Chapter Text
Ranma was frustrated.
Looking from the window of the coffee shop, she took a sip and sighed a little.She didn't want to show it on her face, but still her furrowed brows refused to cooperate. It only indicates that her situation is serious and needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.
She looked at the still crowded streets of Nerima late at night, the few stores illuminated by the city lights were still operating, and people were still strolling around, completely immersed in their duties or spending their free time as they wished. Ranma spotted a pair - a man and a woman - walking by while holding hands and laughing together. The girl was wearing a frilly white dress exactly the same as Ranma. They were both girls with only distinction being the color of their hair.
Then why can't I be what I am back home? She thought tensing up.
Today should be one of the best days of her life. By luck she was finally able to wake up from this strange dream of being a boy all her life. She was really happy at that moment, finally able to breathe freely and not think about these brutish martial arts things but to take care of their home and think about her future. The only problem was that she seemed to be the only one that was happy.
Father, Uncle Tendo, Ms. Akane… they all looked worried and uncertain at Ranma, like she was strange or was doing something wrong, but she was fine, so why would they look like that? She didn’t know that until Uncle Tendo poured hot water on her head. She then realized that she didn’t really wake up and she still was very much living a nightmare.
She shuddered at the thought. She still remembered this overwhelming feeling of wrongness when she transformed. Her shoulders were too broad, chest too wide, arms too thick, hips too narrow. IIt was her other body that she felt revulsion for. It was her body and all of them preferred her that way. It was sickening.
There was something good in this, though. The exact moment she realized her other half wasn’t just her imagination she suddenly attained vast knowledge about it. She knew all she needed to know about the Jusenkyo curse and how to use it.
“I didn’t want to use it, but I guess I don’t have a choice now” she whispered to herself, looking at her reflection in the coffee surface. She really hopes that they will come around eventually but the desperation in their eyes and their frantic actions make things clear for Ranma, even though she really wanted to be nice to them. They still wanted him back.
There were a lot of ways to lock the curse. It didn’t really matter though since most of them require some sort of artifact or a certain celestial or natural phenomenon to occur and it was out of the question now. Her opinions at that moment were really limited and in truth she really didn’t want to use them. She knew she would hate herself if she would do that but looking back, she knew that she hated the idea of getting back to being him even more.
She sat there for a few more minutes thinking about her life and what it would bring if she did what she thought she should do. A different scenario was playing before her eyes, all of them different but one thing was constant. She would be free of him and she was sure it was worth it. And so she made the decision. She only hoped that it wouldn’t be as painful as she thought it would be.
Ranma felt pain. He was in pain and was underwater, that’s all he was aware of at that moment. It was only a moment, though.
“What would you do that for, you jerk?!” he yelled after getting out of the water.The last thing he remembered was Akane almost hitting him with a pan. He went down into the pond and after that… nothing. Did I pass out underwater? It’s dark… How long was I unconscious?
“Huh?” said Akane, holding a wooden sword. Wait, a wooden sword?
Suddenly his head was in pain once again and he felt shivers down his spine. He certainly didn’t wear enough clothes at that moment.
“Now, I’m gonna catch a cold,” he complained, massaging the back of his head.
“Ranma?” she asked again with a hint of surprise in her voice.
SLAP
What did I do?!
“That hurt! What’re you doin’?” Ranma asked Akane, who still looked at him with hope in her eyes.
“Ranma, you’re back!”
Back from where? he wanted to ask, still very much confused and in pain.
“Dad! Kasumi! Mister Saotome!” she yelled running in the direction of a Tendo Dojo, leaving Ranma with a headache and lots of questions
“Ranma! There you are, boy!” His pops yelled looking happier than this one time he found 1000 yen on the ground.
“Good work, Akane!” added Mister Tendo, also looking extremely happy.
Ranma was stunned and could only look and blink at them and their strangely happy faces of Akane, his dad, Mister Tendo and Kasumi who somehow also got here. Were they happy that he didn’t drown? Did something happen when he was out? He didn’t know but was more and more confused.
