It didn’t take too long before they found a nice restaurant. This one served western style food, although Ranma was insistent they made sure it wasn’t a French place first. They quickly found a side booth and ordered drinks, Akane getting some tea and Ranma choosing a soda along with a couple of glasses of ice water, just in case.

So far no words were spoken as the two pretended to study the menus. Ranma was far too busy going over what happened at the train station. She had hoped the surprise of the outfit might help Akane realize that she’s actually a girl right now. Instead, she managed to screw up and give her fiancée the wrong idea, almost ruining everything in the process. Even after that got cleared up, Akane was still under the impression that her being a girl was just an act, even if she seemed to really enjoy the idea.

Great, how am I going to explain it now without messing everything up again? I mean I guess if Akane is having a good time, maybe I don’t have to worry about it just yet. At least she likes the outfit.

Ranma took a risk to look over her menu to take a peek at her companion and found Akane staring right back with a look of contemplation, as if trying to solve a mystery, before quickly ducking back under her own menu.

What was that about? Is she suspicious of the truth? What should I -

“Hello ladies. My name is Hibari, and I’ll be your server for today. Let me know when you are ready to order.” Akane decided to order some Italian pasta dish, and it took a little bit to explain that Ranma wasn’t trying to decide between three different items and did in fact want all of them.

After the blond waitress left with the menus, the two suddenly found themselves with nothing to hide behind. Akane still seemed like she was trying to crack some code and Ranma looked across the restaurant, deep in her own thoughts.

I should probably say something soon. This silence is getting awkward. It shouldn’t be too hard. It’s just talking after all. That’s what girl friends do, right? They talk. About stuff. So talk about stuff then. What stuff though? What do I talk about? And how do I do it without saying something stupid? Am I just going to make her mad again? No, it will be okay. Just remember what you talked with Kasumi about last night. Ranma’s thoughts began to wander towards the previous evening.

---

---

“Ranma, is it alright if I ask a question?”

The redhead looked up from her spot sitting on Kasumi’s bed in her tank top and boxer shorts towards the older girl who was currently digging through her closet. “Sure, go ahead.”

Kasumi paused for a moment before continuing. “How long have you been a girl?”

Ranma blinked a few times at the question. “Um, I guess maybe about an hour now? Isn’t that what I said?”

“Well,” Kasumi replied as she took out a couple of items that Ranma immediately scrunched her nose at. “I recall you saying that you were able to admit she was a part of you. I was just curious how long she’s been there.”

“Oh, right.” That definitely made sense. It was part of the reason for her revelation after all. Still, when exactly did she first show up, only to be ignored by an idiot boy who thought he knew better? “Sometime after Jusenkyo, but not sure how long though. Might need to think about it a bit.”

“Why after Jusenkyo?” Kasumi inquired as she continued digging through her stuff. 

Ranma was thrown off a bit by the question. “Well, it would hafta be, right? I didn’t get my girl form 'til I fell into that spring, so I couldn’t have been a girl before that.”

Once again Kasumi took a bit of time before responding back. “Okay,” the eldest Tendo sister declared, although Ranma wasn’t certain if that referred to the redhead’s previous statement or for the new article of clothing that was brought out. “Well? What do you think of this?”

Ranma looked up at the first item she was genuinely interested in. “Woah. This is yours?” She reached up and took the red jacket from her newly declared older sister to examine it more closely.

Kasumi gave a smile and looked away, as though recalling something. “Yes, I bought it early on in high school. I didn’t get to wear it very often and it does not quite fit me anymore, but maybe it will work for you now.”

Ranma got up and started to put on the jacket, checking out the various pieces on it. Three zippers on one side. Is that a good thing? She walked over and checked herself out in Kasumi’s mirror. “This is really nice. Why didn’t you wear it more?”

“Well, my plan was to have a day per week just to go out and have some fun in the evening. I arranged to have everyone get takeout while I was gone, but…”

Ranma knew where this was going. “Akane offered to cook dinner?”

Kasumi offered the smallest of a smile. “Yes. I couldn’t really leave everyone alone after that. Speaking of Akane-”

“Oh hey!” The redhead interrupted, her voice slightly breaking as she pointed to the belts on the jacket’s short sleeves. “These’d go good with the ties on my pants, right?”

Kasumi gave a small sigh, never dropping the smile from her face. “Perhaps,” she replied while going back into her closet, “but I think you should try something a little different to go along with it. Here’s what I wore.”

