Title: Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood II Chapter 2
Series: Ranma
Genre: Original Flavour (I guess)
Author: Nighthawke
Email: abrown@imag.net
Homepage: None

FFML Archive Number:
Date Sent to FFML: Dec 8 1997
Size: 27 k

Summary:
Based off the anime episode 'Ranma's declaration of Womanhood',
Ranma still thinks he's a girl and falls for Kuno.  Various
factions of the Ranma 1/2 show try to cure or keep Ranma the
way she is.

     Hi, this is my first attempt of a fanfic.  This is the second of
     a couple chapters, and I hope all who read this enjoy it.

     This story is based of the anime episode, 'Ranma's Declaration of
     Womanhood,' and assumes that Ranma was *NOT* cured and still 
     thinks he's a woman.

     Constructive comments are greatly apprecieated and can be
     sent to abrown@imag.net.

     Much thanks to my prereader Emmanuel Pohoreski for his
     helpful commentary and criticism.  

     All characters/items etc. not created by me are copywrite to the
     appropriate people.

Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood II Chapter 2

     Ranma, Akane and Ryoga sat in and examination room waiting for Dr.
Tofu to arrive.  Akane was fussing over Ranma, who had mostly recovered
from her crying fit at the school.  Ryoga, who had been told the story
of Ranma's misfortune on the way over, stood off to one side looking
greatly amused.  After several minutes of waiting, Dr. Tofu entered.
     "Hello Akane," he said.  "How are you today?  Who's your new friend?"
     Akane smiled cutely.  "I'm fine Doctor.  This is Ryoga Hibiki."
     "Hi," replied Ryoga curtly.
     "Oh, you've been injured," said Tofu, noticing Ryoga's wound.  "Let
me have a look at that."  Before he could protest, Tofu had cleaned and
bandaged the cut.  "There, all better.  Now, to my regular patient,
Ran..ma?"  Tofu had turned around and finally gotten a good look at Ranma,
who was still in her tattered dress and sniffling fitfully.
     Akane told Tofu of the incident that had caused Ranma's mental
transformation from boy to girl, glaring at Ryoga when he started to laugh.
Tofu hmmmed and examined Ranma's head.  "That's quite a bump you've got
there.  Sounds like a form of Multiple Personality Disorder.  Normally I'd
recommend psychotherapy but the condition was caused by a head injury which
would indicate brain damage.  Sometimes it's possible to cure it through
another blow to the head -"
     "Ryoga!" barked Akane.  Ryoga had begun to eagerly roll up a sleeve
in anticipation of pounding Ranma to a pulp.  "Don't you dare!"
     "- But most of the time that makes the patient even worse off than
before.  I'm sorry Akane, but there's nothing I can do."
     "There has to be something!  You can fix anything!"
     "The only thing I can suggest is that you wait awhile and see if
she turns back to normal as her head injury heals."
     Akane sighed dejectedly.  "Thank you, Dr. Tofu.  Come on Ranma.
Let's go home.  By the time you get changed and we get back to school
we should be on time for the second half of our classes."  She glared at
Ryoga again.  "You can come too and explain to our teacher why we're so
late."
     Ryoga paled, but knew that he could not refuse her.  He also sighed
dejectedly and followed.

