Chapter Eleven: Odd One Out

Ranma

Cool mist hung low over the Tendo backyard, seeping into the dojo through the half-opened door. Inside, a red-haired girl was busily springing around the room, bouncing from wall to wall as she furiously kicked and punched at an unseen enemy. Ranma had a goofy smile over her face – Akane and Pops were both still asleep, so she had the dojo all to herself. She had woken up in a surprisingly good mood, considering everything that had happened in the past two days, and had gone straight to the dojo to savor it. She had considered changing back to her male form, but something whispered that thinking about her curse would ruin her mood, so she had brushed past the furo and started her katas. She made it through two before she gave up and just started practicing her aerial maneuvers freeform.

If Ranma was being completely honest with herself, it had been a while since she had just let herself have fun. Imagining anyone with the last name Kuno as her victim just made the workout sweeter. Springing from one punching bag to the next and springboarding off the ceiling, she could almost forget about the events of the past two days.

"Ranma?" Ryoga stood in the entryway to the dojo, arms crossed as he watched her practice.

Ranma nearly smacked herself as she came to an abrupt stop; she had nearly forgotten Ryoga was staying with them. "Hey, Ryoga, what's up?"

He blinked, looking up and down her body in an incredibly obvious manner. "You weren't bed so I figured you'd be practicing, I just didn't expect..." He waved his hand at Ranma.

Suddenly self-conscious, Ranma crossed her arms over her chest. "I was practicing agility," she told him, defiantly meeting his eyes. It's my body either way, what's the big deal?

Ryoga opened his mouth, then closed it again. Finally he found voice for his question. "What's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"Having a curse." Ryoga waved his hand at Ranma's body. "I mean, I almost got one too..." He shivered at the idea of having to turn into a pig with cold water.

What was it like having a curse? Ranma could think of some choice words. Pushing down some of her more vulgar reactions, she said, "It sucks."

"Really?" Ryoga seemed taken aback. "But you can- y'know…"

"I don't know," Ranma deadpanned.

"You can turn into a girl," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ryoga, I have no idea what you're trying to say to me right now."

Shrugging helplessly, Ryoga pointed at her boobs, a little trickle of blood coming from his nose. "I mean, if I had that curse..."

Ranma looked from her chest to Ryoga's nose bleed and finally made the connection. "Ew!" she shrieked, her mouth hanging open in disgust. "You think that just because I- You think that's all that matters about this?"

Realizing he had made a terrible mistake, Ryoga backed away from Ranma. "I- That's not what I think, I- I had a sleepover with a bunch of guys before I met you in middle school and someone asked what they would do if they got a girl's body and… I just figured because you're a guy and all..."

Every ounce of good mood Ranma had been carefully collecting vanished. Closing his eyes – you're a guy and all – he fought his emotions down for a long moment, which was harder in his female form. When he snapped his ice-cold eyes open, Ryoga, having backed away from him, froze in place. "Ryoga Hibiki, prepare to die!"

Akane

Akane sat on the edge of her bed, thoughts not properly processing through her brain yet. She vaguely registered the sounds of fighting outside and the empty futon at the foot of her bed. Are Ramna and Genma sparring again? With a yawn and a stretch, she pushed away from her covers, lazily making her way to breakfast.

Nobody was eating. Instead, Soun, Genma, and Nabiki sat by the screen doors while Kasumi looked on behind them, hands clasped together against her chest. "What's going on?" Akane asked, walking over to stand beside her eldest sister.

"Ranma's trying to kill Ryoga," Nabiki responded evenly, twisting back to look at her sisters. Akane glowered at her, her fury about her spying still unabated, then did a double take. "What?!"

Running out past the spectators, she stopped short when Ryoga rolled to the ground at her feet. Springing up, he and Akane both had to dodge out of the way of a wild ki attack. "Ranma, listen to me, I-"

"Pervert! Shut up!" Ranma launched himself at Ryoga, his female form's red hair streaming out behind him. Ryoga narrowly dodged an aerial kick, kickflipping against the side of the house and vaulting off the roof to enter close combat with Ranma from above. Akane winced as Ranma landed a kick on his side, then gasped as Ryoga punched Ranma away from him. His superior strength sent Ranma flying like a ragdoll, and the other martial artist careened into the fish pond, splashing the entire audience.

