Chapter Eight: Disconnection

Ranma

"Too slow!"

Akane winced as Ranma slipped through her defenses and landed a punch on her upper arm. Stepping back, she wiped sweat off of her forehead. "I think I'm done for right now."

He grinned at her, fighting down a flicker of desire as he admired her. I ain't gonna admit it to her, but she's a good sparring partner. Dunno why I ever refused to spar with a girl – more of Pops' bullshit, I guess. "Tired already?"

"Oh, come on. You're sweating too, and Kasumi's almost done with dinner." She smirked as she brushed past him. "If you try to sneak attack me, I'll throw you in the koi pond."

"Ah, please, you couldn't do it even if you tri- woah!"

Ranma's red hair dripped as he clambered out of the pond, glaring at Akane. She stuck her tongue out at him, then yelled, "I get the furo first!"

"No way!"

Soun jumped out of the way as the two teenagers dashed into the house, laughing as they pushed and shoved their way to the door. Akane flew inside first, raising an eyebrow as Ranma followed on her heels. "I win!"

Ranma crossed his arms, gritting his teeth as they squished against his chest. "Nu-uh, you got a head start so it's a tie."

"Well, I think you're just a sore loser."

"So what if I am?"

"Well, then..." Akane made what Ranma could only assume was her best attempt to be seductive; something in between laughter and her best Nabiki impression. "Since you're a girl right now and we tied, you wouldn't mind if we shared, would you? We can both use the furo at the same time if we're the same gender, after all."

Ranma's face flushed bright red, his eyes immediately flying to her sweaty neck and also- Stop stop stop no you're not supposed to think like that about her, she your- She's my fiance, I can't like her like- Wait, I don't like her, what am I saying? Shut up before you say something stupid like you lo- Damn it, think about beating Kuno up! "Guh- I, um- Ya know, I think I'm gonna go help Kasumi with the dishes!" He backpedaled and flew out of the room, and Akane burst into raucous laughter as he fled. "And I'm a boy, dammit!"

"Right, because you're just a paragon of masculinity looking like that," Nabiki drawled as he flew into the kitchen. Grabbing the teapot, he filled it up with water and slammed it down on the stove.

"You and Akane were having a good time, Ranma," Kasumi said, a teasing lilt to her voice.

Opening his mouth to retort, Ranma caught himself as he realized she was right. "Yeah, I guess we were. 'kane's a good fighter."

"You two make a good match," Soun said, sitting at the head of the table cross-legged with his eyes closed. Ranma made an indignant noise and moved to kick him, but the Tendo patriarch held up a hand to stop him. "I only mean that as a compliment, Ranma."

"Oh." Ranma stopped short of the go board, his braid bouncing back behind his shoulder. Unsure of what to say, he sat at the table and crossed his arm. "Well, we ain't dating, okay?"

"Of course not," Soun said diplomatically as a disgruntled Genma stomped in the door and glared at Ranma.

"Boy, you better not be planning on eating dinner like that," he growled. Ranma jumped back to his feet as he smirked. "Wearing pink like that, you look just like a little gi-"

Kasumi and Soun both sighed as a panda poked its head out of the koi pond. "So what if I want to eat dinner like this?!" Ranma shouted after him. "It's my body! 'sides, Akane's in the furo right now, Pops, and I ain't gonna walk in on her!"

He sat back down in a huff, crossing his arms. Serves the old man right! He's been loafing all day and then he thinks he can come in here and say stuff like that. The kitchen was quiet, and he looked between the Tendo. "What?"

The two sisters exchanged a look, and Kasumi said, "Well, it's been what, three weeks since you ripped your old shirt?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You made a big deal about how your curse wasn't your body then," Nabiki deadpanned, not taking her eyes off of her magazine.

Ranma blinked, slowly realizing what he had just said to his father. "Oh."

"So you do feel different now?"

"I dunno." He looked down at his body, the curvy feminine figure he had so vehemently hated not so long ago. She's right – I don't mind it as much as I did then. "Some days I really hate it, but sometimes I really don't mind it at all. Either way, it's still me and I ain't gonna let Pops trash it like that."

Nabiki looked like she had something to say about that, but she was interrupted by Akane who poked Ranma's shoulder as she sat down next to him. "Furo's all yours."

The hot water sculpted his body, chiseling his chest and bringing the familiar strength and vitality as grace and poise slipped away. He had lost track of how many times he had gone through the change yet it never failed to amaze him. Staring up at the falling water, he sighed.

Why don't I mind this anymore?

Ranma wasn't completely clueless. He had been the first to notice his shifting behavior, and Akane had caught on not long after. There was something of an unspoken agreement in the Tendo household – asking about it was off-limits, and Akane was the only one who dared push that. It seemed like Genma was the only one who hadn't noticed, which was entirely unsurprising to everyone involved.

Nobody had asked questions when Ranma never left Akane's room after the night Ryoga had stayed over.

The Tendos had started to feel more and more like family as the days passed. He and Akane had been virtually inseparable after their rocky start – he had gotten over what he now recognized as his ridiculous block on sparring girls and started training with her, and she had helped tutor him and get through the massive stack of homework he had received on the first day. Kasumi was the supportive figure he had never had before, and he found it was growing easier to tell her what he was feeling, something he had never done with Genma.

