Just something I started to give me a little rest from NNFADSH...

Not much to it, yet, but I thought I'd post it, anyhow, incase someone has something interesting to say about the idea...

#############

Psychodichotomy

	One hypothesis for the cause of multiple personality disorder 
is that a child who has a difficult upbringing and creates imaginary 
friends to deal with the trauma of his or her early life has those 
imaginary characters so firmly imprinted upon their cerebrum that 
they take on a life of their own.

	Ranma Saotome's childhood was most definitely traumatic, but he 
never had time for imaginary friends. That he never broke down, or 
give up on life was just short of a miracle, but the emotional damage 
was done, non the less. It was just very well hidden. Bottled up, if 
you like. Many people have said many times that one should not 
'bottle up' one's emotions, because they will eventually explode out, 
doing much more harm than good.

	Ranma may not have had any imaginary friends when he was 
younger, but after visiting the legendary cursed training grounds of 
Jusenkyo, he gained the next best thing. That and a crack in his 
bottle - a fatal flaw in his psychic armour, so to speak.


"Boy, you should be ashamed of your self! You're acting like a girl!"
"Why shouldn't I? In case you haven't noticed, I AM a girl!"

				----====####====----

	"Say... is that a panda?"

	"That /is/ a panda, isn't it?"

	The general hustle and bustle of the city road had come to a 
halt. It wasn't every day that a panda bear ran loose on the street, 
after all. Especially not one who seemed to be ignoring every one and 
everything, except for a slightly damp looking girl. And /especially/ 
not one who seemed to be well versed in karate, or some other sort of 
open handed martial art.

	The girl in question stood several meters away from the soggy 
animal. Her Chinese clothes hung loosely from her body, as if a few 
sizes too large, as she balanced in an unusual stance. Her red tinted 
pigtail jumped and fluttered in the slight breeze.

	"Your move," she said to the panda, her expression stern.

	The response was swift and aggressive. The panda charged in and 
let loose barrage of clawed punches. But the girl was faster and more 
agile, ducking and dodging the attacks. Though apparently hard 
pressed in her defence, she was simply waiting for the best 
opportunity to strike back. In the meantime she was still able to 
speak between each missed blow.

	"Well I still say... this whole thing sucks!" An opening showed 
itself, and she grappled onto the animal's bulky arm. "Picking 
Ranma's fianc�e for him..." She shifter her weight on her feet and 
took advantage of the momentum of the bear's attack to throw the 
creature over her shoulder. "...without even asking!" The bear 
slammed upside down into a sign post, bending the steel tube flat to 
the ground and snapping it from its foundations.

	The small crowd that had gathered around the scene collectively 
gasped. A young girl beating up a huge panda bear handed!? And 
shouting something about engagements? It was all very strange, and 
for those not inclined towards the ways of combat it was somewhat 
frightening, too.

	The pigtailed girl stood over the fallen body of the animal, 
huffing and panting. Her body seemed to be straining with the effort 
of holding back her the anger that was evident on her face. It was 
clear that her breathlessness was from her efforts of self control, 
rather than from the fighting. It wasn't clear, though, whether the 
droplets of water on her face were leftover raindrops from the 
earlier shower, or tears.

	A short moment of silence and stillness passed, though it seem 
longer for those involved, or observing. The upset girl seemed to 
calm down then, recovering from the fury and adrenaline of unwelcome 
news.

	"What about me, eh, old man?" she asked, addressing the 
apparently unconscious panda, still a trace of bitterness in her 
voice. "What happen to me, if Ranma marries? I can't marry a girl! 
And I'm they sure she won't wont wanna marry him with me about." She 
looked thoughtful for a moment, and then began to gather her dropped 
belongings. "But I guess me 'n' Ranma 'aint got nowhere else to go."

	With her bulky pack over her right shoulder and her oversized 
shoes hung from her left hand, she gave the rousing panda a kick in 
the rump. "Come on pop. Lead the way."

	The panda rose from his slumped lying position to his hind 
quarters. He eyed the girl closely and suspiciously. It seemed the 
creature had been expecting something... but not this.

	There was a subtle change in his expression and several of the 
onlookers could have sworn they could see the gears of the animals 
mind turning in it's eyes as it regarded the sincere looking girl. 
When the sums were all added up and the result was presented with a 
metaphoric 'ching', his expression changed again. Those who saw it 
felt the urge to cower in fear. Fortunately, or perhaps not, the red 
haired girl was not amongst their numbers.

	Standing upright on it hinds legs, much like a human, the panda 
collected a second backpack and began to head down the street. The 
girl was following, be he made sure that she was in sight at all 
times... just in case.

	With the drama now over, the bulk of the crowd began to move 
on, though most began to talk amongst themselves about the strange 
happening. Some of those who had not been present earlier commented 
on the panda and stared at the two travellers. A couple of angry 
growls from the furry animal quickly put and end to that, sending the 
mutterers scattering... and also earning him chastisement from his 
human companion.

	Ranma should be back in China, looking for a cure, shouldn't 
she? Not wasting time with stupid fiancees, right? Then why hadn't 
she taken the opportunity to leave when she'd had her idiot father on 
the floor? Why was she so reluctant to actually do anything about the 
curse, except for show? And why was she pretending that the curse had 
turned her into a different person?

