The Transformation

Was it really just three days ago when Ukyo was sure her plan would work? She sighed, watching as Ryoga yet again failed at engaging Konatsu in a casual conversation, instead staring at the floor, twiddling his thumbs, his face flushed with a deep blush.

Of course Konatsu was a man but Ryoga didn't know that she was a he. And since he looked like a she as he often did, Ryoga did what he almost always did in front of girls, stutter, avoid her eyes, and become all around awkward.

Sighing as yet again Konatsu asked him where to get to Class 302 and Ryoga responding with a jumbled mess of confusing words with numbers thrown in for good measure, she called their training session to a halt.

"Isn't there a single girl out there you can talk to, Ryoga?" she asked exasperated.

Ryoga had just recovered from cute smile that Konatsu had sent his way in their skit. "Well, I guess there's you."

That got her annoyed not that she wasn't already annoyed.

"Ryoga think of it as training. Every girl that comes near you, I need you to start thinking of them as genderless blobs or… me." She couldn't believe she had to degrade herself to try and give the fool ideas to make her plan work. And another thing, why was she the only female successfully omitted from his stutters and nerves? "Now try again."

"Oh excuse me," said Konatsu in a laughing sing songy voice, staring up at him with demure eyes "can you please tell me how to get to room 302?"

Ryoga merely stared for a second. "Ryoga?" came Ukyo's voice, teetering on the edge of annoyance.

Slapping himself, Ryoga cried out with new reserve "I'll try! For Akane! And if I must picture every girl as genderless blobs or you, Ukyo for this plan to work, I will work my hardest! Harder than I have ever worked." He closed his eyes, "Wait! I think I can do this! Yes, imaging you is definitely helping!"

He opened his eyes and half smiled at Konatsu, just barely showing the tips of his canines.

"That's right, good Ryoga! That's perfect! That half smile is perfect!" Ukyo was grinning ear to ear.

"It's that way," he said to the fake student and tilted his head slightly to the right.

Konatsu sported a feminine blush and thanked him prettily and took a few steps away from him to procure at least a bit of closure to the performance.

"That was great, Ryoga!" Ukyo slapped him hard on his back.

He turned to her and grinned. "I did it! You were right, Ukyo. I imagined Konatsu was you and my tongue untwisted itself and I acted!"

Ukyo's grin slipped a little from her face.

But Ryoga did not notice. "Who would have thought all this time I could talk to girls!"

Ukyo rolled her eyes but her smile returned. Even though it was a little annoying that Ryoga had just proven that he saw Konatsu, a known male, as a woman before her, a known female, at least they were on their way to successfully implementing plan. But, then again she did have her pride. "Hey, watch it, jackass!" she said and smacked him once on the side of his head.

"Hey!" Ryoga grunted, "You're the one who suggested it."

"Come on!" she grabbed the sleeve of his arm and started dragging him to the door.

"Where are we going?" he asked as he blushed, noticing that Konatsu, who was no longer just another Ukyo in his eyes, was waving and smiling pleasantly at them as Ukyo dragged him out the door.

"We need to go shopping."

"Shopping? Why?" He pulled his sleeve out of her grasp and started walking beside her as she headed left once they were on the sidewalk.

"To get you clothes."

"Uh, why?"

He saw her roll her eyes, "to make you look cool, dummy."

"I thought you guys had uniforms." Ryoga suddenly started wandering to her right.

"Hey!" she grabbed his arm again, her hand quickly moving down to grab his. Ryoga only slightly blushed, still not used to being touched even if it was Ukyo, whom he saw rather genderlessly. "Don't just wander off, jackass."

They walked briskly a few more blocks until they reached a popular shopping strip. "We do have uniforms," Ukyo said abruptly, "but we need to get you other clothes for those days when we need to show you off as a little bit um… problematic to authority."

They stopped in front of a clothing shop, geared for young men. "What?" Instead of answering, she pulled Ryoga into the store.

"Hi Ukyo!" came a friendly voice behind the counter, it was a young man, tall and slim and a beautiful in appearance, with long straight black hair. His gender would have been a confusing point to Ryoga had it not been for his deep voice.

"Hi Akio!" Ukyo smiled.

"Here to buy more shirts?" He suddenly stopped, his eyes on Ryoga. "Oh, is this Ranma?"

Both Ryoga and Ukyo's eyes widened. "No!" they both shouted.

Akio took a tiny startled step back as Ukyo dragged the boy quickly to the back of the store. "Uh okay! Let me know if you need any—"

Ukyo pushed Ryoga down onto a cushioned seat in the back of the store. "Now, you wait here while I get you some clothes." She started walking away but turned back sharply, "Don't you move! I don't want to spend the next hour looking for you if you get lost."

