Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ A Big Help ❯ Boy Troubles ( Chapter 2 )

A Big Help

A Ranma one half/Sailor Moon crossover fanfic

By Michael A. Ivins

 

Mykon and Jora are my original creations so I request that nobody uses them without permission. The rest of these characters are the property of their creators, publishers, anime production companies, etc. I write this for fun and make no profit off it.

 

Chapter 2

Boy Troubles

 

As they got to the gates of the school they could see a gathered crowd of boys in sports uniforms. Some of the boys also carried sports equipment like bats for the guys in baseball uniforms or a hockey stick for the guy wearing a hockey goalie's mask. Remembering what she had been told would happen; Ranma was getting angry. “They're going to attack her with weapons.”

 

Looking down from a second floor window, Nabiki looked at girl Ranma and could see the beginning glow of a battle aura. “This could get interesting,” she mused.

 

Akane was muttering, “I hate boys… I hate boys.” She tossed her book bag to Ranma and told her, “Hold this for me and don't interfere.” She didn't notice Ranma put the bag into her stuff space. Akane went back to repeating, “I hate boys” over and over again like it was a mantra. By the time she rushed forward to meet the first of the waiting athletes, she practically screamed it.

 

The athletes rushed forward brandishing their sports equipment. They were shouting phrases like, “Let me score a home run with your heart,” “Date with me Tendo Akane,” “I love you Tendo Akane.”

 

Akane went to meet them and it was like a scythe meeting wheat. A punch here and kick there and boys fell back battered and two them unconscious. All the time this was going on Ranma's battle aura was getting brighter.

 

Finally Akane got to the end of the gauntlet of athletes and stood breathing hard. An object came flying toward her and she automatically caught it, to find herself holding a red rose. She cast her eyes up to the heavens as if to ask for strength to get through another repetition of the routine that had become distressingly familiar.

 

A tall, handsome boy in a kendo uniform stepped out from a behind a tree. He carried a sheathed bokken, a wood practice sword. He began to speak, “What fools these mortals be. Truly such a boorish…”

 

It was at this point that the routine was interrupted. A ki-enhanced female voice boomed out at a volume that rattled the windows of the school. “You! You in the Kendo uniform. Are you the one responsible for this… this travesty?”

 

“What?” The kendo champion looked around. He then spotted a petite red haired girl stalking toward him with an almost blinding white battle aura flaring around her. The girl's expression was an angry glare that did little to mar the natural beauty of her face. She stopped just a pace away and stood with her hands on her hips.

 

“I said are you the one responsible for this disgraceful display?”

 

Thrown off by the beautiful young woman's display of anger, Kuno started his usual introductory rant, “I… I am the rising star of the high school…”

 

Cutting him off, she continued, “I don't care what your name is. I want to know if you are the one who started this whole `you must defeat her to date her' nonsense.”

 

“Uh… well… that is… Yes, it was I.”

 

The glare intensified. The battle aura was making the small girl seem much larger and more intimidating. “You terrible, terrible man! Can you even begin to conceive the terror something like this can kindle in the heart of a girl?”

 

“Terror?”

 

“Yes, terror! She feels the desperate fear that one of these idiots might be strong enough to actually beat her. Such a man might then be able to force his attentions on her when she is unable to defend herself.”

 

“No… no, that's not it at all! I always knew that so fierce a tigress as Akane would be able to defeat these challengers every time.”

 

Ranma looked at the athletes who were getting to their feet. The ones who had been knocked out were reviving. “What? Then why…? Oh now I see it.”

 

“See what, fair one?”

 

“I see your plot. You send forth these, your evil minions to engage Akane in combat. Their fighting would fatigue her to the point where she would be easy meat for you. You could then force yourself upon her with your foul lusts when she was too tired to fight back. Your perfidious plan is revealed for all to see! Get out of here, evil one! You are not fit to be in the company of decent people!”

 

“Please crimson haired one, you misunderstand. I only wanted a date with her.”

 

At a more normal volume she asked, “Just a date?” Her battle aura didn't dim in the slightest.

 

“I swear.”

 

She turned to the athletes. “Is that true for you guys?”

 

There was a chorus of hasty agreement. They didn't want to get on the red haired girl's bad side. She was scary.

