Disclaimer: The characters and original plot of Ranma ½ do not belong to me.

My sister reminded me that the number 4 in Japan is unlucky. Maybe that's why it took so long to finish this chapter. Anyway, this chapter marks the beginning of using clearer pronouns. Akane will be "he" as a boy and "she" as a girl. Same goes for other gender-bending people.

On a side note (though it might help make some sense), in Japanese "Aoi" means "blue" while "Momoi" means "pink."

Enjoy!

Chapter 4: To Gain a Willing Teacher is to Lose a Match Beforehand

"Father, do you know where Akane has gone?" the sweet voice of Kasumi drifted through the thin paper walls and into Akane's ears.

"Ah, th-that's right! She told me she was going to be, uh, spending dinner at a friend's house because they needed homework help! Hehe…heh…" Soun's obvious nervousness made Akane want to slap himself in the forehead, but he was afraid the noise would alert the others to his presence. He was waiting for the perfect moment to appear as "Aoi," though he soon realized he didn't know when that would be.

"Eh, I guess that means more food for me!" came Ranma's eager voice.

"Not so fast, boy! We're going to have a guest for dinner, so leave Akane's plate alone."

As soon as Akane heard Happosai say that, he breathed a sigh of relief and felt it was as good a time as any to walk into the room.

"Well look who it is!" Nabiki exclaimed in an unsurprised voice. "It's Momoi! Or something similar."

Everyone in the room, excluding the panda who was inhaling rice and bamboo shoots, turned to look at the new boy.

Akane nervously raised a hand in a greeting and said, "Actually, it's Aoi. I'm, uh, Master Happosai's great-grandson and also a disciple of Anything Goes Martial Arts." He then gave a quick bow, almost putting his hands in front like a female but then correcting himself and leaving his hands at his side the way a male should.

"Eh?!" shouted the other occupants of the room, expect for Soun and Happosai. Even Genma had to pause in his meal and gape at the boy.

"Since when did Happosai have any children, let alone grandchildren?"

"I thought the only students in this school were me an' Akane?"

"My, isn't it lovely Grandfather Happosai has found a relative?"

[Master! What is the meaning of this?]

Happosai lifted a hand to silence everyone, and surprisingly it calmed them all down. Bringing his pipe to his lips, he said, "Sit down, m'boy, and I'll explain what I know to the rest of you."

Akane, now officially Aoi, did as he asked. He set himself down in the spot he would normally seat himself in as a girl and gratefully accepted the bowl of rice Kasumi handed to him. He gave his thanks, being mindful not to address Kasumi as his older sister. Akane wanted to think it was a good sign that no one had found out his secret yet, but remembered such thoughts would probably bring misfortune. To distract himself, he quickly stuffed his mouth with the delicious dinner and focused his attention on Happosai.

"I met with the boy a few weeks ago on one of my longer training trips—"

"Panty raids," Ranma coughed.

"—in the city of Okinawa. I was in the midst of aiding a young woman catch some laundry that had been blown away by the harsh winds of winter—"

"Bullshit," Nabiki said flat out.

"—when someone suddenly reached out and snatched the precious clothing away! The misunderstanding was later cleared up. Aoi here was merely assisting me in collecting the nice woman's laundry—"

This time Happosai was interrupted not by words, but by Akane's fist on his head.

"Like I would do something perverted like that! I'm not like you, creepy old man!"

Tears, probably fake, leaked out of Happosai's exaggeratedly wide eyes. "As you can probably tell, this boy has no respect for his elders, much less his great-grandfather!"

Genma shook his head and brought up a sign saying:

[I know the feeling. My own son is exactly the same!]

Ranma scoffed and replied, "In my opinion, Aoi is doing just fine."

Happosai ignored this insolence and continued, "Anyway, the lad told me he was looking for a person by my name, saying he was an orphan with nowhere else to go. I'm the only family he has left."

"Oh, dear," sighed Kasumi. "It must be hard for you to live all by yourself. How long has it been?"

Akane didn't know how to answer that, and since Happosai was doing such a splendid job so far with his lies (though the "training trip" part might be true) he was content to let him deal with it.

