Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, I do not claim any rights to any of the characters or concepts created or owned by Viz Video or Rumiko Takahashi. This is just the work of one fan to the others. The only characters or concepts that I claim are the ones I created or introduced. That said, I bring you:

Ranma ½: When you are lost in a sea of grief, look for a light to guide you home.

Chapter 17: Be careful when you stare into the mirror, because you never know just who the person staring back at you really is.

Ranma-chan lounged on the couch for just a bit after Shampoo had left before she rolled off the couch and set about taking care of the little tasks that needed to be done on her day off. Not going out for her usual run would leave her with far more time than usual, and of course it meant that she had one less thing to distract herself with. Not that she NEEDED something to distract her, of course. But, being idle just felt unnatural to her.

So, that is how Ranma ended up running herself through one set of indoor exercises after another. Yoga, Tai Chi, and even some of the smaller form katas of Taido that she had started to learn with Xian Pu. After that, she found videos to watch, and prepped food for the house. She figured that she could have supper ready for when Shampoo got home, so they could have a quick turn around.

Ranma-chan looked at the time, and sighed before a quick hot shower and he was back in male form to run through a few more exercises. He had debated whether he would actually tell the two doctors about his… condition.. but he had to agree with the others. It was best that they knew as much as possible going into this, and that he was as honest as possible. So, two thermos of hot and cold water would be prepared and ready for them when they went to visit the good doctor.

Now, he just had to kill… Another three hours. Without leaving the house.

Well,there was always the internet. It might be a good idea to do a little research before they went to see the doctor. It couldn't hurt, right?

When Xian Pu walked into the apartment, she could smell food cooking in the kitchen, and found Ranma reading on his phone after she had called out 'Im home.' and didn't receive the traditional response. She leaned against the wall and watched Ranma for a moment before she cleared her throat and finally caught the attention of the pigtailed martial artist.

"Welcome home, Shampoo. Sorry…. I didn't hear you come in". Ranma said as he fiddled with his pigtail.

Xian Pu smiled and nodded as she filled two plates and set them down before she took her own seat. "So, what are you reading, Ranma?"

Ranma said his thanks and started to eat even as he thought about how to answer. He even started to give his usual response of "Nothin'" before he took a breath and answered more honestly. "I… kind of wanted to get a little bit better idea, you know? 'bout…. All of this."

Xian Pu nodded and smiled as she gave Ranma a sympathetic look. "I imagine it's quite a lot to take in all at once."

Ranma nodded as he looked at his chopsticks before he went back eating. "I can't quite get a feelin' for all of this. I mean…. It does an' doesn't make sense? I mean…. I never really had a lot of time to think about it all, ya know? Pops always kept me busy, an' he was always yellin' 'bout how I was acting like a girl, you know…"

Xian Pu nodded as she watched Ranma, and she could feel like there was something she was missing, perhaps something that she had missed all along. But perhaps it was something to think about later, when they didn't have to hurry for Ranma's first meeting.

Xian Pu changed quickly into casual clothes that she could move in easily, as she thought about the fact that Ranma had chosen his old Chinese outfit. They had discussed their plans already, and they would be using the rooftops to skip most of the foot traffic between the train stations. Luckily, they would only need to take the train for one section, so they could remain fairly mobile on their way. Not that either of them really thought that anyone would try anything with the both of them present, but it was better to always plan as if the Hentai Horde could pop out of any alleyway at any moment.

Better safe than sorry, after all.

The trip went quietly, almost too quietly for Ranma. It had left him far too much time to think, and too many opportunities to try to talk himself out of all of this. But, he had promised not only Shampoo, but Hinata as well. And Ranma already owed far too much to Hinata to just bail on her as soon as things started to get a little difficult. No matter what, he would not follow in his father's footsteps. Because there was no way that Genma Saotome would have followed through on any of this, not in the slightest.

The building they came up to was a slightly older one, with just three floors to it. The offices that they were going to were on the second floor, and had a separate staircase that led to them. All too soon for Ranma-chan's sake, they were standing before the door to Dr. Henry Jones's office, and Ranma-chan hesitated again. At the train station, Ranma had doused his head with some of the water from the cold thermos, and had assumed the form of Ranma-chan. She took one breath, then another as she felt the comforting, strong presence of Shampoo behind her before she reached for the door, and found it locked. She started to step back, before Shampoo reached past her and pushed the call button. Almost immediately, a vibrant and deep woman's voice sounded from the speaker.

