A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Frances Tampinco
<frantamp@ac1.amanet.net>
Based on the characters created by Rumiko Takahashi
STARTING OVER
* * * * * * *
PART I THE PARTING
It was raining when Pop and I started training, but we didn't mind.
Pop always makes it a point to train every morning before school because a
martial artist never forgets to hone his skills blah blah blah. If you ask
me, this "training" ain't worth anything. I just do it because I think he
really needs the exercise. He's so fat that when we're in the bath, he
occupies more than half of the tub.
I chased him around the garden, heaving rocks at him. He had tripped
me a while ago and I was determined to dunk his big panda head in the water
for revenge. I started calling him all sorts of names and he just stuck out
his tongue, haw-hawing like pandas always do.
I ran as fast as I could, the rain spattering against my face, and
flung a rock at him. He jumped out of the way just in time, making a face at
me as he held up a sign saying, "Moron!". I took advantage of his gloating
and sent another rock flying. It caught him neatly in the butt, tipping him
into the pond with a gigantic splash.
Bullseye!
"Let's see you haw-haw your way out of this one," I smirked. Pop had
floated to the surface, growling and fumbling for a pen so that he could
write an insult. I smiled sweetly at him and bopped him on the head so that
he went underwater again. It was so funny, seeing him grumble like that,
making small angry bubbles. I always got a kick out of dunking him.
The rain had gotten harder at that moment, and Akane yelled from the
patio that we had to wrap it up or else we would catch as cold. Training was
finally over, so I grabbed hold of Pop's paw and tried to drag him out of the
pond. Idiot. He was so heavy that I was pulled in the water myself.
Splash!
Pop got a good laugh out of that one.
Just as I surfaced, coughing, there was this sudden blinding flash of
lightning that dove from the sky and sliced into my spine. A bolt of
excruciating pain shot into my nerves. Frightened and in agony, I screamed
so hard that my voice drowned the roaring thunder. The water around me
started to crash over my head, sinking me, pulling me down. I had this faint
memory of Akane screaming my name and Pop's fuzzy paw grabbing hold of my arm,
but after my whole life flashed before my eyes in a matter of seconds, I lost
consciousness and drifted deep into the darkness.
* * * * * * * * * *
When I finally came to, I realized that I was lying on my futon,
looking blankly at the ceiling. A cold clammy towel pressed against my
forehead, and Kasumi swam before my eyes. She had an odd look on her face.
"Are you okay...uh, R-Ranma?"
"Whew, that was close," I said. "I thought I was a goner."
Somebody coughed beside me and it turned out that I wasn't the only
one on the futon. Feeling rather dizzy, I turned my head for a better look.
It was a boy. He had black hair, grayish-blue eyes, and was in a red satin
shirt that was the exact replica of mine.
My jaw dropped.
"Close your mouth," Nabiki berated.
Weird. Me, lying on my futon, beside a guy who looks exactly like I
do. I closed my eyes for a moment. Maybe that lightning bolt hit me harder
than I thought. Rather slowly, I began to recollect my thoughts. Oh yeah.
Pop and I were training, I fell into the water, got hit by lightning, and
then...
I opened my eyes and took another look. It wasn't a delusion. He
was still there.
I got CLONED?!?
He coughed again. I noticed for the first time that Akane was
kneeling beside him, looking very worried. That uncute girl. She didn't
even realize that the real me was here. Annoyed, I decided to drum some
sense into her. "Hey, Akane," I snapped, "what do you think you're doing?
Thanks a lot for caring!"
I had a girl's voice.
"Damn it," I cursed, "get me some hot water, will ya?" She looked at
me in a frightened way, backing off slightly. Geez, what was HER problem?
Kasumi helped me sit up, and Pop tipped a kettle of hot water on me.
Warm, refreshing liquid trickled down on my head , washing over my numbed
cheeks. It felt great.
When the steam lifted, everybody was staring at me. "What're you all
lookin' at?" I demanded. To make sure that I didn't grow another arm or
something, I looked down at myself.
I still had breasts.
