The regular hustle of a Sunday afternoon in Shibuya was again interrupted by the sight of two teenage girls dashing along the sidewalks.

“Hurry up, Ranma! We’re late already.”

“Huh? Akane, I thought we still had like five minutes to get there?”

“Yes, and that’s the same thing as late. Let’s go!”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine. You haven’t even told me where we’re going yet.”

“Um, it’s a surprise. And we would have been fine if you didn’t insist on going back to trade those tickets in.”

“But Akane, they had octopus puffs!” Ranma whined while holding up the overly large bag in her hand. “Why’re you in such a hurry to start shopping anyway?”

“We’re not shopping yet, Ranma. Like I said, it’s a surprise. You’ll find out when we get there. If we actually make it on time.”

“Oh.” Ranma once again tried to understand the feeling of relief that washed over her, like she was just given a stay of execution. “Um, Akane?”

“What is it?”

“It’s just, have we ever done that before?”

“What, being late because of you? Yeah, I can think of a few times.”

“No, I mean...have we ever gone shopping together, just the two of us, when I was a girl?”

Akane stayed silent for a few seconds with a pensive look on her face while not breaking stride. “No, we haven’t,” was the quiet response.

“Oh,” was all Ranma could say at the moment.

“Hey, don’t worry, girlfriend,” Akane quickly responded while flashing a big smile. “Everything else has been great. I’m sure we can get through a little shopping.”

“Yeah, it’s just that-”

“Oh we’re here! You better hope we made it in time.” Akane then dashed through the door of a storefront property. 

Ranma quickly followed after her, only having enough time to see one word above the door. Karma, huh? Guess I could use some of that.

Inside, she saw Akane apologizing to a girl standing behind a reception desk. “It’s fine Miss Tendo,” the girl said. “You’re actually a bit early. Please have a seat and Mr. Fujishiro will let you know when he’s ready.”

“Okay, thank you. Come on, Ranma.” Akane walked over to one side of the room that had several chairs spread around and a few tables with a bunch of magazines on them.

Ranma went and sat in a chair next to the other girl, while trying to figure out just how much she screwed up this time.

It’s not actually a big deal though. I mean, she did make it on time to whatever this is. No reason to bring it up at all, right? No, Big Sis did say that staying silent can make things worse. What do I say though?

“Um, I’m sorry, Akane.”

“For what?”

“Well, um, if I knew you had something important going on today, I wouldn’t have asked you to go out with...I mean spend time with me and almost make you late.”

“Oh! No, Ranma. Girlfriend. It’s fine. I’ve loved today so far.” Akane then gave a slight Nabiki-esk smirk. “Besides, this wouldn’t really work without you here anyway.”

“Huh? What do you mean by-”

“Ranma?” called out a voice next to them.

Ranma winced slightly. Someone recognized me out here? Is it someone from school? Oh man, I wasn’t ready to explain to Akane, so how am I going to explain to-

She turned her head and looked up at...a complete stranger. “Um…”

A young man she didn’t recognize, maybe about mid 20s (so not quite Pop’s level of old), with scraggly dark hair was looking down at her. “Are you Ranma?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Great! I’m Tatsumi Fujishiro. If you’re ready, we can go to the back and get started.”

“Get started? What are you talking-” Ranma then noticed the logo painted on the wall behind the receptionist.

Karma
Hair Salon

Ranma turned and saw a big grin plastered on her friend’s face. “Akane?”

“What, you thought I would let today go by without getting a present for my best girlfriend?”

“Huh? Um, I mean no, of course not! Wait, when did ya set this up?” How long has she known? Oh man, did she figure me out before I did?

“Oh, right after lunch. I did say you were going to have fun today, right girlfriend?” Akane answered with a look matching the one she had back then.

“Right, of course,” Ranma said while giving a quick laugh. Memories of another time Akane got her a similar gift flashed in her mind. That one was for a body care treatment at a spa with her mother tagging along. And the way that one ended...

“Akane, I’m not sure this is a good idea. I mean, if something happens, you know…”

“Don’t worry, girlfriend! I already let them know that hot water irritates your skin. Mr. Fujishiro will take good care of you, right?”