“What’re you all lookin’ at?” He asked after staring at them for a few seconds.
Finally his dad comes closer and suddenly grabs him by the shirt and slaps him hard in the face.
What’s with this slapping my face, you bastards?!
“What;s that for, you stupid old man?!” he said, punching him hard in the face. Why must his pops always be this stupid and irritating? Why can’t he just be normal and ask him is he alright? That’s what normal parents do, right?
“That’s our heir to Anything-Goes Martial Arts!” his pops cried with relief, tears running down his cheeks.
“Ranma seems to be back to normal,” said Mister Tendo with a smile.
“Isn’t this wonderful, Akane?” added Kasumi looking at her sister.
“Yes, I’m glad that Ranma got back to being… well, Ranma.” she replied with relief. Ranma didn’t know what’s happening. He knew he was in his usual clothes but now he was wearing white top and shorts, he felt strangely spent and in addition to a distinct headache, he felt a dull ache in his arms and legs, different from that caused by training, he was sure of that.
Just what the hell happened? he thought, looking wide eyed at all of them.
“Your father is overjoyed! It’s such a relief that you’re back to normal!” yelled his pops, slapping him once again. Ranma, still trying to piece together his situation, didn't react in time and was sent flying back to the pond once again feeling a flash of pain and seeing darkness.
Ranma woke up feeling sluggish and with a still present - but much lesser - headache. The memory of almost all people living in the Tendo Household was still fresh in his mind. He was really tired of getting hit from left and right without reason, his aching body a proof of that. Ranma finally decided to move, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he forced himself upright, brushing aside a few curls of red hair. It looks like they didn’t turn him into a guy after he passed out again and he was grateful for that. He knew that Genma would yell at him for that but he felt much more comfortable waking up as a girl. His body was smaller and lighter, so he needed much less energy to get up.
Despite not really knowing what the time was, Ranma realized that awoken without his father in the room. He counted this as a blessing, he could stand up and go to the bathroom without someone constantly contesting his masculinity or fighting for priority to leave the room saying it's training or some other crap that didn’t make much sense.
When Ranma finally stood up, the door to the guest room suddenly opened showing Kasumi, a large basket with laundry in one of her hands.
“Good Morning, Ranma-kun,” she said, smiling with relief. “I see that you finally wake up, how do you feel?”
Looking at her, Ranma felt a strong sense of deja vu. Like he did something with Kasumi but he quickly dismissed the idea. Kasumi was doing most of the chores around the house and his pops wouldn’t be happy seeing his “men among men” son doing chores that “women should do”. Ranma suddenly felt a rush of irritation thinking about all these comments flying around whenever he would do something not involving Arts, smashing things or whatever.
Ranma actually felt a little bit jealous about the older girl. Sure he knew that he was one of the best martial artists in the world, he was fighting for honor and to protect the weakest but all of that almost always involved harm and destruction. Kasumi on the other hand was taking care of everyone living in the Tendo Household, always cleaning or doing something delicious in the kitchen making Ranma sometimes feel the itch to go and ask if he would be able to help with anything. He would really like to make something instead of always breaking stuff.
The look of worry on Kasumi’s face every time he and his father would break something around the house always makes Ranma feel bad. Of course it would be Nabiki who would take care of the repairs but she would do so with a tired sigh and a phone in her hands. It would be Kasumi who would take care of the rubbles and all that.
“Hi, Kasumi,” he said, walking towards the eldest from the Tendo Sisters. “Fine I guess. My head still hurts a bit though.”
“You need to be more careful, Ranma” she said, looking at him. “And try to protect your head a little more, ok? We're all worried.”
“It's not my fault that Akane’s thinkin’ that my head is a moving target.” he grumbled. Kasumi looked at him with a troubled expression, somehow making him guilty for talking back to her. He still does that though. Nothing good would happen if he suddenly started acting soft in this house.
Ranma brows frown a little bit, why would he feel guilty about talking like that about Akane. It’s her fault that she has anger issues, not him, right?
