An unusual disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is the trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. And Son Turned Daughter was originally written back in 2002 by FanFiction author Tangent, and his characters Megume, Yasushi and Ayane have, likewise, been borrowed without permission. Please see the first two chapters of this story under his pen name. This story has been written for non-commercial purposes only.

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No spoilers. Just trust me. Please read to the end.

Note, also, that this is an alternative universe; what is anachronistic in ours is not here.

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The trio didn't have their hands remain on another's shoulder. They had to climb the stairs to the 3rd floor to reach Classroom 1-F. Along the way, Ranma was treated to the continuing argument between Makoto and Shikako.

"...XY is still the greatest boy-band of Japan!" Makoto said.

"They should change their name to TS!" Shikako told her.

"Ex-Why? Tea S?" Ranma asked. She at least knew bands could have weird names.

Passionate fan Makoto explained, "XY is named after what makes a boy a boy: male DNA!"

Shikako briefly laughed, "Then they replaced their lead singer! Aoi is more like a ladyboy!"

"Ladyboy?" Suddenly Ranma felt uncomfortable.

"Aoi isn't! And he isn't a transsexual!"

"How about…"

"And he isn't missing his Y-chromosome.!" Makoto then screamed, "You made me say it!"

Shikako apologized, "I'm really sorry, Makoto! I went too far! I know you just want to think that XY can only mean XY."

Ranma wondered what the problem was until she realized "Ex-Why" was "XY" but could mean "Ex-Y". "C, Can we talk about something else." she pleaded. "No boy bands. Or boys. Or..."

"What else is there to talk about? Homework?" Shikako groaned.

"How about flowers?" Makoto said, the first to look into the hall-side windows of 1-F where only a few students were. Inside, two desks had a formal flower arrangement on them.

"Aren't those where you and Akane sit, Ranma?" Shikako gawked.

"Why are they there?"

"Why!? You have somebody who wants to be your boyfriend!" Makoto squealed, rushing in to smell the roses.

"Boyfriend!? No, no! This is not the right time for me to have a boyfriend!" but she remained speaking in female Japanese.

"It's never the right time to have Kuno as a boyfriend," Shikako agreed.

"KUNO!? No. It has to be somebody else!"

"Who else would do something this strange? An ikebana display? And left in a classroom?"

"This school has lots of strange boys - people! Even girls!" But none stranger than Kuno. If Ranma didn't count herself.

The tall girl had to guide the small redhead ahead of her for her to enter the classroom.

"Look!" Makoto said, lifting a bouquet of flowers that had been on Ranma's desk seat behind the arrangement.

Ranma walked without meaning to walk. The closer she came to the flowers, the more she felt...something. It had come back. It was compelling her to…

"This is too much!" Akane screamed. She was leading the rest of the class that had remained to see her confrontation with Megume and her gang.

She stormed into the room, snatched up the flowers on her own desk and seat and went directly to an outside window. It wasn't fully opened before she tossed them out!

Ranma had her bouquet torn right from her arms! The scrape of thorns broke the trance she was under. She saw Akane throw the flowers meant for Ranma out the window, too. Rescued!

Ranma's knees gave out, and she collapsed into her seat. Grabbing her head, she stared at the abyss on top of her desk. The Something! The Something! Was this what "compulsive arousal" felt like when she couldn't be aroused?! As soon as she could be would she become like mom and have no choice, unable to stop herself!? Did their DNA condemn them to be submissive to the one-and-only with their special trigger?! And what was the trigger? Ranma could well guess what her old man and Kuno had in common.

WAIT! It was worse! The Doc had told her that in all the world there would only be about 50 people who could trigger the reaction. But out of billions of people she had already met two! She had felt the Something with Kuno's dad, too! It had been in assembly. She had actually let him cut off her absolutely important pigtail!

But there was hope! She had snapped out of it! The Something couldn't - wouldn't! - completely control her! That is what she wanted, what she HAD to believe! She didn't dare think any further than that.

She sneezed! Blinking and sort of coming back into the here-and-now, she saw that white powder was falling off her hair and onto her bust. Was it Kodachi's neurotoxin?!