 

If anything this made her angrier. Hear aura flared as she exclaimed, “What a bunch of PATHIC LOSERS! I don't care what Kendo Boy there said. How could you possibly believe that trying to beat up a girl was the way to get her to date you? Even if she is a martial artist that is one of the best ways to guarantee that she won't want to date you.”

 

A thought seemed to occur to her. “Why give all this attention to this one girl anyway? Yes, she's pretty and high spirited, but she's hardly the only girl in the school.”

 

At this the assembled girls watching from the school building cheered. Ranma acknowledged the cheer with a nod. “Next time you want a date with a girl why don't you try talking to her?”

 

She started to turn back toward Kuno, but stopped. “One final thing… I'm not going to put with this kind of crap. The first time any of you tries something like this with me, you'll get the same kind of beating Akane's been giving you. If you try it a second time you would be going to the hospital with broken bones - GOT IT?”

 

The boys agreed again. The red haired girl was very scary.

 

When Ranma turned back to Kuno her battle aura dimmed a bit but her glare increased in intensity. “I think you need to think very hard on what you have done. The repeated attacks of this `horde of hentai' and your own harassment have driven Akane to repeatedly tell anyone who will listen that she hates boys. If this state of affairs had been allowed to continue Akane might have felt compelled to seek comfort in the arms of another woman. Would you really like to see that happen?

Ranma didn't wait for a response from Kuno. She turned and said, “Come on, Akane. We're already late.”

 

When they got inside the front door of the school Ranma spotted a janitor's closet and ducked inside. Akane followed. She was surprised when Ranma produced a thermos seemingly out of nowhere and poured hot water on her face. The change back to boy was nearly instantaneous.

 

Akane demanded to know, “If you had that all along why didn't you use it before?”

 

“It was sort of hard to do while when we were running. I also didn't want to do it where anyone could see. I'd like it if people think my girl side is a different person. I guess it's only a matter of time before someone sees me change, but I'd like to put that off as long as I can. Besides, while I might have been able to carry off that little scene out there as a guy, it was a lot more effective coming from a girl.”

 

That was so obvious that it didn't deserve a comment. Akane did say, “That was a great piece of acting you did out there.”

 

Ranma looked surprised. “Who was acting? I was really angry. I could understand that kind of gang attack if was some kind of martial arts exercise that was agreed to by all parties. It is totally dishonorable to do it to someone who doesn't want it. To attack a girl to get her to go on a date is little short of attempted rape. Besides that it's just plain stupid.”

 

“Rape?”

 

“Don't tell me you didn't think about one of those idiots forcing himself on you.”

 

Akane shuddered. “Twice I had a nightmare where the first guy beat me and held me down while all the other guys took turns raping me right there in the schoolyard. I woke up from that screaming.”

 

“Oh Akane, I'm so sorry.” He paused in thought. “Would you be more comfortable if I'm in my girl form when we spar?”

 

Akane looked down. “You're being very nice. I probably would be more comfortable sparring with you like that, but I have to get over this. Lets keep doing it like we did this morning.”

 

“If you're sure.”

 

She nodded, “I'm sure. By the way what was that about `seeking comfort in the arms of another woman'? Are you saying I'm a lesbian?”

 

She was met with a smile and a wink. “Nope. I said what they'd been doing could have pushed you in the direction. I didn't say you'd gone there. Did you notice the expression on Kuno's face when I said that?”

 

Akane nodded. “He looked like that was one of the worst horrors he could imagine.”

 

“Maybe to him it is one of the worst horrors. It doesn't matter. Maybe this will get Kuno and those other idiots to back off and leave you alone.”

 

Akane felt truly moved. “I don't know what to say. Thank you.”

 

Looking sheepish, Ranma said, “I'm sorry for butting in when you told me not to. Those guys just got me so mad I couldn't just stand by. Besides that it looked like your approach to the situation wasn't working.”

 

“You mean just beating them up?”

 

“Yeah. I guess they're real gluttons for punishment. Any reasonably intelligent person would take the hint that you weren't interested and leave you alone after the first beating. Is it always the same guys?”

 

“Not all the same guys every day. I think some of them take a day or two off at times to heal up before they try again.”

