Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma OneHalf: First steps ❯ Book Two Chapter One ( Chapter 11 )

Ranma Onehalf: First steps.

Book Two.

Chapter One.

The four o'clock sun hung over Nerima and blazed down on one Saotome Ranma, one of the two masters of the newly recombined Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. She was dressed in a blouse and skirt along with flats in a nod to practicality.

Ranma was also hot, sweaty and tired. She had discovered early on how uncomfortable women wear could be and was muttering a long chain of curses involving a certain lazy panda under her breath.

As tired as Ranma was she was also happy, because she had gotten a job. It was as a translator of all things. The company she had been hired by was a video game company with several US partners and clients and they needed someone who understood not only English, but American English.

And now she was on her way home to announce that she had found a job. That and have a nice long soak in the furo. It had been a long day.

As Ranma neared the Tendos she looked up and saw Lia sitting cross-legged on the roof of the dojo. As she neared the house Ranma recognized that Lia was in a classic sulk.

"Okay, this is interesting..."Ranma thought as she entered the gate.

Heading into the mud room Ranma kicked off her shoes.

"I'm home!" she called.

"Hello Ranma." Kasumi called from the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in a bit" she added.

"Thanks Kasumi. Where's Akane?" Ranma asked as she entered the house.

"She's upstairs, looking through some trunks." Kasumi said, sticking her head out of the kitchen.

"Thanks. Whats up with Lia by the way?" Ranma asked her.

"Oh, she's just being stubborn." Kasumi said with a slight smile.

"About what?"

"The school dress code." Kasumi told Ranma.

"The dress code? What about it?" Ranma asked.

"She doesn't want to wear the hat." Kasumi said as she ducked back into the kitchen.

Ranma chuckled and rolled her eyes. "That's Lia for you. Thanks Kasumi." she said as she headed to the stairs.

Upstairs Ranma found Akane at the end of the hall rooting through a trunk. Walking up to her Ranma tapped Akane on the shoulder.

"Hi." Ranma said.

"Hi." Akane returned. "How did you do?" she asked.

"I got a job." Ranma replied.

Akane turned and looked at Ranma. "Great! Doing what?" she asked.

Ranma shrugged. "I'm a translator at that video game company downtown." she said.

Akane looked puzzled. "Translator?" she asked.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. For their American clients. They hired me 'cause I can speak English." she said.

"Looks like you learned something useful in America after all." Akane joked.

Ranma chuckled. "Looks like." she said. Leaning over the trunk she looked into the trunk. " So why is Lia sulking about the school dress code?" she asked.

Akane shrugged. "She hates the hat. Says it looks stupid." she said. " She says she doesn't understand why she has to wear it."

"Ah. So why are digging through old trunks?" Ranma asked as she leaned back.

Akane paused to stretch. "I'm looking for old school photos of mine. I want to show Lia that I wore the same hat when I was her age." she said.

"So you think that if you show her that you had to wear the hat too it'll convince her that she'll wear it?" Ranma asked.

Akane nodded. "Yep. If she knows that I survived wearing the hat she will." she said.

"Okay. I'm gonna go change. These clothes are killing me." she said.

"Have fun." Akane said as Ranma headed back down the hall.

That evening over dinner Akane reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a photo.

"Lia, look at this." she said as she handed it to Lia.

"Hmm?" Lia asked as she took the photo. "Who's this?" she asked as she looked at the photo.

"That's me when I was in school, about your age." Akane said.

"Hey, you're wearing the hat!" Lia said as she examined the photo.

"Uh-huh." Akane said.

"Huh." Lia said as she put the photo down.

As they continued with dinner Lia kept quiet as she kept glancing at the photo. Afterwards Lia ducked upstairs with Thor, which signaled that she was going to think. Akane nudged Ranma in the ribs as Lia padded upstairs.

"Told you." murmured Akane.

"I know." Ranma told her as she got up. "I'm gonna go take a bath." she said.

"I'll join you in a bit." Akane said.

"Okay." Ranma said as she headed down the hall.

"Ahhh..."

Ranma sighed as he sank into the hot water of the furo. This had been a long time in coming. Sitting there Ranma soaked and let the heat relax the knots in his legs and back. Sitting there he breathed in and out and just relaxed.

Hearing the door open he looked up.

"Hello?" he called.