     Akane and Ranma were able to get off scott-free after some fast
talking by Akane and a remorseful explanation by Ryoga.  The two girls
headed for the next class, which was PE, and Ryoga, depressed because of
all the trouble he had caused Akane, left for the Tendo dojo.
     Akane was about to enter the girl's change room when she realized that
Ranma was following her.
     "And where do you think you're going?" she asked.
     Ranma looked confused.  "I have to get ready for PE."
     "Oh no you don't!  I've let you get away with a lot since you've
become a girl, but you are not going into the girl's change room!"
     "But if I don't get changed I won't be able to participate and I'll
fail the class."
     "I don't care!  You're not going!"
     "Hey, what's all the fuss?"  Ukyo was standing in the doorway to the
girl's change room.  "Oh, hi Akane."  She smiled brightly at Ranma.
"Hi Ran-chan!  What are you two arguing about this time?"
     "She wants to into the change room."
     Ukyo laughed.  "I think you've been spending too much time with
Happosai."  Her expression changed from humorous to disbelief and then to
skepticism as Akane explained Ranma's situation.  "You're kidding, right?
She thinks she's a girl?"
     "I don't *think* I'm a girl, I *am* one," said Ranma indignantly.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get changed for class."  Ranma strode
purposefully into the room.  Akane moved to stop her, but Ukyo blocked
Akane's progress.
     "What are you doing?" exclaimed Akane.
     "Let her go.  We'll see how much of a girl she really is."  They
waited outside for a few moments but did not hear any shrieks of
indignation or cries of terror from anyone.  The opened the door and
looked inside.
     Ranma was chatting with another girl while getting changed and not
twitching on the floor from seeing all the bare female flesh as Ukyo had
expected.  Ukyo stared at her in disbelief while Akane looked on in disgust.
     "I told you so," said Akane.
     "Now what are we going to do?" asked Ukyo.  "We can't throw her out
without answering a lot of awkward questions."
     "We take our medicine."  Akane entered the change room, and Ukyo
glumly followed.
     Ukyo and Akane attempted to bury themselves in their lockers in order
to keep Ranma from seeing them undressed while the other girls wondered why
they were acting so strangely.  They all assembled for class and the teacher
announced that they were playing soccer today.  Ranma groaned.
     "Why soccer?  Why couldn't it have been gymnastics?  Soccer is so...
confrontational."
     Ukyo's expression became calculating.  "This is perfect," she whispered
to Akane.  "If we can get her in the right position, maybe we'll trigger
Ran-chan's aggressive nature!"
     "That's a great idea!  What position?"
     "How about a forward?"
     "Sounds good to me."  With a bit of talking, they managed to get
Ranma placed as one of the forwards.  Before too long, Ranma was passed
the ball.  It stared out well enough.  Ranma ran down the field with the
ball with her usual athletic skill.  Suddenly, one of the other girls slid
towards her, trying to kick the ball away from her.  With a started cry,
Ranma jumped ten feet straight up, allowing the other girl to take the ball
easily.  After she landed and tried to take the ball back, but her attempts
where half-hearted at best and came nowhere near to succeeding.  Similar
scenarios occurred during the first half hour of the class, with Ranma
avoiding confrontation at every turn.  The teacher eventually called for a
five minute break.  Akane and Ukyo conferred.
     "Well, forward isn't working.  Any other ideas?" asked Akane.
     "What about goalie?  There she won't have anyone else to help her
defend the goal so she'll have to be aggressive to stop the other side
from scoring."
     "Okay.  I hope this works."
     This attempt was even worse than the last.  Every time the ball was
kicked toward the goal, Ranma ducked, dodged or otherwise avoided the ball,
even when they asked some of the girls to aim for Ranma on purpose.  The
class finally ended, and they left the field and headed towards the girls
change room.  Akane's and Ukyo's team had lost 15 to 4.
     "That was a real workout," said Ranma to the other two.  "I'm
definitely in need of a shower, and I think you two could  use one, too."
     Ukyo and Akane paled and groaned.