But the class was laughing and giggling at her. A chalk eraser was laying on top of the classroom textbook placed on her desk.

"I see I have your attention. Bring the eraser back up here, Ranma," said Koyama-sensei, the homeroom teacher.

"Di, Did you say Ranma!?" a boy cried from the teacher's platform he was also on.

"That's my name," she said, getting out of the desk with the eraser. She was probably brushing the chalk off in a way that wasn't immodest for a girl in public. She couldn't really think to be proper. Her mind was still troubled by thoughts of the Something. And the medicine. If her sexual awakening erupted, she wouldn't be able to control it. But she wanted to keep it locked up!

The long-haired boy stammered before he could find, "Ra,Ranma Sa,Saotome?"

"Ranma Saotome," she said, putting the eraser on the chalkboard sill. "And you are?"

The teacher said, "Our new student was introducing himself while you were in your own little world." Did he have to say "little"? On the teacher's platform, he and the boy in the old-fashioned plebe coat seemed that much taller than she was as a redhead who was short even for a girl.

The boy introduced himself again, this time especially for Ranma. He gazed down at her, saying, "I'm Ukyo Kuonji."

Ranma's heart skipped a beat! Suddenly the boy attracted her attention like no boy had ever had before! It put him into detailed focus. He had turquoise eyes! His long, long, straight hair was a glossy brown, his jawline was still more boyish than manly but definite. And so was his frame for he carried himself as a confident martial artist would. Her experienced eye told her he had great upper-body strength. Which, come to think of it, probably came from wielding that giant weapon he had slung on his back. What was it? Smaller versions were up front in his bandolier.

But, surprisingly, Ranma didn't find herself interested in him as a martial artist. It was the boy that had captured it! She was interested!

The boyishly handsome guy kept his gaze on her, "Do you recognize the name? Does Ukyo mean anything?!" he demanded.

Ranma struggled. But not too hard. She would rather keep her thoughts on the boy himself. "Maybe."

He became impatient, "Are you of the Anything-Goes School?!"

"Yes. What is yours?"

"But you're a GIRL!"

That upset her! "Girls can be martial artists! I can beat ANY boy! Try me!"

"You dyed your hair?!"

"Do you want me to?" her hand went up to the red. Where did that reaction come from?!

"I told you, Ukyo!" Ikuko Kuonji told him. "You must be thinking of her step-brother, Romeo."

"Romeo," Ukyo repeated, fixing the name in his memory.

Ranma was disappointed when he turned away from her, his handsome turquoise eyes no longer fixated on her. She stood there - thinking maybe he would talk to her again - until the teacher told her to go back to her desk. She didn't like moving away from Ukyo.

"...Japanese pizza! I make the greatest okonomiyaki in all of Japan! - In all of the world!"

Okonomiyaki Ukyo! The name began to mean something to Ranma! What?! Why was she having…

That was it! It was maybe ten years ago! Pop and her - always a him, then - were on yet another journey of always looking for new techniques, new opponents, and new dojos (that hadn't yet heard about the Anything-Goes School's reputation or how her pop couldn't be trusted). They had camped at a country crossroad that had enough business to keep an okonomiyaki-vendor's cart staying there during their training journey. The cart owner had a son his age.

That month had been one of the happiest of his childhood! He had made a friend!

A FRIEND!?

Ranma's world was rocked! Akane wasn't her first real friend! How could she forget that?! How could she forget Ukyo?! He had met no one like him.

Maybe.

"Bwee! Bwee-ummm!" It was Burin-chan just under Akane's desk. It was being fed a slice of okonomiyaki by her.

It annoyed Ranma how much attention she gave the pig. It wasn't a pet! It was a guy! It was Ryoga! He was just cursed! And why was he cursed!? Because he was stupid and stubborn enough to follow him all the way to China! All to finish a middle school fight! Geez! For a guy who was once his...friend.

A friend. Another friend! Why didn't she remember her friends!?

