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.

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"Yet? Postpone?! Fian-FIANCÈE!? Who are you callin a fiancèe?!"

"Yes, WHO?! I'm Ran-" Akane barely caught herself in time. She wasn't Ranma fiancèe. The agreement was Ranma had a year before she-HE!-was supposed to choose between her or one of her sisters. But, after THE kiss at noon, and then THAT afternoon kiss - and all the love-sick ogling all the women at the store! Grr! - maybe they didn't have to wait a year! Maybe she and "Romeo! Romeo is her fiance!" WHAT?! What did you just say, Akane!?

"Romeo and Ranma!?" her friends and Hiroshi cried out in surprise.

"Never!" Kuno cried out in outrage! This is the man who had claimed Akane's first kiss! This is the man who others claimed had bested him - in front of a gathering of the entire school! This is the man who Ranma's own panda forbid her to be even seen with! "Romeo Saotome can never be wed to Ranma! It is forbidden!"

"I don't even know who this nut thinks I'm engaged to, and now I'm…." Romeo is me. Saying she was engaged to herself was like saying she didn't have to - wouldn't - be engaged! "That's right! It's me and Romeo!"

"But you said yourself," or was it vigorous Akane, "your Pop did not approve of him!"

"Oh, he approves of him, it's-" This is getting too complicated! How can she continue to tell the truth but not all of the truth?!

"Uh, uh…." Akane, what did you start! She was supposed to help your friend! But she had to do something - She was in danger of losing her friend. Not only could she lose her Romeo, Ranma could end up kissing somebody like Mikado - for real! "There's more than just her dad!"

"My mom? I ain't seen her for ten years," and she sure wished she did. No, wait, what would she do if she saw her like this. She was supposed to be a Man! A man among men!

"So, zis is a prearranged engagement, too, non?" Madame St. Paul said. "Until it can be demonstrated differently, our claim has ze priority! Our contrat d'engagement was signed by her père, father, Genma Saotome, before Ranma was born, nearly twenty years ago!"

"No freakin' good, stinkin' Old Man," said behind the teeth she was grinding.

"No!" Ikuko demanded to be heard. "A woman's voice is important! The two branches of the Kuonji clan separated over more than just how they serve food! It was about their attitude towards men and women! And if any woman has a right to be heard on who her daughter - a woman! - is to be forced to marry, it is her mother!"

"You are ze cook?" the Madame chose to recognize her existence.

"I am a chef! In training. But I can still make the best okonomiyaki you ever had!"

"I never had zis food item," her nose twitched into a sneer. "It is not French."

"No, it isn't. It's Japanese and proud of it. And I'll match okonomiyaki against anything you have in this place!" And it was her turn to sneer.

"An eatin' contest! A real eating contest!" Ranma asked for. She needed - desperately! - food! She was feeling the Silky Darling. Not from St. Paul, but from Akane and all the other women in the restaurant. There was something about engagements that stirred very womanly feelings in them! They were threatening to contaminate her!

"This is ze French restaurant," the Madame said indignantly. "We only serve ze French repas.

"Still…." urged Chance, the maitr'd.

"Still," the Madame sighed. But instead of saying her true reason, she said, "As a professional courtesy, and in recognition that I, too, am a woman as well as a nanny, I will allow! Chance, you will make ze arrangements on contacting ze mère, mother, of Ranma Saotome."

"Oui, Madame St. Paul," he bowed, French fashion.

"My mom!?" Ranma's face broke out into a grin. Then her face just broke. My mom!

[][][]

The pigtailed girl didn't want to meet her "fiance" but was nearly overwhelmed by the desire of her friends (and the expectations of the women in the restaurant). She might have been able to resist if St. Paul hadn't agreed to let her friends join her in meeting him.

They all rode an elevator (the two hoop skirts added to the crowding) to the penthouse above the penthouse restaurant. There was a lobby before the main double door.

