Chapter 10: New Faces
A sleeping Ranma rolled over as a pajama clad blonde figure slid into his bed. Hibari snuggled up, and was thrilled when the sleeping boy rolled to hold the blonde in his arms. Enjoying the warmth Hibari began to slip back into sleep, hoping to enjoy the last half hour before having to start getting ready for school. As such, the blonde missed the quiet click of the door opening, and only realised something was off when a bucket of ice water splashed both figures in the bed.
Hibari was thrown from the bed as Ranma jumped to his feet, in just his boxers and undershirt. The redhead was disoriented for a split second, until he spotted his heavily built father.
"You're too soft boy! Snuggling with that pervert and sleeping in! My own son."
"I wasn't snugglin' with no one!" Ranma yelled in confusion as he lunged for his father.
Genma dodged with the surprising grace he often exhibited, and pointed to a sleepy Hibari who was in the middle of standing up off the floor. "You think I'm blind? He was there in your bed!"
Ranma was distracted by a desperate attempt to work out how to explain he was asleep, and received a fist to the face for his trouble. Deciding to focus on fighting first and talking later he roared and began to chase his father loudly through the halls of the Oozora home. The loud battling woke most of the household (apart from Tsugumi, who had already been starting on breakfast and the night shift thugs), and only ended when Ranma managed to toss his father into the large Oozora koi pond.
"I prefer when you two spar in the afternoons," Tsubame jabbed at Ranma as she drowsily sat at the breakfast table.
"It wasn't my plan," Ranma grumbled. "Pops just has a bunch of weird ideas."
A still damp Hibari flopped beside Ranma, which got a chuckle from the redhead. Well, it was meant to be a chuckle, but with his current form it came out as more of a giggle.
"Maybe that'll teach ya not to sneak into someone else's bed," Ranma said, smirking.
Hibari just responded by sticking her tongue out. Ranma stuck his tongue out in response. The two continued to engage in a very mature battle of silly faces until a grouchy and sleepy Suzume stumbled into the room, carrying a small black piglet. The bandanna around the pig's neck seemed vaguely familiar to Ranma, but he couldn't place it. He did notice the pig was giving him a death glare though.
"What's that?" Tsubame asked as her youngest sister sat down.
"He's a little piggy who wandered into my room last night," Suzume informed her. "He's very cute, and doesn't have a home."
"I agree that he's pretty adorable," Hibari replied. "But... how do you know he doesn't have a home?"
"I asked him if he had one," the little blue haired girl said. "He shook his head 'no'."
"Pigs don't understand Japanese," Ibari said calmly as he sat himself at the head of the table.
"But he's so cute! Let me keep him!" Suzume begged.
The heavily built yakuza father was about to tell her no, but then he remembered how upset his youngest had been with him yesterday. Wanting to get back in her good books he smiled. "If he truly doesn't have a home. I want you to put up some posters around the neighbourhood. If no one claims him in a week, then you can name him and we will keep him."
The piglet ignored Ranma long enough to nod happily at that. It then went back to glaring at the redhead, who had given up trying to understand the creature and instead focused on eating his food. Then the panda sat down beside him. The piglet's brain sped into overdrive, and suddenly he knew. Ranma would pay.
"You should probably give him a bath," Tsugumi told her youngest sister calmly. "If he was lost outside he probably isn't very clean."
"But I still have to get ready for school," Suzume muttered. "I don't have time to give him a bath too."
"I'm grabbing a shower before school," Ranma said. "I'll give him a quick wash while I'm in there."
"Oh, thank you!" the little blue haired girl replied.
Ranma gobbled the last of his food, then walked over to scoop the piglet. As Suzume went to hand him over the piglet lunged, and bit Ranma on the hand.
"Ow!" he squealed and pulled the piglet off. "What was that for?... Why am I talking to a pig?"
"Bad piggy, no biting." Suzume glared with her trademark intensity, cowing the piglet slightly. "Ranma-chan is my friend. He's going to marry Hibari-chan and then he'll be family."
Apart from Hibari (who smiled coyly at Ranma) the rest of the diners were stunned into face planting. The piglet however looked back and forth from the beautiful blonde to the hated redhead with clear confusion (and maybe a twinge of jealousy?).
