I was told that my original setup was good for a Ranma/Futaba
relationship, but poor for a Ranma/Akane relationship. Since I still 
want
to try pairing Ranma with Akane (Futaba is still too male for Ranma
anyway), I altered the sparring match from Ranma/Futaba to
Ranma/Akane, and had Akane not think him a pervert for seeing her in
the bath. Hopefully, this will help to make a Ranma/Akane relationship
possible, though rougher than in the original. Ranma will think that
Akane is a pervert instead of the opposite. I also decided to tone down
Akane's prejudice against outsiders, since there's already enough
pushing them apart.



Question: What if the Tendous were related to the Shimerus?


Akane-chan Change

written by Phil Hacker

Chapter I: An Unlikely Match

**********

Soun Tendou strained to keep himself calm as he once again read the
telegram that had just arrived. It read:

DEAR TENDOU STOP BRINGING RANMA FROM CHINA STOP
SHOULD ARRIVE TONIGHT STOP SAOTOME

This was wonderful news. After all these years he would finally get to
see his dear friend Saotome. He had to tell the children at once.

"Listen up! Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane! Futaba!"

There was no response. He would have to track them down himself.

***

First stop was the kitchen. Kasumi was there, getting an early start on
supper.

"Kasumi?"

Kasumi looked up from her cooking. "What is it, Father?"

***

Soun opened the door to Nabiki's room. Sure enough, she was lying on
her bed, reading a manga and sucking on a popsicle.

"Nabiki!"

"Hm?" Nabiki looked up at her father.

***

Akane and Futaba, however, were not in their rooms, nor could Soun
find them anywhere in the house.

"Where are those two?" he asked himself.

***

The two children in question were, at that moment, sparring in the dojo.

"Ready?" asked Futaba.

"Ready," his cousin replied.

They charged at each other and briefly exchanged blows before breaking
off to reengage. Futaba had tagged Akane's shoulder, but Akane had
struck him squarely in the stomach. They were fairly evenly matched:
while Akane was somewhat more experienced, they were closely
matched in strength, though Futaba had the advantage in speed.

This went on for several minutes until both teens collapsed on the floor
in an exhausted heap. They lay still for another minute, then Akane sat
up groggily.

"Whew. That felt good," she said.

"Next time we do Anything-Goes Wrestling. I'll getcha then," Futaba
responded, also sitting up.

"Yeah, you and what-" Akane was cut off by the sound of applause
coming from the door.

"Very good, you two. With the way you get along with Futaba, I'm
surprised that you keep saying that you hate boys so much, Akane,"
Nabiki said.

"Futaba's not a boy, he's family," Akane snapped.

"Whatever. Anyway, I came out here to tell you two that Daddy's got
something important he wants to tell us."

***

"A fiance?"

"Yes," Soun replied. "He's the son of a friend of mine. If one of you
three girls were to marry him and carry on this dojo, then the Tendou
family legacy would be secured. His name is Ranma Saotome."

"Wait a minute!" Akane interrupted. "I don't remember any Saotomes in
the tribal list of families. Are they new?"

"Actually, no. You see, my friend's family is not of our tribe."

This elicited a gasp from all four children.

"You mean he's an outsider?" Kasumi asked. What was strange was not
that their father had arranged a marriage for them; that was common
enough among the members of their tribe, but for the marriage of one of
the tribe to an outsider being encouraged by the parents of both was
almost unheard of.

"She's right, Daddy," said Nabiki. "There's no way any of us could
marry an outsider boy. Futaba, on the other hand..."

"No way!" Futaba exclaimed. "Besides, I've already got someone."

"Oh yes," said Naibki. You and that Shima girl. Her friend's got some
good business sense, I'll tell you that.

"Still," commented Kasumi, "A Shimeru girl marrying an outsider boy...
Are you sure about this, Father?"

"Ranma and his father have been on a long training mission," Soun
continued, ignoring them. "Recently, they crossed into China.

"Cool!" said Futaba. "I've always wanted to go there."

"Big deal," said Akane. "Anybody can do that."

"What's he look like?" asked Kasumi.

"Is his family rich, or important or something?" asked Nabiki. If their
father wanted one of them to marry an outsider, there had to be
*something* to gain from it.

"What's Ranma like, anyway?" Kasumi and Nabiki asked in unison.

"I don't know," admitted Soun.

"You don't know?" Nabiki repeated.

"I've never met him."

'Oh, please. I don't believe this,' though Akane.

There came a noise from the front door.