“Absolutely!” the man said. “And please, just call me Tatsumi.”

“Oh, okay,” Ranma replied somewhat reluctantly. You jerk! Akane’s doing something nice for you. Besides, he’s not like the principal or anything. Just go back, say we’re fine with our hair how it is, and we’ll be done. “Yeah, I’m ready to go,” she continued with a bit of enthusiasm.

“Perfect. Just follow me.” He then turned to Akane. “Don’t worry, Miss. I’ll take good care of your friend.”

“Oh, I’m counting on it. Have fun, girlfriend. I’ll make sure to watch your snacks for you while you’re gone.”

As she went past the reception desk towards a door in the back, Ranma made sure to call out behind her, “you better not touch any of my octopus puffs!”

---

“Okay, you can put your jacket on the hook over there, then have a seat. We’ll start off with a nice shampooing while we talk about what you’d like to do.”

Ranma paused for a moment while she hung up her jacket. She was still in the habit of washing her hair while it was in a braid and even did so that morning, so a thorough cleaning would be good for her. However, with everything she’s gone through and what happened to Akane before…

No, it’s fine. It will be fine. It’s not like he’s an Amazon or anything. And Akane must trust him to make that appointment. Still, Ranma couldn’t help but show a bit of nervousness as she sat down and looked around the room.

Tatsumi seemed to notice this as he wheeled over a little sink and threw some sort of tarp around her. “Is this your first time at this type of salon?”

“Actually, I’ve never been to any kind of salon before. For a long time I’d just cut my hair myself, and then recently my...my friend’s older sister would do it for me.”

“Oh, so you’ve never had your hair styled before?”

“Styled?” Ranma asked as the hairdresser undid the ribbon tying her hair back and let it fall loose. “I mean, normally I’d have it in a pigtail. Before that, I’d tie it back like I just had it. Those are styles, aren’t they?”

“Well, yes, those would be considered styles, but I was thinking of something perhaps a bit more complex than that.” 

Ranma felt her chair tilt back and her head placed over the little wash basin. She braced herself, then relaxed as she felt the cool water making contact with her scalp. “Oh. So, what kinda things were you thinking of?”

“Well, one option would be to give you a perm.”

“What’s that?”

“That’s where we’d curl your hair and then apply some treatments so it would stay that way for a few months.” Tatsumi brought out a magazine and showed Ranma several photographs from it. “There are several different styles we can do. Go ahead and look through this and see if there are any you like.”

Ranma leafed through the magazine and studied the various types of styles that were presented. She found one that had very tight small curls, almost like springs, and tried to imagine her own red hair done up that way. She smiled at the thought of Akane’s face if she ever saw her like that. Then, another thought flashed through her mind. The same tight curls, but this time done on black hair.

“So, are there any you think look good?”

“Yeah, some do,” Ranma casually mused. “But I’m not sure how good they’d be when I’m a boy.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I mean...I...wait no! What I meant was...um…” Crap! What do I do? Regular people outside Nerima don’t really take the whole magic transformation thing well. This guy seems nice. I don’t want to freak him out or anything. Maybe I’ll be lucky and he really is an Amazon hairdresser so he’ll be fine with magic.

“Ranma, calm down. It’s alright, I understand.”

“You...you do?”

Tatsumi gave a reassuring smile. “Sure. So you like to dress and act like a boy sometimes, right?”

“Oh, right.” He thinks I’m like Ukyo then? Well, for her it was more like a quest for vengeance thing. It’s not like she actually thinks she’s a boy. I guess I’m not really a boy right now either. At least, not until I change again.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to judge you for it. In fact, I have a few friends that do the same thing.”

“Wait, really?” Just how many girls with vengeance quests are there? Oh man, I hope Pops didn’t promise anything to them.

“Yup. Some are girls that like to be guys sometimes. Some are guys that like to be girls sometimes. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”

Oh, so probably more like Konatsu then. Well, in his case it’s more of an ‘all the time’ thing. We’d probably never know he’s really a guy if he didn’t get his shirt blown apart that one time. Wait… ”So you don’t think I’m a freak or a pervert?”

