Chapter 12 - Happy Birthday
"Let me see if I've got this straight," Ranma said stretching awkwardly across the kitchen sink to turn off the water. "You and Kuno wanted to get married and live in Las Vegas, so you decided to build a casino?"
"Right," Nabiki said from her perch on the counter top across the room, "what's so hard to understand?"
"Well, most newlyweds rent an apartment for a few years or move in with their folks." Ranma grinned as she put away the last of the breakfast dishes.
"Ranma-baby, we are not most newlyweds. We already have an apartment on top of a casino, so when I told Take I wanted to build a little place of our own... one thing led to another and suddenly we're the head of an international syndicate. Besides, would you want to go live with his parents?"
"Not with Kodachi still living at home! That girl belongs in an asylum."
"Just what do you think the Kuno estate is?" Nabiki chuckled.
"If it's that bad, why are you planning to get married there?"
"You have to admit it's a damn nice asylum. It's also the only place we could book in April. Weddings seem to be on the upswing in Japan."
"You can't beat the tax credits," Ranma said. "These days the Japanese government will do just about anything to boost the birthrate."
"Well little brother, you're certainly doing your part. They should make you the poster boy for Mother's Day."
"Nabiki, this is Japan. We don't have Mother's Day..."
The sound of thundering little feet suddenly filled the house and moments latter the twins burst into the kitchen.
"Mommy! Mommy come quick!" shouted Masato.
"Mom needs you in the dojo..." Hideto yelled.
"...right away!" finished Masato.
"Oh no! Now what's happened?" Ranma cried out as she pulled off her apron and tossed it on the counter beside Nabiki.
Ranma hurried out the door and Nabiki slid off the counter. She knelt down in front of the two boys and said in English, "Nice work guys!" With a wink, she held up both hands for a simultaneous high five from the twins.
Ranma rushed across the courtyard between the house and the dojo letting her battle aura build in controlled steps. She had come to realize that Ranko-chan reacted strongly to emotional outbursts. So ever since the battle with Nabe she'd been careful not to let her aura get out of control.
Just the thought of Nabe made her pause. No strangely mangled corpses had turned up in the news after the battle and it was unclear just what had happened to the young gangster and his henchmen. Not that Ranma cared if the man was alive or dead, but if he had survived the twenty-kilometer flight to the bay he might just be dumb enough to come back for more. He might even be in the dojo this very minute!
Ranma bumped up her battle aura another notch and stepped warily into the dojo, then stopped dead in her tracks. The walls of the big room were covered in garlands of crepe paper. Dozens of pink paper lanterns with the character for 'Congratulations' on them hung from the ceiling above a long table that had been setup on the practice floor. At one end were piles of wrapped presents and at the other, surrounding a big cake, stood a horde of women.
"Surprise!"
Seeing that Ranma was about to turn tail and run for her life, Akane rushed over and took her by the arm. "Come on you big 'fraidy cat. It's only a baby shower."
"I took a bath last night," Ranma said nervously, "I don't need a shower."
When she realized Ranma was serious, Akane started laughing. "It's not a real shower silly. A baby shower is when our friends give us stuff for the baby. Come on, it's a lot of fun!"
The number of women in attendance surprised Ranma. Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi were there of course as well as Nodoka and Hinako. Quite a few of the neighbors, who Ranma hated to admit she didn't know quite as well as their husbands, had brought refreshments. She considered it a minor miracle that a very pregnant looking Akari had made it there with Ryouga's mother at the wheel. And wonder of wonders Ukyo had come up from Osaka.
Ramna always felt a little uncomfortable around the ex-fiance. After Akari snagged Ryouga and Mousse finally captured Shampoo's heart, no one had stepped up to claim Ukyo. When Ranma and Akane went off to college together, the young chef had soon tired of Nerima and moved south. They completely lost track of her until 'Ucchan's Old Fashioned' brand of frozen okonomiyaki had come on the market a few years ago.
Ukyo was now a very successful business woman in Osaka. A few years ago a magazine had declared her one of Japan's most eligible bachelorettes, but Ranma noticed her ring finger was still unadorned. Odd rumors had surrounded her social life for many years and it was only mildly surprising when Akane pointed out an unfamiliar young woman in the crowd and told Ranma she was Ukyo's special friend.
