It turned out that being held back a grade wasn't so bad afterall. Ranma had a leg up in just about every subject from her time at Furinkan High and was able to pull off a score of 87 on her first test. Not bad at all for Ranma. Even Kagome's friends were pretty alright, even if they were the average boy-crazy teens Ranma had seen and carefully avoided in the past. She found that once she wasn't the target of their fancy, they were actually kind of nice to be around. They supported each other rather than constantly taking jabs at each other like guys did to their friends, and they seemed to actually care about one another. Girl culture was still a bit of an enigma, but she found that it was at least welcoming and relatively peaceful if nothing else.
Ranma dreaded changing in the locker room for gym though, given her past experience of either being beaten senseless by the girls or potentially changed and groped by the boys. She hated that aspect of school the most. What once had been her favorite subject had been turned into an exercise in anxiety control thanks to the curse. It turned out to be absolutely nothing here at Kagome's school, especially since they shared most of the same classes, including gym. When she went in to change on the first day, she expected something similar even though nobody here knew of her past, but instead the only comments she got were about the strange color of her hair ("Holy cow, it's natural?!" one girl had exclaimed) and all the old scars that marred her skin. She hated that some of the girls gave her pity over her ancient wounds, but none of them knew such a serious martial artist before. Once Ranma explained her life of training and fighting, most of the pity transformed into either respect or adoration, something Ranma was used to from romantic interests, but never from platonic ones. It was a nice feeling. She couldn't help but feel that some of the girls still pitied her for her rough upbringing, though.
Ranma just counted them lucky they don't know the half of it.
All in all, she kind of liked her new school. It was quiet and friendly and while some guys would stare at her on occasion, none were brave enough to introduce themselves. This was going to be a leisurely experience, she thought. No crazy energy-draining teachers, no daily fights over rights to date, no Hawaiian fetishists trying to cut her hair... No, this was going to be a breeze. There was one thing she hated about it all, though. One thing that she couldn't get out of, not for her sake per se, but for the sake of her family.
The uniform.
She had to wear the damn uniform.
It was too damn girly for her tastes. While the Furinkan girl's uniform was a bit old-fashioned by modern standards, the new uniform she had to wear was a modern take on the old sailor suit uniforms. A long-sleeved white v-neck blouse with green cuffs and a green and white collar topped off with a red scarf to signify her year, and a matching green skirt that barely went past her fingertips. And of course, to protect her new family from embarrassment, she was even wearing a bra. A sports bra, sure, but a bra nonetheless. It was one of the few times Ranma was glad she was so short as a girl, since that meant nobody would be able to casually glance up her skirt.
In the past, she didn't mind wearing weird or skimpy things to win a fight or to trick someone. Back then, it was all a game. This wasn't her real body, more like a costume to wear for a performance. She could always 'take it off' and go back to being 'normal' at the end of it all. But now that it was her only body, and would be for the rest of her life, she was a bit more reluctant when it came to revealing things. She knew exactly how boys' imaginations worked and exactly what they talked about in locker rooms and amongst themselves.
Boys only wanted one thing and it was fucking disgusting.
Ranma took pride in her looks, especially as a girl, but she still wasn't about to give the perverts an inch lest they grope themselves a mile. Ranma couldn't help but chuckle to herself, realizing how much she sounded like Akane. All it took was being locked as a girl forever for her to finally get it.
"What's so funny, Ran-chan?" Eri, one of Kagome's friends, asked over a tray of fries at the local WacDonald's.
"Oh, nothin', just thinkin' about this friend of mine who hates boys and thinkin' about how I kinda understand her now," she replied, taking a few fries for herself.
"How could anyone possibly hate boys?!" Yuka, sitting to Eri's left across from Kagome and Ranma, exclaimed.
"If you had to fight several dozen guys every morning just because they wanted to date you, you might hate 'em too," Ranma scoffed at the memory. She couldn't help but wonder, with Ranma gone, if the hentai horde would return. A shiver went down her spine at the idea of Akane having to deal with all that again. Ranma had been out of school for the vast majority of time since her run-in with Prince Herb, but she knew it was only a matter of time before everyone found out she was gone for good and the engagement was over. 'Maybe Nabiki will do something to make sure the horde doesn't come back. She can't be that cruel to her own sister, not after everything that's happened...' she thought.
