Chapter Fifteen – The Grand Switcheroo

Ranma

"So let me get this straight."

The time: night. The weather: cloudy. The location: the floor of Akane's room, sitting cross-legged in a tight circle of conspirators planning the greatest deception in Nerima history. Ranma, in his boy form, leaned forward, doing his best to watch Akane and Nabiki in equal turn. The Tendo sisters looked distinctly uncomfortable working together – Akane clearly hadn't gotten over the photos scandal, but then again, neither had Ranma. Nabiki watched Akane expectantly too, waiting for her to keep talking.

Akane cleared her throat. "What you're suggesting that we do is to tell everyone in Nerima that Ranma's gone away for another long-term training trip in China. But, in order for Genma to agree to let the trip happen, he requested Ranma's cousin 'Ranko-'"

Ranma bit back a cough and blushed deeply.

"-to come to Japan to study here. Ranko, on the other hand, is just Ranma's girl form. Ranma can even still go by Ranma, call it a nickname, live with us, stick around his father, and nobody will ever know better."

Nabiki nodded, firm. "That's the jist of it, yeah."

The futon they'd dragged in from the guest room shifted as Akane tried to get more comfortable, her knee bumping against Ranma's. She took a long, deep breath.

"So. That's all fine. Just one problem," Akane said, whispering. "How the hell are we supposed to pull that off? What about Ranma? What about everyone who knows him? He's a terrible actor- sorry, Ranma – so there's no way Yuka and Sayuri won't figure it out! What about Ukyo, won't she get suspicious that there's a male Ranma who just happened to leave Furinkan when she arrived? What if Ranma gets splashed at school? And- Augh! This is the worst plan I've ever heard!"

"It's not exactly like I've got a lot to work with here!" Nabiki whisper-shouted back. "You should be glad we have a plan at all for something as outlandish as 'send Ranma Saotome to school as a girl without anyone knowing!'"

Ranma rubbed his loose pant leg against his ankle. "It's not very manly," he muttered.

Akane and Nabiki stared at Ranma.

"...That's what you're worried about?" Akane asked faintly.

Nabiki crossed her arms and glared at Ranma. "Honestly. Do you want this or not, Saotome? Cause we've got one shot at this, and if you blow it with Konji, that's it. I'm good, but even I can't erase memories yet."

Yet? Shrugging helplessly, Ranma looked to Akane and sighed. "I- I ain't got nothing, 'Kane. If that's what we've got, let's do it."

More rustling. Akane pulled part of her comforter, which was lying in a crumpled heap at the foot of her bed, over her legs. The look she shot him back was just as helpless, but warm. Accepting. The way Akane looked at Ranma made him glow, just a bit.

"Fine, then," Akane murmured. "We'll do it."

The door creaked open, and Kasumi stuck her head in and smiled. "As much as I hate to interrupt your plotting, dinner's on the table. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to plot after we eat. Oh, and it's so wonderful that you've reconciled, Akane, Nabiki. Daddy will be so happy. Try not to let them wrap you up in one of their schemes, Ranma dear."

"We haven't made up!" Akane and Nabiki shouted at the same time, then glared at each other. Kasumi giggled, closing the door behind her. Once she was gone, everyone sobered up a little bit, watching the white paint on Akane's side of the door.

"Kasumi isn't going to like this," Akane murmured.

"Neither will Pops."

A collective shudder went down the group's spine at the thought of what the response to their plan would be. "When do we tell him?" Nabiki asked in a hushed voice.

Ranma gulped. "Not now. We should- we should get everything else ready first. The harder it is for Pops to reverse this, the easier telling him will be."

But do I want this to be irreversable?

A hand touched his, and Ranma gave Akane a grateful smile.

Nabiki nodded in a way that brokered no argument. "Good. Then that's what we'll do."

Akane

The next few days passed by in a whirlwind.

Ranma spent his time in school in somewhat of a daze, and started dropping hints to his classmates that he was going away. People accepted the idea without question. Hiroshi and Daisuke took the news the worst, and in their despair, attached themselves to Ranma's side. Ranma seemed a bit overwhelmed every time his friends came up with another social outing. "I'm only headed back to China for a bit, guys," he told them, hands up, a little taken aback.

Akane laughed at the puppy dog eyes he got back in return. "But we won't be in China, man!" Hiroshi exclaimed. "We gotta give you one hell of a sendoff!"

Yuka and Sayuri were more suspicious.

It was Wednesday – just two days after Ranma had dropped the bombshell he was 'leaving' Nerima. Akane was halfway to her next class when Sayuri ambushed her and dragged her off to an unused classroom.

