This part's a little different from the rest.  C&C, please!
To save you time (and encourage C&C) I've put a couple of
questions at the end that will help me out.

Thanks,


Doug
----
Douglas MacDougall     Anime-based works available at my No Frills homepage:
dougmacd@thecia.net    http://www.crosswinds.net/boston/~dougmacd/works.html



-------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Ranma 1/2     "The Nature of the Curse"
 Hard Battle    Story by Douglas MacDougall
-------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Originally posted 21 Jan 1999.
    The latest parts and revisions of this story are available at:
    http://www.crosswinds.net/boston/~dougmacd/works.html

    Ranma 1/2 (c) Rumiko Takahashi / Shogakukan * Kitty Film * Fuji TV.
    Exclusively licensed throughout the United States and Canada by Viz
    Communications, Inc.  This fan fiction is for private home use only;
    it may be freely redistributed, but not altered or used for profit.

    Not Rated.  Parental Guidance Suggested.

-------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------
   Part  8      The Tomboy Effect
-------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------

    Ukyo had never been particularly fond of introspection, especially after
she had moved to Nerima.  Ten years.  Ten years of her life wasted, dedicated
to hunting down Ranma Saotome as his father, and making them pay for what they
had done: stolen her dowry, run away from the engagement, and left her behind.

    Hell, if she was being honest with herself, she should admit that the
okonomiaki cart wasn't even hers to give away as dowry; she had lost that
inheritance to the Gambler King.  Perhaps it was best not to let Ranma realize
that fact...

    Anyway, they HAD abandoned her.  It had been quite a blow to her
womanhood.  (As much as a six year old girl has a sense of womanhood.)  But
rather then dealing with the problem, or moving on, her wounded female pride
made her cast aside her "femininity", and spend her life seeking revenge.

    Come to think of it, wallowing it hatred like that for two-thirds of her
life, it's a good thing that she didn't end up constantly swimming in her own
dark emotions, like that pathetic wretch Ryoga.

    And when she finally had a chance to get revenge, what had she done?
Desperately cling to the only compliment of her femininity she had heard from
a boy.  From the boy she wanted to punish, no less.  Just the word 'cute' was
enough to make her drop the ten years of her life and start all over again.

    She WAS as bad as Ryoga.  Hadn't he completely fallen for Akane after she
had shown him just the tiniest bit of affection?  Ukyo frowned.  Why the hell
was she making comparisons between herself and that idiot Ryoga?  She wasn't
so full of self-loathing to think she was as bad as him, right?  She shrugged
off the thought.

    So here she was, ten years later, with only two things to show for it: the
best okonomiaki in Japan, and a cross-dressing problem.  The former she could
live with, the latter she would rather not.  She no longer bound her breasts
at work, but found herself still doing so for school.  Would she ever be able
to truly completely re-embrace her femininity?

    Did she want to?

    That jackass Ranma WOULD have to make her think weird thoughts like this.
Him and his stupid reactions.  In some ways, he  had barely matured beyond his
grammar school days.  He was completely incapable of hiding his true
emotions.
At least when he was even AWARE of his emotions.  Still, that was one of his
endearing traits.  He was open and honest about who he was and what he liked.

    For the hundredth time that night, she thought about the comment she had
made to Ranma, after she had heard about Akane's temporary curse with Instant
Spring of Drowned Man. "She DID fail to seduce you with her 'boy-type' wiles,
didn't she?"

    An insane cackle had been her response.  She had meant it as a joke, but
his wild, uneasy laughter had startled her.  Based off his reaction, she could
only surmise that the boy-type Akane DID have some sort of effect on him.

    Not seducing him, of course.  Never that.

    She had spent the early evening walking around the park trying to gather
her thoughts on the issue.  She had never really considered Ranma's curse
before.  She thought it was kind of neat, and that was about it.  But maybe it
affected Ranma more then he was aware of?

    Of course, he would always be her Ranma!  He wouldn't be attracted to
guys, or anything, but maybe his girl-type body...  It took her mind a few
moments to wrap around the alien thought.  Maybe his girl-type body responded
better to the masculine form.

    Ranma, like herself, had been on the road for the last ten years of his
life, moving from place to place.  Normal boys met girls at school, or around
their neighborhood when they were growing up.  However, during his 'training
voyage' Ranma attended boy's schools, and didn't have a stable address.  He
was never around girls when he was a kid, so he felt uncomfortable around them
now.