Suddenly Ukyo Kuonji was setting a large okonomiyaki on Ranma's desk. She was the only one he had personally delivered his "pizza" to. "I saved my best kind for you, honey."

"You did?" Ranma's eyes became starry.

"I acted like a jackass. I want you to know I hold nothing against you personally. Your jackass step-dad: You bet! When I find him…." He simmered, holding back reactions he was saving for others.

He walked away from her, saying, "Tell Romeo I'm coming for him, too."

In the desk in front of Ranma, Ikuko leaned back to be closer to her as she whispered, "You're interested in my cousin, aren't you? I am President of the Date Management Club. And Ukyo owes me."

Date? Date!? With a guy!? "I,I have to be more interested in dating-" She stopped herself in time! She was supposed to be a guy on her - no: His - date with Akane! And Ikuko and everybody thought she was a she! What would they think if they thought a girl wanted to date another girl!? How would Akane take it being thought of as that girl? To Ranma there was little confusion about how Akane would react. Her mallet hadn't appeared for some time. Ranma would like to keep it that way.

"Ranma!" Akane was across the aisle from her. "Your mom made me promise to remind you to take your medicine."

"The medicine?"

"If you eat that okonomiyaki, it counts as a meal."

Ranma's stomach gurgled. Just mentioning food was enough to make her ready to eat. It came from a life of not knowing when her next meal would, or could, be.

But if the medicine worked, the Something could turn into a hopeless lust for Kuno. Maybe for both the son and father! If dangerously insane turned her on, she might even have the hots for Kodachi! Better to prefer guys then!

But that wasn't at the top of her divided conscious, or even subconscious. It was Ukyo. He was the first one she or he had any sexual interest in. Ever! (Or so she thought.)

Did that mean when she had a female brain she liked what normal female brains liked?! Or did it mean his "male" mind liked guys!?

"Okay, Class, street-sampling is over with. We're already running late," Koyama-sensei told them. "It's time to turn back the clock to Japanese history before Western contact."

Ranma picked up her bookbag, unlatched it and took out both her notebook and the large bottle of medicine as if in one motion. But she didn't open the notebook.

She opened the bottle. She looked at the okonomiyaki. She looked at the bottle. She looked at Ukyo as he passed her to sit behind her.

She leaned forward to whisper to Ikuko. "Ukyo vs. Kuno." And may Ukyo win. Sorry, Akane. Maybe when she had a guy brain.

She filled her mouth with the thick, blue liquid and gulped the medicine down. Sweet! Salty! Sour! Bitter!

The okonomiyaki was gone before she could have said "Japanese pizza". (It was better than pizza!)

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As the teacher droned on, Ranma wasn't bored as she usually was during classtime. Her mind was filled with too many questions that had nothing to do with Japanese history. They were about her - but especially his - own history.

Why didn't she remember her friends?!

The answer she found was: Pop! He hadn't wanted him to have friends! Or at least that's what it seemed like to him. Everytime he did start to have one, he was torn away and forced again on the road to martial arts supremacy! Ranma had discovered early that there would only be that and his old man in his life. Don't count on there being anything else. He had found the Buddhist concept of Everything Is Ephemeral and applied it in his own way. He tried to enjoy what he could when he could, knowing it wouldn't last. After it was gone, he had to forget about it. He couldn't miss what he couldn't remember.

And not remembering made him all the more lonely.

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After Koyama-sensei had left and everybody was waiting for the next teacher to enter, Ranma put the notebook back in the bag and took out the one for english, assuming Miss Yukari would show up. (She wasn't entirely dependable.) When she went to put the bottle back, though, it wouldn't fit in the bag. It was too large. "How the…."

It took a few more tries before she gave up.

Meanwhile, Shikako, Yuka and three other girls were blocking the aisles around Ukyo, trapping Ranma at her desk. She stayed there, listening intently. If she was going to go after Ukyo (or boys in general), she had to learn how born-girls succeed or fail.

It was basic stuff, mostly what she and he had already done. Names and interests. He wouldn't reveal his recipes; those were his trade secrets. Ranma did find out one thing they had in common: Furinkan was the first school they'd gone to that wasn't boys-only.

