An unusual disclaimer: Ranma ½ is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. And Son Turned Daughter was originally written way back in 2002 by the FanFiction author Tangent, and his characters Megumi, Yasushi and Ayane have, likewise, been borrowed without permission. Please see the first two chapters of this story under his pen name. This story is written for non-commercial purposes only.
[][][] [][][] [][][]
Only one of the three women in the Tendo bath room was nude, and she was also the only one without long hair. The redhead was missing her pigtail.
"Are you sure, Kasumi?" Ranma asked.
"I am the daughter of a dojo master. I can handle it." Big Sister held the giant, hair-cutting shears at the ready.
"Are you ready, Akane?"
"I can handle it, too!" But one hand was completely covering her eyes. Her other was holding the showerhead and it was near the hot water tap.
"Get your hand away!" the nude redhead yelled. "I'll turn the taps! It'd take you too long before you go from hot to cold! Long ain't what we get before my hair gets too long!"
"Well, SORRY!" she nearly screeched. Sounding more like the female lead in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew rather than Romeo and Juliet.
"Up a little higher, Akane," Kasumi directed the sister who still refused to look. "To the left: There!" And the little woman turned on the hot water.
"You people had better hurry. You-know-who has to be almost done," their look-out, Nabiki, said, entering the room before the bath room. "What the-!?" A black, slithering monster came at her! As if that being startling wasn't enough, it was disturbingly very hairy. Despite herself, she had to lift a leg away from it even though it did not reach completely into the utility room.
Kasumi was the Tendo beautician. She could and did cut hair.
"Gimme! Gimme!" the redhead demanded, And Akane reached for the Dragon Whisker in her bra. Forgetting she was still holding the showerhead, she got herself wet, and her bra was made visible beneath her now see-through blouse. The time it took her to growl so upset the the now-redhead-again was reaching for them. Akane had to rap her hand away from her boobs.
Pushing her way into her soaked bra, she finally brought out the magic strand. Ranma snatched it away and hurriedly tied her pigtail. She did a fumblingly decent job. The only real problem with her hair, now, was that even with the pigtail her hair was as long on her as Kasumi's and Akane's were on them.
"Just a trim, Big Sister."
"You have no time for that," Nabiki said, "I hear him flushing!" The toilet room was next door.
The naked girl swung around, already imagining her enemy coming in. "I can't let Pop see all this hair! He's bald!" How was she going to hide over fifteen feet of hair?! Despite this, she thought she had no choice but try! She would start with the most noticeable hair, the red hair.
Red hair? Yes, there was red hair mixed with the black. How?! An answer came to her! She gathered up as much of the hair as she could. The red strands were heavier because they were the wet ones. That meant all she had to do was to get the ends of the hair into the hot water of the furo tub - No, no! What was she thinking! She was so flustered she forgot it was cold water that made her a girl!
Akane got a chance to cool off the overly dramatic 'Juliet'. And, oh, yes, the stray boy-hair, too.
[What's going on in here?!] read the panda's sign.
"Look! See? Don't you wish you had hair like this, Pop? Only girls don't have to worry about being bald." And she stroked the soggy strands but also the Kasumi/Akane-length hair still on her head hanging over her shoulder. "It does take a long time to shampoo it, though. That's the problem with long hair."
The panda glared enviously, but its next sign read, [I have fur] And with that, it turned and left.
Ranma sighed and collapsed onto her bare butt, the hair between her legs.
"That was close! But how long can he stay an idiot?! Don't you ever, ever, ever tell either of the two fathers about my pigtail!"
"Maybe if you were a little louder, you could be telling him," Nabiki said, peeking down the hall the panda had gone.
"What!?" But she thought she was safe for now, when Nabiki came into the bath room.
"Man! My hair curse's really got me spooked!" She realized, then, she was hugging the bundled-up hairs to her. She, then, did her best to toss and kick them aside.
Nabiki leaned against the doorjamb, her arms crossed. "You do know how to speak girl."
"What?" Ranma said only half-paying attention as she was too busy trying to get rid of the long, loose hair that remained on her wet body. And she did in ways that all three born-girls thought they would not have. Ranma did find out how deep her soft and jiggly girl-parts went.
