Togetherness
By M. Zephyr
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.
Ranma x Akane. Two teenagers, strangers to one another, find themselves forced more closely together than they could possibly have imagined.
Chapter 2. Together in Amazonia
While Ranma was dealing, or failing to deal, with Akane's grief, Genma was simply feeling relieved that he had finally lost Ranma. He was sure that the ungrateful boy, or girl, would soon come to his, er, her, senses, and realize that his father had never intended such an outcome. Genma looked at his large furry paws in despair over his lost humanity, and circled back down into the valley to where their packs had been left.
"Ah, Mister Customer, you come back! Very good." It was the guide, standing in the door of his hut. "I heat water now. Once hot, we will pour over you. This will make you human again."
The panda gave a "growf" of excitement, but the guide shook his head. "Is not a permanent cure. Whenever you splashed with cold water, you become panda again. Hot water always change you back to man. Same for boy who became girl. Where is he?"
Genma shrugged his massive shoulders to indicate his complete lack of knowledge as to this last point. The guide sighed. "While we wait for water to heat, maybe you find something to eat. Yes?"
Genma thought about this, then gave a nod and wandered off. He realized that certain instincts came with this body, as he looked longingly at a stand of bamboo growing nearby. On the whole, however, it would be nice to have something that he could enjoy eating as a human.
It was at this point that he heard a squeal and a splashing sound. Hurrying to investigate, he saw a small black pig splashing in a pool of water, about to drown. Reaching down he picked it up, then happily turned around and hurried back toward the hut. He was already starting to drool at the thought of pork for supper.
When he reentered the hut, the guide exclaimed, "Ah, you find very nice pig! Let's right now cook it! We use hot water to cook, heat more water for you to become man."
Together, the man and the panda got another fire going, and placed a large pan over it into which was poured the already heated water. A fresh kettle of water was placed on the original, smaller fire. The guide began sharpening a knife, while saying, "Many springs in valley. Even have a 'spring of drowned black pig.' Very sad story of black pig who drown there one thousand two hundred year ago. Maybe here is a poor person who falls in spring and turns into black pig." The pig's head started moving vigorously up and down at this point.
The guide laughed at what he had said, and the panda joined him. "Ha! Funny joke, yes?" He dropped the squealing pig into the boiling water.
An instant later a naked boy leaped out of the pan, red and screaming. If Ranma had been there, both he and Akane could have recognized this young man as the one they thought they had saved from falling into the pool. The guide and the panda looked on in disappointment as the boy ran out of the door. "Oh, it is a poor person! Now we cannot eat."
Since their supper had run off, the guide put out the fire and put away the utensils which he had been planning to use on the pig. He sighed at the thought of the stale bread, which was about all that he had available to eat at the moment. Deciding to delay such an unappetizing meal a little longer, he turned his attention to transforming the panda back into a human. The water in the pan was now much too hot, but the kettle was just reaching a nice temperature.
The guide lifted the kettle off of its fire, and carried it back over to the panda bear. "Now you see sir. This change you back to man again." He poured the water over the bear, and a moment later a bald and naked man was sitting in its place. Genma started patting his hands all over his body, beaming happily to find himself restored, but then took note of his state of undress. With a grimace, the man grabbed his pack and pulled out another gi to put on.
A short time later Ranma walked through the door of the hut, still in the body of a teenage girl with long black hair. His pack was no longer lying on the ground outside, so he figured it had been brought in here. He stopped in complete shock at the sight of his father sitting in a chair beside a table, no longer a panda.
"Wha-wha ...? Pop, you're cured?! How?"
"Hot water change you back to true self," the guide explained once again. "But is not cure. Whenever you splashed with cold water, you change back into girl again. Hot water will make you boy again." He held out the kettle to the girl.
Ranma took the kettle in wonder, and quickly lifted and poured the hot water over his head. Looking down, he saw that his chest was flat once again. A bit self-consciously he turned his back on the other two men, then shoved a hand down inside of his pants in order to confirm that certain other important bits had been restored. He breathed a sigh of intense relief.
Then he turned back around and gave his father a menacing scowl. "Pop! How could you bring us to such a dangerous place?! You ... you ..."
Genma sniffed with dismissive scorn. "Oh be silent, boy! After all, a martial artist's life is fraught with peril."
The guide winced in sympathetic pain as he watched the boy's response to this platitude. When it was over, he rearranged the unconscious man into a more comfortable position before returning to his seat. Breathing hard in outrage, Ranma walked to the opposite side of the room and sat on the floor, trying to regain control of his emotions. Akane had finally stopped crying inside of his head, although she didn't seem to be paying much attention to anything.
After a while Ranma looked up and cleared his throat to get the guide's attention. "So am I going to be stuck with this curse for the rest of my life? Do you know of any cure?"
The Chinese man sighed. "I am sorry sir, but is no certain cure. Records say that one of the springs is the Nanniichuan, the 'spring of drowned man.' It is supposed to be at far end of valley, but is not known for certain which spring that is. Records are only complete for springs at this end of valley."
Ranma looked more hopeful. "But if we could find it, it would cure me?"