Ranma turned for the elevator! "At least let me put on my own clothes! Or at least those I got at the shop!"

"Non! Zis is what ze bride of ze Exiles de la Belle France à Présent Gauche wears! It marks their status as part of the crème de la créme of society. And none would think that of you without the attire."

"That's because I don't belong! And I'll stay not belongin'!"

"Oui, I agree zat you do not belong. But you have ze basic qualities one of our brides must possess. And those qualities are so rare, I have no choice but to consider you une fiancèe of Monsieur Picolet Chardin III."

" "Une"?" Akane struggled with her memory of the Molière play she had studied for (and wasn't that a 'comedy of errors' of how she lost the part!). "There can be more than one fiancee?"

"Oui. Ze first qualification is zat she must be Japanese."

(The first qualification is she must be female, Akane thought.)

"Japanese?!" Kuno was surprised. "You would dilute the purity of your noble, though foreign, lineage by interbreeding with those not of your kind?!"

"Of nécessité. We have seen ze dangers of inbreeding." Madame St. Paul was looking directly at Kuno when she said that. "And, deux, to remain in exile, we need some claim to Japanese citizenship. Becoming a citizen is relatively easy, but it requires we give up our claim to being French. Zis we will not!

"However, zose of ze Japanese Diet are enraptured with ze French diet we provide. Zis is ze extraordinary service required by zeir law. For political reasons, however, ze will not provide ze exception we require without demonstrating our intent on becoming Japanese. So(!), ze marriage to une citoyen Japonais with un enfant japonais."

"Money talks," Megumi said. "But not loud enough," Akiko said. "It sounds like, Stomachs talk," Hiroshi said. "Gurgle-growl!" Ranma's said.

"Ah, I understand," Kuno said. "That is the reason why the son of the internationally famous thief, Arsen Lupin, married a Japanese woman." This was Kuno logic, again.

"I'd like to meet Fujiko Mine!" Hiroshi said.

"How can a thief be internationally famous and not be caught or killed?" Akiko asked.

"Especially, since Lupin III also steals from other international criminals?" Ikuko asked.

"Hey, I just realized! I could be his fiancee! Mrs. Picolet Chardin III!" Megumi said.

"Non! You do not meet ze most important criterion!" the Madame said. "Ze bride must demonstrate ze signs of being able to accomplish to ze acceptable degree ze Martial Art of ze Fine Dining!"

"I can do that! I'm a martial artist!"

"Let her take my place!" Ranma told her.

"Non! Her battle aura potential is ze weakest among zis group! Ze only possible alternative bride candidate is ze jeune femme with ze long hair."

"ME?!" Akane didn't know whether to be flattered or not. Not if it meant having to marry a strange boy! But, still, if it could save Ranma, could she….

" ' sounds to me like all you have to do is say, no, you don't want to learn their martial art, Ranma," Hiroshi said.

Ranma did struggle. The strain to say it was written on her face. She should...she would…. She couldn't. For ten long years - the most impressionable years of her life, her childhood - her no-good, stoop-to-any-trick Old Man sensei had conditioned her to have to learn any anything-goes technique! As long as there was a good enough excuse.

And the excuse justifying this one was, "Ranma will not say non. She will train to learn ze skills of ze Fine Dining. If she fails, she will definitively lose ze challenge to moi," Madame St. Paul said. And said correctly.

She moved to Ranma and tugged here and pushed there on the 18th-century-style gown she had ze petite roux in. When she was done, she stepped back and inspected. "Presentable." Then she frowned behind her glasses. "Except for ze hair. Ze tresser, pigtail-"

"The pigtail STAYS! Touch my pigtail and I will walk away! Challenge or no challenge! Betrothal contract of no contract!"

"Bonne! Ze pigtails remain as ze notarial stamp of your recognition zat you are ze fiancèe of Picolet Chardin III." She turned to the double door and used the door knocker once. "Chance!"

