The Choices series is a concept put together by myself and Composer
(composervivi@yahoo.com), written with the idea of putting a new spin on
overused fanfic cliches. The new spin is this: Rather than whatever
calamity it is befalling the character accidentally, against his/her
will, or by simply leaping before they look, in these series, the
characters so afflicted will *consider* the possibility, actually try to
think it through, before blindly diving in headfirst.
So be warned: Old, tired fanfic cliches ahead. But you might like the
story anyway.
Disclaimer
Ranma 1/2 and the characters and situations within were created
by Rumiko Takahashi, and are owned by Shonen Sunday, Kitty, Viz,
et al ad nauseum. They are *not* mine. Please don't sue me.
Tail Kinker Presents
Choices I:
Planned Brotherhood
-1-
Cologne stared down at the letter in her hands, a look of com-
plete disbelief in her eyes. She'd had this message for almost
three hours, and she still could not quite comprehend its import.
It was impossible. It was inconcievable.
Actually, it was rather expected, and she wondered what had taken
them so long.
The bell over the Nekohanten door rang, and Ranma stepped in.
"Hey, Granny. I heard you wanted to talk to me?"
Cologne looked up from table. "Yes, Ranma. Please, sit down."
Ranma's eyebrow raised. "'Ranma'? Not 'Son-in-law'?"
"We have serious things to discuss. Now is not the time for ver-
bal fencing."
Ranma shrugged, and sat. "All right. Elder."
Cologne chuckled. "No need to overdo it." She made a final mark
in the ledger book, snapped it shut, then slid the various bills
and receipts - and that one other document - to the side. "Now,
as to why I called you here: I have a choice to offer you. I
have procured a means to cure your curse."
Ranma raised a hand. "Whoa. If the cost is me marryin' Shampoo,
you should know--"
"Yes, I know; you have finally admitted your love to Akane. All
it took was a mountain splitting and the death of a God."
He shrugged. "Well, sometimes, things need a bit of a push, you
know?"
"Indeed." Cologne grinned, then set a small flask on the table.
"Know what this is?"
"Uhh..." Ranma frowned. "My first guess is that it'd be water
from Nannichuan, but..."
"But?"
"But that's too obvious. You wouldn't have asked if that's what
it was."
"And they say you're stupid." She chuckled. "You are right,
Ranma. It is not water from the Spring of Drowned Man. Such
would be worthless, even dangerous, to you."
"Why? Wouldn't that cure the curse?"
Cologne shook her head. "No, I'm afraid that there is no simple
cure for the curse. Using Nannichuan water would put you in a
worse position than you are now. Remember Taro?"
"Yeah, he jumped into a second spring and..." Ranma's eyes
widened. "You mean I'd become--" A shudder. "Man, I'm real
glad that the Japanese Nannichuan was shut down."
"Actually, the irony is, that would've worked. Completely dif-
ferent magic."
"Nuts."
"What is in this bottle, is water from the Spring of Drowned
Twins."
Ranma leaned forward, and studied the bottle. "Isn't that the
stuff that Taro had? Though he thought it was something else."
"Yes. Normally, a person who has been exposed to this water
will, when the curse is triggered, fission into two identical
twins. The fissioning is very painful." She chuckled. "I know
of one Amazon woman, who has had three children, and is cursed
with this water. She has said, on several occasions, that she'd
rather give birth to all three children, at their current ages,
than undergo one more fissioning."
"Ouch." Ranma paused. "How old are her kids?"
"The youngest is seventeen."
"Ouch again."
"Yes." She chuckled. "And since it is still a Jushenkyou curse,
the hot water/cold water rules still apply. As does the tendency
to be...how do you put it again?"
"A water magnet?"
"That's it."
"Hold on, I just thoughta something." Ranma frowned. "Since the
curses combine, wouldn't this mean that a cursed person who used
this water would fission into their normal form and their cursed
form?"
"Very good, Ranma."
"This ain't no cure!" Ranma stood up. "This just makes things
way worse!"
"Not really." Cologne dropped another item on the table, a long-
handled silver ladle. "Do you recognize this?"
Ranma dropped back into his seat, a look of dread on his face.
"The Chiisuiton."
"Yes. Now, can you put the pieces together?"
Ranma frowned, and thought. "The Chiisuiton would lock my curse.
And that stuff--" His eyes widened. "So you use the Spring of
Drowned Twins to split my curse, then lock it! I'd be a man for-
ever!"
"Yes." Cologne smiled, and waited for the other shoe to fall.
