Son Turned Daughter, Chapter 50
An unusual disclaimer: Ranma1/2 is the trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. And Son Turned Daughter was originally written back in 2002 by fanfiction author Tangent. Please see the first two chapters of this series under his pen name. This series has been written for noncommercial use only.
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
This story is not about sex but gender. It is set in a late 1980's that mixes with, from the perspective of our universe, the early 1990's: a time when binary gender identity was the unquestioned norm. Ranma dys-ease with having a female brain-body is a reflection of those born with the brain-body of a gender other than the one their chemistry says they actually are.
Note: In an effort to show the problem Ranma is having with gender identity, the different pronouns ('her', 'she', 'he', 'him', 'his') are used to indicate which is the more relevant at the time. 'S/he' indicates the increased ambiguity or conflict. Japanese, though, has no gender distinction in its pronouns. That is in the grammar and words used.
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
Chapter 50
Akane was so eager to put on her princess gown she rushed to the nearest door inside the bedroom suite, ignoring all else. "Put your prince clothes on out here and wait for my entrance!"
"This is s'pose to be romantic?"
"Of course, Ranma! A girl's first time should be romantic!" And she slammed the bathroom door shut in her haste.
"Then I guess I'd better want my first time havin' sex as a girl be romantic.
"But, man(!), romance is weird," he muttered to himself as he looked about the room. The room was "looking" back. Just about every object seemed to have eyes!
They weren't real eyes. None of them moved. Though if they were in a trance, maybe they could wake up(!) They weren't made with paint. They were…decals(?) The large whites were, maybe, but the irises were colored, shiny glass. They reminded the boy of something….
"Manga! Anime!" Yes, that was it! They were all too big to really be real! "They're still uncanny in real life. And why have 'em on everything, anyway? That ain't Japanese cartoons!"
That suggested an answer. "This room must be an anime version of some American cartoon." He went to the door Akane was behind. There was the sound of her taking a shower. She had locked it! She had never done that to him before. (Then, again, the Tendō's shower-and-soak room didn't have a lock.) "Akane?"
"I'll be quick! I'm taking a hot shower: I have to be fresh and dainty for our big scene."
"What about me?"
"Uh…. Um, in the movie the princess's servants did groom him. But, you'll be more manly if you don't use this lilac soap. It's too much like toilet water."
"Huh!? Toilet water(!)"
"Ranma, just put on your prince uniform! It's alright if you smell like a beast!"
Really(?) Well, this room of the love hotel was called the Beauty and the Beast Hideaway. Akane had to be the Beauty. That made him the Beast. "Just what kind of beast am I supposed to be?
"I don't know what kind of beast is romantic!" He did a fast search of the suite, looking for a clue (while possible clues 'looked' back). But he could find none. In fact, now that he thought of it, he hadn't seen what the beautiful princess was supposed to look like, either. That made sense: Every woman who came here must want to be the definition of "beauty". "I guess that means I can be my idea of a beast."
That pleased him! He could go back to the way he was before he became cursed! The Cat Tongue was gone for now and there was no reason to stay a girl. It was just the opposite, in fact: "I'm here to be me! And more 'n what I was: A boy into a man!" he cried, feeling the weight of Fake-it-to-you-make-it drop off his shoulders! And he laughed with a triumph, self-satisfied timbre. Baritone deep and with a bragger's confidence.
A braggart needs an audience and he picked up a fancy, antiquey-looking table clock and looked it in its face, "I'm not gonna get psyched out by all you glassy-eyed stuff! I'm Ranma Saotome and I ain't afraid of nothing I can punch! Punch a clock. Ha! That's a good one," he smiled at his own lame joke. That was how much he didn't care what the 'audience thought'.
Except he had to care about what Akane thought: She was the woman that was going to make him a man, after all. He went to the garment bag and hurried to get his prince outfit on first.
"This is what princes wear, huh?" He was almost certain they didn't wear polyester-cotton blends. Even the pants was in it. His lower legs were out of them. Socks weren't in the bag, and Ranma just assumed it was because it saved the hotel money. (And shoes were not to be worn inside, anyway in Japan.) That also explained why the white shirt and "gold vest" were actually in one piece. And over it was short, navy blue jacket. Short in front, that was; long in back with two triangles hanging down past his butt. It was the stupidest part of the stupid Western outfit. He saw no reason for it but to look "fashionable".
At least he could congratulate himself for thinking ahead and not wearing any underwear. Of any kind. Fundoshi, boxers or tap panties. Now his semi-erection only had to deal with one layer. (He thanked Dr. Tōfū again for balancing his conflicting female-male chi. It would not last, he was warned.)
Akane was taking a "quick" shower? Ranma plopped down on the carpeted floor.
He found that the pants were only made for sitting in a chair. If they were made (with a skosh) for the statistically average Japanese male. They dug into his testicles. Still, he stubbornly waited where he was, crossing his arm…and having his pits constricted, too. And it was all because he was too fit and muscular.
[] [] []
"Hunky photos of Ranma!?" Ukyo herself imagined what they would look like. And she liked the fantasy images!
Only in real life it was Kodachi who had them!(!)
After her phone negotiations with Nabiki Tendō, Ukyo now realized, "It's not just Akane and Shampoo I have to compete with for Ranma(!)?!" She was able to unstress a little with the knowledge that, "Kodachi is my slave, too! Heh, heh.
"That was a wicked chuckle.
"But since she wanted to make me and all the others into her real, life-long slaves….
"She sounds like everything I'm not. Maybe there's one I wouldn't mind so-much being my slave every day. In perpetuity.
"Now what could I have my too-rich-for-anybody's-good slave do that'll teach her a lesson?"
