Chapter Text
Shirokuro tightened the straps on the backpack. Ryoga made a whining noise and drooped his tail.
“Oh, don’t be such a baby, I know that didn’t hurt you at all. Now, off to school with you.”
Ryoga whined again and sat down obstinately.
“Don’t give me that. You have no excuse not to go to school. You don’t want me to tell mom you wouldn’t go, do you?”
Ryoga gave her a furry glare.
“Don’t think I won’t, Ryoga. Go to school.”
Grumpily he got up on his four legs and walked slowly to the door. Once there, he looked back at her and whined in a different tone.
Her expression softened. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Remember, trust your nose to find your way. If you feel like you’re getting off track, close your eyes and concentrate on the smell again.”
Ryoga nodded sadly.
Shirokuro popped into her dog form and trotted over next to her brother. She licked his face, which he tried to back away from, but she was relentless, not ceasing the attack until his barks sounded like laughter.
Ryoga bumped his head against Shirokuro’s shoulder as a goodbye, then stepped out of the door.
The trip through town went surprisingly smoothly. He didn’t attract nearly as much attention as he thought he would. Compared to some of the things that could be seen in Nerima on a regular basis, a dog with a backpack didn’t register as even mildly unusual.
Once he reached the Tendo dojo, Ryoga marched through the gate and trotted up to the front door, where he barked sharply.
Kasumi opened the door. “Good morning, Ryoga-kun! Akane and Ranma aren’t quite ready yet. I’ve put a dish of cold water on the bathroom floor, if you’d like to change.”
Ryoga gave a softer bark of acknowledgement before making his way into the bathroom. After a minute, the human Ryoga, now wearing a school uniform, stepped into the hall “Thanks, Kasumi!” he said, retracing his steps to the front.
“You’re walking the wrong way, Ryoga-kun. Please stop and turn around.”
He froze, then turned around and walked in the correct direction. “Sorry. I can’t smell as well as a human.”
Ranma popped his head out of the kitchen. “I think you smell just as bad in both forms if you ask me.”
“Ranma!” yelled Ryoga and Akane simultaneously.
“Honestly, he can be so rude,” said Akane, before looking at Ryoga and smiling. “Good morning, Ryoga.”
“H-hi, Akane. Um, thank you for taking me to school with you.”
Her smile dropped slightly. “Don’t thank me quite yet. There’s something I need to talk to you about first.” She took hold of his wrist and pulled the now-apprehensive boy outside. “So, in the last couple of days I realized something. When I first saw your dog form, I remember realizing that your bandana was wrapped around his neck--your neck--like a collar. I remember thinking that maybe the dog was yours, until I found out it was you. But I remembered something else recently. I remember seeing that same bandana around another animal’s neck.”
Ryoga felt his face turn bright red. “It… it wasn’t… I’m not…”
She looked at him with an earnest expression. “I’m going to ask you a simple, direct question. Were you P-chan?”
The more she looked at him, the more Ryoga felt paralyzed with fear. But given what she now knew and suspected, there was only one answer he could give. Despite the fear knotting his stomach, he nodded his head affirmatively. “Yeah.”
Akane sighed in relief. “That’s good to hear.”
“Good?” he almost whispered.
“Good. It’d be a lot harder to forgive you if you lied about it at this point.”
A wave of relief hit him. “Then… you’re forgiving me?”
“Of course. As long as you feel sorry about it.”
“Yes! Very sorry! It was wrong of me!”
“And you promise never to do anything like that again.”
“Absolutely! I’ll never try to make someone think I’m a pet.”
“Happy to hear it.” Akane smiled. “Then I forgive you.”
“Akane…” Ryoga felt an almost hysterical relief.
“That is, I will forgive you.” Somehow she seemed to be holding a huge wooden mallet. “Right after this!” With an upward swing she sent the part-time dog flying.
“Huh,” Ranma remarked, coming out of the house, watching Ryoga arc through the sky. “You do realize that since he’s a human right now, he’s going to be totally lost, right?”
Akane gave Ranma a scary smile. “Not if he has someone to guide him.” With another swing of the mallet, Ranma followed Ryoga’s trajectory.
“Oh my,” Kasumi held a hand to her mouth. “I hope they don’t get hurt.”
“I think they’ll be fine. They’re both basically indestructible, especially Ryoga. And if my aim was correct, there’s a good chance they’ll have a giant panda as a landing cushion.”