Genderfluid Mechanics
By: JaquiK

Chapter 2: Ready for School

The morning jog had done little to clear Aki's head. His mind was still swimming as he got back to his house and went off to get ready for school. As he passed through the family room, noises coming from the back yard caused him to stop. Looking over, he saw Nabiki and his father standing by the back doors staring outside. He followed their gaze and his jaw quickly dropped.

Ranma and Genma seemed to almost be floating in midair, trading punches and kicks with each other almost faster than Aki could follow. Then, gravity seemed to suddenly remember its own existence as the two separated and landed deftly on the grass several meters away from each other before they both charged in again. Aki could only look on in awe, particularly at Ranma as the young boy (Aki at least assumed that was still the case at the moment) deftly maneuvered around his father, showing speed and skill he had not laid eyes on until today.

I really never stood a chance, did I?

As they leapt up towards each other again for another series of strikes, Kasumi poked her head out. "Breakfast is ready, everyone!"

The two Saotomes immediately stopped their attacks and looked over. "Oh, thank you, Kasumi," Genma managed to get out before they landed in the pond with a splash. Aki smirked a little at his unexpected morning entertainment and was about to make a comment, but he stopped short at the expression on the face of the now red-haired Ranma as he exited the water and started to ring out the bottom of his sleeveless red shirt. Then it looked like he was going to take his soaked shirt off completely.

"Um, Ranma…" Aki quickly spoke up.

"Huh?" Ranma said, looking up and finally noticing the Tendo family members who were all watching him. He looked down at himself again and quickly lowered his shirt. "Oh. Oh right."

"Just noticed that you suddenly grew tits, huh?" Nabiki said with a smirk.

Ranma shot a quick glare over to Nabiki before heading back into the house. "If ya need me, I'll be in the bath."

"Actually, I still need to…" Aki started before quickly trailing off, remembering the look on Ranma's face. "You know what, you go ahead first and get warmed up. Don't take too long though. I still have to get ready for school."

"You know, if you're in such a rush, Akane, you can always just join him in the bath," Nabiki said with the tiniest drop of an amused lilt in her voice.

Ranma froze mid step, the redness emerging on his face matching Aki's quite well. "Um, that's…thanks, but I'm good with bathing by myself, so…don'tworryAkiI'llmakesuretobereallyquick!" He blurted out, the last part having a noticeable doppler effect as he rushed to the bath.

Aki took a moment to recover before turning to glare at his slightly older sister. "Nabiki!"

"What?" Nabiki asked, seeming to be not at all phased. "You're both girls right now, so I don't see what the problem is."

"And don't forget, he is your fiancé," his dad made sure to quickly add.

#Yes, you two should be doing as many things together as possible# said the sign held up by a still pandafied Genma before a kettle of boiling hot water was poured on him.

"Yeoch!" a now technically human Genma yelled out. "What did I say about the temperature?!"

Kasumi lowered the kettle and had a quizzical look on her face. "Oh my, I must have forgotten."

Aki took the opportunity to quickly rush upstairs to his room, loudly shutting the door behind him. He gave a few deep breaths to calm himself. Absolutely no way were they going to get to him. Especially now that he had someone of his own to protect. At any rate, the suffocation of his home life would have to wait as he still needed to get ready for the vortex of chaos that was school.

Ranma, true to his word, finished his bath quickly allowing Aki to wash up. It was starting to get late, so he also needed to rush a bit. However, he still took a bit of time to examine himself in the mirror. Many times previous, he would envision how he'd look after finally getting his hands on that long sought after hormone medication. Features slightly more masculine, but not too much since there were still enough times he wanted to be seen as feminine.

This time, though, there was no holding back on his imagination. After all, he was now aware of a way to have the best of both worlds. Just knowing that there existed a spring that would give him everything he wanted caused the image to form in his mind. Many centimeters taller, perhaps as tall as his dad. Broader shoulders, a thicker jaw line, chiseled cheekbones, a more pronounced brow.

Oh yes, he was going to be an absolute hunk.

He smiled and shook off the image, seeing again the person in the mirror as he currently was. Except this time, that slightly dull ache he would feel on his guy days wasn't there, replaced instead by anticipation. Because now he had a goal. A destination that was in his reach. Even if not soon, someday he would get to Jusenkyo, and to the Nannichuan.

Aki finished up and headed out to the family room just in time to hear a surprised exclamation from Ranma. "School?"

He quickly sat down and ate up the rapidly cooling breakfast left out for him, listening in on the conversation.

"That's right," Genma said. "We are going to be staying here for a while after all."

A while? Aki silently wondered what the man meant by that. Ranma was much more vocal with his thoughts.

"Oh really? And exactly how long is that gonna be until you drag me away again, not even letting me say goodbye to anyone?"

"Bah, it's not like they were more important than your training. The least you could do is show some gratitude for everything I went through to make you the man you are today."

"Now, now," Soun said in a placating manner. "You don't have to worry about moving all over the place anymore. In fact, you are welcome in my home for as long as you'd like."

"Plus, you'll be going to the same school as me and Akane," Nabiki said as she headed out, "so you'll get to experience the chaos firsthand."

"Hi-her name is Aki and…wait, what chaos?"

Nabiki paused and looked back, a slight smirk on her face. "Oh, you'll see. Akane, do make sure to show your fiancé how to get there."

Before Aki could throw a retort after her, Kasumi spoke up. "Aki, Ranma, could you both please help me clear the table?"

