Some of you probably recognize this.  I was reading old e-mail (i.e.
everything from beginning to end) that had been as C&C about my old stories.
This one had always held a special place in my heart, and I started getting
some ideas to improve it.  Like changing the name.  I must thank Reid Carson
for that, as he explained the differences between 'watashi' and 'atashi,'
among others.
   Also, I went back and filled it all out.  I discribed as much as I could
without going overboard.  I also added and changed some things.  I must
thank everyone who sent C&C about the first version of this.  I think you'll
like the improvements, though it wont be as fun reading it when you know the
outcome.  But there are a few surprises!
   I intend to go back and revise all my stories this way.  Maybe...maybe
one of these days post them to the raac!!...Then again, maybe not.
   Please, anyone who has my fic's on their pages, update them.  I'd much
rather the new versions be immortalized. =)  (And if anyone other than
Asayogure or Azatlan has my fic's on their page, could ya gimme the url so I
can check it out?? ^_^)
   I plan to fix 'Ranma no Iinazuke' after I finish this one.  Maybe one of
these days I wont hate the look of the name.  I didn't like the story much.
I also went back and wordwrapped everything.  Anyways.  Why the hell are you
still reading this, baka-sama?  Read the damn story already =)  Isn't that
what you came for? =)

Azusa-chan
Oh!  You're keyboard's so kawaii!  Adrienne!  Adrienne!!!



Azusa-chan
mimzy@ix.netcom.com
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction =)

Ranma 1/2 is the property of the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi.  All rights
reserved.

*****Atashi wa Ranko*****
Part one:
I'm a girl!

I open my eyes.  I blink once, twice, eyes adjusting to the afternoon sun.
Cherry blossoms dance on the breeze right outside in the yard.  Where am I?
I'm looking up at circle of faces that I don't recognize.  There's three
girls and two men.  I sit up, looking at each of them in turn.  I memorize
their every feature, so familiar and so strange.
   The first of the girls has blue hair, darker than the rest.  It's also
cut much shorter.  She has a look on her face somewhere between panick and
disgust.  The second has medium length brown hair.  She has her hands on her
hips, lips pursed, and a hunting look in her eyes.  The third girl has long
brown hair.  She looks down at me with a look of maternal concern.  She
wears a white apron.
   One of the men has a cloth wrapped on his head.  I felt a wave of
sympathy, as I assumed it was hiding a lack of hair.  He is slightly
overweight, like a man who ate a little more than his fill.  He wears a
dirty gi and looks at me with bitter disgust.  The second man has long dark
hair.  He is very skinny.  He looks a little confused, as if he isn't sure
how he should be feeling.
   They look worried.  I am worried for myself, being surrounded by people
that I thought might kick me at any moment.
   "Are you...okay?" asks the girl with short blue hair.  "I guess I
shouldn't have hit you so hard.  I'm..s..sorry."  She seems to have a little
trouble saying that.  Embarrassed?  I'm a little confused.
   "Who are you?" I ask.  My voice is soft, but not from weakness.  If I
were vain, I would say it sounds like an angels voice.  But the blue haired
girl doesn't seem so impressed.
   The girl glares down at me.  "You know damn well who I am!  You don't
have to act like a jerk just because I hit you!  And what the hell is with
that stupid voice of yours?"  She looks like a pissed off cat.  A feel a
wave of terror.  Cats scare me, but this girl scares me even more.
   "What ever do you mean?" I ask.  I don't know why she is acting this way.
I'm trying so hard to be polite!  I wish she would be nicer to me.  It makes
me sad to think of her as angry, for some reason.  "Can't we sort all this
out in a civilized, womanly way?"
   The girl's eyes filled with tears suddenly.  Moody.  "Oh.  Oh!  No!  Not
again!"  She grabs a pot that I suspect has already been used to hit someone
today, as it had numerous cracks in it.  A metal pot!  Shouldn't metal pots
dent...?  I don't have time to contemplate this train of thought, as she
raises the pot in question over her head.
   "Sorry about this, but I have to hit you to get you to be normal again!"
she says.  I think she honestly means it.  But that pot looks hard and I
didn't want to mess up my hair.  I can feel its
   "No!  Please don't hit me!  I'm against violence!  It's unfeminine!"  I'm
panicing.  I try to calm myself, but I don't know how.  I try to back away,
but the two men come around behind me and grab my arms.  I try twisting to
get away, but their grip is like the iron fear piercing my heart.
   "I'm sorry about this, Ranma 'm boy."  It doesn't much sound like he
means it.  How rude...I start.  Boy?!
   "What do you mean, boy?  I'm a *girl*!"
   "Okay!  Hit him now!" said the man with the long hair.  I look up at the
girl.  There is little mercy in her eyes.  It is because she is
concentraiting; looking foreward but seeing nothing.  She adjusts her grip
on the pot.  I gulp.  I see the pot decend towards my cranium.  The
blackness of the pot matches the blackness I see seconds later.  The
blackness is all there is...