    She wondered if Shampoo and Kodachi realized they were freaking Ranma out
with their forward advances.  Like he had any clue how to react.  What he
liked of Shampoo, he liked because she was a fighter, not because she slipped
into his bed.  Or his bath...

    Frowning, she untwisted the small spatula in her hand.  Must've been cheap
metal.  She'd be more careful handling the knife.

    Ranma wasn't interested in 'traditional' girls.  He wouldn't know what
to do with a feminine, demure, girl if she hit him on the head.  She paused.
Actually, if she hit him on the head, he probably WOULD know how to react.  He
certainly had enough experience in that area.

    Of course, if she hit him, she wouldn't be a very feminine girl, would
she?  A vision of a super-deformed, mallet-swinging Akane formed in her mind.
A super-deformed Ukyo bashed it in the face with her spatula.

    After a couple hours of thought in the park, Ukyo had finally come to a
few conclusions.  The top two contenders in Ranma's heart were Akane and
herself: the tomboy and the crossdresser.

    Was Ranma attracted to them BECAUSE of their lack of femininity, rather
then despite it?  As loathe as she was to admit it about herself, she and
Akane hardly exhibited what could be considered the classic female charms
(even though she, at least, was cute).  To Ranma, they were the least
'threatening' finacees.  To him, they behaved the most familiarly.  The most
like 'the guys'.

    She thought she had pieced together what had happened yesterday.  Ranma
was (marginally) attracted to Akane normally, and when she had turned into a
boy, there had been none of the usual boy-girl awkwardness between them.
That, combined with Ranma's uniquely fluid gender, had no doubt led to
something that Ranma hadn't expected.  It didn't make her happy, but it was
something
she could act upon.

    She sighed.  She sighed again.  Then she bashed her head on the
countertop.  Ugh.  Best leave that to Ryoga.  Why did she have to be so shy???
Had she ever really told Ranma that she loved him?  Just told him?  She
couldn't make the first move, all she could do was... react (and violently) if
it looked like someone was taking Ranma away from her.

    She needed to be proactive, rather then reactive.

    For the thousandth time since she had made her decision, she hoped this
was the right solution.  She would do anything for her Ranchan, and when it
came down to it, it was really a small sacrifice.  Maybe, for once, she could
make ten years of lost femininity work for her.  And best of all, it would be
symbolic of leaving those years behind.

    She would take what she had learned about Ranma and his curse, and act
upon it.  What she was doing would bring them closer together.  If being more
'mannish' would allow her to get closer to Ranma, and make him get closer to
her, she would do it.

    She WOULD do it.

    Do it.

    "Do it!"

    Taking a deep breath, she brought the knife up behind her.  A tingle went
down her spine as the cool metal brushed against the nape of her neck.  Going
by feel, she moved the intrument from the protuberance at base of her neck, up
to the hairline at the back of her head.

    With a smooth stroke, she drew the sharpened knife up and back, holding
her hair taught with the other hand.

    "Mistress Ukyo!  Did you say--" the kunoichi's pretty little mouth formed
a little O of dismay.  "What have you done?!?"

    Konatsu had just finished cleaning up the restaurant and had come upstairs
to see to Ukyo.  The Mistress had been acting a little odd, ever since her
friends had come over in the afternoon.  What greeted her (he still thought of
himself as a 'her') as she slid the door open to her room was Ukyo clutching a
handful of her beautiful, long tresses in one hand, a knife in the other.

    She seemed to be frowning that the hair had not all been neatly cut off,
and was slicing the few errant strands that still connected the rope of hair
to her head.  Konastsu noted that the ribbon Ukyo normally kept in her hair
was being used to hold the cut hair together.

    "Oh, hi, Konatsu!"

    "Wh- Wha-  Your hair!"

    "Oh, this.  I just needed a little change."  She had finally cut the last
of the strands and placed the pile of hair, almost half a meter long, onto the
table.  "Could you help me even it out?"

    "But... I...  Of course, Mistress Ukyo."  She could refuse her nothing.
Reaching into her secret ninja stash, she pulled out a comb and a pair of
clipping scissors.

