**********************************************************

Ranma 1/2: Ryouga and Ukyou - Two halves make a whole lot of trouble.
by Mark Doherty (s067350@student.uq.edu.au)


Yep, its one of those 'What if this happened instead fanfics'. This one
mainly focuses on Ryouga, and, to some extent, Ukyou. C&C's are gladly
accepted, but please don't flame me, it's not my account. Being an
'alterniverse', don't be surprised if I've cheated somewhat and
slightly changed some of the characters. This has nothing to do with
the Elseworlds series, although it does steal the concept of altering
history from there.

Most of the characters and situations in this fanfic are the copyright
of Takahashi Rumiko. I deserve to be cursed in the drowned slug spring
for just thinking about using them.

There are some cameos from other series. I get a headache just thinking
about listing them, and finding out who owns them, so let's just say
that they are copyrighted to their respective owners. Please don't sue
me, I am just a poor student with delusions of grandeur.


A few explanations on conventions used in this fanfic:  - The suffix
-chan, when used after someone's name (except in conversation),
  indicates their cursed female form. In conversation, it is a term of
  endearment or familiarity. Nabiki uses it on Kunou to annoy him.

- The suffix -P, or -piglet is used to indicate a person's cursed pig
state.
  (You'll understand why not p-chan when you get there.)

- <> is used to denote people speaking in Chinese.

- ' ' are quotes from people, and lines heard from a crowd.

- {} are words on panda signs.

- [] are thoughts.

- okonomiyaki, if you didn't know, is sort of japanese pizza. Close
  enough a description for here, anyway.


This is, by the way, my first ever fanfic. That means that it's not my
fault, even if it is. It also means that I REALLY want feedback, as
long as it's polite, this is my sister's account, not mine.

There are some random mutterings at the end on why I did what I did in
this fanfic. Please enjoy. PLEASE!!!

One last note. There is a small, very small amount of profanity in this
fanfic. It certainly doesn't insult me, but then again, I am
Australian.  Over here, bastard is a friendly greeting. I'm serious by
the way.  Anyway, one or two swearwords, nothing incredible. Forewarned
is forearmed. (Forearmed is two arms too many. Shoot me. Now.)

**********************************************************

Tendo Soun, a tall thin man in his forties, with long dark hair and
moustache is reading a postcard with a picture of a panda on the front.
It reads :

Tendo-
     Returning from China with Ranma and another student.
							     -Saotome

Soun is crying tears of joy. "At last our two families will be joined !
I must tell my daughters."

A while later, Kasumi, the eldest girl who has long brown hair, Nabiki,
middle child with shoulder length dark brown hair, and Akane, the
youngest girl, who has long dark hair face Soun.

"Fiance?" Akane asked.

"Yes. The son of a very good friend of mine. The son's name is Saotome
Ranma.  We hope to unite our two martial arts schools through
marriage.

"Don't we have any say in who we marry?" Akane asked.

"Hey, you should at least wait and see if he's cute." Nabiki said.

***********************************************

It has just stopped raining in the streets of Nerima. A red haired,
pig- tailed girl dressed in black pants and a red Chinese shirt is
running down a street. She is being chased by a large panda. Following
the panda is another girl who has shaggy reddish brown hair which is
held by a yellow bandanna with black stripes. She is wearing a yellow
shirt and black pants which are tied at the shins. The bandannaed girl
wears a huge backpack, on top of which rests a bamboo umbrella. She is
also carrying a backpack in each hand.

The red haired girl looks over her shoulder as she continues to run.
"No way pop! I can't believe you did this to me! We're going back to
China, and you're not stopping us!"

The panda growled in reply as the bandannaed girl piped up. "Slow down
will you? We can all do with a few days rest. I want to go back to
China too, but right now I'd like to sleep in a dry futon much more."

The redhead sighed, then slowed down. "Alright, alright! I guess we can
afford a couple days rest."

The panda used the girl's slowing down to its advantage by finally
catching up to her and tagging her across the back. The girl skidded
out into the middle of a street, where a crowd was forming. The girl
turned to the oncoming panda, dropping into a fighting stance. "All
right, if that's the way you want to play it pop."

The panda responded by standing up on its hindlegs and adopting a
fighting stance similar to the one the pigtailed girl had adopted. The
bandannaed girl skidded to a halt near the two, an exasperated look on
her face.  "Will you two quit it? I WANT a HOT bath, and the longer you
two take, the longer it will be before I can get it !" When this girl
talks, it is apparent that she has fangs, which serve to make her look
quite cute.

The other two ignored her, and began to fight. After a flurry of blows,
the girl managed to knock the panda backwards into a street sign. The
panda lay where it fell, seemingly down for the count. "Heh, now that
that's settled, I'm leaving for China." the girl said, turning from the
panda.

Only to be belted over the head with an umbrella that the bandannaed
girl is now holding, having placed the packs she was carrying on the
ground.  The bandannaed girl caught the pigtailed girl as she slid to
the ground, unconscious. "I'm sorry about this buddy," she said "but
like I said, I don't have time for you two to argue, and I REALLY want
a hot bath." She turned to the panda, who was shooing the crowd away,
apparently it had not been as hurt as it had pretended. "So where is
this place then sensei?" she asked, her voice making sensei sound more
like a curse than a name of respect.

The panda gruffled in reply, and held up a sign that said {It's around
here somewhere.}

"If you say so." the girl replied dubiously. "Here, you can carry
Ranma.  I'll get the packs." She gave the unconscious girl to the
panda, and, after resecuring her umbrella into her own backpack, picked
up all the packs.

"You know," the bandannaed girl remarked conversationally to the panda
as she walked back to her companions, "I can't believe how quickly the
rain comes around here. I didn't even have time to get my umbrella
out."

The panda, which had shouldered the unconscious girl, nodded in
agreement.

***********************************************

The Tendos have apparently just finished having the conversation about
the Saotomes when they hear a knocking at the front door.

"Ah! That must be them now!" Soun bubbles as they all go to the front
door.  Soun opens the door to reveal the bandannaed girl, who is
waiting for the panda, which is carrying a kicking pigtailed girl.

"Ranma! Its so good to see you! You'll make a fine husband for one of
my girls!" Soun blurts as he hugs the bandannaed girl. He is about to
continue his speech when he notices something very wrong about the
person he is holding. He releases his hug to get a better look at the
person he was embracing.

Nabiki walks over to look at the person Soun is hugging, and says "I
don't think *he* will make a very good husband." She pokes the girl in
the breast.

The bandannaed girl flares. "Don't poke me there!"

Soun starts to go into a full blown wail. "Waaah! Ranma's a girl! Now
we will never be able to unite our two families!"

"Wait! Wait!" the bandannaed girl shouts, waving her arms. "I'm not
Ranma!"

