Chapter Ten: Equal and Opposite

TW: Dated and mildly transphobic language

Akane

The Tendo household was somber the next morning.

Soun had left early to catch more parents of possible students before they left for work, intent on getting his revamped school off the ground by the end of the week. Genma was his usual self, nearly oblivious to everybody else's funk. Nabiki refused to meet anybody else's gaze, leaving for school a full half-hour earlier than usual. Kasumi was worried for both of her sisters and Ranma but quietly kept it to herself. For the first time in a long time, she could seriously think about her college plans and engagement again, and she felt free and happy.

For Akane, though, Ranma had been downright nasty today.

She had woken up to her fiance roughly forcing his way out of her tight embrace. Sitting up, looked at him with a confused glance. "Ranma? Is something wrong?"

Ranma's gaze fell for a moment, then he snapped, "Yeah. I slept in here cause Ryoga needed to sleep somewhere. He's gone and I ain't gonna sleep in a girl's room anymore!"

Akane flinched, but her temper didn't spark at all. She marveled at that under her hurt for a moment. After seeing him so… vulnerable, I don't know if I'll ever be able to get really angry at him like that again. "Is this about last night?"

He glared at her, then dragged his mattress out of the room. She watched him go, then sighed and flopped back on her bed. God, this is all Nabs and the stupid panda's fault. What a mess…

The day didn't go any better from there. For the first time in a week, Ranma and Genma sparred with a furious intensity that almost scared the Tendos. When Ranma got launched into the koi pond, he shrieked in rage and kicked his father through the solid stone wall (Akane wasn't sure if that was hot, satisfying, or terrifying). Instead of waiting for her to get ready to go to school, he headed out before her and she was forced to walk alone.

In gym, she watched with Sayuri and Yuka as he destroyed their classmates in soccer with relentless intensity. Her friends kept shooting her questioning looks, but after she shook her head they dropped the issue and settled for gossiping across her, ignoring her entirely.

How can I help him?

Sure, they had had their moments of separation since Ranma had arrived in her life, but they almost always had been caused by her and her temper. Now that he had shut himself off, she acutely felt the void left where her best friend wasn't; when had Ranma gotten closer to her than Sayuri and Yuki?

When did I stop minding our engagement?

Gym ended, and everybody stood up to go back in to change. The boys gave Ranma a wide berth as he stalked past, and Akane shook her head and sighed. Before they made it back inside, though, Hiroshi and Daisuke stopped the trio and pulled them to the side. Hiroshi was bright red and kept shooting looks at Yuka, but Daisuke kept a level head. "Do you guys know what's up with Ranma?"

Akane looked down as Yuka and Sayuri both shook their heads. "Akane, do you know?"

I think he's having an identity crisis because his magical curse turned him into a girl in more than just body but he would never be able to admit that to himself because of all the bullshit his father fed him, and he had a breakdown because my sister sold pictures of his girl form to a pervert and because I was a jerk in gym yesterday. Biting her lip, she said, "Family stuff. It's..."

Sayuri instinctively moved to hug her. "That bad? Is it about the engagement?"

"No, not at all, but he is angry at me. It's complicated." Looking at the entrance to the boys' locker room, she said, "I'm worried about him."

"So are we," Hiroshi said quietly.

Daisuke frowned. "It's like he's a completely different person every time I see him. Yesterday he was barely functional and today its like he wants to burn the school down."

"So you've noticed it too," Yuka said. "We've been wondering about it since he got to Nerima. Maybe he's repressing something."

Akane contained a laugh. Oh, you have no idea. "Ranma… He'll be okay in a couple of days, and… I don't know, there's not much I can do if he won't talk to me."

"I wonder..." Sayuri mused. Akane, getting the sneaking suspicion she had figured out her suspicions, shot her a discrete look and got a minute nod in return. "Well, we'll get to the bottom of this, I'm sure."

"Hey, Akane, if there's any way we can help just tell us, okay?" Daisuke said, then nudged Hiroshi and loudly whispered, "Come on, bro, you got this."

Hiroshi flushed, then took a deep breath and stammered, "And, um, Yuka, maybe sometime, we could, um, you know, like-"

Yuka made an 'O' in recognition, then grinned at him. "Sure, that sound fun! Wanna go to the mall this weekend?"

Akane and Sayuri both groaned, but his face broke out into a broad smile. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds awesome!"

"Oh, the wonders of young love," Daisuke drawled, earning a laugh from Akane as Sayuri stepped on his foot and shook her head.

For just a moment, she was able to let her troubles slip away and revel in a startling normalcy she hadn't felt in a month. God, I hope Ranma is doing okay.