The party wasn't so bad. Ranma was a little bored because the women were just standing around eating cake and talking, but then Nodoka announced it was time to play shower games. Somehow all of these games involved either touching Ranma or asking her strange questions. They played 'Baby Trivia' (Ranma got all the answers wrong), 'Guess How Big Her Belly Is?' (Nabiki suggested there wasn't enough yarn in Japan to measure Ranma's breasts), and one called the 'Diaper Game' that involved passing around diapers filled with either candy or red bean paste until the music stopped.
Then it was time to open gifts. They sat Ranma down in an armchair borrowed from a neighbor's house and presented her with a seemingly endless stream of packages wrapped in pink paper. There were far more gifts than there were people present, so it wasn't surprising to see gifts from old friends who couldn't make it to the party. She even opened gifts from Jeff and Debora in America.
The gifts were mostly baby clothes. Since everyone knew Ranko-chan was a girl almost from the start, they had gone wild buying her cute fashionable little outfits. Ranma wondered what would happen if her little girl turned out to be a tomboy and hated all these frilly things.
Then Akane deposited a large heavy box in Ranma's lap. It was much too heavy to be clothing and the attached card said it was from her mother. Ranma looked enquiringly at Nodoka, who just smiled back expectantly. She tore off the wrapping paper, but the brown cardboard box underneath gave no clue about what the contents might be.
She was still perplexed after ripping open the top and looking inside. It contained some kind of an air pump like the ones model builders used. Ranma had never been interested in those sorts of hobbies. So why her mother thought she suddenly would after the baby came and why all the women were snickering completely escaped the redhead.
Akane saw the puzzled look on her husband's face and reached into the box. She pulled out a smaller box and handed it to Ranma whose face turned every imaginable shade of red when she saw, "Easy Nurse Breast Pump Kit" written across the front. Below that was a picture, which left nothing to the imagination about how it was supposed to be used.
"God I wish I'd thought of that!" Nabiki muttered gleefully to herself in English.
o o o
Generally speaking it had to be one of the most boring dreams Ranma ever had. She was just sitting on the couch watching an old cowboy movie on the wall screen. It wasn't even a particularly good cowboy movie either. The dream would be wholly unremarkable except that Ranma had been having the same one almost every night for weeks now. She sensed it was important somehow, but every time the movie started to get interesting something happened to wake her up.
This time however, the movie passed into a new part she hadn't seen before. Several tribes of American Indians had gathered in a great valley surrounded by majestic buttes. Just before sunset all the warriors had mounted their horses and ridden off to ambush a garrison of soldiers. They left behind all the women and children, including the wife of the chief who was quite heavy with child.
The scene shifted to the pregnant woman alone inside her teepee. Not much seemed to be happening and it took Ranma a few minutes to realize that the woman lying on the floor dressed in buckskins with the long red hair looked decidedly more oriental than native American.
Ranma watched herself awkwardly stand up and step outside. She shaded her eyes as she scanned the landscape. Then a scruffy looking coyote wandered into the makeshift village to confront her. Ranma had the strangest feeling of deja vu as she seemed to know exactly what the characters in the movie were about to say. She knew them because she had been there.
In a sudden rush every detail of her last meeting with Coyote-sama returned to her. His warning about Ranko-chan's destiny, his advice on Ranma's role now that she was bringing this little spirit into the world, Ranko-chan's words of thanks and the wonderful feeling of holding her daughter in her arms. It all came back. Everything, even the last moments when Ranko-chan had turned into...
A sudden sharp pain woke Ranma from the dream. She sat up in bed and let out a grunt as the pain in her abdomen slowly faded away. In the bed beside her Akane rolled over and groggily asked, "Is something wrong?"
"Akane," Ranma said with growing excitement. "I remember what happened while they were doing the amniocentesis. It was another spirit walk... well something like it anyway. Coyote-sama was there and so was Ranko-chan. You won't believe what they told me and... and something else about Ranko-chan..."
"That's great sweetheart," Akane interrupted sleepily. "You can tell me all about it in the morning... Ranma, why is the bed wet?"
"Huh?" Ranma noticed for the first time that she was sitting in a pool of warm water. "Oh no, I hope I didn't get so excited that I peed."
