Chapter 3:

To say that dinner was tense would be an extreme understatement, though some couldn't read the room enough to get that (cough-Happosai-cough). Grayfia had placed herself between the Tendo and Saotome Patriarchs. Ranko privately wondered if Soun would have still invited her to dinner if he knew the real reason why she was there. Her grimace went unnoticed by all except a little black piglet and the Grayfia.

She motioned a little with her head at P-Chan and mouthed, "Talk later."

Grayfia was actually a little surprised by the fact that the pig nodded his ascent, then she took a closer look using her magic and discovered that the pig was someone marked by Jusenkyo. You generally didn't run into even two of Jusenkyo's in a week, much less two days. Though it was probably to be expected, coming into Nerima, the part of Japan most infamous for its wackiness.

Nodoka picked that moment to speak up, "Son."

Ranko looked over at her mother, "Yes, mom."

Nodoka had her gaze fixed on her child, "How long do you think it will take for you to return to normal?"

Ranko had never liked the idea of lying to her mom, but she wanted a chance to pack up her meager belongings before they had the inevitable conversation, "Don't know, mom. I guess it depends on how powerful her husband is."

Ranko's gesture towards Grayfia caused a three to four hundred year old pervert sitting nearby to snort in amusement, "Powerful indeed. I bet I could get you fixed up in a jiffy, howsaboutit, my pretty?"

Ranko glared at the diminutive pervert, "The day I willingly let you near me with magic is the day I will have gone insane."

Nodoka tilted her head to the side, "Is there something wrong with letting him help you?"

Ranko balefully glared at her mother, "All he does is cause mischief, steal ladies undergarments, and grope women's chests. What do you think, mom?"

Nodoka glared slightly at her daughter's sarcastic tone, "I don't see any problem with letting a kind old man help you."

Ranko shook her head, cause even if this wasn't a permanent thing, she still would have fought her mom on this even with the threat of the Katana, "How did anything I say sound even remotely like a kind old man?"

The others were getting whiplash from the back and forth between mother and child, but her next words froze them in place, "He is a man among men, and they have needs, son." The Katana was suddenly in her hand, "I would have thought you understood that, considering that is what was in the contract with your father."

Akane's one track logic system quickly concluded that somehow that meant Ranma went around touching women's chests all the time behind her back, or worse. Cue the table almost landing on top of Ranko via gorilla like strength. Ranko had moved in a burst of speed that they had yet to see her equal from any time before. P-Chan was in her arms because he had also almost been a casualty of the table of doom.

Grayfia's eyes were wide in a rare moment of surprise, she hadn't felt any magic coming from her adopted daughter at all, yet she had moved with speed easily comparable to high end of high class devils. She also noticed that no one else seemed to be making a big deal of it, she shuddered to think of what it might be like if some devil had tried to muscle in on Nerima's finest to convert them.

Ranko glared at Akane, "What is with you, stupid Tomboy. I didn't do anything, so why are you attacking me. You almost hit your precious pet pig at the same time as me."

Akane glared right back, "Don't you give me that, you womanizing pervert. If the wedding wasn't enough, now I find out you have been acting like Grandfather Happosai when I am not looking."

Ranko glared, the red aura of her anger ki manifesting around her, "The wedding was rigged to blow by your sister selling invitations to all the loons around here and you know it."

Akane's anger boiled even further into the visible spectrum, "Don't you dare try to deflect your wrongs onto my sister."

Ranko snarled, "Like the wrong of allowing the cask addressed to me to be used as a bartering chip."

P-Chan was between two angry females and he didn't like the way this was going, so he did what he did best in his pint sized form, bite Ranma.

Ranko exploded with a yelled, "OWWW!"

Akane also exploded, chucking the table still in her hands at the currently distracted Ranko. It would have connected if it hadn't suddenly been shredded by the half-a-meter long blazing red ki-claws that popped into existence around Ranko's outstretched hand. Her eyes were glowing red, and something seemed to spark within them as everyone paled in fear. They were looking at an apex predator that lived for destruction. Her aura started to climb and condense around her, charring the boards underneath her feet with the heat of her fury, a fury that had been kept in check by a love that had finally been annihilated. Darkness seemed to bleed into her aura. Grayfia and Happosai both moved to stop her from using her magic, which she was using unconsciously and had no idea or training in how to control.

It was very lucky for the pale-faced Akane that both were quick on the uptake. Happosai blurred in behind her, concentration stretching across his face as he felt the damage her aura was doing to his clothes and aura. A tiny finger lanced out, hitting a pressure point on the back of her neck that knocked her out instantly. Grayfia had moved to stand between Ranko and the former person of her affections and was in place to catch her as she fell forward asleep.