     Their next class was Home Economics.  Ranma and Ukyo drew top marks
for their muffins, while Akane was told she was improving before the teacher
went into her office and made generous use of a stomach pump she had bought
one week into the semester.  Their final class was Socials, in which
nothing of interest happened.  But then nothing of interest ever happened
in Socials .  Even Shampoo never bothered to interrupt Socials class.
Finally, the torturous school day was over.
     Akane and Ukyo walked together slightly behind the oblivious Ranma.
They whispered to each other, occasionally throwing glances in Ranma's
direction.
     "What are we going to do now?" hissed Ukyo.  "She's flubbed every
chance we gave her.  I've never seen her so...so...spineless."
     "I know.  She even backed down from the argument that I tried to set
up over the sugar."
     Ukyo looked at her in surprise.  The two second tiff had seemed
genuine, but Ranma had quickly given up the fight with Akane before it
could shift into high gear.  "That was a set up?  It looked real to me."
She thought for a moment.  "Wait a sec.  It looked like to me that you
were holding the salt."
     "Wha - !  That was the salt?"  Akane groaned, still not able to
understand why her cooking always turned out to be miserable failures.
     "Yeah, well, nice try with Ranma though."
     "I've had *lots* of practice."
     Ukyo gave Akane a look she couldn't interpret.  "How on earth is one
of us suppose to marry her when she's like this?" Ukyo wondered out loud,
sounding a little *too* innocent.
     Akane, still concentrating on Ranma, answered without thinking.  "I
know what you mean.  There's no way - hey!"  What Ukyo had said finally
caught up with her.  She glared at the okanomiaki chef.
     "So you really *do* want to marry her, don't you?" Ukyo accused.
     "Who said that?  I didn't say that!"
     "Nihao, Ranma!"
     The two girls were bowled over as Shampoo, on her bike, rode between
them to Ranma.  Ranma turned, and with a startled eep, barely managed to
avoid getting clobbered with one of Shampoo's tires.  Shampoo held up one
of her ramen delivery boxes.  "Shampoo miss Ranma at lunch, so faithful
wife make husband delicious double helping of ramen."
     Ranma either missed the part about 'wife' and 'husband' or chose to
ignore it because she replied, "Thank you very much Shampoo.  That was very
considerate of you."  She took the ramen and began to eat calmly with no
rushing or bad manners.  She even complimented Shampoo on the quality of
the ramen between mouthfuls.
     Shampoo was ecstatic at Ranma's attention, but slowly became confused
as she noticed that she was acting out of character.  WAY out of character.
Akane, in the meantime, looked ready to explode.
     [Even when she's a girl, she's still eager to eat both Ukyo's and
Shampoo's cooking and not mine!] Ranma and Ukyo had traded some muffins
after Home Ec, but had politely declined Akane's offer.  [So what if mine
were burnt!  She could at least have taken one!]
     Ukyo noted Akane's angry expression.  She put one elbow up on her
shoulder, casually leaning against her.  "I wouldn't worry about it girl.
Looks like Ranma might get a new set of lumps."
     Shampoo was staring at Ranma with narrowed eyes.  "Ranma, why you act
so strange?"
     Ranma looked at her in confusion.  "Am I acting strange?  I'm  sorry.
I don't mean to."
     "And why you wear girls clothes?"
     "Because I'm a girl."
     Shampoo stared at Ranma, eyes wide.  Then she smiled knowingly.  "You
try that trick with Shampoo before.  You fool Shampoo once but not again."
And to prove it, she latched herself onto Ranma with a "Wo ai ne!"
     Ranma shrieked in indignation and struggled to pry the amazon off of
her.  She was making absolutely no headway until Akane and Ukyo pitched in.
     "Leave Ran-chan alone you hussy!" cried Ukyo.
     Shampoo arced up about ten feet, righted herself in the air and landed
daintily on her feet.  Ranma was complaining to Akane about Shampoo's
behavior.
     "Akane is that girl some sort of pervert?  Why did she hug me like
that?"
     Shampoo looked Ranma over intently.  "You really think you are girl,"
she concluded.  Akane told Ranma's tale yet again.  Shampoo looked at both
of the girls in surprise and scorn.  "And you no cure Ranma yet?  You even
more stupid than Shampoo thought."
     "You know of a cure?" asked Akane eagerly.
     Shampoo nodded and drew her bonbori from that personal pocket dimension
that most cartoon characters seem to have, and swung one in a wide arc
trying to connect with the side of Ranma's head.  It was stopped in it's
tracks as Ukyo blocked it with her combat spatula.  Shampoo glared at her
and swung the other one, but that was blocked as well, this time by Akane.
"You want Ranma cured or not?"
     "I'm not going to let you hurt Ran-chan!" declared Ukyo.
     "Besides," added Akane, "Dr. Tofu said that hitting her again would
probably make it worse."  The three girls continued to glare at each other,
when the sound of footsteps made them turn.
     Kuno was staggering towards them, his face wrapped in bandages,
with only his swollen black eyes showing.  He was leaning heavily on his
sword, and each step seemed to take the last of his strength.  Somehow,
though, he managed to slowly make his way towards them.
     "Pig-Tailed Girl," he hissed from between clenched teeth.  "Why do
you torture me so?  Why do you lure me with your womanly ways and then
reject me when I respond?  Why?  Why, Pig-Tailed Girl, tell me urk-!"
Kuno fell to his knees.
     "Upperclassman Kuno!"  Ranma ran to his side.  "Oh, I'm so very sorry!
This is all my fault!  Here let me help you."  She managed to get one of
his arms around her shoulders, and with a heave, helped him to his feet.
     Kuno was having a hard time accepting the fact that his beloved
Pig-Tailed Girl, who had so violently rejected him this morning was now
aiding him in his time of need.  "My love..." he whispered.  Ranma
motioned him to be silent.
     "Now you just be quiet and I'll take you home."  Ranma began leading
the stumbling Kuno back to the Kuno family residence.
     Meanwhile, the three girls were frozen in shock at Ranma's behavior.
Their eyes and mouths were equally wide open .  Akane was the first to
recover.  Her face reddened with both anger and embarrassment.
     "I don't believe her!  Well, find then.  If that's the way she wants
it, that's the way she can have it!  She can marry him for all I care!"
Ukyo and Shampoo were having similar reactions.
     "That jackass!  Toss me over for Kuno will she?!  When I get my hands
on her, she'll wish she was dead and not a girl!"
     "What you talking about!?  Ranma is Shampoo's husband, so only Shampoo
have right to punish her!"
     Ukyo drew out two small spatulas from her bandoleer.  "If you think
I'm gonna let you hurt Ran-chan in any state of mind, then you've got
another thing coming!"
     Shampoo frowned.  "You are obstacle.  You are for killing."  She
entered a combat stance, her bonbori at the ready.  Ukyo also prepared
herself for a fight.
     "Anytime you want,"
     Akane stormed home, hoping that there were some of those cement
blocks left to vent her anger on.  Behind her were sounds of combat and
destruction as Ukyo and Shampoo fought.