Soun stops his crying, and looks at the girl with renewed hope on his
face.  "You're not?"

Akane harumphes, and then says "Of course she's not Dad. You can really
leap to ridiculous conclusions sometimes."

The bandannaed girl smiled. "Yes, I'm not Ranma." She turns and points
to the pigtailed girl, who has finally been put down by the panda at
the front porch.  "That's Ranma."

"Umm.... hi there." Ranma-chan said, her hand on the back of her head.

"Waaahhh!" Soun replied.

***********************************************

Akane stared at the new arrivals with mixed feelings. On the one hand,
she was feeling better now, since there was obviously not going to be
any engagement.  On the other hand, she was feeling sorry for the two
girls who had arrived with the panda, which they claimed was Mr
Saotome. Nabiki had been a bit rude to both of them, she had poked
Ranma's chest as well, just to make sure that she was female, as if it
wasn't already obvious.  Now both of the new arrivals were staring
around, obviously embarrassed, as Soun and the panda had a private
conversation. (The panda was literate, using signs to talk, which leant
credence to the two girls assertions that this was Ranma's father. Now
if only they'd say why he was dressed up in a convincing panda suit.)

Akane decided to take pity on the girls, and so she walked over to them
and said "So I hear that you've studied Kempo Ranma?"

"Um.. A little bit." the redhead replied. "Ryouga here keeps me on my
toes as a sparring partner, so I have to know a little of everything to
keep winning."

"Keep winning?" the girl with the bandanna asked incredulously. "I
think you've got that turned around Saotome. Its me that keeps
winning."

"Yeah right." Ranma-chan snorted.

"Anyway," Akane interjected, "I was wondering if the two of you would
like to have a little sparring match in the dojo?"

"I don't know..." Ranma-chan said hesitantly.

Ryouga-chan looked over at the two fathers energetic conversation
(where did Mr Saotome get all those signs from?), and said "Give me a
break, Ranma.  Would you prefer to sit around here getting bored and
being fondled by that girl again? Besides, we are guests in this house,
and you should not refuse such a simple request."

Akane blushed in embarrassment at her sister's actions, as Ranma-chan
sighed and nodded.

"Ok. I guess it can't hurt." Ranma-chan said.

***********************************************

Akane had tried talking to the other girl, Ryouga, while they made the
trip to the dojo, but she seemed to be incredibly shy, stuttering her
answers to Akane's questions. Akane found it curious. After all, Ryouga
definitely wasn't that shy when talking to Ranma, so why was she around
her? [Maybe she's just shy around strangers.] Akane mused as they
entered the dojo.

Akane faced off with Ranma-chan in the dojo while Ryouga-chan leaned
against one of the dojo's walls. Akane dropped into a fighting stance
while Ranma-chan stood and waited, her hands behind her back. Akane
attacked, starting with a series of kicks, which Ranma-chan easily
leapt over. Akane kept up the barrage with a set of punches, none of
which were hitting her target, as she would glide out of the path of
the oncoming punches with time to spare.

Akane was getting frustrated, both at her inability to hit, and at this
girls strange... and insulting reluctance to hit back. "What's wrong?"
she asked.  "Why don't you swing at me?"

She attacked again, but still failed to score any hit. Ranma-chan was
still evading her blows with apparent ease.

Akane thought [What is it with her defences, is she reading my moves?
Well, let's see her dodge me when I'm doing it... for real !]

She lets fly with another punch, this time putting everything she has
into it.  Ranma-chan barely evades her approaching fist by leaping over
Akane.  As Akane's fist drove a hole into the dojo wall, Ranma-chan
tapped Akane from behind as she completed her leap. Ryouga-chan shook
her head in disbelief. "Baka." she muttered to herself, referring to
Ranma, not Akane.  The two combatants stared at each other for a moment
before Akane started to laugh.

"You're good." Akane said. "Good thing you weren't a boy after all."

Ranma-chan looked a bit confused. "Why?" she asked.

"I'd really hate to lose to a boy." she replied.

Akane turned and left the dojo. Ryouga-chan and Ranma-chan turned to
look at each other, but said nothing as they follow her out.

***********************************************

Ryouga settled down opposite to Ranma in the hot bath with a sigh. "Its
good to have the time to relax and enjoy a hot bath."

"Its good to be male again." Ranma replied.

"Yes." Ryouga agreed. He looked at Ranma curiously. "So what are you
going to do about this engagement business?"

"What can I do?" Ranma retorted. "Honour demands that I go through with
it."

"Still, they all seem nice enough." Ryouga continued. "Especially
Akane."

"Mmmm." Ranma replied. "I guess we should go out like this. They are
going to find out sooner or later anyway."

"I guess they will, but....." Ryouga said, hesitating.

Ranma sighed. "Look, I know you don't want anyone finding out about the
curse. I can understand that. Believe me, I can. But Pop will be
telling them anyway, if he's managed to get some hot water. You can't
hide it from everyone."

"But its just so embarrassing." Ryouga said.

Ranma nodded in sympathy.

Ryouga decided to broach another subject. "By the way, what the hell
were you doing in that sparring match?" he asked, a little angrily.

Ranma looked at Ryouga quizzically. "What do you mean? She asked to
spar, so I sparred."

"Treated her like a bloody fool is more like it." Ryouga retorted. "You
could have at least looked like you were trying to fight her, you
idiot."

"Why are you so interested, Ryouga? Not getting jealous are ya?"

"Of what?" Ryouga snorted. "You just met her, same as me. So far
there's nothing to be jealous of. Besides..." he muttered, suddenly
turning gloomy, "...what girl would go for a freak like me?"

Ranma sighed. [Man, he can be depressing.] he thought to himself. [Best
way to get him out of this funk is to make him angry.] He grinned,
saying "Well, if the girls don't go for you, there's always the guys."

Ryouga's face quickly darkened. "Raaannmmmaa... how many times do I
have to tell you, DON'T EVER BRING THAT UP AGAIN !" With that he stood,
getting into an attack ready position.

Ranma also stood, dropping into a defensive position. His grin was
threatening to split his face.

***********************************************

Akane entered the ante-room of the bath, where the laundry basket was
placed. As she undressed, in preparation for a nice bath, she began
thinking to herself.

[This engagement thing is so ridiculous. I can't understand how Daddy
ever arranged this. Why did Mr Saotome never tell him that he had a
daughter, and not a son? Still, its going to be nice having a couple of
girls around here with the same interests as me. They both seem really
nice, and the best thing is, we can practice our martial arts
together.]

Having stripped off, Akane draped a towel over her shoulders and opened
the door to the bathroom. She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw two
naked boys standing in the bath. When the boys heard the door open,
they had turned to face her, giving both Akane and the boys an eyeful
of each other.

