Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma OneHalf: First steps ❯ Book Two, Chapter Nine ( Chapter 19 )

Ranma Onehalf: First steps. Book Two.

Chapter Nine.

"Dad, can I ask you question?" Christian asked.

"Yeah?" Ranma answered.

"Why do you always go out side as a girl?" he asked.

Ranma chuckled. "That's easy Christian. If I went outside as a guy I'd end up getting splashed, and there's always some one who wants to know why I changed." she answered.

"Oh, okay." Christian said with a nod.

Ranma and Christian were out running errands. Nothing abnormal in that, unless you count the fact they were jogging along on top of the fence. They had been out and about since midmorning and it was now approaching lunchtime.

Hearing his stomach growl Christian looked around for a place to eat. Spotting a ramen restaurant he brightened.

"Hey Dad, can we have lunch there?" he asked, pointing to the restaurant.

"Huh?" Ranma asked as she looked where Christian was pointing. "No! Absolutely not!"

Christian blinked in surprise at his fathers reaction. "Why not?" he asked.

Ranma sighed as they hopped down to the street. "Let me explain Christian. It goes back to when I got my curse." she said. "Grandpa Saotome and I were in a village looking for a cure when he ate the first prize in a tournament the village was having."

"Why did he do that?" Christian asked.

"Because he's an idiot." Ranma told him. "Anyways, to save our skins I had to fight the village champion, and I won."

"So the champion was a sore loser." Christian stated.

"That's an understatement. This was a village of Chinese Amazons." Ranma said, looking back at Christian. "I was a girl when I fought the champion. And because she had lost to me, she gave me the Kiss of Death."

"The Kiss of Death? You're kidding, right?" Christian asked.

Ranma grinned and shook her head. "No, no joke. With the Amazons that means they will pursue you the ends of the earth and kill you." she said. "The girl I beat chased me and Pops from her village all the way to the coast. We thought we'd lost her when we swam back to Japan, but we were wrong."

"She followed you." Christian said.

Ranma nodded. "Yep. She showed back up right after I had won a fight and tried to kill me, but I managed to outsmart her." he said. "She tried to kill me again after that, but she stopped when I beat her I was a male."

"She left you alone?" asked Christian.

"Hardly." Ranma said with a frown. "She gave me a Kiss of Marriage and then spent the next two years trying every devious and underhanded trick she could to dupe me into marrying her."

"Oh." Christian said.

"And helping her was her grandmother. They kept it up until your mother and I left for America, and when we finally returned they started doing it again." Ranma said. She scowled slightly as she continued. "And they even tried to kidnap Lia."

Christians eyes grew wide. "They did? What happened?" he asked.

Ranma smirked as she recalled the memory. "Lia mauled them." she said.

"I can believe that." Christian said.

"Well, after that your mother and I had a discussion with the grandmother and we convinced her to leave us alone." Ranma continued.

"How did you do that?" Christian asked.

Ranma gave Christian a feral grin and held up her hand. "Why, we asked nicely of course." she said, chi claws shimmering in the light.

"Okay..." Christian said, mesmerized by the sight of the chi claws.

"Anyways, that's why we don't go there." Ranma said. "And don't you think about going there either. The Amazons are very dangerous Christian."

"Okay." Christian said as he looked over his shoulder at the restaurant.

Ranma smiled and clapped Christian on his shoulder.

"Come on. I know this place where they actually know how to make a decent burger." she said.

__________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________

Four days later Lia, Matoko, Genda, and Izu were on the roof of the clinic kicking back and relaxing. They had the next three days off thanks to the Chemistry Club's latest experiment, which had necessitated the school being closed while the mess was cleaned up.

So they were up on the roof doing nothing and enjoying the unexpected freedom.

"Hey Lia, isn't that Christian?" Genda asked as he leaned over the edge of the building.

"Huh?" Lia asked as she got up. Leaning over the edge she saw her brother and a couple of his friends walking down the street. "Hey, that is Christian."

