Watermelon Girl
by Chaos Orchid ← Ron Dow75
2.1 Legitimacy?
I'm so blissful. S/he had said that in each of the dreams where s/he was a mother. S/he was told s/he was now pregnant. S/he was going to be a mother. Could s/he say it in real life? "I'm so–"
S/he rushed to the nearest bushes and puked.
"Ranma, it's too early to have morning sickness!" Akane said. It was a good thing they were outside the house of the shrine compound and not in the shrine itself.
She turned and anxiously asked, "Is it too early, Andō-sensei!? Is the curse affecting Ranma's pregnancy? I mean, it can't be normal!"
"I said to call me Sakura(!)" sternly said the Shintō priestess now in an open lab coat over an elegant dress. "I have been unable to exorcize the Jusenkyo curse. But I have been able to rid her body of the same every disease demons that once afflicted me. And I was a magnet for them. I would suggest placing wards in the furo room, kitchen, bedroom and every place else where accidents are likely to occur.
"I will also see about contacting Kimen-senpai of the School of Martial Arts Calligraphy. Though do not expect him for at least six weeks, the time the girl should be having her true morning sickness."
"Calligraphy?…." Akane looked at the pigtailed girl returning, wiping her mouth against his silk sleeve.
The redhead was talking mainly to herself, "Man! My girl body might not mind bein' knocked up, but the guy me does!"
S/he suddenly screamed, startled by the ugly, old wtf dressed as a Buddhist monk! He told her, "You have a most unfortunately cute face."
"Tell me about it!" Why did s/he want to punch him? "But it wasn't my cute face or even my curves that got me knocked up. It was me bein' stupid for fightin' a fertility god!"
Sakura-sensei told her, "It was the fault of that high-born lout who misused our love potion!" (The monk bowed his head on the word 'our' in acknowledgement.)
Akane frowned, "Kunō, you mean!"
"And if he hadn't poked the fertility god with his needle if we weren't there!" The pigtailed girl was scowling. "It's all the fault of everything wrong in my life: My Old Man – Pop!"
Akane added, "Don't forget my dad also helped! If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be becoming a dad myself!"
Suddenly, she rose up and race for the bushes! That was the first time she had said that out loud!
"Hey! I should be blamin' you two, too!" Ranma got angry at the priestess and monk. "What gives you the holy right to make a potion that'd take my free will away from me!?"
Sakura-sensei talked just as loudly back at the much smaller woman, "The potion only strengthens destiny! If you aren't compatible with the man, all that would have happened was you would have been horny for a while!"
Ranma insisted on arguing!
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Ranma discovered that among Sakura-sensei's many talents and skills, she was a martial artist in her own right. Caught off guard, the redhead ended up tumbling down all of the shrine hill's 81 stone steps.
"Ranma!" Akane cried, hurrying down on foot. "Are you okay!? Is the baby okay!?"
"I don't know," s/he said, sitting up on the ground and slowly testing everything out. Everything but her belly.
"I read that 10 to 20 percent of women have miscarriages weeks after they've conceived! You have to be more careful!"
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one knocked up!"
That hurt Akane, "I, I could have been. If I hadn't protected myself from the seeds, I could be with your child. You could be a father, too."
Bruised and aching, the pigtailed girl got to her feet, "Can we come up with a better word? We don't got no good role-models for fathers, dads and pops."
Akane tried to salve the hurt with a weak laugh, "I think we're going to have to! I don't look like a typical father." She was able to smile when continuing, "...dad, pop, or any other name people use for–"
She suddenly cried in horror! "My stem cells was in the fertility god's slime, and people were bathing in it! I'm going to be the father to all those women's children!"
"Or me. Mine was mixed up with yours, too," Ranma almost calmly said. "But the reason it took Sakura and Cherry too long to stop me from gettin' fertilized was because they were neutralizin' the slime and seeds, even the rind."
"You mean, you're the only one, uh…."
Ranma started walking, "Looks that way. We might get the Yakuza thug tryin' to get revenge for ruinin' his hard-on fix."
Akane followed, "I'd worry about the drunk and arguing couples, too."
"With my luck, the worst one's gonna turn out to be the old geezer."
They passed the newlyweds on a bench. The young husband had his arm around his young wife, trying to comfort her, "There's always next year. And our treatments might work and we might not even need a fertility god."
Ranma and Akane walked on. But, "Now I really feel bad."
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Tendō Soun wasn't feeling as bad, "Three days and two nights! Isn't it wonderful that Ranma won the Watermelon contest!"
