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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Ranma's mother hadn't seen her child in ten years. What she knew of him was from when he was still a child. And like any child, Ranma had had a sweet tooth. So, for their first meal as a family again, this traditional woman had prepared mochi, daifuku (yet another rice cake), and anpan (a sweet roll), miso soup, fish, and no vegetables because her son hadn't liked them.
"Mochi!" Kasumi clapped her hands in delight. "That's the tradition for celebrating the New Year!"
"Yes," Nodoka admitted. "This is our "New Year". The old years of our lives are over, and we begin our new years as a complete family."
"Mom," Ranma mumbled. Geez! This wasn't making what he had to do any easier.
"And daifuku and…," Nabiki broke open the roll, "anpan! Both filled with sweet red bean paste."
"Nabiki, that is not funny!" Akane told her. "And, if you hadn't noticed, Ranma's a boy now!"
"And sekihan is what is served to the girl on that occasion," Kasumi said. "And Ranma hasn't been becoming a girl long enough to have that happen, yet."
"Oh, dear! That's right!" Nodoka gasped. " My son may have to face the womanly facts of life."
(It's not funny, but I got the results I was expecting," Nabiki smirked.)
"Ranma, later tonight, we're going to sit down and have a mother and…. Oh, dear!"
"Excuse me, Auntie Saotome," Kasumi said. "But we talked about this earlier. We, the Tendo sisters, think it would be better if Ranma heard this from Dr. Tofu. If there is any man who can understand what your son has to...endure and adjust to, it is our family physician."
"Doctor Tofu not only knows chiropractic, but acupressure, and moxibustion, and Chinese medicine, and is a skilled martial artist!" Akane said.
" ' don't know about the other stuff, but, yeah, the Doc is a very good martial artist." And Ranma smiled. "He's taught Pop a thing or two, hasn't he?"
Genma glared. Feeling outnumbered, he and Soun had remained quiet. They thought it best for their recovering health.
"He's also the one to convince me I gotta stay a girl part of the time."
"He did, did he? I would like to have a talk with him."
"His clinic is closed, Auntie Saotome. But I'm sure we can make an appointment with him tomorrow, Monday," Kasumi said.
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Nodoka borrowed a coat from Kasumi, a taller woman, and went out to the dojo with her son. Who was still her son. "Now we can have a private chat, Ranma. We can begin to catch up on all that we've missed."
"You go first, Mom. Pop's refused to talk much about you. I wasn't even sure you were still alive."
"Yes. That does sound like my husband. If he could face his responsibilities, he wouldn't have left me alone for ten years! It was only through the generosity of my family that I have survived this long. And that only happened after he left me."
Her frown left her, replaced by an uncertainty. "Perhaps it was for the best. As you can guess from the way I dress, speak and carry myself, I was raised to be very old-fashioned. Traditional, my family calls it. I even carry-" she made to heft the what she was so used to holding, but was no longer there, "...or carried the nodachi sword that represents my family's samurai heritage.
"If you had stayed with me, they, the whole clan, would have tried to see that you were just as hidebound as they."
She touched his face. "You would not be the person you are today. And, and…"
She took her hand away and turned away. "...and I wouldn't have liked you much. I have tried to rebel against my upbringing and conditioning. The closest I've ever come was marrying your father, Genma."
She smiled at her memories. "I wouldn't even have met Genma unless I had not caught him burglarizing my parents' house."
"WHAT!? Pop broke into your house?!"
"No, not break-in! That would have caused damage. That would have been Yama-Sen Ken. No, your father was practicing his martial art of Umi-Sen Ken, the Way of the Quiet Thief." She winked. "I've kept the manual he was using so he wouldn't learn to do be an accomplished thief."
"Pop's still a thief." Then Ranma's judgment became less harsh. "But I can hardly call him an accomplished thief. He gets caught more than he doesn't. It's just luck and me bein' there to help him escape that's kept him from jail, or worse."
"You haven't aided and abetted in his crimes, have you, Ranma?" Nodoka frowned.
"Only a little. Mainly when I was younger and didn't really know any better. But, no, I've taken a vow to be honorable! Not more honorable than my Old Man, most people could, but honorable, if you know what I mean."
