Subject: [FFML] [Fic][Drama][Ranma/Futaba]Matchmaker, C.1 r.1 repost
From: Chad Hutchings
Date: 8/19/2002, 11:35 PM
To: ffml@anifics.com


I don't know why the formatting biffed. sorry about
that. It's formatted on my end and there are no extra
enters or anything.


The  Matchmaker, Chapter 1

I don't know when it finally hit me...I was living in
a school full of maniacs. I can't for the life of me
see why I never noticed before, but I sure as hell do
now. I'm Futaba Shimeru, Furinkan High School's `Star
of Wrestling' and a member of Freshman class A. I've
been studying Wrestling and various grappling
techniques for my entire life, and it's been normal.
My Mother has worked for the government. My Father has
stayed home, and my sister, well, Futana's Futana. 
Anyway, everything had been relatively calm until the
start of this year, when I finally learned why my
family was so weird.

It started right smack on the first day of my second
semester at Furinkan high. I managed to get to school
as I normally did-Vaulting the side wall in order to
avoid the brawls that went on out front-but this time
I managed to get run over by a girl with fiery red
hair and a pigtail just as I landed.
"Gomen ne!" The girl gave me a glance to make sure I
was okay then ran off, not even offering me a hand to
help me up.

"Pigtailed goddess!" Just as I was standing up, the
School's Kendo Captain, one Tatewaki Kuno, charged
straight into me and began propelling me directly
along the trail of the redheaded girl. Not wanting to
get caught up in this, I did what any sensible
wrestler would do.
I chokeslammed him.

When Kuno came to, I was long gone.

As I wandered in the direction of my classroom I
wondered who that pig-tailed girl was. There was so
much going on at Furinkan that I didn't pay attention
to. I wasn't exactly popular. I was too busy with
dealing with schoolwork to really care. Wrestling was
more fun than these weirdos anyway.

As slight poke on my shoulder jolted me from my
reverie. I turned my head to see a tall guy with
jet-black hair, sporting a pigtail similar to the one
that the redhead had.

"That was a nice move, man! Thanks for the save!" The
pigtailed guy ran off to a classroom across the
hallway from mine. Class D. So he was a a freshman as
well.

I walked into my classroom and managed to get seated
just as the bell rang.

"Oi, Futaba!" Hiroshi, a tall, lanky guy who had
transferred from Class D to my class at the start of
the semester, grabbed me on the shoulder. "Nice job
taking Kuno out today! You sure saved Ranma some
trouble."

"Who's Ranma?" I was dumbfounded-I hadn't done anybody
a favor recently.

"He's the one who you saved from Kuno today.

I shook my head and went back to my classwork.
"Whatever, Hiroshi."

Not more than five minutes later, he tugged on my
shoulder again. "Yo...check these out."

He tossed five pictures onto my desk that were of the
redheaded girl, nearly nude, washing her hair.

"What the hell are you doing, Hiroshi? I could get in
trou-"

"Shimeru Futaba!" A well-aimed eraser nailed me in the
back of the head. "Go stand in the hall!" The teacher
was repressing a smirk, I could tell by his voice.
"And take your pictures with you."

"But Sensei! They're not..."

"Go, Shimeru!"

I quickly gathered up the photos and stood in the
hall.

It was distressingly silent in the pristine,
immaculate halls of Furinkan high, so I got bored
quickly. Having nothing better to do, I began to look
at the photos.

Hey. I was only human.

As I began to look at the photos over and over
again...I began to get hot, and I began to feel sick.
I began to turn towards the door of the classroom to
ask my teacher if I could go to the nurse's office,
but that's when the blackness came.

***

"Where did you find her?" A clinical voice, borne
across the void of silence by my aching head,
beseeched the rest of the emptiness.

"She was just lying there in the hall, carrying
pictures of Ranma." This voice was male, deep, and not
sounding anything but full of himself. "I can't see
why, for the life of me."

"She's a looker, ain't she. `Dis Keiki gonna be on `da
schools best teams once we reach her parents. Why `dun
I see before, tho'?" The principal's obviously fake
Hawaiian accent was far from being music to my ears. I
had the luck of only having met the principal a few
times since coming to Furinkan. I thanked my stars
that they were concentrating on some girl, not me, and
opened my eyes one by one to let in the light.

"Look. She's coming to! Let's ask her!" I opened my
eyes in the direction of that voice, the clinical one
to see the school's nurse staring directly at me. "Are
you okay, dear? It looks like you overheated and fell
down in one of our hallways. Can I get you anything? A
glass of water, perhaps?"

"I'm fine. What about the girl in the other bed?" My
voice felt odd, but I made nothing of it. After all,
the nurse said I had just passed out.

"Der's no bed but dis one in da nurse's office, keiki.
Who are ya?" I turned to my right to see the
principal, adorned in hawaiian shirt and shorts as
usual, and a boy with long hair, glasses, and a
voluminous Chinese robe looking down on me.

