Chapter Text
CLANK‐CLANK‐CLANK!!
Tendo Akane paused in her kata and turned toward the sound of the visitor's bell. Who could that be, on such a dismal, rainy day? She'd already reached the main part of the house when the answer came to her. Right. That stupid, idiotic, unreasonable, unfair, engagement!
Her father had told her and her two sisters about it a week ago, the day that the—What was their name? Sakamoto?—the day that his old training partner and the boy he expected one of them to marry were supposed to arrive. A week of unresolved tension had not made the prospect any more appealing.
But, I suppose they are father's friends, so we should at least meet them...
Her dutiful march to the front door transitioned to a frustrated storm that nearly saw her stomping holes through the floor.
And yet... her eldest sister Kasumi was simply staring out the door, taking no notice of her. Stranger still for Kasumi, she didn't appear to have invited whoever it was in yet. Akane took the door from her loose grip and opened it wider to see...
...a panda?
She looked around—there was no one else in sight. Had... had the panda rung the bell?
Wait, was the panda wearing clothes??
As she gawked (and as Nabiki and their father jostled her for better views), the panda suddenly seemed to start melting. It shrank in its clothes, leaving its silk shirt gaping, as its fur shortened, its muzzle extended back into its face, and its paws extended into fingers.
"Dammit, pops, why do I have to deal with this?" the now vaguely‐human–looking figure grumbled in a rough, gravelly voice. Then they bowed and said, loudly enough to make Akane think the last remark was meant to be under their breath, "I'm Saotome R– Ranma. Sorry about, well, all this, but w– I didn't know where else to go."
The four Tendos sat around the table, trying (and largely failing) not to be too obvious in staring at the strange boy who'd just wandered into their lives.
Though the panda had largely melted away—but not entirely, there was still a vague pattern of lighter hairs—there were still some oddly.. bestial features about the boy. Like the bottom canines that were just a little too long, or the nose just a little too upturned. Or the coarse, dark hair that grew everywhere, except the inner part of the face.
Akane thought there was something else off about his face, but she couldn't place it. Maybe it was something about how his dark hair with green undertones framed it? Or something about the shape of his... deep brown eyes... she shook herself out of it. She wasn't attracted to this... interloper boy!
Ranma, for his part, repeatedly opened his mouth to say something before apparently thinking better of it and closing it again.
The tense silence was eventually broken by the whistle of a kettle. Kasumi excused herself to make the tea, and Nabiki took that as a cue to get up herself and start poking the boy, who swatted at her but didn't otherwise protest.
When Kasumi returned with the tea, Ranma took his cup and chugged it, finally breaking the silence with a satisfied sigh. "Yeah, that's better," he said at a much more reasonable volume—and in a completely different voice. (This one, Akane noted, was disappointingly like a normal boy's.) "I know you guys must have about a thousand questions, so thanks for waiting for the tea."
"Er—yes," Soun responded. "That's what we were doing. So... you're Genma's boy? Where is he?"
"We– I mean, I–" Ranma swallowed thickly. "We got separated on the swim back from China. I don't know where he ended up."
Akane boggled. He swam from China? What kind of crazy person even thought of that as a possibility??
Meanwhile, Soun was weeping openly. "Ah, Saotome, my old friend! To think you could perish in such a–"
"No way," Ranma interrupted. "The old man's way too tough to be brought down by just water. He's fine, we just gotta find h– each other. Which, uh, is why I'm here?"
Nabiki raised an eyebrow, while poking at his. "We haven't seen him, I assure you."
"Not like that. It's, well... I haven't been in Japan in a few years, and I don't think I could find any of the places we used to stay. But I, uh, found this place..." Ranma furrowed his brow and paused for just a second, then resumed, "saw this place's address on letters Dad was writing recently, so we figured... anyway, I was hoping, if it's not too much trouble, I could stay here a while to wait for him?"
Soun laughed heartily, apparently having gotten over his (crocodile, Akane thought) tears from earlier. "Of course, of course you can stay, dear boy! It's no trouble at all! You'd be staying here for the engagement, anyway!"
"The what?!" Ranma yelped.
"Oh, yes, Genma and I agreed long ago to join our martial arts schools by marrying our kids," Soun said dismissively. "So.. Akane, age 16; Nabiki, age 17; Kasumi, age 19. Pick any of my daughters you like, dear boy!"
"Hey!" Akane yelled. "Don't we get a say in this?! I don't want to marry a shape-changing freak!"
"Don't call me a freak, you–" Ranma cut off into a yelp as Nabiki's poking reached his chest. "Hey! Don't touch those!"
Those? Akane leaned forward to see, but Kasumi beat her to it. The eldest sister gasped, crying out, "You're a girl?!"
