Alex V Morgan
11th January 2003, 12:54 AM
Ranma Nibunnoichi : Reflections
By: A. V. Morgan (avmorgan27@attbi.com)
A continuation of the Two Ranmas manga story arc (V35 P1-4). Sexual
humor and innuendo, nudity and violence. Consider yourself warned.
Disclaimer: Ranma Nibunnoichi, and the associated cast and concepts are
the property of Rumiko Takahashi and those publishers and distributors
to whom she has given official rights. This work, in no way intends to
infringe upon those rights. The ideas explored are those of the author,
and should not be construed to express the opinions or intentions of
the creator or associated agencies.
BOLD Emphasis
~Italics~ Thought/Flashback
*SoundFX* ^_^;
[Sign] O.O [Arrrrgh! Panda's can't TALK!]
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Part Thirty-Five: Cutting to the Quick
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A universal feeling of dread greeted the arrival of Ranma and Fa
Shen in the mirror trap. At the same time, there was a kind of
relief, since the intrusion interrupted the bewildered Akane's rant
over the fact that Happosai had been so callous as to trap even her
pet pig, P-Chan, and the small commotion as the piglet evaded her
attempts to snatch him up into a hug. It had been a small mercy that
Akane had already been out of the fight and out of sight when Ryouga
was transformed, but after the emotional upheaval following his date
with Ranma, he really did not want to face Akane in his cursed form.
Compared to the glory of making love with--and Mousse had been
correct in his analysis of the lost boy's true feelings--a girl he
believed to be Ranma, Akane's misdirected affection had lost most of
it's allure. To further bewilder the youngest Tendo daughter, when
Ranma collapsed in the faceted chamber, howling her frustration at
the way Happosai snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, the
little pig rushed to the red-head in an effort to console her.
"Dammit! We were so close!!!" Ranma cried, slamming her fist
uselessly into the floor of their prison. In her mind flashed the
scenes of Fa Shen's and her father's transformations, then her own
effort to reclaim her identity, in spite of the dire consequences
she could expect from Nodoka seeing her son revealed as a girl.
There was no longer any hiding from her mother, and even if it
killed her, there was a kind of relief that it had finally happened.
However, the one consolation she had hoped for was that the warped,
demented and perverted old man who had damned her would be the first
to die. "All we had to do was finish him off!"
Fa Shen grabbed her twin, once again marveling at the sight of her
own hand and its testament to her restoration, and hugged Ranma
awkwardly from the side. "I'm so sorry, Ranma! It was my fault! I
was so sure he was dead I... my overconfidence sucked you into
dropping your guard too."
Ranma felt the warmth of her arms, and heard the self-recrimination
in her voice, and quickly mastered her disappointment. "No. He's
duped us all so many times, I should have known to be careful
anyway. I just... I hope there's someone out there who can finish the
job. He looked really bad, even Kasumi could take him at this
point," Ranma snorted in dark amusement. She finally noticed Ryouga
squatting pensively in front of her, looking up at her with big,
damp eyes full of angst and concern. "Hey, P-Chan," she offered a
faint smile, picking him up and hugging him gently.
Akane stared in abject disbelief. "B-but, but, P-Chan HATES you..."
The pig snorted in disagreement, turning a pained eye to Akane and
then cuddling closer to Ranma's bosom. The image of Ranma's face, as
he ran up to her, full of loss and shame and fatal resignation had
sent a cold chill through Ryouga's heart. It was too easy to guess
what she assumed would happen now that she had been revealed to her
mother. It had been too easy to see that she accepted her fate, the
certainty in her mind that Nodoka would make her commit seppuku. He
knew that was not the case. Rather the opposite, Nodoka would expect
Ranma to embrace her "revealed" gender and marry, and what had begun
between them suddenly was free to grow without obstacles.
Unfortunately, he had no voice and could not tell her. He could not
let her know there was no more pressure to be a man, no reason to
fear her feelings for him.
At the same time, the certainty of death had already freed Ranma
from any fear of openly embracing the one she loved. Because Akane
was present, Ranma said nothing as she held P-Chan. Even now, she
would not break the promise that forbid her from revealing his
curse. Instead, she just held him, marveling at the paradox of her
emotions. Like the pledge to protect his secret, his weakness, the
feelings came to her second hand. Just the same, the boy she had
been all of her natural life had woken in the grip of those
feelings, and the sensations evoked to express them. Whether she
wanted to or not, she did love Ryouga. That had allowed "Ranko" to
become a girl, and now it allowed Ranma to embrace all the
experiences leading up to that moment as part of his own life. As
far as she could tell, being a girl, physically or psychologically,
did not really make Ranma less of a man. Seeing that she was doomed
to die for it, she really had no reason at this point to not be more
of a woman.
The sight of Ranma silently hugging P-Chan was enough to strike
everyone dumb. Fa Shen's mind had followed the same path as Ranma's,
and knowing about the intimacy between her and Ryouga, understood
the dull horror of her twin's situation. Akane was just baffled.
Unable to understand the behavior of either her pet or her "fiancé"
it did not occur to her to explain to Ranma what she had learned
that morning about Ranma's conception and Nodoka's intentions, if
her "son" turned out to be a daughter. Soun and Genma, however,
possessed a few more facts than Fa Shen, Ranma or Akane, and unlike
Ryouga, were capable of expressing them. Naturally, they huddled off
to the side and did so in their traditional manner by plotting.
Aware that P-Chan was actually Ryouga, and knowing that Ranma was
quite aware of this too, her behavior was quite revealing to the two
fathers. If the pair were not painfully aware of the consequences of
what Nodoka had witnessed, the sight would have disturbed and
enraged them.
"Genma-kun," Soun began, acknowledging with the very way he
addressed his old friend that their dream of uniting Ranma and Akane
was dead. "It appears that the 'girl training' undertaken by the
former 'Ranko' has borne unexpected fruit."
Genma swallowed hard, his mind shrieking in denial and frustration,
but nodded. "It appears so."
"I have noticed that, er--Ryouga...?--Ryouga seems to have picked up
and incorporated a great deal of Anything Goes Martial Arts in his,
ah, rivalry with your s... child," Soun elaborated, thoughtfully.
"He lacks much in the way of proper training and discipline,
however, he possesses some extraordinary talent and potential."
"And, regrettably, no few flaws to offset them. In spite of this, he
is the closest thing your child has to a peer."
"Ranma would not be the martial artist he... she is today, without
him."
"Agreed. Agreed."
"It... it grieves my heart to think that it would come to this. Still,
knowing what Nodoka intends, at least... at least there is some chance
in this that Ranma could be able to live up to her expectations. It
would be... unbearable... for all of us, if he... she was doomed to fail a
second time," Genma sighed. Though his original fear, the seppuku
pledge, had been dissolved, he had feared this happening with equal
intensity. It was ironic that the Jusenkyo curse had proved to be
the lesser threat, and that an equal danger had lain unnoticed all
this time. It would have been better to never have had a son than to
lose him in this fashion. "The joining of the schools will have to
wait for the next generation, my old friend."
"Indeed. It seems there really is no rest for the wicked," Soun
smiled grimly, seeing their dreams of retirement evaporate like the
morning fog. It had been a minor miracle that Soun Tendo had become
a respected member of his community. Now, for past misdeeds in the
service of the same man who now shattered their aspirations, the
kami had deemed it fit to deny Soun and Genma their fulfillment.
Genma adjusted his glasses and paused in thought for a moment,
before announcing, "Well, if any of the girls had managed to finish
Happosai off, Nabiki would have released us all by now. I suspect we
will have more than enough time to break the news to the children."
With a heavier heart than he had ever borne, he rose to his feet and
approached Ranma. Clearing his throat for attention, he proceeded to
explain to her all that had been revealed that morning in her
absence, and the consequences she now faced. By the time he was
done, Ranma was completely shell-shocked. In all the ways she might
have imagined that her manhood would be undermined, she had never
once suspected her very conception was in question. Just as she had
resolved to preserve what remained of her manhood, by facing her
death with dignity, even that was stripped from her. At the same
time, the thing she had known would ultimately be denied to her, any
hope of pursuing what she had started with Ryouga--however it had
actually happened--was being thrust upon her with the same
implacability as her original engagement to Akane.
"Y-you you WANT me to marry RYOUGA!?" she roared.
P-Chan squeaked in terror, at this perceived rejection.
"I believe Nodoka can be convinced to go along with it. She made it
very clear that she considers it her daughter's obligation to
produce a grandson who can grow up to be a man-among-men," Genma
clarified, soberly. With a deep sigh, he continued, "I know this is
very difficult for you, Ranma. It is certainly not what I would have
ever desired. If... if you don't want to be married to him, I won't
suggest it, however, your mother will see you married to a man."
Ranma cringed. The very idea made seppuku seem delightful. She knew
in her bones that it would be very difficult to put herself into the
position she had been in with Ryouga with any other man. Not
impossible. Sex was fun. All she needed was a female body to know
that temptation, however, marriage was a lot more to deal with than
she was prepared for, even with Ryouga. Meeting Ryouga's eyes, she
tried to convey this to him silently. Even more terrifying, the
thought of her mother turning her into a "lady" made her insides
twist in agony. Her mind flipped back to a moment, facing Copy-chan,
where she was confronted with the prospect of following in her
mother's footsteps. True, it had been the person she now thought of
as Ranko who had that experience, but it was passed on to Ranma with
everything else. If she tried to trace the route that thought had to
follow to end up in her head now, the world spun and her skull
ached. Too much of who she was remained the boy she had always been.
In a small voice, she protested, "I can't do it. I can't not be a
boy. She... she can't take that away from me. I'll go insane..."
P-Chan's eyes widened, as he finally understood her reaction.
It was at this point that Akane crouched down across from her and
stared her in the eye. "Ranma..." she began hesitantly. Her mind raced
through the weeks events, the stages that the current Ranko had gone
through as Ranma's identity was torn away from her. She bit her lip
and frowned, before coming up with an idea. "Maybe... maybe you don't
have to."
"What?" Ranma froze, focusing to meet her gaze.
"I mean, what about Ranko?"
"What about Ranko?" Ranma frowned.
"Well, technically, she's Nodoka's daughter. She's got the original
body. She's a lot more comfortable with the idea of being a girl.
You're not alone in this. Don't you think you should at least talk
to her, find out if she might be able to handle this obligation
better than you?" Akane pointed out. "You might not be a perfect man
to Nodoka, but that's no reason for you to abandon being a man
altogether if you don't want to, right?"
Ranma grasped onto what her former fiancée was saying. It went
without saying that if she did go back to China to regain her
manhood, it would be enough for their fathers to renew the
engagement. That alone would kill any possibility of being with
Ryouga. While she did not want to be forced to marry him, anymore
than she wanted to be forced to marry Akane, she did love him. He
was willing to get a nyanniichaun curse just to be with her if she
reclaimed her manhood with the nanniichaun. Because of her parents,
Ranma realized, she could not escape marriage. She could only choose
between Ryouga and Akane. Swallowing, she hardened her gaze and
pointed out, "You know what will happen if I become a guy again,
Akane."