Ranma's trained senses told her Ukyo had his guard up. And the hairs raising on the back of her neck said it was directed towards her. If he was trying to protect his "trade secrets" of his martial arts, she figured she already knew. What else could it be but The Kuonji School of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki.? Ranma already knew something about it. Ikuko Kuonji belonged to it, though in a rival branch. Ikuko had crowded a schoolroom full of unnecessary exercise equipment. (Though Ranma did understand it was also meant to intimidate back when her club was called The Truce Enforcement Club.)

Ranma wasn't impressed. But, then, she didn't need to be. For once in her life it wasn't martial arts that captured her interest. It was Ukyo himself! Was it possible for them to recapture what they had had as kids? Could they? He wasn't a kid now. He was a teen and well on his way to becoming an adult. In fact, he seemed mature for his age. Ranma was a teen, but according to the Doc and everybody else, she wasn't on her way to becoming mature. Not until she finished the medicine.

And, oh, yeah, not only wasn't she not a kid anymore, she was no longer a boy, either. Not in school.

"I have nothing against you girls, I'm just not interested in dating," Ukyo said. "I have a business to run."

Miss Yukari finally did enter. Everybody not in their desks headed for them. Ranma felt the girls's disappointment.

Ranma wasn't one of those girls. She was certain her trained senses told her the boyishly handsome guy behind her couldn't keep his eyes off of her!

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For all of Miss Yukari's many faults, her English wasn't one of them. No one, not even Ranma, would mistake her for a native speaker, but witnesses said that anytime somebody not Japanese visited the school, she was the one who was called on to translate to and from the world's lingua franca. They seemed to understand her and she them. That meant she wasn't just parroting what the required textbook had her read.

"...A man went into general store. He spoke to man behind counter. He said, "I want to buy a trap".

"Aa! I can't take this crap any longer!" she said, diving back into Japanese as she threw her book against a wall. "At least it should be accurate to what Mark Onsen actually said over and over again!"

"Who?" Ranma asked.

"The teacher in Urusei Yatsura," Ikuko whispered.

"The one with Ryuunosuke?" Ranma felt haunted.

"General stores? Traps? Killing animals for their fur? What do they have to do with the modern world!? I'm changing the lesson plan!" Then as she stood there it became clear she hadn't planned this. It was typical Yukari. She had no lesson plan of her own. It had only been one of her impulses!

Danger! Danger! Miss Yukari was about to go mental! Faced with that Shikako panicked and filled the silence with the English she was most familiar with, "Take it from me. It's a lesson to be learned: even the good guys get burned."

"Boy band lyrics!" Miss Yukari grinned as if it was she alone who had the inspiration. "Let's see…. "I'm awake, but my world is half asleep." She thrust up a fist, saying, "Backstreet Boys!"

She rushed to her desk and started writing. The class breathed a sigh of relief.

Until, after over five minutes of struggling with her memory, she got up with the pages of paper she hadn't crumpled and littered the floor with. She handed them out at random. "Read what I gave you when I call on you!

"We'll start with our two newest students. Let's see what your English skills are like. Ranma!"

Ranma looked at the paper. What Miss Yukari had written was entirely in alphabet letters, and entirely in English. Ranma's command of that language was spotty. (To her old man, Japanese and Chinese were the only languages of true martial arts. And he didn't know Chinese.) Sure, she had had to take it in her other schools. But like so many, she avoided having to pronounce it if she could. And when she couldn't, she had an impulse to repeat the joke that summed up all that was wrong when Japanese were forced to: Ou, maii Gaa! (Oh, my God!)

Feeling defeated before she started, Ranma struggled to begin.

"It's all about attitude!" Miss Yukari told her and the class, herself full of attitude! "Let it flow! Think of an English song you've heard! A movie! Something: Anything with emotion! Get some inflection into your voice! English is all about using pitch for more than just word accents as in Japanese!

"Stand up, Ranma! You, too, Ukyo! Face each other and read your pages! With whatever English tune you can!"

