BOOOOOOOOOM!
"Man, what nasty weather!" Ryu muttered. "Good thing this tent is waterproof..."
Ryuunosuke Fujinami sat alone in her tent, listening to the rain fall and watching lighting streak across the sky. Although Furinkan's principal had offered to let her stay at the home of one of his students, Ryu instead opted for camping out in a vacant lot near the school. She didn't want to be a burden; besides, with her obnoxious father, Ryu could use the alone time. Turning from the plastic window, her eyes settled on a ripped shirt sitting in the corner.
"Grr... why'd that loser have to go and wreck my shirt, anyway?" she grumbled. "I guess I'll have to fix it tonight..."
While Kuno's onslaught had been unexpected, it was hardly anything new for Ryuunosuke. Between her father's carelessness and her own tendency to attract the ladies, she was used to having people randomly attack her, but that didn't change the fact that such incidents were a real pain in the neck. Luckily, she always kept a spare shirt in her backpack in the event of an unexpected brawl; that's how she finished the school day without attracting unwanted attention.
At that moment, the sound of a hissing tea kettle took Ryu's mind off her damaged duds. She quickly reached for the small gas burner, turned the heat off, and began scrounging around for a teacup.
"I know I left one around here somewhere," she muttered. Her face brightened as she found the object of her search. "Aha! There you..."
Ryuunosuke's voice trailed off as she noticed the rapidly growing shadow of a man approaching her tent. "Who in the world would be running around in this kind of weather?" she wondered. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Ryu slipped a raincoat on, unzipped her tent door, and stepped out to meet her unexpected visitor. Upon seeing who it was, a look of surprise momentarily flashed across her face, but she quickly covered it with an unflinching gaze. Not fazed by the poker face, her pigtailed visitor grinned at her from under his umbrella.
"Hey... Saotome, right?" Ryu greeted him in an cold, monotone voice. "How's it going?"
"Ah, pretty good," Ranma replied. "I wouldn't mind some sunnier weather, but otherwise I can't complain. Er... speaking of that, do mind if I come inside?"
After thinking it over for a second, Ryu gave him an affirmative nod. As the two climbed inside the tent, Ryu thought back to what she had learned about this boy earlier today. Having encountered him both in her homeroom class and during the fight at lunch, Ryu had become curious about the pigtailed fellow in Chinese clothing and asked several students to tell her more about him. It seemed that everyone had a different spin on exactly who and what Ranma Saotome was, but several facts emerged from every account. He was still a relatively new student, having only moved to Furinkan this year. Most had characterized him as a lady-killer, and all said he was without a doubt the best fighter in Furinkan High School, if not all of Nerima. Finally, he was the only student strong enough to keep Kuno, the school's resident psycho, in check. Apparently, the kendo expert had lorded it over the school with an iron fist before Ranma appeared and stomped him into the ground (something that has since become routine). Freeing them from Kuno's reign of terror without becoming the new school bully had earned the pigtailed boy a great amount of respect and gratitude from his fellow classmates.
Interesting as all of this info was, it didn't answer Ryu's current question: what business could he possibly have with her that would bring him out in this storm? Once Ryu had zipped the door shut and sat down across from Ranma, some of her earlier sterness melted away.
"Say, you want some tea?" she asked. "I just finished heating up a kettle, and I'm pretty sure I have an extra cup around here somewhere."
"Sure, thanks!" Ranma replied, carefully setting his wet umbrella aside. As Ryu began rummaging around for another cup, Ranma silently scanned the tent. Honestly, he was surprised at just how sparse it was; even when compared to what Ranma was used to, the setting was rather Spartan. A sleeping bag lay in one corner, a tiny mirror and a toothbrush hung from the tent wall, and Ryu's clothes and backpack sat in a pile near the door. In fact, the only luxury in the entire tent appeared to be the tea simmering on the gas stove.
