antics. She then looked to her right and batted her eyelashes in Tofu's direction. "So, Tofu, when are you going to ask me out somewhere?" she cooed.
The young doctor's collar suddenly felt very tight, and all of the tugging in the world did nothing to loosen it. "Well, umm, ha-ha, how about tonight? Since Akane and Ranma will be out anyway? I wouldn't want to intrude on them, but would you like to go out to that restaurant they went to last Friday, and maybe see a movie afterward?"
Kasumi looked up at him from under her lashes, well pleased with his reaction. "That sounds very nice, Tofu. I'll look forward to it."
That night, Ranma discovered just how enjoyable dancing could be, with the right partner. In no small part this was because it gave him the perfect excuse to hold his fiancée with no one yelling "Pervert!" at him for doing so. He felt like he was in heaven during the dances where he was able to put his arms around her and hold her closely, feeling her curves pressed against him.
They returned home before Kasumi and Tofu, as they realized when they closed the door, standing just inside the dark apartment. There was only a little bit of illumination in the room, from some light coming in through the window. Ranma turned to Akane and held her close, while she put her arms over his shoulders and around the back of his neck, and they looked into each other's eyes.
"I had a wonderful time tonight, Ranma," Akane said softly.
"So did I," Ranma said, equally softly. "I think that I could really get used to going out on dates with you. Um, this was an official date, and we both seem to be the right genders this time. Don't dates often end with a kiss?"
"Mmm-hmmm," she purred.
Ranma slowly bent his head down toward hers, until their lips brushed. She pressed her lips back into his, and he tightened his arms almost involuntarily. It felt as if a dam collapsed, releasing a flood of electricity surging through their veins. They were each reveling in the feeling of the other's body pressed against their own. A couple of minutes later they realized that they were both moaning softly, and broke the kiss with a little bit of embarrassment. At that point Ranma realized he had another reaction to the close contact and as closely as they were pressed together that Akane would hardly be able to avoid noticing it as well. At the same time that he realized this, Akane did in fact notice, although she wasn't quite sure how to react in turn, except to be glad that she was female and that her own response was not quite as noticeable.
They gradually released one another, still looking with wonder into each other's eyes.
"Um, that was, that was ... I don't think I've ever felt anything quite that wonderful before, Akane."
"Ranma, surely you've been kissed before, the way some of the other girls would hang all over you?"
"There's a world of difference between having a pair of lips pressed against you when you don't want it, and sharing a kiss with someone as wonderful as you. There's no comparison."
Akane felt herself blushing in the darkness. "Thank you, Ranma. I thought it was pretty wonderful myself."
After a few more minutes of gazing at one another, they began to realize that it didn't make any sense to stand frozen in front of the apartment door all night. By mutual consent they moved apart, but her left hand slipped into his right hand and held it. Neither seemed quite sure what to do next. Akane looked over in the living room and said, "Do you want to watch some TV?"
Ranma shrugged. "Yeah, sure." Together they walked over and sat on the couch, still holding hands. Ranma used the remote to flip through channels until they settled on a detective show which was just starting. Akane leaned in against him.
When Kasumi and Tofu returned from their movie, the two teenagers were sitting on the couch watching the program's credits roll, but with Ranma's arm now around Akane's shoulders. Before the door opened, they heard the murmur of Tofu speaking in the hallway and Kasumi giggling like a schoolgirl. They could just make out her voice saying "stop it" in a cheerfully protesting voice. When the older man walked in, he was grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and had his arm around his date's waist. He stopped short when he became aware of the two on the couch watching them. His face went through a comical shift from giddy to nervous to composed.
"Ahem. Ah, Akane and Ranma. I thought the two of you ... that is ... I hope you had a nice time tonight."
"Yes, we really enjoyed our date," Akane replied primly, eyeing her older sister questioningly. Kasumi smiled at the unspoken criticism and shrugged, unrepentant.
"Good, excellent. It has indeed been a wonderful night." He smiled down at Kasumi, getting lost in her eyes as she returned his smile, gazing up at him. For a brief moment, he seemed to regain the giddiness he'd had when he'd come in. Then he sighed, and his eyes seemed to refocus, taking in the other occupants of the room once more. He spent a moment chasing down a stray thought, and then remembered it.
"Ah, I just remembered some things I wanted to discuss with all of you," he announced. "I meant to do so after work, but in the flurry of preparing for our dates, I forgot."
