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Chapter Text

Genma looked down at Ranma, breathing heavily as he watched him fall unconscious to the ground. That stubborn boy had delayed them long enough.

The sigh on the metal pole he had just used, he stuck into the road next to him, and he leaned forward to pick up Ranma, only a sharp whizz and a small pain to hit his shoulder. He turned to look and saw a small metal dart sticking out of him with a fuzzy end, having been fired by a guy dressed in police armor, flanked by more dressed like him.

Suddenly the world became fuzzy, and he was falling backwards.

The first they noticed as they woke up, groaning, was the back of their head was throbbing. The next thing they knew as they sat up, was there was a stop sign sticking out of the middle of the road, which was an odd place for it.

Looking around, she saw a truck getting loaded up with a panda. Looking at it sent and angry shiver through her, and she quickly jumped up noticing that she had a big bag strap hanging from her shoulder. Apparently, she was traveling, but where?

She found a bench and took off the bag, and rummaged through it for a moment, pulling out stuff, clothes, pots, before finding a piece of paper with a postcard printed onto it, and she looked at the quick note, it was addressed to a Soun Tendou, and was from a person named Genma. The name sounded familiar.

The note on it, stated he was bringing Ranma to this Soun person.

Ranma...

That was her name, yeah! But if she was Ranma, who was this Genma, and where was he now?

As she pondered, a lady walked up to her, "Excuse me miss, are you okay? That panda hit you across the head pretty hard."

Being called miss felt...odd...but not unusual, but she answered the lady, "I think I'm okay. Everything is just a little, fuzzy."

The lady let out a sigh, and a chuckle, "Aren't you lucky, most people would be in more pain getting hit by a metal sign like that. Well if you feel anything else, consider checking into the hospital."

Ranma nodded, "Alright. Hey while you're here, can you tell me how to get to this address?"

She held the paper to the lady, who looked at it, then handed it back, "Sure, just head that way, the dojo it pretty easy to find."

A dojo, that sounded right. She thanked the lady and grabbed the bag, heading in the direction.

Akane stood above the last cinder block, crumbled beneath her fist as she struck it hard. She stood straight and let out a breath. This was really helping blow off stream.

A few hours earlier, her father spilled the bean about an arranged marriage between one of them and the son of a friend of his. A son he had never met himself.

While her sisters were at least more open to consider, Akane was a bit more frustrated. Boys, what go where they anyways...

She was out of cinder blocks.

Letting out a sigh, she leaned against the side of the dojo, breathing slow and heavy and slow as she looked off into the distance. She watched as the clouds cleared up, showing the sky as it turned to night. The stars coming out were pretty, like small little sparkles...when her view was obstructed.

Her vision refocused to the thing, or actually a person, now in her view. A girl with red hair tied back in a pigtail was balanced on the wall of the Tendou property while slowly walking, looking down at a piece of paper in her hand with a look in her eyes like she was off in another world.

Akane watched her slowly walk on the wall like it was just a sidewalk, before snapping out f her own slightly bewildered state and ran up to her, "Excuse me!"

The red hair girl stopped walking and turned to look at her. Now that she was still Akane got a good look at her. She was wearing a red sleeveless shirt that matched her hair, and a pair of black pants, both were silk clothes, definitely from China. For a moment they both just looked each other over, and then the red hair hoped down, "Can I help you?"

"Oh, yes, I actually uh..." Akane's head rushed for an answer, "...was wondering if I could help you...you looked lost."

The girl's expression remained indifferent, and she held out the paper she held, "Well I am looking for the place this thing is addressed to, do you know where it is?"

Akane took the paper, and felt her eyes go wide as she looked at it, seeing the exact post card her father was showing them earlier.

She numbly nodded as she handed it back, "This is it...you've found the Tendou dojo."

"Oh really! Any chance you know where Soun is?"

She nodded, and turned to the house, her mind rushing through blankness as she led the girl inside.

heading into the common area, her father was playing shogi with Kasumi, and they both turned as she entered, Kasumi's eyes looking over the girl and her rather large bag, while her father's eyebrows raised in curiosity, "Welcome back Akane, who's this, a new friend of yours?"

"No, uh...she's her for you." She stepped aside, her mind racing. Was this the sister of their supposed fiance? Or maybe a student training alongside him?

Her mind snapped back as she large bag the girl carried thumped onto the ground, and she took a seat, "Mr. Tendou, I apologize for intruding like this, but..."

Akane watched as the girl trailed off, her hand grabbing her pigtail and fiddling with it nervously.

Kasumi scooted over and reached up to Pat her head, "It's alright, there's..."

She was cut off by the girl wincing at the touch on her head, and Kasumi's eye furrowed, "Oh, are you alright?"

The red head took a deep breath, "Yeah, my head is still sore from the panda hitting me with a stop sign."

The hole room fell into a weird silence as the three Tendons processed what they just heard.

"Why did a panda do that ..?" She wasn't sure she believed it, but if she hit her head maybe the memory was fuzzy.

"I... don't know. All I know is that when I woke up, there were people loading the panda in a truck, and a lady said that it hit me with the sign. Everything else before that is just... blurred."

Realization dawned on them but Kasumi reacted first, "So you have amnesia!"

"Yes, and the only clue I had was this." She held up the paper she had shown Akane and slid it over to the other two, who leaned closer to look.

Kasumi raised her hand to her mouth with soft confused look, while Akane's dad look at it with heavy confusion, and looked up at the girl, "You know Genma?"

"I believe so."

"How do you know him?"

"Well, I'm not totally sure, but if I'm right, I'm his child, Ranma."

Ranma watched as Mr. Tendo sat shocked, before his rolled back into his head and he fell backwards, unconscious.

While his reaction was definitely the biggest one, both of the girls in the room where looking just as shocked as he did, Ranma was worried they would pass out just like he did.

A moment later though, another girl with short brown hair walked in, looking at the room with a pretty indifferent expression before looking at the red haired girl, "Who are you?"

"Uhhh..." She almost didn't answer considering the reactions of the first three in the room, "...Ranma..."

To her surprise, the girl just let out a "sigh," before turning to her father like he was still conscious, "I think there's something a little off with the boy you arranged."

Ranma blinked, then again a few more times "...what...?"

"We where told his old friend was coming over with a son named Ranma Satome to be a fiance for one of us in an arranged marriage we knew nothing about till a few hours ago."

Ranma's head started to feel dizzy as the words swirled in her head, Ranma...boy... marriage... fiance...son...

She opened her mouth, like something was about to come out, only for the world to go sideways as it also went dark.

Akane had managed to catch Ranma's head before it hit the floor, and the girl in question was not laying sideways, her head in Akane's lap.

While she held her, Kasumi was explain to Nabiki how their guest arrived with amnesia and was looking for answers, and that Nabiki's statement must have overwhelmed her with her head injury still fresh.

There father had soon awakened and was sitting upright, trying to ponder what was going on while sipping some tea Kasumi had brought out for them.

Kasumi had them busied herself in the kitchen, while Nabiki just turned on the TV, watching the news.

After a while, Ranma stirred and open her eyes, slowly lifting herself up, "What happened?"

"You passed out. Do you remember what happened?"

The girl pressed her hand to her forehead, "We were talking, then she walked in," she pointed to Nabiki, "and then...I was out."

Akane sighed, "Alright, you still remember everything since-"

"The panda!!" Akane jumped as Ranma cut her off. She followed her gaze, past Nabiki, onto the TV screen, where the news was doing a report about a panda that was caught running around chasing people.

The room fell silent as they all watched, Kasumi even poking her head in to watch.

The report stated that it had been after a girl that witnesses described to have fancy foreign clothes with rare hair.

Akane could barely believe it, Ranma was right, she was given amnesia by a panda.

The report moved on to explain how the panda was being taken to a wilderness reserve back in China where it would be watched over by professionals.

The rest of it turned into background noises as she looked at Ranma, who noticed and turned back to her, "Yes?"

"Sorry, I...I'm just having a bit of trouble processing this. It's so unusual."

Ranma's head tilted, "Is it?"

Akane blinked, staring at Ranma, "Well yeah. For one, fighting pandas is pretty unhear of."

She watched as Ranma furrowed her brows, like she was thinking, before turning back towards her, "Are you sure? Fighting a panda doesn't seem that off."

Everyone in the room was now looking at her, a mix of odd expressions looking at her, except for Kasumi who had vanished back into the kitchen though she was probably still listening in.

Akane heard her dad clear his throat, "Ranma, have you fought pandas before?"

"I...might have..."

Her face scrunched up again as she tried to remember. Akane watched as her face turned red, almost as red as her hair, before she reached over and took her hand, "Okay, that's enough. Don't strain yourself, you already passed out once, we don't need it happening again."

Ranma nodded, and let out a sigh, and she watched as Ranma's shoulder relaxed, when a moment later a growl filled the fresh silence, and Ranma's race turned red again, only this time more in the cheeks and her arms wrapped around her stomach.

Akane couldn't help but chuckle, as after all that had happened, the girl in front of her being hungry felt so normal in comparison. Kasumi popped her head in, "Don't worry, I'll have food ready in just a minute."

The next few minutes were them shuffling around, placing dishes, then setting their plates.

Then they were all watching Ranma. It was an odd sight to see, the small girl holding her large down to her face, eating like a machine, her chopsticks blurring as rice shot down her gullet. Her hands then set the empty bowl down and grabbed the plate, fried pork and it's sides were treated the same as the rice bowl, however after a moment of shoving it in at rapid speed, her chopsticks came to a slow stop, before the half empty plate  was lowered and she slowed her chewing, eyes closed, and Akane and the other's couldn't help but notice her eyes, mostly closed, where welling up with tears, as she murmured through the food in her mouth, "So good..."

Kasumi spoke first, "Ranma sweety, when was the last time you had a decent meal?"

"I don't know, but it feels like it's been forever, if ever...I don't think I've ever had anything this good..."

Akane's head was rushing. Her father had said that Ranma was on a training journey with his father, which sure depending on the circumstances you might have to eat plain rations or something, but this...was something else.

Her mind started making a list. First, Ranma was said to have been a boy, yet clearly, she was a girl, so had Genma lied? Had he raised a girl as a boy? And what was Ranma's life like before this?  There were so many questions yet no one to answer.

Ranma had soon finished her food, and was bowing on her hand and knees towards Kasumi, "Thank you greatly, I can't imagine having another meal like this-"

"Ranma dear! Don't you...there's no need. It was a simple meal, nothing worth such praise."

"But..."

"No buts! Now, it's getting late, why don't you head upstairs and get washed. We have a spare room that you can spend the night in."

Ranma looked up at her, the solid tone in Kasumi's voice caught her by surprise, along with Akane and Soun, from what she saw. Akane watch Ranma slowly nod, before grabbing her large bag and taking it upstairs with her. Once the sound of her footsteps was out of ear shot, Akane spoke first, "So what the HELL is going on!!!"

Kasumi snapped her head to her, "Language Akane! But she does have a point."

The sisters turned to their father, who was deep in thought, but he still responded, "There's definitely more to this that we need to find out, but at it stands, there's only two people who can, Ranma, who has amnesia, and her father Genma, who's missing."

Nabiki spoke up, "So what's the plan now?"

"Well obviously we can't let her go off by herself. The original plan was that when Ranma got here, he and his father would live with us since one of you were going to marry him, but seeing as he's actually she, the engagement is off, but it looks like she'll be staying with us anyways, and possibly for a while."

Akane nodded, "It's not like she knows of anywhere else she can go, and from the post card, we know her dad was planning on coming with her. It's likely he's bound to arrive eventually."

Her father nodded, "Yes, if I know my old friend, he's going to make it here eventually. He's very determined, so whatever it was that kept him from arriving, be it a panda or some other thing, he'll pull through."

 "Alright...but..."

They looked over at Akane as she tried to speak, and Kasumi reach over and placed her hand on Akane's.

Taking a breath, she spoke, "Are we sure we want him to return?"

Kasumi nodded lightly, while their dad furrowed his brows once again. He looked like he was fighting with himself, and Akane could feel it. One on hand Genma was her dad's old friend from their training days, but it had also been many years since he's seen his old friend, and with Ranma as she was, it felt like he might've been a bit of a bad parent.

But they all knew they lacked the information to determine, but for the meantime, at least Ranma was now safe with them.

When Ranma made it upstairs, she closed the door and stood in the washroom that bordered the bathroom and the hallway. She set the bag down and started going through it. She found more clothes, a few pairs just like the ones she was currently wearing, along with a few pair of MUCH larger clothes. These ones probably belong to her father, Genma, probably.

After a big of digging, she found a pair of shorts and a tank top. These were probably her pajamas! Setting them aside, she put the rest away, then pulled off her own clothes she had on. She pulled off the shirt, then pants, then the boxers. She had them folded up and placed on the floor, before heading into the bathroom.

She looked around the room and looked at the bathtub in the corner. A nice warm bath did sound nice...

But maybe another time. It would be better to just wash quickly, besides, it better to use cold stuff with fresh bruises, and considering what her head had been through, there was likely a nice big bruise on the back of her head right now.

Turning on the shower, she let the cold water washed over her. The cold didn't feel as bad as she though it would. Maybe she was used to using cold water to wash. Well, none the less, it was nice to wash up. Though she was barrowing their soaps, maybe she should've looked around in her big bag some more to see if she had any of her own. Though if not, she could make it up to them somehow.

Maybe she could hunt a duck or something for their next dinner...

Wait no, they had food they bought from a store...

Maybe she could help cook...but did she even know how to cook?

Ranma let out a groan, she was useless. She had no idea what she could do to help. She let her hands resume working, finishing washing herself, turning off the water, and heading back to the washroom, slipping into the clothes she had picked out earlier. Stepping out into the hallway, dragging her bag, she saw a sliding door left open. Walking over to it, she looked in, finding a mostly bare room with a futon mattress laid on the floor. This must've been the extra room Mentioned earlier by...

She didn't know her name. With everything that had happened she hadn't asked what their names were. She let out a small laugh to herself before walking into the room, closing the door behind her, tossing the bag aside before climbing onto the mattress. She was soon dozing off, the events of the day having been really wearing on her apparently, but she laid on her side, since laying on her back was really sore on her head.

Chapter Text

Akane was running laps around the block. Her morning routine felt nice after the mess of last night's random chaos.  She still had questions and concerns about it all, but now that she's had time to process and rest, it wasn't as overwhelming. And it wasn't like it was all bad. Ranma was clearly skilled as a marital artist. They had the dojo to train in so they could easily spar. But how skilled was Ranma, and would she be able to fully use the fighting skills she had learned?

Well, if they did spar, she would just have to take it slow with her and ease her in, but for now, it was about time she headed back and get something to eat before heading to school. It was a quick minute to where she was to make it back home, and she headed straight for the table, where Nabiki and her father were already waiting, as Kasumi was in the kitchen, finishing up breakfast if Akane was right.

Sure enough, Kasumi was bringing in breakfast, plates of toast, eggs, and rice balls. A few minutes in, footsteps from the stairs caught Akane's attention, and she turned to see Ranma slowly walk in half awake, and she was opening her mouth to wish her a good morning, only to freeze as she saw her clothes, consisting of short shorts and a tank top that was loose but also left little to the imagination.

Akane closed her mouth and turned to look down at the table as she felt her face warm up. It wasn't like she was unused to see more skin on another girl, but the tomboyish get up set up in the casual manner she wore it, felt different...

Ranma plopped onto the empty spot next to Akane and mumbled out a tired "Morning" before grabbing her chopsticks and started to eat her eggs, her movements a bit more sluggish compared to how she had eaten the night before at a ravenous rate.

Kasumi looked over to Ranma and gave no reaction Akane could notice about her get up, and she passed a glass of tea to their guest, "Good morning, Ranma. How's your head feeling this morning?"

Akane looked at Ranma as she lowered her chopsticks, and noticed she was eating with her eyes fully closed, yet she had expertly been picking up the food from her plate no problem, "Its 'salright..."

Akane watched Ranma for a moment more, watching her eating closed eyed some more, before turning back to her own plate, nodding to herself at the coordination she was using. Maybe she wouldn't need to take it as slow she thought for a sparring session. Well, that would have to wait for later. Finishing up her food, she ran upstairs getting changed into her uniform for school, and rushed back down, grabbing her shoes to pull them on, when Kasumi walked up to her, holding her Bento for lunch, "Akane, before you go, I know you're heading out a bit early to school, do you think you can take Ranma to Dr. Tofu's clinic, I want her head checked out. I'll be over to bring her back home after, so you can head to school once she's there. I already called and let him know what was going on."

A shiver ran through her spine, knowing what would happen when Dr. Tofu was like when Kasumi was around. Hopefully he was back to normal when she and Ranma got there, since he only heard her voice through the phone.

Nodding to Kasumi, she looked back to the other room, where Ranma was still half asleep as she walked out of the room. Setting her shoes down, and her bento next to them, she rushed over to Ranma, taking her hand and rushed her upstairs, the red head waking up a bit by the sudden jolt, "What's going on?"

"I'm taking you to see a doctor, he's a family friend of ours, but you need to get dressed first."

She soon had Ranma in the spare room, where her large bag was leaning against the wall. She closed the door, then grabbed the shoulders of her tank top and pulled it up.

Ranma was wide awake as her top was removed, and wrapped her arms around her chest, "Whoa, wait!"

Akane was looking away from her, as she had moved towards Ranma's bag, pulling it open to rummage through it, "What, you need proper clothes to leave the house."

"I know, but...you can't just...strip me..."

Akane turned her head but not enough for Ranma to see her face, "We're both girls, we should be fine."

"I...guess that makes sense..." She was right, they were both girls, so why was she so flushed about being seen naked?

She relaxed her muscles, though her arms remained over her chest as Akane pulled out a pair of boxers, looking at them with a confused look as she turned, "Your dad must be skinny..."

"Those are mine."

She watched Akane look up at her, her expression a mix of different reactions that made it had to read, before she settled on shock, "Seriously? You're wearing these?"

"Yes, why? Am I not supposed to wear underwear?" She meant it as a joke, but Akane's face went red, and Ranma started to panic, thinking something was wrong.

Akane's mouth started running, sputters and stutters for a moment before managing to form, "...these are for boys!"

Ranma blinked, looking at the boxers in her hand, then back to Akane, "Well, it's all I have."

Akane turned a bit redder, and Ranma was sure she was about to get squashed, when she let out a sigh and pushed the undergarment into Ranma's folded arms, "I'll wait outside."

Akane stood outside, pulling her shoes on while standing on the pavement. She didn't know why but Ranma seemed a like she was unfamiliar with anything related to average girl stuff. What was her father like, cause so far his track record wasn't looking pretty good.

Ranma emerged from the house after a minute, in another silk suit like the one from the day before.

Pushing the thoughts aside, she cleared her thoughts, "Come on, I'm running behind so we're going to have to run."

Ranma silently nodded and followed after Akane easily maintaining the same speed as Akane, which she found nice, normally she would have to adjust her pace for others. They ran for a minute, and as they ran Ranma spoke, "So Akane, that was your name, right?"

"Yes, it is-" She turned to look at Ranma, who she found had hopped onto a fence and was running alongside her while perfectly balanced on the thin space, "What're you doing up there?"

"I don't know, it just kind of happened."

This girl's reflexes were definitely that of a trained marital artist, she definitely wanted to spar with her now.

"So Akane, not to seem rude, but I don't think I got everyone's name. I know your dad's from the post card, but your sisters, I missed."

"Oh, right...wait, I haven't told you my name yet, how did you know?"

"I heard your sister call you that when she asked you to bring me to the doctor."

Akane nodded to herself. Ranma had been a lot more alert than she seemed in her tired state apparently, "Well that sister is Kasumi, and my other sister is Nabiki."

"Kasumi, Nabiki, alright!"

The next few minutes where silent as they made it to the Clinic, though the silence wasn't tense, or awkward, just, silence. Walking into the Clinic, Akane found Dr. Tofu talking with another patient, perfectly lucid. A small sigh of relief passed through her. Ranma was in good hands.

Once he was done talking, and the patient left, he turned to them, "Good morning Akane! And you must be Ranma?"

"I am. You the doctor?"

"I am. I was filled in on what had happened. If you'll come with me, I'll get you examined. I also got some tea if either of you are thirsty."

Akane shook her head, her long hair feeling noticeably heavier as she did, "Not today I'm afraid, I have to get to school, my sister will be over to bring Ranma home shortly." Akane made sure to not mention which sister. Dr. Tofu nodded and turned around, and once he wasn't looking, she grabbed Ranma's shoulder and leaned in, whispering, "Keep your distance from him once Kasumi gets here, he gets a little, funky when she's around."

She then turned, and headed out, running towards school.

She felt a heavy sensation in her stomach as she left the clinic behind. She would have loved to hand around a bit longer, but she needed the extra time. After a few minutes, the sensation passed, and her focus adjusted, as she approached the school coming up in the distance, along with the crowd of idiotic boys charging at her once again.

Ranma's checkup went pretty well, and quick. The doc said her bump was healing nicely, but if her head started to feel funny, they should consider going to see a hospital for a head scan, but it was probably unlikely.

As she was being walked out into the front room, Kasumi was sitting in one of the waiting chairs, and Akane's words returned. Trying to keep a calm face, she quickly walked over, "Hi Kasumi!"

That felt a little rushed, but Kasumi didn't seem to notice, and once she was next to the taller lady, Ranma turned to look at Dr. Tofu...

Who's glasses where fogged up?

"Oh, K-Kasumi, how lovely to see you!" Ranma watched at the incredibly skilled and competent doctor changed into, well she didn't know what it was, but for some reason he was addressing the fake skeleton hanging from the wall.

"Oh Dr. Tofu, you're as silly as ever." Kasumi spoke with a giggle.

Ranma looked at her, then the doctor, back and forth. Either Ranma was mistaken, or it looked like this version of him was normal to her.

She watched the odd scenario play out as they two of them talked for a few, before Kasumi walked out of the clinic with Ranma close behind her. She wanted to ask what had just happened, but she wasn't sure if Kasumi was the right person to ask. The walk back was slower than the run from earlier, but it wasn't long, and they made it back to the Tendou house soon enough.

As they stepped in, Ranma was about to kick off her shoes, when she spotted a Bento Box sitting on the floor. Picking it up, she looked at it for a moment, when Kasumi noticed it in Ranma's hands, "Oh dear, looks like Akane left her lunch by accident. I should run it, oh but then I won't have time to go shopping..."

Ranma spoke, "I can run it to her. I passed by the local high school yesterday, I can get there and back easily."

"Are you sure Ranma?"

"Yeah, it's the least I can do to help."

"Alright but be careful."

School work was pretty much the same as any other day, so her mind pushed her thoughts to the side as she focused on her learning.

Lunch arrived and she joined her friends, Yuka and Sayuri, outside. They sat next to a tree, the three chatting about possible weekend plans.

As Yuka and Sayuri pulled out their opened them up, Akane reached for her, only to find it must, and realized she didn't have it.

Remembering how she left if on the floor at home, she let out a sigh. Sayori notice Akane's reaction and lack of food, "No food today?"

"I had a bento, but it appears I misplaced it-"

She was cut off by the all to familiar voice of her wanna be suitor, "My goddess has seemed to have the most unfortunate luck if missing her meal, well thank goodness I came prepared.~"

She let out a sigh as she turned to look at Kuno, standing in his kendogi, and crouching onto his knees, his all to familiar weapon on one hand, and a picnic basket in the other.

She turned away, planning to starve over accepting anything Kuno would offer, but that didn't stop him.

He placed himself closer to her front, and she begrudgingly looked at him while he opened his basket reaching on and pulling out fancy glasses and plates, sandwiches, a sparkling grape juice, then a pie, which he held up in front of him.

"Akane Tendou, for you I have prepared this pie made from only the finest peaches, and the most top quality of ingredients, for a beauty as yourself deserves nothing less then the-" SPLAT!!!

Akane blinked, looking as Kuno's face was buried in the pie he held, while a pair of feet perched on the back of his head.

Her eyes trailed up, along with Yuka and Sayuri, and a number of nearby students who stopped to look at the red haired girl in Chinese clothing.

Akane blinked as Ranma held out the Bento she had forgotten that morning, "Hey Akane, you forgot your lunch. Kasumi wanted to bring it but she had shopping to do so I came instead."

She reached out and took the Bento, but couldn't help but stare, her lips cracking a smile at the sight before her.

Ranma looked down, not at the guy she was still perched on, but the food laid out on the ground.

Stepping off Kuno, Ranma took a sandwich and the bottle of sparkling juice, "You you guys plan on eating these."

Akane, still to surprise to speak, shook her head no, and Ranma smiled, before starting to walk away, eating the sandwich, passing the soccer field where the students that had been playing all stopped to watch.

All eyes where following Ranma her pigtail bobbing slightly as she walked, when the almost forgotten Kuno, his face still in the pie, started shaking.

Akane and her friends watched as the upper classman filled his face out of the dish, his face absolutely caked with smashed peach pie, and he turn flung it towards Ranma with all his might the metal dish flying straight for her head, and as Akane was about to call out, Ranma ducked, crouching as the spinning metal flew past.

As that happened, Kuno had gotten to his feet and was charging, his wooden sword raised to strike, only for the crouching Ranma to jump, flipping over him, then landing on his back, jumping off him and over onto the soccer field, and right behind the ball that was being used, kicking it straight at Kuno, who turned just as it made contact, square in the face, knocking off the pie caked to his face, while also knocking him on his back.

Ranma watched the fallen man as she walked up, and Akane rushed over to her.

"Ranma, are you okay?"

Ranma turned to Akane, taking a bite out of the sandwich she held in hand, "Yeah I'm fine," some how speaking clearly through a mouthful, "but who's this guy?"

Akane looked down at Kuno, his face red from the ball, but now easier to see, "Just an idiot who deserved the beat down."

As if summoned by the indirect mention, Kuno say up like he was spring loaded, "Who dares strike down Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Lightning of Furiken High, whilst he was unjustly blinded by pie!!!"

His head whipped around, looking for his opponent, when he stopped to look at Ranma, who was still eating.

He stared, his expression froze on something unreadable. For a moment, nothing happened, and Akane watched as he suddenly stood up, stepped towards her. For a moment, they just looked at each other, when suddenly Kuno had her in his arms, "A pigtailed goddess has come to bless me-"

POW!!!!

As suddenly as he has hugged her Ranma's foot had shot up, sending him flying. Akane watched as he flew, before turning to Ranma, who lowered her foot, then shoved the rest of her sandwich in her mouth, quickly chewing and swallowing it, before turning to Akane, "I'm heading home, I'll see you later."

With a small wave and a quiet bye, Akane watched Ranma walk towards the front gate, obviously angered.

Once she was out of sight, Akane felt hands on both her arms, Yuka and Sayuri each grabbing one, and were rapid firing questions about Ranma.

Who was that?

How do you know her?

How is she that good?

Is she living with you?

Before she could answer anything, more of her classmates were clustering around her, asking questions as well, with Akane feeling flooded as she clutched her bento, trying to figure out what to do.

