icAn 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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Asuka Saginomiya is not found in the anime, but she is found in the manga. Her servant is my character.
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Their monsters gone, Madame St. Paul collapsed, Chance Gamblers collapsed, Picolet Chardin III collapsed. Asuka Saginomiya did not collapse.
She coldly looked down on Picolet, lying unconscious on the wrestling mat.
She rose from her seat. She stood there, waiting.
A little, stout womanly apparition appeared from out beneath the tablecloth! She was swift and silent, her costume was chameleon, changing colors with each new background (or so it seemed). Coming to her Mistress, she took the bouquet of white lilies from her, and put them in their holder attached to the lower back of Asuka's dress, and, those not being enough of a complement of her mistress's beauty, she added yet more lilies from out of nowhere. And once her mistress had her peacock tail of flowers, she gave her the ornate frame to finish the job of making her picture perfect!
Grasping the frame tightly in her hands, threatening to break it as her hands wanted to become fists, Asuka Saginomiya, Tomorrow's Beauty, the Fake Princess, commanded, "Show yourself, Kodachi Kuno! I know you are the one who defeated my date!"
She waited for her rival to answer. But not for long, "Answer me, Kodachi! You cannot claim to win a challenge unless you make a personal appearance!"
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Ranma was still on the high of victory! Her body still tingled from the fading vibrations the resonance had given her iron corset. Her nipples and other parts of her body were aroused, but the pure holiness and her own still almost dormant sexual awareness did not allow for base thoughts.
"I did it! I Ranma Saotome, beat the monsters! I sent them back to the other world they came from! And I won the Fine Dining challenge! I don't have to marry Chardin! And I beat Nabiki! I won the whole bet! I set up a rival school!"
"You set up a rival school!" Akane cried. "Hello! I'm the one who remembered the Nasty Awful Candy!"
Burin-chan leaped from her arms and whapped Ranma in the head with its front hooves! It landed on the table and was prepared to knock some appreciation into his frenemy's head again.
"Hey!" the redhead cried, her moment spoiled.
"Akane!" , "Akane!" her friends Sayuri and Yuka yelled, scrambling past the ropes and into the ring. "You did it! You did it!"
"I did it!" Ranma tried to tell them.
"Ranma!" , "Ranma!" her friends Makoto and Shikako yelled, scrambling from the other set of stairs into the ring. "You did it! You did it!"
"I did, didn't I!" she was about to brag.
But seeing Akane's frustrated hurt and anger, she said, "We did it, Akane and me." Then to Mr. Tendo and everybody, "We did for the Anything-Goes School!"
"Oh, Ranma!" It was almost enough for her to forgive her. Then, to her friends, she explained, "I was looking for a leash for Burin-chan in our attic when I saw the incense burner. It made me remember the Nasty Awful Candy I had found in it as a kid. My dad explained why I shouldn't throw it out. It was part of his master's collection of anything-goes techniques. It was for breathing food through your nose."
"Yes, indeed," Mr. Tendo said, having come to congratulate the students of the Anything-Goes School. "The Taoist Sages believed one could win immortality by withstanding the wretched taste."
"I'm immortal(!)?!" Ranma smiled.
"Yes, you very well could be. All you have to do is eat no more solid food for four times four years."
"I have to breathe everything through my nose? Using only that Nasty Awful Candy? Bleah!" Out came her tongue and the lozenge. She picked it off her tongue and threw it into its drawer. Then slammed it shut!
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While those dressed in uniforms that looked like a cross between waitresses and nurses attended to the la Belle France School, Asuka posed for those of the local populace who wanted to take pictures of her. But mere adulation of ordinary boys was not good enough for her.
"Where is Kodachi Kuno?!" She demanded to know.
"Kodachi isn't here," Yasushi said.
"She must still be recovering from Romeo's kiss!" Akiko said with a big smile.
"It seems like Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome have a rival for Romeo," the gossip, Ayane, grinned.
