Chapter Text
Akane was frustrated.
More than that, she was angry. Furious, even. And yet she could still recognize a distinction between those two feelings, which surprised her as much as anything.
She was angry because of her father, his stupid plan to marry her off to some idiot boy. She was angry because he didn’t recognise her as the true heir to the Tendo dojo, because he looked at a blatant liar with fondness and friendship.
She was angry because that stupid boy had been precisely what she had expected. He insulted her, mocked her, beat her—and capped it all off with his—his mockery of girlhood, making her think, even if only for a few moments, that Akane might have someone who could actually—who understood—
Grumbling under her breath, Akane punched her pillow and rolled over. It was late enough that she couldn’t see much, the room illuminated only by the faint starlight piercing the clouds. It was raining again, a soft, soothing patter that normally would be just the thing to lull Akane back to sleep, but today all it did was remind her of the boy lying across the hall, and the girl who had first arrived.
The girl who had never existed.
Akane grit her teeth, turning over and pulling her pillow tight around her head, trying to block out her thoughts.
While it wasn’t particularly successful at that, it blocked out the room’s noise quite well. Well enough that Akane only barely noticed the creak from her window and missed the sound of light footsteps until something nudged her shoulder.
Akane jumped back, pulse thudding in her ears as her eyes swept the room, only to notice Ranma—in his soaking wet redhead form—standing beside her bed.
The sight did little to calm her racing heart. “What do you think you’re—!”
“Shh!” He hissed, waving his hands. “Quiet down, alright? ‘Fore ya wake our folks!”
Akane narrowed her eyes. “Why should I?”
“’Cause—” Ranma grimaced. “’Cause I need ta talk to ya, that’s why.”
“Maybe I don’t want to talk to you,” Akane replied. Yet despite her words, she found herself lowering her voice as Ranma had asked, glancing towards the door to ensure it was firmly shut.
“Fine,” Ranma said. “Ya don’t gotta say nothin’. Just—just listen, alright?”
Akane was silent for a moment, looking down, then, with a sigh, nodded, sitting up and patting the bed beside her.
Ranma’s eyes widened, but after a moment of hesitation, he complied, slowly sitting on the bed. He spread his hands across the sheets almost reverently, distracted by the feel before Akane cleared her throat.
Looking up guiltily, he coughed, then looked away.
“I, uh, wanted ta…” he paused, then swallowed. “Needed ta apologize. What I said earlier, I was… I was being stupid.”
He looked at her then, expecting a response, but Akane found herself too shocked to say anything. She tried to remember when a boy apologised to her without prompting and came up empty.
After a few moments of silence, Ranma looked away, flushing. “Ya don’t—ya don’t got forgive me, or nothin’, I ain’t expectin’—I just wanted you to know. I didn’t mean—what I said.”
“Then why did you do it?” Akane asked, whisper quiet.
Ranma shrugged, but there was a surprising sharpness to his words. “I guess I was a bit—you know, off balance. My pop’s was being stupid, and yours was just as bad, and I—I was—I was angry with you. With what ya said.”
Akane scowled. “You peeked on me.”
“I didn’t—!” Ranma scowled and huffed. “Fine, whatever, it ain’t like ya can’t be angry. I just—wasn’t expecting my first friend to toss her offer back in my face, ya know?”
Akane blinked. “Your… first friend?”
Ranma shrugged again, still not looking at her. “First person ta ever offer to be my friend, at least,” he mumbled.
“…is that why you’re here?” Akane asked. “Because—you want me to…?”
Ranma huffed. “I—I don’t know, alright? I was—I was pissed when pops dragged me here, that I couldn’t head back to China and try ta fix this damn mess, but when I showed up here when ya… when ya offered… it almost felt like this place could mean something, ya know?”
He sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest. “Not like it’s an option now. Made that pretty clear earlier.”
Akane scowled. “Hey! Don’t put that all on me.”
He turned to her, frowning. “What’d I do?”
“You lied.”
“I never--!”
“You made me think you were a girl,” Akane said, crossing her arms. “Or—or let me think, or whatever.”
“So, what, we’d still be friends if I was a girl?”
“If you were a girl, nothing would have happened today,” Akane spat.
“That a yes?”
Akane threw her arms up. “Sure! Yeah! If you were a girl, it’d probably be easier for us to be friends!”
Ranma glowered at her, then puffed out his cheeks in a pout. “Fine! Then—then I’ll be a girl! How about that?”
Akane stared at him for a moment, blinking. “What?”