The guide shook his head. "It might cure you. But it might mix with current curse instead, change you into part-man, part-woman. Magic of Jusenkyo have mind of its own. Very dangerous if treated carelessly. There is record of woman who fall in spring of drowned man, who try to cure herself by jumping into spring of drowned woman. Magic only switch her curse, so that cold water made her woman and hot water made her man."
Ranma had gone rather pale at the man's description of how he could end up with a mixture of male and female parts when splashed with water. It dawned on him that it was possible to end up even worse off than he now was. Correction, with his luck, he was bound to end up even worse off. Thinking of another worry, he asked, "Is there any chance that I could get stuck as a female?"
To Ranma's terror, the guide nodded his head. "Legends say there are several ways for curse to be locked, but few know of them, and for every way to lock curse, there is way to unlock it. For curse to turn into girl, simplest way to be stuck that way for a time is to be pregnant. Then cannot change back until baby is born."
The boy grimaced. "That one ain't a concern. No way I'm going to do that with a guy." His eyes widened as another horrible thought occurred to him. "I ain't gonna start feeling attracted to guys when I'm a girl, am I?"
Apparently Akane was starting to recover, as he heard a weak snicker from her at that question. The guide merely shook his head. "Not unless you already attracted to boys. Curse does not change mind, only body." He paused and looked thoughtful, then added. "Mostly. Mind does get instincts for animal curses when in cursed form. Suppose that happen with girl curse too, but I not know what instincts girls have that men not have."
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. Akane suggested, ‹How about asking him how the curse chose what you look like. I'd like to know why you look like me.›
Ranma thought about how to ask this, then said, "So I fell in the 'spring of drowned girl.' But there are lots of possible ways for a girl to look. How did it decide on the particular body it gave me?"
The man shrugged. "Magic of Jusenkyo not always obey clear rules. Records say that most man who fall in 'spring of drowned girl' look the way he would look if he was born girl. Same for woman who fall in 'spring of drowned man.' But records also say this not always so."
Akane gave a mental sigh. ‹I suppose the magic gave you my body because my spirit or mind or whatever is currently inside of you. Oh well. If you do go back to Nerima someday, people are going to be awfully surprised to see me walking around after they thought me safely cremated.›
‹Are you really so sure that you're dead?› Ranma asked her.
Her voice was gentle but sad as she answered. ‹Yes. I have to be. If by some miracle I'm not ... well, we'll deal with that if it happens. But if I allow myself to hope that I'm not dead, think of how devastating it would be to learn that I am. I couldn't face that. So I can't let myself hope.›
Genma stirred, and was soon sitting up and scowling at his son. The three men shared their rations to make a scanty meal, just rice and stale bread. After the meal, the guide got a box down from a shelf and rummaged about in it for a while, then stood up with an exclamation of triumph.
He turned around and presented a sign and pen to Ranma's father. "I thought I remember these. These are magic, left here long ago. Not useful to most who have animal curse, but panda can hold pen. You hold these while you change into panda. Then they linked to your curse. After that, whenever you want sign and pen in hands, um, paws, they be there. Cannot talk as panda, but this let you write messages."
Genma took them, looking skeptical, but who was he to ridicule such a tale after everything else which had happened that day? He poured some water on himself from a canteen and became a panda. The bear blinked as it realized that it was no longer holding the sign or the pen. Feeling a little foolish, it held out its paws and thought about holding these artifacts. The sign and pen were suddenly in his paws again, and he scribbled, "Hey! It works!" The guide snorted and poured hot water over him, changing him into a man once more, and after a moment Genma realized that the writing implements had disappeared again.
He bowed slightly forward where he was sitting. "Thank you. I suppose those tools will be helpful." Genma then went on to ask several more questions, repeating some of what Ranma had already asked about, such as the possibility of a cure or being locked in the cursed form.
Eventually the three men, all of them still hungry, settled down for the night to sleep. As he lay in his sleeping bag, Ranma and Akane talked for a little while before falling asleep.
‹I'm sorry you ended up with a curse like that, Ranma›
He winced. ‹I'd really rather not talk about it, or even think about it. I'm feeling pretty awful with this curse and all, and I'm pretty sure that I'm still in a state of shock. I'm probably gonna feel even worse tomorrow.›
‹Is it really so bad, being a girl?› Akane asked. ‹Not to mention that it's my body.›
Ranma struggled to find words to explain concepts he had never really considered before. ‹Look, I'm sorry I got your body. It wasn't my idea you know. And, well, I don't suppose it's so bad being a girl if you are one. But I'm not! I'm a guy! I'm a guy ...›
There was a catch in his throat as he nearly broke down. After a long pause, Ranma went on. ‹I've been a guy all my life, and now suddenly I'm not anymore. At least not full time. It's ... my whole world's turned upside-down. I don't know how to act. I don't know how to behave. I don't know what to expect from the people around me.›
‹Well ...›
Ranma ignored her, interrupting. ‹Besides, I'm a martial artist. Now suddenly I've got this new body that's unfamiliar to me. I'm probably going to be a lot weaker. Uh, no offense. I'm gonna have a different reach, a different sense of balance. I'm gonna have to completely retrain myself to fight in that body.›
‹I kept my body in pretty good shape, you know. I am ... was ... a martial artist.›
Ranma shook his head. ‹Don't you get it, dummy? However much training it might have had, I'm not familiar with it.›
Akane harrumphed, but didn't respond to the insult.