Ranma just carried the piglet carefully by the collar to the bathing area, stripped, and filled the tub with warm water.
"Well, maybe after I clean ya up you'll like me more," Ranma announced, "In ya go!"
Ranma plunked the little piglet in the warm tub, and felt something strange as soon as it was submerged. The piglet was growing. Rapidly. Suddenly Ryoga's form burst out of the water, Ranma's hand still on his head.
"Oh boy," Ranma managed to mumble.
"Hello Ranma," the lost-boy glared.
"Y-you went to Jusenkyo!?" Ranma screeched.
"That I did! I was hunting you across the endless Chinese countryside after you ran out on our duel. I finally reached the edge of a mysterious valley covered in small ponds and bamboo poles when you turned my life into true hell. Until this morning I hadn't realised quite how guilty you were, but now I know..."
"Wait, what happened?"
"You don't remember? I was standing on a cliff overlooking the valley when a giant panda came charging out of the brush, nearly knocking me from the ledge. I managed to dodge, but then a furious red-haired girl leapt out, and launched off me to chase after the panda. I was sent tumbling into a spring, and was transformed into a tiny pig!"
Ryoga shivered at the memory, Ranma was doing his best to look compassionate.
"Then... then as I struggled in the water that same panda returned, and fished me out of the water. I thought I was saved, but he and some local man tried to eat me! I was only saved by the fact that they dropped me in scalding water. Like I said before, thanks to you I've seen hell! Now you'll pay!"
"Wait!" Ranma yelled. "If some strange girl and a panda did knocked you in, shouldn't you be hunting them? I know you don't have the best sense of direction, but I'd be happy to help you out. I still... why are you staring at me like that?"
"A redheaded girl, and a panda," Ryoga repeated.
"Yeah? Pretty distinctive pai-ohhhhh," Ranma mumbled as he realised the truth. "It was an accident! I didn't even know you were in China!"
"You'll pay! Die Saotome!" Ryoga bellowed as he lunged for the petite redhead.
Ranma managed to scurry away a bit, but soon Ryoga grabbed him by his bright red pigtail pigtail. Panicking Ranma smacked on the cold water for the shower head. Suddenly the angry boy was a much more manageable piglet. In his fury Ryoga bit his opponent on the shoulder, which got a satisfying yelp from the redhead. Ranma yanked the piglet off, and despite Ryoga's squirming the still human fighter's grip held firm.
"Listen. Ryoga," Ranma glared, "I'm sorry man. I apologise from the bottom of my heart. I didn't want to leave, but I had only brought two days of food with me while waiting for our fight. Pops was able to drag me off because I was too hungry to fight him... And I'll help you find a cure. I've been trying to find one for myself, but your curse is definitely worse than mine... I almost can't believe pops tried to eat ya... So if we find a cure that only has enough for one person I promise, on my honour as a martial artist, to let you have it."
Ryoga stopped squirming at that, and stared into Ranma's eyes. The pig-boy was sure it had to be a trick, but Ranma looked genuine. Ryoga decided maybe he didn't need to kill Ranma, but still wanted some form of vengeance. Ranma was glad to see that Ryoga believed him. In a different situation he'd probably have pointed out that following Ranma to China over the stupid bread feud was Ryoga's own fault, and Ranma felt he deserved at best half the blame (maybe more like a third considering Genma's involvement). Trapped in a Yakuza house, engaged to someone who confused the genderbending martial artist's sexuality even more than the curse alone did, and having had that confusion with Shampoo not to long ago... Ranma knew he needed to keep new conflicts to a minimum as best he could (he also knew that his best wasn't all that good).
"We can discuss my apology more later, but I have school to get to," Ranma informed the pig.
Ranma set Ryoga down and then moved to start washing himself. Ryoga glared from the corner. At least until his eyes started to wander from Ranma's face and he saw certain bits of anatomy that left him feeling a bit confused about his sworn nemesis.
'Maybe I do need to kill him,' Ryoga thought, 'This is confusing... and wrong.'
Ryoga was very happy when Ranma hopped in the warm bath and emerged fully male.
Ranma sighed as he sat at his desk in the back row. The guys in the class seemed entirely too enthusiastic about Ranma's curse, especially as the rumours about Ranma's sexuality had only gotten worse. Rather than worrying, a number of boys now seemed to be hoping Ranma was interested.