Akane had had enough. Running out into the middle of the backyard, she put herself between the two boys and yelled, "Both of you stop!"

Ranma clambered out of the koi pond. His pink silk shirt clung to his chest, and his red hair hung down in disheveled ropes. "'Kane, get out of the way," he growled.

She looked at him, tensing at the anger she saw. "What did he do?"

"He- he-" Ranma's eyes narrowed, and he jabbed a finger at Ryoga. "That pervert said the only thing a guy would do with-" Ranma broke off for a long moment, then helplessly gestured to his body. "Is to- to, I- you know- to, to..." Giving up any attempt trying to vocalize his thoughts, Ranma tried to launch himself at Ryoga again.

Akane stepped in his path and smoothly intercepted her fiance. When he relaxed slightly in her embrace and looked at her, the fight went out of his eyes. "What did he say?"

"He asked if because I'm a- guy and have this body, if I… used it?" Ranma whispered furiously. "Let me kill him. I-"

Akane pulled him into a tight hug, shaking her head at Ryoga's utter stupidity. "He's hurting you," she whispered back. "We both know you can't take hits as well like this."

"I don't care! Let me kill him!" Ranma whisper-shouted to her, and she shook her head.

"Let me."

Ryoga's eyes widened as Akane and Ranma let go of each other, the latter standing with barely-controlled violence. Akane stalked towards him, and he held up his hands. "Akane, wait, I didn't mean it! I was just-"

She slapped him as hard as she could. Ryoga's hand flew to the red mark on his face as she grabbed his shirt and yanked him towards her. "Did you listen to anything I told you last night?" she hissed.

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal," he protested. "We used to talk about that sort of stuff all the time in middle school… although I guess not really around Ranma…"

"Oh, all the time, huh?" Akane asked, her voice deceptively understanding.

Ryoga took her expression at face value and nodded hopefully. "Yeah, and I was just curious cause, y'know, he actually has a girl form and I wanted to know if the guys were right."

Akane kneed him in the balls. Squeaking, Ryoga sank to the ground, and she pointed at the door. "Leave. Leave, and don't come back until you stop thinking with your dick."

"But-"

Akane's expression had no sympathy for Ryoga, and she pointed at the street. "I don't care about your curse. Maybe if you ever make it back to Nerima, you can try apologizing for being an insensitive, pig-headed asshole!"

Ryoga's eyes were wide. "But what about my stuff?"

"I don't care. Go!"

Getting to his feet with a betrayed and confused expression, Ryoga whimpered in pain and hobbled out of the dojo before Akane could use the ki mallet building up in her hand.

"Ryoga, wait!" Kasumi dashed out of the dojo after Ryoga, his pack in hand. Akane moved back towards Ranma, her anger abating with Ranma's desolate expression. Without questions, she embraced him, flipping her father off as Soun made an audible comment to Genma about the schools being joined. Moments later, Kasumi returned empty-handed. Looking at her little sister, she said disapprovingly, "That was cruel, Akane."

Akane glared at her. How dare Kasumi take Ryoga's side?! "He deserved it. Besides, if I hadn't stepped in, Ranma would have sent him to the hospital."

Kasumi gave her an even worse look, and Akane's stomach twisted. Was Kasumi actually mad? That frightened her more than anything Ranma would ever say or do. "You know what his curse is like. Were you actually going to send him wandering with no money, no food, and no gear?"

"He deserves it!" she declared, uncertain.

Kasumi looked from Akane to Ranma and back. "Ryoga was our guest. You both need to treat others better."

"I need to learn how to treat others better?" Ranma asked incredulously. "He's the one that asked me-"

"A perfectly reasonable question for a teenage boy to ask another teenage boy in your situation," Kasumi said curtly, her discontent simmering back below the surface. Ranma seemed to shrink back into himself, and Akane wanted to strangle her sister. How could she be so inse- wait, she's not wrong. I wouldn't put it past a single boy at school to, well… If anything, this just proves my theory about hi- he- no, wait, shit… um, proves my theory about Ranma.