    "Thanks!" she replied perkily.  "My bangs need to be trimmed a bit.  And
it needs to be shorter in back."

    "Sh- Shorter?"  She nearly dropped the scissors.

    "Yeah."

    Konatsu swallowed.  "Very well..."

        *           *           *           *           *           *

    "Not THIS time, old man!"  Ranma twisted his body and spine in ways to
make a chiropractor cry, and avoided the spray of water generated by his old
man's forepaw sweeping across the surface of the koi pond.  Ranma stuck out
his tongue and hopped inside for breakfast.

    As usual, he had thrown his father into the pond, defeating him and
demonstrating his superior grasp of mid-air combat, but for once he had also
avoided his father's 'counterstroke'.  Feh, cheap shot was more like it.

    As usual, Kasumi had made a traditional breakfast, with extra servings for
Ranma.  The family long-adjusted to his schedule, Akane and Nabiki had already
started eating.  Nabiki left a few minutes after he sat down, to 'take care of
some business,' leaving just himself and Akane.  Kasumi was humming in the
kitchen, and his old man was trudging up the stairs.  His mother and Mr. Tendo
apparently hadn't gotten up.

    Wolfing down his food, he tried his best not to look at Akane.  She seemed
to be in a happy mood, but she had an uncanny way of pulling the truth out
of him, and coming to the most damning conclusions.  He didn't know how she'd
react if she knew that Shampoo had snuck in last night trying to grab him.

    He finished quickly, announcing, "I'm going to wash up before school."

    "Okay, Ranma," chirped Kasumi from the kitchen.

    He slipped off into the bathroom, taking one last look at Akane, who was
smiling and making little bicep-curl motions.

    Washing off was a quick affair.  There was no real time for a soak, so he
had to satisfy himself with a stool and a few buckets of cold water.  She
washed herself quickly and mechanically, having learned long ago learning not
to think too much about the body she was washing.  Her quick lather and rinse
was finished in about two minutes.  A quick spray of warm water turned him
back to his normal self.

    He got up and started to towel off when his mother walked in out of the
changing room wearing only a towel.  He instantly spun around and faced the
other way.

    "Good morning, Ranma," she said, cheerfully greeting him.

    "Uh...  Morning... Mom," he swallowed, looking at the tiles.

    "Did you have a good workout?"

    "Uh... yeah..."

    "And you're prepared for classes?"

    "Y... Yes."  He tried to block out the sounds of her splashing water on
herself.  If he sweated anymore he'd need to wash off again.

    "Could you help me scrub my back?"

    "M- Mom?!?"

    "Hmmm, yes, I suppose you do have class."  She raised her voice, somehow
managing to project it into the house without actually yelling.  "Genma!"  A
few moments later the large panda walked into the room with his mom.  "Could
you be a dear and wash my back?"

    "Mrowf."

    "Thank you, dear."

    "Nrrf."  Soon there were lathering and scrubbing sounds coming from behind
Ranma.

    "Ah, yes, that's wonderful."

    Morbid curiosity made Ranma crane his neck around to look behind him.
Fortunately his father's fuzzy mass was blocking the view of his mother's
back, but he could still see her stretching her neck by rolling her head over
her shoulders.  His father the panda had lather covering the fur of his paws,
making natural scrubbers.

    "Mmmm.  Claws, please...."

    "Sorry-mom-got-ta-go-now-bye!"  Ranma grabbed clothes out of the changing/
laundry room, dressed and left in two seconds flat.

    "Genma."

    "Bowrf?"

    "Our son is really much too shy.  We're going to have to do something
about it."

    "Mmmrnn,"  nodded the panda sagely.

     A few minutes later Ranma joined Akane on the way to school, hopping up
onto his usual perch on the fence, and trying to shake the morning's imagery
out of his head.

    "Isn't it a wonderful morning?"

    Ranma glanced around, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.  There
were still puddles on the sidewalk, which he was keeping his distance from
by walking along the fence.  The canal was above it's normal levels from the
rain last night.  The clouds had all but rained themselves out, leaving few
puffy clouds floating leisurely in the blue sky.

    "I guess..."

    "Geez, look who I'm asking."  Akane rolled her eyes and pounced into a
puddle, sending up a spray, which fell well short of Ranma's position.

    "What're you so happy about, anyway?"