"Class, I have an important announcement," the bespectacled teacher declared, "We have another new student. This one is also fresh from China. Actually Chinese this time."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, curious about the new arrival. The rest of the class was just as interested. The classroom door opened, and a handsome young man walked in. His hair was long and black, sweeping down to his upper thighs easily. His eyes were a dark red. He was wearing a green short sleeved dress shirt and loose white Chinese pants. More than a few girls swooned.
"He's almost as cute as Honda," one sighed.
"Greetings," the boy announced firmly, "Am Liu Shui. Family wander much of China. Now in Japan. Apologies, Japanese not good yet. Will learn quick."
"Poor Liu-kun has led a truly difficult life," Iwasaki-sensei began. Ranma knew better than to listen. Listening to the rest of the class seemed more useful than Iwasaki-sensei's naive imaginings.
"I still think he's the second cutest boy in our grade," a girl whispered.
"Nah, Ranma-kun's 2nd," another added.
"Liu-kun is mysterious and foreign though," the girl from earlier countered. "Also all boy."
An eraser bounced off that girl's head, and she turned to see Ranma glaring at her.
"I think your curse is an asset," a nearby girl whispered. "It'd be nice to have a boyfriend who can be more understanding about the struggles a girl faces."
"Nah, you just think that the curse means she has some nice assets," one of the other girls countered. "Pervert."
Ranma buried his head in his hands. The girls were almost as bad as the guys about all this. Hibari fit right in at Wakaba as far as Ranma was concerned.
"You're sure you don't know lightning magic?" Iwasaki-sensei was asking Shui.
"Very sure," the confused Chinese boy replied, "Not know any magic. Some simple chi techniques, but no magic."
"Too bad," the teacher sighed. "Well, you should go sit beside Saotome-kun."
Shui's eyes seemed to light up at Ranma's name, and the boy smiled warmly as he walked over to his new classmate. Ranma was a little uncertain about what that response meant, but looking at how smoothly the newcomer walked it was clear the boy was quite the martial artist (and he had mentioned chi techniques). Perhaps word of Ranma's skills had reached him already, and Shui was looking forward to having a new sparring partner. That made sense to Ranma.
Lunch rolled around, and as usual Ranma made for his secluded eating place on the school roof. Hibari was too popular to sneak off like that, which gave Ranma reprieve from his engagement issues. The rest of the student body meanwhile lacked the athletic abilities to reach the spot. Or at least had lacked it.
Shui hopped up gracefully beside Ranma, wearing that warm smile.
"Tongzhi Ranma, have warning for you," the long haired lad whispered as he sat beside Ranma.
"Warning?" Ranma asked.
"Joketsuzoku types have returned to Tokyo," the boy stated.
"Amazons... yay," Ranma grumbled. "Wait... how do you know?"
"They open restaurant. Shui's father good cook. Get job there. Also hope Shui learn techniques from elder."
"I guess that makes sense," Ranma mused. "But if your dad is workin' for them why are ya helpin' me?"
"Shui hear about marriage issue. Shampoo girl, complain about complications. Tongzhi Ranma no want her hand. Tongzhi Hibari same."
Ranma's eyes widened with fear at that last bit. "So... so you know about... ya know... the thing-with Hibari..."
"No worry. Shui no tell about Hibari. Help tongzhi."
Ranma finally remembered that 'tongzhi' was more or less the Chinese for 'comrade', and assumed that the shared love of martial arts was what made them comrades in Shui's eyes.
"Thanks for that," Ranma replied, "It's bad enough with some of the rumours about me. Then there's the curse. I don't need that getting out too."
Shui nodded, and the two ate lunch quietly. Well, without talking... Ranma never tended to eat very quietly. As he finished up he noticed the long haired Chinese boy was smiling and blushing a bit.
'What's he blushing about?' Ranma wondered, then an idea struck him.
"I suppose if ya can get Shampoo off her current plans that would free her up a bit... She is pretty cute, when she's not tryin' ta kill ya. Good luck."
Shui blinked in confusion, having evidently been lost in thought. "Pardon?"