"Aoi's mother, my granddaughter, passed on when he was at a very young age. His father later disappeared without a trace when he was merely ten years old. Ever since then he's been traveling the whole of Japan, searching for me because he found family scrolls that became his only lead. It's a shame I was still trapped in a cave at the time or else I could have met and cared for the boy much sooner." Happosai shook his head in sorrow.

Caught up in the act, Soun began to weep and cried, "Master! Please forgive us! We were young and naïve when we thought no one would care if you suddenly died!"

Happosai merely nodded his head in approval as he continued with the story, "But now family has finally been reunited! In order to pay Aoi for the neglect he had to put up with for sixteen years, I have decided to train him and determine whether or not he will become the heir to the School."

Sounds of choking filled the room and Kasumi reached over to pat Akane on the back as he proverbially hacked up a lung, while Ranma and the panda were left to fend for themselves.

The first to recover was Genma as he whipped out a sign: [Master! Could you possibly be saying that Ranma won't be inheriting the school?!]

Nabiki saw this as her chance to have a little fun with everyone's minds, and waited for the teenagers to cease their coughing fits before asking, "And since the inheritor of the school gets the dojo through marriage, does that mean Aoi will be marrying Akane instead of Ranma?"

"What?!"

There was a sound of splintering wood as everyone abruptly shut their mouths. At the end of the cracks on the table were Ranma's fists. Looking up a bit, they all saw the look of disbelief and outrage on his face.

This couldn't actually be happening. Happosai just showed up one day with some grandson claiming to remove the title of heir to the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts from Ranma. Not only that, but that same grandson was going to marry Akane? Ranma would have none of it. Time to solve this problem the way he did any others. With fists.

Jumping to his feet, Ranma pointed at the dumbstruck teenage boy and declared, "I can prove to everyone right now that I'm the rightful heir to the school and that I'll be the one marr—making sure no one is forcing any more engagements! We've already got too many problems ta deal with!"

For a second Akane forgot the role she was playing. Had she heard correctly? Did Ranma almost slip up and admit he wanted to marry her, er, him at the moment (as awkward as it seemed)? That was it. There had been far too many close calls on it, and Akane was reaching his breaking point. Tears of frustration began to well up in his eyes at Ranma's indecisiveness when suddenly he was hit in the back of the head.

Falling forward onto his face, Akane heard Happosai reply for him. "The boy accepts. Once he gets up we can all head over to the dojo for a formal match."

Slowly, Akane rose from his sprawl on the floor and by the time he lifted his face up in anger towards Happosai, the rest of the family had already filed out of the room and were proceeding to the dojo after Ranma.

He took the opportunity to yell out his complaints. "What was that for?! I know you knew that was an emotional moment for me just now! Why else would you hit me?!"

Happosai haughtily responded, "I don't need a reason to discipline my student. Besides, men don't get emotional, especially men who are martial artists. Now get your butt over to the dojo before I humiliatingly send it through the door myself!"

"For the last time, I'm not your student," Akane muttered heatedly before stomping towards the dojo.

By the time he passed through the doors and stood a few meters from Ranma, Happosai had already taken a seat next to Soun, smoking his pipe and not bothering to look his way. Akane almost huffed in annoyance, and then remembered he didn't really care about the old man's opinions. He resolved to keep his focus on Ranma and the fight, proving that he could handle himself just fine without needing any extra training from some perverted old man.

Turning to look straight ahead, Akane bowed to Ranma as he did the same to acknowledge each other before the fight. As they both straightened back up, Akane couldn't help but notice that he was now about the same height as Ranma, if not an inch or two taller. Unfortunately this distraction caused Akane to miss the signal that the fight had already began, therefore not being able to completely avoid Ranma's fist as it came in fast.

As Akane clumsily swerved to the right, he realized several things, none of them particularly good. For one thing, he had been cursed not even an hour ago and that gave him no time to properly adjust to the new body. Secondly, his forms in martial arts would automatically be all wrong since he didn't know how to compensate for the sudden added height, weight, and overall mass. Lastly, and most frighteningly, Akane had never been on the receiving end of Ranma's attacks. They had never truly sparred before and he never once raised a hand against her, no matter how rottenly she treated him.

Oh, no. What was I thinking? I can't beat someone like Ranma!

