10. MIND FIRST… THEN BODY
"Thank you for coming, Doctor !" Akane welcomed the man she used to be infatuated with, as a teenager (Soun had asked Katsumi to remain in another room during the doctor's visit, to avoid her to distract him during the "examination", hence Akane opening to the doctor instead of Kasumi).
"With pleasure. Sorry I couldn't come earlier, but I've had many visits these past two days : people keep on getting sick, injuring themselves… it was a procession of patients ! That's why I really couldn't come earlier, sorry."
She smiled at him.
"No problem, we understand. Please come with me."
They went upstairs and were soon by the side of the young Saotome.
"Good morning, Ranma. How are you feeling ?"
The redhead looked terrible, to be honest…. hence the answer :
"I've been better…"
"Yes, I can tell. Excuse me, I shouldn't have asked. I did it out of politeness, but… after all, it was obvious that -"
"Whatezer…" replied the red-haired girl, shrugging.
Dr. Tofu frowned.
"Sorry, what did you say, Ranma ?"
"Whatezer… It's not the right word, eh ?"
He blinked and turned to Akane.
"She probably meant 'whatever'. At least that's what I deduced from the context…" she explained to him.
"Still that language issue… that's serious… I hope it won't worsen." He remained thoughtful for several seconds, then : "Hum… and what about your leg, Ranma ? Is it less painful now ?"
The blue eyes opened wider.
"Pain…ful ?"
"What the doctor is asking you is if you feel less pain in your injured leg…" gently clarified Akane.
"My leg got injured ?" she quizzically wondered aloud.
Akane sighed but didn't give up.
"You got hit by a car upon crossing a street, a few days ago. I took you to Dr. Tofu here, who examined you. He gave you crutches so that you could manage to go home without using your injured leg. And he now wants to know if you feel less pain in that leg."
Please don't ask me anything else, Ranma ! Don't get surprised anymore ! Please UNDERSTAND !
"Ah… okay…" the redhead said with hesitation, looking at Akane, then back at the doctor. "Well, it's still pain… pain… ful ?"
He nodded approvingly.
"It will last several days at least, I'm afraid. But I've brought you a mixture that can be used in a poultice that will help relieving the pain."
"Thank you, Doctor. But there is another difficulty now… I said on the phone that I would explain you once you'd be here, so here it is : you remember Ranma can change from girl to boy with hot water, right ? Well, she no longer can : we poured hot water on her head, three times, and there was no transformation. I've tried once more this morning, but, as you can see…"
Both observed their friend/fiancé, now stuck in a female body.
"Do you think this could be a consequence of the accident, since that body issue appeared later that same day ?" Akane continued.
He held his chin as he was considering that point.
"Honestly, I doubt it. That would be peculiar… a collision yielding a physical change that would freeze the victim in one particular appearance… I don't deem it feasible."
With none of the two girls uttering a word, he continued :
"I could be wrong, of course… After all, I don't know that much about Ranma's curse, how it works, how it can be affected… but I'm still doubtful about an impact causing a disturbance of that gender-switching curse…"
"Okay, but what could it be then ? What could have blocked the transformation process ? Do you have any idea ?"
He held his chin again as he pondered over the question.
But in the end…
"I'm sorry, I can't think of any cause for this problem."
Then he seemed to remember something.
"Tell me, Akane, did something unusual happen to Ranma these past days, since his last transformation into girl ?"
She probed her memory, yet…
"Aside from his worsening memory loss, no, nothing extraordinary. I can't think of any reason why he couldn't change from girl to boy.
"My body forgot…"
They both got startled, as it was the first time in a while that the red-haired "patient" had uttered anything and her silence had almost made them forget about her presence.
"Excuse me, what did you say, Ranma ?" gently asked Dr. Tofu.
"My body… maybe it forgot how to change… how to become a boy again…"
Akane was goggling at him.
"Are you… are you implying that… that your impossibility to revert to boy is another consequence of your memory loss ?!"
The redhead shrugged.
"Dunno… maybe…"
The youngest Tendo immediately turned to the specialist.
"Is that possible, Doctor ? Could memory loss affect the functioning of the body ? Like the body changes ?"
He straightened his glasses.
"What you are asking me is basically if the body could forget how to properly work, or could forget some of his functions at least, right ?" She nodded. "Well, that sounds… totally unbelievable, extra-ordinary, unlikely… and yet…"
His mouth made some hesitating pout.