"I'll even help train you. If she marries you that's pressure off me," Ranma shrugged. "Shampoo would probably like that option too. All the girls in class seemed to agree you're nearly as handsome as I am."
Shui blinked again, "Shui... and Shampoo... Oh no. Hahaha. Shampoo not really... Shui's 'type'. That is right phrase yes?"
"Ah, too bad," Ranma replied, "She is a bit psycho murderous. It's pretty unsettlin'. But cute."
"Hmmm... Yes... Shampoo nee-she need work on that," Shui nodded.
Their conversation was cut off by the bell signalling the end of lunch. Both martial artists hurried down to gym class, reaching the change room in short order. Shui was blushing with a mischievous glint in his eyes, but Ranma just paled a bit and paused at the door.
"Ugh, right, I was dreading this," Ranma grumbled.
"Why?" Shui asked, tilting his head slightly.
"The curse. And everyone in there having a water bottle," Ranma grumbled.
"Shui block for you," the new boy said. "Shui no need fear cold water."
"Thanks," Ranma replied, "I can probably dodge most of it, but it'd be nice to not have to worry as much."
Shui was indeed good to his word, and between the two of them Ranma kept bone dry the whole time The pig-tailed by did feel Shui had ended up bumping into him a little more often than needed, but had helped. Considering Ryoga might be wanting to kill him hopefully this friendship would go better.
Hibari was hastily changing out of her gym clothes now that class was over, as always hiding in the corner by her locker. She'd gotten very adept at changing quickly, but it was still a nerve wracking event every time.
"Ow..." a girl complained as she was changing, "I think I need a new bra. This one is getting tight."
Hibari let out a sigh of longing, when suddenly the blonde noticed two girls sliding a little too close. The short haired one wore an almost aggressive grin, while the one with her hair up in a ponytail was feigning innocence. The two were of course friends of Hanazono Kaori, that obnoxious auburn haired bully.
"Eeep," Hibari yelped and pulled on a shirt quickly. "What are you two looking at? Not being perverts are you?"
"Ah, but we're all girls," the short haired Norita laughed.
"You really do need more confidence in your body Hibari," a smug Kaori declared as she pulled off her gym shirt in the middle of the room.
'Let's see just how confident she is,' Hibari thought with a smirk and slid over to pop open Kaori's bra. "Wow, I really could never compete!"
"Waah! Hey!" Kaori fumed as she pushed Hibari away, as her hand came into contact with Hibari's chest though she want into a momentary state of shock.
"Just ignore those girls," one of Hibari's friends announced.
"Come on, let's get going," another declared as they led the blonde away.
Norita and the pony-tailed Sachiko walked over to their stunned friend. Sachiko poked Kaori on the shoulder.
"Flat," Kaori blinked, causing both her friends to raise an eyebrow,. "Hibari was totally flat. Flat as a boy..."
"Come to think of it, I've never seen her without at least a bra," a voice declared just behind Kaori.
The all turned to see Inui Kenko, the muscle of their 'crew' standing there in only her underwear. The towering girl's build would be mistaken for simply obese by those who didn't know her, but it was in fact a build like a weight lifter, with lots of muscle beneath. She was also the only full time redhead at the school (unless one was being very generous and counted Kaori's auburn hair).
"You don't have to prove anything by revealing yourself," Norita groaned, "But it is true, Hibari's always nervous in the change room."
"Mhm, so she has a weakness. A total complex about being flat chested..." Kaori declared boldly, "Now we just have to figure out how to exploit it."
"Come on, it's just basic balancing," Ranma laughed from the top of a fence. It was another training session with Hibari now that school was out for the day, but the blonde wasn't very happy with this lesson.
"You could have warned this was the plan for after school," Hibari grumbled. "I'd have never worn a skirt if you told me."
"That's the point," Ranma shot back. "You need to stop wearing skirts. It's just wrong."
Hibari managed to hop up, and after balancing stuck her tongue out at Ranma. "You're just jealous because my legs are better."
"They are not!" Ranma shot back, then found himself flustered as he couldn't figure out if that was the right or wrong response, so instead he just started running along the fence. "Follow if ya can!"
Hibari hurried awkwardly after, "Hey, could we go to Ikebukuro tonight? I have something I need to buy."