Soun nodded in agreement, while Gemna simply looked thoughtful. "You are a guest in this house as well, Ranma," the Tendo patriarch said sternly, moving a piece on the shogi board. "And Akane, I had hoped you had learned to control your temper better than this."

Akane looked uncertainly from Soun to Ranma, who looked desolate. "I don't care! Ryoga had no right to say that to Ranma!"

Genma stood up, looking slightly menacing. "You are a man among men, boy, and I expect you to act like one," he declared. "Wipe that pathetic expression off your face and change out of your weak form! Any healthy young man would jump at the opportunity to have a body like yours." His expression grew dreamy and lecherous, and Akane and Nabiki looked at each other with expressions of complete disgust.

Silently, Ranma rose to his feet and stalked into the house. He poured the contents of the tea kettle on the stove over his head, grabbed his backpack, and turned back around. "I'm going to school," he told the adults flatly, then strode out of the dojo.

Akane gaped after him for a second, then narrowed her eyes at the adults. "That was disgusting," she snapped at them, stalking into the house to get dressed, her appetite gone.

Kasumi frowned at her as she passed. "What's gotten into you, Akane? I know you two have been getting along well, but that doesn't explain how you treated Ryoga. Why would Ranma care about his female form anyways? It is just a curse, after all."

Akane froze. I can't answer that. I don't know the answer to that. After a long moment, she just decided to ascend the stairs and ignore Kasumi. Maybe I shouldn't have kicked Ryoga out… Kasumi's so understanding… How was I supposed to know that she'd take hurting hospitality so poorly?

When she thought about it, it made perfect sense that Kasumi had gotten so angry. She could remember Nabiki getting yelled at when she had bribed a houseguest to leave a few years ago. Still…

Ryoga deserved it, anyways. I explained everything to him and he still had to go and put his stupid foot in his mouth!

Throwing on clothes and grabbing her backpack, she hurried out of the dojo after her fiance, but Ranma was already gone.

Ranma

"I have a question."

The entire boys locker room froze and stared at Ranma, who had pulled his pink shirt on and was standing uncomfortably by Hiroshi and Daisuke. It was a strange enough occurrence for their most unusual classmate to be in the locker room at all, but for him to directly address the entire class caught their attention immediately.

Hiroshi and Daisuke exchanged a wary glance. "Yeah, what's up?" Hiroshi asked.

Ranma blushed and looked away, then caught himself. Shit, I'm in a locker room. Why can't I just act normal? Forcing himself into his cocky persona, he asked, "What would you do if you had a girl's body?"

Daisuke's eyes went wide; everybody else contemplate the question. After a few moments, one of the sleazier boys in the class and said, "Dude, are you kidding me? If I was a hot chick, I'd pick up a hot guy and get laid!"

Another boy made a face. "With another guy? That's weird, bro. I'd just fuck myself. That shit's supposed to feel amazing."

"Yeah, totally!" one of his friends agreed. The room erupted into discussion, arguing over what they would do first if they could magically become a girl.

Ranma felt like puking in disgust. He had honestly not believed Ryoga, but now-

"Hey, what about Ranma?"

Someone shoved him from behind. "Yeah, he's the one who asked the question. Why does he care?"

Hiroshi shot him a look and shuffled closer to him. "If you don't want to answer-"

Every time Ranma went back and replayed the scene in his head, he wished he could have beaten up every boy in the locker room. He wished he could have simply walked out, left them behind, and gone on with the rest of his day.

Instead, he shoved his feeling down as far as possible, brushed Hiroshi off, and said, "Are you kidding me? Of course I'd fuck myself, I'd rather die than go anywhere near any of you losers!"

The locker room jeered, and attention drifted away from Ranma. Ignoring his friends, he gathered his stuff and pushed his way out into the hall. If he had been in female form, he would be…

If he was is female form, what would he be?

He didn't know the answer anymore, and that scared him more than anything.