“No, of course not. Look, if you’re not comfortable, we don’t have to go into details about it. However, it does kind of affect your choices a bit. I take it the perm option wouldn’t really work out?”

“Heh, yeah. I’m not sure it would go over well when I ‘go guy’, would it?”

“I suppose not, but that’s more up to you really. So you want something different that will also look good on a boy. How would you feel about cutting your hair short?”

“Short?” An image of Principal Kuno dual wielding hair clippers flashed through her mind.

“Sure.” Tatsumi flipped the magazine to a new section and showed Ranma several examples of both men and women with short hairstyles. “There are a few options I think would look good on you either way.”

Ranma looked through the photos once again, noting the different styles. This time she found a few that would look good in both red and black. However, despite her new found excitement, something was bothering her.

Was it simply that she couldn’t remember ever having her hair that short? Even before Nerima, during that whole training trip, she would always have her hair at least a bit long. Why, though? Wouldn’t cutting it short have been easier for him during all those years on the road? Yet she always insisted on keeping it long, only bothering to trim her bangs. Was it because it seemed to be the only thing her pops never gave her grief over, his only comment on the matter being ‘enjoy it while it lasts, boy’ while indicating his own bald head? Or was there something more?

Ranma’s thoughts went back to Kasumi’s words from the previous night and the reason Akane grew out her own hair. No, that doesn’t make sense. I grew out my hair well before Jusenkyo, so it couldn’t have been about being more feminine or anything like that. Besides, Akane still looks cute with short hair. I don’t think her style would work for me though. An image flashed through her mind of a boy version of Akane with the same hairstyle. Suddenly she felt...well she didn’t quite know what she was feeling at the moment.

“I don’t know. I don’t think I’m ready to try something like that yet. Besides, Akane might think I’m trying to steal her look or something.”

“Well, it is something that would take a while to reverse. Too bad we don’t have a rapid hair growth formula, huh? That would make things so much easier.”

Ranma let out a laugh. “Oh trust me, that would be a lot more trouble than it’s worth.”

“I see. Oh, since you are here, would you also like me to touch up your color for you?”

“My color?”

“Sure, it would be no problem. What kind of hair dye do you normally use?”

“Um, I don’t actually dye my hair.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. It was rude of me to assume like that. You really don’t see many natural redheads around here though.”

Well naturally I have black hair but I fell into a spring that gave me this color along with some other things although maybe not because my mother also has red hair even if it’s a lot darker and people say my girl form looks like her and also I know someone else that fell into the same spring and their hair color didn’t actually change and- ”Yes, it’s natural.”

“Ah, I see. Well, if you’d like we can still try something with the color. Of course nothing too feminine, right?”

Nothing too feminine? Ranma realized what it was that was bothering her. “No. I want to be feminine.”

“You do? But earlier you said that-”

“I know what I said!” Ranma snapped back. Immediately, she turned red at her outburst. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just...it’s just that…” You can do this. Just leave the part out about your curse. No need to freak out the guy taking care of your hair. Besides, he seems really nice.

Ranma closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. “My pops, he wanted a strong martial artist son and I ended up being an only child, so he basically raised me as a boy. I mean, there were times that I’d dress up more girly, but I never really tried actually being a real girl before. Now I have a chance to do that, so I wanna find out how much of a girl I am. But I do still like being a boy sometimes, so...”

“I see. So instead of one style that will fit both, we can do two different styles you can switch between. How does that sound?”

“Oh, that sounds good,” Ranma replied while mentally kicking herself for how obvious it was.

“Great! Let’s see what will work for you.”

The two went into a lively discussion about different options. Ranma quickly decided that her normal pigtail would be fine for now while in guy mode. After some additional back and forth, with Ranma doing her best to reassure Tatsumi that coloring wouldn’t cause any issues when she went guy, the hairdresser finally started. Of course, the process being what it was, it gave Ranma a lot of time to just sit and think.