"What?" Ranma asked, still not familiar with the different regions of Tokyo (though by this point he had Nerima mostly mapped out).
"It's just over in Toshima... that's the ward just east of Nerima," Hibari explained.
"Yeah, I know where Toshima is," Ranma grumbled. "Fine, after training."
Hibari chased after Ranma some more. Hopping across alleys was within the blonde's ability, but crossing streets was still too much to do in one leap. Ranma was laughing as Hibari was hopping down to walk another street when a small grey blur flew at him. The pig-tailed boy barely dodged in time, and quickly found a gnarled staff flying at his face. Another desperate dodge kept him just out of the way.
"Hoho, good dodging son-in-law," a tiny old woman laughed, "Definitely respectable, and worthy of my great-granddaughter."
Ranma looked down at the woman who was so shriveled with age she barely resembled a human, "What in the world are you?"
"The name's Cologne," she cackled, "Shampoo's great-grandmother. Want to test her future husbands."
"I'm not going to be anyone's husband," Hibari announced, having hopped onto the fence behind Cologne.
"You really are a pretty one, son-in-law," Cologne replied as she gave Hibari a once over, "Even your chi and aura feel downright female."
"Don't encourage him," Ranma grumbled.
Cologne turned to Ranma with a raised eyebrow, "Ah, do you wish to be the more feminine one in the relationship? With your curse it's hard to see through to your inner aura."
"Never! I'm a guy through and through!" Ranma shouted.
"That's how I prefer him too," Hibari replied lovingly. Ranma turned an interesting series of colours in response. (Mostly red though.)
"Ho ho, this will be fun," Cologne laughed.
As Ranma tried to shake off his discomfort with Hibari's flirtation Cologne poked him in the chest with her staff.
"In a couple days you'll both be rather more receptive to Shampoo's offer," the old woman laughed.
Ranma rubbed the point on his chest the ancient woman had prodded, but couldn't find anything out of place, "What are ya talkin' about ya old hag?"
Cologne just bounded away laughing. Both teens where left watching the direction she'd run off in filled with confusion. Ranma decided it made a natural place to end the practice for the afternoon. He stretched a bit before heading to catch a train in to Toshima.
"I wonder if it didn't work," Ranma mumbled as they stepped off the train. "I really don't feel any different."
"Maybe it wasn't anything," Hibari offered as they walked past some shops. "Just a confrontational jab?"
"Maybe," Ranma muttered, feeling like he was forgetting something he planned to do that day.
He just sighed and followed Hibari into whatever shop the blonde was after. However, moments after crossing the threshold of the doorway he froze as he realised what sort of shop it was.
"This-this is... uh," Ranma mumbled as he realised he wasn't exactly sure what to call it. "Some sorta pervert store thing."
"Well, some of the things here can be used for perverted activities," Hibari said and shrugged. "But I'm here for pretty innocent reasons. I just need some realistic padding."
"Padding? What for?"
"Well, I got sort of groped today," Hibari replied. "Need to be ready if it happens again."
"What!?" Ranma blustered. "Somebody touched ya? Who was it?"
"Hanazono Kaori... she's an egotistical jerk," Hibari replied while poking through some of the padding options.
"Oh, just a girl," Ranma nodded.
He then froze again and wondered why he was relieved. Or why he'd been ready to beat someone up for touching Hibari.
"Do these feel realistic?" Hibari asked handing some pads to Ranma.
"Why are ya askin' me?"
"You know what boobs feel like pretty well," the blonde stated flatly. "Probably better than me."
Ranma quickly glanced around to make sure no one was watching before quickly poking the insert.
"Yeah, seems alright," he whispered, turning bright red.
Hibari lit up and grabbed a few more the same brand before heading to the checkout line, Ranma nervously following. The line was short, but long enough for Hibari's eyes to drift about, and landed on a nice dark blue piece of lingerie. The blonde began evaluating how well it would fit her and what modifications it might need in the chest area due to her... lack of chest when the image of a certain petite redhead wearing it popped in her head, the lingerie flattering Ranma perfectly as he posed seductively. Hibari blinked and shook her head in shock. As she moved to pay her purchase Hibari could only half pay attention, trying to understand how that image popped in there.