	That last question rolled around in her mind, and it made her 
feel a little uneasy. She couldn't even remember why, or when, she 
had started doing it, but it made sense, didn't it? That damned 
spring had turned her into a girl, albeit on a temporary basis, so 
when she was a she, why shouldn't she act like a girl? Or at least as 
much like a girl as she wanted - she wasn't going to suddenly become 
weak and pathetic, or go around kissing boys or 'nothin.

	What she found disturbing, though, was how natural it had felt 
to behave differently, and how easy it had become to pretend she was 
two separate people, cursed to share the same body and soul. It was 
nagging at the back of her mind and, though she was loath to actually 
do it, she felt she had to make camp, sit down and think about it. 
Just think about herself, who she was, what she wanted... and why.

	The Tendo Dojo seemed like a good place to camp, so to speak, 
and it would be nice to have a little company, other than her father. 
The whole engagement thing had been out of the blue, though, and it 
was infuriating that pop thought he could just do that to her. She 
wasn't interested in girls like that at the moment. And neither was 
Ranma...

	Damn it, she was doing it again. It was one thing to pretend 
you were a separate person, but when you started thinking about 
yourself as a separate person... it was... just plain weird.

	Ranma, or Ranko as she had named herself in this form, sighed 
at the confusion she felt. Before Jusenkyo, everything had been so 
clear cut - do what father says; live life for the art; protect the 
weak, etcetera. But now... now what? Everything had changed, and the 
old rules didn't work anymore.


	The two travellers finally reached the Tendo dojo. Genma slid 
open the exterior door and walked across the threshold onto the 
compound. Ranko followed after a moments hesitation.

	The faint sound of conversation could be heard from inside the 
building proper. It ended with a barely audible "We have visitors!" 
after Genma knocked on the front door of the house. It opened shortly 
after to reveal a moustachioed man in a dark gi, and a short haired 
teenage girl.

	"Saotome, my friend! We've been... waiting... ?" the man 
started excitedly, but his enthusiasm dropped of as he realised that 
there was in fact a giant panda at the door, and not his old friend. 
The girl stepped backwards, fear and confusion colouring her face. An 
older and younger girl arrived behind the first two in the hallway, 
the elder of the two stepping forward to the man's flank.

	"Daddy... this... is your friend!?" she asked, not looking too 
pleased at the situation.

	The man, obviously the father of the three girls, shook his 
head vigorously. He expression also reflected unhappiness at the lack 
of one old friend, and the presence of an unwelcome animal. The 
youngest girl just looked on, bemused.

	"Oh, so this panda just decided to visit!" the first girl said 
sarcastically, "Happens all the time!"

	Genma, lacking credibility and the ability to explain easily, 
shoved his son-turned-daughter forward into the threshold. Ranma 
looked up at the man - Soun Tendo, she assumed from what she had been 
told. He return the gaze, his expression shouting out 'you'd better 
have a good explanation for this!'.

	"You... wouldn't be..." Soun hesitantly started to ask, 
gesturing to the girl in front of him. Ranma sheepishly looked away 
and fiddled with her pigtail.

	"Uh... sort of... I'm technically Ranma Saotome," she said 
after debating with herself over what exactly to say. "Sorry 'bout 
this."

	"At last!" Tendo enthused, his earlier misgivings forgotten, 
"You've come!"

	"What d'you mean by 'technically'?" the shorter haired daughter 
asked, picking up on the nuances of what had been said. She held off 
her comments about how cute the boy looked - there was obviously 
something amiss here, and such trivial observations could wait until 
later. She barely managed to get out her question before her father 
glomped onto the girl he thought to be a boy.

	The misunderstanding didn't last long. With Ranma pressed 
firmly against his chest, Soun very quickly came to the same 
conclusion as Nabiki - there was something amiss. Holding Ranma out 
at arm's length, the thing that was 'amiss' was more clearly visible. 
The 'boy' had breasts. 'He' was a 'she'.

	"I'd prefer it if you call me Ranko..." she got out after 
regaining the ability to breath.

	The Tendo girls - apart from the youngest, who had walked off, 
apparently uninterested in the newcomer - looked at the Saotome girl, 
shocked and confused, but  curious. And also jumping to conclusions.

	Poking one of the visitor's breasts with a finger, just to make 
sure, the short haired girl made her observation. "Wow. For a 
transsexual, you're pretty convincing! And kinda cute..."

	Ranma blanched and blurted out a hasty denial, "You-don't-
understand!-It's-not-like-that-I'm-a-real-girl!-One-hundred-percent-
genuine-female!"

	"Of course you are!" the other patronised, patting Ranma on the 
head.

	"Well I think that's sweet!" the elder daughter commented with 
an innocent smile.

	Ranma clawed her hands and rolled her eyes back, head tilted 
upward to the ceiling. This was not part of the plan! Oh well... 
she'd just have to explain about the curse later on. But how to do 
that without actually revealing the curse? Clerical error on her 
birth certificate? Long lost sister? Well, she'd think of something, 
but they'd probably found out about the curse eventually anyway, so 
it would be best if whatever explanation she gave was no more than a 
simplified run-down of the curse. And what was a transsexual, anyway?


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