Jaqui_K

The artwork in this chapter was done by the super talented Beedok. Make sure to check out her amazing works.

It was a quiet, uneventful Saturday evening for one Ranma Saotome, something that should have been considered statistically impossible. For as long as he could remember, chaos would follow him around like a shadow, ever since his father took him away from home for that decade-long training trip when he was five to learn the special style that was Anything Goes Martial Arts. The old man was quite determined to make his son the greatest martial artist and a true ‘Man Amongst Men’, even going so far as making a pledge to his wife with the promise of death should he fail.

All this really did was show how much Genma Saotome failed to think things through, which was constantly reinforced by his actual training methods. With each half-read manual and absurd training idea, it was a continuous miracle that Ranma survived, much less actually managing to excel in the art, although not much else.

Life on the road was quite harsh, thanks in no small part to the fact his old man tried to avoid spending any money or getting an actual job. On more than one occasion, unbeknownst to Ranma at the time, Genma would set up an arranged marriage with his son to some random girl, either for whatever food he could get or for a dowry he would then run off with.

The old man’s stinginess came back to bite them both at the final stop of their journey while in China, the legendary training grounds of Jusenkyo. In a moment, that was a bit surprising, Genma did actually buy a guide for the place. However, true to form, he bought the cheapest one he could find, which was in Chinese, a language he couldn’t even read.

As such, neither Ranma nor his pops knew the true dangers of the place, despite the guide of the place constantly shouting out warnings at them. It turned out that each of the hundreds of springs that dotted the valley had a curse associated with it. Anyone that fell into a spring would take the form of whomever or whatever drowned there when contacted with cold water. Hot water would return them to normal, at least until cold water found them again which, thanks to the magic, happened quite often.

Neither martial artist was aware of any of this at the time, at least until Ranma managed to knock his father into one of the pools, only to find a panda bear jumping out to confront him. In his shock, he was not ready as his pandafied father then knocked him in one of the other pools. As far as his own curse was concerned, well, at least he was still human.

The less said about their remaining time in China, the better. Ranma was very much relieved when they finally got back to Japan and found out they would be staying in one place, at the home of his pop’s old training buddy Soun Tendo. That relief ended up dying a quick death when the reason for them going there was revealed. It turned out that Genma and his friend had the idea of joining their two martial arts schools through a marriage between their kids.

Needless to say, Ranma was very much not happy to have his fiancée chosen for him. Except for a far too brief moment of hope for a possible friendship, that entire day ended up being a complete disaster. Things didn’t seem to improve much after that. In fact, since he first arrived in the Nerima district of Tokyo it seemed every day turned into an absurd series of events. If it wasn’t a random demon, prince, or magical item that needed handling, it was having to deal with the people in his life that either wanted him dead or just plain wanted him, sometimes both.

Today was different though. For the first time as far back as he can remember, the young martial artist had a day of complete solitude. So here, as he lay back on the roof of the Tendo house, he was finally given the opportunity to perform perhaps the most dangerous thing he has ever done: thinking about his life. Specifically, the events that brought him to this day.

With everything going on around him, it was a bit surprising that a breaking point wasn’t reached much sooner. Quite frankly, Jusendo was where at least some closure should have been reached. Heck, he fought a fiery bird man with the power of a demi-god to the death and ended up the victor. All to save the life of one Akane Tendo, the girl he truly lo...cared for. Now if only he could remember exactly what he said to her at that time.

After all of that, maybe he and Akane would finally be given the chance to move a bit forward with whatever it was that existed between the two of them. Of course, that would require actual patience and restraint on the part of their fathers, so the results were inevitable. As soon as they got home, Ranma was knocked out and stuffed into a tuxedo for an immediate wedding. Now, maybe he was possibly just a little bit willing to go through with it and he had an inkling of suspicion that Akane maybe just possibly did as well. And the fact that the father’s were using as a bribe the gift from the Jusenkyo guide, a cask of Nannichuan, Spring of Drowned Man water, surely had nothing to do with it. However, this being Nerima, there was no way things would go according to plan. Or perhaps they did, depending on whose plan it was. Akane’s sister Nabiki sure enjoyed the wedding presents that came in from all the extra invitations she sent out, although whether they managed to add up to the damage costs for the wrecked dojo (including the lost cure for Ranma’s curse) was yet to be seen.