"What the heck!" Yuka exclaimed when the door slammed shut behind her. "Akane, you better explain yourself this instant!~"

Sayuri nodded, solemn. "There is no way your fiance just up and leaves without a reason. You guys are doing so great! Why?!"

Akane laughed nervously and backed up against the door, raising her hands in surrender. "It's not like that! Saotome-san's still gonna be living with us, and all – Ranma's doing an exchange program type thing with his, uh, cousin. Ranko. She'll be coming, staying with us. Ranma and I have each other's numbers, and all!" They didn't look convinced; Akane knew she needed her final weapon. Leaning in, she gulped and whispered, "We've been doing really great, guys. This won't break us up. Promise."

Sayuri sighed wistfully a bit, shaking her head. Yuka frowned. "Ranma and Ranko sound awfully similar."

"R-runs in the family, I guess?" Akane laughed, scratching her head. "I dunno. I've never, uh, met Ran...ko… Maybe the 'ran' is a different kanji."

There was a moment of contemplative silence. Finally, Yuka grimaced and shrugged. "I dunno. That sucks, Akane."

"Yeah," Sayuri echoed.

Akane shrugged again, desperately waiting for her moment to escape. She hated lying, especially to her best friends. Not for the first time since this whole ordeal had started, she cursed Ukyo Konji's name. Violently. "Hopefully we'll be friends," she murmured. "I've always wondered how Ranma and I would have been, if he had been a girl. I hope we can be good friends."

To her surprise, Yuka and Sayuri pulled her into a tight group hug. "You will," Yuka said with absolute certainty beyond her years. "You love Ranma. There's no way you won't love his cousin."

Closing her eyes, Akane didn't deny it.

Nabiki did her part as well. The Ice Queen of Furinkan High worked fast – before the week was halfway done, she had thrown together a full set of transfer forms, withdrawal forms, crystallized the rumors in the student body that Ranma was leaving, and managed not to get the parents or Kasumi involved. Akane didn't particularly want to know how Nabiki had managed to get a full set of correct health forms for Ranma's girl form. She really didn't want to know. But, nevertheless, Akane felt her resentment toward Nabiki to be slowly melting.

Finally, the weekend before Ukyo's first day of school rolled around, and everything sped into high gear. Clothes shopping. New school supplies. All new stuff, really, to avoid the possibility of Ranko getting tied back to Ranma in anyway. Neither Akane nor Nabiki wanted to comment on how willing Ranma was to go shopping for girl clothing.

Akane did try to bring it up to Nabiki privately.

"Nabiki, have you noti-"

"Stop." Nabiki held up a hand and shook her head. "If this is about Ranma, I don't care. I don't have a problem with him in any way, no matter what the real motivation behind this whole farce is. If you do have a problem, I suggest you bring it up with your therapist before Ranma finds out."

Grudgingly, Akane made a mental note to bring up her feelings about Ranma's curse woes to her therapist next week. Then, there was nothing left to do, nothing left to prepare, and the time to lay all of their cards on the table was at hand.

Ranma

"...I see."

Soun's voice broke an excruciatingly long silence at the dinner table. Ranma's face was bright red – he stared down at his hands in his lap, trying not to meet his father's eyes. Genma had a contemplative look on his face that terrified Ranma, the same look he got at a particularly hairbrained scheme or ill-conceived challenge. That look meant trouble.

Kasumi stood up sharply, unsettled. "You're going to be a girl?" she asked, her voice wavering.

"No!" Ranma exclaimed. His voice came out way louder than he meant it to, and he fought to bring his voice back down to a normal volume. "I mean, no. I'm a man, Kasumi, a man through 'n through. If Pops hadn't gotten me into this stupid engagement for such a stupid reason I wouldn't have to deal with this!"

"So your solution is to be a girl?" Soun asked.

Why does everyone keep saying that?! Ranma wanted to rip his hair out! "I ain't gonna disrespect 'Kane like that!" he exclaimed, blustering. "She's my fiancee. Period. No other fiancees. And if Ukyo's gonna have some psycho revenge agenda, I can't put her or you guys in danger! So… Anything Goes, right? I've got this curse..." Ranma took a deep break and put on a weak smile. "Might as well use it, right?"

Why did Akane look so sad when she nodded? "Right," she echoed.

Splash!

Ranma spluttered, raking ice cubes out of his wet red hair, staring at Kasumi with wide eyes. "What was that for?!"

Kasumi considered Ranma for a long moment, long enough that Ranma's annoyance started to fade and he wondered if there was something deep in the searching stare she was giving him. What was that look Kasumi had in her eyes? Why can't I read it? Finally, Kasumi exhaled. "Oh my."

Nabiki and Akane exchanged a wary glance.