“You know how she is. Just be careful, ok?”
“Fine, Kasumi, I’ll try” he said, trying to not look her in the eyes. He hated to lie and he couldn’t really make that promise but he didn’t want to worry her even more.
“Thank you” she said with a gentle smile. “Breakfast will be ready soon, there is still hot water in the furo if you want.”
“Thank you, Kasumi!” he said with a smile and finally without interruption she could go into the bathroom. She took her bag of toiletries and a towel and was free to go.
After sliding the sign on the door to ‘Occupied’ Ranma undressed. When he was done something back inside his head urged him to get a careful look at himself in the mirror.
He actually knew he was cute. His female body with her fiery red hair, sweet face and great curves was to die for and he took advantage of that numerous times even if deep down he thought that it was a little shameful. He would continue to do so, but over the months it took him to deal with his curse, he began to take care of his female body and slowly began to take care of his appearance while being self conscious about it and how it must appear to other people.
Unbeknown to Ranma, his eyes were moving slowly appreciating his body with a smile, he felt really lucky that he was blessed with such a great body. It wasn’t anything wrong with his male body of course.
“What’s that?” he said to himself. He ran his hands over his breasts, high and firm and very large for his currently quite small stature, his whole body was really well toned, not as muscular as the male one but he really preferred it that way. He wouldn’t feel good as a mountain of muscles with tits.
Looking closely at himself, there were numerous deep red spots on his body. It looked like some small thing hit him real hard to the point of bruising but they all almost completely faded by now. He wouldn’t be able to notice it if he didn’t decide to take a bath, all of them were in places hidden under his clothes. It was really strange.
“Well, whatever it was it’s almost completely faded so I guess it doesn’t matter” he muttered. “But better keep this from pops, he would once again call me soft or whatnot…”
Ranma finally slid into the hot water with a relieved sigh, all of the numb pain washing away as he gradually submerge into the water. One thing he didn't talk about was how much colder his female form was compared to his male one, like most things he tried not to talk about was because of his father. Ranma could already see Genma deciding that if he can whine about being cold he could do some cold resistance training. He much prefers to keep quiet and just soak in the heat until it warms him all the way to his core, melting away most of his problems.
And sure, his pain and initial tension actually disappeared, but there was one thing that stuck, making Ranma really anxious. He wasn't changing back. He waited for a familiar tingle that would spread quickly all over his body but there were none. From his experience it usually took less than half a minute at the furo's to trigger the transformation but he was soaking here for a few minutes now and nothing.
Ranma felt a cold chill go up his spine, that kind of cold feeling that wouldn’t go away even in the furo. He got out and cranked the controls of the furo’s temperature as high as he could, praying that the change would come and just waited for a miracle.
By the time that furo goes up to its highest temperature, Ranma’s was used to high temperatures but even he was finally forced to go out, looking almost as red as his hair. When he finally cooled down a little bit he once again touched the hot water surface looking at his reflection in the tub.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. His hair was still red, his breasts were still there. Still as curvy as ever.
He was stuck.
A sudden feeling of powerlessness washed over Ranma, making his legs feel like jelly. He needed to hold the furo to keep himself standing. It happened again, but this time he had absolutely no idea how or how to fix it.
He wanted to recount all that could have happened the day before but then he remembered that there was only black. He didn't remember anything except for the fact that his pops and Tendo were really happy for some reason. The only clue he had was all of these strange bruises on his body but he was pretty sure they weren't in the location of any pressure points. His mind was racing trying to think about all the possibilities that would make him locked. Maybe Akane's cooking has finally reached the level of being magical poison? He shook his head, trying not to think bad about his fiancee. There must be something different.
The clouds of mist made from the hot water was slowly dissipating and Ranma wasn’t any closer to solving the mystery of his current predicament. Quite the contrary he felt that him, constantly thinking about new possible ways he was in this situation probably was getting him even further away from the real answer.
There was only one thing that he knew and it made him sick to his stomach. He knew that he was actually really fucked. Big time.
