Well,

Here it is at last, the full first part of "Second Time Around".
I published a teaser a while ago, and since then have
gone through something of a writing drought.  I've been
having "block" problems again, so I decided to dust off
this part and finish it off to try and break the block.

Let me take a moment to thank all the people who
sent me e-mail prodding me to continue this.  Your
encouragement was useful, to say the least.

I'm trying a different (for me) way of using personal pronouns
when referring to Ranma.  In Nekophobia, when Ranma was
in his female form I used "she", but I've since decided that
since Ranma doesn't think of himself as female this is wrong.
So I've tried using mostly "he" except when the viewer doesn't
know any better, but it's more confusing.  I have no idea which
way is better, but we'll see how it goes with more practice.

I hope you enjoy it.  C&C is most definitely encouraged.
My e-mail address and web page address are given at
the bottom of this message.


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


Second Time Around
Part 1:  Chiisana Negai Dake
by David Eddy <dje@progress.com>


Last modified:  Wednesday, 25 March 1998

A  fan  fiction  based  on  Takahashi  Rumiko's  Manga
series,  Ranma 1/2.  The characters of Ranma  1/2  are
the property of Takahashi Rumiko and her licensees.





     Ranma was on a date. With *Kunou Tatewaki* of all
people.  He was in his female body, dressed sexily in
a cheongsam.

     It wasn't as though he had a choice in the
matter.  Kunou had drawn a sword from a rock that had
been that way for as long as people could remember.
The sword was a wishing sword, and Kunou had wished
for a date with "osage no onna"... in other words,
Ranma.  Still, he had gone willingly enough.  He
wanted desperately to get his hands on the sword.
Through fair means and foul, he had tried to get the
sword away from Kunou, but had been balked at every
turn.  Until....

     The ancient sword trembled in Ranma-onna's grasp
as he held it before himself.  Gathering his courage,
Ranma yelled the words.  "I wish I was not cursed!"

     Suddenly the world changed.  Ranma's vision was
filled with a wall of black and white fur.  A hammer
blow crashed into his chest and he was falling.
Snatches of scenery whirled past as he plunged
downwards:  Steel-blue sky beneath rugged grey-green
mountains; a Chinese man in a Maoist suit frozen in a
moment of wild gesticulation; the reflection of the
sky in the water below interrupted by the ridged shaft
protruding from its centre....  He had time only for a
gasp of shocked realization before he crashed
ungracefully into cold water.

     Ranma felt the familiar sensation of the change
surge through him.  His heart was filled with sick
disbelief even as the numbingly-cold water pressed at
him.  Automatically he began to stroke towards the
shimmering, silver surface.

     He broke it.  Gratefully he took a breath,
filling his lungs with the cool, clear air of the
mountains.  Sick betrayal filled him as he realised
that his wish had been fulfilled to the letter.

     "--Take body of young girl!" the Chinese man was
yelling.  The Guide of Jusenkyou.

     Ranma ignored the Guide and quickly pulled
himself out of the pool.  He ignored the way the
fabric clung to his breasts through long familiarity.
Automatically he looked around and saw his father the
giant panda still balancing on a bamboo pole... a pole
which was trembling under his weight.  Their eyes met,
and Ranma could see no apology, only challenge.  Hot
rage, springing from the dashing of his hopes,
crystallised in him and he surged towards his father.
"Kuso oyajiiii!"

     The panda that was her father leaped from the
pole and ran off, away from the ponds.  Ranma sprinted
after him, but quickly trailed to a halt.  He hadn't
caught his father last time, and probably wouldn't
this time.  If he stayed here, perhaps Ryouga wouldn't
end up being Akane's pet.

     Snarling at the world, Ranma spun and stalked
back to where the guide stood by their packs.  The
guide watched him nervously, backing away as Ranma
took up his pack.

     "Okyakusama has fallen into the cursed springs of
Jusenkyou!" said the Guide quickly, holding up
trembling hands.  "Hot water will reverse the curse,
okyakusama!"

     Ranma looked at the guide to see that he was
sweating bullets.  Looking away again, he hitched his
gi closed again under his pack straps and picked up
his father's pack.  "Yeah, whatever," he sneered in
his high, feminine voice.  "Just lead me to it, old
man."



     The water in the big old kettle in the Guide's
hut was nearly hot when Genma, still in panda form,
reappeared carrying a small squealing black piglet.
Ranma-onna's heart sank as he saw the pig, certain
that it was Ryouga.

     What should he do?  Ranma's mind reeled with
possibilities.  Should he stop Ryouga as he ran out of
the hut and try to head off the insane, never-ending
series of arguments he knew were coming?  He wrapped
his arms about his head as he thought, pondering the
possibilities.  What if Ryouga blamed him anyway?  And
he wouldn't recognise him as he was anyway, what with
his *very* female body.  The poor schmuck was just as
likely to fall for him, or even worse, get a
nosebleed.  Yuk.

     He tuned out the guide's bustling about and
broken Japanese as he wrestled with the problem of
what to do about Ryouga.  Along the way the problem of
Ryouga got lost in the realisation that he was
*really* here, that somehow the wish had rewound time.
His wish had been granted, but in the stingiest
possible way.  He snorted to himself at the unfairness
of it.

     But it seemed as though he was not stuck on a
treadmill -- last time, he had chased his father to
exhaustion and still not managed to catch him although
he *had* managed to knock Ryouga off the cliff above
the pools.

     Somehow, though, it seemed Ryouga had still
managed to get cursed.

     Ranma's ruminations were interrupted when he
heard a scream of pain from within the hut.  A naked
Ryouga came sprinting out of the doorway and within
moments was out of sight.  Regretfully Ranma shook his
head, knowing that now he would next see Ryouga when
he showed up at school attempting to get revenge for
his curse, even though Ranma had had absolutely
nothing to do with it this time.  One opportunity
gone.

     A stream of hot water poured upon his head.
"Come on, boy, it's time we were moving.  We've got an
appointment in Japan."

     Ranma looked up at his father's grinning face.
Loathing filled him, and he fought down the urge to
use a serious blow against his father, a killing or
maiming blow.  A sudden notion filled him.  He
remembered that the guide would lead them from here
into the Amazon village.  He decided to kill two birds
with one stone, and let the Amazons deal with his
father for him.

     It was a minor struggle to keep a smirk from his
face as he stood.  Wordlessly, with an angry
expression on his face, he handed his father his pack
and set out after the guide.



     *    *    *



     "Aaaaa!  Okyakusama!  What you do?!"

     Spray from a waterfall had reactivated their
curses, and Ranma, in his female form, stood by the
Guide watching his father gorge himself on the Amazon
prize food.  He could not believe that his father had
managed to ignore the large, ornate sign that clearly
said, "prize".  The growling in his belly served only
to fuel his gloating anticipation at what his father
had coming to him.

     They had just watched Shampoo win against some
old battleaxe fighter twice her size after a brief but
savage battle.  She was as pretty as ever, Ranma
noted.  Tall, with a lithe, athletic figure and a
springy, erect carriage, she also had good-sized
breasts that rode high and firm on her chest.  Her
long hair shone in the sunlight, flicking about as she
fought.  Idly Ranma wondered why her withered old
great-grandmother Cologne had not taken part, but
decided that she was so far ahead of Shampoo in
fighting ability she must not be eligible for some
reason.  Shampoo could never have won if the old bat
or anyone else with even some of her skills had taken
part.

     For now, however, Shampoo had been declared
Champion of the Joketsuzoku (or so Ranma assumed).
She had looked to her prize and, seeing the panda
gorging on her food, had screamed something in
Chinese.  The Guide had gone pasty white and yelled
his warning to his father.  "Okyakusama!  What you
do?!"  Ranma tried to avoid smirking in anticipation
at his old man's predicament.

