Son Turned Daughter, Chapter 54
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.
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Events are speeding up again! A whole slew of people, places, things that appear only appear much later in manga and/or anime canon are going to start appearing now! Son Turned Daughter has and will greatly mix and shorten the timeline.
And Ah!/Oh! My Goddess people, places, things are also being added to this mix!
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Chapter 54
Cologne was still glaring at the goddess as she led the redheaded version of her future great-grandson-in-law to the kitchen and its door to the the basement and the hot spring down there.
"Destiny calls," Pearl-san said.
"So? Why tell me(!)"
The other, taller, little, old woman hooked her arm with the trademark bamboo ladle. Her eyes directed the Elder of the Women Heroes to the remaining youngsters.
Cologne understood and gave a ragged sigh. "Ukyo, go and collect the things you shall need for our training trip. I shall meet you at your place when I am ready."
"Akane, you, too, girl!" Pearl-san told that one.
"Alright," those two said; Akane with an exclamation mark: !
"And Shampoo?" the third Fàngkāi asked.
"Benten is your master for the Tenshin Amagurike. I shall remain here until she is done with Ranma and divining the maps to the different destinations of our trips."
"And to see that your curiosity does not interrupt the ritual going on downstairs," Pearl-san laughed. Cologne was not amused. The woman was right about her great-granddaughter.
"Shampoo no learn divination tricks(?)" she said, disappointed.
Pearl-san was already headed for the delivery door between the kitchen and the alley. Once outside, she released her insistent angel, World of Elegance. It rose large from the confines of her small, thin body and spread her wings fully. One was as white as any of those of the Angel of a god, the other as black as any of a demon. And together they sang their Destiny Altering song. It invoked neither heaven nor hell, but rather both, Midgard: The Middle Ground of Temptation! Her user name was, after all, the Ruinmaster! Testing souls was what she did.
They didn't stop until they felt the response of Nabiki Tendō.
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The steam of the underground hot spring enveloped Ranma, its clinging humidity prickling her skin through her dampening clothes. Even her sweat seemed to refuse to flow coolingly down her accursed body. "I can't get near that, that…." Was that supposed to be a public furo?(?) The bath pool was the size of an Olympic pool(!)
"I know the Cat's Tongue shiatsu technique has been used on you," Benten told her.
"Me and the girls! But the…" s/he almost said 'Ghoul', but to the Elder's friend s/he called her, "Cologne-san only used it on them to get to me: I'm the only one that changes!"
"You change because of the Nyannichuan, Spring of Immersed Young Girl." Out of the fog came the young woman. Nude! Strangely, the male libido in Ranma did not respond the way it did with seeing Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo the same way. It was like s/he suddenly had an appreciation of art. With droplets sliding down, around, and even up her glistening curves,Benten seemed more a museum statue at the center of an exotic display. Very. She still had the halo of ribbon. "You wish to be able to return to becoming male again, do you not, though cannot until you win a phoenix pill." To the awestruck youngster silenced by her revealed beauty, she said, "There is a way that allows you to transform without the medicine."
"But the Doc said the counter-shiatsu…Old…Man…Tokyo…." The oppressive heat finally got to her small, light body and the redhead passed out.
S/he was gently caught and laid down. "If you are not awake, you do not feel like you are being scalded." And the Goddess of Femininity let a handful of hot water fall onto Ranma's brow.
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As Akane was hurrying past Pearl-san's house, she caught sight of Nabiki going just as fast in the opposite direction. "Is anything wrong!?"
"I don't know! My Opportunity Sense is giving me a warning alarm!"
"You mean your Sense of Greed."
"No time for verbal sparring: I have to see Ukyo!"
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Ukyo had arrived in Nerima three days ago, but hadn't moved her things into the apartment above the now her okonomiyaki restaurant until yesterday morning. Because of the Girls-Only Slave-for-a-Day Tournament and the busy night after it, she hadn't had time to unpack. Arriving at her not-yet-home, she put on her camping pack and headed back to the Bathhouse Cafe.