Ranma walked in, barely remembering to take off her shoes before walking into the Tendou house, walking in circles through the halls and some rooms. Eventually she managed to calm down, taking a seat at the table, and setting down the unopened bottle of sparkling juice.

That idiot from earlier, she had only just met him, but she knew that she hated him with a VERY deep passion now. And Akane didn't like him either, which meant that they now had a common enemy. In fact, he was probably an enemy to all girls everywhere!

Ranma shook her head. Getting worked up over him wasn't worth it. She needed to calm down, she just needed to... to...

What does someone do to calm down?

She would ask Kasumi, but she was still out shopping, and Soun was currently busy the Dojo teaching a class. Akane was probably busy with school, along with Nabiki, so heading back was out of the question, plus there was THE IDIOT she didn't want to run into again.

After a bit, she just  got up and headed into the yard, jumping onto the wall of the property and started walking. She went in circles, walking the wall.

For a while it was just her and the wall, till Kasumi returned, and seeing Ranma, she just smiled at her, "Hi Ranma, how was your day?"

Ranma hopped down, grabbing some of the grocery bags from her, "Not bad, but I ran into a idiot while dropping off Akane's lunch, some older guy with a wooden sword."

"Oh, I'm guessing that's Kuno. Yeah he's been a bit, annoying, for Akane, and has even showed up here on occasion."

"Yeah, I think he called himself that."

Kasumi nodded and led the way in, the two taking the bags of food to the kitchen, where she started to take them out and put away, and with nothing to do, Ranma helped her out.

Kasumi pointed out what went where as they went, and before long most of the stuff was out away, save the stuff left out for dinner.

As she grabbed a apron, Kasumi turned to Ranma as she was about to walk out, "Would you like to join me?"

Ranma stopped and thought. Cooking...that word made her think of fire, smoke, wood...

"I don't know if I could. I don't think I've cooked using a kitchen before."

"Oh come now, it's a slow and simple recipe, besides, you can't be any worse than Akane."

Akane walked home, her brain feel deflated. After lunch, everyone kept attempting to ask her questions about Ranma.

The most she could share, and shared repeatedly, was that she was Ranma, the daughter of an old friend of her father's, who was missing, and she was staying with them with nowhere to go since she had amnesia from the recent panda incident.

Her friends had a few more questions but accepted the information as it was before returning to what they were supposed to do.

Meanwhile most everyone else kept prodding for more, mostly the boys, asking stupid questions like what flowers or chocolates she might like.

She was tempted to do as Ranma and send them flying, but she managed to restrain herself and leave school without anyone receiving an attack.

She was finally home, where the familiar smell of Kasumi's cooking wafting through the air. She wandered into the kitchen, where the sight of her sister, and Ranma, were both working on the food.

Ranma's face lit up, "Akane, welcome back!  If you got a moment, can you try this, I wanna make sure it's turning out okay."

She scooped a bit of curry from the pot, holding the spoon to her. Akane took the spoon, and sipped the liquid in it.

Akane was surprised, the taste was amazing. Her face lit up as she nodded, and Ranma let out a sigh and chuckle, "That a relief, I was worried I over did it."

"Not at all. How about I help you both wrap up?"

Kasumi was turning towards them quickly, "No, I uh...was actually about to finish. Father should be done with the dojo now so you two can have it now."

Akane knew what she was doing, but it after today she was really in need of a stress breaker, and a good spar would be great for that.

Ranma lit up at that, and was untying her apron, or rather she was trying to. She grabbed the wrong piece and pulled, and then trying to correct it, she ended up binding her apron strings in a knot.

Akane giggled a little before stepping in, moving Ranma's hands away to untangle it herself. Once it was loose and untied, Ranma rushed out.

Ranma stretch as she stood in the dojo, when Akane finally walked in.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting, I had to change into my gi."

Ranma shrugged, "Nah, it's fine. So what are we doing?"

"If you don't mind, I wish to spar. After seeing you in action, I want to try my skills and see yours."

Ranma nodded, and she took a stance, her arms folded behind her back, and her feet perched on her toes. She didn't know why, she just let reflex take control, and Akane looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but she still took her own stance, and then threw a fist, fast but lightly, only for Ranma to sidestep, and quickly.

Akane took a moment to register what just happened, then with smile threw another punch, faster, and with more force behind it. Again, Ranma dodged, though this time not as far, letting Akane's fist get closer. It became a rhythm, the punch came at her, and Ranma would slide out of it's way.

This lasting only a minute, for as Akane threw her punches, Ranma slowly backed up, letting Akane approach, when they made it up to the wall, where she leapt up and Akane threw a punch, then pushing off the wall, flipping over in the air, and coming to a landing behind Akane, giving her a poke in the back of the head.

For a moment, they just stood there and laughed. Akane then took a stance, "Let's go again, I want to see how far I can go."

Ranma laughed, "Bring it on!"

The next hour was filled with them, attacking, dodging, in a fun filled spar.

The two of them finally stopped, through heavy breathing and light laughs, they headed back towards the house. As they walked in, they were met by Kasumi, who was about to head outside, "Good timing, dinner should be ready just a bit, so I was coming out to get you. Why don't you two head up and get washed before we eat."

They nodded and headed up the stairs, Ranma heading into her room for a change of clothes, and Akane the same in her room. They both headed for the door of the bathroom, and Ranma stopped and stepped aside, "You first, I can just take a quick shower when you're done."

"Don't worry, just come in with me. It'll be quicker if we get it done and over with together."

Her body shivered at the thought of the being naked in front of Akane but also seeing her naked as well. She shook her head slightly. Just that morning they went over that they were both girls, this should be fine. With a nod, she followed her in. She averted her gaze as they both changed, though she felt her face getting warm.

Once they were out of their clothes, they turned towards the door, and their gazes landed on each other. Both their faces were a bit red, though Ranma was sure hers was way worse, as Akane's was just a little on her cheeks.

They both let out a small laugh and headed into the bathroom from the washroom. Ranma headed straight for the shower, turning on the cold and grabbed the soap, while Akane headed to the tub filling it with warm water. Ranma worked on her hair first, rubbing her fingers through it all, when Akane chuckled, "You don't take it out of the pigtail?"

Ranma stopped her scrubbing, the cold water running over her washing away the lather of bubbles, as she thought about it, then shrugged, "I don't know, the thought of taking it out feels, worrying."

Indeed, the thought made her muscles tense up, and as she reached to grab the body wash, her strong, and still soap grip made the bottle fly up, and clatter onto the floor just outside of the flowing cold water. As she stepped over to retrieve it, she saw Akane pick up the kakejiku, though she didn't pay it no mind as she made it to the bottle, and leaned down to pick up.

Akane's voice let out a playful "A-ha!" and suddenly Ranma was hit by a wave of warm water, splashing her and blocking out for vision for a moment, and as soon as it hit, it had passed, and still looking down, her eyes went wide as she took in her body, which had changed. Her chest, flattened and wide, her legs longer, her limbs more muscularly defined, and between her legs...

She jumped up letting out a yelp of shock and surprise in a deeper voice, and then her foot slipped, and everything fell backwards, as she fell back into the cold water of the shower, and felt herself hitting the floor, her breath getting knocked out of her, and as her head hit the tiled floor, everything went dark...

Chapter Text

Akane kept playing the scene in her head, vivid as crystal. One moment, Ranma was leaning down to pick up the bottle, and she tossed the water onto her, only to find a guy in her place, and then for him to react, and then slipping on the soapy bottle and fall into the cold water, and as he did, she was looking at Ranma again, only now unconscious.

Everything that happened next was all kind of blurred together, she remembered calling out, holding Ranma, then carrying her, then there was something wrapped around her as Ranma was taken, driven away. They were then all rushing, trying to find a cab. Before that though she had gotten dressed apparently, though that part was nowhere in her mind. But the cab was found, and they were all rushing to the hospital. Then there was a lot of waiting, people talking, then more waiting, some moving, and now here she was, sitting beside the hospital bed with Ranma in it.

It was mid-morning, and everyone was there, her dad and sisters, but they were all sleeping. Akane couldn't sleep, afraid that if she did, something might happen.

Before that, there was some good news. The doctors did say she was fine, the blow thankfully only knocked her out with no damage. The news did relieve the tension in her muscles, but little to relax the knots in her stomach. Ranma was going to be fine, but what would come next?

And what had happened in the bathroom? If the boy was still Ranma, she had definitely been as surprised to see it happen as well, which explained the reaction, which had started this whole night of chaos...

If only she hadn't tossed the water. But why did the bathtub water do that? She's used it countless times, and she's never noticed anything strong happen. Maybe it was the kakejiku? But it was just a plain plastic one from the store, she was there when they bought it.

Her mind raced and pondered, wondering what it could be, when movement caught her attention, and looking over she saw Ranma sitting up.

She watched as the red headed girl sat there, her eyes wide, like she was frightened, and what was worse, she was looking down at her body, in a hospital gown, but through its material, you could make out her form, clearly female. She then turned her head slightly, looking at her hand, she raised up, like it belonged to a stranger.

Akane stood up, taking Ranma's hand in her own. Ranma's eyes trailed up the arm to Akane's face, and for a moment they just looked at each other, then Akane leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Ranma. At first, she tensed in the embrace, but soon her arms were around Akane, as she buried her face into the soft fabric of her shirt.

Suddenly another pair was wrapped around both of them, as Akane's dad was up, and now crying his eyes out, which stirred up her sisters.

The next bit turned into a blur of happy tears, questions, some doctors talking, then another cab ride, then home.

By the time they get there, and everyone was hungry, after having missed dinner the night before.

Kasumi ended up putting together a simple lunch, that was ate in silence. Afterwards, everyone kind of did their own thing. Kasumi busied herself with chores, though she was a little spaced out as she did them. Nabiki ended up leaving, saying something about shopping, and then their dad buried himself in a newspaper.

Ranma went up to her room, closing the door behind her. Akane herself ended up in the dojo, though not really doing anything specific. She ended up just grabbing a pair of weights and just started lifting them. For hours, she stood in the dojo, lifting the cold metal.

Eventually, Kasumi came in, "Hey Akane, I'm reheating last night's food, it'll be done in a bit." Akane nodded and put them weights away, before following after her sister to the house. Inside she sat at the table, where her father was sitting, and a moment later, Nabiki, coming down from the stairs, "Ranma said she's not hungry."

Soon the table was set and they all started eating. Diner was quiet, much like lunch from earlier, though as they were finishing up, Nabiki spoke, "So Akane, how long do you plan on wearing Ranma's shirt?"

Akane looked at Nabiki, then down at herself, seeing that she was indeed wearing Ranma's shirt. She looked down at it with a little confusion.

Kasumi waved at her, "It's alright, you can take it back to her after you're done eating and maybe take her up some food. I'm sure she'll want at least something to eat."

Akane nodded, and quick finished off her food, before grabbing a tray, loading it up with a serving of dinner for Ranma, taking the stairs two at a time. Making it upstairs, she paused outside Ranma's door, slowly sliding it open to peek in.

Ranma was sitting on the futon mattress, blanket wrapped around her. Akane stepped in, closing the door behind her, and approached, setting down the tray a few feet away, and took a seat next to Ranma. For a few, they just sat in silence, just like the rest of the day had been like, but Ranma shifted and turned to Akane, "I...didn't dream that did I?"

Akane knew what she meant, "No, you really did...change."

Ranma drew in a breath, that came out a little shaky, "What's wrong with me..."

"Ranma, no! Nothing is wrong with you."

"But...I keep replaying it in my head. The body, the one I was looking at, that I had become, it was...so familiar...and..."

She started to shake, and Akane wrapped her arms around her, "Don't worry, I'm here. We'll figure it out."

Ranma took a minute, breathing, letting her body stop shaking, before nodding, "Does your family know?"

"No, you changed back before they saw. Before you even hit the floor."

Ranma nodded again, "Can we, hold off on telling them?"

"Yes, we can wait till you're ready."

Ranma nodded again, and for a while they remained like that. For a bit, it was nice, just them, but Akane started to nod off a little, and Ranma as well. When Akane let go of Ranma to stretch, about to stand up, Ranma spoke again, "Hey Akane, if it's alright with you, could I stay with you tonight?"

Akane looked down at Ranma, then nodded, "Alright, let me in."

Ranma blinked, then opened up the blanket, revealing the sweatpants and t-shirt the hospital gave her when they released her. Sliding into the blanket, Ranma's arms wrapped around her, and they laid down. Ranma's arms remained around Akane, firm, yet somewhat comforting, as they remained still, the noise of their breathing the only sound they were both soon drifting off to sleep.

The next morning at the Tendou house felt a lot calmer and normal compared to the day before. Ranma herself was even a lot better, the tension she had felt had gone, though there was a lingering worry. Breakfast, everyone was asking how she was doing, and she was going pretty good.

After everyone had eaten, Kasumi and Soun left, apparently having an errand to run. Nabiki took over the TV, leaving the rest of the house empty.

Ranma made her way upstairs, changing into her shorts and tank top, before slipping out, about to head into the bathroom, only to stop at the door. She breathed nervously, trying to work up the nerve to walk in. She took a step back, leaning against the wall opposite of the door. For a few, she just stared, when Akane came up the stairs, seeing Ranma contemplating the door.

She walked up and leaned against the wall with her, "I'm guessing you're trying to go in and find out what happen?"

"Yeah..."

"Want me to go in with you?"

"I'd, appreciate that."

With Akane, Ranma was able to peel herself off the wall, and head in. The bathroom was the same as before, the bottle of bodywash from the other night still on the floor. Akane spotted it to and rushed over, picking it up and putting it away, "Let's avoid another slip."

With a nod, Ranma walked up to the tub, still filled with water. Leaning over, she poked her finger into it. Cold.

"Is this the same water from the splash?"

"I think so, I didn't drain it."

Nodding, Ranma stepped in, then taking in a breath, and slid in, submerging herself. She held her eyes closed, before counting to three, then sitting up, letting the water run down, then she slowly opened her eyes and looked down, and saw her body was still the same.

She let out a sigh. It didn't appear to have been the tub itself at least.

As she climbed out of the tub, Akane looked at the water, then at Ranma, "I have an idea," she stepped over to the shower, turning the warm water on, and stepped back, "Try this."

Nodding, Ranma stepped towards the water, taking a deep breath, she took a quick step in, the warm water rushing over her, and then stepping out and looking down, she was now looking down at a guy's body.

She turned to look at Akane, who nodded, her brows furrowing, before she turned back to the tub, picking up the kakejiku and dipping it into the cold water, filling it up, and handing it to Ranma, "Now pour this over yourself."

Taking the plastic kakejiku, Ranma lifted it over herself, and pour it over, and once it passed, she was once again a girl.

Akane was nodding, her eyes lighting up, "I think it's the temperature. Hot or warm water turns you into a guy, while the cold water returns you to a girl."

Ranma nodded, "Well I'm never taking a hot shower again."

"You were taking cold showers already."

"Yeah, that's true...but how did this happen?"

"Maybe...a magic spell?"

"Spell...no this feels more like a curse."

"Curse, spell, magic, whatever it is, we now know that it's able to be managed with water."

"Right, so warm water activates it, cold water reverses it."

"Alright. So now that we figured that out, why don't we set you off and into some dry clothes."

Akane and Ranma headed into the dojo, where they sparred.

Or rather, Akane was trying to land a blow, while Ranma was reading a book while dodging all her attacks.

Ranma said she just wanted to distract her mind a bit, so she was multitasking. For about half an hour they did this, when Soun and Kasumi walked in.

The two stopped fight as the older two walked over, Kasumi holding a small bundle of papers, "Ranma, are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, though if I get hurt again we might have to consider tying a pillow to my head."

Kasumi giggled a little at Ranma's joke, when Soun spoke up, "Well that's good to hear, but we have some news we think you'll both like."

Akane raised an eyebrow, looking at her dad, then at the papers in Kasumi's hands, "What is it dad?"

"We got Ranma enrolled in Furiken High with you, and we were able to get it so you would both be sharing the same classes, in light of the recent incidents."

Akane smiled, the thought of Ranma going with her to school actually sounded pretty nice, and she turned to her, only to freeze when she saw Ranma's reaction was, concerned by what she could tell.

She turned to Akane, in a very hushed voice, "Scholl...with that pervert...?"

Akane instantly realized she meant Kuno, "Oh don't worry, that blockhead is in the same grade as Nabiki, he's pretty easy to avoid for the most part."

A sigh slipped out of Ranma, "Oh thank goodness..." She turned to Akane with a serious expression, "He doesn't harass Nabiki, does he?"

"He does not, before you it was me mostly."

Ranma nodded, "Alright, so school shouldn't be to bad then."

Akane nodded, before turning to Kasumi, "So when does she start?"

"Tomorrow!"

Akane and Ranma both looked at her, expressions riddled with surprise, and in unison, "Say what?"

Ranma's first day wasn't to bad, but sitting still and paying attention to the teacher, she was a little fidgety trying to.

Thankfully the teachers were accommodating, providing her paper packets filled with information about stuff they had already covered previously to Ranma joining. They said they where providing it cause of her amnesia, but none of it felt familiar.

Lunch was a nice break, they were able to eat outside, where Akane introduced her to her friends, Yuka and Sayuri, who had a lot of questions.

Ranma was able to answer a few, but the rest just went over her head. Akane was able to calm them down, and they started eating, with more normal conversation.

"So Ranma, do you not have a school uniform?"

Well, maybe not a completely normal conversation, "Well, when Kasumi and Mr. Tendou signed me up, they said the teachers offered to let me wear what I liked. Something about what they saw the other day."

Akane laughed, "I heard about that, apparently the teachers are a little scared of you after they saw you take on Kuno."

Ranma shrugged, "Well I prefer pants, so I don't mind."

The two girls feigned shock, and Yuka leaned forward, "Girl, next your going to tell me you don't know what the mall is."

"Well I know it's just a big store, but I don't know if I've ever been to one-"

"WHAT!?!" Ranma jumped as the two girls almost shouted, this time actual shock across their faces, both of them leaning in.

Yuka grabbed Ranma's shoulder, "Ranma, we're taking you to the mall!  Are you busy this weeken-"

"Saotome!!!" They froze as a voice called out the name, and a moment later, a boom range across the school as the nearby stone fence burst.

Ranma, Akane, Yura, Sayuri, and everyone else nearby turned to look at the stone dust as it cleared, standing where the wall used to be was a boy, about their age, with black hair, a yellow bandana with some black squares across it.

He walked forward, looking around the yard, before calling out, "Where's Ranma Saotome!!"

Ranma looked at him, a spark of curiosity in her. Getting up, she walked up to the guy, who watched her approach, and as she stepped up to him, she raised her hand in a still wave, "I'm Ranma."

Her looked at her, blinked. Blinked again, then his eyebrows popped up with a confused expression, "You're Ranma?"

"Yes."

"Ranma Saotome?"

"Yes."

"Ranma Saotome, child of Genma Saotome?"

"The one and only, that I'm aware of."

He blinked again, then shrugged off his bag and sat on it, looking at her.

For a moment it was just silence, but Ranma crouched down to his eye level, "Hey, so this is going to sound odd, but who are you and how do you know me? I got amnesia and have no clear memory past a few days ago."

He looked even more confused, but he shook his head and put on a more calmer expression, "I'm Ryoga Hibiki, and I'm looking for a Ranma Saotome who went to the same middle school with me."

"Oh, we went to school together?"

"No, I don't think so, I went to an all-boys middle school."

Ranma felt a shiver run through her. An all-boys school, and had a boy form...

She shook her head, pushing the thought out of her head. Her using the water curse to go to a guy's school, she found it very unlikely she would pick an all-boys school...but then again, does a parent usually pick their kid's school? Did her dad make her this way...?

Her face scrunched up in worrying thought, and Ryoga and a few nearby students noticed, as well as Kuno, who ran over swinging his bokken wildly in the air, "You ruffian, how dare you make the pig tailed goddess upset!!!"

Ryoga turned to Ranma with a confused look, "And he is?"

"Just Kuno the idiot, ignore him. Listen, I have some questions..."

Kuno pushed, Ranma, who turned to yell except he was already yelling at Ryoga, "What kind of low-down piece of garbage are you to defile the like of a goddess as her, a lady so sweet...HEY! Don't walk away!"

Ryoga had picked up his bag and was walking towards Ranma, "You have questions, but I do to, so if we can get some privacy-"

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE HER AWAY!!! I shan't let the like of you have your way with her you swine!"

Ryoga tensed, and his face went dark, "What did you just call me?"

"A SWINE! You're nothing mor then a filthy pig who preys on the-"

POW!

Ranma watched as Kuno went flying, Ryoga having used his umbrella to send him flying. Pulling on his bag, he ran after the flying idiot, "You'll regret what you've done you bastard!"

Watching him go, Ranma realized he was leaving, and started chasing after, "Wait, just forget the idiot! I still have questions!"

Ryoga was seeing red as he chased the fool with the bokken. He was fast, able to maintain a distance between the two of them. Kuno, apparently oblivious to the fact the pig related insults were enraging his opponent, kept yelling them at him as he ran, making Ryoga even madder as he gave chase.

After a bit, Kuno managed to slip out of Ryoga's line of sight, and Ryoga run where he thought he went as he tried to find him, only to soon lose track of where he was. After coming to a stop, and fuming, Ranma caught up, jumping down from a storage building she landed on, "There you are! Listen, just forget about him-"

A bell rung out, and Ranma hung her head, "Ah darn it! Lunch period is over...okay, you're coming with me, and then after school ends, we're talking."

Before he could object, Ranma had his wrist and was pulling him towards the school. He was surprised at how strong her grip was. He somehow ended up getting dragged inside and was made to sit behind Ranma.

Ranma, and the dark blue haired girl that she seemed to be paired with, always sat in the back most row, so Ryoga was sitting against the wall on the floor, not that he minded. He had his own questions he wanted answered, and this was a small price to pay to get them. But she did mention something about amnesia, so there was a chance he might not get any answers.

Eventually, they made it to the end, they were walking out. As they walked out the gate, Ryoga turned to Ranma, "So I guess we should start our questions, but first, might I inquire about the girl with you?"

"Oh, right. Ryoga, this is Akane Tendou."

Akane held out her hand, "Nice to meet you."

Ryoga took it and shook, "You as well. So how do you Ranma?"

"It's a long story, but to keep it simple, Ranma's dad was a friend with mine ages ago, but they hadn't seen each other in almost twenty years. Ranma and her father were coming to see up when a panda gave her Amnesia, and her father is missing, so she's staying with us and my sisters for now."

Ryoga blinked, turning to Ranma, "A panda did that?"

Ranma nodded, "With a stop sign it ripped out of the ground."

Ryoga nodded, the explanation sounding odd, but he had experienced crazier things. He turned to Akane, "So what's your house like?"

"Oh, it's pretty nice a bit older. My dad runs the Tendou Dojo of anything goes martial arts."

He nodded, and was about to ask about her father's skill, when he saw movement rushing towards them as someone rushed at them from the corner of his eye. Before he could make out who, he grabbed the girls and duct, as the person swung something over them. A sharp whistle cut through the air, and as it passed over them, Ryoga made out it was a bokken.

Realizing who it was, he saw red again, and releasing the girls, he grabbed his umbrella again and was running after Kuno, who was backing away quickly, parrying him with his wooden blade.

Ranma turned to look as Ryoga chased after Kuno. She wanted to go after, but after how hard he pushed them down, she wanted to make sure Akane was okay.

She turned to her, mouth open to ask, only to freeze as she saw Akane, her hand holding her hair ribbon, along with the strands of hair it was holding was still in place. It took a moment to process, but somehow Kuno's bokken had slashed strait through her hair, cutting it short in an instant.

Akane was looking shocked, holding her removed hair, her eyes wide and teary. Panic filled Ranma and she scooped her up in her arms, and she started running, hopping onto fences and roofs to get her home as fast as she could, unsure what they could do, but she recognized what she was feeling, and she knew that getting her home to a safe place was the best she could do.

Chapter Text

Akane looked at herself in the mirror. She recalled her sister sitting her down the night before, trimming up and tidying up the shorten hair. It was a bit nostalgic, reminding her of her short hair cut back when she was younger. It was odd to see it short after so long, but after the initial shock, it was also kind of a relief.

There was a small knock on her door, and a moment later, it creaked open and Ranma poked her head in, "Hi, am I good to enter?"

"Yes Ranma, you can enter."

The red head stepped in, closing the door behind her. Today she was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, though it was the same as her other ones so far. Seeing that she let out a small laugh.

Ranma slowly walked forward, "Akane, are you feeling okay?"

She took a moment to breath after her laughter passed, "Yes, I'm fine. It's just, your shirts are that same."

"Really? You just lost a most of your hair and my shirts are funny?"

"Sorry, it's just, I'm looking on the bright side, and I guess I'm a little lighthearted."

"Really? Did your hair mean something?"

"Yeah..."

"Is...it something you care to share?"

She let out a sigh, "Oh why not."

She turned to Ranma, taking a seat on her chair, so Ranma took a seat on her bed.

"So, to start, you're aware that I don't like guys."

"Yeah, the fact you beat a whole group of them to a pulp yesterday morning kind of clued me in."

"Right, well, I kind of had a crush on one guy, and the thing is, he kind of already has an interest in someone else, so I grew out my own hair to make it longer like the girl he likes, but it didn't really do anything. I'm afraid to him I'm more like a little sister."

"You're talking about Dr. Tofu?"

Akane's eyebrows jumped up with surprised, but then she let out a sigh as it passed, "That obvious?"

"Just a little. But it is understandable, he is cute, for a guy."

Akane chuckled, "Yeah, but I was holding onto the crush, though I think I was mostly just trying to fool myself. Having a crush is something expected of girls, and it's pretty clear I'm odd compared to others, so I was crushing to feel more like a normal girl."

Ranma reached forward, hands on Akane's shoulders, "You listen! You're an amazing person, yo0u shouldn't need to validate yourself to all the others normal people. Your skills are amazing in a fight, I've seen that myself, you deserve respect! Kuno and all those guys are just idiots for attempting to claim your hand just because you're pretty, cause you're more than just your beautiful face."

Her words reverberated in her head, and her face got warm, "You...think I'm beautiful?"

Akane watch as Ranma's face soften, turned red, and got flustered, "Oh, well yes...why wouldn't...you're just...sooooo..."

Her stuttering was cut off but the door, Nabiki opening the door, wearing her school uniform, "Hey, come down and eat before it gets..." She looked at them, Ranma's hands still on Akane's shoulders, both their faces red, "Yeah, if Ranma had been a boy, you two would've been a perfect couple."

She walked off, leaving them both turning even redder.

Ryoga was PISSED! First, he lost track of the Kuno idiot again, then he spent the rest of the day trying to find the Tendou dojo, before he was forced to camp out in a old lot, and now the day was over half over, and he still hadn't found the dojo. He asked around, and every person had been able to give him directions, so he was thankfully still in the same area.

