Genderfluid Mechanics
By: JaquiK

Chapter 4: A Thunderous Reception

"Aki Tendo's here!"

The boy in question narrowed his eyes at the call coming from the front of the crowd rushing out to meet him. The other boys of Furinkan High School, decked out in all various manner of sports equipment.

"Aki?"

He took a quick glance over to the pigtailed boy running beside him, an adorably cute look of confusion on his face, and tossed his school bag over with a casual motion before directing his attention back to the charging horde. "Go and make yourself scarce until you decide what you want to do for school. Don't worry. I got this." He finished that last part with a grin as he charged in.

If anyone were to ask Aki what the experience was like, he would compare it to a fishing vessel crashing headlong into a tidal wave. Except that, unlike all those stories, here it was the wave itself that broke. Very quickly, boys started to fly away in every direction. A soccer player, a boxer, a guy in a judo gi. Aki expertly weaved between each attack and responded in kind. In very short order, he was the only person standing amongst the crowd.

Well, with one very annoying exception. Without looking, he reached out and snatched from the air the rose thrown in his direction. "Good morning, upperclassman Kuno," he said, making sure the contempt was clearly present in his voice as he casually noted the blue tinting on this particular rose before crushing it in his hand and letting the remains flutter to the ground.

"Ah, my sweet autumnal beauty," came the obnoxious voice of one Tatewaki Kuno, who walked up to greet him, batting his eyes in that way he definitely mistook for suave. It seemed the older boy decided to put in some extra work today as his currently blue eyeshadow, shaped into lightning bolts for reasons only Kuno would know, was sparkling even more off the morning sunlight. "It seems these fools were once again mistaken in the belief that they would be the ones that would succeed in breaking through this shell of masculinity you are currently forced to trap yourself within. Nay, my darling bud, clearly it shall be I who will set you free so that you may finally be allowed to bloom into the full flower of femininity you truly are."

Aki was ready to give his regular retort followed by his regular kick-the-crap-out-of-Kuno, when he was interrupted by a voice right beside him.

"Okay, yeah. I can see what you meant by the whole bully thing," Ranma said, casually scratching his face while handing Aki's bag back over. "Great job dealing with these guys! Need to work on your telegraphing, but still, way to go getting around a buncha attacks all at once. Well, at least I know this school won't be boring. I can't wait to see what the cafeteria situation is like!"

Before Aki could respond, Kuno pointed his bokken towards Ranma's direction, a snarl on his blue-tinted lips. "Halt right there, foul knave! How dare a ruffian like you try to act familiar with the fair Aki Tendo!"

Ranma just looked at Kuno for a few moments before turning to Aki. "What's this guy's deal?" He then gave a slight flinch and turned back towards the kendoist. "Oh, uh, just to make sure, you are a guy, right?"

Interesting. Aki had never seen Kuno's eyebrow twitch like that before, although he seemed to recover quickly and give an overly dismissive huff.

"I suppose it should be expected from an uncultured swine such as yourself to fall prey to the so-called gendered rules of the masses. A true noble would easily recognize the enhancements on my face as the true beacon of manliness as well as signs of my true prowess."

"Oh, yeah. Uh, sure if that's what ya want. I ain't saying it's wrong or nothing. I…wait…" Ranma suddenly stopped his bumbling attempt at an apology and gave a confused look to Kuno. "Hold up, if you got this whole 'guys wearing makeup is fine' thing, why are you so mad about Aki wearing pants?"

Kuno gave an arrogant smirk. "Ah, it seems you are even more ignorant than I thought. Have you truly never heard of the fair maiden forced into a masculine guise and denied any type of femininity by a father that wished instead to have a son?"

Aki watched as Ranma stopped whatever retort he was about to make and instead looked down at himself in silence for several seconds. Finally, he responded in a somewhat softer voice, "Well, I guess that story sounds kind of familiar."

"Ah, but it is more than a mere story. Often during one of the high class dinner parties I made sure to attend regularly before the foolish mail system began to lose my invitations, one of the elegant ladies Mendo would regale us of tales of her school days, including telling of her old school mate who indeed suffered under such a fate. From her harrowing retellings, it apparently took the combined effort of their entire class, along with some of the local alien population, before this poor girl was able to break free of the masculine shackles placed upon her so she was finally able to express herself as the true maiden she was. And, in the same vein, I shall be the one to free the lovely Aki Tendo of her own shackles, so she may finally be free to express her own femininity."