"I don't think that's it," Akane said sitting up and sniffing at the damp sheets. "I think this might be... it is! Ranma, your water's broken!"
"It can't, I'm not due for another two weeks."
"Babies don't keep appointments," Akane said as she jumped out of bed and turned on the overhead light. "Have you had anything like a contraction yet?"
"Um... maybe," Ranma said with a worried look. "Some kind of pain woke me up, but I thought it was just part of my dream."
"I better go get Kasumi," Akane said hurrying for the door. "You just stay put and if you feel a contraction starting be sure to check the time."
Ranma sat there uncomfortably and considered what was happening. Could this really be it? Was her long ordeal almost over? And what about the things she had just remembered? What did it all mean, especially the last part where Ranko-chan appeared to change into a boy? Was it the curse? It seemed unlikely since none of Shampoo's children were cursed, but then again the Amazon had not been in her cursed form while pregnant.
Right now all of this speculation paled in light of the reality that she was about to give birth. Her abdominal muscles rippled slightly and she suddenly felt constipated. In the birthing classes the instructor had compared early contractions to menstrual cramps, but Ranma had only gone through that one time and she couldn't remember if it was like this. She made a mental note of the time and waited for Akane to return.
A couple of minutes later Kasumi walked into the room fully dressed followed by Akane still in her pajamas. She walked over to Ranma and said, "I asked Toufuu to go down and warm up the van just in case. When was the first contraction?"
"I'm not sure," Ranma said, "but I think I just had another one. Maybe not, it didn't hurt that much."
"They don't hurt much at first," Kasumi said while taking Ranma's wrist and looking at her watch. "Your heart's racing, so let's assume it really was a contraction. Why don't you get up and change into something dry. Akane, you'd better get dressed as well."
With Kasumi's help, she got out of bed and began stripping off her wet pajamas. Looking down at herself she noticed how every part of her seemed swollen. A brown stripe ran down the entire length of her abdomen except where it was interrupted by her belly button, which had popped out several weeks ago like one of those plastic meat thermometers. Her stretch marks weren't as bad as Akane's were from carrying the twins, but they would be a permanent reminder of this experience.
She dried off with a towel Akane fetched from the hall closet and slipped on an oversized sweatshirt. As she was stepping into a pair of sweatpants Kasumi said, "Before you do that, let me look and see if you've started dilating yet."
Akane stripped the wet sheets from the bed before Ranma laid down on it and spread her legs apart. Kasumi retrieved a flashlight from her medical bag and made quick work of the examination. When Toufuu walked in and said the van was ready, Kasumi turned to him and said, "I don't think we have time for that honey. She's already dilated three centimeters."
Just then another contraction rippled across Ranma's belly. It was more intense this time and lasted longer. Kasumi punched a button on her wristwatch and then checked the bedside clock. "That's about four minutes, right Ranma-kun?"
Ranma nodded while biting her lower lip. This was definitely getting painful.
Kasumi reached into her bag again and took out her medical PDA. She tapped the screen a few times and waited for the device to connect with the national obstetrics hotline. Part of Japan's response to the declining birthrate at the turn of the century was to provide ever more sophisticated services for expectant mothers. The hotline was just one part of a complex support structure.
"Good morning," said a female voice from the little unit, "your provider ID has been verified. What can we do for you Dr. Ono?"
"I have a patient in active labour. Her water's broken and she's already dilated to three centimeters. Contractions are strong and less than five minutes apart. Her name is Saotome Ranma and I'm requesting emergency transport."
"Understood doctor, your current location has been confirmed. Please wait while I pull up the patient's records... um... Doctor, did you say the patient's name is Saotome Ranma?"
Kasumi looked to Akane who nodded her head. They had been using Ranma's real name rather than Ranko because the fake records Nabiki had once arranged for her were all in that name. "That's correct."
"Oh," said the voice. "I see what the problem is. There are two entries with the same name. The first one to come up was a male sperm donor. That couldn't be your patient of course, but what a coincidence!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Ranma said with a chuckle. Her latest contraction was beginning to subside and she was finally able to catch her breath.
"Okay," said the voice. "Transportation is in route, but the patient was scheduled for the Nerima Family Medical Clinic. That facility doesn't have a landing pad. Could you please ask the patient if she will approve a change to Tokyo General?"
