Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2.
AN: Cheat sheet for those who might need it or just like it! I use all Celsius temperatures in this story so here are some converted temps for those whose countries still use Fahrenheit (cough cough us silly Americans).
0C = 32F (freezing point)
20C = 68F
25C = 77F
26C = 78.8F
27C = 80.6F
28C = 82.4F
29C = 84.2F
30C = 86F
37C = 98.6F
40C = 104F
100C = 212F (boiling point)
Chapter 2 - Positive and Negative Controls
"Ranma just think if the water is warm then it could mean you wouldn't have to worry about being a girl." Akane was smiling brightly at him.
Nabiki disrupted his happy thoughts of swimming without worry. "Is 30 degrees warm enough? I mean the bath houses heat their water to 40 degrees."
Ranma frowned and tried to think of any times when he might have encountered lukewarm water and what had happened.
"Maybe it has to be above body temperature to be a boy."
Ranma looked at his pop and started to ask if he had ever tried to find out and saw him trying to take his rice. "Stop that!" He snatched back the bowl and ate it quickly.
Akane elbowed Ranma, "Maybe we should try to figure it out."
"Yeah ok."
"You two really should do that, I mean Ranma needs to know what kind of swimsuit to wear on Saturday." Nabiki chimed in.
Ranma just rolled his eyes at her and got up from the table. "Thank you for dinner Kasumi."
"Oh you are welcome Ranma."
When he disappeared upstairs Akane turned to Nabiki, "Why do you have to do that? He is really unsure about going at all."
"I didn't want him to get his hopes up or worse go and get kicked out because he didn't wear a proper suit. Honestly I would think you would thank me."
"Too bad he doesn't have any of that waterproof soap. He would really like to go as a guy but Shampoo seems to be the only one who can get some sent here."
"Speaking of our favorite Amazons. I heard the Cat Café is for sale. Think they are finally going home?"
"I don't know, Ranma hasn't seen Shampoo since just before the fight with Kodachi and he told her that he isn't ever going to marry her."
"You know if she does go home, then Ranma is back to only one fiancé."
"Don't say that out loud."
"Why not?"
"I don't know it seems like a bad omen to say it out loud. More fiancés will come out of the woodwork or something." She glared at Genma as she said this.
"I have made no other arrangements." Huffing as he folded his arms across his chest.
"You know daughter, there is nothing preventing you two from getting married now. No other fiancés, Ranma has made his choice and I couldn't be happier." Soun was crying again.
"Daddy, we already told you, we are not getting married yet. Please, we are finally not fighting often and getting comfortable with each other. You promised to stop trying to force us to get married."
Kasumi smiled sweetly at her father, "Akane is right Daddy, you promised. They are young still and young people want to have a little fun before they get married these days. Besides I told you, if you find a way to get another marriage certificate then I will just misplace that one as well and Nabiki will help me. Right Nabiki?"
"Me? When did I get roped into this?"
"Right now. You are going to take a side without considering the profit and frankly I would be very disappointed in you if you didn't stick up for your sister."
Nabiki stared dumbstruck at Kasumi. God she sounded just like Mom then. "Fine, whatever." She stood up and headed for her room. She needed to think about what to do with that video tape she made.
Akane followed shortly behind. "I guess I better go convince Ranma to do his homework."
At the top of the stairs Nabiki startled Akane when she walked up behind her and whispered over her shoulder, "From what I saw in the dojo, you two are going to be begging to get married sooner than you think."
"We are not and don't you dare use what you got to start a betting pool."
"Oh sweetie, the wedding date betting pool started when I sold those pictures of those oh so romantic kisses."
Akane stormed off. No wonder our friends are always milking us for information about how far we have gone. She got to the guest room and knocked but there was no reply. Frowning she opened the door and looked inside. "Ranma?"
"Out here." Came his voice from outside the window. She poked her head, looking up she saw his head sticking out from the roof. "What are you doing?"
"Thinking."
"Oh"
"Time for homework?"
She smiled, "Yeah." He didn't put up much of a fight over homework these days. "Seems like you don't mind doing homework anymore." She watched him climb back in the window.
"The breaks are good motivation." He winked at her.
She shook her head as she took his hand, picking up his bag on the way out she pulled him to her room.
After finishing their homework and a couple of enjoyable breaks Ranma was so tired he practically crawled to his futon, and fell asleep quickly.
The next day proved to be easier than expected. As far as they could tell Nabiki hadn't tried to sell the video from last night and nothing crazy occurred. They were on their way home when Akane remembered what Nabiki had told her about the Cat Café.
"Hey Ranma, did you hear that the Cat Café is for sale?"
"Really? Maybe that's why we haven't seen Shampoo."
"I thought she faced possible death if she returned to China."
"Maybe something changed."