"Then who were you talking about?" This was getting
confusing, and my headache was getting worse.

Just as the principal was about to speak again, a
tall, muscular boy with green hair barged into the
room. "Gomen ne, sensei! My sister isn't used to
public places. Gomen ne! I'll take her home now!"
Bowing all the while, the boy picked me up like I was
a doll, forcing me to wrap my arms around his neck,
and walked out the door of the nurse's office, still
bowing.

About this time i noticed that A: I was only wearing a
hospital gown, B: My hands felt much softer and
smaller than usual, and C: having my chest pressed up
to another guy was uncomfortable, but not entirely so.

"Please explain what...doing?" I found it hard to get
any breath out.

"You picked a hell of a time to grow up, cutie! Lucky
Dad's had tabs on you since you hit puberty."

"What are you talking bout?"

The boy stopped, then took a sharp turn into a girls'
bathroom. After one glance from him, all the girls who
were in there giggled and ran out as he set me down on
my feet in front of the mirror.

I wobbled a bit, and then regained my balance to come
face-to-face with a beautiful girl, same green hair as
the boy who stood behind me, grinning like a maniac,
and a body that could win wars.

"This is some joke, right?" I was getting more
confused by the moment.

"No Joke, Futaba-chan! Meet the new you!" As the boy
made a grand gesture of introduction behind me,
looking in the mirror, darkness chose to claim me
again.

***

When I regained my consciousness for the second time
that day, I was in my bed, and the slight
pitter-patter of raindrops tickled my ears, reminding
me that the world couldn't really be that upside down.
.
I quickly took a peek under the covers to discover
that I was stark naked, and that I was male. It must
have been a dream. I looked at my clock, expecting to
see it being just about to chime 7AM, but instead saw
that it was closer to 7PM. 

I sat up and looked to my door to see my sister,
Futana, leaning against the doorjamb.

"Rise and Shine, beautiful!" My sister casually walked
up to me and gave me a squeeze. "Ready for dinner?"

Something was up. Futana was being entirely too nice.

"What's the deal, Futana? You're being entirely too
nice." It usually paid to be blunt with my sister, as
being anything else tended to get one groped.

Futana made a moue. "I'm just happy to see that my
widdle brother has finally grown up! Can't I be happy
for you, Futaba-chan?"

"Just leave me alone, Futana." I gave my sister a
stern look, letting her know that I wanted some
privacy to get dressed now.

As I walked downstairs I smelled something odd...was
Mom cooking red beans with rice?

"What's with the special dinner?" I tried to act
casual as I walked into my family's spacious
living-room.

"I heard you achieved your heritage today, Futaba.
Congratulations!" My father was obviously hiding his
true elation at whatever had happened.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Dad." I had a
sinking feeling-was all of what had just happened a
dream?

My dad made doe eyes at me and grinned. "Oh, but I
think you do, Futaba! It's nothing to hide. It happens
to your sister and I too!" With that he flipped out a
small photo and showed it to me. It was a photo of the
redhead, this time completely nude.

"Your sister found these in your pockets when she
picked you up. These pictures must have been what
activated the change. I'll have to have them framed!"

"Da-ad! Where did you get th-" I lost my breath as I
got a good look at the picture. The redhead wasn't
just cute. She was gorgeous!..."

POP!

I suddenly felt distinctly odd.

My father let out an ecstatic laugh.

"So it is true, Futaba! We'll have to organize things
with the principal right away!" He held up a mirror to
show me the green-haired girl from my dream. I was the
green haired girl!

"She's so cute!" Futana walked up to me and gave me a
slightly less chaste hug then before.

"I can't believe this!" This couldn't have been true.
I was a normal guy! I had friends, looked at soft
porn, and avoided martial artists! Why was this
happening to me? I was getting truly angry now, and
there was nobody who could stop it.

"Calm down, Futaba-chan," dad tried to sooth me, but
to no avail. "You need to calm down or things will get
awkward."

"Why should I calm down!? Why didn't you tell me about
this before?" I picked up a jacket and cap and ran
outside, slamming the door on the way. The last thing
I wanted was to be subject to Futana's teasing. I
needed to be somewhere alone. Maybe the rain would
cool my temper.

***

As I walked through the streets of Nerima I eventually
came to unfamiliar territory, a park that I had never
been to.

Not having much else to do, with the rain doing its
level best to soak me to the bone, I came to the park
restroom and immediately came upon a quandary. There
were two sides to this. I could turn right and enter
the men's room, ignoring my physical form, or I could
take the left fork to the women's restroom. I was in
uncharted territory.

I couldn't see any other way. I was female at the
time, so I went into the left doorway, which became a
foundation for what is one of the most interesting
evenings I've ever had.

