Chapter 49: Walking in Different Shoes

It was a rainy evening as Ranma walked along the quiet country road to her home. She didn't mind the rain normally these days, but today... today she barely noticed thanks to the news making her giddy.

Reaching the small dojo she called home, Ranma slid the door open.

"I'm home!"

Hibari appeared from the kitchen a moment later, her face a little concerned. "You're home late. Is everything okay?"

"I just had a doctor's appointment," Ranma said, tossing her shoes off. Giddily, she hurried over and grabbed Hibari's hands. "It's good news!"

"Good news? What— wait, you mean you're...?"

Ranma nodded, and the taller woman pulled her into a hug. "Oh gosh! I'm going to be a mom!"

"Mhm! And I'm gonna be a... um... parent!" Ranma replied, a grin growing on her face after she worked out what she'd consider herself.

"Of course, next time it will be my turn," Hibari said, leaning in to kiss Ranma on the cheek. "Once my studies are done."

Before Ranma could say anything more, things became a bit foggy and a strange scent filled her nose. Slowly she was dragged out of her dream by the strange smell.

Drowsy and confused, she heard the sound of raspy chuckling.

"This'll be some excellent vengeance," Happosai muttered to himself.

Ranma pulled herself out from under the blankets and glared at the tiny pervert.

"Wait, what are you doing he—" the old creep began, before Ranma grabbed him by the collar.

"You. Out," Ranma said, before hurling the tiny man out through the window.

The shattering of the glass was louder than Ranma had expected, causing her to wince for a moment.

"Myeh... come back t'bed," a voice said from Ranma's bed.

It didn't quite sound like Hibari, but who else could it be? Obviously Ranma was just tired.

"Sounds good," Ranma muttered, slipping back into bed.

She soon found herself pulled into a hug, and wondered for a moment at Hibari feeling firmer than usual. Hibari must have been back in her birth form for a change. Not that it mattered.

Ranma felt herself drifting back to sleep in Hibari's arms.

The early morning light woke Ranma up properly this time, and she sat up, blinking as she looked around. Something felt a little strange.

She finally noticed what was off, and looked down to her chest, finding it rather flat. Also, when had she borrowed one of Hibari's silk pajama tops? A quick glance up revealed her hair was red though, leading Ranma to reach up and double check her chest.

"What the heck's goin' on?" Ranma yelped as she felt a feminine chest, but one too small to be hers.

"What's wrong, Ranma?" a groggy voice said from behind her, the bed shifting as whoever it was sat up.

Ranma turned, and found herself staring at her own face... or his own face? The pronouns of the situation were confusing, but either way, that was Ranma's male face rubbing his eyes and groggily looking at her.

"W-wha-who... who are you!?" Ranma yelped.

"What do you mean who—wait, you're not Ranma! That's-that's my body!"

"What do you mean I'm not Ranma? I'm def-er, pretty sure I'm Ranma? So what are you doing with my body?" Ranma replied.

"Your?" the person in Ranma's form began, before reaching back to find a pigtail. "I... I'm you? Why am I you and you're me, Ranma?"

"Hibari?" Ranma asked.

"Who else would I be?" Hibari replied.

"I don't know. I don't know why you'd be in my body or why I'd be in yours, so I just wanted to check all the options," Ranma said, with an exasperated shrug.

"I suppose that makes sense," Hibari replied bringing a hand up thoughtfully to her chin (or, more technically, Ranma's chin).

"What are we going to do?" Ranma asked.

"Well, this seems like more of a 'you' problem than a 'me' problem, since it's probably magical," Hibari said. "I don't know who'd be behind it though. Mousse has been pretty chill after the dinner date with Rie, and I don't see what Cologne would get out of this."

Ranma nodded, some half remembered thing floating on the edge of her memories.

"Well, I say we play it natural today. Then whoever's behind it will probably show their hand when they're upset their plan didn't work," Ranma said, deep in thought. "I can probably fight pretty good still, bein' used ta changin' proportions and all that. So can take 'em if they try a direct approach instead."

"Sounds like a decent plan... I guess we should probably get dressed then," Hibari replied, standing up and heading off to her side of the divider.