    "Does there need to be a reason for me to be happy?"

    "Does this mean you've calmed down?"  He winced as he said it, worrying
about Akane's reaction only after the fact.

    She paused before answering.  "Yeah.  Dad gave me a good workout last
night."

    "Um.  I noticed Mr. Tendo wasn't at breakfast this morning."

    Akane blushed.  "I... Don't think he stretched enough before sparring."

    "Mmm.  That's probably it."

    The two were silent for a few more minutes, before Akane spoke up again.
"I don't think I'm going to get splashed any more.  I mean, it seems like
everyone I know dumped water on me yesterday, so they all must know it was
temporary."

    "Hey, I didn't splash you," reminded Ranma.

    Akane looked up at him with an unreadable look on her face.  Then she
smiled, "Thanks, Ranma."

    He blinked, and watched her pick up her pace and walk in front of him.
Glancing down, he remembered running to school alongside Akane in the
beginning of the week, both of them using the sidewalk.

    Stupid puddles.

    He picked up his pace, and the two walked the rest of the way to school
sharing a good mood, but no words.

        *           *           *           *           *           *

    Yuka watched Sayuri, who was periodically glancing out the window and down
into the school yard.  She knew that the smaller girl was looking for one
person in particular:  Akane Tendo.  She also knew that Sayuri had no idea how
to react when she saw her.  Yesterday she had confessed her love for the 'new
martial artist', who turned out to be Akane's alter ego.  Embarrassing did not
describe the situation adequately.

    How do you react to your best friend after you've done something like
that?  How CAN you react?  Fortunately for Yuka, it was not something SHE had
to worry about.  Fortunately for Sayuri, Akane was a forgiving person.  While
Sayuri fretted over the situation, Akane would probably dismiss everything,

    Looking up, she saw Akane enter through the door at the back of the
classroom.  Sayuri had her nose all but in her desk, slowly and carefully
drawing or writing something.  Clearly she had missed Akane's approach in
between glances.

    Pausing from whatever she was doing, Sayuri looked outside again for a
few moments, but didn't see Akane.  Sighing, she returned to her work.  Akane
heard the sigh and looked at Yuka questioningly.  Judging from the look in
her eye, she was in good spirits.  No doubt she had already forgiven Sayuri.

    Yuka pointed at Sayuri, them squinted and held her hand above her brow
as if holding off bright light, and then pointed at Akane.  Akane nodded,
apparently understanding.  'She's looking for you.'  Akane sneaked up behind
Sayuri with a positively mischievous grin on her face that would leave no
doubt as to her relation to Nabiki.

    Sayuri looked out the window again, still not noticing Akane standing
right behind her, slowly leaning over her, her lips inches from her ear...

    "Darling!"

    "AH!"  Sayuri jumped back, knocking her head into Akane's nose, sending
her tumbling back onto the floor.  At the same time she flung her pen into
the air and grabbed one of her fingers.

    "Ow!" muttered Akane, getting up and holding her nose.

    "OW!!"  yelled Sayuri, clutching her finger.

    "Yikes," added Ranma, watching Sayuri's X-Acto knife sway side to side,
impaled point-first into his desk.

    Yuka quickly ran over to look at Akane and Sayuri.  Akane seemed to have
a bloody nose, but Sayuri had cut herself with the knife.  She held her
left index finger with her other hand, as blood bubbled out of the tip and
tears bubbled out of her eyes.

    "Oh, Sayuri!" said Akane.  One hand pinched her nose firmly shut, and
she placed the other on her shoulder.  "Are you alright?  I'm so sorry!"

    "Owie."

    Yuka looked at her friend's finger to inspect the wound.  It didn't
look that deep.  In fact, it wasn't a cut, so much as a little section of
flesh cut clean off the top of her finger.  Still, "We should get you to the
nurse's."

    "I'll take you, Sayuri," said Akane.

    The girl shook her head.  "Th- Th- That's okay, A- Akane...."

    Sayuri WOULD let her nervousness get in the way.  This was not the time to
worry about Akane.  "I'll come with both of you; you're both hurt."

    "Yeah, you're getting blood all over the floor!"

    The three girls all turned around to look at Ranma, who had somehow
appeared right behind Akane.  Indeed, little spots of blood were dripping off
of Sayuri's hand and Akane's upper lip.  Noticing the flow, Akane pinched her
nose closed and angled her head forward.