"Hello, and welcome to the offices of Dr. Jones. We are after hours, do you have an appointment or is this an emergency?" The woman asked even as the pair could tell that someone had approached the door from inside.

Ranma-chan smiled back at Shampoo before she pushed the button on her own. "I'm Ranma, I have an appointment with Dr. Jones."

The door opened almost immediately, and the pair found themselves looking at a tall woman of African descent who was dressed in a very traditional kimono tailored to her frame. "The Doctor is waiting for you, Ranma. Do you need to use the restroom or anything before you see him? If you do, I can show you where anything you need is." She said as she let them in. "Oh, how rude of me. I'm Amaya, and it's a pleasure to meet you." She said as she bowed elegantly to the pair.

Ranma-chan and Xian Pu stepped in, and bowed to Amaya once the door had been closed. "I'm Ranma, and this is my roommate, Shampoo." Ranma-chan said as she glanced around the room and settled as Shampoo rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "An' I appreciate the offer, but I would like to see the doctor… Before I bolt for the hills or somethin'." She said only half jokingly.

Amaya nodded and walked with a smooth, gliding gait over to the door to the main office itself, and held it open for Ranma-chan. "Just go ahead and step into the inner office when you are ready. The doctor is ready for you whenever you are." Amaya said, then smiled as Ranma-chan squared her shoulders and walked in purposefully. After she closed the door behind Ranma-chan, she turned to regard Shampoo and smiled warmly. "This could take a bit, can I offer you some tea?"

Xian Pu smiled and nodded as she relaxed a little. "Please, and thank you." She said as she looked the tall woman over. There was something just… different about how the tall woman moved. And her Japanese was perfect, so unlike how Xian Pu had spoken when she had first arrived, and for years afterwards, if she wanted to be honest with herself. It had taken her losing everything before she had pushed herself to actually learn to speak the native language like anything but some tourist rube from the backwaters of China.

Xian Pu was pulled from her ruminations as Amaya sat down across from her and smiled at her. "Your friend has come to the right person, if I may be so bold. My father should be able to help them, he has had a bit of experience dealing with the impact of gender dysphoria on friends and family." Amaya said, as she watched Xian Pu. "If you want someone to talk to about all of this, then I would be happy to offer myself."

Xian Pu smiled a little as she cupped her cup of tea and breathed in the warm, soothing scent of it before she took a sip. "I appreciate that. So, the doctor is your father, then?"

Amaya smiled and nodded as she refilled both of their cups. "My father used to work for the U.S. Air Force as a clinical psychologist. He helped people all over the world, and we traveled a lot when I was younger. We were close, but… Well, we kept secrets from each other. All that changed when we moved to Japan, and we lost my mother. Her last wish for us was for us to be honest with each other at last." Amaya sat back and looked into her cup for a moment, before she met the gaze of Xian Pu. "That was when I came out to my father, and laid all my secrets bare." She smiled fondly, and a little sadly. "I wish that it hadn't taken my mother's death to make us finally be honest with each other. Needless to say, my father.. Didn't exactly handle it well at first, when I came out. But in time, we both learned how to accept each other, and he accepted who I had always been. That is what drove my father to start this practice. His experiences dealing with his transgender daughter." She said as she watched Xian Pu's reaction.

Xian Pu nodded and thought about what she had just learned. "So… How did your friends and family react to… Well, the new you?"

Amaya smiled sadly. "I lost most of them when I came out. The ones that remained, well, they accepted me for who I had always been. A few even had an inkling beforehand. And some of my friends I had come out to years ago."

"Well… Can I ask something?" Xian Pu said as she chewed on her lip.

"Of course you can. You can ask me pretty much anything." Amaya said as she settled back in her chair.

"How.. Long did you know? I mean… When did you figure out that you were…" Xian Pu said, and hesitated as she tried to come up with a way to ask that didn't offend the woman across from her.

"I honestly knew from a very early age, but I was afraid to act on anything. I just… Kept it a secret, and hid who I was. I overcompensated pretty badly, to be honest. I had thought about entering the service, and just… Trying to be as manly as I could. At least, how I perceived being a man." Amaya said with a sad shake of her head.

Xian Pu looked at her wide-eyed as pieces started to fall into place rapidly. "A Man amongst Men." She said quietly, with a horrified look in her eyes as all the little things came together."

Amaya laughed and nodded. "It's not uncommon for those that are hiding it from others, or even from themselves." She hesitated for a moment, then pressed on. "Your friend, you said use neutral pronouns… Are they gender fluid, or non-binary, then?"