But now it was raining. He had his umbrella, so he was able to stay dry. He kept walking, hoping to find someone or something, but as luck would have it, nothing.

He sat down on a bench next to the road, pondering what he knew. Ranma, the girl, was pretty sure her father was Genma, and he found it VERY unlikely there was two Genma. Plus she seemed to be a marital artist. And her friend said her father was part of the Anything goes martial arts style, so it seemed likely that this Ranma was skilled in that style as well, which meant the Ranma he knew in school was versed in the same style.

There were so many questions. Did Genma dress up a girl like a boy to toss her into the school?

In a weird way it made sense. From his small bit of time meeting Genma, the man was a very strict in his training, especially with some of his odd, strange, harsh, and tricky training. He still found it hard to believe some of the things he put Ranma through back in the day. If he put Ranma into a boy's school in disguise to get tough, it was possible considering the amount of fighting that went down.

He let out a frustrated sigh. The Ranma he used to know couldn't be this new one, they were so different. If only he could find the Dojo, or maybe Genma. Where the heck did that rotten man of a father even go...

SPLASH!!!!

Genma had spent his time watching.

The reserve he ended up in was tightly locked down. There was many other pandas, as well as an around the clock security force. They apparently were very high strung about poachers, and a few tourists had appeared, and they were treated like threats. Genma knew if he turned into his human self now, he wouldn't get far, and would possibly end up taken to prison.

Besides he didn't even have the capacity to turn into a human, yet.

He had the capacity to make fire, having plenty of brush and bamboo to burn, and he's been able to cook himself fish this way. He also had to resort to eating the bamboo and panda bread they served to curb his panda sized appetite, and he had lots of water, with the stream providing it, but he lacked a pot or anything big enough to fill with water. Maybe he could make one or keep an eye on the humans to try and find something.

But he knew he needed to get out. He'd been watching the guards, taking notes of their habits and stuff. He knew he could get out with time, but he also needed more. The reserve had caves, made to give the pandas a place to sleep. He managed to find a large one that was unoccupied. Using the bamboo and other things he could get his hands on, he made training equipment.

For years he'd been training Ranma, but now it was time he trained himself.

During his and Ranma's time cursed, he noticed that stuff that happened in one form could have an effect on the other form.

Ranma's female form lacked the same physical strength, but had improved speed and flexibility, however Ranma's original form still had those traits from the training, and it seemed the training heavily increased it in the female form. Plus his female form was still very strong.

He should easily be able to train in panda form, and once he could make himself human, that training should carry over.

It might take a while, but he would get there.

Ranma and Akane were huddled underneath a shared umbrella, walking home after their day at school. Akane was holding the umbrella, while Ranma carried their bags. After a bit, Akane turned to Ranma, "Ranma, random question, but could you train me?"

"Wait, really?"

"Yes. We're both incredibly strong, but your speed is amazing, and the way you jump, it's like you can fly through the air."

"OH! I see what you mean." Ranma looked ahead, thinking, "Well...I think I have an idea. So, to start, we'll need to adjust your usual workout routine."

"Okay, so what, heavier weights, or do I need to do them but faster?"

"No actually. All of your self-training and exercise is mostly just strength based. That's not a bad thing, strong muscles are definitely good, but you also need to work on flexibility, and flow."

"Flow?"

"Yes. Basically, letting your body work in fluid motion, letting it seamlessly go from one move to the next. When you were throwing punches this morning, you would throw a punch, which did move swiftly, but your arm shot all the way out, then you had to pull back. Your arm should shoot out then flow back."

Akane nodded as she thought about it. It made sense, her work had been strength mostly, but that was how she had been taught, so she hadn't thought about expending. Nodding she turned back to Ranma, "Sounds good, why don't we try it when we get home?"

"Sure, I would love to..."

SPLASH!!!

They looked towards the sound of water, seeing a truck across the street plowing through a deep puddle, and as it drove away, they saw the splash had hit a bench, and on it was a couple of items, including a very familiar umbrella.

Ranma rushed over, zipping out from under the umbrella, and Akane ran after, trying to get it back over her.

Making it over, they both looked over the pile. It was indeed Ryoga's umbrella and bag, as well as his clothes.

Ranma picked up the umbrella, holding it over herself, "What do you think happened?"

"Maybe Kuno got the upper hand and stripped him for to humiliate him."

"Oh, I hope not! He's weird enough already..." Ranma trailed off and crouched down, looking at the shirt, as something started moving inside of it. Akane crouched down next to her, and they watched as a little black piglet popped out of the head hole. They started at it for a moment, and Akane felt a spark of joy.

"It's so cute!!!"

Ranma picked up the pig, and it squeak and waved its little arms widely, "Hey, look! The same bandana as Ryoga."

"You're right, do you think the piglet is his pet?"

"It seems likely. It's with all his other stuff. We should take it all with us, so if he shows up again, we can return them."

"We should. So what about the piglet? Should we use a nickname?"

Ranma passed the piglet to Akane, "Probably, just calling them "the piglet" seems rude."

Akane thought as Ranma picked up Ryoga's stuff, "Well what about P-Chan!"

"Hmmm, yeah for a nickname that can work."

After everything was gathered, Ryoga's clothes put in his bag, and the bag was now on Ranma's back, Akane passed the piglet back to her, and they started walking.

They mostly just admired the piglet on the way back, and once they made it home, Kasumi greeted them at the door, and when she saw the piglet in Ranma's hand, she leaned over, "Who's this cutey?"

Ranma smiled, "P-Chan! A piglet we think belongs to the boy who chased Kuno yesterday."

Kasumi nodded, "I see. Well, where's Ryoga, I would very much like to thank him for going after that rude Kuno for ruining the hair Akane worked so hard on."

"We don't know...his stuff and the piglet were left sitting in the rain. We're hoping Kuno didn't get him."

"Ah, I see. Well then come to the table, I got warm food waiting for you after a cold downpour."

The two of them excitedly made it to the table, where warm tea and snakes where waiting. They eagerly ate, the food warming them up, while Ranma shared hers with P-Chan, the little guy eating it, and cuddling up to Ranma. Akane smiled, the cute little pig with the cute red head was just adorable.

After snacks where done, Kasumi came out, "Ranma, can you come with me? Since you have some only a few sets of clothes I have some old ones pulled out I think might fit, but I want to make sure they do first."

"Oh, alright!" She picked up P-Chan from her lap and passed him to Akane, "Here, he's still feeling cold, think you could give him a warm bath for me?"

She felt the piglet got tense in her hands, but she nodded, "Sure thing!"

The four of them went upstairs, Kasumi heading into her bedroom with Ranma following after, while Akane took the squirming piglet into the bathroom. The room was warm with steam, as the tub was still filled with water, steaming coming off from it. And judging by the kakejiku still filled with water sitting on the floor, her father had been the one in her last.

Akane knelt by the water, "You don't have to keep squirming, the water is still warm, but it's cooled down so you won't get burned, here, see?"

She lowered the piglet into the water, dipping him down enough to get water over his head to warm him up...

When the piglet suddenly changed into a guy.

She fell and scrambled back, her hand bumping the kakejiku, and she reflectively grabbed it and was about to throw it, when the guy shot up his hands, his mouth moving fast, "Please don't it's me!"

Akane's froze, recognizing the voice, and then the bandana on his head.

"RYOGA!?!"

"Shhhh! Please don't!"

"How did you do that?"

"I...I'm..."

Akane looked at him, before she stood up, walking over to the towel rack and tossing a towel to him, "Cover up and get out. Now tell me, are you come kind of pig enchanted to turn into a boy when wet?"

As he stood up and wrapped the towel around himself, Akane took a moment to think. He changed when he got into the water, just like Ranma did.

Once he had it fastened, Akane raised the kakejiku, "Okay, so here's the deal, I want answers, and if you don't want to get splashed, you're going to tell me the truth, got it?"

He nodded.

"Good. To start, what are you? A pig enchanted to turn into a boy when wet?"

"Wha...No!"

"Then what?"

"I'm a guy who was cursed!"

Akane raised an eyebrow, "Explain."

Ryoga let out a sigh, "Jusenkyo."

The way he said it was heavy, filled with dread, but Akane was still confused, "I have no idea what that is."

"It's a place. Let me rewind.

"So as you know, I was tracking down the Ranma from my old school, and on my trip, I managed to follow his trail to China. While there I made my way to a place called Jusenjyo. It's a place with springs of water as far as the eye can see, with bamboo shoots sticking out of the ground and water. In ancient times many marital artists would train there, however there's a curse over each and every one of those springs. Almost everyone has a "tragic story" where a someone or something falls in, and then anyone who falls in after is cursed to turn into the thing that first drowned in that specific spring. When I was there, I was knocked off a cliff by an unknown person I didn't see, and I fell into the spring of the drowned black piglet. Now every time I get wet with cold water, I revert to the piglet, and to change back I need warm water."

Akane blinked, her mind racing as she thought. Cold was cursed, warm was the reverse. If that was true, then did that mean Ranma was meant to be a boy...

She turned back to Ryoga, "Is it the same for every spring?"

"What?"

The hot and cold rule, is it the same, or is it different for the spring, or person?"

"I don't know! And why are you asking, I feel like there's more important matters here."

He was right, but Ranma...

She shook her head, "Alright, well I can't hold this against you, it was just bad circumstances."

He nodded, "Thank you-"

"Wait! We're not out of the woods yet."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm assuming you want to keep your, curse, a secret?"

He nodded.

"Alright, here's my plan. Tonight, you'll have to be P-Chan, and tonight while everyone is asleep, you can slip away and get yourself changed back, then in the morning you'll act like you just found the place, and then you and Ranma can ask each other your questions."

"Why do I have to be the pig?"

"Do you want to explain to Ranma and my sister why there's a naked boy in the bathroom with me?"

"Good point."

She tossed the water on him, and he turned into the pig. She grabbed the towel and tossed it to the hamper, before grabbing a dry one to dry him off, "Oh, and one more thing, under no circumstances do you tell Ranma about your curse, how you got it, or how it works, cause if you do I'll hunt you down and cook you up nice and juicy and serve you for dinner."

She didn't really want to, but the way he tensed and quickly nodded, he believed it.

After he was dried, she picked him up and carried him out. She thought back to Ranma, and her reaction to her first transformation into the boy, and how she was the day after.

If she was that distraught at the thought of changing into a boy, she couldn't imagine how bad she would be if she found out she was actually supposed to be a boy. But is also made so much sense, she wore boy's underwear, and also the all-boys school.

But still...Ranma a guy. That didn't seem right, after the time they spent together, she seemed happy as she was, and Akane wanted to protect that.

Ranma looked down at P-Chan while he ate the veggies inside the small bowl Kasumi gave him, while the rest of them ate dinner at the table.

As she finished, up, she noticed Akane staring off, her plate was barely touched.

"Akane, are you feeling alright?"

She jumped lightly, "Oh, yeah! Sorry, I'm just...a little lost in thought."

"Alright...well you might wanna hurry up before your food gets cold."

"Oh right."

She watched as Akane started eating her food, taking a quick pace to eat it. Soon she had her plate cleared, and was standing up, taking her plate to the kitchen.

Ranma followed a moment later, rinsing her plate off, before returning to find P-Chan was done. Picking him up in one arm, and his bowl in the other, she took them to the kitchen, rinsing the bowl, before heading upstairs. Taking P-Chan to her room, she grabbed a pillow from the large bag, and set it next to the futon, setting P-Chan on it, when Akane walked in, looking at Ranma then P-Chan, "Oh, is he...staying with you tonight?"

"I was planning on it, did you want to?"

"If, it's alright with you."

Ranma looked down at the piglet, before picking him up on the pillow still, "Here you go. Oh, and tomorrow when we get home, if I don't remember, remind me that I want to show you some training stuff for your flexibility."

Akane, nodded but her expression seemed a little spaced out, before walking out, taking the piglet with her. Maybe a night with the cute pig would help her calm down with what she was going through.

Midnight had fallen, and everyone else was out. Akane carried Ryoga downstairs, then she grabbed his bag, taking a change of clothes, before heading to the kitchen, getting a kettle and filling it with hot water. She then took him outside, pout the water over him, then setting the clothes on the ground and turning away before she saw anything, "Alright, you should be able to camp out in the front, I'll get you in the morning when I come out for my morning jog."

"Alright. Which way is the front?"

That way, Akane points towards the front.

"Alright, I'll see you in the morning then.

"Yes, good night."

Akane headed back inside, quietly heading upstairs, before heading back to bed.

Ranma woke the next morning to the sounds of footsteps. As she sat up, she turned to the door, expecting them to either enter or pass, but as she started to gain lucidity, she realized the steps were coming from above her.

Alertness snapped her awake, and she headed over to the window, slowly sliding it open, and stepping out onto the roof outside of her window, and listened, hearing whoever it was walking on the roof above.

Waiting till they were closer, she jumped up, arms raised as she cried out, only to stop and flail her arms as she saw Ryoga. Her arms flailed, trying to stop herself mid-air, only to get caught by Ryoga. Once the adrenaline passed, she looked up at Ryoga, "Uhh, thanks."

His face turned a little pink, "Not a prob-sorry for surprising you."

"Right, speaking of that, why're you on the roof?"

"Right. Well, I was about to knock, when I saw there was something up here, an animal, so I jumped up to see if I could help it get down."

"Ah, I see. So, where's the animal?"

"It went," He looked around, "Over there."

She turned and followed his gaze, spotting...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chapter Text

Akane was running back up to the house, her mind thinking about earlier. When she got up, she went looking for Ryoga, only run around to find him behind the Dojo. She was confused how he managed to get over there, but she pointed him to the front door and made her way out. There's no way he could get turned around with the sun light...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ranma! That was her screaming.

She rushed towards the wall, jumping up and grabbing the tiled roofing, she pulled herself up and over, landing in the grass looking around, then spotting motion on the roof, and to her surprise, she saw Ryoga, holding a limp Ranma, with a cat sitting on the red head.

Ryoga was frantically looking around, his face red, when he spotted Akane, looking at him, while her own face turned red, with rage.

"YOU HAD ONE JOB!!! KNOCK ON THE DOOR!!!"

"I got turned around, and then the cat...."

"Get down here now!!!"

Ryoga, leaped, gracefully landing on the grass. Stepping up, Akane peeled the cat of Ranma, before taking her into her own arms, as her family appeared at the opened sliding door, looking to see what was happening. Akane walked up, and they all backed away as she set Ranma down and get a good look at her. Her eyes were open and twitching a little.

"Ranma, what happened?"

Her head turned to look at Akane, and she crouched down to listen, when she felt the cat jump up onto her shoulders, and Ranma's eyes shot wide open, and with another yell, she jumped, right into Kasumi's arms, who caught her with surprising ease.

Ranma stared at the cat, shaking like a leaf, "C-c-c-c-c-a-a-a-t-t-t-t-t!"

Akane felt the weight of the cat lift up, Ryoga picking it up, and setting it on the ground as Akane stood up. The cat yawned, then strutted off, climbing up the tree in the yard and jumping over the wall. Once it was gone, they all looked to Ranma, who stopped shaking, but was still in Kasumi's arms.

After they managed to pry her off, they sat her at the table with a blanket and a cup of tea. Akane sat by her, arms on her shoulder, "Ranma, what happened?"

"I...I don't know. I saw it, and all I could feel...see...hear...were cats... so many of them...all over me...biting and scratching...all of them..."

She shivered, tensing up again. Akane wrapped her arms around her, "Don't worry, the cat is gone, it's just us, your friends."

She nodded and took a sip of her tea.

"Please don't tell anyone what happened. I didn't know I was scared of cats, but if anyone else knew, I feel like...things might get out of hand."

"Don't worry, it's safe with us."

"Hey Kuno-baby, I got some juicy gossip you might be interested in hearing."

Nabiki watched as Kuno waved her off, "I have no interest in common chit-chat, my attention is better spent on my work."

"It about Ranma-"

"Tell me more about the pig tailed goddess."

Nabiki smirked at his sudden jump to attention, "You know the drill, payment up front."

He passed her a thick wad of cash, "Make haste, what it is?"

"Your dear little red head is deathly afraid of cats, so much so that when she sees one, she'll immediately jump into the arms of the closest person."

Nabiki watched as his face lit up, a mischievous and gleeful smile spreading across his lips.

"Hey Ranma, is it just me, or has school been oddly peaceful these last few days?"

Akane turn to Ranma, as they walked to their lockers, ready to head home for the day and enjoy their weekend.

Ranma looked up as she thought, snapped her fingers, "Kuno, he hasn't been bugging us at all."

"Your right, last time I saw him, it was during the morning brawl of the day you saw the ca-"

Ranma tensed for a moment as she reached for her locker.

"Sorry, didn't mean to spool you."

Ranma let out a sigh as she opened her locker, "It's fine, I just wish I knew...what the heck?"

She picked out a piece of paper from the locker, holding it towards Akane, "I think we jinked ourselves."

Akane took it and read the paper.

My beloved friend Ranma, I'm trap in the gymnasium, come immediately to help rescue me. Yours truly, Akane Tendou.

Akane blinked, her eyes scanning the paper over, till it landed on the latter head.

"Kuno..."

Ranma nodded, "I say we just head home and pretend we never saw it."

"As much as I would love to, he mentioned that "I" was stuck, so we might have to go and release some pour soil he might have kidnapped."

"Nah, I doubt it, if he was that desperate, I think he would have probably kid the real Akane, or just straight up nab me, but you make a good point."

Getting their bags, they headed to the gymnasium. As they walked in, their attention was directed to the stage by a fuzzy sounding sound. The room was dark, so they had to get close, but getting up on the stage, and to their surprise, they found a mannequin in a school uniform, with an image of Akane's face stuck to the head, and a small audio box in its arms, repeating the same line of help.

"This...is supposed to be me?"

"Apparently. Though I want to know how he got a picture of you. One of you in the dojo if I'm right."

Akane leaned forward, and sure enough, she could make out the dojo in the background, back when her hair was longer. Akane let out a annoyed sigh, "Nabiki...she sold him pictures."

"Seriously...wait...does that he might have pictures of me?"

"Knowing my sister, probably...wait a moment."

Akane saw something around the neck of the mannequin, and reaching forward, she lifted it off.

"Is this, fish?"

Ranma looked at it, then reach over and took it, "Yeah, and catnip-"

The floor suddenly dropped, and Akane felt herself fall. Reflex took over and she landed in a crouch, and as she stood back up, Ranma hopped down, "You okay?"

"I'm fine. Honestly, I'm not sure what's going on, but it feels like Kuno's lost what's left of his...marbles..."

A cat. There was a cat behind Ranma, and she was still holding the necklace of fish and catnip.

"Ranma, keep looking at me..." As her eyed adjusted back to Ranma's face, she saw her eyes going wide as her expression changed to pure fear. Turning to look behind her, Akane saw another cat, then another, and another...

The room was swarming with cats, all of them looking thin, and they were all looking at Ranma, who's hand was now holding the necklace in a death grip. She needed to get Ranma out of there and fast. Grabbing Ranma's arms, she pulled her to the door, slamming it open, only to stop just as she was about to step through, as a large tiger stepped forward.

Akane stepped back, fear and rage seething through her, what had Kuno been thinking?

Just then another door flung open, Kuno bursting in, holding his bokken, and was also wearing a cape?

"My pig tailed goddess, I heard you were in trouble have come to your aid, cause I, Kuno the Blue Lightning of Furikan high-"

"...mrooow..."

The quiet sound made everything stop in the room.

"Meooooww..."

Akane looked at Ranma. That wasn't her, was it?

"MROWWWW!!!"

Ranma left forward, her stance changing as she flew the air, her hands taking on a paw like grip, and slashed at Kuno, who reflectively raised his bokken in defense, only for the wood to turn to shreds in a matter of seconds, before Ranma burst through and slashed at him, then as he fell back, she pounced off and ran out the door.

Akane blinked, unsure what had just happened. She looked around, seeing all the cats, and tiger, had huddled against the far wall shivering. Whatever had just happened to Ranma, it scared all of the animals.

Turing to the door, Akane ran after. She had only been doing her new training with Ranma a few days, but hopefully she could manage to use it keep up with Ranma. Running, she made it up and out into the Gymnasium again, and then she ran towards the open door.

Looking around she saw a crowd of students clustering around a tree. Running up, she saw Ranma up in the branches, clawing at the bark, with it coming off in thin paper like strips. She looked over the crowd, trying to find a way through. She couldn't jump that far and high yet, so she would have to get closer if she wanted to get up there.

"Mrow?!"

She paused when she heard Ranma, and looking up, she was now on all fours on the branch, sniffing the air. Akane sniffed the air, catching a faint whiff of wood smoke. Maybe a campfire, but why would Ranma be interested in a campfire as a cat?

Well, whatever the reason, she was locked onto it, as she jumped out of the tree and over the crowd, and she scurried away, her eyes filled with a determined look, like a hungry cat after a mouse.

Ryoga watched as his fish cooked on the pan he had set over the fire. He had skipped lunch as he tried to find his way back to the Dojo. He wasn't quite sure why, but Ranma had been lingering on his mind. Her smile...those eyes with the natural highlights, her hair...

He smiled as he felt a warmth creep over his cheeks. There was something amazing about that red headed girl. He wanted to know more...

"Meow?"

He jumped at the sound, he had been so spaced out he hadn't noticed the cat sneak up...

"Ranma?"

It was the red head, except she was on all fours, her eyes locked on the pan with the fish. He didn't know what was happening, but it didn't seem normal. He reached forward, trying to get his hand on her shoulder to try and get her attention, only for a sharp yowl and a lashing.

Akane could smell the smoke easier, as well as hearing a commotion. Following them, she saw Ranma, arms flailing as she was perched on someone who was now on their back on the ground.

As she got closer, Ranma stopped her attack, and then turned to the pan, knocking it over and starting to eat the fish on it.

Hopping down from the fence, Akane rushed up, finding Ryoga on the ground, covered in thin scratches, and looking dazed, "Hey Akane...what's happening?"

"Kind of...you remember Kuno?"

He sat up with a groan, "Unfortunately."

Akane crouched next to him, "Well, he found out about Ranma's cat fear and set up a trap so he could "rescue" her, but somehow the cats overwhelmed her and, and now she's acting like a cat, scratching everything up in her path."

"That idiot!"

"Yeah, first my hair, and now this. He is going to pay..."

"Mrow."

They paused as Ranma slowly approached, eyes locked on Akane. They froze as they watched her, expecting her to pounce, except she didn't. She just crawled up, and then curled into Akane's lap, purring.

They both looked at the girl acting like cat, confused. Akane lifted up her hand, and started petting her, prompting even more purring.

"Huh...okay..."

"So what, do we splash her with water?"

"Let's not. It could be like sleepwalking, where you're not supposed to wake them up."

"Alright. So what should we do?"

"Getting her home is probably the safest option-"

Akane was interupted as Ranma moved, quickly, booping her nose to Akane's, and her lips touching her own in the process. Akane felt her face turning red, and her whole body freezing, yet not tensing as the girl acting like a cat was still on her lap.

She looked down at Ranma, who was completely oblivious to what she just did, as she purred away, happy to just be there.

"Akane-"

Her arm shot out, the built-up emotion and her reflex trigger her fight or flight, and fight came first as it lashed out, knocking Ryoga in the chest and sending him flying into the nearby fence.

"Oh my...I'm so sorry, I don't know what just happened."

"It's...alright..." He flopped forward, landing face first on the ground, resting there for a moment, before her slowly started to get up, "Let's just Ranma home."

Using Ryoga's fish, they were able to get Ranma onto Akane's back and carry her home. Now she was curled up in her lap again, as everyone else in the family was now sitting around, their eyes locked on Ranma. Nabiki looked up at Akane, "Explain what happened again?"

"Like I said, Kuno filled a room with cats and dropped Ranma into it, in an attempt to play hero, but instead, Ranma got overwhelmed, and then she snapped, and started acting like a cat, she was even scratching up stuff like cat, but amplified. She was turning a tree into wood shavings before she went after the smell of Ryoga's food."

"Wow, that's impressive. But how did this happen?"

Kasumi stood up, "Excuse me a moment."

Akane watched as she walked away, heading up the stairs by the sound of her footsteps in the silent house. A minute later she was coming back, holding an old green book that had seen better days. Placing it on the table, they all looked at it, the title reading "The Cat Fist" in plain bold letters.

Akane turned to Kasumi, "Where'd this come from?"

"Ranma's big bag. Ranma was letting me go through it so I can see what all they had for clothes. This was with the stuff we think belongs to her father. I didn't look inside, but it might be worth a look."

Nabiki picked up the book, flipping to the first page, reading though it. After a minute she lowered it, "Okay, so basically the cat-fist is a powerful technique, and to obtain it, you need to wrap a person in fish and drop them into a room of hungry cats."

The room fell into a stunned silence, pondering what it meant, when she then turned the page, "Ah, here's the warning. Doing so will result in the person obtain an extreme fear of any cats," She let out a annoyed sigh, "It's like whoever did this only read the first page before inflicting this onto Ranma."

Akane felt a growl in her own throat. It had to be Genma, who else. Every little thing that she learned about this man was becoming worse and worse every time. And looking around, it seemed like everyone else in the room was having similar thoughts, even her father had a bit of a frustrated look.

Putting the thoughts of beating him alive, Akane turned back to Nabiki, "Is there more?"

"Let me see," She turned the page again, "Alright, so according to this, she will return to normal. You either have to just let ride it out, which can take a few day."

"Any other ways?"

"Yes. According to this, anyone under the influence of the cat can be brought back to themself by a person they truly care and trust. This person will often be the only one the cat will willingly interact with, through signs of affection like cuddling up."

All eyes turned to Akane, as she was the one who was currently getting cuddled up by the cat. She felt herself blush, and tried her mouth, only to stutter a little, "W-w-w-ell, I don't know...what do you think...where's Ryoga?"

All eyes turned to the spot where their guest had been sitting, only to find it empty. Akane almost stood up, about to go look for him on the chance he had actually gotten lost inside the house, when a squeak caught her ears. Turning to the door, a little black piglet came in.

And she wasn't the only one who noticed. Ranma's posture changed, as her eyes locked onto the piglet, and a small playful growl came out from her, and she started to crawl towards Ryoga, who's piglet face changed to an expression of regret.

Ranma could only guess he turned into P-Chan since Ranma liked the piglet, so he was about to try and bring her back, but now he had become the cat's plaything as she reached forward and tried to bat at him, and he squealed as he backed away, getting pinned between her and the wall.

Ranma stalked closer, hand raised again,

"Ranma!"

She froze, then turned to look at Akane, who's hands were out. Akane watched as her expression changed, turning soft. She turned and scurried over, her head fitting into the hands, her eyes closing, purring as her thumbs rubbed over her cheeks.

Akane leaned close, talking in a quiet whisper, "Ranma, come back to me."

Ranma opened her eyes, blinking a few times, before looking up at Akane, who was looking at her with a worried expression.

