I do not own Ranma.

"This can't be happening, not to me."

It was 3:00 am, Ranma had woken up in a panic, he had been feeling sick for a while, all his joints had been hurting for a while, he had felt some abdominal cramps, had developed a bit of acne and his breast were extra sensitive, even with all these obvious signs, Ranma hadn't been prepared for what was happening to him. Eyes full of unshed tears, panic evident in his face, he couldn't stop trembling, "Damn you Herb, damn you, damn you" the redhead kept repeating in his mind while cleaning himself as best as he could, this was definitely one of the most embarrassing moments in his life.

Earlier that night Ranma had been trying to get some sleep, he knew he needed to be rested for his imminent confrontation with one arrogant Chinese prince, but his worries were preventing him from doing so, he had been locked for almost an entire month after his encounter with Herb and that damned Chiisuiton.

Sighing heavily and staring at the ceiling, memories of falling into the Nyannichuan pool at Jusenkyo were passing through Ranma's mind, he had been so terrified, his father had always made sure to make him feel like a failure and a disappointment every time he did something even remotely "girly" in his father's eyes, Ranma never fully understood why was his father so obsessed with this growing up, but he knew it was the right thing to do, in the end he was Ranma Saotome, a man amongst men, the greatest martial artist of his generation and there was simply no room in his life for anything girly. However, when he first fell into that pool and saw his previously flat chest turn into a wonderfully large bosom, he had felt… happiness. It terrified him, he had been fighting all his life to be a man, he knew that girls went to the pit, and… just thinking about that word still filled him with pain and horror, but there he was, feeling giddy about this change, his father was right, he was a disappointment.

Time had gone on and the happiness he felt every time he got doused with cold water was still present, and that only helped to make him even more terrified, scared about the curse changing his mind, so he pushed himself even harder to prove his manliness and to squash all those weird feelings deep inside, where no one else could ever see them.

Now he had spent a whole month as a girl, when Ranma discovered he had been locked, inwardly that weak part of his mind was jumping in joy, skipping and giggling incessantly, on the outside though, he acted even more "manly" promising he'd make Herb pay and get his male body back… After a whole month however, he was sure he was losing himself, it was so EASY being a girl, like a weight was lifted out of his shoulders and it was only getting lighter and lighter every day he spent in his girl body.

Ranma couldn't take it anymore, he was sure the curse made him feel like this, there was no way all these emotions could come from himself, and even if he tried acting the same way as always, full of macho bravado, it was harder and harder to see himself as a guy every day and that thought terrified him, he could see the face of his mother, katana in hand, waiting for him to stab himself with the tanto sword .

Sighing with despair and after letting his mind drift for a long time, exhaustion finally caught up with the redhead, who was able to get some sleep, albeit not for as long as he would've liked.

Ranma wake up a few hours later, he had been ignoring the pain in his body for the past day, thinking it might've been a stupid case of food poisoning or something of the sort, not even once his mind thought about the obvious reason that was causing his unwellness, however, what he could definitely not ignore was a liquid coming out of his… female genitals and running down his right thigh.

Immediately Ranma jumped out of his bed, face full of panic and a blush so bright that seemed to light the room, he rushed to the bathroom feeling ashamed at the thought of having peed himself, however, after sitting down on the toilet and noticing the blood on his thighs he froze. Ranma knew about periods, he had been grossed out when he heard about it for the first time, never once the idea of THAT happening to him even crossed his mind, (The redhead was a master at blocking out stuff he didn't want to acknowledge) Now, the full force of this absurd situation hit him, his whole body started shaking uncontrollably once he understood that he was having his first period, he couldn't help but mumble insults toward the person that put him in this situation.

After cleaning himself Ranma silently got out of the bathroom, he couldn't risk waking up his two companions, the feeling of humiliation was already strong enough without having Mousse or, Kami forbid, Ryoga notice what had just happened.

Not knowing what to do Ranma put on a clean pair of boxers, (the only black pair in his possession) and as silently as he could he tried to go back to bed, hoping this was just a bad dream and for it to just disappear after a bit of sleep.

"Ranma, are you okay?"