"When you were speaking to your dad, you were using the female form of Japanese, not your usual though ungrammatical male form."
"Okay. So?"
"She means you're becoming more of a girl, Little Sister," Kasumi said.
Ranma stopped what she was doing, and looked like a deer caught in headlights. A part of her was delighted. But that part was deep. The parts on top were not happy.
When she at last moved, it was back toward the shower.
Only Nabiki seemed to notice the excess hair disappearing.
"Ranma!" Akane cried as the girl without any long hair on her body took the showerhead away from her. "You're not?!" But she was! Akane turned her head away and covered her eyes again.
"Oh, my!" Kasumi said, bowing her head and simply not looking at the young man any more than she had to.
"Yowzer," Nabiki said, wondering if she could get away with bringing out her camera.
"The curse is tryin' to turn me into a girl," Ranma growled. "But I gotta be a girl to get to know how to keep from bein' like a girl when I don't wanna be." Maybe he should take the example of Mr. Tendo and just cry. "It ain't fair!"
[][][]
The three Tendo sisters left him alone in the bath room. He would rant one moment, scream the next, and then talk in a chain-of-consciousness ramble, and begin the cycle all over again. Not once did they hear him cry. Nabiki remained close by to take notes.
Akane had tried to stay and comfort Ranma, but the boy refused it. And, of course, Akane was happy he had. She wasn't ready to deal with a nude man. "Kasumi, are we going to have supper soon?" Maybe some food would make him feel better. Eating seemed very important to Ranma.
"In a little while," Kasumi said, walking past the kitchen. "But right now, I'm calling Dr. Tofu."
"No!" Akane cried.
"But Dr. Tofu is the only male Ranma can talk to about his problem. He really does need to learn how to deal with his girl memories while a boy."
"You're right, of course, Big Sis. But, uh, why have Dr. Tofu make another housecall? He's a busy man. I can take Ranma to see him on our way to school. Or after school, too! Maybe Dr. Tofu can give him a regular appointment!"
"Having some kind of regularity in his life would be good for Little Brother. His life seems so...chaotic." Then she gave a sad smile, "His name does mean "Chaos Orchid"."
"You're right! The syllables Ran-ma can be written that way! I've been thinking of his name being "Wild Horse"," another way of writing it in Japan's complicated writing and interpretation systems.
Kasumi decided to go into the kitchen, after all. Her mind wandered, though, and wondered if there was any way to help him in the fact that, "Orchid means "testicle", you know."
"Kasumi! Do you have to say that word!?"
But she moved on with her own chain-of-thought, "That means even the female orchids are testicles, too. I am pretty sure that orchids are associated with positive male qualities." Her eyes lit up! "Ask Dr. Tofu if orchids can be used as a herbal remedy for Ranma! At least, perhaps, if he thought they would help him retain his manliness, it may."
"Help his manliness?(?)" Akane found herself questioning whether she really did want Ranma to stay the jerk he probably was when he was a guy just from being a guy. It was because of that half of him, she didn't get to be Juliet. -Again!
[][][]
When she entered the common room, the shortened-pigtailed male son was fighting with his human dad like, to her, typical human males. Of course, most are not martial artists. The excuse they had for fighting, though, was not typical. "How Dare a son of mine be photographed in a skimpy, frilly maid dress!" Genma holding up the evidence that he had not destroyed.
"I can dare whatever I care to dare! I do Anything-Goes! No use rippin' them up, there's more and there's always gonna be more! What do you want to see me dressed-up next like! Too bad you don't got no pictures of me in Nabiki's girl-kimono! You saw me in it, yesterday! Remember how I sat at that booze wagon with two grown men! No, maybe not! You were too stinkin' drunk!" What was a more-or-less standard battle suddenly became different as Ranma yelled into his dad's ear, "Do you still got a hangover?!"
Last night's drinker was still recovering from the hair-of-the-dog remedy of today.
The dozen or so photos the dad had managed to hold while fighting (mainly with his feet and hard, bald, head) went flying in all directions. Ranma was able to get each and every one before any landed on the floor.
"Kasumi, where's the tape?! I'm gonna put these back up on the wall!" He said it but didn't make any attempt at doing it.