Kasumi put her hand over the PDA's microphone then looked up and said, "I know it's a long train ride for everyone, but if we have them take us to Northern Yokohama my license is still valid and I can deliver Ranko-chan for you. I promise there isn't a better obs staff in all of Japan."
Ranma shared a quick glance with Akane. They were both thinking the same thing. They would rather have Kasumi delivering their baby than any other doctor on Earth. "Let's do it," Ranma said decisively, "I'll rent a damn chopper to bring the family down if I have to."
Kasumi smiled and spoke into the handset, "The patient wishes to be transported to Northern Yokohama Hospital. I'm assuming primary status with Dr. Haruhi Yamaguchi as my backup."
"Confirmed doctor, your transport is one minute away. Good luck."
Ranma sucked in a breath as another contraction began. Kasumi checked her watch, "Three minutes and forty six seconds. Leave it to Ranma-kun to turn a normal birth into a foot race."
Twenty minutes later they were in the air soaring over downtown Tokyo at one hundred and sixty knots heading south. The ambulance crew had showed up almost before Ranma could finish dressing. They strapped her to a stretcher and wired up both fetal and regular heart monitors in a matter of minutes. Only Akane and Kasumi went with her in the ambulance. Toufuu choose to stay behind with the twins because there was no time to call their parents. The ambulance took them just a few blocks before stopping at a small open park where a helicopter sat waiting.
As the copter swooped down towards the roof of the hospital, Ranma called out the beginning of another contraction. She had gone from being excited and nervous to all business. The contractions were now only two minutes apart and lasted well over a minute each. Akane kept busy timing each contraction with the same stopwatch Ranma had used when the twins were born. As soon as the wheels touched down the doors slid open and a crowd of people Kasumi seemed to already know jumped into action.
"Welcome back Dr. Ono," said a young man in nurse's scrubs with a headset on, "didn't expect to see you back so soon. You start chasing ambulances?" he said pointing to Ranma on the stretcher.
"Nope," Kasumi shouted over the sound of the rotor blades, "this is a family rush job."
"Any family of yours is family of ours doctor," the emergency nurse said with a grin. "We'll handle her like one of our own." They hauled the stretcher out onto a gurney just as Ranma cried out the onset of another contraction.
By the time Akane climbed down out of the helicopter, the group of people had already disappeared into the building with Ranma. Another nurse came up and asked her, "Are you with the patient?" When Akane nodded, the girl led her away from the noisy helicopter and into a small room with nothing but two elevator doors inside. "Okay, I'll take you down to the waiting room. What relation are you to the patient?"
Akane was suddenly hit with the oddest sensation of displacement. She knew she belonged by Ranma's side, but in this situation what was she... really? She couldn't say she was Ranko-chan's mother and this girl would never understand how Ranma could be her husband. "I'm... I'm her... I just need to be with her, okay?"
The girl smiled and jotted something down on a clipboard, "Domestic partner, got it. Congratulations, you both must be very happy. I'll take you to the birthing suite."
o o o
Ten hours later Ranma was pacing back and forth across the floor of her nicely appointed room and muttering to herself, "Sure, jump in a helicopter and fly to another city because the baby's about to pop out at any second. I should have gone back to sleep! What medical school did Kasumi graduate from anyway?"
Akane yawned from the armchair next to the bed, "Tokyo University and she graduated with honors. It's not her fault you were in false labor. You were pushing pretty hard there for a while you know."
"I know. Trust me I know! How come you never told me how much this hurts?"
"I tried to tell you after I had the twins, but you wouldn't believe me."
"How could any man imagine this kind of pain? It hurts in a place I never even knew existed." Ranma leaned heavily on the bed and grabbed at her abdomen. "It's another big one!"
"That was quick," Akane said, jumping up and grabbing Ranma's arm. She helped her get back into bed and then pushed the call button.
"It's as strong as the ones this morning and lasting longer I think." Ranma said. "Better call the goon squad."
"Calling us names won't get you much sympathy around here Saotome-san," said the head nurse as she marched through the door. "According to the monitors your blood pressure's up and so is the baby's heart rate. That's the forth contraction in the last ten minutes. This could be the big one, are you ready?"