Oddly enough, perhaps because of said destruction of the Tendo dojo, the person that finally decided to put their foot down was one of the fathers that started the whole fiasco: Soun Tendo. The conditions were quite clear: untangle the absurd and twisted knot that was Ranma Saotome’s romantic commitments. The method to do so was about as clear as a 10-meter-thick steel wall and said steel wall would be much easier to get though considering the people involved.

Fortunately, the consequences of the wedding disaster had at least been recognized by the other fiancées and rivals, for the most part. His old childhood friend Ukyo was smart enough to realize how much she screwed up and decided a visit to her hometown of Kyoto with Konatsu would be the smart decision, lest she risk fully destroying any connection that remained with her first friend and hopeful future husband.

Shampoo was a bit too stubborn to get the message, but luckily her great grandmother Cologne was quick to recognize that any attempts to push or manipulate Ranma would at this point effectively end any and all plans to get him into their Chinese Amazon tribe. No, space was instead needed to cool things down. Fortunately, an excuse was already provided. With the events of Jusendo and the Phoenix tribe, Cologne would be needed back at Joketsuzoku to help them sort things out and had already set out to China with Shampoo and Mousse in tow.

Ryoga was feeling quite depressed after missing his opportunity with the Spring of Drowned Man water to cure his own curse and decided to intentionally make himself lost for a while. He immediately ended up at the Unryuu farm and his girlfriend Akari had been keeping him on a tight leash ever since. Ranma was still unsure if she meant that metaphorically.

Happosai, after getting over the insult of being at a wedding and not getting any sake to drink, also decided a trip was in order. Per his own words, South America sounded nice, especially the beaches of Brazil with all the lovely ladies running around.

The Kunos ended up taking their own vacation. The Principal somehow got it in his palm tree topped head that the only way for his children to appreciate the glory of Hawaii as he did was to experience it firsthand. As such, the Kuno siblings now found themselves, somewhat reluctantly, on a month tour of every island in Hawaii.

Even the panda was currently out of Ranma’s hair. With the Saotome house finally finished being rebuilt (again), his mother knew it was time to go home. Considering what happened the last time, she decided it would be best for her son to stay with the Tendos for at least a bit longer. His Pop, however, got no such exception and was practically dragged home at katana point. At least she remembered to bring him this time.

All this brought the pig-tailed youth back to where he currently was: on a rooftop with no one bothering him all day. Even the Tendos made fit to leave him alone. Soun was out visiting Ranma’s parents, probably playing shogi with the panda with the added game of who could get away with cheating the most. Kasumi, the eldest Tendo sister, was busy preparing dinner and Nabiki was off doing who knows what while Akane was busy in her room completing make-up work that he hadn’t even bothered looking at yet.

No, homework could wait. There was a much more difficult problem that has been plaguing him for more than a year now and finally required an answer: The Fiancée Problem. Oh, and also Kodachi, whom he would never consider as an actual fiancée.

Kodachi, who seemingly decided on a whim that he belongs to her.

Shampoo, who claims that her tribal laws say he’s already her husband, all because he accidentally defeated her.

Ukyo, his friend from when he was six, who is also engaged to him thanks to his no good glutton of a father.

Akane, the girl he almost did marry if not for the other three (as well as a few others) breaking everything up, including the dojo itself.

After everything he had been through and everyone he has interacted with, it was these four girls that have more or less remained a constant in his life and his current task was figuring out what to do about them.

Math was never Ranma’s strongest subject, and as the skies of Nerima dropped one of their famous one-minute rain showers on him, he was quickly corrected.

It wasn’t four girls that were constant in his life.

It was five.

As the rainwater activated his curse which shifted a black-haired boy into a short redheaded girl, Ranma finally had the answer of whom he needed to take care of first. After all, it was the girl he was the closest to and the girl who was most involved in his life.