My hands were still small.
I yanked a strand of hair of my head. It was red.
I screamed.
The other me was finally sitting up, and was gaping at me as if he
hadn't seen me before in his whole life. For a stunned minute, our eyes
locked.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?" he demanded.
I got mad. "Hey, idiot, keep it down, will ya? I'm right beside you,
y'know."
"Who are YOU?!?"
"I could ask you the same thing!"
We gasped at the same time. "I got cloned! No way!"
His eyes widened. "Quick, cold water!"
Splash! Nabiki doused him with the contents of her drinking glass.
"That'll be a thousand yen, Ranma," she reminded.
"Hey you," I complained. "I'M Ranma!"
"Don't worry, I didn't forget all about you. She fixed a stern eye on
me. "YOU owe me a thousand yen for that kettle you used a little while ago."
The guy was oblivious to everything else. Shivering a bit, he looked
at himself in shock. After a while, he began to feel his chest, his muscles,
his face.
"I-I'm a guy..." he whispered.
"Eureka." I snorted.
Sarcasm was lost on him. Wildly, he looked at everybody and yelled
at the top of his lungs.
"I'M FINALLY CURED!"
* * * * * * * * * *
There was a lot of confusion after that. The guy said that he was
Ranma Saotome and that he was finally cured. I said that _I_ was Ranma
Saotome and that he was an impostor. We had a good debate after that.
The others were also arguing among themselves who was the real Ranma
and who was the fake. Those idiots. I was the real one, wasn't it obvious?
For some reason, Akane believed that BOTH of us were Ranma. To prove
her point, she splashed us repeatedly with hot and cold water until we both
yelled, "Stop that, you moron!" at the same time.
Talk about intuition.
She gave us both a good thrashing after that.
The phone rang while this was all going on. Kasumi went to answer
it, and came back shortly. "Oh my, it's for you, Ranma," she said.
We both automatically sprang up.
"Get outta my way," he shoved me back.
"Make me." I stuck out my foot and tripped him. After a great deal
of shoving and kicking, I got to the phone first. Nyaa, nyaa.
It was the Jusenkyou guide.
"Aiyaa, okyaku-san," he excitedly said, "you see great flash of
lightning over Japan little while ago, yes?"
"See it?" I made a face. "I got HIT by it."
His voice rose an octave higher. "Aiyaa, you got hit by Lightning
Bolt of Gods that come only once every thousand year?"
"Whoa. Lightning-Wha?"
"There old Chinese legend about fury of gods that unleash from sky in
form of great lightning bolt. It hit certain body of water in chosen place
once every thousand year. It convert body of water into instant cursed
spring that turn any creature into man when splashed with cold water!"
"You mean the chosen place was the pond in the Tendou yard?"
"Yes."
"And there was supposed to be an instant Nannichuan?"
"Yes. You could've had instant Nannichuan in backyard, but you got in
way, so, Lightning Bolt of Gods only cure you! Aiyaa! It happy day for you,
curse of Spring-of-Drowned-Girl now broken!"
"Ummm, 'cured' is not the word," I told him.
There was a pregnant pause.
"You sound like girl, okyaku-san." His voice was quiet with shock.
"And not only that, there's two of us now."
"TWO of you, okyaku-san?" he sounded dubious.
"Yep, you heard that right. Me and some freak thinking he's me."
"I heard that!" The other me glared. "And for your information, I
AIN'T the fake."
With these words, he wrenched the receiver away from me and demanded
a logical explanation from the Jusenkyou guide. He got the same Lightning
Bolt-stuff, so we were still stumped.
We went back into the living room and I told everybody about the
Lightning Bolt of the Gods.
As I expected, Pop didn't take it so well.
"YOU MEAN I COULD'VE BEEN CURED IF ONLY YOU WEREN'T IN THE WAY?!?" he
grabbed me by my shirtfront.
"Hey, lemme go!" I protested.
The walls gave way, and in marched Shampoo and her ghoul of a
great-grandmother. They heard the news (Nabiki had announced it over a
loudspeaker) and came to check it out for themselves.