The pigtailed boy almost jumped out of his skin, tears finally flowing free, this was it, this was the end of his life. Slowly, and tense like a stone, he turned his head back, face stricken with horror, full of tears, his blue eyes kept jumping from place to place trying to find an escape and not wanting to look at the face of the person who was staring at his own.

"Ranma?"

Unable to find any exit, the aforementioned cursed boy looked at his rival's face.

"I… I… I'm… I…" was all Ranma could reply, his breathing erratic and the shivering kept intensifying each second.

Ryoga was in shock, he'd never seen Ranma like this without cats being involved, and he was pretty sure there were no felines close enough to cause this reaction. He was trying to figure out what was going on when he noticed the tears that were falling out of Ranma's blue eyes and he froze, that was something he never expected to witness, Ranma, RANMA! Crying his eyes outs and in the verge of having a panic attack, so without a second thought, as soon as he recovered from the shock, Ryoga embraced Ranma, he didn't know what was going on but his heart wouldn't let him be close to a girl in pain without trying to help, even if that girl was really a boy and his hated rival.

He didn't know what to expect, knowing Ranma, a punch to the face wasn't out of the question, however, when the lost boy noticed his rival relaxing and leaning in the embrace his confidence increased and started soothing the other cursed boy in his arms

"Shh" Ryoga said while caressing Ranma's back slowly "Relax, everything is okay, breathe deeply and exhale"

Ranma followed Ryoga's instructions without thinking much of it, he felt out of it, like someone else was controlling his own body and he was a spectator experiencing everything in third person, it didn't even matter that he was being embraced by another boy, he had never been more scared in his life without cats being involved somehow.

Ranma didn't know how long had he been there but once he came back to his senses, he noticed that the shirt of his rival was wet and full of tears and snot, the pigtailed boy blushed, noticing how close he was to the other boy and feeling even more ashamed now that not only he had stained the bed but, also, cried his eyes out in the arms of his rival, still, Ranma didn't move, he didn't want to move, he wasn't used to being embraced with this level of care and kindness and he couldn't help but lean into Ryoga even more, he felt safe surrounded by those arms and didn't have the strength to face what was to come.

"What happened, Ranma?"

Ranma just buried his face in the other boy's shoulder, tensing immediately, not wanting him to find out what just happened. Unfortunately for the redhead, Ryoga had laid his eyes on the small red spot on the bed, it seemed to shine under the moonlight entering their room.

Ryoga's eyes widened and everything fell into place. His face flushed scarlet when he realized this was probably the mark of Ranma's first period.

Normally, he would've teased Ranma with this, the Kami knew he deserved some payback, but after seeing the sheer terror in Ranma's eyes and the almost panic attack the other boy had suffered, Ryoga couldn't find it in his heart to be mean towards him at this moment.

"It's okay, let's get the sheets cleaned and go take a hot shower, it'll make you feel better" he felt the other boy tense even more in his embrace, so he went back to caressing his back and head.

"It's okay Ranma, there's nothing wrong with it, I won't judge you, it's not your fault."

Ryoga felt Ranma's tension slowly leaving his body.

After a while, the redhead boy looked up, looking for any sign of malice or mockery in Ryoga's eyes, afraid he had just experienced his most embarrassing moment in front of a guy that hated him and wanted to make his life hell, however, when he found nothing but care, kindness and tenderness in those green eyes Ranma felt all his barriers go down and the exhaustion of his outburst alongside the stress of the situation hit him like a truck, immediately he felt so tired, and weaker even than when Happosai had used the moxibustion point on him, he couldn't move and went limp in the arms of his friend.

Ranma awoke the next morning with pain all over her body and her mind felt as if she had experienced the worst hangup ever, wait, no HIS mind, he had to remind himself.

'I'm a guy, damn it' was his mind's response to the slip in pronouns, every damn morning he had to remind himself to not think like a girl and with everything that had been happening lately, it kept getting harder and harder.

Slowly, he opened one eye, despite the tiredness and pain he was feeling.

Yawning and sitting on his bed trying to beat out the kinks of his body, he turned his face around and saw Ryoga, sitting on the bed that was supposed to be his, carrying a plastic bag.

He had dark circles under his eyes and you could see the tiredness he was feeling with his posture. All the memories from a few hours earlier rushed into Ranma's mind, making him immediately jump out of the bed, panic setting in.