"I... I know. That's not really the point, though," she looked down.
"The point is, you have to be who you are. You have to be able to
live with yourself. You've been a guy all your life, and well, from
what I've learned, all babies start out female in the womb. They
taught us that in school. Something causes some of them to become
boys, and it doesn't really matter if it's genetic or magic. You
were born a boy. You grew up as one. Just because there's something
out there that can turn you into a girl... all that does is give you a
choice. I think you deserve the right to make a choice, Ranma."
Ranma stared at her in amazement. In that moment, Ranma saw in her
the same concern, the same compassion and friendship, the same
support she had glimpsed in Ryouga when they opened up on their
date. Somewhere along the way, Akane had seen Ranma as a genuine
human being, and empathized with her. Ranma was instantly reminded
of the moment when she offered friendship to a strange, awkward and
lonely girl. In all the days that followed, the person who had been
Ranma had been unable to determine if Akane had genuinely cared
about him. Now, for the real Ranma, she had extended the same hand
of friendship, with entirely different words, but with far more
substance. The many feelings she had inherited towards Akane had
been missing one vital ingredient, one simple thing. As that feeling
suddenly sparked in Ranma's heart, she did not know if it was hope,
or faith, or gratitude, but combined with everything else, the
fledgling emotion she had struggled to understand suddenly matured
into love. It was agonizing, since it immediately threatened to tear
her heart in two different directions. At the same time, this love
found her love for Ryouga and in the brief struggle they found each
other to be true. Her eyes widened in surprise, as she became aware
of her choices, the difficult, damning choices, she faced.
For a moment, Ranma forgot to breathe. Instead of having reached the
end of the road, she now saw it was an unexpected turn. The path now
ahead of her split into a fork, but she had a good number of steps
to take before she was forced to choose. For the sake of Ranko
alone, it was necessary to reclaim what she had lost. She hesitated
to think how much harder than choosing between those who wanted her,
choosing between those she wanted, would be. At least she could
fight her way into a position where she could really make that
choice. Just as she felt things begin to spin, she sucked in a sharp
breath. Akane glanced up at the sound and Ranma met her eyes. There
was something in the dark haired girl's eyes, something that
responded to the gleam in her own. Rather than try to hide it, Ranma
just smiled faintly and said, "Thanks, Akane."
Unnoticed by either of them, Soun and Genma silently thanked her
too.
-------------------------
Nodoka had wandered into the back yard, deep in troubled thought,
after confirming through Ranko the somewhat bi-polar gender she
could expect in her new daughter and former son. Her head was
spinning from the convoluted history that had been so recently
unraveled. After viewing the tape showing Ranma's curse, Nodoka was
having a hard time keeping Ranma and Ranko separate in her mind.
That struck her as odd, because she was so used to believing they
were two unrelated people. Twice, she had seen the dark haired boy
turn into a red haired girl. Once in person and once on the tape.
Impossibly, neither time had it truly been Ranma she had seen. The
first time, she now knew, it had been Fa Shen. The drowned girl.
Nodoka still could not make heads or tails of that part of things.
What was a mother to make of the previous incarnation of her own
child, in the flesh? It did lend strength to the argument that her
son really should have been a girl. It did not help when she had
also been shown the transformation of her "mythical" son into a
person she was well familiar with. Ranko. It was so difficult to
imagine Ranko had only come into existence with the curse. That was
partly Happosai's fault for asserting that Ranko was the girl Ranma
should have been, and Nodoka had clung to that idea citing the curse
as the means she used to escape from her upbringing and assert
herself. It did not help that she knew Ranko and Ranma was a
complete stranger to her. It especially did not help that she had
spent more than a decade nurturing such hopes about her son.
She could understand Happosai's actions now, at least. There had
been so much she had not known, so much no one had known until the
last minute. Nodoka could imagine what would have happened if she
had learned of the curse before the mirror incident revealed all the
things the curse had hidden. Ranko would still believe she was
Ranma, Ranma and Fa Shen would have remained locked up somewhere
inside her, and Nodoka would have concluded, based on the Ranko she
knew, that "Ranma" was a man-among-men. The curse would have been a
blemish upon her son, but the contract had always hinged on
evaluating her son as a person more than a thing. Nodoka would have
encouraged her son to rise above the curse or find a way to remove
it, and she would have also encouraged his marriage to Akane to
satisfy the pact between their families. Under those circumstances,
"Ranko" would have died. Nodoka would have anguished over the loss
of a girl she had come to love as a daughter. Every time Ranma's
curse was activated, she'd see that girl again, but she would have
to treat her as her son. It would haunt her, taunt her, torture her
so that she never forgot what she had to lose to regain her son.
Happosai had forced her to confront a very different problem. By
declaring Ranko the daughter she should have had, he had made it
clear that Ranko could fulfill the obligation she expected to pass
on to Ranma if the truth of his conception was ever revealed. By
restoring Fa Shen, Happosai had forcibly ended the deception that
was dividing her family and allowed Ranma, who had been stuck as a
girl by some whim of fate, to reclaim her identity. As the story
came out, Happosai had pointed out how Ranma had used the
distraction of the fight to swap places with Fa Shen, who had been
caught off guard and forced to pose as her son when they confronted
her that morning. Happosai had even suggested why Ranma did so,
believing that Nodoka would enforce the contract once the dust
settled. Ranma did not even hesitate, in the face of certain death,
to prevent another from dying in her place. That was incredibly
manly, Nodoka thought, and as Happosai and Ranko both attested, and
as she understood, she had been as willing to sacrifice her manhood
to heal Ranko. Just as certainly, Ranma would endure another curse
to regain that manhood. It was too much to believe that, somehow,
she could get her son back. The only problem was the other thing
Happosai and Ranko forced her to see. Her very manly son might have
a need, a desire, to be female--at least on a part time basis.
That was the lingering mark of the curse, the price of surviving Fa
Shen's resurrection. Ranma considered himself a boy, much as Ranko
considered herself a girl, but they had both accepted the opposite
sex as a valid and necessary part of being who they were. This was
too difficult for Nodoka to understand. On one hand, it seemed
obvious that truly understanding what it was like to be a woman
could only make Ranma a better man. On the other hand, it was so
perverse. In her traditional mind set, men and women were clear cut,
mutually exclusive entities. Black and white. Yin and Yang. It just
was not proper to blur the lines. But, as a mother, it grieved her
to think that it could hurt her child, her children, to be forced to
conform to such conventional roles. Ranko had stated quite plainly
that it would hurt them, ~"I don't think anyone who has been both
could give up one and not feel half dead."~ It was enough to make a
mother want to scream and cry at the injustice.
Maybe if this last week had gone differently, maybe if Ranko had not
been forced to cope with the loss of Ranma's identity and find some
other way to define herself, she would have felt it possible and
necessary to find a cure for the curse, to return to being the boy
she believed herself to be. She had been able to get that admission
out of her, before retreating to think. After hearing Ranko explain
what Happosai was driving at with his "negotiations", Nodoka had
pressed, "You say that, because of you, Ranma figured out what it is
to be a girl. Until last night, you did not know you were not Ranma,
so, how could this have happened? What really happened?"
Ranko schooled her thoughts. Happosai had forced the story out into
the open, but what had been explained was more of an outline than a
real explanation. "When I was Ranma, I always thought of myself as a
guy, even when I was in my girl form. I mean, yeah, I'd be female
and I had to deal with a lot of stuff that was girly an' stuff, but
I never really pictured myself as a girl. I was always lookin' for a
cure, a way to go back to being a guy, full time. It wasn't until
after the last trip to the mirror, when the reflections got all the
memories of bein' Ranma that I really stopped to think about some of
the things I'd experienced as a girl," Ranko looked inward, trying
to recover the thoughts leading up to her epiphany. "With the
reflections, especially Copy-kun, I'd noticed how he brought
somethin' out of me that made me... well, feel like a girl, feel like
that was normal an' all. I realized that had been happening a lot,
when I'd be in certain situations, but I never really noticed it or
I pushed it off and tried not to think about it 'cuz I didn't wanna
be too comfortable with bein' a girl. I mean, I told myself that I'd
just gotten used to my curse.
"Well, when the reflections had all my memories, I realized they
would be Ranma and Ranko from then on, so I was trying to think of
who I was supposed to be," Ranko returned to the point. "It bugged
me to give up bein' Ranma, but I'd already accepted it was best. It
surprised me that I was upset about givin' up Ranko too. I suddenly
realized that pretendin' to be Ranko had allowed me to become a
different person from Ranma. A girl. I couldn't see that I was Ranko
until I totally gave up bein' Ranma." Ranko sighed and looked down
in remembered misery. "Of course, at the same time I realized I had
to give that up too. We didn't know about Fa Shen yet. Pops had told
me you had always wished for a daughter, when he came up with the
idea of havin' the male copy be Ranma. I thought you'd probably want
a normal daughter just as much as you wanted a normal son, so I let
the female copy be Ranko. Of course, she was still stuck thinkin' of
herself as Ranma in a girl's body.
"I was the only one who understood what it was to be a girl, and
when I tried to explain it, they didn't really understand how it
happened," Ranko pointed out, looking up again to see if Nodoka was
following her. "Anyway, Akane came up with this idea of setting
Ranko up on a date with Ryouga, since Copy-chan had fallen in love
with him and she'd been a girl. The idea was that those feelings for
Ryouga might help Ranko become a girl. Fa Shen waking up was
unexpected and it sorta messed things up. She dragged me into this
sort of dream where we met, and then found Ranma. You already know
that part, and how he woke up in the female body as Fa Shen was
waking up in the male body. Ranma would have woken up in a mind that
had just figured out how to be a girl, so that's how it's my fault
he can be one."
Nodoka had immediately thought of the conversations she had with
"Ranko" on that date, and the sudden change in the girl when she
came back from her walk with Ryouga. Nodoka had been worried, both
by the length of their absence and her concern about what the girl
had confessed. She could attest to how suddenly "Ranko" had embraced
her femininity, and how eager she had seemed to confirm it. Nodoka
certainly had suspected her of indulging, in spite of her warnings,
when she undressed the girl and she was missing her panties. That
had been bothering her, as Happosai drove home his point that Ranma
might fight to regain his manhood, but might not eschew his recently
acquired womanhood. As Nodoka stood now, gazing into the koi pond,
she noticed the clothes floating in it. The billowing, heavy robes
of the Chinese boy, and the sturdy travel clothes Ryouga had been
wearing. She sighed, automatically bending to retrieve the articles,
but as she gathered up Ryouga's outfit, she noticed a piece that did
not belong. She had helped "Ranko" dress for the date, and had
insisted on the black silk panties to match the rest of her outfit.
She had no trouble recognizing them when they floated out of
Ryouga's shirt as she pulled it out of the water. The boy's clothes
dropped from her nerveless fingers as she collapsed heavily to her
knees.