"I can hardly believe that a girl would camp out like this; this is rugged, even for me!" Ranma thought with awe. "Maybe I just imagined... No, no way! I know what I saw!"
"Hey, buddy, you gonna take the tea or what?" Ryu asked, annoyed.
Ranma snapped to, suddenly noticing the teacup being held in front of him. Embarrassed, he took it from Ryu's outstreched hand.
"Heh, heh. Sorry 'bout that! I guess I kind of zoned out for a second there," he said with a laugh.
His chuckle ceased when he saw that Ryu was giving him that uneasy stare again. "What?" he asked, genuinely confused.
After considering her words for a moment, Ryu replied, "Look, no offense, man, but I doubt that you weathered that storm just to sit here and drink tea. If this is about beating up Kuno today, then believe me when I say I'm not trying to muscle in on your territory. I'm only gonna be here for two weeks, and I don't want any trouble."
Eyes lighting up with understanding, Ranma said, "No, no; you've got it all wrong! I don't care about that at all. As far as I'm concerned, you gave the moron exactly what he deserved. In fact, feel free to beat him down again if he starts making a pest of himself."
A relieved smile spread across Ryu's face. While she enjoyed a good scrap just as much as the next guy... girl... whatever, she really didn't feel like having an all-out war erupt inside her tent.
"Well, what then? Like I said, this ain't exactly prime weather for visiting," she said, slurping on her tea.
"I... uh... just wanted to ask you a few questions; that's all," Ranma answered. "For example, how do you like class? What do you think of Miss Hinako and Principal Kuno? How 'bout that cafeteria food?"
As Ryu was taking a big gulp of tea, Ranma added, "You're a girl, ain't ya?"
Upon hearing the last question, Ryu's eyes went wide and she began to choke on her tea. Seeing her hack and cough, Ranma thought with a sinking feeling that he had been mistaken, and desperately began trying to think up an apology. When Ryuunosuke finally stopped sputtering, however, she looked up with a smile on her face.
"Yup. What clued you in, if ya don't mind my asking?" she asked, wiping her tea-covered chin on her sleeve.
Glad that he had been right and that Ryu didn't seem angry, Ranma let out a sigh of relief. Grinning, he told her, "Remember how you ran over to make sure you didn't mess Kuno up too much? Well, your chest wasn't exactly 'stationary' while you were running. I did a double-take to make sure I wasn't seeing things, noticed the bandages, and well... I think you get the picture."
"So, you only knew because you saw the sarashi?" she queried, looking rather glum. After a hesitant nod from Ranma, Ryu sighed and hung her head. "And here I was thinkin' that I might've actually done something feminine for once..."
Ranma could only stare at the depressed girl in confusion. None of this was making sense! If her boyish appearance was just a disguise, then what had she meant by that last remark? Also, why did she seem so bummed out? Was it because her cover had been blown?
Believing that to be the most reasonable guess, Ranma said, "Hey, don't worry. Your secret is safe with me; I promise not to tell a soul."
Ryu looked up with a wry grin on her face. "My being a girl ain't a secret; at least, it's not supposed to be. What I mean is that I ain't trying to hide it. I'm just living the only way I know how."
If Ranma had been confused before, he now felt more lost than Ryoga in a labyrinth. Seeing her guest's utter look of bewilderment, Ryu couldn't help but laugh. "Somethin' tells me that I lost you," she chuckled. "Maybe I should start from the beginning?"
"If you wouldn't mind..." Ranma said, thoroughly puzzled.
After taking another sip of tea, Ryu began telling Ranma her story.
"Basically, most of my problems can be traced back to my old man," she explained. "Y'see, my family has been running a beachside teashop, Hamajaya, for three generations now, and my dad is the latest owner. He always wanted a strong son to carry on the family business, but my birth put those plans on hold. Mom died not long after I was delivered, leaving him son-less. Now, this is where a normal, rational man would've decided to make do with a daughter, but 'normal and rational', Dad ain't. He wasn't about to let my being a girl get in the way of his dreams of a perfect son, so he decided to raise me as a boy."