The silence stretched as, for several seconds, Akane looked at Ranma
and Ryouga, and they looked back. Finally, Ryouga couldn't take it
anymore.  His nose gushed blood and he fell back into the pool,
unconscious.

Akane broke out of her frozen state. She backed out of the room,
closing the door as soon as she was clear. She leaned against the door
for a few seconds, holding her heart to her chest. A look of furious
anger slowly spread across her face. She grabbed one of her gis from
the clothes pile, put it on, then ran out, screaming "Aaaahhh! There
are perverts in the bath!"

Kasumi, Nabiki, Soun, and a heavyset man with glasses (who had been
sitting opposite Soun as both cried over old memories) rushed out to
see what was happening. They saw Akane starting to head back to the
bathroom, the Tendo family sword in her hand.

"Akane? What's wrong?" Nabiki asked as they followed her up.

"There are two perverts in the bathroom! I'll kill them!" Akane raged.

"Odd, I thought Ryouga and Ranma were in the bath." Kasumi said.

"There's a simple answer to all this." the heavyset man said.

"Excuse me, who are you anyway?" Nabiki asked.

"This is Saotome Genma, my old friend." Soun answered.

They arrived outside the bathroom to find Ranma and Ryouga standing in
the hallway, dressed in the same clothes they had been wearing as
girls.  Ryouga was still looking a bit woozy.

"Who are you two?" Akane asked, holding the sword in front of her.

Ranma answered, looking very embarrassed. "Um... I'm Ranma, and this is
Ryouga. Sorry 'bout this."

"Gak." agreed Ryouga, his mind still in half shutdown mode.

***********************************************

In the Tendo family dining room, Mr Saotome, Ranma, and Ryouga were
sitting down opposite the Tendos. Ryouga had finally recovered, but he
was still blushing furiously. Akane was staring angrily at both of the
boys, and Ranma was looking uncomfortable.

"Lets start again." Genma said. "This, " he pointed to Ranma, "is my
son, Ranma. That, " he pointed to Ryouga, "is his friend, and my
student, Hibiki Ryouga."

"How can that be? They were definitely girls before." Nabiki said.

"Ah, how can I best explain this...." Genma said, pausing thoughtfully.
He stood, grabbed Ranma and Ryouga by their arms, and threw them both
into the pond outside.

The water bubbled for a couple of seconds before Ranma-chan and
Ryouga-chan burst out, looking angrily at Genma.

"What did you do that for?" Ranma-chan asked angrily.

"You didn't have to throw me in as well, you useless furball!"
Ryouga-chan shouted.

"Now they're both girls!" Kasumi exclaimed.

"Oh the tragedy! To see my son, and a student who trusted his training
to me, act so badly." Genma wailed. "You two were willing to give your
lives to martial arts, so you should accept this burden."

The two girls jumped back into the house. Ranma-chan tripped Genma,
while Ryouga-chan used that opportunity to throw the off-balance Genma
into the pond. Moments later, the panda that had been seen before
emerged, its glasses hanging off one ear, tattered clothes hanging from
its frame.

"Our life is one thing." Ryouga-chan snarled.

"Yeah, but our manhood is another." Ranma-chan added.

"Damn you for taking us to a place when you can't read the Chinese
warnings!"  Ryouga-chan added, shaking her fist at the panda.

"You have some interesting friends Daddy." Kasumi noted.

"They weren't like this. Not before China, anyway." Soun said.

++++++++++++++++++++++ (Flashback:

Genma, Ranma, and Ryouga (who are all dressed in white gis, and are
carrying backpacks) are standing next to a short fat man dressed in
Chinese communist clothes. In front of them stretches a plain dotted
(more like filled) with hundreds of small springs. Several bamboo poles
jutted from each of the springs, rising high above the waters.

"...legendary springs of Jusenkyo." the fat man, a guide, was saying.
"Each one of over hundred springs have tragic legend. Is not used
anymore because it is too dangerous."

The three martial artists shucked their packs. Genma took out a rope
and quickly tied it between Ranma's left wrist and Ryouga's right.

"What's this for?" Ryouga asked, holding up his tied wrist.

Genma answered as he leapt onto a bamboo pole. "I want you two to learn
how to fight as a team. That rope forces you to act together. Now come
on, and don't expect me to go easy on you."

"Yes Pop." said Ranma, as Ryouga said "Hai." They jumped onto adjacent
poles, facing Genma.

"Aiya! Wait, honourable customers!" the guide shouted. "Have not heard
full story of legend yet! Very bad if you fall in spring!"

The three combatants ignored the guide. Genma leapt into the air,
shouting a battle cry, as Ranma and Ryouga leapt silently to intercept
him. Genma aimed a kick at Ranma, who blocked it with one of his own
legs. As Genma was occupied attacking Ranma, Ryouga, who had jumped
low, grabbed Genma's other foot and threw the martial arts master into
the spring below them.

Ranma landed easily on another pole, while Ryouga had to grab a pole
with his hand and then use his incredible strength to flip himself up
onto it. He got into a ready position similar to Ranma's as Ranma
looked down at the pool, which was bubbling.

"Are we done?" Ranma asked.

Suddenly, a large form burst from the pole and landed on a pole near
Ryouga.  It was a large panda, although its human-like attack ready
posture indicated something more.

Ranma pointed to the panda, looking at the guide. "What..."

"...the hell..." Ryouga added, awed.

"...is that?" Ranma finished, almost hysterical.

"Aiya!" the guide answered. "Mr Customer fall in spring of drowned
panda.  Tragic story, very tragic, of panda that drown there two
thousand year ago!  Now, whoever fall in spring take body of panda!"

"You never said anything about that!" Ranma shouted.

The panda leapt at the author of its humiliating defeat, Ryouga. Ryouga
was too shocked to move, so he didn't block the panda's swipe. Ryouga
rocketed off, soon followed by Ranma as the rope attaching the two
pulled taut. Both screamed as first Ryouga, then Ranma, fell into the
same spring.

"Oooh!" the guide screamed again. "Now you two fall in spring of
drowned girl.  Tragic story, very tragic, of girl who drown there
fifteen hundred years ago."

Ryouga-chan and Ranma-chan stand up. They both open their gis to see
their new female attributes. Ranma-chan screams as Ryouga-chan faints,
a slight trickle of blood coming out of her nose.

) ++++++++++++++++++++++

"Ah, I see." said Soun. He pulled out a tea kettle and poured boiling
hot water over the panda. "So hot water turns you back."

"Well, it needn't be that hot!" Genma said, back in human form, as he
looked at the scalds the water had given him.

"Your problem isn't so terrible after all." Soun said as he patted
Ranma-chan on the back. He pointed to Kasumi, "My daughter Kasumi.
Nineteen.". Then, he pointed to Nabiki, "And Nabiki. Seventeen.".
Lastly, he pointed to Akane, "And Akane. Sixteen. Pick the one you
want. She's your fiance."