Oh, right. Its sign now read, Chinese-style, Neko Hanten, Cat Cafe. And SHE hadn't even gotten her "Ucchan's" noren curtain ordered! Can't have an official, Japanese eating establishment without one.
The tournament organizer was on the other side of Ucchan's door. "Sorry! My grand opening is delayed."
Nabiki hustled her back inside, slamming the door shut with a foot. "Remember me? We talked on the phone? You have fourteen slaves waiting to hear from you!"
"Twelve," Ukyo smiled. She was thinking about keeping Shampoo and Akane. They couldn't be rivals then.
From her cameraspace, she brought out a camcorder. "You're obviously going somewhere. Before you do, we need you to give me the authorization to send your slaves on the scavenger hunt we agreed to!"
"Oh, right! If they sell us something we want to buy, it frees them from the Kodachi Clause, because of the Nabiki Clause loophole."
Nabiki nodded. "And how about sealing the deal with them by giving them each the further inducement of one of your good-as-gold okonomiyaki?"
"I haven't even opened and you want me to lose money!?(!)"
Nabiki held up a wad of yen. "I told you I was investing in you."
"Well…. Cologne did say I was to wait for her. And they would be great advertisement samples."
" 'Spend money to make money', the financial advice goes."
"Yes. It makes me kind of wish my Secret Sauce was finished aging."
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"Dad! I need your camping pack!" Akane had yelled as soon as she opened the door. Which she excitedly repeated as soon as she was entering the tea/common room.
"Now why would you require that?" Soun asked from his place at the shogi table.
[To camp?] the panda's sign read.
"You are not helping," Soun muttered to his old and oftentimes friend.
"I'm going on a training trip! I even have a martial arts master‒Pearl-san!"
"But, Akane dear, remember the last time you went….
"Pearl-san!? You want me to trust my precious daughter to that frail old woman!?"
"She's not frail. (I think.) And she wouldn't have agreed to it if she didn't think she was capable of it! (I think.)
"‒I have to do it! Ukyo Kuonji has her own training trip with Shampoo's Great-grandmother! She's the leader of a tribe of Women Heroes!" Suddenly Honorary Candidate Akane had a vision of herself being a hero. Protector of the Weak. Peasant warrior with a samurai heritage!
"A great-grandmother!? Another frail old woman!?"
Splash! A ladleful of water struck him, "She's as 'frail' as I am." Both Soun and the panda (and Akane) were startled as Pearl-san stepped up from the side yard up onto the veranda. "And either of us are ready to challenge you to a dojo showdown," she laughed.
"Pearl-san!(?) How did you get here so quickly?" Akane asked.
"I'm a mysterious old woman. Still pure enough to be a miko priestess," though there was humor in her voice, the two men could believe she was still a virgin. After all, who would want to…. "And still at the peak of my exorcism prowess and…other abilities."
"See, Dad?!"
Soun still had not accepted the proposal. "And where do you intend to take my teenage daughter(!)?"
"I have the map right here," she said, pulling it seemingly out of nowhere.
Akane was in awe of it. She believed Benten had divined–prophesied!–where she would get the best training for her Breaking Point special technique! "When can we leave, Master!"
"As soon as Ranma arrives."
"Ranma's coming with us! Not Ukyo?(!) Not Shampoo?(!)" Akane had mixed feelings about that!/! The showoff was supposed to be trained in all of their special techniques, making her and the other two less special(!) Still, the redheaded cutie was her best friend. And it would give her the opportunity to convince her to go back to acting like a girl (…and use that to convince her to stay a girl~)!
"I would like to see that map," Soun told the elderly woman. But she was already handing it to him.
He studied it for half-a-minute before screaming as if he had seen a ghost!
The panda looked at it and screamed, too. [There!? It has to be just a coincident!]
"Right! But there is no way he is still alive. We buried him well over ten years ago!"
[May he rest in pieces.]
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The smell of okonomiyaki on the grill drew Ranma like a magnet.
"Irasshaimase, Welcome!" Ukyo greeted automatically, forgetting that her place was closed. Then she saw who it was: "Ranma! You are Welcome! Sit down and have a free okono!