As Ranma's eyes widened in shock, she continued. "I have to hand it to the old man; he was just as thorough as he was persistent. He started off by giving me a boy's name and haircut, but he didn't stop there. When other girls wore dresses, I wore blue jeans. When they were playing with dolls, I was playing with dinosaurs and monster trucks. While other girls were learning... whatever they teach girls, Dad was putting me through the wringer with advanced martial arts training. What's worse, he beat the crap out of me every time I even attempted anything feminine. To this day, he still won't admit that I'm his daughter, not his son. Anyway, all of that brainwashing left me a pretty messed-up kid, a girl with a mind wired like a guy's. I know it, and I ain't happy about it, neither."
After a few moments of silence, Ryu sighed bitterly and grumbled, "All I've ever wanted is to be feminine. Nothing big; just wearing a dress every now and again, walking in high heels without falling on my ass, and not instantly attracting every girl I meet. With 16 years of 'manly man' training behind me, though, I'm just about a lost cause."
Ryuunosuke fell silent, shrugged, and took another sip of tea. Meanwhile, Ranma's head was reeling from all that he had just heard. Ryu's bizarre tale of gender confusion and an obnoxious, overbearing father had hit really close to home for the young martial artist, causing him to feel profound sympathy for her. An idea suddenly popped into his head, one that he tried to dismiss at first. After taking a moment to ponder it, however, he began to think that it might not be such a bad idea after all...
"Ryu, I..." Ranma began, abruptly halting in mid-sentence.
"Yeah?" she asked. It was plain to see that Ranma was wrestling with whether or not to continue, piquing Ryu's curiosity.
Evidently making up his mind, Ranma quietly finished, "I'll help you. Y'know, to become more ladylike and all. I can't guarantee anything, but..."
Smiling sadly, she replied, "Look, I appreciate it, but it's been tried before. It didn't do a bit of good. Like I said, I'm pretty much hopeless."
"With that attitude, yeah," Ranma remarked, leaning back. "If you put your mind to it, though, there's no reason why you couldn't change. As long as you're willing to try, there's always hope. It's just like the old saying: where there's a will..."
"... there's a way," Ryu finished. A genuine smile crept across her face as she thought over his offer. "By God, he's right! There ain't a reason in the worldwhy I couldn't become more feminine if I really work hard at it. Besides, with Dad away, this might be the perfect opportunity to make some progress!"
Still, she couldn't help but wonder what was motivating Ranma to go out on a limb like this. Unlike her previous "trainers", Ataru and Mendo, this guy didn't show any noticeable tendency toward perversion. This made it unlikely that he was trying to help her merely to get close enough to attempt something dirty. Also, it was obvious enough from Ryu's surroundings that he wouldn't make any money off the venture. Could it simply be that he was a nice guy?
"Can I... ask you something?" she finally inquired. "Why are you doing this? I'm nobody to you..."
"Well, I feel sorry for you," he answered, sitting back up. "And believe it or not, I kinda know what you're going through. I've got a psycho, hypocritical dad who has been training me in the martial arts since I could walk, I barely remember my mom, and my Pop is always getting on my case to be more of a 'man among men'. Also, I... er... how to put this?"
"What?" Ryu asked, amused at his discomfort. "You're talking to a cross-dressing karate chick. How bad could it be?"
Sweatdropping and putting his hand behind his head, Ranma whispered, "Don't blab this around, but I've got a few... gender issues of my own."
Suddenly looking very uncomfortable, Ryu backed up slightly and gave the pigtailed boy an odd look.
"Y-you're not one of those creepy 'wish I was born a woman' kind of guys, are you?" she asked with a gulp. "No offense, but--"
"HUH?" Ranma gasped. Waving his arms wildly, he stammered, "N-no! No way! Nuh-uh! It's nothing like that! I swear!"
