Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Stupid boys! Stupid engagement! Stupid perverts! Stupid Ranma! Stupid stupid stupid!”

Akane Tendo muttered to herself as she rifled through her witchcraft materials. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get that stupid smile out of her head.

The stupid smile Ranma had given her when she’d asked her if they could be friends.

And then he had to come in and ruin it! That stupid pervert! Taking that sweet girl away from her, forcing her into an engagement? At some level, Akane knew she’d have to get married in order to inherit the Dojo, that to keep it in the family it’d have to be passed down as a wedding gift, but she’d always thought she’d have time to herself to plan and find someone she loved! But here was some boy who skipped school so he could just practice martial arts all day and yes Akane loved the art too but there was more to life than that and anyways he was a pervert and was trying to peep on her in the bath and–

Akane slapped herself in the face to pull herself out of the spiral. She needed to focus on what was important for the sake of the spell. That Ranma guy had taken that sweet girl who made her heart flutter away from her! Or, well, no, that Ranma guy had pretended to be the most beautiful girl Akane had ever seen, in order to… get her to lower her defenses or something? Honestly, Akane didn’t have a clear idea of his motivations. She just knew he had to pay.

Of course, none of her spells had actually ever worked. As Akane went through her preparations, a part of her assumed this was just a way to vent her frustrations. In the morning? Nothing would have changed, and she’d have to deal with that. But she was trying to be less violent, and witchcraft, no matter how fake, had thus far been her most successful alternative outlet.

Akane cackled to herself as she mentally got into character. Oh? He wanted to pretend to be a girl to spy on girls? She just had to do something about that. In fact, she’d give him exactly what he wanted! He’d never have trouble finding a girl to look at again!

She drummed her sparkly black nails against her ritual altar (her desk), checking the circle and placement of the crystals one last time. Satisfied it matched her design, she carefully pulled out a few loose black hairs she’d fished out of the furo and placed them in the center of the circle. Then, she pulled out her athame – which, due to legal restrictions, was effectively just a small knife-shaped letter opener – and carefully pricked the tip of her thumb, letting a bead of blood drip down the length of the “blade”.

“In peace you came, peddling your lies,
A girl and a Panda, a massive surprise!
Speak not of weddings, no more falsehoods shall ye preach,
You’ve tricked me once, and so the spirits, I beseech!
Til you climb the tallest mountain, and swim the widest sea,
Never again shall a man ye be!”

Akane brought down her athame into the center of the circle, splitting the hairs in two, as a perfectly timed lightning bolt lit up her room. Akane let the cackle within her rise, feeling powerful from just how well that had gone off! She’d never had thematically appropriate lightning before! She couldn’t help herself from letting her cackle rise until, surely, the entire house could hear her.

A loud “bang” against the wall shocked her into silence.

“Shut the fuck up, you hag! Some of us are trying to sleep!” Nabiki shouted through the adjoining wall. “We have school tomorrow!”

“Sorry! Sorry…” Akane responded, too quiet to be heard through the wall, but the message was received. She was done, anyways. And Nabiki was right… she needed to get ready for bed.

Akane applied pressure to her thumb with her tongue to stop the bleeding while she got up to turn her lights on so she could clean up. With a flick of a switch, the room shifted from a macabre, blacklit ritual space to the bedroom of a rather ordinary teenage girl. A quick look in the mirror on her dresser reminded her to remove her makeup, so she pulled out some wipes, and off came the dark eyeliner, the black lipstick, and the tattoo-like patterns she’d drawn all over her neck and shoulders. Initially, she’d  drawn those in an attempt to scare boys off. Tattoos were dangerous; their association with Yakuza should have driven the boys away, but it seemed to just draw more of them after her, on top of getting her in trouble with all of her teachers. At least the fact that they were fake seemed to have stopped her dad from actually having a heart attack. She probably should have stopped drawing them months ago, but… she kinda liked how they looked. She had fun changing up their designs each day, and they let her feel more connected to the western ideas of witchcraft she’d become so enamored by over the last few years.

Still, they had to go. Sleeping in makeup was not good for her skin. At least her hair was still holding onto some of the blue from the last time she dyed it… though it could use a touchup. Her roots were showing, and it was fading unevenly. Maybe she’d just go with a streak of blue, next time? It’d probably look pretty good with her natural black.

She turned back towards her desk, and started to put away her ritual tools. Idly, she noticed that the hairs she’d cut appeared almost red in this lighting. Perhaps it was because of the blood? Must have been… no one in the house, not even the newcomers, had hair anywhere close to that color. Idly, she brushed them into the trash, decided her desk was clean enough, turned the lights back off, and flopped into bed.

Ranma was already having a weird dream, but it only got weirder when a girl version of himself with bright red hair came out of the sky, yanked him out of the old-timey racing car he’d been in, pulled him away from his intelligent pet pig and Ucchan – who, for some reason, was a girl in this dream – shook the werewolf out of him, and set him down in an otherwise featureless void. She looked at him expectantly as he tried to get his bearings.

“What the hell?” He asked, feeling weirdly lucid.

“Do you want to be a girl?” The girl asked.

He glared at her.

“You know I can’t. I’m a guy. A man amongst men. The curse doesn’t change that! Pops keeps tellin’ me so!”

“But do you want to be one?” She asked.

“Just because the girl form is my own fault doesn’t mean I want it!” He shouted at her, before continuing in a quiet voice, “Just another mistake I have to fix. Another obstacle in the way of me becoming a true man.”

“Do you want to be a man, then?”

“No one wants to be a man.” He insisted. “That’s why it’s so hard. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be much of an achievement.”

“So what do you want to be?”

“I dunno… I just… obviously I gotta work hard to be a man! And I have, despite my mistakes. But… I guess… since you keep askin’… if I were like… turned into a girl for a while? And it wasn’t my fault? That wouldn’t be awful, I guess. Just… let me see what it’s like, without having to feel so guilty about it all the time.”

The girl smiled at him, almost predatorily. He took a step back as she opened her mouth.

“Your wish has been heard, and so it shall be,
Together, entwined, in destiny.”

He turned to run from the creepy voice that came out of her mouth, but she was too fast. In a flash, she dove headfirst directly into his chest, and he felt his body changing. Unlike the instant, disorienting change that happened whenever he was splashed, this was slow, almost a sensual caress, as he felt his body morph into a familiar shape. In the end, he was left kneeling, alone in the void, in the shape of a girl, with unfamiliar red hair hanging in front of his eyes.

Overwhelmed, all he could do was laugh.

Ranma woke up with a chuckle dying on his lips. Probably a remnant from whatever weird dream he was having. The one with Dracula and the wacky race and the talking pig that had an oddly familiar voice. He was too groggy to remember what was so funny, so instead he brushed the red hair out of his face, fumbled around for a tie, gathered it into a low ponytail, like he’d done many times before, stretched, and got out of bed.

He looked around the guest room. Akane was in her room, doing her makeup, so he figured she was out of the way of his path downstairs. Which was good, he didn’t want to deal with her anger while he went down the stairs to meet up with Pops for training. It wasn’t like he’d chosen this engagement, either! Nor did he choose to flip back and forth between a boy and a girl all the time! It wasn’t (entirely) his fault!

As he made his way past the kitchen, he noticed the eldest Tendo daughter – what was her name again… um… Ka… Kasumi? Yeah! That was it – starting to get breakfast prepared. She also looked quite confused upon noticing him.

“Oh dear, did you get splashed overnight?” She asked.

“Whaddayamean, splashed? No… I went to bed like this. S’fine.”

“As a girl?”

“No, as a–” He stopped himself as his groggy brain caught up with what was being said.

Nope. Those were definitely breasts. He was a girl right now.

“Huh. Maybe I did get splashed.” He finished.

Kasumi frowned.

“Someone must have pranked you. I hope that tomato sauce didn’t stain anything else…”

“Whaddaya mean, tomato sauce?” Ranma asked, running his fingers through his hair. It felt normal, it felt…

It wasn’t in its braid.

Where was the dragon whisker?!

He yanked his ponytail forward. It was red, just like the girl in his dream last night! And there was no trace of the dragon whisker, nor anything caught in his hair. No tomato sauce, no leftover dye, just… his hair was red, now.

In a panic, he started searching the floor around himself, looking for the whisker, trying to find where it fell out. He traced his steps back to the stairs.

“I’ll um… I’ll just get some water boiling.” Kasumi said, but he hardly noticed as he tore up the stairs, inspecting every nook and cranny.

He traced back to where he’d slept, where he’d gone to bed, as a man, with it braided into his hair. He tore through his stuff, searching. It was nowhere to be found. Akane seemed confused. She came out of her room and started walking down the hall, towards him.

Why did he know that? Why did he know he knew that! It didn’t make sense. He hadn’t seen her all morning. Yet, when he tore out of the guest room, rushing towards the furo, she was exactly where he already knew she was, with her fancy makeup all done and a concerned expression like she knew something about him, too.

But he didn’t have time to deal with that. So he ran up the side of the wall to leap over her, then dove into the furo. A bit more scrambling later, and he splashed down into the hot tub. He had a hunch. He had to know. After the dream… the tingliness he’d had since the whisker stock, even in his girl form, was completely gone. Had it faded away? Would his hair no longer grow out of control?

Was he… no longer part man?

He emerged from the hot water unchanged. He was still a girl. The panic was rising in his chest. Why didn’t he change back?! Akane had turned around and almost followed him into the furo, but stopped herself. Perhaps she didn’t want a repeat viewing? Well, she was the pervert who peeked, not him!

As he dragged himself and his soaking wet clothes out of the tub, he heard the distant whistle of the kettle as it reached a boil.

Maybe he just needed hotter water! Yeah! That was it! He had to do everything he could, otherwise, what kind of man was he? Real men didn’t just give up and accept… accept femininity!

He slipped as he tried to run out of the furo, but he was too determined to let that stop him. He pushed forwards on all fours, not even thinking as he darted low between Akane’s legs as if his body was made of liquid, bounced off the wall, and tore his way down to the kitchen.

Kasumi was reaching towards the handle of the kettle, but Ranma was faster. It was like the world had stopped as he snatched it out from under Kasumi’s hand. With speed even he wasn’t aware he possessed, he poured the actively boiling water onto his arm.

It hurt like hell, but still no change.

There was only one thing left to do.

Ranma screamed as he dumped the entire contents of the kettle over his head, but his voice did not deepen. He did not get taller. He did not become a man.

All he did was burn.

Pops was in the kitchen in an instant. He noticed the steam rising off of Ranma, saw what form he was in, and reacted quickly. Cold water to soothe the burns, even though Pops got some of it on himself, and turned into a Panda.

But that was okay, Pandas gave great hugs.

Ranma cried into his father’s furry chest. He’d failed. He couldn’t be a man amongst men like this. He’d squandered his father’s training. Lost the dragon whisker his father had given up for him. He was stuck like this forever and he’d never get to see his mother again and his whole life had been shattered in front of him and his skin still burned but at least that would heal but he couldn’t change back!

A while later, he felt the fur recede as Kasumi returned with some hot water and poured it over Pops. He held him close, letting his father gently and calmingly stroke his hair. He should have grown out of needing this by now, but right now, he really needed it.

“Son,” Pops said, voice full of concern. “Talk to me. What happened?”

Ranma clung tighter, and took a deep breath.

“I-I woke up and I was a girl and my hair was red and the whisker was gone and I couldn’t find it and I can’t change back and I’m so so sorry pops! I’m Sorry!” He whined.

“It’s okay, Ranma. It’s okay.” Pops knelt down to look him in the eye. “Things happen. And we’ll get through them. No matter what, you are my son. The manliest of men. And I will love you and support you and make sure you always have everything you need. If we have to make a man out of you the old fashioned way, now? Well, it ain’t necessarily legal, but I know some people. It’s going to be okay, son. I will make sure of it.”

Ranma nodded, then watched his father’s eyes harden at something over Ranma’s shoulder. Akane, he realized. She was standing there with hand in front of her mouth, and as Ranma turned to look at her with his actual eyes? He couldn’t help but notice:

Her eyes were full of guilt.

Pops gave a low growl.

“What did you do to my son.”

“So that’s just it, then.” Ranma let out a defeated sigh. “I could probably climb Everest, but there ain’t no way I could swim across the entire pacific. Guess I’m a girl for life, then.”

He felt oddly lighter for getting that off of his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Akane said, and she did look honestly remorseful. “I never thought it would actually work.”

“Son, listen here.” Pops said. “We can defeat this kind of curse. There’s gotta be loopholes! Or more powerful magic we can use to break it! We know the beast we’re facing, so we can figure out how to beat it.”

“Don’t bother.” Ranma said, falling back onto Akane’s bed. She glared at him, but given what happened, he deserved to be able to sit down. “Pacific’s impossible. Guess I’m just a girl now. At least I don’t have to worry about my hair anymore.”

“Ranma, we can still–” Pops started.

“Don’t bother.” Ranma cut him off. “Just… please. Don’t.”

Pops gave him a concerned look.

“Son… are you sure?”

“I… yes. We’ve got bigger things to worry about.” Ranma turned to avoid looking his father in the eye.

“If that’s what you wish, I will respect it.” Pops said. “But if at any point you decide otherwise? I will go to the ends of the earth to fix this for you. In any way I can. You can count on it.”

“Thanks Pops.” Ranma said. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the support, but it somehow felt oddly hollow. It just… wasn’t worth doing. “If you don’t mind… could I… have a moment, alone, to speak with my fiancée?”

Pops looked between the two of them, a grim expression on his face.

“Are you sure you still want her to be your fiancée, son? After all this?”

Ranma grimaced.

“Kinda need to talk to her to figure that out.”

“If you’re sure.” Pops said, before turning to Akane. “Listen, girl, I’m going to be nearby. I’ll hear if something goes wrong. And if you so much as harm a single hair on my son’s head ever again, you best hope he’s still the forgiving type, because no other force on earth, not even your father, will be able to protect you. Am I clear?”

“C-Crystal.” Akane stammered out.

And then Pops disappeared. Vanished, like he’d become invisible. There was a soft creak as the door opened, then closed. For a few seconds, Ranma listened. Followed the breaths, counted the heartbeats. They were, indeed, alone.

“Well. That was awkward.” He said.

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t think anything would happen.” Akane said.

“I know. You’ve said it several times.”

“I just… I want you to believe me, I really–”

“I know.” Ranma cut her off. “I believe you. I’m… not even sure you could lie to me, anymore.”

Akane paused, then let out a held breath.

“So… you feel it too?”

“Yeah. Yeah I do.”

“I wasn’t sure what was happening… I just knew you were panicking, and…”

“I did not panic!” Ranma scoffed. “I, as a great man amongst men, kept a very level head and focus throughout the entire process.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Akane said, but there was no weight behind the words. “So… you really don’t want your dad out there, looking for a cure? He seemed pretty determined.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Ranma said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, clearly, I don’t know what I’m doing, so he seems like your best bet. Do you… not want to get cured?”

Ranma narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Of course I want to change back. I’m a man amongst men!”

Akane blinked at that.

“Don’t lie to me, Ranma, you–”

“I didn’t.” Ranma insisted.

Akane blinked again, taking a moment to gather her thoughts before continuing.

“Oh… so you really… okay. I’m sorry.”

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a while, staring at each other.

“Yesterday. You said… you said you wanted to be friends.” Ranma stated. It was not a question.

“I… I did.” Akane offered. “But you deserve better than me after–”

“Not a lie.” Ranma smirked. “But you offered, and I…” He shrunk in on himself, pulling his legs to his chest. “I’m going to need a friend. Need someone to help me get on my feet. Start living… like this.”

“As a girl?”

“As a man who looks like a girl.” Ranma snapped.

Akane stared at him, incredulously, for a few long moments.

“Sure.” She said.

“Sure, you’ll be my friend?” He asked.

“I’ll help you.” She clarified. “I definitely owe you that much. Just… can we drop the whole fiancée thing? I’m pretty sure it’d destroy what’s left of my reputation at school.”

Ranma felt his lips stretch into a wicked grin.

“I won’t talk about it at school or nothin’, but as far as our fathers are concerned? It’s on until you can figure out how to fix this.”

“Oh yeah, how’s that supposed to work? Two girls can’t get married, Ranma!”

“But I’m not a girl.” Ranma sprung his trap. “Not on the family registry.”

“You wouldn’t!” Akane insisted. But it was a lie. Which meant Akane knew better.

So he just grinned as widely as he could.

Chapter Text

Akane sighed as she looked up to the girl walking on the fence next to her. She was already late, but at least this time she had an excuse. She had to get this girl – and she was pretty sure Ranma was a girl, based on the truths she’d gleaned from their link – registered for classes.

“That’s gonna be a real bad idea after they stuff you in the uniform.” Akane told her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Uniforms? Like the one I’ve got on. They’ve got skirts.”

“Pfft. Only the girl’s uniforms.” Ranma rolled her eyes.

“Yeah. The uniform they’ll make you wear.”

“But I’m a guy!” Ranma lied. A blatant lie, she could tell, but one Ranma sincerely believed.

“That’s not how everyone else will see it.” Akane offered diplomatically, glad her makeup was mostly hiding the blush on her face as she tried to banish the mental image of a bifauxnen Ranma in the boy’s uniform.

“I…” Ranma paused, considering. “You’re right. They probably are gonna stuff me in that frumpy thing.”

“No one ever looks good in it. Just a fact of life.” Akane insisted. “I’d offer to tell them you’re a boy, but no one would believe me. They keep insisting that magic isn’t real.”

Ranma narrowed her eyes at Akane.

“Some part of that is a lie. But I’m not entirely sure which.” She said.

Akane just shrugged in response. She didn’t think clarifying would actually help the situation, since Ranma seemed to be in denial about it.

“I guess I’ll just have to prove to them that magic is real.” Ranma continued.

“How?” Akane asked.

“Well, obviously, with just a splash of water I can… oh. Oh right.”

Akane winced.

“Sorry.”

“Maybe they’ll accept the hair thing as proof?”

“Hair thing?”

“Yeah.” Ranma said. “Your hair’s more blue than it was yesterday. Like… down to the roots. And this red in mine definitely isn’t natural.”

“What do you mean it’s more blue?” Akane asked, panicking slightly as she pulled her long hair over her shoulder to inspect it more closely.

Sure enough, as Ranma said, it was more blue. A deep blue. A more saturated blue than her goth-inspired stylings would generally account for. And unlike her dye-job? It was perfectly even, the whole way through. There didn’t seem to be a single trace of the dye remaining, either.

“Holy shit.” Akane swore. “How is this affecting me too?”

“I dunno.” Ranma shrugged. “How can we always know where each other are and know when the other one’s lyin’ and stuff?”

Akane let out a long, frustrated sigh.

“Gods just kill me now.” She looked up to Ranma. “I have no idea what’s going on. I told you that much. But no one in the office will believe my hair is 'more blue' because of magic. They’ll just think I dyed it again.”

“Crap. How am I supposed to get out of this one, then?” Ranma asked.

“Just put on the dress, Ranma.” Akane smirked. “I have a feeling you might just like it more than you think.”

Ranma just looked at her incredulously.

Akane continued to smirk at her, but as she turned the corner into the school grounds, Akane just had to tempt fate.

“At least, because we’re late, I get to avoid the Hentai Horde.”

She said.

Directly in front of the Hentai Horde.

Half of which had apparently decided to skip classes in order to challenge her once again.

“I fucking hate boys.” She muttered under her breath as they all began to charge.

Ranma looked ready to leap in, but she couldn’t have the girl fight her fights for her. That would only make things worse! She really needed to get this to stop! This was the last thing she needed today. And so, angrily, she called out to Ranma, hoping to prevent her from making a mistake.

“Stop!” She shouted, surprising herself with the power behind her voice.

Ranma remained in motion, her red hair flickering pink as she landed, just short of a frozen boy.

She looked around.

All of the boys were frozen.

Their eyes darted back and forth in confusion, but their bodies remained exactly where they were, even the ones who had overcommitted and should, surely, by the laws of physics, have fallen over by now.

Ranma clutched her head, as if in pain. She turned to look at Akane, a trickle of blood coming out of her nose.

“Akkane.” Ranma slurred. “Wwhat did you do? Thish is… too much.”

Akane blinked, focusing on reversing whatever she’d just done.

Ranma’s hair returned to red, and the Hentai Horde largely fell over, like puppets whose strings had been cut.

“Sorry!” Akane called out. “I didn’t know I could–”

“Clearly!” Ranma cut her off, wiping her nose with her sleeve. “D’y’really gotta use me like a battery though? That hurt.”

Stepping over the collapsed, confused bodies, Akane led Ranma inside.

“I didn’t mean to.”

Ranma grunted in response.

“What was with those guys, anyways? They looked ready for a fight.” She asked.

“That… was the Hentai Horde.” Akane said. “A group of boys who think if they can beat me in a fight, that somehow means I’ll date them.” She glared at Ranma. “No, that’s not how it works. Just because you beat me doesn’t mean I’m interested.”

Ranma narrowed her eyes at Akane for a second.

“Dunno why all those guys would even bother. Even if they stood a chance of winning, who’d be interested in an uncute tomboy like you?”

Akane had… a mixed reaction to that. The words on their face should have hurt, but she knew that there was less than zero sincerity behind the word “uncute”. Ranma thought she was cute? Her heart fluttered a bit at that. But she’d also called her a tomboy, and believed it, despite all the effort Akane had put into her femininity! It was galling! And then there was the… feeling… she was getting from the question itself. It wasn’t exactly rhetorical. She knew it left open the idea that there was an answer to the question. And that that answer just might be…

She shook her head and pushed forwards.

“I have no idea what thoughts are within the heads of all of those boys. But I do know I’m not interested in any of them. And wouldn’t be even if they were skilled martial artists, and could beat me.” She glared at Ranma. “They’ve done nothing but harass me, which, pro-tip? Never a good look. The man I fall in love with will be an absolute gentleman and respect my boundaries.”

“Pffft.” Ranma spat out, like she was trying to abort a laugh. “You know you can’t lie to me, either.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Akane turned, hands on her hips, and stared at Ranma.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Ranma lied, but it wasn’t like she could force her to give an actual answer. “On the plus side, I guess we have a way to prove magic is real.”

“Only if I can do it again.” Akane said, resuming the trek to the school office.

“Let's try something smaller this time, yeah?” Ranma said. “Maybe if you freeze just one person, it won’t feel like you’re putting my head in a vice.”

Ranma twirled in his school uniform, holding a pair of buckets.

“I dunno.” He said. “I think I can actually pull this off.”

Akane just grumbled at him.

“Dunno why we have to stand in the hall like this. We didn’t mean to be late. Things happen sometimes.” He continued. “Like… I don’t know what I’m supposed to learn from holding buckets, even if I am basically holding four of them.”

Akane grumbled again.

“Don’t give me that!” Ranma scolded. “I can feel them. It’s basically like I’m holding them up. You’re using my strength to do it!”

He glared at Akane, and the two buckets floating in the air next to her.

“Well, how else am I supposed to figure out how this works if I don’t practice?” Akane snapped, causing the buckets to wobble.

“I dunno.” Ranma shook his head, sending his glowing pink ponytail back off of his shoulder. “Use your own magic, maybe? Stop moochin’ offa mine!”

“I don’t know how!” Akane insisted. “Every time I try it just comes off of you! And before this weird… link between us, I couldn’t do any magic, so…”

“Well, it can’t all be me.” Ranma said. “Your hair glows too, when you do it.”

Akane raised an eyebrow.

“What?” She asked.

“Yeah, like… your hair’s a more… tealish blue when you’re doing magic stuff. Did you not notice?”

Akane sighed.

“No. I did not.” She said.

“Maybe the reason you haven’t figured out this magic stuff before now is because you’re so unobservant?”

“Hey!” Akane glared at him.

“Just callin’ it as I sees it.”

“Look, there’s a lot of new stuff going on. Give me a break! I can’t catch all of it.”

“Well, thanks for convincing them to at least try to give me a boy’s uniform.” Ranma said. “If only the stupid curse didn’t make me shorter, then at least one of them woulda fit.”

“Yeah, real shame, that.”

Ranma had trouble parsing what that meant, since the link told him it was both sincere and insincere at the same time.

“I do think I look good in this, anyways.” Ranma deflected.

“You don’t.” Akane lied.

Ranma smiled and giggled at Akane in response.

“You’re just mad because I’m the only one who can.”

“I…” Akane trailed off. “I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

Ranma stuck his tongue out at her, and then they were left in a companionable silence.

Ranma was disappointed with being stuck out in the hall, though. Sure, the buckets were easy to hold – barely even counted as training – but he had been looking forward to getting back to learning, in a proper school. Pops did his best with the homeschooling, which meant Ranma wouldn’t be behind his classmates, but it just wasn’t the same. Half the reason he’d let the Panda take him into this whole engagement nonsense was the promise he’d get to start school again, except, now, he was doing it, well…

As a girl.

He’d told everyone he was a boy, but no one really believed him. Akane levitating the trashcan (with his magic), along with the gender marker on his registration paperwork, had been enough to get the office worker to try to get him a men’s uniform, but his now small stature meant he would be left waiting for one to come in on backorder. And that meant, in the meantime, everyone would just see a normal girl. And once he got the uniform? It’d be too late, first impressions would already be formed.

He expected that to bother him more than it did.

Maybe he was just enjoying the opportunity to gloat in Akane’s face about actually looking pretty good in the girl’s uniform.