For the first time ever, Akane Tendo felt true fear. As he frantically did his best to duck under or leap over punches and kicks from Ranma, he already knew whose match it was. Even if he could avoid getting severely injured, Akane would eventually tire, especially since the hits that landed (which were probably all of them) could be felt all over his body. It only got worse when the insults began.

"Geez, you're not much of a challenge, are ya?"

Akane grit his teeth and tried to hold back miniscule tears of frustration. I know I could never be a challenge to you! Just shut up about it!

"I know a buncha girls that could take you on without even having to use their dumb potions to paralyze you."

So what if all of your "fiancées" are better than I could ever hope to be?

"Eh? What's the matter? Wish your mommy was here so you could cry to her?"

There was an audible gasp by the other Tendos. It was a low blow, considering Ranma knew that "Aoi's" mother was dead. Whether he knew or not that it was Akane he was actually talking to, it shouldn't have mattered. However he didn't care. All that occupied his mind was how this new guy had the slightest chance of ending up married to his fiancée and he would have to go along with it should it happen. He didn't understand why, but it hurt too much to ignore when Ranma thought of that. So he planned on making Aoi hurt just as much.

Akane couldn't believe it. How dare he play on his feelings concerning his mother? Of course he wished she were here! Maybe if she were still alive, Akane could have grown up knowing how to be more feminine, to be able to cook, to know how to deal with the rest of his family and the feelings he felt when at peace with a certain boy he was currently fighting.

In a new outburst of anger, Akane lost all control and threw himself at Ranma, planning on strangling him until he passed out.

It wasn't my fault that Mom died!

Suddenly all the rage and frustration flew out of Akane as if it had never been. That thought came out of nowhere and left him feeling confused as he still flew towards Ranma. Needless to say, Akane was utterly open to any attack, especially from Ranma's right fist as it was aimed for his face. He didn't even see it coming.

Nabiki had a plan. Aoi was currently taking a bath to clean up after the painfully one-sided match before he would leave for his own home. This gave her the opportunity to label him as a pervert and further alienating him from Ranma. Sure, it was clear to Nabiki that the boy probably didn't have one perverted atom in his body, but it could be overlooked.

Standing in the changing room outside the bath, Nabiki stripped off her clothes save for her strapless bra and panties. She wrapped a towel around herself to make it look like she was actually naked. Preparing to slide the door open, she realized this would be almost the exact same way Akane first met Ranma in his male form. However, the difference here would be that Nabiki wouldn't chase him around the house with large heavy objects and she definitely wasn't going to become his fiancée.

No, all she planned to do was act as an innocent victim in a misunderstanding that no one would realize. Closing her eyes, Nabiki confidently slid the door aside and started rubbing her eyes with her available hand.

"Ouch, something must have gotten in my eye. Oh, well. I think a nice…warm…steamy bath could…help…my little predicament." Nabiki uttered all of this in a subtle seductive voice, meant to freeze Aoi in his movements and allow her to approach him without letting him get away.

"Oh hey, sis. You okay? Kasumi told me you took your bath already."

Snapping her eyes open and dropping her towel in surprise, Nabiki saw Akane lounging in the bath. Flustered at having been caught acting so weirdly, Nabiki could only ask one thing.

"What happened to Aoi?"

"The boy who says he's Happosai's grandson? I met him when he left the changing room because I was planning on taking a bath. Maybe he already left the house?"

Nabiki narrowed her eyes. Could it be possible that he was able to move fast enough that she didn't see him?

"Sounds logical. By the way, what happened to your hair?"

Akane's hands flew to her hair and a sad look briefly crossed her face before she answered nervously, "My hair? Some kids ran into me while I was walking to Sayuri's house and one of them accidentally spit gum into my hair. By the time I got the house, Sayuri said it was hopeless to get the stuff out." In a quieter voice she added, "Does it make me look like even more of a tomboy now?"

Seeing the devastated look, Nabiki replied, "Don't mention anything of what happened hear today, and I won't ask for the real story." And with that, she took the remains of her dignity and left.

Akane sighed in relief and continued fingering her hair as she muttered, "Will do, sis. Will do."

Author's Note: I don't really like how this chapter turned out. Maybe it was because of the two and a half months it took to write it out…