Akane

"Ryoga was right."

Akane dropped her combat stance as Ranma interrupted their spar, taking the brief pause to wipe the sweat from her brow. It was a cool afternoon, and she had opted for sweat pants and an old long sleeve shirt instead of her summer workout clothes for the first time that year. Ranma hadn't even broken a sweat – a few weeks ago, that would have irked her, but now she was simply resigned to the fact that he was way out of her league, as far as martial arts went. "What do you mean?"

Ranma sighed, fingering the collar of his shirt. They had walked right home from gym, and he had barely spoken a word on their walk. Akane didn't mind the silence, but she was still worried. "I asked the guys in the locker room. What they would do if they turned into girls, I mean."

What? Cautiously, Akane asked, "And what did they say?"

"What Ryoga was thinking, but worse. Way, way worse." Ranma sat down on the dojo floor cross-legged, and Akane slowly sank after him. "I mean, it makes a lot of sense, but I guess..." He trailed off, distant.

Akane sighed. "Why did you react so badly? I mean, if Ryoga and all the guys think that, why is that worth getting so angry over?"

"I don't know."

A car zoomed past outside the dojo. A cold gust of wind spun through the dojo, sending shivers down her arms. "You know you can tell me anything, Ranma," she murmured, staring past him at the koi pond. "You're my closest friend, I think. I'll listen, I-"

"Tell you what?" Ranma demanded, catching her attention. "There ain't nothing to tell! Guys are supposed to think girls are just for fucking, and I don't! How the hell am I supposed to be a man amo-"

"Idiot." Akane glared at him, cutting off his masochistic rant. "Guys don't have to be perverts. If anything, you're more of a man cause you don't say the same awful things as them!"

For some reason, Ranma turned his face down in shame. "I ain't been acting manly," he scowled. "If we weren't living here, Pops woulda kicked my ass for being so girly."

"Screw him. Screw all of them." Akane took his hand and squeezed it. "They don't have your curse. They have no idea what you're going through. You can still be a guy and not be obsessed with sex all the time."

Ranma met her eyes, silent for a long time. His hand tightened around hers, and he seemed to be searching for words. "Akane, I-" The gate to the dojo slammed open and he immediately stopped talking.

"You what?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." Letting her hand drop, he got to his feet and turned his back to her. "I'm done sparring."

What did he try to say? Unwilling to let him just walk away, she ran after him and grabbed his wrist. "Ranma, wait."

Ranma turned back to face her, ripping his arm away. "What?"

Akane stared up at his face, her stomach light as she intensely studied his features. He looks tired. He looks so, so tired. "Promise me. Promise me that if you need to talk about something that you'll tell me," she whispered, fighting to keep herself from reaching out to him again.

Ranma's face softened, and he nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, 'Kane."

"Of course." Before he could walk away, she decided to spit out the other thing on her mind out. "I figure I already know the answer, but you don't want to do the martial arts gymnastics thing in your girl form, do you? The girls made me promise I would ask." She made a face both at the idea and the white lie, but she needed to make sure he didn't want to.

Ranma shook his head after a moment. "Nah, I ain't gonna do girly stuff like that," he said with a bit of a wistful expression. "It would be nice to beat Kuno's sister, though. That girl was insane!"

Akane was almost disappointed with his response; she had thought he might want to do it, but now that she really thought about it, it made sense that he didn't. God, why does everything have to be so complicated? Brushing her feelings aside, she shrugged. "Fine by me. Wanna go study?"

"Yeah, that sounds good to me."

Akane followed Ranma into the house, his pigtail swaying behind him. Something told her the Ryoga incident wouldn't go away today, and she just hoped that Ranma would trust her enough to let her help him when it blew up in their faces.

[A/N] Been a hot second, hasn't it? This chapter's been a pain in the ass, and I'm so glad to finally be done with it! Love to everyone who supported this story while I was away, y'all are the best. I love the Ranma fandom :) Thank you to Katt1848, Raineh Daze, Siatru, AshK1980, HatoMada, Infernezor, and Cynical Rabbit for reviewing!

Love, Allie