‘Course, he’d definitely look better in a different dr–

Ranma cut that thought off before it could finish.

He distracted himself by looking over to Akane. She looked pensive, as if trying to solve a hard math problem. Perhaps levitating the buckets required some concentration from her? He didn’t have to do anything, of course. It was just a dull ache he had no control over that felt almost exactly like actually lifting the two buckets in his hands did, except it wasn’t connected to any existing limbs he had. Akane using magic was weird, because it made everything feel like he was the one doing it. Holding all those boys in place at once had nearly broken his brain.

If he had to fight Akane, like, really fight her, would she use this against him? Could he find a way to cut her off? Or maybe he just had to break her concentration. It seemed like she whispered words to get it going, and made hand gestures, as if those helped. If he surprised her, maybe the best way to stop her would be to grab her hands and–

He was distracted from that train of thought by some shouting coming down the hall. He shook his head, trying to shake the blush from his cheeks.

“Is it true?” Some tall guy who was very clearly not wearing the uniform shouted towards them. “Has the beauteous Akane been entwined against her will? And to another woman, no less!”

“Kuno.” Akane spat out under her breath like a mouthful of venom.

“Say it isn’t true!” This “Kuno” guy continued to shout, despite now being close to them. “Say my fierce tigress remains uncaged! And unpreverted by the tasteless allure of homosexuality. Tell me you are not engaged to this “Ranma Saotome” wretch!”

“Nabiki…” Akane let out a frustrated sigh.

“Um, dude. I’m standing right here.” Ranma said to Kuno.

“Oh? And who are you?” Kuno asked.

“I’m–”

“Ah, but is it not proper to give one’s own name first? Forgive me, m’lady! I shall give you mine! I am Tatewaki Kuno! Age 17! Captain of the Kendo Club and undefeated rising star known as The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!”

“Yeah, well, I’m Ranma Saotome and I–”

“Saotome?” Kuno cut him off. “But… doth mine eyes deceive me? You are not the bald headed rug-muncher I feared! A beauty such as your own must only belong to a proper lady! I see now! You are as trapped in this arrangement as my dear Akane! Very well! I shall save you both from this arrangement! By permitting the two of you to date me!”

Ranma paused, staring at him incredulously.

“I’m going to kill him.” Ranma stated matter of factly.

Akane’s eyes widened as she realized the intent behind those words.

“Ranma, don’t–”

“I’m going to beat the absolute shit out of him.” Ranma amended, causing Akane to relax slightly.

“Look, he’s my problem. I can deal with him.” Akane insisted.

“What, with my magic?”

“No, I… I usually fight him every morning. He’s the one who started the whole rumor that got the Hentai Horde thing started. If you get involved it’ll only make things worse.”

“I’m already involved, apparently!” Ranma snapped at her. “And, look. I’ve had a day today. A lot of which is entirely your fault. ‘Kane? I need this. I need something to vent this frustration on. Keep my magic to yourself, and let me fight.”

“Alright,” Akane sighed, “alright, just… be careful. Don’t underestimate him. He’s better than he looks. Don’t hurt him too bad, either. We’re already in enough trouble as-is.”

Ranma nodded, then turned to Kuno.

“Alright. Tatefarti or whatever your name is. Kuno. I honestly don’t care. I challenge you, and your so-called 'undefeated record'.”

“A challenge? But why?” Kuno asked. “Oh! Is it because you wish to date me? Very well, I accept! Defeat me and I shall date you!”

“What, no!” Ranma shouted. “I defeat you, and then you leave me and Akane the hell alone!”

“Oh! What high stakes! I see! You expect me to prove myself worthy! Very well, unlike with Akane, I shall not hold back! Have at you!”

“The fuck does he mean hold ba–” Akane started to say, but Kuno had pulled out a bokken, and slashed it down at Ranma.

Ranma tried to block with one of the buckets he was holding, but the bladeless sword cut cleanly through it like a knife through butter, splattering all three of them with water.

Ranma groaned as he tried to shake himself dry.

“Not right here, ya idjit!” Ranma shouted. “This is a terrible place to fight! Let’s take this outside!”

Ranma dashed towards the nearest window, threw it open, and leapt out.

“We’re on the third floor!” He heard Akane call after him, but he was faced with a rather more immediate problem.

Ranma had a lot of experience landing from heights. Always landed on his feet, even. But below him? There was a pool. Ranma did not want to get even more wet. He hissed impotently as he fell.

“Stop!” Akane shouted from the window, and Ranma could feel the pull, but it connected with nothing. He kept falling.

“I said! Freeze!” Akane tried again. This time, when he felt the pull, Ranma could tell it was working against something. The air around him felt thick, and he slowed down, until he found himself standing on a platform of solid air, just above the pool.

“Gotcha.” Akane whispered, and somehow, Ranma could hear it.

“Look out below!” Kuno shouted behind him, and then there was a sickening “crunch” and a lurch as Kuno collided face-first into the solid-air platform. Apparently, he had planned to break his fall by diving into the pool.

Ranma winced, sighed, and pulled the unconscious boy from the pool. Fortunately, Akane helped by moving the air platform to the edge of the pool, so Ranma could more easily drag Kuno onto dry land.

Unfortunately, his opponent was out cold.

“Hey. Bastard. Wake up.” Ranma said, nudging his torso with his foot. “I haven’t had my fight yet.”

Kuno remained unmoving, beyond the slight rise and fall of his chest that indicated he was not, in fact, dead.

“Get up, you asshole! I still haven’t gotten my fight!”

Ranma, frustrated, kicked Kuno in the chest, causing the tall boy to cough and sputter, apparently shocked into a wakeful state.

“Oh… I see. To have lost so shamefully.” Kuno offered his bokken, hilt first. “I’m sorry, my red haired goddess. I have failed you.”

“No.” Ranma kicked Kuno’s hand away. “We haven’t fought yet. Get up. And fight me.”

“Thou wouldst give me another chance? My goddess! Your mercy is truly divine!” Kuno rose to his feet, lifted his bokken, and got into a fighting stance. “Very well! Your faith in me shall not be wasted! I will give it my all!”

“Good.” Was all Ranma said, before launching at him with a flurry of blows.

Kuno was skilled, but he couldn’t keep up. Ranma was angry, putting everything he had into this fight, and though Kuno’s blows were mighty, Ranma flowed around them like his body was liquid. Kuno never landed a single blow.

When Kuno collapsed, it was from the combined weight of over eight hundred individual blows, spread across his body, but none of them on his head, as a result of the knock he’d already taken. It wouldn’t have been sporting to exploit his weakness like that… not unless it was a close enough fight where Ranma would have needed to, but it very much hadn’t been.

“Stay down, you overgrown rat.”

Ranma looked back towards the school, only to see what looked like the entire student body watching him from the windows.

“Great. Well, at least now they’ll know better than to mess with me.”

With a heavy sigh, Ranma trudged back towards the school. His dress was damp, and even though he’d won a fight, he was still wearing a dress. He shook his head, and tried to start making sense of his life.

Chapter Text

School had been a disaster today. They hadn’t even gotten into class until after lunch, and then after class, because Akane was apparently a “bad influence on this promising new student”, she was stuck cleaning the classrooms for the foreseeable future. All of them. The fight with Kuno wasn’t even her fault! Even if she’d wanted to stop Ranma, the girl seemed to be the one person Akane’s newfound magic couldn’t affect. Only her quick thinking had saved Ranma from… from…

Okay, Ranma would probably have been fine splashing down into the pool. Akane was pretty sure Ranma could swim. But she had been upset in mid air, and it had nothing to do with the height. There was something about the pool Ranma didn’t like. Perhaps it had something to do with all the transformations? Forced random body changes didn’t exactly sound fun.

Except… Ranma had only had the curse for a few months, from what she could tell. Plus, even if Akane hadn’t locked the curse, Ranma was already in the right form to not be changed by it. And then there was that whole thing where… what Ranma said she wanted didn’t align with what Akane actually knew she really did.

Akane shook her head. It was a whole can of worms that she wasn’t prepared to sort out on the second day of knowing Ranma, even though their magic bond was making it feel like they’d known each other for far longer than that.

At least cleaning went quickly. Between Ranma deciding to help – despite not being asked – and the shortcuts one could take by using magic – which was yet another way in which Ranma was, technically, helping – the classrooms were clean in record time. 

Which left Akane standing outside of her club, with Ranma curiously following behind. She was late, sure, but there were a few minutes left in the schedule for her to step in and say something. Which… considering she came bearing the biggest news in the history of the Furinkan High Occult Club…

Akane took a deep breath, preparing herself for what was surely a record crowd, shot a shaky smile back to Ranma, and opened the door.

The room was empty.

Save for one almost unnoticeable person in the back.

Club President Hikaru Gosunkugi.

Akane tried to not let too much frustration show in her sigh as she entered the room, walked up to a chair, kicked it around, and sat in it sideways, leaning over the back.

“Hikaru… where is everybody?” She asked.

The boy stiffened, as he always did when she addressed him, like he wasn’t expecting to be spoken to. It took a moment for him to relax enough to respond.

“They all, um… informed me that… they had… prior engagements.”

“So most of them just left without saying anything.” Akane corrected for him.

“Well, I didn’t want to be… uncharitable.”

Akane forced out a frustrated groan.

“How bad was it? I know they already think I’m a ‘delinquent' and a ‘bad influence’, but…”

“You were, uh…” Hikaru started, “accused of being the harbinger of the fall of Japanese civilization as we know it. That supporting you would be akin to freeing Tamamo-no-Mae.”

“That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?” Akane rubbed at her temples, trying to ward off the incoming headache. “I’m just one girl, I’m not–”

“To be blunt,” Hikaru cut her off, for probably the first time ever, “you were already the girl who wore scary makeup and could probably lift cars or bust through brick walls with your fists. Crazy, but, at the very least, human. Now, though? You can freeze armies in place. Lift things with your mind. You’ve proven the world is wilder than any of us thought. They’re terrified of you.”

Akane carefully held his gaze.

“Is that what you think of me, too?”

“I think you’re fascinating.” Hikaru smiled. “I’ve always been open to learning more secrets about y–” he paused suddenly, “about magic and how the world works. Real Magic! How did you do it, Akane?”

“Long story.” Akane shook her head, then looked over to where Ranma was still hovering near the entrance. “I should probably start by introducing–”

“Saotome.” Hikaru cut her off again, with barely disguised contempt. It wasn’t like him, and Akane didn’t like it. “Little hard to miss her entrance today.”

Ranma took this cue to head over to them, choosing to sit atop a desk, rather than on a chair.

“Ranma Saotome.” She offered her hand, which Hikaru didn’t acknowledge. “And you are?”

“Gosunkugi.” Hikaru replied coldly. “President of this club.”

Ranma looked around the room, noting the distinct lack of other members.

“Is that right? Tough break, buddy.”

“Why is she even here?” Hikaru hissed at Akane, trying to ignore Ranma’s presence. “How are you even engaged to a girl?”

“Because–” Akane started.

“Because I’m a boy, that’s why.” Ranma lied, but the way she was sitting probably made the lie pretty convincing.

Akane kicked her ankle, mouthed “skirt” to Ranma’s confused expression, and watched Ranma flush as she brought her legs back together.

“Riiiiiiight.” Hikaru said, unconvinced.

“Akane, tell him.” Ranma pleaded. “It’s your fault anyways.”

The truth in the statement hurt.

“I, look, Hikaru, I’ve been trying to do spells for a while, yeah?” Akane said.

“Years at this point.” Hikaru confirmed.

“And we’ve never had a single one actually have measurable results?” Akane continued.

“Not once.” Hikaru leaned in.

“Well, after meeting Ranma yesterday, I kind of tried to do another spell, just like the others.”

“And it worked?”

“Well, I’m a chick right now, ain’t I?” Ranma cut in.

Hikaru looked rapidly between the two of them.

“You… cursed a man to be… a woman?” He asked, his voice cracking at the end.

“No.” Akane rubbed her temples again. “Ranma was already cursed. I just kinda… locked it in one form, I guess?”

“Already cursed?” Hikaru asked.

“Yeah. Somethin’ I picked up in China. Cold water makes me a girl, hot water returns me to normal. Or it used to.” Ranma glared at Akane. “My Pops has the same thing, just with bein’ a Panda instead of a girl.”

“It’s true.” Akane confirmed. “I’ve seen it with both of them. Gave me quite the fright to see a boy in the furo after watching a girl walk in.”

Ranma stuck her tongue out at her, and Akane responded in kind.

Hikaru looked between them once more, as if trying to catch them in a lie.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Where would the energy even come from… I… if it weren’t for everything else… I wouldn’t believe you.” He said. “But… I just… don’t have a better explanation. And you could just do magic after that?”

Akane nodded.

“Then we need to replicate the experiment!” Hikaru continued. “Same as you did it! If I can also unlock magic, I–”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Akane interrupted. “At the very least, maybe we could try something else? I’d rather not, um…”

“Too many variables. We should do exactly what you did.” Hikaru insisted. “If I must become a woman to advance our knowledge of magic and Science? That is a sacrifice I am fully willing to make.”

“S’not because of that.” Ranma said. “Too many variables? That describes exactly what happened. We don’t actually know what triggered it, and don’t have a good way to test. Unless you’re hidin’ a Jusenkyo curse of your own?”

“Well, no, but…”

“And that’s not even getting into the knock-on effects.” Ranma continued. “Like… did you know my hair was black yesterday? Yeah, even as a girl. And now it’s like… Tomato colored. And it turns pink sometimes. Pink! The least manly color. And ‘Kane’s hair ain’t even dyed anymore. It’s just blue now!”

Akane got ready to cut Ranma off, she didn’t need to share the link they had. How they just… knew things about each other. That was still just between them, for now. She wanted to keep it a secret.

“And to make matters worse, whenever she does magic? She just like… vampires the energy up from me. She could be drainin’ my soul or something, man. But at least I’m a strong martial artist with experience dealin’ with magic. For you?” Ranma made a point of giving Hikaru an appraising look, dissecting him with her eyes, and finding him wanting. “One spell and you’d probably shrivel up and die. So no, I don’t think recreating the ‘experiment’ is a good idea. At least not until we actually know what happened and can isolate the safe parts.”

Hikaru crumpled. He looked heartbroken.

“Ranma…” Akane chided gently. “You didn’t have to–”

“A martial artist’s job is protecting the weak.” Ranma snapped. “Sometimes that means y’gotta be blunt with them. I could see in his face that he was thinkin’ a’ dumb ideas.”

“You think I’m weak?!” Hikaru’s voice cracked.

“Hikaru…” Akane started.

“No.” Ranma responded. “I know you are. You can’t handle this. So just leave this to the professionals until we’ve figured out how to make it safe for you bystanders.”

Hikaru stood up, gaping at Ranma for a few agonizing seconds. He seemed shocked by a drop of water landing on his hand – one of his own tears. Quietly, he fled the room, his muttered curses fading as he ran, leaving them in an extended and awkward silence.

“You could have broken it to him more gently.” Akane finally spoke.

“Yeah, well, my job is to protect the weak, not keep them happy about it.” Ranma mumbled back.

“We’re teenagers! Our job is to get an education!” Akane groaned, her father's words felt strange in her mouth, but her guilt drove them out of her regardless. “We’re not… we don’t know what we’re doing either. This whole thing is an accident.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got the ability to do something about it? Then I’ve got the obligation.” Ranma insisted. “I’ve been protectin’ people since I was ten. At this point I am a professional.”

“You’re… you’ve been on a training journey!” Akane shouted. “You’re just… learning how to move better! It’s not a career, and it’s not the same as going around playing wandering cop!” She spat the last word with as much venom as she could muster.

“It was trainin’!” Ranma shouted back. “ Everything is! But you don’t let that get in the way of doin’ the right thing.” Ranma’s voice dropped low. Dangerous. “But a real martial artist would know that.”

Akane saw red.

Ranma tumbled, righted himself, and skidded to a stop in the gravel on the school roof, glaring back to the entrance Akane had thrown him from.

If she wanted a challenge, he’d give her one.

“Don’t care how bad you’re losin’!” Ranma taunted. “If you try to use any magic on me, you’ll only be provin’ me right.”

Akane let out a frustrated scream.

“It’s called Anything Goes, you bitch!”

“Yeah? Doesn’t change my point.” Ranma called back to her. “Just try to hit me. You can’t.”

Akane’s scream this time came with a charge, but Ranma was ready for it. She was angry? Good. Ranma would use that against her. He focused on dodging as close to the blows as he could, just to work her up more. Fortunately, he had a lot of time to prepare for each one.

Akane, despite her anger, seemed to be adapting, at least as best she could. Her blows got faster. More erratic. She succeeded in forcing Ranma to keep his distance. At least, more distance than he would have liked. 

Akane’s fundamentals might have been shit, but her instincts were great. Ranma couldn’t help but smile. He could make a real martial artist out of her, yet!

The whole time, though, he hadn’t made a single attempt to strike her.

“Fight back, dammit!” Akane cried out.

“I’m not going to hit a girl.” Ranma said calmly.

“Is that what–” Akane swung at him. “Oh for fuck’s sa–” Another mighty blow. “You are a girl!”

Ranma couldn’t tell you why that got to him. Perhaps it was the feelings of sincerity that came with Akane’s statement, preventing him from shrugging it off like typical trash talk. Maybe it was that Kuno had been too weak, went down after too few blows, and his battle lust simply wasn’t sated. It could even have been his begrudging, growing respect for Akane, as a fighter, since – despite her undeniable frustration – she hadn’t attempted magic at any point during the fight.

Or perhaps, he’d just snapped. For one moment, forgot himself. Lost control, and lashed out violently at perceived attack upon the very core of the person he was meant to be.

But he would never admit to that.

Unfortunately for him? Akane was a solid wall of woman. And though he’d cleanly landed his fist right in the middle of her chest? He almost wondered if his hand hurt worse from the blow than Akane did.

Right. Akane was insanely strong.

He could have pulled away in time. It would have been easy. But that blow had given him a taste of something Kuno hadn’t been able to give him in the slightest. And so, he let Akane grab his arm. Let her swing him over her head. And as his back slammed his back down, into the gravel, hard? The pain made him feel alive. Reminded him of why he’d fallen in love with the art in the first place.

Akane moved quickly, pinning him down and barring his arm, twisting it painfully.

“Yield!” She commanded.

Ranma freed his other arm, and used it to grab her collar.

“I can still get out of this.” He insisted.

“I said,” Akane twisted his arm some more. “Yield!”

“I’ve been hurt way worse than anything you can do to me from that hold.” Ranma smiled masochistically.

Akane’s grip loosened in shock, and Ranma took the opportunity.

His forehead hurt, but her nose was bleeding.

He freed his other arm, and also grabbed her collar with it. Of course, Akane seemed to have the same idea, using her arms to grab Ranma by the collar as well.

They held each other like that for a few solid moments. Face to face. Breathing hard. Akane’s cocky smile was only enhanced by the blood trickling down her nose to her lip, staining the black with red. And then she had the gall to have her face be perfectly framed by the setting sun.

Rather than give into the wholly inappropriate and definitely not reciprocated urge to continue the fight with his tongue, Ranma just laughed.

Akane laughed too.

They couldn’t lie to each other. Always knew where the other one was. Were somehow linked in this weird, wacky situation they’d gotten each other into. 

But a minute of fighting seemed to convey more than a day of polygraph-esque conversation. For the first time, Ranma felt like they could actually understand each other.

“So he’s not even a real doctor?”

“Well, I mean, he’s not technically a medical doctor,” Akane wiggled her nose, still getting used to the tissue stuffed in her nostril. “But he knows what he’s doing. And he provides care to our family for free. So when you get injured as often as I do…”

“Could be useful.” Ranma shrugged. “I’m pretty good with first aid, but…”

“We wanna be sure.” Akane finished, smiling at her.

Gods… if Akane had known a fight like that could help clear the air between them, she would have challenged Ranma way sooner. Her face hurt, but she was giddy. She’d finally earned her respect.

They walked for a few moments in silence before Ranma spoke again.

“So, listen, your, uh…” Ranma took a breath, and shook her head. “You’re never going to be able to hit me if you telegraph your attacks so much.”

Akane looked at her incredulously.

“Then what do you call the grapple I got you with?”

Ranma looked her in the eye, took her very seriously, and said one word.

“Pity.”

Akane sucked in a sharp breath. There went her good mood. The response wasn’t fully truthful, but it wasn’t an outright lie, either. If they hadn’t just gotten done fighting, she probably would have tried to punch her.

Instead, she sucked it up, and tried to take it for the opportunity she knew it could be.

“So… how do I get better, then?”

“It’s in your stance.” Ranma said. “Like… you got power there, you’re stable, But like… you telegraph everything, and…” Ranma shook her head. “Didn’t your dad ever teach you–”

“No.” Akane snapped sharply.

Ranma looked at her as if she’d been slapped.

“No? Like, nothing?” Ranma asked.

Akane shook her head.

Ranma groaned, placing her palms on her forehead.

“That explains way too much and nothing at all. Who taught you, then?”

“My mom, before I can remember.” Akane frowned. She didn’t like to think about it. “Kasumi, after, until she gave up the art.”

“But ‘Sumi’s like, barely older than you.” Ranma said.

“Yeah, well, dad trained her some, unlike me.”

“Only some? But… When did she stop?”

“Ten years ago.” Akane said, watching Ranma do the mental math.

“Okay, so… you did pee wee martial arts with your mom, and then learned from your sister until she was nine and you were six?”

“Yup.”

“And everything else has been…”

“Self-taught.”

Ranma was gobsmacked.

“Holy crap that’s… actually really impressive. But also explains a lot. I can… I’m gonna talk to Pops, he’s a bit better at it than me, but… if we can work you into our trainin’? Fix your footwork? ‘Kane, if you can start landin’ those gorilla blows, you’re gonna be scary.”

Akane decided to take it as a compliment, and sent a half-smile towards Ranma.

“What, I’m not scary now?”

“Nah.” Ranma giggled, leaning in, almost tapping her nose, catching herself, then tapping her on the forehead instead. “You’re just a big teddy bear.”

Akane couldn’t help but laugh a little, herself, but they’d arrived at Dr. Tofu’s clinic, so the line of conversation ended.

Ranma waited as Dr. Tofu checked Akane over, made sure her nose wasn’t broken, and sent her back out with a clean bill of health. Ranma looked contemplative as they began walking home. They got halfway there before she spoke.

“You’re all smiley… something goin’ on between you and tall, dork, and doctorly over there?”

The words were teasing, but Ranma couldn’t completely hide her frown.

“It’s not like that.” Akane shook her head, but she could feel her face starting to flush.

“Ooooh, somebody’s got a cru~ush!” Ranma teased in a singsong voice.

“I do not!” Akane shouted, but…

Ranma knew when she was lying. She couldn’t get around that.

So, she took a deep sigh, and decided to clarify.

“So what if I do? It’s none of your business, anyways. And it’s not like it could ever happen.”

Ranma stopped, squeezed her hand (when had they started holding hands?), and shot her a concerned look.

“‘Kane? Can you do me a favor?” Ranma asked. “Doesn’t matter if you mean it. Just say that you have a crush on him. Directly.”

“I don’t see why–”

“Just… please. I want to… figure something out.”

Akane sighed, her secret was out. She was already humiliated. She might as well humor her.

“Alright. Fine. 'I have a crush on Dr. Tofu.' Are you happy?”

Ranma continued to meet her gaze.

“Now say 'I think I have a crush on him', okay?”

Akane gave out a frustrated groan, but relented

“I think I have a crush on Dr. Tofu.” She felt another squeeze.

“The first statement was a lie.” Ranma said seriously. “But the second was true.”

She knew Ranma was telling the truth. The statement knocked the wind out of her. Sent her reeling.

“B-But… I…” Akane sucked in a lungful of air. “H-He’s so kind. And smart! And caring! He’s exactly what I’d want in a husband.”

Ranma squeezed her hand with each statement, as if to confirm the truth of each one, except the last.

“He’s like, twice your age.” Ranma said, and Akane squeezed back because, yes, technically, that was true.

“It doesn’t matter.” No squeeze. “He’s the only man who’s ever taken me seriously.” Squeeze. “He’s not into me, anyways.” Squeeze. “He’s got a crush on Kasumi.” Squeeze. “He’s super flustered every time she’s around.” Squeeze. “I don’t think she likes him, though.” Squeeze. She took a deep breath, because she was about to admit something she’d normally never have said, in service of trying to sort out her own thoughts. “If he noticed me, changed his mind… and asked me to marry him, I’d say ‘yes’ in a heartbeat.” A squeeze, with a very concerned look from Ranma. “Isn’t that what having a crush means?” No squeeze.

“Are you even into him? Like, actually attracted to him?” Ranma asked.

“Yes!” Akane insisted, but…

She didn’t need Ranma’s feedback to know that it was a lie.

Akane felt woozy. She let Ranma guide her down into a seated position, and rubbed her forehead with her other hand.

“I’m sorry I was just… trying to figure our lie detection thing out.” Ranma said, frowning.

“It’s… a bit much.” Akane said. “I just… even if it is the truth… maybe making me have to rethink it, all at once, is too far.”

Ranma sat in contemplative silence for a bit, rubbing circles on the back of Akane’s hand with her thumb.

“So… no just… shattering the lies we tell ourselves, just because our link lets us see through them?”