When I entered the restroom, not knowing what to
expect, I encountered something unusually....usual. It
was mostly the same as the Men's room, minus the
stand-up urinals and with a little bit of sill added
under the mirror. I slowly took off my jacket and
T-shirt, examining the body that was surely my own, as
odd as it seemed at the time. Not knowing anything
better to do, I knotted the bottom of the shirt,
confining my....my breasts uncomfortably, but making
me look otherwise quite boyish. I gathered my Jacket
tightly about me and stuffed as much of my hair as
possible into the cap before going out into the world
once again, looking somewhat like a boy, albeit a
bishounen, but looking like a boy who was not me. I
hadn't been able to consider that the girl in the
mirror was me, and not just some insane curse. 

When the rain once again began to assail me I noticed
that it did not seem as bad as before now that I was
bundled up. Maybe I would be able to sort out my
chaotic thoughts. With this optimism in my mind, I
began to wander the streets once again in search of
inner Nerima and a way back home to sort out what
exactly was going to happen.

Suddenly, a scream interrupted my thoughts.

"Why do you always have to do that, you stupid macho
tomboy!? I was just trying to keep the pig from-"

"He's just an animal, Ranma! It's just like you to be
jealous of a little pig!"

"That's it! I'm outta here! I don't have to take this
shi-" I heard the sound of knuckle hitting flesh, and
a body landed on top of me. I barely managed to drop
to my knees to absorb the weight of the fall, and was
surprised to find that the red-headed girl from
earlier that day had fallen quite literally into my
lap.

"Are you okay?" I asked, trying to artificially deepen
my voice so that I still looked male. The redhead
could only manage a slight moan that sounded something
like 'tomboy.'

Not knowing what else to do, I began to search for
shelter from the rain, for the girl must have had some
kind of concussion and being in this cold, though it
didn't bother me all that much, surely was a strain on
her.

Eventually, I came to a bridge near a river that
looked as if it had a slight enclosure under it that
could fit the two of us, albeit cozily. Seeing no
better place, I quickly carried her in and made sure
that she was out of the now-pouring rain.

The minute I myself leaned back against the
hard-cement 'wall' of the enclosure, which felt more
like a cave at that time, I was asleep. My emotional
exhaustion from that day had finally overtaken me.

***

I woke up to the sound of my alarm and immediately
hopped out of bed, slamming the button on the
small-raucous buzzer that notified me of the fact that
it was time for school. I threw my uniform on and ran
out the door, not giving my dad more than a nod, and
charged all the way to Furinkan without getting
breakfast. Just as I was about to make it through the
gate the principal appeared in front of me.

"Oh! Dis' a kawaii Keiki! Will'ye bein' goin' out with
da ol' principal now?" I didn't have time to stop, as
the bell was about to ring so I quickly dodged to the
side and dashed the rest of the way to my room without
further exchange.

The teacher took role as normal, but then stared me
directly down past his glasses when I answered.

"Is this some type of joke, miss? Because I do not
find it funny. Please report to your classroom now."
By now all eyes were upon me. That's when I realized
that I wasn't me. I was the green haired girl, and I
did not like the look in those boys' eyes. Gradually,
one by one, they each got out of their chairs and came
towards me, hunger in there eyes, all except one, who
turned away from me, showing only the back of his
head, sporting a pig-tail. Eventually, my view was
blacked out by the rest of the boys, lustful and
grinning with the act they were about to commit.

***

 I awoke screaming in an unfamiliar bed. It was not my
home and it smelled decidedly of pancakes. Not
entirely unpleasant, really. As surveyed the room in
which I sat, which was not much larger than my room,
though the bed was nearly double the size of my own, a
pretty girl knocked softly on the mostly-ajar door.

"You gave us a fright there, sugar. Ran-chan didn't
know what to think of you and he wasn't about to bring
you back to the Tendo place, what with Akane and all,
so he brought ya to Konatsu and me." She softly shut
the door behind her and walked towards me
purposefully. Once she was within range she tore off
my cap and grinned triumphantly. "I knew it! You're a
girl!" She must have seen my chagrin at her
realization, as she immediately sobered up. "I'm
sorry, hun. Believe it or not I know how you feel.
Ranchan thought you were unusually light but he's to
shy to check, and I wasn't about to let Konatsu near
you. I love him but he's a lecher if I let him be,"
she said as she winked slyly. 

I snatched my cap back from her, not ready to give her
trust, and gave her as icy of a glare as I could
manage as I tucked my hair back under the cap. "Where
am I and who are you? Where's that girl that fell on
me?" The girl seemed to be making some mental
connections of her own as I said that. "That
girl....oh...She's downstairs. I think we have some
explaining to do but first you two should talk. I'm
going to call her up here, if that's okay, because
you're not in any condition to be moving around.
You've got a nasty fever." I tried to sit up and
realized that she was right. I had no strength left.

As she walked for the door she made one final glance
back at me and said "By the way...I'm Ukyo. Nice to
meet you." With that she smiled and called out the
door. "Ranchan! Maybe you two should talk!" I heard a
clutter of footsteps as somebody came up some stairs,
and then I saw the redheaded girl shyly slink into the
door, looking quite abashed.