Ranma watched her go, feeling so confused to see his own body from the outside. After Hibari had closed the sliding door behind her, Ranma hopped up and turned to her wardrobe, pulling off her shirt and pulling out a bra. When it proved to not fit in the slightest Ranma lightly smacked her forehead.

"We're doing this wrong," Ranma said with a sigh.

She turned and jogged quickly over to the room dividing door and sliding it open.

"We're putting the wrong—" Ranma began, before registering what Hibari was wearing in his body.

Those were some very feminine undergarments... and Ranma didn't know how she felt about seeing it on her (his?) male form.

"What's wrong?" Hibari asked, somehow managing to make the voice of Ranma's male form sound soft and female.

It took Ranma a moment to realise she needed to say anything. "I, uh... we're puttin' on the wrong clothes. Like, if we're gonna play it natural, we gotta pretend ta be each other."

"Oh. Oh yeah... that makes sense," Hibari replied, proceeding to untie her string underwear.

Ranma found herself blushing for a moment as Hibari took the bra off as well.

"That's my body. There's no need to blush," Ranma muttered, straining against the risk of short circuiting.

"You're good with knots, right?" Hibari asked, standing beside Ranma in the doorway between their rooms.

"Huh?" Ranma asked.

"Well, a lot of my underwear needs to be tied up. If you want some help, I'd be happy to provide," Hibari replied with a smirk as she leaned into Ranma's personal space a little.

"Are you... are you flirting right now?" Ranma asked, looking up at his own face, but unable to deny the expression on it was very much Hibari's.

"Am I ever not flirting?" Hibari asked.

"This is your face though," Ranma replied, pointing at her face.

"I... well, I'm used to you be a cute redhead half the time, so I guess you having a new different face isn't that weird," Hibari replied with a shrug, though she backed off a bit. "The offer to help is still open though."

Before Ranma could reply the door burst open.

"Boy, today seems like a goo—w-what's going on?" Genma said, taking in both teens' states of undress.

"Knock will ya?" Ranma shouted. "We're getting dressed!"

"Wha-?" Genma muttered, confused by 'Hibari' talking in language so rough. (It wasn't like it never happened, but it was usually saved for Ibari when she was particularly angry. The girl did know how to talk like a yakuza thug when she felt like it.)

Hibari took a breath, trying to get in character, before turning to Genma with a glare. "Honestly, we're engaged and basically share a room. I don't get why you're so surprised to walk in on somethin' private."

Genma grew pale at the implication. "I... uh... I'll come back later then."

With that he awkwardly stepped back and closed the door.

Hibari turned back to Ranma with a grin. "That got rid of him quickly."

"Yeah. Pretty impressive... Well, better go get dressed."

Breakfast was a bit strange, Ranma not sure that the other Oozora's would buy Ranma's effort to play Hibari. Luckily Genma was more out of character, eating slowly and quietly, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

The walk to school was next, letting Ranma breath. Spotting Shui, Ranma was momentarily distracted by the strangeness.

"Hey, Shui!" Ranma called out with a wave, only to realise Hibari had done the same in unison.

"You two are very synchronous today," the handsome cursed girl replied.

"We hang out enough we've been starin' to finish each other's-" Ranma began.

"Sundaes," Hibari added, wearing a goofy obnoxious grin that left Ranma embarrassed to see their face doing.

"I'm not surprised you finish Hibari's food, but am surprised at the idea you might have leftovers, Ranma," Shui said, laughing a bit.

A couple blocks later the three ran into Ukyo, the chef falling into step beside Hibari, since she was the one who looked like Ranma right now.

"Morning, Ranchan. I'm planning out a new recipe, and was wondering if you might want to stop by at my place for some samples tonight," Ukyo said, leaning in towards Hibari's space.

The girl currently in Ranma's male form sidestepped and wrapped an arm around Ranma's (or, arguably, her own) shoulder. "I'm good today Uky-Ucchan."

Ranma felt a bit frazzled by the confusing contact with his own body.

"Ah, uh... maybe tomorrow then?" Ukyo offered, deflating a little.

"Maybe we could all go?" Ranma offered. "More tongues means more feedback on the taste?"