 

“How many guys was it the first time?”

 

“It was ten.”

 

“How many today?”

 

“I didn't take the time to count them. I'd have to guess about fifty.”

 

Ranma nodded. “That was my guess too. If the trend had continued there would eventually have been enough guys that you couldn't have beaten them all.”

 

Akane shivered at that. “How did you hear about this?”

 

“I apologize for prying but I asked Kasumi if there was some reason for the whole `all boys are perverts' thing. She made a vague comment that I would see when you and I got to school. I hate to walk into a possibly dangerous situation blind. It turns out that for the right amount of yen your sister, Nabiki, was happy to tell me about the horde and the events that led up to it.”

 

Ranma shook his head. “I think maybe Nabiki scares me a little. She's quite the mercenary. I don't know how much I can trust her.”

 

“Don't judge her too harshly,” requested Akane. “When our mom died, dad didn't take over her duties like I've heard has happened in other families. He sort of withdrew from the world. Kasumi took over all the cooking and cleaning while Nabiki took over getting the money to keep a roof over our heads. I don't always agree with her methods, but it's better than being thrown out into the street.”

 

Ranma nodded. “I'll try to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

 

Akane said, “Let's go. We're going to be put on bucket duty for sure now.

 

Ranma nodded. When Akane had thrown her book bag to him Ranma had put it into his stuff space. He got it out now and handed it back to Akane.

 

The youngest Tendo's prediction turned out to be accurate. Ranma was introduced to the class, then both he and Akane were directed to stand in the hall and hold buckets filled with water.

 

For the rest of the morning Ranma performed a balancing act. He pretended to sleep in class but any time the teacher asked a question, Ranma always had the answer. His English teacher was shocked to learn that Ranma could speak the language better than she could.

 

At lunch Ranma sat with a couple of the boys he'd met. Akane sat with her friends, Yuka and Sayuri while Nabiki was sitting alone. Kuno Tatewaki walked up to the table where Nabiki was seated.

 

She kept her usual impassive expression, but inwardly felt annoyed. Kuno pulled out bills in the amount of ten thousand yen. Nabiki gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes. “Come, sit, let's talk.”

 

After seating himself Kuno asked, “What do you know of the fiery pigtailed girl, the one with the flaming locks?”

 

“Fiery? Good description for her. I don't think I've ever seen anyone that angry before.”

 

“Indeed. But what do you know of her?”

 

“Not much,” admitted Nabiki. “She only just got into town yesterday. My people are still gathering information. I do know how to contact her, though. Why do you ask?”

 

“Since our meeting this morning I can't get her out of my mind. Her beauty, her spirit and fire have made an impression on me. I must know more about her.”

 

Feeling slightly incredulous the brown haired girl said, “Let me get this straight. The girl practically ripped you a new one this morning and you are thinking you want to date with her. Did I hear that right?”

 

“I can't get her out of my thoughts. I must meet her and speak to her. Since you know how to contact her I would like you to deliver this to her.” He handed an envelope to Nabiki.

 

Nabiki turned an inquisitive look on the kendo champion. He explained, “In this letter I offer an apology to the pigtailed girl and ask her to meet with me. I take this approach because, after this morning, I doubt she would be in a mood to speak with me otherwise.”

 

Nabiki took the envelope. “Standard rates for the Tendo courier service, 2000 yen. I can't guarantee how she will react to the letter or even if she'll want to read it. I do promise to deliver it.”

 

“I can ask no more.”

 

“Does this mean you're giving up on my sister?”

 

“What gave you that idea? So beautiful and full fire is the lovely Tendo Akane, I cannot bear to part with either.”

 

“So you're going to two-time her?”

 

“You would call it `deceit' that I would date with them both?”

 

“No, Kuno baby, that's what I would call two-timing.”

 

“So that's what you call it,” thought Kuno.

 

Kuno handed over another envelope. “I offer an apology to Tendo Akane as well.”

 

Nabiki picked up the envelope and stated, “Same fee as the other.”

 

“Gladly do I pay it.” He handed over the bills.

 

In the hall between classes Hiroshi and Daisuke approached Akane. She looked at them and asked, “What do you guys want?”

 

“We were wondering about that red haired girl who came to school with you this morning. We thought maybe she might be interested in dating guys that don't want to beat her up.”