"Kodachi has a boyfriend(!)?!" Asuka cried in horror. The frame bent as she struggled not to break it.
"You did see Romeo kiss Kodachi?" Ayane asked Akiko.
"And WHAT a kiss! Wow! I could feel it! Everybody in the shop could feel it!"
"Kodachi was kissed passionately in public!" Asuka cried but quietly in outrage.
"It was even better than the kiss he gave to Akane!"
The platinum blonde was already on the move. And she made sure everybody near the table in the wrestling ring saw her best side behind the frame. "Whose boyfriend is Romeo?!"
"Romeo is my daughter Akane's fiance!" Soun Tendo proudly announced into the microphone he had grabbed from Sasuke.
"Dad! We have a year before we decide!" Akane yelled in embarrassment.
"Yeah! That's right!" Ranma backed her up.
"Then Kodachi can still claim him as her boyfriend!" It wasn't a question.
"Kodachi and me-Romeo!? Her boyfriend!?" Ranma's fingers went up in the warding gesture.
"Where does Romeo live?!" Asuka demanded.
"Uh…." , Ranma looked at Akane. "Uh…." Akane looked at Ranma.
Lucky for them, Sasuke had taken the microphone away from Mr. Tendo and given it to Nabiki. "Romeo is a martial artist and takes frequent training trips. He does visit his step-sister, Ranma, even though Mr. Saotome does not like it."
Man, Nabiki doesn't lie! Ranma had to admit. Unless, of course, you count the lie of omission. Which, of course, she didn't. If she did, she would have to count herself as a liar.
"You, with the red hair and pigtail, you are Ranma?" And with that she turned and left them, her servant holding up a picture mounting board so her bad side, her back side, was not seen.
"What was that about?" Ranma asked. "Who is she?"
"She knows Kodachi Kuno," Akane, and then the others, turned the referee, her father.
But the Headmaster was already gone.
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Those of the la Belle France School would recover, but they would not be okay. Not from their perspective, as their waitresses and waiters found out. Though they tried, the mouths and the tongues of the Gourmands no longer stretched. If anything, they were less than normal human size.
The Anything-Goes School were the hometown favorite, so the locals insisted they be treated to a festival. They wouldn't take no for an answer. The winners wanted to change out of the stupid dresses they had been forced to wear. The locals wanted them to remain in the winning "uniforms".
Makoto, Shikako, Sayuri, and Yuka were proud to be seen with their best friends, Ranma and Akane. Even Kikuko and Ryonami could claim some reflected glory, after all, hadn't Nabiki also competed? And she was correct in saying she had been the probe that had determined how their monstrous technique had worked.
Adding Akiko, Umeko, and Emiko from the Date Management Club and there wasn't really room for anybody else in the 2nd Branch Okonomiyaki restaurant that Ikuko's mom ran. Especially since three of the crowd were in hoop-skirts.
"Does anybody know where my pet pig, Burin-chan is? No? Oh, he must have gotten lost again!"
"I wish Big Sister could be here with us," girl Ranma said. That didn't stop her from eating her Japanese pizza. But Akane thought it was affecting her appetite, as the redhead was eating more like the girls around her. She still had a "healthy" appetite, though.
"Kasumi should be happy with dad and the other grownups at the Bathhouse Cafe," Akane assured her.
"Bathhouse Cafe?" Ranma asked.
"It used to be a bathhouse before it became a restaurant," said Ikuko, their expert on business. "They specialize in steamed food."
"A place for a hot bath(!)?" Ranma smiled. "And eats?!"
"It stopped being a bathhouse over a century ago. The water level of the natural hot spring got so low, they had to rebuild until it was in the basement. Then they gave up on it and made the floor above into the cafe."
"Oh." It didn't sound like it was something the redhead could use in an emergency.
"Asuka Saginomiya…" Sayuri said. And said it again. "I know I know her name."
"Lizard Kindergarten!" Akiko said, remembering.
"HER!?" others, too, remembered.