"It's me." Akane called from the dressing room.

"Oh." Ranma said as he sat back in the tub.

"I talked to Lia while I got her ready for bed." Akane said as she undressed.

"And?"

"And she decided that she'll follow the dress code." Akane said as she stepped into the furo.

"I knew she would." Ranma said.

__________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________

Lia awoke the next morning to her father gently shaking her awake.

"Kitten, time to wake up. You gotta get ready for school." Ranma said softly.

Lias response was to curl up tighter and burrow under the bedcovers. Ranma smiled slightly at his daughters response. She was like him in that they both slept the sleep of the dead and didn't wake easily.

Knowing that further prodding would produce the same result Ranma resorted to the one thing that would get a Saotome up and out of bed willingly.

"Kasumis making breakfast and you don't want Genda or Izu to eat it all." he said.

In an eye blink Lia was up on her feet. Watching as she exited the room at high speed Ranma chuckled to himself.

"Yep, she's a Saotome alright." he said to himself.

Downstairs Ranma found Lia sitting at the table in her Hello Kitty PJs wolfing down breakfast with Genda and Izu. As he took his place at the table Ranma noted that the two boys were keeping up with Lia. Stifling a yawn he poured himself some tea and picked up his chopsticks.

By the time Akane had came down Ranma had finished his breakfast and was enjoying his second cup of tea while Genda, Izu, and Lia battled over thirds.

"Aren't you going to tell them to stop that?" Akane asked over the clatter of chopsticks.

Ranma shrugged. "Nah. It's good practice." he said.

"For what?" Akane asked as she poured herself some tea.

"Fending off Pops. And hand -eye coordination too." Ranma told her.

Akane shook her head and rolled her eyes as she dished herself some rice.

"I think your mother has your father well in hand Ranma. And there are much better training exercises than fencing with chopsticks you know." she said as she picked up her chopsticks.

"And it's bad manners too." Kasumi said as she stuck her head in from the kitchen. "Stop that! You'll be late for school!" she told the children.

The children froze at Kasumis statement, then the two boys scrambled for the stairs. Lia however snatched the last piece of fish and scarfed it down in the blink of an eye. She then rolled back onto her feet and then bounding off to the stairs.

The three children arrived at the stairs in a three way tie. The two boys were elbowing each other so they could go up the stairs first when Lia landed on top of them. Using the boys as a launching pad she jumped onto the stairs and bounded up them. Not to be outdone Genda and Izu sprang to their feet and charged after her. They met in the middle of the staircase and went in to a three way spar to their bedrooms.

Ten minutes later they came tearing back down the stairs fully dressed and ready for school, Genda and Izu in front with Lia in the rear. The boys were dressed in their usual school clothes of jeans and a sports shirt for Genda and overalls and a t- shirt for Izu. Lia was in a red tang and black kung -fu pants*.

"Lia, catch!" Ranma said as he threw Lia her book bag.

"Thanks Daddy!" Lia called as she charged into the mud room.

"And don't forget your hat!" Akane called as she threw the hat like a frisbee to Lia.

"Rats." Lia muttered as she grabbed the hat in midair. "Thanks Mom!" she called as she pulled on her slippers.

Properly attired Lia followed her two cousins out the door. Charging out the door they made a right at the gate and headed off to school. Her parents watched her go and continued to stare in the direction she had taken long after she had gone.

"There she goes." Ranma said.

"Yeah." Akane said. Glancing at Ranma she put her hand on his. "She'll be okay Ranma. You taught her well. If she can maul Shampoo she'll handle grade school no problem." she told him.

Ranma sighed as he reached for his tea. "I know Akane. I know. But its hard, you know?" he said.

Akane nodded while Ranma sipped his tea. "I know, Ranma, I know." she said.

__________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________

Lia stood in front of her new class and tried not to fidget. For the first time in her life Lia was going to school. Her teacher stood next to her and glanced at the Lias folder.

"Class..." she began. "We have a new student joining us today." she continued.

Lia felt dozens of pairs of eyes on her and butterflies in her stomach. Next to her the teacher continued.

"So lets all give a nice big welcome to our new student, miss Saotome Lll, Lll,..." the teacher began as she tried to pronounce Lias first name.

"It's Lia." she said.

"Thank you." the teacher said with a nod. "Saotome Lia." she finished.