"He's up to something." Matoko said as she joined them.

"You're right." Lia said with a nod. "We'd better follow him." she added.

Lia lightly hopped down to street level from the roof while the others took the stairs. She was waiting for them when they came out the door to the clinic.

"We lost them." Izu said as he scanned the now -empty street.

Lia grinned and tapped the side of her nose. "You're forgetting that I have the full Neko -ken now." she said. "I can follow his scent." she said.

"Lead on then." Matoko said.

With Lia in the lead they quickly caught up Christian and his friends. Staying back out of sight Genda, Izu, and Matoko used alleyways and doorways to hide their presence while Lia simply invoked the Umi -Sen -Ken.

The boys walked a meandering path through Nerima, obviously not in any hurry to get somewhere. Three times they crossed their path before they entered the restaurant district.

"Oh no, he wouldn't." Lia said in low voice.

"He wouldn't what?" Izu asked the empty space in front of him.

"Go to the Cat Café." Lia answered.

"Why would he do that?" Matoko asked.

"Dad told him why we're not supposed to go near that place the other day when they were out running errands."Lia answered.

"He would." Genda and Izu groaned in unison.

Matoko gave the two boys a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?" she asked as they made to the next alleyway.

"He's a seven year old boy Matoko. Ranma telling him not to go there just made Christian want to go there even more." Genda explained.

"You think that your father would know better." Izu added. "I mean, he was once a seven year old boy him self, right?" he asked.

"Well, Dad said he had an abnormal childhood so I think that would explain it." Lia replied.

That got a nod from all those visible. Ahead of them the boys had stopped at and an alleyway and were discussing something amongst themselves.

"What are they doing?" Izu asked.

"Assigning lookouts. Now keep it down. I'm trying hear them trough the background noise." Lia answered.

Eventually the boys finished their discussion and ducked into the alleyway, leaving one behind as a lookout. Genda, Izu, and Matoko ducked back into their alley and Lia dropped the Umi -Sen -Ken.

"What's the plan?" Genda asked.

"Well, we can't make it past the lookouts." Izu said.

Lia nodded. "Yeah. I can get past them easily enough, but Christian would hear two a mile away." she said. "I can carry Matoko in piggyback with the Umi -Sen -Ken and Christian won't hear us." she added.

"Why Matoko?" Genda asked. "No offense Matoko, but you aren't a martial artist like we are." he said to Matoko.

"None taken." Matoko said with a slight nod.

"I want Matoko because one, she's our sister and he'll trust her, and two, she's next to me in being stealthy." Lia explained. "And you two make good lookouts."

Lia got the much larger sister in a piggyback carry while their cousins got into position. After getting Matokos weight distributed Lia glanced at Genda and Izu.

"Ready?" she asked. Getting nods from both of them Lia bowed her head and closed her eyes. "Here we go." she said as she invoked the Umi -Sen -Ken.

Christian meanwhile was exploring the basement storeroom he found on a earlier scouting trip. He had found a window to the basement that he could open from the outside. Inside the storeroom he had found nothing which seemed all that dangerous as his father had said.

The only things in there were boxes of food and cooking utensils along with various dried things. In the back corner of the storeroom Christian found a shelf full of bottles and casks covered in dust.

In front of the shelf were two large wooden casks that were likewise covered in dust. Seeing the bottles were of an unusual design Christian got up on one of the casks to look at the bottles. Taking one down he blew the dust off and looked at the label.

Putting the bottle back he was about to get down when he heard the scrape of a shoe behind him. Panicked he climbed onto the top of the shelves and hid behind some of the bottles. Hiding there he listed as someone walked around in the storeroom.

Hearing the footsteps come closer Christian tensed up and got ready to bolt. The footsteps stopped and he could have sworn he heard a sniffing noise.

"Christian?"

Christian blinked as he heard Lias voice. Peeking out from behind the bottles he saw nothing but empty air.