“I think… it’s for the best.” Akane nodded. She had already been doing it, anyway. “Unless it’s like… really bad and you need to know.”

“How bad is really bad?” Ranma asked. “Is being willing to hop into a loveless marriage with someone twice your age bad enough?”

“Ranma!” Akane flicked the other girl’s forehead. “It… wouldn’t have led to anything. There wasn’t… a real risk.”

Ranma let out a shaky breath, and they sat in silence for a few moments.

“Y’know…” Ranma started, “I thought we’d be better at this, what with…” she gestured vaguely between them.

“It’s… only been a day and a half.” Akane responded, letting go of Ranma’s hand. “We hardly know each other, and we got off to a bad start.”

Ranma winced.

“That’s one way to put it. Still I kinda thought… well, if we can’t lie to each other, then we’ll get everything sorted out quickly, yeah? So how are we… how are we so bad at this?”

“I think… being able to lie to each other… is a good thing.” Akane said. “Especially this early on. I never wanted to share this much with you. The link’s just been… forcing the issue.”

“You’re probably right.” Ranma responded glumly. “But, we’re here now. We gotta deal with it.” She got up, and offered Akane her hand. “So… friends?”

Akane took the hand, let Ranma help her up, and gave her a sincere answer.

“Friends.”

“You're late.” Nabiki said as she shoved a bundle of clothes into Akane’s arms. “Dinner’s in the fridge. You two can eat after we get this done. We’ve already lost the natural light.” She turned to Ranma, shoving a second bundle of clothes into her arms. “Lotta demand for you, after today. You’re a hot ticket item. Gotta start earning your keep.”

“‘Kane, what’s happening?” Ranma asked as Akane sorted through the clothes in her arms.

“Gotta keep food on the table, somehow.” Akane answered, handing an outfit to Nabiki. “Veto. Pictures of me sell well, and if Nabiki says so, pictures of you will, too.”

“Really?” Ranma held up a frilly dress. “You want me to wear this for pictures?”

“You can veto anything you’re not willing to wear.” Akane said. “But Nabiki’s got an eye for this. It’s best to trust her.”

“Really, though? Do I have to?” Ranma whined.

“You got any better ideas, Saotome?” Nabiki snapped. “Gonna get a job, instead of spending all your time… doing whatever the hell you two were doing today?”

Ranma blushed silently in response, sorting through the outfits, and handing some back to Nabiki.

“By the way…” Akane asked, “how the hell did Kuno know about the engagement? Now the whole school does.”

“I ain’t as good at keeping secrets when I’m tired, sis.” Nabiki sneered. “If you want me to hide things maybe do less cackling at one in the goddamn morning.”

Akane glared at her, but there wasn’t much she could do. It was her punishment for waking her sister.

It was then she’d noticed that Ranma had already started taking off her dress.

“Ah! Nope!” Akane grabbed Ranma, dragging her up to her room. “Feminine modesty, jackass!” She turned to shout down to Nabiki. “We’ll meet you in the dojo in five!”

“Don’t be late! Time’s a wastin’!” Nabiki called back.

Akane almost threw Ranma into her room.

“I don’t see what’s different about changin’ in front of just you, or both of you.” Ranma grumbled.

“It’s because you were doing it in the entryway!” Akane snapped. “And between that and how you keep forgetting that you’re wearing a skirt, someone’s gotta look out for your modesty.”

“Well, I ain’t a girl.” Ranma lied. “And I haven’t worn one before, cut me some slack! Also, aren’t you still mad at me after you peeped on me?”

“There was no peeping.” Akane admitted. “And we’re both girls here. You’re just gonna have to get used to it. They’re going to have you change in the girl’s locker room. Just… don’t look at me and I won’t look at you. I gotta fix my make up first, anyways.”

Ranma grumbled and started to get changed, while Akane fixed her makeup in the mirror over her dresser.

She didn’t mean to look at Ranma, but… she was curious. She figured the way she’d slammed Ranma might have left a mark, and… the girl did have very well defined back muscles. It was hard not to stare. But it was something else entirely that truly caught her eye. Something else that made her turn around for a better look, then rush over to Ranma despite what she’d said. 

Scars.

Now, Akane knew Ranma had scars. She’d been on the road, gotten into fights, did a lot of training… the scars on her arms and shins were obvious. Each one probably had a story. She expected those. But across the expanse of Ranma’s back, the entire expanse, there was the faded criss-cross of thousands of old scars, roughly the same size and shape, covering every inch.

Ranma squawked in surprise as Akane grabbed her shoulders, holding her still for a better look. The scars went up her shoulders, across the back of her neck. Akane turned her around, sucking in a breath at what she saw. Though there were fewer, the scars covered her chest, too. Were present all up and down Ranma’s arms and shoulders, and, though harder to see because they were even more faded, came down along the sides of her face, as well.

“I thought you weren’t going to look!” Ranma squeaked indignantly, turning as red as her hair.

“I didn’t plan on it, I just…” Akane stared directly at Ranma. “Holy shit, Ranma. What happened? How many scars do you have?!”

Ranma’s eyes hardened at the mention of scars.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ranma said, like she was holding back a snarl. “They’re old. They’re healed. And they’re none of your business.”

“But there are so many!” Akane insisted. “Ranma, what did–”

“I said drop it!” Ranma snapped, pushing her away. “They won’t show up in the photos, anyways, so don’t worry.”

Akane really wanted to press, but after what happened earlier…

They hardly knew each other. It wasn’t her place.

She sighed, turned around, and started getting dressed herself.

“Are you going to stare at me the whole time?” She grumbled at Ranma, still facing away from her.

“Well, you got a pretty good show outta me.” Ranma snapped. “Just thought I’d return the favor.

Akane sighed. She had a point, so, carefully, she turned, exposing her bare chest to the other girl.

Ranma flushed, closed her eyes, and turned around. Leaving Akane to change in peace once more. She wasn’t sure why that disappointed her.

“Don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.” Akane grumbled under her breath, too quietly for Ranma to hear.

Chapter Text

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was rising, the birds were chirping, and Akane was halfway out of her (fortunately open) bedroom window by the time she’d registered the words that had woken her up.

“Training starts now!”

She really should have listened to Ranma when the other girl had insisted she go to bed early. She was, at least, able to get her bearings and land somewhat gently, but Genma was close behind, and so was Ranma. But while the latter was content to lean against the wall, the former forced her to dodge, lest he land on top of her.

So that was how Genma Saotome did things? No chance to wake up, no chance to get changed, no chance to even go to the bathroom. Just… surprise attack, being thrown out the window, and then fighting for her life?

To be fair, he did shout before he’d grabbed her, but Akane was not used to waking up under attack. She didn’t have an aggressive reaction to loud noises while sleeping (yet). She wasn’t paranoid enough to have ever developed that sort of reflex!

And yet, here she was, forced to fight as hard as she could, barefoot, in the yard, getting grass stains on her cute ducky pajamas, while an old man kept screaming some variation of “wrong” at her before shoving or kicking her wrist or ankle into a different position. When she started to flag, or tried to get some distance, he’d charge in, grab her, throw her, and put her on the defensive once more, but never once did he actually make an attempt to properly strike her, choosing to make his blows near-misses, even though it was becoming increasingly obvious he could have landed a blow at any point.

He was toying with her.

But at least she was learning from it.

She fought hard. She fought long. She fought valiantly. The sun rose higher, and the rest of the house awoke. Eventually, though, the high intensity exercise wore her down. Genma threw her once more, sent her skidding across the grass, and Akane… couldn’t get up. She was too busy trying to catch her own breath. 

Genma looked down at her in contempt, then turned his back on her. Stepped away. Treated her like she wouldn’t in a million years become a threat to him.

But it was what he muttered that had sent her blood boiling.

“Of course a girl can’t keep up.” He said, quietly, before shouting. “Alright, Son! Break’s over. Let’s show her what real men can do!”

Ranma pushed off the wall next to Akane’s window, and leapt down.

Akane almost launched herself to her feet, exhaustion be damned, but a gentle hand on her shoulder and a shake of the head from Kasumi stopped her.

Then, she considered her other option. Magic.

Anything goes, right, you bastard?

But then she saw the look on Ranma’s face as she approached. Hopeful. Proud. Almost…

And thoughts of magic were dropped as she flushed for a reason other than exhaustion. Akane knew the Panda hadn’t taken it easy on her. Ranma clearly thought she’d done well.

So she decided to take it as a win. She let Kasumi drag her inside, where she washed up, got dressed, ate breakfast, did her makeup in record time, got dragged out the door early by Ranma, and tried to get her thoughts in order.

Last night’s photoshoot hadn’t been awful. Sure, Ranma hadn’t been the most cooperative model, but Nabiki was… pretty good at what she did, and had been overjoyed at Akane’s newfound ability to levitate props, lights, and cameras into the exact correct position, no wires or crew or anything else needed. But the shoot was, unfortunately, slowed down by Ranma spending so much time grumbling about how girly it was, insisting she had more manly things to do, or complaining how it was basically her doing all the work because she could feel the weight of the levitated objects. Still, Akane had had it on good authority that the girl had had more fun than she was letting on.

After all, if she had been that opposed to it, why did she agree to it in the first place? Why were so many of her complaints just outright lies? And some of the poses Ranma had struck? Akane had seen the photos. Those were going to sell very well. It was almost like Ranma had experience, but wasn’t willing to admit it. And after last night? Akane wasn’t willing to call her on it.

Plus, Akane had gotten some good shots in herself, things she couldn’t have easily done before, including a great dynamic action shot of herself levitating a fan of cards in front of her, which had turned out so well she’d had Nabiki make a copy for her to keep.

Then, she’d found that she could use her magic to reheat dinner, perfectly evenly, without burning any of it! Just like those microwave ovens she’d seen advertised, but were beyond their current budget. Maybe she wasn’t such a disaster in the kitchen, after all! Ranma had certainly enjoyed it, although… less because it was Akane’s cooking and more that she’d been able to get it right back to the state it had been in when Kasumi had cooked it fresh.

It had honestly been a decent night, but it had run late, and given the way her morning had begun? Akane was exhausted.

Which meant she was doing a terrible job of warding off the traitorous thoughts that kept trying to get her to take Ranma’s soft, strong hand, and hold it like she had last night.

Fortunately, Ranma offered her a distraction.

“Sorry about Pops.” Ranma broke the silence, sheepishly. “I think he’s still mad at you about the whole… y’know.” She gestured across her own body.

“Are you still mad about… y’know?” Akane asked.

Ranma thought for a bit, before answering.

“I really should be, shouldn’t I?” Was all she offered.

It hadn’t been the straightforward answer Akane had hoped for… one that could be sorted into “truth” or “lie”, but that, perhaps, was telling on its own.

“You did good this morning, though.” Ranma continued. “He might have been angry, but he was still willin’ to teach you, and you were definitely pickin’ up on it.”

“I think I prefer gentler methods.” Akane grumbled. “He probably ruined that pair of pajamas. What, am I supposed to start wearing a Gi to bed?”

“Not necessarily.” Ranma answered, taking Akane’s rhetorical question seriously. “Just… something comfortable. That you can fight in.”

“Ugh… but I don’t want to wear a bra to bed.”

“Then don’t. I don’t wear one.” Ranma insisted.

“Easy for you to say, lil’ miss “I’ve only had tits for 48 hours”, your back’s gonna start killing you before long.”

“Hey, I’ve had tits for longer!” Ranma frowned. “Just… not permanently. Huh. This isn’t the longest I’ve had tits for, actually. Not yet. But… it will be.”

“Sorry…” Akane shot Ranma a sympathetic glance.

“No you’re not.” Ranma snorted. “You get magic out of the deal. Ain’t that worth a few shitty trainin’ sessions with my Pops?”

“I suppose you’re right.” Akane sighed, turning the corner into the school. “But at least no one will attack me at school any… oh, come on!”

The Hentai Horde, rather than thin out like she’d hoped, had only grown.

“We’re here to save you… from yourselves!” A boy with a megaphone in the back called out. “Ranma Saotome! Akane Tendo! We’ll beat the evil spirits and perversions out of both of you! Forgive us!”

Akane reached to hold Ranma back, but the girl had already leapt into the fray.

“Ranma, wait!” Akane called out.

“We don’t have time for this, Akane!” Ranma shouted back. “We’re not going to be late again. Come on!”

With an exasperated groan, Akane charged in as well. It took her a bit to recover and hit her groove, but partway through clearing the Horde, she realized… she was taking out more of them than Ranma. Ranma had quick strikes, a lot of speed, and technical ability, but she didn’t seem to have nearly as much experience with crowd fighting. Akane decided to take that win to heart, and pushed herself harder to take them down even faster.

She and Ranma were both panting at the end. Ranma was even doubled over, catching her breath.

“I win.” Akane teased.

“No you didn’t!” Ranma lied.

“Yes I did! And you know it~!” Akane finished in a singsong voice.

“I’ll still beat you one on one!” Ranma insisted.

“For now.” Akane giggled. She felt almost high, but a part of her knew she couldn’t actually handle much more without rest.

“Akane Tendo, my dearest!” A very unwelcome voice called out. “Once again you show your beauty, by quickly dispatching of these ruffians!” Specifically, the ruffians he had personally gathered to attack her, but he’d never cop to that. “But now? Your opponent shall be me! En garde!”

“Hey!” Ranma called out, launching herself into Kuno’s face. “I said you’d leave us both alone! Back off!”

Akane was beyond frustrated. Tired of people not taking her seriously. Tired of people not listening to her. The whole Hentai Horde thought of her as a prize that could be won. Kuno had convinced them all of that, but still wouldn’t fight her at full strength? She couldn’t completely shut them down either, couldn’t tell them it wouldn’t work, since the family budget relied so heavily on their interest in her. Her father had been no help, and had even made the situation worse: tried to give her away to some fiancé he’d never even met based on some harebrained scheme from his youth, which had blown up spectacularly, somehow made her an even bigger pariah, and resulted in her getting her ass kicked this morning by a man who wouldn’t even take her seriously. And that was right after a night where she was forced to reconsider her entire perception of the only man who ever did take her seriously. It was a lot. She needed an outlet.

So though she was exhausted, though she hurt, Akane got into a fighting stance, and focused on what Nabiki had said to her when this mess had started, when they’d agreed to turn it into an opportunity to rescue the family’s dwindling savings.

Well, then, Akane, you’d better not lose. 

“It’s fine, Ranma!” Akane called out with confidence she didn’t feel. “Kuno, I swear to the gods, if you hold back on me this time, I’m going to eviscerate you with your own bokken. I was already strong enough to take you, and I’m even stronger now. So if you actually give a tenth of the shit about me you claim to, you’ll give it your all.”

“I-If that is what the lady wishes, then I shall…” Kuno’s expression was pained, but determined as he shifted his stance, “Honor it.”

Ranma stomped over to her, hissing at her.

“Akane, what are you doing?!”

“You needed the fight yesterday, I need the fight today.” She hissed back, trying to make sure their conversation wouldn’t be overheard. “Besides, Kuno’s Nabiki’s biggest customer, we need to keep him interested, and I am a martial artist! I can’t just turn down a challenge!”

“We’re going to be late! ” Ranma insisted. “But, fine!” She raised her voice, so Kuno could hear her. “Hey! Kuso! She’ll fight you, but after school! We’ve got to get to class!”

“Oh. Quite right.” Kuno said, putting his bokken away in a smooth motion. “I shall not denigrate this place of higher education! After school, then, I shall be ready!”

Ranma shook her head, and looked back to Akane, who could not believe it had been that easy.

“Class. Now.” Ranma left no room for argument. “I’m not letting you be late.”

It hadn’t been a bad day of class, by any means. No major disruptions, Ranma was probably already ahead of the material, and he’d gotten to sit through every class for the day. People were wary of him, of course, but they’d at least been friendly to him. To Akane, however…

Ranma shook his head. They’d finished the classroom cleanup, but somehow… basically the entire school was still present. Hanging around, waiting, watching the “Blue Blunder” or whatever he called himself stand stoically in the middle of the schoolyard. Wanting to see who would win… Akane the terrifying Witch, or a Kuno who was no longer holding back?

Which left him alone just outside the locker rooms, waiting for Akane. Idly, he looked down, lifting his shirt a bit. Akane really shouldn’t have been able to see the scars from across the room last night. Logically, he’d known they’d faded. Lived with them long enough to know no one noticed without close inspection, especially not someone as unobservant as Akane. But somehow? She had. And looking down at them now? They were exactly as visible as they still felt. More shiny and silvery than they’d been in years. Perhaps he was having a reaction to whatever detergent this uniform had been washed in before they gave it to him? He’d have to talk to Kasumi, see what she used. Make sure it wasn’t going to cause further problems.

His eyes shot up as Akane stepped out, having traded her school uniform for something more fitting. Something easier to fight in. Something that left her strong shoulders and midriff exposed and–

Ranma turned his head, coughed, and ignored the heat in his cheeks. He was not thinking about last night.

“You don’t have to do this, y’know?” He said to Akane.

“Yes. I do.” She insisted. “Maybe you don’t take me seriously, but I am what’s left of the Tendo school. I have to accept any challenge issued. You know that.”

“I already beat him, though. For both of us.”

“Maybe I don’t need you to fight my battles for me!” Akane snapped. “Yeah. You’re better than me! I admit it! But I’m not some weak and helpless girl like your pet Panda seems to think.”

“Don’t call Pops that!” Ranma shot back, the insult to his father bringing his attention back to her. “A curse ain’t a cakewalk! S’not his fault, either!”

“Not really the point.” Akane rubbed her temples. “He’s got it out for me, but I have been handling all these boys and Kuno on my own, just fine. And I will keep doing it, with or without your help.”

“I’m just…”

“You think he’s better than me, too.” Akane said flatly. “I’m not stupid. But I do have something to prove. And besides…” Akane turned to smile at him, and it briefly took his breath away, “I can fall back on my magic, if I need to. I’d rather… do it entirely on my own, but I am not going to lose.”

It took Ranma a second to pull himself back together, work the smile out of his mind so he could actually respond.

“Well, good. Fightin’ spirit will help a lot. But you do need more than that. He’s faster than you, he’s using a weapon, he has a massive reach advantage, and if you forget your footwork, fall back on old habits? He’s gonna know your next move as soon as you do. So just… be careful. You are my friend. I don’t want you to get hurt. Plus he gives me the creeps.”

“You get used to it.” Akane grimaced.

“I’d really rather not.” The thought made Ranma sick.

“I will be careful, though. If I hadn’t been, one of these boys probably would have gotten a lucky shot in on me by now. I know what I’m doing. So trust me. Please.”

“O-Okay.” Ranma sucked in a shaky breath. “I will. But I’m not carrying you all the way to Dr. Tofu’s.”

“Wouldn’t let you if you tried.” Akane smiled again, punched Ranma lightly in the shoulder, then dashed off towards her fight.

“Pfft. Stupid Tomboy.” Ranma said to himself, affectionately. Maybe it was going… fast, but they did have a literal bond. It was probably messing with him, but he hadn’t cared about someone other than Pops that much since… since…

Ranma slapped his own face, shook his head, and followed her out of the school. Once outside, he leapt up on top of the wall surrounding the school grounds. Being as short as he was (now), he’d need the extra height to see what was happening.

“Alright, Kuno! Bring it!” Akane shouted, adopting a defensive stance. She apparently intended to let him make the first move. Good. That was exactly what Ranma would have done in her position.

“Though it pains me to do this, my love for you exceeds my desire for restraint! So, as promised, I shall not hold back.” Kuno announced to the crowd. “Akane Tendo! I will defeat you, free you from your wretched engagement, and make you mine. Have at you!”

“I am nobody’s! ” Akane practically screamed, launching into an immediate attack, and meeting Kuno fist to bokken. That… probably hurt. Even with Akane’s amazing gorilla strength. Ranma winced in sympathy.

Their fight continued wordlessly, seeming to play out much like Ranma had feared. Akane was being too aggressive, trying to close, but lacking the speed to pierce Kuno’s guard. He kept her at bay, controlling the fight, and landing the occasional blow.

At least she was doing better with her footwork.

Akane certainly had stamina, though, so it’d be a long fight.

Idly scanning the crowd between blows, Ranma noticed the nearly unnoticeable.

Right, he… should probably do something about that…

He sped along the fence, padding along silently until he was behind his prey.

“Gosunkugi.”

The boy in question almost leapt out of his own skin.

“Fuck, Saotome!” Gosunkugi swore. “How do you do that?”

“Master martial artist.” He responded, still watching the fight. “I just… I wanted to apologize to ‘ya.”

“Why? Aren’t us mortal beings below you?” Gosunkugi said snarkily.

“From up here? Only literally.” Ranma joked back. “But seriously. I realize you’re like… Akane’s friend. One of her… only ones. And y’been there longer than me. Wasn’t right for me to scare y’off like that. She needs…”

“Support right now. Yeah.” Gosunkugi sighed. “She was… not having a great day today.”

“You noticed too? Good.”

“Of course I did. I’ve been… nearly the only person who actually cares what she thinks.” Gosunkugi grumbled, leaning back against the wall. “They all think she’s a delinquent or a vampire, or whatever else. When really she’s just…”

“A girl, yeah.” Ranma winced as Akane took a fairly hard strike to the chest, but kept on trucking. “You uh… you carry a torch for her, don’t you? Sorry, it wasn’t my intent to–”

“I do.” Gosunkugi cut him off. “I really do, but…” He shook his head. “She’s not into me. She’s never going to be into me. I’ve had a few years to accept it. Best I can do is be her friend.”

“I am still sorry.” Ranma said. “The engagement wasn’t exactly… something either of us asked for. Crazy scheme from our dads. Never had any intent to actually mess with her love life or nothin’. I ain’t into that old fashioned stuff.”

“Wouldn’t matter if you were.” Gosunkugi said. “Akane’s never been the type to let societal expectations get in the way of what she wants. It’s… what I love about her.”

Ranma glanced at Gosunkugi, taking in the expression on his face.

“You really do, don’tcha?” He let himself smile uneasily. “I ain’t known her for long, but… I do care about her, too, somehow. You’re not a bad guy, Gos. Exactly the kind of friend she needs.”

“But… always a friend.” Gosunkugi was already frowning, but Akane took a hard blow to the shoulder, and he full-on grimaced. “I just… you sweep in here and bring magic and martial arts and all kinds of stuff I’ve dreamed of and it’s… just for her. I’m getting left behind, and I know it. Always unnoticed. Always forgotten. Always feels like the universe is punishing me for wishing for more.”

“Gos, look, if I can figure out how it works? I will personally make sure you get some magic too, alright? But there’s no point in throwing you in the deep end when you don’t even know how to swim.”

“Easy for you to say, when you get to be…” Gosunkugi gestured towards Ranma, “I’d gladly jump in the deep end for just a chance to try it.”

“I get it, I really do.” Ranma said, catching the deeper meaning. “Bein’ a man is hard, and everyone would just rather be a girl. But if it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t be worth doin’, y’know?”

Gosunkugi nodded.

“And like, I don’t really get the option. I have to be a man. It’s really important.” Ranma continued. “I’d love for it to be otherwise, but I don’t get to relax. Don’t get to enjoy this. I have to be a man amongst men, so this is like… torture or something for me. But I’m pretty sure you don’t, so… the next time I find something that turns guys into girls? Or like… find some way to transfer this offa me? Sendin’ it right to you, buddy, if you want it. So at least one of us’ll get to be happy with it.”

“You’d do that for me, huh?” Gosunkugi smiled at him, for the first time.

“You’re Akane’s friend. That’s good enough for me.”

“Yeah, well… she seems to care about you, too. So for her sake… I guess you’re good enough, too. And uh… she’d probably want me to remind you, you’re wearing, a, uh…”

“Aw, crap.” Ranma flushed, deciding the easiest option was to sit down atop the fence and cross his legs. “Thanks Gos.”

Akane had, apparently, fallen back into a more defensive stance again. She looked quite battered, but her spirit remained strong. When Kuno launched his next strike, he clearly expected her to be more worn down than she was, but he telegraphed the attack, and Akane had gained some speed from her morning training.

Akane grabbed the Bokken, yanked it out of Kuno’s grip, and threw it away, conveniently, directly towards Ranma. He caught it out of the air, and held onto it as he watched what was certainly about to be the end of the fight.

Without the weapon, Kuno couldn’t stop Akane from closing, and despite his continued reach advantage, Akane was clearly stronger. His attacks bounced off of her harmlessly. Her attacks launched him back, even when blocked.

It was attrition, though, that won the day. Akane wasn’t landing direct strikes, but Kuno was flagging long before she did. He lost a step. His guard slipped. Akane landed her first real blow of the fight, and Kuno crumbled like a house of cards in a hurricane. The crowd cleared as his limp body flew back towards the wall, landing in a heap. Ranma didn’t even have to move to give him back his Bokken… by dropping it directly on top of his head.

Akane was swaying, though, as she tried to reset her stance after the blow. Ranma quickly dashed in, leaning under her shoulder to steady her.

“There. I did it. No magic.” Akane sounded remarkably proud of herself for someone on the verge of collapse.

“Yeah, well, good for you.” Ranma poked some purpling skin on Akane’s other side, and grunted as the weight on him increased significantly. “One more hit and you would have lost, y’know? Come on, let’s get you to Dr. Tofu.”

Akane froze, gripping onto him.

“No.” she said, the look on her face having nothing to do with her physical pain.

“No? Come on, tomboy. You did good, but  he landed a lot of hits. You need to get them checked out.”

