Chapter Three: Falling Off Fences

[A/N] 34 follows? You guys are incredible! Thank you so much to Richard, Shyguy, and Trickster for your reviews. I appreciate any and all feedback.

Ranma

"Oof!"

Ranma winced as he pulled himself off of the rough Nerima sidewalk, bringing his hand up to massage his face. Anger brimming up inside of him, he glared at the chainlink fence between the sidewalk and the river. What's wrong with me today? I should have caught myself! No, I shouldn't have fallen in the first place. Did this coma make me go soft? I did do that kata last night after all...

Akane doubled over in laughter as Ranma woozily staggered to his feet, shaking his head to try and make headache he'd had all day go away. "You fell off the fence again? Baka, you just got out of a coma. Why the hell are you climbing on fences anyway?"

Trying to ignore his pain, he puffed his chest out and tried to loom over Akane intimidatingly. "I'm Ranma Saotome, of the School of Anything Goes. Any true martial artist should be able to balance on anything! Don't you know that?"

Her eyes narrowed, and Ranma gulped as her toe scuffed the ground in irritation. Did I go too far again? Why am I even trying to be nice to her if she hates me? Just as it seemed she was going to snap back, she simply started laughing again. "Didn't you go into that coma in the first place because you couldn't balance in that spring place?"

Ranma's face flushed, and he turned away. "Hey, shut up! It's not like I wanted to go there or be here. Besides, the old man was playing dirty, what was I supposed to do?"

Akane smirked. "Anything goes?"

Despite himself, Ranma smiled slightly. Even if she does hate me, she's not all bad for an uncute tomboy.

A tiny voice deep in Ranma's head whispered, If she's an uncute tomboy, what does that make you?

Willfully, he ignored it, along with the building pressure inside of his chest.

"Ranma?"

"Yeah?"

Akane bit her lip and looked away before quietly saying, "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday. I, well... I have a bit of a temper, and I'm not very good at controlling it. There's this therapist I see and all..."

Ranma froze, trying to compute what Akane had just said. When was the last time someone had apologized to him? "Um... Thanks? I mean, we had just met, and you-"

She groaned and started walking again. "Baka, I gave you the apology you wanted yesterday, you're supposed to say sorry back for being an asshole. You have the manners of a second grader."

He considered that for a moment. "But Pops always told my manners were so much better than his."

"That would explain it."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ranma started to pace after Akane, watching her interlaced fingers behind her back sway in time with her hair. Her dress flowed down to her knees, and the same yellow ribbon tied her hair back. Grinning slightly, Ranma's hands flew back from his sides and mimicked her posture behind his own back, stepping in time with her.

"Hey, when we get to school..."

As if Akane's voice had brought him back to reality, Ranma quickly tore his hands apart and nodded. "Yeah?"

"At lunch today, do you want to sit with me and my friends? We're all going to be in the same class, so it makes sense. Yuka and Sayuri are really nice too..."

Akane's eyes were hopeful, and Ranma smiled slightly. "I'd like that, I think."

She smiled, big and genuine, for the first time since Ranma had known her. She has a nice smile, he thought contentedly. I wish she showed it more.

"Hm... Now that I think about it, that's really weird. You're different today than you were yesterday."

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Akane scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Well, for one, you're speaking a lot more eloquently today. Also, you're not being such an egotistical asshole."

Ranma blinked. "Was that a compliment? It was probably just the coma and all that. I don't really notice anything different. Wouldn't you be grumpy to wake up to an engagement and a curse?"

Well, that's not entirely true... I mean, I feel even worse that I did yesterday, and I don't know why...

"Still egotistical."

"Hey!"

Akane stopped in front of the Furikan High School sign and turned around to face him. "That was a compliment, and you're right, I suppose. I knew about for a month, and I still couldn't deal with it. Anyways, what I wanted to ask last night was, well, this ridiculous engagement is garbage-"

"You can say that twice..." Ranma grumbled.

"So can we please not tell anyone here about it? I'm fine with being friends, but..."

"What's wrong?"

"Akane Tendo, love of my life, my heart aches to my core for every day I spend apart from you!"

Ranma flashed her a quick glance. "That's the problem?"