Another thought occurred to him. ‹Then there's guys. When I'm in that body - and I admit it's a cute body, only the best for me naturally - guys are going to be looking at me and thinking that I look cute. They might, you know, want to do stuff with me.›
Akane responded angrily. ‹Hey, I had to put up with that too. You think I wanted the jerks at school leering at me!›
‹But you're a girl, right?› Ranma pointed out. ‹Don't you want guys to notice you?›
‹There's a difference between noticing and leering,› Akane told him hotly. ‹The first ... well, I'm not sure how to say it. But the other makes you feel like you're undressed, and the pervert is thinking about doing things to you, and he doesn't care if you don't want him to.›
‹Oh.› Ranma thought about this. ‹But I think there's still a difference,› he suggested tentatively. ‹Look, you don't hate all men, do you?› He caught the impression of a single word, quickly cut off. It might have been "doctor," or maybe a name. At any rate, it wasn't a denial. ‹So you're interested in guys, not girls, right? Even if you don't want perverts staring at you, you've grown up knowing that guys are going to ... pay attention to you, good or bad.› Ranma squirmed. ‹Well I didn't grow up knowing that, I'm not accustomed to the thought, and I hate the idea!›
‹I suppose ... I understand a little,› Akane finally said. ‹And if I have to be trapped inside here, then in a way I'm almost happy that it's my body you're stuck with. Even if I'm not controlling it, when you're in that form, I'm seeing, hearing, feeling everything from within the body I'm used to. It's almost like being alive again.› She hesitated, surprised at her next thought, but ruefully acknowledging she was going to have to learn to cooperate with her host. Akane offered, ‹If you want, I'll try to help you get used to it, learn how to behave when you're female. It is the body I lived in all my life, you know, so I'm pretty familiar with it and what other people expect of me.›
‹Um, thanks, I think,› Ranma told her, knowing he should be grateful but feeling intensely uneasy over the idea. ‹I probably could use your help, I guess. But we'd better be getting some sleep. Pop will probably wake us at dawn, and then I'm going to have to try to talk him into heading back to Japan immediately. Even if you don't want to get your hopes up, I'd like to know for certain what happened to you.›
‹Okay. Good-night, Ranma›
‹G'night, Akane.›
The surface of the water approached with stomach turning speed as Ranma plunged toward it. He and Akane were both screaming. They hit with an explosive impact, the ice cold waters closing over his head. He struggled, fighting toward the surface, toward air, toward the shore. Finally, he dragged himself onto dry ground. But now they noticed that his clothes had disappeared, and he looked down at his nude and indisputably female body. Ranma felt tears slide down his cheeks.
At that point the Jusenkyo guide walked up carrying a steaming kettle. "Hear you go, honored customer. Hot water change you back to boy."
Ranma eagerly grabbed the kettle and poured it over his head. The hot water cascaded down his face and over his body. Looking down, he saw to his mounting horror that he was still female.
"Oh, so sorry," the guide said. "It look like you will be girl forever."
Ranma sat bolt upright in his sleeping bag, bellowing with fear and denial. A wad of clothing flew out of the darkness to strike him in the face, shutting him up. Backtracking its flight, he saw that it had been thrown from the direction of his father's sleeping bag. He glared at the old man, which did absolutely no good in the darkness.
As Ranma slowly started to get his breathing back under control, Akane asked, ‹Do you often have nightmares, Ranma?› He could sense nervous tension in her voice, and knew that she had also experienced his nightmare. He guessed that it had disturbed her as well, at least a little.
He wanted to lie and tell her that he never had nightmares until that one, but he had no idea how long she was going to be in his head. If she was there for very long, she would eventually learn that he did occasionally have them.
‹Not too often,› he admitted reluctantly.
Feeling a need to justify this perceived weakness, Ranma remarked, ‹I don't suppose either of us should be surprised that I'd have a nightmare about what happened today.› He shuddered in the darkness. ‹This curse is enough to give anyone a nightmare. And despite what the Chinese guy said, I can't help worrying that I might get stuck as a girl.›
With a deep sigh he lay back down, though it took him a little while to get comfortable. Some time passed before his soft snores could once more be heard in the hut.
Ranma was running down a road, a road he was sure he'd never seen before but which felt eerily familiar. There was a strange feeling of cloth fluttering about his legs, interfering with his pace. Looking down, he realized he was wearing a dress, and that the body beneath it was female. With a sense of despair, he remembered the curse. Looking up again, he found that he was running through a gate and into a school yard.
‹That's Furinkan! My high school.› Akane told him. Then, ‹Watch out for the boys!›
As though her words had summoned them, a crowd of boys charged toward him, many wielding weapons; baseball bats, tennis rackets, hockey sticks and the like. He defended himself, blocking the blows, attacking where he could, but for some reason he felt like he was moving so slowly. Akane was calling out advice, which turned out to be pretty good, and he realized that she had done this before. Still, he grew worried as his movements became slower and slower.
