This fanfic is based on an idea first explored in "Hello, Again" by
Benjamin Franz.  I reccommend that story; it's a good read, with a
touching ending.

There were aspects of that story that were skipped over and explained
away by two bumps on the head.  I wanted to explore what would happen if
the bumps on the head *didn't* occur.

This is done with Benjamin Franz's permission.  I'd like to hear what
you think about it.

-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com

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All my fanfics can be found at:   
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman/fanfic.htm
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Cursed

by Richard Lawson

Based on an idea by Benjamin Franz

Comments and Criticism Welcome!
sterman@sprynet.com



Ranma woke up slowly, as always. Sleep was one of his favorite things
in  the world, and he begrudged its end.

He patted his chest instinctively; one could never be too sure what
one's  gender was in the morning. He was thankful that it was male. Much
as he had  come to almost like his other half, he still thought of
himself as a guy  and preferred to remain in that form as much as
possible.

He sat up and looked over at his father. He currently took up a lot of
the  floor space. Ranma grumbled to himself; why Pop would spend so much
time as  a panda remained an utter mystery to him.

Fortunately there was a cure to that. Ranma got up, put on his workout 
clothes, and walked down to the bathroom. Everyone was still asleep
except  Kasumi, whom he could hear humming softly to herself in the
kitchen. He  entered the bathroom, got a bucket, and filled it with warm
water.  Returning to his bedroom, he sloshed it around a little,
relishing the  buildup. 

Ranma was about to splash it on his father when he paused. He realized
that  he wasn't much in the mood for fighting this morning. Ranma shook
his head,  then set the bucket on the floor in case Pop wanted to use it
when he woke  up.

Ranma removed his workout clothes and put on his school uniform. Or
what  passed for a uniform: red shirt and loose pants. He got away with
it  because the principal had a strange sense of honor. As long as Ranma
was  able to defeat his nefarious plots, he was allowed a certain
leeway. The  disadvantage was that Ranma often found himself the target
of such plots.

Ranma wandered down the stairs. If he wasn't going to work out this 
morning, he had a lot of time and nothing to do with it. He heard
Kasumi  humming again, shrugged, and went to join her in the kitchen.

Kasumi looked up from where she was lightly beating some eggs. "Good 
morning, Ranma-kun." She beamed at him. 

She always beamed, Ranma thought with a smile. "Watcha doing?"

"Preparing breakfast. Eggs and bacon and toast this morning."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Western-style?"

"Variety is good, not just for the people who eat it, but for the
person  who makes it, too."

Ranma nodded. "Yeah." He watched with interest as she took the bowl
with  the eggs and placed it on the counter. She already had some bacon
cooking  in a pan, and she used a fork to turn them over. Ranma examined
the color  of the side of the bacon that had already been cooked, and
compared it to  the color of the uncooked bacon, filing the difference
for future  reference.

Kasumi noticed his interest. "Do you want to learn more about cooking, 
Ranma-kun?"

Ranma shuddered. "No thanks." He couldn't forget what his mother had
told  him: "Someday you'll make a good wife." That was the last thing he
wanted  to be.

He quickly turned and practically fled from the kitchen, feeling
Kasumi's eyes on his back. 

He nearly ran over Akane in the hallway, who was yawning while
squeezing  Ryoga tightly to her chest. Ranma narrowed his eyes as he
glared at Ryoga.  He'd been spending far too much time as 'P-chan'
lately, using it as an  excuse to fondle Akane as much as possible.
Ryoga would try to explain it  differently, of course, but all Ranma saw
was a dirty pig.

"Ranma, you leave P-chan alone." Akane was glaring at *him*. Ranma
shifted  his eyes to Akane's angry visage. If only she knew. He was so
tempted to  tell her, but he couldn't. Still, the frustration he felt at
times like  this was enough to make him want to beat up on something. Or
yell at Akane.