Kasumi sat in the chair, while Ranma turned off the television before Tofu took up position in front of it. His stance seemed to shift in some indefinable way into something more professional, as if he were in one of his examination rooms. The other three all turned quizzical looks onto the doctor.
"Ah, well. First I wanted to inform you that I've scheduled the physical exams you need for school, Ranma, Akane. You should come by my clinic Wednesday morning, at 10:00."
The couple on the couch nodded at him. This news was not unexpected.
"Additionally, since you're all going to be living here for the next year, I felt it advisable to schedule gynecological appointments for the ladies. There is a doctor of that specialty whom I have come to know fairly well and who is a colleague at the medical center, so I took the liberty of scheduling appointments with her for the three of you starting at 11:00 Wednesday, after your physicals with me."
Everyone was now staring at him in shock. This news, on the other hand, was unexpected.
"Tofu Ono." Kasumi's voice held a dangerous note. "Would you care to explain how you felt it appropriate to go behind my back and make such an appointment for my sister and myself without consulting me?"
"Um, well ..." The doctor looked to once side briefly, the angry flash of her eyes shaking his composure. Then he squared his shoulders and met her gaze full on. "I guess ... I didn't really think I needed to. All of that time as your personal physician, I suppose I'm a little accustomed to making decisions about your medical needs."
Kasumi's eyes had a look which said that this was going to be discussed at greater length later, in private. However, all she said for the moment was, "Very well. You are correct that it would be appropriate to have such examinations, and you are the one who knows the local physicians. We will keep the appointments, although, in future, you had better remember to check with me first."
Ranma raised his hand for attention. "Excuse me. Did you say ... the three of us?" There was a note of real horror in his voice. Tofu seemed happy to be distracted from Kasumi's unanticipated reaction. He turned to Ranma with a smile of relief.
"Yes, Ranma, the three of you. It is high time that you had such an examination, particularly with regard to potential complications arising from your inescapable change of genders. I've explained the nature of your curse to her," he paused as the memory of her reaction turned the corners of his mouth upward, "although of course she is going to require a demonstration before she fully accepts that I am not pulling her leg."
"Oh, God. Is this some sort of weird revenge for my not warning you that Kasumi was coming here with us? I told you that I didn't know ahead of time that she was going to do that."
Akane giggled at his discomfiture, although she was feeling no small amount of trepidation about her own announced appointment. Her memory of previous such examinations were ones she preferred not to dwell on. However, she knew that Tofu was right that Ranma ought to do this, so despite her own feelings about the highhanded way their roommate had done this behind their backs, she decided to support him. She still gave the doctor a brief dirty look, but then turned to the boy beside her with a wan smile. "Come on, Ranma, you'll survive it," she cajoled him. "After all, you wouldn't want me to think that you couldn't face something that I can deal with, huh?"
"That's a low blow, tomboy," he said, almost too quietly to hear. Akane just looked at him beseechingly, and gave his hand a squeeze.
Tofu was pleased with the effect that Akane's words seemed to have a Ranma, although he was feeling increasingly nervous about the looks which he himself was getting. Nonetheless, he cleared his throat for attention, indication that he was not quite finished.
"Additionally, I, um, um, ahhh ..." His face started turning quite red. "I suggested to Doctor Shirayuri that she discuss contraception with all of you, particularly with ... um, Kasumi and Akane."
"Doctor Tofu!" Akane cried out in shock. Ranma convulsively squeezed Akane's hand much more tightly, mutely staring at Tofu in terror. Kasumi stood up, holding herself very rigid and lifting her chin to an angle of outraged dignity. Her peaceful facade had shattered completely.
"Tofu-san, you have exceeded yourself," the older sister spoke in frigid tones. "Just exactly what is going on inside of that empty skull of yours? First you make these appointments without consulting us, without even bothering to find out if they are at convenient times or whether we have made other plans, and now this? Do you truly believe that because my sister and I are sharing an apartment with you and Ranma, that we are going to behave with complete impropriety? How dare you imply such a thing?"
‹I never thought that I'd hear Kasumi say something like that,› Ranma thought. ‹She must be really upset. Akane, on the other hand, looks more frightened than upset, I think›
Tofu shrank back, almost falling against the television, but rallied himself immediately and faced her. "In the first place, I only said that I suggested that she discuss the subject. I definitely have not asked her to try to talk you into anything. In the second place, I am certainly not expecting anything to take place which would require the use of contraception, or anything even remotely close to it at any point in the near future.