A baseball bat hit him in the gut in a sudden explosion of pain, causing him to fold over. Something hit the back of his head, dazing him. He fell to the ground, and boys piled on top of him. Hands groped him, touching places he didn't want touched. He felt them ripping at his clothes, tearing them off. He was screaming, Akane was screaming. He and Akane ...
... and once again he was sitting up in the darkness, sweat pouring down his face and drenching his t-shirt. He was shivering uncontrollably, and heard Akane whimpering inside of his head. After a moment he identified the inside of the Jusenkyo guide's hut. It took several minutes for his breathing and heart rate to slow down to normal. He saw that the sky outside the window was starting to lighten.
‹I'm, ah, pretty sure that wasn't one of my nightmares. Yours, I suppose?› Ranma asked Akane.
‹Yes,› she whispered to him. ‹I've had that one before. Ever since the school year began, and the boys started attacking me. So far I always wake up before anything really bad happens.› She paused, and Ranma got the sensation of someone licking dry lips, if only she had lips to lick.
‹It doesn't really worry me when I'm awake. Nothing like that ever came close to happening, and although they are all perverts, I don't really think they'd have done something like that even if they had managed to knock me down. But I guess it's a little harder to believe that when I'm asleep.›
Ranma nodded, understanding a little better why she was so quick to think the worst of any boy, and call them all perverts. He was a martial artist, supposed to defend those who needed his help. He felt a burning desire to visit that high school and beat every one of those boys to a bloody pulp.
Inside of his head, Akane gave a weak giggle. ‹I've already tried that, you know. Quite a few of those boys had to be carried away afterward due to their injuries. It didn't seem to do much to stop them though.›
Ranma sighed. ‹So I guess from now on we both get to share twice as many nightmares, huh? Figures. My life goes completely to hell yesterday, but the universe decides to remind me that things can always get worse.› He sighed again. ‹It's almost dawn. What do you say we go ahead and get up, then go see if we can find anything out there that we could eat?› He suited actions to words, but had little luck. Even the snails and lizards seemed to be hiding themselves from him this morning.
On returning to the hut, Ranma filled a pail with water from a pump, then took it inside and dumped it over his father. The panda jumped up, shaking water out of his fur, and growled. Whipping out his sign, he quickly wrote, "What did you do that for, boy?"
Ranma gave a bark of laughter. "Just thought for once I'd wake you up with a bucketful of water, instead of the other way around. Besides, I was afraid you might be stupid enough to try sparring if you woke me up. Ain't no way I want to spar this morning with those springs so close."
The sign flipped around, and the bear wrote, "I'm not an idiot, boy."
Ranma stared at the sign incredulously, then responded with a bitter laugh. "Hah! Could've fooled me."
His father growled again, and wrote, "Just heat me some water, boy."
The commotion proved sufficient to wake the guide as well, and he helped Ranma to start some water heating, and to prepare a tiny breakfast from what was nearly the last of their food.
While his son and the Chinese man took care of these matters, Genma was looking down at the black fur of his paws and continuing to worry over thoughts which had been occupying his mind since the previous evening. Their money was running out, so it was time to start thinking about returning to Japan. However, that would run the risk of his wife hearing of their return, and possibly finding them.
It wasn't that Genma was afraid to see his wife again. Well, actually he was. That sword of hers scared him. However, at the moment a much greater concern was what he had done when he took Ranma away for their training trip at the age of six. He had signed a contract stating that he and Ranma would commit seppuku if he failed to make Ranma the greatest martial artist of his generation, and a man among men. Genma wasn't too worried about the first, but his wife had a real hangup about manliness. With the curse the boy had received yesterday, the man, well, bear at the moment, could practically feel the tanto already slitting open his belly.
The only thing to do would be to find some counter-argument to convince her of their son's manliness. Something that he could achieve before she could track them down. Since the boy had reminded him of his old friend Soun Tendo yesterday, it was only natural that the old agreement between the two of them should be called to mind. If Ranma were married to one of Tendo's daughters, then that should certainly convince Nodoka that the boy was manly enough, even with his curse. The only problem then was to get his son there without spooking the boy into running away first. It was obvious to him that he should avoid mentioning marriage or anything similar until the very last minute.
While Ranma was preparing the rice for their breakfast, Akane was commenting on his cooking. ‹It's a pity you don't have anything to spice it up a little. You know what would go well in it? Some cinnamon, and garlic, and vanilla, and maybe a touch of vinegar. Cocoa would be good, too. Maybe some sour cream, but I'm not as sure about that.›
Ranma nearly gagged. ‹You're joking, right?›
‹What's wrong with that?› Her voice sounded puzzled.
His eyes nearly crossed. ‹Oh nothing. Only that nobody could possibly eat that unless they were feeling suicidal. And there are a lot less painful ways to kill yourself.›
Now her voice sounded angry. ‹Are you trying to imply something about my cooking?›
Ranma stirred the rice. ‹If that's how you cook, then for God's sake, please don't ever make dinner for me.›
She fumed. ‹What do you know about cooking, baka? You're a boy!›
His reply was decidedly nonchalant. ‹Sounds to me like I know a lot more about cooking than you. I've been cooking for me and pop for years.› He cocked his head and listened, but there was no reply. He finally decided that she must be giving him the silent treatment, and dropped the subject.