Ranma didn't want to! But she was already feeling defeated and embarrassed. Like anything unpleasant, she had to rush ahead and get it over with! "Saduness is beautifulu, loneliness is t,ragicalu." She felt it. She repeated it. With more emotion, it came out clearer. "Sadness is beautiful, loneliness is tragical."

"I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did, as long as you love me," Ukyo said.

It was perfect. Ranma had to catch herself on her desk to keep from swooning.

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Ranma barely heard the lyrics others in the class read. But she had come to appreciate boy bands before she had even heard or seen any. With the medicine in her, she was beginning to convince herself that when the girl she did have a normal girl brain. And at the moment it felt better than she remembered her guy's being.

Miss Yukari gave her a 68, while Ukyo received an 92. He said that he had learned English because that was the language of business. He wasn't going to stay a cart vendor all of his life.

"Good for you, Ukyo!" Ikuko told her. Her part of the clan already had restaurants.

"But first, I have to complete my mission," Ukyo said. He looked at Ranma, but she saw no menace in it. Could he be having feelings for her?

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Between the second period and third, Ikuko took Ukyo aside. As they talked, they both looked in Ranma's direction. Her date with Ukyo was being set up. (Ikuko really didn't have to use threats, right? After all, she was no longer president of the Truce Enforcement Club.)

"Ranma? Ranma! Do you hear me?!" It was Akane. "Everything that you've ever dreamed of disappearing when you wake up. But there's nothing to be afraid of, even when the night changes."

"What?!" Then she saw Akane had been reading that.

"You don't remember. That's what I read. I was thinking of you! I got an 86 for my acting."

Ranma felt touched. And ashamed. She had forgotten her again. Ukyo may be important to her girl brain, but Akane had to be important to his guy brain. She just had to be! "We are having the lunch-date together!"

"Ranma!" Akane's long hair flew as she turned her head left and right, afraid that somebody had noticed and misunderstood.

"Oops! That's right! I can't. I mean, your date is with Romeo."

"But what about Ukyo?"

Ranma looked and saw he was heading back to his seat. (Ikuko headed for the classroom door.) He looked resigned. But Ranma wished to interpret it differently. Maybe he just didn't like girls fighting to make a boyfriend out of him. But that made him all the more cool! (Cool? That was what Ryuunosuke was and Ranma wasn't, right.?) Still, when he got to know her, he would see she was different from other girls…

"The guy has something against you-I mean, Romeo!"

"I'm not afraid of a fight." Rejection, now that was another matter. But what kind of relationship could they have when she was the "step-sister" of his targeted opponent? Well, it might actually help! Maybe. Until he found out she was Romeo.

Ranma shook it out of her head. She had to concentrate on Akane! "Romeo will date you. Nothing can stop him. I promise, Akane." Her manhood is on the line.

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Instead of putting up with the headmaster, Kagami-sensei had quit. That meant the stern Ikemizu-sensei had to substitute for this class as well as teach his 6th period class. Furinkan had a hard time attracting enough teachers. (They were better paid than most, though.)

Ikuko came back into the classroom just as the bell rang. Before she sat down in front of Ranma, she was able to pass a note to her.

It said simply, [Kuno can't date you today. Tomorrow.]

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And after third period it was lunch time! Ranma snatched up Bruin-chan and ran for the door!

"Ranma!" Akane protested. But not enough to not turn around and collect her and the redhead's bookbags, and the bottle of medicine. It was enough time to lose them.

Ranma carried the little, squealing pig as fast as she could to one of the PE yard troughs. The school had no showers, just large, concrete sinks which were expected to be good enough to wash away the stink of sweat with the soap that was left out. It was a common practice of schools to cut down on costs. What the private school did or did not spend its money on didn't have to make sense. It was owned by the Kunos, after all.

"Now to see if this technique works!" She really should have tested it, but she had only thought of it while talking with her mom this morning. She really hadn't incorporated many of the really spectacular techniques into her body, but she did know how they basically worked. To leave her hands free, she stepped on the pig and pinned it down to struggle under her foot. Then using her breathing techniques, she concentrated her chi energy into the dan tien center of her body mass, two inches, five centimeters, below her navel, ...until she felt her body heat seem like the sun and radiate out to her hands. (But not her feet; she didn't want Burin-chan to drain it away from her in case it surprised her and knew the advanced technique.)