"Put me down!" a girl's voice shouted. "I can walk on my own just fine!
*You're* the one who's injured!"

"We have visitors!" Kasumi exclaimed.

"It must be them!" Straining to contain the tension lest she change,
Nabiki stood up and rushed to the door.

"Saotome, my friend! We've been waiting!" Soun rushed after her.

A few seconds later they came running back, the strain of trying to keep
from panicking evident on their faces.

Immediately behind them was a large panda, followed by a rather small
redheaded girl. Strangely enough, the panda's left hand was bandaged,
and it had a patch over its right eye.

"Whoa, it's a panda!" exclaimed Futaba.

"So, this is your friend?" asked Kasumi.

Soun shook his head.

"Oh, so this panda's just a pet or something?" Nabiki demanded.

The girl stepped forward and spoke in a small voice. "I'm Ranma
Saotome. Sorry 'bout this."

"Oooh, she *is* cute," remarked Nabiki-kun.

Barely able to contain his excitement, Soun embraced the new arrival.
After releasing her, he quickly ran out of the room. A loud, feminine
whoop was heard from the hall.

Futaba approached Ranma. "I'm Futaba Shimeru. Pleased to meet you.
You'll have to forgive Uncle Soun. He can get a little...emotional at
times."

'What's going on here?' Ranma wondered. 'Weren't they expecting a
boy?' Realization of one possible explanation hit her. Maybe they
*hadn't* been expecting a boy. 'No! Pop couldn't've--I mean, really!'
She shivered involuntarily.

"Why don't we go out in the dojo while everybody calms down. You do
Kempo, right?" Futaba asked.

"Well...yeah." Was he trying to make a pass at her? She hoped not.

"Well then, why don't we spar a little?" Futaba offered. "Wrestling's
more my specialty, but I can do enough Kempo to match most non-
pros."

"Uh, okay," she said nervously.

Akane grabbed Futaba as they left the room. "What do you think you're
doing?" she whispered harshly. "We don't even know yet whether
Ranma's one of us or just a Normal girl."

"What harm could a little sparring match do?" Futaba asked.

"You know you can't control your excitement during a fight. You could
leak our whole secret."

"I think you've got me confused with yourself. Besides, from what
Uncle Soun says, the engagement will stand no matter what. Ranma'll
have to know sooner or later."

"There's no way I'm going to agree to some stupid arranged marriage,
you got that?!" Akane shook Futaba.

"Okay, okay. Forget I even brought it up. If you're really worried then
come watch us. Besides, until we can get her calm, we won't know for
sure if she's one of us or not."

"Well, all right," Akane conceded. "But *I* get the first round."

"Come on." Futaba motioned for Ranma to follow them as they headed
for the dojo.

"Let's see just how good you are." Akane faced Ranma and took a
defensive stance.

Ranma also took a defensive stance. For several minutes, Futaba
watched as neither opponent moved. Finally, Akane decided to break
the deadlock. She charged at Ranma and launched several punches at
Ranma that would easily get past the defenses of an amateur. In that
moment, Ranma proved that she was no amateur. To Akane's surprise,
Ranma was dodging every blow, sometimes by scant millimeters.

She cranked up her attacks a notch at a time, but Ranma continued to
dodge. For someone who prided himself on her ability, this was
maddening. She brought a deeper level of concentration into play in an
effort to keep her cool. Over the centuries, the people of the Shimeru
tribe had developed great powers of concentration. A Shimeru who had
mastered all of the could remain calm in nearly any situation. It was 
too
bad that few ever reached that level. Akane had decent control in a
fight, but outside of combat her temper was much shorter.

She continued to press her attack, but remained unable to connect.
Ranma, on the other hand, had already tagged her lightly in several
spots, although for some reason she seemed unwilling to touch Akane
anywhere near her chest.

Futaba watched their fight intently. It was obvious that Ranma had
superior speed and skill, but she seemed a bit off balance, almost as
though she were used to having greater reach and power. It seemed
kind of familiar...Futaba wondered if Akane noticed it too.

'Okay, time to get real,' Akane thought. She drew back a few paces,
then charged straight at Ranma.

Ranma, of course, saw her coming long before he could connect. She
leaped over Akane's head and landed softly behind her. Just as she
reached out to tag her one last time on the back of her head, she jerked
her elbow backwards to strike her solidly in the stomach. Ranma gasped
as the blow connected.

"Hey, you're pretty good," said Futaba  while the two combatants were
catching their breaths.

"You're not too bad yourself," replied Ranma, smiling. "You just gotta
work a bit more on that speed."