Shampoo and the old ghoul stared at us for a moment. Apparently, the
sight of two Ranmas standing side by side was overwhelming.
"Aiyaa," Shampoo whispered in awe.
"If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it," the ghoul said.
"Can you tell who's the real Ranma?" Akane asked.
The old ghoul asked me to take off my shirt. She examined my back,
expertly running a finger down my spine. She stopped at one point, then gave
a sharp poke.
"OWWWW!" I shrieked. "What dija do THAT for?"
She just hmmmed.
She asked the other guy to do the same, and poked him in the same
spot. He went "OWWWW!" like I did.
Then she spoke. "It's quite strange, but the two have finally taken
on their own person. I can't find the common fusing point in their bodies.
It seems that Ranma's female side has separated herself from his male person."
Everybody gasped.
"Is this permanent?" the male Ranma asked excitedly.
"I have just proven that there is no connection between you two and
there never will be," she answered.
He let out a whoop and, on impulse, threw his arms around Akane. I
started to protest at this, but no one else seemed to think it was odd
(except for Shampoo, who looked REALLY mad). It was instant pandemonium.
Everyone else started jumping around, crying and laughing at the same time.
Mom was raving about how Ranma was finally at his manliest. Uncle Tendou was
bawling incoherently. Pop ran to get some sake for the wedding. Kasumi
rushed to the kitchen to make a feast for the celebration.
Nobody remembered that I was there.
Well, except Nabiki, who whipped a camera out of nowhere and started
clicking away while my shirt wasn't back on. And Shampoo, who instantly
charged at me because she had given me a kiss of death and that she had to
get rid of me by some Chinese Amazon rule. Shampoo was easy to avoid, but I
had a harder time with Nabiki. After a long talk, it turned out that to get
the film back, I had to pay her a total of five thousand yen. And that was
just for starters.
Everybody was happy for HIM, Ranma Saotome, because he was finally
freed from the curse and was back to his original self. But I am his cursed
form, born from a legendary spring in Jusenkyou. Who was I before this
split? I never was my own person. I had always thought and acted they way
he did. I dreamed up his ideas, I felt his emotions.
But this split changes everything. Finally, I can start doing what
I wanna do. I can start being who _I_ am and not being who-I-belong-to.
Finally, the woman imprisoned, free to live as I choose.
So why wasn't anyone happy for ME?
End of STARTING OVER Part I
* frantamp@ac1.amanet.net
PART II LIFE GOES ON
Pop moved in Mom's room, so I got Pop's futon and shared the room
with Ranma. As if taking pictures of my bare chest wasn't enough, Nabiki
sold me one of her negligees (for a modest five hundred yen) for the night.
I had wanted to wear my old pajamas but I realized that they were RANMA'S
pajamas, not mine. But hey, I'm Ranma Saotome too, right? So I have a right
to wear them too. But he was Ranma first so I guess the pajamas go to him
but... Does this mean I lose all my clothes to him? The more I thought about
it, the more my head ached, so I wore the pink frilly thing to please
everyone and to shut myself up.
I couldn't sleep. I was tossing and turning while Ranma was snoring
like I always did. He had it easy. He was happy, having his unchanging male
body to himself. But I lay awake all night, thinking.
It was something out of Kafka. We used to be two beings in one
person. In a flash, we split into two. Now I sleep apart from him instead
of WITH him like I used to. Or was it WITHIN him? The thought that one
person with two bodies has split into two separate beings was so confusing
that I got up at times to douse myself with hot water to make sure that it
wasn't a nightmare.
Early the next day, I got up and started to warm up for the
"training". Pop finally got up, and I was all ready to go run with him. But
he forgot all about me. Instead, he strode into my room and dragged out a
sleeping Ranma, still in his pajamas, out to the garden.
"Wake up, son," he barked, "a good martial artist never misses out on
a day of training."
Ranma grumbled. "Pop, gimme a break."
I tapped on Pop's shoulder. "Hey, c'mon, let's do some jogging today,
eh, old man?"