"Would it do any good if I said no?" Ranma asked exhaustedly.
"Not really. That was more a question for the baby. Just sit tight and I'll go fetch your doctor."
"Ranma, you really should try and be nicer to the staff," Akane said after the nurse left the room.
"Look whose talking!" Ranma retorted. "You called the nurses at your delivery emissaries from hell. You threatened to track them down to the third generation and throw them all into a fiery pit if they didn't get the boys out of you right then and there."
"And they treated me like a leper for the rest of the time I was in the hospital because of that." Akane pushed the sweat soaked hair off Ranma's forehead, "How are you doing? Do you want me to rub your back again?"
"No, I'm fine. Just let me hold your hand when the next one comes. That really helps."
They waited through another contraction before Kasumi came into the room with the head nurse and another woman in a white coat. She smiled when she saw Ranma and Akane holding hands and said, "How are we doing? I'd like you both to meet Dr. Yamaguchi, she's the head of the neonatology department here and my mentor for the last year and a half."
"It's a pleasure," said the tall middle-aged woman as she extended her hand to Akane. "You're in very good hands with Kasumi here. We're all quite sad to have her leaving us."
"Ranma-ku...chan," Kasumi said with a sidelong glance at her former boss, "I think we'll get you back in the stirrups now and have another look. Okay?"
"Whatever," Ranma said with a sigh, "but you said I'd get that epi-thingy before you did this again."
"The epidural?" Kasumi said arranging the padded leg rests at the foot of the bed. "I just want to confirm you're dilating again before we put that in."
Once Ranma's legs were in the stirrups and spread apart, both doctors took a look and then conferred quietly with the nurse. Kasumi turned back to Ranma just as another contraction hit. She waited for it to subside before she said, "You're up over six centimeters now so we'll go ahead with the epidural. That'll deaden the pain, but you'll need to start pushing even harder."
"I'll push," Ranma said through gritted teeth, "you just be ready when she comes out."
Kasumi chuckled, "I'll get a catcher's mitt."
Thirty minutes later a much happier looking Ranma lay back in the bed after another long contraction. "You're looking a little happier," Akane said.
"Of course I am," Ranma said while trying to catch her breath. "I went from having pain that made the Full-body Cat's Tongue feel gentle by comparison, to being totally numb from the waist down. Why didn't they do this eight hours ago?"
"I guess because you'd still only be dilated three centimeters if they had," Akane said with a shrug. "Just be happy you're numb already, Masato was halfway out before mine kicked in."
Kasumi walked into the room and talked to the nurse, then she crossed over to the bed and said, "Akane, why don't you go put a on some scrubs, I think we're ready to go for it. Oh yes, the whole family's here now. Nabiki and Tatewaki just showed up, the Saotome's brought Toufuu and the twins a little while ago and Daddy's been here with Hinako-chan since eight o'clock. Ranma, your mother asked if it was okay for her to come in?"
"Is it okay?" Ranma asked crossly, "Of course it's okay! Why wouldn't it be okay? What does she think..." Ranma grabbed Akane's hand tightly as a really strong contraction cut her off.
Kansumi took a look under the sheet covering Ranma's legs and said, "Yep, you're definitely ready. Akane go find Aunte Saotome and get both of you into scrubs." Turning to the nurse she asked, "Has everything been prepared?"
"Yes doctor. I'll go get the rest of the team."
Kasumi waited until the contraction ended then took Ranma's hand. Softly she said, "This is it Ranma-kun. You're fully dilated and I saw the top of Ranko-chan's head just now. She's definitely your baby, just wait till you see her. When the next contraction starts I want you to push as hard as you can. I know what you're capable of, so I don't think we'll have to do this more than once."
"I'm not so sure Kasumi," Ranma said looking a little confused. "I must have been crazy to think I could do this. Maybe you should just cut me open and take her out right now."
Kasumi smiled. "That's a common reaction women have at this stage. You're doing fine Ranma-kun. I know you can do this. Think of it as the final clash in a long drawn-out battle. One more decisive blow and the fight's over."
"I'll try Kasumi," Ranma said without conviction. Then she perked up a little and said, "Hey, thanks for doing this. I know doctors aren't supposed to work on their own family, but having you here makes Akane and me feel a whole lot better. Oh, one more thing, after she's out don't let anyone..."