 

Not sure why, she told them, “She doesn't go to Furinkan. She was just walking me to school. She only got into town yesterday.”

 

Both boys looked very disappointed. Cursing herself she told them, “She's a friend of mine. I'll tell her you were asking about her.”

 

Both boys thanked her enthusiastically. Akane thought to herself, “Great! Now I'm his social secretary.”

 

Gym class was the next to last class Ranma had that day. It was in that class that he met Hiroshi and Daisuke. He didn't know at the time that they were interested in dating his girl side. He impressed the teacher and the other students with his athletic prowess.

 

As they headed back home Ranma reflected that he'd had a pretty good day (well, not counting the unpleasantness with Kuno and the horde of Hentai.) He just hoped those guys had got the message and would leave Akane alone. If that business had continued the poor girl could have developed serious emotional problems.

 

It seemed pretty certain that Akane needed a friend much more than she needed a fiancé. There would be no kissing, no holding of hands and no hugging. He would only make that kind of contact if Akane invited it. Any contact between them would be limited to training and maybe an occasional pat on the back for when she did well in the training. It was really a shame too. If she ever got over that anger of hers, he thought she'd be a really nice person.

 

Later they were sparring when the flash of Nabiki's camera interrupted them. “Hey!” protest Ranma.

 

Akane said, “We're trying to train here, Nabiki.”

 

“I'm just getting some action shots. Ignore me.”

 

With a frown Ranma said, “Kind of hard to ignore you with that flash going off. Look, we can pose or we can spar, I don't think we can do both.”

 

“That's Ok. I've got something for you.” She let the camera dangle from the wrist strap as she held out two envelopes. One had Akane's name on it, the other was marked, “The Pigtailed Girl.”

 

“These are from Kuno.”

 

Ranma took the envelope and observed, “I guess I never told him my name. I suppose that's fair enough since I never let him finish telling me his name.”

 

Ranma looked at the envelope for a while then crumpled it in his hand. “As big a pervert as that jerk is, I don't even know if I want to read what he has to say to my girl side.”

 

Nabiki told him, “I really think you should take a look at it. Kuno told me it's an apology.”

 

Looking confused, Ranma asked, “What's he apologizing to me for? I'm the one who yelled at him and called him names. What got me mad was how he was treating Akane. He's a pervert and a jerk, but he never actually said or did anything to me. (Not yet at least.)”

 

He got an unreadable look from Akane. With a sigh he smoothed out the crumpled envelope and opened it to read the letter. He scanned over it twice before he turned to the two Tendo sisters. “Boiled down from the flowery language he says he apologizes for the bad impression he made on me and wants to meet with me to talk about it.”

 

“Hey, wait a minute. This sounds like he asking me to go on a date. After the chewing out I gave him this morning, he's got a lot of nerve. I'm I guy!”

 

“Kuno thinks you are a pretty girl with `spirit and fire',” said Nabiki.

 

Ranma shuddered. “I'm not going to date with him. Even if I was a girl, Kuno disgusts me.”

 

Nabiki told him, “He's also one of the biggest sources of income this family has. Since you are living here now, that includes you too. You don't have to say you love him or even like him. Just tell him you don't hate him. As long as he thinks there is even a ghost of a chance he will still keep buying stuff and paying for information about you.”

 

Ranma wanted to refuse but Nabiki was looking at him with a pleading expression. “Ok! I'll talk to him. Damn, I hate doing girl stuff…”

 

“Thanks Ranma, you won't regret it.”

 

“I already do regret it. After this you owe me a favor.”

 

A moment's thought and he asked, “Hey Akane, what did he say to you?”

 

“Actually pretty close to what he said to you. He wants to apologize for what he put me through with the `horde' and wants to get together to talk about it.”

 

Ranma perked up on hearing that. “I've got an idea. Let's see him together. You know, `safety in numbers' and that sort of thing.”

 

Nabiki put in, “That's not a bad idea. With the two of you there he might hesitate to put the moves on one of you.”

 

“Might?”

 

“I didn't want to mention it before but Kuno said he wants to date with both of you.”

 

Akane was angry, “Both? That two-timing pervert!”