"Oh, he wants Akane." Kasumi quickly said.

"Definitely." Nabiki agreed.

"Me? Marry that pervert? Never!" Akane cried.

"Well, you hate boys, don't you?" Nabiki asked.

"So you're in luck, he's half-girl." Kasumi added.

"Whaddya mean pervert?" Ranma asked Akane angrily.

"You looked at my body, pervert. You both did." she said, looking first
at Ranma-chan, then at Ryouga-chan.

"Hah, they sound like a married couple already!" said Soun as he and
Genma started laughing.

"He's a couple in himself!" Akane shouted.

"Aw, that does it. Come on Ryouga." Ranma-chan said as she headed for
the door.

"What?" Ryouga-chan said. He had been in her own dream world, depressed
by some of Akane's insults to Ranma, which applied to her as well. [She
thinks I'm a pervert.] she thought gloomily.

"You've had that hot bath you wanted. Let's go back to China and try to
find a cure."

Ryouga-chan looked sadly at Akane before saying "Yes. We are obviously
not wanted here."

Ranma-chan turned to Akane as Ryouga-chan joined her. "And by the way,
you had a pretty good look at us as well. I've seen myself and Ryouga
naked plenty of times, so its no big deal. Besides, I'm better built."

The world went black for Ranma-chan and Ryouga-chan as Akane belted
them over the head with the table.

"Now that, he had coming." Genma noted.

"You know Akane, every time you insulted Ranma you insulted Ryouga."
Kasumi noted. "I think he was pretty hurt by it."

"Hmph. Serves him right. He was peeking as well." Akane muttered.

***********************************************

Ranma-chan groaned as she woke up.

"Ah, you're awake." said Kasumi. "You'll have to forgive Akane. She's a
very nice girl, she's just a violent maniac."

Ryouga-chan was already up, rubbing the back of her head. She looked at
Ranma-chan and grimaced. "You can have her." he said simply.

Ranma-chan sighed as she went off to the bathroom to change back into a
guy.  Ryouga-chan didn't follow, she was too busy massaging her aching
head.

Ryouga-chan raised her head when she heard a gigantic slapping sound
come from the direction of the bathroom.

"Oh! Did I forget to tell Ranma that Akane was in the bathroom?" Kasumi
asked innocently.

***********************************************

It was morning in the Tendo residence. Ranma was sitting opposite Genma
in the guest room. "So I have ta go to school, huh?" Ranma asked.

"Well, we will be staying here a while. I've already told Ryouga."
Genma answered.

Nabiki, dressed in a school uniform, poked her head in the door. "You
two will be going to the same school Akane and I go to. I think I'll
take Ryouga this morning."

Ranma walked up to Nabiki and whispered something to her.

She looked at him strangely for a moment and then said "Really? He
really does that?" Ranma nodded. "Ok. I'll be careful. Thanks for the
warning."

Nabiki walked downstairs, where she had left Ryouga. Akane rushed up to
her, saying "Nabiki! Wait, I'll walk to school with you."

Nabiki turned to Akane and said "Oh? Don't you think you should walk to
school with Ranma? He is your fiance, after all."

Akane gave Nabiki a dirty look.

***********************************************

Nabiki and Ryouga walked towards school. Ryouga had done his best to
dress for school. He was wearing his usual pair of black trousers, tied
at the shins. He had managed to find a white shirt in his belongings,
so he was wearing that instead of his preferred yellow ones. He had
decided to forego his umbrella, but he was still wearing his usual
bandanna. Doomsday could come and go and he would still wear that
bandanna. He was carrying a knapsack; not anywhere near as big as his
backpack, but it was still unusually large and looked suspiciously
full.

Nabiki, not one to keep her curiosity bottled up, finally asked him a
question she had wanted him to answer since they had left the house.
"Hey, Ryouga..." she began.

Ryouga started out of his reverie. He had been thinking about what
school was going to be like. He hadn't really attended since he had
left with Ranma on the ill-fated China trip. He was pretty nervous.
After all, he knew that his social skills were somewhat stunted from
years of lonely wandering, and then being in the company of only Ranma
and Genma. Not that he would admit to anyone else that he was afraid of
saying or doing something wrong. Its just that Ryouga had led a lonely
life. Ranma was the only friend he really had.  Ryouga was hoping that
he could make some friends at this school. Hell, acquaintances would
do. People who didn't attack him on sight would be fine as well. He
wanted things to go well today, but he felt sure that something,
anything was going to go wrong and ruin it, and that something would
probably be his curse. He could hear it now: 'You turn into a girl?
What sort of pervert are you? Keep away from him.' and so on. He had to
hide his curse.  He was sure of that. The only question was, how long
could he do it for?  Sighing, he put such questions aside for the
moment, and responded to Nabiki.  "What is it Nabiki?"

"Why is your pack bulging like that? What did you put in it?"

"Oh, just emergency supplies." Ryouga answered absently.

"Emergency supplies? What sort of emergency supplies?" Nabiki asked,
slightly puzzled.

"Lets see.... food, matches, small tent..."

"You're taking a tent to school?"

Ryouga hated this. He could admit to himself that he had a direction
problem, but he found it incredibly hard to admit it to anyone else,
even someone like Ranma, who knew full well he couldn't find his way
out of a paper bag. The only way out of this conversation was to admit
to the truth. Or to start a fight, but that wouldn't be right, Nabiki
didn't appear to know any martial arts. "I sometimes.... get the urge
to go on short trips. The stuff is just in case I do."

"Oh, you mean your terrible sense of direction. Ranma warned me about
that."

"He what?!?" Ryouga flared. How dare Ranma tell people about this?

"He warned me before we left this morning that if I didn't keep an eye
on you you'd get lost."

"How dare he..." Ryouga growled. He stopped talking, thought for a
moment, then said "Fine, I'll.... talk... to him about this after
school."

[Well, now that that's out of the way, its time to get some more
important information out of you.] Nabiki thought. She had volunteered
to take Ryouga to school for two reasons. Firstly, it was so that Ranma
and Akane would not have a third party on their trip to school. She'd
have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that particular little
journey. The second reason she took Ryouga was so that she could find
out more about him and Ranma. After all, they were going to be
freeloading it about the dojo, and so she had to get some sort of
profit out of them. That meant she had to know more about them, what
made them tick. Ryouga looked to be the one to milk. "So..." she began,
"...tell me about yourself and Ranma."

***********************************************

Ryouga felt like he had just gone through a very long, very difficult
fight where he was the loser. Never had he been asked so many questions
in such a short space of time. He almost cried out in relief when he
saw the school gates in the distance. Unfortunately for him, it was at
that moment that he was splashed with water, triggering the change.