"Remember, boy, I sleep in the same room as you do," the dad said, implying something Akane - and Ranma - didn't want to think about. But it all involved what teenage boys were typically expected to do when alone in their bedrooms when they had pictures of a cute, sexy, curvaceous redhead in a skimpy, frilly French maid's uniform.
[][][]
"Aren't you going to change into a maid and serve us?" Genma said as he waited at the table for supper.
"I ain't in no mood. Drop it. Or do we 'talk' about that hangover of yours again." By then Kasumi had trimmed the pigtail ends. Ranma just needed the chance to turn into the girl if only to tie it up neater.
For once, his Old Man didn't dwell on something that would provoke a fight. Instead, he had news. "I'm going to work tomorrow, you know."
"You are?" Ranma was actually interested. Maybe that Something that was keeping him - and her - overly honest was doing the same to his no-good Pop.
"I am. I will work for Tofu."
"No! You can't!" Akane practically pleaded.
"Sounds perfect to me," Ranma said. "The Doc knows Pop is cursed, too. And how many other people'd hire a panda?"
Kneeling near both of them, Kasumi placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder and hugged Akane's. "I think that's a good idea. And Akane has something to suggest."
"She does?"
"I do?" Okay, then. If Big Sis thinks she should. "We were thinking, Kasumi and me, that, maybe, you would get counseling from Dr. Tofu."
"Why would I want that?! I'm a man and a man has to deal with his own problems."
"True. Just so," Genma agreed. "I'm glad to hear you talking like my son."
Akane ignored him and concentrated on Ranma. "Don't be a jerk. You're a girl half the time and during the other half, you're a man who has to deal with the other half! Do you like being a voyeur?!"
"What's that?"
"A pervert that peeps on naked women!"
"I ain't a pervert! And I'm a woman when I peep!" Somehow that didn't sound right.
"Really? Close your eyes. -Close them! Now, don't think of the girls locker room. What don't you see?"
Ranma began to grow red and fidget where he sat. "No fair! You're askin' me trick questions."
"Okay. Still keep them closed! See the redhead in the mirror?"
"I don't look at myself in a mirror."
"But you have looked down on your boobs when you had no clothes on. You've seen your nipples." She frowned, thinking about their trip to the public bath yesterday. "I saw you look between your legs!"
"You did what," Genma said in a low, disapproving voice.
"Like you don't look between your legs!"
"I see only what I'm supposed to see. A man of honor does not look at the privates of a woman not his wife."
"WHAT!? That woman is me and I wouldn't have no privates of a woman to look at if you hadn't taken me to be cursed!" The battle was renewed.
Or not. "That's enough!" Kasumi had moved to take their supper plates off the table. "You are our guests in our house. And we believe a woman may look at her privates if she wishes." Oh, my! Did she really say that!? Well, this was for Little Brother/Sister's sake.
"And show them to a guy not her husband!" Why'd she have to go and say that?! Akane knew she would never intentionally do that! But she had done that with Ranma! This boy has the memories!
"Kasumi, I'm getting low on tampons, may I borrow some from you(?)" Nabiki said.
"Nabiki, you know I only use sanitary napkins."
"I don't like pads. They're just too-"
"Women talk!" Genma growled with a heavy frown, got up, and took his plate from Kasumi. But before he left, he warned, "They'll have you buying some of their feminine hygiene products for them, next."
He really hadn't connected all the dots of the dot-to-dot puzzle, Nabiki grinned grimly. And, looking at the black-haired boy, neither had he.
"That drove him off!" Ranma said, at least pleased he didn't have to put up with his pop for a while.
Kasumi set Ranma's plate back down in front of him. But her mind was on, "Maybe it would be best if Dr. Tofu explained the facts of life to Ranma. It would be better coming from a man. Little Sister is the one who has to deal with them, but it's Little Brother who has to support her."
"And it will make him a better husband," Nabiki chimed in. "Wouldn't we all like a husband who can understand what a woman has to go through and not look away?"
As coincidence would have it, their own dad entered the room. "I just saw Genma. The storm has passed, I see," and he looked around, "and without any real damage to my property!"
"Come in and eat, Father," Kasumi said.
"Yes, Daddy. We were just talking about a man buying tampons and pads for the women in their life."
Soun Tendo paled and turned. "I'm really not that hungry. Later."