His mother smiled proudly at him.
"And, lately there's been this Something that sees that I go even beyond that idea of what's honorable."
But Ranma shook it off. This wasn't the time to talk about that. "I wanna hear more about how you met Pop."
"I heard him." Then she chuckled. "He wasn't the Quiet Thief!" She lifted the sword she no longer had, and held it out, acting out her words, "I confronted him! And he…." she paused to build up the suspense of her story.
"He screamed and groveled and begged!" Ranma grinned. "He would have run if you'd've let him."
Her missing sword disappeared. "No." She smiled a disturbing smile. For a moment she was lost in that time, again.
But her eyes refocused on her son in the here-and-now. "Uh, yes. Let's just say it was…love at first sight. Yes, I shall use the word Love. Great, passionate, mutual Love."
"?" Ranma got the hint that "Love" wasn't really the correct word, but he had no idea what his mom didn't want to say. "You sayin' it wasn't a prearranged marriage."
"Oo, Kaneto! He was the one my family had given me to in a betrothal contract! As I said, they are very Traditional. Genma had to fight a duel for my hand in marriage!"
"Pop actually fought a duel? And won?" Okay, in his younger days, maybe. Still, "The guy wasn't a martial artist, I bet."
"Oh. but Kaneto was! And he was not only strong, he was handsome and wealthy!"
"Huh! ...Why does that sound familiar? Was he an idiot, Mom? I mean a bigger one than Pop?"
"Well...nobody's perfect, son."
"Okay, Mom, how did Pop manage to win?"
Nodoka adopted an enigmatic smile. "Kaneto was susceptible to nosebleeds."
"Mom!" Ranma cried in shock.
"Oh, dear! I forgot you turn into a girl." And Nodoka frowned! "How many nosebleeds have you caused?! It had better have been for a good reason, young...Oh, dear!"
[][][]
It came time for everybody to get ready to go to sleep.
Akane showed Mrs. Saotome to her room.
"Thank you, again, Akane-chan for saving my son's life. I could feel your concern for him. He is lucky to have found a friend like you. Do you think anything more might develop?"
"We'll know in a year, Mrs. Saotome. Ranma, I and my sisters have agreed to put off making a decision about the contract our dad's made until then. There will be a fight if we decide not to honor the contract. I am sure my sister Nabiki has already thought of ways around the problem."
"And if you do decide, Ranma will only be 17," Nodoka smiled, "So you couldn't marry him even then."
"What do you mean? -Oh! That's right! Under Japanese law, a boy can't be married until he's 18!"
"Where a girl only has to be 16," Nabiki said.
"Nabiki!" Akane turned to see her sister leaning against her open door, her arms crossed.
"Now, what if you could legally marry Ranma at 16?" she smirked.
Akane blushed unable to find an answer within herself.
"Japanese law also says nobody under 20 may marry without their parents' consent," Nodoka reminded.
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Akane came into the common room still with some color in her face. She saw the male Ranma on the floor on his sleeping bag and was glad he wasn't the redhead.
And Ryoga wasn't a little, black pig, either. "How's your ankle, Akane?"
"I'm sure it's practically healed by now, Ryoga. I'll be ready for our training trip tomorrow!"
"It's a school day, you know," Ranma reminded her.
"And for you, too! But you're not going! -And what about you, Ryoga?!"
"I haven't gone to school since I was kicked in the head in Junior High."
But he refused to let depression defeat him this time, "I have studied when I can! I go to libraries and read magazines and books off of the stands! Education is very important!"
"That's the kind of attitude you should have, Ranma." Akane tried not to sound like a scold.
"My education has been in martial arts. If it's not important to that, why do I gotta know it?"
"Education makes you a better person! And it has been a martial art for me! I have to battle for what I get!"
"Ryoga, would you like to go to our high school?" Akane asked. "It's pretty easy to get in. Especially, if you are a martial artist."
"Really?" Hope lit up his eyes.
Then dimmed. "I'll lose my way."
"I'll help you get to school and back! And Ranma will help, too! Won't you, Ranma?!"