"Oh ! I'm sorry !" a woman cried out from a second storey window above
them.  "I was watering my plants..." she points to some plants in pots
on the window sill, "and I slipped. I'm really very sorry." With that,
she ducked back into her house, closing the window behind her.

"Great." Ryouga-chan muttered. "I knew something like this was going to
happen. What am I going to do now?"

"I'm sure I could arrange something, for a price." Nabiki answered as
she looked at her watch. Time was running out if she wanted to get her
usual business dealings done before school started.

"I'm broke." Ryouga-chan answered irritably.

Nabiki thought about it for a moment, then said "Ah, what the hell.
I'll help you out. Consider it payment for the information you've given
me on this little trip. Come on." She grabbed Ryouga-chan's wrist and
began dragging her to school.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?" Ryouga-chan asked as she was
pulled along.

"You'll see." Nabiki answered.

***********************************************

Ranma-chan looked down at her wet clothes in disgust. Some old lady had
just splashed her, for no apparent reason. "Well, " she said, "I guess
I'd better go take a hot bath."

"You'll be late." Akane said.

"Think I want to start school as a girl?" Ranma-chan asked.

"All you need is hot water, right?" Akane asked. She started walking
off.  "Come on."

Ranma-chan shrugged her shoulders and followed Akane.

***********************************************

Ryouga-chan waited patiently beneath a tree for Nabiki to return. She
had left her there, telling her to wait until she got back. [I wonder
where she went to.] Ryouga-chan pondered idly. [Maybe she went to the
home economics room to get the hot water.] She glanced at the clock
tower. [She'd better hurry, school starts in a few minutes.]

>From her vantage point she could see both the school buildings and the
entrance to the school. She noticed a rather sizeable portion of the
male population of the school gathering near the gates, as if they were
waiting for something. They were all garbed in varying types of
sporting or fighting outfits, such as karate gis, boxing uniforms, and
so on. [What the hell is all that about?] Ryouga-chan wondered to
herself.

A couple of the school boys noticed her and walked over to her. One of
them, a short boy with oily black hair who was dressed in a karate gi
addressed her.  "Hey there, nice outfit. Makes you look like a real
babe."

Ryouga-chan snarled. She was _not_ in the mood for this. She would
_never_ be in the mood for this. "Go away before I break every bone in
your body." she stated simply.

The oily guy snorted as his companion, who was dressed as a hockey
goalie, laughed. "Yeah, sure, whatever you say. You look like you're
new around here.  You maybe want to catch a movie sometime, maybe go on
a date?"

Ryouga-chan picked up a rock that had been lying near her. It was only
slightly smaller than her fist. "No," she growled as she slowly crushed
the rock in her right hand, "I don't think that maybe I do."

The two boys gulped and started backing up. "O... Ok." the oily boy
stammered.  "I can see this isn't the best time. Maybe later?"

"Maybe not." Ryouga-chan growled back. The two boys scampered off to
join the group milling about the gate. [That I didn't need.] she
thought to herself.  [Bad enough I have to have this form, but idiots
like that manage to make it worse.]

Ryouga-chan sighed in relief as she saw Nabiki heading towards her. She
stiffened slightly when she realised that Nabiki wasn't carrying
anything, meaning that she hadn't brought any hot water. "I don't get
it." Ryouga-chan said as Nabiki arrived. "Where's the hot water?"

"I don't think you appreciate how hard it is to get hot water on short
notice around here." Nabiki replied. "Maybe if I had some more time I
could have arranged it, but the best I could do was...."

Ryouga-chan felt a small knot form in the pit of her stomach. She
hadn't known Nabiki very long at all, but she had the feeling that
Nabiki wasn't the sort to pause like that normally. "Was?" she
prompted.

"Was to register you as a girl." Nabiki continued.

"What?!?" Ryouga-chan screamed, waving her arms. "Are you insane? Is
this your idea of 'fixing things'?"

"Calm down, calm down." Nabiki said, placatingly. "I just told them
that the records were wrong and that you were a girl instead of a boy.
I'll just fix it tomorrow. All you have to do from now on is bring a
thermos of hot water and you won't have to worry about this sort of
thing happening."

"Calm down?" Ryouga-chan asked incredulously, her voice still loud.
"Fix it tomorrow? Why can't you fix it now? Or at lunch time? I'll be
able to get hot water at lunch time surely?"

"Ryouga, Ryouga, you're not thinking. You say that you want to keep
your curse a secret but you want to change back at lunch time? Don't
you think that people are going to get suspicious when a girl goes to
lunch and its a boy who comes back?"

"But why was it so hard to get hot water?" Ryouga-chan half wailed,
half hissed.

Nabiki sighed. [It was so hard because I had better things to do.
Because I had a business to run, people to meet, and didn't have the
time to waste on you. But mostly because I thought it would be funny to
see you go through a day as a girl, especially after the way you flared
up at me yesterday.] "It just was. Look, its only for one day." Nabiki
grinned sardonically. "Just be a man and pretend you're a girl."

A thought struck Ryouga-chan. "But won't people be suspicious when I
turn up tomorrow as a guy, with the same name as the girl from today?"

"Way ahead of you...... Ryoko."

"Ryoko?" Ryouga-chan asked, confused.

"I had a friend in registration change your records so that you're
recorded as being one Hibiki Ryoko, female, age 16. That way you can
use your real name tomorrow and claim that Ryoko was your sister or
something."

[Somewhere there is a god who hates me very much who is laughing at me
right now.] Ryouga-chan thought despondently. "I guess I can do this
for just one day. Anything to keep this curse from becoming common
knowledge." She paused for a second before adding "Or I could just skip
school for the day, come back tomorrow in my true form."

"You can't skip your first day of school." Nabiki replied. [Besides, I
had to use up a favour to get those records changed and I don't like
seeing favours wasted. And it'll be fun to see you get through a day as
a girl.]

"I guess not." Ryouga-chan replied, sighing. "I guess at least nothing
else can go wrong with today."

"Tendo Nabiki! Here to see your lovely sister answer my challenge I
see." The voice belonged to a handsome young man dressed in Kendo
training clothes, sans armour. He had approached the two while they had
been talking. It was only after his greeting to Nabiki that he had a
good look at the girl next to her.  He let loose a small gasp of
astonishment at the sight of the bandannaed girl, dressed in a boys
uniform. "But what vision of loveliness is this beside you?  Tell me,
fair maiden, what is your name?"

[Its times like these I think I should have killed Mr Saotome.]
Ryouga-chan thought.

A slight smile touched Nabiki's lips. "Kunou-chan, I'd like you to meet
Ryoko.  Hibiki Ryoko. She's staying with us at the dojo. Ryoko, this is
Kunou Tatewaki."