     Genma looked up curiously, a melon dangling from
the claws of one paw and a fish in his jaws.  Shampoo
stalked over, but to Ranma's acute surprise ignored
the panda and went to him.  She yelled something
threateningly.

     "Your pet eat prize, she say," translated the
guide helpfully.  "You responsible, she say."

     Ranma-onna backed up and held up his hands.
"Hang on there!  Oyaji's no one's pet!  Tell them
we've been cursed at Jusenkyou, and that panda is a
person!"

     "That not good idea, okyakusama."

     "Tell them!  The old bastard can clean up his own
mess for a change."

     Hesitantly the Guide said something to the
assembled audience, punctuated by much bowing and
fawning.  Shampoo's eyes blazed, and suddenly hot
water was splashed over them both from somewhere.
Ranma decided he didn't much like the ugly murmur that
ran through the crowd at the sight of two men
appearing where before there had been a girl and a
panda.

     Now, at last, Cologne hopped forward, balancing
as usual on a walking stick that was taller than she
was.  Ranma fought to keep recognition from his face.

     "You are outsider males who have trespassed on
Amazon lands without permission," she said in a cold
voice.  "You must fight or be enslaved."

     A chill gripped Ranma's guts at he fully realised
what had happened.  The Guide!  He had always wondered
why they had gone this way, when he and his father had
not crossed the village on the way in.  The hatred
between Japanese and Chinese was ancient, and this
little trip through the village must have been the
Guide's obscure revenge... for what, though, Ranma
wasn't quite sure.

     "Hey!  It wasn't our fault!  He led us here!" he
protested, pointing at the Guide.

     Cologne flicked a glance at the Guide, who was
trying to hide behind Genma.  "So what?"  She smiled
thinly.  "What will it be?"

     Ranma held himself still.  He wondered for a
moment about the trap that the Guide had led them
into, but then pushed that to one side.  First they
had to get out of the village, preferably without any
kiss of death or anything like that.  Their only
option was to fight, and Ranma scrambled to avoid the
problems he foresaw.

     "Who must we fight?" asked Ranma cautiously.

     "One of you will suffice," said Cologne, eyeing
him contemplatively.  "You must fight our champion,"
she added, indicating the haughty Shampoo with one
withered hand.

     A heavy hand landed between Ranma's shoulder
blades.  "Go for it, boy.  You can take her easily!"

     Ranma flicked a contemptuous glance at his
father.  Frowning, he struggled to think his way
through this clearly. "I know something of the customs
of the Joketsuzoku," he said to Cologne.  "There is to
be no kiss of death or kiss of marriage as a result of
the bout.  If I win, we go free without any other
conditions."

     Cologne and several other of the Joketsuzoku
stared at Ranma in surprise.  A murmur of translation
rose within the crowd which was followed by the
remainder of the female crowd staring in amazement at
the Japanese boy.  Cologne's eyes meanwhile turned to
slits as she contemplated the upstart boy.

     "You are in no position to set conditions," she
said coldly.

     Ranma knew that he could not afford to show any
weakness.  "Nonetheless, I demand it," he said,
glaring at Cologne.

     The silence that followed was broken only by the
murmuring of a nearby stream.  Cologne's eyes narrowed
even further.  "I do not argue terms and conditions
with one such as you," she said dismissively.  She
spoke briefly to the crowd, then Shampoo vaulted to
the top of the suspended log that had been the contest
ground, her bonbori at the ready.

     Ranma ground his teeth in frustration, knuckles
standing out white on his clenched fists.  The old
monster had backed him into a corner.  His blood
whispered with the desire to flatten this withered up
old husk into the dirt, but the certain knowledge that
she would defeat him, easily, held him back.  His
training by her in the hiryuu shouten ha was still
fresh in his memory, and he was uncomfortably aware
that she almost certainly had dozens of similarly
lethal tricks.

     Without a word, he vaulted to the log's top.  He
could see Shampoo's overconfidence at his
weaponlessness in the way she weighed her weapons and
the minute movements of her eyes and weapons as she
planned her first set of attacks.  A pity she would
never get to execute them.  Ranma had fought her
plenty of times, and she had a gap in her defense
which was, to him, a mile wide.  Unconsciously he
relaxed, preparing for the fight, steeling himself to
make sure that he did in fact defeat Shampoo.

     Cologne shouted something, and Shampoo rushed
towards him.  Ranma had time to smile grimly before
executing a perfectly-timed basic snap kick which
knocked her off the log to land unconscious on the
ground ten feet from her bonbori.

     He jumped easily to the ground and grabbed his
pack.  "Come on, oyaji, we're goin'," he growled above
the rising murmur of Chinese indignation.  He
stoically ignored the limp Shampoo, instead walking
firmly away from the training ground.



     *    *    *



     It was the deep of night.  The throbbing of a
heavy diesel engine and the susurration of sea water
being parted by the passage of the tramp freighter
Yamanaka Maru were the only sounds.  This late at
night, only the dog watch was awake on board, and they
kept to their nice warm duty posts.  Everyone else was
in bed.

     Ranma had been unable to sleep, however, and
finally had come up on deck.  The crew didn't bother
to light the foredeck since no-one ever went there
while they were at sea, and Ranma had an excellent
view of the stars, his friends since childhood.  He
had been unable to sleep because tomorrow they would
be in Japan.  Tomorrow he would meet his fiancee-to-
be, Akane, and he had some serious thinking to do.

     The milky way spread across the star-sprinkled
sky like pale, curdled milk.  He could see Akane's
face in the sky as he thought.  She was smiling, and
for some reason his heart was thumping.  Tomorrow
Akane would become his fiancee.

     He could of course select one of the other girls,
but one way or another he knew the engagement would
happen.  It had the status of giri, and as such was
unavoidable.

     Ranma tried visualising himself engaged to Kasumi
or Nabiki, but he could not.  Somehow they always
ended up looking like Akane.  He briefly considered
refusing *any* engagement, but the question of family
honour made that a nonsense.  He could no sooner deny
that than cease breathing.  'Unlike some people,' he
thought bitterly to himself as thoughts of his family
brought his father to mind.

     But, what if he did avoid the engagement?  It
would be easy enough; all he had to do was run off
before his father finally got around to telling him.
Perhaps he could find his way back to China, find a
cure.  Briefly, he turned the idea over in his mind.

     With a disgusted "pah!", Ranma discarded the
idea.  For some reason, the thought of no Akane made
him feel oddly hollow.  And if he wasn't there, pig-
boy would meet Akane without him to get in the way.
The thought of pig-boy getting anywhere with Akane
filled him with rage.  Jealous rage, he realised.

     'I guess... maybe I like her,' he finally said to
himself inside the fastnesses of his mind.

     He wondered if she liked him.  It was hard to
tell.  She had protested that she hated him on more
than one occasion, denied the engagement, but she also
didn't seem to mind being in his company.  It was so
confusing.

     Then a memory from not long ago replayed in his
head.  Akane was standing over him, her short blue-
black hair framing her face, her eyes unreadable...
maybe concerned.  Happousai had branded him on his
back in a tsubo that had robbed him of his strength
for the crime of resisting his perverted raids on the
nearby female population.  He had been immediately
targeted by his enemies and had been beaten by them
mercilessly now that he could not fight back.  Only
Ryouga had protected him.

     Through a series of trials, Cologne had come to
teach him the hiryuu shouten ha.  It was to be a means
of defeating Happousai, to force the old master to
give Ranma his last hope for regaining his strength,
Happousai's secret chart of tsubo.  But now, with
Akane standing over him, it was thought lost.  In a
cruel irony, it had been lost in a device of his own
making, his first truly successful hiryuu shouten ha
since the old ghoul had trained him.  When Akane had
been caught up in the whirlwind he had been forced to
choose between saving the chart and saving Akane, and
he of course had chosen her.