"Aw, sure. Why not." He was the guy that had kicked him in the head that triggered his family's problem with directions. How else could the guy have found his way to school every day if it wasn't before he got his compass scrambled?
"You won't mind being Burin-chan, will you? I can carry you to school and back, then you won't get lost!"
"Hey! Remember, Ryoga's a guy! Don't go snugglin' up to his pig!"
"Jealous?" Akane giggled.
She stepped towards the boy with the bandana. She was going to give him a peck on his nose as if he were a pig with a snout.
She never got the chance!
Holding his nose, Ryoga ran outside as fast as he could.
"That's a great idea!" And she picked up her sleeping bag. "Let's all sleep under the stars, tonight! It'll be like we're already on our training trip!"
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Akane was excited. Ryoga was depressed about having to sleep outside again. Ranma didn't say much. He let the other two do most of the small talk.
And, then, they were asleep.
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Sunrise came and he and his travel pack were far from Nerima. He was on yet another training trip. Only this was the first one where he didn't have Pop with him. He was all by himself. Alone. Without friends. Without...family. In just the five days he had known them, the Tendos were becoming like family. And, yesterday, he had found his real family, his mom! He had spent less than one day with her!
But it was for her good. It was for everybody's good. Including his own. That battle in the 'Manga District' had shown him that fame was closing in on him. People wouldn't know him as the World's Best Martial Artist. No, they'd know him as the Freak Sex Changer!
He could handle being targeted by other martial artists out to prove themselves against him. He was prepared for that! He grew up knowing that the better he got, the more fights he would get into. That's how martial artists improved their skills. That's how a martial artist knew he was over the hill and had to open a dojo or something.
But he was not prepared to beat off the perverts! He couldn't see them having martial arts skills. They probably didn't have much of any skills. They probably had techniques, though. Techniques that would make his skin crawl all the way down to his soul! Hiroshi and Daisuke and that Hentai Horde at school gave him a sample. And they had to be only rank amateurs! The real Masters of Perversion could, maybe, leave both his manliness and womanliness shattered messes.
Out here, on the road, he had a better chance at escaping. They would hit and he would run!
"Geez! That don't sound like bein' a martial artist. But, at least, I won't be shamin' my family and friends. And I won't be attractin' perverts who'd also go after Akane and her sisters."
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Of course, it rained. It was a spring rain, but that didn't make Ranma feel any better. It might as well have been a November Rain (by Megumi Hayashibara),
All over town,
You can see tears.
You cannot see the drops of rain
Running down my cheeks…
That was all the lyrics, she could remember. The rest probably didn't fit with her life as it was now. But the music had a feeling she could relate to. And she liked the voice of the singer.
The rain did stop.
"Enough! You're Ranma Saotome! This is a trainin' trip and you're gonna train!"
And despite the lyrics, her new music was upbeat. I & Myself (by Megumi Hayashibara)
The sound of the loneliness about to break
like the echoing of a bell
I walk through the days even after fever
I'm not scared but I want to cry
The speed that feeds my heart
suddenly puts the break and spins
My whole body is lost between power and weakness
Let's go and believe in my me of tomorrow
I want to see you Tomorrow World
I'm full of courage
and love Tomorrow Heart
Look at me call me
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The Tendos and his Mom hadn't been told about the Saotome Survival Skills. There were the pure skills required to live off the land in the countryside (with avoiding farmhands being near the top). And then there were the base skills required to live off the land in the city. And since the redhead was still in a place of streets that went on for miles, the base, ignoble ones were what she had to use.
The little woman set down her big, heavy travel pack in front of a public bathhouse. From its own pocket in the pack, she brought a cheap-looking, collapsible metal bowl. It only looked cheap. She had won it from another martial artist in a challenge, and she had been challenged for it many times since.
She pulled the rings so they formed a full-sized bowl, set it down on the street, and began the Saotome City Survival Skills! Ranma Saotome was now a busker.
She began with the warm-up. She began with her katas. The simpler ones. She didn't want to warn off the suckers. But they still had to be impressive enough to get people to stop and gawk and, hopefully, throw a few coins in the bowl. There always seemed to be a handful that were generous enough. The chances were almost certain she would, at least, make enough for admittance into the bathhouse. She would worry about which side, women's or men's, when she got to the curtains.