"Upperclassman Kunou." Kunou interjected.

"Whatever." Nabiki replied.

Something about what Kunou had said to Nabiki when he arrived occurred
to Ryouga-chan. "Wait a sec... what did you mean about your challenge
to Nabiki's sister?"

"Ah, fair maiden, you need not worry about such matters. Merely wait
here and you shall see my prowess in battle." With that Kunou took
Ryouga-chan's left hand and kissed it. As soon as he had done that, he
turned to Nabiki, saying "I don't suppose you have any more pictures
yet?"

Nabiki wasn't looking at Kunou, she was looking at Ryouga-chan.
"Somehow I don't think pictures of my sister are your greatest concern
right now, Kunou-chan."

"Eh? What do you mean Tendo Nabiki?" Kunou asked, confused. It was then
that he heard a hissing sound from behind him. Turning, he saw
something most people (any with any intelligence) would have run away
from.

Ryouga-chan was furious, even for her. Ice was cold, water was wet,
Ryouga was angry. These were natural states of the universe. Ryouga's
angry was other peoples blind shaking furious rages. Right now she was
pissed. Majorly pissed. [How... dare... he... kiss my... hand.] she
seethed to herself as Kunou turned from her to ask Nabiki a question.
Her face turned a blackish red as an ugly blue aura sprang up around
her. She began to shake from fury as Nabiki said something to Kunou. As
Kunou replied, she thought [He dies, and he dies now.]

Kunou turned back to her, and showed a remarkable lack of survival
skills by saying "Hmm, she must be overcome by my kiss. See how she is
immobile with gratitude." Of course, that was like adding napalm to a
raging fire. Kunou's vision was filled with the sight of an incoming
fist. His head snapped back from the blow. Dazed, he could not avoid
the next blow. Or the next. Or the fifteen that followed it.

Nabiki looked on as Ryouga-chan beat the absolute crap out of Kunou.
[Some people just don't know when to shut up.] she thought to herself.

Eventually Ryouga-chan stopped, panting from exertion. Kunou was a
mangled mess at her feet. She looked down at the bloody pulp that might
have once been human and said "That'll teach you to kiss a guy's hand."

"Don't you think that was a little bit excessive?" Nabiki asked in a
bored tone of voice.

"No. No I don't." Ryouga-chan replied matter-of-a-factly.

"Fair enough." Nabiki replied, shrugging her shoulders. She looked over
at the crowd at the gate, which had surged forwards to meet someone. "I
see the daily goon show has started."

Ryouga-chan looked over at the crowd, which was rapidly dwindling in
conscious members as one of the figures waded into them. "What's that
all about anyway?"

"Well... " Nabiki began, but stopped when she saw that Kunou had
recovered enough to stand.

"Duty.....and ......... love ......... calls." Kunou slurred as he
limped towards the gate.

Ryouga-chan looked at the retreating figure of Kunou with wide eyes.
"He can still walk?" she asked in amazement. "How?"

"Love drives him onwards." Nabiki answered, her voice tinged with
sarcasm.

"I've got to see this." Ryouga-chan murmured to herself as she followed
Kunou.

Nabiki glanced at the clock. "Late again. Oh well, its not as if anyone
is going to do dare do anything to me for it." She followed Ryouga-chan
to get a better vantage point to see the fight.

***********************************************

Ranma looked at Akane as she waded through the boys as they tried to
defeat her. This was just turning into one of those days. First he gets
splashed.  Then, while Akane gets him some hot water at a doctors
place, he meets Dr Tofu, a martial arts master, whom Akane is obviously
in love with. Now, when they finally get to school, he finds half the
male population is here to attack Akane. What was this all about?
Still, she was good, he had to admit.  She had just downed the last of
the attackers, with no injuries to herself.

Akane brushed her hair out of her face, sighing in exasperation. "Every
day.  This is really becoming a drag." She waited impatiently, knowing
full well what was coming next.

A single red rose flopped down several feet from Akane. If the person
who threw it had been planning for it to reach Akane, they had failed
in that aim.  Akane looked at the rose in surprise before looking up at
the person who had thrown it.

Kunou had looked better. He looked like someone had beaten him with a
large blunt instrument (i.e. their fist) several times. His injuries
indicated that that someone had been very angry and very strong.

Kunou swayed on his feet, trying his best to retain consciousness.
Currently he was using his boken as a cane. "T..truly a...
boorish....lot." He managed to slur before his injuries caught up to
him and he collapsed into a heap.

Nabiki walked up to Kunou and rolled her eyes. "Come on Kunou-chan."
she said, sighing, as she dragged the unconscious kendoist to the
nurses office.

Ranma walked up to stand next to Akane, who was looking at the
retreating form of Kunou with astonishment on her face. "So this is
what you have to face every morning, hey?" Ranma asked. "That guy
didn't seem like much of a threat."

"He's not usually like that." Akane replied. "I wonder who did that to
him?"

"That would be me." Ryouga-chan replied. She was leaning against a tree
near the battle. After going berserk with Kunou when he had kissed her
hand, she had followed him out here, fascinated that he could still
move with the injuries he had sustained. Once she had arrived, she had
leaned against the tree to watch the fight, afraid that if she got
involved in such a confusing melee that she might have gotten lost.
Besides, Akane had obviously been more than enough to handle it.

"Ryouga?" Ranma queried, baffled because Ryouga was in female form.
"Why are you a girl?"

"Got splashed on the way, if you can believe that." Ryouga-chan
replied. Ranma took on a been-there-done-that look. "Nabiki said she
wouldn't be able to get hot water in time before classes started, so
she took me to registration and changed it so that the school thinks
I'm a girl. Nabiki said she'd fix it up tomorrow. Just act like I'm a
girl for the rest of the day, and call me Ryoko and maybe I can get out
of this with my secret intact."

"Ryoko?" Ranma asked, trying not to laugh.

"Its only for one day." Ryouga-chan growled. "I can handle this for one
day.  If you call me a boys name, people might eventually find out, so
if you call me Ryoko, my cover isn't blown and its similar enough to my
real name for me to respond."

"You seem to have put some thought into it." Ranma replied dubiously.

Ryouga-chan flushed in embarrassment. "Actually Nabiki suggested it."

"You and 'Ryoko' there can chat later, Ranma." Akane said. "We're late,
remember?" With that, she walked into the school, with Ranma and
Ryouga-chan following her.

***********************************************

Ranma and Ryouga-chan stood in front of the classroom, as Akane sat at
her desk. The teacher began "Well, it seems we have two new students.
Saotome Ranma and Hibiki Ryoko. They've been over in China, but that
doesn't excuse the fact that they, and Tendo Akane, were late. Go stand
out in the hall."