     Pieces of paper had begun raining from the sky,
and his heart had soared in the hope that despite
everything, a cure might be found.  His schoolmates
had gathered 'round, scrambling to search out pieces
of the paper, but the vital piece remained missing.  A
momentary hope raised only to be cruelly dashed.

     Sick at heart, feeling condemned to a life of
weakness and helplessness, he had smilingly thanked
everyone for their help and run away.  He had stopped
to think regretfully about what had happened when a
heavy weight had hit him and pinned him to the ground.
Akane had tossed his pack at him.

     "You're just going to quietly disappear, aren't
you?" she had said.

     "Akane," he had said to cover his surprise.

     "I know you won't give up.  But... I'm going with
you."  Her eyes... her eyes had been filled with
concern and determination, and something else he still
didn't understand.  But now, looking back, his heart
lifted.

     Another time not long after they had first met,
at that ice rink when he had protected her from the
wall with his body not long after they had first met,
he had seen concern for himself again expressed in her
eyes as she pled with him not to push himself
stupidly.  Stupidly, he had ignored her and he had
ended up in that pointless battle with Ryouga.  His
mind, now prompted, supplied images of Akane kneeling
or standing over him, concern in her face, in a dozen
circumstances.

     He smiled to the stars.  'Maybe she likes me
too,' he told them with a light heart.  It occurred to
him that he was being given a second chance with
Akane.  Perhaps he could avoid making her hate him at
the start.

     Looking up into the sky at Akane's smiling face,
he thought back to the time they had met for the first
time.  After initial friendly overtures, she had
clearly come to hate him even before they had gone to
school.  What had caused her to initially dislike him
so much?  Frowning with concentration, he settled
himself in to think.



     From a cerulean sky, the morning sun blazed hot
onto the deserted foredeck of the tramp freighter
Yamanaka Maru.  Well, not quite deserted; a young man
dressed in red and black sat in a lotus seat, arms
resting on his knees, head bowed... snoring.

     The blast of a passing ship's horn jerked Ranma
awake and into a defensive position.  Looking wildly
around, he soon relaxed when he saw he was alone on
the deck.  To the north and east he saw the gray,
ragged skyline that was Tokyo and he smiled as he
thought about what was to come that day.



     *    *    *



     Scattered puddles from a passing cloudburst still
decorated the street as Ranma, damp and female,
watched his father push open the Tendou's garden gate.
The familiar tinkle sounded as the gate opened, and as
Ranma closed it again he heard running footsteps from
inside the house.  Soun and Nabiki sprinted out the
front door, faces shining --  Soun's with eagerness,
Nabiki's with excitement.

     Genma-panda let out a growf and ran towards Soun,
arms extended.  Both Soun and Nabiki blanched at the
sight of the monster charging at them, the light
glinting off its cruel claws, and did a quick about-
face.  Genma ran after them, and Ranma chased after
his father, cursing under his breath.

     "Hey!  You're scaring 'em silly!" he yelled in a
soprano voice.  His father the panda skidded to a stop
in the house's entrance hall, and Ranma tried to
squeeze around the huge animal without success.

     "Are these your friends, father?" he heard Kasumi
ask.  Nabiki's outraged voice followed.

     "Why did you become friends with a panda?!" she
asked in an accusing voice.  "It's unnatural, isn't
it?!"

     Suddenly the panda moved to one side, and Ranma
could get to the front.  He saw that Soun and the
three girls were staring at him.  He almost didn't
recognise Akane, but he kicked himself as he realised
that of course she still had long hair.  Seeing her
afresh for the first time in several weeks, he
reflected to himself that Akane was indeed quite
pretty, though her appearance was not enhanced by the
dubious look she was currently casting in his
direction.  Ranma noted that both Kasumi and Nabiki
seemed to be angry, though Nabiki's anger was of
course understandable because she had been scared.
Kasumi's anger seemed at odds with the girl he knew
from before, though.

     There was a pregnant pause as Soun stared at
Ranma.  The master of the house began to sweat but
nothing was said until finally he leaned down and
pointed at him.  "And you are...?" he asked
hesitantly.

     Ranma turned his head to the side and fiddled
with her pigtail in a model of feminine behaviour.  He
had been hoping to avoid a precise replay of the time
when he and Akane had got off to such a bad start, but
so far things were going almost identically to last
time.  "I'm Saotome Ranma," he said at last.  "Sorry
'bout this."

     Suddenly Soun had taken Ranma's slim arms in his
hands and was standing upright, grinning.  "Aah!  So
that's what you..."

     "He's cute, isn't he?" added Nabiki with a grin,
her expression eager.

     "At last you've come!" said Souun as he enfolded
Ranma into a crushing embrace.  Ranma could feel his
breasts crushing against the tall man's firm
midsection.  Suddenly Soun held him at arms length,
staring at him in shock.

     Nabiki noticed immediately.  "Mm?"  She leaned
forward and poked Ranma in one breast.

     It hurt a little, and besides, it was
embarrassing.  "Please stop that," he said politely.

     "Ranma seems to be a girl," said Nabiki in a
sardonic voice.  A dull thud announced the collapse of
the Tendou family patriarch.



     Kasumi soon had Soun laid out on the futon in his
bedroom, the shoji open to the garden for ventilation.
She mopped his brow as tears streamed from his face.
The three Tendou sisters were arguing.

     "Father must have been very disappointed," said
Kasumi in an understanding voice.

     "*I'm* the one who's disappointed!" shot back
Nabiki.  "What kind of fiancee is this?"

     Akane said, "Stop it, oneechan!  They went to
great effort to come here!"

     "Otousan shouldn't have done it!" continued
Nabiki, ignoring Akane.  "He should have made sure
first!"

     "He said he had a *son*!" put in Soun, tears
still streaming from his eyes.

     Nabiki reached across to squeeze Ranma's breast
again.  "What kind of son is *this*?" she yelled.

     Ranma was getting tired of Nabiki's posturing.
He gently pushed her hand away.  "Excuse me," said
Ranma, "please don't do that."

     Akane stood and leaned towards Ranma.  "Say,
would you like to go and look at the dojo?" she asked,
smiling sweetly.  "I'm Akane.  Let's be friends, eh?"

     'Finally,' thought Ranma to himself.  Still
acting the female role, he smiled sweetly at Akane in
relief and stood to follow her to the dojo.

     "Do you do Kenpo?" asked Akane as she led the way
into the dojo building.

     Ranma became acutely uncomfortable.  He knew
where this was leading.  He had decided late, late
last night that this was one of the areas where things
had gone awry.  'I'm glad you're not a boy,' Akane had
said to her that first day, seemingly so long ago.
'I'd hate to get beaten by a boy.'  He had decided to
try and do something about it... take proactive action
for the first time... change the course of history, as
it were.  "Yes, a little," he said modestly.  "But--"

     "Say, let's have a little bout, shall we?"

     Ranma noticed that Akane's face was alight.
"Eh?"

     "We'll take it lightly!" she said, taking stance.
"It's okay; we won't get serious."

     "Please wait," said Ranma.

     "Eh?  Why?  Don't you want to?"  She looked
disappointed, and Ranma hastened to reassure her.

     "Please wait," he repeated.  "I'd like to have a
bout with you, but there's something you have to know
first."

     Akane's smile reappeared, though her eyes were
alight with interest now too.  Ranma recalled that at
this time Akane had not trained with anyone for a long
time, and this bout was her first chance to test her
skills against a serious opponent in some time.  The
boys in the school yard hardly counted.  "What is it?"
asked Akane.