Suddenly, she did not need to ask how Ranma had learned that sex
would generate ki that would heal Ranko. She could not even utter
her shock. The scene in the bathroom with "Ranneko" returned. Before
bathing, the girl had disposed of the tampon, and Nodoka had noted
faintly that the girl seemed to have a very light flow. Not that
mere spotting was unusual for an irregularity in a period. Now that
she thought about it, though, the blood had stained the wrong end of
the tampon. Nodoka closed her eyes. How many times had she been
fooled because she wanted to be? At the same time, she recollected
Ranneko's concern about the threat to Ranma's manhood, the way she
had accused her self of being the threat. It was incredible how very
honest her child was in her deceit. Nodoka tried to imagine what it
meant, that she broke up with Ryouga, remembering that she brought
the boy to his knees with a few words. Nodoka hoped this meant the
girl had lost her virginity before her son awoke. At the same time,
Ranma knew then how to cure Ranko, and struggled with her desire to
help and the consequences of doing so, begging Nodoka to tell her
what she expected of her son. Trying to make her understand the
connection between girl and boy, and the necessity for one of them
to "die" for the other to live. Even confessing the absurdity of
abandoning the refuge of her present form, her adopted identity, to
accept the death her mother promised her. For the first time, Nodoka
could understand the pain and suffering of her son. The efforts he
had gone to, not just to protect himself, but to protect her from
suffering a fatal disappointment.
Picking up the panties and crumpling them in her hand, she realized
that there was no price her son would not pay to do what he felt was
right. At that moment, she could hardly fathom the state of his
honor, or the impact it could have on family honor, but the
integrity he showed in this impossible situation was inspiring. "Oh,
my son!" she hugged herself and hunched forward as tears erupted
from the depths of her soul.
-------------------------
As soon as Nodoka wandered out to think, Ranko turned to Happosai
and asked him when he planned to let everyone out. This roused the
others to jump in and comment on all of the dirty tricks he had
pulled that morning. This was accompanied by no few threats, and
ominous predictions of the suffering he would endure when those he
had trapped were free to take their revenge. Considering that
Happosai was almost as weak as Ranko, the old master was somewhat
concerned, as he too believed that Soun, Genma, Ranma, Fa Shen,
Akane and Ryouga would be eager to resume the battle once they were
free. In spite of the fact that Happosai had intended to see the
mess with Nodoka cleared up, he had not meant to reveal the truth in
such a spectacular fashion. His pride, temper and impulsiveness had
gotten the better of him. True, it had been great fun. He was quite
impressed that the heirs to his school, and a couple of their
friends, had managed to beat him to a stand still. That finishing
move by Nabiki and Kasumi would endure in his memory as one of the
most brilliant pieces of improvisation in combat he had ever
encountered. All three of the Tendo sisters deserved recognition for
that one, as it had been Akane's cooking that finally took the fight
out of him.
Brushing a tear of sentiment from his eye, Happosai finally
answered Ranko's question. "I really don't plan to keep them locked
up much longer. I need to see what Nodoka intends to do about Ranma,
and I am in no condition to resume the fight. I won, fair and
square, and I think that entitles me to some rest," he pronounced.
"You did NOT win, you old goat. You just barely saved your own
skin," Ranko grumbled. "If you had not taken hostages, Mom would
have taken your head. And don't go sayin' you fixed this mess, since
you also made it impossible for Ranma and Fa Shen to heal me, for
all sorts of reasons!" Ranko lowered her voice and leaned in close
to him, "Do you have any idea the kind of hell on Earth we'll get if
Mom figured out about Ranma and Ryouga?"
Mousse, ever the one with a sharp ear out, turned roughly towards
Ranko and asked, in his normal clarion voice, "Oh? When did you
figure out he popped her cherry?"
This made all of the girls, and even Cologne, stutter and gape in
shock.
"Who?" Cologne inquired, with a sly smile.
"What!?" Nabiki, Ukyo and Shampoo reared up.
"Oh! Oh my!" Kasumi fanned herself, blushing.
"Mousse!!!" Ranko fumed. With a sharp glare she let him know he was
signing his name under Happosai's on the hit list. "Just shout it to
the world, you blind idiot! Are you insane!?"
Nabiki was already shuffling facts, considering means, motive and
opportunity, and quickly boiled down the probable who, when, where
and why. "What" was already obvious, once Ranko endorsed the slip by
challenging Mousse. "I don't believe it!" Nabiki laughed. "Sounds
like Ryouga hit a home run on his date last night!" That made the
fiancées choke in disbelief, but the frantic looks on Ranko's and
Mousse's faces left them no grounds for voicing denial. Nabiki just
hugged herself and tried to stop laughing long enough to add, "I
wonder if it happened before or after Ranma woke up!? It's too rich!
This could only happen to Ranma!"
Shampoo and Ukyo turned to each other, remembering the way Ranma had
been acting when she got home, and what she said about her
awakening. It sure did not sound like Ranma woke up in the middle of
a "fight" with Ryouga. Shampoo remembered her joke about Ranma
getting knocked out and knocked up with instant, blushing, chagrin.
"Oh! Shampoo be sick! Shampoo think Ranma wake up during!"
That was too much for Ukyo. She snatched up her spatula and shot to
her feet, "I'm gonna kill that pig!"
"Ukyo! Keep it down!" Ranko begged, snatching a glimpse outside to
where her mother was pacing in thought.
Cologne was trying, with all her dignity, to contain herself, but a
shared look with Shampoo, who was staring at her with horrified
realization, forced her to release a cackle of mirth. When she
seemed unlikely to stop, the others regrouped around the table and
stared at her in suspicion. Nabiki narrowed her eyes, "I admit, it's
funny as hell, but, I get the feeling she's laughing about something
more than I am. Come on, Granny, spit it out."
Cologne struggled to get a grip on herself, gesturing to Shampoo to
spell things out. With a heavy sigh, shaking her purple head,
Shampoo tried. "Great-Grandmother tell you all, Ranma and Ranko both
amazon womans by reincarnation. In tribe, there three steps in
marriage. Is first, must face future husband in combat to show
strength. If man can defeat amazon woman is then she must give kiss
of marriage if she want claim husband. Even if woman can beat man
most time, if even one time man defeat in battle, she can claim.
Even if woman no sure, can always kiss later and take man to bed for
make marriage bond. If woman no want husband, but just good time,
she be very careful no kiss if he ever beat in past."
Cologne finally got her breath back and picked the thread up, while
everyone stared in growing comprehension. "Ahem. In spite of the
fact that Ranma regularly defeats Ryouga, when he first mastered the
shishihokodan, Ryouga defeated Ranma several times in quick
succession. If it should be found that Ranma kissed him, declared
her love, and then slept with him, Ryouga is now Ranma's husband by
amazon law."
Ranko swallowed hard. "But, it wasn't really Ranma who started it. I
mean, if he woke up in the middle of it... and for that matter it was
actually me who fought Ryouga... it can't apply, can it?" she
entreated.
Cologne paused thoughtfully and then amended, "Those are good
points, and from the interpretation of marriage laws as they apply
to you and Shampoo, such that he would not be considered Shampoo's
husband if you did not qualify, it could be argued that the marriage
is not valid. However, this would take a ruling of the council to
resolve since Ranma was technically a part of you during all your
past battles. They might well decide that you, and not Ranma, have
the valid claim to Ryouga--or he to you--and that you consummated
the marriage by proxy."
"What...?" Ranko asked in a very dead tone.
"Well, to establish that this does not involve Ranma, it would be
necessary to reveal the actual circumstances, and thus, let it be
known that this union was consummated by a projection of you,"
Cologne elaborated with a fierce grin.
"No way!" Ukyo shouted.
"Not good! Shampoo already claim Ranko her Airen! Shampoo no lose to
lost boy!" Shampoo joined Ukyo in towering rage.
"And I have to conclude my challenge for Ranko to be my wife!"
Mousse cried, panicking at the thought of seeing his plans shattered
so unexpectedly. "Even if she consummated a marriage with Ryouga,
the council must rule on Shampoo's claim, and that gives me time to
make my own claim!"
Cologne sighed, "This is true Mousse. As Ranko did not personally
engage in this activity, it would take a ruling of the council to
declare her responsible for that act. It would be wise, I think, for
Ranma to be informed of the legal specifics before she ventures into
any other, ah, indulgences."
"What about Fa Shen?" Happosai asked, grinning madly through the
whole exchange. He was quite familiar with certain quirks of amazon
law, and it was not impossible for them to be interpreted in such a
way that a person in Ranma's situation could end up legally married
to him or herself.
"As far as I recall, there has only been one fight between Ranma and
Fa Shen, and as it happens, Fa Shen currently resides in the
incarnation she fought against. Since they are both amazons, only a
formal marriage challenge can set the ball rolling, so the two of
them could make like a pile of bunnies and it would not make one
whit of difference," Cologne smirked.
"So, I might be married to Ryouga because he's not an amazon," Ranko
fumed. She searched her self and easily found the foundation of
emotions for Ryouga that Ranma had apparently embraced, either as
"Ranko" or as a consequence of what she started. It did not escape
her that Ryouga was the one good reason Ranma had to be a girl. That
had been the whole point, after all. If Ranma fell for it, it was a
safe bet she could too. It was not a completely horrifying thought,
but the very idea of competing against Ranma, or watching Ryouga try
to chose between them, was very disturbing.
Just then, the sound of Nodoka crying out in the yard caught
everyone's attention. She had collapsed next to the koi pond,
clutching a bit of black fabric in her hand as she hugged herself
and cried with great, racking sobs. Ranko was instantly alarmed, and
began to struggle to make her body take her out to her mother's
side. There was no lack of strength in her body, but a kind of
paralysis of will that made it so hard to command her own limbs. So,
she shot to her feet, and then her body stopped receiving commands
as that one impulse sapped all her psychic energy. Ukyo was there to
catch her before she toppled over in an uncoordinated heap. By the
time the girl had the leverage to help Ranko walk, Nodoka had risen
to her feet and shaken off her outburst of grief. Standing tall and
proud, she turned and reentered the house. She paused, to lay a
comforting hand on Ranko's cheek, then pressed on to confront the
master.
"I need to speak to my son," she commanded.
-------------------------
The people inside the mirror had begun to despair of ever being
released by the time the portal over head lit up, alerting them that
someone had opened the mirror. It was with some surprise that they
saw Nabiki appear at the mouth of their prison, and then drop, as if
choreographed, right into her father's outstretched arms. There
followed a bit of commotion as everyone tried to ask at once what
had happened, why she was being trapped, what Happosai was up to now
and if he was still weak enough for them to finish off if they
managed to escape. Nabiki cleared her throat and called for silence
before making her announcement.
"Happosai is as helpless as a baby. Fa Shen's final attack took the
fight out of him and a bowl full of Akane's cooking put him down for
the count," she declared. She quickly described the end of the
fight. "Once she understood that he had you all hostage, Nodoka
realized she could not finish him off. He offered to negotiate, and
we called in reinforcements. Cologne and Shampoo came over, and so
did Ukyo and Dr. Tofu. Between Cologne and Tofu, Happosai is under
control, but here's the bad news." Nabiki paused dramatically. When
everyone was about to burst, she dropped the bomb. "Happosai told
Nodoka the truth. Everything."