"We should stop by the café and see what we can find out."
"Sure."
They saw the For Sale sign outside the café and it wasn't open for business. After knocking on the door they waited a few minutes before they heard a voice from inside. Cologne opened the door and simply said, "I see it is you two."
"Are Shampoo, Mousse and you going back to China?" Ranma asked.
"Mousse went back months ago and you would know that if you ever stopped by to check on Shampoo. I sent her home many weeks ago; she had no reason to be here anymore."
"I'm sorry she was upset but I had to be honest with her and frankly we stayed away because I thought she would hurt Akane."
"I would like to say that you are wrong but I cannot. I sent her back to China because I thought she might do just that and while I abide by Amazon laws I do not want to see my great-granddaughter get blood on her hands. She never should have issued the kiss of death to Akane a year ago anyway. Issuing a kiss of death without knowing prior that the person can fight is against our laws."
"Why didn't you take care of it then?" Akane sounded irritated.
"Well if you will remember I was not here then, also as it turns out Akane can fight so while Shampoo was premature in issuing the kiss, you were able to stand up for yourself. My darling granddaughter has always been impulsive."
Akane took a deep breath, "Elder Cologne, will your tribe kill Shampoo for returning without Ranma?"
"They are not happy with her and she will no longer be considered the strongest, which means she will likely never be able to become a village elder but no she will not be killed."
"What about the kiss of death on me?" Ranma was trying to think of all the possible ways that Shampoo could try to come back after them.
Cologne waved her hand toward Ranma, "That was nullified ages ago. Are you sure you don't want to come be an Amazon husband? You would make a powerful warrior among our men. I imagine that with all the techniques you could learn you would only become more powerful."
"No, I do not."
"And tell me honestly. If Akane were removed from the equation what would your decision be then?"
Ranma stepped in front of Akane and stared at the old ghoul. "If you lay a finger on her I will tear this place apart and if anything happened to her, I would bring down your village stick by stick."
Akane put her hands on Ranma's back and started rubbing the pattern she had been taught by Dr. Tofu to help him relax. They didn't really need a fight with Cologne right now.
"Future son-in-law," Cologne started but at the look Ranma gave her she amended, "Ranma that is what I needed to know. I think I might be able to convince the council of elders that you would be a danger to the tribe if we pursued this further."
"Fine, whatever works to make sure Akane is safe from Shampoo."
"What of your other fiancés?"
"Ukyo and I have reached an understanding and Kodachi isn't a fiancé, she is just crazy. Besides Akane has proven that she can defeat her."
"You would have made an excellent asset to our tribe. I am sorry that you did not choose my granddaughter."
"Thanks I guess. Um, we better get going."
When Cologne had learned the events that took place at Jusenkyo she realized that Ranma needed to remain an ally because to make an enemy of him would be dangerous. If canceling Shampoo's kiss of marriage kept him as an ally then so be it. His protective instincts were too strong towards Akane to risk treating her as an obstacle.
Outside Akane put her arm around Ranma's waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, thanks for trying to calm me down."
"You scared me for a minute there. Stick by stick?"
"It was the first thing that came to mind."
"I can't believe that we don't have to deal with Shampoo. I really thought she would try harder and make things miserable for us."
Scratching his head Ranma was quiet for a minute. "Yeah me too."
She reached up and tugged on his pigtail, when he look down at her she pulled him into a light kiss.
"Not that I am complaining but what was that for?"
"Just putting you in a more agreeable mood."
Danger! "For what?"
"I want to work on the kata today."
"So resorting to cheating is going to become a regular thing now?"
"Anything goes!"
Ranma laughed loudly. "Yes it does."
As soon as they were home Akane took off to change into her gi. Ranma was in the dojo breaking down the kata into sections to work on. The whole thing took about 5 minutes to run through at his speed but it was going to take a while to get her up to his speed. He found he had trouble telling her no when she wanted to learn something new. Her old strength was back after she had been dehydrated at Jusenkyo and her speed had increased through training. She wasn't even as klutzy as she used to be, working on her gracefulness was still a chore but she didn't trip over her own feet as often anymore.
Thinking back over the last year or so it amazed Ranma how drastically his life kept changing. He stopped traveling all over the place training, he gained a fiancé he hadn't asked for, then a few more. He truly started risking his life for his art, he had learned many new techniques and had almost lost everything that mattered to him. Funny how Akane had slowly become all that mattered. She was temperamental, violent, and had rarely believed his side; but when she wasn't all those things she was sweet, funny and one of his biggest defenders. She stopped seeing his curse, he was Ranma to her either way.
These days she was still a little temperamental and violent but they had promised to listen to each other's side whenever something made them mad or hurt. It was hard sometimes and they still argued but staying mad was just as hard. Most of the time his anger at her had been fueled by thoughts that she couldn't like him, that she would never like him the way he liked her. When they had finally confessed their feelings, out loud, a couple of weeks after returning from China, communicating had started to become easier.