     Tensions were high at the Tendo dinner table that night.  Soun and
Genma were muttering to each other about the problem of Ranma's change,
and Akane refused to even look in her direction.  Nabiki decided to ease
the pressure by starting a little constructive chaos.
     "Hey Ranma, where were you this afternoon?"
     Ranma was staring off into space, here eyes wide and dreamy.  "I was
over at Kuno-chan's house helping him recover from his injuries."
     Nabiki froze.  Her eyes narrowed and glinted dangerously as they
turned to stare at Ranma intently.  "Kuno-chan?" she echoed.
     Ranma nodded and sighed, her eyes once again staring off into space.
"The poor dear.  I've treated him awfully, haven't I?  I never took the
time to look at what he's really like.  I wish I had gotten to know him
better earlier."  She giggled.  "At least it wasn't a total loss.
Kuno-chan asked me out on a date!"
     Silence.
     The trembling of Nabiki's rice bowl was overshadowed by the shattering
of Akane's tea cup.  Genma jumped to his feet and towered over his
son-now-daughter.
     "Are you insane boy?!" he thundered.
     "Ranma, how could you betray Akane like this?!" wept Soun.
     "But Father, Kuno-chan's the perfect husband!  He's kind, sweet, well
mannered, brave, gallant, rich-"
     Genma latched onto the word 'rich'.  "Hmm...rich, did you say?
Er...Soun, old friend-"
     Soun's head swelled to monsterous proportions, flame bursting from
every orifice.  "GENMA!!" he bellowed.  "DON'T YOU DARE!!"
     Genma paled and turned back to his son/daughter.  "He's right, boy.
As the heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, it is
your duty to marry Akane!"
     "But that's disgusting!  How could you think of having two girls
marry each other?  The whole idea is...perverted!"
     Genma picked up the tea kettle.  "Turn back in to a boy, Ranma, and
bow to your responsibilities!"
     "No, please!  You know I hate it when I'm a boy!"  She began ducking
and dodging the gouts of hot water poured by Genma.  Just as it looked
as though Genma would finally hit Ranma with some of the water, a loud
bang echoed through the small room.  The two families looked at Akane, who
had slammed down her chopsticks and gotten to her feet.
     "She can marry Kuno if she wants to, and I wish her luck!" she said
fiercely.  She left the room, her entire posture showing a containment
of a large amount of rage.
     "I think I'll go to my room, too," said Nabiki, who looked a little
pale.  "Suddenly, I'm not so hungry anymore either."
     Genma watched the girls leave the room.  Ranma took advantage of this
momentary distraction to skip away from her father and outside.  "Ranma!
You come back here!"  He ran out of the room after his son/daughter.
     Kasumi was left alone with her father, who was weeping pitifully on
the table.  Kasumi, who had never been phased by anything, was phased.
     "Oh dear," she said.