"I'm really sorry you had to get involved in that
before. Akane's not usually that violent, really."

I couldn't understand why she was defending that guy!

"What are you talking about? He punched you over a
wall! how can you not be mad at him! That's abuse!" I
clutched the blankets that I sat under as the
girl-Ranchan, Ukyo called her-pulled a chair up to the
bed and looked at me sheepishly.

"Believe me, it's a helluva lot more complicated than
it looks. You'd best just go home as soon as you're
able to get up. It's almost 3 AM right now and your
parents are propably worried sick, kid." Who was she
calling kid? She couldn't have been more than a few
months older than I was! No way I was letting her
loose with a comment like that!

"I'm fifteen, you know," I said, glaring at the girl.
"I'm perfectly able to take care of myself, and my
parents have no business with me right now. They're
the last people I want to talk to!" I regretted it the
moment I said it, and it was plain that the redhead
knew.

"Never say that in my presence," she said quietly.
"You try having a damn father who believes that
everything down to your dignity, down to your life and
your manhood is worth giving up for becoming a better
martial artist. You try having a mother who might
force you to commit seppuku if you mess up! You've got
it easier than you know, kid." This was pissing me
off. This girl was making no sense and she was still
calling me kid! I tried to sit up but managed only to
roll over and fall out of bed, dislodging my cap and
jacket.

In hindsight, I wish I had a picture of the look on
the girl's face at that time, for it was certainly
priceless.

"You're...a girl?"

I looked defiantly up at her from the floor.
"Yeah...so...you have a problem with that?"

Despite my tone she broke into a grin. "I think I owe
you an apology. I had assumed because of your high
voice and the way you were trying to mask it that you
were a young boy. I see. You can't be more than a few
months far from my own age! I never thought to take a
real good look at you." I relaxed a bit as the girl
knelt over me a bit and offered me a hand, helping me
back into bed. "Well hi. I'm Ranma Saotome."

"The Ranma Saotome who was getting chased by Kuno this
morning?" I was a little dumbfounded. 

"Yeah. What of it? How do you know about that?" She
was suddenly on guard. 

"Nothing...I just thought you were a guy." Again,
Ranma gave me a guarded look.

"How? You weren't there this morning." I was about to
open my mouth and correct him in his ungratefulness at
my help, but then realized that I was the 'other' me.

I shrugged noncommittally and gave myself a little
hug, just making sure that I was still all there. My
heart was going rabbit-pace. I did not want to be
found out.

Ranma didn't seem to want to give up the line of
questioning, though, it seemed. "What's your name,
anyway?"

"Futaba Shimeru" I rolled over and faced the window,
which was about when I noticed the clock that stood on
the sill. "Gods....you're right. I hadn't registered
before. I should call home. Is there a phone here?"
Ranma nodded with satisfaction and handed me a
cordless phone, which I immediately used to dial
Futana's pager. A few seconds later the phone rang,
and I picked it up to hear Futana's voice. "Are you
done running all over Nerima now, baby-girl, or do we
get to play hide n' seek for a few more hours?"

"Just shut up and come get me, sis. I'm barely able to
get out of this bed I'm running such a high fever. Can
you get over yourself for a few minutes and give me a
lift home?" I quickly qeuried Ranma as to the address
and gave directions to Futana. In a matter of minutes,
the green-haired boy from before showed up, winking
slyly at Ukyo, her feminine boyfriend, and Ranma on
her way upstairs, and eliciting a glare from Ranma by
the way he sauntered around. Without so much as a word
he slung me over his shoulder and bowed to Ranma. "I'm
terribly sorry for my baby sister, miss. She's really
not very good with people. Allow me to give you my
phone number and offer you a date, courtesy of me, in
consolation.

He managed to get out of the house and me into his car
while only being pelted by a few fish cakes.

As I sedately buckled in and he started the car he
gave me a hurt look, which I was almost to dazed to
notice. 

"You scared us, Futaba-chan. You scared us a lot.
You'd better be pretty damn careful from this point
on, and hope Dad doesn't ground you for life.

"Excuse me....Who are you!?" I managed to be
surprised, despite my exhaustion. 

The guy gave me an amused look and concentrated on the
road for a minute. Then, with not more than a loud
'pop,' the guy was gone and Futana was there. The
previous day was finally making sense. Futana gave me
a knowing look, and the closest I'd ever seen from her
to a caring smile, and then concentrated on the road
completely. There was no more conversation until we
got all the way home. Futana got out of the car and
came around, helping me out and allowing me to use her
shoulder as a sort of crutch. As we entered our home,
our dad was there at the door, looking into my eyes
sadly. 

