Disclaimer - I do not own ranma 1/2.
Chapter 4 – Gaining speed
The next morning Akane and Ranma met their friends in front of the water park entrance. Ranma had already doused himself with cold water before leaving the house; he couldn't help but feel odd standing with the group waiting to get in. Hiroshi and Daisuke were practically preening; he finally figured out that they looked very popular with the ladies having 6 girls follow them into the park. He briefly considered pulling one of his girlie acts on them and insisting they pay for his entrance fee, doing that to Ryoga was fun but he had to see these guys at school every day.
Akane glanced at Ranma nervously; she had been worried all morning that her fiancé would be miserable today. He had been quiet at breakfast this morning only mumbling 'I'll go get ready' when he was finished. She had known that meant cold water but usually he didn't really care about changing these days. Honestly, she only sort of understood his melancholy. He had chosen to become a girl on a number of occasions and lately when accidents happened at school, which was fairly often, he laughed it off and went to find hot water. The entire male student body had gotten used to him casually walking into the locker room as a female and exiting the showers as a male.
After entering they were supposed to turn left into the women's changing rooms or right into the men's. Ranma stood in front of the two arrows trying to decide which choice would be less awkward.
Hiroshi noticed his friend and approached her, "You use the guy's locker room at school."
"But everyone there knows it is me. People here will probably freak out."
Yuka stared wide-eyed at the red head, "But you can't go into the girl's side! I mean you still feel like a guy right? You just look like a girl."
Sayuri stepped in front of Ranma, "This is our fault, we didn't think about how crazy this could be for you…"
"It's okay," she mumbled, "I'll…"
"… Don't interrupt me." She poked Ranma lightly on the forehead. "I have an idea."
Everyone looked at her expectantly. Sayuri detailed her plan to let Ranma into a changing room without causing anyone, including Ranma, to feel too weird. When she was done explaining Hiroshi and Daisuke went to the guy's side while Yuka and Shikako entered the girl's side. A short time later Yuka stuck her head out and indicated it was okay to enter. Akane and Ranma went into the girl's changing room to find it empty. There were rows of lockers, a shower area and a restroom. Ranma slipped into a stall to change while Akane quickly put on her bathing suit and cover up.
"Is it ok to come out?"
Akane smiled and glanced at herself in the mirror. She liked the way she looked in her suit and wondered how Ranma would react. "Yeah, I'm ready."
When she stepped out of the stall and saw Akane in the yellow bikini, she had to laugh. "It looks better on you."
"You think so?"
Ranma's eyes warmed as she put her hands on her fiance's shoulders. "You wore this to torment me didn't you?"
She smiled mischievously, "I might have. Did you wear that suit as a reminder?" She glanced at the embroidered BOY across her chest.
"Definitely"
Akane pulled Ranma in for a brief kiss. "Try to have fun today. Okay?"
"Yeah… okay."
"Go on out, I will let Sayuri and Makoto know that we are done."
Ranma nodded, stuffed her bag in a locker with Akane's things and left the changing room. When she got to where Yuka and Shikako were standing there was a small group of ladies.
Yuka turned to Ranma, "Is your cousin still sick?"
"No she is feeling better, um, sorry about the problem everyone." Ranma along with the two girls moved quickly away from the crowd to meet up with the guys.
Meanwhile, Akane approached Sayuri and announced that her cousin was feeling better now and the changing room was fine to enter. Fortunately there were only a few people waiting to enter. Her friends could now get themselves ready and she slipped through the room to the designated meeting spot. When she exited and got her first look at the park, she was amazed. Tall slides, twisting slides, a large pool that was somehow generating waves, a cabana with palm trees and winding through the whole thing was a river. People on floating tubes were relaxing as the current slowly pushed them along the winding water path. She wasn't particularly interested in the wave pool but the lazy river looked exactly like something she could do.
Ranma jogged over to her and pulled her by her wrist over with the rest while they continued to look around, waiting on their last two friends. So far the guys had kept the glances at her chest short and not overtly obvious; both had smirked when they read the embroidery and the girls had snickered.
When the other two finally joined them, Hiroshi spoke up first, "I think the water slides sound fun. Want to do those first?"
Everyone agreed enthusiastically except Akane who nodded timidly and tried to smile sweetly. Ranma noticed her hesitation and as the group starting walking to the slides she slowed down to whisper, "We can go do something else if you want."