"Yeah sure, I guess so," Ranma said.

"Oh, you don't need to do that, Ranma," Soun retorted.

"Nah, it's fine. I always cleaned up while we were traveling after all."

"Nonsense, my boy. You are a guest in this house. The women can take care of it just fine." Soun gave a hearty laugh, completely missing the glare Aki was giving.

"Oh, Father," Kasumi said with her serene mask fully on her face, "I set up the shogi board out on the porch for you."

"Ah, excellent. Well, Saotome, care to partake in a game or two?"

"Certainly, Tendo," Genma said with a big grin. "You better be prepared though. My skills have only gotten better since the last time we played."

Once the two older men left the room, Aki turned to his eldest sister. "Okay, what's the problem?"

"Here, let's take care of the dishes first," Kasumi said, maintaining the same tone in her voice. Almost as an afterthought she added, "We can get more privacy that way."

The three silently went to work quickly cleaning up the table and bringing the dishes to the kitchen. As soon as everything was either put away or placed in the sink to wash, Kasumi spoke up again. "Ranma, I was able to convince our fathers to let me take care of your school registration forms." She pulled out a folder from under her apron and handed it over to Ranma.

"Oh, thanks, Kasumi," Ranma said with a smile. "Ya didn't have to do all that for me."

"No, I absolutely did," Kasumi responded, her tone still serene but with a noticeable edge peeking through. "You see, I deliberately left a part of it blank, as it's something you should fill out yourself."

"What's that?" Ranma asked as he opened up the folder and Aki leaned over to view the contents as well.

"Your gender marker."

Aki's head shot up. "What?!"

Kasumi, for her part, didn't react to the outburst. "With the way that Furinkan's teachers and administrators are, I don't believe that they would ever bother to confirm your registry. And the principal would most likely not care either way, if he ever even comes back, that is," she finished with a slight shudder.

"Oh," Ranma said, studying the folder's contents. "So you're really letting me choose?"

"That's correct," Kasumi said, the slight edge in her voice returning. "The decision should ultimately be up to you. If you may forgive me, though, I do have a suggestion." She paused to take a calming breath before finishing. "I think you should go to school as a girl."

Now it was Ranma's turn to look up at Kasumi in surprise. "Huh? Why?"

"Well, cold water does tend to be more common than hot."

"Really? I don't know 'bout that," Ranma retorted. "It really feels like hot water finds me just as often."

"I see." Kasumi's calm mask slipped just the slightest and Aki could see the trepidation leaking through. "I do have another reason. It hasn't been very long since you came to your understanding about yourself, so you have not really had any opportunities to experience what life is like as a girl, correct?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Ranma looked down in thought for a few moments before continuing. "So…would I wear a uniform like what Nabiki had on?" Ranma asked with a quite noticeable hesitation in his voice.

"Oh. Well it is school policy, so…"

"You may not technically have to wear the same one Nabiki is," Aki quickly cut in. He gestured to the track suit he was wearing. "Outdoor gym uniform. It technically counts, and I was able to get an exception due to…um, special circumstances. We might be able to get something like that for you too. Um, we should get going though, so we're not late."

"That's true," Kasumi said. "You two have a good day at school. Ranma, please do consider what I said."

The two walked in silence for a good chunk of the way to school. Aki occasionally glanced over to Ranma who was walking along the fence with his head down. Eventually the tension became too much and Aki needed to speak up. "So, have you decided yet?" he asked.

"Eh, I'm sure I'll figure it out before we get there," Ranma mumbled out.

Aki rolled his eyes and just kept walking. Something needed to be done to lift the mood, though. He looked over and casually commented, "You know, the river is right on the other side. If you keep walking on the fence, the decision will pretty much be made for you."

"Oh really," Ranma said with a laugh. He then did a quick standing backflip followed by a front handspring, never coming close to losing his balance on the narrow fence. "I've been doing this stuff for pretty much my whole life. Hey check this out." He then performed a quick olympic level balance beam routine, ending with a push off from a handstand high up into the air with several flips and spins before perfectly landing right next to Aki.

He was immediately hit with a splash of water right to the face.

Aki gave a little smirk as he looked over to the old woman washing her sidewalk. "Nice performance, but I think you may need to work on the landing a bit, eh Ranma? …Ranma?"

He looked over to find the now redhead slightly trembling with his fists clenched to his sides and his head down, bangs covering his eyes.

"Ranma, are you-"

"I'm fine!" Ranma interrupted. "It's fine. It's just…I just…" He paused a moment, then started to march back the way they came, hands still held down firmly at his sides.

"Ranma, where are you going?"

"Back to your house for a bath," came the curt reply.

"We don't have time for that. We'll be late for school."

"You think I-" Ranma spun around, the anger on his face immediately evaporating, replaced by obvious frustration. "Sorry, I…dammit you're right. I guess Kasumi is too. I just need to be…to be stronger. I can handle this. I can…"

"Ranma!" Aki grabbed the red-haired boy's shoulders, causing him to look up and meet his eyes. "This isn't about how I feel, and it's not about Kasumi either. She means well, but that doesn't mean she's going to be right about everything. Right now this is about how you're feeling. What you need. Look, you need some hot water, right? There's a place along the way where we can get some. Besides, we'll need to stop by there at some point anyway, so it might as well be now."

"Why's that?"

"Well, let's just say there's a couple of people I want you to meet."