Continued from part 12.  Akane's cute new hairstyle.

  --------------------------------------------------------------

                         RANKO 1/2

                           Part 13



At the Tendou Dojo Akane sits in her room and stares out of the
window at nothing.  She ponders the freak accident that cut off
her hair today and the events that led her to let it grow.


Flashback to a scene before Dr. Toufuu's clinic.  Akane is years
younger - a child of 12 perhaps, probably younger.  She is dressed
even more tomboyish than she is usually now and her hair is short.
She has patch of band-aids on her cheek and smiles at a young
Dr. Toufuu's antics with Betty-chan the skeleton.

Dr. Toufuu:  That should do it, Akane.  Take care of yourself

Voice:  Oh, Akane.

Akane:  [turns]  Ah, Hi, Kasumi.

Kasumi, also, is younger.  She is a girl aproaching the age Akane
has now and is dressed in the same school uniform.  Already she is
very sweet-looking and has an obvious effect on Toufuu-sensei.  He
freezes up while the skeleton in his hands begins to rattle and

Kasumi:  Were you fighting again?  [to Dr. Toufuu]  I really must
         apologize for my sister again, Dr. Toufuu.

Dr. Toufuu:  Oh, yes, um, well, really, it's uh, nothing.

Akane:  [thinks]  Oh, sensei.

Kasumi takes little Akane by the hand and leaves.

Kasumi:  Akane, you're acting just like a boy.  If you don't learn
         to act like a girl, Toufuu-sensei will come to dislike
         you.

Akane:  [thinks]  Perhaps he'll like me like Kasumi if I let my
        hair grow like hers.


Akane is snapped out of her reverie into the present by the sound
of knocking on the glass.  She looks up and sees an upside down
Ranko looking in at her.  She shifts open the window and leans out
to her.  Ranko is hanging from a roof beam outside the house by
her feet.

Ranko:  Um, Akane?  Are you still angry with me?

Akane:  I wasn't really angry with you.  [pauses]  But you
        deserved that hit just for going and fighting with Ryouga
        like that.  You don't have to cheer me up - I'm not crying
        my eyes out, you know?

She closes the window and leaves the room.  Ranko keeps hanging
and looks after her.


Kasumi is preparing dinner in the kitchen, tasting from the pots
here and there.

Kasumi:  Hmmm, delicious.

Akane enters the room and Kasumi turns with a pan in her hand,
continuing to stir.

Kasumi:  Oh, Akane, you're ba...

Kasumi freezes.  The smile on her face remains, but the pan begins
to drop from her hand.  Ranko zooms into the room and catches it
before it hits the ground and spills.

Kasumi:  What happened to your hair?

Ranko:  Err, It's sorta my fa...

Akane:  I just felt like a change.  Will you cut it in shape for
        me, sis?


Ranko is sitting on the roof of the Dojo, thinking about Akane's
seeming indifference.

Akane (remembered):  I'm not crying my eyes out, you know.

Akane (remembered):  I just felt like a change.

Ranko:  [thinks]  That's strange.  She seemed devastated at first.
        I'll try to talk to her again.


But Ranko finds only Kasumi still in the house.

Kasumi:  Akane went to the Chiropractor.  She said she hurt her
         ankle.  Did that happen at school?


Ranko runs along the fence again.  She spies a figure in school
uniform a little down the road and overtakes her.  But the girl
looks unfamiliar.

Ranko:  Sorry, my mistake.  [begins to turn]

Girl:  Looking for somebody?

Ranko:  Akane?!?

Akane:  What's with the astonished face?  [fingers her new
        haircut]  It looks better now, thanks to Kasumi, doesn't
        it?

And it does look better.  Not only better that the cut she
received by Ryouga's rotating belt, but even better that her
former long hairstyle.  The short hair shows off her face and
gives her a certain boyish charm that so suits her behavior.
Ranko is silent for a moment.

Ranko:  I-I'm sorry for what happened.

Akane:  You don't have to keep apologizing.  [she continues on her
        way]  I wasn't lying when I said I felt like a change.  I
        *did* think of getting it cut.  Just not that abruptly and
        in such a manner.

Ranko:  What about your ankle?  Should I help you?

Akane:  It just hurts sometimes when I put my foot down.  I'll let
        the doctor have a look, that's all.


Entering Dr. Toufuu's clinic they are greeted by Genma in panda
form and the doctor himself.

Dr. Toufuu:  Why, hello Akane.  Ranko.

Akane:  Good afternoon Doctor.  Today I'm the patient for a
        change.  [smiles]

Dr. Toufuu:  Not the only change.  You cut it short again?