"And yet, there are some unexplained things in medicine… some mysterious and unknown phenomena in the world, which we can hardly understand… So while I've never heard of a memory trouble that would disturb the physical functioning of the body, I'm not absolutely certain that it couldn't exist."
"That's… crazy ! How could that be ?"
The doctor opened his mouth to reply, but Ranma piped him at the post :
"What if it continues ? What if not only my mind, but also my body starts to forgel always more and more things ?"
Ignoring the mistake, they simply stared at her, unable to answer that… and suddenly concerned about that eventuality… that crazy eventuality…
-/-
"So ? What did the doctor say ?" asked Kasumi, obviously concerned.
"He couldn't tell for sure. He is also quite perplexed by that new problem… that impossibility to switch gender, like before." A pause. "But what actually puzzles me is what Ranma said about it…" Her absent look suddenly focused on her sisters, as she shared the crucial info : "She said that her body forgot… and when the doctor asked her to repeat, she made it clearer by saying that her body might have forgotten how to change form, how to turn back to boy…"
Nabiki raised one of her eyebrows.
"Her body… forgot how to change gender ? It forgot… how to function like it always did ? That's what she implied ?"
Akane nodded.
After a brief glance at Kasumi, Nabiki made a pout and exposed her thoughts.
"But how could a body forget ? A brain, okay, but a body…? That's crazy ! I've never heard of anything like this ! And I doubt it really exists !"
The third sister pulled a face.
"I've never heard of something this weird either… but some things exist, which we haven't heard of or had proof of… and yet, they DO exist !"
"Akane is right. It might be a new form of the disease we know. I mean, a new form of memory loss. Perhaps the one Ranma has is a more severe kind of memory loss that we never heard of before, or which only recently appeared." Kasumi suggested, before glancing at the bobcut brunette. "What do you think, Nabiki ?"
The latter didn't answer immediately, taking long seconds to ponder her reply, her sisters patiently waiting.
"I don't know, really…" she finally admitted with a sigh. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but… I mean, it's so incredible ! And if it happens to be true, then… then who knows if her body would perhaps forget other things. Forget how to function properly. Can you imagine that ?"
"Actually…" began Akane, before hesitating, yet finally spitting it out : "…Ranma also wondered about this : if her body starts forgetting more and more things, just like her mind does… and if it actually does, then it could become very serious."
"It IS already serious, you know…" pertinently remarked Nabiki. "But should it indeed get worse, and her body start act as crazy as the brain, then… who knows what might happen… how far it could go…"
The three sisters shared worried looks, none daring to add anything…
-/-
Ranma was staring at the garden, lost in thought.
She had the feeling that something was wrong with her, yet she couldn't exactly tell what it was. And therefore felt badly frustrated.
I shoult be aware of it… I know there's an issue about me… so why can't I tell eksactly what's wrong, since it involves me, after all ?
She clenched her fists, bothered by her incomprehensible powerlessness, and a tear formed at the corner of her right eye.
Just when it was about to roll down her cheek, she nervously wiped it away, feeling another one was forming in her left eye.
Soun and Genma were playing shogi, and the first one could see the red-haired girl sitting a little further and staring at the garden.
He noticed her nervous gesture when she wiped away one tear, then another, and the whole expression her face sported. That made him feel sorry for her, because he now really liked Ranma.
Sure, for quite some time in the first months, he found it difficult to really appreciate that young lad, whose nature and behaviour was pretty rough and cheeky, with Akane bearing the brunt of his words and actions, most of the time.
He had been displeased with it, and told his daughter how he felt about it, and that he planned to scold her fiancé for being so impudent to her, yet she had retorted that she could handle it and that he, Soun, shouldn't intervene whatsoever : she was strong enough to frame that coarse boy and didn't want her father to act like she was still a small child and needed his protection.
But over time, Ranma had softened some and become globally nice, easier to get along with, and it was no longer tiresome or unpleasant to be around him.
Soun had learned to like the boy, and now that he saw him… or rather her in deep trouble, he sincerely felt sad for her.
Seeing the redhead's jaw contract and her hand get rid of another tear, in a swift, frustrated gesture, he felt the need to comfort her, and opened his mouth.
"Ranma !"
No reaction from the called-out one.