     "I... I..."  Closing his eyes, Ranma decided to
plunge ahead.  "I really am a guy.  I know I look like
a girl at the moment, but I'm really a guy."

     Opening his eyes again, Ranma saw that Akane was
regarding him with a confused expression.  The fingers
of one hand teased her lower lip.  "What do you mean?
Are you a cross-dresser, or one of those girls
who...?"

     Ranma took a step back in revulsion.  "No!"  He
held up his hands placatingly.  "I can prove it to
you.  I'm a guy, but I've been cursed to turn into a
girl."  He gulped, swallowing his pride.  "I'm sorry
if you feel I've deceived you," he added with a humble
bow.

     He straightened again to see that Akane was
frowning at him.  Ranma decided to forge ahead with
his plan.  "So... how about that bout?"

     The frown erased itself from Akane's forehead,
and though she still seemed a little dubious she
nodded and took stance.  Ranma, too, took stance and
waited for Akane to attack her.

     She didn't have to wait long.  Akane advanced
quickly, and Ranma noted that technically her form was
really quite good even as he gently redirected her
punch so it would miss.  He had decided not to dodge
the way he did last time.  Akane's follow-up kick he
blocked, hard, and he flashed a hand in to touch Akane
on the collarbone.

     Akane's eyes went wide, and she redoubled her
attack, putting a little more power into her
movements.  Ranma blocked five or six blows and then
gently swept Akane's legs.  As expected, Akane leaped
over Ranma's deliberately-slow move and he trapped
Akane with a tap with the ball of her foot to her
cheekbone.  Ranma recovered from his one-handed
handstand as Akane backed off with wide eyes.

     "Wow... you're really skilled," she said.

     "I've been training all my life," said Ranma,
smiling with satisfaction at the degree of control he
had demonstrated.  "You're not bad either."

     Akane smiled.  "Thank you."

     "So who taught you?"

     "My father.  We haven't done much recently for
some reason though.  I've been teaching myself for  a
while now."

     Ranma raised her eyebrows.  "I'm impressed," he
said.  After a pause, he added, "Perhaps we can train
together some more."

     "I'd like that," said Akane with an open smile.

     They stepped out of the dojo and walked along the
walkway connecting it to the house silently.  Akane
continued inside, but Ranma stayed outside, admiring
the spacious gardens.

     Kasumi called out his name.  "Ranma-chan?"  Ranma
heard her step near to him as she repeated, "Ranma-
chan?"

     Ranma looked inquiringly at Kasumi as she knelt
next to him holding out a towel.  "Please take a
bath," she said.

     He was taken by surprise even though she should
have known it was coming.  "Err... no, it's okay."

     Kasumi frowned and forced the towel into his
hands.  "No it's not.  You've been exercising and
you're probably sweating."  She shot him a sunny smile
to remove any offense from her words and went back
inside.

     With a sigh, Ranma stood and, feeling a little
nervous, made his way through to the bathroom.



     *    *    *



     Akane was in her bedroom when Nabiki knocked on
her door and entered.  "Akane, the furo's hot."

     "Okay."  She felt sweaty and wanted to wash it
off, so she gathered her things and went down straight
away.  She felt happy, though she wondered a little
why Ranma hadn't followed her up to her room.  She
seemed a little odd... well, very odd really,
insisting she was a boy... but it was good to meet
someone else who was skilled in kenpo.  Perhaps they
could be friends after all.  The offer of training
together certainly sounded good.  She could hardly
believe the skill smaller girl had demonstrated
earlier.

     She closed the changing room door and began
undressing.  The sounds of washing came from the other
side of the door.  Taking off her gi, Akane called
out, "Ranma, is that you in there?  May I come in?"

     There was a pause, then Ranma's high voice
floated hesitantly through the door.  "Err....  If you
like."

     Holding her washcloth in front of her, Akane
opened the door and stepped inside.  Inside, Ranma was
sitting on a stool with soap suds dripping off one
arm.  She was facing away from the door.  Akane closed
the door and stepped around to Ranma's side so she
could talk with her, but Ranma pivoted to keep her
back to her.

     "What's wrong, Ranma?" asked Akane, surprised at
Ranma's odd behaviour.  "Why are you so modest?  We're
both girls, aren't we?"

     Ranma continued to look away.  "Please don't be
angry, Akane, but I've already told you I'm a guy.
You probably think I'm deluded or something, but I'm
gonna prove it to you in just a moment."  He sighed.
"I just didn't want you to think I was peeping, taking
advantage."

     Akane laughed, but stopped short when she saw one
of Ranma's fists clench.  "You're serious," she said
at last.

     She saw Ranma nod.  "You'd better cover yourself,
Akane.  I don't want you to think I'm a pervert.  I'm
gonna show you something, and I need to see where I'm
goin'."

     "You've got to be joking," said Akane with a
short laugh.

     "Please, Akane, humour me."

     Smiling a little, Akane knelt on the tiled floor
and draped her washcloth over her front.  In this
position, it just covered all the important bits.
"Okay," she said at last.  "So what were you going to
show me?"

     Ranma tipped cold water over herself, rinsing off
the soap, and turned to face Akane.  From this angle,
Akane could see that the other girl was amazingly well-
built.  "You're no guy," she said with a giggle.  "You
have a nice body.  I wish mine was as nice as that."

     The look in Ranma's eyes was sad as she quickly
hopped into the furo with her washcloth in one hand.
"I'm sorry, Akane.  Please don't hate me," she said
and submerged herself.  For a long moment nothing
happened, and Akane was beginning to wonder what was
going on when Ranma emerged... now most definitely
male.

     Akane almost dropped her towel as she took in his
well-defined build, not chunkily muscular but
nonetheless powerful.  He got out of the furo again,
draping his washcloth in front of his groin, watching
her as she stared at him in amazement.  "Ra... Ranma?"

     He nodded.  "Do you believe me now?"  She just
stared at him wordlessly, and Ranma decided he'd
better leave her alone.  "I'm sorry," he repeated at
last.  "I'd like to be your friend, and I'd like
someone to train with apart from Oyaji, but I didn't
want you to think..."  He waited for Akane to react,
but she was just staring into space.  Wordlessly, he
left.



     Akane turned her head at the soft sound of the
closing door.  She was alone now.  Absently she sat on
the stool Ranma had been using and quickly washed
herself.  She rinsed herself with cold water and
stepped into the hot furo.  She let herself relax as
she soaked in the blissful heat of the water and
mulled over what she had just seen.

     Ranma, the strange but cute girl she had
befriended, had turned out to be a boy.  Somehow she
was unable to be angry with him.  The look in his eyes
as he had stepped into the water had been painful to
watch.  He had been honest with her.  He had not once
attempted to peep at her.

     Somehow, she had no problems thinking of Ranma as
male.  As a female, his speech had sounded just a bit
stilted, as if unused to speaking the female forms of
the language.  Absently she wondered if he still
wanted to train with her, and how long he would be
staying.

     Oh no.  Ranma was to be *engaged* to one of them.
Hurriedly she got out of the furo.



     *    *    *



     Akane had sat quietly in the living room with the
others as they had been treated to several
demonstrations of the curse's action and a description
by Saotome Genma of the events leading up to them
falling into the pools of Jusenkyou.  As she watched
the elder Saotome toss his son into the koi pond twice
and listened to events unfold, she began to feel a
small sympathy for this boy-child who was confident,
brash, and disrespectful.  She had watched as even
Kasumi-oneechan, the calm rock on whom they all
depended, was moved to anger at Genma's actions.

     "Saotome-ojisama, I'm ashamed of you!" she said,
grabbing onto the huge panda's tight-stretched gi and
distracting him from the bashing he had been
attempting to inflict on Ranma, who was in his female
form just then.