     Tatewaki Kuno, Blue Thunder of Funinken High, posed in front of the
mirror, admiring himself and making sure that every part of his tuxedo was
perfect.
     "Ah, my dear Sasuke.  Am I not the model of manliness?  Would not the
angels themselves destroy heaven for a chance to date with the great
Tatewaki Kuno?"
     "Of course they would, Master Kuno?" groveled Sasuke.  "The Pig-Tailed
one will surely be overwhelmed by your perfection."
     "How could she not be?" he proclaimed haughtily. "For even as there
are stars in the night sky, will the Pig Tailed Girl be won over with love
at the sight of me."  His face turned melancholy.  "The only stain on this
otherwise perfect night is that the fiery Akane Tendo did not return with
an answer to my summons for a date tonight.  This time would have been
doubly delicious had she consented to date with me along side the Pig
Tailed Girl, but perhaps it was not meant to be."
     "A truly tragic event Master," said Sasuke, fingering the message that
Kuno had composed for Akane behind his back.  He knew that if he had
delivered the note, that Akane would have pounded him into the stratosphere.
Also, taking only one girl on a date would give Kuno a chance to fix his
attentions on *one* girl, and make Sasuke's life a bit easier by hopefully
stabilizing Kuno's behavior.
     Kuno brightened.  "But it also may be that if my perseverance and
displays of love and affection towards my pig tailed goddess has finally
reached fruition, then perhaps if I pursued Akane with renewed fervor,
then she may one day see that I do truly love her like no other woman on
this earth."
     Meanwhile, Sasuke was trying hard to be sick quietly.  He had gotten
use to his master's sappy rantings during his tenure as the servant to the
House of Kuno, but this was a bit to much even for him.
     "So by what way shall I whisk my true love away on the night of her
dreams?" pondered Kuno.  "The Rolls, the Porsche..."
     "Might I suggest the carriage, Master Kuno.  No true woman can resist
the romanticism of a horse drawn carriage."
     Kuno beamed at Sasuke.  "An excellent suggestion Sasuke!  Just when
I think that your mind is eternally clouded in the darkness of ignorance,
you surprise me by showing a glimmer of genius.  To the carriage!"  Kuno
marched purposefully out of the room.
     Sasuke stared after him wondering if this was such a good idea after
all.