"Ranma !" repeated the voice, before adding : "There's a visit for you !"
Soun was turned to the living room, in which Kasumi hurriedly arrived.
She spotted the petite female sitting on the edge, face turned to the garden, showing no sign indicating she had heard the calls.
"Ranma ?" Kasumi said for the third time, but gently and in a lower voice this time, wondering if something was wrong.
But no movement at all from the other side. The redhead was sitting still, with her head hung.
"She doesn't remember her name, Kasumi…"
The firstborn turned around to see the "lastborn".
"Oh… Oh yes, I had forgotten… Sorry, Akane."
"Don't worry, Kasumi."
The third sister then turned around to look back at their three guests.
"Hey Ran !" exclaimed Ukyo.
"Eh ? He's in his girl form ?" asked a surprised Daisuke.
"Guess it can be boring being a boy all the time, eh…" joked Hiroshi.
Hearing the new voices, Ranma turned around and merely blinked at them.
Ukyo felt her heart miss a beat.
"Ran ? Ran, you okay ?!"
"Hey, Buddy ! You're not happy to see us ?"
Ranma gulped as she stared at the trio.
They're certainly friends of mine but I… I can't even remember their names…
"Hey guys…" the red-haired girl kinda hesitantly said… and with a clearly tired or sad look.
Or both.
"You… you still remember us, right, Ran ?" asked Ukyo, unable to take Ranma's previous blank stare and blinking off her mind.
"I… Sure, I do…" was the automatic reply.
The chef felt like insisting ("You sure, uh ?") but, biting her lip, she decided to let it be for the time being.
"Hiroshi and I wanted to pay you a visit, Man ! And since Ukyo was willing too, well we decided to all come together !" explained Daisuke.
"Hum… I guess you shouldn't call him 'man' right now, eh…" teased Hiroshi.
"Uh, yeah…" admitted Daisuke, before focusing on the main point : "Anyway… how have you been doing lately ?"
They were expecting an answer such as "good, thanks" or "not too bad", but what they got left them astounded.
"Very bad, howestly. I keep on forgetting stuff. And people too. I think that if it goes on, I'll have morgotten everybody's name very soon. Sorry."
The three of them got puzzled.
"Did you say… morgotten ?" kindly checked Daisuke.
"I mix up words too, these days… I pronince them wrong. And…"
She sighed, very deeply, licked her lips and confessed the truth.
"…and I said I remembered you, but in fact, I don't. I'm… sorry."
Ranma briefly glanced at her three friends, then at the three sisters, and last at the two fathers.
"I'm no good."
She got up and hurried past the two fathers, repeating the word sorry…
…but was cut short by a scream : "STOP !"
The poor boy-girl may have forgotten many things but he/she hadn't forgotten that one, and indeed stopped in her flight away from family and friends, before turning around.
"Where do you think you're going, Ranma ?! You used to be much tougher than that, back in the days. What happened to that son who never backed away, never let anything nor anyone defeat him, discourage him ?! Is it because you're stuck in that female body that you get all emotional and weak, and run away instead of facing the difficulties and doing the outmost to solve them ?!"
Soun got up and put his hand on his old friend's shoulder.
"Saotome, please, don't be so harsh to her. You know like me that she's getting through a terrible period of her life, that no solution to her problem could be found, that her life is coming apart… so don't be too hard on her."
The angry father didn't look at his long-time friend, but closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, his voice was less aggressive then before.
"All I want to do is shaking him up !" He looked at his now daughter straight in the eyes. "You can't give up and run away like that, Ranma. That's not how I taught you to behave, that's not how YOU used to behave. You were more manly and tough before, when you were a boy and –"
"Please, Genma ! Don't be too severe with Ran ! He… or rather, she has changed, and is suffering from a disorder ! How can you seriously expect her to act like before ? She is troubled, utterly disturbed ! Come on, you can't ask her to behave like she used to : that problem she has to endure won't let her return to her past self ! You have to accept her like she is now !" objected Ukyo.
"It's very difficult for Ranma ! Very ! And as her father, you have to support her !" added Daisuke.
"Exactly !" confirmed Hiroshi.