"Lia?" he whispered.

"I'm here." she said as she stepped out of the Umi -Sen -Ken. "Where are you?"

"Up here." Christian said, sticking out his hand and waving.

"Get down from there. Do you know how much trouble you're in?" Lia told him.

"Plenty." Christian said as he started to crawl forward. "Uh oh." he said as he felt his progress arrested.

"What?" Lia asked.

"I'm stuck!" he said.

Rolling her eyes Lia walked up to the shelf and got up on one of the casks. Looking behind the bottles she saw her brother giving her a sheepish look.

"How are you stuck?" she asked.

"My shirt." Christian answered.

Sighing Lia turned and looked behind her at Matoko.

"Matoko, go stand by the door and keep an ear out." she said.

"Okay." Matoko said.

Walking over to the door to the storeroom Matoko kept an ear out while Lia unhooked Christian and helped him down, being careful not to knock the bottles. Lia managed to get Christian down from the shelf without knocking anything off, the only noise being a creak from the cask lid when Christian put his weight on it.

____________________________________________________________________ __________

Akane jumped when her teacup suddenly broke. Outside several crows dropped from the sky stone dead and there was a startled exclamation from Evans.

"That's odd." she said, looking out the window.

Getting up she walked to porch and saw Ranma looking at the dead crows and Evans standing with his pants down.

"This isn't good." Ranma said. "I think it's a omen."

"Ya think?." Evans said as he looked at Ranma.

Ranma nodded as Akane wolf whistled at Evans. "Yeah. Around here you'd have to use a bill board to get more blatant." he said as Evans hauled up his pants. "Now if I just knew what kind of omen..." he said as he scratched his head. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___

Back in the storeroom everyone had froze when the lid creaked, but after a second when nothing happened they relaxed.

"All clear." Lia whispered.

With a loud snap the cask lid gave way and Lia and Christian both fell in. All three of their hearts stopped for a moment as Matoko pressed her ear to the door and listened. The seconds dragged by as Matoko listened, but after two minutes she waved a very shaky all clear.

"Now were both soaked." Lia whispered to Christian as she helped him out.

"Sorry." Christian apologized.

Lia frowned at him. "Not as sorry as when you get home." she said. "Do you know how much trouble we're in?"

"A lot?" Christian asked.

"You have no idea." Lia told him.

Matoko was half listening to the exchange when she heard footsteps in the hall and coming closer.

"Lia! Someone's coming!" she hissed.

Lia and Christian froze mid-argument. Thinking quickly Matoko wedged a broom through the shelves on each side of the door and buying them some time. Matoko ran over and picked up Christian while Lia scrambled out of cask.

As she climbed out she grabbed the cork in one of the casks on the shelf. The cork came out in her hand and the water in the cask poured out and splashed on her. Lia could've sworn she felt a tingle as the water hit her.

"Water in barrels? Whats with these people?" Lia muttered as she climbed out of the cask.

The door rattling and someone talking in Chinese cut off any further comments as Lia took that as her cue to run.

Outside Christian scrambled out of the window first, followed by Matoko and Lia. Picking up her little brother again Matoko put her long legs to good use and hightailed it out of there with Lia on her heels.

"Run!" Christian yelled as he and Matoko ran past.

Knowing better than to waste time asking where his sisters came from Christians friends bolted in opposite directions and made themselves scarce. Genda and Izu saw them run out of the alley and knew it was their time to book as well.

Joining up with Lia and Matoko they ran for several blocks until they reached a local park and chugged to a stop under a tree. Her lungs on fire Matoko put Christian down and dropped to her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

"Ranma...was....right." she wheezed. "I...do...need...to....work....out....more."

Lightly winded Lia looked at her sister and grinned. "Well, seeing as how we're probably grounded until were twenty five we'll have plenty of time." she said.

Plopping down Izu flopped onto his back and looked up at the tree branches overhead.