It didn't take long. Ranma's brow creased. "But there'd be this
other me, a girl, trapped in a female body forever." Then he
brightened. "No, she wouldn't! She could just jump in Nan-
nichuan--"
Cologne rapped him across the forehead with the Chiisuiton.
"Wrong. And you were doing so well, too."
"Oh, right. We'd still be cursed, and then we'd both end up
dickgirls or something." Ranma sighed. "Well, it seems like a
good idea. Why are you offering me these?"
Cologne rolled her eyes. "You still haven't thought it through.
Yes, there would be this 'other you' running around, a girl in
all ways. Tell me, who would this girl be?"
"It'd be me, of course."
Cologne decided to give him five seconds. It only took three.
"Wait a minute...that means it'd be me, stuck as a girl forever.
Me."
Cologne nodded. "Yes, Ranma. Use this combination, and you
would indeed be a man forever. But you would also be a woman
forever."
* * * * *
"I'm home!"
Akane stepped out of her shoes, pulled on her slippers, and
looked around the front hall.
"Kasumi? Nabiki?"
She walked into the family room, and noted the shogi board, un-
used. She stuck her head into the kitchen. Nobody.
"Father? Ranma?"
Still no answer. She shrugged. Well, it meant that she had the
house to herself for once. Probably they were out somewhere--
Wait. She glanced out towards the pond, and saw Ranma sitting by
the pond. He was in girl form at the moment, sitting with his
back towards her. He was rocking back and forth, muttering some-
thing she couldn't make out. And he was practically radiating
confusion.
She walked up behind him, until she could make out what he was
saying.
"...can't do that to her, even if she is me. But it's my only
chance..." She let out a heavy sigh. "I wish I had someone to
talk to about this."
"Will I do?"
He jumped, high enough to land straight on his feet. Akane gig-
gled.
"Jeez, Akane. What the heck are ya tryin' ta do? Give me a
heart attack?"
"I'm sorry. I didn't actually mean to startle you."
"Ah, it's okay." He waved it off.
"So what's wrong?"
"Oh." The redhead plopped back down next to the pond. Akane sat
next to him, smoothing her skirt beneath her as she did.
"I just got back from visitin' the old ghoul. She says she's got
some things that could cure my curse. But there's a catch."
"With her, there always is."
"Yeah, but this one's a doozy. See, the trick is that she's got
some water that will split my curse. Make a boy Ranma and a girl
Ranma. Then she can lock it so we never change."
Akane considered this. "That would work, wouldn't it? Except
for the girl you still being around."
"Yeah, that's what's eatin' me." Ranma picked up a pebble and
tossed it helplessly into the pool. "'Cause it's real important
to remember that that girl...would still be me."
"I kinda figured that out, Ranma. I'm not stupid, you know."
"I know. But I don't think you really get it yet." Ranma shud-
dered. "That girl would be me, in every way. But a girl, forev-
er."
Akane nodded. "I think I see."
"So I got a chance to be a boy forever, but part of the price is
that I also will be a girl forever."
"But it won't be you, it'll be--" Akane paused. "It'll be you.
I understand. From that girl's point of view, she will
be...you."
"Yeah."
"What's the other part of the price?"
"Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse have been kicked out of the Ama-
zons." Ranma chuckled. "Cologne says they're gonna try starting
an Amazon tribe right here in Nerima."
"Well, they'll fit right in. Everything else wierd happens
here."
"Or Juuban." Ranma nodded. "The other half of the price is that
I have to join 'em."
Akane scowled. "You are not going to marry Shampoo."
"No!" He raised his hands in self-defense. "Nothin' like that!
It'd be my girl self joinin', as an Amazon warrior."
"Oh." The thunderclouds receded. "Well, would that be so bad?"
"Naw, that's the easy part." Ranma sighed. "What I have to
think about is, is the first part of it worth the cure?"
Akane gazed at her fiance with sudden respect. "I'm really im-
pressed, Ranma...you actually stopped to think about the conse-
quences of your actions."
"Don't praise me too much, Akane...Cologne told me she wouldn't
give me the cure unless I could prove that I'd really thought
about it."
"Figures." Akane chuckled. "Knew it was too good to be true."
"Tomboy."
"Pervert."
"Heh." A gleam came into the girl's eyes. "If I take the cure,
then I could show you a real pervert."
"NO!" Akane jumped to her feet, laughing. "Don't even think
about that, Ranma!"
"What's wrong?" He jumped up as well. "Thought you loved me,
even when I'm a girl?"
