Chapter 60: Matthew Perry?

Hibari was surprised to see Ranma sitting in the kitchen with Tsugumi before breakfast. Ranma was looking a little pale, holding a mug with a little steam flowing out of it.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, sitting down at the table.

"It was more blood than I expected," Ranma muttered.

"More—oh! Y-you've started, then?" Hibari asked, feeling a little giddy. That would mean she'd be soon too, right?

Ranma nodded slowly. "It ain't fun. Pain in my gut reminds me a' that time pops decided to try dumpster divin' in August. Durin' a heatwave. Then he thought he could make it edible with enough hot sauce. Felt like my stomach wanted ta kill me... this might be worse, though."

"It's that bad?" Hibari asked, glancing to Tsugumi.

"Some people have it worse than others. It is hard for me to say how bad Ranma has it," she replied. "It's definitely not fun, though."

Hibari nodded, reaching out to rub Ranma on the shoulder. "Well, hopefully it mellows. And doesn't last much longer."

"Hopefully," Ranma muttered. "I hope we've got a big breakfast today, though. I'm starvin'."

"I don't think there's any time for something special for breakfast, but I'll make a celebration dinner. Don't worry," Tsugumi replied, as she headed over to the stove.

"Woo..." Ranma added softly.

It wasn't too much later that everyone was gathered around the breakfast table. Things started out normal enough, until Genma began his habit of stealing food from Ranma.

"Oy! I need that iron!" Ranma shouted. "Especially today!"

"What on earth makes iron extra important today? Are you planning a big workout? Stuck as a girl, you really don't need—" Genma started, only to receive a fist to the face from Ranma partway through.

"I got blood loss ta recover from, ya idiot!" Ranma hissed.

Genma blinked, as Ranma withdrew her fist. "Blood loss? Why are you... oh no. It... it happened. You know she's going to kill you!"

"Isn't a high pain tolerance manly?" Hibari asked from across the table.

Genma turned to her, confusion on his face. "I don't see what pain tolerance has to do with anything? Periods are a womanly thing? Women are delicate. Handling a period can't take any real endurance. It's just embarrassing for a man to—grawrf?"

Genma was once again interrupted, this time by Tsubame having splashed her glass of water over him.

"Shut it," she said, glaring at the panda.

Genma responded by lifting a sign which read: #You delicate women could never handle the suffering of manhood.#

"Uncle Genma, if you are intent on continuing to insult women, which includes myself," Tsugumi said, "then I do hope you have an alternative source for your future meals. The daughter of a yakuza family does not cook for someone who insults her."

Despite starting with white fur, Genma somehow managed to pale. #I'm going to go for a walk. Excuse me.#

The girls at the table watched the panda scramble to his feet and wander out of the room. Ibari, for his part, had not looked up the entire conversation, finding his miso soup utterly fascinating.

"You don't look so good," Ken said as Ranma sat down at her desk.

"I don't feel so good," Ranma replied flatly.

"Oh... is it contagious? Should we back off?" Haruki asked.

Ranma let out a laugh at the faces on the two boys. "No. It's a girl thing... the girl thing."

"Oh!" the boys said in unison, eyes wide.

Class started at that point, forcing the two guys to back off. However, they passed some notes between them, which soon spread to notes passed to other guys. By the time the first class ended and break had begun, Ranma found herself surrounded.

"I had some chocolates for lunch, that should help, right?" one boy offered.

"Me too!"

"Are you craving anything? I could run down to the cafeteria to get you something?"

"Cravings are for pregnancies, you dolt!"

"Really?"

Hibari blinked, stuck firmly on the wrong side of the swarm of boys. She couldn't see how Ranma was handling it, but heard a 'thank you' from her curvaceous girlfriend after every offer of food.

That didn't surprise her, but the odd interest the boys were taking did. So she yanked one out at random.

"What's all this attention about?" she asked the rather flustered looking lad.

"I... well... it can't be fun, right? He doesn't deserve to go it alone. So, solidarity between men and all that?" the boy replied.

"And she's cute when she smiles and says 'thank you' for the chocolate," another added, a blush on his face.

"Don't forget that she's my fiancée, alright?" Hibari said to the second lad.