"Who is she, then?" Akane asked. "I don't remember her, and I went there, too."
"That must have been the time when you went to, uh..." Yuka said.
"Ryugenzawa," Makoto said, "a mysterious valley deep in the wilderness of Japan."
"That's right!" And Shikako stared at Akane, "You never did tell us why it's "mysterious", Akane."
"Asuka?! Let's stay with her," Ikuko said. "I sense danger from her. Who is she? My family hadn't come to Nerima, yet."
"Let's see...It all began with, uh…."
"Just call him A-ko," Makoto, his sister frowned, "But it was the teacher who started it!"
"At playtime, she told the boys to hold the hands of one of the girls," Shikako said.
"Asuka became angry that the best-looking boy chose Kodachi!"
"That's right! She got the next-best looking boy in class-"
"Just call him B-ko," Shikako, his sister, told them.
"Things got out of hand - Fast!" , "Asuka challenged Kodachi!" , "It was what they called a double-date duel!" , "They didn't attack each other!" , "No, they had to go and attack my- A-ko!" , "And B-ko!" , "It was horrible!" , "B-ko…" , "And A-ko…" , "...still are not over the trauma of it!"
"Two little girls beat up two little boys?" Ranma asked.
"Badly!" Shikako said. "Asuka is a bad person!" Makoto said.
"Asuka's family moved away," Akiko said.
"But no boy wanted to be Kodachi's boyfriend again," Makoto said.
"That's right!?" Sayuri remembered, to her horror.
"Akane! Akane!" Yuka said, tears welling up in her eyes. "That's the reason Kodachi chose you to be Romeo."
Second only to the death of her mom, that was the biggest trauma in her life, and it wasn't only caused by Kodachi?! Akane had somebody else to hate! "Ranma…."
"Yes, Akane. No dating her, either."
Of course, this became something else to add to the rumors about Ranma (and Akane).
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The hoop-skirted Nabiki had held her tongue and waited. It wasn't until she was with just Akane and Ranma that she asked the question, "Do you care to know what happened to "A-ko" and "B-ko"?"
"No." , "Not really."
Where was the fun of not telling them? "You know them. "B-ko" is Shikako's twin brother, but he is hardly her twin, anymore. He turned to food for his comfort. Now, he's the President of the Sumo Club.
"You remember seeing Akane beat him up during the attacks of the hentai horde?"
"Ranma, used him as a trampoline," Akane frowned at the memory of the redhead's second day at school.
"And Makoto's brother, the best-looking and coolest guy is hardly that today. Even in kindergarten, the Black Rose and White Lily were using exploding flowers! "A-ko" is now the nerd President of the Chemistry and Explosives Club."
"Do I know him?" Ranma asked.
"That day you ate lunch with Hiroshi? He tried to get a date with you," Akane said.
"But his name isn't the same as Makoto's. Is it?"
"You should know about step-brothers, Romeo," Nabiki smirked.
Ranma's martial arts training put two and two together. "Being around all her brother's chemicals and explosives have made her nose sensitive. It has to be, to help protect her!" She frowned. Makoto was becoming one of her closer friends! Like Shikako! "Kodachi and Asuka have not only wrecked Akane's life but other friends of mine, too!"
"That's right!" Akane, too, began to burn for justice. "Why didn't you tell me this before, Nabiki?!"
"I did. But you covered your ears and said things like, " I'm not listening! I won't believe you!", etcetera."
"She'll listen now, won't you Akane!" It was not a question. Ranma would make sure she did.
Akane felt her power to deny crumbling. "I'm no longer Romeo." And she smiled at her. "You are."
The Miracle continued.
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It was one of the unwritten rules of Nerima that even the best of friends had to stay at least a block away from each other's homes, same-block friends excepted, of course, unless they had a very good reason to visit. So, they found it a surprise when they saw a woman, a stranger, waiting outside the Tendo gate. Just as Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki were wearing clothes whose style belonged to the 19th century, so was she. But where theirs were Western in origin, hers was Eastern, and quite Japanese, at that. Unlike theirs, it was still seen sometimes in daily life. She had on a homongi, a semi-formal visiting kimono of married women.