Pop glanced at me as if I were a martian. Then he laughed, his fake
chuckle that he reserved for those people he owed money to. "Oh, hi, uh...
Ranma, nice to see you up and about so early."
"You're not gonna train me?" I asked.
He laughed again. "You can tag along if you want to. Wait here while
I wake up this sleepyhead." Then he punted Ranma straight into the pond.
TAG ALONG? I stared at him incredulously. He had the nerve to say
that to ME? Irritated, I said, "Hey, don't let me get in the way. After all,
HE'S the heir to the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, right?"
Ranma entered the room, wringing his clothes, in time to catch my
last remark. "Hey," he smiled sardonically, "don't tell me you're sore about
that."
"No, I'm not SORE as you so gently put it," I retorted. "Why should I
be jealous of your inheriting some stupid martial arts school?"
"Ah, shut up, stupid girl." He sniffed as he went upstairs to change.
"I've got better things to do than pick fights with you."
"Hurry up, think of poor poor daddy waiting so patiently for you!" I
called out sweetly after him.
A snort was his reply.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Fine," I said. "If they don't want me to train with them, then I'll
do it on my own. Who needs that crummy training, anyway?"
I stormed to the doujou to practice. Akane was already there,
breaking blocks, when I arrived. She looked up and stared at me for a moment.
Then she smiled. "Oh, hi, uh...Ranma, do you wanna spar for a moment?"
"What's with the "uh..." before my name?" I demanded. "Every darn
time someone says my name, he has to hesitate first. It's driving me nuts."
"I'm sorry, but it's because there are two of you, and you're not him
even though you were him for some time, so if you share the same name, it
would still be different in a way... Are you getting any of this?"
I had to laugh. "No problem. I've been thinking that way all night."
She saw that I looked tired and haggard. "You look like you didn't
get enough sleep, she observed. Are you okay, Ranma?"
Ever since the split, that was the first time anybody showed some
concern for me. I merely shrugged, knowing that I could never explain myself.
She smiled again, and to my surprise, pulled my hand. "C'mon, let's
spar so you'll feel better. How does that sound?"
"Great," I answered, feeling my face burn and wondering why I was
blushing in the first place.
It was just like the first time we met. We were wearing the same
clothes --- she in a gi, I in a red satin shirt, I was in female form, and
we were in the empty doujou. And just like that day, Akane started attacking
without warning.
The one thing wrong with Akane was that she ALWAYS fought all out at
the beginning. I easily avoided her punches, knowing that at some point
she'd tire out. I waited for the moment that I saw her start to slow down,
then I prepared to throw in my one and only attack.
"Hiiiyyyyyaaaaa!" she yelled, hurling her fist towards me and driving
a huge hole in the wooden wall instead.
I leaped behind her and poked her in the head, giggling.
"I win."
She looked up, surprised. "H-Hey, Ranma," she paused to catch her
breath, "didn't this happen before?"
I pulled her to her feet, still giggling. "C'mon, I think Kasumi just
called breakfast."
* * * * * * * * * *
The rest, including Ranma and Pop, were already stuffing themselves
when we came. Akane took her place beside Ranma, and on instinct, I sat
beside her. Obviously, I crowded everyone, as Ranma was pushed off his side
of the table.
"Hey, RANMA," he sarcastically said, sit beside someone else. "This
side's not big enough for the both of us."
"But this is MY place," I argued. "Move over."
"Whaddaya mean YOUR place?" he shot back. "I got here first."
"Well, is moving your butt too much to ask for?"
Mom cut in before we started shouting at each other again.
"Come, Ranko, sit beside me."
I blinked at her. "R-Ranko? What dija call me that for?"
"Everytime I look at you, I feel like calling you Ranko," she
sheepishly answered.
"Yes, Ranko suits you best." Uncle Tendou nodded.
"And the fact that both of you are named Ranma isn't helping anybody,
you know," Nabiki pointed out.
"But I'm Ranma Saotome too, right?" I asked.