[] [] []
(It took longer to put on 1700s princess costume, even if simplified for modern customers usually more interested, after setting the mood, in getting out of them. This was a love hotel.)
Uncomfortable, he was made all the more so by all the eyes near if not directly on him. Which annoyed him more. those 'looking' at him…or away ('polite', 'embarrassed', 'knowing' he was there to be a pervert?) He eyed the ones whose eyes were 'directed on him': the table clock, the teapot and one of its cups (why was there, and only, one with a chip?), the candlestick holder, a feather duster…
"Come on, Akane. How long does it take to…." Akane came out dressed in her all yellow, hoopskirt gown. It made him stand up and stare,
He knew about hoopskirts. They both had worn ones for their martial arts Fine Dining match against the House of Chardin. Were the weird clothes because they were French? Wasn't French a romance language? Now everything was making sense.
Akane's smile became pleased: Entrance successful. And she did a model's turn, letting the hoop be its most dramatic. The actor in her could imagine herself on stage, all eyes….
"Oh?! This room even has the "enchanted servants"," she laughed in delight. And getting further into the role, she waltzed her elegant turns enough for her to be "viewed" by all the fixed, unblinking eyes. All eagerly waiting for her and Ranma to get together and break their spell.
But she wasn't ready to leave the storybook spell of the fantasy. "Dance with me, Ranma; just like in the best scene of the movie."
"I don't know how to dance. How about some kata?" And he did one of the less violent practice patterns.
"How about we….
"Mrs. Potts!" And she went to the serving cart the teapot and her cups were on. Grasping a bar handle of the cart, she rolled it towards her prince. "Take the other handle. I'll lead until you get the idea."
"Okay, sensei."
He wondered how he could feel so awkward and clumsy. Being graceful was what he did as a martial artist. But, then, this wasn't a scenario where he could apply his skills. He was glad the cart was between them; he wouldn't be stepping on Akane's feet.
Akane finally had to sing, "Tale as old as time
"True as it can be
"Barely even friend…."
"You stopped singing(?)" Ranma noticed.
She did a small laugh. "We are friends. We are here because we're friends." Then she became serious. "We are here to be more than just friends." Reality was setting in for her. She let go of the cart. Ranma did as she had.
"This is when you become a beast and sweep me off my feet and carry me to bed."
"Beast? Oh, yeah! This is when I can be myself: Ranma Saotome, the Best at Whatever. A man among men.
"And now I'll really be a man! C'mon, Akane," and he grabbed her hand and‒
She resisted. "You have to carry me to bed."
"Okay!" But when he tried to pick her up, she wouldn't let him.
"The least you could do is carry me like a princess!"
"Okay." But when he tried, she found another objection.
"You're reaching under my skirt. Touching me before we reach the bed!"
"But I know what wearin' a hoopskirt is like. It makes more sense to….
"No: I'm not gonna explain. That ain't what a beast'd do!" He turned her around, unzipped the dress and pulled it down off her. All while she looked self-sacrificing.
She had on lacy, yellow lingerie ‒ the full set: bra, panties, garter belt and sheer hose. They all made her look better than she did nude. Ranma pulse quickened, his heart pushing out more energizing blood. Here was Beauty….
Then he thought what it would be like having the elastic pressing, gouging, into her own, cursed body's unmanly soft flesh. The girls underwear no longer perfected Akane's femininity. In fact, he wanted her naked.
He pulled the cups up off her breasts; and the panties down her thighs. He ogled.
Until it became uncomfortable to be wearing pants.
And a jacket; and a shirt with a fake vest. It was time for him to be naked, too!
Feeling uncomfortable and stupid standing there with her bra and panties on but not covering her the way they were meant to, Akane finished the strip herself. She did leave on the garter belt and hose. She had never worn any before and found they added some eroticism. She would their assistance.
Akane almost yipped and stepped back when Ranma pulled his pants down. She had seen him nude the times he had become a boy while they had been in the furoroom together. He had never been this large! It was like a weapon pointed at her!
It came at her! She closed her eyes, and clenched her fists as she felt it bump and slide up the outside of her sweating body. She was in his grasp. Her mouth was being captured by his. Her…. She….
He?…
He let go of her and withdrew from her. "Ranma?(?)"
"You really don't want to do it, do you?"
"For you, I'll do it. I never wanted anybody more."
"Me? Or the cursed me?"
"You're not cursed to me. ‒No: I mean‒"
"I know what you mean." He sat down on the carpet, but couldn't look at her any more. And he didn't want to look at the eyes around them. He looked at his erection as he talked and willed his chastity. "I could have had sex with both Ukyo and Shampoo today. But I couldn't. I wasn't in the right body. My first time has to be right! It's gotta match what I feel like inside …no matter what I look like on the outside.
"And that's the way it's gotta be for you, Akane. I gotta let you be the real you." He finally looked up at her; he bypassed everything to gaze into her big, expressive, brown eyes. "I don't want you to resent me. You're too important to me. As a friend. My best friend.
"No. You're more important than just that.
"You're my homebase. I always want you to welcome me home. A home I never had a home…before you."
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
Disney's animated movie "Beauty and the Beast" was released in 1991, well within the mixed-year time-frame of my story (manga series:1987 to 1996; anime series: 1989 to 1992; OAV series: 1993 to 1996 (+ 2008); movies: 1991, 1992).
The love hotel thought it could get around international copyright laws by not copying Disney's movie(s) exactly and making it anime in style. It wasn't until Disney found out and was on the verge of suing them, that the hotel stopped this and similar infringements. Disney didn't demand any royalties afterwards, not wanting the non-family-friendly publicity. Until then, this practice did make the hotel a profit.