"But Aki's not…I mean, Aki's actually…" Ranma paused to look over as Aki was giving him a warning glare. Darn it, he really should have explained this whole mess last night, but he ended up being way too engrossed in hearing the cute redhead talk about her (and sometimes his) life.

"An unrefined ruffian such as yourself would miss the obvious look of discomfort on my poor hidden flower's face," Kuno continued, once more holding his bokken out in Ranma's direction. "I can still recall that same look on the first day of school when I approached dear Aki and inquired about her choice of attire. Oh, she may have denied it with her words, but the obvious disgust ever present in her eyes spoke the real truth more than words ever could."

Ranma turned back and forth from Aki to Kuno a few times. "No offense, but I'm starting to get the feeling that the whole look of disgust you saw may have been due to something different."

"Oh? And who are you to doubt me?" Kuno once more threatened before pausing and lowering his bokken. "Ah, but one should make sure to give one's own name first. Very well, I shall tell you mine."

"Alright. If that's what you want…" Ranma replied, a bewildered look on his face.

Kuno struck a pose that he probably thought was cool but caused Aki to internally groan. "My name is Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen. Class 2-E. I am Captain of the Kendo Club and rising star of the International Kendo World. I am well known throughout as the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" He raised his bokken high as a strangely timed lightning bolt struck in the distance. Before Aki could comment on that or the fact that this was the very first time he ever heard that moniker, Kuno pointed the wooden sword once more at Ranma. "And I shall never allow one such as you, who can scarcely even call himself a man, to interfere in my noble quest!," he finished with a very noticeable tone of challenge in his voice.

Aki managed to avoid burying his face in his hand in frustration. Dammit, he had way more important things to do this morning than dealing with this idiocy. He was ready to just kick Kuno away while he was distracted and be done with it, when a low growling noise caught his attention. Looking over, he saw that the sound was coming from Ranma, who had a look of fury on his face.

"What did ya just call me?" The pigtailed boy cried out in a gruff voice. Without breaking eye contact with Kuno, he tossed his school bag over to Aki and took up a combat stance. "My name is Ranma Saotome, and I'm gonna show you just how much of a man I am."

Before Aki could even try to object, Ranma dashed forward and began to clash with the arrogant kendoist. Aki gave out a sigh and looked around the school yard, noting that most of the boys he knocked down were slowly starting to get back up to their feet. Oh great, even if none of them heard Ranma's very loud declaration, they were going to take quick notice of him battling Kuno. Unless Aki managed to come up with some explanation, it was going to wreck Ranma's chance at making his own choice.

Ranma needed to finish this fight quickly. Unfortunately, he seemed much more interested in showboating at the moment, effortlessly dancing around Kuno's swings. Aki was about to yell out to Ranma to get this over with when he felt a light tap on his head, quickly followed by a few more. Looking up, he finally noticed the very dark clouds looming overhead. Ah, crap.

Aki instantly sprinted forward, while Ranma was leaping towards Kuno with the first two fingers of his hand pointed out for a strike and Kuno began to perform a forward jab with his bokken. Just as a deluge of rain started to fall, accompanied by a rather bright lightning flash, Aki grabbed Ranma in his arms while not breaking momentum, knocking Kuno down as he rushed into the school.

Hidden away in the alcove of an unused hallway, the muted distant sounds of students heading off to class could be heard as Aki quietly set down the slightly stunned now redhead before he found himself being shoved back.

"The heck did ya…" Ranma angrily started to say, before trailing off as he apparently noticed the change in his voice. He looked down at himself to confirm his transformation. "Oh."

"Yeah," Aki said with a nod, making sure to keep his voice low. "I'm pretty sure nobody actually saw you transform, so you're still okay there."

Ranma nodded back, but there was still plenty of frustration still on his face. "Stupid rain," he quietly grumbled out. "If it wasn't for that, I would have taken care of that Kuno jerk easily."

"Are you sure about that?" Aki asked, pointing out a spot on Ranma's neck where a deep bruise was beginning to form.

"Huh?" Ranma brought his hand up to that spot. "No way, he didn't even touch me."

"Kuno's a complete ass, but he wasn't lying about his kendo skills," Aki had to grimly admit. "He's won every one of his matches. If his strikes don't get his opponent, the air pressure will."

"And you fight this guy every morning?" Ranma looked up at Aki with an expression of concern mixed with…was that awe?

"Him and a good chunk of the boys in the school," Aki admitted, feeling just the tiniest bit of pride peeking underneath the frustration.

"What's with them anyway? They can't all be buying that crap Kuno's talkin' about."