"Yeah, well we're gonna get the Talk*" he said.

"Yeah, well that beats having Mom rant and rage on how stupid we were." Lia said.

"Oh yeah, being screamed at is so much worse." Izu said as he lifted his head. "You should.... try...." he trailed off as he got a look at Lia.

"What?" Lia asked as she got weird look form her cousin.

"Uhhh...." Izu said as he looked at Lia and then at Christian. "Are you guys feeling okay?" he asked.

"I'm sweaty and a little winded, but otherwise I'm fine. Why?" she asked.

"Well,...uh...." Izu stammered.

"Cause what?" Christian asked, his voice higher than normal.

Christians eyes went wide as he heard his voice. Lia glanced over at her brother and knew immediately something was wrong. Her brother didn't normally have red hair. And now that she noticed it, everything sounded different and there was something wrong with her butt.

"Matoko?" she asked.

Rolling over onto her side Matoko looked at Lia. Her eyes grew wide as she saw Lia. Still winded from her run Matoko reached into her pocket** and pulled out her compact. Handing it to Lia she flopped backwards and continued to regain her breath.

Popping it open Lia looked herself over in the mirror. "I don't see whats wrong..." she said as a flicker in the edge of the mirror caught her eye.

Tilting it up Lia saw she now had cats ears in addition to cats eyes. Placing a hand on her butt she felt something squirm under her pants. Dropping the compact she had sinking feeling as to why her brother was now a redhead and had a higher voice now.

"Uh oh." she said. "We'll be right back." she said as she grabbed her brothers arm.

"Hey, where are we going?" Christian asked.

"Bathroom." answered Lia as she headed to the public restrooms nearby.

"Why?" Christian asked as Lia pushed open the door. "Hey, this is the girls room! I can't go in here! I'm a boy!" he said.

"I don't think that's an accurate description anymore Christian." Lia answered.

Outside Genda, Izu, watched as Lia and Christian entered the restroom. A few minutes later a shriek of terror came from the women's restroom.

"We are so dead." Matoko said.

Genda and Izu nodded.

________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _________________

Half an hour later they were back under the tree with the others. Lia had spent twenty minutes getting her little brother to calm down after he discovered he turned into a girl. Now there was just the occasional sniffle from him as he drank his can of lemonade.

"So how are we going to break it to them?" Matoko asked.

"I don't know Matoko. I don't know." she said.

"Do we have to tell them?" Christian asked.

Lia looked down at Christian who was sitting on her lap. "Christian, they would find out the first time someone walked by with a glass of water." she said. "We have to tell them."

"But I don't want to get yelled at." Christian said.

Lia sighed and gave her brother a hug. "I know bro. I know. But if we try to hide it they'll be even more mad." she said.

"I know." Christian said. "Do we have to do it now?" he asked.

"After your done." Lia answered.

As Christian finished his lemonade Lia looked over at Matoko, who was writing a note. Handing it Izu she nodded and then went to sit down nest to Lia.

"What was the note about?" Lia asked.

Matoko shrugged. "I wrote a note to Ono detailing the curses and to call the house around six." she said. " I figured since you both picked up curses you were going to need a check up." she added.

"Always thinking ahead." Lia said with a smile. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Likewise." Matoko answered.

"You done?" Lia asked Christian.

"Yeah." he said in a small voice.

"C'mon, I'll give you a piggyback ride." Lia said as Christian stood up.

"Ack, my legs feel like they're made out of lead." Matoko said as she stood up.

"Well, you did say you needed more exercise." Lia said as she stood up.

Matoko nodded. "That I did." she said.

"Lets go." Lia said.

Ranmas hands blurred as he diced vegetables for the curry that was part of dinner. He smiled as thought of just how useful the Neko -ken Improved was turning out to be. Sliding the chopped vegetables into the sink he picked up fresh vegetables and put them on the cutting board.

He started to cut them when a knock at the door made him look up.

"We're home." Matoko said.