But it wasn't the maitr'd Chance who answered.

Ranma felt it! The jump in pulse rates, the rise in body heats, the increase of body humidities, shortness of breaths - the actual spiking of battle aura potentials! Megumi's, Akiko's, Ikuko's, and, maybe, even Akane's, arousals threatened to overwhelm her in their female responses! The Silky Darling was a storm against her the dike of her weakened defenses! And because she was hungry, another hunger was leaking into her awareness.

"Bonsoir, mesdemoiselles et messieurs! Entrer-vous, Please, come inside my fourth home away from home!" said the tall, blonde and handsome man. He was dressed in a white tuxedo more stylish than Kuno's and one that suited his physique far better. "I am your host, Picolet Chardin III."

This was her fiance? He was hers?

Ranma came to her senses and screamed! She made a mad dash back to the elevator and pushed at the button over and over again. When it came to slow, she shoved her fingers between its doors and was pulling them open, when-

"So, mon roux, you must be Ranma, my fiancèe. Chance has told me too little about you. Come, let us become acquainted," he said, having placed his hand lightly on her shoulder.

Don't melt! Don't melt! Stay tense!

She fought against the Silky Darling. And it wasn't just her own masculine defenses that were helping her accomplish this, it was the jealousy her girl friends felt towards her, now.

But she was led back and through the door of her "fiance". It wasn't the Silky Darling pulling her marionette strings. It was the Something! There was a betrothal contract she had to honor. She and the Tendo sisters had negotiated their way around theirs. But that left her open to this obligation! And if this contract was older than the one between her pop and Mr. Tendo, it was the one she had to honor above the one she just might want! She saw no way out.

Except one, the Tendo Solution. "You, you really don't want to marry me, right?"

"I want to want to marry you. As I said, let us become acquainted," the charming man said, leading her by her hand to a chaise lounge surrounded by lesser chairs. He almost disappeared from Ranma's sight, when she sat and the front of her hoop skirt rose up in front of her, showing everything beneath.

When she pushed it down onto her lap, she found him, chuckling. "I apologize, Ranma. In the circles I travel, the ladies are used to skirts such as you are wearing. I shall be only amused at seeing you become as they, I assure you."

"I don't want to become like anybody but myself." Wait! Why was she talking girl Japanese(!)?!

"Oh, a challenge?"

"No! I won't accept that challenge!" But doesn't a Saotome always accepted a challenge? Yeah: A martial arts challenge! And - Please! - she didn't want to hear there was one for sitting in hoop skirts and acting like a lady!

"The challenge is for mine, mon fiancé Ranma. I am dedicating myself to making you a lady of elegance and grace. You, my fair lady, shall be my Pygmalion."

"Picolet! You have never behaved this way before!" Madame St. Paul said astonished, and disapprovingly.

Some of the façade fell away, His hand was on the back of his neck and he said, apologetically, "I am 20-years old, and I do not want to wait until I'm 30 for my honeymoon, voyage de noces." Ranma thought she could wait! And even longer! "And shouldn't I be the ladies' man you say I have to portray, Nounou?" Ranma felt the womanly impulses diminish as her girl friends' opinion of him diminished. All but Megumi's. "Chance shall advise me. Isn't that so, Chance?"

"If zat is your desire, Master," said Chance with tongs and a platter, looking away from Kuno. Without his aim, his toss became sloppy. But Kuno still managed to snap up the hors d'oeuvre. Everybody could see his mouth open and close. So much not the Martial Art of Fine Dining.

"Fat chance, Chance! I ain't gonna be nobody's lady!" Whew! Now she was back to talking guy.

"Unless that nobody is I, Tatewaki Kuno!" Something did not sound correct about that. Oh, this Ham Steeped in Virgin Olive Oil Croquette was superb!

Chance produced a deck of cards, "High-Low? Twenty-One? Euchre?" And a pair of dice, "Baccarat, Dice Chess, Bunco?" Then like a magician, he produced other instruments for casino gambling. Including a roulette wheel!