He set down the overlarge camping pack.
"Wait!? You're, you're back to being a guy!" she grinned, more than pleased!
"Benten did it!" he said even as he sat down on a stool. "I ain't cured, I still need the phoenix pill, but she says as long as only flowin' water splashes me, I won't change into a girl," he said even as he was chewing on the pancake with all the toppings. "Whatever "flowin' water" means."
"I know what it means," Cologne said, coming in after him. "It means standing water above the waist will activate the curse once more! Remember that, as I am going to be your and Ukyo-san's chaperone, Future-son-in-law." She was not at all pleased that the Goddess of Everything that Flows had spelled that kind of water to avoid the boy. She was sorely tempted to undo it by simply dunking him, but she felt she would be interfering with Destiny if she did.
"Oh, wow(!)" Ukyo realized. "That means you can't take a bath, don't it? You're going to be ripe after all the camping and training we'll be doing."
"It means I just have to find a waterfall or something! Done it all my life. Can I have another okono?"
"Sure can, Ranma-kun!"
Meanwhile, Nabiki was making some 'pizza' deliveries. Tucked away in her cameraspace was her proof she was acting on behalf of the slaves' master: the camcorder with its playback mode. After that, it would all come down to her ability as a saleswoman. She had it in the bag!
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"Tadaima, I'm home!"
"Ranma!" Akane cried, hurrying to the top of the stairs, a heavy camping pack on her back. She paused at the top when she saw that, "You're wearing a dress(!)?(!)"
"I know. Benten gave it to me," the redhead giggled, pushing the moss green hem out to feel the fabric fall back against her bare thighs. "It makes me feel feminine. Just like her."
"Feminine?(!) You, you want to feel feminine?" Come to think of it, she was speaking in female Japanese.
"I sure do! Of course, I can only be the cute kind. I am cute!"
"So, uh, you're not going camping with us?"
"Silly! I can camp and be feminine. And I am wearing a tent dress."
"Stop that giggling!"
"Aw, it'll be alright! What I wear isn't important: When we're deep in the woods away from everybody, Pop and I go nude."
"Nude!?"
"It saves on laundry."
Akane, hand on rail, rushed down the stairs, "You are wearing underwear(!)?"
"Of course I am." And she lifted the hem to show her her lace-trimmed, shiny, emerald green panties.
"Ranma! I thought you had learned not to flash them!"
But the redhead dropped the hem before Akane could yank it down. "Oh, Akane!" she said, a little exasperated. "We are both girls. What's the problem? …Oh, hold on." And then she smiled. "Is seeing girls in their lingerie a turn on for you?"
"No." Then she said, more insistently, "No!
"Wait; Ranma, are you going to strip once we're in the 'deep woods'?"
The redhead was about to get a sly smile…but placed her hands around her chest. "I don't know. I kind of like how a bra feels."
From its outline, Akane could see it definitely wasn't a sports bra. "Ranma, we're going camping, and normal women can't wait to get out of their bras at the end of even a normal day!"
"They do? Then why do they wear…. Never mind. You'll teach me how to be a normal woman(?)"
"Akane, normal? Oh, my." It slipped out of Kasumi.
The redhead turned to the 'accidental' eavesdropper down the hall, "Now that I'm ready, I want to hear in detail what my BFF says is normal for a woman." Her big, blue eyes twinkled as she said to her best friend, "But I don't think I'll ever be an entirely normal woman."
[He'd better not ever be!]
"Now, Genma, remember what I told you. This is just a phase. A teenage rebellion." But Soun couldn't prevent himself from crying. "But how many boys do so by being a girl?!"
Benten could have told him.
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According to Daoism, everything has (a different mix of) yin and yang. The Goddess of Eloquence and Femininity has distilled out most of the femininity in Ranma and separated her from him by a method similar to the one she uses to make mini-Bentens. They don't know the other exists. Like when Sasuke or Ryōga multiplies, they will merge back together once they meet.
For now, Shampoo doesn't have her own Ranma.
Nodoka is back in her house. That is why Genma can be at the Tendō's.
And Fang is lost.