Ranma took one look at the dress that was brought out and made a face.

“Too pink?” Kasumi asked with a serious look on her face.

“Too pink,” Ranma confirmed while mirroring the other girl’s expression.

The two were able to hold on for a few seconds before breaking down into giggling. Ranma paused once more at this. Oh man, now I’m making jokes and giggling with Kasumi. What’s going on?

“Are you okay Ranma?” Kasumi asked while putting the dress back.

“Yeah,” Ranma replied back absentmindedly. “I guess I never thought I’d be having fun trying on clothes like this, you know?”

“I’m glad you’re having a good time,” Kasumi sweetly stated while pulling out a few different shirts. “I’m sure you’ll have just as much fun tomorrow, as long as you avoid insulting Akane.”

Ranma looked down at her feet while changing clothes again. “Oh, that’s not a big deal. I stick my foot in my mouth and she clobbers me. It’s kinda our thing.”

This time Kasumi had an actual serious tone to her voice. “Little Sister, please understand. Akane has had a rough few days. I know that you did too, but she’s been taking it really hard. I want you to promise me that you’re not going to hurt her tomorrow.”

Ranma looked over at the other girl indignantly. “Oh come on, Kasumi. It’s just playful banter. I would never actually hurt Akane.”

Kasumi gave a look that could almost be mistaken for accusational if one didn’t know her. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Ranma replied back while trying on another shirt. “I even asked her once if what I said hurt her and she said it didn’t.”

“And you believed her?”

Ranma froze and slowly turned towards the eldest Tendo sister. “What are you saying?”

Kasumi stepped forward and clasped the red-haired girl’s hands in front of her. “Just promise me you’ll try to avoid any insults tomorrow. For her sake.”

Ranma looked down at their hands for a moment and then back up into the taller girl’s eyes. “I’ll try, but I’m sure I’ll just slip up at some point anyway.”

Kasumi gave a warm smile back. “And then you apologize and tell her what you really meant to say. Just remember to take your time and think first before you speak, and you’ll be able to cross the verbal minefield.” She let go of Ranma’s hands and walked back over to her closet. “Besides, since you’ll be with Akane as a girl tomorrow, you will not need to worry about having to deny your feelings towards her. Hmm, might need to go through Nabiki’s closet as well.”

Ranma stood stunned as she stared at the older girl before managing to squeak out a high pitched “What?!”

Kasumi smiled again and replied in her regular sweet and calm voice, “Well, if you were going as a boy tomorrow, you would probably spend half of the time acting like you don’t really love her and saying a bunch of insults. That is getting a little old at this point though. To be honest, it would probably be a good idea the next time you are a boy if you went and told Akane how you really felt about her. I could even help you with it if you’d like. For now though, let’s just focus on cheering her up tomorrow. Now, stay here. I’ll be right back. I’m just going to get some things from Nabiki’s room.”

As Kasumi exited her room, Ranma was left to process what was just said and was forced to deal with yet another accusation about her true feelings towards her fiancée. As was done many times in the past, she fell back to her default response: panicked denial.

“It’s a lie! It’s a lie!” She called out, not too loudly to avoid being heard by the subject of her denial. “No way I’d love her!”

Ranma…

“I mean who could ever love an uncute macho tomboy like-”

RANMA!

---

---

Ranma jerked her head up and glanced over at the girl across from her who was glaring back with a look of annoyance. “What did you say, Akane?”

“I asked what you were thinking about,” Akane responded.

“Oh! Um, nothing really,” Ranma stammered out.

“Ah, that makes sense,” Akane replied back with a playful grin.

“Hey!” Ranma exclaimed, before noticing the smile on the other girl’s face. “Oh, very funny! If ya want to know, I was thinking of...uh…” The redhead blushed and looked down. No, I definitely cannot bring that up! I have to say something though. What can I...oh, the jacket! That might work. “I was thinking about trying on clothes last night with Kasumi.”

“Yeah, I was going to say it’s a little surprising,” Akane stated while taking another look at her companion’s outfit.

“Huh? Surprising how?”

“Well, for one I never expected Kasumi to have an outfit like this.”

“Oh. Yeah, I was a bit shocked too. The pants are actually Nabiki’s though. Um, please don’t tell her. I don’t think I can afford her rental fees.”