"Good morning Saotome Lia." the class chorused as they bowed.

Lia clenched her teeth at the various mispronunciations** of her first name and barely remembered to bow back.

"Now Lia grew up in the US, so please try help her adjust." The teacher told the class. Turning to Lia the teacher continued. "Lia, you can sit next to your cousin Izu." she said.

"Thank you." Lia said with a quick nod before heading to her seat.

As Lia sat down a note landed on her desk. Opening it she had to turn it around a couple of times before she got it right. Carefully she read the note.

"Are you an American?" it asked. Lia rested her head on her desk. It was going to be a long day.

From there the day just seemed to blur by as the class went through their subjects. Most of it was old hat for Lia, but some of it was hard. Like kanji for instance. Lia could speak Japanese flawlessly but reading it was another matter entirely.

Lia could read and write it on the same level as the rest of the class, but barely. And her mannerisms were completely different from the rest of the class. Then there was the fact that she had a American Midwest accent which made communicating difficult at times.

Finally lunch came around and granted a blessed temporary relief for Lia. She sat under a tree with her cousins and opened the bento prepared by Kasumi, a Saotome special.

"So Lia, how did your morning go?" Genda asked as Lia ate.

Lia was too busy eating so Izu answered for her.

"Other than getting two tons of notes on her desk she did pretty good." Izu said

"That and the fact that half the class cant understand my accent." Lia added after sipping her juice.

Lia quickly polished off her bento and set it down next to herself as she drained her juice. Sitting there she scanned the schoolyard as Genda and Izu busied themselves with their lunches. Off in a corner not easily visible to the teachers Lia noticed a group of boys standing together.

She wondered what was going on when one of them pushed something. Instantly she recognized what they were doing.

"Bullies." Lia thought.

She was on her feet and charging towards them in a heartbeat. Behind her Lia was dimly aware of Genda and Izu yelling behind her. She shut them out as her mind became hyper focused as she slipped into her fighting state.

Time slowed to a crawl as she neared the boys. Reaching the middle boy first Lia tapped him on the right shoulder then nailed him with a left roundhouse kick that flipped him over backwards. While he was in mid air Lia planted a heel kick into the boy on the left's gut and then nailed the boy on the right with a three hit combo, one to each kidney and then one to the chest to drive him back. She finished with a roundhouse kick on the middle boy as he came back down.

Lia stood there for a few seconds as she made sure that the bullies weren't coming back, then she turned to bullies victim.

The victim turned out to be a girl with brown hair and what appeared to be secondhand clothes.

"You okay?" Lia asked.

"Y-y-yes, thank you." the girl said.

"Why were you being beat up?" Lia asked her.

The girl sighed. "It's simple." she said as she got to her feet. As she did she towered over Lia by a good fifteen centimeters***. "I'm half Japanese." she said.

Lia blinked at the girls statement. "Oh." she said. Lia gave the girl a questioning look. "How come your friends didn't protect you?" Lia asked her.

The girl looked down at the ground and then looked away. "I don't have any." she muttered. "No one wants to." she said as she turned to walk away.

She stopped as she felt a strong grip on her arm. The girl turned to look at Lia.

"You're wrong." Lia said.

"What do you mean?" the girl asked.

"I'm your friend." Lia said as she held out her hand. "Saotome Lia." she said.

"Tanaka Matoko." the girl said as she looked at Lias hand.

Not knowing what to believe she hesitantly took Lias hand. Lia gave Matokos hand a firm shake.

"Pleased to meet you Matoko." Lia said.

The ringing of the school bell cut off the conversation further. Lia glanced at the school and then back to Matoko.

"Uh -oh. What class are you in?" Lia asked Matoko.

"Yours." Matoko told her. Noting Lias questioning look Matoko elaborated. "I'm in the back. I don't like to draw attention to myself." she explained.

"I can see that." Lia said as the two girls began to walk back inside, passing by one of the bullies who was walking hunched over.

As they walked inside they were joined by Genda and Izu. Entering the school Matoko tapped Lia on the shoulder.

"Lia, may I ask you something?" Matoko asked.

"Yeah." Lia answered.

"You're an American." she said.

"Yep. Born and raised in Iowa." Lia stated.

"So what are you doing in Japan?" Matoko asked.