Out in the hall, Ranma, Akane, and Ryouga-chan stood with a bucket full
of water in each hand.

"This is all your fault, you know." Akane accused Ranma.

"Me? It was your fight!" Ranma responded.

"Looked to me like it was Kunou's fault." Ryouga-chan interjected. "He
said that it was his challenge. What was all that about anyway?"

Akane sighed. "Kunou made a speech to the school, saying that anyone
who wanted to date me had to defeat me in combat first. The result is
that half the school's boys attack me every morning."

"That has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard." Ryouga-chan
said.

"And just what do you mean by that?" Akane asked, a dangerous glint in
her eye.

"Oh, come on Akane." Ranma said. "Half the guys after one girl,
especially you? Don't you think that's a little bit strange?"

"Oh, is that so?" Akane answered, lifting one of her buckets
threateningly.

She didn't get the chance to throw it, however. A splash of water
narrowly missed a dodging Ranma. All three turned to see Kunou, an
empty bucket in his hand, and an angry expression on his face. "Never!
Never will I accept your engagement to Akane, Saotome!"

Akane and Ranma were making no-no gestures, but it was too late. The
windows of the school rooms opened and the students within all gathered
up to look at the couple. They began berating the two with questions.
'Engaged?' 'Oh Akane, and you said you didn't like boys.' 'How
romantic!' 'What about you, Ryoko?  Are you single?'

[Well, I guess someone must have told Kunou about this. I wonder who
told him what Ranma looked like?] Ryouga-chan thought as Ranma and
Akane tried to fend off the questions.

"Fight me!" Kunou shouted as he swung his boken at Ranma.

Ranma dodged, and started sprinting down the hall. "This is no place to
fight!" he shouted over his shoulder. "Follow me!"

"I shall!" Kunou shouted as he ran after Ranma.

The entire class, including Akane and Ryouga-chan raced to follow.

"It had to be Nabiki who told him!" Akane shouted to Ryouga-chan. When
she didn't get a response, she turned to look at Ryouga-chan, but
couldn't see her in the crowd anywhere. [Where did he go?] she
thought.

***********************************************

Ryouga-chan walked down a hallway. "Where did everybody go?" she asked
herself. She had lost the crowd following Kunou and Ranma's fight
somewhere along the way. Still, she was still in the school, so luckily
she wasn't lost.

"Ooh, hello there baby." a voice crooned from behind her. Before
Ryouga-chan could turn around, a pair of hands encircled her,
'accidently' touching her in an unfortunate couple of places. With a
level of calm that was probably more frightening than her rages,
Ryouga-chan reached behind her and grabbed the neck of her assailant.
She pulled the person in front of her and stared at what she had. It
was a boy, about the age of Ryouga. He had scruffy brown hair and a
stupid leer on his face. He was drooling.

"I like the boy's uniform." the boy said calmly, even though he was
being held two feet off the ground by his neck. "You don't know
Ryunosuke do you?" His lecherous grin grew even wider as he chuckled.
"I like a woman who feels free enough to not wear a bra."

"And you are?" Ryouga-chan asked, her voice still worryingly calm.

"Ataru's the name. Pleased to meet you." he said, raising his hand for
a handshake.

"You won't be pleased for long." Ryouga-chan answered as she twisted
Ataru's body into a shape that a contortionist would wince at.

"Darling! Where are you?" a female voice cried out. A moment later, a
green haired girl with two small horns wearing a tiger striped bikini
flew around a nearby corner. When she saw Ataru lying in a painful heap
in front of Ryouga-chan, the girl's eyes narrowed. "Daarrlinng! Chasing
after other women again!" Electricity arced around her as she flew
towards Ataru.

Ryouga-chan showed either an innate wisdom, or else a martial artist's
ability to sense and avoid danger by edging away from Ataru as quickly
as she could.  She scuttled around a corner as the sounds of electrical
discharge and a man's screams echoed behind her.

"Now, where is my home room?" Ryouga-chan asked herself. After finding
a janitor's closet, the principal's office and a nurse's station (Gee,
the nurse was a bit of a babe.) she finally found a home room. She
stepped in, hoping that she had found the right one. Her heart sank as
she saw that Ranma and Akane weren't there.

Perhaps they were lucky they weren't here, this room was in absolute
chaos.  The green haired girl he saw before was flying above the heads
of everyone, as Ataru dodged a well groomed man who was slashing at him
with a katana.  Another girl, this one with reddish brown hair, had
hefted the teachers desk above her head, an angry look on her face. She
was aiming the desk at Ataru.

Ataru, seeing the girl with the desk, dodged in front of Ryouga-chan
before darting off again. Unfortunately, it was at this moment that the
girl, blinded by rage, threw the desk. Ryouga-chan sighed as the desk
loomed in her vision.  She set herself and caught the desk. She wobbled
for a moment as she fought against the desk's momentum. Once she
stabilised, she set the desk down.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!" the girl who threw the desk
cried as she came over to Ryouga-chan. "I'm Shinobu. What's your name?"

Ryouga-chan looked a bit nervous. The girl had just thrown a huge desk
at her, after all. That put her into the 'be wary of' category. "My
name is.... Ryoko.  I'm having a little trouble finding my home room. I
don't suppose you know where it is?"

"Well, what's your home room number?" Shinobu asked.

Ryouga-chan rubbed the back of her head, and chuckled inanely. "Eh heh
heh heh. I don't know. This is my first day."

Ataru glomped onto Ryouga-chan. "You can always stay here with me,
Ryoko baby." he said, grinning lecherously.

Ryouga-chan peeled Ataru off her and threw him out a window. One of the
closed ones.

"Darling!" the green haired girl cried, flying out of the window in
pursuit of Ataru.

Shinobu shook her head. "Well, you'll fit in just fine around here."

One of the boys had walked up to stand next to Shinobu. He was staring
at Ryouga-chan in a sort of empathic sympathy. Ryouga-chan narrowed her
eyes.  Something was rubbing her wrong about this guy.

Shinobu addressed the boy. "Ryunosuke, this is Ryoko. She's new here,
and she can't find her home room."

Ryouga-chan fidgeted for a moment before asking an embarrassing
question.  "Don't take this the wrong way, but are you a guy or a
girl?" she asked Ryunosuke.

"How can you say that about my son?" a man, who had appeared from
nowhere, shouted.

"I'm a girl!" Ryunosuke shouted as she punched the man out of the
room.

[Please, please, please, please, please tell me that my home room won't
be as bad as this one.] Ryouga-chan thought/prayed to herself.

"All right, everybody sit down." a burly teacher said as he entered the
room.  "You!" he said, pointing at Ryouga-chan. "You're not supposed to
be here."

"Ryoko here is new, and she can't find her home room." Shinobu said as
she sat down at her desk.