At that point, Soun decided it was high time to burst into tears. Ranma jumped to his feet in alarm, only for Soun to jump up too and wrap him in a tight hug. "Oh, the lengths my son-in-law will go to protect my daughter! The schools will be joined for sure!"

Uncomfortable, Ranma pushed Soun off him, ducking back toward Akane. Kasumi was still by the sink, frowning. His unease grew, some ancient fight-or-flight response triggering within him. He took out his fear on his father. "Huh, Pops? You got something to say about this? Wanna apologize for gettin' me engaged to a second damn fiancee without telling me?"

Genma looked up at Ranma, and for a moment, his expression mirrored Ranma's own in a scary way – wary and defensive, with just a hint of fear hiding in his eyes. Genma looked away first, closing his eyes and taking a long sip from his cup. "Don't get any ideas, boy," he said quietly. "If you let this get in the way of your training, there will be consequences." Rising to his feet, Genma walked out of the house, leaving a kitchen of confused Tendos and Ranma behind.

Ranma couldn't move. Couldn't think. Couldn't breath

He knew what consequences meant.

Neko-ken.

Swallowing, Ranma forced his trepidation off his face, pulling his arms tight across his chest. He couldn't look weak now, not in front of the Tendos. In front of Akane, who might care enough to ask questions. He just had to be a man among men, easy enough. It wasn't like being a girl would change that, right?

Pops could've hit him, or worse. A threat was nothing. Besides, Ranma thought, it wasn't like he had anything to worry about. He was a guy after all. This was nothing but a deception.

Ranma did his best not to look down at his very female body.

Soun frowned and sat back down at the table, taking a long drink of his own tea. "It's a non-issue," he declared. "Ranma, you're family. The curse is unfortunate, but perhaps here we can work it to our advantage. There is no reason for your father not to allow this beyond his own pride."

Kasumi looked like she was swallowing a tough pill, but nodded and turned to the dishes. In a daze, Ranma mumbled something in thanks and let Akane and Nabiki lead him out of the room.

"That could have gone worse?" Nabiki offered.

Akane scowled, shaking her head. "Consequences. What does that even mean? More importantly, what kind of bullshit thing was that for him to say to you, Ranma? The only 'consequences' are ones the panda brought down on himself. If he wants to do something stupid he'll have to fight me first!"

"I dunno," Ranma muttered. "I thought they were gonna say no."

Nabiki inclined her head, shrugging a bit. "I mean, it's not exactly an uncomplicated plan. I'd imagine the only reason they said yes is because everyone around me is batshit crazy. It's fine, though. You learn to cope."

"Right, because your 'coping mechanisms' are so healthy," Akane muttered.

It's not manly. Ranma didn't know what he wanted – whether he needed to march into the kitchen and get hot water, or to stay in his girl form, if only to prepare himself for what was to come. He couldn't think in the Tendo house. The creamy walls were stifling.

"I'm gonna go for a walk."

"Huh?"

Ranma avoided meeting Akane's eyes and started making for the door, just like Genma had. "I said, I'm goin' for a walk, alright? I- I'll be back." And before Akane could get another word in edgewise, he was walking away, sweeping back through the kitchen and out the door.

The last thing he heard before he went was Nabiki's quiet question to Akane, phrased almost too quiet for him to hear:

"What could Saotome be so afraid of?"

Nodoka

Blissful quiet.

Nodoka Saotome hummed quietly to herself as she walked through the municipal park near her house, enjoying the breeze blowing through the trees and ruffling the edges of her yukata. She took this walk every day – the fresh air allowed her to clarify her thoughts and see the world around her with a finer view. So, too, did she like watching the people around her. On a Sunday, there were the mothers with small children, and older kids who wandered in and out through the neighborhoods of Nerima. Elderly old men played games at the tables around the fountain; a pair of young women strolled together in crop tops and jeans, laughing at some private joke. She found the whole scene peaceful, even if her eyes grew misty every time she saw a toddler and had to look away.

Oh, Ranma, what has become of you?

She missed her son dearly. Thinking of him and her foolish husband was hard. Thinking of the sealed contract in her safe and the ceremonial katana resting on the mantleplace was even worse. Nodoka was honor-bound, trapped in her own moment of anger, to see her own son and husband dead if Genma didn't make Ranma a 'man-among-men,' and she didn't even know where they were.

So maybe Nodoka's morning walks were secretly for her to wallow in her own self-pity, but she had her reasons. Every act she took was justified in its own way. And living in an ancestral home with no expenses beyond food paid for by the generosity of friends and the (very) occasional stipend from Genma (the only way she knew he was alive), she had little cause to leave her routine behind.

So Nodoka walked every morning. She prayed every night. And she waited for her family to come home.