With that declaration, Akane realized what had been bothering her about 'his' face: it wasn't a boy's face at all, but a butch girl's!
"I'm not a—" Ranma yelled, standing up, when suddenly her whole demeanor shifted. "I mean, you caught me!" She said, her voice now higher by at least an octave. "I'm not a boy. I hope that's not a problem?" She fluttered her eyelashes daintily—Akane wasn't sure how such a handsome face could look dainty, but Ranma managed it.
"N–not a–" Soun stammered.
"Honestly, Daddy, you tried to engage us without even knowing her gender?" Nabiki said with a smirk. "Seems like the bare minimum, don't you think?"
"But– but Genma said–"
"Oh dear, if she's a girl we'll have to call off the engagement, won't we?" Kasumi put in. "We can't have two girls marrying, that's illegal, and immoral besides."
"Call... call off..."
"Yeah, Daddy!" Akane agreed. "We couldn't get married to another girl even if we wanted to!"
"... but the schools..." Soun muttered, weeping.
"... I can still stay here though, yeah?" Ranma asked, pouting slightly.
"Of course," Kasumi assured her. "We wouldn't turn down a girl in such need, especially not the daughter of Daddy's friend."
"Oh good," Ranma replied, smiling sweetly.
"Alright, now that's settled," Nabiki said, "time to spill. What's up with the panda thing??!"
"Oh." Ranma pouted. "Do I haveta?"
"The panda thing!" Soun suddenly shouted. "You transformed! And with the voice—you're just pretending to be a girl, am I right, boy?"
"Daddy!" Akane shrieked. "I can't believe you! You can't just accuse her of that, of all things!"
"The schools can still be–"
THWACK
Akane silenced her father with a karate chop, leaving the only sounds the gentle patter of rain and the pouty whimpers Ranma was making.
Akane swept the larger girl into her arms. "I'm taking her to the dojo," she said, "and none of you had better follow me."
Akane worked a simple, aggressive kata on one side of the dojo as Ranma cried and mumbled on the other. I wish I could go comfort her... but as angry as I am right now, I'd probably upset her more.
But, when she heard the other girl say "they all hate me now," ... she knew she had to at least try.
"I'm glad you're a girl, even if Daddy isn't," she ventured.
Ranma looked up, startled out of crying. "Huh?"
"Don't worry, he'll come around. It's not like anyone could really think you're a boy."
Ranma smiled faintly. "Ya think?"
"Of course not. Boys are worthless, idiotic, two-faced, perverted–!" Akane cut herself off. "Anyway, you're nothing like them."
"Y‐yeah, 'course not," Ranma said, shaken.
Shoot, that's not helping. "Hey, you're a martial artist, right?"
"I– Yes, I am... why?"
"Do you wanna spar?" Akane asked.
Ranma shot to her feet. "You on!" she yelled... in the same deep voice she'd used before Nabiki had revealed her gender.
"Your voice?" Akane asked, confused.
"Oh, yes. Um... Akane-san, can you keep secret?"
"For you? Sure."
"Thanks. So, how to put... Earlier, with your father, he not really wrong, exactly."
"What do you mean? You're not... saying you're a boy, are you?"
"No-no-no-no! Not to think that! But... play up being girl, yes? My natural voice, is this. ...Right now."
"Oh, okay. ...Why are you talking like that?"
"What... do you mean? I, am talking perfectly normal?"
Akane raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Whatever. Let's have that spar."
From opposite sides of the Tendo dojo, two martial artist girls bowed to each other, then slipped into ready forms.
Akane was the first to move, charging in with a straight punch. Ranma leapt to the side and caught Akane's arm in a chain that had apparently been hidden in her shirt. In response, Akane hauled the chain over her head, throwing Ranma along with it. The bestial girl flapped her arms in the air for a second, before tucking into a roll for a safe landing.
"Wow! You strong," Ranma said. "But can you dodge?" She reached into her pockets and threw a small barrage of marbles at Akane in a spread pattern. Akane dodged most of them, but one beaned her right breast.
"Yeow, that smarts!" Akane yelped. "Time to get serious!" She closed the distance between them and performed a leg sweep, which Ranma easily jumped. She'd been expecting that though, and followed it with a grab, catching the other girl's arm on its way to her shirt (and undoubtedly another hidden weapon).
"Not bad," Ranma taunted, "but, have two arms!" Taking advantage of this fact, she pulled out an extensible baton with her free arm and struck it against Akane's elbow, hoping to break the hold.
"No.. you.. don't!" Akane yelled with exertion, grabbing her opponent's other arm and rolling them both over her back, ending up pinning the other girl's body under her own.
They laid there together for a second, panting with exertion, looking into each other's eyes, until something about the moment broke and they both blushed and separated.