Without knowing what triggered this or how to activate his curse again he didn’t know which way to go and he was sure as hell his father would be insufferable about it. It would be just great.
He scoured his brain for possible ways out of this situation, something that maybe would delay the inevitable confrontation between him and the Tendo’s but all he would think of was destroying the furo or something. He didn’t want to do that, first because he would feel bad about it and second because he already was here for at least fifteen minutes or so. Nobody would believe him at this point.
It looked like the universe once again conspired against him, making him in the center of another shitshow.
A knock on the door to the outer room interrupted his sulking.
“What are you doing here for so long, Ranma?! Breakfast’s ready!" He heard Akane yelling from the other side of the door.
Cursing under his breath, Ranma sighs and grabs his towel. Just my luck, he thought.
Not really having any other choice, Ranma put on his usual male clothes, unusually irritated how ill fitted they were for him. After a little work to at least not need to worry that his pants would fall off he exited the bathroom, silently getting ready for everyone's reaction.
Trying to look as normal as ever he got down and greeted everyone before sitting at his normal place at the table. Just as he thought although they still were eating they also were keeping an eye on him. He doesn’t know if they were expecting something from him or was just curious why he was still a girl even after visiting the furo.
“Boy, didn’t you have enough after yesterday discace?!” said Genma looking angry but also caciouse for some reason. “How long are you gonna stay in that curse form of yours!?”
“The hell, are you talkin’ about, old man!?” replied Ranma looking with irritated glare. Only his father was able to make him lose his nerves this quickly, even Akane wouldn’t be able to achieve such a feat. “i ain’t disgrace and you for sure won’t be tellin’ me how should I look, you stupid panda!”
While we and his father were having a screaming match, Tendo’s were looking at them with suspicion. Or rather, they were looking at Ranma. He once again realized that they seemed to be waiting for something but he didn’t know why and it wasn’t good. He hated being left out of the secret and it was quite clear that something major happened the day before and all of them knew that but weren't going to tell him for some reason.
“Are we out of warm water, Ranma?” asked Kasumi, when Ranma started putting rice and some natto into his bowl, completely ignoring his fuming father. “Do you need some warm water to change back?”
Ranma sighs, realizing that he won’t be able to walk back from this one.
“No, thank you Kasumi it won’t work” he said between bites, somehow more hungry than usual. “My curse seems to be locked, I spend the last fifteen minutes in the furo tryin’ to change back and nothin’ works.”
He looked at them when he said that, trying to see what their reaction would be and just as he suspected. All of them were looking a little more nervous. Everyone besides Katsumi who still looked composed like always. Ranma was really impressed by that and wondered if she went through some strange mental training. He would need to ask her about that later.
“Do we have some more rice? I’m starving” he asked, making the best puppy eyes he was able to.
“I’m sorry Ranma, that's all I make today” said Kasumi looking apologetic.
“What are you doing, boy?! Aren’t you too calm?!” his father started yelling again, too angry to think about stealing his son's food for what Ranma was grateful for. He didn’t want to start a day with his curse locked and his stomach empty. At least he has a second thing going for him. “How can you once again do such a cruel thing to your father, making me look at this disgraceful form of yours and not even flinching not knowing when you can turn back?! I almost died from grief yesterday boy! You really want to send your father to his grave that badly?!”
“Pops, could you shut up?!” Ranma yelled back furious at his father stupid remarks, his chopsticks pointing at Genma. “My bein’ a girl isn’t a disgrace and you won’t die from me having tits for a little while. Also, can somebody finally say what the hell I was doing yesterday?! You all lookin’ at me like I was about to go on a murder spree or somethin’!”
Finally there was silence at the table. Even his father looked ready to go again with his insults. Ranma on the other hand realized that he was much more irritated than usual. His pops didn’t really do anything new or worse than any other day but Ranma was having none of it. It made him curious if his current mental state was somehow connected to his curse being locked and if that was the case then why.
“You were a woman yesterday, Ranma” Akane said with reluctance, looking at him with wary eyes.
“Huh?”