"What's going on?"

The room when from quiet to energetic as everyone let out sighs and breaths, words coming out, and Akane was pulling Ranma into a hug, "Oh thank goodness! I was worried."

"Worried, what happened, last I remember..." Cats.

A shiver ran through Ranma, as Akane let go, "Kuno, that's what. He set up all those cats so he could try and play hero. The idiot went as far as to use a tiger."

Soun's voice stood out as he raised his voice, "He did what!?"

"Oh, did I not mention that?"

Ranma waved her hand in the air, "Hold on, hold on. I remember the cats, but how did I get here?"

Nabiki spoke up, "Here, read this."

She tossed the old green book that her and Kasumi had pulled out the other day. Flipping it open, she read through the pages, processing the information, before closing the book, "Why would anyone do this?"

An awkward silence fell, everyone looking away.

She nodded, more to herself, as she realized what they were thinking, "My dad."

Akane's arms wrapped around her again, soon followed by Kasumi. Even Nabiki reached over and patted her on the head.

Ranma smiled, as she wrapped her own arms around Akane. As the hugs loosened, Ranma turned to look at the book again, "So how exactly did you guys get me out of the cat trance?"

Nabiki spoke up, "Akane's got the magic touch."

"Oh, well thank you... Akane are you feeling alright, your looking a bit warm."

"Oh, I'm fine!" She turned away, her cheeks still a bit pink.

Ranma reached down and took Akane's hand, "Wel thank you. I'm glad I get to go out with you this weekend instead of spending it as a cat."

Akane blinked, before realization dawned on her, "Oh right! Yes."

"Yes, Yuka and Sayuri were talking about discounts on an ice rink yesterday."

Just then, the door slide open and Ryoga walked in, looked around then spotted Ranma, "Oh hey, your back."

Ranma looked up, and saw two things, one, his hair was wet, and two, his face was covered in scratches.

"Ouch, that looks bad...oh shit I did that."

He shrugged, "It wasn't your fault, you weren't yourself."

"Well why don't I make it up to you. How about you join us tomorrow at the ice rink?"

Ryoga's face turned pink. It must've been warmer in the room than Ranma realized.

She then turned to Akane, "I guess I should ask that's alright with you and your friends first."

Akane gave slow nod, "Sure, let me go call them."

To Akane's disdain, her friends were more than okay with Ryoga coming along. To Akane's amusement, Ryoga had no idea how to skate.

She almost felt a bit smug about it, if it wasn't for the fact Ranma was just as bad. Akane had Ranma by the arm, and was slowly leading her around the rink.

She was somewhat capable of balancing, but getting herself to stay up while moving was proving tricky. Ryoga ended up between Yuka and Sayuri, the two of them working together to try and teach him, and also keep him from getting lost.

Turns out his sense of direction was incredibly worded tha. Akane had previously thought.

But none the less, it was pretty fun. After a while, Ranma was ready to try by herself.

Letting go of each other, Akane slipped behind, staying close just in case she slipped, but for a minute she was actually holding up, and then slipped.

Akane shot forward ready to catch Ranma, only to bump into someone, and the three of them ended up tumbling into a pile in the ice.

For a moment they were trying to untangle themselves, and after they succeeded, Akane managed to take a look at the mystery person.

It was a guy, a bit taller, in a suit that felt a little fancy for a normal skating rink, but his hair was styled to match.

He looked over the two of them, and with a too fancy smile, "Why greetings ladies, I do apologize for the inconvenience, but when I saw the on lovely lady here about to fall, I just had to assist, but failed to see the other amazing lady here about to catch her as well. I'm Mikado Sanzenin, one of the Golden Pair of Martial arts Free Style Ice Skating."

Akane and Ranma both shock their heads. There was something about him disturbingly familiar.

He got to his feet, and held his hand out to Akane, pulling her up, "My, such a shame you two haven't been made aware, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't make it up to you somehow.~"

Akane was suddenly pulled close, his arm wrapped around her, leaning in with eyes closed and lips out-

POW!!!

A skate slammed across his face, sending him flying. Looking over, Ranma was spinning in place, trying to recover her balance from kicking him.

Akane managed to catch and stop her before she fell, and turned to look at Mikado Sanzenin, who had just barely managed to stop himself before hitting the barrier.

As he started to glide his way back to them, Akane reald.why he seemed so familiar, "He's like Kuno, on ice."

Ranma groan as she realized it to, as he slid closer, "My, so  the red haired beauty is impatient for her kiss, fine I'll oblige you with your kiss first-"

A sharp crunch broke through the air of the rink, as the wall just past the barrier behind Mikado crumbled, then some of the falling rubble also knocking down that part of the barrier.

Everyone turned to watch, even Mikado, and as the dust settled, a purple haired girl, holding a chuí in each hand.

She took a few steps forward and they could make out her clothes and features, making it pretty clear she was probably from China.

She scanned the room, when Mikado started skating towards her, "Such beautiful ladies, all ready to fight for these lips, I'm so flattered, but don't worry I'll get everyone-"

He was cut off by the girl as her chuí hit him in the face, and as he fell, her eyes landed on the two girls, then locking onto the one next to Akane.

Her eyes narrowed, and her mouth open slightly, "Ranma."

Her volume was normal, yet it felt both a deadly quiet and a raging roar, and then she took a few fast steps before jumping into the air, her other raised, ready to bring it down as she landed...

And slipped on the ice, falling backwards. In her surprise her grip the chuí she was swinging loosened and it went flying upward as she fell, and her head hit the ice with enough force to crack it.

Her body tenses as she crashed, her eyes glazed over as she laid there...

BAM!!! The chuí landed on her face, and the cracks in the ice under her gree even more.

After a moment, the chuí fell to the side, and she went limp as it did, her eyes closed shut as she fell unconscious.

Akane, Ranma, and everyone else in the rink was staring at her, but Ranma reacted first, sliding up to her, and crouching down, almost falling over as she did.

Akane watched as Ranma struggled to get her up in her skates, so she quickly slid up to the girl's other side, and together they lifted her.

As they stood up, crunching sounds approached, and turned to look, Ryoga was walking towards them, using his strength to break the blades of his skates into the ice. Yuka and Sayuri were close behind, Yuka holding the chuí from Mikado's face.

"Is everyone alright?"

Akane shrugged, "Our new friend here just got hit in the head twice, but she'll survive."

"Alright, let's get her out of here-"

"W-wait..."

They turned to look, as Mikado was stumbling to get up, "Brin me the sleeping beauty, my magical lips will bring her from her slumber."

Ryoga lifted his foot up, and brought it down into the ice, and repeated as he walked towards Mikado, "You girls go on ahead, I'd like to have a man to man chat with Prince Charming over here."

Chapter Text

Ranma looked down at the purple haired girl, out cold on a futon in the Tendou family's living room. Dr. Tofu was packing up a bag he had brought of some medical stuff.

Nabiki was luckily able to take Kasumi upstairs and kept her occupied, leaving her out of Dr. Tofu's sight, allowing him to successfully check her.

As he closed the bag, he turned to Ranma and the others, "She's going to be fine, she's just really knocked out."

Ranma let out a sigh, and the tension in the air relaxed. The doctor stood up, "I would recommend putting some ice on both sides of her head to help with bruises and swelling, but aside from that just make sure she takes it easy when she wakes up."

Nodding, Ranma got up and hurried to the kitchen. Finding some ice packs, she hurried back, and as she crouched down, the doc did as well.

"Now that the examination is done, I would like to ask who she is."

Ranma shrugged, "I don't know, but apparently she knows me. When she appeared, she said my name, and then ended up like this."

"So she was looking for you."

"Apparently, it's like everyone but my dad is trying to find me."

Ryoga let out a chuckle, "That remains to be seen. I have questions for your father for when he does show up."

Ranma turned to him, "Hey, you never told me why you were looking for a Ranma in the first place."

"Really? Well it's not that much to tell."

"C'mon, maybe it can explain why this girl was looking for me."

Alright, but I doubt it. See back school, me and the guy Ranma had a bit of a rivalry, and I had challenged him to a duel. However when I had finally got there, he he and Genma had left for China."

"So you wanted to have the fight you were supposed to have."

"Well... Yeah, that."

Akane spoke up, "Ryoga, what exactly do you mean when you said you had finally got there?"

"Oh, well...it might have taken me three days to get to the location of our duel."

For a moment, silence, then Yuka and Sayuri, who had been sitting off to the side, started laughing.

Ryoga turned a bit red as he crossed his arm, grumbling to himself.

As they calmed down, Dr. Tofu crouched next to Ryoga, putting his stethoscope on, and placing the pad next to Ryoga's heart, them head.

After a minute of looking him over her stood back up, "Nothing seems wrong. My guess it's possibly a genetic condition."

The two girls started laughing again, and Ryoga turned to them, "Yeah laugh it up! At least I can make it to my destination. It might take time but it's possible."

The two girls finally managed to calm down, "Sorry, we didn't mean to seem rude."

"Yeah, sorry. Anyways we should probably get going soon ourselves. Ryoga do you need us to take you anywhere?"

"No, I'm going to stick around. I need to be here to pound an old man when he finally gets here."

"Alright! Bye everyone!"

As they left, Nabiki walked in, looking down at the mystery girl, "So what's the verdict?"

"She's fine, she just needs to take it easy."

"Alright," She walked up to her, looking right down at her face, then turning, "Hey Ranma, this might be a stretch, but I think there's a chance she might be your cousin or some kind of relative."

Ranma, and everyone, stopped to look at her, then back to Nabiki, Ranma intrigued, "Can you explain why you think that?"

"Sure. I have two reasons, the first being your hair color. You both have a bright colored hair, yours is red, hers is purple. Sure they're both different colors, but it's a pretty similar trait that I've never seen anyone else with.

"And reason two, the eyes."

"Ummm, Nabiki her eyes are closed."

"Not that part of the eyes. Look at the edges of her eyes."

Ranma leaned closer, looking at the eyes, "All I see is her eye liner."

"Exactly. I don't think it's makeup, I think it's possibly a natural pigment, like your own."

Silence fell again. Ranma stopped to think, then stood up. She walked out, up the stairs, down the hall, and into the bathroom. Turning on the light, she stepped up to the mirror and took a nice long look at her own eyes. Nabiki was right, she did have a natural pigment that resembled eyeliner, it had just always been there, so she never gave it much thought.

Turning around, she passed by Mr. Tendou as he walked in.

Heading downstairs, she took her seat back on the floor, "Yeah, there's a chance we could be related."

The first thing she felt was her head. Her brain was pounding in her skull, while the surface of her head was cold, and sitting up, her whole head felt heavy once it was in the air. With a groan, she managed to sit all the way up and open her eyes.

Shampoo looked around, trying to piece together what was happening. The room looked like a typical Japanese living room. She was currently on a futon with a blanket covering her. The place was unfamiliar, but there was a homey presence to it, so it seemed unlikely she had been taken by an enemy.

Speaking of, what had happened with Ranma? She had tracked her down to the building and was aiming to attack, and then...

As she tried to remember, a door slide open, and a taller lady with long brown hair walked in, a cheery smile on her face, "Good morning! I'm glad you're up. I'm Kasumi, and you?"

"I...Shampoo."

Shampoo had been studying Japanese since following Ranma. Since that had been the native language of her enemy, it made sense to learn to speak it since she had to follow her here to Japan.

While she could understand it pretty well, talking was a little trickier, and now with her head hurting as it was, speaking felt hard.

The lady, Kasumi, just nodded, "Such a cute name. You wait here, I have breakfast cooking."

At the mention of food, Shampoo's stomach growled, and she nodded. As Kasumi walked away, Shampoo pulled off the blanket and managed to move up to the table.

She wasn't sure how, but whatever it was that happened to her head had put a wrinkle in her plan. Seems like the Ranma hunt was in hold for now.

Putting her elbow on the table, she rested her head on it, hoping the support would help with the heaviness, when she noticed her clothes where changed.

The clothes she had been wearing before blacking out where replaced by a baggy shirt and shorts. Lifting her head up, much to it's protest, Shampoo raised her volume, "Kasumi, where Shampoo clothes?"

"They're in the wash. When you were brought back last night the backside was wet, so we had to give you dry clothes to rest in. But don't worry, I made sure to remove everything from your pockets, it should all be in the corner of the room."

Looking around, she did see them there, her wallet, two books, and her Chui.

The rest of her stuff she had safely hidden away, but these would work for now given her current circumstances.

Kasumi returned a minute later, a plate in hand that she set before her, "Here's a rice omelette, and if you give me a minute I have rice and some steamed fruit almost done."

Shampoo nodded thanks and picked up the fork on the plate, and began to slowly pick at the omelette and eat it.

It was pretty nice, the spices used added a lovely taste. Looks like Great-grandma might have some competition in cooking.

For the next few minutes she focused on eating, when the sound of a door open and multiple footsteps, and a voice called out, "Hey Kasumi, we're home!"

"Welcome back you two, how was your jog?"

"Good. Ryoga was asking if he could make a fire so he can cook his own breakfast."

"Oh just invite him in, I'm making more than enough for everyone."

"Alright." The door open again, and the girl that was speaking went out again.

The other pair of feet started walking around, making their way to the door facing the yard. As the steps came up behind her, "Hey your up!"

She froze, fork inches from the omelette. Slowly she turned around, and there she was, Ranma.

"How are you feeling, you hit your head pretty hard yesterday."

She didn't know what was going on, but this was a golden opportunity. She adjusted the grip on her fork and lunged jumping up to try and stab her, only every muscle in her felt sluggish, and Ranma was able to react, jump up with a yelp as Shampoo went under her 

As Ranma landed behind her, Shampoo spun around, fork raised to strike, only to get hit by a wall of nausea, dizziness, while her limbs turned to jelly, the fork slipped from her grip to the ground.

As she start to collapse, she watched as Ranma reached out and caught her in her arms.

She cursed to herself as Ranma worked on setting her down. Her enemy was right there, yet she was powerless to take action.

She was angry at herself and Ranma, yet she was also confused. During all her previous encounters, Ranma had opted to flee, run, hide, and just flat out avoid her, but now here she was, acting like she had no idea who she was. She was left groaning to herself as Ranma grabbed the dropped fork and ran into the other room Kasumi was.

A moment later more footsteps entered.  Turning to look, she recognized the blue hair girl that had been with Ranma yesterday, but the boy with the cloth around his head, he was new.

Ranma and Kasumi returned a moment later, with a clean fork for Shampoo, and plates of omelets, and a rice cooker and a bowl of the fruits. Taking a seat next to Shampoo, Ranma passed her the fork, "I'd apricate it if you used this for your food instead of me please."

She ignored the looks that the others gave her at Ranma's words and just started eating the rest of the omelet.

Once it was gone, she put down the plate and pushed forward the plate, while the others ate, an awkward tension in the air. Ranma was the first to finish her food, before she turned, "So, I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but might I ask who you are?"

Shampoo looked at her, confusion filling her, "Ranma, what you playing at?"

"Nothing, I'm asking who you are."

She kept staring, unable to help it as she looked at Ranma. Her face was dead serious, and that was confusing. Every time before when she saw her, Ranma would have an expression of fear, worry, anguish.

Kasumi spoke up, "She had said to me her name is Shampoo."

Now Ranma was giving her a funny look, "Shampoo, like the hair soap?"

Shampoo narrowed her eyes, but didn't answer, and instead reached for the cup set out for her, taking ad rink of the water

"Alight then, Shampoo, I have some questions. To start, are we possibly related?"

She nearly spit when the question hit, and once she was able to swallow, she turned, "No! You enemy, you know this!"

Ranma looked at her, then realization dawned across her face, "Oh, I should have told you beforehand."

"Tell Shampoo what?"

"I have amnesia."

She tilted her head. She hadn't heard that word in Japanese yet. She pointed to her pile of stuff in the corner, "Can someone bring books?"

The boy, Ryoga, being closer, got up and grabbed them, bring them to Shampoo. She set aside one and opened up her Japanese-Chinese translative dictionary and started flipping through. After a minute, the girl Akane reached over, "May I?"

Letting her take it, she watched as she flipped through it, then finding what she was looking for and held it out to Shampoo, her finger pointing to the word, Amnesia. She read over the definition, and realization dawned on her, Ranma didn't remember her.

"How much you forget?"

"It happened about, two weeks ago now. Everything past that, just a blur."

 Shampoo leaned forward, placing her head in her hands. This was an odd set of circumstances. She was tasked with hunting down the Ranma that had defeated her, but with her mind wiped, it was like a new person entirely. Was she even allowed to hunt her down now?

"Hey Shampoo? I hate to bug, but I'm hoping you can answer some questions. With my memory gone, I'm hoping you might have some answers about myself."

Shampoo looked up, letting out a sigh, "We met in China, and Shampoo had won tribe's tournament, but you ate my prize with big panda, so we fought, and you won, so I gave you kiss of death, and you ran while I hunted."

They all stared, and Ranma gave s slow nod, "I was expecting more detail, but what do you mean I ate your prize, with a panda?"

"You have panda, big one, talks with signs."

"No, I don't have a panda. I was attacked by a panda."

Shampoo tilted her head, confused, and Ranma was mirroring that, when Akane stood up, "One moment, I have an idea."

They watched as she ran out, then the sound of her steps going up stairs. A few minutes later, she heard her feet coming back down, and she came back carrying a tape, "Nabiki like to record just about anything she can, she managed to get a recording of the news clip."

She walked over to the TV, putting the tape into the slot, and fiddled with the setup. After it was set up, Akane pushed a button, and the screen started playing a vid, showing a news man talking about a panda, then showing one in a truck. She paused it then turned to Shampoo, "Is that the panda?"

She leaned forward, taking in the detail, before nodding, "Yes, that panda who eat and travel with Ranma."

Now Ranma was making a face, her hand going over her mouth and chin as she thought. Shampoo turned to the others, looking for an explanation, Kasumi noticing first, "That's the panda responsible for Ranma's amnesia. Hit her across the head with a metal sigh on a pole."

Now Shampoo's own face was riddled in confusion. What the heck was going on?

Ranma turned to look at her again, "At any point during the time you were hunting me, was there another person? An older man, who might be my father?"

She shook her head, "Just you and panda."

"So the whole time you've been after me, it was just me and the panda."

"Yes, why?"

Ranma went silent, before standing up and walking off. Akane scooted over and sat beside Shampoo, "There's been a lot on confusion with Ranma's past. See, ages ago, my dad, the owner of the Dojo outside, made agreement with his old friend Genma, that one of us would marry his son. Then a few weeks ago we got a postcard from Genma saying he and his son would be arriving soon, however Genma never arrived, just his daughter, Ranma."

Shampoo looked at her, more confusion filling her. She pointed at the direction Ranma had gone, "But Ranma girl...not boy."

"Yes. For some reason, Genma had told my father that Ranma was his son. Genma has been missing, all of us are more or less just waiting for him to show up and explain what's going on, but if what you're saying about the panda is true, that also means that Genma has probably been missing much longer than we had thought."

Shampoo processed what she was saying, the heavy confusion she was feeling probably would've made her head hurt if not for the headache she already had.

She then turned to them as a group, "Who last saw father of Ranma?"

Ryoga raised his hand, "That was me, though it was a few years ago."

"Spill!"

"I used to go to an all-boys middle school with a Ranma."

"Wha..." The words that just came out of his mouth made little sense, she was almost tempted to check her dictionary again.

Akane spoke, "Forgive his bluntness. Basically, a few years ago, he knew a Ranma who looked like a boy in their school, and that Ranma's father was Genma. Once day they both packed up and left for China as part of a training journey."

Things were getting weirder, but if what was said was true, then this Genma had made it to China, but he then vanished. She turned to Akane again, "What Genma like?"

"Ask Ryoga."

She turned to him, but he was already answering, "If he's anything like the Genma I know, he's a very stubborn old man, with incredibly harsh training methods that are also just upright insane most of the time."

She turned back to Akane, "Bad man?"

"Probably."

Shampoo was beginning to consider trying to hunt down a different person.

Just then, Kasumi walked in. She had somehow managed to slip out without being noticed. She crouched down to Shampoo, handing over her clothes, freshly washed and folded, "Here you are, all ready when you are."

She took them with a nod, before standing up, "Where can Shampoo change?"

Akane stood up, "Follow me."

Taking it slow, Shampoo followed her, heading upstairs, making it to a door with sign with Akane's name on it, written in Japanese. Following her in, the room was nice, pretty cozy. Akane took a seat at the desk while Shampoo pulled off the baggy clothes to change.

As she started to pull on her clothes, Akane spoke, "So are you still going to try and kill Ranma?"

Shampo paused, before shaking her head, "No, the Ranma I marked with kiss is now gone, this Ranma is free."

Akane let out a sigh, "Alright, that's good to hear. You know, I read that other book of yours, the guide about your tribe of Amazons. It talked about how losing to an outsider is considered worse than death, so I hope if you go back, they're able to accept your decision."

Shampoo shrugged as she resumed pulling on her clothes, "Shampoo be fine."

"Well, none the less, we already took in Ryoga, so if you need a place to stay, you're more than welcome, I'm sure Ranma wouldn't mind a roommate."

Shampoo managed a giggle, before pulling on the last bit of her clothes, then bowed, "Thank Akane, I appreciate your offer," She then turned to the door, "I must go now."

"Are you sure? You can stay a while longer while your head recovers."

"I'll be fine. I can go home, no trouble."

With that, she headed out of Akane's room, before heading down the stairs to the living room, gathering up her stuff, before heading to the front door. As she walked to the gate, she saw Ryoga, doing on handed pushups in the yard next to a tent he had set up. A giggle passed through her lips, seeing his living situation, plus Akane's earlier joke, making her think of a puppy with a doghouse.

Ranma was sitting in her room, pondering. Her father was gone longer than she had thought. And she had been traveling with the panda that had given her amnesia. What the heck was going on?

Just then the door opened, and Kasumi walked in, holding a box, "Surprise!"

Turning to her visitor, Ranma got up and walked over, "What you got?"

She opened the box, and pulled out what looked like a tank top, but more snug looking. She took it from Kasumi, flipping it over, trying to figure out what it was, and Kasumi noticed her confusion, "It's a sports bra."

"Wha...a bra?"

"Yeah. I saw you had no bras, but I also know how you are about your clothes, so I got these, great for all physical activities, plus they're all stretchy, so no need to worry about clasps or hooks."

"Clasps and hooks... what?"

Kasumi let out a sigh, "Honestly, your father should've known better, raising a young lady but ignoring her basic need for stuff like this..." Kasumi trailed off, as a new expression crossed her face, "You also didn't have any pads or tampons..."

"A what or what?"

The face she made hearing that, Ranma felt a shiver run through her, and Kasumi closed the door behind her, "I think it's time you had, the talk."

Maybe she had better off sulking about her father.

Chapter Text

Genma had spent what felt like ages undergoing rigorous training. Despite the many years he had spent as a marital artist, he had never pushed himself like he had since he was forced into this place. The other pandas had taken to staying away from him, which suited him just fine, the less he had to distract him, the more he could work.

The workers here had taken notice, but they didn't do anything, mostly just observed, and gave them food. The food was made specifically for health of the pandas, and being a panda himself, it was the perfect fuel, allowing him to work even harder, faster, stronger.

He was sure he was more than ready to slip away, he just needed one of two things. One, an opening that would allow him to charge out as he was, or a container to let him boil water. As a human he could more easily sneak out.

As it stood now, his best bet was as a human. The humans who worked he would at time pull out buckets, metal ones that were pretty big for buckets. If he could get one, he could boil water in it to change back, however getting it without being spotted was tricky. For one, the buckets were kept outside of the perimeter when they weren't in use so he couldn't just grab one in storage, but when they were brough into the perimeter, they barely ever were left unattended, so snagging one without getting caught would be tricky.

However, he wasn't giving up. He just needed to keep his eyes out for the perfect opportunity.

Just over two weeks have passed since Shampoo's visit. 

Ranma and schoolwork have been alright, with Akane doing hers as well from them having same classes, they were able work together, which actually made it better. She was also pretty used to the bra, though the talk that had come with them, that sent shivers down her spine when she thought about it. Things have also been relatively calm. The boys that had been fighting Akane in the mornings had started going after Ranma too, Kuno having made them both targets with his idiotic ramblings.

But as for Akane, her training had been going pretty well. Her flexibility was incredibly improved, and her work on flowing her moves was coming along great, she was making Ranma start blocking with her arms now during their spars. Ryoga was till camped out in the yard, and he would join in on sparing as well, when he didn't vanish.

But on the bright side, P-Chan would appear as well. The little piglet was apparently pretty free spirited, coming and going as he pleased, but he was always able to make it back to them.

Today, school has just gotten out. Kasumi was in need of a few things from the store, but she was stuck at home, taking care of Nabiki who had stayed home feeling sick, so she gave Ranma and Akane a list of stuff to grab while on the way home. The shopping had been relatively quick, so they were on their back home.

Ranma was walking on a fence, with Akane right behind her, "You know, this is actually pretty convenient. Not as much foot traffic to worry about."

"Right. And not only is it also great balance training, but it's a great vantage point."

"You're right...and it's paying off already, I think there's a new restaurant up ahead."

Following the direction she was looking, Ranma saw she was right. Getting closer they hoped down to take a look, only for Ranma to stop seeing the sigh, The Cat Cafe. A shiver ran through her, and she turned to Akane, "Any chance you can take a peek inside before I do? If there's any actual cats inside, I'd rather not...you know."

"Sure, one moment," Akane stepped inside out of sigh, before popping her head back out, "All clear."

Letting out a sigh, Ranma followed her in, finding a mostly empty space. Walking up to the counter Ranma was surprised to see a rather small old person hoping up to them, using a wooden walking stick as a pogo to do so. Her clothes were a bit large, so the only part of her visible was her head.

Ranma stared a moment, before thinking out loud, "A yokai...?"

In a flash, the old one was on the counter and bopping Ranma on the head with her staff, "No name calling young lady! It's rude."

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offence. I was just, caught off guard."

She let out a chuckle, "Well I suppose that's fair, it's not every day you meet a person that's nearly two hundred."

"Two...whoa..."

"Indeed, but conversation aside, I do have a business to run, and since its opening day I need to keep busy for when the dinner rush comes in."

Akane stepped forward, "Can we make an order for a delivery?"

"Of course, and everything is half priced for opening day. Now can I have your order and address please."

She held out a piece of paper, and Akane took it and wrote down the order. Ranma leaned in, seeing her order a ramen bowl for everyone, then the address.

"Hey, think we can get some dumplings on the side?"

Akane, tapped the pen, thinking, "What about pork buns?"

"Oh, both sound good," Ranma. Tilted her head back to think a moment, "Darn, now I can't decide."

The lady chuckled, "How about I toss in a side of both, on the house."

Akane looked up, "Are you sure? We wouldn't want to inconvenience you."

The lady took the own and paper, scribbling down the sides, "Not at all, besides, it's a pleasure to serve a treat to a cute pair such as yourselves. Now off you go, the order Will be on its way soon."