"Nabiki, that wasn't nice what you did to our own father," Kasumi said.
"And periods are nice for us?"
"Then, it's agreed! Dr. Tofu will counsel Ranma!" Akane said.
"I ain't agreed," Ranma stubbornly persisted (around mouths full of food). "And I thought Akane wanted me to look away when I'm a guy and have my eyes closed."
"Of course, you'd fail to understand. She said just the opposite," Nabiki said. "A nudist is a nudist, a genuine nudist, because they become so used to seeing people nude they really don't get their jollies seeing an unclothed, bare, naked body."
"That's not what I meant. And I am not convinced that happens," Akane, the pervert hater, said.
"Nudists have children," Kasumi said. "But let's hear Dr. Tofu opinion."
"But what about before then?!"
[][][]
Before then, Ranma had his dreams.
Shampoo faced him on that giant, suspended log, again. The amazon warrior who appeared to be an ordinary girl had two chui - those balls were solid, lethal metal! Again, she attacked first! Again, he went against the Code and fought a girl! But that was okay, right? He was a girl, too!
He wore a purple negligee and matching purple panties. That sort of made him a girl, right? And he hadn't really gone against the Code. He hadn't kicked her: As she was running at him leaning forward his foot had used her own momentum against her and flipped her and pushed her - hard! - in one maneuver up into the air and off the log. He had won without actually hitting her! It was okay!
He was so confident he had done the right thing, he turned to the audience of amazons. The girls of the Furinkan PE locker room stared at him. They didn't like the way he was dressed! It was so unmanly! What did he think he was, a girl!? What was a man doing on the female side of a public bath! After all, the woman here were nudists!
Except for Akane. She was dressed like Juliet. She was standing on the rim of the huge public soaking-tub. She was reaching out for him. As he was getting off the log, it rolled in the water. And he fell into her hug. She steadied him and kissed him. And he shrank.
He turned into a real girl, the shorter girl, the one with red hair and boobs and an ass ... trapped in a schoolgirl uniform. Crying, she tore away and leaped down from the rim
...and into the arms of Kuno. As he held onto the small, light thing she was in one arm, he challenged Juliet with a real sword. Akane defended Ranma's honor with a giant pair of shears. Snip! And his weapon was cut in half.
"My manhood!" the redhead without her pigtail cried.
The audience around a booze wagon wanted her to sing and dance for them. Tentacles reached out for-
Ranma woke up! Again. He had had similar dreams earlier. And later?
The thing about Ranma's dreams, there were two things missing: the panda and his pop. The deep psychological reason for that that was beyond his martial arts training to recognize. In fact, he was glad his drill-sergeant of a sensei he grew up with wasn't in them to see him reduced to being a weak, soft girl. And he wasn't just acting like one.
[][][]
He was rudely woken up by being splashed by, "Hot! That water's hot! Why'd'you do that for, you stupid Old Man!?"
His pop tossed aside the teakettle and plastic bath room pail. "Why did you sleep as a girl! I woke up for our morning spar and found you a girl again!"
"It's because dreamin's easier for me as a girl! I got a girl's brain and when I dream I'm a girl-"
He was picked him up by his tank top. "No son of mine has a girl's brain! Snap out of it! Think like the man I raised you to be!"
"I'll think like the girl you made me if I want!" And Ranma's wrist blocked his pop's fist while his hand pressure-pointed the Old Man's wrist. When he landed on the floor, he raced to the one window in the guest room, threw it open and leaped out. He knew his sparring partner would follow.
[][][]
"Man! Old habits are hard to break!" Little Sister said, coming into the kitchen. "I still spar with him, even after all he's done to me!"
"Habits are easier to give up if you replace them with new habits," Kasumi said as she prepared the homemade miso soup for breakfast.
"Yeah, like what new habits?" All she gave was a knowing smile. Oh, it was "For me to know and you to figure out" was it?
"Kasumi! I'm off for my morning jog!"
[][][]
"Why can't I jog with you, Akane? I'm dressed the same as you."
"Boxer's are not shorts! And think what jogging will do to your boobs!"
Ranma looked down on them. "Yeah, so? I'm a martial artist. I know how to handle discomfort, hurt and even pain when my boobs bounce and swing."