"No way! Something like that CAN'T be legal!" Cried Ayumi, the last girl stuffed into that side of the booth. "But I guess if that was really happening, that'd make any girl hate boys."
The others nodded in agreement, even Ranma. It sure did a number on Akane and she casually wondered if she'll need a therapist someday to get over it. Hell, she'd need a therapist to get over Ranma's shenanigans for sure. 'I wonder if therapy could help me too? ...Nah, they'd throw me in a padded cell the second I brought up Jusenkyo,' she thought.
"What about you, huh?" Eri asked, once again pointing a fry in Ranma's direction. "Did you leave behind a sweetheart back in Nerima?"
"Huh?" Ranma started. Did they know about her multiple fiancees already?
"A knockout like you probably had all the guys drooling," Yuka chimed in, earning nods from the other girls, a head-scratch from Ranma, and a shy laugh from Kagome. Kagome knew a little of Ranma's past, but she knew that Ranma was probably into girls, given that interaction with Akane at the shrine last week. At the very least, Akane seemed to be into Ranma, and Ranma didn't exactly seem against it.
"Well..." Ranma started, trying not to say how she truly felt about dating a guy. She was determined not to embarrass Kagome amongst her friends and earn the ire of her newfound family, but she couldn't exactly say 'I used to be a guy, dating a guy is gross!' either.
Ayumi took her silence as shyness and tried her best to coax it out of the new girl.
"C'mon, it's just between us. Not like it's going to get you in trouble or anything."
She had a point. It's not like news would get back to Akane if she made something up to appease the girls, and even if it did, so what? What could Akane possibly do?
With a glance to Kagome, Ranma began telling a half-truth to feed the insatiably hungry maw that was teenage girlhood.
"Well, there was this one guy, sorta..." she began, and immediately got the starry-eyed attention of the three girls across from her and a curious look from her cousin to her right. "We met in middle school... well, the first time 'round. And we fought a lot. I thought we were friends but apparently he hated that I kept winning our fights and took it to heart. When my Pops dragged me off to China, I couldn't make it to his grand challenge, so he ended up followin' me all the way there and back."
"Oh wow, he sounds so dedicated!"
"To think, following you to China and back just to be with you~."
"I wish my boyfriend was that committed to me!"
Hook, line, and sinker. Ranma knew that, as a girl, that story came off romantic but in reality, it was anything but.
"Nah, he was trying to kill me for runnin' out on our man-to-man fight. I'm sure Kagome's told ya about my upbringing by now," she said, turning a questioning look to her cousin.
Kagome just flushed and averted her eyes in shame. "Sorry, it kinda... came out. I know it wasn't my story to tell but it just kind of happened."
"It's alright, they're your friends," she assuaged, and turned back to the group across. "So, he thought I was a guy and that it was some epic fight to the death or somethin', so when he showed up in Nerima a while back, he was absolutely livid with me. We fought and he learned the truth about me, and even called me adorable!" she paused to laugh at the memory, "but we immediately fell back into old ways."
"I bet he was totally surprised to run into you later. If you could pass for a boy before, then puberty must have hit you like a brick!" Ayumi threw out to the laughter of the other girls.
Ranma's eye just twitched.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?!" she cried, and slowly the laughter died down so she could continue her story. "As time went on, we grew to respect one another as fighters and even fought together against common foes. He even protected me when I was at my weakest because of somethin' the grand master of my school did t'punish me. We'd train and then show off our new skills to each other; always pushing each other to improve. We were textbook rivals, and now that I think about it, he's... kinda the best friend I've ever had."
Her shoulders sagged as the guilt once again set in, and she could feel her eyes grow misty as she aimed them down at the table.
"What happened to him?" Eri worried, sensing the serious drop in her mood.
"Did you break his heart when you left Nerima?" Ayumi dreaded.
"Will you stay in touch?" Yuka hoped.
That last comment snapped Ranma back to attention and she put on an obviously fake smile to try and hide the guilt oozing off of her.
"Oh no, he's dead now," she said as casually as if someone asked her what day it was. All four of the other girls reeled back in shock.