She hopped her way into the back, leaving them both red in the cheeks, her words reverberating in their minds, cute pair.

They both left, silently walking home.

After returning, Ranma headed upstairs to find Kasumi in Nabiki's room 

Walking in, she lowered her voice for the sleeping Nabiki, "Hey Kasumi. Me and Akane got dinner covered tonight, we ordered a delivery from a new restaurant that opened up."

"Oh, that's wonderful, thank you both. While you're here I left a package arrived for you in your room with P-Chan, the address said it came from China."

A package from China? Ranma turned and hurried out, saying a quick thanks to Kasumi as she did.

Two people could have sent it, either her father, or Shampoo. Akane had told Ranma about her talk with Shampoo, and she felt that they could have gotten along if they had time to spend together.

But whatever the case, she had a mix of excitement and nerves as she opened her door...

To find her room a mess. In the middle of the room was a crumpled cardboard box, her new bed was a mess, her wardrobe was a bit busted, an on her desk was P-Chan, growling at a Goose... wearing glasses? And wielding knives?

The two animals froze when they realized her presence, and turned to look. For a moment, everything was drill, but then the duck turned and threw it's knives at Ranma, and reflexes kicked in, and she jumped the knives flying under her and into the wall.

Dropping down to the floor, Ranma watched as the goose charged towards her, while P-Chan chased after.

The goose ran across the room, squawking furiously as it did, then jumped with a squawk  that sounded like it was supposed to be a war cry, and just as it was passing through the doorway, Ranma slammed the door shut.

With one last squawk of surprise, it then slumped  as it was caught between the door and the frame.

P-Chan, smaller then the bird, slipped out, and glared up at the bird, while Kasumi came out, holding an empty laundry basket, looking at the scene with confusion.

As she walked up, Ranma pointed to the basket, "May I?"

With a nod, she handed the basket to Ranma. Flipping it upside down, she opened the door, letting the bird fall to the floor, before putting the basket over it as a makeshift cage.

As the bird regained it's senses and realized what had happened, it started squawking, flapping it's wings like crazy.

The noise brought out Akane and Mr. Tendou, who looked down at the bird in confusion to match Kasumi.

Ranma point down at it, "Someone mailed me bird that tried to kill me."

Akane stared at the goose. They managed to slide a piece of wood under the basket, then used rope to tie it down. Now they were all gathered in the living room, the bird on the floor.

During the scuffle in trying to get the bird downstairs, Ryoga found a chance to slip away and get himself changed to normal. Akane figured he was about due to switch back so she ordered a bowl for him earlier, but that was beside the point right now.

"So Ranma, who sent you the bird?"

"I don't know. The box was in shreds when I got there, and Kasumi said it came from China."

She nodded, "It did come from China, but I only know that cause the post office has a sticker put on it that said it came from there. There wasn't a return address on it, or a name. It was just our address, with Ranma's name."

Akane nodded as she turned back to Ranma, "This seems pretty off."

"Yeah, this was the second animal from China that attacked me. Do you think someone sent them after me?"

"Probably. Think about it, you spent how long traveling with the panda instead of your father, before it attacked you. And now we have this thing trying to attack you." She gestured to the good, who was starting to tilt its head, almost like it was reacting to what they were saying.

"So someone trained animal to come after me. You don't think it was my dad, do you?"

Mr. Tendou shook his head, "Unlikely, for as long as I've known Genma, animals didn't get along with him, and unless he planned on eating one, he didn't interact with animals."

"Well then, what the heck is going on here-"

The sound of the front door getting opened pretty hard caught them off guard, before a voice rang out, "Ni Hao!"

Akane perked up as the voice reached her ears, "Shampoo?"

A moment later, the smiling face of Shampoo walked in, holding delivery boxes, followed by the old lady from the Cat Cafe.

Akane looked between the two of them, "You know each other?"

Shampoo smiled, "Yes, this is great-Grandma, Cologne. We open restaurant...Mousse?"

Akane watched as Shampoo's expression turned from happy to confused, then angry, as she set down the stacked boxes in her arms onto the floor, before walking over to the basket. Akane was about to warn her about the goose, only to see the feathered assailant was now backing against the side of the basket, like he feared Shampoo.

She angrily tore off the rope, before lifting the basket and grabbing the goose by the neck, and pulled it out, shaking it, "You! Why you come here!?!?!"

As Akane and everyone else watched as Shampoo started to strangle the goose, her grandma, Cologne, worked on passing out the food like this was normal. As she placed the bowl of hot ramen down for Akane, she turned to the old lady, "I have some questions, but to start, how does Shampoo now the goose?"

"That's Mousse, he was kind of Shampoo's childhood friend, and a hopeless romantic that won't stop chasing after her."

"What...but he's a goose."

Cologne chuckled, "Not quite, let me show you something neat." From the folds of her sleeves, she revealed a kettle, steam coming out from the spout. Hoping up onto her staff, she bounced over to the door and out into the yard, before turning to Shampoo, "Bring him here Shampoo."

She walked over and dropped him onto the ground, then putting her foot on him, holding him in place, while everyone else walked over to watch. Cologne poured the steaming water from the kettle out over the goose, and for a second it was a surprised squawk, that changed into words as the goose was soon replaced by a boy.

Shampoo removed her foot, and the boy stood up, and Akane noticed he was the exact same type of glasses as the goose, "That hurt you mummy!"

Cologne slapped him, "You're lucky I didn't have you plucked first!" She then pulled out a folded bundle of fabric, "Now cover up, you're in the presence of ladies."

As she spoke, Akane, and everyone else, seemed to then realize the boy that had appeared was naked. He hurriedly grabbed the bundle and shook it out, revealing it to be a simple pair of pants and shirt. As he pulled them on, Shampoo and Cologne climbed back up, Shampoo bowing, "Apologies, Mousse is an idiot who doesn't know manners."

The now dressed Mousse climbed up, his glasses on his forehead now, revealing his eyes "I had to do it! To claim the hand for my beloved Shampoo!" He then reached out and pulled Cologne into a hug, "Isn't that right darlin-"

She slapped him, "Put your glasses on fool."

Akane spoke up, "Sorry, but can you please explain what's going on?"

Cologne took a seat at the table, with Shampoo, the two of them each with their own bowl of ramen, "Sorry, let me explain. It began just after Shampoo's return home.

"She told me about the unique circumstances of Ranma's amnesia, and how the Ranma she was now wasn't the same as before. I was perplexed by this, and I had wished to clear my head, so I took Shampoo on a quick training session to Jusenkyo, an old training ground barely used."

There it was again, Jusenkyo. She hadn't heard it since Ryoga told her about it, but now here it was again, as Cologne start to describe it.

"Now to understand, you must know that the grounds of Jusenkyo are covered with springs, most, if not all of them, have a curse, or spell, cast on them. Each spring has had one thing fall into them in the past, and then whoever falls into the water of that specific spring will be able to turn to and from their own form, and the form of the spring, through the use of water.

"Now, while we were there, I landed a blow to Shampoo, and she fell into a spring, but when she did, that's when we found out Mousse had secretly followed us, and when she fell into a spring, he rushed out to help her, except his glasses weren't on, and he walked right into another one, making him capable of changing into a goose."

Ranma nodded as she swallowed a mouthful of her ramen, "Alright, but why was he attacking me."

Mousse, sitting over in the corner, let out a sinister laugh, "It quite simple. If I defeat the one who defeated her, I can claim her hand in marriage!"

"Wait, wouldn't beating her make you subjected to the kiss of death?"

Akane turned to Ranma, "No, see in the Amazon clan they come from, when an amazon is defeated by a female outsider, that's when they give the kiss of death. By if a man instead, that makes them worthy of that amazon's hand in marriage."

Cologne nodded, "Indeed. Now here's the thing, during out sparring match in Jusenkyo, we were talking about Ranma and he overheard."

Mousse spoke, "Yes, and it gave me the perfect plan. If I could defeat the one that beat Shampoo, that would mean I'm an even greater warrior than the one that beat her and would make me eligible for her hand!"

Shampoo glared at him, before walking around and wrapping her arms around Ranma, "This Ranma friend, you kill her, you dead to Shampoo."

Akane watched as Mousse seemed to crumble at her words, before turning around and curling into a ball as he mumbled to himself.

Akane let out a sigh, "Alright, well that's solved. We were thinking it was more of Ranma's dad's shenanigans."

Cologne turned to her, "Yes, the Genma that Shampoo told me about. He sounds like a piece of work."

Ranma nodded, "Yeah, everything we know about him so far has been pointing to some pretty negative outcomes. I'm unsure about seeing him again, but at the same time, there are so many questions left unanswered that apparently only he can answer."

"I see. Well you might be in luck. I have old friends back in China who are out looking for anything or anyone who might know what's going on, so if there's a trace of him in China still, we'll probably have it soon."

"Wait, really, you would do that?"

"Well you did help Shampoo when she hit her head, but it's also to answer own curiosity. I've lived a long time and I've never heard it witnessed anything quite like this."

Ranma nodded, before turning to Shampoo, "So, you also fell into a spring like he did, what can you turn into?"

She hopped up with a mischievous giggle, "Shampoo show you."

Shampoo got up and ran out, turning to the direction of the stairs. He footsteps were pretty light. About a minute had passed, and Akane didn't hear her coming back. Standing up, she walked over, with Ranma following after, and they turned around the corner to see-

"CAAATTTTT!!!!" Ranma jumped up, and landed on Akane's shoulders, as a cat with light purple hair walked in, and looked at them with a confused look.

Akane held out her hands, "Shampoo, don't come closer please, Ranma has a serious cat phobia."

Her ears perked up in surprise, and she scurried back out. Once she was out of sigh, Ranma calmed down and climbed down from Akane, though she clung close, and as they took a seat, Ranma ended up in her lap, Akane wrapping her arms around her. About two minutes later, Shampoo return in human form. Her hair wet as she returned, "Shampoo so sorry, didn't know."

"It's alright Shampoo, it was an accident."

Cologne walked around and looked at Ranma, "Ranma, by chance have you the skill of the Cat-fist?"

Ranma nodded, "Even with my amnesia, the mental scar of the training remained, and when I see cats I just...well you saw."

"Interesting. And have you ever used it?"

"Once unwillingly."

Akane nodded, "There's an idiot at our school, he had this whole hair brained scheme about using her phobia to play hero and win her heart, but that's when we discovered the cat fist, and she went cat crazy."

"I see. Would this a result of the training from your father?"

Ranma nodded, "We think so, there was an old book about it in the stuff of his I had when I arrived."

she nodded, before turning away, "This man...what was he attempting to do with you?"

Ryoga muttered to himself, "Raised her like a boy probably."

She was by him in a snap, "Oh, care to explain?"

"Geez you're fast! Well, it's probably nothing you don't already know if Shampoo already told you everything, I went to an all-boys school with a Ranma that I believed was a guy, with Genma as a harsh father who trained hum with all these inside things, claiming he would make his sun into a Man amongst Men. That was like his whole personality."

"Hmmm, quite curious indeed."

Just then a large flash and boom from the outside caught their attention. Looking outside, it was dark and wet as a thunderstorm set in. Akane's father spoke up, "Kasumi, can you grab two futons for Shampoo and her grandmother, I'd hate to have them walk home in this terrible weather. And one for Ryoga to, no one should be force to camp outside in that weather."

Ryoga bowed to him as Kasumi got up, and Shampoo was saying thanks with her grandmother, when Mousse spoke up, "Hey, what about me?"

"Be grateful I'm not tossing you outside right now, after what you pulled."

He grumbled to himself and turned back to his corner. Kasumi returned a minute later, holding the three futons, but just barely. Setting them down, her and their dad moved aside the table, and then unfurling the futons. As they were laid out, Akane turned to Shampoo, "If you want, you can barrow some pajamas from me."

Shampoo stood up, and followed after, Ranma tagging along as well. Shampoo and Akane went into Her room, while Ranma headed to her room.

Pulling out some clothes, Akane held them out to Shampoo to try on. As she pulled on a pair, looking down at them, there was a knock on Akane's door. Shampoo, satisfied with the pajamas, opened the door and walked out, saying hi to Ranma as she came in, wearing her usual pajamas, the shorts and tank top.

After Shampoo was down the stairs, she turned to Akane, "Hey, any chance I can crash with you tonight, my room is still in pretty bad shape from Mousse the goose."

Akane giggled at bit, but waved her in. Closing the door behind her, Ranma walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, "Hey Akane..."

Akane had just taken off her shirt, ready to change into her own pajama, but Ranma's tone felt serious, so she held the shirt over her front and took a seat next to Ranma, "What's up?"

Ranma took in a deep breath, before releasing it, "So we just saw how they both just, flipped, with water. So, I must have been dipped one of the Jusenkyo springs as well."

Panic rushed into Akane, as she realized that Ranma was a step closer to what she had told Ryoga not to reveal to her. She tried to remain calm as she responded, "Yeah, that seems like it."

"I think...maybe my father used it to give me a boy form so he could have a son. When Ryoga first told me he went to school with a guy name Ranma, the idea crossed my mind that somehow, I had this gender flipping thing way back then, and if that's the case, that meant my father did this to me as a kid, or a baby even..." She trailed off, her fingers weaving together, "...just...what kind of a man was he..."

Akane wrapped her arms around her, "Hey, don't worry. We're here, to supposed you as the amazing person you are, and wish to be."

Ranma turned towards her and wrapped her own arms around her, resting her head against Akane's shoulder, "Thank you."

Cologne bounced her way across the walkway to the Dojo, finding Mr. Tendo inside. He was sitting in the middle, a deep expression on his face as she took a seat next to him, "Are you worried about the young lady?"

"Yes. Genma, he and I trained together, and went through hell because of our master, yet it sounds like he had been doing something similar to his own daughter. I don't want to believe it."

"I understand what you mean. Back in my youth, I knew a guy who I ended up having a crush on, but he turned out to be a perverse troublemaker, and I didn't want to believe it, but in the end, I came to terms and let it go. However, there is still a lot we seem to be missing. I think when he finally shows up, he should be able to explain everything, and from there we'll see if it's actually as bad as it seems."

He let out a sigh, "I hope for the best. Who knows what all it could be."

"Indeed," For a moment they sat in silence, then she turned back to him, "So that daughter of yours seems to be quite fond of Ranma."

He let out a chuckle, "Yeah...those two are..."

He trailed off, and Cologne turned to him, "In love."

He let out a laugh, "So I wasn't imagining it."

"You seem very...okay about this."

"Honestly, I felt pretty neutral about topics to such things, but to see that spark they share, honestly I'm not sure I could stop it if I wanted, Akane's strong will wouldn't allow it, and Ranma...honestly, after everything she has been though, her liking my daughter, I just couldn't."

"You're a wise man Tendou."

"Thank you, Cologne."

"Yes. But I have one concern, Genma."

"Aside from everything else?"

"How will he react to his daughter in love with your daughter?"

"Well funny thing about that. Originally, I thought she was a boy and because of that, Ranma was supposed to be in an arranged marriage with one of my daughters, it was set up ages ago, but then she appears and everything turned on its head."

"Hmmmm, Genma Saotome, what game are you playing at?"

Chapter Text

Ranma didn't remember if she had ever been to a beach before, but it was beautiful! Akane had taken her out with Kasumi to get a swimsuit, since she only had a pair of trunks, and no water related top to go with it. It was a typical one-piece swimsuit, but it worked amazing for the water. The ocean was a lovely blue that she dove straight into, letting the water envelope her as she did.

The sensation of swimming was familiar, but this felt different. It was more relaxed, and fun.

As she flouted on the surface, she thought back to the events leading to this trip. The morning Shampoo's and Cologne's night over, they mentioned how they were planning on setting up a temporary location on the beach for business, so Soun decided it would be nice to take everyone out to the beach for the weekend.

Ranma wasn't complaining, she had spent ours out in the water now...though she was starting to get hungry. Turning back towards the sand of the beach, she swam her way back. Climbing out of the water, she passed by Nabiki and Kasumi who were laying out on their towels, while Akane was elsewhere, Kasumi said she had gone looking for her own lunch. After that, Ranma took off.

She jumped from umbrella to umbrella, balancing then bouncing from them, she looked around for something to eat.  She saw plenty of foods, but couldn't really pick one, when a scent caught her nose. It was a very nice aroma, even a bit mouthwatering, but what made it stand out, was that it was familiar.

Following the scent, she bounced from umbrella to umbrella, pole, fence, lifeguard station, and even the occasional head, but eventually she found the source. It was a food cart, with a line formed, as the person behind it was making food, their hands moving swiftly and quickly. Getting closer, perching on the nearby pole, she looked down, and saw the food was okonomiyaki.

She slid down the pole and got in line. She hopped in place as she waited, thinking it might take a while, yet the speed of the cook's hands kept the line moving quickly. After a small bit of waiting, Ranma made it to the front of the line, where she looked down that the current okonomiyaki cooking, and her face just lit up with excitement, when she noticed the cook looking at her with a bit of a stare.

While she looked at Ranma, Ranma looked at her, or at least she was pretty sure it was a girl.

They had long strait brown hair that was tied back, while wearing a typical okonomiyaki chef outfit, but she had an incredibly large spatula strapped across her back that looked like it was more suitable for combat, but then again this was probably just a prop for show.

The girl behind the cart spoke, "I'm sorry if this sounds odd, but do I know you? The expression you had just a moment before, I feel like I've seen it before."

Ranma shrugged, "Maybe, but I've been stuck with amnesia, so I couldn't tell you if I wanted."

"Really? Do you at least know your name?"

"I do. I'm Ranma Saotome."

The cook blinked, "Saotome, as in Genma Saotome?"

Ranma's eyes shot open in surprise, "Yes, apparently he's, my father!"

Ranma watched as her face went through a mix of many emotions, some of them angry, others confused. As she watched her flip though the faces, she heard a soft thump in the sand, and turning, she saw Cologne landing in the sand on her staff, "Well look who made it, how're you doing Ranma?"

"Cologne, I'm doing good, but funny thing, this person here, they apparently know my father."

Cologne turned to them, and looked at them for a moment, "Young lady, could we ask that you come with us for a bit and share what you know?"

She nodded, looking a bit spaced out, before pulling out an Out for lunch sight and placed it on the cart, before following after them, Cologne leading the way. They made it to a small shop, one that Cologne and Shampoo had rented for the beach, and when they got in, Shampoo waved from behind the counter, where she was cooking.

Ranma and the cook took a seat at the counter, and then Cologne took off to get the Tendous.

A moment after she had left, Ranma's stomach growled, "Ooops, I forgot the reason I was there was to get some of your okonomiyaki"

Shampoo was off serving a table, but the cook looked at Ranma and gave a giggle before getting up and turning to Shampoo, "Hey, would it be alright if I use your kitchen, I won't be in your way."

"Sure, but no mess."

"I can managed that."

She walked behind the counter, and started grabbing out stuff, part way through she turned to Ranma, "I'm Ukyo, Ukyo Kuonji."

"Nice to meet you, Ukyo."

Ranma watched as she started working, her hands fast as they mixed, pouring, and soon she was presenting Ranma with a plated piece of delicious food.

"Oh, my goodness this smells amazing!!"

Ukyo leaned forward, "Thanks but you should try it when I have all my special ingredients."

Ranma nodded, but she was focused on the plate in front of her, and with a fork in hand, she took a piece of it, bringing it to her mouth, and then her mouth exploded into a flavor-

CRASH!!!

The sound of breaking glass hit her ears, as a second later something hit her head on the side and she fell sideways, as her vision blurred, and a moment later she hit the floor, and everything went dark.

A fog.

She drifted through a fog, almost like a stick on a river.

But then, a sound, faint, but it got closer, slowly, and her eyes managed to focus, while the fog started to thin.

It was like peering through dusty and dirty glasses, as she saw the other side of the fog.

She was looking though the eyes of a small child, sitting on top of something moving, it's wheels on the ground as it moved was the sound that had drawn her in, but there was something else, a smell...

Okonomiyaki, the thing she was on smelled of it, while the faint taste of it lingered in her mouth, like she had just eaten some, this must be an okonomiyaki cart.

Behind her was the sound of hurried and rushed breathing, like whoever was pulling the cart was running, rushing away. Infront, the child she was looking through the eyes of, was waving. There was something there, running towards them getting father away as the cart sped away.

The glass and fog she were looking through were hazing the their features, but they seemed so familiar, who was it...

"Wait, come back!"

That voice...she knew that voice...

"I'm supposed to go with you, come back!"

That sounded like...

"Don't forget me!"

UKYO!!!

Ranma bolted up right! Gasping for air she looked around, seeing the restaurant had been cleared, the only people there were the Tendous, Shampoo and her grandma, and Ukyo.

Akane was the first to react, basically tackling Ranma as she hugged her, "Oh thank goodness!" She then pulled herself away and looked right at Ranma, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, but what happened?"

Cologne spoke, "Stray volleyball. Went straight through the window and into your head. Speaking of, how's your memory, still have everything you had before?"

"Better." Standing up, and noticing they had a futon under her, she turned to Ukyo and walked up to her, then wrapped her arms around her, and she felt her go tense at the touch, but didn't pull away, "U-u-uuh...what're you doing?"

"Giving my old friend a long overdue hug."

"You...remember me?"

"Some of it. Just a few pieces with you, and your amazing cooking."

For a moment, silence, but then chuckles come out from Ukyo, as her muscles relaxed, and her arms wrapped around her, "Only Ranma Saotome could remember me because of me food."

Ranma let her go, then grabbed her shoulders and looked her up and down, "So this is going to sound funny, but I think when we were kids, I thought you were a boy."

Ukyo nodded, "Same! My old man even had us engaged before your dad ran off with his cart."

"Wait...oh my goodness my dad stole your dad's cart! That's what the memory was!"

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and Akane stepped up, "Ranma, do you and your friend think you can fill us in on what's going on?"

"I think I'll let her do that."

Ukyo nodded, "Gladly."

They all took seats, Ranma with Akane right across from Ukyo as she started talking.

"Back when I was a little kid, it was just me and my dad. He was a martial arts master and an amazing okonomiyaki cook. One day, the Saotomes showed up. Ranma was drawn to the food cart like he...she, had never had a decent meal before, and soon, our fathers were training us together, the two of becoming best friends. For a while things were great, till the day you were gone. My father had wanted us to be engaged, as he thought Ranma was a boy at the time, and while Ranma's father had been hesitant, my father offered his cart as dowry, however just after getting it, Genma took the cart and Ranma, running off and leaving me behind."

The room was quiet as the story sunk in. Ranma could feel Akane tensing up next to her, anger incredibly present, that even the others nearby were shifting because of it.

Ukyo, also noticing, "I'm guessing I'm not the only one here who dislikes Ranma's old man?"

Ranma gave an awkward nod, "Between my amnesia and the traveling we had done for most of my life apparently, the last time anyone had actually gotten a look at my father was Ryoga."

"Who's that?"

"He's...kind of a friend. He's back in Furikan, claiming he wanted to stick around on the off chance my father actually showed up."

"Furikan? Why there?"

Akane spoke this time, "He was supposed to arrive with Ranma to our house, but only Ranma arrived with a fresh bump on her head and amnesia from a panda."

"Wait, you mean the panda that was caught about a month ago on the news?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"I see. What was a panda even doing there in the first place?"

"Well, that's a long story that we don't even quite have all the details of."

"Well, I have nothing better to do."

They started telling her the story, as they knew it. Ryoga and Ranma's time in the all-boys school, the bits and pieces they knew about their time in China, how Ranma was apparently traveling with the panda for a good portion of China instead of her dad. Then the stuff they didn't have an exact time for, like Ranma getting dunked in cats for a powerful technique that makes her scared of cats.

She nodded along as they all filled her in. Once they were finally done, she stood up, taking her giant spatula in hand "Alright, sounds like I'm taking business to Furikan then-"

The door flung open, and Mousse walked in, pulling a cart, "I got the groceries you asked for Shampoo..." He stopped to look around the room, taking in the sight.

Ukyo point towards him with her free hand, "Who's this?"

Ranma spoke, "That's Mousse, he tried to kill me once to impress a girl."

Ukyo nodded, walking a few steps towards him as he adjusted his glasses, "Can I help-"

WHAM!!!

Ukyo watched as he slumped against her giant spatula that she had just whacked him with, then fall to the floor, "That's for trying to kill my friend!"

Akane leaned to Ranma, whispering in her ear, "I like her."

It was finally time! Genma watched the human, as he walked a few steps away from his bucket while he was going over papers on a clipboard, muttering about extra paperwork.

It was early morning, so only a few people were around to pay attention to the pandas, which meant it was now, or it could be ages before another opportunity like this came again. Using all four limbs, he scurried towards the bucket, slowly but quickly closing the gap.

He then froze as the guy with the clipboard turned slightly, scribbling on one of the many papers, but then turned back to facing away fully, and Genma picked up the pace again, and in a swift movement, he picked up the bucket with a paw and kept going, holding the bucked underneath him as he scurried away on three limbs towards the thicket of bamboo stuck out of the ground. He moved out of sight of the people, and made it straight to the stream, dipping the bucket into the flowing water. He poured the bucket out a few times, making sure whatever was inside was rinsed out.

He wanted to change back, but he at least wanted clean water to change back.

Once he was satisfied with the bucket, he let it fill all the way up, then he took it to his cave. The inside was filled with broken bamboo pieces, all of them being the stuff her fashioned to train. They had all served him well, as his form was much more fit, but it was not time he got moving. He prepped his small fire, one he had been continuously feeding, and tossed more on it, increasing its size, before putting the makeshift spit over it, and hanging the bucket from it.

He watched it intently, but soon it was steaming. After giving it a bit more to make sure it was nice and ready, he picked up the bucket and poured it over himself. The water was hot, but once it was done, he tossed aside the empty bucket, with his hands, not paws, hands.

He looked down at himself and nearly laughed. His clothes were a bit dirty from the fur's dirt, but he was now human again. Now for his escape.

He peaked out the cave, and with no one watching, he ran and jumped, grabbing a bamboo shoor and scurrying up to the top of it.

His body had never felt so light, and swift. While he moved, he noticed his clothes flapping around his body, apparent he had lost weight while training, but it was just more noticeable as a human then as the panda.

Once he was at the peak of the bamboo, he hopped across them easily making it over the fence, and landing with barely a sound on the ground, before he rushed towards the building. The night before they had a truck parked a truck that they were sending away filled with empty crates and barrels. He climbed into the back, hiding amongst the cargo, and waited.

If he tried running he would get spotted easier, but now he could just let them take him away, and from there, he would determine where in China he was and get back to Japan and to the Tendous, with any luck he could find Ranma there.

Akane and Ranma were walking home, school having gotten done for the day.

As they walked, a ringing of a bike bell caught their attention, and turning to look, Shampoo was riding a bike, Ukyo sitting on the back. Pulling up and matching pace with the two walking, Shampoo and Ukyo both wave, "Hey you two!"