Lia shrugged. "My parents decided to move back home." she said. "They're both from here."

"Your parents are Japanese." Matoko said. Lia nodded. "But you have red hair." Matoko pointed out.

"Uh-huh. I got it from my father." Lia told her.

"So he's ...mixed liked me." Matoko said.

Lia considered how to answer Matokos question and how to best explain her parents curses. Fortunately her cousins came to the rescue.

"Ah, not exactly." Genda said.

"Its kinda hard to explain." Izu added.

"Eh???" Matoko asked, confused.

Lia was suddenly struck by an inspiration. "Why don't you come over to my house after school and I'll show you." she said.

Matoko was speechless. No one had ever been this nice to her before. She hesitated for a second, then she remembered that Lia had beaten up three bullies in less time than it had taken to tell.

"If it's okay with your parents..." she began.

"Yeah, it's okay. They'd love to meet ya." Lia said as they approached their classroom.

"Yeah, and you stay for dinner if you'd like. Mom loves to cook for new people." Izu said as he clapped Matoko on the back.

"O-o-okay." Matoko said.

"Great!" Genda said. "I'll see you after school!" he said as he headed off to class.

"I'll see you then..." Matoko said as she and Lia went into their classroom.

_____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ____________________

That afternoon the four of them met up outside the school and headed for the Tendos. Once they were out of sight of the school Lia yanked the school hat off her head and stuffed it in her backpack while muttering in English under her breath.

Matoko watched Lias behavior with some curiosity. Izu glanced at Matoko and saw her expression. He leaned over to her.

"She hates the hat." he told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"I think it's 'cause she's American." Izu told her.

"Okay." she said.

As Lia stuffed her hat into her backpack her hand brushed against an envelope.

"What's this?" she asked. Grabbing the envelope she pulled it out and opened it. "Aw man!" she said.

"What is it?" Genda asked.

"I was supposed to show these to the class today!" she said, holding up the envelope.

"What, oh, those photos." Izu said when he saw the envelope.

"Photos?" Matoko asked.

Lia looked at Matoko. "Yeah, photos of my hometown." she said. Lia held out the photos to Matoko. "Wanna look?" she asked.

"Y-y-yes, thank you." Matoko said.

Taking the envelope from Lia Matoko opened it and began to flip through the photos. She saw photos of wood frame houses and tree lined streets and brick buildings.

"So this is Iowa?" Matoko said as she flipped through the photos.

"Yep." Lia answered.

Matoko paused in her flipping and looked closely at one of the photos. "Lia, whats this place?" she asked, showing the photo to Lia.

Lia looked at the photo. "Oh, that's the mall." she said.

"There are cornfields next to the mall!" Matoko exclaimed. "Why are there cornfields there?" she asked.

"'Cause it's on the edge of town." Lia told her.

"Oh." Matoko said as she flipped to the next photo. "Whats that?" she asked.

"Tractor." Lia told her.

"It's huge." Matoko said as she looked at the photo in question. "The tire is taller than your father." she said, pointing to the photo.

"Yeah, the tires on that one are eight feet tall." Lia said glancing at the photo. "My mom used to work there. That's the factory." she added.

"Huh." Matoko said. "What part?" she asked.

"Foundry. She's really strong." Lia said.

Turning the corner the familiar sight of the Tendos front gate came into view.

"And here we are. Home sweet home." Lia said as they approached.

Matoko boggled. She'd never met anyone who actually lived in a house before, not a apartment. Entering the yard her jaw dropped as she took in the size of the house proper.

"You like it?" Genda asked.

Matoko nodded as they walked into the house. After slipping their shoes off they entered the house proper.

"Mom, we're home! And we got a new friend!" Genda called.

As they entered the living room Kasumi came in from the kitchen carrying a tray of snacks. Kasumi saw Matoko and gave her a smile. Putting the tray on the table Kasumi walked over to Matoko.

"Hello there. I'm Kasumi, Genda and Izus mother." Kasumi said as she bowed to Matoko.

"Hello. I'm Tanaka Matoko. I'm Lia and Izus friend." she said as she returned the bow.

"Pleased to meet you Matoko." Kasumi said.

"Kasumi, where's Mom and Dad?" Lia asked.

"They're in the dojo Lia." Kasumi told her.

"Thanks Kasumi." Lia said before charging off.