All of them except Ranma herself noticed the small trickles coming from her eyes behind the smile.
"What happened? I-If you don't mind my asking," Kagome dared to pry.
"You guys remember a couple months ago when Mount Horai collapsed?"
"Yeah, I saw it on the news! Apparently there was a sinkhole that opened up or something," Ayumi said, recalling the report vividly. She had family nearby and was incredibly worried for them when it happened.
Ranma could only shake her head with an incredulous scoff.
"Nah, it collapsed because of the wild ki being thrown around by me'n this Chinese prince guy. We were fighting over some ancient relic and when the ground opened up and it fell in, Ryoga dived for it, but he never came back out. The ground closed up around him and then the mountain fell and, and... it's my fault Ryoga died. He was only doing it for my sake. I killed my best friend and the only guy I ever gave half a crap about."
There wasn't a dry eye at the table. Even Ranma, through her bravado, now had full-on tears streaking down her face.
Kagome knew her cousin had a rough life and went through some horrific things, but had no idea there was something that bad, let alone so recent. So much of her story seemed impossible.. fighting a prince? Throwing around 'ki', whatever that was? It was so far-fetched, and yet here her cousin was, struggling to get those last words out as tears fell from her face. As impossible as it sounded, Ranma's pain was real, and that was good enough for her. She couldn't help reaching over and wrapping her cousin in a strong hug, which Ranma reluctantly returned.
After letting go, as Ranma was wiping her eyes on her sleeve and the other girls dabbed with napkins, Kagome let out a loud clap and cried, "alright, how about we don't bring up boys again for a while?" The three girls who would bring up the subject again all nodded in agreement. "Good. Now, how about a happier subject? My birthday's only a few days away and Ran-nee-chan's is only two weeks after, to the day! So I was thinking we could have a joint party in between on that Saturday, the five of us and whoever Ranma wants to invite!"
The girls erupted in cheers and started shouting out their ideas for what to do while Ranma just glared at her cousin for saying that cursed honorific again.
"PLEASE stop calling me that!" Ranma whined.
"It's not every day I suddenly get a big sister out of nowhere, and I'm going to milk it for all I can!" Kagome met her ire with a playful wink and stuck her tongue out. Ranma took that to mean she only did it to brighten the mood after her horror story, so she could only smirk and shake her head.
"I shoulda stayed with the Tendos," she muttered, causing Kagome to laugh at the overly-dramatic grumping of her cousin.
"Big sister? Even though she's shorter than you, Kagome?" Yuka chimed in with a tease.
Ranma's eyebrow twitched.
"Well, she's bigger in one way~" Ayumi cooed, causing Kagome to blush, Ranma to cock her head sideways in confusion, and the other two girls to laugh.
"Make that two!" Eri added, causing an even bigger eruption of laughter.
Ranma finally got it and scowled as her face turned as red as her hair.
"They're not that much bigger..." she grumbled.
"Hardy har, we get it, she's bigger than all of us combined," Kagome rolled her eyes. She was definitly miffed at the comment at her expense but knew how to easily return the blow. The three others were immediately cowed, but she didn't notice how her comment made Ranma slam her face into the table in embarrassment. "So, about the party..."
'So girls joke about that kinda thing too, huh?' Ranma thought to herself, remembering the stupid contests guys would have with each other in the Furinkan locker room. 'At least it's less juvenile.'
As soon as she felt her face come back to normal temperature, Ranma slowly tilted it up to pay attention to the party planning she was only slightly dreading. 'They may be a bit boy-crazy, but at least they know how to have fun. Maybe being friends with normal girls ain't so bad,' she thought with a small smile. 'And after telling that story, they won't ask me about a boyfriend ever again!' she dared to hope. 'Sorry for usin' ya in one last scam, P-chan.'
..
Unfortunately for the girls, Kagome's birthday landed on a Thursday, so they wouldn't be able to spend the whole afternoon together like they wanted to. Ayumi had music practice and Yuka had to go home to watch her kid brother, so that just left Eri, Kagome, and Ranma to have a fun afternoon at the arcade followed by some parfaits, much to Ranma's delight. Since it was Kagome's birthday though, it was her treat. Ranma was just glad that her Aunt Keiko had been giving her an allowance to cover it.