"Well, there was one more part that Kuno didn't mention to you," Aki said, taking great care not to rip apart either of the bags in his hands. "He thinks that 'being forced' to act like a boy means that I'm also not able to date any boys and that defeating me in combat will free me and allow me to become his. I'm pretty sure it's that last part the other boys are latching on to."

Ranma looked at Aki wide eyed as his words were apparently sinking in. A dark expression grew on his face as he looked back towards the entranceway of the school. "There a washroom nearby? I need to switch back so I can find that Kuno and-"

The sound of the warning bell cut off Ranma and quickly reminded Aki of the time.

"Crap! I'm sorry, but I have to go now before I'm late for class. Here!" Aki quickly shoved Ranma's bag into his arms. "The administrative offices are on the other side of the lockers, and there is a bathroom over that way you can sneak off to…if that's what you really want. Look, Ranma. This decision is entirely up to you, but, with what happened outside with the rain and everything, maybe think a little bit about what Kasumi said."

"Oh right, my registration." Ranma started to clutch his bag a little tighter. "Well, guess it don't matter anymore anyway. Thanks to that asshole, I don't really got a choice anymore."

"Hey, don't worry about Kuno. You could introduce yourself just like this with the same outfit and name and I doubt he'd even make the connection." Before Ranma could protest again, Aki put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's still your choice and I promise I will support you either way. Now, I have to get to class." Almost as an afterthought, he leaned forward to give the red haired boy a quick peck on the lips before finishing. "I hope we end up in the same class, but if not, I'll see you at lunch, okay? Good luck!"

Aki quickly rushed off, managing to get to his classroom seconds before the final bell went off. Getting to his seat, he finally allowed himself to relax, feeling the adrenaline of the morning starting to wear off. Fortunately, the first class of the day was history, and the teacher liked to default into droning lectures straight from the textbook that he could pretty much zone out of. This allowed Aki to focus his thoughts instead on Ranma, which included feeling just a bit of guilt seep in.

Was the girl form really a better option for Ranma because of the rain? A simple umbrella would be enough to fix that. Was Aki being selfish, using Ranma's girl form to help him feel better about being a boy? Or was it just as simple as that form was the one Ranma was in when they first met and made friends. When they made up after that stupid fight shortly afterwards. Or was it-

A loud knock on the door broke Aki from his worried thoughts as the teacher went over to talk to whoever it was. Even though Aki couldn't see the person from his spot in the room, he already had a good idea, much to his partial relief. It looked like Ranma and he would share a class after all and he could at least apologize for his brash decision and sort of manipulation. A few moments later, the teacher walked back, followed by a certain pigtailed martial artist.

A pigtailed martial artist who was currently dark haired, taller, and very much flat chested.

"Class," the teacher announced, somehow still managing to keep her voice at the same enthusiastic tone as one of her lectures. "We have a new student joining us today. Why don't you introduce yourself."

Ranma gave a nervous smile as he looked around the room, the smile turning more genuine when he spotted Aki. "Hi. My name is Ranma Saotome. Thank you for taking care of me. I, uh, just got back from a trip to China and-"

"Alright, that's enough," the teacher interrupted. "Save your storytelling for outside of class please. Now, there's an open desk next to Miss Tendo over there. Go and sit down so everyone may continue learning."

Ranma quickly sat down at his new desk, giving a couple of glances over to Aki. Once the teacher got back into the rhythm of her droning lecture, Aki was able to write out a note.

Just wondering why you decided to go with your guy form.

He deftly passed the note over to Ranma once the teacher's back was turned. After a few more minutes, he saw that the note was quietly returned back to him. He carefully read the response.

Kinda figured there could be one more boy at this school who's not a complete jerk. Sorry about that.

Aki blinked at the message and looked over, seeing the somewhat guilty expression Ranma was giving him. He quickly wrote a reply and sent it over.

Hey, don't be sorry. That's really sweet of you. Plus, I meant what I said about supporting your choice either way.

A little bit later, Aki got the return message.

Yeah I know, but with what you were saying and what Kasumi said, and with the whole kiss thing, I kinda thought

Aki froze in his seat, too stunned to read the rest of the message. He then buried his head in his arms on the desk, muffling a groan. Oh god, I kissed Ranma again. I kissed Ranma in school. I kissed Ranma like it was no big deal and I don't have an excuse of it being a moment of passion or being my first time or-

"Miss Tendo!" the teacher called out. "Are you not feeling well? Do you need to go to the nurses office?

Aki responded with a loud groan in the negative.