There was instant mayhem. The two fathers ran around the faceted
chamber shouting in anguish that they were all doomed, while Ranma
squared herself, meeting Nabiki's eye. "How did she take it? Pops
an' everyone explained the Togenkyo thing to me when I got here. I
dunno if she still wants to make a girl out of me or what, but..." she
shrugged, trusting Nabiki to guess what she had been thinking.
"After she thought about it, she said she needed to speak to you.
Happosai tried to make her understand about Ranko and Fa Shen, and
pointed out a lot of reasons why she should let you decide about
being a man again. She clammed up, though, saying she wants to speak
to her 'son'. Happosai sent me in to explain what was going on and
to warn you not to attack him. Ranko 'gave her word as a martial
artist' to protect him, but she's just a hostage to get you all out.
So, you have to kill him later, people," Nabiki warned, with a sharp
gleam in her eye. She then pulled something out of her pocket and
handed it to Ranma. "Before I went in, Nodoka told me to give this
to you."
Ranma took the wad of black cloth from Nabiki's hand and shook it
out. With a gasp, she recognized the panties Ryouga had kept as a
souvenir of their date. P-Chan gave a strangled, piggish wail and
tried to snatch the panties out of Ranma's hands. On pure reflex,
she jerked them out of his reach and commanded, "Stop it, P-Chan!"
Rubbing her fingers over the silk, letting it sink in what it meant
for her mother to give her this, she ignored the questions that came
from the others. With a heavy sigh, she looked down at the pig and
caught his eyes. "She knows," she acknowledged, sagging in defeat.
Ranma had spent much of the time waiting, trying to think up ways to
convince her mother to accept her intentions to become a man again.
Akane had given her a reason to fight, to make her own voice heard
for once, but Nodoka had found a way to silence her without a word.
Before anyone could react to her cryptic declaration, the world
tipped on it's side and the group tumbled across the grass of the
Tendo back yard in a pile.
Looking up they spotted Nodoka, standing on the edge of the engawa
with the mirror upturned in one hand, the other poised to pat it
again on the back. "Oh, my. How can anyone get used to things like
this?" she muttered to herself, before examining the people
struggling to their feet. As she spotted the girl dressed in the
distinctive Chinese clothes, a bit of steel went into her posture.
Not taking her eyes off of Ranma, she declared, "I need to speak to
my son. Everyone, please go inside and take a seat. We will be with
you shortly."
Ranma remained where she was, studying her mother's face in
desperate hope of some clue about where this interrogation would
lead. The others quickly filed inside and Nodoka finally approached
her child. Allowing the warmth, love and longing of a decade to fill
her face, she pulled the girl into her arms. "Oh, my son! My Ranma!
Too many times I have thought I'd found you. I can hardly believe
this time it is you."
Ranma instantly melted in her embrace, her arms going around her
mother with a gentle strength that belied her delicate stature.
"Mom!" It was all she could say. It seemed like she had so much to
apologize for, so many disappointments to make up for, but even the
speech she had meant to make, to address all her failings, had been
rendered pointless by her mother's message. In a very real sense,
her mother had caught Ranma at her very worst and most inexcusable,
but her greeting conveyed nothing but love.
After a moment, Nodoka relaxed and held her child at arms length to
look in her eyes. Ranma looked back openly, sad but unashamed, and
that made Nodoka pause. Her eyes traveled down and she saw the
underwear clenched in one of Ranma's hands. Looking up, and taking
that hand in her own to draw attention to what it carried, she
asked, "Would you explain this to me?"
Ranma glanced down at her hand and back up. It seemed beyond her to
explain the complex situation that she had fallen into. The actions
themselves were unimportant, though. The reason why was what her
mother needed to understand. "Copy-chan only wanted one thing in her
short existence. Ranko gave it to her, and... and I hold onto it for
both of them. I didn't see any reason to keep Ryouga from having
something to hold onto too."
Nodoka took the girl's chin in her hand and tilted her head up a
bit. "Was it you?" she asked.
"The last time," Ranma admitted.
Nodoka gave a questioning look.
"I... it was happening when I woke up. It was... overwhelming. I didn't
even know what it was until I recovered enough to find the memories.
It was all over before I knew what I had done, and then... I had to be
her to deal with it."
"Do... do you feel what she felt?"
"I have to, or I can't... I can't live with it."
"You love him."
"I..." Ranma looked down. "I don't really have a choice."
Nodoka nodded sadly. Clearing her throat, she corrected, "Actually,
you do have a choice, but from this I can see it will not be an easy
one for you to make." She turned, still holding Ranma's hand, and
led her into the house. Ranma noticed that Happosai was sitting in
Ranko's lap, her hand pressed to his chest protectively. She looked
so weak. The only real protection she could offer the old man was
her commitment to putting herself between him and all harm. Meeting
her eye, Ranma understood. It was almost frightening how much
understanding there was between them. Ranma saw P-Chan waiting for
her, saving her a seat around the table, and moved over to pick up
the piglet and kneel. Nodoka saw this as she sat down to Ranma's
left. Without a word, she picked up the tea kettle and poured the
pair of them a drink. She finished this normal, domestic gesture by
dumping the remaining contents of the kettle over P-Chan, catching
everyone by surprise.
"RYOUGA!!!" Akane was instantly on her feet, a column of spectral
fury erupting from her shaking form.
Ryouga, was so stunned by Nodoka's action that he did not react
immediately. He was much too large in human form for Ranma's lap, so
he had slid down on his but and now leaned back into the petite
girl, his legs akimbo, and nothing but a brilliant shade of red to
wear. Nodoka casually glanced down and smiled in appreciation of the
boy's endowments. Lifting her eyes, ignoring the efforts of Shampoo,
Ukyo, Mousse and Fa Shen to restrain Akane, she questioned Ryouga,
point blank, "Ryouga-chan, do you love Ranma?"
Ryouga, suddenly realizing it was not a nightmare, scrabbled to
cover himself and hide behind Ranma. His eyes darted over where a
cloud of dust and debris shrouded the five teens on the other side
of the room, and cringed at the sound of Akane revealing her entire
repertoire of curses and threats. The shouts and cries of those
trying to subdue her drowned much of it out. While few people would
find much to praise about Akane's cooking, everyone would agree that
it was creative, and she was investing all of this talent in naming
the many ways she intended to serve Ryouga on a platter. If he was
not paralyzed with fear, he would have already raced out of the
house, clothes or no clothes.
"Ryouga-chan?" Nodoka waved a hand in front of his face.
With a start Ryouga turned and focused on her, "Huh?"
"Do you love Ranma?" Nodoka repeated.
Ryouga felt the girl he was hiding behind go stiff in anticipation
of his answer. Without even thinking, he slipped his arms around her
from behind and hugged her to him, firmly but gently, "I do."
The quiet, confident response cut through the chaos across the room,
and Akane sat bolt upright, dislodging the people piled on top of
her. "I don't believe it!"
Ryouga turned to her, trying not to cringe, "It was your idea,
Akane."
Akane blinked. "You pervert!" There were tears of grief and betrayal
streaming down her face. Denied her vengeance, the true emotions
that moved her finally took over. "I hate you! I never want to see
you again!"
Ryouga flinched in agony, his long held dread finally realized, and
only the feel of Ranma in his arms could keep those words from
slashing his heart to ribbons. "A-Akane..."
"Shut up! I thought you were my friend!" she sobbed in anger. "You...
you... bastard! You were using me! J-just like... just like you're using
Ranma!" she pointed, the anger and betrayal truly evoking hatred as
she tipped over the edge. "Well! You can't have him! Ranma is MY
fiancé and YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!!!" she roared, her mind running down
that familiar road, lured on by a shared look as she opened up to
Ranma in the mirror trap.
Nodoka, unaware of the history of Akane and P-Chan, listened to this
and frowned in motherly concern. "Oh, dear. This is what I was
afraid of."
Everyone looked at her.
Nodoka heaved a heavy breath and turned to Ranma, as Akane paused to
see what she was about to drop on Ranma. "Ranma, my son. I see two
choices for you. You can remain my daughter, and marry Ryouga...
after... after..." she cut herself off. "If it were not for your
engagement to Akane, the pact between our two families, you would
HAVE to marry Ryouga after last night. If... if you truly wish to
return to being my son, then, then you will marry Akane. I... I won't
forbid you to take the curse in any case. To preserve your honor as
a girl, as MY daughter, you must marry Ryouga. To preserve the honor
of the family, you must marry Akane. Because... because you cannot do
both, you must decide which one to be with, and by that, whether you
are my son or my daughter."
"Nodoka..." Genma came over to her side, and stared at her in
bewilderment. He searched for her eyes, trying to get her to look at
him and offer some explanation for what she had just declared.
"Genma!" she looked up. "You have enough to answer for, I beg you,
do not add to it now!" It had been hard enough to make her decree.
She did not have the stomach to explain herself right now. Happosai
had pushed her too far, forcing her to see that Ranma needed to
decide for himself, but as the head of their clan, she had to
balance the outcome in the scales of honor. Fortunately, because of
Ranko, she had the slack she needed. As long as her line was
continued, the obligation she bore could be passed on. The
additional obligation Genma had added was a separate matter and
justification for one of her daughters to become a man and fulfill
it. She had assumed this would work for Ranma, but as a girl, her
son had unwittingly complicated everything. She hesitated to even
ask what it would do to a person to be fought over by a man and a
woman. Turning to the wizened old master, she spat with barely
restrained hatred, "Are you satisfied, old man?"
Happosai nodded, "It will do. Still too rigid in your thinking,
Nodoka, but I suppose this is the best I can expect from you for
now."
"Fine. Now, let my daughter go and leave this place. I am exhausted
trying to stay my hand. The very sight of you makes me want to kill
you."
Happosai cackled cheerfully, and had to rub it in. "Very well. Soun!
Genma! We're leaving on a training trip! Make it quick before Nodoka
goes for her sword." The two men froze in terror. They could not
describe how eager they were to set hands on their master in his
weakened condition, but Happosai had just stumped them. If they
followed their usual plan, they would have to appear to go along
with the old man's demands and pander to him until they could kill
him. They could look like real men and refuse his command, but lose
the opportunity to end his miserable existence. Ah, well, if ever
there were two men who were happy to be cowards and appear brave, it
was Soun and Genma. They loudly declared the end of their days of
bending to his whim, and proceeded to pack him in a box addressed to
Ethiopia.
"You two are so pathetic," Nabiki drawled as they lugged the box out
the door and handed it over to a hastily called freight shipping
truck. "You know that, don't you?"
While the little meeting dissolved into such odd tasks, Ranma, Akane
and Ryouga still remained frozen in place, stunned by Nodoka's
declaration. Ranma could feel their eyes on her, boring into her,
and could not bring herself to look away from where Nodoka was
sitting when she dropped the bomb. She stared out the open shoji,
over the compound wall and into the deep blue sky, wondering if she
had been damned or saved.