"I'm sorry about this, Futaba-chan. I thought that
making this a joyous occasion would make it easier on
you, as well. I was wrong. can you forgive me?" I was
able only to nod dumbly, as exhaustion from the fever
began to overtake me. "I'll simply trust that you
learned what you needed to know tonight, and that
hopefully, you've come to terms with what we are.
Don't forget that Futana and I are here for you, and
remember that the easiest way of living like this is
by learning to enjoy it. Rest well, my son, my
daughter. Tomorrow is a new day." I registered what I
could of his speech, and crawled upstairs and into by
bed with Futana's help. Dad was right. I had to make
the best of this. But now, I had to sleep.

***

I awoke the next morning feeling very little of the
distress and unreality that had plagued me the evening
before. I knew that last night was not a dream, and I
was, for some reason, happy that way. Sparing no time,
I got dressed in my school uniform and ran downstairs
two at a time only to encounter Futana and Dad,
already eating breakfast.

"'morning, Sunshine," Futana said around a mouthful of
pancakes, as dad gave me an appraising glance.

I nodded my greetings to Futana and returned Dad's
glance. He was plotting something.
After a hearty breakfast I began to head out the door
to head for school, but was stopped by a strong hand
on my shoulder.

"I'm going to come with you today, Son. Principal Kuno
is the same principal as when Futana was at your
school, so he knows how to make your life a whole lot
easier with the adjustments you need to make. I'll
drive you so we can sort this all out." There seemed
to be a hint of pride in his voice, but I must have
had my head too far in the clouds to notice, thinking
of how I could possibly cope with this and still have
'a life.'

***

We sat in the principal's office, which was
unsurprisingly adorned with pictures of principal
Kuno, in Hawaiian garb, in photos that were so
obviously doctored that it was a wonder that the man
wasn't blind.

"I've been expecting you, Mr. Shimeru. I had figured
that you'd make this visit yesterday." All trace of
accent was gone from the principal's voice, giving me
a glance through the madness that gave the Furinkan
student body reason to fear him and see that there was
truly intelligence in that tree-topped skull. That
caused enough surprise in me as is, but it was nothing
compared to what he told me next.

"All of the secret passages are in place, Futaba-san,
and all of the changing rooms between the girls' and
boys' bathrooms are fully renovated for your sake. In
return I ask very little of you. I want you to join
Furinkan's Kenpo team. I just managed to get Ranma
Saotome to offer to coach it with some...'academic
coaxing,' and, having seen your wrestling skills I'd
like to see if maybe Furinkan can have two martial
stars."

"But why me?" I barely managed to gasp out a reply.
This was becoming too shocking.

"Before Ranma Saotome, your older sister was the best
martial artist I'd ever seen-" This was too much, so
the change set in right on cue, eliciting a grin from
the principal. "And we need a girl to be Ranma's
counterpart for the skating and gymnastics
tournaments. As much as I love teasing him about his
girl form, and he still hasn't caught on about that,
he's all male. You have no such inhibition."

"She'll do it." My father gave me a supportive glance
and put his arm around my shoulder, "but in return you
extend full privileges to Futaba because of
her...condition, meaning she has essentially unlimited
tardies, cumulative grades between her 'two selves'
and an unlimited hall pass, and you transfer her to
class A."

The principal nodded grimly. "In anything will prepare
him for our tournaments, that will. I agree, Mr.
Shimeru," the principal's sunglasses caught the sun,
"and not it be bein' time for 'dis keiki to get her
new school uniform and bein' introduced to her
classmates." 

I got up sheepishly and glanced at my father, who
nodded and handed me a bag. "Good luck, Futaba-chan."
He gave me a pat on the shoulder and left the room
after that, nodding at the principal as he left. As
his back was turned I saw something that I had never
seen in the principal's eyes before.

Respect.

***

As I walked up to the student store the principal
patted my bag. "You'll be wantin' to put those on,
Keiki. The girls at Furinkan no bein' in the boxers
all day. Noticing my blush he cackled evilly and
pranced off, searching for truants to whom he could
give toilet-duty.

I walked up to the counter at the store, trying to act
casual, and bowed deferentially to the woman working
there.

"Hi, miss," I said while staring at my feet, finding
my tennis shoes very interesting. "I need to buy
some...umm..."

The woman tapped the top of my head, and, at the sight
of my confused glance, nodded understandingly.

"This, miss?" She held up a pair of the gym shorts
that girls always wore in P.E and a shirt to match. I
nodded dumbly, not wanting to give myself away.

"Well...that will be five hundred yen."

I shuffled my feet uncomfortably, looking at the back
shelves of the store sheepishly.

"Is there more, miss?"

I nodded shyly.

She looked behind her and grabbed two seifuku that
looked as if they would be about my size, but I wasn't
done yet.

Half an hour, dozens of incoherent mumblings, and
two-thousand yen later I had a week's worth of school
clothing and was blushing so deeply it looked as if I
was badly sunburnt.

The last step, though, was the hardest. I sneakily
tiptoed into the girls bathroom, trying to make sure
that nobody was there, and got a shriek as a result.

