bet you were wondering about that (1), eh? It was one
of the markings I make for stuff to be later added in
my handspring. It's added now :p.

I softened Ukyo, but realized that Akane was acting
almost exactly as she would in the manga, IMHO. If she
would act differently, please tell me how, and maybe
I'll agree with you.

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.


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