He opened his mouth to do the latter when all of his anger drained away.
He  did not want to get into another fight. He slumped his shoulders and
sat  down at the kitchen table. Akane, after staring at him in vague
surprise  for a few seconds, sat down next to him.

The rest of the family arrived, including Ranma's father, still in
panda  form. Ranma snorted in disgust. Pop ignored him and drank some
tea, a  somewhat difficult task without opposable thumbs.

Kasumi served breakfast. Ranma noticed that she had placed a strip of
bacon  to either side of the scrambled eggs, and had put the toast at
the top of  the plate. It was a pleasing presentation, and Ranma
silently congratulated  her on it.

He picked up a piece of bacon, bit into it, then turned to Ryoga with
an  evil grin. "This could be you."

Ryoga's eyes were very wide. Akane growled and banged Ranma over the
head  with a bokken she'd acquired somehow. "Stop teasing him, Ranma!"

Ranma frowned, not liking the fact that he was in the middle of a 
disagreement. Before he could think of what to do, Ryoga suddenly
squirmed  out of Akane's one-armed grasp and ran out of the room.

"Now look what you've done," Akane cried in dismay. She ran after Ryoga.

Ranma frowned, feeling uneasy about making Ryoga and Akane feel bad. He 
shook it off and finished breakfast.

Akane joined him as he was about to leave for school. She glared at him
but  didn't say anything. They left the house.

Ranma jumped on top of a fence. After a couple of blocks, he felt silly
and  jumped down. Akane raised an eyebrow at him. He looked at her and
shrugged.  He faced forward again just in time to get splashed.

Someday, Ranma was going to have to learn to pay special attention
whenever  she passed this woman's house. She could almost swear that the
woman waited  until she came by before washing her walkway in the
traditional manner.  Ranma tried to glare at her, but couldn't work up
the irritation.

Akane tsked at him. "Do you always have to do this to yourself, Ranma?
We probably have time to go to Tofu-sensei's and get some hot water for
you."

Ranma sighed. "Let's not bother. We don't want to be late again.
Besides,  everyone at school knows about me anyway." She adjusted her
clothes and  continued towards school, ignoring Akane's slightly
surprised look.

They arrived at school well before the bell rang. Ranma went to her
seat  and sat down, patiently awaiting the beginning of class. Some of
her  friends were exchanging crude jokes over by the window, but Ranma
didn't  feel like joining them.

Hinako-sensei came in and everyone settled down. She smiled brightly.
"Test  time! Everyone clear your desks."

A soft sigh passed through the class. Ranma contributed; she hadn't
spent  as much time as she should have studying. She'd had a hard time
developing  any interest in ancient Chinese history. She mentally
shrugged her  shoulders and calmly waited for the test to be handed out.

Ranma eventually began answering the questions. It was easier than
she'd  thought it would be. The answers seemed to flow, and Ranma
actually  finished ahead of time, something she'd never done before. She
looked  around the class, wondering what to do.

Hinako-sensei noticed Ranma looking around and walked up to him,
shaking  her finger. "No cheating, young man!"

Ranma blinked, surprised not only at the accusation, but at being called
a  man when she was clearly a woman. "I'm not cheating. I'm done."

Hinako-sensei was clearly taken aback. "Really?" She picked up Ranma's 
test and began flipping through it. She frowned at it.

Ranma was uncomfortably aware at the surreptitious looks she was
getting.  "What's wrong, Sensei?"

Hinako-sensei looked at him curiously. "Ranma, there was no need to
answer  the questions in Chinese."

Ranma nearly laughed. "I don't know Chinese, Sensei. My writing must be 
very bad."

Hinako-sensei tilted her head, considering him, then handed Ranma back
her  paper.

Ranma looked at it, and gasped. It was covered in indecipherable
gibberish.  It was definitely Chinese, but Ranma could only make out a
phrase or two.  As she looked at it, more and more phrases began making
sense, until she  was comfortably reading everything she'd written.

She stared up at Hinako-sensei, stunned.