 

Nabiki nodded. “I told him he was two-timing, but he still wants to go for it.”

 

Ranma looked at Akane, “Tomorrow after school?”

 

Akane nodded.

 

“Where?” asked Ranma.

 

“I was thinking the little coffee shop near the school. If you get a seat by the window it will be nice and public. That should also help keep him from doing anything.”

 

“Ok, Nabiki set it up.”

 

The next morning Akane wore her jogging shorts under her dress. She found that her balance was pretty good, but not equal to Ranma's. She had to stop and windmill her arms to keep her balance a few times. She was not able to keep the same pace that Ranma could so they were a bit late. This morning they were able to avoid the ladle lady.

 

As they reached the last of the fences, they both jumped down. Akane enthused, “That was actually kind of fun. We should keep doing that. Sorry I was so slow.”

 

Ranma encouraged, “That was actually pretty good for a first try. You'll get better with practice. I think the martial arts you've already learned helped you a lot.”

 

With a big sigh Ranma said, “Now we'll see if yesterday's words had the desired effect.”

 

They got to the gate of the school and found that the athletes were there again. This time they were not dressed in the sports uniforms and they were not carrying sports equipment to use as weapons. The athletes were wearing regular school uniforms. They were standing in a tight group, apparently waiting for Akane. A couple of the boys were drinking soda pop from the vending machine.

 

When they saw Akane a powerfully built boy of medium height stepped forward. He apparently had been chosen as the spokesman for the group. He was holding a can of soda pop.

 

“On behalf of all the sports teams, I wanted to apologize to you Akane. We never really thought of how this business would look from your point of view. We really only did want dates. We promise that from now on if any of us wants to date with a girl we will do it the old fashioned way and ask her.

 

He continued. “That red haired girl really opened our eyes. Could you tell her what we said? She's scary and I'm sure we all want to stay on her good side.”

 

One of the boys behind the spokesman said, “Hey, stick to what we agreed to say.” The speaker punched the spokesman lightly in the back. It was not a hard blow, but unexpected. The boy was pushed forward and caught his toe on a rock. As he fought to stay on his feet he lost his grip on the soda can and it went flying, turning end over end. The cold liquid went flying straight at Ranma.

 

Ranma tried to dodge, but the soda splashed out to a larger area than he had anticipated. The pigtailed girl raised her head to look at the boys. “I guess you'll get the chance to tell the red haired girl yourself.”

 

The spokesman for the group of athletes looked confused. “What just happened? Saotome was there and now the red haired girl is here.”

 

One of the boys in the group said, “Saotome changed. I think Saotome is the red haired girl.”

 

Ranma sighed. “It's true. I changed.”

 

Ranma turned and faced toward the school buildings. Once again the ki-enhanced voice boomed out. “May I have your attention, please? The members of the sports teams just witnessed something that I was hoping to keep a secret. Since all of them have seen it, I figure it is only a matter of time before everyone in the school knows. I may as well make a public announcement.”

 

“I am the same girl who yelled at Kuno Tatewaki yesterday.” She produced a thermos seemingly from nowhere. “My name is Saotome Ranma and I also usually look like this.” She poured hot water from the thermos.

 

“While the full story of how this came to be is a long one, this is the short version. When I was traveling in China I got a magic curse. Now, when I get splashed with cold water I change into the red haired girl you just saw. When I'm splashed with hot water I turn back into the boy you are looking at now.”

 

“That's all I want to say about it for now. Please don't pester me about it. Now… the show is over.”

 

Ranma put the thermos back in stuff space. One of the athletes asked, “Where did the thermos go?”

 

“That? It's a ki manipulation technique some friends taught me. You use your ki to fold space and create an invisible pocket that you can take with you anywhere you go. The stronger your ki the more stuff you can keep in your pocket. I call it stuff space because I keep stuff in it.” He produced his lunch bento and made it disappear again.

 

“This is based on the hidden weapons technique that I learned from a master in China. While they carry weapons in theirs, I mostly just carry stuff like those thermoses, my lunch and my books. It's great if you have more stuff to carry that will fit in your arms.”

 

Several of the boys said, “Cool,” and a few asked, “Could you teach me that?”