"That's not the point! It's not what they do to you, it's what they do to others - to Guys!"
The redhead scratched her head (and checked to see if her pigtail was still there). "I seem to remember, I guess. I thought it was maybe because I was a stranger. Or a strange girl."
"You really don't have a clue, do you?" That was enough. The Battle of the Juliets was put aside. At least until something else triggered similar emotions.
[][][]
"Why are we sparing out in the garden? We have a dojo," Akane said, still in her jogging outfit.
"Because Pop can see me doing manly things as a girl. And because of the hot water he woke me up with this morning! I don't trust him." And she smiled. "I want to be near the koi pond."
"So if he splashes you with hot water, you can jump into the cold water!" Akane smiled, too.
"Yeah. But it also means I can change him into a panda and don't have to listen to him," she giggled.
"Okay, then - AiiiYa!" And she charged.
Ranma pulled her! "Speed up! I can still read you!" And it continued that way with every move she made. Her sensei wouldn't always pull some part of her; sometimes, they'd be pushed; sometimes a move would be blocked and physically adjusted to millimeters. In the end, she was worn out more than she would have if she had been in a 10K race. Ranma even knew how she should breathe to get the benefits of aerobics while fighting.
"You're doin' okay. Not great, yet, but okay. It won't be long. You do have the Talent. Maybe we can get to some mid-air techniques soon."
"Really?!" Akane glowed from more than just her sweat.
"Really," her friend replied. Then, "Come on, let's take a shower. We have to get dressed for school"
"And don't forget there's breakfast!" Both their stomachs growled at the same time. Both laughed at the same time
[][][]
"I had some dreams about you last night," the nude redhead said, on her knees, washing Akane's back.
"Oh, you, uh, did," the girl drew her body closer together on hearing that; she didn't try to cover herself but felt aware enough of her bared body to think about it. "Was I, was I, uh...like this?"
"Only when I have a girl brain. And then the other girls don't got clothes on, too."
"Uh, um, what about your boy brain?"
"You have clothes on. They're that Juliet costume you liked so much."
"Really(!)?!" a huge grin spread across her face. And her body relaxed as much as the goosebumps from the cold water allowed.
"Well,...one time we traded clothes. It was a dream. They fit us."
"Ranma, you've told me many of your truths. I'd like to tell you one of mine. I have something of a curse, too. Not like yours…. Maybe likes yours. When I was six, our class did its own version of Romeo and Juliet."
"Do they do that in, what grade would that be?"
"My first-grade class did it because of one of the other girls was the high-and-mighty type who somehow got her way all the time. If she wanted to be Juliet, she was Juliet. She needed a Romeo, and she chose me! And, and…."
"And?" Wherever this was going, it was upsetting to Ranma's friend. She scooted around so they could see each other's face.
"You know how- No, you probably don't know." Her eyes took on a distant look. "It's easier for people in the Western part of the world. They're so used to them kisses don't mean as much to them as kisses do here, in the East."
"She made you kiss her?! Why, that's, that's like a guy makin' me kiss him!"
"She was only six! I was only six! It didn't mean what it would mean now!" she insisted. Until she bowed her head and sadly said, "But it was still my first kiss."
[][][]
They were dressed in their school uniforms and coming into the common room still talking about Akane's truth. "...So, even after tryin' to be in all of those plays, somethin' always happened that fouled things up, even humiliate you? Geez! Maybe it is a curse."
"I'm stubborn! I still want to be an actress. But being the "Hentai Hater" limits the parts I get. I'm never offered a romantic part."
"You mean a kissin' part, right? The answer's simple. Just get them to let you kiss me."
"That's not funny, Ranma! People already think I might be a lesbian! And it's ALL because of my first kiss!" she was outraged.
"But you were six, you said!"
"But people grow up," Nabiki said. She had heard Akane go on about her tragedy too many times before to have interrupted and encouraged more of the same. But this was the entertaining part. "That girl who "forced her way" onto my dear, sweet Little Sister kept up her reputation for liking to kiss girls. In fact, most of the girls she chose ended up kissing girls, too. The girl seems to have an eye for identifying "that kind of girl". And so, of course, she now goes to an all-girls school, St. Bacchus."
"St...Bacchus?" It didn't sound Japanese.