     "That's right," said Nabiki, her arms folded
angrily.  "How far will you go for the sake of
training?"

     "Why do such a dangerous thing?!" shouted Kasumi
in genuine anger, punctuating her question by hitting
Genma in the chest with her closed fist.

     A book slid from beneath the panda as if by
magic, and Nabiki grabbed it.  Kasumi read the title.
"Catalogue of the Training Grounds of China?"

     "It's a guide map," Nabiki said, handing the
booklet to Kasumi after flicking through it.  "It's
written in Chinese."

     "Ojisama..," said Kasumi with dismay, "you can't
read Chinese, can you?"

     Akane was amazed to see the panda that was
Saotome Genma produce a party favour from nowhere
which promptly split open, spilling ribbons and
confetti everywhere.  "Correct," proclaimed the sign
which dropped down from it.  Ranma bopped her -- no,
his -- father on the head.

     Akane was gratified to see the panda flap its
arms in pain as her father poured freshly-boiled water
over him from a large kettle.  The panda promptly
became human.

     "So... with hot water you return to your original
form, eh?" said Soun to Genma.

     "Wellll, that water was a *little* hot," replied
a burned Genma with a pained smile.

     Soun turned to Ranma.  "With cold water poured on
you, you become a girl, but if hot water is poured on
you, you return to being male."

     Ranma skipped out of the way of the freshly-
heated water Soun was attempting to pour on him.  "Not
boiling!"

     Soun put his arm around Ranma-onna paternally.
"Good, good," he said slapping his shoulder in an
avuncular fashion.  "That isn't a big problem after
all."

     Akane could hardly believe her ears.  How could
her father be so blase?  What happened next was worse,
as her father turned Ranma to face her and her
sisters.

     "My first daughter Kasumi, age 19.  My second
daughter Nabiki, age 17.  My third daughter Akane, age
16.  Please choose the one you like.  She will be your
fiancee."

     The reality of the situation hit Akane as never
before.  She was stunned to feel both her sisters'
hands on her back.

     "Oh, it's definitely Akane," said Kasumi sweetly.
Akane stared at her in disbelief.

     "Absolutely," said a smiling Nabiki.

     Akane turned on Nabiki.  "This isn't a joke!" she
said.  "Why is it me who...?"

     Nabiki put away her grin.  "You dislike boys
don't you?" she asked.

     "Happily Ranma-kun is half girl," added Kasumi
with a broad smile.

     Ranma couldn't watch Akane get double-teamed any
more.  "Hey!  I am not half girl!"

     Nabiki turned to Ranma, and she felt her steady
gaze.  "What do you call that?" she shot back, poking
Ranma's breast again.

     "Don't do that," he said, pushing Nabiki's hand
away.

     "I know girls who would kill for a figure as good
as yours, Ranma-kun" added Kasumi.

     Ranma tried frantically to think for a moment,
but finally habit got the better of her.  "I'm a guy!
And why are you two trying to railroad Akane into
this, anyway?"

     Nabiki looked at Ranma-onna with big eyes.
"Don't you like Akane, Ranma?  You seemed to be
getting along well enough in the dojo."

     "Yes I like her!" she blurted.  "But what about--
ack!"

     Ranma's voice was cut off as he was grabbed in a
double-team hug by Genma and Soun.  Soun was wailing.
"I'm so happy, Akane's going to be married, O happy
day...!"

     Nabiki and Kasumi returned their attention to a
shell-shocked Akane.  "Congratulations, Akane," said
Kasumi sweetly.

     Ranma fell out from between the two fathers and
stumbled towards the girls woozily.  Kasumi turned to
him.  "Ara, Ranma-kun, are you all right?"

     "I'm okay."  Akane stepped forward and grabbed
Ranma by the collar.

     "How could you do that to me?" she accused.

     "Hey, did you want me to say that I hate you?"

     Akane just looked at the shorter girl
rebelliously.  Deciding to go for broke, Ranma grabbed
the youngest Tendou daughter.

     "Hey, let me go!" yelled Akane as Ranma scooped
her up and jumped outside.  With one breathtaking
bound, they were on the dojo roof.  "What the hell are
you doing, you bastard?!"

     Ranma put Akane down on the tiles.  The muscles
in his jaw bunched at Akane's words.  "Hey, take it
easy," he said evenly.  "I just wanted to talk to you
privately."

     Akane straightened her clothes defensively.  She
studiously did not look at Ranma; instead she studied
the tiles of the roof.  "So talk then," she said.

     "Look, Akane, I..."  Ranma wasn't able to keep
going while he was looking at Akane, so he turned his
gaze to the tiles, his hand automatically going to the
back of his head.  "I didn't want this engagement any
more than you.  You can choose not to believe me, but
my old man didn't tell me until we were on our way
here from the train station."

     "About the same time as my father told us, then,"
said Akane softly.

     Ranma looked up in surprise.  "Really?"  Akane
nodded, and Ranma snorted.  "Figures."  She looked
away again.  "Anyway, I... I'm sorry."

     Akane looked at Ranma in amazement.  "What for?"

     She shrugged.  "For...."  Ranma seemed at a loss.

     "So what did you drag me up here for?"

     "They were gangin' up on us!  We need to talk
without all that pressure on us."

     "What is there to talk about?!  As far as I'm
concerned, there is no engagement!"

     "Fine by me."  Ranma shifted on the roof,
grasping his knees.  He swallowed again.  "But..."

     "But what?!  You want this marriage, don't you?!
You pervert, you just want to-"

     Frustrated by a combination of his own inability
to talk smoothly as he had imagined last night and
Akane's name-calling, Ranma clamped his hand over
Akane's mouth, his eyes flashing.  "Will you just shut
up and listen?!  I'm tryin' to say somethin'!  Man, to
think I thought you were cute!"  He let her go and
turned away from her, fuming.

     Akane was amazed to see this girl -- no, boy --
turn his back on her and adopt a tight, closed posture
sitting on the roof, wrapping his arms about his
knees.  "So what are you trying to say, Ranma?" she
asked eventually.

     "What did I do to deserve bein' called a pervert,
Akane?  I ain't one, you know, and I haven't called
you names."

     "You change sexes!"

     "And how does that make me a pervert?"

     She looked at Ranma, still sitting with his back
to her.  Ranma's quiet question made Akane feel
terribly guilty.  "Sorry," she said, blushing.

     Ranma decided to try another tack, one that she'd
thought up last night as she watched the stars from
that freighter.  Gathering her determination, she
began.

     "Look, Akane... Akane-kun... I don't like the
situation we're in any more that you do," Ranma said.
"I didn't ask for this any more than you did.  I don't
know why you're taking it out on me.  I suppose you
could say that it doesn't have to be you, but we're
the same age and you're a martial artist too, and
besides, I guess I kinda like you.  You're...
attractive and seemed like a... nice person earlier.
But if you're looking for someone to blame, why don't
you try my dad and yours?  I don't blame you, you
know.  I blame pop."  He sighed.  "I just wish I could
think of a way to get back at him.

     "Anyway, I figure we've got two choices.  We can
fight them tooth and nail, refuse the engagement, or
we can try being friends and maybe we'll find that we
like each other."  Ranma clenched a fist.  "I've gotta
tell you, Akane-kun, when the old man told me about
all this I was all set to tell him to stick it where
the sun don't shine and head back to China to look for
a cure.  But... in the end, I couldn't.  He told me
the *families* were involved, you see.  Of course,
that probably still means him and your pop came up
with the idea one night in a pub," he added darkly.