"As you can see by my moves, I'm a martial artist! And I claim to be the best for my age! I'll take on whoever wants to challenge me! Name your wager! But you gotta pay the price of admission! 2,000 yen! You think that's cheap? It is! But that's how confident I am! I wanna battle!"
Ranma noticed she was drawing more of a crowd than she usually did. And this part of Greater Tokyo had more of an outskirts feel to it as if it was beginning to shade off to the countryside. It was "Nerima" without the tall buildings and daikon fields.
But it was several minutes before she got a nibble.
"Can you break a cinder block with your head?"
She sighed. "You couldn't come up with something original? Sure, I can! Just put 4,000 yen in the bowl!"
"You said it'd only cost 2,000 yen to fight you!"
"You wanna see me bash my head against somethin' hard or do you wanna fight me?"
The man held up his hands and shook his head. And he didn't put in 4,000 yen.
A group of teenage boys in the standard, plebe uniform of high schools stopped and stood in the back of the gathering. What were they doing here? Why weren't they in school? Ranma knew in an instant they would be trouble.
Another man nudged the other man, who could have been his nearly thirty-year-old son. The "father" dropped a couple of 50-yen coins. Grudgingly, his "son" dropped in another and a 10-yen coin.
It was a beginning. "Aw, right! That's what I like to see! But for that amount, I'm only gonna do my moves!"
"That's what we're paying to see," "father" said.
"Pose! Stick your chest and ass out!" "son" said, pointing in two different directions.
"I'm a martial artist! I ain't doin' it!"
"Then, we're taking our money back!"
"The bowl won't like it."
"The bowl...or you?"
"Both. But mainly the bowl. I wouldn't touch it if I were you." And she gave him a great, big I Dare You stare.
The two backed down. But they were too big of a pair of perverts to leave. Ranma would be in their fantasies tonight. She shuddered as if she could see them.
A woman and her friend, who apparently knew the two men, put in 500 yen between them. "You go ahead and be a martial artist!" ,
"And the best of luck to you," her friend said, looking over her shoulder at the group of teenagers.
"Don't worry! I can take care of myself!"
Since it was the time of day when there were mostly women about, Ranma didn't have to do any cheap moves that highlighted her cursed assets. Ranma did her standard moves, but did display her strength and speed! She hit her hand with a resounding smack and whipped the air with her kicks. There was applause. And there was more money in the bowl.
And then there wasn't! The sneaky "son" had either tried to get his money back or actually steal the whole amount! The Saotome Special Bowl did what it was designed to do.
When any weight was taken out of it, its trigger was released.
It collapsed back into concentric rings - But not before the spring that was its bottom sent all the coins and bills flying in all directions!
Ranma kicked up the nearest coin that had not landed and punched it!
The 10-yen coin hit the man and he fell to the pavement! And there he cowered, awaiting his fate.
Before she could yell at him, the teenagers made their move. "We hear you'll fight anybody."
"For 2,000 yen." She kept her outward calm. She was sure these were the standard jerks she had met at all the boys' schools she had been to. These didn't like a girl thinking she was better than they were.
"That means you won't fight us if we don't pay you!" said the joker of the group. His buddies laughed, too.
Ranma turned to the anxious gathering. "If they start the fight, I get to keep all the money they got, right?"
"Hey!"
Ranma turned back to their big, "bad" leader. "I'm here to make money," the little redhead smiled. "I'm just makin' it clear I ain't stealin' when I take all your money."
He swung first! She didn't return in kind. She dodged and retreated. The joker went to grab her. She ducked and came up near a third of the gang. He, too, was more interested in molesting her than fighting her. He didn't get the opportunity. And on she went. She gave all five of them their chance.
"Now that all of you have agreed to the rules of this fight, I'll defeat you!"
The all came at her from all directions!
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It was a short fight that got the applause of the gathering, especially the first two women. Besides the 4,750 yen she collected from the pockets and wallets from the pile of boys, those two also gave her 1,000 yen more than the 500 they had contributed earlier. How much money did that make she had all together?