"O-of course not," the boy muttered. "I just liked her smile."

Before Hibari could try to clear the crowd any further, a pair of hands popped up, holding a large floppy hot water bottle.

"My mum says these are great for pain!" the boy announced.

"Oh... uh... they probably are," Ranma started, "but, uh... even if I can't change right now... I'd still feel like the hot water was teasin' me."

"Gyah! You're right! I'll get rid of it!" the boy yelped, rushing out of the crowd.

The boy hurried off to the door, clearly planning to get the offending hot water as far away from Ranma as possible. Unfortunately, he headed out just as Shui was returning in. The pair collided, causing the plug of the hot water bottle to pop. The hot water sprayed out from there.

"Oh! I'm sorry Liu-ku...n?" the boy said, staring at the very feminine form of Shampoo, in oversized wet clothing.

Shampoo's eye twitched, before she grabbed the boy by the collar and tossed him over her shoulder. No one in the room could see where he landed, but there was a loud crash a moment later.

"L-L-Liu-kun has a girl curse?" a girl said.

"Wait, no. That was hot water... that means... Liu is actually a girl?' Kaori added, a look of shock on her face.

Kaori's deduction resulted in a wave of murmuring spreading across the class. Ranma found herself ignored (not that she minded, she had a pleasant mound of chocolate and other sweets in front of her), as all eyes shifted to Shampoo.

"D-do you like girls?" someone blurted, causing Shampoo to blush.

"Um... yes?" Shampoo replied.

That did it. The girls got even more excited than boys had over Ranma's vulnerability. Nearly every girl in the class swarmed ahead, asking 'Shui' to date them. Shampoo was left getting severely flustered as the girls got closer.

"You're even better than Ootori-sempai! We could take you home to meet our parents!" a particularly chesty girl said as she pressed up to her (Shampoo vaguely recalled the girl's name was Nozomi).

"Such a muscular male form with the gentleness of a girl inside is like a dream come true!" another declared.

"Uh," Shampoo muttered.

At that, Hibari hurried over, slipping between Shampoo and the other girls. "Sorry, ladies. She's taken."

"What? Hibari!?'

"You already took the other one!"

"Ranma is the one that's engaged to both of us. Shampoo and I have agreed to share," Hibari said, pushing the girls away. (Sure, her statement wasn't totally true, but it avoided complicating factors.)

"We are not just sharing Ranma. I like having the two girlfriends. Or... one and a half girlfriends and half a boyfriend?" Shampoo added, draping an arm over Hibari's shoulder.

"Aawwww..." the girls moaned.

"No fair," someone muttered.

"Um... the bell went off, everyone?" the teacher called out. "We can discuss Liu-kun's gender and sexuality another time, okay?"

The girls marched glumly back to their seats. Shampoo sat awkwardly in her own seat, unable to shake how unnatural it felt to be in her birth form at school.

Ukyo wore a quiet smile, glad that Shampoo's 'masculinity' had finally cracked. The way everyone had just accepted the exceptionally feminine girl as a boy, due to a simple curse, had always gotten under Ukyo's skin, after they had struggled so hard to pass as male for so many years.

The girls were gathered around Ranma this time. It was gym class next period, and the majority of them had come to a conclusion.

"Do you want to change with us, Saotome?" one asked.

"Huh?" the small redhead replied, nibbling on some of the chocolate she'd sent to boys off to get her during lunch.

"Well, you clearly have a full understanding of womanhood now," another girl explained. "And the nurse's office is so far from the gymnasium. So we thought it would be nicer for you to change with us."

"I object!" Kaori shouted from her side of the classroom.

"We know, Hanazono!"

"You've lost, Kaori-chan!" Hibari shouted, a smug and almost feline grin on her face.

Kaori went red with anger, her friends hurrying after her as she marched out.

"I... well... I guess if everyone else is okay with it, I can?" Ranma said.

The girls erupted in cheers at that.

"Now to invite... wait, where did Shui-chan go?"

"She seems gone?"

The boys all stood, confused, as they saw Shui pull her shirt off and reveal her currently muscular and masculine frame. The boys exchanged nervous glances. Most of them were quite familiar with Shampoo's figure, having gone to the Neko Hanten specifically to observe her. Trying to mentally square the circle of connecting the athletically built girl to the large muscular boy was giving them a headache.