“I… I can’t” Akane looked ashamed. “I’m not… I’m not ready to face him… not after…”

Ranma stiffened as he remembered the day before.

“Well, you don’t have a lot of options here. What else would you even do?”

“I… you said you knew first aid?”

“I know some.” Ranma insisted. “You’re like… on the verge of intensive care.”

But the look Akane gave him asked “please”, and he’d never been good at saying “no” to a pretty face.

“Fine. But you’re gonna hafta limp the whole way home. And it ain’t gonna get better right away. And Pops will not go easy on you tomorrow morning. ‘If you’re good enough to only need first aid, you’re good enough to fight.’”

“He’d better not.” Akane growled. “It’s… pretty obvious I still need to get better.”

“Hey, I wasn’t gonna say it.” Ranma teased.

“You were thinking it, though.”

“Of course.” Ranma stuck out his tongue at her. “But you did good, for an uncute tomboy.”

Akane hit his shoulder, but there was no force behind it, and there was a smile on her face.

Ranma tore his gaze away and focused on what was in front of him, rather than the rising heat in his face.

“R-Right, then. Let’s getcha home.”

Chapter Text

Ranma let out a satisfied sigh as he finished his breakfast. Once again, Kasumi’s cooking was excellent, and even with three martial artists rolling in from an intense morning training session, Kasumi always seemed to make just enough food to keep everyone satisfied. It was, perhaps, one of the best parts of living with the Tendos.

A part of Ranma wondered if he could pick up some tips from her… see if he could improve his cooking for whenever they were inevitably back on the road, after he got his manhood back and everyone realized the engagement simply wasn’t happening, but a suspiciously contract-shaped voice in the back of his mind warned him against asking… he was already far more feminine than he was honor-bound to become, and taking too much interest in cooking… might just make that worse.

As he got up and gathered his dishes, he tried to redirect his thoughts more towards manlier things.

Akane’s training had been going great. Their morning spars had largely evolved into a three-way affair, with Ranma and Pops taking turns correcting Akane’s form and teasing out her speed, while also dodging her blows and blows from each other. It was good training for him, too, since his prior experience was heavily weighted towards one on one duels. Three weeks in? Akane’s fundamentals were finally approaching an acceptable level of competence for a practitioner of Anything Goes. Although… as Ranma got up and walked past Mr. Tendo, he wondered why Mr. Tendo hadn’t resolved the issue himself years ago. Still, he knew better than to ask; he was a guest, and it wasn’t his job to question his host’s parenting decisions.

With breakfast out of the way, he took his turn to take a quick shower. He unfortunately did not have time to soak in the mornings, but there was no way he was going to show up at school sweaty and gross. Akane, he knew, was in her room, in front of her dresser, probably doing her makeup. Sometimes, the link was… awkward. There were no real private moments between them… no matter what the other was doing, they could tell where the other was: which direction, how far away, and roughly which pose they were in. Didn’t matter if they closed their eyes, didn’t matter if they tried not to pay attention, it was always there, at the edge of their awareness. They had a… tacit agreement not to acknowledge it, but Ranma could never fully shake the feeling of being watched.

Honestly there was something far worse going on in his head… he was getting used to it. Used to their link, used to living in a house, used to full, regular, tasty meals, the presence of consistent companions, and he was even getting used to–

Ranma dumped the cold water bucket over his head. He didn’t have time to dwell on things. Someday they were going to fix this, and he wouldn’t have to worry about it anymore, but today? They needed to get to school early.

Ranma finished up and got dressed. He was still stuck in the girl’s uniform, but soon, he would have options. Sure, he probably could have had Kasumi tailor a larger sized uniform down to his diminutive current size, but he didn’t want to impose any further upon his hosts.

As he headed towards the door, he found an envelope with his name on it, full of crisp 1000 yen notes – his cut for the photo shoots. Nabiki must have already left. The photoshoots had been… awkward, to say the least. Nabiki kept pushing him towards girlier and frillier options, something about the “dichotomy of a dangerous martial artist embracing femininity” that she was convinced would sell extremely well, and while Ranma understood the idea, it felt like too much of a betrayal of the oath he had made alongside his father… sometime before he could remember. As much fun as it might be to ply his Saotome School Food Acquisition Techniques while dressed up like a tiny housewife, he knew full well there could be no record of him doing so, which was the exact opposite of what Nabiki’s photoshoots were doing. So he stuck to tomboyish, mostly gender-neutral outfits. They were too small to fit his natural form, once that was inevitably restored, but in the meantime, he’d been able to buy enough of the outfits off of Nabiki – at a discounted price – to fill out a casual wardrobe for the time being.

So, yes, he now owned more clothes than he ever had before, but it was just like… being frugal, right? What with Nabiki paying part of the price as a “business expense”. Yeah, it was temporary, but… it was nice to have options.

And also, he now had pocket money! Something he and Pops never had much of while on the road. He’d nearly tried every snack in the local convenience store now, and it was fun figuring out what he liked. Pops, meanwhile, had gotten a job working as an assistant and receptionist for Dr. Tofu of all people, and while Mr. Tendo hadn’t asked, Pops had apparently worked out something with Nabiki to where he was, effectively, paying rent for them.

All in all it was starting to feel… remarkably permanent, which didn’t quite sit well with Ranma. He was used to a life on the road, of constant change and struggles and helping those in need while borrowing from those who very much weren’t. They’d stayed in places longer, sure, but there had always been plans to move on, which… if there were plans for that now, Pops hadn’t shared them with Ranma. Part of him chafed against the idea of stability, but he knew in his heart that they’d be moving on eventually, anyways. They always did. It’s just how life was.

Maybe he’d actually get through a full year of school this time, though. As he met up with Akane, headed out the door, and started walking towards school, his thoughts turned towards classes.

None of them were particularly difficult, though gym was always awkward. Between still feeling extremely self-conscious about being in the girl’s locker room (the staff had decided it would cause less problems than him using the boy’s), and the way people seemed to idolize his well-honed athletic prowess, Ranma felt trapped in a weird game of hot and cold. It was not made better by his classmate’s general disdain for Akane. The girls largely saw Akane as creepy, a corrupting influence. They kept trying to convince Ranma to distance himself from her, seemingly convinced that if they got him away from her, Ranma would morph into a regular girly girl. The boys, meanwhile, largely disgusted him with the way they seemed to treat Akane and himself… not as human beings, but objects to be won. Animals to be tamed. As if there was something to “fix” about either of them. Some of the boys were probably fine, but so many of them were weird about it that he could never really feel safe around them. He’d never quite gotten along with the other boys his age, prior to the curse, what with being a traveling martial artist and not soft like these homebodies were, but at least they’d seen him as a person before. 

The crowd in front of the school was the absolute worst, though. As they arrived, he and Akane shared a nod, and then launched themselves into the fray. Group fighting was hard, no matter how good you were. You had to consider every angle, every possible opponent, as an active threat that could strike out at any moment, which forced you to adopt a more defensive posture. Akane, who had gorilla arms and could tank a lot of hits, was far more willing to be aggressive in these morning brawls, and so he was forced to concede that, yes, this morning, and every other morning, Akane took out more boys than him. He was still the better martial artist, of course, and he’d win every one on one spar, but in this category, he was left distressingly winless. They were some of his favorite fights, though. Fighting alongside Akane, always knowing where each other were, flowing their moves together off of each other to create a whirling mass that cleared the Horde in seconds? It felt amazing. It made him look forward to future, harder fights. Ones where they would have to team up.

There wasn’t anyone at the school that could challenge either of them like that, though. The only person in Nerima who could was probably Pops… or maybe Mr. Tendo, though he’d not actually seen him fight, ever. It made Ranma wonder if he still knew how.

As they cleared the boys in record time, Kuno stepped out from behind his favorite tree, slow clapping while giving them backhanded praise and declaring whatever new name he’d come up with for himself this week. Ranma shot Akane a smile and stepped back, holding up her fingers. This wasn’t his fight. Kuno wasn’t worth it, but for Akane…

After the first time she’d beat him, Kuno recovered a lot faster than Akane, probably because he’d seen an actual doctor. The next day, Akane had been forced to make use of magic (and thus, technically get help from Ranma) to defeat him, and it was the same for the next few fights after that. They’d made a discovery then: strong martial artists, like themselves, ones with enough of a handle on their Ki to use it to defend themselves from deadly attacks, could use that same ki as a barrier to block Akane’s magic from directly affecting them. Akane couldn’t freeze Kuno in place, or levitate him off the ground and throw him around like a ragdoll, like she could the other boys, though attempting to do so could still stagger him like an actual blow could. Akane, instead, had to use her environment, use magic to launch stones and debris and such into Kuno. It meant the first such match between them had been very close, but as Akane grew in terms of both Martial skill and magical control, the gap between them had rapidly grown into something Kuno had no real hope of crossing.

But here he was, every morning, like clockwork. Yes, he would wait until after class if they’d asked, but since Akane and Ranma had decided to turn this into training for mixing Akane’s magic into her martial arts (and Akane’s martial arts were certainly enough to beat Kuno on their own, now), it had turned into something of a speedrunning event.

Ranma still had two fingers up on his left hand, and one on his right, when Kuno fell.

“Ninteen seconds. That’s a new record.” He said to Akane.

Akane simply flicked her long blue hair back off of her shoulder with one hand, and turned to him to shoot him that damn smile.

The smile that stopped his breath. The smile that made him wish this whole engagement was real and not a bust or something to hold over Akane as leverage and they could actually get married like this and–

“–ight, Ranma?”

Oh. She was talking.

Ranma shook his head, and tried to guess at what she might have been asking.

“Yeah, sure.” Ranma said, making sure no one saw him lose a step. “Let’s get to class.”

Akane nodded, waited for him to walk up alongside her, and then walked into the building with him. He’d probably guessed right.

It was an unusual experience, just sitting around and waiting for Akane after school. He’d finally been able to use his “model student” routine to convince the teachers to cancel Akane’s punishment, since he’d been able to keep Akane on-time the entire time. Apparently, the girl had gotten in trouble for being tardy a lot. He knew a good portion of that was Kuno and the Hentai Horde’s fault, but for some reason, he’d expected someone as smart, driven, and beautiful as Akane to have been a little more focused on school. Obviously, she wasn’t struggling in her classes or anything… unlike Ranma, she didn’t even need to make use of any martial arts focus techniques in order to pay attention in class! But still, Akane seemed to regard the entire institution with contempt, and Ranma… wished he wasn’t starting to understand why.

So now, he was only waiting for Akane to finish her club activities. Sure, he could join a club himself, or hang out in the Occult Clubroom, but no other club appealed to him, and in the Occult Club… well, he had a weird anxiety about what might happen in there. What they might say. Sure, he and Gos were on friendly terms now, if not actual friends, but he still felt like he was intruding into Gos’s space there and… being in there would mean talking about magic. Talking about… maybe a potential cure for him. Or not talking about a cure for him, even though it’d be the right place to discuss it. For some reason, both options made him anxious. So, instead of trying to analyse that, he elected to sit in the hall and pretend he had been doing something else.

Akane stepped out into the hall, wearing the kind of goth outfit she preferred to wear outside of classes, looked around, and frowned upon seeing him.

“I thought your new uniforms were supposed to come in today?”

“Yeah, well, somehow they messed up the order and they were too small.” He sheepishly answered, trying to pretend he wasn’t getting used to wearing a skirt. “Had to re-measure to make sure they didn’t mess it up a second time, and now the new new uniforms are on order.”

Also, his girl’s uniform had been getting a bit more snug… he’d have to stop buying snacks at the convenience store. Or at least… stop buying snacks for himself; he wasn’t going to leave Hiro high and dry.

“Shame. I was wondering how you’d look in them.” Akane said casually. “Plus it might give people something new to talk about…”

“Well, we did get a new student today, yeah?” Ranma offered. “Maybe that’ll distract some people?”

“Itou? Seemed like a normal girl to me.” Akane scoffed. “Unless she’s hiding some dark terrible secret, people will forget about her pretty fast.”

“You never know.” Ranma offered. “I mean, I would have thought you were pretty normal when I first showed up, so…”

“Me, really?” Akane snorted. “I think you just have a warped sense of ‘normal’.” She chuckled as they stepped outside.

“I do not!” Ranma insisted as he turned around and started walking backwards, in order to stare Akane down. “If anything, I know what ‘normal’ is way better than most people! I’ve traveled the world and seen all kinds of… of…”

Ranma’s eyes caught on the clock above the school entrance, and it reminded him of something.

Time.

“You okay there, Ranma?” Akane asked.

“I’m fine.” He lied. “It’s nothing.”

“You know I know it isn’t.”

“I… ugh! Fine! It’s just… I just realized we’re probably a few hours past where… where this has been the longest I’ve been a girl for.”

Last time he’d been a girl this long, he’d been running through rural China, being chased by some kind of group of crazy warrior women. They hadn’t had time to find hot water, nor had it been safe for them to start any fires. It had not been a fun time.

Akane shot her a concerned look, then seemed to do some quick math on her fingers. She looked guilty about whatever realization she had come to.

“I-If you start bleeding, um… down–”

“I know what a period is!” Ranma quickly cut her off, and shot her a look. “Why does no one expect me to know about that? Like… Kasumi freaked out when I asked her where the tampons were last week, and–”

“Wait, you’ve already had one?”

“Several.” Ranma shook his head. “I mean, the first one was a bit rough, but that’s because we were wandering around rural China, and… y’know… didn’t have the best access to things…”

“And… with only your father there…” Akane looked mortified. “I’m so sorry you had to–”

“I mean, he was a lot of help.” Ranma said. “Got me whatever he could, helped make it feel… normal, I guess? He was the one to teach me about them in the first place. Said I wasn’t the first man to get a period, and that I wouldn’t be the last.”

Akane raised an eyebrow.

“Does your father hang out around cursed springs often, or…?”

“Dunno.” Ranma shrugged. “Never thought to ask. He’s been a lot of places, though. Learned a lot of things.”

“Well excuse me for assuming the guy who spends every morning telling me how much I suck because I’m a girl wouldn’t pay attention to that sort of thing.” Akane grumbled. “But I guess if he knows all about man periods and man pons or whatever…”

Ranma opened his mouth to argue back, but near the entrance of the school, someone was yelling. Some weird guy with a massive travel backpack. The student he was yelling at looked around, and then pointed to Ranma and Akane, and then the weird guy rushed towards them.

“Where is he!” The guy shouted at them as he approached. “Where is Ranma Saotome!”

It took Ranma a few moments to connect the dots. He looked good. Stronger, a bit older. Probably got some good training done in the meantime. Doing well for a guy who was clearly doing a lot of urban camping.

“Hibiki?” Ranma asked. “Ryoga Hibiki? Man, I haven’t seen you in forever! How ‘ya doin’, buddy?”

Chapter Text

“Who are you!? How do you know my name!?” The guy, who was apparently named Ryoga, shouted.

“Come on, don’t you recognize me?” Ranma asked, shooting the guy a megawatt smile.

Ryoga simply glared in confusion.

“Oh… right… you uh… you wouldn’t recognize me like this.” Ranma played with his ponytail sheepishly. “Okay so like… imagine my hair as its natural black, wearing a boy’s uniform, and these–” Ranma gestured to her chest “–are gone.”

Ryoga stared at her, really stared. Stared so much it made Akane uncomfortable.

“I guess… you’d still be some random really cute girl?” Ryoga finally responded.

Ranma groaned, blushed, and shook her head.

“Okay, imagine me jumping off the top of your head.”

“Wait… Ranma the cute girl? Ranma Saotome!?” Ryoga shouted almost immediately after that. “I… what… happened to you? I could have sworn you were taller…”

“Oh now he gets it.” Ranma rolled her eyes. “It’s some magic curse nonsense thing. It’s temporary. Don’t worry about it.”

“So you can turn back, then?” Ryoga asked. “Well, do it! I want to face you as a man! Now where’s the nearest ke–”

“No, it’s like… temporarily permanent.” Ranma cut him off. “I can’t change back and forth right now, but I’m still more man than you’ll ever be.” Ranma lied. “Also, dude, it’s been like two years. What are you on about?”

“What am I on about? I’m on about you, you coward! You ran out on our fight!”

“You ran away from a fight?” Akane asked.

“Not with this bozo.” Ranma scoffed, and Akane could tell it was the truth. “No, this idiot knew I was leaving in three days. But he wanted to fight me over bread or something. I offered to lead him to where we agreed to have the fight, but he refused!”

“Must have been hard to get to, then?” Akane asked.

“No.” Ranma glared at Ryoga. “It was the empty lot behind his house. He’s just so bad with directions that, without my help, it apparently took him longer than three days to find it, if he ever even did.”

Akane was floored by the fact that nothing Ranma had said was a lie, or even an exaggeration.

“How could he be that–” Akane started to say, but was drowned out by Ryoga’s forceful shouting.

“You still ran out on our fight! You were gone when I got there on the fourth day!”

“You knew I would be, dummy!” Ranma shouted back. “I waited there. For three. Whole. Days. Which is way more than some stupid bread feud is worth. I want my three days back, Ryoga!”

“You still think this is about bread? ” Ryoga stomped his foot, cracking the pavement. “Because of you, I’ve seen hell! ” Ryoga grabbed a large umbrella off of his back, and raised it high. “Prepare to die, Saotome!”

Ryoga brought the umbrella down as Ranma and Akane both leapt back, smashing it into the pavement and leaving a crater. At the center of the crater, a somehow pristine envelope sat as though it had been placed there gently. Ranma bent down to grab it.

“Ryoga… is this another challenge letter?”

“Of course it is, you coward!” Ryoga continued at his apparently only known volume. “I’ll see you in two weeks!”

“No. Nope. Nuh uh, buddy.” Ranma insisted, ripping the envelope in half before grabbing Ryoga to prevent him from leaving. “I am not waiting another two years for you to randomly drop into my life and try to fight me again. We’re gonna fight here and now. Let's go over to the fields over there.” Ranma pointed.

“Fine, I’ll meet you there!” Ryoga shouted, and started walking off in a completely different direction.

“No, no, no! Don’t try to get there on your own.” Ranma said. “ Follow me. So you don’t get lost. Again.”

Ryoga grumbled, but did as he was told, hanging a good few paces back from Ranma and Akane as they walked over.

“You weren’t kidding about his sense of direction, were you?” Akane whispered.

“You already know the answer to that.” Ranma shrugged.

“I mean, yeah, but… I guess I’m still… processing it.”

“He has that effect on people.” Ranma said. “We’ll probably never see him again after this, though.”

“Is he… dangerous?” Akane asked.

“Last I saw him? No.” Ranma shook her head. “But it’s been two years. I know I’m a lot stronger than I was, then. And it looks like he probably is, too.”

“I can step in with magic, if I have to.” Akane said. “Could be a good panic button for both of us… he did talk like he wanted to kill you.”

“I mean…” Ranma looked at her, seriously. “Pops always says walking away from a fight is more important than winning, I get it, but… ‘Kane, the magic gets drawn from me. If I’m already flat on my ass losin’ a fight, wouldn’t that just make it worse?”

“It… might.” Akane nodded. “But at the same time, I can do things with it you can’t. We already know I can use it to lift more than you can on your own.”

“I still say that’s just a matter of leverage, but… point.” Ranma sighed. “If he looks like he’s about to try to kill me, then, and only then, do you have my permission to use magic to get me out of there.”

“Good enough.” Akane shrugged, and leaned up against the fence at the edge of the athletic fields as Ryoga and Ranma got into position.

“So buddy, you learn anything new over the last two years?” Ranma asked.

Ryoga, rather than dignify himself with a verbal response, simply yelled and jabbed at Ranma with his umbrella. Ranma blurred out of the way, easily dodging each blow. It made Akane realize, with some frustration, that Ranma was still holding back in their morning spars, by a significant margin. She wondered if Genma was, too.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Ranma teased. “Unless you didn’t know how to swing a stick, last time? I mean, I figured you did, but then, you’ve only ever come at me with your fists before, so…”

Ryoga growled, grabbing the umbrella with both hands and swinging it horizontally, like a baseball bat. He swung it at an impressive speed, but the attack was extremely telegraphed. Akane realized, had she been in this fight, she also probably could have jumped over it and landed on top of it much like Ranma just had, though she didn’t like her chances of staying on top of it throughout the entire swing.

Three weeks ago, though, she probably would have just tried to block the attack. After all, how much damage could it do? It was an umbrella. But then again, Ryoga had made a crater with it. There was definitely some wisdom in the dodging techniques the Saotomes were teaching her.

“Geez, man, just trying to make conversation. Though… if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve lost a step.” Ranma taunted from atop the umbrella. “I remember you bein’ faster, but I guess it’s just because I’m a lot faster now and you’re roughly the same. Not that you could keep up back then, either.”

Ryoga cried out in frustration, opening the umbrella forcefully. Casually, Ranma backflipped off of it as it opened, and fell into a casual stance.

“Even ‘Kane over there is faster than you right now, and she’s only been working on her speed for three weeks.” Ranma continued as though Ryoga wasn’t still taking wild swings at her. “Not sure how you expected this to go, but… buddy, are you sure you wanna do this? I think my middle school self would still be beating you right now.”

Ryoga let out an angry scream, trying to jab with the now open umbrella. Akane was surprised how little it cost him in terms of speed, but, again, the attacks were still telegraphed, and relatively slow. She could have dodged most of them, too, but she could not have danced around them like Ranma was.

“Well, you’re hitting a bigger area now. That’s good.” Ranma said. “Glad to see you’re adapting, buddy! But… you’re still too slow.”

“I’ll show you slow!” Ryoga shouted, pulling the umbrella back, and then throwing it with all his might. It spun at high speed in a curving arc towards Ranma’s side, while Ryoga tried to attack her other flank.

Casually, Ranma ducked under the umbrella, then sidestepped Ryoga’s punches. 

“Nice attempt, but that wind-up, oof.” Ranma said, continuing to dodge with a practiced casualness. “I bet my grandma could have seen it coming, and I’ve never even met her!”

Ryoga growled, pulled off his belt, whipped it in a way that made it go rigid, and began attacking with it as if it were an un-balanced sword. Ranma continued to dodge without much effort, while Ryoga’s umbrella crashed to a stop near Akane, so she decided to check it out.

The first thing she noticed was the edge. The canopy seemed to be lined with a sharp, flexible metal filament around the circumference. It certainly made it a more dangerous weapon, but it was unlikely to cause much damage to a martial artist with any degree of Ki control, especially when mostly pointed back towards its user. The second thing she noticed was the weight, finding herself surprised at how difficult it was to pick up.

“Hey, Ranma?” Akane called out as Ranma continued to dodge casually.

“Yeah?” Ranma called back, taking the opportunity to kick Ryoga’s wrist, and send the belt flying off across the field.

“I think this Ryoga guy might actually be stronger than me.” Akane gave the umbrella a relatively slow two-handed swing. “I don’t think I could fight one handed with this thing very well.”

“Ah, that figures.” Ranma said. “Musta put all his effort into strength training. But that doesn’t do him any good if he can’t actually hit m–”

“Ha! Yes! Finally!” Ryoga shouted, having taken the bandana off of his head, and used it to wrap around Ranma’s wrist while she was distracted by the conversation with Akane. Somehow, he was wearing another bandana underneath it.

“Oh, hey. That was actually pretty clever.” Ranma said as Ryoga rained down a flurry of blows towards her with his free hand. None of them hit, but Ranma had a lot less space to dodge into. “Good way to try to make your strength an asset, which you need because your speed isn’t one. Or your brains, honestly.”

“Shut up and die, Saotome!” Ryoga shouted, attacking with renewed vigor.

“Now, see, I’m really bad at doing either of those.” Ranma quipped, before flipping over Ryoga’s head and dragging Ryoga’s arm – via the bandana – with her. “I’m really good at fighting, though.” She planted her knee into the middle of Ryoga’s back, and drove him to the ground. “Like, sure you’re definitely stronger than me. And that’s a big advantage up close.” Ranma twisted Ryoga’s arm, driving him further into the ground. “Very few people would actually have been able to dodge you like that. But if you try it against someone skilled, like me…” Ranma yanked, and Ryoga howled in pain. “All you really did was give me leverage to use against you. So how ‘bout we call it a match so I don’t have to dislocate your arm.”

Ryoga laughed in response, and Akane thought he might be going mad.

“Do you really think that’d stop me!?” Ryoga shouted between chuckles. “I’ve dealt with pain worse than you could possibly imagine!” Ryoga pounded the ground, undeterred by Ranma pulling on his arm harder. “Like I said!” Ryoga raised his fist in preparation. “I’ve seen hell! ”

Ryoga brought his fist down, and the dust cloud prevented Akane from seeing the fight. Still, she knew exactly where Ranma was, which let her realize the other girl had been launched back. Ranma shook her head, then made a motion that implied she was casually removing the bandana from her wrist, unharried by any attacks.

Ryoga emerged out of the dust cloud near Akane, popped his shoulder back into the socket with a grunt, and then glared at Akane, holding a hand out expectantly.

Akane shrugged and tossed him his weirdly heavy umbrella, which he caught without issue. Ryoga blushed, gave her a shrug in return, winced at the pain in his shoulder, then returned to the fight.

“Oh. Good. You’ve still got some fight in you.” Ranma said sarcastically as the dust cleared and revealed her smirk, as well as a bit of damage: Ranma had a small cut near the corner of her lip. “I hope you’ve got something better up your sleeve, because you were starting to bore me.”