She didn't have the time to find out!
A bag of money was thrown down into her collapsed bowl.
"2,000 yen! Ranma fight! No run!"
"Sha,Sham, Shampoo!"
Her chui came crashing down and cracking the pavement!
What was Ranma to do?! Ever since she ran from her back in her village - Ever she ran from her throughout China - Her Pop sensei always telling her to run - She'd been a GIRL! The kind of girl her stupid Old Man had conditioned her to think girls were like!
The purple-haired amazon landed on the street before her. "Ranma no run! Say will fight all ones that challenge!"
Aaa! She had trapped herself! Ranma Saotome never turned down a challenge!
As Shampoo reached for the solid metal mace, Ranma jumped on its colorful surface. Now, the girl had only one.
She brought this one down to bash her head in!
Ranma caught it just in time! "Sh, Shampoo, can't we talk?!" Where was her confidence!?
"Talk Chinese! That language of land Ranma dishonor Shampoo!"
The amazon was surprised to see, and feel, her victim slip out from under her chui, then slip on top of it! The redhead used her 100 lb, 45 kg, weight to slam that chui down onto the one still on the ground. And she remained on them both!
"Yeah, that's a problem. I don't know Chinese and you barely know Japanese. But can't we still find a way to be friends?" The redhead in her put on her most adorable face, complete with the hands balled up under her chin.
"Ranma no know honor!"
"Hey! I do to!" The act was over. But she was still intimidated by the powerful girl!
Suddenly, she was lifted in the air by the strong, strong amazon lifting both Ranma and a mace by its handle!
Ranma reached down and picked the other chui by its handle. Now, Shampoo had difficulty with the weight of all three of them.
And Ranma was in the perfect position to bash her head in!
Or so the amazon thought. Ranma didn't fight like that. Instead, she hugged the ball to her.
Shampoo dropped the first chui and grabbed the second out of her opponent's hand.
There was, again, the sound of iron dank and deck against concrete. And a small squeak. There was an idea!
Ranma's foot landed solidly on the handle She kicked the head away from its handle, sending it rolling.
"Please, Shampoo, don't make me break the other one, too!"
Shampoo eyed the tribe heirloom and the enemy of her clan who had damaged it!
She thrust her remaining mace straight at her! She would turn her insides into jelly!
But the smaller girl lifted her feet off the ground and cradled the metal ball to her belly, riding the chui.
The amazon brought her weapon back, getting her enemy close enough to deliver a killer blow to the face-
Stretching a little, the redhead kissed her. On the nose. She didn't know why. It just seemed the girl-thing to do.
Ranma landed, ready to continue the fight. She didn't want to. She wanted to, again, run-
Shampoo dropped her weapon, teared up...and ran!
"What? I won? How?"
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A black-haired boy in Chinese clothes left the public bathhouse. "Now, I can take the money I earned today and eat!" Not only had he have the 6,830 yen from busking, the 2,000 yen from Shampoo, but people had paid him 960 yen for the 'show' he and Shampoo had put on. He probably would have gotten more, if it had lasted longer.
"Where should I eat? I'm dippin' too much into the ki reservoir. I need to get a lot of calories in me! But I gotta watch my money. I don't really like puttin' on shows for gawkers.
"Hmph! Especially gawkers who're perverts."
"Ranma, is that you? It IS!"
"A, Akane(!)?! How did you find me?! I don't even know where I am!" Ranma saw she was carrying a large traveling pack!
"She found you because of me, of course," said Ryoga, coming around a corner. Hearing their voices had set him on the right course. He, too, had a pack.
"The guy that gets lost finds me 'cuz I'm lost? It makes sort of stupid sense."
"Hey, you're the one that said I got superior tracking ability!"
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"You two had better go. I'm just gonna lose you, again," Ranma said around his third order of sushi spicy roll.
"And I'll find you again. You can't lose this lost boy!" Ryoga said, more mannerly eating his tempura fried eel.
Akane had opted for a Caesar salad with lots of dressing. "You gave your word, Ranma Saotome! You said you'd take me on a training trip!"
"Uh, did I, Akane? I don't remember it that way."