Ranma felt something stirring in her she had (mostly) avoided feeling since she was a boy and still knew Okonomiyaki Ucchan. She tried to shake it off. "Why would I want to gamble(!)?"

"How do we know you won't cheat!" Akane cried.

"My name wouldn't be Chance if I cheated. I am an honest manservant."

"Why would I want to gamble(!)?" Ranma repeated!

"Uh, the challenge?" Hiroshi asked. If there was a way he could…

"If you win, your iron corset will be unlocked."

"What!? Really?! Wait! You been plannin' to leave me in this(!)?!"

"It is a necessary part of la Belle France School of Martial Art of ze Fine Dining," Madame St. Paul said. On the count of three, un deux trois: Three clangs! Hers, Chance's, and Picolet's. They all wore steel corsets under their clothes. - How disappointing! No wonder Picolet was a fine figure of a man. Ranma's girl friend's opinion of him sank even lower.

[][][]

Thanks to Ikuko, Ranma was back on platform shoes and in her denim-colored culottes and blouse. She carried (awkwardly) the iron corset under her short arm.

"An au revoir kiss?" The blonde asked.

Ranma wasn't even tempted! Her girl friends had been with her as she had changed, and they made it clear they no longer had much of an urge for the boy. All except Megumi. "I'm still on a date! I haven't kissed him yet!" Oh, gee, that actually felt like the girl-right thing to say! So Silky Darling.

"You are going to kiss me?!" Hiroshi smiled.

"Don't push it, man." No promises. No promises. Nothing the Something could use against her! Man! She had a tag team against her!

"Adieu, then, until we meet again. Tomorrow, I am told. Chance says there is no schooling for you on Sundays."

[][][]

Instead of hoop skirts, only the iron corset made the elevator smaller for the party of seven plus Chance.

"I shall inquire about saving you from this loveless marriage," Kuno said. "Chance, can you give me an estimate on how much it would cost to purchase the betrothal contract?"

"I ain't something that can be bought and sold!"

It was a long 51-story trip for Kuno. At ground level, it was ladies first - actually, Ramma - out of the elevator and then Hiroshi. And then Chance, pulling the stomped-on swordsman out. His white tuxedo was no longer white and had the dark imprints of more than just the platform shoes Ranma and Akane were wearing. All except Megumi's, of course.

"Kuno'll be okay in a little while," Hiroshi told Chance. "Things like this happen to him all the time."

"I know," Chance said. "He's a regular at the restaurant."

"Look at this. Another restaurant," Megumi said.

"It's not as fancy as the one upstairs," Akiko said.

"It is how we dispose of our leftovers," Chance said, as he gestured for two bouncers to carry Kuno out of the building. "It also provides our chef de cuisine his opportunity to experiment."

"St. Madelon!? The Mad Chef of Montmartre?!" Suddenly Kuno was on his feet and (almost) fully recovered. "I remember his chocolate-covered Swiss Cheese wedge stuffed with ants!"

"Yuck!" Ranma said. She had been known to eat just about anything, but that...

"Chef St. Madelon does have a penchant for chocolate in his dishes," Chance informed them. "But this lower restaurant does provide more prosaic viands."

Ranma's stomach rumbled. And hers was not the only one.

Hiroshi said, "Kuno's paying." And so they all followed him into the restaurant.

[][][]

Sitting at a table of the Seine Inférieure, "Inferior Sane", Ranma got her chance to practice her martial art of fine dining moves. Plate after plate was delivered and, less than a minute later, each was emptied to be taken away and replaced with the next.

"I can still see you open your mouth, Ranma," Akane told her. Megumi and Ikuko agreed. Akiko wouldn't. "Do I have to look? It's gross! Like her table manners."

"Oh, man! I never want to date Ranma when I have to pay for her meal!" Hiroshi said. Hadn't he also said the same thing when he saw her eating at the lingerie and dresses shop?