Huh. Yesterday I was still letting myself be mad at my girl side. Now I’m out in Shibuya and Akane is calling me her girl friend and I’m getting my hair all done up. If this keeps up, I’ll be stealing cute things and giving them silly names. Ranma smiled a bit thinking of the absurd antics of Azusa. 

Azusa the figure skater.

Azusa the martial arts figure skater.

Pops really is a complete idiot.

During the training trip, whenever Ranma messed up or didn’t meet his pop’s expectations, the old man’s first reaction always seemed to be ‘Quit acting like a girl’ or ‘You need to do this like a martial artist, not like a little girl’. The implication always being that girls couldn’t truly be martial artists, and Ranma bought into that mindset. Now at least she knew better, although it took long enough. Maybe it was a good thing that she wasn’t able to explore her female half until now. She gave an internal shudder as she thought what it would have been like if she decided to be a girl earlier. If she decided to be her father’s idea of what a girl was. Just the thought of it caused the back of her mind to itch.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry about being that ignorant and close minded again. Really, it was Kasumi last night that really drove it home as she pointed out how every girl that was engaged to or otherwise interested in Ranma was a martial artist. Not to mention Azusa, Mariko, Cologne, all the girls in the Joketsuzoku village really, Link and Pink, Natsumi and Kurumi, even that old lady that did martial arts tea ceremony. Yeah, so on top of everything else tonight, I should probably apologize to Akane or something. 

Oh man, Akane…

Ranma still couldn’t believe how well the two have been getting along so far today. Akane even seemed to take her new girl side really well. On more than one occasion, she felt the desire to finally go ahead and let her fiancée know how she truly felt. After all, there was no one else around to interfere. No fathers to try and force them into a wedding they weren’t ready for. Unfortunately, the thing that made this day happen in the first place was also the same thing that made it impossible. After all, they were both girls right now, and Akane didn't like girls. It just wasn’t appropriate. No, this would be something that He would have to do. 

Could He actually do it though?

Ranma frowned a little. What would happen when she changed back to a guy? Would all the issues once again come crashing down? Would he and Akane go back to fighting constantly? What would happen when everyone returns? Would they all continue to try either killing or marrying him? 

She let out a small sigh. Sorry Akane. Looks like there’s still some things She’ll need to take care of first. I promise though, once all that’s done, He’ll be there to tell you.

---

Akane was getting quite bored. None of the magazines interested her and the television hanging from the ceiling on the corner had some boring talk show on. If she knew this would happen ahead of time, she would have borrowed Yuka’s gameboy so at least she’d have something to do. Just what did that girl agree to anyway?

She shook her head slightly and smiled. I can’t believe I’m actually saying that about Ranma. It’s still a little hard to believe. Here I am though, spending time with her. And it’s actually her, not...no, try not to think about that. Try as she might, though, the sheer boredom of waiting plus the question that Ranma asked earlier kept bringing that back up in her mind. Well, at least she hasn’t needed to lie yet. After all, it wasn’t Ranma that she took out shopping before. It was…

Akane let out a deep sigh. She couldn’t even use the simple ‘He hit his head and thought he was a girl for a bit’ as an explanation. After all, she now knew what Ranma as a girl was really like, and it was nothing like That Girl. 

That Girl who emerged after Akane went and...after Ranma was knocked into the pond and his head landed on one of the surrounding rocks.

That Girl who wanted nothing to do with martial arts and was more interested in flower arranging and tea ceremony. 

That Girl who was embarrassed over handling her own boxer shorts while doing laundry.

That Girl who practically fainted over the sight of what was really nothing more than a papercut.

That Girl who would only refer to her as 'Miss Akane'.

That Girl who referred to her previous self as a dream she was just waking up from.

That Girl who was meek and quiet and submissive and nothing at all like Ranma.

Oh, she tried to take pity on the poor girl, especially after their fathers got the not so bright idea that a sudden splash of hot water would fix everything when it only made the girl upset that none of her cute clothes would fit her anymore. 

She did her best to cheer That Girl up. She took her out to the mall, got her some cold water when she started to feel really uncomfortable, bought her a very nice white dress, treated her to ice cream. Still, tensions were high and Akane just could not fully accept this girl.