------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Part Thirty-Five
------------------------------------------------------------------
By: A. V. Morgan (avmorgan27@attbi.com)
A continuation of the Two Ranmas manga story arc (V35 P1-4). Sexual
humor and innuendo, nudity and violence. Consider yourself warned.
Disclaimer: Ranma Nibunnoichi, and the associated cast and concepts are
the property of Rumiko Takahashi and those publishers and distributors
to whom she has given official rights. This work, in no way intends to
infringe upon those rights. The ideas explored are those of the author,
and should not be construed to express the opinions or intentions of
the creator or associated agencies.
BOLD Emphasis
~Italics~ Thought/Flashback
*SoundFX* ^_^;
[Sign] O.O [Arrrrgh! Panda's can't TALK!]
------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Thirty-Five: Cutting to the Quick
------------------------------------------------------------------
A universal feeling of dread greeted the arrival of Ranma and Fa
Shen in the mirror trap. At the same time, there was a kind of
relief, since the intrusion interrupted the bewildered Akane's rant
over the fact that Happosai had been so callous as to trap even her
pet pig, P-Chan, and the small commotion as the piglet evaded her
attempts to snatch him up into a hug. It had been a small mercy that
Akane had already been out of the fight and out of sight when Ryouga
was transformed, but after the emotional upheaval following his date
with Ranma, he really did not want to face Akane in his cursed form.
Compared to the glory of making love with--and Mousse had been
correct in his analysis of the lost boy's true feelings--a girl he
believed to be Ranma, Akane's misdirected affection had lost most of
it's allure. To further bewilder the youngest Tendo daughter, when
Ranma collapsed in the faceted chamber, howling her frustration at
the way Happosai snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, the
little pig rushed to the red-head in an effort to console her.
"Dammit! We were so close!!!" Ranma cried, slamming her fist
uselessly into the floor of their prison. In her mind flashed the
scenes of Fa Shen's and her father's transformations, then her own
effort to reclaim her identity, in spite of the dire consequences
she could expect from Nodoka seeing her son revealed as a girl.
There was no longer any hiding from her mother, and even if it
killed her, there was a kind of relief that it had finally happened.
However, the one consolation she had hoped for was that the warped,
demented and perverted old man who had damned her would be the first
to die. "All we had to do was finish him off!"
Fa Shen grabbed her twin, once again marveling at the sight of her
own hand and its testament to her restoration, and hugged Ranma
awkwardly from the side. "I'm so sorry, Ranma! It was my fault! I
was so sure he was dead I... my overconfidence sucked you into
dropping your guard too."
Ranma felt the warmth of her arms, and heard the self-recrimination
in her voice, and quickly mastered her disappointment. "No. He's
duped us all so many times, I should have known to be careful
anyway. I just... I hope there's someone out there who can finish the
job. He looked really bad, even Kasumi could take him at this
point," Ranma snorted in dark amusement. She finally noticed Ryouga
squatting pensively in front of her, looking up at her with big,
damp eyes full of angst and concern. "Hey, P-Chan," she offered a
faint smile, picking him up and hugging him gently.
Akane stared in abject disbelief. "B-but, but, P-Chan HATES you..."
The pig snorted in disagreement, turning a pained eye to Akane and
then cuddling closer to Ranma's bosom. The image of Ranma's face, as
he ran up to her, full of loss and shame and fatal resignation had
sent a cold chill through Ryouga's heart. It was too easy to guess
what she assumed would happen now that she had been revealed to her
mother. It had been too easy to see that she accepted her fate, the
certainty in her mind that Nodoka would make her commit seppuku. He
knew that was not the case. Rather the opposite, Nodoka would expect
Ranma to embrace her "revealed" gender and marry, and what had begun
between them suddenly was free to grow without obstacles.
Unfortunately, he had no voice and could not tell her. He could not
let her know there was no more pressure to be a man, no reason to
fear her feelings for him.
At the same time, the certainty of death had already freed Ranma
from any fear of openly embracing the one she loved. Because Akane
was present, Ranma said nothing as she held P-Chan. Even now, she
would not break the promise that forbid her from revealing his
curse. Instead, she just held him, marveling at the paradox of her
emotions. Like the pledge to protect his secret, his weakness, the
feelings came to her second hand. Just the same, the boy she had
been all of her natural life had woken in the grip of those
feelings, and the sensations evoked to express them. Whether she
wanted to or not, she did love Ryouga. That had allowed "Ranko" to
become a girl, and now it allowed Ranma to embrace all the
experiences leading up to that moment as part of his own life. As
far as she could tell, being a girl, physically or psychologically,
did not really make Ranma less of a man. Seeing that she was doomed
to die for it, she really had no reason at this point to not be more
of a woman.
The sight of Ranma silently hugging P-Chan was enough to strike
everyone dumb. Fa Shen's mind had followed the same path as Ranma's,
and knowing about the intimacy between her and Ryouga, understood
the dull horror of her twin's situation. Akane was just baffled.
Unable to understand the behavior of either her pet or her "fiancé"
it did not occur to her to explain to Ranma what she had learned
that morning about Ranma's conception and Nodoka's intentions, if
her "son" turned out to be a daughter. Soun and Genma, however,
possessed a few more facts than Fa Shen, Ranma or Akane, and unlike
Ryouga, were capable of expressing them. Naturally, they huddled off
to the side and did so in their traditional manner by plotting.
Aware that P-Chan was actually Ryouga, and knowing that Ranma was
quite aware of this too, her behavior was quite revealing to the two
fathers. If the pair were not painfully aware of the consequences of
what Nodoka had witnessed, the sight would have disturbed and
enraged them.
"Genma-kun," Soun began, acknowledging with the very way he
addressed his old friend that their dream of uniting Ranma and Akane
was dead. "It appears that the 'girl training' undertaken by the
former 'Ranko' has borne unexpected fruit."
Genma swallowed hard, his mind shrieking in denial and frustration,
but nodded. "It appears so."
"I have noticed that, er--Ryouga...?--Ryouga seems to have picked up
and incorporated a great deal of Anything Goes Martial Arts in his,
ah, rivalry with your s... child," Soun elaborated, thoughtfully.
"He lacks much in the way of proper training and discipline,
however, he possesses some extraordinary talent and potential."
"And, regrettably, no few flaws to offset them. In spite of this, he
is the closest thing your child has to a peer."
"Ranma would not be the martial artist he... she is today, without
him."
"Agreed. Agreed."
"It... it grieves my heart to think that it would come to this. Still,
knowing what Nodoka intends, at least... at least there is some chance
in this that Ranma could be able to live up to her expectations. It
would be... unbearable... for all of us, if he... she was doomed to fail a
second time," Genma sighed. Though his original fear, the seppuku
pledge, had been dissolved, he had feared this happening with equal
intensity. It was ironic that the Jusenkyo curse had proved to be
the lesser threat, and that an equal danger had lain unnoticed all
this time. It would have been better to never have had a son than to
lose him in this fashion. "The joining of the schools will have to
wait for the next generation, my old friend."
"Indeed. It seems there really is no rest for the wicked," Soun
smiled grimly, seeing their dreams of retirement evaporate like the
morning fog. It had been a minor miracle that Soun Tendo had become
a respected member of his community. Now, for past misdeeds in the
service of the same man who now shattered their aspirations, the
kami had deemed it fit to deny Soun and Genma their fulfillment.
Genma adjusted his glasses and paused in thought for a moment,
before announcing, "Well, if any of the girls had managed to finish
Happosai off, Nabiki would have released us all by now. I suspect we
will have more than enough time to break the news to the children."
With a heavier heart than he had ever borne, he rose to his feet and
approached Ranma. Clearing his throat for attention, he proceeded to
explain to her all that had been revealed that morning in her
absence, and the consequences she now faced. By the time he was
done, Ranma was completely shell-shocked. In all the ways she might
have imagined that her manhood would be undermined, she had never
once suspected her very conception was in question. Just as she had
resolved to preserve what remained of her manhood, by facing her
death with dignity, even that was stripped from her. At the same
time, the thing she had known would ultimately be denied to her, any
hope of pursuing what she had started with Ryouga--however it had
actually happened--was being thrust upon her with the same
implacability as her original engagement to Akane.
"Y-you you WANT me to marry RYOUGA!?" she roared.
P-Chan squeaked in terror, at this perceived rejection.
"I believe Nodoka can be convinced to go along with it. She made it
very clear that she considers it her daughter's obligation to
produce a grandson who can grow up to be a man-among-men," Genma
clarified, soberly. With a deep sigh, he continued, "I know this is
very difficult for you, Ranma. It is certainly not what I would have
ever desired. If... if you don't want to be married to him, I won't
suggest it, however, your mother will see you married to a man."
Ranma cringed. The very idea made seppuku seem delightful. She knew
in her bones that it would be very difficult to put herself into the
position she had been in with Ryouga with any other man. Not
impossible. Sex was fun. All she needed was a female body to know
that temptation, however, marriage was a lot more to deal with than
she was prepared for, even with Ryouga. Meeting Ryouga's eyes, she
tried to convey this to him silently. Even more terrifying, the
thought of her mother turning her into a "lady" made her insides
twist in agony. Her mind flipped back to a moment, facing Copy-chan,
where she was confronted with the prospect of following in her
mother's footsteps. True, it had been the person she now thought of
as Ranko who had that experience, but it was passed on to Ranma with
everything else. If she tried to trace the route that thought had to
follow to end up in her head now, the world spun and her skull
ached. Too much of who she was remained the boy she had always been.
In a small voice, she protested, "I can't do it. I can't not be a
boy. She... she can't take that away from me. I'll go insane..."
P-Chan's eyes widened, as he finally understood her reaction.
It was at this point that Akane crouched down across from her and
stared her in the eye. "Ranma..." she began hesitantly. Her mind raced
through the weeks events, the stages that the current Ranko had gone
through as Ranma's identity was torn away from her. She bit her lip
and frowned, before coming up with an idea. "Maybe... maybe you don't
have to."
"What?" Ranma froze, focusing to meet her gaze.
"I mean, what about Ranko?"
"What about Ranko?" Ranma frowned.
"Well, technically, she's Nodoka's daughter. She's got the original
body. She's a lot more comfortable with the idea of being a girl.
You're not alone in this. Don't you think you should at least talk
to her, find out if she might be able to handle this obligation
better than you?" Akane pointed out. "You might not be a perfect man
to Nodoka, but that's no reason for you to abandon being a man
altogether if you don't want to, right?"
Ranma grasped onto what her former fiancée was saying. It went
without saying that if she did go back to China to regain her
manhood, it would be enough for their fathers to renew the
engagement. That alone would kill any possibility of being with
Ryouga. While she did not want to be forced to marry him, anymore
than she wanted to be forced to marry Akane, she did love him. He
was willing to get a nyanniichaun curse just to be with her if she
reclaimed her manhood with the nanniichaun. Because of her parents,
Ranma realized, she could not escape marriage. She could only choose
between Ryouga and Akane. Swallowing, she hardened her gaze and
pointed out, "You know what will happen if I become a guy again,
Akane."