"But you will really like the slides. Besides, I should look at them before I decide I can't do them. I am not afraid."
"Geez… I know you are not afraid, you have never been afraid of the water, you just sink like a rock." When Akane gave her an irritated look she put her hands behind her head and continued, "Seriously, how is it you can't even float?"
"How should I know? I just can't. You think I like not being able to swim." She noticed that Ranma wasn't paying attention to her anymore. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Look, silly."
"What?"
"People are carrying inner tubes up with them on those slides over there." She was pointing to a set of three slides that seemed to share a single set of stairs to the top. As they watched other people were placing their tubes at the start of the slide and climbing on. When they reached the bottom of the slide they floated to a stop and climbed out, it even looked like the water only came up to their waist or chest depending on the size of the person. "You can totally do those with me."
"I can! They look really fun; let's go." She grabbed Ranma's hand and pulled her toward the slides. When Ranma hesitated she turned around, "What's wrong?"
"You can't grab my hand in public."
"Oh, sorry, I wasn't thinking. Most people would assume we were just friends."
"I am probably paranoid but the guys will make comments if they see us, anyone from our school would know better and Nabiki knows we're here and that I had to come as a girl. I bet she would love to get pictures."
"Oh come on…" When Ranma didn't respond she sighed, rolled her eyes and let go of her hand, "Fine. Today we're just friends."
Ranma wasn't sure which was worse, being caught as girlfriends or being just friends. Even though she had said 'today' and Ranma knew that is exactly what she meant, they would pretend to not be a couple today, hearing 'just friends' was terrible. Looking at her fiancé in that little, now it seemed too little, yellow bikini, she really hated just being her friend. She frowned, "Yeah, let's go."
They caught up with their friends and found where they were supposed to pick up the tubes. They were right next to the stairs where a sign was hung to describe the three slides. One named Black Out was completely dark, another called The Typhoon promised to toss the riders around at turbulent speeds and the final one was the largest and advertise that two people could go down together.
Ranma smiled and pulled out a tube that could seat two people. It was oblong with two sets of handles and two clear places where people could sit. "Come Akane, let's do slide number 3 first."
"What? Ranma, we're hurt. Don't you want to go down that slide with one of us?" Everyone, expect Ranma, laughed at Hiroshi's feigned broken heart.
"Idiots"
The group climbed the stairs, when Yuka stumbled over her tube Ranma quickly handed the large tube to Akane and caught Yuka and the tube that she had nearly fallen over. "Gottcha," setting Yuka easily on her feet, Ranma handed her tube back to her and turned to retrieve the double tube from Akane.
Yuka gaped at Akane, who offered her a small smile in return. "Th… th… thank you Ranma." She watched the red head shrug. She had been present when Akane had been caught or picked up by Ranma in both male and female forms and found herself a little jealous of her friend.
Akane moved to climb the stairs behind her friend and leaned closer to whisper, "Nabiki had the same reaction the first time Ranma caught her."
Yuka giggled and was careful to watch her steps more closely.
As they made it to the top they chose their separate lines to the slide they wanted to ride first. Ranma and Akane were the only ones to pick the wider slide. Akane couldn't help but smile at the thought of her friend's response to Ranma. She was pretty sure in that moment Yuka had not been concerned that it was a female who grabbed her and set her carefully back in place. While all her friends thought Ranma was good looking as a male, none of them really understood that she didn't see a difference anymore between his two genders. Yuka maybe would understand a little bit better now.
The lifeguard looked at the two young ladies in front of him. The tiny bikini the dark haired girl was wearing was very fetching and he let his gaze linger on her exposed belly. Taking a look at the red head, he caught the funny word on the front. That one was probably feisty and her chest was great, too bad she wasn't wearing the bikini. "Hello ladies, riding down together?"
"Yes, we …."
Ranma had caught the look the lifeguard was giving both of them and interrupted Akane, batting her eyelashes and bouncing up and down in front of him, "Oh yes we sure are. This looks so fun. I really hope we don't fall out."
Akane glared at Ranma then rolled her eyes at her before climbing into the tube being held in place by the lifeguard. The guy was now openly ogling her fiancé's chest and she was feeling very irritated that someone else was checking Ranma out. "Come on Ranma, it's our turn."
Ranma climbed into the tube and used the rails provided to pull them onto the slide. She heard Akane yelp a few times on the way down as their tube slid high on the walls of the slide or they were jostled to one side or the other. After the first curve Ranma had reached forward and gripped Akane's waist while no one could see.