What now? Could she heat the water directly? She thought even if she could, it still might not work to change Burin-chan into Ryoga. Magic had its own stupid rules. Coming back from China, she - a he, then - had been snowed on and had slogged through deep snow, but weirdly he hadn't changed into the girl. What was snow but very cold water!? Even when it melted on him, he stayed a guy. It wasn't hot at all! It suggested something else besides body heat had to transform the water's temperature first.

Anyway, there was a bucket with some water in it by the trough. Metal conducted heat and would do it faster. She took it between her hands, and brought most of the heat from her center out into the shiatsu pivot points at her fingers's base, between her index and middle fingers.

Her concentration left her guard down! The little porker broke free and made a dash for it! Reflexively, without thinking, she drew on the Reservoir, drawing on the available ki energy! It joined with her internal chi energy and turned it into her own, external, ki energy! The agitated water didn't have to steam; it just had to be hotter than body temperature!

She tossed the water! It wouldn't have hit the pig, if it hadn't turned. It thought it had been far enough away to think it could spin and look for an opening to attack! Burin-chan was gone in a splash!

"RANMA! How dare you treat me like that!" the angry Ryoga yelled.

"Hold on! Before we fight!" She said, holding up her hands. They looked to have third-degree burns. "Let me cool my hands off!" Hoping he wouldn't attack her while her back was partially turned to him, she elbowed one of the faucets of the trough. "Man! I don't wanna have to do this too often!"

As the water filled her hands, she stifled a cry of pain! At least it wasn't very cold water hitting her burns. She didn't keep her hands under the water for long

- Just long enough to whip herself around and tossed the non-hot water at Ryoga!

"BWEE! BWEE!" The only thing left of Ryoga were his clothes.

"Bingo!" Ranma grinned through her pain.

The pig attacked her! The fight was intense, but it didn't last long. Somebody interrupted them.

"Ryoga! If you want to date me, you'd better stop now! I said now! Sit!" It wasn't Akane.

To Ranma's shock it was, "Nabiki!?"

And she wasn't the only one shocked. That pause was enough for Akane's sister to take the little, black pig into her bosom. "There! Isn't that better?"

The animal wasn't confused enough to nod its head. (She patted its chest but didn't pet it.)

"I won my bet," Nabiki smiled at Ranma. "And you can count on me collecting on it. Now, it's a nice enough day for people to eat outside. Go while you can still find a place to strip, girl. The equipment shed is open."

Ranma couldn't argue. Ranma wasn't the strategist Nabiki was. If she had been, she would have - should have - realized that of course Ryoga would have attacked her for turning him back into Burin-chan! It had been a dirty trick.

Taking Ryoga's clothes off the ground she ran for the PE yard's equipment shed. Of course there was water inside waiting.

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Ranma became Romeo as he put on Ryoga's rough, sturdy clothes. It actually had him feeling more manly. How long had it been since he had worn anything really masculine? Well, besides his cotton underwear and his silk Chinese outfit? But Kasumi's panties and nightie last night reminded him that those materials weren't something normally restricted to males. This undyed hemp seemed to be that to him.

How appropriate. He needed to be masculinely manly! He needed his guy-brain to be sexually interested in Akane! (And if not her, any girl!) And he was willing to pay the price with burned hands. In fact, the injury made him remember all those he had as a guy. His pop had always told him to Don't complain. Suck it up! Be a man!

Well, his healing techniques were a part of his body's own trained knowledge. They would work to heal him even if he were unconscious. His hands would become okay.

He could only hope they were well soon enough if Ukyo was hunting for him. He doubted it.

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Nabiki with her "pet" pig was waiting outside. "There is no fourth-period PE today. Don't ask how, there just isn't. That means you lucky people with it have a full ninety minutes to have lunch.