"I... I know. That's not really the point, though," she looked down.
"The point is, you have to be who you are. You have to be able to
live with yourself. You've been a guy all your life, and well, from
what I've learned, all babies start out female in the womb. They
taught us that in school. Something causes some of them to become
boys, and it doesn't really matter if it's genetic or magic. You
were born a boy. You grew up as one. Just because there's something
out there that can turn you into a girl... all that does is give you a
choice. I think you deserve the right to make a choice, Ranma."
Ranma stared at her in amazement. In that moment, Ranma saw in her
the same concern, the same compassion and friendship, the same
support she had glimpsed in Ryouga when they opened up on their
date. Somewhere along the way, Akane had seen Ranma as a genuine
human being, and empathized with her. Ranma was instantly reminded
of the moment when she offered friendship to a strange, awkward and
lonely girl. In all the days that followed, the person who had been
Ranma had been unable to determine if Akane had genuinely cared
about him. Now, for the real Ranma, she had extended the same hand
of friendship, with entirely different words, but with far more
substance. The many feelings she had inherited towards Akane had
been missing one vital ingredient, one simple thing. As that feeling
suddenly sparked in Ranma's heart, she did not know if it was hope,
or faith, or gratitude, but combined with everything else, the
fledgling emotion she had struggled to understand suddenly matured
into love. It was agonizing, since it immediately threatened to tear
her heart in two different directions. At the same time, this love
found her love for Ryouga and in the brief struggle they found each
other to be true. Her eyes widened in surprise, as she became aware
of her choices, the difficult, damning choices, she faced.
For a moment, Ranma forgot to breathe. Instead of having reached the
end of the road, she now saw it was an unexpected turn. The path now
ahead of her split into a fork, but she had a good number of steps
to take before she was forced to choose. For the sake of Ranko
alone, it was necessary to reclaim what she had lost. She hesitated
to think how much harder than choosing between those who wanted her,
choosing between those she wanted, would be. At least she could
fight her way into a position where she could really make that
choice. Just as she felt things begin to spin, she sucked in a sharp
breath. Akane glanced up at the sound and Ranma met her eyes. There
was something in the dark haired girl's eyes, something that
responded to the gleam in her own. Rather than try to hide it, Ranma
just smiled faintly and said, "Thanks, Akane."
Unnoticed by either of them, Soun and Genma silently thanked her
too.
-------------------------
Nodoka had wandered into the back yard, deep in troubled thought,
after confirming through Ranko the somewhat bi-polar gender she
could expect in her new daughter and former son. Her head was
spinning from the convoluted history that had been so recently
unraveled. After viewing the tape showing Ranma's curse, Nodoka was
having a hard time keeping Ranma and Ranko separate in her mind.
That struck her as odd, because she was so used to believing they
were two unrelated people. Twice, she had seen the dark haired boy
turn into a red haired girl. Once in person and once on the tape.
Impossibly, neither time had it truly been Ranma she had seen. The
first time, she now knew, it had been Fa Shen. The drowned girl.
Nodoka still could not make heads or tails of that part of things.
What was a mother to make of the previous incarnation of her own
child, in the flesh? It did lend strength to the argument that her
son really should have been a girl. It did not help when she had
also been shown the transformation of her "mythical" son into a
person she was well familiar with. Ranko. It was so difficult to
imagine Ranko had only come into existence with the curse. That was
partly Happosai's fault for asserting that Ranko was the girl Ranma
should have been, and Nodoka had clung to that idea citing the curse
as the means she used to escape from her upbringing and assert
herself. It did not help that she knew Ranko and Ranma was a
complete stranger to her. It especially did not help that she had
spent more than a decade nurturing such hopes about her son.
She could understand Happosai's actions now, at least. There had
been so much she had not known, so much no one had known until the
last minute. Nodoka could imagine what would have happened if she
had learned of the curse before the mirror incident revealed all the
things the curse had hidden. Ranko would still believe she was
Ranma, Ranma and Fa Shen would have remained locked up somewhere
inside her, and Nodoka would have concluded, based on the Ranko she
knew, that "Ranma" was a man-among-men. The curse would have been a
blemish upon her son, but the contract had always hinged on
evaluating her son as a person more than a thing. Nodoka would have
encouraged her son to rise above the curse or find a way to remove
it, and she would have also encouraged his marriage to Akane to
satisfy the pact between their families. Under those circumstances,
"Ranko" would have died. Nodoka would have anguished over the loss
of a girl she had come to love as a daughter. Every time Ranma's
curse was activated, she'd see that girl again, but she would have
to treat her as her son. It would haunt her, taunt her, torture her
so that she never forgot what she had to lose to regain her son.
Happosai had forced her to confront a very different problem. By
declaring Ranko the daughter she should have had, he had made it
clear that Ranko could fulfill the obligation she expected to pass
on to Ranma if the truth of his conception was ever revealed. By
restoring Fa Shen, Happosai had forcibly ended the deception that
was dividing her family and allowed Ranma, who had been stuck as a
girl by some whim of fate, to reclaim her identity. As the story
came out, Happosai had pointed out how Ranma had used the
distraction of the fight to swap places with Fa Shen, who had been
caught off guard and forced to pose as her son when they confronted
her that morning. Happosai had even suggested why Ranma did so,
believing that Nodoka would enforce the contract once the dust
settled. Ranma did not even hesitate, in the face of certain death,
to prevent another from dying in her place. That was incredibly
manly, Nodoka thought, and as Happosai and Ranko both attested, and
as she understood, she had been as willing to sacrifice her manhood
to heal Ranko. Just as certainly, Ranma would endure another curse
to regain that manhood. It was too much to believe that, somehow,
she could get her son back. The only problem was the other thing
Happosai and Ranko forced her to see. Her very manly son might have
a need, a desire, to be female--at least on a part time basis.
That was the lingering mark of the curse, the price of surviving Fa
Shen's resurrection. Ranma considered himself a boy, much as Ranko
considered herself a girl, but they had both accepted the opposite
sex as a valid and necessary part of being who they were. This was
too difficult for Nodoka to understand. On one hand, it seemed
obvious that truly understanding what it was like to be a woman
could only make Ranma a better man. On the other hand, it was so
perverse. In her traditional mind set, men and women were clear cut,
mutually exclusive entities. Black and white. Yin and Yang. It just
was not proper to blur the lines. But, as a mother, it grieved her
to think that it could hurt her child, her children, to be forced to
conform to such conventional roles. Ranko had stated quite plainly
that it would hurt them, ~"I don't think anyone who has been both
could give up one and not feel half dead."~ It was enough to make a
mother want to scream and cry at the injustice.
Maybe if this last week had gone differently, maybe if Ranko had not
been forced to cope with the loss of Ranma's identity and find some
other way to define herself, she would have felt it possible and
necessary to find a cure for the curse, to return to being the boy
she believed herself to be. She had been able to get that admission
out of her, before retreating to think. After hearing Ranko explain
what Happosai was driving at with his "negotiations", Nodoka had
pressed, "You say that, because of you, Ranma figured out what it is
to be a girl. Until last night, you did not know you were not Ranma,
so, how could this have happened? What really happened?"
Ranko schooled her thoughts. Happosai had forced the story out into
the open, but what had been explained was more of an outline than a
real explanation. "When I was Ranma, I always thought of myself as a
guy, even when I was in my girl form. I mean, yeah, I'd be female
and I had to deal with a lot of stuff that was girly an' stuff, but
I never really pictured myself as a girl. I was always lookin' for a
cure, a way to go back to being a guy, full time. It wasn't until
after the last trip to the mirror, when the reflections got all the
memories of bein' Ranma that I really stopped to think about some of
the things I'd experienced as a girl," Ranko looked inward, trying
to recover the thoughts leading up to her epiphany. "With the
reflections, especially Copy-kun, I'd noticed how he brought
somethin' out of me that made me... well, feel like a girl, feel like
that was normal an' all. I realized that had been happening a lot,
when I'd be in certain situations, but I never really noticed it or
I pushed it off and tried not to think about it 'cuz I didn't wanna
be too comfortable with bein' a girl. I mean, I told myself that I'd
just gotten used to my curse.
"Well, when the reflections had all my memories, I realized they
would be Ranma and Ranko from then on, so I was trying to think of
who I was supposed to be," Ranko returned to the point. "It bugged
me to give up bein' Ranma, but I'd already accepted it was best. It
surprised me that I was upset about givin' up Ranko too. I suddenly
realized that pretendin' to be Ranko had allowed me to become a
different person from Ranma. A girl. I couldn't see that I was Ranko
until I totally gave up bein' Ranma." Ranko sighed and looked down
in remembered misery. "Of course, at the same time I realized I had
to give that up too. We didn't know about Fa Shen yet. Pops had told
me you had always wished for a daughter, when he came up with the
idea of havin' the male copy be Ranma. I thought you'd probably want
a normal daughter just as much as you wanted a normal son, so I let
the female copy be Ranko. Of course, she was still stuck thinkin' of
herself as Ranma in a girl's body.
"I was the only one who understood what it was to be a girl, and
when I tried to explain it, they didn't really understand how it
happened," Ranko pointed out, looking up again to see if Nodoka was
following her. "Anyway, Akane came up with this idea of setting
Ranko up on a date with Ryouga, since Copy-chan had fallen in love
with him and she'd been a girl. The idea was that those feelings for
Ryouga might help Ranko become a girl. Fa Shen waking up was
unexpected and it sorta messed things up. She dragged me into this
sort of dream where we met, and then found Ranma. You already know
that part, and how he woke up in the female body as Fa Shen was
waking up in the male body. Ranma would have woken up in a mind that
had just figured out how to be a girl, so that's how it's my fault
he can be one."
Nodoka had immediately thought of the conversations she had with
"Ranko" on that date, and the sudden change in the girl when she
came back from her walk with Ryouga. Nodoka had been worried, both
by the length of their absence and her concern about what the girl
had confessed. She could attest to how suddenly "Ranko" had embraced
her femininity, and how eager she had seemed to confirm it. Nodoka
certainly had suspected her of indulging, in spite of her warnings,
when she undressed the girl and she was missing her panties. That
had been bothering her, as Happosai drove home his point that Ranma
might fight to regain his manhood, but might not eschew his recently
acquired womanhood. As Nodoka stood now, gazing into the koi pond,
she noticed the clothes floating in it. The billowing, heavy robes
of the Chinese boy, and the sturdy travel clothes Ryouga had been
wearing. She sighed, automatically bending to retrieve the articles,
but as she gathered up Ryouga's outfit, she noticed a piece that did
not belong. She had helped "Ranko" dress for the date, and had
insisted on the black silk panties to match the rest of her outfit.
She had no trouble recognizing them when they floated out of
Ryouga's shirt as she pulled it out of the water. The boy's clothes
dropped from her nerveless fingers as she collapsed heavily to her
knees.