Akane gave him a shove, and he fell back into the pond. Since he
was already female, this did nothing other than cause him to
sputter. Akane knelt, and offered a hand.
"So why were you in girl form?"
Ranma took her hand, and she pulled him out of the pond. He
looked away from her, absently wringing the water out of his silk
shirt.
"I needed to think about bein' a girl. And I figured I couldn't
think about it unless I was one."
"Okay..." Akane shrugged. "What have you thought about?"
"Well, the worst part is that the me that is a girl will be real-
ly pissed with the me that is a boy. And no matter which one I
end up as--" He paused. "But that doesn't really matter, does
it. I will be both." He shook his head. "Man, this is a tough
one."
"Very mind-boggling, yes." Akane smiled. "Wonder why we're tak-
ing it so calmly?"
"Because after all the looniness that's come along in the last
year, this bit is almost sensible?"
"Might be."
"Akane, I think I'm gonna do this. It's probably the hardest
thing I've ever decided, but I'm gonna do this." He looked up,
and she was startled to see tears in his eyes. "But I need you
to promise me something."
"What?"
"When I'm a...girl, I need you to give me all the support you
can, okay? Make sure I don't fall apart. Because once this..."
He held out his arms, indicating his currently female state.
"Once this is my only form, no more man-among-men, forever...I
don't know what's gonna happen to me."
Akane nodded. "I understand."
* * * * *
"I've thought about it."
Cologne looked from Ranma, currently in his female form, to
Akane, standing protectively close to him. "I do believe you
have."
"You wanted proof I'd thought, right? I--"
She waved him off. "You brought Akane with you. Obviously, you
had the common sense to talk to her about it. No further proof
is needed." She hopped off her chair and walked back to the
kitchen.
When she returned, she bore the flask and the ladle. "Akane, the
substance in this bottle is very dangerous. I recommend you
stand as far away as you can get. Under no curcumstances are you
to touch Ranma until we are complete."
"I understand." She walked back to the door, and turned to face
the two.
Cologne raised the bottle. "This is your last chance, Ranma."
"I know." Ranma knelt before the old woman. "Go ahead."
Cologne carefully uncorked the flask, and poured it over Ranma's
head.
And Ranma screamed. It was the most heart-rending cry imagin-
able, the sound of utter agony. And suddenly, it was two
screams, identical save in pitch. Akane's eyes widened, as she
saw his clothing begin to strain at the seams.
"Ranma!" She started to leap forward--
"NO!" Cologne raised a hand, and Akane stopped, mid-lunge. "Id-
iot girl! If you touch him now, you will suffer the same fate!"
Ranma's clothes gave way, tearing with an unpleasant sound, and
two forms sprawled away from them. One, her tall, handsome fi-
ance, the other, the petite girl with whom she'd arrived. Both
lay naked on the floor, the ruined clothes between them. The
screams had stopped; both Ranmas were unconscious.
Cologne raised the ladle, and splashed the twins with the con-
tents. "It is now safe to approach. I have locked the curse."
She shook her head. "Too well I remember this transformation.
Three seconds of unbearable agony." She sighed.
Akane looked up in surprise. "You--?"
"No. My granddaughter." Cologne looked saddened. "I would have
given a great deal to have the Chiisuiton in my possession thirty
years ago. I could have done for her what I did for Ranma."
The male Ranma was stirring, mumbling something under his breath.
Cologne turned, grabbing two bundles of cloth, and handed Akane
one of Mousse's white robes. "Here. He will want this, and
quickly, when he comes to." The second item was a two-piece Chi-
nese suit, similar to the one Ranma had been wearing moments ago,
but in green silk. "And this one, one of Shampoo's, for..." She
frowned. "...for Ranma."
"Ranko."
"Hm?"
The girl on the floor opened her eyes. "I'm gonna need a new
name, to go with the new me. I used the name Ranko before, when
I was hidin' from my Mom." She sniffed, and slowly sat up. "I
can't be Ranma anymore, can I?"
Akane stared at the girl, then ran forward and knelt before her.
"No, I guess you can't." She smiled at the girl. "But you can
be Ranko. I'm Akane. Wanna be friends?"
Ranko smiled a bit. "Akane, I'm still--"
"I know. But those were the first words I ever said to you."
"...I guess." She looked down at herself. "Guess I should cover
up, eh?"
"Still no feminine modesty?"
