Chapter Four – The Adhesion Imperative

Nabiki

The moonlight was soft that night.

Nabiki sighed as she stared thoughtfully out her window. The last two days had been more intriguing than any other time in her life that she could remember. Ranma Saotome was flipping their lives upside down, and all of her preparation from the past month seemed useless.

Akane had been friendly with him, of all things! He was a boy, too. This was the same boy she had been absolutely ranting about just two days ago. How the hell did he do it?

"Nabiki?"

She turned to see Kasumi standing in the doorway in her long white nightgown. "What is it, sis?"

The older girl sighed as she stepped into Nabiki's frugally decorated room, settling onto her bed. "Is that what I think it is?"

Nabiki glanced down at the bill, pinned to her desk under her arm. "Yeah, it's not good."

"How bad?"

She closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "Ranma was on life support for twenty-six days, and since his pig-headed father refused to let us take him to the hospital, we rented it all out. Add the extra food and all of Tofu's visits on top of that, and we're over. Way over."

Kasumi gulped. "Tell me."

"500,000 yen. We had 250,000 at the start of the month."

Her jaw dropped. "But that's double… Did Daddy-"

"He won't do jack," Nabiki said angrily. "Neither will the lazy excuse for a father Ranma has. If anything, they're just making it all worse."

"We can't ask Akane or Ranma about it, either. It's just not fair to them." Kasumi crossed her legs, knuckles white as she clasped her hands together in her lap. "There's nothing we can do, is there?"

Nabiki watched her sister for a moment, then paled as she saw the determined spark in her eyes. "No. You can't. I won't let you."

Kasumi shook her head as she got to her feet. "I can, and I will. This is my family, and I won't let us lose the dojo if we run out of money."

"No! I said no! You've already taken two gap years from college, and I've seen you sneaking out with Tofu after he comes over. That's your money, for your life! Don't waste it on us!"

The older girl shook her head sadly. "No. This is my house. I'm responsible for everyone here. College is… College can wait for me. Look at you! After you graduate, you already have three economics scholarships lined up! What field would I even go into? Cooking? Tofu… Tofu will understand. He's always understood."

Nabiki desperately cast around for ideas as her sister wiped a tear off her cheek. "Will you make a deal with me?"

"What?"

Slowly, the inklings of an idea began to form. "This bill isn't due for another week. If I can get the money in that much time, will you promise to me that you'll start applying to colleges again?"

Kasumi watched her sadly for a moment. "I- Nabiki, please don't do anything you'll regret."

Nabiki turned away, formulating her plan in her mind. "I never do, sis."

I don't care what I have to do. There's no way she's going to keep ruining her life for the rest of us.

Ranma

"You've gotten soft, boy!"

Ranma lazily blinked his eyes open just as he was booted out of his bedroom window and into the backyard. Gracefully, he caught his fall with both hands and did a back flip to see Genma staring down at him. "You want to spar? You're on!"

Genma tensed, then launched himself out towards Ranma with explosive force. Rolling his eyes, Ranma sidestepped his father and gave him a light push in the direction of the koi pond. Quickly, he jumped onto the roof of the house before the splash of water could reach him.

He wasn't going to lose today. Hell, he felt absolutely amazing. The haze of his coma was virtually gone, and whatever had happened yesterday… No, he wasn't even going to let himself think about that.

Fifteen minutes of sparring later, Akane walked out of the house and yelled, "Ranma, stop fighting on the roof and come eat breakfast!"

Ranma turned to look down at his new friend. "We're coming!"

Genma gave an indiscriminate growl as he sent a roundhouse kick straight into the small of Ranma's back, sending him flying into the koi pond.

Two days later, the change still felt as strange as ever. Ranma growled as he flipped his red pigtail out of his face and dragged himself out of the cold water. Dammit! This is the last thing that I wanted to happen today. "Hey, Kasumi? Are you boiling tea or anything?"

Kasumi looked up, and her eyes widened as she covered her mouth. "Oh my! Ranma, honey, your… your… your chest."

Soun and Genma were both white as a sheet, Akane was beet red as she looked away, and Nabiki was leaning back in her chair, staring at Ranma prospectively. He looked down to see that his nice Chinese silk shirt had been practically torn in half. "Oh, that's a shame. I really liked that shirt. Do you have hot water or not?"