 

“Teach you? I don't know. It's ki manipulation and a pretty advanced technique. Those of you who are really serious about learning it should talk to me later. I'll ask Mr. Tendo if we can use his dojo for a class in Ki techniques. I suspect he would want to be paid for the use of his dojo so let's see what we can work out.”

 

Akane leaned close to Ranma's head and said in a fierce whisper, “What are you doing?”

 

Ranma whispered back, “I'm separating the serious students from the merely curious. Anybody who isn't serious isn't likely to want to pay to learn.”

 

There was a whispered conference among the athletes. Finally they turned back and the spokesman said, “Could we get back to you on that?”

 

Ranma nodded. He called out, “Before you head back inside I have something to say to you guys. I may be a guy that can change into a girl and I was a girl when I talked to you yesterday. Whatever gender I am at the moment, I meant what I said. I meant it about dating in general and I meant what I said about Akane. I also meant what I said about any funny business you might want to start with my girl side.”

 

“If that isn't clear then I'll spell it out. Do not attack Akane. If any of you want to take Akane on a date, then ask her, politely.”

 

“Even when I'm in girl form I'm still a guy inside so I'm not interested in dating any guys. Don't even bother asking. If you ignore that advice and ask anyway, I can tell you in advance the answer will be NO.”

 

“I'm a martial artist and consider it dishonorable to use my skills against someone who doesn't have my training. However, if attacked, I will defend myself. In short, DON'T MESS WITH ME!”

 

Ranma leaned a little bit forward with a deadly earnest expression on his face. “Do any of you need clarification on any of those points?”

 

They all shook their heads in negation. Ranma nodded with satisfaction. “One last thing, have any of you seen Kuno?”

 

One of the other boys from the Kendo Club spoke up. “He said he had some stuff to take care of and wouldn't be in today.”

 

A bell rang. Ranma rolled his eyes. “I hope they have enough buckets for everybody.” They all headed inside.

 

As they stood in the hall with their buckets Akane said, “Ranma I'm sorry. It's my fault we're late. I'm still too new to walking on the fence.”

 

Ranma shook his head. “After some of the crap my father put me through, this barely qualifies as punishment. Please don't tell the teacher I said that though or he might try to come up with something worse.”

 

“What are you going to do now that your secret is out?”

 

“I've given some thought to that. Accidents happen (a lot) and I'll try not to get mad when they do happen. For people who deliberately splash me, that's another story.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“If I'm fully dressed when I get splashed I'll give the proper girlish response and slap the baka. (I can slap hard.) If it's in the locker room when I'm partly or completely naked, I'll pound the creep.”

 

“What about all that stuff you said about honor?”

 

“I said I'd defend myself. Deliberately splashing me with cold water is an attack and I already told those guys I won't put up with that. I didn't come to this school to be some hentai's free entertainment!”

 

“Hey, calm down.”

 

“Sorry. It's just that sometimes guys can make me so mad! What's so funny?”

 

Akane was snickering. “It's just that when you say that you sound like a girl.”

 

Ranma rolled his eyes and sighed. “And you sound like my father. Since I change into a girl I guess I might end up talking like a girl sometimes. Please don't make too big a deal of it.”

“What, and pass up a chance to tease you?”

 

Ranma closed his eyes tightly for a moment. “I guess I can survive some teasing, just not too much, please. This curse is fairly new to me and I'm still not even sure how I should feel about it. Part of me says I should fight to stay completely male in my head with every bit of my strength. It's just that sometimes it's like there's this little voice that tells me to embrace it.”

 

Akane sounded puzzled. “Embrace it?”

 

“Yeah. Like it's telling me that it's Ok to act like a girl if I really am one at the time. That kind of scares me. It kind of feels to me like Darth Vader telling Luke Skywalker, `Give in to the Dark Side'.”

 

“It can't be that bad, can it?”

 

“The real problem is that I don't know. Part of me worries that I'm losing myself. Another part says that it shouldn't matter as long as the `me' I'm turning into is a good person.”

 

Akane considered that. “Wow, I thought my problem with boys was bad. Ranma's worried about losing his identity.” Out loud she said, “I'm not sure I'm happy with you comparing femininity to the dark side of the `force'.”

 

“I'm not trying to be offensive. It's just - what if I don't like the person my girl side ends up being?”