Ukyo let out a sigh, before shifting to a slightly distant smile. "Yeah, sure."

"Saotome!" Shiina's voice shouted out.

Ranma stopped, before realising that the current situation meant someone else was the target of the shout.

"Ouch!" Hibari yelped after Ranma stepped on her foot.

"You're Saotome," Ranma whispered sharply.

"Oh, right," Hibari said, spinning around to where Shiina was. "Good morning, Shiiiiina-kun!"

The tall boxer was leaning against a street lamp pole, a sneer on his face. "Hibari looks like she needs some air, Saotome. Give her some space."

"Oh... did you need space?" Hibari asked, turning to Ranma.

Ranma shrugged.

"She seems fine," Hibari replied as she turned back to Shiina.

The tall lad marched over, eyes narrow as he glared at 'Ranma'. "You're too smug, y'know that, Saotome?"

Hibari raised an eyebrow. "Are you looking to get beaten up today or something, Shiina?"

"You want to try me?" Shiina asked.

Hibari shrugged casually, her body language feminine enough to make Ranma worried their cover would be blown. "Not particularly."

Shiina snarled, before launching a jab. Hibari slipped out of the way with ease, laughing a little.

"Is that the best you've got?" Hibari asked, dodging again.

Shiina replied with a flurry of punches, Hibari casually reading his feints and combinations. The tall boy's face grew ever more scrunched up with frustration.

"Quit dodging and fight like a man!" Shiina grunted.

"My femininity is definitely a selling point, though," Hibari said with a smirk as she dodged another punch.

Ranma's eye twitched slightly.

"Grawr! I can't stand that you think you're good enough for Hibari! She deserves a real man," Shiina hissed.

Hibari rolled her eyes before slipping in with a kick to Shiina's gut that send him flying across the street and embedding into the concrete external wall of the lot there.

"Lesbians are a thing, Shiina," Hibari snorted, before marching off to class.

Ranma struggled to keep her jaw off the ground, not able to process her male form saying that. (Especially with Hibari shifting to a more feminine tone again.)

"Surprised tongzhi is in boy mode today, if he's feeling so feminine," Shui said, watching the black haired teen march off.

Ranma blinked, realising it was odd that Hibari was in Ranma's male form.

"Wait, is Ranchan a lesbian?" Ukyo asked. "Is that why I'm struggling so much?"

"No, no. Ranma was interested in my boy mode before finding out I was me," Shui said. "So, I do not think tongzhi is properly a lesbian."

"Ranma's also a guy sometimes," Ranma blurted defensively.

"Good point," Shui replied. "Brings up the question of whether tongzhi could be a part time lesbian? Hmm... also, am I a part time lesbian? I do not know..."

As Ranma and Shui both grew lost in thought, Ukyo sprinted off ahead. The chef caught up to Hibari quickly and wrapped an arm around the (currently) black haired teen's arm.

"Huh?" Hibari said, looking down at Ukyo.

"The other's are getting too philosophical for this time of day. I thought I'd keep you company instead," Ukyo explained, leaning their head against the muscular shoulder that was currently Hibari's.

"I... uh," Hibari muttered, not sure how to respond in a way that seemed realistic for Ranma.

Before she figured it out, she was being dragged off to school by the chef.

School had gone well enough. Most of the drama that anyone else noticed was Shiina being about 20 minutes late, and was then forced to stand in the hall.

Gym class had Ranma nervous however, as she slipped into the girls' change room. She made a beeline for Hibari's locker, keeping her eyes to the floor, worried that eye contact would somehow get her found out as an intruder. Well, half an intruder. She was sure there shouldn't be anything wrong with her being there, but didn't know what others might think. Luckily that worry proved untested, and Ranma soon found herself doing stretches with the girls in the field. A few minutes later they were playing baseball, and Ranma was out in the right field, when her eyes drifted over to the boys' section.

They were trying out the high bar, and Ranma watched as Hibari walked up, grinning away before hopping up and grabbing the bar. The girl in Ranma's body began to show off, doing a number of loops around. At the end, Hibari landed dramatically, her hands in the air, posing as the boys applauded.

"Oh come on, she's showing off way too—" Ranma began to mutter to herself, when a baseball hit her in the face.