“Shut! Up! You! Bastard!” Ryoga shouted as he charged in, trying, unsuccessfully, to jab Ranma with the umbrella again, using only his uninjured arm to attack with.

“You don’t even have, like, fun banter for this.” Ranma complained. “I miss our old fights! You used to talk so much! We had some great back and forths… I got a little excited when you pulled out that ‘I’ve seen hell’ line, but you’ve had nothing else. You didn’t spend two whole years coming up with that one, did you?”

“Die!” Was Ryoga’s only response, as he used his injured arm to pull five more bandanas off the top of his head, leaving him with what appeared to still be the original, untouched bandana right where it was. With a flick of the wrist, he got all five bandanas spinning, and then threw them at Ranma, attacking her from every angle.

“Nowhere to dodge, now!” Ryoga shouted, as Ranma dodged all five while continuing to avoid the umbrella.

“That’s actually really cool! Shame it didn’t work.” Ranma had the audacity to blow a raspberry at Ryoga in the middle of the fight. “And, man, you’ve got to work on your banter! You could have given that a cool attack name and everything! You used to be good at this!”

Akane, meanwhile, had a full view of what was happening, and watched as the spinning bandanas curved back like boomerangs, returning for a second pass at Ranma.

“Ranma, heads up!” Akane shouted.

“Huh?” Ranma asked, looking up at just the last second to avoid one of the bandanas. They flew in randomly. Erratically. It wasn’t a path plotted by the thrower, which meant they weren’t particularly accurate, but it also meant that Ranma couldn’t just read the intent from Ryoga’s ki, which meant her danger senses failed to fully trigger. It was important for martial artists not to ignore their danger senses, but… it was folly to rely on them too heavily, in case of dangers like these.

Ranma dodged four of them, but failed to see the fifth in time. It curved into her leg while she was in the middle of a handspring, bouncing off her thigh and leaving a shallow cut, which meant on a normal person, who didn’t have any ki to deflect damage, it absolutely would have sliced cleanly through her entire leg. Instead, it merely sliced cleanly through her skirt, leaving the remaining fabric short and dangling awkwardly.

Meanwhile, the bandanas kept flying. With a word and a gesture, Akane used her magic to pull one of the bandanas down near her, noting it was infused with Ki from how difficult it was to use her magic on it. As it embedded itself into the ground at her feet, it remained rigid. The ki infusing it seemed to make it sharper and add weight to it as well. It was a surprisingly effective weapon that Akane had no idea how to recreate, but as its ki ran out, it fell limply to the ground, a normal bandana once more.

“Hey!” Ranma shouted angrily. “Don’t wreck my uniform! I only have a couple of them!”

“Wow, you really have transformed into a girl!” Ryoga taunted. “No man would be worried about his widdle skirt in the middle of battle!”

“Look, it’s what fits me, asshole!” Ranma shouted. Apparently Ryoga had touched a nerve. “I was supposed to get a men's uniform today but they ordered the wrong size!”

“Sounds like a girl problem! For girls!” Ryoga shouted back.

Ranma sighed and shook her head.

“Look man, there’s a real girl, right up there,” Ranma pointed to Akane, “that I’m like 90 percent sure could have kicked your ass without any help. There’s nothing wrong with being a girl.” She brought her thumb up, and wiped away the bead of blood that had formed on the cut on her lip. “I’m not one.” She lied. “I’m a man amongst men. But I’ve been taking it far too easy on you.” She shifted into a more serious stance. “It’s probably time I finish this.”

“You can try!” Ryoga shouted, but Ranma took the offensive, aggressively attacking him for the first time in the fight. Ryoga was instantly on the back foot, flailing to defend himself with his umbrella, throwing out random bandanas, and doing his best to weather the storm. In a desperate move, he tried throwing the umbrella again, but Ranma kicked his wrist, and the umbrella went spinning off harmlessly into the sky.

“Now, watch closely, Akane!” Ranma called out. “Ryoga’s a tough opponent, and it’s hard to damage him, but if you hit him here,” kick, “here,” kick, “and here,” punch, “that’ll slow him down a lot, all without having to resort to hitting him in the family jewels.”

Akane sighed. She was quite familiar with the body’s weak points, but she could still take notes on Ranma’s technique, given the way the blows caused Ryoga to stumble.

“Honestly, if a guy’s yelling stuff like ‘die’ at you during the fight, it’s probably fine to–” Akane started to call out, until she felt a strange whoosh behind her. Something felt wrong on the back of her head. Like some weight had been taken off. It took her a split second to react, but it was a split second too long.

Something hit her. Something heavy. It cut into the back of her neck, its sheer weight and sharp edge overwhelming her ability to deflect with ki alone. It brought her to the ground, and all she could think to do was try to stop it with her magic. Her neck hurt so bad. She could feel the sticky blood dripping down the sides. But finally, her magic overwhelmed its weight, stopped it from spinning, pushed it back, and left Akane safe from any further damage.

It was a close call, really. If she hadn’t had her magic to stop Ryoga’s umbrella as it had fallen back down to earth, it probably would have killed her. But she was fine. She stopped it. She moved her hands to push herself up off of the dirt, and felt…

Nothing.

No dirt.

Her hands didn’t move.

She couldn’t feel them.

She couldn’t feel her hands.

Or her legs.

Or anything else below her neck.

She was stuck, face down in the dirt, unable to move.

Blood slowly pooling around her chin.

She tried to scream out, but it was muffled, weak. Her lungs were barely responding. She couldn’t move her neck. Couldn’t get her face out of the dirt.

Her body had failed her.

She started to panic, but fought to keep a clear head. Panic would do her no good. Panic meant making stupid decisions. Meant getting her into even worse trouble. She had to focus.

Magic! She had magic!

She tried her best to control her breathing. Calm herself down. She would need to focus for this.

First things first. She needed to stop the bleeding. Brace her neck to prevent any further damage.

Akane reached out with her magic. Felt with it. Tried to use it as a sense for the first time. And… she saw it. Saw the wound. How deep it was.

She wasn’t sure how to do it, but she knew what she had to try.

Chapter Text

It happened in a snap.

Akane was just… gone.

Ranma couldn’t sense her.

His eyes snapped to where she’d disappeared from, and he watched her fall.

He watched her body fall.

It wasn’t her.

He couldn’t sense her.

It had never happened before. Not when they were asleep, or far away, or didn’t want the other to sense them. It was always there, but now it wasn’t.

Only the screaming, searing fear of their bond being snapped closed.

He wanted to think he could still sense her. That there was still a spark left, a concentrated sphere where she still lived. That he could still feel her magic, feel the weight of that umbrella coming down like a guillotine, pulling on him, using him to save herself, still panicking at the damage.

But he wasn’t stupid.

He knew grief.

He knew how it could affect people.

He’d just… never experienced it, himself.

A fist struck him on the cheek. Hitting him hard. Sending him ass-over-teakettle, smashing into the metal fence, bending and breaking it around him.

He didn’t feel a thing.

Right. The fight.

The reason.

Cold fury washed over Ranma. Pushed down the grief.

He needed an outlet.

He had one.

A smidge of tingly nausea formed in the pit of his belly, but it didn’t matter. He’d push that aside, too. Put everything into singular focus.

A hot rage would not have helped. Pushing aside your fears and inhibitions might be helpful where raw strength was useful, but Ryoga completely outclassed him in that regard. Blindly launching himself at Ryoga would just get him killed, too.

A part of him wished it would.

No, his fury was – and needed to be – like ice. Burning cold. Sharp. Focused to a point.

He needed to hit Ryoga fast. He needed to hit him hard. Needed to keep him from getting up.

“You killed her.” Ranma said calmly as he slipped through Ryoga’s guard to smash his fist into Ryoga’s windpipe.

Ryoga wheezed, struggling to breathe or get back into his fighting stance.

“You killed her!” Ranma said more forcefully, not letting Ryoga recover as he rapidly sent several kicks into his kidney.

“You killed her!” Ranma shouted, his rage growing, and his composure falling away as he continued to strike Ryoga, who still wasn’t recovered enough to fight back.

“Ranma!”

“You killed her!” Ranma shouted again, tears flowing as his rage melted the ice. Made him lose control. Made him forget to aim at anything other than just hitting Ryoga.

“Ranma! ”

“You killed her!” Ranma continued to shout. “You killed her you killed her you killed her!”

He watched as Ryoga’s skin purpled. Bruised under the rapidfire blows. But it didn’t help. He didn’t feel them. It couldn’t replace the bile and self revulsion building in her throat.

“Ranma, Stop!”

She grabbed Ryoga by the hair. Spun him around. Launched him. Off in the distance, he crashed limply into a drinking fountain, sending a spray of debris and water into the air.

“Ranma, please! ”

Ranma wanted to go over there. Wanted to keep fighting. Keep hurting. But half of her held her back. The kinder, more gentle, better half of her. It had grabbed her by the wrist and kept her from moving forwards, and continuing to take it out on Ryoga.

Which… was for the best.

Ryoga had not been the “you” Ranma had been referring to.

She didn’t want to be him anymore. Didn’t want to be “Ranma”. Didn’t want to be a cocky jerk who would distract a person she cared about, when she knew, she knew, that Ryoga was using indiscriminate weapons that would fly around, reversing direction, not broadcasting his intent. It was an insane, yet effective, technique for accomplishing something Pops had spent years perfecting. Even still, the bandanas weren’t a threat to Akane like that. They didn’t carry enough weight to break through Akane’s Ki for anything more than a shallow cut. But the stupid godsdamned umbrella was heavy. Heavy enough, apparently.

Why hadn’t she realized that?

Why hadn’t she been better?

Why did she fail?

Why did she kill Akane?

That other half of her yanked her back.

Pulled her physically.

Placed its hands against the sides of her face, leaned in, and pulled her close until their foreheads were touching, wiping her tears with its thumbs.

“Ranma! Look at me!” It said.

“A-Akane?” Ranma stammered.

“I’m here, Ranma. I’m okay.” Akane said, before pulling back.

She didn’t look okay. Her hair was shorn short, the blue fading into bloody red at the tips. Her neck was absolutely covered in sticky, wet blood, which had smeared onto her shoulders, chest, and chin. She looked like a zombie, or a ghost.

But Ranma could feel her. He could feel her. She was there. And her words rung with absolute truth that could not be faked. When truth flowed over their link, it did not leave room for it to be questioned. You just knew it.

He wasn’t hallucinating. It wasn’t just grief.

She was okay.

“That fence kinda tore you up.” Akane said. “I think you dropped your guard. Your uniform is shredded. But I think I know how to fix it.”

Ranma once again felt the tingling nausea from earlier in his stomach, but it had nowhere to go.

“Right.” Akane said. “Ranma… you have to let me. Please?”

Ranma had no idea what Akane was talking about, but she was here. She was alive. He trusted her implicitly. So he sucked in a breath, and dropped some defenses he hadn’t even been aware he’d had.

The tingly nausea intensified, as it had something to work against, and he felt a hundred different pinpricks along his back stop hurting, close back up, and fade like they’d never been there in the first place. He felt his split knuckles knit back together, and a tingle on his lip.

“Right. Here too.” Akane said, leaning forwards with a focused expression.

Her hand made contact with Ranma’s upper thigh, and Ranma stopped breathing.

Vaguely, he was aware of a shallow cut on his thigh closing under Akane’s palm, but he couldn’t focus on it. With her this close, with her touching him like this, with his reaction to thinking he’d lost her… she couldn’t deny it anymore.

She was falling for her. And falling hard.

But all he could do was lament the fact that it could never work between them, regardless of how much she now wanted it to.

“There, good as new.” Akane looked up, shooting him a cocky half-smile that made his heart beat wildly. “I uh… had to figure out healing, after… you know…”

“You… disappeared.” Ranma hated how quiet his voice was right now. How feminine. “You were gone. I couldn’t feel you.”

“I uh… I couldn’t feel me, either.” Akane sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, frowning when she didn’t have to push anything out of the way, and more when her hand came back bloody. “At least, I couldn’t feel anything below my neck. But I fixed it, Ranma! I figured it out! I have healing magic. Isn’t that amazing?”

Ranma shook as he looked at her, as Akane smiled with wonder at her new revelation. He felt the tears begin anew.

It wasn’t very manly, but she couldn’t stop herself. She threw her arms around Akane, and squeezed her tight.

“D-Don’t ever s-scare me like t-that again!” Ranma choked out between sobs, holding her close.

They stayed like that for a while.

Akane frowned at the bundle of black hair in her hands. It was as dark as her natural color, as if it’d never been bleached or dyed. It wasn’t the blue of her current hair, touched by magic, either. It wasn’t a part of her, not anymore.

It wasn’t hers.

She’d tried reattaching it earlier. Tried healing it back together. Tried again after washing the blood out in the girl’s locker room. Even tried gluing it in with her magic. It… didn’t work. It wasn’t the same. Her hair was just… gone.

It was such a trifling thing. Unimportant compared to her neck, compared to healing a severed spine or whatever. She really should have been more worried about that. But… her neck was fixed.

Her hair wasn’t.

It was the only thing she’d actually lost.

Well, that, and about a pint of blood.

It was surreal, really. Part of her brain was actively trying to block out the memory. Make her forget lying there, helpless, wondering if she’d ever stand on her own two feet again.

But she fixed it. And she could fix it again! She had no reason to fear that, ever again.

But she couldn’t fix everything.

Couldn’t fix her hair.

This bundle of black hair… it was forever limp. Forever unattached. It would never get up on its own. It would never fight again.

Unable to face the thoughts any longer, she threw it in the locker room trash can, slamming her fist into the lid hard enough to warp it.

No one would be able to open that trash can again without a crowbar.

“Akane, are you alright?” Ranma asked behind her.

Akane turned to face Ranma, and put on her best fake smile.

“I’m fine.” She lied. “Never been better.”

“Riiight…” Ranma said as she finished wiggling into one of Akane’s shirts. She looked… really good in gothic colors, even if it was a bit too big around the waist, and too tight around the chest.

Maybe Akane needed to convince Ranma to adopt the style? It would be nice to have another smoking hot, well-muscled girl in goth clothes walking around with her. It would make her less unique, but it would also make her feel less… alone.

Really, it was just a black skirt, and a black shirt with a band name written in white English letters across the chest. It was probably among the least goth outfits she still wore, but it fit… well enough, even if Ranma’s chest was halfway to turning it into a crop top.

“We’re going to Dr. Tofu’s.” Ranma declared, and the truth coming over the link made it clear there was no room for argument. Not that that would ever stop Akane.

“I’m fine! I healed it!” Akane growled.

“We still need a doctor to check it out!” Ranma insisted. “You were hurt. Badly. I know you’ve been avoiding him, but we need to make sure there’s not any further damage. So unless you want to pony up for the hospital…”

“Fine!” Akane snapped, smacking her fist into a nearby locker. “Fine, we’ll… we’ll go.”

The walk to Dr. Tofu’s had been tense, and it had not been made better after Akane left Ranma in the waiting room with her father, who was, apparently, a Panda during working hours.

Now, she was alone. Alone with the man she’d thought was her crush. Alone with the only man who’d ever taken her seriously. Alone with a man she felt like she had failed.

“According to Ranma, you had a deep cut in the back of  your neck?” Dr. Tofu asked.

“Yes.” Akane indicated where it was with her finger. “Right here. But I fixed it.”

“Hrm… about… C5? And judging from your hair… at quite a steep angle. I am… not familiar with magical healing techniques.” Dr. Tofu said. “Martial artists do heal faster, that is true. Good Ki flow is great for healing, but even if such a cut was somewhere superficial, and less serious than she described… you’d still be looking at several days to heal. And Ranma said… that you were unable to move?”

“I mean… I couldn’t.” Akane squirmed in place. “But like I said, I fixed it. I’m fine. I don’t know what the big deal is.”

“I think it would be best if I felt around, made sure things were in place. Made sure there isn’t any deeper damage.” Dr. Tofu continued. “To do that, I’m going to have to touch you, around the injury site. Is that okay?”

“I–… fine.” Akane growled, not sure how to feel about the idea.

Dr. Tofu’s fingers were gentle against the back of her neck.

They felt good.

They disgusted her.

She didn’t know what she wanted to feel about them.

Three weeks ago, she would have been uncomplicatedly thrilled about this. About him touching her. About… pretending it was almost loving. That she could be touched in such a familial way by someone other than Kasumi.

But right now it felt hollow. She felt lost.

Ashamed.

It was all she could do to keep her nausea down.

But still, somehow, they felt good.

“Remarkable.” Dr. Tofu said as he pulled his fingers away. “Not even a scar. I almost want to believe the two of you are pulling a prank on me… it feels exactly like uninjured tissue should. Still, if you want to be safe, you really should go to the hospital and get an x-ray done. It might catch issues I can’t.”

“I’ll… think about it, Doctor.” Akane said, unable to meet his eyes.

“You know… you’ve been coming in for so long, I almost forgot that you used to have short hair.” Dr. Tofu said wistfully. “You’ve been growing it out for what, seven, eight years? But maybe you should consider this an opportunity to try out short hair, again. I always thought it suited you.”

That was it.

The straw that broke Akane’s back.

She was eight years old again.

Kasumi was telling her that nice men like Dr. Tofu wouldn’t like a tomboy with short hair.

She felt the sob deep in her chest before she felt the wetness hit her cheeks.

She fell onto Dr. Tofu, and he held her comfortingly.

Like Kasumi had always done before.

LIke Ranma probably would, if she let go of her guilt and allowed her to.

Like she had always wished her father would.

She felt awful, being held like this, but she wouldn’t burden anyone else with it. Not anyone who mattered, at least.

Because she’d done it for Dr. Tofu in the first place. Grown her hair out for the idea of him. Back when she’d still thought she could be normal. Pushed her femininity forwards in defiance of the tomboy accusations, grew her hair long, even though it was a ton of work. She’d done it all for him: the man she’d imagined Dr. Tofu to be. The man who was clearly enamored with her older sister, the man who Kasumi definitely knew best. There was no way Kasumi could ever be wrong about him.

Until she was.

Dr. Tofu, the real Dr. Tofu, liked her hair shorter, anyways.

Everything she’d done, everything she’d tried to reach that ideal?

It was pointless.

And so Akane sobbed. And she mourned.

Mourned the mistakes she’d made.

Mourned the girl she could have been.

Mourned the long overdue death of the fake Dr. Tofu inside of her.

Cried out her own weakness and stupidity and complicated feelings she shouldn’t have, that magic told her she didn’t have, but still needed to be washed out of her system, regardless.

And in this swirl of emotion, she finally admitted to herself how scared she had been. How terrified she was. Of never moving again. Of dying over some stupid schoolyard brawl she hadn’t even been a part of. Her hair was gone, and part of her was gone with it.

But nested in those external fears was another, more internal one: she was scared of herself. Scared, because she knew full well she’d only survived the encounter because of what she could so easily take, unwillingly, from the girl she’d cursed.

Emi Itou tapped her foot impatiently. She’d only meant to explore the schoolgrounds, scout the best vantage points to take pictures at her new school, but somehow, she’d stumbled upon some kind of wild, crazy fight.

She’d known that Nerima was some kind of hub of martial artists. She’d witnessed the brawl right before school. She’d been prepared for that. She knew before transferring in that she’d likely witness some Ninja stuff. But what she saw at the end of the fight this afternoon? She wasn’t an expert, but she was pretty sure there was no martial arts technique for that.

She pulled out the roll of film. She’d wanted to do it earlier, but she wouldn’t let her impatience ruin the shots. But it was set now. She had to see it. Had to know what she’d captured.

So she held the strip up to the safelight, and inspected it through the eerie red glow.

The shot she was looking for was blurred, despite the excellent lighting the sun had provided, but still, even in miniature and monochrome like this, she could tell what it was meant to be:

A man, crashing into a destroyed water fountain, partway through a transformation into a small pig.

Where could she go with this? Who would she even talk to?

Would anyone even believe her? Doctoring photographs was hard, but not impossible.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she remembered seeing that Furinkan High had an Occult Club.

Perhaps she would have to pay them a visit.

Chapter Text

Akane slammed the door behind her as she returned home. Of course she had to lose control and cry in front of Dr. Tofu. Of course her makeup ran without giving her any opportunity to fix it, and of course Ranma saw the moment she walked out. If only she had some magical… make-up fixing… magic… or something. Though Ranma probably would have known if she’d used that, too.

The end result was that Ranma had babied her, all the way home. Swarmed around her like a mother hen. And that was not what she needed right now. She had to slam the door in Ranma’s face to even get her to do that thing she always did after school. And… Ranma still hesitated in front of the door for a bit, but eventually turned, and started heading towards the place she always went.

“Good girl.” Akane whispered under her breath, and then stifled a laugh as Ranma seemed to stumble over something at that exact moment. Of course, Akane could have no idea what might have tripped Ranma up… she only knew where Ranma was, not what was around her.

And that’s the way she intended to keep it. Ranma deserved privacy, too. And if that meant running off and hanging out in a part of Nerima she couldn’t remember having anything interesting in, well, Akane would let her have it. She wouldn’t even go check the area… there was no need to refresh her memory of the area and figure out what might be there that took up so much of Ranma’s time. It wasn’t any of her business.

Some things were easy like that, between them. They never had to talk about their need for privacy. They just… knew to give it to each other. Sometimes they worked together so well it was scary. Other times…

“Oh, Akane, are you alright?” Kasumi practically tackled Akane into a tight hug. “Ranma called ahead from Dr. Tofu’s! He said you’d been hurt?”

…No one was better at getting under her skin.

“I’m fine, Kasumi.” Akane growled as she shoved her sister back, holding her at arm’s length. It was harder than it should have been… Kasumi had given up the art ten years ago, but she was deceptively strong. Maybe even as strong as Akane. “I don’t need to be babied!”

Kasumi looked at her, took her in. Almost certainly saw where her makeup had been wiped away, the redness around her eyes, and, of course… her hair.

“No. You are not.”

Akane did not have a link with Kasumi, but she almost might as well have, given how little space Kasumi’s tone left for her to argue. It was true, and her eldest sister was always good at seeing right through her.

“O-Okay, fine, m-my hair got cut, are you h-happy?” Akane’s voice felt small, like she was a child again.

“Akane…” Kasumi’s voice softened. “What happened.” It wasn’t a question. It was a command.

“I… look… I… there was… an a-accident. S-Something dangerous that… w-well… it wasn’t m-meant to hit anyb-body, but I… I was d-distracted…”

“It wasn’t just your hair.” Again, not a question.

“I-I… maybe… o-okay… s-so… I… maybebrieflyhadabitofaseveredspinebutit’sokayIhealeditalmostrightawaywithmymagic!”

Kasumi’s grip on Akane’s shoulders tightened, and Akane found herself shrinking further under Kasumi’s gaze.

“That’s not the kind of injury you just heal from, Akane!” For the first time in years, Kasumi’s voice had an edge of panic to it. “Oh my gods… you almost died tonight, didn’t you?!”

Akane tried to bore a hole through the floorboards with her eyes. There was no non-incriminating way to answer the question.

When she didn’t answer, Kasumi pulled her back into a bone-crushing hug, and Akane was unable to resist. Weakly, she wrapped her arms around Kasumi, too.

“S-Sis…” Akane sniffled. “I-I’ve… I’ve already cried… a w-whole lot t-tonight. I… I can’t–”

“I can’t protect you.” Kasumi said as the wet of her tears landed on Akane’s shoulder. “N-Not anymore… I… I didn’t think I had to!” Kasumi squeezed harder as she sniffled. “Y-You’ve gotten so s-strong… and… and then… Ranma… but…”

“I-I still am s-strong!” Akane squeezed back. “I f-fixed it! I h-healed myself! W-Why does nobody…”

“It’s okay to b-be scared, Akane.” Kasumi gently rubbed Akane’s back. “Thank t-the gods your m-magic works like that… i-if it didn’t…”

They stood there, holding each other, for a good, long time.

It was both easier and harder, crying like that for the second time, tonight. She didn’t have the big sobs left in her; the biggest emotions had already been washed away. Her crying now was more about relief, about sympathy. Kasumi was here. She was fine. She was going to be okay. And yes Kasumi got scared for her but at least Kasumi would.

It wasn’t until both of their tears had largely dried up that Akane spoke again.

“Don’t tell dad…” She said quietly.

Kasumi nodded into her shoulder.

“He wouldn’t do anything about it, anyways.” Kasumi whispered back.

The door slammed open behind them, and Akane and Kasumi jumped apart.

A giant panda stood in the doorway. Mr. Saotome had returned, and was clearly looking to make a beeline for the kettle. Akane and Kasumi got out of his way.

Kasumi shot her a look. One that asked her an important question in the language of siblings.

Does he know? And should he know?

Akane shook her head without moving it. She had no intention of ever letting either adult in on the full extent of her magical prowess.

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” Akane said out loud. “I really need to get cleaned up.”

She climbed the stairs rapidly, and headed towards her room, but Nabiki’s door was open.

“Sup, Sis.” Nabiki said as she tried to pass. “I heard you almost died or something.”

Nabiki was sprawled across her bed, facing away from her and reading a fashion magazine. Her body language was uninterested. Unconcerned. She took a long sip from the fruity drink in her other hand, the glass it was in complete with a brightly colored plastic straw and tiny umbrella.

“Yeah, you sure don’t seem too shaken up about it.” Akane grumbled.