"It's nice to have somebody around who can keep up with me and
Akane," said Futaba.

"Since when can you keep up with me?" Akane asked, incredulous.
"You only win when I let you."

"In your dreams, Coz."

"Well, you'd just better watch your back the next time we spar," said
Akane. "I'm going to check on everyone. See you." She quickly left the
dojo.

"Strange girl," Ranma commented.

"She's always like that." Futaba sniffed the air. "Phew. Maybe you
should take a bath. You've been on the road all day, haven't you?"

"Well...yeah," Ranma admitted. "But, really--"

"Go on. It's not like a little hot water's going to hurt you or 
anything."

Ranma saw that arguing would get her nowhere. Besides, it was only a
bath. What could go wrong?

***

'What am I gonna do?' Ranma thought as he relaxed in the bathtub.
'Man, what a crazy family. They didn't seem worried at all that I was a
girl. What's up with that? I hope Pop didn't tell them I was really 
female
or something. That Futaba guy seems okay, and maybe that younger girl
with the long dark hair. What was her name again? Akane?

'Well, they're bound to find out sooner or later. I guess I may as well
just go out like this.' He rose from the tub.

***

Akane locked the bathroom door and began to undress. Failing to notice
the red shirt in the laundry, she grabbed a towel and slid open the door
to the bath.

What she wasn't prepared for was the sight of a strange, naked boy
standing in the bathtub. She stared at him for a few seconds. Then, she
calmly slid the door shut, put her clothes back on, and exited the bath.

She marched straight into the kitchen and grabbed her middle sister by
the shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me there was somebody in there
when you told me to take a bath?!" she demanded.

"What are you talking about, Akane?" Nabiki asked.

"Hm?" Futaba, who was in the act of raiding the refrigerator, pulled his
head out of the freezer compartment and removed the popsicle from his
mouth. "Oh, sorry. That would be my fault. I told Ranma to go take a
bath. I guess I forgot to tell everybody."

"Then that boy...was Ranma?" Akane gasped.

"So he is one of us?" Nabiki asked.

"I guess Father was just mistaken when he said that Ranma was an
outsider," commented Kasumi.

"I don't know why he'd do that," said Nabiki.

"Um, excuse me," a male voice said.

Everyone turned to see a young man wearing a red Chinese-style shirt.

"Hello, Ranma," Kasumi said sweetly as the others stared at him,

Ranma was confused. They knew who he was? What *was* going on in
this house anyway? Either everyone was crazy, or they were hiding
something from him.

"Um, sorry 'bout all this."

***

Genma surveyed the room. Everyone had calmed down after the initial
confusion, and were now seated in a circle in the livingroom.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Genma Saotome. This is my
son..." Genma gestured with his unbandaged right hand. His right eye
was still covered by the patch; the swelling wouldn't go down for
another few days yet.

"Ranma," Ranma concluded.

Nabiki was the first to speak. "So, we finally get to meet the male
Ranma."

"But I thought Father said that he wasn't-" Kasumi began.

"Don't worry, girls. My friend Saotome has taken care of everything."

"Indeed," said Genma. "Watch." Grabbing Ranma by the shirt with his
good arm, he heaved him through the open screen doors into the koi
pond.

"Whadja do that for?!" Ranma-chan shouted when she surfaced.

"So I see," observed Nabiki.

Futaba was wondering how exactly Ranma was able to change genders.
>From what he had been told, Ranma shouldn't.

"As you can see, everything is just fine and dandy," said Genma.

"Whaddaya mean 'fine and dandy'?!" Ranma-chan retorted. "You did
this to me! You made me like this on purpose!" Leaping out of the
pond, she charged at her father with a bucket of pond water and
splashed it over him.

Everyone else gasped as Genma was suddenly replaced by a giant
panda. The panda immediately took a combat stance and began fighting
Ranma-chan.

"Would somebody mind explaining just what is going on here?" asked
Nabiki.

"I'm sure that they can explain everything after they've calmed down a
bit," replied Soun.

***

"Ah yes, it was a month ago near the base of Mt. Quanjing, in the
Bayankala range in China's Quinghai province. A few years ago I had
heard of a legendary place of great magic...

***

The Guide faced his two clients and gestured at the training ground
behind him. "Here, Mr. Customer, we come to famous legendary
training ground of accursed springs, Jusenkyou." He held up a card with
the kanji for "Jusenkyou" on it so that there would be no doubt to his
clients as to the name's meaning.