"Next to the school is Lost Lovers Wood. Go to the first cherry tree in bloom you see. That's where you'll find Akane. And that's all you need to do but be your own charming self!" (Ranma thought she may have said that sarcastically.) "I've arranged for everything else for the 'perfectly romantic' date. (Trademarked.)"

"What am I gonna have to pay you?" he asked, suspicious.

"As I said this morning: Easy payments! And the first of them is that you allow me to publish those photos of you in your French maid uniform."

"But Mom!"

"You mom already knows, remember?" she smirked.

Ranma growled. But he said, "Only if the date is perfect!"

"Trademarked!" she laughed. "Listen, you'd better get going, or I'll see that Ryoga returns. You know what will happen if he does.?"

"He attacks me again."

"That, too. But more importantly, he'll reclaim his clothes."

It was unfair! Both Ryoga's and pop's clothes returned to their bodies from wherever they'd left them when they became human again! Why couldn't his, male clothes come back from him when he was no longer a girl?! (The simple answer made him feel no better. It was that both as a guy or a girl, he was already and always human. He hated the rules of magic!)

"Nerima has laws against indecent, public exposure. Who knows? We might actually see the police." She said it in a way that didn't quite sound like a threat.

Romeo stood there, trying to form a reply. Seeing that, Nabiki turned her attention to the pig she lifted up to look straight into its beady, black eyes. "Nothing personal, Ryoga. It's business. I disagree with Akane. I think you're cuter as a guy! Much cuter!" She actually sounded sincere.

Romeo saw Burin-chan - that is, Ryoga - tear up. It was too much. He got away from them in leaps and bounds!

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It had been one of the Kuno stories he had heard this morning on his way to school as the girl. It was said that he had gotten lost in the woods. It was only five acres, two hectares, of wilderness in the middle of town, but he supposedly still had to have help from his ninja servant to find his way out. It would have just been just another case of his stupidity, if there weren't ghost stories connected with Lost Lovers Wood. They all began with the Legend of the Lost Lovers.

One girl, though, had said she had lost her "love" for a guy when he thought being hidden by the trees allowed him to feel her up.

Romeo knew he risked being a lost lover to Akane. But he had to find out! He just had to have a guy brain! Thinking about girls was what they did! Judging by his experience in middle schools, girls were what boys devoted most of their thoughts towards, though not their best thoughts. Where was the line between sexual awakening and being a sexist jerk?!

He (too) soon found what he thought was the first cherry tree in blossom. Though it was very late in the season yet the petals still filled the tree and still managed to drift in the wind everywhere. Romeo could believe the tree was - ugh! - magic. Still it was spring, and the vibrant white-pink flowers were the symbol of love. He prayed to the tree's kami they were talismans that would help the wish come true!

He could almost believe what he saw was part of a sakura matsuri, cherry blossom festival. Underneath the tree on the ground a large blanket was laid out and on it were two chabudai tables. Akane was sitting at one. The other one was for him, Romeo.

He landed behind his with a, "Hi, Akane!"

"Call me Juliet."

He didn't argue. He knew how important Romeo and Juliet was to her. "Juliet."

She sighed, looking at the setting. "The only thing keeping it from being perfect is a balcony."

"If it's a balcony you want…." He looked up in the tree. It wasn't empty. In it was that ninja, Sasuke. And he had a boombox. He put his finger to his lips to warn Romeo not to break the mood.

Romeo stammered, looked at Akane, remembered Juliet, and decided he wouldn't. He just had to give this date the chance to be perfect! He dared not blow it! He plopped down at his small table.

There was a battery-powered "candle" on each of their tables, a plate, a knife, fork and a wine glass. Between them was a bucket of ice. In it, besides the large bottle of medicine, was a wine-sized bottle of cherry fruit juice. Unfermented. "I think people drink too much in Japan," Juliet said, approving of the vintage. Everything was still perfect for her. What was "perfectly romantic" was what Nabiki thought how her little sister would want it to be.