“Almost died.” Nabiki shrugged, still looking the opposite direction from Akane. “You’re fine now, yeah?”

“Of course I am.” Akane scoffed. “I always pull through.”

“Of course you do. So I’ll save the singular tear I’ve allotted for you for your actual funeral. But make sure to keep that in the distant future, yeah? Losing you would hurt my profit margins.”

“Love you too, Sis.” Akane rolled her eyes. At least someone had faith in her. “But don’t worry, I just found out I’m a lot harder to kill than I used to be.”

“That’s good.” Nabiki’s voice was slightly more strained than usual, but not enough that anyone outside of her sisters would ever have picked up on it. “You’re a valuable asset. But time is money, and I don’t wanna keep you.”

“Of course.” Akane nodded. “See you later, sis.”

If Nabiki hadn’t been holding a drink, Akane probably wouldn’t have noticed that her sister was shaking, but the little ripples gave it away.

And if Akane had been able to see her face? She would have realized that Nabiki had already allotted a lot more than one tear for her.

Akane stepped into the kitchen, wearing her yellow (and now partially green) ducky pajamas. They were stained, yes, but they were still comfy. Still cute. Still just as good as a pair of pajamas as they always had been. This was the first time she’d worn them since they’d gotten stained, but… she was feeling them, tonight. She’d definitely have to change them before she actually went to bed, considering what would assuredly happen in the morning, but right now? They felt right.

They were still fine. Still good enough.

“Kasumi, what are you doing?” Akane asked her sister, watching her corral something into the corner with a broom.

“Oh… it’s just…” Kasumi sighed, leaning up against the broom. “It’s just the darndest thing… this little piglet somehow got into the yard… I’m going to have to patch the fence somewhere, I’m sure, but he was clearly hurt… so I brought him in to see what I could do for him, and…”

Akane looked over to the terrified piglet in the corner. It looked like it had been through hell. It was wheezing and occasionally coughing up blood. There was fight in its eyes, but they were definitely writing checks its body could not cash.

“Collapsed trachea, severe pulmonary edema… he seems set to die a slow, painful death over the next few hours, and he’s beyond my abilities, even if I could get ahold of a vet on such short notice… so I was going to put him out of his misery, give him a clean, painless passing, but… it was like he heard me, even though I was speaking in a calming voice. He freaked out, and ran into the corner, and I’m afraid that’s only making it worse for him. All the running around is only causing him more pain.”

Akane sighed, cracked her neck and knuckles, and smiled.

“I’ve already healed worse, Kasumi.” Akane said. “This little piggy’s gonna make a full recovery. Just stand back.”

“Oh… right… I forgot you could…” Kasumi surreptitiously slipped a hidden kitchen knife back into the knife block. “Does… does that work on other people?”

“Yeah.” Akane said, kneeling down, trying to make herself small and unthreatening as she approached the pig. “I healed some cuts on Ranma earlier.”

“Oh. I thought he was the only person you couldn’t affect with magic?”

“Well, I mean, I can.” Akane wiggled closer. “She just has to let me, y’know?”

“No… I don’t.” Kasumi said. “When did you figure this out?”

Akane turned her head towards Kasumi, pausing to ponder the question seriously.

“Right before I healed her cuts, I guess?”

Kasumi shook her head, and Akane returned to the task of comforting the pig.

“Hey there little guy.” She shot the pig her best, brightest smile. “Look… I’m not going to hurt you. I am going to make you feel better. It’s okay. I’m going to make sure you can grow up nice and strong, okay?”

Akane reached a hand forwards, stopping a few inches short, and waited for the pig to react.

For a second, it looked like it was about to bite her hand. It didn’t really drop its guard as it slowly tapped forwards, towards her hand, wheezing the whole way. Eventually, it bumped into her finger, stopped, and stared up at her, defiantly.

“Good boy.” Akane said, and got to work.

Healing was, technically, the first spell she’d learned to cast completely silently, but still, under her breath, she whispered the word “heal.” It just… felt right. Made it easier. The slightest contact was all she needed, but for some reason, there was a barrier she had to push through, like when she was trying to use magic on Kuno. Obviously, a piglet wouldn’t have Ki control, so Akane figured it was just part of the healing spell when used on another person. Well, it had been different with Ranma, but everything was different with Ranma. Trying to cast magic on Ranma was a lot like throwing a rock down a deep well, and never hearing it land. Unless, of course, Ranma was there, willing to catch it.

The barrier snapped, and the piglet began to heal almost instantly. Healing was also weird, in that it didn’t seem to require a lot of energy, or even a lot of control. The body already knew what shape it was supposed to be in, and following those instructions, for most injuries, it was just a matter of sticking the ends back together and reattaching them. Bruises were harder than cuts, and while the pig had a lot of them, it was just a pig, and a small one. It wasn’t hard to heal.

The fluid in its lungs – the pulmonary edema – was a slightly bigger challenge, because it wasn’t like her magic made it… go anywhere. But with a working trachea, unbroken ribs, and a healed diaphragm, the pig began to cough in earnest, and soon, bloody mucous splatted into Akane’s hand. She winced, but didn’t move, keeping the healing magic flowing to make sure any damage from those violent coughs were healed. Eventually, the pig calmed. It seemed to be fully healthy once more.

Akane got up and washed her hands in the sink. The pig seemed to follow her, almost like a little duckling.

“He’s wearing a little bandana.” Kasumi said, pondering.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Akane said. It looked oddly familiar, but she couldn’t place it. “Think he already has an owner?”

“Maybe.” Kasumi frowned. “If so, they did not treat him well. And I didn’t see any tags when I was checking him over, earlier.”

She reached down to try to pick up the pig, but it reacted angrily, and Kasumi backed off, rather than getting bit.

“I don’t think he trusts me anymore…” Kasumi said.

“Gee, I wonder why?” Akane stuck her tongue out at her sister, then leaned over and picked the pig up. It reacted gleefully, diving right into her hands. “Well, if his past owners were awful, and left him to die, then… I guess he’s mine now. I’m going to call him ‘P-Chan.’”

“Really setting a high bar for creative names, there.” Kasumi teased.

“Oh whatever.” Akane laughed. “It’s cute, and so is he. Besides, you like it, don’t you, P-Chan?”

P-Chan seemed to be glaring at her, but the pig’s expression softened, and she could have sworn he shrugged.

“Well, that settles it, then.” Akane held P-Chan to her chest. “Welcome home, P-Chan!”

It was late when Ranma returned. Much later than he’d intended. He still felt the gaping wound in his chest. Could still remember the words that had stung so much.

“I don’t want you hovering around me, I’m fine!” Akane had said.

And it had been true.

Everything but the last two words.

And faced with the truth of those words, it made him feel like shit.

She didn’t want him.

She’d never want him.

Not like he wanted her.

And acknowledging the crush had only made it bigger. Only made it hit harder. He was hanging off of her every word. He wanted to spend every possible moment with her. Not being wanted was a poisoned blade to the gut, thrust in with a twist.

And while time with Hiro helped… it didn’t fix it. Didn’t heal the gaping wound where his heart should be.

Okay, he was probably being melodramatic. He’d lived his entire life without her. He’d live the rest without her, too. Who would even want a crazy uncute unsexy tomboy like that, anyways? Not him! He didn’t need her! Didn’t need her approval. And… and… she probably didn’t hate him completely. He’d probably overreacted.

Just like he had when he thought he’d heard her whisper “good girl” directly into his ear. That had done some unfortunate things to his stomach. But unless she’d somehow mastered a magical version of the Umi-Sen Ken even better than Pops had… she wasn’t anywhere nearby when he’d heard it.

It wasn’t something he wanted to be called, anyways!

…Right?

He grumbled and pushed his way through the door, and started to call out a rushed “I’m back!”, except…

Akane was waiting for him.

And as he walked through the door…

She had that stupid, wonderful smile plastered across her face.

And her hair… it was cleaned up. Cut short. Styled.

It looked good.

Very good.

Ranma felt his mouth go dry.

She couldn’t…

Just seeing Akane like this, waiting for her, smiling at her like that, made her heart pound. Froze her in place. She forgot everything. Forgot who she was. All that mattered was the girl in front of her.

“I told you I’d be fine on my own, dummy.” Akane teased, and Ranma had to fight to keep her knees from buckling.

“She wasn’t!” Nabiki called out. “She cried the entire time Kasumi was cutting her hair.”

“I did not!” Akane shouted back. It was a lie, but she’d turned her head, and not being under the concentrated beam of Akane’s smile, Ranma was able to start recovering.

It was unfair that a girl could look that good with short hair. Ranma had never wanted short hair, so how dare she pull it off so casually?

Right. He needed to get his thoughts back in order. Unscramble his brain. He already knew Akane looked great. That hadn’t changed. And he had detected some… er… crying… over their link while he was out… only negative emotions really seemed to transmit over it. Panic and fear, mostly, but there was a background tingle for stuff like sadness or rage. Akane had probably had a big emotional event telling her family about the afternoon.

He wasn’t jealous that he wasn’t there for that.

Not one bit.

Not at all.

But he wouldn’t try to say those words to Akane. She would know.

Ranma turned his head and coughed. He didn’t want to risk looking at Akane directly right now.

“You look… pretty girl–PRETTY GOOD!” Ranma quickly corrected. “Pretty good.”

“Aw, thanks.” Akane stepped closer. “You missed dinner, you know.”

“I wasn’t hungry.” Ranma said, truthfully.

“Just let me know, and I’ll heat some up for you.” Akane said. “But first… I’ve got someone to introduce you to.”

Ranma’s stomach dropped. Had Akane somehow found someone to replace him in the last few hours? Had that been why she was reacting like she hadn’t said what she’d said earlier?

Suddenly, a small black piglet was being shoved into his face.

“Meet P-Chan!” Akane announced cheerfully. “Poor thing was on the verge of death when we found him! But I fixed him right up! Yes I did! Yes I did!” She rubbed her face into the pig, while baby talking to it. “Because I’m good at that. Fixing things.”

Ranma’s snarky retort died on his lips. Sure, she hadn’t fixed him, but Akane deserved a win after this afternoon. Plus… she looked happy. And the pig was cute. He decided to let her have this.

“P-Chan, huh?” Ranma cooed. “You are a cutie, aren’tcha?” He reached out to pet the pig, but stopped short as the pig snapped at him. “Guess he only wants to let his momma touch him?”

“P-Chan, be nice.” Akane chided, and the pig looked genuinely remorseful. “We think he might have been previously abused.” Akane whispered to Ranma. “But he’s very smart. I think once he realizes you’re not a threat, it’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, sure…” Ranma backed up, not ready to be that close to Akane right now. “I uh… I should really shower. I… definitely worked up a sweat.”

“You should take P-Chan with you!” Akane pushed the pig into his arms, and he held back a wince as P-Chan did bite him. “It could be a good bonding exercise! And I bet he’d enjoy a nice warm soak.”

The pig squirmed in his arms, but Ranma held him close. Akane had asked him to do something, and he refused to fail.

P-Chan didn’t seem to like him very much. Fought him the entire time, even though he was trying his best to be gentle, and caring. But the pig couldn’t actually hurt him, just… not for a lack of trying.

“Come on! Just get in the tub! Soak and Relax!” Ranma insisted, but the pig stubbornly refused to release its death grip on his finger. “Fine! If you don’t want to, then I’ll just take all the hot water for myself.”

The pig released its grip slightly, and Ranma knew he had his chance.

“Ha!” He shouted, spiking P-Chan into the water.

The Splash was… much too big for such a small pig. Ranma had to wipe hot water away from his eyes.

There wasn’t a pig sitting in the water.

Or at least, not a literal one.

“Die!” Ryoga shouted, throwing a right hook.

Ranma was not in the mood. He caught Ryoga’s wrist and twisted. Hard.

“Stop it.” Ranma said calmly. “Just because you healed fast doesn’t mean the result will be any better for you the second time. I’m not going to humor you.”

Ryoga glared, but relaxed, and slid back to the far side of the tub.

“You didn’t change back.” Ryoga said simply.

“I told you, it’s locked.” Ranma crossed his arms, self-consciously, avoiding giving Ryoga any more of a show.

“Your witch girlfriend?” Ryoga asked.

“She’s not… we’re not…”

“Of course not.” Ryoga sneered. “But she did heal me. Which… thanks, but her mom isn’t a very good doctor. I would have been fine.”

There was an awkward pause.

“So… Jusenkyo?” Ranma asked eventually.

“What was your first clue?” Ryoga glared. “Yes. I got knocked off a cliff by some stupid girl and a panda, and well…”

Ranma felt her vision narrow.

“A… A Panda?” She asked.

“Yeah. A big fat one. Was doin’ martial arts or something. Smacked right into me while fighting the girl.”

“Fuck.” Ranma swore.

“What?” Ryoga asked.

“It is my fault.”

“Of course it is! I went to China to find–”

“No, I mean, I was the girl. And the Panda… well, that’s my Pops.”

Ryoga’s glare intensified.

“There’s really nothing good in my life when you’re around, is there?”

“I’m sorry! I swear, I didn’t know!”

“Do you know what it’s like, being a little five pound pig?” Ryoga asked. “I wasn’t kidding about seeing hell. Everything wants to eat you. And I’m just lucky that every time a person’s actually caught me, they’ve tried boiling me, because, hey, at least I turn back!” Ryoga turned to look away. “I don’t think I could survive being roasted or burned alive, or, if like the Psycho down in the kitchen, they started with a knife.”

Ranma sighed, and rubbed his temples.

“Okay. So… yeah. That’s terrible. And clearly, I owe you, because that sucks, but trying to kill me doesn’t help anyone. Especially since you don’t even stand a ghost of a chance of actually pullin’ it off. So how ‘bout instead I try to help you fix it?”

“What, fix it, like you fixed yours?” Ryoga turned back to glare at her. “Pass. I’m not getting stuck as a pig permanently.”

“That’s… fair.” Ranma sighed. “At the very least… I can… make sure no one hurts you as a Pig. I can make sure Akane does too.”

“No.”

“What?”

“No. You aren’t tellin’ Akane shit. This is a secret to everybody. If you have a shred of manhood left in that girly-ass body, you won’t tell anyone.”

“It’s… it’s not that simple.” Ranma insisted. “There’s magic involved. I can’t actually–”

“Swear it, you pansy ass!” Ryoga shouted.

“I… fine.” Ranma let out an exasperated sigh. “I swear, on my honor as a martial artist, that I will do everything, within my power, to make sure no one else learns your secret. Are you happy?”

“Never. But I’ll take it.”

There was another long, awkward pause.

“You… you really can’t let Akane hold you like that.” Ranma said. “It’s one thing for a pet, but… if she ever found out it was you that she’d been holding like that…”

“What, are you jealous?”

“O-Of course not!” Ranma stammered. “But you hurt her, earlier! Do you know how–”

“She looked fine to me!” Ryoga cut him off. “Damn fine, honestly.”

“Don’t talk about her like that!” Ranma shouted.

“You are jealous! You like her, don’t you?” Ryoga grinned predatorily. “You do a shit job of hiding it, you know. But what can you do? Nothing. Because you’re not a man anymore. You ain’t got the balls.” Ryoga gestured to himself. “But I do. If I was in your place? I’d be tappin’ that every night.”

“Shut up, Ryoga!” Ranma almost launched himself at Ryoga, but his guilt held him back. Ryoga’s curse, like every curse, was his fault.

“You’re just mad because you can’t, and I can.” Ryoga chuckled darkly. “I’m going to take away your happiness, Saotome.”

Ryoga got out of the tub, and started heading for the door, but Ranma quickly turned around, turning the shower on, and blasting him with a spray of cold water.

“Ah-ah-ah, P-Chan!” Ranma chided. “You came in here as a pig, and you’ll leave here as a pig. Can’t have your secret getting out.”

P-Chan crawled back into the tub, and Ryoga popped out.

“Dick move, Saotome.”

“Yeah, well, you’re bein’ an even bigger dick. So you ‘bout you calm down, and we think this through.”

“Never!” Ryoga charged again, and once again, Ranma sprayed him.

“I can do this all day.” Ranma said, glaring down at P-Chan.

The pig made a series of distressed “Bwee” noises, then launched himself at the furo door, managing to nudge it open through sheer gumption.

“You’re not gonna get very far anyways.” Ranma called out. “Akane hasn’t liked a single boy she’s come across!”

But… the thoughts hit him. Memories of every time Akane talked about her “future husband”. They all had one thing in common: every time, Akane talked about how nice he would be. And every time, the link told him it was a lie.

There was only one conclusion he could reach:

Akane liked bad boys.

And Ryoga? Was an asshole.

“Fuck.” Ranma swore under his breath, and got up to chase down the piggy terror.

Chapter Text

Akane leaned against her dresser, staring at the mirror in front of her. Kasumi had done a great job. Her hair looked good. It looked good in a way it never had when it was longer. It felt light. It felt like her. Like it was always meant to be.

But somehow, she was still mourning its loss.

It was definitely a major improvement from how it was when she’d returned home, sliced unevenly like… well, like it’d been cut via razor-umbrella. It had looked bad. She needed the haircut.

But watching the hair clippings fall from her face… watching the color fade… the magic fade… the her-ness fade… she could heal her neck, but she couldn’t grow her hair back. Well, she could, just… not like…

Akane pushed away from her dresser and blew a frustrated breath towards her hair, realizing too late that it was no longer long enough to react to that. She flopped onto her bed and groaned.

At least… Ranma had liked her haircut. Had even complimented it, directly. No denials, no attempts to misdirect. It was a shame, really, that Ranma wasn’t actually the man she liked to claim she was. It would have made things easy. She could just have… switched her crush over to Ranma. Made that work. Remained closer to her than they had any right being after such a short time knowing each other.

She’d figure out how to reverse her spell, and then she and Ranma, the latter in her boy form that Akane could scarcely remember, could ride off into the sunset, and have their fairytale romance, brought close by their shared adventure.

And… maybe in her fantasies, Ranma would retain the ability to turn into a girl. And… maybe in her fantasies, Ranma would still spend most of her time as a girl.

But she would have been a man, then. Just… a sensitive one. One that knew a girl’s heart as well as her own. And there was no better way to learn about women than spending time as one, right?

Still, Ranma would look amazing in a fitted Tuxedo, for the wedding… Akane imagined looking down at her, brushing her red hair out of the way…

You may now kiss the bride.

And then she’d lean down, kiss her wife husband, and they’d live happily ever after.

It was hard to think of Ranma as a man, though. She was just… so clearly a girl. In body and in soul. Ranma just… probably hadn’t realized it yet, with her repeated insistence that she was a man… Ranma definitely still thought of herself as a man, but, well, she didn’t actually want to turn back. The link told her so much about Ranma’s true feelings on the matter, but given the way the Dr. Tofu reveal had hit Akane, she didn’t want to just… drop that kind of knowledge on Ranma. Being told that magic thought your whole conception of your gender was invalid would probably hit even harder. Ranma would probably have to figure it out by herself at some point, anyways. Or may she’d keep just… insisting she was a man forever, while actively running away from any attempts to cure her.

And Dr. Tofu… ugh… how did she even think that crush had been a real one? At no point in her fantasies of him had she been able to actually imagine his face, or imagine actually following the fantasies far enough to imagine her actually touching him. It felt so fake in comparison. Now that she’d had a good cry about it, it had been easy to see through her past conceptions… her “crush” on Dr. Tofu had been a fabrication. A child trying to assemble the elements of a crush into a pastiche of a real one, without ever understanding how they connected together. She felt like an idiot for believing it for so long… for letting it control her life like it had. Part of her still missed it… the certainty, the armor it had given her against other boys… but it was time to move on with her life.

And… speaking of other boys, she hadn’t managed to get any further in her fantasies with any of them than she had with Dr. Tofu. The only person she had been able to was her theoretical “boy” version of Ranma… though, with her memories so heavily biased towards Ranma as a girl, all she could really imagine was Ranma with a flatter chest, and wearing well fitted, masculine clothes. She’d tried to imagine her with a mustache, like her father, but… it really didn’t do it for her. Too many issues, too close to home. In any case, obviously, she hadn’t met the right man yet… though she found that she wasn’t terribly concerned about the idea of never finding the “right man”. A romantic though she was, she felt no real pressure to seek him out. Obviously, Mr. Right would come to her, when he was ready.

Right?

But… her mind traitorously told her… if Ranma was a boy, she’d already have found him.

And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to even consider trying to turn her back into one, anyways. Neither she nor Akane wanted that.

Akane groaned. She’d probably meet him in college. College boys would be smarter, more mature. All the awful ones she’d encountered so far would be filtered out, anyways.

She didn’t think too hard about the fact that she didn’t consider any of her male classmates as having the ability to eventually become one of those college boys.

Whatever. She’d had a big night. She was going to relax, curl up with her new pet pig once Ranma got back with him, hold him close, get some well-deserved sleep, and then, if Genma even thought about throwing P-Chan out the window with her in the morning, she’d make herself a new panda-skin rug.

Down the hall, she heard a commotion. Ranma was shouting at… something. She got up, walked to her door, and opened it.

“Come back here you little shit!” Ranma shouted, apparently chasing something through the house, wearing only her underwear and a towel over her shoulders.

A small, black blur shot between her legs and into her room, Ranma dove to follow it, scrambling about on all fours, but Akane had been training. Getting faster, and getting a lot better at predicting Ranma’s movements.

Using every ounce of speed Akane had, she struck downwards, grabbed Ranma by the scruff of her neck, and picked her up to stare her in the eye.

Ranma hissed indignantly.

“Yeah, well, nice to see you too.” Akane said flatly. “What are you doing?”

“That stupid pig was–”

“Are you picking on P-Chan?” Akane asked insistently.

“What? No!” Ranma answered, and Akane was taken aback by the answer being truthful.

“Why are you chasing him, then?”

“Well, you see, he, uh…” Ranma trailed off as if she was trying to think of something.

“Don’t… don’t bother trying to come up with a lie. You know I’ll see through it. Why, Ranma?”

“He… didn’t finish his bath?” A lie.

“Try again.”

“I… look, he doesn’t like me very much.” Ranma started, and it was true. “But he likes you. A lot.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t answer the question, Ranma!” Akane grumbled, and dropped Ranma. 

Ranma brushed herself off, and stared up at Akane.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Akane.”

“I want an answer. Why were you chasing P-Chan, if not just to pick on him?”

“Because…” Ranma sighed in frustration, preparing to say something, but no words followed.

“Because what, Ranma!”

“I… look. I know feedin’ you another lie ain’t gonna be good enough. I just… I can’t say.”

Akane blinked. Because it was true.

“What do you mean you ‘can’t say’? Is there some kind of magic affecting you?”

“It’s…” Ranma groaned in frustration. “I can’t say why I can’t say. That’d give too much away. It’s not… it’s not because of magic, though. Don’t worry. You don’t need ‘ta go stickin’ your nose into it any.”

Akane sighed, closed her eyes, and rested her forehead against the doorframe.

“Why, Ranma? What could this possibly have to do with P-Chan?”

Ranma opened her mouth.

“No.” Akane cut her off. “Don’t say you can’t say. I already know. I just… I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this. P-Chan is a pig. And you’ve never seen him before tonight, right? You weren’t the one who hurt him, right?”

“I…” Ranma seemed to be considering her words carefully. “I ain’t never seen the pig before tonight, no.”

That was true, at least.

“Just… just give me… something.” Akane grumbled. “Is there a reason you were chasing him?”

Ranma paused for a bit, then answered.

“Yes.”

“Please… just… tell me, as best you can, why.”

“I… look. I just… he… he shouldn’t be sleepin’ in here with you. That’s all.”

“What does that have to do with anything?!” Akane shouted.

“I can’t tell you!” Ranma shouted back.

“I know!” Akane pounded her head into the doorframe. “I know… I just… you’re frustrating the hell out of me and this is pissing me off. Can I just… look, is this a threat to me? Is there some danger from P-Chan you can’t tell me about? Honestly at this point I don’t give a crap about the rest.”

Ranma thought on it. Thought for a good long while. She seemed to brace herself as she prepared to answer. Like she expected saying it to hurt.

“Honestly? Truly… No, Akane. There’s no real threat to you. I’m just being insecure.”

Akane’s vision narrowed, the rest of the world fading away from the tunnel her eyes were boring into Ranma’s skull.

Akane had never thought of Ranma as a particularly good liar, even without their link. But everything, everything, she ever knew about conversation was telling her that Ranma was being honest. Truthful. Vulnerable.

Everything except their link.

Why would Ranma even attempt an Oscar-worthy performance to lie to her with their link?

And why would Ranma lie, specifically, about something that was dangerous to her?

“Liar.” Akane said quietly, feeling the magic swell within her, watching Ranma’s hair start to glow a solid pink. “Why would you lie to me?”

“A-Akane, I–”

Akane grabbed Ranma, and tugged her close by the hair.

“I almost died today and you can’t even tell me about a threat?”

Ranma gaped, almost like a fish, and Akane expanded her magic out. Felt around with it. Used it as a sense, like she had earlier. Like she’d learned how after she got hurt. It would tell her about threats. It would warn her. It wouldn’t happen again.

“I swore, Akane, okay? And I–”

Her magic told her about something else. Something that existed, floating around Ranma’s neck. Something she just had to grab. Something she could control. Something that would keep her from keeping things from her.