"This date has been an education for you, then," Kuno said. "Pass on that acquired wisdom to your compatriots at Furinkan. None but the wealthiest is worthy of dating Ranma Saotome."

"I don't even think my brother could sell enough okonomiyaki to make up for what she would eat!" Ikuko said.

*Groan* "There goes our family budget," Akane said. "We hardly bring in enough to pay the bills as it is."

"Master Kuno has underwritten most of your loans. Surely, your sister Nabiki Tendo has told you this?" Sasuke the ninja said.

"No! She hasn't!"

"Oh, my! I was told to keep it a secret. Forgive me," he bowed.

"Suddenly, I lost my appetite," Ranma said. The Something was there, confirming what the ninja runt had said. Its only good news was it was Akane and the Tendos that were indebted to Kuno's gift. Her debt was through the Tendos who could only give her gifts because Kuno had given them gifts. But the way her debts to him were adding up, her curse might arrange so Kuno was able to buy her contract from the Chardins!

And the evidence of her and the born-girls (except Megumi) disapproval of treating women as investments was going away. "Here, Master Kuno. I have brought you your kendo-gi."

[][][]

Well, the exposed part of his chest of his usual costume did allow them to see some of the stomp-prints. But those, too, would be healed and gone too soon.

"Monsieur Picolet has, in his graciousness, has provided a means to your homes," Chance said. "And ze romantic one, very fitting for ze close of ze date."

"Are you implying what I think you are, Chance?!" Kuno asked, excited.

"Oui! Observe!" And up to the formal entrance of the skyscraper lit for the night came a carriage pulled by a team of four horses.

"Nerima's only a few miles away, but isn't it going to take more than an hour to get there this way?" Hiroshi asked.

"Non! Ze driver, Aron," the old man tipped his top hat, "is quite experienced in the passages and sentiers of all of ze Chardin maisons and franchises. Of course, if you should desire to extend ze experience, ze long course can be traveled."

"Nope! Not me!" Ranma said, hopping in before Kuno could offer to help her in. The other girls preferred to get in by themselves, as well. Except for Megumi.

Ranma was reminded of how her curse worked when it began to rain on Kuno and Hiroshi. She hadn't gotten wet once on this date, had she. Of course, she hadn't, she frowned. She had stayed a girl all this time! she reminded herself. (The melting ice of the skating rink didn't count. For some reason, there was cold water and then there was too cold water. Water near the freezing point didn't have any effect on her body or his body. Magic didn't have to make sense.)

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The iron corset secured to the baggage area on top of the carriage, Aron was ready to get the horses to move.

Those inside still were not ready. There was room inside of only six people to sit, three to the benches on each side of the carriage. There were seven people.

"Ranma can sit on my lap," Hiroshi offered.

"Do you want me to tie your hands and tape your lips, again!?"

"And you'll sit on my lap?!" he asked.

"If the Venus of the Sunrise is to sit on anybody's lap, it shall be mine!" Kuno said, reminding him who had the wooden sword. "A gentleman should stand in the presence of a lady."

"You're the only gentleman here," Hiroshi said, not being sarcastic. Kuno thought differently.

Hiroshi rose.

Hiroshi fell back onto his seat, pulled down by Akiko. "I don't want his "manhood" at my eye level!" And the other girls turned their stern gaze on Kuno. Except for Megumi.

"Oh, Akane can sit on my lap. -What?! What did I say wrong?" Ranma asked.

"Ranma," Akane said with a low, embarrassed growl. "Remember your reputation." And she blushed to remember it was their reputation.

After a few more minutes, Aron was finally able to get his team to move. It was Ranma that was standing. Hiroshi had the view of her frontside. But Kuno didn't mind his view of her backside. The girls, Ranma included, put up with the two boys' ogling. Except Megumi. She wanted them to ogle her!