"This place ain't so impressive,' said Ranma, looking around. The
landscape consisted of level, grassy ground dotted here and there with
small ponds, most of which had bamboo poles sticking up out of them.

"Mr. Customer is very strange one, no? This place very dangerous.
Nobody use it now. There more than one hundred spring here, and each
have own tragic legend to tell."

Genma leaned close to the Guide and whispered something into his ear.

"Oh? Yes. Many people come Jusenkyou, ask for that spring in
particular. Still, as official Jusenkyou Guide, I required to warn you. 
Is
Mr. Customer absolutely certain?"

"Oh, yes," Genma responded.

The guide led them carefully through the training ground. "Be careful
you no fall in spring," the guide warned. "You no will like results."

"What's the big deal about coming to see one dumb little spring in the
middle of nowhere, anyway?" Ranma asked impatiently. "I mean, why'd
we have to come all the way out here?"

"These springs are said to be magic, boy," replied his father. "I've 
been
planning this for a long time."

Finally, the three arrived at one spring in particular. It seemed little
different that most of the others, although it was one of the larger 
ones.

"Come, take a look into the water of this spring," said Genma.

Obediently, Ranma bent forward to gaze into the spring's waters.
Instead of his normal reflection, however, he saw a pretty, redheaded
girl about his own age. "Who's that?" he asked.

"That's you, my boy. Or at least it will be when you come out." Before
his words had time to sink in, Genma grabbed Ranma and tossed him
into the spring.

When Ranma surfaced, he heard the Guide explaining to him.

"You see, you fall in Nyanniichuan. There very tragic legend of girl who
drown in spring one thousand, five hundred year ago. Now, whoever
fall in spring take body of young girl. Is curse of Jusenkyou."

Gulping, Ranma looked down. He had breasts! In fact, he wasn't a he
any more! "AAAAAAHHHHH!"

Ranma-chan leaped out of the pond and charged at her father. "I'LL
KILL YOU!!!" she screamed. She grabbed Genma and threw him into a
nearby spring.

"Oh, too bad," said the Guide. "Mr. Customer fall in Shonmaoniichuan.
There very tragic legend of panda who drown there two thousand year
ago. Now, whoever fall in spring take body of panda. Is very cursed
spring."

A wet panda climbed out of the spring and began to run away from
Ranma-chan and the Guide.

"Don't think you're getting away that easily!" Ranma-chan screamed,
giving chase to the fleeing panda.

***

"What great lengths you had to go to to allow our two houses to be
joined!" Soun marveled. "Imagine, finding a magic curse that would
allow your son to change genders as easily as this." He threw his iced
tea at Ranma, who promptly switched to female.

"Hey!" Ranma-chan protested. "What the hell does my being a girl have
to do with anything, anyway?!"

"You mean you haven't told him?!" Soun glared at Genma.

"Well...it sorta slipped my mind, I guess."

"Would somebody mind telling me what the *hell* is going on here?!"
Ranma-chan demanded.

"Well, you see," Futaba began, "Everyone in our family, actually,
everyone in our 'tribe', since there are technically nearly twenty 
families
with over a thousand of us, has a genetic trait unique to us. Whenever
any of us gets tense or excited, we change genders. It seems your father
thought that, if you could change sexes as well, you could marry into
the family."

"What?!" Realization began to sink in. "If you want me to marry one of
them...and they all change sexes when excited...then...then *that*
means THAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE BRIDE!?!!" She grabbed
Genma and hoisted him by his shirt. "Tell me this is all a joke Old 
Man,"
she growled, hatred in her eyes.

"Um, well...no, it isn't."

"Wrong answer!" Ranma-chan threw her father into the koi pond.

Everyone stared as Ranma-chan and the panda began fighting again.
The panda was doing surprisingly well against her for someone with an
injured hand and no depth perception.

"Well, not the bride," Soun explained. "However, you must realize that
our family's unusual, er, trait means that it's the girls who are the
fathers."

"WHAT?! YOU MEAN I GOTTA GET *PREGNANT*?!?!!" Ranma-
chan became angrier still and pressed her attack on her father even
harder. Several blows broke through the panda's defenses.

"Cut it out!" Futaba and Nabiki each grabbed one of Ranma-chan's
arms and pinned her to the floor. Soun sat on her feet to keep her from
kicking.

"Whoa, calm down!" Futaba said. "I know it's a big shock and all, but
killing your dad isn't going to do anything except make him dead."

"Well, you have to admit," Kasumi said, "Ranma *did* grow up
expecting to be male all the time. This must really be a shock for him"

"It's really not as bad as it sounds, Ranma," said Soun.

