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Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or anything associated with it. All rights to Ranma ½ belong to Rumiko Takahashi and the other proper entities.
Summary: Sometimes a small shift makes all the difference. This is the world of Ranma ½ if the engagement hadn't been forced on them straight away, and Ranma, Akane, and their assorted suitors and rivals had actually been reasonable. "Against Genma's wishes, Soun had decided to wait and see which one the boy seemed the most suited to before he engaged one of his daughters to him."
Rating: T, for language
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: Ranma/Akane
A Shift In the Wind
Chapter Four
Akane woke to loud voices downstairs on Sunday. Glancing at her alarm clock to see that it was well after nine in the morning, Akane grumbled at the fact that she couldn't even yell at the noisy pair for it being too early. Dragging herself out of bed, she pulled on her gi and wandered down the stairs, pulling her long hair into a braid as she went. After she'd gotten something to eat, she'd go work out in the dojo.
"C'mon, old man!" Ranma, in cursed form, was standing in the yard, glowering at his father. "In this body or not at all!"
"You insult me, Ranma." Genma sneered. "I'll train only my son, not some girl."
Ranma let out a truly impressive stream of expletives. "Your son has a handicap, old man." He snarled. "One that is your fault. You should help me turn it into a damn advantage!"
Genma sneered. "What advantage is there to a female's body?"
Akane bypassed them, squashing her annoyance at the loud voices, and headed into the kitchen, where she could smell something sweet. She spotted her sister by the stove, spatula in hand. "Oh, Akane! Good morning." Her sister greeted her. "I'm just finishing up breakfast. Can you go upstairs and wake Nabiki, please?"
Kasumi was bringing a plate piled high with pancakes into the family room when Akane came back downstairs, Nabiki a moment behind. She found herself sitting by Ranma, who had yet to change back to being a boy. It was strange, she thought; Ranma was adamant that he was really a male, but Akane had seen just as much of his cursed form as his true one over the past few days. She wondered if it was deliberate, or if it was part of the curse that he seemed to attract every drop of water within a ten-mile radius.
"I'm tellin' you, old man," Ranma talked around a mouthful of pancake, "I gotta learn to use this body, damnit."
"I don't see why." Genma snorted. "It's not as if you'll go around wearing it all the time."
"And if I get stuck this way in the middle of a fight?"
His only response was a noncommittal grunt.
Akane turned her attention to her own father when she'd finished eating. "Daddy, do you think we could spar a little after breakfast? I've been practicing that kick you showed me last weekend and I want to see if I've got it yet."
"Of course, Akane." Her father never raised his eyes from his plate. "Give me some time to make a few phone calls and I'll meet you out in the dojo."
"I'll go warm up, then." Akane pushed her plate away. "May I be excused?" She directed her gaze to Kasumi.
"Of course. Have fun." Her elder sister nodded.
Akane made her way into the dojo and began stretching; she must have slept the wrong way—the muscles in her left shoulder were a little tight. She spent an extra few minutes loosening them, before slipping into a kata. She was winding down to a close when her father entered the dojo.
They faced off in the usual fashion. Soun let Akane take the offensive for a few moments, resorting to blocks and dodges to better assess her skill level, before pressing back with his own counterattack. Akane held her own remarkably well, even managing to snap off a perfect display of the kick that she had been practicing. Soun called the session to a halt some ten minutes later, and they bowed. The sound of clapping brought both their attention to the doors.
Ranma was standing there, applauding politely as he watched them. "Not bad." He directed at Akane. "You're better than that brawl at school made you look."
Akane flushed at the praise, but it was Soun that answered. "Thank you, Ranma. I take it you were unsuccessful in getting your father to spar with you in cursed form?"
The boy-turned-girl frowned. "Yeah, the idiot has some sort of hang up about girls and the Art. He's never straight-up said so, but he thinks girls are weak."
"Well, you are more than welcome to join Akane and I while you are staying with us." Soun offered. "I know you are more than likely above Akane's own skill level, but perhaps you could spar with her to allow me to make an assessment of where you're at?"
Ranma, who had been looking pleased at his host's offer, immediately hesitated. "I, um…" he cleared his throat. "I don't hit girls." He looked down at his feet.
"Why not?" Akane demanded, scowling at him. "Do you think we're weak, too?"
"I never said that!" Ranma's head snapped up to glare at her. "It's just not honourable for a man to strike a woman!"
"Aren't you a girl, right now?" Akane demanded hotly.
"But I'm still a guy inside!" Ranma planted a hand on his chest, in approximation of where his heart was. "It don't matter what I look like on the outside, I'm a guy!"
"It's an admirable sentiment," Soun cut across Akane's angry next words, moving to plant a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "However, not entirely reasonable when within the confines of a dojo. Akane is a martial artist, and has accepted that she will bear injuries, sometimes inflicted by men, during the course of her training. As your father has no doubt told you, the path of a martial artist is fraught with peril, and Akane walks that path. You insult her by not taking her seriously."
"But…" Ranma looked from Soun to Akane, honestly torn.