    Ranma said, "I'll go with you to the nurse..."

    "Don'd bother Rabna," said Akane.  I'b taken worse then this."

    It looked like Ranma wanted to disagree, but Yuka was impressed to see
him actually be quiet and agree with her.  Maybe Akane had finally started to
housebreak him.  "Yeah," added Yuka.  "We'll be back shortly.  If we're late,
tell Miss Hinako where we went."

    "Uh, yeah, okay..."

    Yuka led the two girls in various states of blood loss out of the room and
down to the nurse's.

    Ranma watched them go and was soon besieged by questions, almost all from
the other girls in the class.

    "What happened?"

    "Do you do something to Akane?"

    "What's wrong with Sayuri?"

    "Are they hurt?"

    "Oh, my god, that's blood!"

    "It's alright!  They're alright" yelled Ranma.  "Geez."

    "But Sayuri had so much blood on her hands..."

    Ranma rasied his voice so all of the people could here him.  "She got a
bad cut, OK?"  A voice in the back made a choked sound, but then everyone was
quiet.  In the moment he had their attention, he added in a normal voice,
"They're going to the nurse to get it fixed up.  She'll be OK."

    The girls started to chirp and twitter again (at least that's how he saw
it), when he noticed someone familiar standing in the doorway, hunched over
and clutching his chest.

    The boy appeared to be muttering to himself, but Ranma could still make
out the words.  "He- He's not talking about me.  Just a coincidence..."

    "Hey, man, are you alright?"

    The boy in question looked up at him , blinking.  For some reason he was
wearing a bandoleer of spatulas on his uniform and one strapped to his...

    "Ucchan?!?"

    "Hiya, Ranchan," she responded weakly.

    "Your hair!"

    "You like it?"

    "Where did it go??!?"  Her hair was trimmed all over, but it was cut
really short in back.  Shorter then Ryoga's hair, even.

    "I just... wanted a change.  So, you do like it?"  She batted her eyes
at him, temporarily confusing him.

    "I... well... I mean, I guess.  It's just..."  he swallowed, "Really
different, you know?"

    Ukyo scratched the back of her head.  No doubt she was unused to the
length, but the gesture made him think of Ryoga.  "So it doesn't look bad?
It's not too... short?"

    "No, that's not it at all.  It's just different, is all.  I've never seen
you without a ponytail.  But it's not too short; I like short hair."

    A second after he said it, all the girls in the class were staring at
him.
What did he say?  Just that he liked...  He started to blush.  Thank god Akane
wasn't here.

    Ukyo's blush put his to shame.  "I didn't do this to look like..."  She
awkwardly cleared her throat.  "Uh, maybe we should take our seats."

    "Yeah," he laughed nervously.  "Good idea."

    The two sat down and made a point of not looking at one another.

    The girls started to cluster around Ukyo.  "Wow, Ukyo, why did you get it
cut SO short?  You look really but--"  the girl was cut off as someone elbowed
her in the ribs.  "--Beautiful!  You look really beautiful."

    "Uh, thanks..."

    "Why did you cut it so short?"

    "I just--"

    "Are you still trying to get Ranma?"

    "I--"

    "How many years had you been growing your hair?"
    "Are you going to try to grow it back?"
    "Are you trying to look like a boy?"

    Ukyo started to cower from all the female attention when she was saved by
an eight-year old girl.  Sort of.

    "Alright class, it's time to sit down!"  Mini-Hinako skipped into class,
chiding her students.  They all immediately shut their mouths as swiftly slid
into their seats, giving Ukyo some respite.  "Now what's all this..."  She
glanced towards Akane and Sayuri's empty seats and noticed the discoloration
on the floor.

    "B- Blood!"

    "Oh, yeah," remarked Ranma.  Sayuri cut herself and Akane got a bloody
nose, so them and Yuka went down to the nurse's station."

    His teacher merely stood there, staring in shock at the blood and holding
the back of her hand to her mouth.  There was a faint blue tinge to the color
of her face.

    "Miss Hinako?"

    He watched as her eyes rolled back and she passed out on the floor.

    "Miss Hinako?!?"

    "ALRIGHT!!" yelled Hiroshi.  "Free period!!!"