"Um... so..." one boy said, stepping forward. "Y-you're still changing with us?"

"I have my stuff in this locker? It seemed easiest?" Shui replied, shrugging beefy shoulders.

The boys all nodded nervously.

Then, one of them stepped forward. "If you're comfortable still changing with us, then... we really wouldn't mind if you did it in your birth form."

Shui turned, eyes narrow in a look that, quite probably, could kill if Shui had put a little more effort into it. The boy froze in fear as Shui crossed the space in three purposeful strides, lifting him by his shirt collar and slamming him against a locker.

"Tongzhi Ranma is too soft on you all. He asked me not to hurt any of you too much for splashing him. That rule does not exist for splashing me. Understood?" Shui said, glaring at the boy.

"Oh," the boy said, a blush growing on his cheeks.

"Oh?" Shui repeated, an eyebrow raised. "That is all you have to say about my promise of pain?"

"Huh? Uh... no. No. It wasn't about the promise. Threat understood. Totally and completely," the boy stammered, cheeks still flush. "The 'oh' was, uh... about something else."

"I think I got the same 'oh' moment," another boy said.

"Yeah. That's... that's a life lesson," a third added.

Shui turned, looking around at the various blushing boys. "Life lesson is... not to mess with a Nujiezu?"

Ukyo walked over, patting Shui on the shoulder. "They found out they like domineering and muscular boys. At least that's my bet."

The boys began to blush more.

"What? I—Ranma has been here the whole time, but I am their the 'gay awakening'?" Shui asked, looking around.

A few boys quite openly admitted that they had in fact figured themselves out with Ranma. Some had pretended that Ranma's boy side was bishonen enough they could pretend it was just similarities to his girl side carrying over. Those boys, though, had to give up with Shui's more beefy musculature. Others, however, admitted that they were not in fact interested in Ranma, either for being too gentle or simply not as beefy as Shui. But Shui was their type.

Shui nodded. "It is very unfortunate for you boys, then, that I am mostly a lesbian."

"Yeah..." several boys muttered.

Day two saw Ranma hungrier and Genma quieter. The breakfast was also larger, supplemented by leftovers from the previous night's impressive spread. Hibari found herself feeling a little off all day as well. They were both thankful that their shift at Fumiko's was quiet. Fumiko also kept Ranma supplied with nuts and chocolate, which kept her happy. The older woman was quite happy to share all the new tips she'd learned from friends with her own recent first encounter with the commodore.

Day three was more of the same for Ranma. Hibari found herself with an unpleasant morning as well, though, her own period starting. She was left with far less attention from peers, though, unable to to express the fact it was her first time as well. At least her nearest friends knew it was her first round and could comfort her.

She also had Tsubame's visibly increasing stress levels to help motivate her.

Nodoka sat quietly on the train from Shinjuku to Nerima. She had been learning quite a bit these last few days, with each trip into Shinjuku. The understanding that birth didn't have to be all defining. The chance that her child hadn't grown up masculine wasn't necessarily as unhealthy of a thing as she had always thought. Not all the girls she'd met were happy, but it was very clear, talking to them, that was a side effect of how society treated them. The way some had talked about their lives before figuring themselves out had tugged at her heart.

The most painful thing, though, was the way they had all talked about their parents. Only a handful had any real relationships with their parents any more. While most had admitted they wished they had parents to turn to, most were certain that their own parents were worse than none at all.

As the train rolled into Oizumi-Gakuen station, she nodded to herself. She wasn't going to let that happen. Especially when she'd noted that many of the happiest girls were those whose parents did accept them.

Well, assuming Ran really was her child. It still wasn't completely proven, but... but... her heart said yes. So she was heading back to the Oozora home. If Ranma was there, then she'd have the surprising answer, but if it was just Ran, she'd have more reason to believe.

A knock at the door drew Ranma's attention up from her homework. Well, the fraction of it that was actually focused. She'd never been the best with focusing on school stuff, and adding in a distracting pain did not help.

So, she got up more or less immediately, opening the door to find Seiji's imposing form standing out front.