"Ranma you in there?" Akane had entered the dojo and been able to walk up behind Ranma without him noticing. She watched him jump and turn to face her. She rarely could sneak up on him, she couldn't help but laugh a little especially when he blushed lightly. "What were you thinking about?"
"You."
"Thinking perverted thoughts?"
He sneered at her, "No miss nosey. For your information I was thinking about how I am still amazed you love me." He pulled her close and gave her a quick kiss. "Ready to get started?" She looked up at him with a slightly bemused expression and she simply nodded in response to his question. Ha caught her off guard. This romantic stuff isn't so hard if you just say the nice thoughts that pop in your head. He moved her into the starting stance and taught her the beginning of the kata. He made her repeated it over and over again until she could do it without having him do it with her. Then he gave her verbal cues only until she didn't need those. "You've got that pattern down well."
"Really? It is easier than I thought it would be."
"Well you are almost up to half speed but there is no point in increasing the speed until you learn the whole thing."
"Why not? I bet I can do it faster."
"No. If you end up mastering the patterns at different speeds then you will stumble trying to put them together. It is better to use a base rhythm and this one is working for you right now. Tomorrow or the next day we will work on the next part." She was only pouting a little at him so he figured she wasn't going to argue with him.
Dinner was quiet as their fathers were at a town council meeting and Nabiki's friends had called her to go shopping. They sat and chatted with Kasumi who had offered to leave them alone but they had refused. The last thing they wanted to do was make any in the house feel uncomfortable. They even offered to clean up after dinner. Kasumi kept offering to help but they insisted that they could clean dishes without causing any trouble.
"I know we have broken a lot of things in the past but I don't think she trusts us." Ranma was drying dishes as Akane washed them. He figured staying away from the water, even if it was warm, was a safer bet.
"Actually Ranma I think she just thinks of the kitchen as being hers and we are intruding. She deserves a break for all she does though."
"Too bad Dr. Tofu gets so weird when she is around. She would probably enjoy being taken out on a date."
"Ranma, I think you are getting to be a romantic."
"Gah, it would just be nice if the family was focused on a different couple and leave us alone."
When they were done they heard the TV on and peaked to see what she was watching. It looked like a romantic comedy. They were both happy to see her enjoying herself.
"Let's head to the bath."
Ranma froze and stared at her. What is she wanting? She can't possibly want to bathe together.
"Ranma?" She pulled on his hand to get him moving but it was no small task as he was mostly frozen in place. It took three times longer than it should have but she finally got him up the stairs. He would stop and start to say something but never managed to say anything at all. "Hello, Ranma! Go either put your swim trunks on or just stay in your boxers while I go put on one of my suits. Look for the thermometer in the medicine cabinet, we will need that too.
What she was saying didn't sound sexy at all, he tried to think about what she could be up to but was at a loss. He found the thermometer and removed his shirt and pants but stayed in his undershirt and boxers. He watched Akane come in wearing a one piece swimsuit.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"Silly, you haven't figured it out?" She laugh softly at him, "Well just follow me then." She pulled him into the bathing area and walked over to fill a tub with water. She turned and threw the cold water on him.
"What was that for?"
"We are going to figure out what temperature it takes to turn you back into a guy."
Ranma frowned and thought for a moment. "Oh the thermometer is to make sure we know what temperature we are using. Brilliant."
Akane chuckled. Her fiancé was an incredible martial artist, strong, fast and clever in battle but when it came to academics he was not the sharpest sword. She added water to the tub again and added hot water until it was 20 degrees. "Ok test one." She dumped the water over Ranma's head.
"Hey that was definitely still mostly cold. Did you really expect that to change me back?"
"Stop whining like a girl."
"Well since I am a girl right now, I think I get to whine."
She ignored her and start preparing the next tub. "We will try 25 degrees this time." Ranma just gave her an irritated look but said nothing. "Come on we have to work our way up to warmer temperatures. It is like those experiments we had to do in science, we need negative and positive controls. We know cold water will make you a girl and we know 40 degree bathwater will change you back. So we need all the in between."
"So basically I should just be thankful you didn't start with ice water?" Her voice sounded irritated but the tongue sticking out of her mouth let Akane know Ranma was mostly just teasing. She leaned around her fiancé and kissed her, without thinking she pushed her tongue into Ranma's mouth teasing and playing with the tongue that had so unladylike been stuck out previously.
When Akane ended the kiss Ranma stared at her stunned. "A… A… Akane!" They had kissed before while he was in his girl form, not often and every time still caught him a little off guard but they had never kissed like that.
