Michael Gutin

Disclaimer: I'm really getting sick of these. Just…er…go look at one of my other ones! Yeah, that's it. Whatever it says on those, stick it here. See? It works.

I think we all know what I'm going to do next:

Wonderbee31: It's not so much that Ranma is looking for an excuse; it's more that he wants to stop any trains of thought involving him and Nabiki before they get his hopes up, as he really doesn't believe there's a chance for them.

dennisud: Actually, one of the favorite things I like to hear about my stories is that they are realistic. I think it's because so many stories on though they can still be good, simply aren't, and all my favorite stories are most definitely are, so yeah, thanks for that.

TornadoReviewer: I was actually not quite sure and how the scene between Ranma and Nabiki would be received, since it's the first time I've written that kind of thing. Good to know at least one person enjoyed it.

nonengel: You like the mood, eh? That is a very good thing, because the mood of the story is one thing I'm trying to put more work into than I usually do in my stories, as I've found that does so much more for the story than one would expect. Good to know I've at least partially succeeded.

Onward to the glorious story!

Walking a Thin Line

Chapter 5

Collapsing

I woke up flying through the air, great, looks like Pops woke me up today. I sparred with him, won of course, and come out of it as a girl.

The curse.

I had thought about it a lot. What it did to me. What it made me. Old Ranma hated it, plain and simple. It threatened his masculinity, and so he hated it. Me? I'm not so sure. Given the chance, would I get rid of it? Of course. If for nothing more than to be normal. Well, more normal. After all, explaining the curse to every person you meet really gets old. Old Ranma, at Jusendo, claimed he had accepted his curse. It was…it was like find out you had a fatal disease and accepting you were going to die. It was a defeat. A humiliation. A necessary evil. But me, well, it's like this:

What separates a boy from a girl? There are so many things I had grown up hearing that separated the two. But in the end, they're all just generalizations. Really, try out every stereo type you know. Girls like dressing up, well, what about transvestites? Guys are aggressive? Akane is enough to show that false. Even that only guys like girls, after all, there are lesbians out there.

What does that leave? What is there separating boys and girls? Breasts and ovaries. That's it. My curse gives me these. What does that mean? This:

Hi. I'm Ranma Saotome, I'm sometimes a boy and sometimes a girl, get over it.

It freaked me out at first. Being a guy was so…ingrained. No matter what happened, no matter how I turned out, a hero, a liar, a coward, a bum, just another person trudging through their life, I though I would always go through life as a male. Turns out that's not the case. But, it doesn't bother me anymore, not really. The only thing I fear is other people's reactions. I know it shouldn't matter, that if people don't accept me they're not worth it, but it hurts. When someone rejects you, not because of how you act, or something you did, but because of something you have no control over, it hurts. But I've been pretty lucky, the Tendo's and my fiancés seem to accept it fine. Well, except for the occasional 'pervert' comment from Akane.

Now, I'm contemplating this during breakfast. Only after all this do I notice that both Akane and Nabiki both looked at me with exactly the same expression, both their faces saying 'We need to talk.' I grinned inwardly; Nabiki wants to know if it worked, Akane wants to know how she can help.

Sorry ladies, but you'll have to be kept in suspense a bit longer. It's Saturday, and I feel like enjoying the fresh air.

I don't know why, but I really didn't want to deal with the plan right now. I wanted… I wanted to spar. Yeah, sparring has always been a way for me to relieve anger and stress. And I had been really tense lately. If only I could fine…speak of the devil, there's good ol' Ryoga, as P-Chan of course. Now how to get him out without Akane noticing…

"Ranma" It was Nabiki.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You know what, you owe me, if you don't have the money, we'll figure out other ways for you to repay." Damn. I had waited too long. Looks like sparing would have to wait until later.

I followed Nabiki into her room. She closed the door, placed her hand on her hips, and in her 'I need answers now' voice, demanded "Well?"

Ha, she ruined my would-be sparing session; I'll be exacting my revenge now.

"Well what?" I asked, my voice teeming with innocence.

"You know what." She told me.

"Oh, you wanted to know how my morning went? It was great, thanks for asking, you're always so caring Nabiki." Oh man, the expression on her face was just great.

"About Akane, Ranma" she managed to get out.

"Oh, why didn't you say so before? Hmmm…" I sat there a while pretending to think. While in reality I was hoping my ribs wouldn't crack form the strain it took not to laugh. Finally, I answered

"She seemed to have a nice morning as well."

Now, I'm not even exaggerating; Nabiki's left eyebrow, it started to twitch.

"Ranma…"

"What? You think I'm wrong? I mean, I'm not expert on these things, but she seemed to be having a good day to me."

"You damn well know what I'm asking you Saotome, tell me NOW!"

"Oh, but you didn't say the magic word!" Now, I'm a martial artist, and there was really no way Nabiki could do permanent physically harm to me. I know that, and she knows that. But at that moment, she looked like she was seriously considering strangling me. Looks like the fun is over.

"Okay, okay! I talked to her and she's agreed." Nabiki got a slightly relieved look on her face, before calmly walking towards me, leaning in, and…

…kneeing me in groin.

"And I thought…your sister…was the violent one…" I managed to get out as I rolled on the floor clutching the spot of the attack.

"You can go now, Saotome."

Oh no, I wasn't done yet. Ignoring the pain, I managed to get up, and put a smile on my face, before exclaiming "Aww, but we've been having so much fun Nab-chan"

She gritted her teeth. "Saotome, you really do owe me money you know…"

"Fine, fine, I'm leaving…"

I manage to take one step outside before I run into Akane. Shit, I just want to spar. Is that so much to ask for?

I stopped. What if it was? What if this is my destiny? Maybe I'm bound to live forever like this, having my life taken over by people's demands and expectations of me.

It…I guess it sound's stupid, but it could so easily be true. The plan, it was my last hope, my final stand, if didn't work…

I don't want to live like this anymore….

I…I really don't…

Akane is looking at me, with a worried expression on her face. "Ranma, what's wrong?"

"I'm…I'm fine." I get out, before plastering a fake grin on my face. "You…you wanted to talk right? So…let's…er, let's go to your room or something." I didn't give Akane a chance before heading over to her room, forcing her to follow.

What was wrong with me? For that split second, I had let my entire guard down.

Why?

'You know why' a voice in my head said 'because you nervous. No, you're frightened. Scared shitless. This plan won't work, and you won't take your life. You'll run. Like you always do. You little coward. You damn coward. Always running. Makes me sick.'

No. I don't run away, do I?

…

No. I won't run away this time, will I?

…

Please let this plan work.

Author's Note: You people thought I wasn't going to update anymore. Ha! Showed you all! But I definitely have a reason for not updating. You must blame my friend, who has taken it into his hands to personally corrupt my poor, fragile mind. I must've broken more laws this week then…er, let's just say I've discovered that there are situations in which the answer to the question "Was that car close enough to read our license plate?" can be VERY important.