Romeo was a little startled when Italian violin music began to be played from the tree above. He supposed it was part of the definition of "romantic". But he would have rather hear boy band music. Did he hear Ukyo's words again in his memories? No, ignore that kind of thought! Keep Romeo's thoughts on Juliet!

"Now's the time we "speak sweet nothings"," Juliet smiled at her Romeo. Were her eyes sparkling?

Ranma's stomach gurgled. "I'm sorry!" It was lunch time. Only ice and fruit juice (or romance?) didn't make for a full meal.

Juliet sighed. But she was determined not to have the mood broken. She raised a hand bell and gently swung it. *ding, ding*

Footsteps were heard coming from the street side of the wood.

The black-haired guy jumped from the table to his feet when he saw that it was, "Ukyo!" What was he to do?! He was approaching a panic! Akane had told him she expected the guy wanted to battle him! Ukyo had as good as said it, warning that he was "coming for" Romeo. But the memories of the red-haired girl wanted...he really didn't know what she wanted from Ukyo! But he did know she wanted the opposite of fighting him! She had no choice, if it was either him or Kuno for her.

"Relax! (For now.) This is business. I made a deal with Nabiki Tendo. I'm supplying my Passionfruit Okonomiyaki."

"Passionfruit!?"

"I agree with you, there, honey. But that's what was ordered. But, hey, if Hawaiian pizza can be a success, maybe this can be, too." He looked at what was in the bucket. "I wonder how it will taste with cherry fruit juice and something blue added?" He shrugged. "I'm a great chef even at my age. I made sure it didn't taste terrible. I have a reputation to think of."

He used one of the small spatulas from his bandolier to take out of the cardboard box an okonomiyaki cut into two halves. With a casual flair he flipped them onto their plates.

Romeo looked down at his.

Juliet knew what he was thinking. "You don't overeat on a date."

"Oh!" Ranma said, disappointed.

"I'll leave you two to your date, then," Ukyo said. "Bon appetit!"

"Please, no French," Ranma said. "I could lose my appetite." He didn't want to remember the terrible, awful candy and the Fine Dining Match.

Ukyo was far enough away for it not to seem like he might turn to charge in an attack. He simply paused and said, "This is only a truce, Romeo. Nabiki promised me we'd have our battle at the appropriate time."

Yeah. At a time when she can make a profit, both daters were certain.

"Right now, she's going to show me where your jackass of a father is. Genma Saotome will pay for what he did to my life!" And he was gone.

Romeo was Ranma, and he had conflicting emotions.

It was Juliet, no, Akane, who first spoke. "But your dad's a panda! He's at Dr. Tofu's clinic, and…"

Ranma broke into laughter! "The Doc's done more damage to him than Ukyo probably could!"

Akane found herself joining in. "And Dr. Tofu is a great martial artist! He'll see that he doesn't hurt it." Then her laughter became stronger than his. "Not too badly!"

They both laughed so hard, they both fell onto the blanket. "And if he does, the Doc can fix the panda up again, so Ukyo can hurt it all over!"

"Pandas are an endangered species!"

After a couple of minutes, the black humor finally ran its course. They both lay there catching their breaths.

Totally relaxed, Ranma went to get up. He saw Akane surrounded by cherry blossoms. Without thinking, his left hand went on the other side of her. He leaned down and kissed her.

"Juliet."

I've loved you forever in lifetimes before. And I promise you never will you hurt anymore.

[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []

The butterfly effect. In the famous version of Ranma, within days after his arrival, his fight with Kuno resulted in the kendoist bandaged like a "mummy". It had warned the "Hentai Horde" away from attacking Ranma's fiancée. It was the beginning of the end of the Truce Enforcement Club. Without that, Ikuko put her attention on other things. Missed connections happened. She didn't see and accidentally tell her cousin Ukyo about Ranma until Season 3.

Koyama-sensei is based on Eustus of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.

Miss Yukari is based on the main teacher of Azumanga Daioh.

Ikemizu-sensei is a combination of the main teachers in Urusei Yatsura and Kim Possible.

Romeo and Juliet begins as a recurring theme in these stories with Chapter 8 First Shampoo, Then Kuno!