"Ranma, you have worse table manners than Souta," Kagome chided. She'd watched her cousin wolf down one giant parfait and dive halfway into another all while splattering droplets of yogurt all over the collar of her uniform and the table around her. Luckily Kagome and Eri were sitting on the other side and kept their distance.
"Er... sorry 'bout that," Ranma apologized, realizing the mess she was making. Once again, her father's bad habits were now embarrassing her to her cousin and new friend. Quietly she took some napkins and cleaned everything up before tucking back into her treat, though much slower than before. "Old habits and such."
"We'll break you of them one of these days," Kagome declared with a laugh. She saw Ranma as a personal project of sorts, and this was just another task to add to her list. "Thanks for treating us, though."
"It's your birthday, and I suck at buying gifts so it's the least I could do," she replied. "Better than that thing your gramps gave you yesterday."
Kagome shivered remembering the disgusting kappa paw her grandfather had given her the day before. It was supposed to be a good luck charm or something, but it looked so gross she quickly pawned it off on Buyou, who thought it was a treat.
"Him and his little trinkets, I swear," she said, shaking her head. He had spent the whole afternoon regaling the girls with stories of that stupid jewel he talked about the day Ranma moved in with them, and bored out of her mind, Ranma had walked off to find Souta and see if he was down for a training lesson. That's when he gave her the paw. "You'd think he would eventually give up on making up these stories, no one ever believes him."
"Maybe there's really a grain of truth to them, and he's just going about it wrong?" Eri suggested, not wanting to think badly of Kagome's eccentric grandfather. "All those old legends have to start somewhere."
"Nah, he's just a con-man like my Pops, it's just a sales pitch to get some easy cash," Ranma countered. She knew from first-hand experience what it was like.
"I wouldn't say he's that bad..." Kagome countered. She'd heard a number of horror stories about Ranma's father by now and was certain that, while her grandfather's heart was in the right place, Genma's definitely wasn't.
It was about that time that Eri noticed the time on her watch and she nearly jumped from her seat in surprise.
"Oh man, it's almost five! I really gotta go, see you two at school tomorrow! Happy birthday, Kagome!"
Kagome thanked her and they waved goodbye as Eri left them. Silently they both agreed it was about time to head home, too.
After gathering up their things, they began the trek back to the shrine together, just taking their time and enjoying the walk through the city.
"So, how are you adjusting to school?" Kagome ventured. Ranma seemed to be doing fine, but given her past and her history with school, Kagome was just a tad worried about how Ranma was adapting to this relatively 'normal' life.
Ranma merely shrugged and folded her hands up behind her head.
"Eh, s'alright I suppose. I hate the uniforms but everything else seems alright. Way more chill than Furinkan."
Kagome had also heard the tales of the nut-house called Furinkan High School, and not just since Ranma moved in, no- that school was infamous for its chaos. She'd been hearing the horror stories for years now.
"That's an understatement," she agreed. "And what's wrong with the uniforms? Sure they're a bit boring but they're not ugly or anything."
"It's just so damn... girly," Ranma replied with feigned disgust, earning a light chuckle from her cousin.
"I'll make you get used to wearing a skirt one of these days, Mr. 'Man Amongst Men'!" she teased, earning a glare from Ranma and making her laugh even harder.
"Now I'm glad all I got you was desert for your birthday," Ranma scoffed and turned away, but she immediately regretted it. She did feel guilty that she couldn't think of a gift for the cousin she barely knew, and the afternoon treat just felt like a cop-out, even to her. "Aw, sorry, guess that was a bit mean. Y'sure you're cool with that, though? If there's something you actually want, I can go 'n get it, it's no big deal."
Kagome waved her off as they approached the steps to the shrine.
"Don't worry about it! I loved it. I don't need more junk to carry around anyway," she replied.
Ranma just gave her a guilty look and raised a questioning eyebrow, as if to ask for final confirmation, and Kagome replied, "Really, it's fine! I'm just glad I got to spend it with you and Eri. That means way more to me than some gift."
