Ranma Saotome: Transgender Warrior

Chapter 5


Ranma walked through the Nerima Mall with a little extra swing in her hips. She was wearing a red Chinese dress with gold embroidery that she'd just bought on sale for only 3,000 yen. Although she wouldn't be able to wear it often, owning it still felt like a victory over her father. She stepped into an electronics store and admired how she looked on the hundred televisions that displayed her via camcorder.

A quiet voice came from behind her. "So, Ranma did change into girl." Ranma turned to see a girl dressed in pink and purple traditional Chinese clothing carrying a pair of chui. She wiped a tear from her eye, assumed a fighting stance, and shouted. "Ranma, die!"


About eighteen months earlier, before Ranma had been to Jusyenko, he faced the same girl on a log suspended in the air. It took all his training to focus his mind on what he'd seen of her fighting style instead of the gorgeous body that performed those moves. She carried weapons like all the combatants, and they all seemed to use the largest they could manage. They were too proud of their strength to use tricks. Ranma stood his ground as the girl charged swinging her chui and faked a sweep kick with his right before coming up high with his left. The blow slipped through the girl's arms and caught her in the chin. She went flying and landed hard on the ground a few feet below.

Ranma jumped down and knelt by the girl to check if she was all right. Her eyes fluttered open and looked from Ranma to an old woman in the crowd leaning on a walking stick. The old woman nodded, and the girl surprised Ranma with a kiss on the lips.

"What's going on?" asked Ranma as the girl embraced him.

"You've been engaged to my great granddaughter." explained the old woman in perfect Japanese. "Meet your new wife, Xian Pu."

"Shampoo?" said Ranma as he struggled with the Mandarin. The girl giggled.

A lot of people in the crowd didn't seem pleased by what was going on, but they quieted down once the old woman spoke a few harsh words to them. She turned back to Ranma and said, "I am Khu Lon, the eldest in our tribe. We welcome you to live as one of us here in Joketsuzoku."

"Listen, 'Cologne,' or whatever your name is," said Genma. "Ranma only fought to win the food we ate. He's already got a fiancée."

"You are on our land, and our law is that an unwed woman defeated by a man outside the tribe must marry him. Most of our girls would be horrified to wed a man stronger than them, but my great granddaughter is unique in many ways. Perhaps fate intervened to provide a husband right for her."

"I've had about enough of your land and your laws. Come on, Ranma, let's leave these people to their primitive ways."

"On our land, men also respect women," said Cologne as she knocked Genma out with a lightning-quick whack from her staff.

"Pop!" shouted Ranma, and he disengaged from Shampoo to assume a fighting stance.

"Come now, future son-in-law. Do you really think you could defeat all of us and escape carrying that fat old man?" Ranma ignored her, charged with a shout, and met the same fate as his father. "Strong, brave, and not too bright," commented Cologne as Ranma was felled by her blow. "He's perfect for my great granddaughter."

Ranma awoke after dark in a tent lit by candles. He blinked his eyes open and saw Sampoo was kneeling beside him, naked. "Wo ai ni," she whispered and put her hand on his chest. Ranma realized he was naked too beneath the fur blanket, and he gathered it up to cover himself as he stood. He rushed to open the tent flap to be met by a trio of Amazon women pointing their blades at his throat.

Ranma gulped, closed the tent, and went back to lie down. Shampoo curled up next to him with an expression of pure happiness on her face. "Wo ai ni."


Shampoo smashed her chui into a big screen television missing Ranma by inches, and the Amazon destroyed more tech toys with each swing as Ranma retreated. Ranma sidestepped an attack, got behind Shampoo, and twisted her arm to make her drop one of the chui. Shampoo swung over her head at Ranma with the other chui, but Ranma caught Shampoo's arm and flipped her into a home theater system while keeping a hold on the weapon.

Ranma cautiously approached the disarmed warrior. "Shampoo, I... I wish things could have been different. I'll make things right some day."

"Things can never be right!" yelled Shampoo as she smashed a speaker into Ranma. "Ranma make everything wrong!" She started throwing computer monitors at Ranma, but she was ready this time and dodged them. Undeterred, Shampoo grabbed a display case filled with cameras, tossed it up to smash on the ceiling, and batted the falling cameras at Ranma with her hands and feet; Ranma dodged most as they came flying at her, but one hit right between the eyes.

Shampoo took advantage of Ranma's temporary disorientation to tackle her to the ground. She pinned her fiancée and started banging Ranma's head into the floor. Ranma got an arm free and used it to knock a leg off a shelf supporting half a dozen televisions; they tumbled onto Shampoo, and Ranma dug herself out of the rubble. She'd barely had time to catch her breath when Shampoo emerged looking as angry as ever.