"There's something vaguely familiar about her," Nabiki said, sizing her up.
"You're right," Akane agreed. "Do you think that's her natural hair color?"
"If anybody has unnaturally red hair, it's our cursed girl, Ranma."
But the pigtailed girl told them, "Be careful. She's carrying a sword, a nodachi, I think, under that silk."
"Let me do the talking," Nabiki advised them. "Hello, I and my sister live here."
"And I'm staying here," Ranma added.
"You are the Tendos? ...And, you are the girl with the same name as my son?"
"Your son?!"
Ranma's hand reached out. She was still too far away. "Are you really my mom?"
"No. I am sorry, but I'm not your mother, dear. I don't have a daughter. Only a son!
"A Mr. Chance told me about this Ranma. Please, tell me if you know anything about him! I've waited ten years to see him again!"
"I'm your-"
Nabiki stopped her. "It's a complicated story, but your son is now calling himself Romeo." If she played the cards right, by delaying the inevitable, she might discover information she could profit from.
"Romeo? Not Ranma?" She looked at the pigtailed girl, "Why are you called Ranma? That's an unusual name for a girl."
"Uh, well, why don't we go inside and talk about this more comfortably," Akane said, desperate to buy time. Her more intelligent sister seemed to think they should hold off telling the whole truth. And she hadn't told the whole truth about Ranma since she revealed it to her and her family. Maybe, a white half-lie could spare Ranma's mom unnecessary pain.
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Kasumi and Mr. Tendo were not home, yet. Ranma was the last to enter. She wanted to see her mom, even if it was from the back. Why were Akane and Nabiki trying to stop her from telling her own mom the truth? The only reason the Tendo sisters understood her problems was because she had told them the truth, and the whole truths, at that! Surely her own mom deserved to know as much as these people she's only known for five days!
She would tell her, "Mom,..."
"I'm not your mother, dear."
"Oh, where are our manners!" Akane swung around and bowed. "My name is Akane Tendo. And this is my middle sister." , "Nabiki" , "and my big sister, Kasumi, should be home, soon, along with our dad!" She felt so nervous.
"And, of course, you know Ranma Saotome by name," Nabiki said.
"Mom!"
"Ranma misses her mom!" Like Akane still missed hers.
"Yes. She has been removed from her life for several years, now," Nabiki strongly implied that the redhead's mother was now dead. And come to think of it, if she avoided Ranma's name, it was true that the redhead's mother was dead, some 1,500 years gone, in fact.
"Oh, you poor, dear. Alright. If it makes you feel better, you may call me "Mom". I have waited ten years to be called that, again. Though I would've preferred it had been my son who called me that first."
"Mom!" She cried! Cried like a girl, so moved was she to able to say that, at long last!
She had the great urge to hug her mom, but remembered the iron corset she still wore. It would spoil the intimacy of their first contact.
"Oh, where are my manners! You have introduced yourselves by name. I should tell you mine."
They were now before the open kitchen door. Akane reached around the Ranma's mom, and pulled her in front of her. Tears were still coming down her cheeks.
"My name is Nodoka Saotome, wife of Genma Saotome," she said, bowing with her sword. "Do you know where he is, as well?"
"Uh…, not exactly," Akane said.
"Come, let's go into the common room and talk," Nabiki said.
"The common room? Not the formal living room?" It would be more appropriate for the kimono she had on.
"There's no room in there," Akane said.
"Yeah. It's full of boxes." Ranma was about to tell her mom they were full of girls' clothes and lingerie. She stopped herself. It did remind her just how much she didn't look like what her mom expected her to look like. She was wearing a hoop-skirt with petticoats and pantaloons! And the tops of her boobs were showing!
The common room was just out of view of the corner they turned.
They were met by a swirling storm of black petals!