The park is beautiful today… Birds sang in the trees. The golden sun caught the top of the fountain spray, creating rainbows and glowing reflections in the water. The air smelled of freshly-mowed grass and pine and incense from the shrine nestled in the park's corner, a little outcropping tucked away from the playgrounds and screaming kids.

Someone caught her eye. On a park bench, a young girl with vibrant red hair sat curled up on herself, staring a bit forlornly into the distance. She's a pretty thing, Nodoka thought, pursing her lips. Or she would be, if she cleaned up a bit. The girl was alone, and nobody seemed to be paying her any mind, so Nodoka decided to go over and see what was wrong.

"Hello, dear. Mind if I sit here?"

The redhead looked up, taken aback. Nodoka gaped at her a little. Was it her imagination, or did the girl's face look eerily similar to her own? "Uh… can I help you?"

Blinking, Nodoka shook off her surprise. It must have been a coincidence. A trick of the light. It would figure, with her mind a thousand miles distant with her absent son. "Oh, I… I was walking, and noticed you were looking a little lost. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, uh, sure." The girl scratched her head and looked away. "I'm fine. I think."

"You think?" Nodoka asked.

"Yeah. I just… moved here. From China." Shifting nervously, the girl blushed. Nodoka could sympathize – moving so far from home was always a challenge. "It's an exchange thing, I guess. I come here, my cousin goes there. I'm starting at, uh, his school tomorrow. Dunno. It's no big deal, really."

Nodoka hesitantly put a comforting hand on the girl's back. The girl flinched, but didn't shake her off. Internally, she reflected that she wouldn't have any trouble at all fitting in at a Japanese school, with barely a hit of an accent. "New beginnings are always hard," she offered. "I'm sure you'll fit in soon enough. Plus, if you're on an exchange program, you can rely on your uncle and aunt to help you."

The girl scowled. "Pop- I mean, my uncle's a total jerk. And I ain't never known my m- aunt. Least my uncle lives with family friends, they're more like cousins really. They're good people. I'm engaged to one of the kids."

How disrespectful! Still, Nodoka could sympathize. The girl's cousin must have had it rough, growing up without a mother. Hopefully the girl would find a mother figure while she was away from home. "I'm sure your fiance must be able to help you adjust. He might be a good person to confide in, rather than wandering off to public parks."

"Heh. Maybe you're right." If the girl hadn't been so distant, Nodoka might have not caught her contained flinch. The poor thing. Nothing worse than a bad engagement. "Thanks, ma'am. I guess I- I'll head back home now. Don't wanna make a bad first impression on anyone, now."

Nodoka nodded in approval. "Good girl. What's you're name?"

Flinching again, the redhead stared at her like a deer caught in headlights. "It's, uh… It's… Ran- Ranko."

Ranko. So similar to her dear Ranma. Nodoka swallowed an unexpected wave of emotion and smiled. "That's a lovely name, Ranko-chan. Your new school won't know what hit them. Go on, best be getting home now."

Standing, Ranko's cheeks flushed deep pink. "Thank you, ma'am," she mumbled, shifting awkwardly.

"Nodoka."

"Thank you, Nodoka-san."

Nodoka sat on the bench for a long while after Ranko had gone, lost in her thoughts. She was struck by the thought that something momentous had just happened, although she couldn't quite pinpoint why. Maybe interacting with more people would do her good. In any case, she wondered if she'd ever see Ranko again.

Something in her heart told her she would.

Ranma

Furinkan High loomed in the cloudy gray sky above them. People streamed past, oblivious to what was taking place a few steps away. Ranma's hands closed tighter around the straps of his backpack, his gaze turned skyward toward the square clock at the center of the tower, a loose lock of red hair tumbling down into his face. There was only one way forward.

Akane rested a hand on his shoulder. Her brown eyes shone with worry. "Are you ready, Ranma?" she whispered.

No. Ranma wasn't. But if all his years of martial arts had taught him anything, a Saotome never ran away from a challenge. Pushing down his conflicting emotions, he rubbed his thumb across his lips and smirked. "Yep. Furinkan High's not ready for Ranko Saotome!"

[A/N] Wow, guys. The support over the last couple of days has really blown me away. Thank you so much to Geoffro Madness, Ranchan17, and RDavidson for adding GS to their communities! I promise to keep doing my absolute best!

Thank you as always to all the wonderful people who reviewed last chapter – Rogue15, Stenrik, junpie, Nnnnoi, James Birdsong (nifty!), Beedok, Katt1848, The Keeper of Worlds, elusivetruth, and jesstersmasque! You guys are the best.

I've been super inspired by this one lately – I love that feeling to death, it's the absolute best part of writing. That has everything to do with y'all. All my love~

Allie