After all? Had Ranma not agreed? Was Ranma not hers? The magic told her she was. That what was hers shouldn’t be able to be used to hurt her. Shouldn’t be able to hide from her. All she had to do was take it. Take control, and it couldn’t hurt her again.

So, Akane grabbed it.

An ethereal collar appeared around Ranma’s neck, and the leash was in Akane’s hand.

“Tell me, Ranma! Tell me now!” Akane shouted, tugging on the leash.

“A-Akane! Stop! Please!” Ranma cried out, clutching fruitlessly at her neck.

It wasn’t enough. Wasn’t strong enough. She couldn’t control it. Couldn’t keep herself safe with it. Not yet. She acted on instinct, and pushed more power into the leash.

“Tell me!”

“S-Stop! Y-You’re h-hurting me!”

Hurting. Hurting! Hurting and feeling nothing and not moving and threats. The threat was there. The back of her neck itched. It was falling towards her. Coming at any moment. She couldn’t sense it. Didn’t know it was there. But Ranma did. And Ranma wouldn’t tell her! She pushed more.

“P-P-P-P-Pee… P-Chan… Chan is… nyai can’t! Nyai swore… I… I wouldn’t!” 

“Tell. Me!”

Akane was desperate. How could Ranma not tell? Did she think this was a joke? Did she not realize how big this was? Akane was going to die, and Ranma wouldn’t tell her! What could she… what was she supposed to–

A sharp pain, on her left cheek.

Her magic sense, snapped off.

The collar and leash were gone.

Ranma’s eyes glowed gold. Her pupils were narrow slits, like a cat’s.

Blood dripped from her fingers. Her long, oddly sharp fingers.

Akane couldn’t sense her.

Ranma was gone. But she was right there. Looking at her. Murderously.

Akane raised a hand to her cheek. Pulled it away. There was blood on her hand.

Idly, she tried to heal it, but…

There was no magic. None.

It was just like… just like before. Before the first spell. The one that had actually worked. The one that had locked Ranma, and given Akane magic.

Ranma backed up, back hunched, moving sideways to appear bigger. Her gleaming eyes not leaving Akane’s. Not until she was far down the hall. 

Then, Ranma turned, leaped. Transformed into a red housecat in midair, coming down silently onto her paws. She dashed down the hall, never breaking her stride. Away from Akane. Off to somewhere else. Where? Akane didn’t know. For the first time in three weeks, she didn’t know.

She turned around in shock. Walked, mechanically, back into her room.

She had been wrong. So wrong.

What the hell had she been trying to do?

Ranma had been trying to protect her, as best she could, without revealing whatever she couldn’t reveal.

Akane didn’t need to know the answer! Akane didn’t need to know why! She just had to trust her! Listen to Ranma and she would be safe!

But instead, she was here.

She was weak.

She was powerless.

She was normal.

She couldn’t save herself anymore. Couldn’t heal the damage.

It was so much worse than what would have happened if she just trusted Ranma.

Had they not… were they not close enough to have earned that?

Slowly, she turned her head. Caught her reflection in her mirror.

Her hair was its natural black. Not the slightest hint of blue.

She had three deep gouges on her left cheek, actively bleeding.

She watched the blood drip, putting yet another stain on her soft ducky pajamas.

It reminded her of her hair…

At what point did the falling droplet lose its magic? At what point was it not a part of her, anymore?

At what point was she not herself anymore, either?

The magic was gone. Ranma was gone.

She had done it to herself.

She looked further around her room, to the small black piglet sitting smugly on her bed, wearing an expression she’d never have expected to see on an animal.

The threat.

She didn’t know why.

She didn’t have to know why.

She just had to trust.

With a sudden burst of moment, she grabbed the pig. Brought it to her face. Stared at it.

It was scared.

She didn’t want it to be scared.

She wanted to heal it.

She wanted to crush it.

She wanted it gone.

She wound up to throw it out her window, but realized halfway through the throw that her window was still closed. So she caught the pig by the bandana, and kept it from smashing through the pane.

She couldn’t afford to repair it.

She didn’t need to kill the pig. Just get rid of it.

She stomped over to her window, opened it, and lobbed the pig out, past the perimeter wall.

Its landing probably wouldn’t be gentle, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near as bad as the condition it had arrived in. It was the best she could do for it in her current state.

She stared at the mirror again.

Her hair was black, but the fire in her eyes hadn’t burnt out. Not yet.

She would fix this.

She would find Ranma.

She would apologize. Beg forgiveness.

She would suffer every indignity to pull it off. To fix things. To bring them back together.

To make them whole.

A part of her soul was out there with Ranma, and a part of Ranma’s, she figured, had still been left behind in her.

But she needed help.

She needed to talk to the only person who might know. The only person remaining in the house with tracking experience. The person who knew Ranma even better than she did.

The idea sat in her stomach like the idea of bending over and licking the tangled mass of hairs from the drain in the furo. It was gross. It made her feel sick, but this? She had to do it.

She walked out of her room. Made a bee-line for the occupied guest room. Opened the door without knocking. Walked up to a surprised Genma Saotome, who quickly put away his book.

She kotowed. Kneeled down. Placed her forehead to the floor. Offered him the utmost respect.

“Mr. Saotome. Ranma is scared, upset, and hurt. She turned into a cat and ran away. I need your help to find her. I will do anything you ask of me. Anything.”

“He… turned into a cat?” Genma asked gruffly.

“Yes sir. I don’t know what magic it was. I’m not sure what I did.”

Genma sighed, and knelt down to place a hand on Akane’s shoulder.

“That’s because you didn’t do it. This wasn’t your fault.” He took a deep breath. “No… it was me. I am afraid… that you have stumbled upon my greatest shame.”

Chapter Text

Ranma grumbled at himself, crouching atop a fence. It had only been four days since he’d started living at Tendo's place, and he’d been feeling kind of pent up. Their compound was nice and all, but Ranma was a wanderer at heart. He’d explored every inch of the property, done all his homework, sparred with pops and Akane and done a photoshoot with Nabiki and even helped Kasumi with some chores and it was… Ugh. He’d felt Akane’s eyes on him the entire time, even when she wasn’t lookin’, and it made him feel like he had to do everything perfectly or somethin’.

Even now, he couldn’t hide from her. Surely as he knew that she was sitting in front of what was almost certainly her desk, she knew he was out here crouchin’ over… somethin’. But hey, it wasn’t like she could correct him or nothin’, he’d had enough of the little “fixes” everyone seemed to try to direct him towards. Remind him of all the ways he wasn’t bein’ “feminine” enough. Well, newsflash, everybody! Ranma Saotome wasn’t feminine! He was a man amongst men! A true paragon of virtue! A courageous fighter who… who…

…who would be givin’ anyone who passed by a free show of his underwear, in this position.

He groaned as he dropped down to street level. He needed to start wearin’ pants in the afternoons, but… well, his were too big. And since there wasn’t any chance he’d be magically turnin’ back out here, there wasn’t really any reason to wear pants that were several sizes too large.

He kicked the street and kept walking. Distance didn’t break the bond, or even weaken it. It made it harder to tell exactly where the other person was, since it was all relative and stuff and he didn’t have the same precision without like, landmarks and such that’d make him know exactly what house she was in or anything, but there were a lot of little clues that meant it was more than close enough. Still, it meant she probably just knew roughly which neighborhood he was in, or maybe, if she knew the area well enough, which block he was on.

It was as private as things were gonna get for him.

He’d just have to keep mixin’ it up, goin’ in different directions so ‘Kane wouldn’t get used to his regular haunts or nothin’. It was the best he could ask for, he guessed.

Angry barking drew his attention. A large dog was growling at two small piles of fluff, and while that didn’t scare him any, a closer look at the fluff did.

One was a cat, and the other, from this angle, looked like it could very well have been a cat.

His heart raced. All the therapy techniques for this Genma had tried to teach him started flyin’ out of his head. That monster was going to… to…

The cat… was a kitten.

A one eyed kitten, with its back right leg ending in a gnarled stump. And it was standing between the dog and the other pile of fluff, protectively.

Right… big dogs sometimes hurt cats. He should have been able to find comfort in that, that this dog would protect him, but all he could do was look at this little kitten. This young, broken thing. Standing up against a creature over ten times its size, and holding its ground. It should have run. Should have fled. Didn’t this stupid cat know the dog could kill it? Would kill it? Maybe the kitten would have run, but the other ball of fluff was bleeding, and trembling in place. There was blood on the dog’s lips.

Ranma was five years old again. Ucchan had hurt his ankle, and a drunk old man was standing over them, danger in his eyes. Ranma couldn’t win this fight. His wrist was screaming at him as a reminder of how small he was. How weak. Still, he glared back with every ounce of courage he could muster.

The man leapt forwards, preparing to strike the young, inexperienced Ranma, and so did the dog.

The dog’s jaws closed over the brave little kitten.

Except, they fell just short.

Much like the man’s fist did, from Ranma.

Because Genma had grabbed his collar.

Just like Ranma had grabbed the dog’s.

Fully back in the present, Ranma yanked the dog back, threw it across the alley, and shouted at it to git. The dog took the hint, and fled.

Which left Ranma alone, to face the two little monsters he’d just saved.

The kitten hissed at him, clearly thinking of him as a newer, more dangerous predator. It felt like a threat. Almost made Ranma fall under. Almost made him let it out, again.

But he didn’t. He took a deep breath. He centered himself. He reminded himself that this furry terror wouldn’t hurt him if he didn’t let it. That it was more afraid of him than he was of it. Of that much, he was certain. 

Instead, he crouched down, tried to make himself nonthreatening. Sat back, and faced his fear.

The kitten, satisfied the threat wasn’t coming immediately, wobbled over to the other ball of fluff, and pushed its face into its flank. The other ball of fluff perked. Long ears. A rabbit! Not even another cat. But the white fur was similar between them… could you blame Ranma for thinkin’ they might be siblings or something? But the Rabbit was shocked into motion, and despite its injuries, it quickly bounded off.

The kitten mewled sadly. It couldn’t keep up with the rabbit on just three legs. It was alone again.

Ranma felt a deep yearning in his heart.

Despite the fear, despite everything, Ranma reached a trembling hand forwards. To offer comfort, to offer companionship. To relate to this monster that was so much like him.

The kitten stared for a moment, then fled. It was still wobbly. Still moving like it expected all four limbs to touch down when it moved. But it was still a cat, and with Ranma not moving to give chase, it quickly ducked into a hole in a cracked vent in the side of a nearby building.

It was small, and not that deep. Ranma could have reached in, grabbed the kitten, pulled it out, but only in this smaller, girlier shape. And, besides, the very idea of trying it gave him a visceral fear. Teeth and claws and the tearing of flesh. His scars itched. They were stupidly visible again. More than last time, even.

But… this little kitten, skin and bones and broken though it was, had spirit. It was a true warrior, like him. And it deserved… Ranma wanted…

There was a convenience store, across the street.

He wondered if the kitten would stay there, once he left?

He darted across the street. Grabbed some fish cakes. Convinced the store worker to just… give them to him, because such a small girl must clearly be starving, and she didn’t have anything in her pockets! It took longer than payin’, but Ranma really didn’t have any cash on him, at all. And this kind of scam… well, he was well practiced, if nothin’ else.

He came back with the cakes. Set them in front of the hole, and stood back.

A fuzzy white paw struck out, and Ranma had to stop himself from screaming. The fish cakes were very quickly dragged into the hole.

And then… at the edge of his hearing, only if he strained his ears? He could hear the echoes of a sound.

Purring.

Something the monsters had never done, when they attacked him. When they tore at his flesh. They’d hissed and meowed and chirped at each other, but never purred.

He’d kinda… forgotten that cats could do that.

And this cat… this cat was doing it because of him.

Two days later, Nabiki had given him his first cut of photo sales. She told him the amount wasn’t that big, as if she was apologizing for somethin’, but Ranma had four-thousand yen that was just… his. He didn’t need to save it for lunch, or to pay his way into school, or just hold it until Pops needed it. He could just… do whatever with it.

The power was intoxicating.

But there was a thought he couldn’t shake. A small, white cat, standing fearlessly in defense of another creature. A weaker creature. One that didn’t owe it anything.

Would the cat still be there?

He had no idea.

But after school, he rushed there, anyways. He didn’t see any sign of the cat, but at the very least, there also wasn’t any sign of a larger struggle. Either the kitten was hiding, or it had just left.

But… he had to try.

So he went into the convenience store across the street. Bought some salted sardines, and a popsicle for himself, paid for them with real money that was his own, then walked back across the street.

Ranma leaned up against the wall, slid down until he was seated, right next to the hole. He unwrapped the popsicle, and stuck it in his mouth. With both hands free, he very, very carefully set the salted sardines next to the hole, then snatched his hands back, like they were on fire.

A fuzzy white paw came out of the hole, then one green, slitted eye followed it. Watched him as the furry beast approached the sardines, sniffed them, and started eating them, while poking halfway out of the hole.

It was so close. It could strike him! But it didn’t. It was too occupied with its food. It was probably a rare feast for the beast.

Ranma wished he couldn’t relate as he ate his popsicle in stunned silence.

And there the sound was, again. That quiet, rumbling. The safe, warm sound cats weren’t supposed to make anymore.

“You’re, uh… tough, y’know that?” Ranma said to the terrifying beast next him. “You’ve clearly been through a lot. But you’ve come out stronger for it.” He looked at it. Remembered its back paw. “Well, mostly. The scars are still there. Maybe they’ll fade a bit, but the hurt remains, doesn’t it?” He rubbed his eyes. Definitely not to wipe away any tears. “You’re never… never gonna be fixed. Always gonna have that… that thing about’cha. But you knew that. You knew that, and you stood up against that dog, anyways.”

Ranma took a deep, shuddering sigh.

“Any other time, I prolly wouldn’t have saved your life. But I… but I did. And even though that dog could come back? You’re still here. That’s how I… how I know. You’re like me. You couldn’ta stood down, even if you wanted to. Because if you didn’t, then they’d… they’d…” Ranma sniffled. “Anyways. You’re here. A warrior. A cat amongst cats. And you didn’t even hafta be. But… but it don’t have to be that hard, y’know… I…” he shuddered as he drew in a breath. “I've been thinkin’ about it. In class, we were talkin’ about Greece, and… this English word came up. ‘Hero’. And… it’s you, innit? And… it works in Japanese, too. Hiro. ‘Cause… you didn’t hafta… be that generous. But you were. So I think… I think I’m gonna call you Hiro. S’long as you’re still here… y’don’t… I can’t… I can’t be here all the time. You’re still gonna hafta be strong. But… if I bring you food. Make sure you heal, so you can fight when you hafta?”

The kitten looked up at him, having finished its meal. It Blinked its one eye, then started to slink back into the hole.

“Yeah… you’re probably still just as scared as I am. But you’re not alone, Hiro. Not anymore.”

Ranma was back the next day, he put out a couple of dried sardines, watched Hiro eat. Talked to the kitten. Then, when Hiro slunk back into his hole? Ranma left.

But he was back, one day later. Sat down next to the hole, and set out some fish sausages.

And when Hiro finished? The cat came out of the hole, fully. Wobbled up to Ranma’s thigh, and curled against it, continuing to purr.

Ranma remained frozen the entire time Hiro napped. Mostly out of fear, but partially because he couldn’t bear to disturb this warm, fuzzy, brave creature’s slumber. So he returned home late that night.

It was a few more days, a few more feedings, that he finally worked up the nerve to reach a tentative finger forwards, and brush the back of Hiro’s head. Then the purring intensified, and Ranma had to do it again. And again. His fear wasn’t gone. It would probably never be gone. But the purring was a balm. It helped soothe the scars. They’d faded a little, again. Perhaps because Kasumi used a better detergent, but it felt… well…

The object of his fear was right there. And he was petting it, as it cuddled up to him, it definitely felt like they were related.

Over the next few weeks, the fear didn’t completely go away, but Ranma learned… he could trust Hiro. And Hiro? Trusted him. Came out of the hole before he even had food ready. Even crawled into his lap and curled up once or twice. And Ranma was… having trouble with that, still, but the little guy was tuckered out… fell asleep mid stretch and… well, Ranma figured out Hiro was a boy, probably, but he wasn’t a vet or nothin’.

Either way, their bond had grown. Maybe Ranma still had trouble with cats, in general. But Hiro? Well…

Hard as it was to admit…

Ranma loved Hiro.

The Cat slunk through the streets. Its red fur made it stand out, and every so often, it had to chase off a dog, or curious human. It may have looked like a cat, but it was far, far more dangerous. Something else entirely. A spirit of magic, born within the body of a young girl under a great deal of trauma. A protector. A threat.

The Girl had been scared. Forced to retreat. To hide under The Cat’s protection once more, even though she feared the creature that lived in her head with her. It had been a long time since The Cat was needed, but The Girl’s partner had… well… betrayed her. Attacked her using a bond she would not willingly break. But the cat was under no such contract. And so, when The Girl retreated, when Ranma retreated, the cat struck.

It was only out of concern for Ranma, for her love of her partner, that The Cat did not go further. But if someone who wasn’t already on the verge of being family had tried it? They would not have survived.

Still, Ranma’s partner had made their den unsafe for now. It was her domain, not The Cat’s, and not Ranma’s. And while their father might have been able to help them, The Cat still did not care for him. It was his fault The Cat was needed in the first place, anyways. The Cat would probably never like their father. Would never be able to trust him.

But the old man wasn’t her only family.

The Cat approached an old metal vent, cracked and broken just wide enough to slip through. Ranma’s memories made the hole seem much smaller, only having seen it from so far above. Still, The Cat was too big to comfortably crawl into it; the space inside was too shallow for her to easily turn around. Sure, she could shrink herself, if she needed to, but she didn’t want to. This was who she was.

And besides…

The vent was empty.

The Cat sniffed along the entrance, picking up Hiro’s scent in a way that Ranma would have never thought to get. She turned around to follow it, only to see the small white kitten in question in front of her, carrying a small rodent in his mouth.

Good. Their son knew how to hunt. He would need it to survive. The world already had not been kind to him.

But… would he recognize her?

She’d never met her son. Never met Hiro. She only had Ranma’s memories to go off of. And while it was clear Hiro saw Ranma as his mother… The Cat probably seemed strange. Another creature entirely.

She flopped onto her side, and waited for her son to make the first move.

Hiro approached cautiously, giving a wide berth as he dropped the rodent off in his den, then approached The Cat, sniffing curiously.

There was a moment, and The Cat tensed. A second rejection tonight, even if only one of them were directed at her, would hurt.

But Hiro relaxed.

He might not have recognized her features…

But he recognized her smell.

Hiro wobbled in and flopped against The Cat’s belly, wiggling close and purring.

She placed a paw over him, held him close, and purred as well.

Neither The Cat nor Ranma had ever had a mother. And for a good portion of their life? They hadn’t had much of a father, either.

But right now? With everything turned against her?

They weren’t alone.

If nothing else, The Cat had her son.

Chapter Text

“Seriously, a pit of cats! Why?!” Akane practically shouted as they worked together to search the Tendo dojo for anywhere a cat could hide. She couldn’t help but notice that Genma seemed to pass by the smaller spots much faster than her. It must have been his experience at work.

“I told you it was my greatest shame.” Genma replied, sounding more apologetic than she’d ever heard. “But I… I suppose… I hadn’t realized how important recovery is to the process of getting stronger. How overdoing it can cause more harm than good. My plan had always been just… keep pushing through until you figure it out. I… thought myself invincible, and assumed my heir must be, too.” He sighed, and turned to look directly at Akane. “So, I ignored the warnings, pretended not to see the signs… and now my son will forever bear the scars of my hubris.”

“Well there… there must be something we can do!” Akane insisted, more for her own sake than his. “There has to be a way to fix this! To fix…”

…Everything.

“Were you not listening?” Genma asked. “Because I thought that way, I threw him back in three more times! You can’t just fix some things. Some things you gotta just take responsibility for them, do what you can, and live with the consequences.”

“B-But I… I can fix things! I have to be able to… I…”

Genma’s stare bored a hole through Akane’s soul.

“This isn’t just about Ranma.” It wasn’t a question.

“I… you don’t–”

“I might pull off a goofy act in my cursed form, but make no mistake, girl, I am no less capable, and no less observant. You were in the clinic for a lot more than just a haircut.”

“Ranma… didn’t tell you?”

Genma sighed, shook his head, but mostly remained focused on their search.

“The boy hardly tells me anything about you. I think he’s been more afraid of my threats from that first morning than you are. But I know he cares deeply about you. And I know my son well enough to see how concerned he was for you.”

Akane couldn’t help but feel a deep stab of guilt.

“There’s no remaining injury.” Akane insisted. “I fixed that.”

“Indeed. You’re certainly not moving like you’re injured, aside from your cheek. Still… keep in mind. Not all scars are physical.”

“I’m perfectly fine!” Akane snapped.

From the look in his eyes, Genma didn’t believe her for a second.

“I suppose I’m not the person you’d want to talk to about that, anyways. Perhaps your father–”

“No!” Akane interrupted on reflex. “No just… we shouldn’t bother him… not with this.”

Genma fully stopped, and shot her a concerned look.

“I would think his daughter’s wellbeing would be his top priority. I would certainly–”

“Well, it’s not.” Akane looked away, forcing herself to focus on the search. “My sisters and I solve these things amongst ourselves.”

“I… see.” Genma looked genuinely bothered by the statement. “Perhaps he… just doesn’t know. Needs someone to talk to him, man-to-man. But I… I know I’m not your father. And I know you probably don’t want anything from me. But you are my student. If you need help…”

Akane simply grunted in response. Genma didn’t get it. How could he? He’d spent over ten years on the road with his “son”... clearly, he didn’t know the first thing about women.

The silence between them extended awkwardly as they searched. When they returned to check over the upper level once more, Nabiki opened the door to her room, leaned against the frame, and watched them with disdain.

“Tweedle Dee.” Nabiki said to Akane, before turning to Genma. “Tweedle Dum. Where’s the fire? What’s going on?”

“We’re looking for–”

“–Ranma.” Genma said.

“–a red cat.” Akane said at the exact same time.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, and fixed her gaze on Akane.

“Jumped over the fence. Saw it through my window.”

“Thanks.” Akane said, while Genma swore behind her.

“He could be pretty far away by now.” Genma pushed into Akane’s room. “We need to hurry.”

“What are you…?” Akane started to ask, but Genma was already at the open window.

“Don’t worry, you’ve trained for this!” He shouted as he jumped out the window.

Akane grumbled as she followed. Getting thrown out of her window every morning wasn’t training… but… it did help a lot as she hopped out onto the roof, and then over the fence with a running start.

Genma was already searching the ground as she landed.

“What are we looking for?” Akane asked. “Like… red hairs, or?”

“Those would be a pretty good sign, but we’re more likely to find claw marks or similar. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Akane looked, checking every nook and cranny for any signs of a cat… or… well, what she thought might be signs of a cat. She wasn’t exactly an expert tracker, and cats weren’t exactly well known for being easy to find.

“Why do you keep checking the small gaps?” Genma asked her after a minute or two. “Ranma’s flexible but he definitely couldn’t fit into those.”

“She can now.” Akane shot him a look. “I told you. She turned into a cat. Like… a little red housecat.”

“What? Physically?” Genma’s brow furrowed.

“Yes! How else does someone turn into a cat?” Akane asked incredulously.

“Okay, that part is definitely not my fault!” There was a long pause. “I’m pretty sure. Like… ninety percent, at least. The boy just starts… acting like a cat. Moving like a cat. Fighting with ethereal claws.”

Akane reached up to her cheek. The bleeding had slowed, but not stopped.

“It started like that, but… then she backed away, physically turned into a cat and ran off.”

“Once we find my boy…” Genma started, “we’re gonna have a talk about your ‘magic’ and exactly what you did to him.”

“I don’t actually know… it’s not like I was trying to turn her into a cat!” Akane shouted. “I wasn’t trying to turn her into anything… I… I don’t think…”

“You don’t think?”

“I was… I was acting on instinct. I didn’t know what was going to happen! But… but it stopped! And… she didn’t change until after. She seemed in control of it, too. At least… as in control as you can be when…”

Genma let out a grumbling sigh, then turned to face her.

“Okay, so the cat-brain may have wanted to be a cat. Dammit, Ranma was already really good at hiding in cat mode… now there’s magic and he’s tiny and moving with even less of a trace. I can’t find a damn thing. And you…” there was growing fury on his face, “did something to trigger this, he went cat brained, attacked you, then turned into a literal cat. Is that everything? Am I caught up now?”

“Um… yes…” Akane shuffled awkwardly, continuing to look around.

“And since there’s no signs of him here… I hope that your hocus pocus nonsense has some way to track people. And if not, you’d better find a way to learn. Fast.”

“I… don’t have magic.” Akane admitted, wincing.

“No magic? You definitely had magic. It’s what got us into this situation. So… you mean… no magic right now?”

“Yes…”

“Dammit, girl! When I asked if that was everything that’s exactly the sort of thing you should have spoken up about. Why don’t you have magic?”

“I don’t know, I just…” Akane rubbed her arm. “When Ranma went ‘cat-brained’, I just…” she gestured to her hair, “there was nothing.”

“Your hair… that’s your natural color?” Genma asked.

“Yes.” Akane answered, not meeting his eyes.

“It changed when the cat took over?”

“Y-Yes.”