Ranma

He didn't know where he was going, or the point of walking around in the first place. All Ranma knew was the Tendo Dojo was the last place he wanted to be that afternoon.

I can't go back and talk to 'Kane right now. I moved out of her room! She's probably angry with me anyways.

No, she wasn't angry. She just seemed sad.

No, he just needed to spend time around people who didn't know he turned into a weak girl for one moment of his life, people who weren't constantly looking at him like he was a loose fuse waiting to explode. He had considered going to Sayuri's house, but the weirdness of a boy going over to a girl's house had stopped him.

I would have been fine with it yesterday, his mind whispered before he angrily stamped out the thought.

He had not been fine yesterday. He had been the opposite of fine, and he couldn't understand why for the life of him. The desperation he had felt yesterday was simply gone; he felt comfortable and he had felt constricted when he had woken up. He almost wanted to bang his head against the wall, as if that would make his life make sense again.

He had always been this way, comfortable some days and suffocated others. He knew that was true, no matter how much he might deny it. Ever since Jusenkyo, though, it had been getting harder and harder to ignore it and he couldn't understand why for the life of him.

At the same time, he thought, you're a boy, this is stupid, and you're not a boy and you know it.

That doesn't make any sense!

If you were really a man, you wouldn't be thinking about dumb stuff like this in the first place!

In his wandering, Ranma had arrived in a part of Nerima he had never seen before. Frowning, he heard a commotion from a nearby vacant lot and headed towards it. Peeking around the corner, he saw a tall girl lashing at three cowering girls on the ground with a ribbon. Without a second thought, he shot forwards and grabbed the ribbon, placing himself in between the girls. His earlier fury rising back to the surface, he growled, "I've had a really bad week, so I think ya should stop assaulting these girls and leave. Now."

Instead of turning heel and running, the girl gave him a twice-over, first appraisingly then hungrily. "You're the first person to ever catch my ribbon. I've never met another person who could… keep up with me," she said in a sultry tone.

Ranma might have been oblivious, but even he knew enough about girls to tell the strange girl's intentions right. "Yeah, sorry, I ain't gonna date a bully ever. 'side, I've already got a fiancee."

"It's Ranma!" one of the girls said in surprise behind him, and he realized that two of the three were in a few of his classes. Huh, wonder why crazy was attacking them.

The girl drew back as if stuck. "You dare deny me?" Her lust vanished, and she hissed and launched herself at him as she drew two strange clubs from her clothes.

A month ago, Ranma would never have hit a girl and the battle might have gone very differently. Now, the strange girl was on the ground in seconds, and he stood over her impassively. "I told ya to leave."

The strange girl's expression grew even uglier, and she scrambled away from him and drew herself back up to her full height. "I am the Rising Star of St. Heberke, Kodachi Kuno, and you will regret the day you ever crossed me!" She shoved a black rose into his hands, then disappeared off into a cloud of black petals and mad laughter.

Ranma looked from the rose to where Kodachi had been and shook his head. "Man, some people are just crazy," he muttered, then turned his attention to the girls.

Two of them were crying, and the third was staring up at him with a mix of fear and gratitude. "Thank you," she mumbled, trying to comfort her friends. "She kept saying how she was gonna do worse things if we didn't stay quiet..."

A spark of recognition and Ranma grimaced. "Was she related to Kuno?"

"Yeah, it's his twin sister. She-" The girl took a deep breath. "She's really awful."

"It runs in the family," he said dryly, still uncertain how to help the crying girls. "Do you, uh, wanna come back to the dojo? Kasumi can help you with all the cuts, and 'Kane'll know what to do."

The girls looked uncertain for a moment, then nodded. Helping to their feet, Ranma sighed and started leading them in the direction of the dojo.

Akane

Akane picked her way across the lawn towards the dojo. Hesitantly, she walked up next to Ranma, who was leaning against the door watching Kasumi take care of the three girls inside. He didn't acknowledge her presence. "That was a good thing you did," she said softly.

"Yeah, bullies rub me the wrong way, ya know?"

"You seem like you're feeling better." She hesitantly leaned against him and took his hand, holding back a smile as he pressed back against him slightly. "I'm not mad at you for this morning. I… last night was rough, I understand if you don't want to stay in my room anymore."

At that, Ranma started and looked down at her in surprise. "You- you do?"

She nodded. "You're my best friend, Ranma, I just want you to, y'know..." She gestured at the battered girls, and he tilted his head in understanding. "If you ever want to come back, you're always welcome."

He was wearing one of his father's battered old gis today instead of his pink shirt, she noticed. Pulling at it, he mumbled, "Do you really mean it? I mean, I'm a boy and it's your room, I can just stay with Pops..."