Akane:  Yes.

Ranko:  [thinks]  Again?

The doctor examines Akane's foot while she is sitting on the edge
of a stretcher.

Dr. Toufuu:  It's just a light sprain, apparently.

Akane:  Sensei?

Dr. Toufuu:  [looks up]  Hmm?

Akane:  [fondles her hair]  Do... Do you think it suits me?

Dr. Toufuu:  Oh, yes, it's cute!  Short hair is a lot more like
             you.  [looks down at her foot again]  I didn't want
             to say it then, but I always wondered why you let it
             grow.

He works silently for a moment.  Suddenly a drop falls onto
Akane's foot and he looks up at her face.  He is astonished to see
that, although she is smiling at him, tears run down her face.

Dr. Toufuu:  Did that hurt?  I'm sorry...

Akane:  No... it's...  I'm sorry, It's not that.  I can't seem to
        stop...

The Doctor sits down next to her on the stretcher and lays a
sympathetic arm around her shoulder.  She looks at him, looking
down at her with a fatherly smile.

Dr. Toufuu:  What's wrong, Akane-chan?

Akane's lip quiver.  Suddenly she lets go of herself.

Akane:  Oh, sensei!

She grabs his shirt and leans her head against his chest, letting
her tears flow freely.  Silently Ranko forces her father to leave
the room with her.  She glances back over her shoulder at the
puzzled Dr. Toufuu who is holding the sobbing Akane close.


It is already evening and the shadows are long as Ranko and Akane
walk home.  Akane's eyes are still slightly red.  Ranko is silent,
unsure of what to say.  Akane takes a deep breath of the evening
air.

Akane:  [sighs]  It *does* you good to cry.

She notices Ranko's uneasyness and turns.  Ranko is sitting on top
of a garden wall.

Akane:  What is it?

Ranko:  I dunno.  He said you're cute.  I tought you'd like that,
        but...

Akane:  Oh.  I'm sorry, but it all just came together for me in
        that moment.

They begin to walk again - Ranko on the walls and fences, Akane on
the ground.  Akane seems somehow relieved.

Akane:  I mean, how he liked Kasumi better than me, and how I let my
hair grow to be more like Kasumi and everything.  I realized all
that some time ago now, but I didn't *feel* it until today.  It's
OK now.  I guess that was necessary to get over it all.  And over
him.

She smiles a wistful little smile.  Ranko is sitting crouched on
the canal fence.

Ranko:  You know, it was a lie, anyway.

Akane:  What?

Ranko:  That you look cute.

Akane frowns and begins to look angry.  Ranko grins down at her.

Ranko:  It's true.  You're not cute - you're beautiful.

[so-o-orry Kun-chan!  That line was just too heartwrenchingly
wonderful to pass by.  Gomen!]

Akane looks stunned.  She just stands and stares at Ranko.
Suddenly she reaches out and tips her over into the water canal.
Ranma surfaces coughing and spitting water.

Ranma:  Hey!  Whaddaya doin' that for?

Akane grins down at him.

Akane:  We-e-ell, I thought, If I'm getting a compliment, it may
        just as well come from a boy.

Ranma:  [grins]  O-hoo!  You just got over him and already you are
        looking for boys to flirt with you?

Akane:  I thought I'd better start small and begin with a
        half-boy.

Ranma:  [shaking a finger at her]  What do you think will happen
        when this half-boy gets his fingers on you?

Akane:  I guess I'll have to listen to our parents and marry him!

Ranma:  Erk!  I'll have to make sure that I don't catch you, then.

He jumps out of the canal and over the fence.  Akane has already
started running.  She calls back over her shoulder.

Akane:  Ha!  As if you ever could!

Ranma:  Ha ha!  Just you wait!

Laughing and running they make their way home in the orange light
of the setting sun.

-- End of part 13.

  --------------------------------------------------------------

To be continued...


Phew.  Yes!  It can be done!  I will finish this yet!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....

Um, sorry I'm just relieved to have this part of the story behind
me.  This means that now *all* the introduction is completed and
from now on it's almost straightforward.

Next:  Bring on the fiances!  Kodachi is up next.  She'll be
handled a little differently and faster.  Then Shampoo (hee hee
hee hee...) and some time later Ukyou.  Ukyou is not quite as
interesting, but I have to show her because her role is an
important change from the normal Ranmaverse, too.

Comments, criticism and corrections are *highly* apreciated.


Sebastian
--
       <http://enterprise.mathematik.uni-essen.de/~bastian/>
                         Comics reviewed
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Conversation:
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