It became too much when That Girl agreed to one of Happosai’s demands. Her giving in to that dirty old man proved to be too much for Akane. She begged and pleaded for the old arrogant jerk to come back. Then, That Girl had the audacity to claim that the old Ranma, her Ranma, was gone forever. Akane snapped.

Fortunately, another blow to the head seemed to be enough to bring Ranma back to his old self, with no recollection of what happened. And Akane was determined to keep it that way, making sure no one told Ranma about what really happened. The payout she needed to make to Nabiki was quite high, but she figured it was worth it to remove the risk of That Girl ever showing up again.

And now, after today, it was clear just how important that was. After all, That Girl wouldn’t have acted like a fool during karaoke to make Akane laugh. She probably wouldn’t have even gotten the courage to sing at all. That Girl wouldn’t have shown up that arrogant jerk at the arcade. Heck, she probably would have actually agreed to his offer of a date. That Girl probably wouldn’t have even tried to take her on a day out to cheer her up.

No, That Girl wasn’t here. Instead it’s another girl. Another girl who’s so much better, just by the simple fact of being Ranma.

“Hey Akane? I’m done.”

Oh, finally! “Okay, girlfriend. Let’s see what...you…” Akane could only stare in wonder at the redhead before her. Her long hair was hanging loose with the ends slightly curled in. Most notably, strands of gold and copper now weaved in with the normal fiery red, almost giving the appearance of a sunset framing her face. Her face as well. Apparently part of the treatment included getting some makeup applied. It wasn’t much, just a bit of lip gloss and eyeliner, but it did more than enough to complement the new hairstyle.

“So, do you like it?”

“I...yeah, it’s...I mean...hold on, I need to pay for it quick.” Akane rushed over to the counter, hoping to calm the sudden tightening in her chest. It’s okay. It’s just Ranma. You can handle this. Oh man, she looks so gorgeous. She...no! You can’t go there. It wouldn't be appropriate. Akane quickly tried to dismiss those thoughts she couldn’t have. That she never would be allowed to have. It’s fine. He’s the one who’s your fiancé. She’s your friend. That should be enough for you. 

Akane quickly paid and the two left the salon together. “Well, what do you think?” Ranma asked.

“Oh, you look really-” beautiful, gorgeous, stunning “-cute. They did a very good job.”

“Yeah, that guy sure knows what he’s doing. Next time, we’ll need to get you in there.”

Akane felt a spark of anger, something she could latch onto to distract her from those thoughts. Although this one didn’t feel quite as intense as normal. “Oh really, and what do you mean by that exactly?”

“What? Oh! Um, what I meant was, uh, if he can do this for someone like me, imagine what he could do for someone who’s already really cute.”

“Oh.” She thinks I’m cute? I...no, don’t let yourself get caught up on that . “Yeah, I could only imagine what he could do with a normal girl.”

Ranma stopped in her tracks and looked over to Akane. “Normal girl?”

Akane once again saw that hurt look in the redhead’s eyes. The same look she saw last night at dinner. “Oh, no girlfriend. I didn’t mean anything bad by it. I just meant…” Oh man, how do you classify someone like Ranma anyway? “I was talking about, you know, girls that were born as girls and have been girls their whole lives. I mean, you are going to be a boy again at some point right?”

Ranma looked down on the ground pensively. “Well yeah. It’s not like I suddenly hate being a guy or anything.”

“Yeah, see? So even as a partial girl, you should be proud of it. Alright, we should get moving. We’ll want to get our shopping done before dinner.”

---

As they hurried along, Ranma made a point to stay slightly behind Akane, so the other girl couldn’t see the look on her face at the moment. 

Partial girl. That’s what she thinks of me now? Okay fine, I used to refer to myself as half girl, but I know better now. Being both a guy and a girl doesn’t mean either part is lesser because of it. Akane should see that too, right? Maybe not. This is the girl that still hasn’t figured out the truth about her pet pig, no matter how many hints I give. Well, I’ll give her a truth she couldn’t possibly avoid. Akane doesn’t think I’m a full girl?

I’ll show her just how much of a girl Ranma Saotome can be.