Hi, people.
When I posted the first draft, there was still a small scene
missing in the middle. I've written it now and changed a few
words in the rest of the text. I did not re-spellcheck it yet,
but I don't think that there will be too many errors in such a
small scene. :)
Continued from part 20
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RANKO 1/2
Part 21
"I'll make you a whole person again"
In the Tendou living room, the fathers Souun and Genma are sitting
amidst puddles of tears. Souun is bawling without restraint;
Genma just sits and lets the tears stream down his face. Nabiki
is looking on disgustedly.
Nabiki: Honestly, you're acting as if somebody died.
Souun: Waaah, He might as well be dead!
Genma: I have no son anymore...
Nabiki: Good grief, Ranko's just in the kitchen preparing dinner
with Kasumi!
In that instant, Ranko comes out into the living room, carrying a
plate of food. She is wearing one of the cute aprons that she
always refused to don and her body language is dramatically
different. All of her usual tomboyishness is gone. Beaming a
radiant smile, she sets down the food and watches Genma and Souun
expectantly, hands folded behind her back, feet together in a
cutesy-girly pose.
The food overriding any other thoughts, Genma tries a bite and his
eyes go wide. He grabs more.
Genma: [muffled] It'f deliffious!
Souun gingerly reaches out and tries some. Ranko beams with
pride.
Ranko: Kasumi said that with a little training I'll be a really
great cook. I'm so happy to be able to cook for you all.
She walks back into the kitchen. The fathers look after her, then
at each other.
Genma: Perhaps... I've not so much lost a son...
Souun: ...as gained a daughter. Waaaah! With two such wonderful
cooks in the house, we'll never have to let Akane cook
again.
<WHACK!>
Nabiki: Oh, hello, Akane. You're back from Dr. Toufuu's. What
did he say?
Akane: He said that we need the Chinese herbal shampoo to restore
Ranko's memory.
Souun: [from under the television set] Do we have to?
<WHUMPH>
Akane stacks the table onto the television set, thereby burying
Souun's head even further into the ground.
Akane: [to Nabiki] He also said that Ranko's continued state was
upsetting the balance of her yin and yang. If we don't
cure her, she might go mad.
Suddenly there is a loud <Splash> from the kitchen and they hear a
scream. Akane and Nabiki race to the door to look. In the
kitchen there is a wet and male Ranma. An empty pot is lying in a
puddle on the floor. Ranma is standing frozen and wide-eyed,
backed against the wall. As the girls look on, he unfreezes.
Ranma: Damn pot. Now I'm all wet. As if wearing this stupid
*girl's* apron wasn't enough. Honestly, Kasumi, if Akane
wasn't sick, I wouldn't set a foot in this kitchen.
Akane: A-hem!
Ranma: [turns to her] Oh, Akane. How was your visit to Dr.
Toufuu? Did he help you? You look better already.
Akane: [bewildered] Uh... uh, Yeah, sure! I'm fine.
She backs out of the door, dragging Nabiki with her. Outside, the
girls look at each other.
Nabiki: Is it only me, or does he...
Akane: He is turning everything around, when he changes.
*That's* what Toufuu-sensei meant, when he talked about
her memory.
Flashback to Akane at Dr. Toufuu's clinic. She is sitting in the
examination room with him, and he explains what he found out about
Ranko's condition.
Dr. Toufuu: Every time she changes, she shuts out one half of her
personality completely. That's not healthy - the
human mind is meant to contain both male and female
aspects. If this continues, she might go mad.
Akane: Oh no! Her curse was bad enough, before Shampoo screwed
with her mind.
Dr. Toufuu: And that's only one aspect. I expect that she will
change and find herself in situations that her other
side isn't comfortable with. She would then come up
with an explanation and "remember" how she got there,
but if this happens to often, her memory would
finally become a total patchwork from repeated
writing and rewriting.
Akane frowns, not quite understanding.
The Flashback ends.
Nabiki: So he really believes that you were sick and he had to
help Kasumi in the kitchen because *you* couldn't?
That's pretty far-fetched.
Akane: [angrily] What's that supposed to mean?!
Just in that moment, Kasumi and Ranko - female again - exit the
kitchen, laden with trays of truly delicious food. Ranko frowns
at Akane.
Ranko: Akane! You are quarreling again. Such *unfeminine*
behavior is really not very likable. You ought to try to
act more like a girl should.
Akane looks completely downcast by Ranko's admonition. Silently
she sits down for dinner.
Akane: [thinks] Ranko, I swear - I'll make you a whole person
again!
Akane finds Shampoo walking down a street. She calls out to her
and Shampoo turns.
Shampoo: [impatient] What Akane want of Shampoo?