"I wouldn't exactly call it 'winning', Daddy," Nabiki said. "And we might not be winners ourselves. They won't let us even see the rooms until they see Ranma and Akane." They were outside, on the nearly deserted beach near the small, very rustic inn. All were in their swimwear. Kasumi was also in an apron, serving the others from a picnic basket.
She asked, "Do you think Ranma and Akane will be given the Honeymoon Suite?"
The panda held up a sign, [What's the use if they're both female?]
"Now, now, Genma," Soun said, refusing to stop, think and sob his eyes out, "They have, indeed, produced an heir!"
"But will it be an heir?" Sunglasses wearing and sunbathing Nabiki challenged the forced naivety of her dad. "Same-sex marriages are not legal anywhere, even in 1992."
Kasumi didn't have to force any naivety, "They could always adopt their own child."
Nabiki challenged her, now, "Minors cannot adopt."
Soun's smile almost became real, "Then I shall adopt!"
Nabiki casually popped that balloon, too, "Only married couples may adopt in Japan. You have 9 months to find somebody to marry, Daddy. Then there's the time it takes to get through the bureaucracy of adopting."
Kasumi smiled, "Father is a fine, respectable man of the community. And handsome, as well. He should have no problem finding a wife to adopt with."
"Father" turned red from shame, "Genma, then can–"
The suddenly frightened panda was quick to hold up, [Suicidal! Hari Kari without Seppuku!]
Kasumi preferred to smile, "Panda-san means that metaphorically, of course."
Nabiki continued, "Unless we can find a relative who will adopt…"
"Do we have relatives…?" Kasumi tried to remember.
"...the Watermelon baby will not be raised as either a Tendō or a Saotome."
Soun felt his tears finally welling up, "...And not be the fully legitimate heir to the Schools of Anything-Goes!"
"Nobody's going to be happy to hear this–"
"Hear what , Nabiki?" Akane said, arriving with Ranma.
"I will remind you and everybody: Japanese laws allows a 16-year old girl to marry, the guy, however, must wait until he is 18."
"Ranma's 16," Kasumi smiled.
"And so is Akane," Nabiki said. "Even if she fell into the Spring of Drowned Young man, he would still be, legally, 16."
Soun choked, "So, we must find somebody at least 18 to marry Ranma?" He buried his face in his sleeves, the tears escaping.
"Now I get to a solution everybody will absolutely, 100% wish to reject. If Ranma reaches the expected delivery date, not a given, then somebody we know will be celebrating both an 18th birthday and a wedding."
"Somebody…?"
"Oh, My!"
"No, no–You don't mean…!"
" Kunō."
2.2 Out of Options?
"NO! Not Kunō! " the pigtailed girl bellowed! "He's the reason I'm not just fertilized, but knocked up!"
"And with my baby!" Akane was equally forceful! "I expected I'd be a mom one day, but I never expected to be a DAD! "
Having to process the still raw traumatizing experience, left them with little else to say and left the others at a loss of what to say. The silence that followed allowed the surf breaking against the sandy beach shore to be heard. Only Kasumi really heard it. So meditative.
It was the eldest sister who broke the quiet, "Nabiki, my sister, you are a clever girl. Surely there is a way to change the records and have Akane to be, uh 'legally' 18(?). Perhaps even changing little sister's gender without her having to go to Jusenkyo?"
"Yes. There is. I won't say I haven't studied ways around legalities. It comes down to convincing a well-placed bureaucrat to changing official records. The more that are changed, the less risk there is in getting caught. We know only one person who has the connections and bribe money to do that. And I have already mentioned his name."
"Oh, my," Kasumi sighed. "So many solutions to Ranma's growing problem go through Kunō-san, it appears."
Tendō Soun looked to the sun-lit sky through a watery blur of tears. He braved himself up, "Then it comes down to me. For the sake of my daughter and the dōjō she grew up in…"
The panda lifted a sign, [No! I will not allow my son to marry any man!]
"Then who am I gonna– Hey! I don't gotta marry!" Ranma said, grabbing a lifeline. "I can be a single, uh, *grr* parent!"
"And you would be giving your child the Saotome name, so the boy or girl would still be the heir to your school of martial arts!" Kasumi was happy for him.
Nabiki yawned, and stretched, "The boy or girl will have to be the heir. They would have the omei of a bad apple, a rokudenashi, a bastard. Always the kohai of bullies, kid and adult. They might even be treated worse than you had been, Ranma, when you were always a stranger in town."