It was also the girl he wanted to get rid of most of all.

Stupid girl curse. If it wasn’t for that, the wedding probably would have worked. Mr. Tendo wouldn’t have gotten the Spring of Drowned Man water and Mousse and Pops could have run interference instead of fighting over that damn cure.  

One more complaint had been added to the ever-growing list of grievances Ranma managed to accumulate concerning his current state. As was done many times before in the past, he went through this list in his head.

Because of this curse, I have to deal with stupid Kuno and his stupid declarations of love.

Because of this curse, I got involved in that stupid martial arts rhythmic gymnastics thing and ended up with Kodachi after me.

Because of this curse, that old freak keeps trying to grope me and trying to make me wear that frilly underwear crap.

The redhead was absolutely fuming with fists clenched at his side.

Because of this stupid curse, Shampoo chased me all the way across China trying to kill me, and now she’s here trying to marry me.

Because of this damn curse, that jerk Taro has the nerve to call me a crossdresser.

Because of this crappy curse, Akane calls me a pervert all the time.

Because of this damn stupid crappy curse, I...I couldn’t meet my mother as myself for so long.

Tears started to form in the martial artist’s tightly shut eyes.

Normally at this point, someone would have shown up and interrupted the current train of thought. For once though, Ranma’s internal rant was allowed to continue unabated.

Because of this curse, that jerk Mikado ended up...ended up...

Fingernails dug into the girl-cursed boy’s palms and blood began to seep as a red aura started to appear around him.

Because of this curse, I had to risk possibly getting married to that horrible Picolet guy and...and…

The serene, uneventful Saturday evening had finally caught up to Ranma as, for the first time, he was able to reach the end of his rant and a small voice, previously trapped and hidden behind the wall of excuses, was finally able to get through and provide a response.

And if you didn’t do that, one of the Tendo girls would have been forced to marry him.

The aura surrounding Ranma dissipated and his eyes shot open. He quickly sat up and unclenched his fists as the implications started to wash over him. Apparently, this whole thinking thing was much more dangerous than he first suspected. Well, there was no way he was going to stop now. After all, Ranma Saotome was no quitter and Anything Goes was about adapting, right?

This whole time, he was only looking at the bad things that happened because of his being cursed to turn into a girl and just assumed everything would be much better if that wasn’t the case. Ranma couldn’t help but smirk at his own stubbornness and refusal to see beyond his initial assumptions. That was supposed to be Ryoga’s job, not his.

He looked down and noticed the gashes and blood in his palms and decided he might as well take care of it while continuing this new train of thought. The crimson haired martial artist leapt down from the roof and headed back inside the house and into the bathroom.

As he let the cold water run in the sink and started to clean up, he allowed this new point of view to run in his head. Now, it was time to actually think about what would have happened if he didn’t have his curse.

It took everything I had to defeat that stupid Picolet in that eating contest. I even had to use my curse as training to get that Parlay du Foie Gras technique down. There’s no way any of the Tendo girls could have won against him. Akane, Kasumi, heck not even Nabiki deserves to be stuck with that frog mouthed weirdo.

Kuno would definitely still be after me no matter what, except it would always be to fight me. Oh heck, if the “pigtailed goddess” wasn’t around to distract him, he’d probably be even more insufferable.

Kodachi. Oh right, those girls were asking Akane for help in their competition and would have gone to her even if I didn’t interfere there. We would still have had to compete against her. I still would have met her as a guy anyway and that stupid bet of getting a date with me would have also happened. Akane probably would have still twisted her ankle and…I wouldn’t have been able to sub in for her. Oh crap, Kodachi would have won.

Suppressing a shudder at the thought of having to date that crazed gymnast, Ranma turned off the water, but didn’t move from his spot. He continued to stare down at the sink letting his thoughts continue and did not dare look up at the person whose many crimes he only now decided to truly examine.

Taro. Let’s face it, Taro’s an asshole no matter what. If it weren’t a gender changing curse, he would have just found some other stupid thing to insult me with. Besides, I was still able to kick his ass.