Akane felt Ranma's hands on her waist and smiled, it was nice to find a small way to make this feel like more than just a friend's outing. She could see the end of the slide coming up and knew those hands would disappear soon.
Their tube skidded into the small pool at the end of the slide and Ranma helped Akane out of the tube, "Again?"
"What the hell was up with you and the lifeguard?"
"Wha…?"
"You were flirting. You were with me and you were flirting with him. Making your chest bounce like that was ridiculous." She turned and marched away from Ranma to sit down at a bench.
Ranma wasn't sure what to do. She had been flirting with the lifeguard so denying it was pointless. How was she supposed to explain to Akane that she had always flirted with guys who tried to check her out? Akane was completely oblivious to guys wanting her. If they weren't like Kuno or the guys who used to challenge her every morning, then she didn't notice when she was attracting attention. Hell she never thought I found her attractive. She walked over to the bench where Akane was sitting. "Look I'm sorry. I wasn't flirting for the reason you think."
"So you aren't going to deny you were flirting," she stared at her hands in her lap. Somehow she thought maybe Ranma would deny it and she could pretend it hadn't happened. It felt weird to be jealous of her flirting with a guy. "How do you know what I think?"
"Why do you think I was flirting with him?"
"You like attention and the boost to your ego."
"You really think I want a guy's attention when I look like this?" Ranma sat down beside Akane and in a quiet voice, "I do it to keep them from flirting with you. I have for a long time."
"Me? He wasn't looking at my bouncing chest."
"He was before I did that."
"Not every guy that is nice to me is flirting with me. I never get checked out by guys anyway."
Ranma laugh at her, "Of course you wouldn't notice Tomboy. Believe me today alone you have been checked out multiple times. If I was a guy I would hold your hand and chase them off with a look. As a girl, I either distract them or punch them, your choice."
"Or you could trust me to take care of myself and we can have fun." When Ranma only grumbled at her, she reached over and swatted the back of her fiancé's head, "or I suppose I could just react like you and punch any guy who checks you out and what was the other thing… hmmm distract them from looking at you. How should I go about doing that?"
Ranma had flinched when she smacked her head but as soon as Akane had mentioned distracting guys her head had snapped up to stare at her. Does Akane get jealous of stupid guys looking at my female body? "Fine, you made your point. I will stop."
"Good"
Ranma put her hands behind her head and leaned back on the bench. "So you were mad because that lifeguard looking at me made you jealous?"
"No I was mad because you acted like an idiot."
"Ha, that is nothing new. I think you didn't like me being checked out by him."
"Why would I be jealous of that? You don't like guys so there is no reason to be jealous." The truth of course was that she had felt a little jealous. She didn't like that guy leering at Ranma's chest.
"Fine whatever you say." Ranma stood up and turned to Akane. "Let's go down again.
"Okay" She stood and walked back to the stairs. "I want to sit in the back this time."
"Why?"
She leaned in and whispered, "Maybe I want to hold your waist this time."
Ranma was still grinning like an idiot when they reached the top of the stairs and waited for their turn on the slide. When they approached the lifeguard this time, he was openly leering at them again. Ranma had to struggle to not react. She watched Akane on the other hand losing her battle with her temper.
"Well hello again pretty ladies." Looking at Ranma he wiggled his eyebrows are her, "Nothing boy about you. How about when my shift is done I take you both down the slide?"
Akane saw him move to put his hands on Ranma's waist to help her into the tube and she lost her battle. Akane planted her fist directly in his face. The lifeguard was temporarily dazed but managed to shake off the punch after a few seconds.
"How dare you attack me?"
When he started forward again Ranma flipped him onto his back and sat on his chest. She leaned in carefully and quietly spoke into his ear. "Touch my fiancé again and you will go flying off this platform." The lifeguard stared back with a shocked expression and numbly nodded.
The other swimmers who were waiting their turn started clapping and cheering at the pair. One girl approached Akane and placed a hand on her shoulder. "That guy has been hitting on every girl to come up here, even the ones riding with their boyfriends. Thank you for doing that."
Akane smiled at the girl, "Guys like that shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. You should at least report him to someone here."
"You're right. Thanks again."
"Come Akane, let's head down."