Sure, objectively the dark blue would match wonderfully with Ranma's cursed form hair, and he did have better curves for it, but that wasn't just a pure fashion thought. Not in that pose. As they walked somewhat aimlessly down the street (Ranma not knowing the area well enough to realise they weren't heading anywhere, but he was starting to get suspicious) Hibari's mind searched for what it meant. If she really had interest in Ranma's cursed side, would she be the boy in that situation? Everyone insisted Hibari was a boy, despite the blonde's best efforts to prove otherwise, and mother nature wasn't exactly on Hibari's side either. Was she just lying to herself?
"I need some of that nyannichuan water," Hibari said calmly, turning to Ranma with doe eyes.
"You're crazy," Ranma grumbled.
"It would solve most of my problems, and a big one of yours. I'd be a proper girl and then you wouldn't have to feel so worried around me."
"You'd still be a guy, just like I'm still a guy. I'm also not going to help you to be able to do anything more perverted than ya already do," Ranma replied, trying to convince himself as much as Hibari. (What was perverted about it? Ranma wasn't sure.)
Hibari winced as if slapped by the words. The two stood in awkward silence, Hibari glaring at nothing in particular. Ranma wanted to take it back, but he knew it was what his and Hibari's father would have wanted him to say. He was supposed to get the blonde to act like a man, even if it was getting harder to do each day.
"Go then," Hibari finally told him. "You probably have better things to do than hang out with a pervert like me all day."
Before Ranma could respond the blonde stormed away furiously and Ranma realised better than to follow. With a sigh the pigtailed martial artist turned back to the train station. In his angry mood he failed to notice the two girls who'd been watching the whole conversation. Kenko and Sachiko knew that Kaori was going to be interested in that little conversation.
Ranma stumbled into the Oozora home, still in a foul mood from his fight with Hibari, and nearly tripped on a small piglet. After a moment of confusion passed as the memory slid into place Ranma remembered that he'd had some negotiations left with the lost boy and so scooped the piglet up. The furoba was thankfully empty, so Ranma turned on some hot water for Ryoga. Testing the heat he drew his hand out quickly.
"Ouch!" he yelped and shook his hand to cool it in the air. "I guess the water heater's gone overboard or somethin' today. Give it a moment to cool off before ya hop in."
Ryoga ignored Ranma and scrambled up the tub (after boiling water he could handle a bit of heat, and really didn't like being stuck a helpless pig). Sliding in it took a moment for him to transform, but the water wasn't nearly as hot as Ranma made it seem. In fact it seemed barely warm enough to spark a transformation. Ryoga wondered if he was being messed with, but as he emerged he swore he saw genuine concern on Ranma's face.
"It's not that hot," Ryoga stated.
"Huh, weird. Well, I can see you're still glaring at me, so I assume there's somethin' more ya want."
"You managed to make a compelling argument that I shouldn't want to kill you, but there's a difference between that and us being even."
Ranma had to admit that made a bit of sense, but still wanted to get out of it. He snapped his fingers as he came up with what seemed like a good idea.
"You did kinda reveal my curse to the entire school. With my shirt ripped wide open. I've ended up being declared the second most popular 'girl' in my grade. That's pretty humiliatin'," Ranma pointed out (ignoring the small part of him that disliked losing first place to Hibari).
Ryoga nodded, a grin spreading across his face.
"I did get you pretty good with that one. Haha! Not sure if it's quite enough though."
"Well, uh..." Ranma managed to say before he paused to think, his mind racing desperately for something else he could offer, "I'll make sure Suzume feeds you well? And, oh... Er..."
"I'll figure out something else later," Ryoga announced. "For now you'll owe me."
A quick splash of cold water and the little piggy wandered off to think of valid vengeance. Roaming the halls, trying to remember where Suzume's room was, he came across a grumpy blonde stomping down the hallway. Hibari was carrying quite a few shopping bags from an expensive department store chain Ryoga half recognised the name of. Somehow the grumpiness on her face seemed to make her cuter.
"Stupid Ranma. Questioning my femininity. I'll show him... somehow," she grumbled.
'How could Ranma do that to such a beautiful girl?' Ryoga thought to himself. 'He doesn't deserve her! Wait... that would be the perfect revenge. Help out a beautiful girl and make Ranma suffer!'