"Aah! Oozora, are you okay!?" the girl on first base asked.

Meanwhile, that Kaori girl who hated Hibari so much was laughing away from second base.

"I'm fine," Ranma muttered. (Whoever had been batting didn't have that much force. Thankfully.)

Ranma and Hibari were walking over to Fumiko's coffee shop, and Ranma was thrilled the day had gone as well as it had. And no chaos had erupted.

"I think we can say something safely now," Ranma said.

"That you'll be taking my last name when we get married?" Hibari replied.

Ranma stopped and turned to her. "What? N-why?"

"Well, you've been responding to 'Oozora' better than I've been responding to 'Saotome'," Hibari said

"I... I guess I have, but I've got more pra... but that's not what I was thinkin' about," Ranma replied, blowing a bit of orangy-red hair away from her eye. "I was thinkin' that whoever did this to us would have played their hand by now. So... maybe we need ta ask Cologne for help. Or they read our act... but I think we've done a pretty good job."

Ranma tried to shake the paranoia eating at her. She was confident by nature, but she was also used to getting outsmarted by her father frequently in her youth, and so never quite calmed down until all the variables were hammered out.

"Oohhh. Good point," Hibari said as she opened the coffee shop's door. "Maybe we should skip our shift?"

"Why would you need to do that?" Fumiko asked as she polished some mugs from behind the counter.

"Weird magic stuff?" Ranma offered.

"Mhm, we have no idea what's going on," Hibari added.

"Ah, well... I hope you two can figure it out," Fumiko said, going quiet until she realised that the two teens weren't leaving. "Oh, uh, that means you two don't have to stay for the shift. The supernatural is a valid excuse."

"Thank you!" the two said in unison, bowing and running off towards the Neko Hanten.

It wasn't too far, especially with the pair taking the direct route with some roof hopping. Ranma felt a bit self conscious about wearing a skirt and showing of her, or rather Hibari's, legs. Luckily the residential neighbourhoods between the two restaurants were rather quiet and no one seemed to look up.

Landing in the small back yard behind the Neko Hanten, Ranma rushed up and knocked on the rear door. A few moments later, the door was opened by Mousse. To Ranma's surprise, he smiled warmly.

"Oh! Oozora! It's great to see you," Mousse said. "I really need to thank you again for getting us into that restaurant. Rie loved it."

Ranma gave a nervous smile. Mousse was being nice, but... he could turn into a cat at a moment's notice, and so Ranma could never quite feel comfortable around him.

"Is Cologne around?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, yeah. She's in the kitchen. I can probably handle cooking if you need to talk to her," Mousse replied.

"Can we come in? Hibari asked, stepping forward. "It's a kind of private issue we want to discuss."

"Oh, uh, sure," Mousse replied, stepping back to let them in. "I'll go get the old woman."

Hibari and Ranma stood quietly while they waited for Cologne to hop over from the stove.

"How can I help you—oh. I think I have a theory," Cologne said, a grin on her face.

"Really?" Ranma asked.

"Mhm. Daughter-in-law and you both carry yourselves a bit differently. Similarly, but you're always more on alert than she is," Cologne replied.

"Ah man, and I thought I was doin' a good job at actin'," Ranma said, pouting a little.

Shampoo appeared in the kitchen at that point, having apparently been eavesdropping. "I could tell too."

"Wait, really?" Ranma asked. "Was I that bad?"

"Was not you," Shampoo replied. "It was Hibari."

"Really? What did I mess up?" Hibari asked. "I'm known for my acting skills."

"Ranma makes better eye contact in the change room," Shampoo said with a mischievous grin.

Hibari grimaced a bit. "Okay, I guess that's fair. Can you blame a girl for curiosity?"

"Ahem. Perhaps we should focus on the magical issue? I know it can be hard as a teenager," Cologne said, chuckling a bit. "Do you two have any idea what happened?"

Ranma was briefly thrown off by trying to figure out what being a teenager had to do with anything.

"No idea," Hibari replied with a shrug. "We just woke up in the wrong bodies."

"Hm... what did you dream about last night?" the ancient woman asked.