Ranma dumped hot water over his father's head with pleasure, after which the three men sat and ate their meager breakfast. It was finished all too soon. Ranma then turned to his father and asked, "So pop, what do you plan to do for an encore to yesterday? On second thought, don't answer that. I can't imagine what you could do that would be worse, but I'll bet you could find something."
"Don't be impertinent, y' ungrateful boy," his father snarled. "As a matter of fact, I'm thinking it's time we headed back to Japan. Remember yesterday when I told you I'd take you to meet my old friend Soun Tendo one of these days? I've been thinking it over, and now seems like a good time to do that."
Ranma stared at his father for a minute, then shrugged and said, "Okay." Inside of his head, he thought, ‹You hear that, Akane? I didn't even have to try to talk him into it. He decided all on his own to take us straight to your family. How do you like that?›
Akane replied thoughtfully, ‹I guess I'm happy about it. Part of me would like to find out what happened. The part of me that isn't scared silly. But it seems awfully suspicious how quickly he changed from 'some day' to immediately. You know him better than I do. Do you think he might be up to something?›
Ranma thought about it briefly, then told her, ‹If he is, I don't see what it could be. The only thing I can think of is maybe he thinks your dad might know somebody who could do something about these curses. That seems pretty unlikely though.›
Genma was continuing to speak, in a counterpoint to their silent exchange. "Before we can return to Japan, we need to pick up some more food." He turned to the guide. "Is there anyplace near here where we might be able to replenish our supplies?"
The Chinese man replied, "I planning to go to village of Joketsuzoku today to buy food for myself. Honored customers can come with me if they wish. Must be careful though, women of village are very strong, and they not treat men very well. They know me. They not know you."
‹Maybe it would be better if you splashed yourself with some water before you get there, Ranma,› Akane suggested.
The young man grimaced, but nodded and said, "I suppose it might be best if I poured some water on myself before we get there and I go in as a girl. Pop could transform into a panda and, I dunno, pretend to be my pet, I guess." His father glared at him, but did not voice an objection.
On the other hand, Genma did not want to neglect Ranma's training. "Will we have time for the boy and me to spar after we leave this accursed valley? I don't want him to get soft."
"Stuff it, pop," Ranma said with weariness born of having heard this sentiment far too many times.
The guide responded, "Yes, plenty of time. Village is only three hour walk. Know of nice clearing on the way, plenty of room to fight, with stream nearby to bathe after. That change you into girl and panda."
Ranma and Genma both agreed with this plan. After cleaning up from breakfast, they rolled up their sleeping bags then hefted their packs. They followed the guide along a path out of the valley, different from the one they had followed on the way in. It was almost as steep as the other, but was nonetheless less difficult than yesterday's trek had been.
After a little less than an hour of travel, they emerged in a wide clearing, with a stream running along one side. The ground was mostly rock, covered by moss, and was bumpy rather than flat. Still, it seemed suitable enough for their purposes.
Ranma spoke internally to his guest. ‹Akane, you said you were a martial artist, right? And you kept your body in shape?›
‹Yeah. Why?›
The boy sighed. ‹'Cause I got a feeling I'm gonna be spending more than a little time in that body of yours. And any enemy that attacks me ain't gonna wait politely for me to heat some water to change back. I gotta make sure I'm able to fight in your body as well as my own.›
‹Oh.› She sounded a little nonplused. ‹I guess I didn't think of that. I'm used to fighting in training, or at tournaments, or those idiots before school. I've never had anyone attacking me without any warning at all.›
Ranma snorted. ‹Well, it happens to me all the time. So you'd better get used to it. In any case ... whether I like it or not, I'd better get in some practice in that form.› Having said that, he walked over to the stream, lay down on the bank, and dunked his head into the water. His body shifted to that of the black-haired girl he had seen reflected in the pool yesterday.
His father called out, "What do you think you're doing, boy?"
Ranma responded in the tenor voice of this form. "What does it look like I'm doing, pop? You always say a martial artist must be ready to fight at all times. That means I gotta be ready to fight in this body, too. So I figure I better make sure I can."
Genma's face reddened at having his own words thrown back at him. On the other hand, loathe though he was to admit it, his son - or was it daughter now? - did have a point. Deciding to think over this more later, he took up a ready stance. "Don't think I'm going to go easier on you just because you're a girl."
Ranma sneered at him. "What makes you think I'd want you to, old man? Bring it on."
Ranma took several hard hits in the first few minutes as he tried to adjust to this new body. As he had feared, he had difficulties due to the change in strength, reach, speed and sense of balance. On the other hand, it wasn't nearly as bad as he had expected. Furthermore, as his father was well aware, Ranma had a phenomenal talent for adaptation, and it wasn't long before his movements became smooth and almost natural.
During one slow point when father and son were circling one another, Ranma commented, ‹Y'know, Akane, you were right. You did keep this body in pretty good shape. It's a hell of a lot stronger than I expected. Not as strong as mine, of course, but I bet there's not more than a handful of guys I've met who are stronger. It's flexible, it moves well. Could be faster, but I think that's more a matter of the right kind of training. Hips feel a little funny, but I think I'm getting used to that already.›
‹Um, okay,› Akane responded uncertainly, not sure whether she wanted to thank him or kick him after this mixed description.