"Daddy just wants to see how you move, not how hard you can hit." Akane crossed her arms petulantly. "Didn't you say you need to learn to use that body properly? If your father wont train you, and you wont practice with me and Daddy, who else will you train with?" She pointed out.
"I… I guess…" Ranma, still looking unsure, stepped forward.
Akane sized Ranma up properly. He was perhaps a centimeter or two shorter than her, but with his larger bust, it was likely that he'd weigh about the same. His arms and legs were slightly shorter, as well, and she knew that he wasn't necessarily as fluid as he could be.
Soun stepped aside, turning to watch them. "Begin!"
Sloppy or not, Ranma was definitely faster than her. He dodged every single one of her attacks with minimal effort. As the seconds ticked by and Akane pulled out more and more of her best moves, she began to grow frustrated. She stopped attacking. "What's wrong with you?" She demanded. "Come at me, damnit!"
"Er…" Ranma rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. "Habit?" He offered with a shrug. "Right, I'll stop dodgin' so much."
Akane growled and resumed the offensive. This time, Ranma began to block. After so long of fighting people who couldn't land a hit worth a damn, Kuno excluded, Akane was taken by surprise as Ranma pressed his fist to her stomach; though not hard enough to hurt at all, she doubled over to better absorb the impact, and received a tap to the back of the skull. As she lost her balance and fell to her knees, she realised it was the same move she'd seen him pull on Kuno. However, he hadn't put any power into it. She wasn't even winded by the fist to the stomach; it was like he'd simply tagged her.
She looked up to see Ranma hovering anxiously above her as her father approached. She accepted his outstretched hand, using her other to rub one of her knees, which had taken the worst of her fall. "Ow." Was all she said.
"Did I hit you too hard?" Ranma bit his lip.
"No, you didn't hurt me at all." Akane shook her head to clear it. "I just landed a little heavy on my knees. You really have to show me how to do that."
Ranma shrugged. "I told you. It's just speed."
"You certainly are more skilled than I thought." Soun rubbed his chin. "Ranma, would you spar with me?"
Ranma grinned. "Sure."
Akane wandered over to the other side of the room to wind down with a kata as they began. She watched Ranma critically out of the corner of her eye, trying to puzzle out what was holding him back in the cursed body. He was already better than he'd been at the construction site the other day; she guessed he'd been working on his form. And he gave her father a decent fight—the older man was constantly on the defensive, though he did get a few hits in, himself. Akane grumbled to herself that if Ranma wasn't even getting a proper challenge from her father, he'd almost certainly have been playing with her.
She was just finishing her wind-down as she watched them finish up, Ranma scoring a kick that sent her father tumbling down onto his back. Soun held up a hand that stalled Ranma as he went in for a kill shot, conceding the match. "Very good, Ranma." Soun was actually panting. "I see no reason that you should be struggling. Your form is excellent."
"Then what's wrong with me?" Ranma frowned, staring at his hands.
Soun was frowning as he pushed himself to his feet. "I don't know. Perhaps you're still adjusting to the different center of gravity?"
"Maybe…" Ranma sighed.
"In the meantime, I would suggest you continue to practice with Akane." Soun recommended. "You would both benefit from the exercise—you would gain a sparring partner willing to train with you in female form, and Akane would gain someone more skilled than herself to assist her improvement."
Ranma gave Akane a look out of the corner of his eye. "But I couldn't." He protested. "I'd have to hit her."
Akane narrowed her eyes at him. "You've got no problems hitting Daddy!" She protested.
"Because he's a man!" Ranma shot back. "You're a girl! You might be a violent tomboy, but you're still a girl!"
Akane saw red. "What did you call me?" She demanded.
Ranma snorted. "It's the truth, ain't it?" He pointed out. "You whacked me more than once last night!" He swore he had a bruise on his back from the knee she'd dug into him when she was trying to get the dumbbell he'd been holding over her head. He'd been pushing her buttons, true, but it hadn't been reason enough to trip him up and put her whole weight into his spine. He'd stalked off to his room before Kasumi had come in to see if he was alright; she'd asked him to forgive Akane's short temper, insisting that she really was 'a very sweet girl, if hopelessly violent'. "If you can't even control your temper, how could you give a decent fight?"
"Now, now." Soun attempted to cool the argument. "Ranma, why don't you at least consider the option?"
Akane stuck her nose in the air. "Forget it!" She snapped. "I don't need to train with someone who thinks of me as second-rate. I'll be fine practicing alone." She turned on her heel and stalked out of the dojo, leaving an irate Ranma and her stunned father behind. Ranma's hand closed around her elbow and she spun, catching him unawares with a fist to the jaw. He stumbled back a few paces and she continued toward the house.
"Oi, Akane!" Ranma called after her as she reached the hall. She ignored him, stomping up the stairs and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind and refusing to answer when he knocked. "C'mon, Akane!" He pounded on the door. "Open up!"
"Go away!" She shouted, pulling on the doorknob to prevent him from opening it. "If you come in here, I swear, I'll… I'll…!" She couldn't find a threat strong enough.
She could hear Ranma's snarl from the other side of the door. "Fine! If that's the way you want it!" He shrieked, before turning and stomping away. She heard him shout from the other end of the hall, "Just tell me when you're done puttin' words in my mouth!"