"Eeek! Pervert!" A girl ran out of the stall nearest
to me brandishing a mallet and nearly brained me with
it. she would have, had another not charged in between
the two of us to stop her mallet in its path before it
met its termination on my forehead.

"Yuka! Can't you see she's terrified!?" The second
one, a short-haired girl with pretty green eyes winked
at me. "Hi! I'm Sayuri. Are you new here? You can't be
much more than a freshman and I've never seen you
around..."

The long-haired one, Yuka, stashed her mallet and
looked appraisingly at me. "Why are you wearing a
boy's uniform, anyway?"

i twiddled my thumbs and said exactly what dad had
rehearsed with me in the car on the way to school. "I
didn't have any other clothing and I'm so...so
confused..." I rolled out a crocodile tear and both
girls shrugged. 

"Well, we can try and help you if you like," Yuka said
shyly. "What class are you in?"

"Freshman Class A. I'm a new transfer student," I
sniffled a bit to complete the wistful image and
dragged my bag into the now-vacant stall and began to
disrobe, making sure that my boxers didn't drop on the
floor and into Yuka and Sayuri's sight.

"Really?" Yuka's voice brightened considerably. "It
happens that we're in that class too!"

What luck! I managed to find two people from my new
class this soon. I put the white cotton panties that
were in my bag on with no trouble at all, but had to
puzzle over the sports bra for a bit.

"Yeah. It's just lucky the principal put us on toilet
duty, I guess," Sayuri made a 'bleah' sound with
distaste. I made a mental note to thank the principal
next time I spoke to him in private.

Finally I managed to slip the seifuku on and re-open
the stall door. Both girls instantly gave me
appraising looks and each, obviously coming to her own
conclusions, smiled.

I quickly zipped up my duffle bag and smiled cheerily
at the two of them. "Well? Lead the way!"

***

The teacher stood up and glared at me immediately when
i entered Freshman classroom A. I was propably as
surprised as she was, as she couldn't have been more
than twelve years old.

"Well, class. This must be the new student I've been
briefed on," The girl's glare turned into a smile as
she visibly showed recognition of memory when Sayuri
and Yuka waled in behind me. "She'll be spending some
time with us this semester, and is entirely new to
Furinkan. Please welcome Futaba-chan Shimeru!"

There were a few bored claps and a few interested
stares as I glanced around the room, most notably the
one from the tall pigtailed boy in back, and, once she
saw his expression, the scowling short-haired girl
next to him. I noticed with relief, despite the
stares, that Ukyo was in this classroom as well.

Realizing that I had a pregnant silence, I attempted
to reconcile. 

"O-ha-yo!" I managed propably the most cheerful three
syllables I had ever spouted out. "I'm Futaba and I
hope to have a lot of fun here at Furinkan! I'll be
joining the Kenpo team so you're all sure to see me
around, so don't hesitate to say 'hi!'"

This turned the pigtailed boy's glare into a nervous
look and only deepened the short-haired girl's scowl.
The teacher quickly pointed me to an empty seat and
resumed her lesson.

"So, class! What have we learned from Shakespeare's
Othello?"

The pigtailed boy's hand shot up immediately. 

The teacher looked slightly afraid, but pointed at him
and nodded. "Go ahead, Ranma."

It was my turn to shoot a glare at him. Ranma had been
the red-haired girl from last night! That couldn't be!
Two people with the same name, maybe? 

before I had a change to complete the thought my glare
was intercepted by the short-haired girl and returned
tenfold, with a dose of raw hatred on the side. She
had something against me and I had no idea what.

Ranma, oblivious to this, answered the teacher's
question. "Well, Miss Hinako! I'd say that Othello was
horrified in the end of what Iago, the one who he
thought to be a friend, had turned out to be!" This
guy was a dunce? Wasn't he able to really read
Shakespeare? I shot my hand up as quickly as I could
and fairly bounced in my seat, earning an approving
smile from the diminutive teacher.

"I completely disagree with Ranma's analysis,
Hinako-sensei. He's only looking it on the level of
the outer battle. What caused Othello so much pain was
not at what he found the beast Iago's true colors too
be, but at what he in himself, for the beast was not
in what Iago was, but what Iago created." This earned
confused looks from about half the class, facefaults
from another quarter, and interested glances from miss
Hinako, Ranma, Ukyo, and the short-haired girl.

Miss Hinako put her book down and walked towards me
purposefully. As I began to slouch down in my desk she
took my hand and pumped it eagerly. "Bravo,
Futaba-chan. I'm sure we'll be great friends. Welcome
to my class."

***

After my outburst at Ranma's remark the entire class
seemed to be much more casual, students chatting and
even a few boys passing notes to me asking if I might
want to go out and two Chinese students, one
familiar-looking boy with long hair and glasses, and a
girl with a very....loud outfit walking in and sitting
down at the back of class. It seemed that they were
new transfer students, much to Ranma's chagrin.
All-in-all, It was a good day until lunch.