“So… natural color means… no magic. Is that why Ranma’s hair has been red? Good to know…” Genma shook his head. “But we need to start searching somewhere. When Ranma is in the Nekoken he is dangerous. And we need to keep collateral down. So… since my son seems to share things with you more than me… where might he go? Any friends’ houses? Parks he likes to hang out with? Places he might head to on instinct.”

Akane froze.

There was a place.

“I don’t know… exactly, but… I know a… general area…”

“Where?”

“It’s… somewhere in that direction.” Akane pointed. “I’d guess… about a kilometer and a half?”

“What’s it look like?”

“I… don’t actually know.”

“So… you know direction and distance but not what we’re looking for, there? I thought you said you didn’t have magic right now.”

“I don’t!” Akane’s blood ran cold as she realized how much she’d given away. How much she would still need to, to navigate this conversation. It was too important. She had meant it when she said she would do anything to fix it. “It’s… when the magic was there we were… well, we had a general idea of where the other one was. And she… well, she spent a lot of time over there but I was respecting her privacy so I didn’t exactly go looking for it!”

Genma stared at her flatly.

“Another thing you should have volunteered earlier. You’ve got a lot to learn, girl. Let’s go.”

They rushed through the streets in silence, save for Akane occasionally correcting their course. It would have been easier, if the link was still active, but Akane had a pretty good sense of direction, and they were left with a rather narrow search area.

Still, nothing came up immediately. Akane was worried her hunch was wrong, that Ranma had gone somewhere else, when Genma tapped her on the shoulder.

“Red cat, right?” He pointed.

And there she was.

The red cat that was Ranma, curled up against the side of a building, protectively holding and grooming a small white ball of fluff.

She and Genma stared at each other for a while, neither making any moves to approach the cat.

“Well, aren’t you going to go and get her?” Akane eventually asked.

“I need to keep my distance.” Genma grumbled. “Ranma might respect me these days, but the cat does not.”

“Then… what do you propose we do?”

“You go get him.” Genma insisted.

“I don’t think she’s happy with me right now, considering…” she gestured to her cheek.

“That’s a love tap! Nothing compared to what he’s done to me.” Genma growled. “Against my better judgement, the boy likes you, so go…” he waved his hand toward Ranma, “...figure it out.”

Akane sighed, and took a few tentative steps forwards.

“You could have just said you were scared.” She grumbled.

“Discretion is the better part of valor.” Genma said like he thought he was being a responsible teacher, and not a coward.

The red cat watched her as she approached. At about ten paces, the cat’s hackles rose, and its ears flattened as it hissed at her.

Akane froze in place.

The cat got up, and so did the little bundle of fur. A kitten, Akane noticed. The kitten’s body language imitated the larger cat’s, but it could not imitate what the cat did next.

The cat grew.

And it grew.

And it grew some more.

Akane’s heart pounded as she stared down what was effectively a red stripeless tiger, its fur crackling with magical energy, and its ki-fueled battle aura weighed oppressively down on her.

Her every instinct told her to flee.

But she needed to fix this.

So like she had with Genma earlier, she kowtowed. Knelt down, bowed, placed her forehead on the hard concrete, and showed as much deference as she dared.

“I’m sorry.” Akane said, choking down her fear. “I shouldn’t have… I won’t… I won’t try it again. I was panicking, I didn’t know what I was doing and I lost control over myself, but… but that’s still no excuse! You deserve better… I’ll never, ever try it again, I promise. Just… please, Ranma, come back.”

Her instincts screamed at her. A threat was approaching. The giant cat slowly stepped forwards, crossing the remaining distance. Akane had to fight to stay in place. Running away wouldn’t fix it. It wouldn’t fix anything. And… if it was too dangerous… She could only hope that Genma would be brave enough, and adult enough, to save her.

She fought to control her breathing as she felt a giant paw come down, slowly, towards her head. She couldn’t see anything from her position, but the cat had presence. Enough that, when the paw pads pressed into the back of her skull, she’d been expecting it, but she still betrayed herself with the slightest flinch.

The cat pressed down, holding her in place. She couldn’t escape now, even if she wanted to. Slowly, the paw flexed, and those deadly, sharp claws extended. Akane was shaking as she felt the tips just barely prick her skin along the back of her neck and shoulders.

Her neck had been healed, she knew she healed it, completely, but right now? It itched like nothing else ever had before.

They stayed like that for several long, long seconds.

Then the pressure lifted.

A large, rough tongue ran itself across the top of her head, and then… a few more times, to be sure.

Then… the tongue shrank.

And the cat was housecat sized once more.

Akane didn’t look up until the cat bunted against the top of her head, rubbing its cheeks against her. That was… a good sign, right? A sign of affection? Slowly, she sat up.

Genma was pale, staring at her, but he was giving an exaggerated smile and a thumbs up, so he must have thought she’d done the right thing.

The cat was watching her curiously, and… so was the kitten. It seemed to have been unaffected by the giant cat, magic, or battle aura, meaning it was close enough for Akane to get a good look at it.

A little white kitten. Young, missing an eye and half of a back leg, which ended in a scarred over stump.

She yearned to heal it, but… she had no magic, right now.

So she turned towards her… her… partner? And offered her hand to the cat.

The cat hissed at her at first, but when she froze in place, it gave her hand a few experimental sniffs, before bunting into her hand. Soon, the kitten was doing the same. She was happy to oblige them both with pets.

With her hands full of giving the cats attention, she noticed Genma approaching, but he still kept his distance.

“The boy can’t calm down with that other cat here. Shoo it away.”

The idea hurt, but if Ranma was traumatized by cats, the kitten probably wouldn’t help. She raised the hand that had been petting it in preparation to push it away.

There was a sudden shift next to her, and a hand caught her wrist.

“Don’t.” Ranma warned.

And… just like that. Ranma was back.

Magic thrummed through Akane’s veins, and she could sense her other half once more.

“Ranma!” She cried out in relief, and hugged the other girl. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m so so sorry!”

“Hey… hey… it’s just…” Ranma wiggled in her grip. “Hiro ain’t done nothin’ wrong. I want him here.” Ranma blinked several times as she seemed to catch up with what was happening. “‘Kane… was… was I just a cat?”

Akane opened her mouth to respond, but Genma’s dougi top fell over them like a heavy blanket.

Right… Ranma was…

Akane blushed as she backed up to a respectable distance.

Regaining her bearings, Akane noticed a trio of rough scars across Genma’s lower belly. Unconsciously, she reached up towards her cheek.

“It seems the Nekoken has gained some… layers.” Genma offered diplomatically. “And… hrm… your hair’s been red the whole time, but the girl’s… blue again…” He glanced between them. “You can’t do magic without my boy because my boy has all the magic… is that right?”

Akane shivered, but she couldn’t deny it, so she offered the barest nod.

“Guess that means he can cut you off, if need be. That’s… not so bad.” Genma continued.

“Haha… yeah…” Ranma lied. “Well, I guess you met the Nekoken…” Ranma shuddered. “I’m sorry if I…” she looked Akane over. “I hurt you. Why haven’t you heal–”

“Healed the kitten?” Akane deflected, reaching towards the small cat. “I didn’t have magic while you were like that… completely cut off.” She pushed her magic forwards as she pet the cat. “Otherwise I would have healed him right away.”

“His name is Hiro.” Ranma insisted. “And that’s not what I–”

“Oh.” Akane interrupted.

“Oh?” Ranma asked.

“He’s… already healed. I can’t… There’s nothing for me to bring back.”

“Can’t regrow limbs, huh?” Ranma fiddled with her hands, nervously looking around. “Or eyes, or… maybe because it’s already…”

“I can’t reattach cut hair, either, so… maybe…”

Genma loudly cleared his throat.

“Now that the threat has passed,” Genma growled. “We need to talk, once again, about what you have done to my son.”

“Pops.” Ranma warned, her stare intense.

“She admitted to putting you into this state. I can’t just let her–”

“I’m handling it!” Ranma hissed, like a cat, causing Genma to hop back. “I’ve been handling it.” She continued more quietly. “And I will talk to her.”

“Son… You have my full support. You know I can–”

“I don’t need you protecting me on this.” Ranma growled. “I need privacy to handle it delicately.”

“What even is the ‘it’ that you’re handling?” Genma asked.

Ranma simply glared in response.

“I don’t like being out of the loop like this.” Genma continued. “Not when things are getting more–”

“You get used to it.” Ranma cut him off.

Genma gaped for a moment, trying to find his words.

“I suppose I deserved that.” He finally offered.

“He’s right though.” Ranma whispered to Akane. “We need to talk.”

Akane shuddered at the truth in the statement, and in anticipation of the dressing down she was about to receive, and thoroughly deserved.

Ranma reached over, picked up Hiro by the scruff, then shuddered as she brought him close to her bare chest, under the dougi. Whatever happened, whatever this was about, Ranma didn’t seem to be entirely over her fear.

“Come on, tomboy.” Ranma began to offer her hand, but then pulled it back like she’d been burnt. “Let’s go home.”

Chapter Text

They were safe at home. Ranma had showered and gotten dressed. Hiro was set up with a couple of boxes and piles of blankets in the Saotome guest room, next to Ranma’s futon. Ranma and Akane were sitting next to each other on Akane’s bed, and Genma had been shoo’ed out of her room… and then shoo’ed again after Ranma hissed at him, scaring him out of his stealth technique.

They were well and truly alone.

It was time to have that talk.

…

Neither of them had said anything for several minutes.

…

“So… all the scars…” Akane started, “they’re…”

“From cats, yes.”

“Do you, um…”

“It was a long time ago, ‘Kane.” Ranma said, defeat in her voice. “And not your problem, anyways.”

…

Akane let the silence reign.

…

She wasn’t sure what to say.

…

She didn’t… know how to continue the conversation.

…

Or even start it, for that matter.

…

Maybe it would be better if they just…

…

…didn’t.

…

So much had happened…

…

It had been an awfully long day…

…

So maybe they could just…

…

Put off the imminent doom.

…

Maybe even…

…

Forget it happened…

…

Just…

…

Go back to how things were…

…

Before Akane–

“‘Kane… what the hell was that?” Ranma eventually broke the silence.

No such luck.

Akane swallowed her dread, and answered.

“I… don’t know.”

“Half truth.” Ranma accused coldly. Seriously.

“I’m… not entirely sure. I just… I was scared, and I was panicking, and… I still don’t know quite what it was, but it was instinctual… like… like how we know… over the link… and… I knew… I knew that it could make you… make you…”

“Make me what?”

“Do anything.” Akane shuddered. “Tell me what you were hiding from me.”

“I don’t break my promises, ‘Kane.” Ranma said, and Akane knew it was true.

“I know.” Akane answered. “I don’t know what kind of promise you could have–” She inhaled sharply. “It doesn’t matter. After I calmed down I realized I didn’t need to know anything more than what you’d already… I’m sorry.”

“It hurt, ‘Kane.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It felt like you were squeezing my throat. It felt like you were reaching into my neck to try to rip the words out of my mouth. And the more I resisted… the more it hurt.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t–”

“I’ve been hurt a lot before, Akane. I’ve been torn up, chewed up, spat out, poisoned, burned, electrocuted, stung by jellyfish… I can tell you the differences between how several different bones feel when they’re broken. But that was the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“I don’t… I didn’t know…”

“I know you didn’t.” Ranma pulled her knees up onto the bed, and hugged them against her chest. “That’s why I’m telling you.”

“If I’d’ve known… I…” Akane paused. Considering what she was about to say. She desperately wanted it to be true, but the panic had been strong, all encompassing, wiped her rationality out, and she couldn’t guarantee it would be.  And it wouldn’t help to lie to Ranma right now, even accidentally, so she stuck to what she could. “I promise, I’ll never do it again.”

Ranma turned her head to stare at her. Akane could feel Ranma’s gaze piercing her, tearing through her defenses, laying bare her very soul.

“That… that couldn’t have been a lie.” Akane insisted, “If it was, I… I… but I really meant–”

“It wasn’t.” Ranma confirmed. “I just… Akane… I have to wonder… is our bond… a good thing?”

“I… I really want it to be.” Akane swallowed thickly. “Ignoring the awkward bits, it’s… when I couldn’t feel you, it feel like–”

“Like a part of your soul was missing.” Ranma finished for her. “I know.”

“So why–”

“Y’know… I kinda thought… your magic never worked on me, not unless I let it. I thought that it was because it was really my magic. That we had like… a kinda equal partnership in all of it. But I… I’ve never been able to stop you from using it in general. You could drain me dry, and there’s nothing I could do about it… except…” Ranma shuddered, “but you couldn’t use it on me. That’s what I thought, until…”

“O-Oh.” Akane said, and reached a hand towards Ranma, trying to comfort her.

Ranma slid further away.

“I couldn’t stop it, ‘Kane. If it wasn’t for… for…” Ranma shuddered again, “then I would have just spilled my guts to you, and you could have… puppeted me around however you wanted. I’d be a prisoner in my own body.”

“That’s… awful.” Akane swallowed thickly.

“‘Kane… what we stumbled onto…  what… what you did… to me… am… is it… it’s just part of our link, isn’t it? Something we didn’t know about until now… it was… was it meant to… Akane, with how it works… am… am I supposed to be your slave?”

Akane recoiled physically, as if slapped by the words.

“No!” She insisted. “I would never! I don’t! I wouldn’t! I don’t want that!”

Ranma sighed, and leaned back a bit.

“That’s… honestly a bit of a relief to hear.” She took a deep breath, gathering herself up again. “But… you didn’t mean for any of this to happen in the first place, right? We still don’t know what you did to me. Either time.”

“I’m sorry… but I don’t… I still don’t know.” Akane said. “I don’t… really know where to start looking, either, and also, you…”

She cut herself off. She’d almost said something… almost revealed a secret of Ranma’s she wasn’t supposed to know. One that, if she was reading the situation correctly, Ranma wasn’t ready for.

“I what, Akane?” Ranma asked.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” Akane tried to deflect.

“Dammit, Akane!” Ranma growled, flashing her oddly sharp teeth. “You know that doesn’t work. It’s not nothing, and I’m not in the mood to play games, so what about me?”

“It’s…” Akane scrambled for an answer. “You didn’t… really seem to make fixing it a priority, okay? So I didn’t either.”

Ranma gaped for a moment, seeming to try to find a response that just wouldn’t come. 

“So, no, I don’t know anything new about the… initial thing.” Akane continued, trying to move on to a different subject. “As for the other… it’s not like… we broke it before it could even work. We don’t fully know what it was supposed to do… and it would be hard to find out, unless we–”

“Respectfully, Akane? Hell fucking no.” Ranma growled again.

“Right. Right. Of course not. That would be a terrible idea.” Akane pushed the part of her brain that was curious about the mechanics of it aside. She’d promised, and she was serious about it. “Why a collar, though… and… a leash? Almost like… a pet?”

She’s meant to be yours.

The idea echoed over the link, the same way the truth parts of it did, but it felt tainted. Like it was a possessing spirit, trying to force her thoughts into a certain direction.

She found herself reevaluating their every interaction.

Was the link as trustworthy as her brain insisted it was?

Ranma glared at her, her eyes narrowing into slits.

Wait…

“A pet is basically the same thing as a slave, Akane!”

“I…” Akane shuddered. “I guess… you’re right. I’m just trying to make sense of it, and… and… everything else about the link, I guess.”

Ranma sighed, and rubbed her temples.

“I’m not anyone’s pet, Akane. I’m my own damn person. I don’t care what the link looks like.”

“I know! I know. It’s just… the feelings are the same as how I know when you’re telling the truth… how I’m supposed to know… or I thought I… you… what if the link is wrong, Ranma? What if it lies sometimes?”

“I don’t know, Akane. I really don’t.” Ranma thumped her head against the wall next to Akane’s bed. “But I’m not okay with… with…”

“Do I need to try to break it?” Akane asked, dread filling her heart. She didn’t want to. But… if that’s what it took… if that’s what Ranma needed…

“I don’t know…” Ranma sighed heavily. “I don’t want to lose the good parts, but maybe we should…” she trailed off, staring into space for a bit. “The… The Cat doesn’t seem to think breaking it is a very good idea.”

“The… cat?” Akane asked, leaning closer to Ranma, paying close attention to her face. Her eyes looked off, and her mouth… did Ranma always have fangs?

“She’s still here.” Ranma blushed, tapped the side of her head, and looked away. “She never left, it’s just… this is the first time we’ve both been awake together and yeah I have to deal with a fuckin’ c-cat in my head and that’s t-terrifying but this is too important to… to…”

“It… can change your body.” Akane said idly. “Even… when you’re still here.”

Ranma looked down at her arms, at the angry red scars that crisscrossed them. They hadn’t looked so angry or red, before. And certainly, not as fresh.

“I think… I think maybe I can… too. Just… gotta figure it out.”

Akane gently grabbed Ranma’s hand, trying to hold it in a comforting way. Instead, Ranma flinched back, pulling it away.

“I… I’m sorry.” Akane offered, sliding back a bit herself.

“It’s not that I don’t want to trust you… it’s just…”

“I know… I… if we can’t… fully trust the link, I get it.” Akane forced herself to swallow her trepidation. “But I need you to know. Regardless of the link. Ranma, I swear, I swear on my mother’s grave, that I will never try anything like that on you again.”

Ranma shot her a sad, defeated look.

“I wish…” Akane continued, “I wish I… I had a better way of showing it. A more… meaningful way to prove it.”

“You know… Pops said… something similar to me. Six years ago. I didn’t believe him, then.”

“Oh…” Akane fought to keep her heart from shattering.

“But… he worked at it. Did his best to make it true, anyways. And now… even without magic or a fancy link or anything like that? I know, for sure, it was true. And you…” Ranma chuckled, darkly, “you aren’t actually anywhere near as bad as he was. But it’s still… you gotta prove it through your actions.”

“Of course.” Akane latched onto that glimmer of hope. “Anything you want, anything you need, I…”

“Don’t… don’t push it too hard in the other direction.” Ranma said. “I just…” Ranma blinked, and made some faces, as if she were participating in a silent conversation in her head. “Maybe… maybe there is something you can do now, though. It couldn’t hurt, at least.”

“What, what do I need?” Akane jumped in eagerly. “I told you, I–”

“You… you make it an Oath.” Ranma said, her voice thrumming on the last word the same way Akane’s did when she was casting her more powerful spells.

Akane didn’t know what Ranma meant, but then again…

Maybe she did?

If the link made it possible to use magic to control Ranma’s actions… maybe she could also use it to control her own?

Akane took a deep breath, gathered magic from the well between them, and turned it inwards. Cautiously, she gestured towards Ranma’s hand, and with a sigh, Ranma offered it for Akane to hold. The physical contact between them would make it much easier for her to channel the spell.

“Equal now, shall we ever be,
For never again, will I collar thee.”

For once, she could tell, the energy did not come from Ranma. Because she could feel acutely how it all came from her, sapping almost all the strength she had. In a way, it felt like a shackle was closing over her heart. Still, she welcomed the iron embrace, because… for Ranma, it was worth it.

She lost her grip on Ranma’s hand, and fell forward onto her bed, face first into the comforter. Ranma had pulled her hand away, and slid back a bit, before letting out a sigh of relief. With a great deal of effort, Akane turned her head so she could look at Ranma, and… Ranma’s eyes seemed to be back to normal, and so did her teeth.

“Did… the cat…?” Akane started to ask.

“She’s… gone.” Ranma’s relief was evident in her voice. “Went back to sleep. She’s… satisfied, I guess. Didn’t get the impression she was happy, but…”

Still, Akane breathed a sigh of relief. She had fixed it! And she didn’t even have to give up her magic to do it! She was good at that. She could fix things.

“So… how does that work, anyways?” Akane pushed herself back off the bed, with a great deal of effort. It felt like she’d run a marathon. Was her magic doing this to Ranma, every time she used it? Was Ranma just that much stronger than her?

“I… honestly have no idea.” Ranma admitted. “I just… got thrown into the pit, and after a few times, my body came out, with a cat in control of it.” Ranma’s brow furrowed as she thought. “Something like a cat, I guess. Apparently she’s… not exactly one. I dunno. I don’t actually remember it.”

“I can’t believe your own father would do that to you…”

Ranma shrugged.

“He… isn’t really the same kinda guy he used to be. He’s… honestly gotten a lot better. I don’t remember them well, but the first several years of our training journey were…” Ranma frowned. “It was the worst thing he ever did, though. It’s more that he was irresponsible before that, not that he… anyways. He… realized how bad he fucked up, and… he’s worked hard to be a good father ever since, but The Cat…”

Akane thought back to Genma’s refusal to approach the cat, and the trio of scars across his belly.

“The cat hates him.” Ranma finished. “And… I don’t think anything he’ll ever do will fix that, to be honest. And you…” Ranma looked Akane dead in the eye. “The Cat’s still not happy with you, either. But she’s willing to give you a chance.”

“I… suppose I appreciate the consideration…” Akane paused for a bit. “But… the cat… you can control it, right? You haven’t, uh… turned into it since you got here, other than just now, right?”

“Usually, I guess.” Ranma sighed. “Gotta keep her from mauling Pops again, after all. But… I dunno. Something’s different, this time. I’m… not sure I can really keep her away.”

“Because… of the magic?” Akane asked. “Since it can… turn you into a cat, all on its own, without being linked to me…”

“Maybe…” Ranma paused. “I was… mostly thinking about how, um… how cruel it would be to try to keep her away from… her son.”

Akane’s eyes widened as she considered the implications.

“What? But… it was only in control for like, two hours! There’s no way it had time to–”

Ranma’s brow furrowed as she tried to understand what Akane was talking about, before her face flushed crimson.

“Adopted son! Adopted!” Ranma insisted. “There’s no way she’d ever… I didn’t… I wouldn’t…”

There was a pregnant pause as they let it hang in the air, eventually broken as Akane started to giggle.

“Of course. Little Hiro looks nothing like you.”

“Yeah, well, the cat insisted I take him home, anyways.”

“That’s okay. We can take care of the little guy. Especially since…”

Akane frowned as she thought back to P-Chan. Despite herself, and whatever unknown danger he represented, she hoped he was alright.

“I was already taking care of him just fine, I just…” Ranma sighed, “I didn’t… want you to know about… my weakness.”

“Well, you seemed fine around him earlier. So… that means, you’re fixing it. We’re fixing things.” Akane gave her best smile, the one that always got Ranma to smile back. “See, together, we can get through things. Through anything.”

Ranma frowned.

“When you smash a teacup on the ground, even if you put the pieces back together, the cracks are still there.” Ranma held up her arm, showing off the scars on it again. “The scars are still there. So maybe the lesson we should learn from this, like Pops learned when he gave me these, is not to break things in the first place, okay?”

“I’m sorry…”

“I know.” Ranma’s shoulders slumped. “But… I guess we still gotta do our best to fix things after they’re broken, anyways. Which…” She jabbed her finger towards Akane’s cheek. “Why are you still bleeding? You have your magic again. And I know you can heal it.”

“I…” Akane gathered her thoughts, raising her hand towards her cheek. “You’re right. I… fucked up. I hurt you, and… the magic healing… it doesn’t leave scars. Like it never happened, and… I… I wanted a reminder. A scar to show my mistake. So I don’t fuck up again. So… I’m going to let it heal. Naturally.”

A less apologetic part of her mind unhelpfully reminded her, also, that this particular scar might look kind of badass. But she had no intention of telling Ranma that.

“A reminder for you? Yeah, sure. And a reminder for me, every day, of how I hurt you back.” Ranma snarled.

“I…”

“Whatever. I don’t care.” Ranma lied. “Do what you want. It’s your body, not mine.” Then, she added in a whisper: “This time.” Her voice returned to its usual volume as she continued. “Just… get Kasumi to clean it up for you. You don’t need it getting infected.”

Akane was taken slightly aback. Up until today, since she’d arrived, Ranma had been the one taking care of her injuries. That Ranma wasn’t offering to help hurt more than the actual wound did.

Didn’t she just…

Hadn’t they fixed things?

“I… you…” Akane started.

“It’s late.” Ranma finished for her, turning to leave. “We should go to bed.”

Akane lurched forwards, grabbing Ranma’s hand.

“Please.” She pleaded. “Stay. I… I already lost you once tonight. I… I don’t want to be alone.”

Ranma flinched, ripping her hand out of Akane’s grasp. She held her own wrist close to her chest, and looked at Akane with deep pain and sorrow.

“Any other night… if you had asked, I would have taken you up in a heartbeat. But tonight? I thought I lost you, and it destroyed me. And then… then I spent… I was terrified, worried that losing you might have been a good thing, and that destroyed me again. I don’t want, I… my emotions are all over the place. I want y–I don’t know what I want… I don’t know how to feel… I… how much of this is me? How much of this is… i-it was hard enough to be in here with you for that conversation. I’m glad we had it, but I… I need space. I need to figure things out. Right now I… I need to be alone, Akane.”

“Ranma…” Akane called out, weakly, but the other girl was already out the door, heading out onto the balcony, and up, onto the roof.

It seemed… when she meant alone, she meant alone. Not near her father, nor her new pet.

She could still feel Ranma, lying back on the roof directly above her, looking up at the stars. Scarcely ten feet away, closer together than they’d ever slept, but somehow the gulf between them had never been wider.

Akane laid back onto her bed, staring at her ceiling. She wanted to cry, the pain in her heart was worse than it had been at any point earlier today, but she’d cried out all her tears then, and, frustratingly, none would come now. There was no release. All she could do was stew in her emotions.

She didn’t sleep that night.