Hinako-sensei pouted at her. "I don't know Chinese that well, Ranma. I
want  you to rewrite your answers in Japanese."

"Y-yes, Sensei." Ranma took out another piece of paper, trying at the
same  time to figure out when she had ever learned to write Chinese. She
looked  at the first paragraph she had written, and placed her pencil on
the paper.  She frowned, for some reason the Japanese phrases escaping
her. She  concentrated for a minute, and it came to her. She wrote the
first couple  of sentences, then looked back at her test. She nearly
shrieked; it had  become gibberish again. She forced herself to calm
down and examine the  Chinese characters carefully. Slowly, their
meaning came back to her. She  turned to copy the next part of the
paragraph and found that the Japanese  equivalent phrases were not
coming to mind.

The next few minutes were a nightmare. She'd have to continually shift
back  and forth from remembering how to read Chinese to how to write
Japanese.  And all the while, hovering at the edge of her consciousness
was fear. She  had no idea what the hell was going on.

Ranma somehow managed to finish before the end of the test period. She
sat  in her chair, utter exhausted by the effort and the fear.

Akane leaned forward to grab Ranma's arm. Akane looked concerned. Ranma 
tried to give her a brave smile and shoo her away. Akane examined her 
closely, but eventually leaned back.

Ranma somehow made it to lunchtime. She practically fled the classroom.
She  ran outside and jumped high into a tree, not wanting to be
disturbed. She  had no idea what was happening to her, and needed time
to think.

Ranma tried to think in Chinese. As she did, she felt an urge to climb
out  of the tree and eat lunch in a respectful manner. Ranma shook off
the urge,  finding that her knowledge of Chinese seemed to drain away
with the urge.

Ranma thought about it all through lunch. The most likely answer seemed
to  be that Cologne or Shampoo had done something to her, made her think
like a  Chinese person would. If Ranma forgot how to speak Japanese,
then Shampoo  would be the only choice Ranma would have for a wife. At
least, that's how  their twisted minds worked.

Ranma nodded, deciding that she needed to pay Cologne a visit. She
jumped  out of the tree and ran towards the Nekohanten. The rest of the
school day  be damned; she needed to find out what that old hag had done
to her.

She approached the restaurant and slowed. It was closed. Ranma knew that
it  should be open; lunch was a busy time for them. Ranma made her
around the  back and found the rear door unlocked.

Ranma entered the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was Mousse, in
duck  form, sitting in a cage. She expected him to start honking loudly,
asking  for release. Instead, he stared at her calmly, resting quietly.
Ranma  frowned at him, then climbed the stairs to the second floor.

She heard Cologne speaking rapidly in Chinese, sounding both angry and 
distraught. Ranma listened carefully, and soon found that she was able
to  understand.

"This is not how a warrior behaves. Get over here this instant. You
know  that Son-in-law can't stand you like this. You don't want to
disappoint  him, do you? Shampoo!"

Suddenly, with a crash, a door was flung open. Shampoo, in cat form,
ran  down the hall towards Ranma. Ranma froze, terrified. Shampoo slowed
to a  halt directly in front of her, and meowed inquisitively.

That was enough for Ranma. She turned and ran down the hallway herself, 
stopping only when she smashed into the wall. She turned around and
stared  in fear at Shampoo, who hadn't moved from where she'd been
previously.

Cologne, meanwhile, was sneaking up behind Shampoo. Ranma was too
terrified  to warn her, and Cologne was able to grab Shampoo by the
scruff of her  neck. Shampoo yowled. Cologne touched Shampoo on the
forehead. Shampoo went  limp.

Cologne looked over at Ranma. "Son-in-law."

Ranma could only quiver.

Cologne sighed, then produced a kettle of water from somewhere. She
poured  it on Shampoo, who turned human.

The fear left Ranma almost instantly. She sighed in relief, then looked
at  Cologne. "Shouldn't you put some clothes on her?"