"Kodachi!" Akane and Ranma angrily said, seeing the girl in her leotards near the always open shoji doors, whipping them up with a long gymnast-ribbon.
And, there, tossing black roses from the bouquet he held, was the ninja, Sasuke.
"Ohohoho!" She laughed one of the worst, and therefore one of the "best", Noblewoman's annoying laugh. "I understand, Asuka, the White Lily, knows about Romeo! I have come to warn him of my childhood nemesis!"
"Romeo? My, uh, son?" Nodoka asked. Was she the reason her son wasn't using his real name? But why was this pigtailed girl using it?
"You are my Darling Romeo's mother(!)?!" The ribbon fell, and so did the petals.
"O-Mother-san!" Kodachi bowed. "I am your son's fiancee."
"You are not!" both Ranma and Akane cried.
"She isn't?" Things were getting more and more confusing for her.
"Kodachi doesn't have a betrothal contract," Nabiki said. "But we, the Tendos, do."
"What is a mere piece of paper compared to True Love!"
"True love?"
"Yes! The moment he kissed me, I knew we were destined to be man and wife!"
"My son kissed you!"
"Hey! Romeo kissed Me first!" Akane told her. "He did it in front of the entire school, out on a stage at the playing field!"
"Oh, my! That does seem, unseemly! A kiss should not be so public."
"Was it as passionate as the one Romeo gave me in the women's apparel shop(!)?!"
"My son was in women's apparel?"
"Yes, Romeo's mother, Ma'am," Sasuke said. "And he was wearing women's apparel. Lingerie."
"My Son was wearing lingerie(!)?!"
"Nothing Romeo wears can take away from his manliness!" Kodachi sighed.
"There's a good explanation!" Akane tried to assure Ranma's mom.
"So, my manly son thinks it is acceptable to kiss two girls in public and to wear women's clothes." The silk wrapping her sword began to slip.
"He was wearing tights and trunks when he kissed Miss Akane," Sasuke said, trying to be helpful.
"It was the costume from Romeo and Juliet - a play!" Akane yelled to be heard.
"So, when my son kissed you, it was just an act?" More of the sword was revealed.
"It WASN'T an act! It was Real! It was both of ours First Kiss!"
"And his was My First Kiss, as well!" Kodachi pointed the handle of her ribbon at her, threateningly. "My first with a man."
"You kiss women as well?"
"Yes!" Kodachi said unapologetically. "But I gave my last away," her ribbon turned to, "her! In fact, she stole that kiss!"
"Oh, my, so you are a-"
"Miss Ranma also kissed a Mikado Sanzenin." Again, Sasuke was trying to be helpful. "And, my, was that passionate. It literally blew his mind."
"Uh…." Ranma tried to think of what to tell her mom. Oh! How about the truth, "He had this spell! He was usin' it to get kisses from girls!"
"So, it was only because of this spell that you kissed him?"
"No! I kissed him to stop him from kissin' girls! I broke his spell because I…." Ack! Because she was too much of a guy!
"Because you do not like kissing men?" Nodoka lifted an eyebrow.
"Uh…." Ranma hung her head in defeat. It was true. Maybe. Please, don't let the curse win by making her like kissing guys!
"But that was the same reason she kissed Kodachi!" Akane came to her "rescue". "She kissed her to stop her from kissing women!"
"She did it because she was jealous! She wishes she could kiss as many as the Black Rose has kissed!"
"Oh, this is confusing," Sasuke said, not Nodoka. "Rumor has it that both Miss Ranma and Miss Akane is interested in Romeo."
"Well?" Nodoka turned to the two.
"Well, this has all been very interesting," a new voice said.
Looking for it, they saw a large framed portrait leaning up against the wall opposite the shoji doors.
"Asuka!" Kodachi said. "I had assumed that was an ugly painting she gave to try and win Romeo over to her!
"Me, want Romeo?" The White Lily said, standing up from the chair her servant girl had brought with her. "I do not date womanizers."
"Oh, my! My son does sound like a womanizer."