        *           *           *           *           *           *

    Yuka had one eye closed as the last of the gauze was put on the tip of
her finger.  Constant pressure and a little anesthetic had dulled the pain,
but not made it go away.  Akane was sitting next to her, looking worried.
Her own nose-bleed had long since passed.  As a martial-artist, she was
probably used to handling pain and stuff.

    "Sayuri, I'm REALLY sorry I startled you like that," she apologized for
the fifth time.  "I never meant for you to get hurt..."

    For the fifth time, Sayuri replied, "It's okay."

    They were silent a bit longer as the nurse applied adhesive tape to keep
the gauze firmly placed on her finger.

    "But you're barely saying anything to me.  And..."  Akane scooted closer
to Yuka, who reflexively scooted herself, maintaining a balance of distance.

    "...that.  It's like you're scared of me!"

    "I'm not scared of you..."

    "Yes she is," said Yuka.

    "Am NOT!  Ow!"  she pouted at the nurse, who was completely
expressionless.

    "I told you not to move," she said.  Wait, was that a smirk?!

    Sayuri shot her a dirty look, which was completely ignored, and re-
iterated, "I'm not scared of Akane."

    "Then maybe you're scared of your 'Darling'."

    Sayuri responded by blushing and looking away from Akane.  Akane looked
confused.

    Yuka pressed her attack.  "You really thought you were in love, didn't
you?"

    "Wh- What are you talking about?

    "And when you found out your love was really Akane..."

    Akane tilted her head in confusion, while Sayuri studied the paper-covered
table she was sitting on, trying to hide her blush.  After a few moments of
silence between the three of them, Sayuri finally spoke up.

    "When I heard that you were my-- That is, that you were the 'new martial
artist', I didn't know what to think.  I didn't want to be in love with a
girl, and even more, since that girl was you, Akane...  Well, I certainly
didn't want to make anything worse.  So I sort of walked away to give myself
some time to think

    "Even knowing that you were the boy, I couldn't really give up on him, so
I came back with the bucket to prove it to myself.  When I splashed you...
Well, for a few seconds I really hoped that you had been lying.  But then
you and Yuka explained everything to me, and I was even more embarrassed.  I
tried to cover it up with jokes; you know, the whole Kuno routine about
stealing my 'love', but it was... is... really weird looking at you and seeing
that boy.

    "Ever since Ranma came to town, it's like I can't find a good guy if I
wanted to.  They're perverts, obsessive, or dress like girls.  Sometimes I
think his gender problems are wearing off on everyone else.  I guess I'm just
afraid that it's going to rub off on me, too.  I mean, what if I started
liking girls?"  She chuckled uneasily.  "And when the 'boy' I fell for WAS a
girl..."

    Akane didn't know what to say.  Yuka slowly nodded to herself.

    Sayuri hung her head for a moment and finally took a deep breath.  "I'm
sorry for splashing you yesterday.  And if I made you uncomfortable gushing
over my 'Darling'."

    Akane patted her friend on the back.  "It's okay, Sayuri.  I understand
that these curses are really weird.  I'm just sorry that you got caught up
in mine." She started to blush, "And I'm really sorry about that 'Darling'
remark this morning.  I guess I should have thought about how that would make
you feel."

    "No, that's okay.  I just have to get over this crush thing."

    Yuka piped in, "I'll second that."

    Sayuri glared at her, but couldn't hide her grin for long.  Akane said,
"Tell you what.  I'll forget that you were smitten with me, and you can stop
worrying about it, too.  I don't hold it against you, and you shouldn't be
upset that your boyfriend was a girl friend.  Anyone could have made that
mistake.  Ranma's weirdness isn't rubbing off on you."

    "O- Okay.  Thanks."

    Akane grinned, "Don't mention it.  What are best friends for?"

    Sayuri smiled.

    Yuka smirked, "Now all we have to do is find you a REAL boyfriend, so we
don't have to put up with your crushes anymore."

    "No kidding," nodded Akane.

    "Guy-eeez!"

        *           *           *           *           *           *

    "No way, Hiroshi's a pervert!"

    "Yeah, but Daisuke's an even bigger pervert."

    "Really?  I though he was kind of, well, debonair."

    "He might act smooth, but he's the one that corrupted poor Hiroshi.  He
was really a nice guy until he fell in with that guy."