"They would nave no "father" and no "mother". You as the redheaded girl-half do not legally exist. You couldn't marry at 16 even if your dad allowed my dad, or any guy, to marry you.
"That is why our guy with the corporate lawyers and fixers is need for his Pigtailed Girl to have a legal name and identity and, so, her child as well."
Akane's eyes narrowed, "How much is Kunō paying you, Nabiki(?)"
Nabiki narrowed her own eyes back at her, "Nothing upfront. Everything remains in trust until Kunō has his "heart's desire"."
"Hrrrnn!" Ranma ground her teeth in frustration! "It's not gonna happen!
"And it don't gotta happen!
"Maybe. I don't know(!)
"But I got however long it takes to have a baby to figure it out!"
And s/he turned and threatened Nabiki, "No Kunō – Not before I still got a chance not to!"
"Let me in on thinking of our way out of this!" Akane yelled at both of them, "It's my baby, too!"
Kasumi turned to middle sister, "Nabiki…"
"Yes, Kasumi(?)"
"...you're a clever girl(!)"
"Very clever. As a condition of the marriage contract, Ranma can stipulate that Akane has visitation rights and be what in the West is called a godmother."
She then lowered in shades and took both Ranma and Akane into her gaze, "Or Akane could also 'marry' Kunō. Then she would always be next to the Meron." And she smirked, "And Ranma."
"Meron! Oh, my, you are clever, Nabiki! It is a perfectly Japanese name with a long and deep history. We won't spell it 'Melon', but use the kanji for 'Love' and 'Theory'."
"And "Theory" can also be interpreted as "Debate," Nabiki said, looking at Ranma. "Quite appropriate."
" 'Meron' can also mean 'Gift of God'," said the grandmotherly woman in a komon kimono. "In Ethiopia." To their puzzled looks, she bowed, " 'Meron' is the girls name most often thought of by those who come to be fertilized by our Great Watermelon god. So, of course, we would know its other meanings."
"See? Nabiki isn't so clever!" Akane had the satisfaction of saying.
The granny-type added, "I myself think it is a better name than Suika, Watermelon.
"Welcome, Irasshaimase! I'm your hostess at the inn. Your room is ready for you."
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Good news: [Pets Are Not Allowed] in the inn. And pandas counted as pets. (The pregnant 'winner' saw to it!)
Bad news: the prize of three days and two nights in the idyllic setting few people visited was just one room. It was an inn hundreds of years old and, so, had rooms larger than many of those found in modern, urban Japan, but it just wasn't big enough, it was judged, for six(minus Panda) people. The decision? Four girls against one(or two) men. "Sleep well, Father!" Kasumi said, waving him off to join his friend.
Technically, Ranma shouldn't have even been sleeping with them. But since s/he was stuck being a (mother-to-be)girl, they allowed her to be stay where they would be the least guarded, ignoring the fact that he was supposed to have a (typical?) male mind.
It could have been a honeymoon suite, as the shikibuton floor mattresses allowed two people to sleep on one. Kasumi and Nabiki on futon number one. And…Ranma and Akane on the other.
This was their first time like this, in the same bed. If either of them had the temptation to be discover how same-sex or bisexual they were, it was put off by the 'audience' in the next shikibuton futon. (Especially when Nabiki could possibly use it against them. And Kasumi? They felt compelled to 'protect' her innocence.)
Akane whispered, "How do you feel?"
The redhead (barely) whispered back, "How do you think I should feel(!) "
"That's what I want to know. I, I'm going to be a mother, some day, myself. I'd like to–"
"I'm a guy becoming a mom! It's not the same thing!"
"I, I know," Akane chokingly admitting. "Just like it's not the same thing as me showing you what it's like becoming a dad."
"You….?" Oh. Right. It wasn't just her.
They fell asleep in each other's arms.
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NOTE:
Japan ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18. Yet it wasn't until April 1, 2022, the amendment of the Civil Code went into effect, lowering the legal age of marriage from 20 years old to 18 years for girls and boys. Put that is only when they stop being minors and do not need their parents' consent.
Girls can still be married at age 16. Only guys have to wait until they are 18.
The Watermelon Island Arc is from Chapters 191-193. The Nodoka Saotome Intro Arc is from Chapter 225-229. And it isn't until Chapter 353. Until then, they are frightened she might make them commit hari kari. Seppuku is only an act of 'mercy', beheading them to save them from the lingering agony from having cut open their own bellies.