Cologne stared at Ranma. "What did you say?"

Ranma frowned. "It's indecent to expose her like that."

Cologne looked down at Shampoo, then turned and walked down the
hallway.  Ranma followed, determined to see that Shampoo was properly
taken care of.

They entered what must have been Shampoo's room. Ranma helped Cologne
put a  robe on Shampoo. Then Cologne began strapping Shampoo to the bed.

Ranma stared at her, aghast. "What are you doing?"

Cologne paused, looked at Ranma steadily for a minute, then continued 
tying down Shampoo. "If I don't do this, she'll try to turn herself into
a  cat as soon as she wakes up."

Ranma growled. "Stop it. It isn't nice to do this to someone."

Cologne paused again. "Why don't you make me?" The words were not a 
challenge, just a simple question.

Ranma blinked, suddenly wondering about that herself. She felt no desire
at  all to fight Cologne. Just as she'd felt no desire to fight with her
father  or Akane. "I, uh, just don't think you should."

"I see." Cologne resumed tying Shampoo to the bed. At one point, she 
indicated with her staff that Ranma should move aside so that Cologne
could  get by. Ranma grimaced and stepped back.

When Cologne was satisfied, she turned to consider Ranma. "Join me,
Son-in- law. We need to talk."

Ranma walked behind Cologne, trying to work up the courage to demand
some  answers from her. They went back into the kitchen, where Cologne
went about  making some tea. Ranma examined her closely, watching how
she prepared it,  trying to make sure she slipped nothing extra into it.
She had a slightly  different way of making tea than Kasumi did, and
Ranma noted the  differences and decided she'd have to try it both ways
herself and see  which worked better.

Cologne offered her a cup. Ranma thanked her politely and began sipping
it,  watching as Cologne poured herself a cup. They sat at one of the
tables in  the darkened restaurant.

Ranma sipped her tea, impatiently waiting for Cologne to begin. Cologne
was  just watching her closely, a thoughtful look on her face. Finally,
Cologne  spoke. "How do you feel, Son-in-law?"

Ranma drew her head back. "I feel fine. I want to know what you did to 
Shampoo."

Cologne lowered her eyes. "I suppose, in a way, it *is* my fault. I was
the  one who suggested we go on that training trip."

"Which training trip?"

"The same training trip you and your father took."

Ranma raised her eyebrows. "You mean the one to Jusenkyo?"

Cologne nodded. "I thought the old legends were just that. I didn't
know  they spoke of truth. And even then, I still didn't believe all of
what the  legends said. Now they are coming true, and I've damned my
great- granddaughter."

Ranma felt a horror rise in her. "What do you mean? What have you done
to  her?"

Cologne sighed. "The spirits that created each of the cursed springs
did  more than infuse the springs with their forms. The infused them
with their  very essence. I didn't understand all of the ramifications
on that until  one morning earlier this week, when I discovered Mousse,
sitting quietly in  his cage, sleeping. This surprised me since I had
not placed him there. I  turned him human and he performed his required
tasks for that day, but when  the restaurant closed he turned himself
back into a duck and prepared to  spend the night in the cage again. I
asked him not to, and forced him to  turn human and go back to his room.
And yet, when I looked in on him in the  morning, he had turned himself
into a duck again and spent the night  sleeping under his bed. I tried
insisting that he stay human, and he would  become human long enough to
perform his duties. But at all other times he  would become a duck.

"I stopped worrying about him the morning I discovered Shampoo lapping
milk  out of a bowl." Cologne closed her eyes, and Ranma saw something
she'd  never seen in Cologne before: pain. "I was very angry, and turned
her  human, and told her never to do that again. She seemed embarrassed,
and  apologetic. And then the next day she came up to me and dropped a
dead bird at my feet, purring loudly."

Ranma quivered. "Are... are you saying...."