Akane let out a hearty laugh. “I know. You would think she’d just let me get her hand-me-downs or let me borrow some of her stuff like a normal sister. Don’t worry. I’m sure the embarrassment of playing dress up last night will cover it for her.”

Ranma flushed slightly red. “Actually, I kinda had fun.”

“Wait, really?” Akane had a look of surprise that quickly changed to a smirk. “You mean the great Ranma Saotome enjoyed something other than martial arts?”

“Oh, you’re just full of em today, ain’t ya?” Ranma replied with a smirk of her own. This is perfect. Looks like cheering her up wasn’t that hard of a job after all. “Yeah, sharing clothes is kinda neat. We should do that again sometime,” she continued with a big grin.”

A frown now formed on Akane’s face as she glared back with half lidded eyes. “Oh, so you can complain about how the clothes don’t manage to fit that perfect body of yours?”

Ranma froze, realizing she just took a stroll into the verbal minefield Kasumi warned about. Oh crap! Wait, I can get through this. Just take my time and think it through. “Don’t be stupid, Akane.” No! Bad! Wrong! “Um, what I meant was I wasn’t wearing it right that one time. I forgot to adjust it and stuff. Uh, besides, I have worn stuff of yours that fit great.”

Akane held her glare. “Oh really. Like what?”

Ranma decided to take a big gulp of her drink to avoid blurting out the first thing that popped in her head. Okay, don’t mention the gym clothes. You’ll never be able to explain it in time. What else was there though? Oh wait!

“Remember the water park and that whole waterproof soap fiasco? We ended up trading clothes then. Those actually fit me really well.”

The anger on Akane’s face finally faded. “Oh, right. That did happen.” The short haired girl looked contemplative for a couple of minutes as she was recalling that incident. Ranma tried to avoid holding her breath as she waited to see what the other girl’s response was. Finally, Akane gave a little grin as she said, “Yeah, I guess that time it was your clothes that didn’t fit at all. I mean I was practically swimming in those pants.”

Ranma briefly thought about making a comment about Akane’s swimming skills or lack thereof before quickly deciding against it. “Yeah, it’s a pain trying to find stuff that will fit both forms. Heck, the height difference might be the most annoying thing about changing.”

Akane gave another little smirk. “Well, if it wasn’t for that, we couldn’t share clothes to begin with.”

Ranma returned her own smirk. “Then I guess we’ll need to hit growth spurts at the same time. Oh, I checked recently, and I’ve gone up a whole centimeter and a half. Better hurry up or I’ll be shooting past you before ya know it.”

“Is that a challenge Saotome?” Akane asked, staring at the girl across from her.

“You better hope not Tendo,” Ranma replied, giving her own stare. “After all, I never lose.”

The two managed to hold the stare down for almost a full minute before breaking into laughter. After calming down, Akane said, “well, if we are going to be sharing wardrobes, we’ll need to make sure you actually have one. I hope you included a little shopping expedition in your plans for today.”

“Yup,” Ranma replied, “looking forward to it.”

“Wait, really?” Akane asked in surprise.

“Oh what, you think I can’t handle a little clothes shopping?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just, well, whenever Auntie Nodoka took us out, you seemed miserable the whole time.”

“Oh right. That.” Ranma wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with her mother right now. Still, talking with Kasumi last night seemed to help. So maybe…

“Well,” Ranma continued, “it wasn’t really the shopping itself that bugged me. And I liked spending time with Mom and all. It’s just…”

“You had to hide who you really were,” Akane finished.

“Yeah,” Ranma confirmed with a sad tone in her voice. The two looked down in silence for several seconds. Shoot, I need to bring the mood back up. How can I do that? Right, the other reason I didn’t like the shopping trips.

“Well,” Ranma continued, “that and the stuff she picked out for me. I mean, I love my mom, but her taste in clothes is just bad.”

“Oh.” Akane replied while looking over at her companion. “Yeah, I see what you mean. Other than kimonos, I don’t think she really gets fashion. You better not try and get me into any of those outfits, missy.”

Ranma gave a knowing glare over to Akane. “That including the one you picked out for me?” She laughed at the sight of the brunette turning red. “Oh, don’t worry. I don’t have any of that stuff anymore. It’s all gone now.”

“Really?” Akane asked. “And your mother was fine with it when she found out?”