Ranma couldn't help but blush, touched at the idea that her presence alone on Kagome's special day meant something. When was the last time anyone was actually GLAD she was around? Akane's last birthday, maybe? Maybe not. That ended in disaster after Ranma said the wrong thing and P-chan had ended up torpedoed right into the cake Kasumi made, sending cake and frosting all over the room. This was definitely a better time than that, though far less memorable.
Was that really a bad thing, though? Ranma took the plunge of moving in with her family to live a normal life, and she supposed this is how normal people celebrated normal birthdays. Isn't it? A day out with friends, a nice dinner with the family at home, maybe some gifts... It may not seem like much to some people, but for Ranma, it was the perfect way to spend it. Most of her birthdays had gone unannounced, with Ranma only finding out she was older when her father would register her for school or in an age-restricted tournament bracket. Turns out that was a lie, too. Her first real birthday that she could even remember making note of on the actual day was actually in Nerima. Sure it ended in chaos with the girls all fighting over who's gift for Ranma was the best, and in the end it was Ryoga's unexpected gift of a stupid little toy that made her laugh that won the day.
Now that was a birthday to remember.
As they finished climbing the long steps up to the old shrine, Ranma's mind turned to that imaginary idea of a quiet family dinner with gifts and cake and couldn't help but smile in anticipation.
A nice, normal, quiet birthday dinner for Kagome.
She was glad she could share in it.
"Sis, Ran-nee-chan!" Souta's frightened voice cried from around a building. Ranma would have rolled her eyes at the title if he didn't sound so startled. "I need your help!"
"What's wrong, kid?" Ranma asked, opening up her senses for any sign of danger. Immediately she felt small tinge of worry that came from the direction of the well house. Was there a thief or someone dangerous hiding in there?
"It- it's Buyou! I think he's hiding down in the well house. Mom told me to get him, but there's this scratching noise and I just, just... can you come with me?"
Immediately Ranma deflated and Kagome shook her head in disappointment.
"It's just the stupid cat. Don't be such a chicken, Souta. You're a man, aren't you?" Kagome sighed as she stalked towards the well house.
Ranma couldn't help but wince at how eerily she sounded like her father just then.
"If that's the case, I'm gonna head inside and change," Ranma called, starting off in the other direction. Kagome waved in confirmation and continued on towards the well house, and they went their separate ways.
'I guess it makes sense for the c-c-cat to set off my danger sense, but that place just feels so dark anyway...'
AIIIEEEEEE!
"SIIIS!"
Ranma's danger sense spiked and in a flash she was at the door of the well house, cat be damned, just in time to see a monster woman with a bunch of arms drag Kagome into the old well. Ranma didn't pause. She immediately dived in after, calling Kagome's name, and managed to snag her ankle just as the creepy bug-woman licked the side of Kagome's face.
"The jewel... I must have... the jewel..." the monster begged, sending shivers down their spines.
"L-let go of me!" Kagome bravely cried in the face of terror.
"The jeeeewel!"
Ranma geared up for a hard punch to the monster's unprotected face, screaming, "She SAID-!"
"Let... GO!" Kagome cried, pushing away at the monster before Ranma's punch could land, and a strange pinkish-white glow emanated from her palm, blasting the monster away but leaving only one severed arm pulling at her shoulder.
Both girls were caught in surprise, wondering what the hell just happened, when they both suddenly found themselves in a cold damp pit together.
A pit with bones sticking out of the caked up mud.
Kagome looked around in bewilderment, but Ranma was laser focused on the needs of her cousin.
"Hey, you ok?" she asked, trying to gain her attention. "Hey, look at me!" She demanded, pulling the shocked girl to look her directly in the eyes. "You alright?"
Kagome's heart finally settled as she looked into Ranma's serious eyes and she took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Yeah, yeah I think I'm fine. What was that?"
"I'm not sure but... I think we fell in the well." Ranma checked their surroundings and sure enough, it seemed like they were in the well, but it was so bright! Ranma looked up and rather than the dark dank well house above, she saw only a clear sky. "Did that thing blast off the roof?"
Kagome nodded. "Must have." Standing up, she leaned her head back and called to the opening, "Hey Souta? Get Grampa!"
All they heard was the sound of birds chirping off in the distance.
"I bet the little chicken ran off," she sighed.