     "Either way, Akane-kun, I can't decide on a
course of action without asking you.  You're in this,
too, you know... I guess between what I said earlier
and your sisters that's pretty well been decided for
us.  So I'm askin'."  Ranma paused a bit, and
continued, her voice now a little pensive.  "Besides,
Oyaji 'n I've been movin' around quite a bit,
always... well, let's not go into that.  But... when
you asked me earlier whether I wanted to be friends,
I... Well, I... figured it'd be nice to have a
friend."

     Ranma fell silent, having said his piece.  This
was part of his Great Idea... well, all but the last
part was.  That had had just slipped out, his mouth
running away with him as usual.  It had come to him
last night when seeing Akane's face in the stars that
they were fighting each other when they should have
been fighting their fathers.  Watching the sky
gradually lighten, he had settled on a basic plan:
Keep from fighting Akane.  Try not to annoy her or if
possible get her to see him as a friend.  Get her not
to blame *him* for the engagement.

     This little speech she had spent three hours
coming up with and unlike her earlier attempt, she
thought it had come out reasonably smoothly.  Now it
was all up to Akane.  Would things in fact be
different this time around?  He hoped so.  Maybe, if
Akane stood at his side, they could make life
difficult for those two conniving, weak-willed
slackers who played shoji all day.

     Still, the silence from behind her was unnerving.
What was going through Akane's mind?

     Akane stared at Ranma, her thoughts whirling.
Her... his point about not  blaming him for the
engagement was a good one; really it *was* the fault
of their fathers.  She could just imagine the two of
them in a bar, tipping back sake or beer, sharing a
great joke.  She had to fight to keep her fists from
clenching at the injustice of it all.  How dare those
two... oooh, words failed her, even in her mind.

     Ranma's point about how difficult it would be to
get out of the engagement was well-taken, too, she
realised.  It had the status of giri because the
promise was between the *families*... but even if it
hadn't been, Ranma would inherit a promise made by his
father.

     She looked at the smaller girl, trying to
visualise the boy she really was.  He seemed like a
nice person, though perhaps she -- no, she would think
of Ranma as 'him' from now on for the sake of her
sanity -- was trying to make a good impression.  Ranma
had gone out of his way to make sure she didn't make
assumptions about him, he had treated her gently
during sparring even though his skill level was
clearly far higher than hers.

     There was one odd thing, though.  Ranma came
across as a mixture of impulsive and thoughtful, a
strange combination.  Nabiki had trapped him earlier,
with his impulsive outbursts in her defense, as easily
as a three-year-old... but here on the roof he came
across as a thoughtful person.  She wondered at the
dichotomy.

     Another point in his favour was that he was
actually *asking* her before taking action, rather
than just assuming.  Not at all like the *boys* at
school.

     She looked up at the cloudy sky, trying to make
her decision.  But there was really no decision to
make, she realised.  The engagement was iron-clad,
unless she could persuade one of her sisters to take
up the burden or their fathers decided mutually to
cancel it.  Fortunately Ranma seemed to be willing to
adopt a wait-and-see attitude, and she liked the idea
of putting the pressure on *them* for their stupid
idea.

     Well, why not try being friends, as she had so
impulsively offered earlier?  She looked at him again,
sitting on the roof nervously.  Even from this angle,
Akane felt twinges of jealousy at the voluptuousness
of this *boy's* very female body.  She cast her mind
back to the moment when he had stepped out of the
bath... water glistening on his powerful, muscled
limbs.  She could just imagine the reception he would
receive tomorrow from some of the girls in her class;
some of the girls there were boy-crazy.  She didn't
think she was herself -- in fact, she had ample reason
not to be -- but still...

     She found herself in agreement with Ranma...  if
they could become friends, perhaps something might
come of it, perhaps not, and if not then she was sure
she could persuade her father to dissolve the
engagement.  As an additional benefit, she was certain
Ranma could teach her things about the Art that she
had never even contemplated.  All the more reason to
make him her friend.

     She decided to take it from the top.  As lightly
as she could, she laid her hand on Ranma's shoulder.
He kept still, though Akane felt him twitch, something
which brought a smile to her face.  "I don't think
it's necessary for friends to use -kun with each
other... Ranma."

     The way Ranma turned her head and smiled
gratefully lifted her heart.  "Thank you... Akane."

     "So... do you have any ideas for making life
difficult for our fathers?" she asked mischievously.



     *    *    *



     Ranma lay awake listening to the grunts and
whistles of a sleeping panda.  Was grinning.  This
evening had been everything he could have wanted...
his relationship with Akane was off to a smooth start,
and she was his ally instead of his enemy.  Not, he
reflected, that in truth the situation was really all
that different in that regard from the way it had been
before he had been granted the wish.  Before he had
been granted his little wish, Akane had been eager to
help him, again and again,  but... he hoped that
perhaps he would enjoy this time around more.  He had
found that a friendly Akane was *much* nicer to be
around than an angry or suspicious one.

     Now, how *exactly* had the first day of school
gone...?

     He was still jogging his memory when sleep
claimed him.



     *    *    *



     "High school?" asked Ranma, unsurprised.  Trust
his father to leave it until the last minute.

     "We'll be here for a little while, so you'll be
going to high school."

     "It's the same one that Akane and I go to," said
Nabiki from behind Ranma.  He turned his head and saw
she was dressed in a school uniform, a book bag over
her shoulder.  "I'll see you there later," she added.

     "Aren't you ready *yet*, Ranma?" asked Akane, who
now appeared from upstairs, also wearing a school
uniform.  She was frowning.  "Come on, it's time to
go!"

     Ranma looked at her bemusedly.  Last time around,
she hadn't wanted to have anything to do with him.
Now...

     "Well, are you going to just sit there all day
and stare at me?!" asked Akane, now quite vexed.

     "Ah, sure, right," said Ranma with a grin as he
grabbed his favourite Chinese top.





     "Why do you do that?"

     Ranma looked down at Akane, who was looking up at
him oddly.  "Do what?" he asked as he continued to
step surely along the narrow fence-top.

     "Walk on the fence."

     "Oh?  Oh, this!  Well, Oyaji said once to make
everything a balance exercise."

     Akane gestured at the fence, and by implication
at the storm-water drain that lay on the other side.
"Won't you fall in?"

     Ranma smiled and shook his head.  "Not much
chance of that."

     "I'll have to try it one day."

     "Why not now?"

     "I don't think that would be a good idea," said
Akane with a wave of her free hand at her dress.
Ranma just looked at her blankly.  Slightly
exasperated, Akane added, "If I get up there, people
could see..."

     Understanding dawned on Ranma's face.  "Oh."  He
noted the fence was about to end, so he jumped off
with a flourish, making a fancy flip over Akane's head
to land on her opposite side.  Grinning, he looked
back at her.  "How was that, Aka--"

     *SPLASH*

     Akane stared at the suddenly-female Ranma, a
smile playing about her lips as she struggled not to
giggle.  Showing off, Ranma had walked straight into
the path of an old lady cleaning the sidewalk outside
her home in the traditional way, with a bucket and
dipper.  For a martial artist of his calibre to be
trapped so....  That plus Ranma's decidedly nonplussed
expression had her holding her hand in front of her
mouth.

     "How was what, Ranma?" she asked innocently once
she had her expression under control.  "Your flip, or
you walking into..."  She trailed off as she noticed
Ranma's set expression.

     Ranma saw the laughter dancing in Akane's eyes,
and the frustration that had filled him as he realised
he had walked blindly into the old lady's trap melted
away leaving him feeling oddly happy.  He smiled
weakly.  "Is there somewhere around we can get some
hot water?" he asked, knowing that Toufuu-sensei's
clinic was nearby.  "Or do I need to go back home and
take a bath?"

     Akane looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded.
"Our family doctor has his clinic just near here.
Come on!"