Ranma ran out of the store with Shampoo in hot pursuit. She leapt from one escalator to the next as other shoppers looked on in astonishment. In a few seconds, she'd reached the top floor and used a kiosk as a stepping stool to leap through the ceiling of skylights. Ranma had hoped to escape to another building, but Shampoo was right on her heels. They circled each other on the unsteady glass, and the sunshine made it look like they were walking on light.


Ranma and Shampoo balanced on stepping stones in a perfectly still pond as they did a kata together. It was a Joketsuzoku form Ranma had never seen before, but he mirrored Shampoo's slow, graceful motions. He stopped feeling like he was in his own body when he practiced with her. A disembodied presence that existed to observe Shampoo's perfect body was all that was remained.

Shampoo stopped. "Where Ranma's spirit?"

"What do you mean?" They'd each learned a bit of each other's language in the past month, but communication was still difficult.

"Shampoo see Ranma fight with spirit, but Ranma no practice with spirit. Need spirit be true warrior."

"It's just... I feel one with you when we train together."

"Shampoo no feel Ranma. Shampoo feel like she practice alone."

"I'm sorry, but could we go on anyway?"

"Ranma's spirit go away when Ranma look at Shampoo. Ranma's spirit go away when Ranma touch Shampoo. Why?"

"I don't know what you mean..."

"Shampoo love Ranma's spirit! Why Ranma take spirit away from Shampoo?"

Ranma did know why as he looked at their images reflected in the water. He had hoped for years that he could be a real man once he found the right girl, but he'd found the perfect woman and it didn't help. He didn't want to be her husband; he wanted to be HER. The more he was around her the more he retreated from the world to imagine himself in her body. If it kept up, the face he showed to the outside world would be nothing but a shell.

Shampoo managed to calm down. "Ranma's spirit no can go away when Ranma marry Shampoo." Ranma had figured out by now this meant consummating their union. Until then, they were just engaged. "Marriage very important thing and marriage with no spirit very bad."

Ranma agreed with that.


Ranma stepped carefully on the glass. If they fought here it was only a matter of time before one or both of them fell through. "Let's find another place for this, Shampoo."

"No. This perfect place. Ranma will die, or Shampoo will die. Then one can be happy."

"I was dead every day that I tried to be your husband, and you would eventually have been just as dead on the inside if I had stayed. But we aren't in Joketsuzoko any more, so we don't have to follow the laws that were killing us both."

Shampoo shook her head. "Ranma escape Amazon law when Ranma escape Joketsuzoko, but Shampoo never can escape. Amazon law inside Shampoo."

Ranma nodded sadly. "I've got laws inside me I can't escape either." She surprised Shampoo by charging forward with a high kick just like the one she used to win their match in Joketsuzoko. Ranma sent Shampoo flying, smashed the glass where she would have landed, embraced Shampoo as she fell, and grabbed a banner as they reentered the mall. They swung into the cinema on the top floor, and Ranma released Shampoo to send her hurtling into the popcorn maker.

Shampoo recovered, picked up a nearby slushie machine and threw it. Ranma dodged and said, "We've been through all of this already, Shampoo."

"Shampoo will never stop!" yelled the Amazon, but she was running out of energy. She charged and launched another flurry of punches and kicks that didn't come close to connecting. Ranma sprinted out of the cinema, and Shampoo was too winded to keep up.

Ranma ran to a sporting goods store, grabbed a Rhythmic Gymnastics ribbon, tossed the last of her money at a bewildered clerk, and ran out yelling, "Sorry but this is an emergency!" She returned to find Shampoo shoving her way through the crowd of frightened shoppers. Ranma ensnared her winded opponent, twirled the ribbon around Shampoo, and tied a knot. "Ryoga was right; these things are pretty handy."

"Ranma let Shampoo go and finish fight!" yelled her fiancé, but Ranma hoisted Shampoo on her shoulder and carried the struggling Amazon out of the mall.

Ranma leapfrogged Nerima's rooftops to take Shampoo to the Tendo household. She checked to see if the coast was clear, and brought Shampoo into her empty room. "The fight's over, Shampoo. Let's talk."


"Shampoo, there's something I need to tell you." Night had fallen, and they were alone in their tent. Pop had a crazy plan to sneak out wearing panda costumes, and Ranma thought Shampoo deserved to hear the real reason he was leaving. She looked at him expectedly, and the words wouldn't come. He was insane to do this! She made him breakfast every morning, she showed him secret martial arts techniques every day, and she snuggled with him every night. She was the most beautiful and affectionate person he'd ever known, and he was giving her up to try something that made Pop's panda plan sound smart.