Ranma and Akane both waved, and Ranma spoke, "Hi! How're you doing?"

Ukyo spoke first, "Pretty good, I'm on track to get my own restaurant in the next week. Buying a building at my age is a bit tricky, but Shampoo's grandma has been helping me with that."

Shampoo nodded, "Till then, she been cooking at Cat Cafe, the customers love her food!"

Akane laughed, "Maybe you should stay with them Ukyo, you'd rack up a nice profit with them."

She shrugged, "As nice as that would be, I'd like to have my own set up again. I've spent so long working myself, I think I'd like to stay that way for a while more."

Shampoo smiled, "Door always open if you change mind."

"Why thank you Shampoo-"

"MY PIG TAILED GODESS!"

They all looked back, seeing Kuno running towards them, a bouget of flowers in hand.

Akane grabbed Ranma's hand, "Everyone one scatter!"

Ranma and Akane leapt up onto he nearby fence, while Shampoo picked up her speed, the bike zipping away as Akane lead Ranma, leaping from fences and roofs.

Behind them Kuno called out, as he tried to follow after, but they soon lost him and made their way home.

They headed upstairs, both going into Ranma's room, where they pulled out their homework, Ranma letting out a sigh, "I know the school is closed for a few extra days, but why did that have to give us extra work?"

"Hey, we can get this all done by tonight if we put our heads together, and then we'll have all four days of no school to go out and do fun stuff."

"True...alright, let's get this done."

The rest of the day was work, paper, books, pencils, as they both worked through their homework, comparing notes and ideas. Dinner was a eaten quickly between the two, and they returned upstairs after to work. It was dark out as they finished up, finally packing it all into their bags for school later. Once it was in, Akane let out a sigh, "That's it, I'm ready to just crash as I am now."

"Me too..." Ranma turned and climbed up onto her bed, flopping onto it.

Akane walked up to the bed, and gave Ranma a nudge, "Hey, scootch over,"

"Don't you have your own bed?"

"It's down the hall, and my brain doesn't wanna put in the effort."

"Alright..." Ranma rolled over, then sat up, and worked slid up the blanket and from underneath her self, and held it up for Akane to slide in. Taking the offer, Akane slid in beside's Ranma, and as the blanket was lowered, Ranma's arm went over Akane, pulling her in as Ranma yawned, then in a quiet voice, "Good night Akane."

Chapter Text

Ranma woke up the next morning, and opening her eyes, found Akane facing at her, still sleeping. The view was just so nice, she dared not move. Instead, she just closed her own again, not trying to back asleep, but just enjoying the moment, and the person that was there with her.

Today...she wanted to enjoy it with Akane.

After a while, Akane started to stir, and opening her eyes, she watched as Akane began to awaken herself as well, and as her eyes opened, Ranma smiled at her, "Good morning sleepy head."

Akane smiled back, before sitting up, and stretching, "Morning Ranma!"

Getting up with Akane, Ranma realized they had gone to sleep in their clothes from yesterday. Getting up she walked over to the wardrobe, grabbing herself a change of clothes. As she did, she picked out set clothes she barely wore and tossed them to Akane, who caught them, then looked to Ranma, "What's this for?"

"A change of clothes. Since we slept in out outfits from yesterday, a shower sounds like a really nice idea, and I'm sure you would like one as well. And with that said, I know for a fact that my clothes fit you, so these should be just fine."

With that Ranma turned to her door and headed out, just missing the smile and blush that crept over Akane's face. They headed into the bathroom, and were soon both in the cool water, washing off.

As they washed, covering themselves in bubbles, Rama turned to Akane, "So since we have the day, what should we do?"

Akane stopped her scrubbing for a moment to think, "Well, we've been doing training for the most part when we're not at school, maybe we could finally get you out to the mall, drag someone else along with us."

"Maybe...but who would we take?"

"Not Ryoga, we'd lose him too easily."

"True...how about your friends Yuka and Sayori? They mentioned wanting to take me to the mall."

"They had their own plans today."

"Ah, I see."

They went back and forth, trying to come up with a person, but none of the options seemed plausible.

After they finished and got dressed, they headed out into the hallway, where they found P-Chan, who let out an excited squeak when he saw them. He rushed over and jumped into Ranma's arms, "Maybe we could take P-Chan with us!"

Akane's eyes narrowed, "I don't think they allow pets in the mall."

"Ah, sorry buddy."

Heading downstairs, they passed the front door, heading towards the living room, when the sound of the door slamming open made them stop in their tracks. Turning to look a bit of a rather ragged looking man walked in. He wore a white Gi that was a bit faded and stained with dirt, with a bandana that matched on his head, and round glasses that wrap-around his ears.

He looked at them as they looked at him, and locking his eyes on Ranma, who he gave a confused, and slightly frustrated look at, and he began to walk towards them, and the two of them backed away, his presence feeling a bit strong and angry, and as they reached the corner of the hall, Ranma bumped into someone coming around, and looking behind her, she saw Mr. Tendo, who was coming around the corner holding a newspaper, yet his expression turned into an unreadable one as he looked at the man.

For a moment, silence, then Mr. Tendou spoke quietly, yet it was loud in the deafening quiet, "Genma."

Ranma and Akane both whipped their heads towards the man, realization hitting them both like lightning, Ranma feeling pure shock, while Akane next to her, bunched up her hands into fists.

At first, nothing, but then Genma bowed, "I apologize for making you wait, I was prevented from joining Ranma here due to circumstances beyond my control."

They all looked at him, the tension felt the same, but a drip of curiosity filled the room. Kasumi and Nabiki walked in a moment later, noticing the man, and feeling the tension, they both pieced together what was happening, and they headed into the living room, where Ranma and Akane join them. They sat at the table, and a minute later, Mr. Tendou and Ranma's father walked in and seated themselves as well.

Genma sat at the end opposite Ranma and Akane, P-Chan was sitting in Ranma's lap. Soun took a seat to the side of them, and Akane's sisters on the side opposite him.

For a few minutes, a heavy and awkward silence was the only thing in the air, but Genma broke the silence, "I know, you all have questions, and I will answer them, but you all also seem so tense, did something happen in my absence?"

Ranma could only look. The man that was her father felt odd, like it was familiar, but different. His Gi was loose on him, and his arms, the bit that was visible, were toned with muscles.

Finally, Soun spoke, "Genma, while it is nice to see you're healthy and alive, things about you have been, strained. When you sent your daughter here alone-"

"What do you mean daughter? Ranma is my son, you know that, it's why we arranged the marriage in the first place."

The tension returned, heavier with confusion this time. Nabiki spoke up, pointing at Ranma's chest "Does this look like a son to you?"

Genma looked at her and Ranma, before locking in on Ranma's face, with a stern tone and expression, "Ranma, you didn't tell them about your condition?"

Kasumi spoke this time, "Mr. Saotome, refrain from raising your voice at her. She's been dealing with a lot since she got here. Now if there's a condition she has, she didn't know about it cause when she got here, she had been attacked and received a blow to the head that given her amnesia."

Genma froze at her words, before he spoke again, "What exactly was it that gave you amnesia."

Ranma thought back to the panda in the truck that day she woke up wet on the road. The tension in the air now made that feel so much heavier than before. She started to breath heavier, when Akane's hand took hers under the table, her thumb rubbing her knuckles, and she spoke for her, "Ranma was attacked by a panda, one that had apparently been traveling with her in your place during the final stretch of her trip across China."

They all watched as Genma's voice contorted in frustration, and he let out a sigh, "I see. Alright, I'm about to show you something, and it might seem strange, but please don't react until after I'm done, and then it'll make sense. But for this to work, I'll need a bucket's worth of cold water, and a bucket," he glanced at Ranma, "Actually, two buckets' worth, of hot water. And some towels."

Kasumi nodded and got up, a few minutes passed, yet it felt like hours, but she was soon back, with the requested items. Genma stood up as they were placed down, he grabbed two big towels from the stack and put them on the floor, before standing on them, and grabbing one of the kettles she had brought out, "Now what you're about to see will seem unbelievable but just wait a minute after it happens."

He then raised up the bucket, pouring the cold water over himself, and before them all, he was replaced by a panda...no, THE panda.

Ranma wanted to crawl away, seeing it again, but awake and before her. But it was also different, it was thinner, with muscles poking through the fur, like a big grizzly bear was painted black and white. Everyone else in the room had realization dawning on their face as they took in Genma the panda. For a moment, he stood there, letting them get a good look, before he grabbed one of the two kettles of steaming hot water, and poured it over himself, changing back to normal.

Once he was human again, he grabbed another towel and started to dry off, "The panda was me, and I have to apologize for my role in Ranma's amnesia, but he was trying to run, and it turned to a fight."

Nabiki spoke up, "Alright, so you can turn into a panda, but why are you still calling her your son?"

Genma sat back down, "Cause he is. See, I'm not the only one here with this curse. Ranma has it as well, except instead of a panda, he turns into a girl."

Everyone was silent, but Genma noticed their doubt and spoke, "Ranma, how could you not know? It's simple, cold water turns us into our cursed form, and warm water turns us back, have you not been in any warm water yet?"

Ranma opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out, instead there was a lump, stuck there where her voice should have been. Ranma felt tears in her eyes, as Akane squeezed her hand again, "Mr. Saotome, everyone, we did know."

A surprised gasp came from Akane's sister as she spoke, "Back when Ranma first showed up, me and her took a shower together, and she was taking a cold shower since she was in a rush to get to dinner, and I splashed her with warm water, and it changed her into a guy. That lead to her falling and hitting her head, and the hospital visit, but before anyone else saw, she had fell into the cold shower water and turned back which is how you all didn't see her as a guy. After words we tested it out and found that hot water changed her. We just assumed that the guy form was the one given to her, since we already knew her as a girl. She had asked this was kept secret, so we didn't tell any of you."

A new, sad, realization dawned on them, while Genma's brow furrowed, "Okay, I can see what you're getting at, but why didn't you piece it together with her wearing boy's clothes when she first got here, I'm sure you had an idea?"

"Yes, that you were forcing her to be a guy!"

Genma took an odd look to those words, "Pardon?"

"We didn't have much information, but what little we could scrap up, it was a very detail lacking. We thought you were forcing her to pretend to be a boy, while also putting her through hellish training, and traumatizing her!"

Genma let out a chuckle, "Listen here, what I did was all to make Ranma a man amongst men. Speaking of which," He picked up the second kettle of steaming water, placing it on the table, and then pushing it across, "It's about time we get you back on track. I'm sure with some effort we can get you back to your old self again, but now that you know, we'll need you back in your real body-"

"no..." It was quiet, calm, and a little shaky, but Ranma finally got a sound out, and Genma looked PISSED!

He managed to keep his voice down, "What was that? I think misheard you."

Ranma took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in her throat, and squeezing Akane's hand in return, "No."

The room was silent as everyone looked at her, and when no one said anything, Ranma resumed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I could be your son. Everything I know about my life before now, I can't see myself happy. Here, I've felt, so much positive energy and more. I've made friends, I've reunited with old ones, and being the me I am now, just feels so much better than anything I could imagine as a boy. I know this isn't what you had imagined when you had finally returned, but...I am willing to let you have a chance at a fresh start for us both."

She then lifted her free hand up, placing it against the side of the kettle and pushed it back across the table to Genma.

Ranma then turned to Mr. Tendou, "And I hope you, and your family, will still accept me, because I couldn't imagine a better place then right here with all of you."

She felt the hand holding her's shift, and turning to look, she saw Akane's eyes, happy tears in her eyes, and she started to feel some in her own, and she turned back to face the others...

...as the kettle slammed into Ranma's face, Akane managed to catch her before she fell, and as the kettle fell, Akane got it in her spare hand and set it on the floor, and saw Ranma's face, fully knocked out.

She turned to Genma, who was now standing up, "Brat doesn't know what's good for him-"

"Saotome! What was that?" Akane watched as her dad stood up and face his old friend.

"The boy was talking nonsense, I didn't spend sixteen years raising him only to end up a pansy. Maybe a year out in the wild will do him good-"

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!!!" Ryoga charged into the room from the kitchen, covered in wetness and steam, with only his pants, and his umbrella in hand, and he jumped into the air, shoving the umbrella into Genma, who was sent flying back into the yard.

Genma landed on his feet, and his eyes narrowed in rage, "Great, another brat."

Ryoga turned to Akane, "Get her away from him! I'll keep him busy."

Nodding, she picked up the limp girl in her arms and ran, taking the hall around to the front door while Ryoga charged at Genma. Heading out the front, Akane wasted no time, and hopped up onto the fence of her neighbor's house and started running, leaping on everything she could. Soon, she saw her destination, the Cat Cafe.

As she got closer, Shampoo was outside, setup the open sign, when she saw Akane carrying Ranma. She picked up the sigh and hold open the door, and as they ran in she slammed it shut before turning to them, "What happen?"

"Genma! He's finally showed up and he's gone crazy! Where's your grandma?"

"Gone."

"What?"

"Grandma got message from contact in China, so she left to meet up."

"Okay, when does she get back?"

"Tonight, if traffic good."

Akane let out a sigh, "Okay, well for now we need to tend to Ranma, do you have a place around here that we can lay her down?"

Nodding, Shampoo took her through the kitchen to the back. It was a pretty cozy area, set up as a living room, with a couch she was able to set her on. Once Ranma was laid down, Akane took the empty spot just above Ranma's head, as Shampoo rushed to another room, returning a minute later with Ukyo, who was tying back her hair, "Alright, what's happening?"

Akane turned to them, "It's Genma, he's finally back, and out of control."

Ukyo tugged the hair ribbon tight, and grabbed her giant spatula, "Where is he? I owe him a few knocks to the head."

"Hold on! He's after Ranma right now, and as you can see, she's in no condition to go near him, right now, we just need to keep her hidden."

She looked frustrated, but nodded, taking a seat, "So where was the old man?"

Akane took a breath, "To start, do you know about Jusenkyo?"

Ukyo nodded, "Yeah, Shampoo showed me her whole cat thing and explained the whole thing, and how Mousse has it as well."

"Right...hey where is Mousse?"

Shampoo spoke, "Grandma took him, making him carry her stuff as punishment for calling her a mummy."

"Of course. But anyways! Back to Genma. Turns out he has a Jusenkyo curse as well, and he turns into a panda, and was the same one who gave Ranma her amnesia to begin with."

"What, but why?"

"The best I can say is that they had a disagreement that escalated into a fight, but about what I can't say."

"Oh, I can't wait to clobber him-"

"Wait, there's something else," The two girls looked to Akane, and she took a breath, "Ranma also has a Jusenkyo curse."

The two looked between each other, then at Ranma, Shampoo talking first "What does Ranma become?"

Akane took a deep breath, before letting out a sigh, "This might be a bit shocking, but by definition, her curse, is to become a girl."

The confused looks on their faces were very obvious, and Ukyo spoke, realization dawning on her face first, "So back when we were kids and I thought Ranma was a boy, it was because she was a boy!"

Akane nodded, "Ranma was given Amnesia as a girl, so she thought she was a girl. And then shortly after when she was with us, she got splashed in warm water. We were able to piece together water changed her, but we didn't know the details, and we assumed the male form was the curse, while her girl was the original, since we already knew her as a girl."

They were both nodding, but then Shampoo spoke, "But wait, you saw Shampoo and Mousse change, why you not realize the hot and cold-water rule?"

"Well to start, when Mousse changed back after he mailed himself to Ranma, we were all a bit more concerned that the goose trying to kill Ranma was man instead of the fact it was hot water that changed him. And then when you showed us, you ran off to the bathroom to change, while we were all in the living room, so we never saw what kind of water you used."

"Oh, you right."

Shampoo then looked at Ranma, before letting out giggle, "If Ranma was boy before amnesia, I should've been trying to marry him instead."

Akane felt a death glare coming on as she looked at her, "What was that?"

Shampoo waved her off, "No worry, this Ranma new girl, just as before, she's yours."

"Yes, she's mine. Thank you..."

DId I just say that out loud?

Judging by the smirks they were both giving her, yes. Yes, she did.

She felt her face go warm, and she turned to her head, avoiding eye contact, "A-anyways...I hope that despite knowing about Ranma's curse, you'll still treat her the same. When Genma showed up, he wanted Ranma to change back into a guy, but she refused, and then he knocked her out, so now that's why we're now here."

Ukyo nodded, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Shampoo nodded as well, "Of course. But now I should open restaurant, you wait back here with Ranma."

Ukyo stood up, "Yeah, but if you need anything, just let us now."

Nodding, Akane watched as they walked out to the front, and soon, it was the faint noises of them out there, with Ranma's gentle breathing. Akane reached down and set her hand on Ranma's head. It was sort of calming, know she was safe here, able to just touch her. Sitting there, waiting, with the sleeping girl, felt like she was sitting at home, waiting out the storm.

Ryoga's fight with Genma was a short one. The fight lasted maybe two minutes, before Genma got him in a bear hug of a grip, and then suplexed, except the old man wasn't paying attention and they both fell into the Tendou's pond.

Shortly after falling in, Ryoga was lifted up, and was hanging in the air by the bandana around his neck, and was facing the furry face of the Panda, who stares at the piglet for a moment, before an angry glare, the led to him getting arches back, then thrown, sending him flying through the air. He spun and flipped as the ground shrunk away, and for a minute he was flying, but then the ground started to grow bigger, coming closer and closer, till he hit a roof, the shingles cracking underneath him.

For a moment her laid there, dazed, but he began to regain his senses, and was able to get up on all fours.

Looking around, none of the roofs around him were familiar. He panicked for a moment, knowing he was essentially stranded now. But then he shook his head, cause this was no time to panic, he needed to back to help.

He just needed a way to find them.

As a pig, he could use his nose, but he had never tried to track with it before, but he had to try. He knew Ranma's scent incredibly well, as was plenty familiar enough with Akane's, which meant if he could get whiff if either of them, he could find them.

Ranma's head was sore.

With a groan she slowly got up and opened her eyes, and saw Akane, jumping from her spot nearby and tackling Ranma in a hug.

The hug was strong, protective around her, before she slowly pulled away, "How do you feel?"

"My head is a little sore, but I'll live. But what happened?"

"Your father, threw the kettle right at your head. Thankfully he wasn't a panda this time so it wasn't as powerful."

Ranma nodded, when a door opened, and looking over, Shampoo was poking her head in, "Ranma! Wait here, lunch be ready soon."

She closed the door behind her, and Ranma looked around, realizing she was somewhere new.

"Where are we?"

"The Cat Cafe. We're in the living space in the back right now."

Ranma nodded, before turning to Akane, "So what happened after I was knocked out?"

Akane's brows furrowed in frustration, "You father, he was about to try and take you, and start putting you through the same training again, if you could even call it that. But Ryoga was there to fight him, and I got you away."

Ranma nodded, "I'll have to thank him later."

For a moment, it was silent, Akane was looking off to the side, "Ranma, I..."

She drifted, but Ranma reached forward, taking her hands in her own, "Akane, there's something I have to tell you, and it might be now or never, with my father running around."

"What...Ranma-"

"Please, just listen, please."

Akane looked, and nodded.

Ranma let out a breath, "Akane, I...like you. Not just as a friend, but more. Since the start, we just, clicked, so well, and I just fell for you, though it took me a while to realize it, and to also work up the courage.

"I know you don't like boys, and now we know that I was one originally, but as I told my dad, I prefer me as I am, and if you're okay with this, I would like to ask if we could...you know..."

Ranma released Akane's hands, and held her arms out, for a hug. She didn't know why she held her arms out for one, but it felt like a good way to present an option to answer.

For a month, they just looked at each other, faces still in blank expressions, when Akane's arms shot out and grabbed Ranma's head, pulling her in, lips to lips, as Ranma gasped into the sudden kiss. At first, she didn't know what to do, but as it continued, she felt her body adjust, her arms wrapping around Akane, her eyes drifting close, and her lips adjust to fit Akane's.

For a bit, it was just them, in each other's arms, kissing like they had done this before. Finally, they slowly pulled away, looking at each other, a few tears in both their eyes as they smiled, when a light chuckle caught their attention, and they quickly turned to see Shampoo and Ukyo standing at the door, huge shit-eating grins on their faces.

Shampoo walked towards them, two bowls on ramen in her hands as she handed them to the two of them, "Aiya, about time."

Chapter Text

The last rays of day light were starting to fade, and Cologne was bouncing on her staff down the street towards the Cat Cafe, with a very frustrated Mousse in tow. Her friend had found a trail, the start was oddly placed at an animal reverse, but it showed Genma had quickly made his way through China and was probably back in Japan.

It wasn't much news, but it meant something was about to happen soon...was that a panda?

Picking up the pace, Cologne hopped down the street and saw it was a panda. She slowed to watch, as it stood on the top of a roof, looking around, hand over its eyes, before jumping away. Cologne turned to Mousse, "Follow that panda, then report back to me at the cafe when you know where he's camping out. And make sure you keep your glasses on!"

"Why should I you old hag-" BONK! "-right away ma'am."

As Mousse ran off after the panda, Cologne headed for the cafe. She needed to call the Dojo to see what all had happen, when she spotted a familiar little black piglet scratching at the front door of her cafe. It had a very determined expression, and Cologne knew he was very close to Ranma, even if she's only seen the piglet with her only once.

Opening the door, she watched as the piglet sniffed its way to the back door, and she opened it up...

Ryoga ran into the room, looking around, he saw Ranma and Akane on a couch, and over to the side in a kitchenette, he saw Shampoo boiling a rather large pot of water on the stove. He hurried over, knowing that he didn't have the luxury of a gentle explanation.

Ranma had noticed him and was calling out, but he jumped, and Shampoo noticed and tried to grab him, but her reaction was just a second to late, as her hands only just grazed him, and he dove into the boiling water...

Ranma felt a jerk in her chest as P-Chan dropped into the water, and for a moment she felt a spark of panic and was trying to get up and rush towards the pot, when the water from the pot erupted and Ryoga, naked as a jaybird, burst out, "HHHOOOOOOTT!!!!!"

Ranma watched in shock as the naked guy fell to the floor and rolled around, his red skin slowly turning back. Cologne bounced over, tossing a large towel over him, "Silly boy, we had a perfectly usable shower and tub, with Shampoo's curse we made it easy for her to use, you could have used it as well."

"How I was supposed to know, I've never been here before."

"Well, none the less, you might want to make sure you didn't break Ranma."

Ranma was just starting, trying to process what she was looking at. P-Chan, hot water, Ryoga.

This whole time...?

She fell to her knees, her mind running in circles. All the times Ryoga was around, P-Chan was gone. When Ryoga was gone, P-Chan was sometimes there. But they never overlapped. She just though Ryoga was lost again...

Ryoga, with the towel wrapped around his waist, he slowly walked up to Ranma, "Hey...so I...I am so sorry for not telling you, but let's just say after you took me into your room while you dressed...telling you became harder."

Ranma looked at him, seeing he was indeed sincere. She let out a sigh, "Fine you're forgiven."

He let out a breath he had been holding, "Oh thank-"

"However, you're not off the hook."

Ryoga looked up to see the look on her face, tense with frustration, and she watched as he took a step back, "Oh?"

"When this is over, you're going to make it up to me, in the most gruesome way possible."

She watched as he nodded, and turn to walk away, "So uh...does anyone have any clothes I can wear?"

Once he was led to the other room by Shampoo, Ranma got back on the couch with a sigh, "I feel like an idiot right now..."

Akane went tense beside her, her fingers weaving together, and as Ranma looked over at her, she noticed Akane's eyes looking elsewhere.

"Akane, did you know?"

"...maybe..."

"Akane?"

"I...might have threatened to cook him if he revealed and made you upset."

"Akane, you would have done that for me?"

"Well, just the threat, I wasn't actually going to do that, but he would have ended up black and blue if he had though."

Ranma giggled, "Well, I can appreciate the sentiment."

"You're not mad?"

"No...I think I'm mostly just, feeling worn from everything."

Cologne hopped over, "Why don't you two get cleaned up and we'll get the spare futons out for you. I'll call Akane's father to find out what happened."

"Thank you, Cologne."

"No thanks needed. Just go through that door over there, that's the bathroom."

Once the door closed behind the two girls, Cologne turned to Ukyo, "So what'd I miss?"

"They finally kissed!"

"About time. Who confessed?"

"Ranma did, it was so sweet, I might be a little jealous of Akane."

"I see. Well now I owe Nabiki a month's worth of free food, but I'm glad they finally get together, to bad it happened during a disaster. Speaking of, I should call Soun now."

Akane stepped into the running water with Ranma, the cool water running over her. It was just a bit below room temp, so it wasn't bad.  Ranma stood in the water, letting it just run over her, while Akane looked at the soaps they had available, though it was all stuff she was both unfamiliar with, and in a language she didn't read.

Popping open a few lids, she found what she believed was shampoo...

She giggled to herself. She was in Shampoo's shower, about to possibly use her shampoo. She turned back to Ranma about to share her funny little discovery, only to find that she was now sitting in a ball in the water. Bottle still in hand, she walked over to Ranma and sat down next to her, "Hey, what's up?"

"I...I'm worried. Right now we're hiding with Cologne, who's like the greatest marital artist we know, but...we can' stay here forever."

"Hey, it won't be. I'm sure Cologne can easily send Genma packing, and it's not like he would know someone as strong as her that would be willing to try coming back for you."

"I know, but I keep thinking about these what ifs. You saw his panda form, it was just radiating power."

"Hey, don't think of that, just stay think of now, here, with me."

Ranma turned to look at her, "Was that a flirt?"

"Maybe." She couldn't help but let slip a playful smile.

Managing to crack a smile, Ranma reached out and took the bottle, "Want me to wash your hair?"

"If you let me do yours."

"Yeah, I could do that."

With a smile, Akane scooted in front of her, and Ranma got started, scrubbing the shampoo into her hair, her fingers gently gliding over her skin and hair, it felt lovely. After her hair was scrubbed and rinsed, they swapped around, Akane scrubbing Ranma's head. As her red hair got obscured with bubbles, the sound of the door caught their attention, and looking over, Ukyo and Shampoo came in, Shampoo quick walking towards them, "Ne Hao! We join you love birds!"

As she got closer to the water, Akane held up her hands, "Shampoo wait! Ranma only takes-"

"CAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!!!!!"

"...cold...showers..."

Ranma sat on the floor as Akane had her hands over her eyes, as the sound of running water from the tub filled the room, followed by a splash. A moment later, "Shampoo human again! You good Ranma."

Akane pulled her hands off, and looking up, Ranma saw Shampoo sitting in the tub full of steaming water, with Ukyo next to her, "The cat fear is new. How'd that happen?"

Akane let out a sigh, "Her dad..."

"Oh...well then, just another reason to punch him."

Letting out a sigh, Ranma got up and headed towards the door, grabbing a towel, "You're free to use the hot water now, I'm going to bed."

She left into the washroom, finishing drying off and turning to look for something to change into, only to realize that she didn't have any spare clothes with her. With a sigh she leaned against the washing machine and slid down against it. This was all just felt so tiring, she was tempted to just close her eyes and go to sleep right there.