Xian Pu laughed awkwardly at that. "You… Could say that…." She said, then they both jumped as there was a clatter from the inner office and they both rushed to see what had happened. What they saw on the other side of the inner door answered some questions, but raised many others. Especially for Amaya.

Flashback a few minutes, as Ranma entered the inner office after she had gathered her courage once more….

Ranma looked at the door before her with trepidation as she felt like she had found herself face to face with any number of the powerful and dangerous foes that she had fought over the years. After a minute, she laughed at herself as she stepped forward and knocked gently on the door before her. When she heard the gentle but deep voice of the man who waited for her on the other side of the door bid her to enter, she squared her shoulders and did so with far more bravado than she actually felt.

The older gentleman on the other side of the desk when she walked in stood up and bowed respectfully to Ranma. He was dressed in a nice, casual dress outfit. His short, dark hair had touches of gray at the temples, and the easy smile on his face served to settle Ranma's nerves somewhat. She had not meant many people of African-American descent in her years, but still she had encountered far more unusual and exotic people. She returned the bow respectfully. "Thank you for agreeing to see me at this late hour." Ranma-chan said as she had rehearsed many times on the way over as she had tried to keep her nerves from getting to her.

"I am just glad that we were able to meet. I'm doctor Henry Jones, and I look forward to working with you. Now, why don't you take a seat and we can just talk for a bit, okay? I would like to get to know you a bit better before we get into the details of things, if that is okay with you?" Dr. Jones said as he sat back down and laid out a notepad on the desk, along with two pens.

Ranma nodded and sat down nervously as she reflexively looked around the office. There were a few pictures that decorated the walls, and one of them was a picture of the doctor and a younger version of the woman who had greeted them standing in front of Mt. Fuji. Doctor Jones followed Ranma's gaze and smiled fondly. "If you were wondering, Amaya is my daughter and that was our first trip to Mt. Fuji after she had recovered. It was really our first trip as father and daughter, and it's one of my favorite memories of my time in Japan." He said, then smiled warmly at Ranma. "So, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, Ranma? How would you describe yourself?"

Ranma hesitated, as she looked down at her clasped hands in her lap and shifted nervously. "I… Don't really know anymore. At one time, I woulda said I was the best. That there wasn't anything I couldn't do. That… I would never lose, ever."

Dr. Jones jotted down a few things as he watched the red head across from him. "And, what changed?"

Ranma sighed and shifted a little. "I lost. I lost… In a way that I couldn't recover from."

Ranma was pulled from her thoughts as Dr. Jones smiled warmly and spoke softly. "Sometimes, we have to lose things that are important to us before we really look at ourselves. Relationships, family, friends, jobs. Loss is part of life, but it doesn't have to define you. I would say that you are a strong person, since you are trying to face who you are head on. It's one of the hardest things to do."

Ranma bit her lip and nodded. "I… After I lost… My fiancee… I.. Didn't really want to go on. I just… Kind of gave up." Ranma sighed and laid her head back. "It took runnin' into an old friend of mine who used to fight with me all the time to start to pull myself out of the hole I had put myself in."

Dr. Jones nodded and smiled softly as he made another note. "So, can I ask a few details about you, if you don't mind me asking?"

Ranma looked at him and nodded as she shifted a little. "There…. Are things I might not be able to tell ya…"

Dr. Jones nodded and smiled. "That is okay, There are always things that are hard to talk about or share with people. I hope that in time you will feel comfortable sharing a bit more." He adjusted his glasses as he started to take a few quick notes. "So, were you assigned male or female at birth?"

Ranma blinked and looked at the doctor oddly. "Assigned male or female?"

Dr. Jones nodded. "On your birth certificate, does it list you as male or female?"

Ranma looked down at herself and laughed a little. "I guess how I am right now it is hard to believe, but I was born as a boy."

"Well, what our records say and who we are don't always match. So, assigned male." He said as he made a few more quick notes. "So, when did you figure out that the gender you had been assigned and who you are didn't match?"

Ranma blinked at that. "Well, that would have been.. Umm… About four years ago when all of this started?"

"Four years? Interesting… Usually you start to get an idea that things don't match earlier, but I have heard of those kinds of realizations happening much later in life. So, have you had top surgery, then?" Dr. Jones asked.

"Top surgery? What's that?" Ranma asked with a confused look on her face, then remembered some of what she had read and blushed as red as her hair. "Umm… No…."

Dr. Jones looked Ranma over, and nodded as he made a few more notes. "We can talk about what other steps you are considering at a later date, then. Now, the person who contacted me said that you would have a question for me before we can continue on too much farther?"