"The what are you doing in my house(!)?!" Akane yelled.
"It's quite simple. I came to kill Romeo." She stepped out of the picture frame.
"But since he is not here, I shall leave." And she did, heading for the front door.
"Oh, my! My son killed? That's what happens to womanizers."
"I, too, must leave, o-mother-san," Kodachi bowed. "I must follow Asuka and discover her boyfriend. I must kill hers before she kills mine!"
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"Asuka wanting to kill your son. There's a good reason for Romeo to not be around," Nabiki said.
"He's hiding? That seems cowardly." More of her sword showed. What blade showed gleamed.
"Ran-Romeo is No coward! I'm gonna tell you-"
"-Why the sword?!" Akane yelled.
"We're home!" Kasumi announced.
"The Merchants have presented us with items for defeating the monsters!" her father announced.
"Monsters!?" And the silk entirely fell to the floor.
On seeing the sword, Soun dropped all of the things he was carrying.
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After the introductions, they were all sitting around the common room table, Soun Tendo at the head, Nodoka Saotome at the other end.
"I shall get Uncle Saotome," Kasumi said, smiling.
"Yes," the woman said sternly. "I would like to see my husband again." Her sword was still unwrapped, and she was making motions as if she intended, perhaps, to use it.
"Heh. heh. Why the sword?" Ranma said, though she suspected she wouldn't like the answer.
"I carry it to remind me of why I agreed to allow my husband, Genma, to take my son away on the training journey to manhood. We all three, Myself, Genma and my son, Ranma, signed a contract ten years ago. Unless my son returns as a man-among-men, they must commit seppuku. And I am honor-bound to be the second and use this sword to deliver the final death strike."
Ranma was not the only one to nearly faint and topple onto the floor.
"Uh, Mrs. Saotome," Soun tried to reason with her, "Genma and I have a contract, as well. Your son is to wed one of my daughters and produce an heir that will unite our two schools. It has precedent, as it was made before your child was born."
"Yes," Nabiki said, "you can kill them after he and my little sister has had their baby. And a second one, in case something happens to the first."
"Honor must always take precedent! Though my husband is from peasant stock, I come from a samurai family! Honor must win no matter the consequences." And she seemed resolute in following that principle.
"Come on, Uncle Saotome. Come and meet your wife."
"No, Kasumi, you don't understand!" Genma cried. But the slender woman had his ear in a pressure lock. He had to follow her.
"Genma!" Nodoka screamed, rising with her sword ready.
"No!" Ranma cried, rising up to protect his no-good pop. "Mom! I'm Ranma! I'm your son! I been cursed to be a girl!"
Nodoka's samurai tradition overwhelmed her! Before she knew what she was doing, she used their sword of honor!
It struck her one and only child!
And snapped! Her heritage broke on an iron corset.
The mother collapsed and sobbed great cries of shame! She had almost killed her somebody! A girl with hair as red as her in her own teen years. And just because she claimed to be her son. "Oh, Ranma! Ranma! I miss you! Please, return to me!" Her body shook with grief. In that moment of truth, when her sword had struck to kill, she actually had thought she was killing her one and only child.
The girl in Ranma knew exactly what to do. She dropped to her knees and embraced her, hugging her tightly to her, rubbing her back and short red hair. "Mom, it's okay...it's okay. I'm okay. I'm not dead. I have returned. I have my mom back…."
And this went on for nearly a half an hour. But that was okay. Ranma found comfort in comforting her mother.
"Is it you…? Is it really you, Ranma?" Nodoka asked, again and again, reaching out to touch the face. She knew that face. It was so like the face in old photographs. It was the face a daughter of hers would have had. If she ever had had a daughter.
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Nobody, not even Soun, would let Genma escape. He was forced to face his wife.