     *    *    *



     Running towards the school after their visit to
the clinic, Ranma - again male - carefully said
nothing about the way Akane had reacted to Toufuu's
presence.  Instead, he pondered what to do about the
reception committee he knew awaited them.  Should he
stay out of it as he had that first time, or should he
help her as his instincts were clamouring for him to
do?  Unable to decide, he tried getting Akane to bring
it up.

     "So... what's Fuurinkan like?" he asked Akane as
they ran.

     As he watched, her expression hardened.  "It's
*filled* with *jerks*!" she ground out as she picked
up the pace.

     "What do you mean?" he asked, keeping pace with
her.

     Akane spared him a glance as the school gates
came into view.  "Just stay out of it!" she said as
she put on a final spurt of speed.  Ranma could hear
the shouted exclamations as the crowd inside spotted
Akane arriving and rushed to meet her.

     Ranma jumped to the safety of the top of the
school wall and watched, a little disappointed, as
Akane dispatched her opponents with efficiency and
dispatch.  He reflected that while she might not be
top-notch against a skilled opponent, she was
certainly demonstrating great skill in the fine art of
maneuvering a mob of attackers.  He shook his head in
admiration as time and again she led her nearest
opponents around by the nose, so to speak, repeatedly
cutting off those who were trying to get closer to her
so that she only had to face two or at most three
people at once.

     Suddenly there were no more opponents standing
and Akane stood alone in a sea of unconscious boys,
broken sports equipment littered all about.  Ranma
leapt down next to her.

     "Every morning!" she said, a little exasperated,
as she wiped sweat and flicked her long hair into
place.

     Ranma noticed Kunou approaching, confident and
with a half-smile playing about his lips.  His skin
crawled and his hands twitched as the tall boy
approached Akane like a panther stalking its prey.
Still, he was glad to see him.  Ranma had plans for
the elder boy.

     "Really, such a boorish lot," he proclaimed in
round, poetic tones.  "Each and every one plans, it
seems, that on the dawn that he defeats you he shall
beg you for your... friendship."  Ostentatiously he
sniffed at a blood-red rose that he carried.

     Akane gave Kunou an 'oh, it's you' look and said,
"Oh, Kunou-sempai.  Good morning."  Ranma smirked as
he noticed for the first time that Akane had been
carrying on her own subtle campaign against Kunou
before he had blown into their lives.

     Kunou flicked the rose to Akane.  "Well... Tendou
Akane-kun... do you wish a bout?"

     Automatically, Akane caught the rose.  Thunder
rumbled as Kunou brought his bokken to a basic guard
position.  Ranma decided to take a hand in events.

     "You go through this shit every morning?!" he
asked Akane with what he hoped was believable
incredulity.  Akane directed laser-beam eyes on him.

     "I told you to keep out of this," she said.

     "Hey, you!"

     Ranma blinked bemusedly at Kunou, whose bokken
was pointing straight at him.  "What do *you* want?"
he asked.  Thunder again rolled overhead.

     "You are being over-familiar with Akane-kun,"
answered the older boy imperiously.

     Ranma spared a glance at Akane, whose angry
expression had relaxed into surprise.  Reassured, he
looked back at Kunou.  "It's no concern of yours!" he
said rudely.

     Kunou reacted as though he'd been jabbed with a
cattle prod.  "What kind of person are you?!" he
snarled.  "It is good etiquette to give one's name
first!  Very well, I'll give my name!"

     With a sigh at Kunou's hypocrisy, Ranma held out
a hand in a 'you first' gesture.  "Please."

     Standing tall, Kunou proclaimed, "Second year,
class E, Kunou Tatewaki.  Captain of the Kendo Club.
The undefeated supernova of hope of the high school
kendo world, I am Fuurinkan High School's Blue
Lightning!"  Lightning ripped through the black sky to
punctuate his finishing words.

     Ranma smirked at Kunou's extravagant verbal
posturing.  "Well then, let's see...," he said while
pretending to compose his introduction.  "A house
guest at the Tendou Dojo, sec--"

     "You scum!"  Kunou's pupils narrowed to
pinpoints.  "Under the same roof as Akane-kun?!"

     Expecting it as he was, Ranma effortlessly dodged
the crazed kendoist's wild slash.  "Second generation
Musabetsu Kakutou Saotome Ryu," he continued as he
landed in a nonchalant stance, hands behind his back,
"I am Saotome Ranma!"  He tilted his head to one said
and added insultingly, "And *you* are a fine one to
talk about etiquette, Kunou Tatewaki.  You interrupt
the introduction that you demanded I make by attacking
without warning!"  He straightened again, his pose now
challenging and a superior smirk now present to taunt
the older boy.  Insultingly, he continued,
deliberately leaving off the honorific words Kunou
would normally have deserved.  "Have you no honour,
Kunou Tatewaki?"

     Lightning ripped through the black sky,
accompanied by an ear-splitting crash of thunder.
Kunou stood ramrod-straight, glaring at Ranma in
hatred, the tip of his bokken trembling.

     "I, Kunou Tatewaki, am the deliverer of Justice,"
he ground out at last.  "In all of Fuurinkan there is
no finer man, none more suited for such a strenuous
task."  He smirked confidently, moving his bokken to a
guard position.  "You will pay for that insult, scum.
Fight!"

     Kunou dashed forward to where Ranma stood, the
hardwood practice sword he held sweeping down in a
simple vertical strike.  Nonchalantly, Ranma jumped
away without even bothering to put up his guard,
allowing Kunou to strike the wall with his bokken.
Concrete dust rose from the point of the strike.

     Thunder rolled overhead as Kunou quickly spun to
follow Ranma.  A wild stroke split the bark of a
nearby tree as once again Ranma simply leapt out of
the way.  He landed on the ground facing Kunou.

     "Give up yet, Kunou?" he asked sarcastically.
"It's gonna rain and I don't wanna get wet, you know."
The smell of ozone filled the air.

     Screeching incoherently with rage, Kunou charged
Ranma once again.  This time Ranma did not jump out of
the way.  Akane watched as instead he struck Kunou's
wrists as he stepped inside the taller boy's guard.
Time seemed to slow, and as the bokken began to fall,
Ranma struck Kunou with a percussive blow to the chest
and then an odd-looking blow to the head.  Then time
sped up again and suddenly the bokken was clattering
musically on the paving as Kunou slumped untidily to
the ground.  Ranma looked to her, a small smile on his
lips.  "I guess I win," he said.

     A large dark spot appeared as if by magic on the
paving, then another, and another.  Ranma looked up in
dismay as a downpour began.  "Aw, *shit*."  Swiftly he
scooped up Akane and sprinted for cover.  Lightning
cracked above and, as if it had caused the change,
Akane felt Ranma's arms shift about her and suddenly
two soft breasts were pushing into her as Ranma
carried her.  Then they were out of the downpour and
into the deserted corridors of the school.

     "Aw man, now what do I do?!" asked Ranma
rhetorically.

     He would need hot water again, Akane realised.
"That way," she said,  pointing.



     *    *    *



     In the homeroom of Second Year, Class E, Kunou
stared with great concentration into a handheld mirror
decorated on the back with a large golden star.  The
owner of the mirror stared in amazement at Kunou's
forehead.  Bruises and scratches now decorated that
unlined skin... two katakana, indistinct but readable:
A-ho.

     "That's really something," said Nabiki.  "You
don't even remember being touched, Kunou-chan?"

     Kunou jerked his hands down to his sides, the
knuckles of the hand holding the mirror going white.
"Bah," he spat.  "I thought Saotome Ranma had some
small skill, but he made a mistake!"  He stalked up to
the blackboard and, grabbing some chalk, slashed out
three katakana:  A-ho-u.  "That's how you spell it!"

     Smiling to herself, Nabiki stepped up to the
blackboard and in a confident but elegant hand wrote
two kanji.  "Actually, Kunou-chan, you write it like
this."