"Haven't you noticed that I'm a girl now ?" Ranma told Genma, her voice trembling with anger. "You said earlier that I was stack in this femate body. Well, if my body is changing, is forgettring just like my mind, that I can't be a boy anymore, then my feelings, my psychonogy are also different. They have changed. My body forgot who I was and how I was. I'm… I'm no longer myselt. So I'm not manly now, I'm not strong, I'm… getting weak, anxiouz, dejected. And I can't help it. I can't stop it. I wish I crould, but I can't."
Her voice was wavering and her throat, very painful
The redhead looked around her, fighting back her tears.
"I apo… apolo… I can't even say it…"
Her shoulders slumped and she started slowly moving forward, feeling useless, certain that she no longer had a role to play in this house.
But Ukyo stopped her and, without a word, opened her arms and gave her a tight hug.
A long, almost stifling embrace, during which the chef's burst into tears, while tiny "waterfalls" silently flowed from the redhead's blue eyes.
Nobody uttered a single word, not even Genma, all watching the moving moment and most of them feeling their hearts overflow with sadness.
"You'll never be on your own, Ran. That I swear to you !" promised Ukyo, now holding Ranma by her shoulders and staring intensely into her wet eyes.
"And you know you can count on us too !" added Hiroshi.
"We'll never let you down, Man… uh, Woman !" kinda awkwardly concluded Daisuke.
That made them very briefly laugh nervously, but sorrow was extremely difficult to overcome.
"Thangs a lot, my friends… I feel very bad, but I'm so lu… luggy… lucky ? … uh, dunno… lucky, maybe… to have you. Thank." Ranma told them, wiping her eyes again, and eventually giving the faintest, the weakest of smiles, a very brief ray of light on this dark afternoon…
-/-
Kasumi got upstairs and headed for the Saotome's bedroom.
She was very concerned by Ranma's worsening condition, how her red-haired friend had become more and more confused, always more lost in this world that she perhaps wouldn't be able to understand one day… especially if she kept forgetting words at that rate.
Out of habit, she knocked on the door and opened it… but she wasn't surprised to find nobody inside : Genma and Soun had decided to practice their fighting skills, in order to think about something else than Ranma's problems for a short while – they were often thinking about these – and as for Ranma, she had gone downtown with Akane and Nabiki, who had insisted for the pigtailed girl to come along, the second one even promising that she would purchase some nice clothes for the blue-eyed female. Clothes… or whatever else she would like, anything that would make her happy.
Well, it wouldn't be easy at all to make her 'happy', given her sad mood, but that would at least help the poor girl take her mind off her daily burden for a moment.
Kasumi took care of Genma's sheet and pillowcase first, then turned to Ranma's bed, pushed aside the quilt…
… and froze.
There, almost in the center of the sheet, was a colourless spot.
The kind that a mother finds in the bed of her child the next morning…
The eldest sister frowned.
It can't be… what I think. Ranma has never had an accident, ever…
But if looks were really deceiving, then… what could this liquid be ?
She waffled, staring at the wet smear, wondering whether she should verify… yet not willing to actually do it.
Nevertheless, after a long moment of hesitation, she leaned forward and smelled the sheet.
There was barely a smell there, some very faint odour yet difficult to identify, because it was drying and therefore losing strength.
Kasumi therefore couldn't be completely sure, yet… what else could it be for a liquid, in the middle of a bed sheet ?
She decided to just wash the bedding, without talking to Ranma… because after all, even if the young Saotome had never had any accident, well… as the famous saying goes : "These are things that happen".
But five days later, when she discovered the same spot at about the same place, she began doubting.
Twice in only a few days ?
Two accidents in such a short timespan, for someone who never had any for years ?
Or perhaps she's drinking more these days and forgot twice to go to the bathroom before going to bed…
Should she mention the issue to Ranma ?
Once again, she hesitated… and once again chose to merely wash it without addressing the issue. Although she sensed that there would be more such little accidents in the next weeks…
She therefore wasn't so surprised when she found a third "proof" four days later, but this time, there was no way she could let it go and keep it all to herself.
After putting the bedding in the washing machine, she went back upstairs and knocked on a door.
"Really ?!" exclaimed a disbelieving Akane, a few minutes later.
"Alas yes, really. Once or even twice wouldn't have seemed that suspicious… but this is already the third time in two weeks… and I have a feeling that there will be more…" remarked Kasumi.
Akane appeared as worried as her, and when Nabiki entered the room the next minute, to borrow her little sister's laptop, and saw her sisters' discomfited expressions, she got worried in turn and asked what could possibly trouble them so much.