    "Really?"

    "Yeah.  Kind of sad, really."

    "Maybe he can be deprogrammed?"

    "I doubt it.  I've never heard of a way to remove perversion.  It just
sort of accumulates in guys.  They can't help it."

    "But if I listen to you two, that means there ARE no good boys for me
to date."

    "Maybe if you visited Tomobiki," suggested Akane.

    "BAD idea," answered Yuka.

    "'It's all Ranma's fault!'"

    Akane blinked.  "What?"

    "That's what that boy always says, right?  'It's all your fault, Ranma,'
or something like that.  I mean, think about it, before Ranma came, the boys
weren't such bad perverts..."

    "ExCUSE me?!?"  Akane boggled at how soon her friend had forgotten the
mass of male students she had to bludgeon her way through every morning.

    "...And he's even messing up the girls.  It's like we're all more violent
now."

    "Blame that on Happosai," noted Akane.

    "Or that dumb new martial arts requirement," added Yuka.

    "But what about Ukyo, huh?  She dresses like a boy.  And Akane, she's a
tomboy, too."

    Akane glared at her.

    "Well, you are," swallowed Sayuri.  "Well, in the past few months you've
been less of a tomboy, and then all of a sudden you turned into a guy.  It's
like his weird curse rubs off on all he girls he knows and makes them more
manly."  She shivered.

    "A tomboy effect," supplied Yuka.

    Akane's eyebrow twitched at the term.

    "Yeah!  That's great!  The Tomboy Effect."

    "Can't you guys think up a better name for it?"

    "Aw, you're just upset cause you're already caught up in it, Akane!"

    "Yeah, WE'RE the ones that have to worry about catching it."

    "From you!"  Yuka poked Akane, earning a grunt for a response.  Finally
having walked back from the nurse's station to the classroom, they hovered
outside the door, not really wanting to have to return to their education.

    Peering through the window in the rear door of the class, Sayuri suddenly
saw the man of her dreams in their classroom.  "Oh, my god, who is that hunk?"

    "What?"

    "Where?"

    "That new guy," she pointed.  "Yes!  There's a new boy!  Maybe I can get
him before he goes all perverted."

    "Sayuri, I thought you were trying to get over your crush problem."

    "I am!  It's not a crush!"

    "I think you're obsessing, dear."

    "It's not a crush, or some long distance thing!  I'm telling you this will
work out.  Look at him.  He's so.. dignified.  Refined!  He's a babe!"

    "How can you tell from this angle?" asked Akane.

    "You don't even know him."

    "But--"

    "And why is he sitting in Ukyo's seat?"

    "Huh?"

    Miss Hinako finally noticed the girls gossiping outside the door to her
class.  "You can come inside girls," she instructed.

    Akane nervously opened the door and bowed weakly.  "We're back from the
Nurse's, Miss Hinako."  The entire class turned around to watch the trio
enter, with a sort of dull curiosity.

    Yuka picked out one face in particular that was watching them, and noted
a large spatula stowed under the student's desk.  She had no doubt Sayuri was
doing the same.  "I think it IS Ukyo..."

    Sayuri fainted.

    In mid-bow, Akane saw her friend collapse.  "Uh..."

    "I think we're going to have to take her back to the infirmary, Miss
Hinako," noted Yuka.

    The small intructor at the head of the class just fumed.  "Try to make it
quick this time."  Akane lifted Sayuri onto her back and started back into the
hall.  "And next time, don't make so much noise when you come back!"

    Before returning to class, Ranma and Ukyo spared each other a puzzled
glance.

        *           *           *           *           *           *

    "Have you seen the cur named Akira Tsu?"

    "Can't say that I have, Kuno-baby."

    "Coward. He will see my wrath yet.  There is no escaping from the Blue
Thunder of Furinkan High!"

    "Kuno!  Stand in the hall!"

-------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------
 End Part  8    Next Time:  "Encyclopedia Jusenkyo: A Living Thesis"
-------------  ----------------------------------------------------------------



Handy C&C Form:

1)  What do you think of this and the last part as compared to the rest
    of the series?  Is there too much thinking and talking instead of
    action?

2)  Of all the Ranma characters, I understand Ukyo the least.  Do you
    feel I've done her justice?  Do you find what she did believable?