Ranma just gave a shrug at that. “Yeah, I guess so.” She really didn’t feel like mentioning how it was actually her mom that got rid of all the outfits once she found out the truth.

“Well, are the guy clothes she bought for you at least any better?”

“She hasn’t.”

“What?” Akane asked, confused.

Ranma let out a sigh, wishing the topic could just be dropped already. “She hasn’t taken me shopping since discovering I was really her s...her child.”

“Oh. Well hey! It’s been pretty hectic since then, hasn’t it? Now that things have calmed down, you should go ahead and ask her. I bet she would love to spend some quality time with her son.”

“Yeah.” Ranma absently replied, chin in hand, looking away, trying her best to keep her emotions in check. Don’t cry. It’s not what Akane needs right now.

In truth, she (well, it would have been ‘he’ at the time since she was a guy at that moment) did ask her mother...his mother if they could go shopping or just spend some time together. The answer he received was rather succinct. “I can’t do that dear. You are a martial artist. Spending too much time around your mother would make you soft.”

Unfortunately, this idea was shared by both of her parents and was the reason for the damned training trip in the first place. She was too young to even remember the event and of course her pop never bothered to bring it up once. She had to find out from her own mother that first day she arrived at the Tendo household looking for her missing husband and...child. 

The redhead didn’t know what exactly inspired his actions, but for some reason her pop decided that a mother’s love would make Ranma weak and that he needed to take the boy (it was well before Jusenkyo so she was definitely always a boy back then) away. 

Her mother did object to this as best she could, although the table to the head was possibly a bit too much, or considering who her pops was maybe not enough. Genma Saotome was still fully convinced however that this was the best action and was desperate enough to see it fulfilled. That and his inability to think things through led to his grand declaration.

He vowed to raise Ranma to be a true Man Among Men, and if he should fail, then both father and son would commit seppuku. A contract was even made up, with a thumbprint from him and several handprints added by a young Ranma.

Seppuku. Ritual suicide. A method originally practiced by samurai to restore honor through one’s own death. 

It would have been easy if her mother just decided to ignore the whole thing as the insanity it was. Instead, being part of a martial arts family herself, as well as the descendant of samurai apparently, Nodoka took the vow very seriously. To the point where she would carry the family katana blade wherever she went, agreeing to be their second in the ritual should it ever be required, and then promising to follow them both to the grave afterwards using the same sword.

Ranma had no idea how her mother would react to her child having a gender changing curse, but she feared the worst. So when her mother visited the Tendo house, rather than a reunion with her son and husband after more than a decade waiting for them, instead she met Ranko, a cousin of the Tendos, along with her pet panda.

For some reason, Nodoka took a liking to the girl right away and was quite interested in reforming the tomboy and making her a proper lady. Despite this, Ranma did end up enjoying her mother’s visits and shopping trips, although it was tempered greatly by having to hide in plain sight as well as by the fear of what would happen should her secret be discovered.

She did try to arrange a proper reunion between mother and son (well technically it was Akane who set the thing up), but thanks to interference by her idiot pop and some random accidents involving water, that reunion failed to occur.

Still, a secret like that couldn’t be kept forever. The truth was eventually revealed and once again she feared the worst. However, that didn’t happen. Maybe it was trying to prevent her old man from stealing and selling off a family heirloom. Maybe it was saving her mother while falling off that cliff. Maybe it was all that time spent together getting to know each other. For whatever reason, despite the curse, Nodoka declared her child as manly enough and the vow fulfilled.

Ranma wondered why she wasn’t happier about this. She didn’t have to lie about who she was anymore, and her mother got to properly reunite with her son. Everything turned out well in the end.

Right?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of their meals. “Here you go ladies,” their waitress said as the food was handed out. “Do you need anything else right now?” she asked while glancing over to the group of plates that covered the redhead’s half of the table.

Akane smiled as she looked over at her girlfriend for the day. “I think we’ll probably need the dessert menus.”

Ranma was quickly snapped out of her thoughts about being referred to as a lady once again by the waitress. “Ooo, do you have parfaits?” she asked while trying to look as cute as possible.

Hibari tried her best not to be thrown off by the saccharine display in front of her. “Yes, we do. I’ll let you enjoy your meals and come back later with those menus for you.”

Akane replied with clear mirth in her voice. “Oh don’t worry. You won’t have to wait long.”