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"How greater will our next date be, Ranma, my Morning Star! -Oof!" Kuno had his wind knocked out of him by Akane's elbow to his gut,

"Don't call a girl that. It can have a perverted interpretation!"

"Oh, Akane, my Evening Star -Oof!"

"That, too!"

"As I was saying," Kuno went on more carefully, now, "When, on our next date, it is just I and you-"

"Don't forget about Sasuke," Ranma said.

"You called?" Sasuke asked, bring his face down so he could look through the window from his spot on the rocking carriage roof.

"I have no need for you!" Kuno dismissed him.

"That's what you always say," the hurt ninja said, drawing his face up and away.

"As I was saying-"

There was a flash of lightning, but it was only the thunder that had Akane actually cling to the Blue Thunder.

"Oh, my Evening Star does have a weakness," Kuno smiled, hugging her to him.

"Kuno, take your-" Flash! Boom! And she hid her face in-

Ranma's bosom. "I've always been afraid of thunder!"

"Oh, Akane. It's just big noise." But Ranma held her friend.

Another rock of the carriage and Ranma was sitting on Akane's lap. Akane didn't want to let go of her.

"Wow. This beats the arm-stretch as a way to get to touch a girl," Hiroshi said. "Only guys aren't supposed to show they're afraid."

"Akane, listen! You've got to learn to overcome your fears!" Nice words, Cat Fist Fraidy Cat, the Girl Afraid of Water and Shampoo! But she didn't like seeing her friend like this! She had to find a way to help so she could handle thunder and lightning even when she wasn't around. "You just have to look straight at it and tell yourself-"

The flash was brighter than even the street lamp! Then she heard the thunder.

Then she saw the Thunder! "Burin-chan!" It had to be Tunde Burin; what other little, black pig had a yellow bandana around its neck!?

"Ranma(!?)" Akane was confused. First, she was holding onto her comforting friend. Then she wasn't after the martial artist had used pressure points so gently she hadn't even been aware she had been using them on her.

Ranma opened the door and jumped out. Her platforms splashing through the puddles, she reached the pig in no time and picked it up by its bandana.

"Bwee!? BWEE! Bwee?!" Whoever had it had come up from its blind side. Even then, it should have been able to sense its danger, if only it hadn't been feeling so miserable.

"Don'tyou worry, Burin-chan! I got you! You're comin' home with me, where you'll be dry and safe!"

"Bwee-EE!?" It recognized its rescuer! And it was totally confused. It was torn between biting and licking. It growled with a whine. It snorted with a sigh.

Ranma remembered it had bitten her earlier, and she was cautious with this wild animal. She held it out in front of her and when she got to the door of the carriage, she tossed it in.

"Burin-chan!" the girls cried in recognition.

But it was Akane who caught it. And held it. Tight! It was just like the plush, toy animals she used to use to comfort herself as a little girl when the outside world thundered at her. It was cold and wet, though.

As Kuno, sitting next to her, insisted on reminding her.

Ranma lifted the bokken away as she came back into the carriage. "I'm cold and wet, too."

"Excuse me! Let me warm you with-" Kuno came too close to molesting her. But his arms were pinned to the back of the carriage seat by the flat of his own wooden sword.

Ranma came too close to molesting him. Her knee was on the edge of his seat, between his legs. "Oh, Kuno-sweetie. I just couldn't let you get wet because I was a naughty girl and went outside in the rain." Kuno was confused by the mixed signals.

Even More confused was Burin-chan.

"Oo! I know, if you! If you went out in the rain, you would be wet, too! And that's the way I like to think of you: All wet."

[][][]

Kuno didn't get all wet. She dripped on him and Burin-chan got Akane wet who passed it on to him and Megumi. (She had the worst luck in seating arrangements!) Ranma was tempted to throw him out into the rain and let him walk back to wherever his home was. But the Something warned her not to.