Ranma-chan finally calmed down after another minute of struggling.
There was no way she could fight off all three of them in her current
condition.

Soun grabbed a teakettle and poured scalding water onto Ranma-chan.
"When doused with cold water, you become a girl, but hot water turns
you back into a boy."

"Yeow! Hot water, not boiling!" Ranma exclaimed while the panda
grabbed the teakettle for himself.

"Then everything should work out just fine," said Soun. "I have three
daughters: my eldest daughter, Kasumi, nineteen, my middle daughter,
Nabiki, seventeen, and my youngest daughter, Akane, sixteen. Pick
whichever one you want, and she'll be your fiancee."

"Father, I really don't know if I can marry an outsider," said Kasumi.

"You know," said Nabiki, "maybe we should pair him up with Akane."

"What?!" Akane demanded. "Why me?"

"Well, you both love martial arts, and this would be the perfect excuse
for getting rid of all of those boys at school," said Nabiki.

"You must be joking! Why don't we give him to Futaba?"

"No thanks," said Futaba. "Besides, the agreement was to match Ranma
with one of the children of Soun Tendou."

"There's no way I'm marrying some pervert!"

"Who're you calling a pervert?!" Ranma demanded. "You're the freaks!"

"What'd you call me?!"

"You heard me! Your whole family's a bunch of sex-changing freaks!"

"So what're you?!"

"I never wanted to be a girl; it's the Old Man's idea and I'd be glad
to get rid of it!"

"If that's the way you feel about me and my family, I want nothing to do
with you!"

"How was *I* supposed to know your whole family'd be a bunch of
freaks?! I never wanted to be a girl, or to marry any of you!"

"See? They're already acting like a perfect couple!" Soun laughed.

"If you don't want to marry me, then that's just fine!" Akane turned her
back on Ranma.

"Goodbye!" Ranma turned to leave.

"Ranma, just where do you think you're going?" Genma demanded.

"To find a way to get rid of this stupid curse," Ranma replied. He 
turned
back to face Akane. "And if you think I'm going to marry some girl who
turns into a guy just when you start getting to the best part, you're 
even crazier than I thought."

Akane finally released what was left of her weakening control over her
anger. He looked around for something heavy to clobber Ranma with.
The table was handy, so he brought it crashing down onto his head.

"Now *that* he had coming to him," observed Genma.

***

Akane-kun scowled as he climbed out of the bathtub. 'Make a fool of
me, eh? That...that... arrrrgh!'

As he headed out of the bath, he came face-to-face with Ranma. He
noticed that he was just as naked as himself.

"I, um...that is..."

"Why, you...! Akane-kun reached back and tried to slap Ranma across
the face. However, Ranma was faster than he was, and his hand ended
up denting the tiled wall instead.

"AAAAAUUUUUGHHHH!" Akane-kun screamed, partly from anger,
but mostly from the pain in his hand.

***

"I just don't know what to do with you. Coz," Futaba said as he
bandaged Akane-kun's hand. "Maybe you should give him a break. It
sounds to me like he was railroaded into this whole thing."

"Well..." Akane-kun began.

"Just give it a while," said Genma. "Things are bound to get better
sooner or later."

"Only because they can't get much worse," Ranma retorted.

[End Chapter I]

**********

Now, I guess it's time for me to explain a few things.

Why does Futaba live at the Tendou Dojo, you ask? In this continuity,
his father is actively pursuing his career as an idol singer and found
himself unable to raise Futaba on his own upon the death of Futaba's
mother (who did not die in normal FKC continuity). Since Soun is the
next of kin, he is charged with taking care of Futaba. Yes, we will also
be seeing Futana, who has now graduated high school and is living on
her own, and there will be some references to Misaki (all of the FKC
stories save for the last chapter are assumed to have happened already.
Futaba's relationship with Misaki also means that he lacks the prejudice
against "Normals" that Akane displays). I added Futaba and Futana to
add more weight to the Futaba-kun elements, and to have someone who
would be a little friendlier to Ranma early on.

BTW: Most of the Ranma 1/2 plot threads are intact. These include
Ryouga, Shampoo, Happousai, and Ukyou, whom Genma engaged to
Ranma before he found out about Jusenkyou. They will enter as per
normal, but things will be very different once they arrive.

One more thing: can any of you suggest a name for Akane's male form?
I am hesitant to use any of the more conventional names for a male
Akane (Kaneda, etc.)

Please tell me what you think of the story so far.


Phil

prohackr@hotmail.com


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com