"Uh, Ranma-kun, your, uh... your mum is downstairs," the man said in his gravelly voice.

"Oh! That's—wait. You didn't say Ranma was here, right!?" Ranma asked, a hand drifting down to her gut.

The pain down there suddenly seemed to triple as she thought of the risk of seppuku.

"She asked for 'Ran'," Seiji replied.

Ranma blinked. "Oh. Uh... okay. I guess I'll go see what she wants?"

"Sounds good, Ranma-kun," Seiji said, stepping out of the way.

Ranma hurried downstairs, not wanting to leave her mother waiting any ways she could avoid. She had enough guilt about the lie she was having to tell, and how she was having to hide.

She found Nodoka sitting in the tea room, having a quiet conversation with Tsugumi.

"H-hello, Auntie Saotome?" Ranma said, peeking in.

"Ah! Hello Ran-kun," Nodoka said, smiling. "Do you have much homework today?"

"Nothin' pressin'. Why?" Ranma asked.

"I was thinking, having had to live with my husband, you probably didn't get much exposure to the sort of cultured activities a young girl should experience," Nodoka replied.

Ranma swallowed nervously. "I-uh-not really, but I kinda like bein' a tomboy. Flower arrangin' or whatever ain't really my jam... no offense."

Nodoka kept up her smile. "None taken. I was not thinking anything like that, after all. I was hoping you might like to visit the National Museum?"

"A museum? Huh... I... I ain't really ever been to a museum. That... does it have dinosaurs?" Ranma asked.

Nodoka let out a small giggle. "It's more of a history museum. It has samurai armour, though. We could visit the natural history museum another day, though?"

Ranma weighed the options for a second. "Alright, that sounds like it could be fun... uh, can we invite Hibari too? She'd probably love that kinda thing?"

"Oh! Sure. Of course," Nodoka replied, seeming surprised, but not upset.

Ranma lit up, before hurrying off. It took minimal effort to convince Hibari to head out, the taller girl having found her homework extra tiring that evening as well. The pair changed into nicer outfits, and then met back with Nodoka downstairs. Seiji ended up offering them both a drive to the train station, though driving further than that would have taken longer than the trains.

The ride itself was still rather long, though, and Nodoka had quite a lot on her mind. Hibari could tell, and wondered just what she was up to. Ranma, however, remained quite oblivious, being filled with questions about museum etiquette. Learning that it was more or less the same as library etiquette, though not quite as strict, fit with her general expectations.

Ranma's stomach demanded they grab something to eat when they arrived at Ueno station. That, thankfully, proved rather easy. There were a few small food stalls in Ueno Park, on the way to the Tokyo National Museum. Hibari ended up grabbing something as well, her craving for iron also strong.

Then they were off to the museum itself. They chose to start on the second floor and work their way down. Ranma found the ancient Jomon pottery fascinating.

"That thing is thousands a' years old?" she muttered, staring down at the small clay pot with intricate decorations.

"It says four to five thousand years, yeah," Hibari replied, leaning in to look at it.

"I thought stuff had ta be from China or India to be that old... it's, like, three times older than... uh," Ranma started, before glancing up at her mother and blushing. "Uh... this cool place I visited in China. Where, uh... Ranma and Uncle Genma found me?"

"Oh? Where was that?" Nodoka asked.

"Uh... this one trainin' ground. It was way out west. Lots of little ponds and stuff," Ranma replied. "Oooh! That statue looks funny!"

Ranma hurried off, wanting to avoid having to spin a more complex web of lies. Lies got annoying to remember. She generally kept quiet for the next few exhibit rooms. Hibari and Nodoka both appreciated the ancient Buddhist art more, while Ranma had little to say beyond 'oh, it's nice'. She also felt worried, in amongst all this religious art. Not only did she wonder if the Buddhas could see through, and, perhaps, judge her as truly a man, but that, even if they didn't, she might be offending them by walking by during her period. She knew visiting shrines during a period was... wrong? Bad? Not good. Some kind of not good. This was a museum though, so... maybe it was fine? She also couldn't remember if the rule about periods even applied to temples, or if that was only a Shinto thing.

And, maybe it was fine for real women, but she was taking it a step too far?