On a hunch, she opened the door and reached up. It almost got away from her! But hanging half out the door and stretching, she pulled it back in!

There was the little ninja kneeling on the floor in front of her, trying not to whimper.

"Are you afraid of thunder, too?"

"Of course, not!" A ninja wasn't afraid of anything! A ninja was ready to lay down his life! "Y, yes," this ninja admitted. This ninja was a lot like her. She understood this guy.

"Oh, Kuno-sweetie, you're going to let this darling man stay inside with us, please, please, please?"

[][][]

It was wasn't until Sasuke told them they were near the Kuno estate that Ranma kicked "Kuno-sweetie" out into the thunderstorm. (That's where a Blue Thunder belongs, anyway.) For the ninja, she merely held him out and dropped him into a puddle.

"Finally! A seat!" And she plopped down on it. Ack! She could still feel Kuno's body hear. From his butt.

"Megumi is next," Akane said while she petting the drying (and smelly) Burin-chan. "Then Akiko. Ikuko is last before it's our turn."

"What about Hiroshi?"

Ranma was gentler kicking him out than she had been with Kuno. Hiroshi really didn't live that close to Megumi. But they belonged together. Now, if he were just handsome and rich, she was ready to make the pervert's fantasies come true.

[][][]

The rain had ended.

"The date's finally over with!" Ranma sighed with relief as she watched the horses take the carriage away.

"This was our first date, too," Akane said.

"A First Date is important like a First Kiss?" Ranma frowned.

She shook her head and smiled. "Then this wasn't our First Date. It's like the kiss I gave you this morning. That was both of our First Kisses."

Akane teared up. "Oh, Romeo! You said just the right thing!" And she leaned against her.

Seeing she was holding the little pig, it was Ranma alone who got to hug her. By the shoulder. As they walked through the Tendo gate.

In her other arm, she carried the iron corset.

[][][]

Before they could say, Tadaima! Kasumi was saying, "Okaerinasai."

Nabiki was next to greet them, "You Owe me, Saotome! Do you have any idea how much money you cost us, this family?! You're freeloading-"

"Akane! My youngest daughter has returned to me!" her dad cried rushing to her with open arms.

"Dad," Akane dodged. "I'm too old for that." She was glad she had the pig in front of her.

"Where's my pop?!" Ranma demanded.

"Uh, well, that is…." his friend hesitated.

"I was worried that he might try to interfere with your date, Little Sister. So I asked Dr. Tofu if he could find extra work for Uncle Genma to do."

Ranma blinked. Tried to laugh. But couldn't. It would have been more satisfying if she were the one dislocating a few bones and discovering what new shiatsu pressure-point combinations could do.

"He'll get overtime for working on a Saturday, Saotome!" Nabiki told her. "Which is more than I can say for you!"

"Shove it, Nabiki!" And she thrust the iron corset hard into her hands. "I'm taking a hot soak! I'm cold and tired and need to relax!" She ignored that it was very unlikely she could relax, once she had her guy brain back.

"Will you take Burin-chan with you, Ranma?" Akane said, holding out the pig.

Ranma accepted the task of cleaning it. But her eyes rose to Akane's. "I'm sorry, Akane."

"Yes, well, no need. There's, uh, other ways for me to get warm."

She was suddenly pushed! Who?! Kasumi giggled. "Little Sister has already seen you nude, Little Sister."

"But, but, Ranma was a girl! Is a girl, then!" Akane lived up to the meaning of her name. She turned red in embarrassment.

"That's right! Kasumi is right!" their father said, waving a rooting fan, white with one red circle. "I give my permission and blessing!"

"No, Mr. Tendo. Kasumi. Akane is right. When I see Akane with no clothes on, I see her with my girl brain. And that's the way my guy brain wants to see her. At least until after our First Date." Oh, gee, Again(!) that actually felt like the girl-right thing to say! Would she still feel that when she was a guy?!