"Why would I need..." Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes, and
she lunged forward, hugging Akane to her. "Why...feminine mod-
esty?" She managed a chuckle, though it sounded as much like a
sob. "Just us...girls here."
She glanced over at the still-unconscious Ranma, a look of long-
ing on her face. "It's strange...I thought I'd really resent
him, because he's still a boy. It was what I was most afraid
of." She smiled a bit. "But I'm not."
"Why not, Ranko?"
"Because I chose this."
* * * * *
Ranma stole a glance at the two girls walking beside him. One,
he felt he knew reasonably well; the other, he felt he didn't
know at all.
Which was odd, considering that that one...was him.
His former girl form was clutching Akane's arm like it was a
lifeline. She'd always been small, but in Shampoo's green silk
suit, made for a somewhat larger girl, she seemed even more re-
duced. That, plus the fact that she was cringing.
He turned his gaze to Akane. His fiancee had an arm around the
smaller girl, and occasionally murmured something reassuring.
Perhaps she felt his gaze on her; she looked up at him, and
flashed him a sad smile.
He sighed, and looked ahead. He could see the gates of the Tendo
compound; the sooner he could get the girls through the gate,
the better she'd feel--
He mentally cursed. Ranko, he told himself. She's not just some
girl, she's not your cursed form, she's Ranko. And right now,
she's in her own personal hell.
He was disturbed at a very deep level; To him, the girl was
still him. He couldn't look over at her without a sudden lurch
in his stomach.
They walked through the gates, walked into the house, and Ranma
was struck with a sudden sense of panic.
I never told Mom or Dad about this...
But long before he could even consider a way to break the news to
them, it was too late.
"Ranma?" Nodoka had come around the corner from the family room,
and spotted Ranko, still clutched tightly to Akane's arm. "What
happened to you? And why are you dressed like--" She stopped as
she caught sight of him, and her hand flew to her mouth.
"Ranma...?" She looked back to Ranko, then to Ranma again. "Oh,
my..."
Ranko had gone white as a sheet. Ranma winced; he knew exactly
what must be going through her mind.
Oh, no, it's katana time...
He cleared his throat. "Mom, I've got good news, and bad news."
He sighed. "The good news is that my curse is cured. The bad
news..." He waved a hand towards Ranko.
The girl bit her lip, her eyes pleading.
Nodoka looked at the girl, and then back to Ranma. "The cure
split you in two?"
"Yeah." He sighed. "And I know you're real disappointed in me,
but--"
"Disappointed?" Nodoka shook her head. "Bad news? I can't be-
lieve you'd think that my having my Ranko back is bad news!"
Ranko's eyes welled with tears. She flew to her mother, wrapping
her arms around the taller woman. Nodoka laughed, and ran her
hand along the girl's hair.
"...Yeah, Ranko's back." Ranma grinned weakly.
"I was so scared!"
Nodoka looked down at her 'daughter'. "Why would you be scared?"
"Because I chose to do this."
Nodoka took a step back. "What do you mean?"
* * * * *
"...And it was only as we walked into the house that I realized
that you might not be too happy with this."
Nodoka sighed. "Have I seemed that terrible to you, dear?"
"Well...it was mostly what Pop had to say."
"That would explain that." Nodoka smiled. "Let me put your
fears to rest.
"In the first place, I want you to know that I am very proud of
you."
Ranko blinked. "Proud?"
"Why, of course! You were faced with a difficult choice, and you
chose a path that must have terrified you." Nodoka shook her
head. "I can only imagine the strain it put you under. To know
that you'd be a woman for the rest of your life..."
Ranma spoke up. "To be honest, Mom, I have to say, I also knew
that I'd be a man for the rest of my life. Kinda coloured my
judgement."
Nodoka turned to her son. "Yes, Ranma, but you did remember the
other side." She beamed. "And you were brave enough to face it
like a man."
"Oh." Ranma looked very relieved.
"Second, while I am certainly not thrilled that you failed to
mention it to me, I am pleased that you at least discussed it
with your fiancee before making the choice.
Nodoka turned back to her new daughter. "And, dear, I am so hap-
py that you're back! We can have lots of fun, like we used to,
cooking and shopping..."
"Yay." Ranko's voice was flat. Nodoka laughed.
"Oh, I know. You never really enjoyed such things. I'm afraid
I'll have to resign myself to your being a bit of a tomboy."
Akane snickered.
Ranko glared daggers at her.
* * * * *
C&C can be sent to tailkinker@contrabandent.com; flames will be laughed
off. Composer's input on this part was light; please don't use him too
hard. :)