They climbed into the tube and Akane pulled them onto the slide. Before she could grab Ranma's waist however, the red head had leaned back into her and tilted her head back to smile at her. Akane returned the smile, "Well some guys are fine to punch if they hassle us." The tube jerked as it rounded a turn, causing Akane to grab tightly onto Ranma to stay upright.
Ranma grinned, "Next time don't pull your punch, that guy deserved a harder hit."
As the end of the slide came into view Ranma sat back up, wishing the ride had been longer. She again helped Akane out of the tube before returning it to where it had come from. She jogged back over to where Akane was waiting, "Let's find something else to do." She saw Daisuki wave at them and wandered over to him.
"Some of us are going to try out those super-fast slides over there." He pointed across the park where two very tall straight slides were located. The slides looked like they were nearly vertical except for a couple of flat areas meant to allow the rider to slow down to safer speeds before falling again. As they watched, riders flew down the slides sending a huge spray of water as they encounter the very long pool at the end.
"Hell yeah! I wanna do that." Ranma was practically quivering with excitement.
Akane spotted Sayuri and Yuka at the cabana, "I am going to join them," pointing at the table where they were sitting, "I want something to drink and we will be able to see you guys from there."
"You sure you don't want to come?"
"Yes, I will be fine." She had watched the riders skid to a stop and sink quickly. Even though it was obviously a shallow enough pool to stand up in, she was not in the mood to possibly make a fool of herself.
"Okay, see ya later." Ranma and Daisuke found the others and hurried to climb the long stairs to the next set of slides.
At the top of the stairs was a platform that separated the line into right and left. They decided to all head to the same one so that they could easily watch each other take their turns. Ranma shook his head softly as Hiroshi bowed to the girls beside him and declared, "Ladies first."
Makoto and Shikako giggled and climbed the last set of stairs. Ranma waited for the guys to continue on when Hiroshi looked at her expectantly.
"What?"
"I said ladies first." He was barely keeping himself from laughing. Beside him Daisuke was biting his lips to prevent himself from smiling.
Ranma wished her friend was wearing a shirt so that she could haul him up and give him a good shake. She had to settle for glaring at him, "I'm a guy."
Daisuke gave up and smiled broadly, "Not today. So you have to let us be gentlemen."
Ranma marched past them, "I just want to ride the slide. You two are not getting away with this." She watched the two girls take their turns. They had to lie on their backs with their arms crossed over their chest with their ankles crossed. Ranma couldn't help but think that it would be really fun to try to ride down on her feet instead but doubted the park would allow it. She didn't want to get kicked out already, despite the few cracks the guys had made and the incident with the lifeguard she really was having a good time.
The lifeguard on this slide was female so she didn't have to worry about getting hit on again. "Your turn young lady." She heard the guys snicker again behind her. Ranma took a deep breath and released it slowly. I guess it could be worse. Climbing into the slide she waited to be signaled to go.
As soon as the lifeguard blew her whistle, Ranma pulled hard on the rails to get a nice fast start and laid back. The slide dropped sharply and she let out a loud whoop. She hit the first level area and slowed down a little before dropping again, this time however she was momentarily weightless and nearly left the slide before falling again. This is incredible. Ranma loved the speed and the falling sensation, after hitting the pool she got out quickly and raced back to the stairs.
Akane sat with her friends chatting about the day. She told them about the perverted lifeguard and they told her about how much they enjoyed the other two slides. She saw her friends look at each other; they seemed to carry on a silent conversation. "What's up with you two?"
Sayuri blushed and had trouble meeting her friend's eyes, "Well we were wondering…"
"We probably shouldn't even be asking."
"…what is it like when Ranma is a girl?"
"You see what she is like. She acts mostly the same, well, unless she is trying to act girly to be annoying." When they were chatting about the park Akane had conveniently left out the part where Ranma had gotten jealous of the lifeguard and acted stupid.
Yuka sighed and shook her head at her dense friend, "We mean… What is it like being his girlfriend when he is a girl?
"Being her girlfriend? Well technically we are still engaged, so fiancé. I don't understand, I said she is the same person. Ranma just looks different."
Both girls looked pointedly at Akane, "You are evading our question."
"No I'm not."
Yuka was frustrated and didn't know how much time they had to try and get her friend give them something good, "Fine, do you hold hands when he is female?"
"Why does it matter?"
Sayuri pointed her finger at Akane's chest, "You are definitely evading now."
"You just want some good gossip."