Akane came up to her. Lowered her head and...kissed her on a cheek. No, she wasn't ready to be bisexual, yet.

Ranma blushed modestly. "Kasumi, see that Akane has what she needs. Me and...B-chan," she and Akane shared a smile, "are going for a shower and a soak."

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Again, Burin-chan was confused! "Bwee. bwee," it tried to protest. It knew it was going to see a naked girl body. It knew it was going to have yet another nosebleed. It had already lost too much blood. It was dipping too much into the ki reservoir. It had been absorbing the kind of ki pigs' needed. It was finding itself more and more like a pig!

Maybe that would help protect it from the damage it got from seeing a naked girl body. Maybe knowing the secret behind this naked girl body would protect it. Maybe what would protect it was the possibility of kind thoughts for the girl that had rescued it. Not once, but two times in one day.

No! "Bwee! Bwee!" She was its enemy! There was no doubt about it! As sure as it was a pig, she was its enemy! The one responsible for all of his misery! Revenge is the only thing it had to live for! After that…. "Bwee," it wept. It was a pig. It knew what happened to pigs.

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Ranma was ready for when the seemingly tamed animal would become wild again. She turned its bandana around so, first, its front legs were trapped under it, then, a pull and a tie, its right hind leg was bound by it. Only its left back leg was any kind of a threat, but not much, as long as she remained aware of it. And the same went for its teeth. She just had to keep them away from her.

Okay, it wasn't the greatest of tactics. Its left front leg was ready to come out from beneath the bandana. Was there something in the laundry basket that might help? ...What was this elastic thing? Oh, that's right, Akane called hers a garter. Okay, Burin-chan, you have a "-chan", so you're going to wear girl clothes, too! Pull it tight. Twist and tie the slack. And, ta-da! Bound pig.

The pig protested, but it was no use. It was just too small and helpless against a human. Even a girl.

She left it on top of the dryer as she undressed. "Man, I finally can get out of these girl clothes."

Burin closed its eyes and turned its head away. It must not use its imagination! It must not remember what it saw at the ice rink that afternoon. It must not think like a pig.

"Okay, little piggy! Let's get clean." Ranma was so confident she had it under control, she carried it under her arm, in the curve of her nude, hourglass figure.

Burin felt its blood pressure rising. It thanked the kami it was insulated from most of her effects by its covering of fur.

Ranma sat on the plastic shower stool, placing the animal down on the tiled floor between her legs. One hand reached for the shower wand, the other the tap. "C,cold! Sorry, Burin-chan, you're going to have to wash with cold water, too." And she sprayed. No longer on the tap, that hand found the soap. "First, I'm going to wash your back." And she got a good lather all over that part of it.

After she had, she did the same with her front, from shoulders to ankles and every point between. "Man. I'm still not used to having a smooth and soft, squishy body. It's weird! I'm glad my guy brain only feels my girl brain memory of it." Even, then, she had to rely on his warrior's chastity training to keep from getting any jollies. She was sure that would lead to things she didn't want to think about.

Even so, she didn't stay long on her boobs and rock-hard nipples. Or a place lower.

"Time to wash the lather off these sides of us, Burin-chan."

After that, she turned the pig onto its back. And for the first time, Burin found itself looking up looking up at the totally naked girl body! And it was full frontal! With boobs dangling and jiggling over it. Only the edge of the shower stool kept it from seeing everything!

It squeezed its eyes closed. It didn't have to have a nosebleed. It didn't have to have a nosebleed. It-

Ranma was about to get the lather between the weave of its bandana when she noticed something not covered by it. "Why you naughty pig! There's no doubt you're a guy!"

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The answer to a review:

Nope, I had no intention of going there. This reflects the nude scene in the manga/anime where Ranma discovered the true identity of P-chan/Burin-chan. My version better reflects its/his later character development. If you've gotten this far in my story, have faith and read on to Chapter 18. This is about as graphic as I intend to get. I'm keeping the T-rating.