"Morning Ranma" Said Ryoga, his voice obviously tired but full of kindness. After smiling at the redhead, the lost boy threw the plastic bag to a surprised Ranma who caught it with ease.

Opening it slowly, Ranma's eyes almost fell out of its sockets and his face turned the same color as his hair. Inside there were two boxes, one full of tampons and the other one with pads.

"I didn't know which one you'd prefer," Ryoga said while blushing almost as hard as Ranma. "You should go take a shower and use them, I… took the bed sheets and your boxers to the laundry room and cleaned the mattress so no one should be able to notice what happened."

Ranma stood in silence, glaring at Ryoga, face flushed, after a while he sighed and pouted.

"No one can know about this, okay?"

"Don't worry, I promise on my honor as a martial artist that no one will know about this." Ryoga said solemnly.

An awkward silence spread between the two martial artists.

"How did you find a place to buy this… stuff - Ranma glared dangerously at the plastic bad in his hands - and found your way back?"

Ryoga blushed.

"Listen, it doesn't matter right now how I did it, you need to go take a shower and relax, you look like crap"

Ranma couldn't believe his eyes, not only Ryoga had not laughed at his… predicament, he went to the trouble of… - Ranma couldn't help blushing at the thought - cleaning after his accident, but also bought something to help him out… Even if it made Ranma feel more embarrassed than ever. It was… sweet.

"You didn't have to do all this, I…"

"It's okay Ranma… I know if I got stuck as P-Chan you'd also take care of me, so don't sweat it"

Ryoga's smile was as bright as the sun for Ranma's eyes who could only look away and blush.

"Thank you" Ranma said while pouting in way that Ryoga found incredibly cute and girly, not that he would ever tell that to Ranma "But remember, no one else can know about this… or what you saw last night"

Ryoga blushed at the memory, there it was, his rival, the boy that had brought so much suffering to his life, and yet, the image of that same person, sobbing and more vulnerable than he ever thought he'd see them was still fresh in his mind… Ranma looked broken at that moment, but at the same time… it was the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, and Ryoga couldn't help but think that… maybe… There is more to the pigtailed martial artist than he had previously thought.

Before Ryoga could come back out of his Ranma induced trance, the redhead had already left the room with the pads and tampons to go and take a shower.

After a long time in the bathroom a blushing Ranma came out dressed in his usual outfit, Mousse had woken up while Ranma was trying to put a pad on his boxers but had left to get an early breakfast once he noticed the bathroom was occupied. In the end the redhead had to reluctantly use a tampon (even if it took him a full half an hour to gather the courage to put it in) since it seemed like the pads would never work properly with his current underwear choice and he didn't bring any panties around.

His mind was a whirlpool of emotions, he had never cried that much, not since the first time he got thrown into that cursed pit, and the fact that it was while Ryoga was embracing him only helped to further increase his embarrassment, and on top of that, Ranma was feeling extremely self-conscious thinking that everyone would be able to notice he was really a boy wearing a tampon and assume he was a freak pervert.

Slowly he walked out of the bathroom and sat on his bed, lost in thought, not noticing that Ryoga was lying there as well.

"Ranma"

Ranma jumped out of the bed in surprise and finally noticed the boy currently resting on the bed.

He saw his… rival? Sleeping peacefully in a really awkward position.

The redhead couldn't help but giggle at the sight, then, in an amazing act of strength for someone as small as himself, he carried the lost boy and tucked him under the sheets of his own bed.

"You really spent all night looking for a way to help me, didn't ya?… and found your way back as you always do…" Ranma smiled gently, caressing Ryoga's cheek.

"Thank you…"

Ranma stood there for a while, admiring the handsome boy that had shown him more compassion than almost anyone he'd ever met, he was not used to this level of kindness, of care, and without thinking too much about his actions, Ranma crouched down and kissed Ryoga's forehead.

Once the pigtailed boy noticed what he'd just done he jumped, getting as far away from the lost boy as possible, eyes bulging out of his head, heart beating hard inside his chest and his cheeks redder than his silk shirt.

"Shit!".

Ranma ran away.

Notes:

I've been having issues with my other fic and this just came to my mind after reading a fic in Spanish called "La Apuesta" by Ladysecretsecret, if you know Spanish I highly recommend it