Akane: You've *got* to make Ranma remember Ranko again! He's...
He's not himself anymore.
Shampoo: True. Shampoo make him forget Ranko girl, so he can
marry Shampoo. But now he want Akane girl. That is
problem. [she leans forward and looks Akane straight in
the eye] But solution is not giving back memory.
Akane: [takes a step back] Look, Shampoo, let's make a deal.
You give me that shampoo that we need to give her- *him*
back his memory, and I'll do anything for you. Except
killing someone or something like that.
Shampoo: [snorts] Shampoo no need deal. She now finish business
with Ranko girl - then she think about *other* obstacles.
She glares at Akane and turns to leave. Akane looks after her,
sweating.
Akane: [thinks] If she weren't so simple-minded, that girl would
be a serious danger.
Back at home, Akane sits on her bed. Nabiki is with her, and the
two sisters try to figure out what to do.
Nabiki: Father and uncle Genma seem to be purists in gender
matters. Whenever she's a girl, they cry because she's
such a good girl, and when he's a boy, they cry because
he's so manly. If this continues, they'll die of
dehydration.
Akane: She is so damn single minded. Nothing counts but those
damn laws. It's as if they're all she thinks about.
Nabiki: Well, she is far from home in a strange country - it's
only natural that she clings to what she knows.
Akane: [dryly] How heartwarming to know that you can still show
so much empathy with someone who is trying to kill Ranko
and more or less told me that I'm next.
Nabiki: [shrugs] I was just thinking. If there were more people
of her village here, perhaps she wouldn't concentrate on
her task so desperately.
Akane: [sighs] So, how is Ranko?
Nabiki: Weird. Whenever she changes, you first have to find out
what she remembers about her time in the other form.
Sometimes she just doesn't remember doing things;
Sometimes she remembers things in a really bizarre,
fun-house mirror way. Sometimes the explanations she
comes up with are so far-fetched, that I wonder how she
is able to sustain her disbelief. [gets a thoughtful
look in her eyes]
Akane: Has she ever become a boy, while wearing a dress.
Nabiki: Sure she did. He got rid of it real quick and told us
that it wasn't right for us, to try out new dresses for
you on him, even though you are his fianc�.
Akane: He what?!
Nabiki: He thought we had forced him to wear the dress, so we
could see how it would look on you. And he thought he
agreed because he wanted to help his fianc� look nice.
Akane: [with a flushed face] That's... That's...
Nabiki: Totally unlikely, I know. When would *you* ever wear
dresses like those Ranko wears now?
Akane's head goes even redder with anger. She clenches her teeth.
When Akane enters the living room, she is in a lousy mood. Her
disposition is not improved by the fact that Ranko is present,
too. She grumphs a greeting and otherwise ignores her.
Ranko: My, Akane, you're not very cheerful today.
Akane: And you think that's your business, because?
Ranko: Why, I was just thinking of your good. If a girl is
always grumpy, the boys tend to... ignore her.
Akane: Is that so? Well, I happen to know a boy who is very
interested in me.
Ranko: Oh.
She looks Akane up and down, making no secret of her disapproval.
Ranko: Well, he surely must see *something* in you. And if
you're sure he's the right one for you...
Akane: Oh yes. Definitely. The right one. No doubt. Not the
least bit a weirdo, oh no. [thinks] Only a little
flipping backwards and forwards between being a boy and a
girl. And driving me up the walls in either form!
Ranko: I'm sure, though, that he'd appreciate it if you *tried*
to wear something more feminine. Who knows? He might
like you even more.
Akane: [heated] Oh, great! I'm *so* looking forward to it. Now
if you'll excuse me; I've got something *girlish* to do.
[thinks] We've *got* to change you back - before I wring
your snobbish "girlier-than-thou" neck!
As Akane stomps out of the living room, Nabiki grabs her by the
shoulder.
Nabiki: Pssst! Akane.
Akane: Huh?
Nabiki: I've got an idea. come with me.
In Nabiki's room, Akane listens to her sister.
Nabiki: You said that Ranko subconsciously suppresses all her
male or female aspects, depending on which form she is
in, right?
Akane: Yes, that's what Dr. Toufuu told me.
Nabiki: Right. So these aspects are still there, only
subconscious. What if we bring her into a situation that
forces the suppressed aspects of her personality to
become active?
Akane: Like what?
Nabiki smiles winningly, then points at Akane.
Nabiki: Like you seducing Ranma!
Akane: [shock position] Nani?!
-- End of Part 21.
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Continued in part 22
All parts up to No.23 are available on my WWWeb-page
Sebastian
--
<http://enterprise.mathematik.uni-essen.de/~bastian/>
Comics reviewed
--
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the
people some of the time and that has long been sufficient for any
government.