"Correction, I'M Ranma Saotome," he said. "YOU are just my cursed
form."
"Who asked for YOUR opinion?"
"Ranko, here you go." Kasumi handed over my bowl, ending another
argument. Aww, man. He gets to keep the name, MY name? I dejectedly sat
down beside Mom and sullenly started on my breakfast.
* * * * * * * * * *
After the meal, we sorted out our clothes between us. Oh, excuse me,
HIS clothes. He couldn't stress that enough. I don't know why I even
bothered to keep a share of them, though. Aside from the boxers and the tank
tops, nothing fit me. The sleeves drooped, the pants were too baggy. My
feet were literally too small for his shoes. And we got into a fight over
the yellow boxers, which fit me perfectly and which he wouldn't part with
because they were his favorite.
I said that I needed underwear and his being sentimental wasn't
helping, and he argued that he had the right to be sentimental because he was
the original Ranma and he owned all of the clothes whereas I was just sort of
a clone and that I wasn't even supposed to be here in the first place. I got
so mad that I throttled him. He didn't fight back as hard as I wanted him to.
He pushed me away, saying that he didn't fight girls. I bopped him on the
head, saying that I didn't want to hear that bull about fighting girls and
stuff.
"I think you're just too chicken to fight me," I taunted.
That made him angry, and his eyes narrowed.
Before things got a little too far, Akane burst into the room and
told me to dress up; we were going shopping. Then Ranma and I got into
another argument about what I would wear to the mall.
Akane pulled out a dress from the bottom of the closet. "Hey, Ranko,
why don't you wear THIS?"
I blinked. "Oh, god, are you serious?" It was that white summerdress
that Akane bought for me a long time ago. Strangely, though, at the time I
wore that dress I thought I really was a girl (I fondly remember, it was
because I hit my head on a rock).
And now, well... I have the right to wear it.
Because I'm a girl now.
I'm a girl now.
So why is it so hard for me to convince myself?
"Yeah, you wear that," Ranma shuddered in remembrance. "That looks
better on you than it does on me."
"You mean you actually tried to wear it?" I mocked him. "You really
ARE a pervert, then."
Laughing, I dodged the shirts he hurled at me.
* * * * * * * * * *
Akane got lots of bras and panties for me, and she made me try on
every single one of them. I hated them. They were all stiff and
uncomfortable. How could anyone practice martial arts in these?
"Are you okay in there?" she asked outside the fitting room.
"These are all girls' underwear!" I protested.
"You ARE a girl, Ranko," she answered.
"Don't call me Ranko! Don't I get boxers?"
"NO," she said, and her sharp tone meant that it was final.
Well, fine. Sighing, I slipped a bra on and looked at myself in the
mirror. The feel of my breasts sheathed in cloth was really unnerving. It
was my worst nightmare. Me in a bra.
Ugh.
Shuddering, I tried them all on. After making sure that they all fit
perfectly, Akane parted the curtain a bit and tossed in about nine dresses at
me.
"Hey, what are these for?" I demanded.
"Try them on," she ordered.
I made a face. "Aww, c'mon, Akane, do I haveta?"
"Give it a try. You'll like them."
I didn't want to get on Akane's bad side, so what the hey. After
taking the white summerdress off again, I noticed for the first time that my
figure wasn't so bad. I had never stared at my body in fascination before.
Now, taking time to look at every smooth curve, every small part of myself,
made me feel like I was seeing myself for the very first time.
Before, when I had this form, all I looked for was a kettle. Now, I
just have to face it. Nothing will ever change me back. Like it or not,
this body is here to stay.
Outside, I could hear Akane's foot tapping impatiently.
"Ranko, are you trying them on or are you just moping in there?"
"Keep your shirt on, Akane, I'm coming out in a minute. And for
heaven's sake, stop calling me Ranko!"
The first eight dresses were fine, I guess. I just wasn't used to
skirts even though I wore them occasionally as disguises (to keep Ryouga from
getting too close to Akane). It was like I was cross-dressing. In other
words, I felt like a fag.