Calmed somewhat by these assurances, Ryu allowed herself to relax and eyed her guest questioningly. "Well, what then?" she demanded. "I mean, you didn't wear a dress over here or anything, so..."
Ranma stared at his feet, fidgeting nervously. Looking up, he said, "What I'm about to show you stays between the two of us, got that?"
Ryu gave a tense nod, wondering what the pigtailed boy's secret could possibly be. "If he starts unzipping his pants, I'm SO outta here..." she thought uneasily.
Thankfully, Ranma Saotome's hands instead went for a different zipper, that of the tent door. After opening it, he looked over at her with a steely, intent stare.
"Now, watch..." he instructed, sticking his hand out into the pouring rain.
No sooner had Ranma's hand touched the cold water than the remarkable transformation began to occur. As Ryuunosuke watched in wide-eyed fascination (to say nothing of disbelief), Ranma's hair began changing from its normal jet-black color to a fiery red. He became shorter, and his hips seemed to widen. Probably most noticeable, however, was his rapidly swelling chest, which soon took the form of large, womanly breasts. Finally, the contours of his face adjusted to give him a more feminine appearance. Within a matter of seconds, the change was complete. Ryu stared in goggle-eyed astonishment at the pretty girl sitting across from her, the girl who only seconds before had been Mr. Ranma Saotome.
Ryu pointed a shaky finger at the redhead as she struggled to find her voice. Finally, she choked out, "H-holy shit! You... you just turned into a chick!"
Ranma scratched her head in embarassment. "Yeah, I... um... kinda tend to do that," she said with a soft chuckle. "Maybe it's my turn to start from the beginning?"
"Works for me..." Ryu mumbled, still stupefied by what she had just witnessed.
After closing the tent door, Ranma turned to face Ryuunosuke, who was staring at him/her with a mix of curiosity and astonishment.
"All right, I'll give you the short version," the redhead began. "As you've probably heard by now, my father and I are both martial artists, and not long ago we were on the last leg of a decade-long training journey. As a sort of 'final test' before we went home, my old man had the bright idea to go to this legendary training ground in China called Jusenkyo. Just looking at it, Jusenkyo seems to be nothing more than a bunch of springs with bamboo poles sticking out of them, but there's more to it than that. Every last one of those dumb springs is cursed! Of course, my stupid old man didn't know that because he couldn't read the Chinese pamphlet. Feh... We should have known better..."
"What was the curse?" Ryu interrupted. "I'm assuming that's why you change, right?"
Ranma nodded. Adopting a Quinghai accent, she said, "Whoever fall in spring, take body of whatever drown there last. Very tragic story!"
After snickering at her own impersonation for a few seconds, Ranma concluded, "As you probably guessed already, we fell in. Now, I turn into a girl every time I get splashed with cold water, and Pop turns into a panda. Luckily..."
The pigtailed girl grabbed her teacup and splashed herself in the face with the contents, promptly becoming a pigtailed boy again. "Ta-da! Hot water changes me back!" he grinned.
Laughing, Ryu gave him a little applause for this small feat. "Boy, you're a regular bad luck magnet, ain't ya? Reminds me of someone else I know..."
"Yeah, you could say that," Ranma mumbled as he wiped his face off. "Anyway, I hope this sort of explains things. This curse might be a real pain in the neck, but it puts me in a pretty good position to help you out. I've learned how to act like a girl from a guy's perspective, so maybe I can teach you to do the same thing."
"I won't promise any miracles, but I bet we can at least move you from 'manly man' to 'tomboyish girl'," he said, holding out his hand. "So, Ryu... what do you say? Wanna give it a shot?"
For a moment Ryu seemed hesitant, but the wide grin she flashed just seconds later showed that it had merely been an act.
"Hahahaha!" she laughed, crushing his hand in a vise-like grip. "What the hell do you think? 'Course I accept! I was kinda planning on taking you up on your offer even before you told me your secret, but that sealed the deal. If anybody oughtta be able to help me, it's you. So... when do we start?"