Akane rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but we're engaged too, idiot. Honestly, it's kind of like the sleepovers I used to have with Yuka and Sayuri."

Ranma smiled at her, the relief obvious on his face, then darkened again. "'s all stupid. I dunno what was wrong with me yesterday. I feel fine today."

She tactfully decided not to question that particular statement. "It wasn't your fault, it was Nabs' for screwing everything up!" He didn't respond, eliciting a sigh from her. Leaning in closer, she whispered, "Y'know, if you ever wanna talk I'm here."

"Oh, they're so cute," came the audible whisper from one of the girls.

Ranma shot both of them glares before giving her a quick nod. "Thank you."

Akane hesitated for a moment, then gave him a quick one-armed hug before walking over to the three girls. Kneeling down next to them, she asked, "Saya, what happened?"

Saya sniffled and crossed her arms over her chest. "That crazy girl has been ambushing our team for weeks!"

"Team?" Ranma asked, walking over to stand next to Akane.

She nodded. "Yeah, we do martial arts gymnastics. She's from the fancy girl's private school and we're supposed to face them later this week, only… We were the only ones left who could compete and now we can't!"

"Martial arts gymnastics?" Akane echoed, raising an eyebrow.

Ranma just shrugged. "Eh, I've heard weirder. It ain't your fault that violent girl attacked you. She was pretty fast. Still coulda taken her, though."

She rolled her eyes and lightly hit his shoulder. "Cocky."

Good-naturedly, he shot back, "Oh, I'm sure even you coulda taken him, 'Kane."

"Oh yeah, and what's that supposed to mean? Are you asking for a fight?"

He laughed as she hit him back. "C'mon, we can spar later. Erm… Saya and..."

"Yua and Karin," Saya supplemented, the other two girls giggling behind her. "It's okay, we're in the other class, nice to meet you."

"Right." Ranma scratched the back of his neck, blushing in embarrassment. "Um, we're sorry, but I dunno what we can do if you can't-"

"Akane could do it!" Yua exclaimed excitedly, and Karin's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, you're already so good at martial arts, you could totally figure it out!"

Akane looked from the girls to Ranma doubtfully. "Um, I mean, I'm pretty good at fighting but I'm not that agile or graceful… Why couldn't Ranma do it?" Her fiance gaped at her, but she thought she caught a faint spark of something in his eyes. I'm serious, Ranma, I hope you got that.

"Don't be silly, Akane. It's a girl thing! You'd be perfect at it!" Karin gushed, oblivious as Ranma instant withdrew back into his shell.

"Yeah, I ain't gonna do some dumb girly thing like that!" he proclaimed, before looking down at the gymnasts guiltily. "Uh, no offense or anything like that. I just think 'Kane'd be great at it."

Through her furious urge to pound Karin into the ground for mentioning gender, Akane couldn't help but marvel at how much Ranma had changed recently. Sure, he still puts his foot in his mouth all the time, but now he actually tries to apologize afterward. I guess I've changed too, cause I usually wait for him to do it too.

Still, she had never particularly liked the three girls in front of her, and after putting Ranma back onto the defensive she wasn't particularly inclined to help them. Biting her lip, she said, "Sorry, guys, but I really don't think I'll be able to do it."

Saya's face fell, and she sighed. "Damn, I guess that bitch got what she wanted then. It's okay, I don't think we expected you'd actually do it anyway."

Ranma shrunk down even more at her side, and suddenly she had a flash of inspiration. It can't be… He doesn't actually want to do it, does he? I bet he sees it as an anything goes thing, huh… Maybe… I know he won't say yes today but maybe he'll be more mellow later… "Actually, I might be able to get somebody to help you. No promises, but give me a few days?"

When her classmate's eyes lit up, she knew she had said the right thing. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Yua squealed, leaping up to hug her followed by her teammates. She shot Ranma a look that read 'help me' but he just smirked and shook his head. God, these super girly girls can be annoying sometimes.

Kasumi came back into the dojo and helped them shoo the gymnasts out, much to her relief. When they were gone, she collapsed to the dojo and shook her head. "Honestly, can you picture me doing gymnastics of all things? I think I'd rather get assaulted by Kuno's sister than get in one of those leotards."

Ranma shuddered. "Nah, I'd take the leotard over that psycho any day.

"I could see you doing gymnastics," a quiet voice came from the door. Ranma and Akane both turned, then gave equal grins when they saw Ryoga leaning against the entrance.

"Ryoga, where'd you come from?" Ranma asked. Before the lost boy could answer him, he ran over and hugged him. "We got worried 'n stuff after you wandered off!"