Meanwhile. Ranma left to change out of the pantaloons, petticoats, hoop-skirt, and dress. And, of course, her miracle iron corset. The hairline crack had become wider and longer. She could wear it again if she had to, but it would not be able to take much more abuse. As long as she was allowed to keep it, she would. It would be something her life on the road and its need to take only the essentials had never allowed her to have. It would be her first momento, something that brought up treasured memories. And, to her, this one was almost...holy.
By the time he had returned to wearing her Chinese outfit, the others had explained to her mother how her son and husband had become cursed.
"I should bring out one of the family tanto daggers and have you commit seppuku, husband."
Genma took a glass of water and poured it on himself. It then held up a sign, [You wouldn't want to see a panda die?]
"They are an endangered species."
"Mom," the pigtailed girl said.
Nodoka turned to her. The redhead was no longer wearing clothes of a girl, but ones a tomboy would wear. "Ranma."
"Kasumi?"
"I have the teakettle of hot water, here, Ranma."
Nabiki gasped! So upset with her husband, seeing him change into a panda had not yet really registered. But the disappearance of the redhead reminded her how close her younger self had almost disappeared permanently.
And yet, "Ranma!" she cried, rushing to her feet to embrace her manly son!
"Ah, geez! Mom," but he accepted her hug, and even, lightly, placed his hands on her body. He was tall, now. He placed his cheek softly on her head. "Mom." He did not cry, but he was filled with the longed-for joy of knowing his nearly forgotten mom. She was so small and fragile. He was so big and strong. He would never let her hurt again. "Mom, I'm never gonna leave you again."
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Long minutes later that went by too quickly, and mother and child were sitting beside each other at the Tendo table.
"I'm so happy for you two." Kasumi's smile was more radiant than ever.
"Even I have been moved," Nabiki smiled without a trace of amusement.
"Where's Akane?" the male Ranma asked.
"She rushed off crying to her room, again," Nabiki said.
"She…. We all miss our own mother," Kasumi said. "She was a wonderful mother."
"Yeah," Ranma said, looking at his own. "Mothers are wonderful."
"See, Genma!?" Soun grinned in good cheer and relief. "All your worries were for nothing! You and your wife are reunited, and you three are now a family again!"
Then he hid his eyes in his arm and sobbed. "I wish my wonderful wife were here with me and her family!"
Genma was unmoved. He knew his hell would begin when he was alone with Nodoka. He knew the terror of the woman! He knew it so well, he had had to escape it, ten years ago. And, now, it had returned to his life. Oh, why - why! - had he have to be practicing Umi-Sen Ken in her parents' house! She had even kept its scroll as a memento!
If only he had married Sakura! Better, Kimiko, the woman he really loved. But, no. She was already married. To Soun.
"So, please, tell me about your adventures, Son! I want to know everything I missed!"
"I really hadn't had many before I moved here. -Oh! Man! Geez!"
"What?! What's wrong, Son! Tell me, please!"
"I've been here only five days and I've had almost more adventures than I had in my whole life, not countin' my two weeks in China after I got cursed. Five days!
"Akane! I have to go and tell Akane!"
"I'll go get her, Ranma," Kasumi said. "May I ask why you want her?"
"It was her that saw it! The truth about my curse! I want everybody to know who did! She's...my friend."
Nodoka's hand went on top of her son's. "I'm glad you have found a friend. I hope it can develop into...something more."
Genma grimaced at the glance she shot at him. Oh, yes. There would be hell to pay.
"Personally, I don't believe those "somethings" work out when based on friendship," Nabiki said. "It would make things, uh, "awkweird". You have to choose one or the other. Choose friendship and you lose eroticism. The couple has to stoop to playing role games. And pretending can get tiring. It's not really passion."
"There are always exceptions," Nodoka said.
Genma agreed with Nabiki. The one thing that had always overcome their differences was the physical attraction they had felt for one another.
But did he have that for her anymore? He hadn't been much attracted to his son, and his cursed form was practically a duplicate of Nodoka in her younger days. Were they still aroused by the sight of their naked bodies? They would find out when they were alone. And then the hell would begin again, Genma thought, his performance anxiety growing even then.