"Ranma-" Akane desperately squeaked out, squeezing her eyes shut.

"What?"

She took a deep breath, and yelled, "You idiot, do you not have any sense of feminine modesty?"

Ranma laughed at her expression, pulling his shirt back over his exposed breasts. "Jeez, Akane, you look like somebody just died. What's the big deal? It's just a curse, after all. It's not even my body. I'm a man, I don't need any of that dumb feminine stuff."

Hot water poured onto his head, and he looked around to see Nabiki standing behind him. She gave him a sly smile. "If I didn't know better, I would think my little sister saw a little more than she could handle."

"What!?"

Ranma shook his head as he sat down for breakfast. "I suppose I'll have to borrow a shirt from somebody. That was my only one."

Soun blinked. "You only own one shirt?"

Everyone turned to look at Genma, who was holding up a sign. ::A little hot water for a poor little panda?::

Kasumi picked up the tea kettle, walked over to the sink, and poured out the contents into the drain. "Oh, how unfortunate. We seem to be out of tea."

Genma blinked, then lumbered out of the room, presumably in search of bamboo for breakfast.

"Say, Akane," Nabiki said. "Kasumi only has dresses, and I'm way too small for Ranma. Why don't you give him some of your T-shirts?"

"W-w-what?"

"No way! That wouldn't be very manly!"

Nabiki grinned. "Actually, all of her T-shirts come from the men's section. Besides, pink was the manliest color a hundred years ago."

Ranma frowned then shrugged. "Sure, why not. Whad'ya say, tomboy?"

Akane glared at him. "What did you call me, pervert?"

Ranma winced. How is this perverted? I'm not a girl, why the hell should I care? "Look, please? Besides, I don't care but I'm pretty sure public nudity is illegal..."

She flushed even deeper, then looked away. "Fine."

Akane

Akane groaned as she leaned back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Ranma, are you done yet?"

"Done? I've never even seen this many clothes in my entire life. I could be in here all day!"

She frowned and walked over to the half-closed door to see Ranma holding five different shirts. "Seriously? I get dressed in five seconds every day."

"That explains that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Ranma grinned at her. "Are you kidding me? You dress like you just spent fifty minutes fighting with your mom before getting forced into a dress every day! If I had this many clothes I- Akane?"

Mom… A familiar sadness bubbled up in her throat, and she turned away from Ranma. Her hands clenched, gathering the soft sheets below her in her fists.

"Akane, you're scaring me. What's wrong?"

Opening her eyes, she gave him a sad little smile. "My mom passed away years ago… We did used to have fights, just like you were talking about. I just..."

Unable to stop herself, tears formed in the corners of her eyes and she started to softly cry. Ranma watched her as she sat down on her bed and buried her face in her hands. "Akane, you're acting all like a girly girl now and it's weirding me out."

Despite herself, Akane shook her head and laughed breathlessly. "Kami-sama, you're such an asshole." Why can't I hate him, Mom? He was… better yesterday. What am I supposed to do?

A muscular arm draped itself over her shoulder, squeezing her a bit too hard. Surprised, she twisted to see him sitting next to her frowning slightly. "Is that better?"

"Ranma, you're hurting me!" As he hastily let go, she became extremely aware of how he was still shirtless, and also much closer than she liked. "I'm fine, really. Are you finished going through my closet yet?"

Ranma frowned as he looked over the shirts he had pulled out from her closet, and picked up a navy blue one she had gotten free from a summer camp years ago. "This one's fine. I did mean what I said though. You should wear some of these sometime."

A flicker of anger returned to her chest, this time directed at Genma. "You were serious about only having one shirt."

"Pops always said one was fine. Besides, the old furball couldn't pay for another one if he wanted. I'm not even sure how he got the nice silk one I had."

"He stole it," Akane said flatly.

Ranma frowned. "It's too late to do anything about it now anyway. There's no way we could put back together now. Does this look manly enough?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "What is it with you and being manly today? It's not like it was a problem yesterday. You never even mentioned it once, and today it's the only thing coming out of your mouth."

Ranma's expression shifted in a second, becoming conflicted. The change wasn't lost on her before he settled into a small frown. "Yesterday was weird. I'm back to normal now. This is normal."