Cologne nodded. "Shampoo fell into the spring of drowned cat, and is now
a  cat. Mousse fell into spring of drowned duck, and is now a duck."
Cologne  opened her eyes and gave Ranma a sad look. "You fell into the
spring of  drowned woman, and are now...."

Ranma leapt to her feet. "No!" Horror washed up and down her spine, to 
lodge into her stomach as cold lump. "I'm a guy!"

"Are you?" Cologne, as quick as lightning, grabbed the tea kettle, ran
up  Ranma, and dumped it on her head.

Ranma flinched. "Whatcha do that for!"

Cologne looked at him curiously. "Do you want me to get some cold
water?"

"Yes!" Ranma glared at her.

Cologne simply stared back at him.

Slowly, Ranma realized what he had just asked for. He collapsed back
into  his chair, trembling.

"As I thought." Cologne resumed her seat. "It seems to be a little 
different with you, Son-in-law. It's more than you just wanting to be a 
woman. You're assuming the personality of the woman who fell into the 
pool."

Ranma blinked at her. "What?"

Cologned nodded. "Do you realize, Ranma, that we have been speaking in 
Chinese? Not just Chinese, but an ancient dialect?"

Ranma thought back over the conversation. He stared at Cologne,
wide-eyed.

Cologne sighed. "It's getting worse. Yesterday morning, Mousse refused
to  assume human form, even to work. Today, Shampoo has been using all
of her  skills to prevent me from splashing her with hot water. She is
still as  intelligent as she used to be; she just wants to remain a cat
all the  time."

Ranma swallowed, trying to think intelligently. "Why should it have
happened to us all at the same time? I mean, Shampoo was cursed a long
time after I was. Mousse, too."

"I myself have been wondering that. The legends say that the... change
in perspective... takes much longer to happen then it apparently has.
Now that I think on it, I can see how it has been changing all of you,
very slowly. Shampoo actually never did object to becoming a cat, and
seemed to enjoy her cursed form more and more. Mousse actually joined a
circus, using his cursed form to perform tricks. And you, Son-in-law...
you used to react so violently to being called a woman. Yet, I've seen
you spend more and more time as a woman, and no longer do you react
violently to being turned into one. In fact, you seem to enjoy it.
You've been changing more than your physical form. You've been slowly,
very slowly, coming to accept yourself as a woman."

Ranma gulped, wanting to object. However, he could remember all too
clearly how he'd spend hours, even most of several days, as a girl,
trying to accomplish some task or other. Cologne was right; he'd come to
be less repulsed by the thought of occasionally turning female. In fact,
he'd come to... like it.

"The rate at which the change - the desire to remain in your cursed
forms - has been slowly accelerating, until these last few days have
seen you all wish to remain permanently in your cursed forms. As to why
it's accelerated so much, and why it's happened to all of you at once, I
can only theorize that it is because we have so many curses in such
close proximity, interacting on an almost daily basis. You, Shampoo,
Mousse, Ryoga, Genma. Your curses reinforce each other, and have come
into synch. Perhaps if you were all to separate, you would revert to
your base personalities. I think, however, that it is too late."

Ranma drew a deep breath, trying to find some hope. "Do you know of a 
cure?"

Cologne's eyes dropped to stare at the table top. "The legends say that
the  curses of Jusenkyo are irreversible and permanent."

Ranma leaned forward onto the table, holding his head in his hands. The 
horror had given way to something worse: absolute despair.

Cologne spoke softly, sadly. "I will try everything I can, Son-in-law.
I  want my great-granddaughter cured. I had been grooming her to be my
heir in  the Amazon tribe. Now her whole ambition is to chase birds and
mice. I will  try to bring back the Shampoo we both knew. If I succeed,
I will use the  same techniques on you." Cologne looked up at me. "Will
you let me?"

Ranma fought back the urge to say no. "Please try. Even if later I say
I  don't want you to, ignore me and change me back anyway. I'm giving
you  permission now to use whatever force you need to." Ranma lifted his
head  and looked into Cologne's eyes. "Please."