Akane's eyes flashed, and she nodded. "Him, and the entire male population of Furikan High."

"Need any help?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Please, save me your male heroics bullshit. This happens every day. Don't go getting some idea that you're my protector or anything. Kuno Tatewaki!" Akane confidently strode into the center of the schoolyard, dropping her bags at Ranma's feet.

Ranma frowned as he stooped down to pick up her bags. For some reason, the idea of having "male heroics bullshit" was deeply disturbing to him. At least if Akane went down to that loser, he could protect her.

Maybe that was exactly what she was talking about.

Ranma laughed quietly to himself as he clutched the worn fabric handle of her school bag. Man did I completely undersell her last night. Why was I even such an asshole? I can't even remember what I was thinking. She's kinda funny, and a total badass on top of that. Here I am, Ranma Saotome, holding her bags. Yesterday, maybe I would have jumped in without listening to her, but today... She probably doesn't even need me.

Kuno was a tall boy, wearing an absurd blue getup with a wooden bokken slung over his shoulder. "Have you come to profess your neverending love for me today?"

"In your dreams, lover boy," Akane growled. "Look, if I hurt you first today, will the rest of your cronies get to class on time without bothering me?"

"Why yes, dearest primrose of my dazzling night, I will ever so graciously allow you to grant me a passionate lover's first kiss!"

Ranma sweatdropped. "Is he delusional?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Akane said. "I just play along." Voice dripping with honeyed sarcasm, she strode toward the boy and said, "Why, yes, I can't wait to wait to grace your face with a kiss of my fist."

Kuno swooned, sticking his lips out in a thoroughly unappealing manner. "I grant you my leave. Please, go ahead, fair maiden."

"With pleasure." Ranma blinked as he watched what he could only assume to be pure rage visibly gather around her fist, and she slogged Kuno halfway to Kyoto before turning to the rest of the assembled boys. "You heard Kuno-senpai, get to class before I send you after him."

Seconds later, the schoolyard was empty.

Ranma walked over with newfound respect for Akane as he handed her back her bags. "That was really smart. I probably would have just run in punching. He does kendo, right? Is he any good?"

She smiled twistedly as she made a move for the door. "Unfortunately. He's easily the best in Nerima, so I can't settle it that way. Worse, he told all of those boys that if they could beat me they could date me. If it weren't for meeting some of Yuka and Sayuri's decent friends, I might hate boys or something stupid like that. Last night, I thought you were like them, but now I know better."

Ranma hummed thoughtfully as he rolled his shoulder back. "I bet I could take him. I know a bit of kendo, probably would do it."

Akane stiffened as they entered the school building and headed to the stairs. "You'll need a uniform, and you probably should be avoiding water at all costs," she said with a cold tinge to her voice.

That didn't escape Ranma's notice. "What's wrong?"

Akane stopped mid-step and blinked. Slowly, she unclenched her fists and sat down in the middle of the stairwell. Ranma stared at her as if she had just grown wings as she took three deep breaths before getting back to her feet. "It's nothing, don't worry about it," she said as she started walking again. "Really, it's not worth getting angry over. Breathing exercises calm me down."

They stopped outside of the first year classroom, and Akane nodded at the door. "Okay, this is it."

Ranma stared at the door, suddenly scared to go inside. The pressure in his chest seemed to blossom out like an oil spill, coating his bones and weighing him down to the spot. Gulping, he tried to move forward but couldn't bring himself to step forwards. "I-"

I don't want them to see me like this.

Wait... like what?

Why don't I want to go in?

"Ranma, what?" Akane looked at him in concern, and he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Um... You see, I haven't exactly been to school in two years."

Akane's jaw dropped, and a furious glare crossed her eyes before a deathly calm came over her countenance. "The panda and I will have words when we get home." Her expression softened, and she grabbed Ranma's hand. "Come on, it's no big deal. Let's go in together."

Quickly, Ranma snatched his hand away. "Hey, what's that for?"

Akane flinched back, a hurt expression on her face, and she took a step back as she bit her lip. "I was treating you like one of my friends because you remind me a bit of Sayuri today. If you had just told me that last night's Ranma was still in there, I would have let you go it alone from the start!" Turning away, she strode into the classroom, leaving him glued to the spot.