I was sitting casually, eating some pasta-bread in the
small clearing in between a bush and the main
building, just out of plain view of the sports field,
where I always ate by myself when a tap came on my
shoulder. It was the pigtailed boy, but his approach
was so silent it scared me.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Futaba. You've
opened my eyes twice today. I just hope you can manage
to keep your head above the water." He flashed me an
easy grin.

I gave him a silent stare and did my solid best not to
return his grin, though it took effort. "Why are you
treating me like a friend and what relation are you to
Ranma Saotome? Is the fact that the two of you have
the same given name just a coincidence?" 

The boy stared at me for a moment as if I had grown a
third arm and then let out a hearty laugh. "I think I
owe you an apology and an explanation, Futaba-chan. If
you give me a moment I'll be glad to clear this up."
He immediately sat in seiza right in front of me as I
grew more confused by the moment, and then looked
squarely into my eyes.

"Now, if you would, would you please splash your cup
of water right in my face."

Now it was my turn to give him an odd look. "You want
me to what?"

"Splash it in my face!" I was growing more aggravated
by the moment at this jerk, and he was asking for it,
so I was only too happy to comply.

The result was a moment that I will never forget until
the end of my days, for within instants of the water
touching him, the boy was no longer a him, as he had
become the scarlet-haired girl who I had met the night
before, wearing a look of extreme embarrassment.

"Perhaps we should re-introduce ourselves. I'm Ranma
Saotome. sorry 'bout this."

***

We talked for most of the rest of lunch, he explaining
how he had contracted this curse on a training trip to
China and me listening and nodding. I decided that he
was someone with whom I could get along, but also knew
I was not ready to tell anybody what I was. Luckily,
the short-haired girl absolved me of the trouble of
having to tell him anything at that time.

"So, pop and I went to the fair to cool down, and
that's where I caught the fishes using the very
technique that the old hag had taught-oopmh!" A brick
hit the boy squarely in the forehead, causing me to
jump back a few feet and crouch into a defensive
huddle. His assailant quickly made herself evident by
running up and attempting to hit him over the head in
the same place where the now-shattered brick had hit.

"There you are! You lecher!" The girl was yelling at
Ranma as if he was a wayward dog who had just eaten
her homework. "Do I have to tie you to a tree to keep
you from being a pervert!?" She barely paid any
attention to my hand holding hers back until I gave it
a shake.

By that time I as so incensed that I had to keep my
voice in a low growl in order to not let my anger at
this girl consume me. "You'd better have a reason for
having done that. He hasn't done anything to hurt
you." The girl looked at me as if I was pond scum,
making it all the much harder to contain my anger.
"Ranma's my fiancee, ditz. He shouldn't be messing
around with other girls." 

Strangely enough, two days earlier I wouldn't have
even considered hitting a girl. Only intervention by a
strange boy with long hair and glasses saved her from
what would have been a broken nose. As is, I heard the
distinct creak of bone in his hand as he caught my
punch.

"Settle down, Shimeru. This is neither the time nor
the place. Akane, you come with me, now." Without
waiting for her consent the boy hopped off, Akane
kicking and flailing under his right arm, negating to
give so much as a backward glance at Ranma. When I
turned back to Ranma he was staring apologetically,
but not in the direction that Akane was carried off
in. He was looking at me.

"I'm truly sorry about that, but hitting Akane is the
worst thing you could have tried to do. She's one of
those people who becomes your enemy for life, or your
best friend. She's never in between."

I looked into Ranma's eyes, noticing how deep and
beautiful they were. "And which are you, to her?"

He simply shrugged.

"Why are you affianced to her, Ranma?" The directness
of my question caught him off guard.

"I-I....our fathers arranged it and I didn't-"

"Then why do you stay with her, if it's this way? Why
don't you tell your father to go to hell and leave
her? do you love her?"

Ranma began to nod, but then halted. I confirmed my
own thoughts as he shook his head, slowly but
resolutely from side to side, his eyes glazing as he
did. Something inside me reached out to him and I
gathered him in my arms. He pulled away but looked
longingly at me, nonetheless. "I tried to be what I
could to her, really did, but it always ended up with
us fighting and her hitting me with something blunt. I
just never worked out for us. She's just so..."

I hushed him and reached out to him again, my head
telling me how inherently wrong what I was doing was
and my heart telling my head to shut the hell up,
because he needed this.

"It's okay Ran....chan." I risked using the honorific
that Ukyo had used the other night, hoping that it
would cheer him up. "Look. Lunch's almost over so we
had to go to phys ed now. You get to try end teach me
Kenpo! Don't concentrate on her for a while, Ignore
your medieval parents and enjoy yourself!"

His gaze brightened enough for me to steal the spot
and stuff a sweet chestnut into his mouth. "An
opening!" Somehow, that managed to break all tension,
and we both ended up laughing on the way to our next
classes.