"Ranma wet her sheet three times ?! Don't tell me she's regressing to childhood !"
"Actually, Nabiki… I wonder if this has something to do with her oblivion issue…"
She remembered when Ranma first said : "My body forgot".
"Her body forgot…" whispered Akane, lost in thought, her absent look set on the nearby wall.
"What ? What did you just say, Akane ?" asked the bobcut girl.
Hearing her name made the girl focus back on the brunette, who was intently gazing at her.
"That's what she said two weeks ago or so, don't you remember ? While we were talking about her impossibility to revert to her male body. We were wondering how come she was stuck in her female self, and she said : "My body forgot". And then explained that was she meant was that her body had forgotten how to change back from girl to boy. You remember, right ?"
Her look switched between both of her sisters.
"Yes, I remember that." confirmed Kasumi.
"So do I. But what are you getting at, with that ?" inquired Nabiki.
"Well, Ranma later said then her body might forget more, just like her mind. If she's right, then… these three accidents…"
She bit her lip, and Nabiki's opened wide as she exclaimed :
"No ! Oh no ! I get what you mean, but… oh gosh !"
"Are you… are you implying…" started the firstborn, but the second sister finished for her :
"…that her accidents are due to her body malfunctioning because of that goddamn forgetting issue ! Oblivion affected her mind at first, but now also affects her body ! Her body is "forgetting" as well : it doesn't… "remember", so to speak, how to function properly. And that's why it's gradually losing control. If oblivion kinda "erases" the memories that help manage normal bodily functions, then the body cannot control these anymore ! For instance, if the body cannot remember the right way to handle peeing, then Ranma won't hold it anymore and will wet herself and the sheet ! It was only her mind that was affected, until now… but the absence of transformation and those repeated little accidents prove that her body starts suffering from it as well !"
Nabiki stopped and stared in horror at Akane, then at Kasumi, who was goggling and put her hand over her mouth, terribly shocked.
"But that's… that's impossible… a body can't forget how to function !" protested the youngest one.
"I've never heard anything like this…" whispered the shaken eldest one.
"Neither have I, but… you'll admit that this issue is more severe and complex than any other disease or disorder we've ever heard about. It started as a simple omission of homework, and look what it has evolved into ! Poor Ranma-chan has not only her mind but also her body going awry ! And she's even challenged about language, and can't express herself normally anymore !"
She paused and, weighing her words, she slowly summed up the terrible truth :
"That disorder is not something usual or logical. It's much more complicated than it seemed at first. We have no clue how it will evolve, but if both mind and body of Ranma get out of control, and if it continues to worsen, then… God knows where and when it will stop."
Neither Akane nor Kasumi found anything to reply, and that silence of theirs let their sister the time to conclude :
"Or IF it will stop at all….."
-/-
Been two weeks since last update. Workload is to blame for this delay, granted, but I should have found the time to write more during my free time. I didn't have that much free time, actually, but still…
Anyway…
So Ranma and the family are facing a disorder that affects her whole being, mind and body. And these two get out of hand, their owner gradually losing more and more control on themselves. A mysterious, complex, serious problem having both psychological / mental AND physical consequences… and very nefarious ones, going as far as threatening communication with others (loss of language mastery) !
Of course that's incredible… but you now get why the second category of this story is 'supernatural', eh ?
The sisters are interacting a lot with Ranma, as you can see, more than the men, and that's because I've generally been focusing on female characters, who are almost always the main protagonists of my stories. That originates from my deep respect for ladies, deeper than for any man that I know (family and friends gently tease me because I'm a MALE feminist (therefore male traitor, duh ! ;P), but I don't care and won't change… and I'll always be happy when ladies' conditions improve all across the world :DD).
Ok, I guess I spilled the beans on one of my nature's key points. Whatever, you have the right to find out more about the author you read from.
And I really love the bonds between Ranma and the three sisters, to be honest. Especially since Nabiki is acting here in a good, solidary and careful way, unlike in the manga/anime, where she's so selfish and opportunistic.
Anyway…
Thanks a lot for reading, reviewing (special thanks to the "good nine chapters" review lately !), favoriting, following, as always ! Thanks for your time, interest, support ! It means ++++ to me !
TaKare and catch ya soon again ! Be as happy as you can possibly be !
Léo