She was treating me like her friend? Looking into the window, he caught a glimpse of Akane sitting down next to two brunettes who were excitedly talking to each other. Damn it, how did I screw up that bad again? It was going so well before I put my stupid foot in my mouth.

Quietly, Ranma forced himself to slip through the door and take a seat in the back corner of the class, jealously staring at the dark brunette who Akane had just embraced. The classroom was a sea of yellow uniforms, and he knew that he was going to stick out like a sore thumb after he was noticed in his bright red Chinese shirt. Casting his eyes around, he spotted nobody around him to talk to and sighed. It's not like I had anyone to talk to at my last school either.

"And I assume that Ranma Saotome is absent once again?"

Ranma pulled himself up in his chair, crossed his legs, and said, "No, actually that's me."

Sure enough, every eye in the class turned towards him, and all he wanted to do was shrink into a tiny ball and die. What's wrong with me today? Normally I would just jut my chest out and smile. I'm probably better than them anyways. At everything. Desperately, he sought out Akane's attention only to see her pointedly staring out the window.

This is going to be the longest day of my life.

True to his predictions, his math homeroom passed brutally slowly. Ranma found himself barely able to grasp the numbers and symbols flying across the board, but every instinct in his body told him not draw attention to himself. Careful to keep his eyes open, he allowed himself to slip into a meditative trance-like his old man had shown him how to, and let the class pass by. At the end, he was about to leave as the professor called, "Ranma?"

Akane pushed past him as he made his way to the front of the class. "Yes sir?"

The older man frowned down at him disapprovingly. "Now, I know about your coma, but I still don't appreciate you showing up here without informing me first. Moreover, I have all of your missed assignments from the past month of school. I expect all of them completed to the highest degree of accuracy by the end of the term. You are dismissed, Saotome."

Ranma's eyes widened as the professor deposited a massive stack of work into his arms. I can't do this. Nearly numb, he stumbled out of the classroom and into a sea of people. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally forced his way through the crowd and to the locker Akane had pointed out to him on the way in. Shoving the papers inside, he pulled out his schedule and stared at the course listings under his name.

Gym. I love gym. I can handle gym.

Glancing up at the clock, he gulped as he realized he was late. Knowing that he didn't need to change, he made a beeline straight for the field. When he got there, the entirety of the rest of the class was already assembled and waiting for him.

The professor, a burly man, growled as he walked up to the group. "Saotome, I presume?"

"Hai."

"If you're a lazy ass in my class, I'll make you run double I would the rest of these fools. Girls, softball. Boys, soccer. Get to it."

A chorus of snickers ran through the class as two groups split off and went off to their respective fields. Hesitantly, Ranma followed after the crowd of boys, hanging back as they split off into teams. He was picked last by a boy with light brown hair and watched as a soccer ball flew into the air.

Ignoring the pervasive wrongness he had been feeling all day, he threw himself at the game with as much energy as he could muster.

Five minutes and seventeen goals later, an exhausted class stood around Ranma in awe. The same boy who had picked him earlier walked up to him, shaking his head in amazement. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was again?"

Feeling energized from exercising, Ranma tried to summon some of the cocky energy that usually seemed to come naturally to him. "I'm Ranma Saotome," he said with a grin, tilting his head as he jutted out his chest and stuck a hand out. "You?"

"Hiroshi Tsujitani," the other boy replied as he shook his hand, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder at another boy. " That's Daisuke. Nice to meet you."

"LAPS! DOUBLE FOR SAOTOME!"

Ranma couldn't help but smile slightly as he took off around the track. Maybe school wouldn't be all that bad after all.

Ranma – One Hour Later

"Hey, Akane."

Akane, alongside two other girls, stared at him in confusion until Akane's expression morphed into one of anger. "Ranma, what are you doing here?"

Ranma bit his lip. "You asked me this morning whether I wanted to sit with you at lunch, and I said yes. If you don't want me here, I'll just leave."

Her expression was conflicted, so he sighed and turned to leave. Suddenly, a hand shot and grabbed a hold of the back of his shirt. "Hold on! Are you the-"

"Yuka, shush!" The pressure on his shirt loosened, and he turned around to see Akane's two friends staring up at him. "I'm Sayuri, and you must be-" She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone. "Akane's fiancee." They both collapsed into a fit of giggles as Akane glowered at them.