‹Gonna be a while before I'm used to this extra weight in the front though. Glad you weren't too big there.›
‹Gee, thanks Ranma,› she replied sarcastically. ‹That just makes me feel so good.›
‹Hey, I ain't used to having anything there, okay? And they ain't that small. As far as m' fighting goes, I wouldn't mind if they were smaller.› At that moment his father attacked again, and Ranma was forced to return his concentration to their sparring.
When they finally finished their exercise, both Ranma and Genma started removing their clothes to bathe in the stream. As Ranma pulled off his shirt, his father and the Jusenkyo guide both reddened and turned away quickly.
‹Hey, baka!› Akane yelled. ‹Quit showing off my chest like that!›
Ranma winced, feeling a headache coming on from the sheer volume of the shout which was still echoing inside of his skull. ‹Okay, okay! Sorry, I wasn't thinking. It's never mattered before if I stripped in front of other men.›
Ranma picked up his shirt and pack and covered his female chest with the shirt, then walked up the stream and around a bend to where he would be hidden by a thicket of brambles. As he continued pulling off his clothes, Akane spoke up again. ‹You'd better not use this as an excuse to peek at my body, baka.›
Ranma froze, pants halfway down his legs. ‹How the heck am I supposed to bathe myself without looking at myself? Besides, from now on, every time I bathe I'm going to look like you. Cold water, remember? Don't you think we'd better get used to it?›
He felt Akane fuming inside of his head, unwilling to concede his point. Finally, she told him, ‹Well, at least you could try to be modest about it. Don't look any more than you have to. I'm going to need time to adjust to the idea that you don't really have much choice. That my body belongs to you from now on. Do you have any idea how upsetting that is?›
Ranma sighed, and continued pulling off his pants and boxers, then went rummaging in his pack for his bathing supplies. ‹I didn't ask for it, you know. In fact, I'd love to be able to give it back to you. You think I like looking like this? I hate it! I'm a guy, not a girl!›
‹So you hate my body, huh?!›
He pulled at his hair. ‹That ain't what I said! I hate changing into a girl. Your body looks nice enough, I guess. It ain't like I've spent a lot of time staring at girls and thinking about which ones look good and which ones don't.› He paused, then went on. ‹The best thing about your body is how well it fights. That means a lot more to me than how good it looks. And like I said, it looks fine.›
Ranma sat on the bank of the stream and started washing himself. Akane had apparently been mollified, because she was silent for the moment, without any sensation of anger. As a matter of fact, although she didn't mention it to him, she was feeling quietly pleased.
As Ranma washed his new breasts, he was surprised at how good they felt, and pressed a little more firmly. Akane growled a little, but didn't say anything. A few minutes later as he washed between his legs, he gasped in shock. This time Akane didn't remain silent. ‹You hentai! Don't do that to my body! You're just supposed to be washing!›
‹Do what?› Ranma asked innocently, with no trace of sarcasm. ‹I was just washing. Man, that spot sure is sensitive though. Just touching it makes my leg muscles tense. Feels like kind of a hard bump. What is that?›
‹Don't you know?!› Her voice sounded shocked beyond belief. ‹Didn't anyone ever teach you anything about the differences between boys and girls?›
‹Oh, that stuff!› Ranma blushed deeply. ‹Uh, yeah, I've picked up some stuff. Don't remember anyone mentioning that thing though.›
Akane wished that she had a throat right now, so that she could swallow, hard. She also wanted fists. Boy, did she want fists! It would be wonderful to relieve her sudden stress by pounding on this clueless boy. Unfortunately, such options were closed to her.
Part of her wanted to ignore his ignorance, but Akane's conscience nagged that she was stuck living in this body with him, and it was up to him to take care of it. He was going to need to know what the parts were, and how it all worked. If someone didn't clue the jerk in, then she would suffer right alongside him, and she seemed to be the only one available to do the job.
Still, she could allow herself a temporary, if cowardly, reprieve. ‹I don't think we have time to go into all that right now. The others are expecting you to finish up so we can be on our way. I, uh, guess we'll ... need to talk about all that ... later. Sometime when we won't be interrupted. And after I work up the nerve.›
Ranma shrugged as if it was of little matter, but he was trying not to blush as he picked up on her nervousness. He quickly finished washing, then immersed himself in the water to rinse off. While he was pulling on his clothes, Akane spoke up again.
‹If you're going to spend much time like this, you'd better think about getting a bra or two.›
Ranma froze, then yelled, forgetting to stay silent. "I ain't wearing no bra!"
Akane snickered. ‹That one ought to get you a strange look from your dad when you go back. Seriously though, it's going to get uncomfortable after a while if you don't. Besides, do you really want other guys to be ogling you? They're going to stare enough already, you know, but it'll be a lot worse if you walk around without a bra on.›
Ranma had been pulling his shoes on, but at this he slumped down, head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. He felt a blackness of despair engulfing him. Part of him wanted to just sit there until he died of starvation.