Ryoga blinked. "You were worried… about… me? But you're-" He stopped short as he caught Akane's wild gesture across her throat to stop, and mouthed, What?

Later, she mouthed back. Fighting her face back to normalcy as Ranma broke away, she asked, "What's that supposed to mean, exactly?" When his eyes flickered to Ranma, she rolled her eyes. "The gymnastics thing, dumbass."

"Oh, um..." Ryoga flushed. "My mom kinda did martial arts gymnastics for a long time, so when I heard people talking about it I got curious and decided to check it out. I thought I was in Osaka, but it turned out to be you guys."

"Huh, I never knew that," Ranma said, scratching his head.

Ryoga shrugged. "Yeah, you never asked."

Akane looked from bemusement to confusion and shook her head. Honestly, if this kid was Ranma's best friend did he even have other friends at this school? Stupid panda. "Really, are you okay though? It's been two weeks, and Ranma told me all about how you get lost."

He shrugged. "It wasn't that bad. I ended up in some weird village with a giant boar a bunch, they fed me for a while. I'm used to it."

"Dinner!" Kasumi called, and Genma and Soun both cheered from their shogi table.

Ryoga wavered uncertainly for a moment until Akane nodded towards the kitchen. "Well, Lost Boy, are you gonna eat with us or what?"

He looked at Ranma for confirmation, then grinned. "Yeah, sounds pretty good to me."

Ranma grinned back, walking along next to him as Akane took the rear. "Glad ya got back without deciding ta kill me again."

"Who says I haven't?"

A moment of awkward silence, and then everybody burst out laughing. For the first time that day, the Tendo household seemed to brighten up just a little bit.

Akane

Akane's bedroom was dark, the only illumination coming from the nearby streetlight outside. Wrapped up in the covers, a certain redhead was snoring with a peacefully contented look on her face. Far tenser, Akane was perched on her bed watching Ranma and trying to make sense of the puzzle before him. God, this morning he was dragging his bed out of my room in a fit and acting more masculine than I've seen in ages, and yet he still ended up back in my room sleeping as a girl again! It's almost like he prefers his female form!

What a perv- She caught herself mid-sentence, leaning back and banging her head softly again her wall. No. That's not right. I called him that in gym class and it hurt him, and I care about him too much to do something like that to him again.

But what if… what if he's actually a girl?

Akane had seen transvestites on television, usually as gags on the dumb sitcoms Yuka liked watching. They were always over-dramatic and overblown with crazy outfits and way too much make-up. Really, the only reason people found them funny was because of how fake they were. Watching Ranma sleep on her spare futon, that seemed so far from the truth. He's been acting like a real girl, not one of those pe- people on TV. Hell, he even has the body to go along with it.

He is, isn't he? He's like one of those people. Something about the word transvestite didn't sit right with her, and she crossed her arms tight across her chest in confusion. How could she reconcile her mental image with her best friend? For that matter, how could Ranma?

Oh god, his father pumped him so full of all of that dumb "man among man" bullshit! If he… really is a she, how's he supposed to get over that?

She buried her head in her hands, distraught on her fiance's behalf. I can't believe I was ever such a jerk to him about all this.

Why else would he want to sleep as a girl?

"Psst! Akane!" Her head shot up, and she flinched as she saw Ryoga hesitantly peeking in her door. Leaping from her bed, she tiptoed past Ranma and slipped into the hallway.

"What the hell?! You don't just go peeking into girl's rooms without knocking, idiot." Akane shook her head, deeming his expression appropriately chastised. "Is something wrong?"

Ryoga scratched his ear. "I- Um, actually, I was worried about Ranma and I… Is something wrong? I mean, cause I thought he was acting weird last time I saw him but he was acting really weird today."

Akane sighed. "Let's go out into the dojo, okay? I don't wanna wake him up. I can explain everything."

Ryoga nodded, and the two teens crept away from their sleeping friend. Behind them, Kasumi sighed and let her door slip shut again, worried about Ranma but relieved that he had friends who cared.

[A/N] The introductory arc ended last chapter, so we're on to the gymnastics arc! I don't plan on doing most of the filler, but I'm partial to these episodes and I do want Kodachi to be in this story. It'll be three parts, probably, and I might try to get them all out before my summer hiatus (mid-June to late August).

Also, isn't it incredible how much a different first impression changes things? Obviously Akane still has quite the temper, but at this point she's too worried about Ranma to let it control her in quite the same way it did before. This is why I love character development :)

Your reviews were lovely as always. Thank you to Beedok, Raineh Daze, Armiture, flairina, Siatru, Ergoemos, Maltrazz, Katt1848, king of fans, and two guests!

Your feedback keeps me going on this story, so please remember to review! Signing out, Allie.