"We only want to understand what it is like to date a guy and a girl." Yuka didn't think her friend would answer or would just repeat what she said earlier. They all tried to be supportive but after the excitement over the photos and the kiss after the duel had died down, her relationship with female Ranma had become the next great speculation to spread around the school.
"I'm not attracted to girls if that is what you are asking." Her friends were starting to look guilty so she tried her best to explain what she could, "Look, if I think Ranma needs a hug or if I want to hold hands I just do it. I don't pay attention to whether it is a guy or a girl I am with."
They stared at her in awe, this opened up a whole world of possibilities. Hiroshi and Daisuke often joked that they might kiss while Ranma was female but they never took it seriously. If Akane really didn't pay attention, it could mean they did.
Sayuri frowned, "But today you haven't held hands or anything else."
Akane shrugged, "We are in public. Most people, and apparently my own friends, wouldn't understand."
Yuka looked down at her lap, "We are really sorry Akane. We shouldn't have asked."
"Try to treat Ranma the same today, maybe you will start to see what I do. It is easy to forget gender after a while."
Both nodded at her.
Akane took pity on them and changed the subject, "Look the others are coming this way."
Hiroshi and Daisuke grabbed another table and pushed it up against the one they were sitting at. Makoto and Shikako sat down while the guys arranged chairs.
Hiroshi sat down, slouching limply in his chair, "Normal people can only do those slides so many times without dying. Your heart leaves your chest and your stomach takes its place. It is crazy… fun, but crazy."
"Makoto and I only went down once, the guys went down a few times."
Akane looked around in confusion, "Where's Ranma?"
Daisuke lifted his head up from where he had placed it on the table, "Ranma isn't normal, in fact, I'm not sure he's human." He allowed his head to thump back down against the table.
Akane heard another whoop come from the slide area and giggled, "Ranma is a lot of things but normal has never been one of them."
"He is going nuts over there trying to get more speed each time. It was exhausting to watch."
Akane smiled at Makoto and wondered if her friends would ever truly get used to the crazy things Ranma was willing to do. She looked back toward the slide and saw Ranma jogging over to the table. "She is apparently done."
Daisuke looked up and grinned evilly. As Ranma got closer to the table he stood up and pulled out the chair next to Akane, who frowned at his actions. Using a grand gesture he swept his hand across his front like a butler and bowed deeply, "My lady, your seat is over here."
Ranma growled at his friend, pushed him away and plopped down in the seat. Hiroshi was laughing loudly and Daisuke was holding his sides as he stumbled back to his own chair. Even the other four girls had their hands over their mouths trying to hide their snickers.
Akane gave Ranma a questioning look. He shrugged, "Those two think they are comedians today. Didn't help that the lifeguard kept calling me young lady. Well, until I tried to get a running start, then she told me not to come back."
Akane tried to eat her smile, "Shows what they know, you are definitely not a lady."
"That isn't exactly helping."
Akane watched her fiancé out of the corner of her eye for a few minutes as the group continued to laugh and tease her. They didn't realize the fact that Ranma was still sitting at the table and hadn't escaped like the other day spoke volumes. She should probably distract everyone before they went too far though, "I want some ice cream. Anyone else want to relax and have a treat before we go back to the water?"
Ranma perked up, "I wonder if they have parfaits."
Hiroshi and Daisuke stood up to go order everyone's ice cream. Hiroshi looked at Ranma who was still sitting down, "Come on Ranma, you have to help too."
Ranma lazily propped his head up on his palm. "A lady doesn't get her own treats." She twitched her eyebrows at the guys and batted her eyelashes a few times for good measure.
Yuka grinned and winked at Ranma, "I agree. I want a small chocolate sundae, Ranma wants a parfait…"
"…strawberry…"
"… yes, strawberry. What about you Akane?"
"Hmmm, I think a banana split sounds good today."
The other girls caught up with what was going on and placed their order too. Hiroshi and Daisuke walked away looking defeated. Hiroshi sighed dramatically, "We just got duped."
"There goes my allowance."
"We might have deserved it."
"Probably, we going to stop teasing him?"
"No way." Hiroshi grinned at his friend. "If we have to buy him ice cream then he has to put up with a little more."
AN: Mostly fluff I know but I was feeling bad that in my last story I mostly got rid of all of Ranma's friends so I wanted to give him back a little. Although these guys probably would never become best friends for Ranma, I still wanted to build a little more acceptance among their school friends. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. R&R as you like.