Ranma nodded and bit her lip. "I have to ask… Ummm… Do you have a heart condition or anythin'? Somethin' that would make sudden shocks bad for you?"

Dr. Jones looked at Ranma oddly for a moment, then shook his head. "I am in good health, so you don't have to worry about anything you say causing me to have a heart attack, Ranma."

Ranma nodded as she pulled the two small thermos's out and placed them on the floor next to her before she stood up. "Okay. Then I should show you somethin' before we go any farther." Ranma said, and looked at the doctor who had sat back in his chair a little with a curious look on his face. She hesitated for a moment then reached for the hot water and poured just enough over her head to trigger the curse.

Dr. Jones wasn't sure what to expect, but the short and curvaceous redhead becoming a taller dark haired boy was certainly not on the list of expectations. He jumped a little and tumbled over backwards. As he stood back up, the door to his office was pulled open forcefully by his daughter, who had a young woman with lavender hair behind her. As both of the Jones's looked at Ranma, he bowed deeply as he reflexively reached for his pigtail.

"Sorry 'bout this… I'm Ranma… And I am cursed." Ranma said as he wished he could just shrink into nothingness. He jumped a little as he felt a familiar and strong hand rest on his back.

The two Jones's looked at each other, as Dr. Jones got up and approached the pair. He noticed how Ranma almost reflexively tightened and tried to shrink in on himself. He sighed as he slowed his approach to make himself as non-threatening as he could. "How about we move out to the lounge, and that way you two can explain this a bit to us, if that is okay? And don't think of yourself as cursed, please."

Ranma fidgeted and Xian Pu slipped her hand into his and gave him a supportive little squeeze before she started to lead Ranma back into the lounge. "Well, to be honest, we are both cursed. Legitimately cursed."

"You.. Mean you are honestly cursed? Not, just… Talking negatively about yourself?" Amaya asked as she started to make tea for all of them.

"It's a very long story, but we can try to explain, if you want?" Xian Pu said as Ranma nodded and accepted the cup of tea.

"That might be helpful, to better understand just what is going on here, and how I might be of help with dealing with the issues that this has surely caused." Dr. Jones said as he accepted a cup of tea from his daughter.

"So, where do you want to start?" Dr. Jones asked as he watched the pair.

"Umm… Do ya think I should start with the trainin' trip, the… Ummm… Things that should not be named, or jus' cut to China?" Ranma asked as he looked aside at Shampoo.

"Hrm, well, to preserve their sanity, perhaps we should just start with China… And the cursed springs?" Xian Pu answered.

Ranma nodded, and settled back as he stared into his tea before he started to explain. "Well, it all started with this training map in Chineses that my idiot of a father had found somewhere…."

It was some time later, and a lot of perplexed looks, more than a few horrified expressions, and a very embarrassed Xian Pu, before the pair brought their abridged version of that whole China arc to an end.

"An' after we swam back to Japan from China, we ended up headin' to the Tendo's…." Ranma finished.

The pair of Jones's shared a look then Dr. Jones held up his hand. "So, you… Literally swam back to Japan. Not, take a ship and then snuck off… You… Swam to Japan. From China."

"Well, yeah? I mean, it was part of our training? And Pops is a cheapskate so didn't want to pay for a ticket, ya know?" Ranma explained like it was common sense.

"I.. Think I need a few minutes to process all of this… But then, I would like to talk to you about what actually brought you to me in the first place. I have some questions, but I think we might have to have this conversation in private." Dr. Jones said with a thoughtful and perplexed look on his face.

Ranma and Xian Pu exchanged looks, then Ranma nodded. "Okay… Umm… I.. have a kind of strange request though…."

Dr. Jones took off his glasses and cleaned them before he looked at Ranma. "What would that be, Ranma?"

"Can… We have that talk in my girl form? It's…. Easier to talk 'bout things like emotions and stuff like that…." Ranma said without looking up.

Dr. Jones exchanged a look with his daughter before he stood up, stretched, and started to walk towards the door of his office. "Of course, Ranma. Do whatever makes you the most comfortable, then we can talk."

Ranma nodded and quickly doused himself with enough cold water to trigger the change, adjusted her outfit slightly, and walked into the office followed by Dr. Jones. Once the door closed, Amaya shared a look with XIan Pu before she spoke in nearly perfect Mandarin. "I have so many questions for you."

Xian Pu smiled and nodded as she settled in. She had the feeling it was going to end up being a very long night.