I couldn't figure out the last one. Where did the zipper go? "Uh,
Akane, I said, could you give me a hand here?"
"Why, what's the problem?"
"What kind of a dress is this, anyhow?"
"Wait a sec, I'll be right there."
The curtain parted a bit and Akane peeked in. She turned bright red
on the spot. "Ranko, you're not wearing a bra."
"Of course not, I hotly began, I'm a gu..."
Oops.
"I-I mean, I'm not used to it."
Akane had covered her eyes. "Well, just put on a bra, for crying out
loud. I can't help you with you looking like that."
I had to smile. Geez. I slipped on a bra. "Sorry, Akane. Now can
you help me?"
After a few tries, she finally managed to slip the dress on me. It
was bright yellow, with a long lemon sash. It was hideous. With my red hair,
I looked like a walking neon sign.
"There," Akane smiled, "you look so pretty."
"I could stop traffic in this dress," I muttered.
"Modest, aren't we?" she raised an eyebrow.
"No, I mean literally." I gave a mock twirl in front of the mirror.
"I don't look good in yellow. Bright yellow, especially."
"But I like yellow. It's a very pretty dress."
"In yellow, I look like a lollipop."
"But it's really nice..." She wasn't looking at me, she was gazing
wistfully at the dress. I caught the look in her eyes and immediately
understood. Without warning, I wiggled out of it and started to put on my
clothes.
"Here, Akane, you try it."
Her eyes widened. "Ranko, what are you..."
I quickly slipped on the white summerdress and almost tripped in my
sandals. "I'll be outta here in a second, don't worry. Try it on, okay?
Call me when you're through."
Drawing the curtain to a close behind me, I thought I heard her sigh.
That Akane. If she wanted the dress for herself, why didn't she say
so? I fingered the skirt of one of the dresses Akane got for me. It was
cotton, soft and puffy, unlike the shirts I used to wear. I used to run
around freely, wearing guy clothes and acting like a man. But now I was
bound in a bra, trapped in a dress, and hating every moment of it.
"It's hard being a girl," I sighed out loud.
"Believe me," Akane's response was muffled from behind the curtain,
"you don't know the half of it."
* * * * * * * * * *
Akane decided to wear the dress for the rest of the day. She looked
REALLY cute in that yellow dress. A couple of jerks wanted to pick us up,
but I gave them all a good beating. That sure scared them. I would've done
better if I was in pants.
With our numerous shopping bags, we went to an ice cream parlor. To
get an extra scoop of ice cream on my banana split, all I had to do was smile
engagingly at the waiter.
Akane gave me a look. "You always do that."
I winked. "If you're cute, you should put it to good use."
She looked down at her milkshake. "Yeah, you're really lucky you're
cute, Ranko."
I knew that look very well. I saw it all the time, whenever Ranma
(or I) called her uncute or unsexy and stuff like that. As if I really meant
those things. I was just teasing her. But then Akane always had to take
everything so seriously.
"Hey, don't tell me you believe you're really uncute," I frowned.
"Ranma says it all the time, even YOU say it all the time."
"Hey, I haven't called you uncute today. Did you hear me insult you
even once today?"
"Come to think of it..."
"And if you're uncute," I pointed out, "then what are those guys
staring at you for?"
Akane glanced out the window to see a group of guys gazing at her,
enchanted.
"Hey, those are guys from school, right?"
"Only a handful of the Akane Tendou Fan Club," I muttered. To tell
the truth, it was one of my major frustrations. Of all people, my fiancee
had to be the object of desire of the whole male population of Furinkan High.
At the start I felt kind of proud of it (the school heartthrob was MY fiancee;
and I got her without even trying), but as time passed by, I had to get used
to having all the guys at school try to kill me for it. Well, it's worth all
the trouble, I guess.
Then I gave a start. Boys from school? Then that means HE can't be
far behind...
Oumpf! I felt air punched out of me as somebody grabbed me tightly
from behind. "Ah, the high-spirited pigtailed girl! Our paths have crossed
once more! Truly, Fate has never been so gracious to Tatewaki Kunou!"