Ranma thoughtfully glanced at his watch. "Well..." he began, "it's getting kinda late, but tomorrow's the weekend, so let's just start early tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Sure, sure. Where do you want to meet?" Ryu asked eagerly.
"The Tendo Dojo," Ranma replied. "That's where I'm staying. If you're early enough, you could even join us for breakfast. I'll probably be training with Pop first thing, but it shouldn't take very long. Here, I'll write down the address..."
Grabbing a sheet of paper and pen from Ryu's school supplies, Ranma scribbled the address down and handed it to the friendly cross-dresser. "Now remember: bright and early. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can start making progress."
"Hey, I'll be there with bells on!" Ryu laughed. "In fact, you'll be lucky if I don't show up in the middle of the night!"
"Heh, heh. Good attitude!" Ranma said as he picked up his umbrella. "Well, I'm sure the folks at home are starting to wonder what became of me. I'd better be gettin' back. Later, Ryu!"
As Ranma opened the parasol and stepped out into the rain, Ryu called out, "Hey, Saotome!"
Turning around, Ranma asked, "Yeah?"
A warm grin on her face, Ryu said, "I... just wanted to tell you that I appreciate this. A lot. If you're willing to put out the effort to help me, then I promise not to let ya down."
Ranma didn't answer; he simply returned the smile. As he walked away, Ryu got up to zip the tent door shut again. Before she did so, she took one last glance at the disappearing figure of her soon-to-be "womanhood trainer".
"Man, that guy makes me feel normal," Ryu thought. "Sure, I may look and act like a guy, but a good look in the mirror when I ain't fully clothed is all it takes to see that I'm a chick. That dude, though... I just hope for his sake that he's confident in his masculinity, 'cuz that curse is a mind-trip. Still, he's got all the right qualities that my other 'teachers' didn't. Unlike those perverts Moroboshi and Mendo, he has a better motivation than making me into some kinda floozy. Also, he's likely to have a lot more patience than Lum or Shinobu did."
As she shut the door and resumed drinking her tea, Ryu mused, "At any rate, if Ranma learned how to act like a girl from a guy's mindset, then maybe, just maybe..."
"I can, too..."
-------------------
That day at Tomobiki...
As dark clouds began gathering overhead, Akane Tendo remained sitting on the steps of Tomobiki High School. With her head resting on her knees and her eyes staring despondently into space, she was the very picture of misery. She had good reason to be gloomy; it wasn't every day that one made as bad a first impression as she believed she had. It all started when the lecherous-looking fellow that she had sat next to, Ataru Moroboshi, violated Onsen-Mark's rule of "no grabbing".
The moment she felt a hand on her butt, Akane had reacted with her usual high standard of unnecessary force. After having five desks and two chairs smashed onto his skull, Ataru had crawled away as fast as his broken bones would allow, screaming, "Save me! It's the Hulk! THE HULK!"
Too late, Akane realized that she had overreacted. Everyone in the class was staring nervously at her, and their hushed whispers were more than Akane could take. Blushing furiously, she asked to be excused and rushed out of the room. She spent the rest of the homeroom period in the school nurse's office. Although the nurse, a beautiful woman named Sakura, had assured Akane that her only symptom was "stomach butterflies", the upset girl refused to go back until class had ended. Akane had tried to remain inconspicuous the rest of the day, but wherever she went, the whispers followed. Now, nearly an hour after school had ended, she still couldn't shake her overwhelming feeling of embarassment.
"Sigh... It's days like this that make me wonder if Ranma isn't just teasing with all of that 'tomboy' stuff..." the short-haired girl mumbled into her dress.
Just then, Akane felt a hand tap her gently on the shoulder.
"Excuse me..." a girl's voice said. "Are you Akane Tendo? The one who beat Ataru into a pulp this morning?"