"Eroticism? I'm not sure what that is, and I don't think I care to know."
Good for you, Son! Genma applauded himself in his mind. He hadn't wanted his son to be put through what Nodoka had done to him! Not after the overdose of perversion he had had with his old master, the Founder of Anything-Goes Martial Arts! Far before his heir was aware of the opposite sex, he had isolated him as much as he could from them. He had trained into Ranma until it was conditioned into him and, so, difficult to break, the Collected Techniques of Warrior's Chastity!
It was only when he had fled to Soun and had to have Ranma married to prove his manliness to Nodoka that he realized the flaw in the Warrior's Chastity. But when the time came, he would reassure them all that he had thought of the solution! Thank the kami they lived in the modern age. Artificial insemination would produce the heir to their schools, and his son would still remain a virgin!
"I'd rather have a friend," Ranma said.
"You would?" Akane said.
"Akane!" Ranma smiled up at her.
Nodoka saw the smile and herself smiled. "You say that Ranma has only been here for five days?"
"You could say it was friendship at first sight," Akane said.
"Second," Ranma said. "I remember everybody bein' scared spitless at seein' a panda in their house."
"And the confusion," Nabiki added. "We were all expecting Ranma to be a guy." She teased him by making "poit, poit" motions with her finger.
Nodoka turned to Genma, "You couldn't wait until after you were a man and a son?!"
"Well, Nodoka, Sweetheart, it was raining," Genma fumbled around for an explanation, totally intimidated. "You know what happens when we martial artists have to take too much from the ki reservoir. Ranma was becoming more of a girl!"
"I started becomin' a girl when you yanked me away from that amazon village and made me run like a girl! I was still mostly me until then!"
"You have been quite naughty, I see."
Genma threw his arms over his head and cowered. There! His wife had said it! She couldn't wait to get alone with him! The more she discovered just how "Naughty" he had been, the more she would be aroused by Her Bad Boy! Again, she would be the rebel against her family and class!
And, yet, not!
Oh, the righteous punishment she would inflict on him! She would make it go on for hours! She would not let him say Enough! She would always demand more! She would drain him of his precious energy!
And then...and then, when his food-generated energy was low and he had to go to the ki reservoir, there would be…. No! A worse HELL!
"Ranma!" Genma cried out. "You're coming home with me and your mother!" Maybe, he could make sure he was not left alone with her!
"I am?" But, looking at her, Ranma smiled, "I am. I'm goin' home."
"Ranma…." Akane almost pleaded. But, no. It wouldn't be fair. If she had the chance, she would want to be with her mom. "Come back and see us. And soon."
"Of course, I will. ...Huh, where is our home, Mom?"
"Kita."
"Kita?" Ranma scratched his head. "I don't remember it."
"It's only a couple of hours walk, Ranma," Kasumi said.
"Less, I bet, the way Ranma can leap." Nabiki said.
"You should see me rooftop jump!" Ranma said proudly to them, and his mom.
"Tell me you don't practice Yama-Sen Ken, Son! Even I could not forgive him for teaching you that!"
"I don't think Pop has, Mom. He never called nothin' he taught me by that."
"That's a relief!"
"Shall we go, then, Mom?
In through the open shoji door dashed a blur, one that only trained senses would notice. Ranma was instantly up and intercepting - He caught it!
"You're Sasuke, the ninja, right?" he said.
"Romeo? You are here?" Then he said with fear, "Run, Romeo! Flee!" Then he turned to the others in the room, "All of you must stay away from Romeo! You are in great danger!"
"Sasuke! You have dishonored me by revealing what I told you in secret!" It was a woman's voice. Then they saw her. She was wearing the costume of a Kuroko, all black that included the mask covering her face, There were not even eyeholes. And, worse, to Ranma, were the two cat-like "ears" on the top of the mask.
"In the name of my mistress, Asuka Saginomiya, I will kill you, too."
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SPOILER: Ranma is not going to move away from Nerima! That would take the story too far away from the original!