I wake up.  I am lying on my stomach, and there is a warm, damp cloth on my
head.  I still don't understand why that girl hit me, but she is certainly
violent!  I'll have to keep out of her way.  She's liable to hit me for no
reason.
   I hear the sound of civilized aruging.  Well, one member of the aruging
was civilized.  The other was the violent girl.  "But onee-chan!  Why do *I*
have to watch over him?" the violent girl says in a hissing whisper.
   "Because you are the one that hurt him.  And I have cooking to do.  I'm
sorry," the other girl said.  Her voice was soft, prettier than mine, but in
a different way.  She has the voice of the perfect mother, soft and kind.  I
suspect it is the girl that I had seen earlier wearing the apron.  "Don't
worry.  He should wake up any moment."
   I heard a sigh.  "Alright," growled the violent girl.  "I'll watch him."
   "Thank you!"  I hear a door open and close.  Oh dear, I'm alone
with...her...
   I roll over and try pushing myself into a sitting position.  The second I
move, I realize that she must have hit me even harder than I thought.  I
have a blistering headache.  I collapsed back down on the futon.  The
washcloth falls on the floor with an uncerimonious splat, my head falling
with a similar thud.  The girl dashes to my side, on her knees.
   "R...Ranma!  Are you okay?"  The look in her eyes is one of genuine
worry.  That doesn't make sense to me.  After all, *she's* the one who put
me here.
   I attempted once again to sit up, much slower this time.  "No," I say
bluntly.  I know, I know.  Unladylike, but it is the true.
   "You...You're back to normal again, aren't you?"  The girl looks almost
hopeful.  I (almost) regret thinking of her as a violent girl.  It was mean
of me.
   "What do you mean by normal?" I ask.  "You hurt me bad, I think I may
need medical attention."  I put my hand to the top of my head.  A bump with
several scrapes and one minor gash.  The feeling makes me woozy, the thought
of blood and broken skin making me nautious.
   She looks angry again, like a cat spitting and hissing.  This girl is
scary!!  "What's with that whole soft voice?!  Are you just trying to piss
me off and make me feel even more guilty!?  I mean...Uh...I..."
   "What is your name?" I ask.  Maybe if I distract her, she won't hit me
again.  "What's my name for that matter?"
   "Ranma..."  She turns her head away, her eyes filling with tears.
"You've forgotten.  I can't fix you like the last time."  Fix me?!  What am
I, a househole appliance?  And how does one get fixed by being hit?
   "Di...Disorderly horse?"  I feel my eyes fill with tears.  I try to hold
them back, but a big tear begins to roll down my cheek, taking the fatal
drop to the floor, leaving a wet circle on my pant leg.  Pants...Yuck.  I
want a dress.  "I can't stand it!!  Who would name a girl unruly horse?
Please," I grab onto her shoulders, trying to convey my urgency and fear
into her, make her understand.  "Tell me it isn't my real name!"
   The girl looks over at me, sad.  I think she honestly felt my pain.  She
sniffled, trying not to cry.  It was like she had never seen a real girl
before.  "Yes," she says, her voice cracking slightly.  My tears flow faster
now.  "But...I could call you Ranko if you like?" she says, sounding pained.
   I pull her into a tight hug.  "Hai!  Arigatou..."  I pull back and blush.
"What is your name?"
   "Akane," the girl says.  "I'm...Akane."  Scarlet.  Cute name, and
fitting.  "And I'm sorry for hitting you, Ran...Ranko."  The look in her
eyes makes me want to hug her again.  I'm...attracted to her.  That scares
me.
   "That's all right, Akane-san.  I forgive you."  I put my hand on her
shoulder to try to comfort her.  "I forgive you.  Just please don't be sad.
Uh..."  I'm embarrassed.  "Are these boyish clothes all I have to wear?"
She looks even sadder now.  I would kill to take the sadness out of her
eyes...Waitaminute!  I can't be feeling this way for another girl!!  And I
could never kill anyone.  But still...
   "I'll get you something to wear," Akane says softly.  I can't figure out
why she seems so sad.  She feels guilty, sure, but there seems to be more.
Oh well, she will tell me in due time if she wants.  I hope she will.  I
suddenly don't want her to leave.