"Rub it in, why don't you?" Akane replied bitterly, not looking up. "Yes, I'm Akane. Can I help you or something?"
"Hahahaha! There's no need to sound so depressed about it!" the girl said with a crisp, clear laugh. "That moron got fresh, you taught him a lesson, and you're both better off now, right?"
Cheered somewhat by the girl's words, Akane turned around to face her. Her visitor was a pretty girl with clear blue eyes, shoulder-length brown hair, and a charming smile that seemed to put one's mind at ease.
"I'm Shinobu, Shinobu Miyake," the girl introduced herself. "Normally, beating up Ataru is my job. He and I used to be a couple, so I know how he can be. Ataru means well for the most part, but every now and again you have to put him in his place. After all, we girls can't allow perverts to put their hands wherever they please, right?"
Laughing, Akane replied, "My thoughts exactly! Look, I'm sorry if I seemed rude a moment ago; I just felt so embarrassed about making such a bad impression on my first day. Everyone probably thinks I'm some kind of psycho-girl now..."
"Nah, most of them were impressed," Shinobu remarked. "They all thought that I was the only one capable of smashing someone with two desks at once."
"Y'know, I think I like this girl!" Akane thought, trying to suppress a giggle. "She reminds me of myself, just with a drier sense of humor. Maybe we could be friends..."
"Anyway, I just thought that I would find you and introduce myself. You'll be staying at my house, after all," Shinobu explained.
Surprised, Akane dug around in her purse until she located the paperwork the principal had given her. Sure enough, it said that she would be staying at the Miyake residence. For the first time since that morning, a smile spread across Akane's face; it would seem that she had found both a friend and a nice roommate at the same time!
As Akane rose to her feet, Shinobu said, "My house isn't far from here. Are you ready to go?"
"Sure!" Akane replied, picking up her schoolbag. As they began walking along, she sheepishly said, "Um... Shinobu, isn't it? Would you mind if I asked you a question?"
"Go ahead; ask away," she answered amicably.
"Was I imagining things, or does one of the girls in class 2-4 have horns?" Akane whispered, feeling awkward asking such a strange question.
"Hahaha! You must be talking about Lum!" Shinobu laughed. "No, you weren't imagining things. It's a long, long story... You remember that alien invasion about a year ago, don't you?"
As Akane listened attentively to Shinobu's story, they walked out the gate, blissfully unaware of the creepy pair of eyes that were watching them from a nearby vacant lot. The eyes in question belonged to a diminuitive Buddhist monk roasting radishes in front of a makeshift tent.
As Cherry stirred the fire with a poker, he muttered, "Hmm... That girl has a very, very unlucky aura. Nothing like that poor lad Moroboshi, to be sure, but still quite unfortunate. It saddens me to see an innocent girl so afflicted with evil spirits, but I suppose it's fate. All the same, I must be sure to warn her before she leaves..."
"But first, I have more important matters to attend to," he muttered, salting a radish.
END OF CHAPTER TWO
---------------------------------------------
Happy 2006, everybody! I'm sorry about the wait; with the holidays and all, I had much more on my mind than just fanfiction. Fear not, though, because I can guarantee that you won't have to "wait another year" for chapter three. A metamage named Sean brought to my attention the fact that I gave no timeframe (in relation to the actual series) for this story. The truth is that chronology doesn't really matter all that much here; the main thing to remember is that all the major characters from "Ranma 1/2" and "Urusei Yatsura" have already been introduced by this point. If you want something a little more specific, I guess you could place it slightly after the middle of both shows.
Well, the relation between this story and its title should now be clear. Will Ryuunosuke be able to shake a lifetime of messed-up behavioral conditioning? Just what kind of "training" does Ranma have in mind? Most importantly, how are Ataru's bones knitting? The answers to some of these questions and more lie in the next exciting chapter! Be there, or... don't. (Please do, though. This story wouldn't be nearly as much fun to write without you!)