After a minute, the door opened from the bathroom door, and the girls walked in, Shampoo squatting down beside her, "Shampoo sorry, didn't look before leaping."

"It's alright Shampoo, it was just bad circumstances, I know you didn't mean to cause the cat-fist trigger."

Ukyo leaned down, "Cat-fist trigger?"

"Basically, when my cat fear is pushed to the max I snap and I start acting like a cat, that's able to slice through everything like a cat's claw, but a lot more potent."

"Interesting..."

"It's not worth it, you saw how bad I freaked out in there."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Akane spoke up, "Sorry to interrupt, but I have to ask, by chance do you guys have anything we can wear?"

Shampoo nodded and got up, walking to a cabinet and pulling out folded up robes, "Grandma called dojo, you should have stuff arriving by morning."

"Alright. And was she told what happened?"

"Yup! Even about Ranma's curse, needless to say, she angry now."

"I see."

They got robed and headed out of the bathroom, finding Cologne setting out bowls of soup, while Ryoga sitting at the table, a robe of his own draped around him. Cologne chuckled as they all walked over, "Looks like I'm missing out on the toga party."

The group cracked some smiles at her joke as they sat around the table. After a few, Akane turned to Cologne, "So what's the plan exactly? With Genma that is."

"Not much of a plan, I'm waiting on Mousse to return from seeing where he's camping out, and then I'll go chase him off, though I don't think he'll go easy though."

Ranma felt a knot in her stomach, and the soup felt less appetizing. Setting down her spoon, she pulled her legs up to her chest, looking down at her feet as she focused on her breathing.

Akane's are were around her a moment later, pulling her into a hug, "No sadness right now! I know today was a rough one but I ain't letting you feel bad."

"A-Akane. I appreciate it, but... I'm the reason this all is happening, I just..."

"No! Don't think if that!"

"But how can I not?" Ranma uncurled her legs, and gestured to herself, "All of this is what's causing him to go after me, and everyone is getting caught up in it."

"And we're here because we care about you, so like it or not we're sticking by you."

"But..."

"NO!" She grabbed Ranma by the face, looking her straight in the eyes, "No more buts!"

"...but..."

"Just shut up you goofball!" She found herself pulled back into another kiss. She pulled away a moment later, "I'm not going to let that man do any more to you so just leave him out of your head for now and just enjoy tonight we me, and them."

She gestured to the others, who were all nodding and smiling, except for Ryoga who had the most shocked face Ranma had ever seen on him as he stared at them. The others noticed to, and Ukyo even leaned over and waved her face in front of his eye, not even a blink.

Ranma looked at him, and getting up on her knees, reaching over the table and poked him, still nothing.

"Did Ryoga just break?"

Shampoo nodded, "He did, but why?"

Cologne chuckled, "The poor boy didn't know you two were in love and was caught off guard by the kiss."

Ranma blinked, then chuckled, "Really? That's what it took?"

She got up and walked around, picking up his empty bowl, placing it on his head. A moment later, the others were each grabbing things and placing them on him.

After a few minutes, his eyes rolled into his head and he fell back, collapsing onto the floor. They dragged him onto a futon laid out on the floor, letting him get some rest. They then resumed eating themselves, when Mousse walked in, breathing heavily "That panda...has too much stamina! But I found where it's staying, and I have to say...huff...that panda is acting weird...I need to lay down."

Cologne hopped up to him, "No rest now, take me to the panda!"

"What, now!?!?!?!"

"Yes, and no complaints."

"Fine."

They headed back to the door, and just before leaving cologne turned back to the girls, "You all get yourself some rest, I'll be back later tonight."

The door closed, and for a moment, silence, and Akane turned to face the others, "So what now?"

Shampoo jumped up, "Slumber party!"

Genma had set up camp in a forested area set outside the town, so he wasn't close, but he could easily get to and from. Cologne watched from a distance as he turned himself with water he had boiled. She turned to Mousse, "Alright, you head home, I'm return after I deal with him."

He quietly nodded and left. Once he was a distance away, she turned back to the camp sight set up, and jumped, and quickly she was on top of Genma, knocking him onto his back and landing on his chest.

He tried to sit up, but she bonked his head then held the head of her staff against his chin, "Hello Saotome."

"Who are you?"

"Who I am isn't important, what is important, is that you leave Ranma alone."

"Oh, another little friend with the..."

"Quiet! Now here's the deal, I'm a martial arts master who's taught generations of Amazons, you stand no change at defeating me, and I'm sure you can tell. You're going to leave Ranma alone, and if I find out you so much as come close to her, I'm going to personally come back and use you to make a new coat, made from your fur."

He glared at her, but didn't speak. She could practically see the gears in his head turning, yet he wasn't coming up with anything.

She knew that he knew he was outmatched, so she hopped off and used her staff to prod him, "Up! You're leaving, and I'm making sure you're gone if I have to follow you all night or drag you away myself."

Ranma was leaning back against Akane, who's arms were wrapped around her, as they watched a movie, a cheesy romance playing on the channel. As they had soda pops and popcorn, eating it as they watched.

The movie switched to advertisements and played on for make up, and Ranma turned to Shampoo, "Hey Shampoo, out of curiosity, do you know you have the eyeliner pigment around your eyes?"

"Not really. It's rare and happens only in girls, why?"

"Well, when you woke after your slip in the ice-rink, I had asked you if we were related, part of that because we both the eyeliner trait."

"Ah, I see. While I have this, I do have real make ups, want to try?"

"I don't know, I've never tried any before."

Akane leaned forward, "What if I put it on for you?"

"Oh, well...I guess I wouldn't mind that."

In the next few minutes, they had makeup set up on the table, with Ranma's head in Akane's lap as she worked, Ranma's eyes closed so she was mostly imagining what it might looked like based on her imagination following what was touching her face. After a bit, the thing over her eyes lifted up, "Alright, I'm done."

Ranma sat up and looked at the hand mirror they gave her, the reflection showing the simple make up done, but it was lovely! She turned and smiled at Akane, "This is lovely, thank you!"

"Glad you like it. Would you like to try me?"

"Oh, I would, but I'm not sure I should, at least not without some practice-"

The door slammed open and Mousse walked in, "Finally back...I'm ready for bed...what're you all doing?"

They all looked at Mouse, then back around at each other, playful, and possible evil smiles on their faces appearing as they silently shared the same idea, then looking back to Mousse, who was starting to notice the looks they were giving him and started backing towards the door.

Cologne returned to the cafe a few hours past midnight. She headed through the front of the cafe, and into the back...

Why was Mousse tied to a chair, and covered in make up?

She looked around the room. There was a bowl with popcorn, some bottle from drinks, the girls all on futons on the floor, sleeping with their hair done, make up, and Akane and Ranma had lipstick kisses plasted on their faces, matching the lipstick on each other's lips, as they laid cuddled up.

Cologne let out a sigh mixed with a laugh and hopped past the chaos, glad they had a fun time together.

Chapter Text

After a morning of tidying up and watching Mousse fail to wash off his make-up, Kasumi had showed up with clothes for Akane and Ranma, and then with her they headed home, with Cologne promising that Genma was no longer in town to mess with any of them.

Ryoga was still incredibly passed out, so they ended up letting him sleep in some more, but if by lunch he hadn't woken up yet, they planned on calling Dr. Tofu, to come over and see if he could get him up.

Once they returned home, Ranma was surprised by Soun throwing himself to her feet, tearing streaming down his face as he apologized for not being able to help out at all, it had all happened to fast he hadn't had the opportunity to react. Ranma assured him they were fine, and she was happy he at least wanted to help. IT took some effort, but they finally got him to calm down and they headed upstairs. They ended up in Akane's room, Akane sitting against the wall, while Ranma was between her legs, the two just sitting on the mattress.

"So...how should we tell them?"

Ranma turned her head to look at her, "Tell them what?"

"Us, together."

"Well...I don't know. Maybe we can ask Ukyo or Shampoo to help? They didn't seem to mind, they even expected it."

"True...hey, you don't think that my family is expecting it as well, do you?"

"Uh...I don't know..."

"We live with them, they might've noticed it sooner."

"Oh god you're right! But then again..." Silence fell over the room, "Yeah I got nothing."

"They know...now it's just a matter of telling them it official."

"Yeah..."

"Yeah...hey Ranma, I just realized something."

"Is it bad?"

"No. Originally you were supposed to be engaged to one of us as a boy, and now here you are dating me as a girl."

Silence for a moment, then Ranma started to chuckle, "Looks our dads got their wish."

"Just not as they had envisioned it."

"Yeah...do you think we would've ended up together like this if I had retained my memory?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure, but I don't think I would change a thing, because I am happy with you right here with my now."

Ranma sat up and turned to fully face her, "I think I agree."

She leaned in, ready to kiss the lovely lips once again, when a sound caught their ears, and a shush followed. They both turned to the door, which was still closed, and then back at each other with confusion. Ranma got up, silently walking up to the door, then quickly pulled it open, finding Soun falling forward as he had his pressed against the door, with Akane's sisters right beside him.

Akane stood up, "Seriously!?!?"

Kasumi gave an apologetic wave, "We're sorry, but it was so cute, you're both just so adorable together, we've been waiting ages now."

Ranma let out a sigh, "Well, at least we don't have to worry about telling them now."

Nabiki stood up, "So who confessed?"

"I did...?"

"Alright, free Ramen for a month."

"Wha..."

Akane stepped forward, "You bet on us getting together?"

"Yup! Free ramen for a month!"

Akane narrowed her eyes at her, before letting out a frustrated sigh, "You better plan on sharing that Ramen with us."

"Of course."

"Good, now shoo!"

Ranma watched as Akane shooed off the other Tendou's, then closed the door, "Well, I feel...I don't know."

"Would some kisses make it better?"

"I don't know, let's find out.~"

The rest of that day had been spent at home, and the next day they decided to go out and have themselves a date. Ryoga had made it back, Ukyo having needed to bring him back, and they ended up having to explain their crushes to Ryoga over dinner while everyone else had a laugh over the fact he hadn't noticed.

But the next day the two were out together, heading towards the mall. As they got close, Akane turned to Ranma, "So now that you're finally here, where do you wanna go?"

"I don't know. Where do you usually go?"

"It depends on why I'm here. Just coming with my friends for a trip, we'll visit a number of the stores, or if I'm here shopping, there's a number of stores meant for different things. There's a whole number of things we could do."

"Alright...I still don't know what I want to do."

"Well since it's your first time, why don't just wander. We can go from store to store and just see what they have."

"Sure, we got nothing else planned."

"That's the spirit."

They walked into the mall, and started walking. They wondered into a few stores, looking at items, some snacks, drinks, bought some for later, then poked around a clothes store, Ranma actually picking out a few for herself, and sure the clothes were mostly more boyish, but honestly, they matched her so well, plus, they fit her better then her bigger silk clothes. Speaking of that, they found a store selling wares from China, and some clothes were there as well, and seeing them Ranma dragged Akane to them and started picking out a few for her to try.

Akane hadn't really been in this store before, but honestly, just seeing Ranma so happy, especially after what had just happened, she couldn't have asked for anything more. They did end up getting her a few of the outfits though.

Soon, it was noon and the two were heading towards the food court. Knowing where it was from her previous visits, Akane lead the way, taking them to the escalator, which Ranma gave a funny look to. Noticing this, she held out her hand to Ranma, "Come on, it's not going to hurt you, just watch your step."

Ranma hesitated, looking at the moving stairs, but she reached out, and then followed her onto the steps, letting it carry them up, before they stepped off at the top. After stepping away from it, Ranma nodded, "Alright, not bad."

Akane chuckled as they walked on, heading towards the food court. Once there, Ranma looked around, before concern spread on her face as she looked around, "I don't know what to pick, there's so many good choices."

"Why don't you go take a seat with our bags, and I'll go pick something, I think I have something in mind that you'll like."

Ranma nodded, before pointing over to a table off to the side, "Over there okay?"

"Of course, I'll be back shortly."

Once Ranma was walking over, Akane headed to the place she had in mind, getting in the line leading to the counter. IT was a little bit of a wait, but she made it to the counter and placed their order. There was another wait after, but soon it was done and she took their food, and drinks, and brought it back over to their table. Ranma was sitting, leg bouncing, when she saw Akane coming back, "Hey! Welcome back."

"Lonely Ranma?"

"Maybe a little. So we got pizza?"

Akane slid the plate with two slices of pepperoni pizza over to Ranma, "Yup, with a soda for us both."

Ranma smiled and eagerly took one of her slices, and biting into it, her face lighting up a moment later, "Whoa...that's so...wow..."

"Right! They apparently use a seasoning in the pizza to give it a little extra pizzaz."

Ranma nodded, as she dug into the slices, finishing it off a bit quickly. Akane finished her soon after, leaving them to sit there together, sipping their drinks. After a minute of the sipping silence between them, Ranma started to turn pink on the face, and Akane watched as she started fidgeting in her seat. She was about to ask her what was up, when Ranma took her free hand and stretched it across the table, hand open. For a second Ranma looked confused, but then it clicked into place, and with a smile and blush, she placed her own hand in Ranma's gripping it with a smile.

For a moment, it was just them, hand in hand, smiling with light blushes...

"Akane!!!"

They both jumped at the voice, and they turned to see Yuka and Sayori, the first one of the two having been the one to see them and was pointing at them...no, pointing at their hands.

They both froze as the two girls came running over, Yuka's mouth running a mile a minute, "Oh my goodness it's finally happening, how did it happen, have you kissed yet, how long have you two been a thing..."

Akane wasn't sure what to answer first, or if she could answer, the sudden discovery and flurry, but thankfully Sayori was able to step in, "Yuka, slow down, your kind of flustering them."

She nodded and took a breath, before crouching beside the table, "So, is this new, or have you two just been keeping this a secret from us?"

Akane looked over to Ranma, who seemed to have been paralyzed in shock. Akane turned to the, "It was...the day before yesterday."

Yuka nodded, a sly look on her face, while Sayori kept a straight face, "Congratulations you two! We're glad you two finally got together."

"Yeah, you and everyone else."

"Well...to be fair you two were pretty close, it was hard not to see a spark."

Yuka spoke up, "Sooooo~ what're you two up to then?"

"Just checking out the mall."

"Alright."

Sayori put her hand on Yuka's shoulder, "Come on, let's let them get back into their day."

Yuka waved at them playfully as they left, and soon it was just them again, hands still together. For a minute, they just kind of looked at each other, before they started laughing, before getting back up to resume their mall walk.

Only a few other things got bought on their trip after lunch, but Ranma had a great time there, and they were soon carrying the bags they had back with them. The two were excitedly talking about what they should do next time, they walked up to the Cat Cafe, where Ukyo was outside, packing up a cart, with Shampoo and Cologne. The three of them saw the two walking up, Ukyo walking over to greet, them, "Why hello there! What brings you two out here?"

Ranma smiled as she held up her bags, "Mall date!"

"Lucky."

"What about you? Did you finally get your own restaurant?"

"I did! It's all official, now we just need to get my stuff there."

"Do you need help? I'm sure we can run these all home and get back quickly."

"No, I'm already set, I was traveling light already, so this is about everything. However, if you and everyone else wants to come over tonight to celebrate, I would love to treat you all! Tomorrow is opening day officially, so tonight it'll be invite only."

Akane nodded as she spoke, "We'd love to! Where's the address?"

"I already called your sister Kasumi, she has it with her at your place, so your household is already set."

"You're just on top of things aren't you?"

"I've been excited for this for a while now, I wanted to make sure we all could enjoy it."

Ranma was starting to grin like crazy, "OOH! I'm so excited!!!"

Ukyo nodded, "Me to, but you have to wait I'm afraid, but only for a few hours as I get set up."

"Alright...is there anything you need though?"

"For you to head home so you two can get ready for tonight."

"Getting rid of us already?"

"Only so I can see you again later."

"Alright...later then!"

They said their byes to Ukyo and the other two, before running home, excited for that night.

Making it back home, the house was abuzz with excitement for the celebration at Ukyo's new place. The group wanted to get going soon, but it felt like the clocks had slowed down as they waited. Ryoga was even excited, and he was usually a bit more stoic, or so he usually made himself seem as such.

Speak of Ryoga, Kasumi had managed to convince him to move his stuff inside. Downstairs they had another spare room, which was a bit a little smaller in size compared most of the other rooms, but as it wasn't being used aside from some boxes of old stuff the left by Soun, from ages ago, so it was open for him to move in.

Eventually, the time had come, and they were all out, walking to the address. Sound kept his hand on Ryoga's shoulder to keep him from getting lost from the group, then ending up who knows where.

Upon arriving, the door had "Private Party" taped to the front, so they walked in, and found the place warm and filled with amazing smells. Ukyo was behind the counter, a giant skillet built into it. The next few hours were spent laughing and eating, silly jokes and so on.

After a while, Ukyo took a break from cooking, and sat down by Ranma as Akane was showing off her balancing skills, balancing a upside-down chair on her head.

Ukyo watched Akane for a minute, before turning to Ranma, "Hey, so I was wondering, I know since we reunited, we haven't had much of a chance to do anything, so maybe we could do something together, as friends of course."

Akane, catching what she said, took the chair from her head and set it down, before returning to her seat, putting her head on Ranma's "You're not trying to take my lovely little red head are you?"

"Oh, no! Ranma is a lovely girl, but I prefer boys. I just wanted to do something with my old friend is all."

Akane chuckled, "I figured, just giving you a hard time, I don't mind you two hanging out, just no funny business."

"Don't worry, your safe from me, and honestly, I can't think of anyone who's crazy enough to try and take Ranma from you."

Genma stood in the dark gloomy air as he worked his shovel against the dirt, making a small hole next to the boulder with the seal tied around it. Slowly, but surely, he made it, creating a small hold around the boulder, and he lined up his face with the hole, dreading what he was about to possibly do, but he was desperate, as he needed to get his son, and this was probably the only person capable of doing it with that skilled old lady running around Ranma.

For a minute, there was nothing. Maybe he had perished...

"Hehehehe, is that Genma I see peeking in at me? What a surprise, hat brings you back to the master you had buried so beep?"

Genma held his face, "Greeting Happosai. I'm here to make a bargain with you."

"Oh, a bargain he says! Do tell what it is you come to offer me."

"In return for your freedom, I need you to bring me my son, Ranma."

"Oh, did the little boy run away?"

"He's sixteen, but there thing ss, he cursed from the spring of Jusenkyo, and now he turns when splashed with cold water, but now he's gained amnesia and believes himself a girl now. I need him back so I can get him back to himself, but he's protected by a marital arts master, just as you."

"Oh? Such an interesting predicament, but I'll help you, now if you could just unseal me..."

"Not so fast, I need your vow, reinforced with it." Genma drew out a gem, holding it up to the hold, "This is known as a demon bind. A gem that can make contracts binding despite the last oh physical papers."

"Don't worry, I know, and I will accept, your terms?"

"I let you out, and you have to get my son, Ranma, and bring him to me, unharmed."

"I can live with that." A small arm popped out, "Put her there Genma."

Genma put the gem in his shaking hand, then shook on it, the gem vanishing as the deal became made, and with that, Genma reached into his back, and pulled out a round wrapped item, "Here, I picked up an old technique of ours from a while ago."

"Oh, the Happo Fire-burst! Looks like we're blasting our way to Ranma!"

Chapter Text

Genma was frustrated. Happosai was driving him crazy with his antics as they made their way back to Furikan. So far he had gotten them chased out of three establishments for charging in for the ladies inside, stealing food, and all the other stuff he had tried to forget over the years. He just had to put up with him till he got Ranma back, and till then, he could put up with him till then, they were almost back to Furikan, and once they had concluded the deal, they could go their separate ways.

But right now, he had to deal with Happosai, who was now jumping his way towards a Tea House he saw in the Kunoichi village they were passing through. He stormed after him, and as he got closer he saw why his old master was so eager to head in. The heart shaped sign on the building read Red Hot Tea House Kunoichi. He let out a frustrated sigh before rushing in to grab his master-

"HAPPO RING OF FIRE!!!"

Genma barely had time to jump out the door before the loud boom that followed knocked down the building. As the rubble settled, Happosai walked up, covered in lipstick marks way to think to be natural, shaking like crazy, "L-l-l-let's get going..."

He blinked as he watched Happosai start walking. What could have been in there that would do this to his old master?

Kontasu stood before the pile that had once been his Stepmother's and Stepsisters' tea house.

"Oh, stepmother, stepsisters, oh what a tragedy."

He closed his eyes as tears gathered in his eyes, and he pour kerosene onto the pile, spreading it around to get as much as possible.

"You will all be dearly missed."

He struck a match and tossed it on the pile, the heat quickly hitting him as the fire flared to life, a small smile on his face as it burned bright-

A thud hit him the back of his head as the all too familiar face of his stepmother spoke, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Uhh...cleaning up?"

He felt the giant foot of his sister hit him, sending him flying, "Go avenge the old tea house while we get a new tea house!"

Ranma walked into the Dojo, where she found Akane, with an assortment of wooden weapons spread on the ground, while she was currently practicing her battle stances with a Bo-staff. Seeing Ranma, she turned to her, "Hey look at you! Overalls and a sweater?"

"I felt a little chilly this morning, and what about you, Chinese silk clothes in the dojo?"

Akane smiled as she presented her arms out to let Ranma get a good look at her new fit, "I was mostly just curious to see how well they would handle in a match, they're surprisingly great for it."

"I see. Anyways, Kasumi sent me to come get you for lunch."

"That time already?"

"Yeah, but it'll just be us and her, your dad and Nabiki left for the day, and Ryoga...we think he left and got lost."

Akane laughed, "He'll get back, eventually. How long do you think it'll take him?"

"Well, if he managed to stay in Furikan, I'm guessing a week tops if he managed to go unfound by someone who knows him, but if he leaves Furikan, longer."

"Do you not have any faith in him?"

"No, just his sense of direction."

"True...but speaking of Ryoga, any plans on his "punishment" yet?"

"I'm not sure. It's hard to come up with something that balances out with what he's getting punished for."

Akane nodded, as they reached the house, where they joined Kasumi at the table. As they started plating their food, Ranma turned to the Tendou sisters, "So while I have you both here, I was wondering, do you two know any places or activities I could do with Ukyo?"

Akane took a bite from a rice-ball as she thought, before swallowing to speak, "I'm not sure, I don't know her that well yet. You probably have more of an idea then me, you do remember her from your childhood."

"Only some of it, and even then, were we really little then, things have changed so much since then."

Kasumi pulled out a small notepad and a pen from her apron pocket, "Why don't we come up with a list for you and later when you go see her you can see if anything sounds good to her."

Ranma nodded, reaching over to take the pad, scribbling down a few thoughts to get it started.

Genma looked out at Furikan from atop a tree, with Happosai on a branch beside him, "So Tendou has a dojo here, I see you both carried on the art of our school."

"Yes, now remember, Ranma is living with them, he'll be in his girl form, and will be wearing Chinese clothing. There's a good chance he'll be with Akane, who's the same age as him."

"Yeah, I know, I'm old but I'm not senile."

"Yes, and he's to be unharmed! Remember, if you break your deal the gem will put you right back."

"Yeah yeah, I'm going, be back soon."

Ranma headed back out to the dojo with Akane, who picked up the staff again, while Ranma wondered over to the weapon assortment, planning on grabbing a staff, only to stop when she saw something else, picking it up to turn to Akane, "Why the heck do you have a giant wooden mallet in your mix of weapons?"

"That? It's another one of the weapons we trained with, this is "Anything goes" martial arts after all."

"Yeah, I guess you make a fair point-GYAAHHH!"

Something grabbed onto Ranma's backside and started moving around her body. Akane saw the small thing scurrying around her, and then watching she saw how it moved, then with her staff she swung, knocking it off, and it hit the floor, with an oof.

They watched, as the thing sat up, revealing itself to be a very small, old man, the size reminding Ranma of Cologne. They looked at him, while he looked at them, then looking at Akane, his eyes going up and down her, his eyes narrowed, "Found you!"

He jumped at her, hitting her with a tap, and Ranma watched as Akane's eyes rolled up into her head, and he lids fell closed, and slump forward, only to get caught by the old man who ran out, with Ranma feel rage spark in her, and grabbing the hammer's handle tight in her hand, she ran after, "Get back here!"

The old man looked back, his eyes widening a bit as he saw how fast Ranma was moving following after, and jumped up onto the fence, running on it, with Ranma close behind, swinging her hammer at him, "You're going to be flat by the time I get done with you!"

"I'd like to see you try sweetheart!"

Ranma saw red, and she threw the hammer, it bouncing off his head, and as it bounced into the air, she caught it, keeping after him with her speed. He turned back to yell at her, only to get a face full of thrown mallet.

Genma sat at the base of the tree, drumming his fingers on his leg as he waited. It was taking longer than he thought it would, hopefully he hadn't come across any problems.

Finally he heard something, and looking over, he saw Happosai walking up, out of breath and looking beat up, "That, Akane Tendou...is a real...piece of work...but here you go..."

Happosai set down what he was carrying, and Genma looked down, seeing an unconscious...

"This isn't Ranma."

"Huh, what do you mean this isn't Ranma? She's got the clothes, and she was with the other girl, who's tempter just as red as her hair."

"No, THIS is Akane Tendou, the red-haired girl was Ranma!"

Happosai looked at him with rage and shock, "But...she wasn't wearing the Chinese clothes, oh for-"

"GOTCHA!!!!"

Ranma dropped down, hammer in head as she nailed the old man on the head, and lifting it up, seeing she actually knocked him into the ground. Tanding up she let out a sigh as she looked at Akane on the ground, then movement, and looking up, there was her father, sitting with a bit of a stunned look on his face.

For a moment, it was all still, but Ranma's hand tightened on the mallet, "You!"

She stepped over Akane, holding the mallet in hand as she raised it up, "I don't know why you kidnapped Akane, but I promise you'll live to regret that decision!"

"Wait, hold on, there was a mix up-"

She didn't give him time to say anymore as she brought the mallet down on his head, cracking it with the impact, and watching him fall unconscious on the ground. She tossed the broken mallet aside and turned back to Akane, picking her up, "Don't worry, I got you."

She started walking back towards the streets of Furikan, when rustling caught her ears. Looking behind her, she saw someone dressed as a ninja having appeared and was poking the man stuck in the dirt with a stick. She looked up at Ranma, waved a small wave, then turned back to the guy in the dirt.

Ranma looked at her for a confused moment, then turned and walked away. She had no idea what that was about, but at the moment she didn't care. Right now, she needed to get Akane to Tofu to make sure she was alright.

Konatsu looked at the two man who had been responsible for the Tea House's downfall. That red haired girl had just too them both out, one hit each, though the small old man seemed like he got a good beating before that.

Now he was faced with a conflict of his own. On one hand, the two had been defeated so, maybe he didn't have to avenge the tea house. On the other hand, it wasn't him who had done it.