"What kind of sensei are you going to be(!)?! The kind I've had to put up with all of my life?!"
"Uh, I guess not. But, geez, training trips are not somethin' I really want no more. That's been my whole life. When I came to your place, I had hoped I wouldn't have to. At least for a year."
"Yeah. I understand that, too well," Ryoga said. "I haven't had really haven't had a place to stay for three years. Sure, I find my way back to my folks' house, once in a while. But then I lose that, too."
"Then why don't you both come back to my house! I'll settle for short training jaunts, at least until you are ready."
"With my sense of direction, they're more likely to become long journeys."
"Not if you have somebody like me with you, Ryoga," Akane smiled.
Ryoga blushed.
Ranma frowned at the two.
"It's not that simple." And he actually stopped eating.
"The first reason I left was because of the boobytraps. Even if there are no more, I realized I got enemies. Like Shampoo. If she thought you were an obstacle, she wouldn't hesitate killin' you."
"But you said you defeated her!"
"I don't know how I won the battle! And a warrior girl like her isn't just "defeated"! She's comin' back after me, I'm sure. She gave me the Kiss of Death!"
"And you gave her the Kiss of...Something," Ryoga smiled.
"What? The kiss of "Sayonara, it's been nice knowin' you"?"
"It had to have been a meaningful kiss!" Akane insisted. "You said she cried!"
"Maybe it was a "Hi, I like the way you look" kiss(?)" Ryoga suggested. "Is this Shampoo beautiful?"
"She's tryin' to kill me! I only paid attention to her to get away from her!"
"Hmm…," Akane thought. "She kissed you after you defeated her in her village. What would have happened if you had kissed her back?"
Ranma shrugged.
"Kisses are important to girls. A kiss like that would have been meaningful!"
"A kiss on the cheek would've meant you gave her the Kiss of Death, wouldn't it?" Ryoga asked.
"But you didn't kiss her on the cheek. And you didn't kiss her on the lips. You kissed her on the nose." Akane was still struggling with a possible answer that remained on the tip of her tongue.
"Okay. What does it mean when somebody kisses another on the nose?" Ryoga asked.
"Intimacy!" Akane snapped her fingers. Then she pointed at Ranma, "And insult! Either way, it means you didn't want to take Shampoo as a serious threat! She can either think she's been insulted.
"Or she could accept your invitation to be on intimate terms."
"Uh, how "intimate"?" Ranma swallowed without any food in his mouth.
"It depends on the dance you two do together. It could stop with you two just being good friends, or…." Akane bit her lip.
"Or?"
"You were a girl when you kissed her?"
"Yeah. So?"
"She's an amazon, in a place where women are the superior sex. Maybe isolated from their men. I wonder just how bisexual they are."
[][][]
Ranma agreed to stay with them for a while longer. He hoped Ryoga would get them lost enough for Shampoo not to find them.
"Okay. You and your dad are martial artists! What about your sisters, Kasumi and Nabiki."
"You haven't had time to see how skilled they are at avoiding attacks. They are as good at not getting involved in fights as you are at getting into them! Trust me!"
"Well…." Since he had no plans, then, to return to test that trust, he didn't argue.
"That just leaves Mom." He stopped and looked off into the horizon. "I won't go back home. I won't let her get hurt."
"So, you won't see her ever?" Akane shook her head.
Ranma wasn't ready to deal with that issue. He changed to another.
"I told you my first reason for leavin' was to protect the people I care about. The second also is about that. But it's more about me.
"My life has been gettin' complicated. And it's only gonna get more complicated when more people know about my curse. I'm afraid I'm gonna become famous! It really scares me!"
"You, Ranma Saotome, afraid? You always bragged you weren't afraid of anything," Ryoga said.
"I ain't! If I can deal with it by martial arts!" Or his opponent isn't a bloodthirsty amazon berserker!
"Only how do you fight fame? The more I fight, the more famous I'll become."
"That's what you wanted!" Ryoga said, remembering their school days. "That's what we both wanted!"
"But I'm a guy who becomes a girl! People'll want me to be a girl! Maybe I can be a girl who does martial artist, but I'll be a girl before that to them!"