***

I honestly couldn't see how girls could stand wearing
bloomers outside. They were so small! I may as well
have been in my underwear, and the leers from the boys
who sat on the grass at the sides of the field made it
plain that they were thinking exactly the same thing.

I shrugged as I ran up to meet Ranma and the rest of
the Furinkan Kendo team. Ranma looked to be in a much
better mood, but he had not changed his clothes. Maybe
he wasn't up for practicing today.

I was surprised when Ranma motioned closer to me and
nodded affirmatively to the rest of the class.

"Okay. Today you are all going to learn how to fall.
Any of you who have already taken a  competitive sport
such as wrestling or football should know this, and
those of you who don't know this will benefit greatly
from it. Futaba-chan, let's have you come up first.

I stepped up to Ranma and folded back into a mirror of
the stance he was going into. 

"Now, Futaba, good stance, I'm going to throw you." It
still caught me off guard when he did exactly what he
said he was going to do, but I managed to do a
half-somersault and land on my feet, barely.

The class applaused as Ranma nodded to me. "Now, guys,
what did you notice from Futaba's landing?"

The group of students was dead silent, much to my
amusement.

"Okay. I'll tell you. Futaba kicked upwards, not
downwards as I sent her hurtling through the air. Not
only did this bring her feet, which she made the
heaviest part of her body, down by doing so, but she
softened the landing that she would have had if she
had kicked downwards. Futaba, I would suggest tucking
your arms in next time too."

I nodded and Ranma continued on. At the end of the
hour I was exhausted, but I had thoroughly enjoyed
myself.

***

In the locker room, as I was getting changed, a hand
tapped on my shoulder again, but this time I knew who
it was. I closed my locker and gave a questioning look
to Akane, who was standing sheepishly behind me.

"I think I owe you an apology, Futaba-chan. I have to
admit that when I saw you and Ranma there I assumed
the worst, and that when you stopped me from hitting
him, despite how wrong I was to do so, I was even
angrier, because nobody stands up to me, much less
him. Er...do you need a hand with that?" She began to
laugh good-naturedly as I fumbled with the bra I was
trying to get on.

It was my turn to look sheepish now, but at least I
was beginning to see what Ranma could have seen in
Akane past the violence. "I'm sorry. I'm just not used
to wearing these things." 

Akane gave me a critical look and laughed nervously.
"I see that."

I must have blushed down to my knees as akane quickly
slipped behind me and helped me attach the bra.

"There," she said. "I'm sorry about earlier today.
let's be friends"

Akane began to run off, but, as I was getting my
uniform on, I stopped her.

"Akane, why are you like that with Ranma?"

"Honestly...I don't particularly like him."

"Then why are you so protective of him....sort of?"

Akane had to stop and think about this for a moment.
She was obviously a good deal more experienced at the
clothing thing than I was, as she was already dressed.
Finally, reluctantly, she spoke...

"I guess it's because I've never had much of a good
relationship with any boys, excluding one, and I'm not
about to be stood up by one. Does that make any
sense?"

I nodded dumbly, and this seemed to satisfy her.

"So, Futaba-chan Shimeru. What's your next class?"

"Er..." I paused to look at my schedule. "The
principal put me in home-ec."

She practically bounced with delight. "Great! I'm in
that class too!"

I toed the ground reluctantly. "...but I can't
cook..."

Akane shrugged. "You're propably a good deal better
than I am. Just relax and have fun."

Home-ec passed quickly as I grew to like Akane more
and more, though I knew, with that temper of hers,
that I could never see her as more than a friend. She
was right about one thing, though. I was a much better
cook than she. I noticed a number of broken ovens with
her name and moderately large amounts of Yen written
on labels on their fronts.

***

By the time I got home, I was exhausted, so the lst
thing I expected was to meet Futana-kun at my front
door, holding a pair of tight jeans and a black
T-shirt.

"Put these on, Futaba-chan. We're going shopping," He
said with a glint in his eye. "After all, you can't
wear my sports bra forever, or that other little
pretty I gave you! These things are expensive and it's
time for you to buy your own."

Futana tossed the clothing to me, which I quickly
sprinted into my room to put on and, finding the shirt
to be a few sizes to small, walked back downstairs in
only jeans and the bra that I put on after gym.

"Um, Futana....this shirt is way too small."

"Relax, sis. It's the style now. Everybody loves the
midriff!" I gave her a withering look but put the
shirt on.

That being done, we walked out the door and got into
Futana's car, heading for downtown Nerima to buy
clothing.

Chapter 1, End.

Well..this is the rough draft of The Matchmaker,
chapter 1, and I'm sure you found it to be very
different from Memoirs and Zhenmaoh (which is on hold)
to say the least.

Please E-mail comments and Criticisms to
Inu_Ranma@yahoo.com

Thank you!

Inu.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs
http://www.hotjobs.com

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'