‹Hey. It isn't that bad,› Akane said, trying to cheer him up. ‹At least you're alive and healthy. For that matter, you're able to talk to people and be treated normally. You could've fallen into a pool that would change you into an animal.›
Ranma's only response was, ‹I ain't so sure at the moment that it's so all-fired wonderful to still be alive. Going around like this for the rest of my life ...›
‹So?› Akane retorted. ‹Would you want to trade places with me? Dead, never able to speak to your family and friends again? Stuck in a body over which you have no control, but where you still get to feel everything?›
Ranma didn't answer this, but instead asked, ‹Oh? And how would you like to be in my place? Knowing that you'd be spending the rest of your life shifting back and forth between a girl's body and a boy's.›
She started to answer quickly, but then slowed down. ‹It's beginning to look like I will be, since I'm sharing these bodies with you. As for the way you meant the question ... I, well, I suppose I wouldn't like it much. But I wouldn't have any choice, right? I'd just have to go on, and make the best of it. If there's one thing I learned after the morning attacks started, it's that no matter how bad things get, you keep on going. You survive.›
Ranma perked up a little at this, some of his confidence returning. ‹Yeah, you're right. I've been through a lot of crap in my life, but I never let anything stop me, at least not for long. No way I'm going to let this or anything else defeat me. I'm Ranma Saotome!› Akane groaned, but he ignored her.
‹One way or another, I'll manage,› Ranma finished, nodding his head emphatically. He pulled on his shoes and grabbed his pack. Striding back into the clearing, he called out in his new tenor voice, "Okay pop! I'm ready to go! Let's get the supplies we need, and then head back to Japan."
A few hours later they were hiking down a path between freshly plowed fields. Chickens were scratching in the dirt. The guide was saying, "We entering village of Joketsuzoku now."
Ranma and his father gazed around wearily, eyes glazed with hunger. They were still in their cursed forms, as female and panda, with Ranma dressed in a gi. Fields and houses were tucked away in various crevices and level spots permitted by the mountains. There was a rumbling murmur coming from around a bend up ahead.
As they walked around the bend, they saw a large gathering of people, women in the center and men along the edges. In the very middle was a large log, hanging suspended horizontally between ropes, with two women battling atop it. One of them seemed no more than a teenager herself, and apparently she had dyed her hair purple for some reason. The other was so heavily muscled as to be only marginally recognizable as female. The clash of their weapons was echoed by exclamations from the crowd.
"Oh, Mr. Customers, we in luck," the Jusenkyo guide said. "Today is day of tournament, choose village champion. Women of village will feel generous today." He sat down, concentrating on the match and paying little attention to the pair accompanying him.
Ranma was feeling faint with hunger, and he found himself confronted by a table piled high with food. His eyes opened wider at the sight, and saliva started filling his mouth. Akane of course was sharing the physical feeling of immense hunger with him. One common thought echoed through their shared head. ‹Food!› ‹Food!›
Beside him the panda apparently had the same thought. Together they sat down on a bench at the table, and immediately started shoving food into their mouths as fast as they could. They had already achieved a significant reduction in the pile on the table when they suddenly heard an immense shout. Looking up, they saw one of the fighters flying off of the log. The onlookers were shouting hurrahs at the victor, the girl with the purple hair. She jumped off of the log and came marching toward them, when suddenly her eyes started burning with rage. A gasp of consternation and anger came from the throats of the villagers.
The guide turned to look beside him. "Aiyah! Mr. Customers! What you eat here?" He was looking at the sign in front of the table which read, in Chinese, "First Prize."
"Huh?" Ranma looked down at what was in his hands. "Food, right?"
Suddenly a bonborri smashed through the table right under Ranma's nose, splitting the table in half and spilling the remaining food onto the ground. If he had been a hair's breadth slower jumping up into the air, his knees might have been smashed. Instead he ended up sitting on top of the bonborri. The purple-haired girl exclaimed something in Chinese, leaving Ranma looking at the guide quizzically.
The man translated helpfully. "You there! Woman and panda! Why do you steal my prize?! She say."
The girl pulled back and Ranma jumped down. She continued speaking, and the guide continued translating. "Every year this day is martial art show. I, Xian Pu, now am champion. She say."
Ranma considered. ‹I think I can take her, even if I'm not completely used to this body yet. If I win, then the prize should be mine, so there shouldn't be a problem.›
Akane responded thoughtfully, ‹From what I saw of you fighting with your father earlier, I think you're probably right. Probably. She did look pretty good. I hope you're right, anyway. If you get hurt, I'm going to feel it too.›
Ranma spoke aloud, addressing himself to the Chinese girl. "Shampoo, huh? Then if I defeat you, you've got no problem, right? I'm Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts." The guide helpfully translated this for the girl. The latter nodded her head, then began cracking her knuckles and smiled a grim smile, obviously planning to mete out severe punishment.
Both girls jumped up from the ground onto the log. Shampoo was carrying her two bonborri, but Ranma had no weapon. Something was called out, and the guide translated. "They say you permitted to have weapon if you want."