 

Akane thought for a moment. “I'm not sure if this is the direction you want to go in, but if you decide you want your girl side to be more feminine, you should talk to Kasumi to give you lessons. She is the most feminine woman I know.”

 

“Hmmm. Like you said, I'm not sure if that's the direction I'd want to go in. If I do, I'd want to be able to stay masculine when in male form and keep the feminine behavior to my girl side. (If that doesn't give me a split personality.)”

 

Akane thought to herself, “I can't begin to imagine what that must be like for him.” Out loud she said, “If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.”

 

He sighed again. “I'm sorry for dumping all that on you. As a friend I'm just hoping for a sympathetic ear.”

 

“That I can give you.” Akane smiled.

“Thanks. I will give you as much help as I can give with your problems.”

Akane thought, “Maybe we are a good match as fiancés. We're both pretty messed up. “

 

The next few classes went better. Ranma wasn't looking forward to gym class today. At lunch there were several people who asked about the curse. There were a few people who asked him to demonstrate but he glared them down. He reflected that Nabiki was probably taking bets on whether or not Ranma would remain male for the whole school day.

 

Ranma felt very nervous going into gym class. His performance in the class was not up to his usual levels because he was distracted. People noticed that he was looking around as if expecting to be attacked.

 

As the boys were heading into the locker room one of them stopped Ranma and asked. “Is it true that you can change into a girl?”

 

“Yes it's true and NO, I'm not going to show you!”

 

“Hey, calm down. I was just curious.”

 

Ranma took a deep breath. “Sorry for yelling. I'm a bit on edge.”

 

The other boy walked off muttering, “More like totally paranoid.”

 

Ranma took a few more deep breaths and recited a mantra in his head. Nothing had happened so far. Maybe nothing would happen. It was a safe bet that flying off the handle wouldn't help things.

 

When he was going off to the showers he took a couple extra towels “just in case.” When he got back to his locker he placed the extra towels on the bench and turned to dial the combination lock.

 

That was when a stream of icy cold water struck with considerable force. “Ahhhhhh” shouted Ranma in a scream that climbed into a more feminine register at the end. With one arm covering her breasts and the other over her privates she looked around.

 

A short distance down the row of lockers stood a tall, powerfully built boy with a smirk on his face. He was holding a large water gun of the type that one pumped up to spray farther and hit harder. Ranma had seen such a gun in TV advertisements. This gun had a core that you could freeze before putting it into the water tank. It made the water icy cold.

 

Determined not to give the pervert any more satisfaction than she had to, Ranma turned and picked up one of the towels she had brought. She carefully tied that around her waist, not bothering to hide her breasts while she did so.

 

The smirk left the face of the boy with the water gun. He was looking a little slack jawed at the display of bare breasts Ranma-Chan was making.

 

When Ranma finally had the towel settled around her waist to her satisfaction she picked up the second towel and hung it around her neck so the ends covered her breasts. It was a long way from being a modest garment, but it covered what needed to be covered.

 

Ranma stepped up to the boy with the water gun and looked up at him. (Kami-sama, I hate being so short as a girl.) “Did you enjoy the show?”

 

The boy wasn't sure how he should react. “Uh… yeah?”

 

In a low, dangerous tone the girl said, “Oh, good. I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone.”

 

The boy tried to come up with a smart remark but could only think of, “Huh?”

“Did you hear what I told those guys yesterday? What I'd do if I got attacked like they were doing to Akane?”

 

“Huh… I mean yeah. But I didn't touch you.”

 

“Then I guess it sucks to be you. I'm treating you splashing me with ice-cold water as an attack. (You just had to use ice water.)”

 

Suddenly there was a meaty sounding “smack” and the boy slumped down on the bench. The water gun clattered to the floor.

 

Ranma stood for a moment, looking down on the boy. “Humph,” she said before turning to head toward the showers.

 

Before she got two steps the teacher came storming into the room. “What the hell is going on here? Young lady, who are you and what are you doing in the boys' locker room?”

 

Feeling too upset to give her usual shy introduction she said in a tightly controlled voice. “I'm Saotome Ranma and I'm not a lady! The only reason I look like a lady right now is because of that asshole over there!”