"Here, look, there's some vines. I think we can climb up," Ranma pointed out, yanking on one to test its stability.
Ranma crested the edge of the well first before turning back to help Kagome up the final stretch. When they were both safely on the other side of the well, they finally took a moment to take in their new surroundings. The well house's roof wasn't just gone, the whole building was. Along with the entire shrine. Gone were the cement walkways and large buildings, all that met them was a grassy hill on the edge of a forest along with a gentle breeze.
Kagome couldn't believe it. Did she hit her head or something? That monster's torn arm sure seemed real enough, but where was her home? The shrine she'd lived at her whole life? And where were the sounds of the city?
"Where... are we?" she asked, knowing full well that Ranma didn't know either. "I don't think I've ever seen the sky so clear and blue... and the air is so, so... clean."
"It's like the forests and stuff from when Pops and I were traveling. Somehow we must have been taken out of the city."
Ranma was controlling it well, but inside she was slightly panicking. She was sure that she didn't eat any crazy mushrooms or hit her head or anything, but she couldn't figure out how they got here, let alone the monster that led them here. Was that monster's den somehow in another world? Between clone mirrors, ghost painting pandas, and all the crazy bird people that live near Jusenkyo, Ranma had seen some really messed up stuff that made her question reality every now and then, but this seemed just as real as those moments. There must be an explanation...
"Toto, I don't think we're in Tokyo anymore," Kagome said with a chuckle to lighten the mood, and in a way, it did.
Ranma gave a token half-hearted laugh at Kagome's joke and said, "C'mon, let's go see if we can find someone. Maybe get some answers and make sense of it all."
Kagome looked to her cousin and nodded in determination. "Just past those trees there, see that big one? That's the sacred tree, I'm sure of it! I used to look for it to find my way home when I got lost in the woods behind the shrine when I was little."
Ranma wasn't sure how that could possibly be the tree since they clearly weren't at the shrine anymore, but Kagome seemed sure of it and it's not like they had better options right now anyway.
"Sure, let's head there first and see if we can get our bearings. Maybe someone's there."
They both had a lot of answers and needed help in figuring out where they were and how they could get back home, but unfortunately, the first person they found wasn't exactly able to talk.
"Woah, look at that! There's some guy stuck to a tree!" Ranma called out, pointing as they approached.
There, in the thick forest near the well, was a boy seemingly trapped to the sacred tree by a series of vines growing around him, and an old weathered arrow stuck through his chest.
It was a strange sight to behold and Kagome couldn't help but think he seemed so serene with his eyes closed, in this tranquil forest, but her eyes immediately locked onto one thing and one thing only:
"Check it out, he's got dog ears!" she cried in surprise, climbing up to touch them. "They're so soft! Almost like they're real!"
"Get down from there, you'll wake him up!" Ranma called. "He ain't gonna like you messin' with his cosplay!"
"Oh please, he's out like a rock," she said, waving her hand in front of his eyes to be sure. "Besides, I was just lookin—AHH!"
She was cut off by a series of arrows suddenly thwipping right into the tree beside her, and she couldn't help but instinctively cover her head and duck in close to the pinned boy for safety.
Ranma didn't even hear anyone approach! She whipped around and took a fighting stance, ready to pounce on their attackers, but stopped and put her hands up in surrender when she saw that they were completely surrounded by a group of about twenty to thirty guys dressed up in some sort of feudal-age costumes, but as ridiculous as she thought they looked, their bows and spears were poised and ready to attack should she make any sudden movements.
And their opening volley proved they weren't playing around.
–
A/N: Heeey, finally to the meat 'n potatoes! I have this problem with writing where I want to say like everything that happens, but the logical part's like "skip that, everyone knows that part, no need to repeat it" and I get caught up second-guessing what I should and shouldn't write until I just... don't write anything! I'm hoping I can keep this one concise enough for myself, let alone you guys. I feel like there's not much here this time, but it's a few thousand words, and that's a few thousand tiny steps towards Ranma and Miroku scamming some rich villager into free food and a place to stay. I think about how hilarious that'd be like every time I'm in the shower, so that's my current goal with this project: at least get to that part xD
Thanks for reading, and please look forward to that!