Ranma 1/2
Ranma and Hikaru 1/2
by: Kimura Ayame
PART 9: A Woman Among Men
As Kasumi was about to get in bed, she heard a knock at the door. She paused, wondering who would come to her room this late at night. Maybe Hikaru was having some problems with his female body. After contemplating for a second, she replied, "Come in."
Surely enough, Onna-Hikaru entered, wearing a modest nightgown Kasumi had given her and her hair in a ponytail, tied with a ribbon. Kasumi noted that her motions were slightly different and as soon as she came in, she seemed nervous... an emotion Kasumi had never before observed in her, in either form. "Decided to be a girl tonight, Hikaru-chan?"
"Yeah. I... don't really feel comfortable coming into your room as a guy. Especially late at night."
Kasumi understood. The idea of joining the Tendou family to the family of Saotome Ranma's best friend would probably appeal to her father, and Nabiki was already engaged to Ranma. Somehow, she knew that Akane and herself would not be free of their father's misguided ways anytime soon. She sat down and patted the bed next to where she was sitting, "Sit down. What is it you wanted to talk about?"
Hikaru sat down, still obviously nervous, "I... don't know if I'm a guy anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"You heard me. I think..." She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, "I think I might be turning into a girl. Completely."
Kasumi inched a bit closer to Hikaru. From the sounds of things, whatever was going on was serious, "Is there a boy you like?"
Hikaru recoiled a bit, "No!" She immediately took a second to calm down, knowing that her friend had not meant to insult her, "No, it's nothing like that. But I feel different. Almost like I want to be a girl sometimes."
"Maybe you're just getting used to your girl half. Shouldn't you be able to enjoy life as a woman as much as you enjoy life as a man?"
Hikaru blinked, "Huh?" It was amazing how Kasumi came up with these answers -- her logic was so simple, so obvious, and yet nobody but Kasumi ever thought of them. She added, "So you're telling me that you think this is natural?"
"I don't know. But maybe your curse is only a curse if you let it bother you."
Hikaru kept her head down, studying the floor intently, "I don't know..."
Kasumi sighed... Hikaru wasn't sexist, but he did maintain a firm grasp on his masculinity. Enjoying life as a girl could seem threatening to someone like that. As she thought about it, though, Hikaru was already radiating femininity in her appearance and actions. She seemed very vulnerable and fragile, and the male Hikaru would never have gotten this nervous. Masculinity was pure illusion at this point. "What if you were meant to be this way?"
Hikaru shook her head, "I don't believe that. The choices of my life led me to this point. When I saw Ranma falling towards the spring, I wanted to save him from having to deal with this..." She stopped abruptly, remembering Ranma's recent fall into Nyanniichuan. The sacrifice accomplished nothing.
Kasumi realized what the silence was about, "And that was very brave and selfless of you. You were willing to take on a curse in order to save your best friend. Does it matter now whether or not Ranma is cursed?"
Hikaru suddenly realized it didn't matter at all. She did what she could, and nothing more. "No, I guess not."
"And since it's a choice you made, you believe you have to live with it, right?"
Hikaru was forced to accept that she had no choice anymore. What was done, remains done. Kasumi watched Hikaru for a second, then received a quiet whisper in response, "What do I do?"
Kasumi was taken aback. She tried to avoid the maternal image she kept around everyone else when she was alone with Hikaru. Becoming Hikaru's advisor might bring it back, "Well... I'm not sure. I don't really know what it's like for you..."
"Forget that. Forget I'm even a guy. How do I live as a girl?"
"Hikaru-chan... you can't expect to be exactly the same as any other girl."
"I guess you're right. That was kind of a stupid question."
Kasumi attempted to rearrange her thoughts. Things were going way off track. She had meant to help Hikaru deal with the curse, and now he... no, she wanted to become like any other girl. The best she could do was be supportive, and decided to use herself as an example, "How about this? A lot of girls grow up wanting to be like their mothers. Why don't you try using yours as a role model? You could spend some time with female friends, as a girl. That way, you'll have a better idea of what kind of..." She almost choked on the word, trying desperately to keep Hikaru from noticing her hesitation, "... girl you want to be."
"Okay. I'll do that. Thanks, Kasumi."
Kasumi smiled and hugged Hikaru. Not the motherly, supportive hug she was used to giving, but a heartfelt hug between friends. She realized then that Hikaru was her only real friend, and was happy that she was able to help. Hikaru was kind of surprised by the hug at first, but found herself subconsciously returning it. Kasumi suddenly had an idea, "Hikaru-chan, why don't you sleep here tonight?"
Hikaru stopped dead. She hadn't made the complete gender switch in her mind yet. "In... in... your..."
"Well, you have been very feminine lately." She noticed that Hikaru didn't react negatively to the female reference, "Besides, as a guest in our home, we can't allow a girl such as yourself to share a room with a boy, can we?" Kasumi smiled - there was a hint of humor to her usual insistence at proper behavior.
Hikaru paused a moment and heard Ranma's voice in the background. He was definitely male at the moment. Hikaru smiled back, glancing at herself in a nearby mirror, "The real question is: do I ever want him to see me in these clothes?"