Grayfia bowed to her current hosts, "Would it be possible for me to place her somewhere? She will need time to recover from that pressure point."

Happosai waved from where he was sitting atop the TV, "Only five minutes, maybe less."

Kasumi stood up from her place where the table used to be, "I will show you to the room Ranma-chan shares with her father and mother."

Grayfia bowed again, "I thank you."

Akane was still frozen in place, but noticed her pet pig look back at her for a second and then scamper off behind the rapidly retreating form of the foreign maid.

Soun summed up the experience while looking shakily at his best friend and middle daughter, "That happened."

Genma nodded, not trusting himself to speak for a moment, and turned to his wide-eyed wife, "How about we don't anger our son for the rest of the day, dear?"

Nodoka's eyes narrowed, "Agreed, husband, but rest assured, I will be finding out about that most unmanly display."

The collective flinch that wound its way through the gathered people could definitely be understood to not be caused entirely by the odd woman seated in their midst.

Kasumi sighed a little bit as Grayfia set Ranko down on her futon, with P-Chan coming in and sitting beside the unconscious girl. Kasumi watched as Grayfia straightened up, and she caught the slight shine of motherly concern in the elder woman's eyes. Kasumi let out a silent gasp and then smiled slightly.

Grayfia felt a hand land on her arm, and she looked up into the eyes of one Kasumi Tendo, who smiled at her, "Take care of her please."

Grayfia nodded, slightly confused by what the young woman meant, "She is merely asleep."

What Kasumi said next got the message across to the mother in front of her, "That isn't what I meant."

In that moment Grayfia realized that the young woman before her was a kindred spirit despite never actually having to go through giving birth. The elder woman nodded in respect, recognizing that responsibility for a life had been officially passed to her a manner that few would understand, "You need not worry."

Kasumi bowed deeply, "Thank you."

P-Chan saw Kasumi leave, but the conversation that had happened was both literally and figuratively over his head. He stared at the sleeping face of his greatest rival and a part of his psyche privately admitted that the little girl before him was also the best friend he had ever had. His piggy chuckle sounded odd to Grayfia, and she privately wondered what the transformed human was thinking about. She sensed a number of curses sticking to him as well, not nearly as many as has been on her new daughter, but it was still a fairly impressive number.

Grayfia knelt slightly to brush aside some hair from her daughter's face, jumping slightly as she realized how quickly she had come to like the diminutive little firecracker. She saw the pig eyeing her, "She will probably explain it to you when she wakes up."

The pig's eyes narrowed as he looked between the two of them, "You are wondering if she told me?"

The positive head nod was all she needed, "No, I could sense Jusenkyo's touch on you."

The pig sighed, and it seemed like if he had been able to he would have smacked himself if he had had hands. Ranko started to wake up and looked around blearily, focusing on Grayfia with tears in her eyes, "Did I hurt anyone?"

Grayfia gently gathered her into a hug, "No, but you did give them a good fright."

Ranko sighed as she pushed out of the hug, "Good, can you help me…" She trailed off as she caught sight of P-Chan sitting there looking at her in confusion, "…uhhhhhh."

Grayfia nodded, "Yes I will, and then you can catch up with your friend here."

Ranko looked at her, surprise practically screaming on her face, "How did you…?"

Grayfia smirked, "I sensed the power of Jusenkyo sticking to him."

Ranko got it at last, and said in the privacy of her own mind, "Duh, devil."

It was perhaps an odd testament to her life at the Tendo's that she didn't have many clothes, and the majority of what she had were female garments that would no longer fit her smaller frame. She quickly scooped up P-Chan and went out the door, "I am gonna go see if the furo is filled."

Grayfia glanced rather significantly at the "pig" in her arms, and Ranko shrugged not seeing the problem, "What? I haven't got anything that he hasn't seen before."

Grayfia glared at her, "You have no sense of feminine modesty, do you?"

Ranko shook her head, "Nope, I was raised as a boy for a reason, and this wouldn't be the first time we have bathed together."

Grayfia rolled her eyes and muttered something about ridiculous Gremory blood as she waved the young girl onward, though Ranko noticed that she followed closely behind. Ranko shrugged as she opened the door to the clothes area outside the furo. She triple checked to make sure there was no one on the other side after she had gotten her clothes off and then went through with P-Chan in hand. The little porker smiled as he was set gently down on the edge of the furo, unfortunately, pig hoofs aren't exactly ideal for moving around on the side of a bathtub and he unceremoniously fell in while trying to turn his face away from the currently unclothed Ranko.