"I was going to tell you her name, but the temptation to tell naive, little you who Bacchus is is too great for me to pass up. Bacchus was the god of wine and orgies. Oh, you don't know what an orgy is either. They're wild parties that can become totally out of control. They don't have to but they definitely can include sex. And there's one more thing about that god. This might especially interest you, Ranma. He sometimes dressed as a girl. Being a god, he probably could become a girl."
"Is that why a girl's school chose to call itself Bacchus?"
"Maybe. But, now, I want to get to the good part. The identity of the girl who ravished young Akane in first grade and left her scarred for life."
"I'm not listening! I'm not listening!" cried Akane, her hands over her ears. "I won't believe you! Kasumi's not the one who can deny things she doesn't want to hear!"
Nabiki motioned for Ranma to move closer and said in a lowered voice, "Kodachi has forgotten about Akane, but her brother hasn't. What began as an interest in Akane because of his sibling rivalry has grown out of all proportion. Snowballed. He defeating Akane has become something of a mania and informs on how he should treat other girls."
"This Kodachi's brother is one of the hentai horde that attacks her, then?"
"You still haven't figured it out. Good thing you're great at tactics because you're lousy at the kind of thinking that strategy depends on. Here's another clue. Because he can't defeat Akane, he now says he wins because she has to date him if she defeats him."
"She has to date him because he loses? That's crazy! That's - Kuno!"
"Bravo! General Mu Lan has figured it out." Nabiki was prepared to go on and say things like, it was because of that one kiss between six-year-old girls, 'Romeo' developed an over-sensitivity to being viewed as a boy, and, thus, an uncute tomboy, with a suggestion (via that kiss) she may prefer girls, which meant, to her, they thought she was a pervert, which challenged her to prove she wasn't a pervert by attacking perverts. All this also led to her terrible taste in clothes, which had to be no-style dresses and no pants. Nabiki was prepared, but didn't. It was because of the way Ranma was eating.
Little Brother would have been done and finished with his breakfast before her paragraph on St. Bacchus was finished. But here Little Sister was, taking her time to eat. Not because she meant to, not because she was taking the time to savor her food, but because she was interested in the details of Akane's life. Her friend. If Nabiki had gone on, Ranma might resent Akane to the extent she detested Kuno, son and father, and, no doubt, when he met her, Kodachi. For her history with them was quite tangled. Especially, Tatewaki. He had a crush on her because he had a crush on Akane when she had, literally, crushed him just as he was having his sexual awakening. His male identity was imprinted with her stamp. Was he a masochist? No, not really. But like so many people with real power, he craved to be dominated at least part of the time. So, should Akane and Ranma be dominatrixes? Part of the time, maybe. But all of the time? The Kunos were time bombs. Playing into their dom/sub games would not diffuse the bombs.
[][][]
Mr, Tendo was late coming to breakfast. His routine schedule had been thrown off by Ranma and Akane using the shower at a different time, and for longer, than they had before. But he was ready to get back into his routine of having breakfast and reading the newspaper and, a new routine, being with his own friend after the school children had left. There was a problem with this added routine.
"Ranma? Where is your father, Genma? You did have a sparring match this morning." Then he became concerned and looked to see if there was a panda hanging by its ankles from the tree. "You did not do something to him as you did before?!"
"Ha! He wishes! He has a new job with the Doc. And the Doc came and made sure he got to work."
"Well, that was considerate of the physician, I am sure. But why would he come this early and personally for him?"
"Because I called him, Father," Kasumi smiled, gathering up the remains of the breakfast.
"Y,You, Kasumi, dear?" With fear in his eyes, Soun turned to Ranma for confirmation, or, hopefully, not.
"Last thing I saw of the panda, it was twisted up in a complicated yoga position and bein' rolled away by the Doc. The Doc really is a very good martial artist. He knows things even I don't know. AND Pop!" Ranma finally was laughing.
[][][]
The three schoolgirls were on their way to school. "I wouldn't stay too long at the clinic," Nabiki advised her 'two' Little Sisters. "Megumi and her girls are probably waiting to walk through the gates with you, again. Of course, if they are too upset, I'll just mention the school records I bought from Ikuko. It's been interesting reading."