Kasumi laughed. It was the first time she had genuinely laughed at a joke, in a long time. Hikaru noticed Kasumi's laughter growing and was about to point out that the joke wasn't that funny. Soon, though, she found herself laughing as well.
---
Nabiki looked around -- she had fallen asleep hiding in the guest room closet of Tsunami Koji's house. She opened the closet door, quietly, and stepped out into the room. It was unoccupied. She then crept out into the hallway and heard a voice coming from the garden. She peeked out, trying to stay as hidden as possible. A man with blond hair and wearing a blue Chinese robe was training with a pair of bokken. She stared, 'He's as good as Kunou... no, better than Kunou. If this is that man who shows up to train every once in a while, he's also rich...' She reminded herself to remain watchful over this one... if she could find out enough about this strange man, he could be her greatest source of income since Kunou himself.
---
In the garden, under the full moon, Koji was blissfully unaware that he had just become a target.
---
That same night, in the Tendou dojo, Ranma awoke to a strange noise... a voice? No, two voices. It was then that he noticed that Hikaru was gone. Ranma crept silently out of the room and through the house. The sound was coming from Kasumi's room. He paused a good distance away... probably just Akane or Nabiki talking with Kasumi about something he really didn't want to snoop into. But as he began to turn away, he recognized the other voice. Either Hikari had come while he was asleep, or... 'Hikaru?!'
As silently as he had walked through the halls of the Tendou residence, Ranma ascended to the rooftop. As he slipped down the wall of the dojo, inverted, he saw Kasumi and Onna-Hikaru, both wearing nightgowns, chatting like... well, like girlfriends. If they weren't upside down... oh, yeah, he was the one upside down... well, he could barely lip-read anyway, and their voices were way too muffled. Best to just forget about it. But... Hikaru?! Hikaru would tell him if something was going on, right? And about Kasumi... he really knew Kasumi as the mother figure of the family, so this seemed a little abnormal for her as well. Then again, Hikaru was the same age as Kasumi...
Thus, Ranma left the rooftop and went back to bed, hoping against hope that someday, he would understand the events of that night.
---
Saotome Nodoka had spent the night with the Zugaikotsu family. She had not yet decided whether she was ready to see her son yet, and from what she had learned, he was staying at the Tendou home. Her arrival would be delayed, at least for a short time. She sat at the table, alone, drinking some tea she had just prepared. Hikari walked into the room, wearing a simple nightgown much like Kasumi and Hikaru had been wearing in the Tendou residence, "Saotome-san?"
Nodoka looked up and smiled, "Hello, Hikari. Please, call me Auntie Nodoka." She motioned to a spot next to herself, and Hikari sat down.
After a few moments, Hikari spoke again, "Auntie Nodoka... what do you think of this Jusenkyou curse?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, like Mother said, my brother and Ranma both were cursed with female bodies... do you think it would have any effect on them? Other than physically, I mean."
"Maybe." Nodoka frowned, "Shouldn't you ask your mother about this? She knows much more about these Jusenkyou springs than I do."
"She says no, but..." Hikari pulled her knees toward herself, suddenly feeling a bit chilled, "I know Hikaru. He's my twin brother... but I have this weird feeling tonight that I have a twin sister. It's never happened before, not even since he got cursed. I... don't think it has to do with his body. He..." She stopped, feeling that the male pronoun was incorrect for some reason, "... She is feeling very nervous... vulnerable. That's not the Hikaru I know."
Nodoka nodded pensively, "Okay. When I leave for the Tendou dojo, I'll ask Mei-Lin if she'll let you come along. That way, we can both find out for ourselves."
Hikari smiled, "Thank you, Saotome-sa... um, Auntie."
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Author's Notes:
I know... this one was kind of short. I felt this was the best place to end the chapter, and I had nothing else to add. The next part will go more into Hikaru's growing uncertainty about the curse, while Ranma has to deal with a familiar face. Guess who? Of course, a lot of things in this story are happening for the 'second' time, as far as many well-versed Ranma fans are concerned, which is why I'm not focusing on Ranma as a main character as much as I'd like to. And I know I haven't done much with Akane yet. It's because she's practically useless to me as a character unless the familiar bickering is going on, and I need to focus more on Ranma for that to happen. I will attempt to do so in future chapters, although Nabiki has taken over Akane's level of importance in the series as Ranma's fiancée. I do plan to find a new niche for Akane soon... I can't bring myself to just ignore her, after all. I also intend to include Reiko in major parts of the storyline, and some of the other characters who have only played minor parts thus far. After all, that's part of Takahashi-san's style. As always, reviews, comments, and even flames are welcome from my adoring (or maybe not) public.
Extra Note:
Earlier in the series, Reiko is asked to refer to Soun as "Uncle Soun". While, in this chapter, Hikari calls Nodoka "Auntie Nodoka." This is based on the Japanese terms ojisan (uncle) and obasan (aunt), which are used in the Japanese dialogue of the Ranma 1/2 anime. The Tendou girls will probably refer to Genma as an uncle and Nodoka as an aunt, also. This is because I'm trying to stay true to the original Japanese source, while keeping as much of the story as possible in English for the sake of my readers. Hope that clears up any confusion for you official-translation fans!
Kimura Ayame