Matoko and the boys had sat down at the table and were enjoying the snacks when Lia returned with her parents.

"Matoko, meet my parents. Mom, Dad, meet my new friend Matoko." Lia said in introduction.

"Hello Matoko." Akane said as she sat down. "I'm Akane, Lias mother."

"And I'm Ranma. I'm Lias father." Ranma said as he sat down.

Lia sat down at the table and poured herself some juice. Sipping it she looked at Matoko.

"You wanted to know how I got my red hair, right?" Lia asked.

Matoko nodded. Lia pointed to her parents.

"Well, as you can see, right now they are normal Japanese, right?" she asked.

"Y-yeah." Matoko said.

Akane and Ranma glanced at each other. They had a feeling on where this was heading...

"Well, watch this." Lia said before she flung the cold contents of her glass at her parents.

Matoko watched as the juice hit Lias parents and they changed. Lias father went from being a lean 170 cm male to being a busty 150 cm redhead and her mother went from being a 160 cm woman to being a 168 cm man.

"Lia!" her parents chorused.

Matokos eyes went as wide as dinner plates. She looked back and forth between Akane and Ranma several times.

"Matoko, we can explain..." Ranma began.

When she heard Ranmas Matokos eyes got even wider. Then her brain overloaded and she fainted, Genda and Izu catching her as she fell. Ranma looked at her daughter.

"You know Lia we could have told her first before we showed her." she said.

"Yeah, not everyone has grown up with the Jusyenko cursed hanging around." Akane added.

Lia shrugged. "Sorry. I forgot about that." she said as the entire room face vaulted.

Matoko felt a cool compress on her forehead and a futon under her back. Very carefully she cracked an eye. Seeing only Lia she opened both eyes.

"You're awake!" Lia said when Matoko looked at her.

"Lia, your parents..." Matoko began.

"Yeah?" Lia asked.

"They changed." Matoko said in a small voice, unsure of what to say. "They, they switched." she added.

Lia nodded. "I know. It's cause of a curse." she explained.

Matoko gave Lia a funny look. "Curse? What kind of curse?" she asked.

Lia shrugged. "It's a water curse. My dad got his in China and my mom got hers when she got splashed with the cure to his curse." she explained.

"A water curse?" Matoko asked as she sat up carefully.

"Yeah. Cold water activates it, hot water reverses it." Lia said with a nod.

Matoko blinked as she assimilated this bit of information. She glanced at Lia again.

"Do you..?" she asked.

Lia shook her head. "No. Just them. My Grandpa Saotome turns into a panda though." Lia said.

"He does? How did hee get his curse?" Matoko asked.

"In China, with my dad. Some place called Jusyenko. It's gone now, my dad says." Lia told her as she put the compress back in the bowl.

Matoko thought for a moment as she remembered the transformations of Lias parents. A question formed in her mind.

"Lia..." Matoko began.

"Yeah?" Lia asked.

"You said you got you're red hair from your father, right?" Matoko asked.

"Yeah." Lia said with a nod.

"You were referring to his cursed side, weren't you?" Matoko continued.

"Yep." Lia answered.

Matoko gave Lia a small smile. "Thank you for showing me Lia." she said.

"Your welcome." Lia replied. She looked at Matoko. "You're okay with it?" she asked.

Matoko nodded. "Yeah. I know that its whats inside that counts." she said, tapping her chest. "Not outside." she said, holding up a strand of her hair.

Lia grinned as she held up her ponytail. "I know. My mom and dad taught me that." she said.

As Matoko got to her feet Lia sniffed the air. "Dinners ready." she said. "Let's go." Lia said as she grabbed Matokos hand.

"But I couldn't possibly..." she began.

"Too late now." Lia said as she began to push Matoko towards the door. "Kasumi already invited you. And no one can say no to Kasumi." she said as she hustled Matoko downstairs to the dinner table.

Matoko decided to quit while she was ahead and gave in. "Okay, okay, I give up!" she said.

"See?" Lia said.

"So whats for dinner?" Matoko asked as they walked down the stairs.

Lia shrugged. "Dunno. But whatever it is, it'll be good." she said.

"Okay." Matoko said. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ______

End.

*Yeah, I know. I dress her like Ranma.

** spelled that one right on my first try.

***that's six inches, give or take a quarter inch.