Ranko smirked as she soaped up to get in the furo, "Butter-hooves, eh P-Chan."

The fanged growl that greeted her when she looked over her shoulder was as hilarious as ever, "What was that down there, Ranma?"

She sighed as she got up and got into the bath, "That was something that had been a long time in coming and you know it."

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "I meant the power…" He quickly stalled on noticing that she was still a she in hot water and not looking the least bit uncomfortable with it. He glared balefully at her smiling face, "Start from the beginning."

Ranko waived her arm to gesture at herself, "After the 'wedding,' I stormed off and found a weird little piece of paper in my pocket. It said that it could grant my wishes."

Ryoga snorted, well aware of the kind of experiences one can have in trying to get their wishes granted, "I am guessing it was a flop."

Ranko sighed somewhat sadly, "It was actually a success."

Ryoga shook his head in confusion, careful to keep his eyes on her face as he motioned towards her body with one of his hands, "But you are still female."

Ranko nodded, "I'll get to that, but the paper allowed me to summon a devil…"

Ryoga interrupted again, "Please don't tell me that you sold your soul or something."

Ranko stood up and wacked her fist into the top of his head, "Stop interrupting."

Ryoga grimaced, no fist that small should have that much strength, not that he felt more than momentary pain because of the breaking point training, "Alright, alright…Uh…could you please sit back down?"

Ranko quickly sat with a light blush. Full on feminine modesty? No, but you generally don't go around putting your bare crotch at the eye level of someone regardless of what gender you are. She coughed into her hand dismissing the blush, "I summoned the younger sister of the leader of the Underworld, Rias Gremory." She held up a fist threateningly when Ryoga looked like he was about to comment, and he held up his hands in surrender, "She was able to tell I had a number of curses on me, and I got a lot of them and some things wrong with my body cured by her and her best friend. I found out two things relevant to this." She gestured to her body, smirking slightly when Ryoga quickly gained a blush before focusing back on her face, "The first thing is that Jusenkyo has some sort of intelligence that gives blessings meant to somehow improve the life of those it afflicts." Ryoga's raised eyebrow was definitely a sign of belief, "And the second thing is that my pops was trying to control my life since before I was born. He placed some kind of curse on me before I was born that ensured that I would be born male."

Ryoga couldn't help his wide-eyed interruption, "You mean…"

Ranko nodded, "I was supposed to be born female, and when the curse got cured, I became stuck in girl form, permanently."

Ryoga shuddered as he wondered what it would be like to know you should have been born a pig, then he beat the thought out of his head with extreme prejudice, "I would say I feel sorry for you, but you seem to be content with it."

Ranko shrugged, "It is either continue changing gender and being called a pervert for it at the slightest change in the weather, or stay as one and get a new life and a chance to be free."

Ryoga raised his eyebrow again, "New life? Chance to be free?"

Ranko sighed, "Apparently my parents literally made a deal with the devil to be able to even conceive me, and the guy used experimental magic to help them conceive me. I ended up technically having two biological fathers, and I should have been born half-human half-devil."

Ryoga started to see where this was going, "But what your pops did…"

Ranko nodded, "Somehow ensured that I would be completely human, but then Jusenkyo's magic doesn't like detaching from its victims."

Ryoga started when two bat-like pitch black wings erupted from her back, "Now you are permanently a female devil. Aren't you?"

Ranko nodded as she examined the wings, "This is actually the first time I have seen them on myself."

Ryoga gently held his hand out, "Can I…"

Ranko nodded as she maneuvered herself so her back was toward Ryoga and he was able to access her wings. The moment she felt his hands touch the wings, she almost melted in unexpected bliss as her brain was overloaded with pleasure. She hadn't realized how sensitive they would be. She was so caught up in the feeling that her only response to whatever Ryoga had said was a soft moan. She had shifted backwards a little bit to get closer to the source of pleasure, and bumped into something that she recognized as not being remotely close in resemblance to a leg that was on Ryoga's person.

They both yelped in surprise as they practically leaped away from each other with very deep red faces, and in unison they looked at their opposites face and said, "This never happened."

They nodded, again in unison, and sunk under the water up to their noses, futilely trying to hide their blushes.

Grayfia shook her head outside the door, That was almost worse than what usually happens with reincarnated devils. I am glad I didn't have to step in, but I will definitely have to be teaching her some modesty in the future. It wouldn't do for the daughter of the Underworld's leader to be seen as an easy target.