Ranma shook his head. "Naw. I'm good." The guide didn't bother to translate, as the head shake had been sufficient to convey the meaning of his words. Ranma looked around for his pop, and finally spotted the panda over by the broken table, stuffing the spilled food into their packs. His old man had apparently decided to take advantage of the fact that everyone had their eyes on the fight.
At the signal from an elderly woman on the ground, Shampoo moved in quickly, swinging her bonborri around to strike. Ranma watched carefully, and kept in mind the exact degree of speed he was currently able to get out of this body. At the last moment he ducked inside her swing, and snapped off a kick which caught the Chinese girl under the chin. The bonborri flew off in opposite directions, forcing members of the crowd to jump out of the way. Shampoo herself fell backwards, bounced off of the log, then fell to one side and onto the ground. The onlookers gave a gasp of dismay.
‹You did it, Ranma!› Akane was gleeful. It sounded as if she were jumping up and down, and he could picture her pulling an eyelid down and sticking her tongue out at his defeated opponent.
Ranma jumped down, intending to give Shampoo a hand up. He was forestalled when an older female, perhaps in her forties, came up to him and seized his hand. She lifted it over his head, signaling that he was the victor. Shampoo levered herself off of the ground, rubbing her chin, and fixed Ranma with a glare.
For her part, Shampoo was livid. This Japanese girl had not only defeated her, the village champion, but had made it look so easy that it felt like mockery. Shame burned upward from deep in her gut, and made her think about the old laws concerning battle with outsiders. With that, the corners of her mouth turned up in a tight little smile which was anything but pleasant to look upon.
As Shampoo approached him, Ranma started feeling nervous at the look she was giving him. The smile in particular was worrisome. Inside of his head, Akane was in agreement. ‹Ranma, that's exactly the smile I gave Kuno the first day that the boys attacked me. Right before I kicked him between the legs.›
The boy inside the girl's body winced, but said, ‹I know. I don't like the way she's looking either. But it would look bad if I tried to run away when she may just be coming over to congratulate me.› Even so, he came up ever so slightly on the balls of his feet, ready to bounce away.
With an evil glint in her eye, Shampoo laid the fingertips of one hand along Ranma's cheek. She then leaned in quickly and brushed her lips against his other cheek, startling the boy. ‹What the hell? Is this some weird way of congratulating me?›
‹Do you always go around kissing foreign girls, Ranma?!›
‹Hey, she kissed me! I didn't kiss her.›
‹Hmmph. You didn't try to stop her, pervert.›
In the meantime, Ranma was drawing back, giving the Chinese girl a wary look. ‹C'mon Akane, cut me some slack! I didn't know what she was planning to do, okay?›
Off to the side the Jusenkyo guide screamed, holding a hand up to each cheek. In three long steps he reached Ranma, grabbed the currently girl's hand, and yanked as he ran off. "We must to run, Mr. Customer! You just getting Kiss of Death!"
"Kiss of Death! What the hell is that?" shouted Ranma. They reached the panda, who had already shouldered his pack and was holding out Ranma's. He grabbed it and shrugged it on as he kept running.
"Joketsuzoku have very big pride," the guide panted while running. "Losing to outsider is worse shame than death! Kiss of Death is promise to chase you to end of earth and kill!"
"Damn!" Ranma looked back and saw that Shampoo was already chasing after them, holding a sword. He gave a shudder, and concentrated on running.
Akane asked conversationally, ‹Does this sort of thing happen to you often, Ranma?›
‹Too damn often!› he replied. ‹Though usually it's all my pop's fault. Need I remind you that you didn't have any objection to my fighting her?›
Akane sighed. ‹True. Sorry. How about the guide? He doesn't deserve to be caught in this.›
At that moment they rounded the bend which hid them from the crowd and temporarily from Shampoo. "Keep running pop!" Ranma called to his father. At the same time he grabbed the stout guide around his waist and heaved upward. The Chinese man gave a small shriek as he flew through the air, which was cut off when he landed on a ledge high above the trail. "Stay there and keep out of sight!" Ranma called as he continued running.
Ranma and his father maintained a strong, steady pace, but every time they had a clear line of sight behind themselves, they saw that Shampoo was still hard on their trail. After a couple of hours of alternating run and trot, they found themselves passing through another village. The villagers stared as a panda bear and a girl wearing a gi went tearing down their main road without slowing down. The two were soon out the other side, and vanished into the distance.
Shampoo on the other hand had pulled up short as she saw the village that her prey had run through. ‹Aiyah. Ranma ran through Yaocaicun. If my old enemies Pin Ke and Lin Ke see me, then we'll fight. I'd win of course, but if they manage to get me with their plants, I could lose days in the chase. I may never find Ranma again. I'd better go around, even if it means going around the stupid mountain. That will put me hours behind, but at least I shouldn't lose her completely. Besides, there can't be that many Japanese girls wandering around China with a panda bear.›
So it was that when Ranma and his father made camp for the night, and finally had a chance to change themselves back into males, they believed that they had given Shampoo the slip. Unknown to them, she had found their trail again, and had made camp herself, about thirty kilometers behind them.
Author's note:
Well here's chapter 2, a little sooner than I expected. Stick around for Chapter 3, "Together through China."