Either way, she let out a sigh of relief when they finished that section and entered the area dedicated to warrior artifacts. Nodoka noticed that relief, and took her own guess as to the cause. Her guess was, in fact, not too far from reality, wondering if 'Ran' was worried due to things Genma had no doubt said about the immorality of wishing to live a womanly way, and vaguely religious reasons for that.

Nodoka placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Are you okay, dear?"

Ranma shivered. "F-fine. Just... uh, cramps?"

"Ah. Did you want to rest a little?"

"N-no. No. I think I'm doin' better now?" Ranma offered, giving a weak smile.

Nodoka smiled back.

Ranma was about to thank her mother for her concern when her eyes drifted to the nearest display case. A katana. Thoughts of the contract floating over her head filled her mind again, accompanied by a new wave of cramps.

"Y'know... maybe w-weapons aren't the best when I'm tryin' to forget about blood," Ranma blurted, grabbing her mother and Hibari's hands, dragging them out of the room.

"Oh, I suppose so," Nodoka replied, providing little resistance.

To Ranma's relief, the next room contained an exhibit on kimonos. She came to a stop, wandering up to the clothing on display. She couldn't help being taken in by how beautiful the decorations were. Doing those patterns by hand must have taken months. Maybe longer?

Hibari, for her part, was taken in by the look in Ranma's eyes. Ranma's look of admiration was something Hibari always liked, even when it wasn't directed at her. Hibari couldn't help smiling as Ranma wandered from kimono to kimono, enraptured at every step. Those big eyes sparkling away with wonder.

Ranma stayed mystified as they travelled on to the exhibits on Taisho era fashion, as well as the exhibit on Hokkaido's history. By the end of the tour of the main building Ranma had all but forgotten her initial unease. She'd started to get a little bored near the end, since Hibari was far more interested in reading the information accompanying the displays than she was, but she was happy all the same. Especially when Nodoka suggested they go out for dinner before the trip back to the Oozora home.

Ranma ended up ordering the largest bowl of ramen she could at the restaurant they visited, proving that she was more of a bottomless pit than usual right now. She did, however, make a concerted effort to eat like a civilized human being, so that Nodoka wouldn't judge her too much. Ranma was focused enough on her food that she barely noticed Nodoka glancing her way every few seconds, and when she did notice she assumed she hadn't quite gotten good table manners down and slowed the pace of her eating further. Hibari had noticed, though, and was observing Nodoka just enough that the older woman was aware her efforts at subtlety weren't totally successful.

After a moment or two of awkwardness after making eye contact with Hibari, Nodoka cleared her throat. "I... I'm glad you both liked this little outing. I hope we can both do more of these? I... well, I was never able to have a daughter, and I was... I was hoping I could be a bit of a feminine role model for you girls?"

"You wanted a daughter?" Ranma asked.

Nodoka gave a soft smile. "I rather suspect most women do? Society says we need to have sons, but, well, sons are to take after their fathers. A daughter offers a different bond. A closer one, I think."

Ranma felt her heart quicken. Maybe she could... she glanced at Hibari, only to have her fiancée give a subtle shake of her head. A 'not yet' silently danced on her lips. Ranma nodded. There was a difference between wanting a daughter and being ready to accept one's son (sometimes) being one.

Still, Ranma could accept some of it.

"I'd love to spend more time with you," Ranma said, smiling because it was the truth. "Tsugumi is very nice, but she's not really able to fill much of a 'mom' role just yet."

Ranma didn't really think about the emphasis she ended up putting on the 'mom' in her sentence, nor the way she looked at Nodoka when she said it. Nodoka and Hibari both noticed. Nodoka's heart quicked, feeling the years that separated her from her child.

She had to find a way out of her husband's accursed contract before she could truly confirm anything, though.

Hibari stared at the ceiling, between the pain in her gut and the thoughts on her mind, sleep was a long way off. She was certain of it, now. Nodoka knew who Ranma was. She had to. Yet the katana had been nowhere to be seen. Was she wrong? Was she reading things that weren't there because she knew the truth?

They also managed to forget to ask for Nodoka's phone number again, so she wasn't sure how she could probe further. She just had to wait for Nodoka to come back, and try to come up with ways to protect Ranma, if Nodoka brought the katana next time.