     Ranma couldn't understand why Akane was angry with her.  It just did
not make sense.  Kuno was every woman's dream come true!  He was everything
a woman wanted.  A man who was strong in his convictions, rich, gallant,
virtuous, were all qualities that most women dreamed of.  Akane should have
been glad that she had found someone to make her happy.  She knew she
would be ecstatic if Akane managed to find someone that would care for
her for the rest of her life.  Why would she be angry?
     Maybe it was not anger.  Could it be...jealousy?  Was Akane jealous
of Ranma becoming attached to the perfect man?  Ranma sighed, depressed
at Akane's apparent failure to understand.  Akane did not need to be
jealous.  All she had to do was act more like a proper girl and she would
be able to get someone as good as Kuno.  Instead, she was angry and
jealous and unable to see past the *who* and not see *how* she had been
able to attract Kuno to herself.  Ranma was sad to see Akane so unhappy,
but was not sure how she could help.
     Any further thoughts were dismissed as she saw a horse drawn carriage
round the corner.  Her breath caught in her throat as she realized that
it was Kuno who was the occupant and that she was going to be riding in
it.  The carriage pulled along side her and Sasuke climbed down from the
drivers' seat.  Opening the door to the passenger area, he helped a
deliriously happy Ranma aboard.
     Kuno gazed at Ranma's beautiful form.  She was clothed the white
frilly dress that Akane had bought for her yesterday, and she seemed to
positively glow in the moonlight.
     "Pig tailed girl..." he whispered to himself.  With a start he
realized that he was staring.  He straightened and struck a pose not
dissimilar to the one he affected in front of the mirror before the date.
"So, my Pig-tailed goddess, how do I look?"
     "Oh, Kuno-chan, it's absolutely beautiful!" exclaimed Ranma, who was
still awed by the carriage.
     Kuno, not realizing that it was the carriage she was talking about
responded, "Of course I am."
     Ranma sighed happily, and took hold of Kuno's, snuggling close.  "So
where are we going?"  There was no response.  "Kuno?  Kuno-chan?"
     Kuno's eyes had glazed over when she had taken his arm and it was
with great effort that he brought himself back to earth.  "We -" his voice
cracked slightly.  Clearing his throat he tried again.  "We are going to a
restaurant called 'The Samurai.'  It is a very exclusive restaurant.  Only
the most richest and famous families are allowed entrance.  I, of course,
being of one of those families, have made reservations for two."  He then
began a speech about past patrons of the restaurant in the past while Ranma
gazed up at him with a mixture of awe and wonder.

     Ranma and Kuno stepped out of the carriage in front of the Tendo
household.  Ranma was so happy, she felt like she was flying.  The dinner
at the restaurant had been fabulous.  Not only had the food been exquisite,
but they had had a dance floor.  The orchestra had played a variety of
music, mostly classical, and Kuno had taken her out for several rounds of
dancing.  Despite his apparent clumsiness on the field of battle, he was
extremely graceful on the dance floor and had almost literally swept her
away.  There had been a near disastrous event when a waiter accidentally
spilled hot soup on Ranma.  Fortunately, Ranma had managed to dodge it and
was spared total humiliation.  Kuno almost attacked the man with his sword,
but Ranma's pleadings managed to calm him down.
     After that had been the carriage ride around the pond in the park.
Kuno had talked and talked and talked and Ranma raptly listened to every
word without hearing a thing, as her attention was taken up with the
romantic setting.

     Akane could not keep still.  Ever since Ranma had left with Kuno,
she felt restless.  She tried everything. TV, homework, even practicing
in the dojo.  Unfortunately, she had used most of the cement blocks that
afternoon and had quickly run out.  Now it was late.  Too late.  It was
11:00 p.m. and still no sign of Ranma.
     She was channel surfing, not really seeing what was on, when she heard
the tell tale jingling of a harness and the rhythmic clopping of hooves
outside.  She resisted the urge to run outside to see if it was Ranma,
and sat waiting.  A few moments later, the door opened and Ranma walked
past the room.
     "So how was the date?" asked Akane caustically.
     Ranma merely sighed a deep, contented sigh and walked dreamily out
and up to her room.
     Akane stared at the empty space where Ranma had been moments before.
[I'm losing her,] her inner voice told her.  [I'm losing her to Kuno.]
Tears welled up in her eyes, and she blinked them back angrily.  [Who
cares!?  It's not like I wanted her anyway!  She can have Kuno if she
wants him so bad.  She...she...]  Akane drew her knees up to her chin
and stared off into space, her face a mass shifting colors as the light
from the TV was reflected.  A tiny moan escaped her lips.  [She doesn't
even know I exist.]  Akane put her face in her hands and tried to stem
the flow of tears coursing down her cheeks.

End of Chapter 2

Special Note:  While I greatly enjoy the, "Loved it lots, send more" type 
response and would like to get more (hey I like the ego boost, okay?), what 
would be more valuable would be a critique of the work.  Where it was weak,
where it was good, suggestions for improvement, where I was wrong, etc.

Thanks tons!

Remember, C&Cs can be mailed to abrown@imag.net.  No flames!

					Zhai'helleva
					(Wind to thy wings...)
					Nighthawke