"Oh." That was a shame. She really had started to like the Ranma that had been around yesterday. He was… He was going to be her friend, and neither her temper or their engagement was going to get in the way of that. Then, a thought crossed her mind. "Does that mean you don't want to eat with us at lunch again? It wouldn't be very manly to eat with a bunch of girls."

He looked at her funnily. "Why would I not want to eat with you? You're my friend."

Akane smiled happily at him. "Thanks, that… that actually means a lot."

He smiled back. "Y'know, I meant to tell you this yesterday, but you have a really nice smile. You should use it more often. C'mon, let's go to school."

Akane stayed glued to her bed as he left the room before finally tearing herself away to follow him. For some odd reason, she couldn't get the light rosy tinge away from her cheeks.

Ranma

"This again?"

Akane glared at the slobbering group of boys in front of her. "I told you, every morning."

Ranma growled softly. "These losers need a lesson taught to them." Angrily, he strode forwards and yelled, "Hey perverts!"

The silence was deafening as Akane narrowed her eyes at him. "I said I can fight my own battles, Ranma."

Pointedly, he ignored her. "You want to have half a chance with Akane? You better beat me first!"

"Ranma!"

The entire Hentai horde converged on Ranma at the same time, and he disappeared into a flurry of blows and collisions. Fifteen seconds later, all of the other boys were on a heap around him. Kuno, wearing a furious expression, strode forwards and started to give a speech. Before he got far, Ranma sprinted forwards, kneed him in the gut, and punted him as far away from Furikan as he possibly could.

Turning back to Akane, he grinned. "See? Problem solved."

Slap!

Ranma's head snapped to the side as a sharp pain spread through his cheek. "Hey! I was helping, what was that for?"

As soon as he looked back up, he saw that Akane was shaking with barely contained fury. "Ranma. Saotome. How many times do I have to get it through your idiotic brain, I do not need you or your fragile masculinity to solve my problems for me! You had no problem holding my bags for me yesterday, so do that more if you really want to be helpful."

As she stalked towards the entrance, he followed behind her. "Wait, but I sent Kuno-"

Akane spun back around in exasperation. "Honestly. That lunatic is delusional, what makes you think that this will change anything? The only difference now is that he's going to be after both of us. What does that accomplish?"

"But- I was just tryin' to help out."

She gave him an icy glare. "Well, you didn't. Happy?"

"I-"

Before he could say anything, Akane had already swept past him and into the school building, leaving him standing alone in the dusty courtyard.

Fine! Be like that, see if I care.

Later

Ranma cocked his head to the side as Yuka stared at him with an adoring expression. "Um… Yuka, you're scaring me. What?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and squealed. "I just… This is so perfect! You and Akane… Akane and you… You're- It's- I mean- Eek!"

Ranma scratched the back of his neck nervously and glanced at Akane, who made a point of looking away when he did. Sighing, he grabbed another roll of sushi out of his bento. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yuka looked left then right, then leaned in towards Ranma conspiratorially. "You're wearing Akane's shirt," she whispered, then collapsed into a fit of giggles.

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't play innocent with me," she said with a grin. "Spill! How was it? Akane wouldn't tell me in a million years, so you have to!"

Ranma shook his head as he leaned back. "I'm lost."

Yuka continued on without seeming to hear him. "You know, I would've taken you for the more traditional type, but maybe I was wrong."

He desperately looked around for a lifeline, and his eyes landed on Sayuri. "What is she going on about?"

Sayuri giggled. "Isn't it obvious? You're staying at her house and wearing her shirt. How is she, well, you know?"

Ranma vigorously shook his head. "No. I don't know. I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

Akane, who was bright red, sighed. "Sex, Ranma. They think we're having sex."

Sex?

Now it was Ranma's turn to turn bright red.

Yuka waggled her eyebrows at them. "Well, are you?"

"NO!" they yelled in unison, flinching as every face in the lunchroom turned towards them.

She shook her head. "Wow, you two were made for each other. Look, you're even blushing the same way! Honestly, I wish my dad would engage me to someone like Ranma..."

"W-w-we are not!" Ranma stammered out, while Akane suddenly found her food incredibly interesting. "We're just friends!"

"With benefits?"

"Ranma Saotome, how dare you lay your demonic hands on fair Akane?"

Ranma and Akane slowly turned around to see Kuno standing behind them. His clothes were ripped and torn, and his hair was covered in leaves. Akane frowned and said, "Hold on. How on earth were you able to make it back here so quickly?"