Cologne nodded. "I understand. I hope I can find a cure." Cologne
grimaced  and looked down again. "I am not optimistic. The legends speak
of no cure, and many have been tried over the centuries. I quite frankly
don't even know where to begin. For now, I will take Mousse and Shampoo
back to China and see if any of the others in my tribe have greater
knowledge."

The sound of a horrified shriek cut through the restaurant. The
shrieking  continued, and Ranma stared at the ceiling. "What's wrong
with her?"

Cologne sighed. "Do you remember how you felt, back at Jusenkyo, when
you  found yourself in a body that was not yours?"

Ranma gulped, remembering the horror and hearing it echoed in Shampoo's 
screams.

Cologne jumped down from the table. "I had better try to calm her down.
I  will let you know if I find a cure." She paused, and looked him in
the eye.  "Good luck, Son-in-law." She left the dining room.

Ranma sat there long enough to hear Shampoo shriek again. Then he leapt
to  his feet and fled the Nekohanten, carrying the sound of Shampoo's
horror  with him.

***

Ranma burst into the dojo, breathing heavily. He'd run all the way to
the  dojo and had still been unable to escape whoever it was that was
inside his  head.

He could feel her now, wanting to find some cold water and possibly a
nice  dress and couldn't she do something better with her hair?

Ranma shouted in frustration and hit the wall with his fist. He buried
it  six inches into the plaster, and felt shame that he had made such a
mess.

Ranma grunted and pounded the wall again and again, trying to ignore
that  part of him that wanted him to stop and clean up the mess and stop
acting  so... so...

...unfeminine.

He fell to his hands and knees. What kind of woman had she been - the
one  who had drowned all those centuries ago? She seemed to be a Kasumi
type of  feminine. Passive, doing housework, serving her family,
abhorring  violence. Ranma shuddered; that was *not* the kind of woman
he  particularly liked. 

He liked Kasumi, though. Everyone did. They respected her and paid 
attention to her and she made life good and wholesome for everyone.
What  was so bad about that?

Ranma beat his fist against the ground, using the pain to focus his
mind.  It was *her* again, trying to make him think what she wanted him
to think.  He was *not* like Kasumi, he did *not* want to be Kasumi. If
he had to be  a woman why couldn't he be like... like...

...Akane?

Ranma winced, remembering all the times he had called her unfeminine and
a  tomboy. What he had overlooked, what he was only now coming to
realize,  was that she was female in her own way: confident, aggressive,
assertive,  and expressive. He'd made fun of her for being like that.
Yet none of those things altered the fact that she was a woman. Now he
knew that Akane was the kind of woman he liked. And he was losing that,
losing that part of him that liked Akane that way. Losing the part of
himself that maybe  even... more than liked her.

Ugh, but she was so outspoken. So rude. She didn't keep her place,
didn't  stay quiet like a woman should. He would have to talk to her,
see if he  could get her to be a little more ladylike.

Ranma grit his teeth. There she was again, trying to sneak in and alter 
who he was. He was *not* Kasumi. Even Kasumi wasn't as bad as *this* 
person was. He was not going to give in to her, not going to become
her.  He would fight it. He was stronger than Mousse, stronger than
Shampoo.  He'd hold onto himself until Cologne found a cure.

And yet, he could see it. See himself acting demure and passive. He
could  see himself wanting it, wondering how he could ever have wanted
to act any  other way. And as much as that terrified him, he could see
his resistance  turning to despair. He could fight all he wanted, but it
would make no  difference. In the end he was going to be... *her*.

Ranma wrenched his mind away from that. Never give up. Never stop 
fighting. That was the spirit of the School of Indiscriminate
Grappling.  He would not stop trying. Until the day he died.

He slowly sat up to see Ryoga watching him. Ryoga as a pig. Ryoga as he 
had been for the past week or more. A sad realization came over him,
that  he would probably never see Ryoga as a man again.

"You know, don't you?"