What would have happened if I went to the Amazon village as a guy? I probably would have just gotten that kiss of marriage from Shampoo right away instead of later. Would I have even been able to escape? Would I be stuck in that village in a marriage I don’t want and being treated the same way Mousse is?

Ugh, Happosai. I hate to admit it, but this body does a pretty good job of keeping the pervert in check. If I didn’t have it, would I have been able to use the Hiryu Shoten Ha to beat him and get the counter for that Moxibustion of Weakness he put on me? If it wasn’t for the curse, would I be as weak as a baby for the rest of my life?

Ranma let out a deep sigh as his hands started to grip the sink.

Mikado...dammit! I hate what he did to me, but if it wasn’t me, would it have been some other poor girl? Maybe even Akane?

The thought of that creep trying to steal a kiss caused a wave of revulsion to shoot up his currently female body. Desperately, he tried to direct his thoughts towards anything else, but only managed to settle upon a different perverted boy, albeit one with rather different circumstances.

Oh crap, that boy from the hospital that wouldn’t take his medicine! What was his name again? Kensuke maybe? Whatever. I wasn’t actually the one to give him the meds, but would they have gotten that far if I wasn’t there? If that girl wasn’t there?

Finally, Ranma looked up into the deep blue eyes of a girl that was staring back at him with the exact same level of intensity.

The girl that saved the life of a sick boy.

The girl that rescued a hot springs owner from financial ruin.

The girl that helped his best friend Ucchan out with her business.

The girl that took down Kodachi at her own game.

The girl that saved the Tendo girls from that French jerk.

The girl that defeated the cheerleader who made Akane cry.

Ranma stared back at those eyes. The eyes of a girl that really belonged to…

NO! NO! NO!

He quickly slammed his eyes shut and shook his head desperately trying to dispel the thoughts that he couldn’t have. That he never would be allowed to have.

I’M A GUY DAMMIT! I’M SUPPOSED TO BE A GUY! I LIKE BEING A GUY! I DON’T LIKE...I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO LIKE BEING A GIRL! EVEN IF...even if..

Even if that girl helped out so many. Even if that girl helped…her. Even if that girl was the one who was asked to be her friend.

Ranma’s eyes slowly opened again to look back at the girl, whose own eyes were now saturated with tears that quickly trickled down her cheeks. Although it was a bit hard to see with the pigtailed youth’s vision clouding up for some reason.

Nevertheless, a quick response was needed. Ranma was never able to deal with a crying girl, even if that girl really was…

A hand went up and reached out. A hand that was so small and delicate and yet still so powerful. A hand that met another just as small and just as delicate and just as powerful. Finally, the silence was pierced through by a voice, soft and low, almost a whisper. A voice saying barely anything and yet speaking everything all at once.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I tried to kill you.”

Silence once again permeated the room and dragged on for the eternity that was a few minutes as neither side seemed to know how to respond. Thankfully, no one had to as a welcome distraction called out from the dining room.

“Ranma! Akane! Dinner is ready!”

Ranma let out a breath that was held in for so long and called back. “Okay Kasumi, I’ll be right there!” Should probably clean myself up first.

Looking down at the sink, a hand automatically reached out for the handle on the left before pausing and moving over to the one on the right. Cold water was quickly splashed in the teenager’s face and eyes went up once more to see the girl.

To see the reflection.

To see her reflection.

A small smirk appeared on Ranma’s lips as she once again addressed herself in the mirror.

“Hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m not actually going to get rid of him either. And I’m still a little upset about what happened with Mom. It’s just…well…I’ve neglected you way too much and I would be a real jerk if I didn’t try and make up for it. Besides, we know you can do things that he can't, so maybe one of those things could be figuring out how to handle the other girls. I’m sure we can come up with something. After all, Ranma Saotome doesn’t lose!”

The red-haired girl let out a small laugh and left the bathroom, for once feeling optimistic and ready to meet this new challenge head on. True, things weren’t going to be easy. She still had four other girls in her life with connections she needed to untangle before any more property damage occurred. At the very least though, she was able to make progress with one girl. The girl she hated the most. The girl she feared the most. The girl she was finally able to make peace with.

Herself.