He puffed out his chest. "I am Tatewaki Kuno, Blue Thunder of Furinkan High! My love and endless devotion to Akane Tendo knows no bounds!"

"Neither does your delusion," she muttered back.

"Well," Ranma said as he got to his feet and walked towards the window. "That was nice, so I'll be leaving now." Unlatching the screen, he clambered onto the sill and looked back at Kuno.

"Saotome, come back! I shall chase you until you have paid for your crimes."

Akane rolled her eyes, then groaned as she remembered something. "Ranma, wait! Don't jump! Below, there's a-"

Ranma jumped out of the window, and Kuno jumped out after him.

"-swimming pool…"

Sayuri

Sayuri sighed as Akane took off down the hallway. "Aren't they so cute together?"

"Um, Sayuri?" Yuka said.

"What?"

"Come and look at this."

She got up from her seat and walked to the window. Standing up, she frowned as she saw a red-haired girl get out of the swimming pool, leaving Kuno floating facedown in her wake. "Who's she?"

Yuka frowned. "I think that Ranma isn't telling us something, and I want to figure it out."

Akane

"Ranma? Where are you?"

"Here!" Akane screamed as Ranma swung down by his knees from a tree right above her, staggering backward. "Is Kuno gone?"

"You scared me, idiot! Yes, he's still knocked out in the pool where you left him." She took a deep breath to collect herself. "Look, I couldn't find any hot water in the school so we're going to have to go somewhere else. I have an idea. Follow me?"

Ranma nodded, and he did a backflip out of the tree. "Where are we going?"

"We have a pediatrician who lives nearby the dojo. He's also a martial artist, so he'll probably be fine with… all of this."

Akane sighed as she led Ranma through Nerima. Is this just the way things are going to be now? It wasn't that her life hadn't been chaotic before he had shown up, but it had been predictable, at least. No curses, no engagement, no… well, no Ranma. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

"Um, Akane, you said we were going to a pediatrician, right?"

"Yeah."

She turned around to see Ranma pointing at a red cross sign next to him. "Well, isn't this it?"

Akane flushed as she realized she had almost walked right past their destination. "Yeah."

She pushed the door open, then grinned as a young man with glasses stood up from his desk. "Akane! What a pleasant surprise. Who is the young lady that you've brought with you?"

Ranma laughed, and she shook her head. "Yeah, about that… Dr. Tofu, do you have any hot water right now?"

Five minutes later, Tofu sighed as he set the tea kettle down on the stove. "Jusenkyo?"

Ranma nodded. "Blame my father, he's an idiot. You know about it?"

"I am a martial artist as well as a doctor, and it is well known as one of the most dangerous training grounds of all. Unfortunately, very few people actually know the reason why."

"Is there a cure?" Ramma had a hopeful glance that disappeared almost immediately.

"No."

"Oh."

"Hey, Doctor? How's Kasumi?" Akane asked, trying to change the subject.

Ranma frowned. "Kasumi? Why Kasumi?"

Tofu smiled happily at him. "Simple. She's my fiancee. Didn't anybody tell you that?"

They both turned to stare at Akane, who blushed. "I, uh, forgot?"

"That's great, Doctor," Ranma said with a grin. "Kasumi didn't say a thing about it. When's the wedding?"

"We don't have a date yet, but we're working on it." He smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck. "It's, well, it's a bit complicated. My family all lives in Osaka, so it takes time to work out all of the details. Shouldn't you two be in school right now?"

Akane's eyes widened, and she glanced over at the clock. 2:30? I haven't skipped class in, uh, in- ever? "You're right! Ranma, we need to go now, or else we'll miss the rest of the school day!"

"Huh?" She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of Tofu's kitchen against his protests. When they reached the door, he pulled his hand loose. "You know I can walk, right?"

"Ranma."

He looked back to see Tofu leaning against the Kitchen doorframe. "Yeah?"

Tofu frowned. "If you ever want someone to talk to about your curse, my door is always open, okay?"

"Thanks doc, I'll keep that in mind!" he yelled with a grin as Akane dragged him out the door and back towards the halls of Furinkan High.

Looking back, she could see him standing in the window, shaking his head as he watched them go.

[Edit 2/11/18] Grammar