Ryoga nodded.

"It's happened to you, hasn't it?"

Ryoga nodded again.

Ranma started crying. "Oh buddy, I'm so sorry. I didn't know, this 
morning I didn't know. I'll never tease you again, I promise. Only,
don't  you want me to get you some hot water?"

Ryoga warily edged away from him.

Ranma hastily waved his hands. "No, no, I won't, I promise." Ranma
tried  to stop crying and found that he couldn't. "Oh buddy, I'm losing
it. Can  you help me? Please, don't forget who I am. This is me, I am
Saotome  Ranma, I'm a guy!"

Ranma found that he was shouting. He stopped, embarrassed at his
outburst.  Ryoga looked at him, apparently sympathetic. Ranma leaned
forward to peer  into Ryoga's eyes. "You won't forget me, will you?"

Ryoga shook his head. Yet at the same time, his eyes seemed to hold a
sad  knowledge that what he remembered wouldn't matter.

Ranma leaned forward again, to rest his head on Ryoga's. Together, they 
shared the misery of their curses.

"Ranma, I told you not to tease P-chan!" He felt something strike him
and  send him flying across the room. He hit the wall and slumped to
the  ground.

Akane scooped up Ryoga and glared at Ranma. "It isn't enough that you
hurt  his feelings this morning, now you have to beat up on him?"

He opened his mouth to say that he *hadn't* been beating up on Ryoga.
"I'm sorry," he found himself saying instead.

Akane looked at him, slightly disgusted. "Are you crying? From a little 
hit like that?"

Ranma wanted to explain what was happening to him, and to beg Akane for
her  help. "I'm sorry," were the only words his mouth seemed to be
capable of  saying.

Akane's disgust was more evident. "C'mon, Ranma. I hate it when you act 
all cute and stupid, like you think a girl should be."

"I'm sorry." No, that was wrong, stop saying that. "I'm not." I'm not 
acting, I need your help. Please Akane, help me. Ranma struggled to get 
the words off his lips.

Akane grunted and looked around. She spied a bucket of water next to
the  door of the dojo and grabbed it. "If you're going to *act* like a
girl..."

Ranma stared in horror at the bucket. At his damnation. He could barely 
hold on as he was. Whoever Saotome Ranma was would be lost in that
bucket  of water. He held his hands in front of him and shook his head,
a feeble  protestation, the best he could do.

"...you may as well *be* a girl!" The water flew through the air.

Ranma opened his mouth. "NO!" He used the last part of who he was to
cry  his despair into the air as the water hit him. 

And changed him.

She felt her body change and rejoiced. Peace settled over her. At last, 
she was back to who she was. Who she was *supposed* to be. It had been
a  struggle to shed the remnants of the awful person she used to be. But
he  was gone, and she remained, and she would be the best kind of person
she  knew how to be.

She got to her feet and bowed to Akane. "I'm sorry if I upset you.
Please  forgive my rudeness."

Akane stared at her quizzically.  She said something, gibberish that 
didn't make sense. Ranma frowned, trying to follow the words. They just 
didn't mean anything to her. Ranma shrugged. Japanese would probably
come  back to her eventually. If it didn't, she could learn. She had
time.

Meanwhile, she had to clean up the awful mess she'd made. She began 
clearing away the larger chunks of debris, ignoring the angry and 
frightened gibberish Akane was yelling at her. Ranma went into the
house  to get the broom and dustpan she knew Kasumi kept in the closet.
Akane  followed her, sounding more and more desperate. Poor Akane. Akane
would  come to understand her, eventually. Then she could begin teaching
Akane  how to make herself more attractive to men. She would make a good
wife,  with a little help.

She smiled at Akane, and wondered why Akane was crying. 


---------

Author's Afterword:

I wanted to drag this out some more.  As it is, Ranma's final conversion
happens in less than a day.  I just can't come up with an idea for a
larger story to fit this into.  If you have any ideas, let me know.