"Hello Matoko. You're home early." Ranma said.

"Yeah. Something came up." Matoko said as she got a glass of water.

"Oh, what was it?" Ranma asked.

"Well...."Matoko began. Frowning, she pointed to the living room. "You had better see for yourself." she said.

"This can't be good." Ranma thought as he wiped his hands on his apron. "Now I think I know what those omens were about." he thought as he took the apron off.

Stepping into the living room Ranma saw Lia and Christian sitting on the porch.

"So, what is it?" Ranma asked.

"Let me show you." Matoko said.

She then splashed the contents of the water onto Lia and Christian. Ranma watched as Lia sprouted cats ears and Christians hair changed to bright red. Looking down at the porch Lia reached behind her and pulled a red tail from her pants.

Ranma was silent as he looked at them. The only sounds were of the cicadas and the evening breeze. Finally Lia broke the silence.

"Daddy, I can explain-" she began.

"Table, now." Ranma said. "Matoko, go and get Akane."

Wordlessly Lia and Christian sat at the table while Matoko went and got Akane. Ranma sat down and waited for Akane to return. She came in followed by Matoko.

"Ranma, whats.. going ...on?" she trailed off as she saw Lia and Christian.

"That's what I'd like to know." Ranma said as Akane sat down next to him. "So what did happen Christian?" he asked.

Christian flinched at Ranmas gaze and swallowed before responding. "Well, I was really curious on what they were doing, so I went over there." she began. "I heard Matoko coming in and I hid on a shelf."

Christian looked down at her hands. "I got stuck and Lia got me unstuck. She was helping me down and the barrel we were standing on the lid broke and fell in." she continued. "Then Matoko heard someone coming and we ran." she said.

Ranma nodded and looked at Lia. "Lia?" he asked.

Lia swallowed before answering. "The shelf that Christian was hiding on there were some small barrels on it. When I was getting out of the barrel I knocked one open and I got splashed again. " she said. "I don't know what's with those amazons, keeping cursed spring water around." she added.

"That's why you weren't supposed to be there!" Ranma said, smacking his hand on the table. "Christian, you're grounded until you can satisfactorily explain to me why disobeyed me." he said in his 'teacher' voice.

The three Saotome siblings winced when they heard him speak. Ranma never used that tone with them unless they really screwed up. Which they had.

"Now go." he said. Wordlessly Christian got up and bowed before leaving. "Lia, Matoko, you stay put. I want to know what you we're doing there." he said as the girls started to get up.

The two girls looked at each other before Matoko spoke.

"We were on the roof of Onos clinic when Genda spotted Christian and his friends. We wondered what they were up so we followed them." she said. "And when they ducked into the alley behind the Amazons restaurant-"

"We figured out what they were up to and went in after him." Lia finished. "We would have told you but by the time we figured it out it was too late." she added.

Akane nodded. "Okay, you two aren't in trouble, you were only trying to help." she said as she placed a hand on Ranmas arm. "Why don't you go practice in the dojo?" Akane suggested as she glanced at Ranma.

"Yeah, why don't I?" Ranma said as he got to his feet.

Akane sighed and looked at the two girls as Ranma left. "Why don't you two girls go get cleaned up while I order takeout?" Akane suggested. "You two look like you've had a long day."

"That would be an understatement." Matoko said as Lia helped her up.

"You said it Matoko." Lia told her as they turned to go.

"Oh, and Lia, when you're done change back into your cursed form." Akane said as the girls left.

"Why?" Lia asked as she looked at Akane.

Akane smiled a knowing smile. "You'll want to have some experience with your cursed form before you start school tomorrow." she said. "Trust me."

Lia shrugged. "Okay." she said as she went down the hall to the furo.

__________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________

End Book Two.

*the Tofu boys name for when Kasumi gives them a tongue lashing.

**No, she doesn't carry a purse. Akane had forbidden them on feminist grounds and the fact they are damn impractical in a fight.