 

“Miss, what are you talking about? Saotome Ranma is a boy.”

 

“That's right! I'm a boy! But I change into a girl when I'm splashed with cold water.”

 

The teacher looked confused. One of the other students stepped forward. “Saotome is telling the truth. Yamada tagged him… her with that water gun and he changed into this girl here. I also saw it out in the schoolyard this morning. He changes into a girl and back depending on if the water is hot or cold.”

 

He looked over to the fallen boy. “Yamada has always been kind of a pervert. He really did deserve to get pounded.”

 

“Sensei, can I go change now?”

 

Looking a bit shell-shocked the teacher told her, “Wait a minute. Is everybody done in the shower?”

 

One of the boys looked and reported, “There's nobody left in there.”

 

“Ok, go get changed.” He turned to the rest of the boys. “The rest of you get dressed and get to your next class. Give her some privacy.”

 

Ranma stopped with fists clenched and shoulders hunched, her posture eloquent of anger. She was practically trembling with emotion. “HIM! Give HIM some privacy! I'm a GUY!”

 

“Just go change.”

 

It didn't take long as not much hot water was needed. When Ranma got back the rest of the boys had finished and were leaving. Ranma was still wearing the two towels.

 

By the time Ranma was dressed and ready to leave the rest of the boys were gone. The teacher called Ranma over.

 

“I can honestly say that I have never had to deal with anything like this before.”

 

Ranma couldn't help a small chuckle.

 

“Having you shower with the other boys may be a bad idea. I can think of three possible alternatives. One would be for you to shower before the rest of the boys. Another would be to shower after all the rest have finished. We might be able to get permission for you to use the teachers' shower. It is private and separate from the ones used by the students. For obvious reasons we can't have you using the girls showers either.”

 

Ranma said, “I was sort of hoping the perverts would get the message and leave me alone.”

 

“I think Yamada will leave you alone. It looks like you hit him a dozen times. The other boys said they only heard one blow land.”

 

“Uh… actually it was fourteen times. I'm… pretty fast.”

 

“I see. There is one other alternative. We could just drop you out of PE and you could take some elective class for this time period.”

 

“Please don't bump me out of gym. It's one of my favorite classes. Please don't do anything more than you have to.”

 

The teacher nodded. “I understand. You don't want special treatment that might cause you to be an outcast among your peers. With your curse I don't know if it's even possible to avoid that”

 

The teacher thought for a moment. “Alright, here is what I propose. First we forbid the boys from splashing you with cold water. If they do, they will be punished. That won't stop everyone, but it should at least make them think before they try it.”

 

“Second you will be given permission to shower early, before the other boys. You won't be required to do that and can shower with the others if you chose. That will allow you to work out whatever kind of arrangement you are most comfortable with.”

 

“Third, I will not seek to punish you for striking Yamada with the understanding this must be the last time. No matter how justified you may have been in this case we can't have you beating up the other students. I know you are a martial artist but that doesn't mean you can or should solve all problems with your fists. It is dishonorable for one of your skills to use them against someone who doesn't have your training.”

 

Ranma protested, “How can guys be discouraged from splashing me if they don't know there will be consequences if they try it?”

 

“They will be punished, I promise you that. If you insist on a physical retaliation it must take place off of school grounds and the teaching staff must not hear of it.”

 

Ranma stood for a moment to digest that. “If that is the policy then why were those boys allowed to attack Akane every day? Why was Kuno allowed to harass her? They should have been disciplined too.”

 

The gym teacher sighed. “We don't live in a perfect world. The Kuno boy's father owns the school building and is also the principal. If we try to do more to the boy than detention or standing him in the hall with buckets, we could get fired. Since the elder Kuno pays us extra to put up with the younger's nonsense it would be really hard to find any other school job that paid as well. The Kuno family is wealthy. I'm not saying that it excuses why he is allowed to behave that way, it only explains it.”

 

Author's Note: I've always wanted to see an angry Ranma-Chan put Kuno and the Hentai Horde in their place. Obviously it won't last with Kuno. The temptation is to say, “because he's an idiot,” but the real reason will be revealed later. In some ways this is going to be a darker, more serious story than canon. That's why the locker room scene and the serious conversation in the hall.