She was cut short by the beginning of another contraction. Just in time people began streaming into the room, including the green clad figures of Akane and Nodoka who took up positions on either side of the bed. They each took one of Ranma's hands and braced themselves. From the foot of the bed Kasumi's voice called out, "I can see the head. All right Ranma-chan, start pushing!"
Channeling all her ki into her abdominal muscles, Ranma gripped her wife's and her mother's hands tightly as she rose up off the bed and pushed with everything she had. There was a sudden shocked silence from the nurses gathered at the foot of the bed and then the high-pitched cry of a newborn filled the room.
Ranma blew out a huge breath and dropped back onto the bed totally spent. Nodoka leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, "You did very well sweetheart. I've never been more proud of you."
Akane let go of Ranma's hand and stepped to the foot of the bed. One of the nurses handed her a pair of sterilized scissors and showed her were to cut the umbilical cord. After years of thinking she would never get a chance to do this, she hesitated for just a moment before snipping her daughter's lifeline. Then Kasumi held up a squirming, screaming, mucus covered miracle and Akane cried out, "Ranma, she's gorgeous!"
"She?" Ranma asked weakly. "Let me see, please?"
Kasumi stood up with the baby cradled in her hands and walked to the bedside. Ranma looked in wonder at the ugliest thing she'd ever seen. A mop of long red hair was plastered to Ranko-chan's skull with blood and muck, her skin was so gray she looked like an alien and she was still screaming at the top of her little lungs. Yet the mere sight of her made Ranma's heart skip several beats.
Kasumi turned to one of the nurses and said, "Let's get her weighed and washed up."
Ranma was suddenly very much awake, "No! You can't do that!"
Nodoka tried to calm her down, "Ranma-chan it's okay. They won't hurt her, they're just going to give her a quick bath and then bring her right back to you."
"No bath..." Ranma stammered, "No water! Akane? Don't let them put her into water!"
Kasumi and Akane exchanged anxious glances. Then Akane leaned over and whispered, "What's wrong sweetheart? What do you think's going to happen?"
"I'll explain later," Ranma said almost in tears, "Just don't let them give her a bath yet."
Akane looked at Kasumi and shook her head. Kasumi tuned to the nurse and said, "Just measure and weigh her. Don't clean her off yet. It's... a religious thing." She handed Ranko-chan over to the nurse, then turned back to Ranma and said "You did wonderfully Ranma-chan. I don't think anyone's ever seen a baby come out quite that quickly before."
Ranma lay back against the pillows and said, "Thank goodness it's finally over."
"Um..." Kasumi said, smiling knowingly to Akane and Nodoka, "It's not exactly over yet."
"Huh?" Ranma looked expectantly from one female relative to the next. "There's more?"
"Just the afterbirth," Kasumi said with a grin, "but it'll be nothing compared to the baby."
The nurse returned with Ranko-chan wrapped in a blanket and handed her to Akane. Then she said to Kasumi, "Thirty eight centimeters, three point two kilograms and the five minute APGAR score is a nice healthy nine."
Akane placed Ranko into her mother's waiting arms and for the first time the tiny redhead stopped screaming. She opened her eyes so Ranma could finally see in real life the intense blue she had only seen before in visions. "Hello," she said softly, "I told you I'd see you again soon."
Ranko-chan opened her mouth as if to respond, but instead made a face like a fish. Ranma looked up and asked, "What's she doing?"
Kasumi smiled and said, "She wants you to feed her now. Go ahead, she needs the colostrum and it'll do you both good to relax for a bit."
"Let me help you with your bra dear," Nodoka said leaning over and opening one of the nursing flaps for her daughter.
As Ranko-chan settled in and began to gorge herself in traditional Saotome feeding fashion, Ranma's exhausted mind collapsed in on itself. Gradually they became the only two beings in the universe and she whispered sleepily, "I love you sweetheart. It doesn't matter if you have the curse or not, I'll always be there to protect you. You can count on it..."
Then mother and daughter fell asleep together.
o o o
Kasumi opened the door just a crack and peeked out to see who had knocked. She quickly opened the door and let Hinako-chan slip inside. "Did you get both of them mother?" Kasumi asked conspiratorially.