Ryoga grumbled under his breath but stayed where she dropped him and his mind started to wander. It had been 3 days since Ukyo had hatched her newest plan and while he knew things were not going as quickly as Ukyo may have wanted them to go, he was actually pretty pleased with the results so far. He would not have ever imagined that picturing Ukyo in place of the girls in front of him would have cured him, albeit temporarily, of his crippling curse when talking to the opposite gender. He frowned. But why did it do the trick? There was nothing wrong with Ukyo, he knew she was a girl but for some reason, she didn't make him nervous... when she wasn't angry, that is. Of course, it could have easily been attributed to the fact that she hardly dressed femininely if she dressed like a girl at all. Even the guy, what's his name? Aiko was friendly with her, which meant she must shop for men's clothes often.

Either way, he was, he realized, grateful to her.

He didn't have to wait long before a large pile of clothes with slim legs made its way to where he sat.

"Uh Ukyo, you want me to try all of these on?"

She dropped the pile next to him, "Sure do, sugar." She pulled a long sleeved, collarless black sweater and handed to him, "we have to be as precise as possible if we are going to make the whole school and most especially Akane believe how suave and desirable you are." She looked up at his face, noticing a gloomy shadow threatening his features, she hastily added, "Not that you're not. It's just not that noticeable right now, you know?"

Before he could answer, she pulled a dark pair of jeans and placed it on top the sweater and pushed him into a dressing room, following him closely.

"W-what are you doing in here?" Ryoga asked her.

"Helping you dress. Knowing you, it'll take forever for you to try on all these clothes by yourself." Ukyo started to tug his yellow shirt up.

"Hey!" he cried as he pried her hands away. "I can dress myself, thanks!" And he almost roughly (but this is Ryoga we are talking about here pushing a woman so that meant with a feather touch) pushed her out of the men's dressing room.

After a few minutes, Ryoga walked out of dressing room, feeling a bit shy in his new attire. He had basically worn the same type of martial arts training clothes for the past 3 or 4 years and he had no idea how he would look in a more modern and casual attire.

Ukyo grinned, "You don't look half bad, sugar." The black sweater almost perfectly fit him, it was perhaps just a tiny big larger than him and hence hung off his trim frame in a nice but casual manner, showing off his well-built body but not sticking to it uncomfortably. The dark jeans too fit him nicely.

Ukyo looked down at his feet and noticed he was wearing only his socks and realized that she had not given him any shoes. That won't do. She turned around and spotted a pair of dark grey tennis shoes and threw it at him. "Try those on."

Once he put on his shoes, Ukyo nodded in approval and walked closer to him, placing her hand on his head. "Everything's just about perfect," she said and pulled off his black spotted yellow bandana. She ruffed his hair, not realizing that a soft blush was developing on Ryoga's cheeks. "There!" she backed up a few steps looking at the result of her efforts.

Ryoga Hibiki looked, dare she say it, handsome, alluring, attractive. Dark colors suited him really well. An almost melancholy attractiveness clung to him.

"Uh, how do I look?" Ryoga asked, shyly.

Ukyo turned him around to face the mirror "Look for yourself, sugar."

At first Ryoga's expression was one of confusion. "Wha?" Then he pointed to his own reflection, "is that me?"

Ukyo let out a laugh. "Well of course! It's your reflection!"

His brows scrunched together a little, "Why do I look like that?"

Ukyo rolled her eyes. "Obviously, you don't know much about dressing well. This is the classy casual look that has been in existence since sweaters and jeans were created. It practically screams stylish if pulled off correctly. And I have to admit to my surprise that you are pulling it off, Hibiki." She grinned.

Ryoga looked back at himself in the mirror. In his eyes, he looked kind of depressed. He knew he was often depressed or downtrodden and looked it when he was but now he looked, how did he say, dark and gloomy. "I look melancholy."

"It's not melancholy, it's brooding."

He raised a brow, "what's the difference?"

Ukyo rolled her eyes again. Ryoga noticed that she did that a lot around him. "You look classy, smart, and a little dark. Trust me. Girls love this look." She picked up another set of outfits and shoved him back into the dressing room.

...

He must have tried hundreds of outfits, Ryoga thought as he followed Ukyo back to her house, carrying 5 large shopping bags. She ended up picking 10 tops and 4 pairs of pants and 2 pairs of shoes that she thought would best appeal to the female study body. He was exhausted and now he knew that shopping meant wasted time, effort, and boredom since he had spent a lot of time just waiting for Ukyo to make her decision. Of course, if ever Akane wanted to go shopping, he knew he would happily oblige her.

He placed the bags on her kitchen floor and turned to her, "Uh thanks, Ukyo." Ryoga rubbed the back of his head, "I'll pay you back as soon as I get the money."

Ukyo smiled at him. "Don't worry about it, sugar. It was my plan, so I'll happily shoulder the cost," she eyed him steadily, "But you gotta to promise me that you'll put your all into this."

Ryoga nodded, "I promise, Ukyo." Suddenly he placed his fists in front of his chest, his shoulders straightening, and his voice boomed "By the end of next month, Akane will be going to the Cherry Blossom Festival with me!"