"You're the one who stuck your tongue out at me. I just put it to better use." Akane had given intimacy with girl Ramna a lot of thought. She stole glances at other girls during gym and in the changing room but she never felt even a remote attraction. She was simply not attracted to girls but she was attracted to Ranma as both a male and a female. So she finally concluded that the only reason she still wanted to kiss his girl form was because it really was his soul in there, his personality and his mind. He didn't turn into some girl, he turned into a girl version of himself.
"Don't get mad at me, I mean I don't mind kissing you as a girl but I prefer kissing you as a guy."
"Why? I get that it probably feels a little strange but it is still you, is it really that different?"
Her shoulders shrugged. "It is not important."
"Ranma, we promised to be honest with each other. Even if it isn't important I would like to know."
"Um… well I guess I like being taller than you when we kiss."
Akane giggled uncontrollably. "Is…" she tried putting her fingers over her mouth to stop her laughter, "that all?" When it didn't help, she gave in and wrapped her arms around her sides and continued to laugh.
"Told you it wasn't important. Stop laughing at me." The red-head rolled her eyes are her fiancé. "Is that next tub ready yet?"
Still giggling Akane checked the temp and added a little more hot water. Once ready she dumped it over Ranma's head but wasn't surprised when a girl was still sitting there.
She was afraid to bring the next bucket up to 30 degrees. That was the temperature the waterpark claimed to keep their water at but what if it was only 29 and that made a difference. She filled the tub again but this time brought it to 26.
Downstairs Kasumi heard her father and Uncle Genma arrive home. "Welcome home Father, Uncle. How was your meeting?"
"It went well Kasumi. Where is everyone else?"
"Nabiki went shopping with her friends and Ranma and Akane are upstairs. It sounds like one of them is in the bath."
They climbed the stairs and heard two voices coming from the bath. Soun charged into the bathroom with Genma close behind. "If you are going to bathe with my daughter you WILL marry her. I will not allow you to take advantage of her."
The red-headed girl screeched and jump backwards away from Soun's ghost head. "We ain't bathing together."
When Ranma had jumped Akane ended up missing him with the tub of water. "Great now we have to try 26 degrees again. Daddy what are you doing in here?"
Soun stood looking at the scene, Akane had a tub in her hands and was wearing a swimsuit while Ranma was in his girl form and seemed to have been sitting on the stool. "Well we heard your voices and we um…"
"Just thought you would catch us in the bath naked?" Akane dared her father to try and make something out of the situation. "We are going to figure out what temperature turns Ranma back into a guy."
"Um well I guess that is fine then." Soun backed out of the bathroom with Genma. "Come downstairs when you are done. Someone from another town visited the meeting tonight."
"I wonder what that will be all about." Akane mused while she refilled the tub trying to bring it back up to the right temperature. "Sometimes that means you have to leave to go help another town."
That was almost always what it meant, which would mean leaving Akane behind while he traveled for who knows how long. She would want to join them and the idea of putting her in danger made his skin crawl but at the same time they hadn't been separated for more than a few hours since China and she would never agree to stay in the house the whole time he was gone.
A bucket of water was dumped over the pig-tailed girl shocking her out of her reverie. Akane had been talking and was in the middle of a sentence before she realized Ranma wasn't paying attention. "Did you even hear what I said?"
"Sorry."
She took a deep breath and started another tub. "I said that I think I should be allowed to go if you have to leave."
"Why? We handle it fine without you and 3 guys can stay in one room easier."
"I don't like being left behind. I want to help too."
"I don't know. I am sure your father will hate the idea."
Ranma wasn't saying no and that was a very good sign. She checked the water temperature of her tub and saw it was ready. She decided to wait and try again later and hoped their fathers took her side. Dumping the water over her fiancé's head she looked for a change but was disappointed to still see red hair.
"This is getting irritating. We should just try 30 degrees and get it over with."
"I thought about that but I am afraid the temperature of one pool could be a degree or two warmer or cooler than another. If 30 changes you but we don't know about 28 or 29 it could be really embarrassing for you."
"Gah… fine."
She was already filling the next tub and testing the temperature. Ranma continued to complain and Akane continued to ignore him as they tested 27, 28 and 29. She was prepping the next one and couldn't believe how nervous she was for Ranma. He had gotten more and more irritable as they tested the different temperatures, she figured he was probably as nervous as she was. Maybe more.
"Here is 30. Ready?"
"Just get it over with."
She closed her eyes and dumped the water. "Ranma?" She heard the stool shift against the floor and footsteps head towards the door.
"Didn't work. Didn't think it would." The door slammed behind him.
The tub clattered against the floor as Akane rushed to follow.
AN: Up dates will probably happen every 4 or 5 days. I am not as far ahead on this one as I was the last one. I am also wanting to try and post chapters that are a little longer than last time. R&R as you like.