"Of course I did," the little girl said while holding up two large styrofoam cups. "I got the hot water right out of the tea dispenser. What should I do with the teabag?"
"Just toss in the trash can, Hinako," Nodoka said with exasperation. She had a greater tolerance for the girl these days, but she still preferred the adult version.
"Let me have those please," Akane said taking the cups. She walked over to the bed where Ranma held Ranko-chan in her arms.
"Let me get this straight," Nabiki asked Ranma, "Under sedation you had a hallucination that Ranko-chan turned into a boy, so now you think she has the same curse you do?"
"It was a vision Nabiki," Ranma said. After a few hours sleep she was pretty much back to her old self. Ranko-chan was looking better too. Ranma had finally allowed the nurses to clean her up using waterless baby-wipes. "Make fun of me if you want to, but so far everything Coyote-sama showed me has come true."
"Kasumi," Akane said, "How warm can I make the water and still be safe?"
"No more than a few degrees above body temperature."
Akane mixed water from both cups into a drinking glass then held it out to Ranma. She stuck a finger in the glass and nodded, "That's warm enough for the change to take place."
Akane then held it out for Kasumi to check, "It's cool enough for the baby. All these years I thought it had to be scalding. I'm sorry Ranma-kun."
"That's okay, I've gotten used to it being really hot." Ranma said as she unwrapped Ranko-chan from the blanket. Even though the nurses had cleaned her up, her hair was still a sticky mess. "Time for mom to wash your hair sweetie," Ranma said as Akane put a washing basin on the bed and prepared to pour the warm water over their baby's head. Everyone held their breath, but even after pouring the whole glass full on her, Ranko-chan's hair was still red and her anatomy still female.
Akane let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she said.
"Um..." Nabiki mused, "You know if Ranko-chan is naturally a girl, maybe the curse works the other way around?"
Everyone exchanged nervous glances as Nadoka handed Akane the cup of cold water. Ranko-chan was not as happy about having ice cold water poured over her. She started to cry, but otherwise she remained a she.
"I don't understand," Ranma said as she offered her irritated daughter a breast to suck on. "I'm certain I saw her change in the vision."
"Maybe Coyote-sama was just playing a trick on you," Akane said as she dried Ranko-chan's hair. "Or maybe you just misunderstood what he was showing you. Maybe someday she'll find the Nannichuan and fall in. At least we know she's not cursed now."
"I don't know..." Ranma said unconvinced. "What about the sonogram right after the battle with Nabe? The doctor said everyone thought she was a boy then." Suddenly Ranko-chan clamped down hard and Ranma jumped, "Hey you! Go easy on that thing, don't wear it out on the first day."
Everyone laughed and Ranma looked around the bed at all the smiling faces. Practically every woman in her life was here with her, mothers, sisters, wife and most importantly her daughter. For the first time she felt a genuine connection with these women. She was no longer an outsider just pretending to be one of them. She had experienced something only a woman could and she knew that even when she became a man again, that part of her would forever remain female.
x x x
All characters in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.
This work is copyright (c) 2006 by Juliet Carnell, it is not public domain and all rights are reserved. This work is not for publication. This work may not be reproduced, distributed or sold in any format or media. This work may not be included in any collection without the express written permission of the author. The reader may make one printed or electronic copy of this work for personal use.
Characters and story elements that have appeared in 'Ranma 1/2' are copyright (c) 1987-1996 by Takahashi Rumiko and are used here without license.
Author's Notes:
(1) okonomiyaki - a pancake like mixture of batter, vegetables and meat that's fried on a flat open grill.
(2) amniocentesis - the procedure to extract amniotic fluid from the womb using a long needle.
(3) neonatology - the branch of medicine specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants.
(4) epidural - a form of anesthesia involving injection of drugs through a catheter which can cause both a loss of sensation and a loss of pain by blocking the transmission of pain signals through nerves in or near the spinal cord
(5) APGAR score - a simple and repeatable method to quickly assess the health of newborn children immediately after childbirth. A score over 7 is normal, but a score below 3 is critical.
(6) colostrum – a thick yellowish form of breast milk produced in late pregnancy and for a few days after giving birth.