"Uh, well," Ranma began, before blushing. "I remember one dream where I, uh... I was gonna have a kid. Like, have have. I was the pregnant one..."

"Wait, were we living at a small dojo out in the country?" Hibari asked.

"How did you know?" Ranma asked, looking up at their own face.

"I might have had the same dream," Hibari replied.

"Ah, that's important. The switch likely occurred around then. Did anything else happen?" Cologne asked.

"Um... I remember Ranma got out of bed around then," Hibari said, trying to think back to drowsy half remembered events of a brief waking. "She came back right away and I pulled her into a hug once he was back... I remember feeling a little funny at the time, and wonder why Ranma didn't feel as round as usual. But I was really tired."

"I... huh... I don't know if I remember waking up," Ranma muttered.

"Hm... well, that's not much to go on," Cologne said. "I'll try to check my library and see if I find any leads. If not... well, I might be able to order a magical item or two that should be able to reverse the switch. Depending on what caused it. You two should stay here. It's best to monitor you just in case."

"Just in case? What could happen?" Ranma asked, growing a bit pale.

"Body-mind separation, if the switch is too weak. Or personality merger, if it's too messy a switch. Neither is too likely, though," Cologne explained, her tone calm and displaying pleasant bedside manners.

Unfortunately, that reassuring tone told the two that they needed reassuring, and made them uneasy.

"W-we've been doing some things in unison today," Hibari said, feeling worried.

"Hmm... you were pretending to be one another though, weren't you?" Cologne asked.

"Yeah?" Ranma said.

"There you go. You two are usually running on quite similar wavelengths. Honestly, it makes me want to train you two in unison fighting styles more. Though... I suppose that might make it tricky to detect a merger. I suggest you two find your differences and focus on those," Cologne replied. "Well, Mouse, Shampoo, I'll leave the restaurant to you two while I'm in the study."

With that, Cologne hopped off. Ranma and Hibari both headed off to the main dining area, Shampoo giving them a steady supply of food, which Ranma picked away at. Both teens were a bit too nervous to really do anything. Even talking felt strange, especially since they both had the wrong voices.

Still, Hibari couldn't deny that Ranma's expressions and body language shawn through enough that she could almost pretend the other part time redhead was in her own form.

With the restaurant quiet after the better part of an hour, Shampoo pulled up a chair at the table, sitting down with a soft smile.

"Great grandmother will figure something out. You do not need to worry," she said, taking one of Hibari's hands in her left hand and one of Ranma's in her right hand. "It will be alright."

"I'm tryin' not to," Ranma muttered. What did a personality merger even mean? It was weird fearing something you didn't understand.

"Is Hibari here?" Nabiki's voice called out.

The trio turned, spotting the sharp haired girl at the front entrance, looking very tired.

"Over here," Hibari called out.

"Thank goodness," Nabiki said, heading over with heavy footsteps, dragging a chair after the halfway mark or so.

When she reached a point close enough to the table, she turned the chair around and sat down. "The old creep's back from Siberia. And ticked off about being sold out to Pantyhose. He's trashing our place, and rambling about vengeance schemes."

Suddenly Ranma's memory was jogged, and the swapped teen hopped up. "He was there! That's why I woke up. He had some sorta incense in his hand. It smelled terrible."

Hibari let out a sigh. "Of course it's his fault."

"What's his fault?" Nabiki asked.

"I'm Hibari," Hibari said. "That's Ranma."

Nabiki nodded slowly. "I'd have never believed that three months ago... so, who are you?"

"I have tragically been swapped with Shui," Shampoo said with a smirk.

"Wait... but I thought... I mean, I saw..." Nabiki stammered.

Shampoo's grin grew wider. "Nothing has happened to me. It's just air-er, tongzhi."

"That was a cruel joke to play on a girl as tired as I am," Nabiki grumbled, pouting a bit.

"At least now we know who's behind this, but... we can't just charge in an' beat the old slimeball up though," Ranma muttered, planning out attack strategies. "He's almost as tough as Cologne is."

"I will go tell great grandmother about him and incense being involved though. Maybe she can figure out a fix with that," Shampoo declared with a grin. "See, what did I say? Everything will work out."