Later that day, I wore a cute, yellow summer dress.  I thank Akane for
letting me borrow such a pretty dress, and she winces, almost to the point
of a facefault.  I wonder why?  We are in the livingroom, and I am admiring
my borrowed dress.  I like the way it looks.  The girl with short brown hair
bit down on a laugh.  She seems to be enjoying herself immensly, at someones
expense.  I worry that it may be mine.
   "This is Nabiki," she said, gesturing to the smiling girl.
   "Nice to meet you, Ranko," she says.  She has a devious grin on her face.
I wondered how she got a name meaning 'waving, fluttering.'
   We walk into the kitchen.  "This is Kasumi," she said, gesturing to the
maternal girl.  She smiled, then returned to cooking.  "Is dinner almost
ready, onee-chan?" Akane asks.
   "Yes, Akane," she says.  She smiles, and she has a pleasntly vancant
look.  Like her name, mist.
   We sat down at the table.  Kasumi served us dinner, not allowing me to
help.  Said I was a guest.  The introductions continued, and ended, here.
   "This is my father, Tendou Souun," Akane says, gesturing to the man with
the long tresses.  His eyes flicker back and forth between me and Akane.  I
wonder what's wrong.  "And that is your father, Saotome Genma."  Dark horse.
He must have been the one that named me.
   "Kasumi," my father calls.  "Could you get me some hot water.
   "Certinly, oji-sama," she responds from the kitchen.  She returns,
carrying a teapot full of steaming water.  Otou-san stands and positions the
water over me.
   "Wha...?"
   "Don't traumatize hi...her!" Akane yells, swatting away the tea kettle
and splashing my father with her water.  Why did she stumble over the 'her'?
It sounded almost like she were about to say him, but...No, she wasn't
insane.  "You *do* remember what happened *last* time, don't you?"
   I ask Akane about school.  The prospect frightened her.  She opened and
closed her mouth several times before Kasumi intervened.  "Akane, Ranko-san
can go to school with you.  I'm sure everything will be just fine."
   Akane looks momentarily downcast.  I want to ask her what is wrong, but
she doesn't look like she wants her thoughts interupted.
   I wasn't sure what was going on.

The next day, Akane wakes me up by stepping on me.  "Oh!  I'm sorry...Ranko.
I forgot you were there."  She winces, as though putting her foot down hurt,
or she had a sour taste in her mouth.  The look disappears from her face as
she shakes her head.  "C'mon," she says, tone flat.  "We gotta get ready for
school."
   Breakfast goes by in a whirl.  I'm uncomfortable living here.  Everyone
carries on like they're used to me, and I hardly know their names.  I barely
have enough time to eat before Akane pulls me up rudely.  She seems to try
to distance herself, to anger me.  I make a point to be patient and kind.
Immature as it sounds, I find it funny when she gets angry.
   She seems to insist on running to school.  I don't want to run.  The
school uniform she let me borrow is too tight in the chest and too loose in
the waist.  Of course, I know better than to say so.  "A...Akane," I gasp.
"Please!  Can we slow down?"  We had been running for about ten minutes and
I was beyond winded.
   "Sorry, Ranko," she mumbles.
   We walk slowly the rest of the way.  Akane nervously passes her bag back
and forth between her left hand and her right hand.  She looks anywhere but
me.  It's annoying.
   At the school entrance, I am greeted by laughter.
   "Hey, Ranma!"
   "What they hell are ya doin' in girls clothes?"
   "I always knew he was a crossdresser."
   "Eww!"
   I blush.  Well, of course I'm wearing girls clothing.  "But, I *am* a
girl," I say softly.  I didn't think my voice was loud enough to carry, but
silence fell, heavy and dense, as soon as the words escaped my lips.
   A boy with short, curly brown hair walked up to me.  "Buddy.  We need to
talk."
   We are followed by a boy with dark hair.  We round a corner and we are
all three silent for a moment.  Akane was apparently being kept busy by a
bustling crowd of gossips wanting the scoop from a reliable source.  "Look,
Ranma," the dark haired boy said.  "I admire your...female form...but what
the hell is with you?"
   "I don't have a clue what you're talking about," I say.  Akane runs
around the corner.
   "Hiroshi...Daisuke..."  Akane takes a breath.  "Ranma...He isn't quite
himself lately..."
   Before she can say whatever she was going to say, which I am really
curious about as she called me he, we are rudly interupted.
   "Osage no onna!  Akane-kun!  I, Kunou Tatewaki, shall forever be your
love!!"  A very weird kendoist ran up to us, glomping onto both me and
Akane.  We both kicked him in the stomach at exactly the same time.  I don't
know where that came from.  But I'm glad I did kick him, because Akane
smiled at me and we started laughing.

Akane stayed with me the rest of the school day.  She almost literally
chased away anyone who tried to get near me.  I asked her why, but she said
it was for the better I didn't know.  I took her word for it.  I trust her.

When we got home from school that afternoon, I suggested that we go out and
get something sweet to eat.  My treat.  She agrees.
   The walk to the ice cream shop is filled with an uncomfortable silence.
Akane seems to be in thought, and I am trying to figure out how to address
my growing feelings for her.  I mean, we're both girls.  And the boys at
school bothered me.  Especially that...Kunou guy.
   We talk over parfait.  "Akane, why are you so sad?  I don't know why, but
when I think of you, sad doesn't seem to fit in right.  Is something wrong?"
I looked up at her.  She sat across from me.  The spoonful of ice cream that
she was about to eat never made it to her mouth.
   Akane looked up at me.  She seemed like she was about to say something,
then she just looked back down at her ice-cream and mumbled a brief 'no.'
   "If there is any way I can help, just let me know, ok?  We're friends,
right?"  I smiled reassuringly at her.  But Akane reacts oddly to this.  She
gets up without finishing her ice cream, running from the restaurant.
"Akane..."

Authors Notes:
This may not be as fun to read for those of you who read it a few months ago
because you know how its gunna turn out.  I mean, I hope everyone enjoys it,
but all I did really was fill it out like everyone suggested.  It felt great
to go back and reedit this.  I feel so much better about this story!  It was
always one of my favourites. ^_^