Suddenly, she did not need to ask how Ranma had learned that sex
would generate ki that would heal Ranko. She could not even utter
her shock. The scene in the bathroom with "Ranneko" returned. Before
bathing, the girl had disposed of the tampon, and Nodoka had noted
faintly that the girl seemed to have a very light flow. Not that
mere spotting was unusual for an irregularity in a period. Now that
she thought about it, though, the blood had stained the wrong end of
the tampon. Nodoka closed her eyes. How many times had she been
fooled because she wanted to be? At the same time, she recollected
Ranneko's concern about the threat to Ranma's manhood, the way she
had accused her self of being the threat. It was incredible how very
honest her child was in her deceit. Nodoka tried to imagine what it
meant, that she broke up with Ryouga, remembering that she brought
the boy to his knees with a few words. Nodoka hoped this meant the
girl had lost her virginity before her son awoke. At the same time,
Ranma knew then how to cure Ranko, and struggled with her desire to
help and the consequences of doing so, begging Nodoka to tell her
what she expected of her son. Trying to make her understand the
connection between girl and boy, and the necessity for one of them
to "die" for the other to live. Even confessing the absurdity of
abandoning the refuge of her present form, her adopted identity, to
accept the death her mother promised her. For the first time, Nodoka
could understand the pain and suffering of her son. The efforts he
had gone to, not just to protect himself, but to protect her from
suffering a fatal disappointment.
Picking up the panties and crumpling them in her hand, she realized
that there was no price her son would not pay to do what he felt was
right. At that moment, she could hardly fathom the state of his
honor, or the impact it could have on family honor, but the
integrity he showed in this impossible situation was inspiring. "Oh,
my son!" she hugged herself and hunched forward as tears erupted
from the depths of her soul.
-------------------------
As soon as Nodoka wandered out to think, Ranko turned to Happosai
and asked him when he planned to let everyone out. This roused the
others to jump in and comment on all of the dirty tricks he had
pulled that morning. This was accompanied by no few threats, and
ominous predictions of the suffering he would endure when those he
had trapped were free to take their revenge. Considering that
Happosai was almost as weak as Ranko, the old master was somewhat
concerned, as he too believed that Soun, Genma, Ranma, Fa Shen,
Akane and Ryouga would be eager to resume the battle once they were
free. In spite of the fact that Happosai had intended to see the
mess with Nodoka cleared up, he had not meant to reveal the truth in
such a spectacular fashion. His pride, temper and impulsiveness had
gotten the better of him. True, it had been great fun. He was quite
impressed that the heirs to his school, and a couple of their
friends, had managed to beat him to a stand still. That finishing
move by Nabiki and Kasumi would endure in his memory as one of the
most brilliant pieces of improvisation in combat he had ever
encountered. All three of the Tendo sisters deserved recognition for
that one, as it had been Akane's cooking that finally took the fight
out of him.
Brushing a tear of sentiment from his eye, Happosai finally
answered Ranko's question. "I really don't plan to keep them locked
up much longer. I need to see what Nodoka intends to do about Ranma,
and I am in no condition to resume the fight. I won, fair and
square, and I think that entitles me to some rest," he pronounced.
"You did NOT win, you old goat. You just barely saved your own
skin," Ranko grumbled. "If you had not taken hostages, Mom would
have taken your head. And don't go sayin' you fixed this mess, since
you also made it impossible for Ranma and Fa Shen to heal me, for
all sorts of reasons!" Ranko lowered her voice and leaned in close
to him, "Do you have any idea the kind of hell on Earth we'll get if
Mom figured out about Ranma and Ryouga?"
Mousse, ever the one with a sharp ear out, turned roughly towards
Ranko and asked, in his normal clarion voice, "Oh? When did you
figure out he popped her cherry?"
This made all of the girls, and even Cologne, stutter and gape in
shock.
"Who?" Cologne inquired, with a sly smile.
"What!?" Nabiki, Ukyo and Shampoo reared up.
"Oh! Oh my!" Kasumi fanned herself, blushing.
"Mousse!!!" Ranko fumed. With a sharp glare she let him know he was
signing his name under Happosai's on the hit list. "Just shout it to
the world, you blind idiot! Are you insane!?"
Nabiki was already shuffling facts, considering means, motive and
opportunity, and quickly boiled down the probable who, when, where
and why. "What" was already obvious, once Ranko endorsed the slip by
challenging Mousse. "I don't believe it!" Nabiki laughed. "Sounds
like Ryouga hit a home run on his date last night!" That made the
fiancées choke in disbelief, but the frantic looks on Ranko's and
Mousse's faces left them no grounds for voicing denial. Nabiki just
hugged herself and tried to stop laughing long enough to add, "I
wonder if it happened before or after Ranma woke up!? It's too rich!
This could only happen to Ranma!"
Shampoo and Ukyo turned to each other, remembering the way Ranma had
been acting when she got home, and what she said about her
awakening. It sure did not sound like Ranma woke up in the middle of
a "fight" with Ryouga. Shampoo remembered her joke about Ranma
getting knocked out and knocked up with instant, blushing, chagrin.
"Oh! Shampoo be sick! Shampoo think Ranma wake up during!"
That was too much for Ukyo. She snatched up her spatula and shot to
her feet, "I'm gonna kill that pig!"
"Ukyo! Keep it down!" Ranko begged, snatching a glimpse outside to
where her mother was pacing in thought.
Cologne was trying, with all her dignity, to contain herself, but a
shared look with Shampoo, who was staring at her with horrified
realization, forced her to release a cackle of mirth. When she
seemed unlikely to stop, the others regrouped around the table and
stared at her in suspicion. Nabiki narrowed her eyes, "I admit, it's
funny as hell, but, I get the feeling she's laughing about something
more than I am. Come on, Granny, spit it out."
Cologne struggled to get a grip on herself, gesturing to Shampoo to
spell things out. With a heavy sigh, shaking her purple head,
Shampoo tried. "Great-Grandmother tell you all, Ranma and Ranko both
amazon womans by reincarnation. In tribe, there three steps in
marriage. Is first, must face future husband in combat to show
strength. If man can defeat amazon woman is then she must give kiss
of marriage if she want claim husband. Even if woman can beat man
most time, if even one time man defeat in battle, she can claim.
Even if woman no sure, can always kiss later and take man to bed for
make marriage bond. If woman no want husband, but just good time,
she be very careful no kiss if he ever beat in past."
Cologne finally got her breath back and picked the thread up, while
everyone stared in growing comprehension. "Ahem. In spite of the
fact that Ranma regularly defeats Ryouga, when he first mastered the
shishihokodan, Ryouga defeated Ranma several times in quick
succession. If it should be found that Ranma kissed him, declared
her love, and then slept with him, Ryouga is now Ranma's husband by
amazon law."
Ranko swallowed hard. "But, it wasn't really Ranma who started it. I
mean, if he woke up in the middle of it... and for that matter it was
actually me who fought Ryouga... it can't apply, can it?" she
entreated.
Cologne paused thoughtfully and then amended, "Those are good
points, and from the interpretation of marriage laws as they apply
to you and Shampoo, such that he would not be considered Shampoo's
husband if you did not qualify, it could be argued that the marriage
is not valid. However, this would take a ruling of the council to
resolve since Ranma was technically a part of you during all your
past battles. They might well decide that you, and not Ranma, have
the valid claim to Ryouga--or he to you--and that you consummated
the marriage by proxy."
"What...?" Ranko asked in a very dead tone.
"Well, to establish that this does not involve Ranma, it would be
necessary to reveal the actual circumstances, and thus, let it be
known that this union was consummated by a projection of you,"
Cologne elaborated with a fierce grin.
"No way!" Ukyo shouted.
"Not good! Shampoo already claim Ranko her Airen! Shampoo no lose to
lost boy!" Shampoo joined Ukyo in towering rage.
"And I have to conclude my challenge for Ranko to be my wife!"
Mousse cried, panicking at the thought of seeing his plans shattered
so unexpectedly. "Even if she consummated a marriage with Ryouga,
the council must rule on Shampoo's claim, and that gives me time to
make my own claim!"
Cologne sighed, "This is true Mousse. As Ranko did not personally
engage in this activity, it would take a ruling of the council to
declare her responsible for that act. It would be wise, I think, for
Ranma to be informed of the legal specifics before she ventures into
any other, ah, indulgences."
"What about Fa Shen?" Happosai asked, grinning madly through the
whole exchange. He was quite familiar with certain quirks of amazon
law, and it was not impossible for them to be interpreted in such a
way that a person in Ranma's situation could end up legally married
to him or herself.
"As far as I recall, there has only been one fight between Ranma and
Fa Shen, and as it happens, Fa Shen currently resides in the
incarnation she fought against. Since they are both amazons, only a
formal marriage challenge can set the ball rolling, so the two of
them could make like a pile of bunnies and it would not make one
whit of difference," Cologne smirked.
"So, I might be married to Ryouga because he's not an amazon," Ranko
fumed. She searched her self and easily found the foundation of
emotions for Ryouga that Ranma had apparently embraced, either as
"Ranko" or as a consequence of what she started. It did not escape
her that Ryouga was the one good reason Ranma had to be a girl. That
had been the whole point, after all. If Ranma fell for it, it was a
safe bet she could too. It was not a completely horrifying thought,
but the very idea of competing against Ranma, or watching Ryouga try
to chose between them, was very disturbing.
Just then, the sound of Nodoka crying out in the yard caught
everyone's attention. She had collapsed next to the koi pond,
clutching a bit of black fabric in her hand as she hugged herself
and cried with great, racking sobs. Ranko was instantly alarmed, and
began to struggle to make her body take her out to her mother's
side. There was no lack of strength in her body, but a kind of
paralysis of will that made it so hard to command her own limbs. So,
she shot to her feet, and then her body stopped receiving commands
as that one impulse sapped all her psychic energy. Ukyo was there to
catch her before she toppled over in an uncoordinated heap. By the
time the girl had the leverage to help Ranko walk, Nodoka had risen
to her feet and shaken off her outburst of grief. Standing tall and
proud, she turned and reentered the house. She paused, to lay a
comforting hand on Ranko's cheek, then pressed on to confront the
master.
"I need to speak to my son," she commanded.
-------------------------
The people inside the mirror had begun to despair of ever being
released by the time the portal over head lit up, alerting them that
someone had opened the mirror. It was with some surprise that they
saw Nabiki appear at the mouth of their prison, and then drop, as if
choreographed, right into her father's outstretched arms. There
followed a bit of commotion as everyone tried to ask at once what
had happened, why she was being trapped, what Happosai was up to now
and if he was still weak enough for them to finish off if they
managed to escape. Nabiki cleared her throat and called for silence
before making her announcement.
"Happosai is as helpless as a baby. Fa Shen's final attack took the
fight out of him and a bowl full of Akane's cooking put him down for
the count," she declared. She quickly described the end of the
fight. "Once she understood that he had you all hostage, Nodoka
realized she could not finish him off. He offered to negotiate, and
we called in reinforcements. Cologne and Shampoo came over, and so
did Ukyo and Dr. Tofu. Between Cologne and Tofu, Happosai is under
control, but here's the bad news." Nabiki paused dramatically. When
everyone was about to burst, she dropped the bomb. "Happosai told
Nodoka the truth. Everything."