She tried to ignore him, turning to rest against the door. Taking a few deep breaths and forcing herself to calm down, she felt an uncomfortable wave of remorse. They'd bickered a fair few times over the last few days—but that one was her fault. She'd give them both time to cool down, and then she'd hunt him down to apologise. It wouldn't do any good in trying now. They'd only end up fighting some more—she learned that the other day. She just hoped he had the sense to get some ice for his jaw. Her knuckles still stung from the impact.
Akane spent the afternoon sitting in the family room, doing her homework. She hadn't seen Ranma since she'd left the dojo that morning; according to Kasumi, he'd had a bath and announced that he was going out. Akane kept glancing out the shoji every few minutes, hoping she hadn't upset him enough that he'd decided not to come back, like that first night.
"Akane?" Kasumi came in from the kitchen, with a piece of paper in her hand. "Do you think you could go down to the market for me? I'm afraid I don't have quite enough meat for dinner, tonight."
"Um, sure." Akane blinked, closing her English textbook. "Is that a list?"
"Thank you." Kasumi handed her the piece of paper. "I'm sorry, it's a fair bit to carry…"
"That's fine." Akane folded the list and put it in her pocket. "I'll just take my stuff upstairs before I go."
Kasumi handed her a small wad of folded up bills when she came downstairs. "This should be enough to cover it." She handed her a book with her other hand. "And could you please return this to Doctor Tofu for me? It's a bit out of the way, but I'm afraid I haven't had time to take it back, lately…"
Akane blinked at the mention of the name. "Sure, I'll be back soon." She tucked the book under one arm and put her shoes on in the entryway before stepping out into the early evening air. She figured she had maybe an hour and a half until she absolutely had to be home, and set off at a comfortable pace. It was a bit chilly, but the motion kept the worst of it away, and she was thinking what a pleasant night it was for a walk when her thoughts turned, again, to the boy staying in her home.
She felt bad for him. She really did. It had to be hard, she thought, being stuck in a body that he didn't really recognise. She tried to imagine how she would feel if she were forced to become a boy every time she got wet, and shied away from the thought. She might not be the most feminine of girls, but she was still a girl. Having a boy's body would be just… wrong. She wondered if that was how he felt when he changed into a girl.
She wasn't even at the gate when Akane began mentally editing the apology she'd prepared for the next time she saw him. She didn't understand why they couldn't just get along. She hadn't even lasted a whole weekend before reneging on being his friend. He hadn't even done anything wrong, really. He'd simply wanted to uphold one of his ideals, and she had gone and gotten mad at him for nothing. Yes, she wanted him to taker her seriously, but still… he hadn't actually said anything about her being second-rate. And he was right. Her temper got in the way—not that she'd admit that to him. She sighed.
"Way to go, Tendo." She muttered to herself, running a hand over her face. She really was rubbish at this whole 'friends with a guy' thing.
As if her thoughts had summoned him, she collided with the boy in question as she turned the corner. They stared at each other for a second as Akane tried to make her voice work—she couldn't seem to make words happen. After a moment, he frowned, and made to move around her.
"Wait!" Akane blurted. Ranma stopped, turning a wary eye on her. "I'm sorry." She pressed her lips into a line. "I flew off the handle this morning. I shouldn't have hit you." She took a breath.
"It's okay." Ranma nodded, moving to continue.
"No, it's not okay." Akane protested, catching herself before she stomped her foot like a two year old. "We can't keep doing this."
"Doin' what?" Ranma blinked at her, perplexed.
"This… this…" Akane waved her hand around as she fished for words. "This thing that we do, where we fight and get pissed at each other and then just forget about it later. We've only known each other three days, and we've fought like three or four times already."
Ranma blinked at her, honestly confused. "So?"
Akane gaped at him. "So? So?" She repeated incredulously. "Friends don't do that, Ranma!" She huffed a sigh. "Look, I have to run some errands for Kasumi. We'll talk when I get home."
He shrugged. "Way I see it," he turned to fall into step beside her. She didn't fight him on his apparent decision to follow her, though a part of her bemoaned that she wouldn't have the time to prepare her explanation. "We just get over it, yeah?"
"Yeah…?" She did not know where he was going with this.
"So, we'd only really have a problem if we didn't drop crap like this morning." He shrugged. "I mean yeah, you got a temper and all, and a mean right hook—though, that might be 'cause you got me where my old man nailed me the other night—" he grinned sheepishly. She noted the bruise and felt a fresh wave of guilt wash over her. "No, look," he'd seen it in her face. "What I'm tryin-a say is, I'm not mad about it anymore. You said sorry, I said it's okay. It's fine."
Akane watched her feet, ashamed. "How do you do that?" She asked in a small voice. "Just… forgive? Just like that? I can't do that."
Ranma shrugged, folding his hands behind his head. "I dunno. Just do." He paused for a beat. "So, what's these errands? Need a hand?"
Akane shrugged. "I gotta return something for her and get some stuff from the market." She shot him a glance. "I wouldn't mind some company, though."
Ranma grinned. "Sure. Where we goin' first?"