"Why don't you join the Truce Enforcement Club?" Ranma asked. "They probably give that kinda info out to members."
"Ranma!" Akane said in a warning voice.
"I can't join because I date," Nabiki said nonchalantly.
"You mean you're not helpin' the other girls?! You don't care if there's a truce or not?!"
"Oh, I care. And I help out in my own way. I'm sort of what you might call the safety valve of the pressure cooker that's all that male need." Then she smiled, "And it's very profitable!"
"Ranma, don't go any further. You don't need to know." Akane had to wonder - because the way her mind worked - what the neo-girl would think if she knew about compensated dating. Was she the kind to "sell her body" if she needed the money? Enjo-kousai wasn't prostitution, but it often led to it or worse. Akane knew her sister had escorted a boy when she returned with packages her "date" had bought her. But, so far, so far as she knew, none of them were the expensive kind she would expect from an adult with real money. Nabiki said she was saving herself for the big investment. The boys were just practice.
[][][]
Despite everything her Old Man had done to her, he was still her pop and she sort of had to love him. That's why she was tuned in on her trained senses as they came to the clinic with the sign that read, moxibustion/chiropractic. The loud snap, crackle and pops the loving daughter heard coming from inside was satisfying.
"I apologize, Mr. Saotome!" Dr. Tofu said as he realigned the bones in the human body he was trained for.
"Soun was right about you," Genma frowned as his dislocated shoulder became located.
"Just face it, Pop, the Doc's just a better martial artist than you."
"He is not. I was just surprised."
"You mean you left yourself wide open! Ha! What have you always told me about lettin' your guard down?" Ranma sneered. "Hey, Doc! You got a regular sparring partner? My Old Man could use a good sensei."
[][][]
"Free! Free! Free!" Ranma cried, her arms and bookbag in the air. "No more sparring too early in the morning!"
"What about me?" Akane asked.
"Aw, we can do that whatever time we have." And the bookbag came down towards her. Alane blocked it, frowning. Until she saw her friend smiling. "But, if you want to, we can do it in the morning."
"Not too early," Nabiki suggested. "I'm more the night owl." And after she graduated, she could be more the night-life owl.
[][][]
They were surprised to not see Megumi, Yasushi or Ayane standing at the last corner before the school gate. "Where do you think they are?" Akane asked.
"It's going to ruin my plan if it continues. Then there will be no money-back guarantee. Of course, I haven't had much of a chance to talk with bandage-boy Kuno. I still have to sell him on the idea of getting to you, Akane, through your 'best friend' Megumi."
Ranma's hands, and bookbag, were behind her head as she walked along. "I wonder who'll be at the gate today? Kuno or the Hentai Horde. It was their turn yesterday, so I guess…."
Kuno was waiting at the gate, alright. The dad, Kaneto Kuno. Having no bandages showed that the tan was still there, but he was now dressed in an ornate Maharaja outfit. It was gaudy, but for a man so rich he practically owned the whole town, it looked like it had been rented from a cheap costume shop.
Ranma's hands were no longer casually behind her head. She prepared herself for action. To get her hands free, she tried to pass her bookbag off to Akane. When her back-up didn't take it, she glanced over her shoulder. Akane had a tight grip on Nabiki, forcing her to come with them.
Ranma got Akane's bag and made the non-combatant to carry all three of their bags. Now, she was ready for the fight!
Suddenly two girls ran past the waiting man and out of the gate. "Nabiki! Nabiki, you're finally here! This is it! This is the Big Jackpot!"
"Who?" the redhead asked.
"They're Kikuko and Ryonami," Akane told her. "They work for Nabiki and her Vulcan Enterprises."
Ranma and Akane were getting their bookbags back before they could react as Nabiki rushed to meet her friends and minions.
"Great! Fantastic! What's the angle?!"
"Betting! We're taking book on the battle!"
Nabiki looked disappointed. "Who's going to bet that the HeadcaseMaster is going to beat Ranma or Akane!? Not even Tate-Wacky himself is going to side with his daddy! We'll lose money!"
"That's not the battle!" Ryonami said.
"It's The Battle of the Sexes! Boys versus Girls!" Kikuko said.
And Ryonami looked at Ranma and Akane. "And it's all because of them - The Truce is over!"