Nabiki was prickly, and he had noticed a marked change after knowing her for a week. She was hiding something – Soun tried to get her to tell it occasionally but she always found an excuse to walk away. Still, they poked fun at each other, and she felt a lot like an older sister to him.

But the thing he notice the most was how normal it all was. For the first time in Ranma's life, he wasn't constantly traveling and fighting. He had made real friends with Sayuri outside of Akane, he had a stable home, and what felt like family. Hell, he was happy with it too! Never on the road had he made stable relationships, so on some level this was everything he had been subconsciously hoping for.

Really, his curse and… whatever it was causing inside of him was the only real problem he had right now, and he could deal with that.

This is my body, curse or not. He had been indecent in his female body once, and the deep revulsion and self-loathing he had felt the next morning was an experience he was never going to repeat again. How could it not be his body, when exposing himself like that had felt so wrong?

Dinner was calm. After everyone had gotten their fill and moved to get up, Soun cleared his throat and said, "I have an announcement to make."

Nabiki went white as a sheet, and everyone else stopped moving to look at him. "What is it?" Kasumi asked, gently putting the stack of dishes in her arms beside the sink.

Soun wiped the corner of his eye and took a deep breath. "Ever since your mother died, I know I have withdrawn from family life. As you know, I reached out to Genma, which was when we arranged Ranma and Akane's marriage. Our intention was to join our two schools so that Anything Goes martial arts could live on. If the engagement had failed, I was prepared to leave the Tendo dojo behind after the girls had grown old enough to leave."

"You're going to sell the dojo?!" Akane yelled incredulously, slamming her hands down on the table. "You can't do that! Mo-"

"Akane, calm down." Kasumi rested a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back into a sitting position. "We haven't heard the rest of what Father has to say."

"I was afraid the engagement would fail, Akane." Soun turned to address her and Ranma directly. "Despite it being an arranged marriage, I would never force one of my daughters to marry someone unwillingly and I was worried at first that it would fall through. With you and Ranma getting along so well, I am so happy to say my fears were unfounded."

"We're not getting married!"

"I ain't gonna marry her!" Ranma shouted at the same time, and they looked at each other and blushed.

Soun chuckled, shaking his head. "Of course not, but the fact remains that you two are the heirs to our schools, and you will be the ones to join them. Because of that, I have decided that it is time for me to return to teaching once more."

The kitchen fell silent as the news sunk in, only the gentle hum of cicadas filtering in from the garden. Kasumi wore a look of stunned disbelief identical to Akane's, Genma nodded sagely, and Nabiki had retreated back into her magazine. The eldest sister was the first to speak again, quietly asking, "How soon?"

"I've already spoken to several old friends of mine who've expressed interest in enrolling their kids. In fact, I've been planning to start up lessons next week, with Genma as my assistant."

Ranma gaped at his father, anger seeping into his veins as he looked at his father. "You knew about this?"

"Of course I did, boy," Genma said. "I arranged this marriage, I should think I know the terms."

Akane threw Kasumi's hand off her shoulder and shot to her feet. "I can't believe you!" Spinning on her heel, she sprinted away from the table. Everybody winced and turned to Ranma as a door slammed who scowled back.

"What? I ain't about to go and apologize for ya! What is this, some crazy scheme to get us together faster?" he snapped at Soun, and he shook his head with a frown.

"We're simply ensuring that you have the best future possible when you take over the school," Genma growled, ignoring Kasumi's audible sigh. "You ought to be grateful."

"What, so you'll run a dojo if I'm ready to take it but you won't for Akane? Is that why you've been loafing around this whole time, both of you?"

"There has never been a female successor to either of our schools, you know that," Genma muttered as Soun held up a hand to shut him up.

"I have three beautiful girls, yes, but the Tendo school is not what it used to be. The Saotome school has the technique and the prestige we need to keep both schools alive," he said, glaring sideways at Genma.

"Yeah, right, I'm sure it ain't cause ya care more about this stupid engagement than your own daughter," Ranma snapped. "Run your school for all I care; hell, ya even got Pops to get up off his fat lazy ass and do something for once, but Akane and I ain't gonna marry each other!" Jumping to his feet, he ignored Nabiki's appraising look and headed towards Akane's bedroom.

"Boy, come back!" Genma called after him. "We're doing what's right for the two of you and the schools! Someday, you'll see that!"

Ranma ignored him, taking a deep breath to relax as he pressed his hands against Akane's door. "Hey, I'm coming in," he called through the wood, then pushed the door open.

Akane knelt at her bedside, her arms wrapped around her head as she cried into her comforter. He closed the door behind him, uncertainly going to her side and reaching out a hand to comfort her. She slapped it away and muttered, "Go away!"

Ranma took a step back and pulled himself up onto her bed with a huff. "Look, it ain't like I'm happy with this either. They can go shove their stupid sexist crap back up their- Akane?" She threw her arms around him, crying into his shirt. He hesitantly hugged her back, unsure what to say.