Two started digging into their meals, Ranma taking the advice of Kasumi and eating at a polite but still rapid pace. She then noticed the grin that was on Akane’s face. “Wut?” She asked through a mouthful of food.

“Oh, I was just thinking how we’ve never really done this before,” Akane nonchalantly replied before taking a sip of her tea.

Ranma swallowed her food before replying back, confused. “What, you mean eating out?” She then wondered why Akane started choking on her drink.

“No, you idiot,” Akane said after composing herself. “I mean having a conversation like we did. Just talking. Joking around. Having a good time. It’s...nice.”

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Ranma replied with a grin.

“Why have we never tried to do this before?” Akane asked.

“Well, I couldn’t. It’s just not something a guy should do,” Ranma casually replied back.

“What?” Akane exclaimed, suddenly very annoyed. “And what macho pig-headed idiot did you get that idea it was your father wasn’t it?” she finished, deadpanned.

“Well yeah,” Ranma stated after a few more bites before straightening up and doing her best impersonation of Genma in lecture mode. “‘As a man, it is important for you to focus solely on the art,’” she said in an overly deep voice. “‘Real men don’t go chatting about nonsense. Real men don’t let their feelings show. Real men don’t waste their time on silly activities. Real men don’t-’”

“Go shopping?” Akane finished with an amused tone. “Or eat ice cream?”

“Oh, that too,” Ranma answered with a chagrin. “Well, parfaits mostly. That’s a little too girly for a guy to be having.”

“Ah,” Akane stated, “but those times you were a girl you had no problems ordering them whenever you could.”

“Well, yeah that’s kinda true,” Ranma admitted, although back then it was more like using her girl form to avoid embarrassment. After all, she hasn’t actually been a real girl until-.

“And you’re going to be a girl all day today,” Akane continued with a big grin. “So that means…”

“Uh, Akane? What are you thinking about?” Ranma asked with a sudden dread.

“Oh, I’m just thinking about the fun we’ll have today girlfriend.” Akane answered with the look of a hawk that just spotted its prey.

The two finished their meal and ordered dessert, the whole time Ranma wondered just what she got herself into.

Finally the desserts arrived and Ranma wasted no time diving into the ice cream perfection. Akane looked on while nibbling on her cheesecake, then proceeded to ask, “So does that actually taste different when you’re a guy?”

“No idea,” Ranma responded with a shrug.

“What? You mean you still haven’t tried it as a boy?” Akane asked in surprise.

“Well, yeah. Like pops said-”

“Your dad’s an idiot. I bet he only told you that so he could keep all the sweets for himself. Okay, the next time we go out for ice cream, you are going to try a parfait as a guy. Got it?”

“I guess,” Ranma casually agreed, hoping to not make a big deal out of it. In actuality, she did try to do that once. Found an out of the way place. Picked an off time when no one else was there. Made the order as casually as possible. Sat down in guy mode, which confused the server a bit. Got ready to eat, and then...nothing. It couldn’t be done. An annoying voice kept popping in her head (well, his head. Guy mode, remember) saying that it wasn’t something a true man would do. Still, food like that couldn’t be wasted and the struggle continued for a few minutes before resignation set in and a glass of water was poured over her head (his head, no wait, it would be her head now) just so she could finally enjoy the heavenly treat.

The worst part was that there really was no good reason for any of it. Akane was right. Her pop was an idiot as well as a hypocrite. It wasn’t really apparent during those long years on the road when it was just the two of them. However, once they settled down in Nerima, it became rather hard to avoid just how wrong the old man was. 

Real men don’t eat sweets? Well, Pops sure seems to indulge in them enough. Not to mention several of the boys in school.

Real men don’t engage in frivolous activities? He and Mr. Tendo sure do like to spend a lot of time at that shogi board.

Real men don’t talk about their feelings or chat with others about things? That doesn’t stop the two of them when they go out drinking. Those guys at school don’t really seem to mind talking either. Heck, Ryoga practically wears his heart on his sleeve and apparently writes rather long letters to Akari.

Real men must focus solely on the art? Sure doesn’t stop my old man from spending most of his time lounging around as a panda.

Yeah, at this point Ranma could recognize that all those things, all the ideas drilled into her (him, whatever) while on the road were mostly nonsense. She knew they weren’t really true. She knew they were garbage. She knew they were pointless.

And she still couldn't eat a parfait as a boy.