There was instant mayhem. The two fathers ran around the faceted
chamber shouting in anguish that they were all doomed, while Ranma
squared herself, meeting Nabiki's eye. "How did she take it? Pops
an' everyone explained the Togenkyo thing to me when I got here. I
dunno if she still wants to make a girl out of me or what, but..." she
shrugged, trusting Nabiki to guess what she had been thinking.
"After she thought about it, she said she needed to speak to you.
Happosai tried to make her understand about Ranko and Fa Shen, and
pointed out a lot of reasons why she should let you decide about
being a man again. She clammed up, though, saying she wants to speak
to her 'son'. Happosai sent me in to explain what was going on and
to warn you not to attack him. Ranko 'gave her word as a martial
artist' to protect him, but she's just a hostage to get you all out.
So, you have to kill him later, people," Nabiki warned, with a sharp
gleam in her eye. She then pulled something out of her pocket and
handed it to Ranma. "Before I went in, Nodoka told me to give this
to you."
Ranma took the wad of black cloth from Nabiki's hand and shook it
out. With a gasp, she recognized the panties Ryouga had kept as a
souvenir of their date. P-Chan gave a strangled, piggish wail and
tried to snatch the panties out of Ranma's hands. On pure reflex,
she jerked them out of his reach and commanded, "Stop it, P-Chan!"
Rubbing her fingers over the silk, letting it sink in what it meant
for her mother to give her this, she ignored the questions that came
from the others. With a heavy sigh, she looked down at the pig and
caught his eyes. "She knows," she acknowledged, sagging in defeat.
Ranma had spent much of the time waiting, trying to think up ways to
convince her mother to accept her intentions to become a man again.
Akane had given her a reason to fight, to make her own voice heard
for once, but Nodoka had found a way to silence her without a word.
Before anyone could react to her cryptic declaration, the world
tipped on it's side and the group tumbled across the grass of the
Tendo back yard in a pile.
Looking up they spotted Nodoka, standing on the edge of the engawa
with the mirror upturned in one hand, the other poised to pat it
again on the back. "Oh, my. How can anyone get used to things like
this?" she muttered to herself, before examining the people
struggling to their feet. As she spotted the girl dressed in the
distinctive Chinese clothes, a bit of steel went into her posture.
Not taking her eyes off of Ranma, she declared, "I need to speak to
my son. Everyone, please go inside and take a seat. We will be with
you shortly."
Ranma remained where she was, studying her mother's face in
desperate hope of some clue about where this interrogation would
lead. The others quickly filed inside and Nodoka finally approached
her child. Allowing the warmth, love and longing of a decade to fill
her face, she pulled the girl into her arms. "Oh, my son! My Ranma!
Too many times I have thought I'd found you. I can hardly believe
this time it is you."
Ranma instantly melted in her embrace, her arms going around her
mother with a gentle strength that belied her delicate stature.
"Mom!" It was all she could say. It seemed like she had so much to
apologize for, so many disappointments to make up for, but even the
speech she had meant to make, to address all her failings, had been
rendered pointless by her mother's message. In a very real sense,
her mother had caught Ranma at her very worst and most inexcusable,
but her greeting conveyed nothing but love.
After a moment, Nodoka relaxed and held her child at arms length to
look in her eyes. Ranma looked back openly, sad but unashamed, and
that made Nodoka pause. Her eyes traveled down and she saw the
underwear clenched in one of Ranma's hands. Looking up, and taking
that hand in her own to draw attention to what it carried, she
asked, "Would you explain this to me?"
Ranma glanced down at her hand and back up. It seemed beyond her to
explain the complex situation that she had fallen into. The actions
themselves were unimportant, though. The reason why was what her
mother needed to understand. "Copy-chan only wanted one thing in her
short existence. Ranko gave it to her, and... and I hold onto it for
both of them. I didn't see any reason to keep Ryouga from having
something to hold onto too."
Nodoka took the girl's chin in her hand and tilted her head up a
bit. "Was it you?" she asked.
"The last time," Ranma admitted.
Nodoka gave a questioning look.
"I... it was happening when I woke up. It was... overwhelming. I didn't
even know what it was until I recovered enough to find the memories.
It was all over before I knew what I had done, and then... I had to be
her to deal with it."
"Do... do you feel what she felt?"
"I have to, or I can't... I can't live with it."
"You love him."
"I..." Ranma looked down. "I don't really have a choice."
Nodoka nodded sadly. Clearing her throat, she corrected, "Actually,
you do have a choice, but from this I can see it will not be an easy
one for you to make." She turned, still holding Ranma's hand, and
led her into the house. Ranma noticed that Happosai was sitting in
Ranko's lap, her hand pressed to his chest protectively. She looked
so weak. The only real protection she could offer the old man was
her commitment to putting herself between him and all harm. Meeting
her eye, Ranma understood. It was almost frightening how much
understanding there was between them. Ranma saw P-Chan waiting for
her, saving her a seat around the table, and moved over to pick up
the piglet and kneel. Nodoka saw this as she sat down to Ranma's
left. Without a word, she picked up the tea kettle and poured the
pair of them a drink. She finished this normal, domestic gesture by
dumping the remaining contents of the kettle over P-Chan, catching
everyone by surprise.
"RYOUGA!!!" Akane was instantly on her feet, a column of spectral
fury erupting from her shaking form.
Ryouga, was so stunned by Nodoka's action that he did not react
immediately. He was much too large in human form for Ranma's lap, so
he had slid down on his but and now leaned back into the petite
girl, his legs akimbo, and nothing but a brilliant shade of red to
wear. Nodoka casually glanced down and smiled in appreciation of the
boy's endowments. Lifting her eyes, ignoring the efforts of Shampoo,
Ukyo, Mousse and Fa Shen to restrain Akane, she questioned Ryouga,
point blank, "Ryouga-chan, do you love Ranma?"
Ryouga, suddenly realizing it was not a nightmare, scrabbled to
cover himself and hide behind Ranma. His eyes darted over where a
cloud of dust and debris shrouded the five teens on the other side
of the room, and cringed at the sound of Akane revealing her entire
repertoire of curses and threats. The shouts and cries of those
trying to subdue her drowned much of it out. While few people would
find much to praise about Akane's cooking, everyone would agree that
it was creative, and she was investing all of this talent in naming
the many ways she intended to serve Ryouga on a platter. If he was
not paralyzed with fear, he would have already raced out of the
house, clothes or no clothes.
"Ryouga-chan?" Nodoka waved a hand in front of his face.
With a start Ryouga turned and focused on her, "Huh?"
"Do you love Ranma?" Nodoka repeated.
Ryouga felt the girl he was hiding behind go stiff in anticipation
of his answer. Without even thinking, he slipped his arms around her
from behind and hugged her to him, firmly but gently, "I do."
The quiet, confident response cut through the chaos across the room,
and Akane sat bolt upright, dislodging the people piled on top of
her. "I don't believe it!"
Ryouga turned to her, trying not to cringe, "It was your idea,
Akane."
Akane blinked. "You pervert!" There were tears of grief and betrayal
streaming down her face. Denied her vengeance, the true emotions
that moved her finally took over. "I hate you! I never want to see
you again!"
Ryouga flinched in agony, his long held dread finally realized, and
only the feel of Ranma in his arms could keep those words from
slashing his heart to ribbons. "A-Akane..."
"Shut up! I thought you were my friend!" she sobbed in anger. "You...
you... bastard! You were using me! J-just like... just like you're using
Ranma!" she pointed, the anger and betrayal truly evoking hatred as
she tipped over the edge. "Well! You can't have him! Ranma is MY
fiancé and YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!!!" she roared, her mind running down
that familiar road, lured on by a shared look as she opened up to
Ranma in the mirror trap.
Nodoka, unaware of the history of Akane and P-Chan, listened to this
and frowned in motherly concern. "Oh, dear. This is what I was
afraid of."
Everyone looked at her.
Nodoka heaved a heavy breath and turned to Ranma, as Akane paused to
see what she was about to drop on Ranma. "Ranma, my son. I see two
choices for you. You can remain my daughter, and marry Ryouga...
after... after..." she cut herself off. "If it were not for your
engagement to Akane, the pact between our two families, you would
HAVE to marry Ryouga after last night. If... if you truly wish to
return to being my son, then, then you will marry Akane. I... I won't
forbid you to take the curse in any case. To preserve your honor as
a girl, as MY daughter, you must marry Ryouga. To preserve the honor
of the family, you must marry Akane. Because... because you cannot do
both, you must decide which one to be with, and by that, whether you
are my son or my daughter."
"Nodoka..." Genma came over to her side, and stared at her in
bewilderment. He searched for her eyes, trying to get her to look at
him and offer some explanation for what she had just declared.
"Genma!" she looked up. "You have enough to answer for, I beg you,
do not add to it now!" It had been hard enough to make her decree.
She did not have the stomach to explain herself right now. Happosai
had pushed her too far, forcing her to see that Ranma needed to
decide for himself, but as the head of their clan, she had to
balance the outcome in the scales of honor. Fortunately, because of
Ranko, she had the slack she needed. As long as her line was
continued, the obligation she bore could be passed on. The
additional obligation Genma had added was a separate matter and
justification for one of her daughters to become a man and fulfill
it. She had assumed this would work for Ranma, but as a girl, her
son had unwittingly complicated everything. She hesitated to even
ask what it would do to a person to be fought over by a man and a
woman. Turning to the wizened old master, she spat with barely
restrained hatred, "Are you satisfied, old man?"
Happosai nodded, "It will do. Still too rigid in your thinking,
Nodoka, but I suppose this is the best I can expect from you for
now."
"Fine. Now, let my daughter go and leave this place. I am exhausted
trying to stay my hand. The very sight of you makes me want to kill
you."
Happosai cackled cheerfully, and had to rub it in. "Very well. Soun!
Genma! We're leaving on a training trip! Make it quick before Nodoka
goes for her sword." The two men froze in terror. They could not
describe how eager they were to set hands on their master in his
weakened condition, but Happosai had just stumped them. If they
followed their usual plan, they would have to appear to go along
with the old man's demands and pander to him until they could kill
him. They could look like real men and refuse his command, but lose
the opportunity to end his miserable existence. Ah, well, if ever
there were two men who were happy to be cowards and appear brave, it
was Soun and Genma. They loudly declared the end of their days of
bending to his whim, and proceeded to pack him in a box addressed to
Ethiopia.
"You two are so pathetic," Nabiki drawled as they lugged the box out
the door and handed it over to a hastily called freight shipping
truck. "You know that, don't you?"
While the little meeting dissolved into such odd tasks, Ranma, Akane
and Ryouga still remained frozen in place, stunned by Nodoka's
declaration. Ranma could feel their eyes on her, boring into her,
and could not bring herself to look away from where Nodoka was
sitting when she dropped the bomb. She stared out the open shoji,
over the compound wall and into the deep blue sky, wondering if she
had been damned or saved.
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End of Part Thirty-Five
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