"Ranma!" Akane became excited! "Become famous! Then prove to everybody that a girl can be a martial artist! A serious, dangerous martial artist!"
"Akane, that would prove nothin'. I'm not a born-girl. It's girls like you that's gotta prove that to people."
"Ranma…." Again she was touched by the faith he showed in her abilities.
Then she full of determination, "I need to go on training missions."
"Let's not go back to that, yet, Akane!"
"I think I recognize this place," Ryoga said after they had turned yet another corner.
They had come to the place from a direction Akane and Ranma didn't normally go. But they were now standing in front of a very familiar place.
It was Dr. Tofu's clinic.
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"So, you're Ryoga Hibiki, and you have a congenital condition that gives you little sense of direction. Is that correct, Hibiki-san?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, Doctor. And call me Ryoga. I don't have many that will call me a friendly name."
"And he turns into a pig," Ranma said.
"A cute, little, black pig!" Akane said. "Perfect for cuddling with!"
"Akane, we need to talk," Dr. Tofu told her.
"Another one?" Akane smiled. "I just love hearing you talk, Dr. Tofu!" So much so, she seldom heard what he actually was trying to say.
"Your mother was here, earlier, Ranma. I'm not sure I convinced her that my prescription was right for you. But by staying a girl, you can learn to keep most of your manliness by understanding the differences. And not the false premises you father has passed on to you. The differences between the two genders are not as great as their similarity. The differences are a matter of perspective. And they are both vital in the scheme of things. Each gender has its value. You are in a unique position to find the balance between them, and make the best use of whichever one a situation calls for. You would, then, truly be the Master of Anything-Goes."
"That's a sample of what you said to Mom? Man, I ain't sure she can accept that.
"And right now, I'm beginning to doubt it, myself.
"I don't wanna become famous, Doc! Not as a girl! People'll want me to be a girl! I'm havin' trouble not bein' a girl! You don't know how hard it is to be a guy with girl memories! It can make me feel...sick."
"You've only been using my prescription for four days. I have already noticed an improved stability in your condition. Remember what you were like when you came to me after that first day at school? The more often you are a girl, the more you will be able to come to terms with it.
"Then, there will come a time when you freely choose which form you want to be in at the moment. You will choose the male, of course. But there will be times when you think your female body is the better choice."
"I'm not gonna argue about that. I'm gonna leave for good unless I can find a way not to become famous!"
Dr. Tofu smiled broadly. "Then there is no reason for you to leave, Ranma. You won't become famous."
"What?!" the three others asked in disbelief.
"Let me ask you, how famous is Jusenkyo?"
[][][]
Three teens left the clinic together, a boy and two girls.
"Why would anybody want to become a pig!?" Ryoga cried.
"There are springs that turn people into other animals," Akane reminded him. "And there are some people who would rather be a cool animal than an uncool human."
"Yeah. I guess. I've met a lot of weird people in my travels."
"And the Doc said there are more guys that wanna become girls than anything else." Ranma was still having a hard time wrapping her head around that.
"Dr. Tofu is right. Those types of men would stop at nothing if they thought they could become a real girl just by adding water."
"And they wouldn't be stuck with it," Ryoga said. "They could always change their minds and bodies and go back to being a guy.
"As long as they don't have cold water hit them."
"And let's not forget girls!" Akane said. "Ayane said it, back when she was at my house. There are girls who would kill for a body like this redheaded one, Ranma."
"And, yet, it's not famous. Nobody knows about the Valley of Cursed Springs. Nobody that's not meant to be cursed." The short redhead walked taller. "It's a Training Ground because it is meant only for those who can become martial artist worthy to be cursed."
"Yeah!" Ryoga smiled, feeling taller, himself.
But he remembered being a little pig. "I don't think I want to be worthy."
[][][]
One of the Tendo tall, heavy gates was on the ground, the other off its hinges!
The front door of the house was busted!
"Mom!"
"My family!"
"In here!" came the reply.
They all rushed to the common room.
"Ranma!" her mom smiled. "I'm so glad you're showing an interest in girls!"
"Ranma date Shampoo, now," said Shampoo.