"I thought that we've already established that we are not getting married," she hissed. Glancing around, then up at Ranma, her expression softened slightly. "You can still sit with us, I guess. What did the professor want with you in Math?"

He sighed as he settled down crosslegged next to her. "He gave me all of the work for the past month, and told me I have to get it done by the end of the term."

Akane shrugged. "That's not that bad. I got mono when I was a little kid, and I had to make up an entire semester. You'll figure it out."

He frowned as he set down his bento in front of him and pulled the top off. "I'm not sure. I haven't done math in ages, so..."

A piece of sushi tore in half between Akane's chopsticks. "Have I mentioned that I'm going to destroy your father when we get home?"

Ranma shrugged. "Nah, Pops is like a punching bag. Believe me, I would've done him in ages ago if he wasn't."

Yuka, who had been giving the two of them adoring eyes the entire exchange, cooed, "Oh, this is absolutely amazing! Akane, he's perfect! He does martial arts, and he's good at sports, and he's not a complete asshole! When do I get to be maid of honor?"

"We're not getting married!" Ranma whisper-shouted, fighting down the slight blush that was rising to his cheeks.

Akane just scoffed and turned away. "Believe me, this Baka is definitely an asshole. Last night, he was so full of it. He's just shockingly good at hiding it today."

"I told you, it was because of the coma!" Although... Why do I feel so different today? Yesterday felt completely normal! What's different now?

"See, you're bickering like a married couple already!" Yuki said, before shrinking back from the two murder glares she found herself under.

"Ranma?" Sayuri asked quietly. "How did you end up here in the first place? Why were you in a coma?"

Ranma grinned at her. She's nice, I like her. I can see why Akane does too. "It's a long story. You see, we were in China..."

After that, the rest of the day seemed to pass by in a blur. Lunch ended too soon, and by the end, it felt like he and Akane were on at least decent terms again. In Science, History, and Japanese, he received massive piles of work to add on to his already massive load. By the end of the day, he had so much that he wasn't quite sure how he was going to handle it all. At the end of the day, he shoveled it into his backpack and walked out of school with Akane.

"I'm going to try to walk the fence again. Can you hold my bag?"

"Um, okay? That seems kinda stupid, if you ask me," Akane said as she accepted his bag from him.

Ranma shrugged as he nonchalantly hopped onto the fence. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."

For a block, he was. Then he fell into the river.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Akane's eyes widened, and she called, "Ranma, watch out!" He made a desperate grab for the fence, but missed and tumbled into the current.

The change was different, this time. She could feel her body changing, and as it did, she could feel the painful weight that had dragged her down all day lift. A golden glowing feeling seemed to fill her body, and as she burst out of the water, she found that she was crying tears of joy.

She felt good.

She felt right.

She felt the most liberated that she had in her entire life. Her entire sense of being, everything about her, felt as if it had been rectified the moment she had touched the water. It was incredible.

"Ranma! Are you alright? You're crying!" Akane's face had a look of pure horror and worry written across it.

And then Ranma realized that she was a he, and she was not alright, and she could never feel that way again.

And he buried the golden glow, buried it deep inside of himself, and vowed to himself that he would never let himself feel that way again.

He was Ranma, man among men. Who was he to change that?

[A/N] Number one thing that should be obvious right now? Female Ranma is much, much less outright abrasive and obnoxious towards people. This will become very interesting.

Number one thing that isn't obvious? Female Ranma.

If you're wondering why he isn't suddenly acting like Kasumi, it's in large part because he hasn't really realized it yet. He's starting to grasp a feeling here, but he has no context for it, no name for it, a stigma against being feminine, and has just started actively repressing because Ranma's gender identity is fluid doesn't mean that his personality will drastically change. Yet. All changes here are coming more from his confusion and anxiety than actual differences. I mean, he's just as aggressive as ever (the soccer game)

Thank you guys so much for reading. This is Allie, signing out.

[Edit 2/11/18] Grammar, somehow I thought "the bluehead" was a good way to describe Akane, removed some preachy A/N content nobody really needs.