"Good match, impressive win," Ranma said, then smirked. "Pretty sure do have two arms though."
"Oh, shut up," Akane replied. And if she said it a little too fondly, and let her eyes linger a bit too long on Ranma's muscles, well, no one had to know, did they?
"Hey!" Ranma called. "No get ideas! Mousse already have girlfriend."
"'Mousse'?"
"'I'. Meant 'I'," Ranma said. "Is, um, pet name? From my Shampoo?"
"Shampoo...?" Akane digested the English word for a second before remembering its meaning. "Your... shampoo gave you a pet name...?"
"What?" Ranma said, blankly. Then, "oh! No, Shampoo my girlfriend. Real name Shānpú, but she like Shampoo. Is cute, fits her."
"Mmm." Akane tried to hide the heartbreak that she definitely wasn't feeling now that the confusion had passed. "She's cute then?"
"The cutest!" Ranma agreed. Then, she looked back at Akane, and got a sly grin. "You not bad either."
"What?" she replied, blushing, then deflated. "You don't have to pretend... I know I'm just an uncute tomboy."
"Hmm." Ranma started ambling towards the exit of the dojo. "You know, Shampoo culture very open. Might be okay sharing." She turned back to Akane and winked. "Cute tomboy," she finished with, leaving the room.
The next fifteen minutes Akane spent doing katas were definitely not to work off the feelings caused by that comment.
When Akane finally came back to the living area of the house, the only other person there was Kasumi.
"Oh, Akane," she said, looking up from her needle felting, "how are you feeling?"
"Pretty good," and definitely not still flustered, "is something up?"
Kasumi nodded. "I have something to tell you... you might want to sit down."
Akane did as requested, while Kasumi took a few deep breaths to brace herself. "So, father got that idea in his head, about Ranma-chan being a boy."
Akane nodded, her anger starting to simmer.
"I tried, but... so, in his view, the engagement is back on. And Nabiki..."
Akane growled as it rose to a slow boil. "What did she do?"
"She convinced him that, with you taking her away like that, it meant... well, that you should take the engagement."
Akane's anger fizzled as though someone had dropped an ice cube in it. "Oh. Is that all?"
"You... don't mind?" Kasumi asked.
She knew she probably should mind. That she would have minded, an hour or two ago. But right now... "Not really. Not more than I mind there being an engagement, anyway."
Kasumi nodded slowly. "Was Nabiki right, then? About you...?"
"What do..." Akane stopped mid-question as the implications became clear. "No! I'm not into girls! She's just a friend!"
Though she hadn't noticed any hardness in it before, Akane saw Kasumi's expression soften as she nodded and returned her attention to her craft.
"Besides," Akane muttered, "she's already taken."
"What was that?" Kasumi inquired.
"I said, I'm ready to take a bath," Akane responded.
Akane noted Ranma's clothes on the way into the furo, and wondered idly whose clothes the girl was borrowing. Given her size, any of the sisters' clothes would be a bit tight on her... Akane blushed at the mental image.
She startled a bit as she heard a noise coming from the other side of the divider. Was someone in there? But, no, the occupied sign hadn't been up... still, she made sure to wrap a towel around herself before opening it, just in case.
That didn't stop her from shrieking when she saw a boy in the tub.
"Akane-kun! Is fine! Is Ranma!" the boy exclaimed.
"Ranma-chan?!" The voice sounded right, but... "Why are... you're a boy!?"
"No! Yes? I–" Ranma clutched a hand to their head, then shrank down and covered their chest. In a higher voice (similar to the one they used on Soun earlier, but less teasing), they continued, "I'm a girl, even in this body."
Akane's brow furrowed, then lowered with anger. "Don't you dare try to trick me like you did Daddy."
"What...?" Ranma darted their eyes around and moved their lips, as though they were talking to someone unseen. Then their eyes widened, and they explained, "No, no! The voice is for my own comfort."
Akane crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"But you need to know about the curse! You see, Akane-san, we, that is, I am cursed such that, when I touch cold water, the body changes into–"
"And hot water changes you back, is that it?!"
"Yes, it does, but Akane-san, that does not mean–"
"I can't believe I trusted you, you... you... boy!" Akane yelled, tears starting to form in her eyes.
"Akane-san, please, I swear to you, I am not..." Ranma said haltingly, sounding like he was about to cry himself. "When the curse changes us, it is not–"
"I DON'T CARE!" Akane screamed. "I don't want anything to do with you, you pervert!"
"Wh–" He really did start crying, then. "How could you say such a thing, you–" He faltered for a second, then, "you uncute tomboy!"
Akane fumed and stormed to her room. Teasing her about her misguided affection that she definitely didn't have... That was low, even for a boy.
She spent the rest of the night alternately pacing angrily and crying on her bed.