"Get away from me!" I yelled, tossing my banana split in his face.
When he was momentarily blinded by the goop, I beaned him soundly with a
shopping bag full of weight training equipment.
"Honestly, he never gives up, does he?" Akane observed.
Kunou's eyes brightened under the curtain of chocolate syrup. "Dost
my ears deceive me? I, Tatewaki Kunou, have just heard the melodious voice
of my true love! My two goddesses, bound to me by the heavens..."
In his excitement, Kunou started to reach out wildly. "Akane Tendou!
Come to me my love! Pigtailed ---"
Boing!
Kunou had knocked himself out by crashing against the wall.
"You jerk," I frowned. "Look what you've done. Now I don't have any
more ice cream left."
Akane pushed her milkshake toward me, beaming. "Hey, let's share."
"Okay, thanks."
I didn't have a problem with that. It's just that I felt rather
uneasy, because she was watching me closely.
"Uh, Akane, what's the matter?"
"I'm really glad you're Ranko," she confessed. "You're not as
insensitive, you don't tease too much, and you don't do a lot of stupid
things. It's hard to believe that you're being nice to me, but then again,
you and Ranma are two different persons, after all..."
"Yeah, too bad I'M the girl, right?" I joked.
Akane's face clouded over. "Well, yeah."
Uh oh. Something was wrong here. I took a cautious sip, watching
her closely. Akane sighed inwardly, listlessly stirring with her straw.
"I know he...well, sort of cares about me, even a little bit. I mean,
whenever I was in trouble, he always saved me..."
"_I_ saved you lots of times," I interrupted.
"...and sometimes he said I was cute..."
"_I_ told you you looked cute in that yellow dress about a hundred
times."
"...and there was the time when he said he loved me, even if it was
an accident, he kept..."
I wasn't going to respond to THAT one! Silently, I argued, Hey, I
told you 'I love you' once, remember? How could you forget that?
"...denying it but he kept talking about it as if he was really
embarrassed, I mean, if he didn't really mean it, then he'd just forget about
it, right?"
"So you're telling me that you want RANMA to be with you right now
and not me?" I asked, feeling jealous. I felt my face get hot, partly because
of rage and partly because my true feelings were slipping slowly out of my
mouth.
She blushed. "That's not what I meant. I like being with you."
Her gaze was warm, but in a different way. I looked in her eyes and
saw that she thought of me as a friend, not as...
Something tightened in my chest.
Not as her fiance.
After all, I'm a girl now. Akane can't be engaged to a girl, that's
for sure, and since Ranma's cured...
She continued, absorbed in her thoughts. "All I want to know is...is
if he really thinks I'm uncute. That's all I want. What do you think, Ranko?
Does he think I'm uncute? "
I stared at her, unblinking. Ranma, Ranma, Ranma. Was that all she
wanted to talk about? What about what other people think? What about what
_I_ think? "All men are pigs," I grumbled silently, taking a huge swig out of
the near-empty milkshake, trying to drown out my confusion.
* * * * * * * * * *
She saw me as another sister, not as a former-part-of-her-fiance. I
hated it. I mean, sure, for once, Akane was being really nice to me, but
then again, she trusted me too much that she sometimes showed me signs that
she had feelings for the man I used to be.
Didn't she know that I still thought of her as my fiancee? Didn't
she know that maybe, just maybe, I was jealous? Boy, everytime she wanted to
talk about Ranma, I wanted to find him, pull him by his black ponytail, and
send him flying to Antarctica.
I realized that I was starting to sound like a hentai. I'm a girl,
but I can't forget how much I really care about Akane, how I treasure her
above everything. I guess I had been Ranma for too long to forget. But
unlike him, I don't deny my deep affection for her.
When I tell her she's cute, she's happy. But it's just not the same.
Coming from me, Ranko, it's just a compliment. But if it came from HIM...
If only I weren't a girl.
If only I were Ranma again.
End of STARTING OVER Part II
*frantamp@ac1.amanet.net