Maybe he could just wait then knock them out again?

But the red head had hit them pretty hard, and he didn't want to wait long if he could help it.

Oh, this was tricky...

"Konatsu! What're you doing?"

He jumped as his step family appeared, his stepmother looking at him, "Aren't you supposed to be avenging the tea house right now?"

"I am, but the men here, they were beat up before I could, so I'm not quite sure how to exact vengeance."

"Then go defeat the one who did it in their place, and we'll deal with these losers."

Before he could say anything they gave him the boot, sending him flying off towards the town, his mind conflicting with itself as he was sent on another mission.

Akane sat up, feeling oddly refreshed and rested as she looked around finding herself in Dr. Tofu's clinic, Ranma passed out, sitting next to her, while the ever happy doctor walked over seeing her up, "Hi Akane, how are you feeling."

"Pretty good, but last thing I remember, there was a strange little man in the Dojo."

"Ranma told me. From what I could tell he used a pressure point to put you to sleep and run off, Ranma had chased him out to the edges of town, where he was with her father."

"GENMA!"

"Yes, but Ranma said they were both dealt with and she brought you here to make sure you were okay."

Akane looked down at the sleeping red head, smiling at her as she reached over and gripped her hand.

Dr. Tofu walked over with a cup of tea for her, "So Kasumi tells me you two started dating."

"Yeah. Just recently."

"Well congrats are in order then, you two have been getting along so well, honestly I was surprised to find out though, but it made sense one I thought about it."

"Really? Cause apparently everyone else knew."

He shrugged, before turned and headed towards office, "I called and let everyone know where you two where, though I left out the part about Ranma's father to prevent worry, I'll let you handle that when you get home."

Akane nodded, before sliding off the examination table and walked around to Ranma's side, gently giving her shoulder a little shake, "Hey Ranma, wake up please."

Ranma say up, blinking as she looked up at Akane, still half asleep, "Hey...my Akane's feeling better."

Akane giggled at the sleepy Ranma, and then helped her to her feet, "C'mon, it's time to go."

"M'okay..."

Ranma walked towards the door, , swaying a bit as she went, before veering to the side and bumping into the wall.

Akane was both shocked, worried, and slightly amused as she walked over and Ranma back up, guiding her back to a chair before walking over to Tofu's office, "Dr. Tofu, Ranma's a bit out of it, did she have any injuries?"

"No, just made her a cup a tea that's supposed to help relax the mind. Cologne gave it to me as thanks for helping her grand daughter out with a light sprain."

Akane looked back at Ranma, who was dozing off in the chair, before looking back, "I think your new tea works a little to well."

"I see. I'll have to adjust the amount I use."

With a half hearted chuckle, Akane turned back to Ranma and walked over, crouching before her, "Can you climb on?"

She watched as Ranma stood up, then kind of fell forward, landing on Akane's back, and swinging her legs up, Akane caught them and stood, Ranma lifted up, and she felt Ranma's arms wrap around her.

She turned back to the office, "Bye Dr. Tofu, thanks again for your help."

Ranma waved, from Akane's back, and they turned and headed out. It was later out then Akane thought it would have been, the sun was about close to turning into a sunset. It was pretty nice out, though just a touch nippy. Seems like fall was about to start soon.

After they walked a bit, Ranma spoke up, "Can we stop... I'm kinda hungry..."

"I think we could manage that. Ukyo's place is pretty close."

"Yaaaay..."

Akane couldn't help but chuckle at the sleepy Ranma as she turned at the corner, heading to Ukyo's restaurant.

Ukyo was wrapping up in the last few costumers who wanted takeout, smiling as she finished up her first day open.

It has been a huge hit, her Okonomiyaki already populare from her time at the Cat Cafe, leading to a nice group of people all day.

But now the place was finally quiet, and she headed to the door ready to pull down the sign for the night, when a commotion caught her attention.

Down the street, a girl, dressed like a ninja, was currently wrestling a dog. She rushed over getting closer she saw the girl was trying to take a old piece of food the dog was trying to eat, and it was clear to see why, her clothes were in incredibly bad shape, patches and stitches scattered across, meaning it was old and worn.

She let out a sigh and reach in, grabbing the girl by the shoulders and pulling her away from the dog, "Alright that's enough you."

The girls watched as the dog ran away, and the girl in her arms looked as it ran with longing.

"Hey, don't look sad. Come with me I have good food I can cook up for you."

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree, and also reminded her of a puppy?

Well none the less, she took her into her shop, forgetting to close it as she did.

She had her sit at the counter before she turned the skillet back on, and started cooking.

Akane walked in, pleasantly surprised the door was open, with Ranma on her back. Walking in, she was also surprised to see Ukyo cooking up Okonomiyaki for a girl that looked like she was a Kunoichi, a really poor one.

And the said girl, was scarfing down a half uncooked Okonomiyaki, much to Ukyo's pleases not to.

Setting Ranma in a booth, she walked up to the counter, where Ukyo managed to turn away from the girl by giving her a stack of full cooked food, "Hey Akane, what can I do for you?"

"Ukyo, I got Ranma over there half asleep from a strong tea, I'm hoping a nice hot meal will wake her up a bit."

"Sure thing, your both welcome here at anytime."

"And you to our place as well, and whose this?"

"I'm not sure yet, the mouth that's supposed to tell me the name of the person it's attached to has been to busy eating.

The girl finished the food in her mouth, "I am so sorry, I should have introduced myself, I'm Konatsu."

"Well Konatsu, I'm Ukyo, and this is my friend Akane."

She nodded to Akane with a smile, then turned back to Ukyo, "My thanks for your amazing hospitality and food, it's been the first decent meal I had in years."

"Years?"

"Yeah, my stepfamily isn't big on sharing good things, so I'm left to fend for scraps."

The two of them looked at her, shock in them both. The heck kind of stepfamily did she have?

A scream made them all jump, and turning around, Ranma was now wide awake, jumping across the room and landing on the counter next to Akane to get away from the door as three...people...?

Well whatever it was that just walked in, they were all atrociously hideous, there was no sugar coating it. But the three of them were incredibly beat up and were all glaring daggers at Konatsu, though she looked surprised, though not as much as the rest of them.

The shortest one walked up to the Kunoichi, "Konatsu, we sent you out to get vengeance and we find you being lazy to stuff your face."

She blinked at her, but instead of responding, a question "What happened to you?"

The overly large person spoke, "We were dunking the two men who destroyed the Tea House, and when we dunked the bigger one, a panda burst out of the water and attacked up, before fleeing with the smaller man, so we think it ate them."

Ranma spoke, still perched on the counter, "Uh, if the two men are, gone, then why is...one moment."

She turned to the seated Kunoichi, "Konatsu right?"

She nodded, and Ranma turned back to them, "Then why does Kunoichi have to go and avenge the tea house?"

The three ugly people, who Akane was to believe was Konatsu's stepfamily, all started rambling on about nonsense stuff, and then one of them started saying how she should be grateful for the stuff they gave her, and started listing her having cardboard to sleep on, chores to do...and so much other shit that Akane could feel herself getting mad. She turned in her seat as the three people kept going leaning over the counter to Ukyo, "Can I see your giant spatula please?"

She nodded and handed it over, and Akane stood up, stepping up to the trio, then with a swing, knocked them out the door. She then slammed it shut, then clicked the lock. She then walked back to the counter and handed back the spatula, "Thank you."

As she took her seat, Ranma slipped off the counter and onto the seat next to Akane, leaning around to see the girl, and then her face lit up, "Hey! You're the ninja I saw earlier."

Konatsu turned and got a good look at Ranma, her own face lighting up with recognition, "You! The one who took out the two guys who blew up the tea house!"

Ranma nodded, "I'm guessing you were originally sent to get them to avenge the Tea House?"

"Yeah, do you know them?"

"I know the taller on, the tiny guy, he's new, I think."

"You think?"

Ukyo spoke, "Ranma here has Amnesia. The taller guy is her father, though their relationship is very...strained, for a lack of better words."

"Oh, I see."

Ranma spoke up, "I have to say, through the short interaction we had with your family, yours make mine look nice in comparison, and that takes a LOT of effort."

Konatsu let out a chuckle, that started to shift, changing into a sob, as her eyes filled with tears. The others went silent as she spoke, "This is the first...time in so long...I've been treated...like a person..."

The room was tense, the whole group feeling unsure what to do, when Ukyo jumped over the counter, taking a seat next to her, "Why don't you stay here? I have a spare room I'm cleaning out, we can make it a room for you, and you can work here, with a proper salary for your work."

The way her eyes lit up, it was like a firework had just gone off, and she threw her arms around Ukyo, sobbing thanks. Ukyo tried to get her to calm down, and Akane couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

Ranma and Akane were walking home, with Konatsu. The room Ukyo was clearing out wasn't ready yet, so they offered to let her stay the night.

When they got home, Nabiki and Soun where off to bed already, and Kasumi was up reading downstairs. They explained Konatsu was staying with Ukyo, but since she wasn't quite ready yet, they offered her to stay the night. She was more than happy to welcome Konatsu, and she even pulled out a futon for her.

She was incredibly excited, and when they offered to let her shower, Ranma felt like she might pass out from excitement, but thankfully she managed to stay up. Once she was in the bathroom, water running, Ranma was in her room, getting changed into her pajamas, when Kasumi knocked.

When let in, Kasumi presented some folded button-up pajamas, "Since she didn't have any clothes with her aside from the ones she had on, I grabbed this for her, would you mind giving this to her when she's done."

"Sure. Anything else?"

"No that's it. I'm heading to bed now, good night Ranma."

"Good night." After Kasumi was gone, Ranma get the futon laid out for Konatsu, when she realized she wouldn't have access to the pajamas while they were in here and she was in the bathroom. Grabbing them she headed over, and slipped into the washroom, then opened the door into the bathroom, "Hey Konatsu, sorry to barge but I wanted to let you know...I brought...pajamas..."

She stared...Konatsu...was a boy...

Quietly fell back onto her rear, "I...am so sorry..." crawling backwards, and then slipped out the washroom, closing the door behind her, before crawling towards the end of the hall, knocking on Akane's door, then crawling in as the door opened, Akane watching her with a confused look.

"Ranma, what happened?"

"Konatsu, bathroom, pajamas, boy..."

"You took pajamas to Konatsu in the bathroom and saw that she is actually a boy?"

Ranma nodded.

"Oh, I see..." for a moment, silence, "What the heck is up with all the dramatic reveals in the bathroom? Is it jinked?"

Chapter Text

Genma stood by the fire, letting its heat dry him off from the wetness of him turning himself back to human. Ranma had gotten stronger, the hit from that hammer was evidence of that, so this meant things were trickier than he had imagined. Plus the element of surprise regarding Happosai was now gone, since they now knew he was working with him. Speaking of the old man, where the heck was he now?

He had been gone for well over an hour now, what could he have been doing...

"Oh what a haul!"

Ugggg...never mind.

He watched Happosai landing with a large bundle on his back, opening it up to reveal various underthings of ladies. He rubbed his temple, regretting that he hadn't thought to use more limitations and rules in their deal, but none the less, his old master was still bound to the deal. He either completed his end of the deal, or if he broke it by harming Ranma, or giving up, he would be returned to his imprisonment. As much as he would like for him to go out at this moment again, heknew he had no power to make him go every second of everyday. He would just wait out the night before seeing if he could get the little man to get him.

But then there was also the element of those weird ass looking ladies that had tried to drown them yesterday. They were definitely Kunoichi, and if he had to guess they were angry about the tea house Happosai blew up. He knew not their skills, but he had managed to beat them easily after surprising them as the Panda, but next time he might not so lucky.

Ukyo opened the door, Ranma and Akane, with Konatsu, who was dressed in a very cute Kimono.

Konatsu bowed, before hurrying in, giggling as she went, "Ready to work Ma'am."

"I'll have you serve tables once the customers start arriving, speaking of which," She turned to the couple, "Stopping in for an early meal?"

Akane shook her head, "Thanks but we had breakfast, besides, we're on our way to school for the day."

"Alright, well feel free to stop by later."

Ranma leaned forward, "Before we go, you should know, Konatsu is a boy."

Ukyo blinked then turn to look at Ukyo, who was sitting on a stool by the counter, then turned back, "You sure?"

Akane nodded, "He's just, REALLY, petite. We asked and he does go as a boy."

Ranma shivered, "And that was after I seen the proof."

Ukyo locked eyes with Ranma, watching her face turn red as she was recalling whatever it was that had happened. Akane also noticed and took Ranma's shoulders, "Well then we'll be off! You two have a fun day together and we'll be by later to see how it goes."

As Akane rushed them both away, Ukyo turned to the very feminine boy, curiosity and a bit of confusion, but then again, if he had been raised in a Kunoichi family, it kind of made sense. Well none the less, he was here now, ready to work.

Letting out a small chuckle to herself, Ukyo headed around the counter, "Alright Konatsu, ready to work?"

"Whenever you are!"

Lunch had arrived at Furikan High School, and Ranma and Akane had headed to the roof for lunch. The day was nice and warm, and Akane was pulling open the Bento she had, while Ranma was staring off into space, Bento unopened on her lap. After a minute of her staring off, Akane nudged her shoulder, "Hey, what you thinking about?"

"Yesterday. My dad is back with an Oompa-Loompa, and now we have three "ladies" after Konatsu, I can't help but feel like...I don't have the words to describe it."

"Yeah...it was pretty weird. Though about the little gremlin, any idea why he took me, I thought your dad was after you?"

"My best guest, they wanted bait for a trap."

"Maybe, but it's not like you stopped to ask."

"Could you blame me, they kidnapped my girlfriend, I had to save her."

"And she is very thankful." Akane leaned forward, planting a kiss on Ranma's cheek when the door into the school below them burst open, "I Kuno! The Blue Thunder of Furikan high..."

They all froze, Kuno staring at the two of them, Akane's lips still on Ranma's cheek in the silence. They two girls watched Kuno, his face starting to twitch, and they braced himself, ready to defend themselves as he...smiled?

He started laughing, the one did when he thought things were going his way with a girl, and he started talking, "Oh I don't believe it, the heavens themselves have smiled down upon me this glorious day, for the gods have answered my prayers, the two girls I love most, whom I thought I would have to pick one, have been joined together in love, so that we all may be together! Come now my-"

He jumped forward to embrace the girls, only to receive a synchronized kick, sending him flying. Once he was nothing more than a speck on the horizon, Akane let out a sigh, "Well that's not going away anytime soon."

"It wasn't like he was backing down before either, so it's not like it wasn't going to be any different."

"Yeah...but what about the boys in the morning?"

"Hmmmm...that's a hard one actually."

"You don't think they'll try to beat us to try and date us both, do you?"

"Huh...well there's only so much a person can take from Kuno, but then again, boys can be idiots."

"Yeah."

"But none the less, they all fall just the same."

"That's also true." Akane recalled that morning when her and Ranma basically plowed through the boys, like they were casually jogging to the door, and a smirk crept onto her face as she recalled a good punch she threw at a guy who tried to tackle Ranma, before turning back to Ranma, "Besides, it probably wouldn't have been long before the school found out anyways, considering a certain pair that found us at the mall."

Ranma nodded, "Yeah, that's a good point, but I think I would have preferred it if they told everyone versus Kuno, with how his brain likes to twist things."

"You make a good point actually..."

She trailed off, leading to a silence, before Ranma spoke up, "Well no use dwelling on it now, let's eat before lunch ends."

She watched as Ranma finally popped open her Bento and started eating, then with a smile, she picked up her utensil and started eating as well.

Kuno hadn't returned back to school after his "flight" from earlier so the rest of the day went by without anyone asking them about anything, so Ranma was glade for that, and by the time they were done, they headed back towards Ukyo's place, and they found the place mostly filled with boy, all watching as Konatsu was running around, serving tables, getting dishes, and so forth. Thankfully the counter had empty seats, probably cause for the other patrons it was easier to watch the cute boy they thought was a girl running around from the other spots.

Taking a seat, Ukyo, who's hands remained busy cooking, turned to the two, "Welcome back! How was your day?"

Ranma shook her hand, "Mostly good, but then we had Kuno, our local idiot. What about you?"

"Pretty good! Konatsu has been a great help."

"I can see that," She leaned forward to whisper, "Any chance they realize he's a boy?"

Ukyo shook her head with a playful grin, "Not a clue."

They both giggled playful, while Akane let out a sigh, "Yeah you two are best friends alright. Just don't get me involved in any pranks."

Ranma shrugged, but leaned over to give her a hug, "I'll do my best."

Akane let out an exaggerated sigh, smiling as she accepted the hug.

Ukyo placed a large plate with a rather large okonomiyaki before the two of them, with a heart made of sauce is the middle, "For the lovely couple."

The two thanked her as she went on to make orders for the other patrons, and after they had eaten the shared meal they left, smiling as they talked about Konatsu looking so happy working with Ukyo, but soon they were home. The next little bit, they were doing homework, and soon after, dinner.

Akane, still a bit filled from the earlier okonomiyaki, ate her dinner a bit slower, so she was still seated at the table while everyone else had gotten up. Ranma was out in the yard, stretching, while her dad and Nabiki played a game of shogi.

Kasumi was reading a book, barrowed from Dr. Tofu. It was nice and quiet, something that was a bit rarer these days, but it was still enjoyable. Plus, the view of Ranma out there, she smiled to herself, watching her cute girlfriend's concentrated face as she stood up from her pose-

When two blurs rushed her, one tossing a powder in his face, the other coming to a stop at the neck, and all the Tendou's in the house froze as they stared, Akane recognizing the two blurs, the one on the neck was the little man, the other was the small ugly stepmother of Konatsu, holding a pouch that the powder had had come from, and as they watched, Ranma's eyes closing as she fell to the grass unconscious, the two short people stopped to stare at each other in angry recognition.

Her father fell backwards, stuttering, but Akane was locked in on Ranma as she got up and rushed out, eyes on the girl as the two pint sized fighters started trading blows, and she managed to scoop up Ranma, only for them both to notice and turn their attention to her, "She's mine!"

Akane jumped over them both, and as they landed with a splash into the pond, Akane ran, jumping over the fence and running fast. She looked down at Ranma in her arms, who was actually starting to snore. Apparently, they both just put her to sleep, but now she was vulnerable, and with Ranma in her arms, Akane didn't have many options to fight herself. Thankfully she had given them both a momentary slip.

She needed a place to hide. Looking around, she had run off towards Ukyo's place, so getting there would be the objective. To get there, fast, she jumped up onto a nearby fence, then onto roofs, making a beeline. Asit came into view, Akane was on the backside, and she saw the door open, Konatsu walking out with trash bags.  As she set them down, Akane called out, "Incoming!!!"

Konatsu looked up and saw them coming then stepped aside as Ranma jumped down, though she misjudged the angle of her landing, and instead of landing on her feet, she ended up on her legs and rear, sliding in almost like the baseball players she'd seen on tv from time to time.

As she skidded to a stop, just a few feet from Ukyo who was washing dishes, Konatsu closed the door behind him as he came in, while Ukyo grabbed a towel to crouched down, "Akane, what happened?"

"Ranma's father sent a tiny old man with crazy martial arts skill after her, and Konatsu's stepmother showed up as well. They both did a thing to knock Ranma out."

Konatsu came around and looked at the remnants of powder on Ranma, "A high strength sleep powder that works by inhalation, but she'll wake up. It is possible to wake her up sooner with an abrupt awakening, slaps or cold water."

Ukyo moved first, grabbing a large glass and filling it with water, before splashing it across Ranma...and nothing. She just kept snoring.

Akane let out a sigh, "Sorry Ranma."

She lifted up a hand and smacked her across the face. Nothing. She slapped her again, nothing.

She started to repeatedly smack her cheeks back and forth, yet after a good ten seconds of slapping, her face was completely unchanged, aside from the redness in her checks from the slaps. She was out GOOD!

Akane thought to herself, what else had happened? Did the old man do something...

Her head snapped up, remembering what Tofu had said. He said when Akane got nabbed, he was pretty sure the old guy used a pressure point on her to put her to sleep, so if he used it on Ranma as well, then it was like she had been given a double dose of a sedative.

She let out a frustrated sigh, and Konotsu walked up, leaning down, and picking up Ranma from Akane's lap "Why don't we let her sleep it off? I can sleep in the sitting room upstairs."

Ukyo and Akane turned to him, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, now come, I'm sure she's like to have you by her side when she wakes up in the morning."

Akane blushed, but stood up, about to follow him towards the door he was opening, only to get hit with a puff of white powder, and fall forward, he and Ranma getting caught by the arms of the thin both stepsister of Konatsu, who cackled, and as Akane and Ukyo rushed forward, a smoke bomb hit the floor and they jumped back, covering their mouths as the smoke filled the room. Soon it passed, as Ukyo flung the backdoor open, and thankfully there seemed to be no lingering effects, however the ugly kunoichi was gone, along with Ranma and Konatsu, having been replaced by a piece of paper.

Akane rushed over and grabbed it, reading it quickly, while Ukyo came up beside her, "What is it?"

She turned to Ukyo, a fire in her eyes, "A challenge."

Konatsu groggily opened his eyes, seeing tree branches and leaves around him. Trying to move to figure out what was going on, he found his hands stuck. Looking up, they were in metal cuffs, linked together by metal chain that were tossed over a tree branch, and there was another pair of chains on the branch. Turning around, she saw Ranma was dangling there as well, still passed out, and wearing a bunny suit.

He then heard the all too familiar cackles of his Stepfamily, looking up at them from the ground below.

They turned to each other and started talking, Konatsu catching bit about using the girls as attractions for the new tea house. Konatsu tried to move, but his limbs were still weak from the powder and being forced to stand on his toes on a tree branch while hanging from another branch was making it even trickier.

What could he do-

A roar filled the air, and everyone, minus the sleeping Ranma, turned to the source, finding a large and muscular panda bear charging through the brush, with a small...imp?...on his shoulder, holding what looking like a volleyball with a sparking string on it. He watched as his stepfamily began fighting back, but soon it turned into a mess of explosions, weapons, limbs and claws, just pure chaos.

Akane, wearing a plain gi barrowed from Ukyo for the sight, was hopping from tree to tree with her, heading towards the spot, only to hear what sounded like an explosion. Worry took them both and they hurried, jumping faster, only stop at a distance as they watched the fight unfolding beneath them, the panda form of Ranma's father fighting alongside the imp against the ugly stepfamily of Konatsu.

The same Konatsu they noticed a moment later, was stuck dangling in a tree, alongside a still sleeping Ranma, who was also dressed like she was supposed to be working in a casino for some strange reason. They both jumped over to the pair, Ukyo using her smaller spatula like small knives, using her quick hands and strength to cut the cuffs from their wrists, with Akane catching Ranma, and Ukyo getting Konatsu on her back.

Since the people that had invited them here to fight were currently occupied with another fight, they made their leave, but as they had put some distance between them and the fight, a voice sounded out that they were gone. It was unclear who had said it, but with how loud they said it, all of the probably knew, which meant they would be looking again. Ukyo's place was ambushed once, and the dojo twice, which meant they needed another spot.

She turned to Ukyo, "I think we should head to the Cat Cafe, neither of the groups should know about it."

She nodded back to her and soon they were heading that way. They kept their eyes and ears peeled, looking for any hint of their potential pursuers, but thankfully they made it no problem. They headed around to the back, where they were harder to see, and knocked on the door, loud as possible. Soon it opened, and Shampoo, wearing pajamas, opened the door with a tired and frustrated expression that faded a moment later after seeing who was standing there. Without a word she pulled the door open and they rushed in, finding themselves in the large room they had the slumber party in, and Cologne hopped in on her staff in her own pajamas, "Oh my, what's happening this time?"

Akane set the sleeping Ranma on the couch, while Shampoo walked over with a blanket to cover the sleeping girl, and Akane spoke, "Genma has returned, with this tiny imp of a man, and there's also a group of Kunoichi."

Konatsu spoke up, "That would be my evil stepfamily."

The old master turned to the boy slumped in his seat on the other end of the couch, "Your stepfamily?"

"Yes, when my dad died, they took the money and started the Red-Hot Tea House Kunoichi in our village."

Akane watched as she saw Cologne's eyes narrow, "I'm away of those three, I'm old friends with their village's master. He's told me about them and their despicable shenanigans, plus how they mistreated the son of the late husband, though you don't look like a boy."

Akane spoke, "Ranma can confirm that, when she wakes up."

As if on cue, a snort of a snore escaped her lips. Cologne hopped onto the couch and looked at Ranma, "And just how is it the young lady is still out cold?"

"A combination of sleeping powder and a pressure point at the same time."

"Oh, I see. Well, nothing dangerous, we'll just let her sleep it off and by morning she should be right as rain."

Akane nodded, "Alright. "

Relived that Ranma would be fine, she sat next to the girl in question as Cologne had moved onto her staff again, "So why was Konatsu's family after Ranma?"

The kunoichi on the couch let out a exhausted sigh, "This Genma guy, and the man he was with, blew up the tea house and they sent me to avenge it, but then Ranma beat them before I could, so they said to get her since she took the vengeance I was supposed to give them, more or less."

Cologne let out a sigh, "Well that's a shame. But at least now there's enough of us here for a fair sight. But for now, we'll rest, tomorrow, we'll deal with them."

Akane let out a sigh as she slumped back in the chair, while Cologne made her way to the phone, and she heard her speaking to Kasumi a moment later, informing her of their location and safety.

Exhaustion creeping in, Akane grabbed the blanket covering Ranma and slipped in beside her, letting her mind rest.

Ranma opened her eyes, feeling pretty energized, however she was soon confused by the fact she found herself having just woken up on the couch in the bat of the Cat Cafe and not in her own bed. Thankfully, Akane was there with her, sleeping against her, which meant things were alright.

Though she did want to know what was going on, so she reached over and gave Akane a little nudge, prompting her awake. She took a moment to rise, but when she did and looked to Ranma, she smiled and leaned in for a hug, "Morning honey bun."

Ranma blinked, "Honey bun, what's with the..."

Ranma pulled odd the blanket, and she felt the fabric on her arms shoulders and upper chest, but not below that. She looked down, and saw herself wearing...she didn't know what she was wearing, but her face went red and she pulled the blanket back over herself, and in a quiet but shocked voice, "What happened last night?"

Akane stood up and stretched, "Well it started when you were out in the yard last night stretching..."

She started explaining, while she did, Ukyo and Konatsu on the other end of the couch stirred away, and soon Shampoo and cologne walked in, Shampoo bringing Ranma change of clothes. When she had finished, Ranma was changed into a pair of matching white Chinese clothes a little big on her.

Once she had confirmed the story with Akane, she turned to Shampoo, "Why am I in Mousse's clothes?"

"He left for training mission, but left stuff behind, plus my clothes to thin for you."

Ranma nodded, Shampoo was thinner than her, so these were indeed the best options available.

She then turned to the group as a whole, "So we have a trio of ugly ninjas and a bear working with an imp man, who's probably a pervert. What's the plan?"