     He looked at her levelly.  "I hate you," he said.

     "I'm glad."



     *    *    *



     Ranma and Akane stood side by side in the
corridor outside their homeroom.  The droning voice of
their teacher drifted quietly through the glass
windows separating them from their classmates.  A
bucket filled with water dangled from each hand.

     Akane was not pleased.  "This's your fault," she
accused in a low voice.  "I told you to stay out of
it!"

     "Hey, I just--!"  Ranma cut himself off as he
recalled the maxims he had thought up for this second
time around as part of his Great Plan that night on
the ship, three of which were Don't Piss Akane Off,
Don't Let Her Be Unfair, and Be Her Friend.  He
cleared his throat.  "I... I'm sorry, I thought you'd
finished."

     "Kunou *always* shows up!"

     "How the hell should *I* know that?!"

     "You could have asked!"

     Ranma's mouth twisted, but he managed a shrug.
"Yeah, well... I almost didn't stay up there at all,
you know.  I *really* don't like letting my friends
get beaten up on."

     "I can handle them!"

     With an 'aha!' of inspiration, Ranma saw what
Akane's problem was... she was feeling threatened by
his skill.  "Akane... I've gotta admit, you did a
*really* good job with that lot in the yard down
there.  You've got that multiple opponent stuff down
to a fine art."

     He was rewarded with suspicious look that slowly
melted into a smile.  "Thank you," Akane said.  "Even
if you're being patronising... thank you."

     Ranma shook his head.  "I'm serious.  I wasn't
being patronising."  He frowned.  "Say, what was all
that about, anyway?"

     The smile fled from Akane's face as she looked
away from him.  "It was Kunou."  She went on,
describing Kunou's challenge to the school body.
Ranma caught her intense annoyance at Kunou's
arrogance and at the bulk of the student body... and
at her own helplessness to do anything about the
situation.

     "So why do people listen to a wart like him?" he
asked.

     Akane looked back to Ranma.  "Before you came
along, he was the best fighter in the school."  A
reflective look crossed her face.  "Though I always
seemed to win, for some reason."

     Ranma managed to control his natural reply.
"Interesting," he said with what he thought was a
commendably-straight face.

     "'Interesting?'"

     Ranma shrugged, the water in his buckets sloshing
a little.  Akane continued with a thoughtful frown,
"You mean how come I'm able to beat him all the time,
even though he's the best fighter in the school?"

     "I guess."

     Akane looked closely at Ranma.  "You have an
idea?" she asked at last.

     "Well..."  'A guy lets up a lot when he fights a
girl,' echoed in his head.  Frowning, he decided that
would *not* be very politic to say that again.  "Guys
are brought up not to hit girls, so it's real hard to-
-"  He cut off as he saw Akane drop one bucket and
raise the other in a threatening manner with a
mischievous smile.  "What?"

     "What if we're both girls?" she asked, preparing
to toss her water over Ranma.

     Ranma was stepping backwards, preparing to dodge
Akane's water when he saw Kunou sprint out of the
stairwell down the corridor and sprint towards them.
"Hey," he said, pointing over Akane's shoulder.
"Isn't that him now?  I wonder what's got up his
nose?"

     Akane turned to see Kunou still over twenty
metres away, his wet pants clinging to his legs.  As
she watched, more water sloshed out of the bucket he
carried onto the dark blue silk of his formal kendo
pants.  "He looks upset," she said as Kunou pulled up
in front of them and made to hurl the contents of his
bucket at Ranma.  Ranma watched as the trickle of
water fell hopelessly short.

     "What was that for, Kunou?" asked Ranma,
contemptuous of the elder boy's pointless effort.

     "Saotome Ranma, I won't allow it!" Kunou yelled.

     Ranma *knew* that Nabiki had just told him about
the engagement.  He *wished* he had remembered to have
her keep it to herself.  Shit!  Mentally he kicked
himself for the oversight.  "What?"

     "Your engagement to Tendou Akane!  I absolutely
do not permit it!"

     There was a rumbling from inside the classroom,
but a shouted "sit down!" from the teacher prevented a
ruckus.  Sneering at Kunou, Ranma said, "It's got
nothing to do with you.  Why aren't you in your class,
anyway?"

     Kunou's eyes bulged.  "You will pay for your
insolence, scum!  Fight!"

     Ranma dodged as Kunou's bokken bashed into one of
the buckets he was carrying, splashing water
everywhere.  He tossed the other bucketful of water
into Kunou's face and dropped the bucket to one side.

     Shaking himself like a dog, Kunou shed water from
his face and eyes to see Ranma standing a little apart
from Akane, standing comfortably with his hands behind
his back.  'He does not even take me seriously?' he
thought to himself.  'He will *pay* for his
insolence!'  He leaped into the attack, aiming a shot
at that insolent puppy's collarbone.  Then suddenly a
wave of pain washed up his front, and the world went
black.

     Ranma landed lightly as Kunou collapsed
bonelessly to the wet floor.  Akane stared, her mouth
open, as Ranma sneered contemptuously down at the
unconscious boy.

     "What did you...?"  She looked more closely and
saw a series of footprints impressed in the wet cloth
of Kuno's clothes, each one precisely over a so-called
'soft spot'.  She sucked in her breath in awe... she
hadn't even seen the individual strikes.  "Sugoi..."
she breathed.

     Ranma shrugged modestly, but kept his mouth shut.
He was struck by the contrast with last time.  The
first time around, Kunou had challenged him and he had
led Kunou out a third-floor window, right into a pool.
Kunou had chased him out of the pool and they had
fought; the crazed kendoist had fallen in love with
his female half at that moment.

     Shuddering in revulsion, he turned back to Kunou
and considered him contemplatively.  This time, he had
defeated him easily.  This time, Kunou didn't know
about his female half.  This time, Akane hadn't had to
rescue him from Kunou... and that had to be better
than what happened before.  Wasn't it?







Author's Notes:

     Well, here it is at last, the full first part of
     "Second Time Around".  The title of this part
     means, "Just a little wish".

     It's been a while since I've written anything (or
     more to the point, published anything) so I'll
     take a moment to remind people that I use
     "international" spelling, not USA.  Thus "colour"
     instead of "color" and many other oddities.

     Commentary is welcome.  E-mail will reach me at
     dje@progress.com.



Glossary:

Aho:  Moron.  (Its correct spelling is "ahou".)
Furo:  A deep hot-water bath used for soaking (*not*
     washing) in.
Giri:  Duty/obligation of particular importance.  A
     very difficult concept to explain briefly, so
     I'll not even attempt it.  To abrogate giri is a
     major dishonour, one that can stain the whole
     family line.
Hiryuu Shouten Ha:  One of Ranma's ki attacks, it
     creates a tornado into which the victim is flung.
Kendo:  A sport based on samurai sword work.
Kenpo:  A Japanese form of Kung Fu.  It is not greatly
     dissimilar to karate.
Kuso:  Shit.
Okyakusama:  "Honoured guest/customer".
Ojisama:  Honourable uncle, literally translated.  A
     respectful term for a man not of the immediate
     family.
Onna:  Female, or woman.
Osage:  A braid/pigtail.  "Osage no onna" can be
     translated as "girl with a pigtail" or, more
     poetically, "pigtailed girl".
Otousan:  Father.
Oyaji:  Old man.  Used by Ranma to refer to his
     father, in which usage it is very disrespectful.
Tsubo:  Pressure point used for acupressure etc.



--
David Eddy - Senior Consultant, Progress Software Melbourne
dje@progress.com

Screening Coordinator and Subbing Bunny, Melbourne Anime Society
My fanfics are archived at http://nabiki.newberry.edu/DEddy