"He was going to sell the dojo," she whispered. "He and Mom loved it here, they would train people together and- and- and he was just gonna throw her away. He wasn't even gonna let me take it over."

I don't know what I can say to make her feel better. "We're not going to do their dumb arranged marriage, Ak-"

"No, you don't get it!" Her brown eyes watered as she looked up at him. "All my life, I've wanted to be like Mom, to help run the dojo, but Daddy stopped teaching me after she died. I never stopped working towards it, but- but he never helped. I don't think he ever was going to let me take the school over, really. And then you come along, and you're so much stronger than I am, and suddenly he's ready to run the dojo again!"

Ranma pulled her tighter. "You're strong, Akane," he whispered back fiercely. "It's been a long time since I've had a sparring partner that wants to keep up with me, besides Pops at least. I don't want this any more than you do, okay?"

"He doesn't care about me! He doesn't care about any of us, only himself and his stupid school." Akane's shoulders shook and her fingers dug into Ranma's silk shirt. "I don't wanna get married at sixteen! I don't wanna choose between getting to be a master like Mom was and having my own life!"

"I could train you." The words flew out of Ranma's mouth before he had a chance to think about them. "Screw them. If you want to be a master, I can help you."

"I don't want help from a stupid boy who happens to be my fiance!"

"You just said it yourself. If I don't help ya, who will? It's not like I want to teach a dumb tomboy, or anything." That wasn't true – the second he said it he realized that he did, in fact, want to help Akane, but he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of knowing that.

Luckily, she didn't blow up at him, rather deflating slightly. "You would really do that for me?"

"Course I would, you're my friend. 'sides, you're not the only one who's angry at those old geezers right now," Ranma said. "I ain't gonna let the engagement ruin that."

"Thank you..."

The world darkened outside as they talked about nothing and everything, Akane slowly calming down. Eventually they both began to yawn and he tried to pull away. "I'm gonna go to sleep, 'kay?"

"Don't go," she mumbled into his sleeve, and he flushed bright red.

"Wha- No!"

"Not that, idiot," she said with a small laugh, punching him lightly. "When we were young, Kasumi or Mom would sleep with me when I was upset. I just… I miss that, and you're already sleeping in here..."

"But you're a girl, and I'm a guy," Ranma protested as she let go of him.

Akane wiped her eyes, getting under the covers. His head twisted at her hopeful yet lost gaze. "Then go change, dumbass. You're basically a girl half the time anyway, so who cares?"

Something about the way she said that made him get up and walk into the furo, where he promptly banged his head against the mirror and stared down at the sink. Why did she say that? She couldn't have meant anything by it, so don't think about it- What did she mean, a girl half the time? That doesn't even make sense, I'm a man among men-

She was falling into the river, rising to the surface with tears of joy running down her face.

No no no no not thinking about that. Shaking his head, he sighed and filled up a cup with cold water. This means nothing, okay? She's crying and she's my friend, this is the least I can do for her.

Why did his red hair and blue eyes disagree with him?

Fighting down the heat burning his cheeks, Ranma hesitantly climbed into Akane's bed. She looked asleep, but he poked her to make sure. As he did, she shifted back to take up space he had carefully set out between them and mumbled, "Thank you, sis."

He fought down a wave of panic, forcing himself to stay calm. Sis. That's all, she just sees me like her fourth sister. She was crying, stop making this into more than it should be! Relaxing, he pulled his arms to his chest and closed his eyes, resigning himself to spending the rest of the night in his fiancee's bed.

She's… soft…

Nabiki

Everyone else in the kitchen watched as Ranma stormed out of the kitchen. There was a moment of awkward silence, then Genma coughed and said, "Well, that could've gone better."

Slowly, Kasumi got to her feet. Picking up her glass of water, she walked over to Genma and upended its contents onto his head. "Oops."

In spite of the queasy feeling in her throat, Nabiki couldn't help but smirk at her sister. Damn, I wish she showed her hard side off more. It'd do those trainwrecks some good, for sure.

"Nabiki." She turned to her father, bracing herself for what she knew was yet to come as the panda lumbered off towards the furo. Soun's expression was hard as he looked her over. "You still haven't told them. I told you to apologize two weeks ago."

"I-"

He held up a hand. "I don't want to hear it. I have no tolerance for you disrespecting my future son-in-law or your own sister like that. If you don't tell them tomorrow, I'll do it myself."

Nabiki started to retort but bowed her head in a deep wave of shame as she caught Kasumi's questioning glance. Getting up, she went to her room and threw herself onto her bed, magazine forgotten as she buried her head in her pillow.

They're going to hate me if Akane doesn't kill me first.

How did I screw this up so bad?

[A/N] It's been more than a year since I started writing this story! It's crazy that if you just spend a little time writing every now and then, a year later you end up with more than 20k words and counting! Keep at it, writers – every ounce of effort accumulates and it just gets better and better.

Thank you to Katt1848, Guest, James Birdsong, Northwest Brony, and korrd for reviewing! You guys rock!

Any and all concrit or other feedback is more than welcome! Thank you so much for reading, and I'll see y'all soon :)

Signing out, Allie