"On the other hand, I am a doctor, and it has been my unfortunate experience to witness the results of a lack of planning too often for me to be comfortable ignoring the possibilities inherent in our situation here. There are two couples with romantic feelings for one another, living together under this roof. At least, I hope that the feelings are mutual," he added, with a pleading look in Kasumi's direction. She gazed back coldly, and he winced and continued. "It would be inexcusable for me to ignore the possibility that, at some future time, emotions might run high and common sense be thrown to the winds. I thought that by arranging for the matter to be discussed now, when nothing is likely to occur, we might be able to avoid an embarrassing situation later.
"In conclusion, my only intention was to make sure that you, both of you, were fully aware of your options." He finished with an air of confidence, which was undermined by a hint of worry in his eyes.
Kasumi had calmed somewhat during this speech. While she might agree with his arguments and even with his intentions, she was not prepared to forgive him for the fashion in which he had gone about this. Without saying a word, she stood up and left the room. Throughout Tofu's speech, Akane and Ranma had found it increasingly impossible to look at one another. When Kasumi stood, Akane immediately bounced to her feet and followed her sister. Ranma slowly stood as well, gave the unhappy doctor a thoroughly disgusted look, and also left. Tofu miserably fell into the chair which Kasumi had vacated and sat there, slumped and alone, for long after the other three had gone to their beds, wondering just where it was that his plans had gone wrong.
The following morning, Akane and Ranma were sitting at the table, with books and papers scattered around them, taking a break between reviewing English and mathematics. They were also scarfing down a plateful of cookies which Kasumi had baked the day before.
Ranma's thoughts had turned from the academic issues of attending school, to the other students whom they would soon meet. He looked up with a cookie in each hand, and spoke semi-intelligibly around the cookie in his mouth. "So, um, Akane. What do you want to tell the other kids at school about us?"
"About us?" Akane queried warily. "What do you mean by that, Ranma? Do you mean all of the stuff that happened to us at Furinkan, or things like Jusendo? I'd rather not tell them any of that, at all, if you don't mind." She rested her chin on her hands wearily and sighed. "I'd like them to think we're not too far outside the bounds of being normal."
"Huh! And you were the one who advised me to tell them about my curse on the first day!" he reminded her pointedly. Akane picked up the mathematics book to menace him and he drew back, laughing. "But no, what I actually meant was, what do you want to tell them about us? You and me. Our relationship. Do we tell them that we're engaged? Or that we're boyfriend and girlfriend? Or what? I've gotta admit, I want to tell them something. I don't want to pretend that we're not close, and I sure as hell don't want any of the guys trying to ask you out on a date!"
"Hmph. Don't be such a possessive baka, baka." She considered. "I'm not interested in going out on dates with anyone else right now." Her gaze sharpened on him. "And you'd better not be interested in going out with anyone else either, for that matter."
"Don't be such a possessive baka yourself, Akane," he teased. This time he did get bopped with the book, but it was a far cry from the mallet blows to which he had become accustomed.
Akane set the mathematics book down with a disgusted look for its lack of effect. She nervously munched on another cookie while she thought some more, then said, "I hadn't really thought about it, but I would like to avoid the whole engagement and arranged marriage explanation, if possible. Would it be okay to sort of let people know that we're boyfriend and girlfriend, that we're kind of serious about one another and that's all?"
"Sure, that sounds fine to me. I just wanted to make sure we had our story straight before we started school and had to start answering questions. After all, we don't want to trip each other up about that stuff. I'm sure that rumors here get just as bad as they ever did at Furinkan."
Akane nodded in emphatic agreement. "I'm sure you're right, and it's a good idea to decide what we will and won't tell them, but we're supposed to be focusing on reviewing academics this morning. What do you say we discuss this some time tomorrow? After we've both had a chance to really think about it."
"Sounds like a plan." He reached for another cookie only to give a look of betrayal to the empty plate. "Blast! Looks like all of the cookies are gone. I guess there's no excuse not to get started on this math, now."
Nothing unusual emerged from the medical examinations the next day, although afterward Ranma dragged the other two off to an ice cream parlor. He felt the need for a great deal of consolation for the indignities he had suffered, in the form of lots and lots of chocolate. With the results of the physicals mailed to Masamune, they were now completely ready to start their final school year.