“You wanted to be friends when I was a girl,” Ranma said, glancing away. “And—and you said if was a girl, we could—it’d be easier.”
“W-well, yeah, but—but you can’t just decide—”
Ranma shrugged. “Why not?” he said, half challenging, half unsteady. “I mean, it ain’t like I can’t look like one.”
“There’s more to being a girl than boobs, Ranma.”
“I know that!” Ranma spat. “This body’s more than skin deep, ya know. I’ve had ta… ta deal with the bleeding, peeing, cramps, and—and all that stuff already.”
“That’s not what I… really?”
Ranma blushed but nodded. “’Bout a month after the curse,” he said. “Freaked me the hell out ‘till I figured what was what.”
Akane thought back to her first period and how terrified she had been until Kasumi sat her down and explained what was happening in her body. Then she imagined what that moment would have been like without Kasumi, being left alone in that bathroom, a scared, trembling girl, half convinced she was about to die.
After a moment, Akane shook her head and refocused. “That’s not the point,” she said, looking Ranma in the eye. “Even if you can be a girl, would you want to?”
“Why are you askin’ that? Course I don’t,” Ranma replied, looking aside. “But, ya know, if I had ta… I could.”
“But you don’t,” Akane stressed. “If you’re a guy, we could still be friends.”
“Ya really sure about that?” Ranma asked.
Akane opened her mouth, a yes ready to tumble out—then hesitated. As much as she wanted to say yes, the reality was far less clean. The thought of becoming Ranma’s friend as he was—with the rude, arrogant boy she had met—felt wrong. Almost dangerous, even. The girl in front of her, however, made it seem all too easy.
She shut her mouth with a click. “There’s… there’s a lot you’d have to learn,” she said. “Being a girl—living as a girl—it’s not like being a guy. At all.”
The redheaded girl smiled, leaning back and looking at peace for the first time that day. “Ah, relax. So it’ll take some training. Watch me, couple of days, and I’ll be up to snuff in no time.”
Akane raised a brow. “Uh-huh, sure. And who’s going to train you?”
Ranma laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head. “Um, well, I thought, maybe, you could… help, a little?”
Akane snorted. “Really?” You want the ‘flat-chested tomboy’ to teach you how to be a girl?”
“I told ya I didn’t mean that,” Ranma grumbled. “Being h-honest, I think…I think you’re kinda cute.”
Akane pinked. “R-really?”
“In a kinda rough and tumble way, yeah,” Ranma replied, face burning red. She coughed. “Is that, uh, weird for girls to say to other girls?”
Yes. “Nope!”
“Oh. Good.”
“Y-yeah.” Akane shut her eyes and drew a breath, calming her nerves before speaking again. “Anyways, if you want to do this… I’ll help.”
Ranma’s eyes brightened. “You will?”
Akane nodded. “I’ll teach you how to be a girl and be your friend—on one condition.”
Ranma nodded, her hair blurring. “Yeah, yeah, for sure, anything!”
“You have to train me,” Akane said. “Like how you were trained. Until I can do what you did today.”
Ranma swallowed. “Like how I was trained?” She looked away. “Akane, I—I’ve been trainin’ since I could walk. I can’t—I dunno if I can…”
“I’m not starting from nothing. I can learn.”
Ranma bit her lip. “…Okay.”
Akane grinned. “You’ll teach me?”
“I’ll try,” Ranma clarified. “Ain’t never taught anybody before, so got no idea how well it’ll work, but I’ll try.”
Akane’s shoulders slumped. She was suddenly, abruptly aware of the late hour and the exhaustion pulling at her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered, throat hoarse.
“Don’t know if you’ll be saying that tomorrow,” Ranma muttered, then straightened up. “So, uh, what’s the first bit of training I should be doing?”
“The first…” Akane started, only to cut herself off with a long yawn. “…is to go to sleep.”
“Oh. Oh! Right.” Ranma stood, dusting herself off. “Right, okay. Yeah. I guess we’ll start in the morning?”
“Something like that,” Akane said, waving her off. “But we can figure it out then. Get some rest, idiot.”
Ranma snorted. “You too, tomboy.”
Akane shot her a glare for that, but Ranma was gone before she could say much, leaving nothing more than the faint trace of sweat and forest in the air.
Her scowl didn’t last long before it broke into a smile that lasted as Akane lied down and pulled her blankets up.
Maybe this marriage thing won’t be so bad after all…
Akane had no chance to think anything else before sleep drew her under its spell.