Ranma took a deep breath and felt the air move in and out of his body. "I'm going to change from being a boy to being a girl." It was the first time Ranma had really spoken those words, and she felt a surge of strength that had been fading in the time she'd spent thinking of herself as "he." She took another deep breath, and it tasted so much sweeter than the one a second earlier. She knew she'd made the right choice.

Shampoo looked horrified. "That bad thing to do! Legend tell of evil sorcerer jealous of women's power who become woman, and gods kill sorcerer!"

"This isn't a legend, Shampoo. This is my life."

"Ranma and Shampoo have one life together."

"You know that isn't true. Think about how you said my spirit goes away when I touch you. We don't have one life, and we never will."

Shampoo blinked away tears. "Ranma can do anything but become girl, and Shampoo will love Ranma. Why Ranma want to do this?"

"I think it's so I can live my own life instead of living through you. That would be awful for both of us."

"Ranma make decision without Shampoo. How will Shampoo live life?"

"I know it will hard for you; it's because of your great-grandmother's stupid rules. You should be able to marry whoever you want and be happy. I'm sorry I can't make things easier for you Shampoo; I'm really sorry." Ranma put her hand on Shampoo's shoulder, but she batted it away. She beat her fists on her fiancée's chest, and Ranma took every blow.

"If Ranma become girl, Shampoo must kill Ranma! Law says Amazon must kill any outsider woman who defeat Amazon."

"Well... maybe I can convince Cologne to make an exception because I was a man when I beat you -sort of."

Shampoo gave a bitter laugh. "Great-grandmother no change law for son-in-law who try to be girl!"

"Some day I'll be able to make her change it. I'll train till I can beat her, and then I'll come back to fix things here for you."

"Ranma no beat great-grandmother. It more crazy than Ranma become girl."

"Maybe it is but I've got to try."

Shampoo picked up a candle to throw it, but she stopped as she locked eyes with Ranma; Ranama's spirit shined brighter than Shampoo had ever seen. She snuffed out the flame and said, "Ranma go do what Ranma must do and Shampoo will do what Shampoo must do."

Ranma nodded, crawled under the tent, and escaped Joketsuzoku with her father.


Ranma put Shampoo on her bedroll and closed the door in hopes they wouldn't be overheard. "When I left, I knew we'd eventually end up like this. I just hoped I could have a few more years before it happened. By the way, how did you find me?"

"Shampoo call house, and nice girl say you at mall."

"I guess I better tell Kasumi to ask if someone's trying to kill me before telling them where I am. Hey, wait a minute, how did you even get to Japan and know I was staying here?"

Shampoo gave a satisfied smile. "Amazons have secret friends help Shampoo come to Japan and find Ranma. Friends help Shampoo find Ranma anywhere."

"Great, well then I guess we've got to figure out how to settle things between us."

"Nothing settled until Ranma or Shampoo die."

"Yeah, you said that already." Ranma sat down and tried to think. "Hey wait a sec, if I'm a guy then you have to marry me, and if I'm a girl you have to kill me right?"

"Yes."

"Well right now I'm half and half." Shampoo looked confused, so Ranma started to take off her clothes. "I guess it's nothing you haven't seen before –most of it anyway." She took her new dress off and sighed at the rips and stains from the fight. Then she took off her underwear, and Shampoo gasped.

"Ranma still has boy part!"

Ranma blushed and put on some fresh clothes. "I went to a place called Jusenkyo after I left your village, and I heard about magic that could change a boy into a girl. It turned out to be just a myth, but you can do the same stuff with normal medicine. The pills I take every day change a lot, but I need surgery to uh… switch the boy part to a girl part. Until then, I'm half boy and half girl." She pulled out her hormone pills from their hiding place in her bedroll and displayed them to Shampoo.

"Pills make Ranma half girl, but Ranma still half boy," said Sampoo in amazement.

"Yeah, so neither law applies to me. You don't have to kill me or marry me," said Ranma hopefully.

After pausing for a moment, the captive girl replied, "Shampoo need ask great-grandmother what Shampoo must do. It very strange thing."

Well at least that buys me a month or so to figure out what to do next, thought Ranma as she untied Shampoo. Then she was surprised as Shampoo embraced her.

"Shampoo still love boy Ranma."

"I looked like a boy back in China but I did a pretty bad job of acting like one. Did you just fall in love with how I looked?"

"No, Shampoo fall in love with Ranma's spirit." She paused to look into Ranma's eyes. "Spirit still there."

"It always will be inside me no matter how my body changes. Does that mean you'll love me when I don't have the boy half anymore?"

"Shampoo not know. Shampoo confused." She broke the embrace. "Goodbye, Ranma." Then she left her fiancée without another word.


Author's note: Thanks to my beta reader SoulCry