"Fine, she can stay here for the rest of the day. Ryoko, you can sit
down over there."

Ryouga-chan sighed as she sat down next to Ryunosuke. The class started
as the sounds of someone being electrocuted could be heard outside.

"So I guess you were raised as a guy, dressed like that." Ryunosuke
whispered to Ryouga-chan while the teacher was distracted by the green
haired girl flying in the window, dragging in a smoking Ataru.

"Yes, you could say that I was.... raised as a boy." Ryouga-chan
answered, absently swatting away a duster that was thrown at her by the
teacher.

***********************************************

It was nighttime. Genma and Ranma were in the dojo. They were carrying
out a conversation whilst standing on their heads.

"So, I hear Akane really looked out for you today." Genma said.

"Not like I asked her to." Ranma answered.

"So where's Ryouga?" Genma asked.

"Do you have to ask?" Ranma replied.

"Ah, lost again. Sometimes I despair of that boy." Genma said,
sighing.

Ranma nodded, not an easy thing to do when you're standing on your
head.  Maybe Ryouga got deliberately lost, just so he didn't have to
pretend to be a girl. Hah. Pretend to be a girl. That guy would go to
any lengths to keep his curse a secret. Ranma wasn't too keen on people
finding out about his curse either. He had thought Kunou had found out
during their fight today, but luckily Kunou had thought Ranma's girl
side wasn't Ranma. Ranma really had to wonder how long his luck would
hold out.

***********************************************

Ryouga looked around. Yesterday had been an unpleasant way to start
school.  Not only had Ataru continually tried to glomp onto her (and he
showed a recovery rate that even Ryouga, a hardy.... man, would kill
for), but many of the other boys had tried to chat her up. Ryouga
blushed as he remembered Shinobu telling his female side that maybe
wearing a relatively thin white shirt without a bra wasn't a good idea
if you didn't want guys noticing you.

Still, at least he had made a couple of friends. Shinobu and Ryunosuke
were pretty nice. Ryouga still had a little trouble talking to girls
without getting embarrassed, but having been a half-girl for a few
months had given him some ability to talk to them without his usual
nervousness. It was a sign of that improvement that Ryouga could make
friends with a couple of girls so easily. Ryouga had been sure to find
out the home room number of Shinobu's class before the school day had
ended so that he, or to be more exact, she could get Ranma or Akane to
show her where they were in the school.

Ryouga's precautions with packing a large school bag proved to be
necessary.  After the school day ended (and he changed back to a guy in
a dingy little rest room), he tried in vain to find the Tendo Dojo.
Finally, after hours of wandering, he gave up and camped for the night
in an empty lot (which, ironically, was only a block from the Dojo.)

He got up early in the morning, hoping he could find either the Dojo or
the Furinkan School in time to be not late. After an hour or so of
walking around, asking directions off of anyone he could see, he saw a
school in front of him.  There were various puddles of water around the
place, apparently it had rained here last night, a bit of a surprise
since it wasn't raining where Ryouga had camped. As he approached the
school gates, he looked around hopefully, for Ranma. [This doesn't look
quite right.] he thought, [But I wasn't really paying attention to what
the school looked like from outside, so maybe this is right.]

As he got closer, he noticed that there was a girl leaning against the
school gates. All the other girls were avoiding walking too near her.
[There seem to be a lot of girls here.] he thought. [Maybe all the guys
are already inside, waiting for that stupid fight thing again.]

Ryouga heard a rumbling sound behind him. Turning, he saw something was
coming towards him at an incredible pace, kicking up a dust cloud. As
the cloud got closer, two forms took shape within. A red haired girl
was dragging a giggling yellow haired girl towards the school, running
at an unbelievable pace.

"Ranma?" Ryouga asked hopefully, but as the girl got closer, he saw
that it wasn't Ranma's girl form. Perhaps he should have spent more
time in getting out of the way of the approaching girl, rather than
standing in the middle of a road puzzling out the identity of some red
headed health freak.

For once, Ryouga didn't suffer complete bad luck. The running girl
didn't run over him. What did happen, however, was that as she ran by,
she kicked up water from the puddles, splashing Ryouga, turning him
into a girl again.

"I don't believe this." Ryouga-chan muttered to herself. She did her
best to squeeze as much of the water out of her shirt as possible
without taking it off as she walked up to the school gates.

At the gates, the red head was talking to the girl had been leaning
against the gates. "Honestly, B-ko, can't you just give it up? I've got
better things to do than trash your robots."

B-ko laughed. "This time my robots will trash you, A-ko. This time I
will save C-ko from you." She gestured, and ten gigantic robots sprung
from their hiding places.

A-ko sighed and jumped at one of the robots. She grabbed it's left arm
and, while still in mid air, threw the robot at another. They crashed
into each other, disabling both. Soon, a giant dust cloud was kicked
up. Seconds later, A-ko flew from within the cloud, landing hard
against a tree. The cloud blew away, revealing that only two robots
were still going, one of which was close to failure. The two robots
stepped towards A-ko. After three strides, the damaged robot fell
apart. The last remaining robot, however, appeared to be fully
functional. It loomed over a dazed A-ko, who was struggling to get up.

"Finally, finally." B-ko hissed to herself as she watched from the
sidelines.

The robot raised its right hand in preparation for a crushing blow. As
the hand began its deadly descent, the arm it was attached to was
abruptly cut off by Ryouga-chan's belt sword. Ryouga-chan landed
lightly in front of the now one armed robot. "Using a robot to fight
for you isn't very honourable." she noted as she quickly rebelted her
sword (after all, the pants were designed for her male form, and
without her belt, they tended to fall down).

The robot targeted this new threat, and tried to destroy it by a mighty
kick.  Ryouga-chan sidestepped the kick before leaping up onto the
robot's shoulders.  She grasped it's head with her hands, and, with a
mighty heave, ripped its head right off. Ryouga-chan leapt off the
robot as it fell over backwards, disabled.

"No!" B-ko screamed. And she couldn't even battle this interloper, she
had sent all her battle suits to the dry cleaner for the day. "What is
your name?" she hissed to Ryouga-chan.

A bit startled at the venom in her voice, Ryouga-chan answered warily
"Um...  Ryoko."

"I will remember you." B-ko vowed as she stalked into the school.

"Hey, that was pretty good work." A-ko said as she stepped up to
Ryouga-chan.

Ryouga-chan blushed, mumbling "It was nothing." She looked at the
wreckage of the robots and asked the redhead "I suppose this isn't
Furinkan High School?"

"Furinkan?" A-ko repeated. "Never heard of it. Where is it?"

"Um.... Nerima." Ryouga-chan said.

"Nerima? But you're in Graviton City." A-ko said, a bit puzzled.

"Oh. Well, thanks anyway." Ryouga-chan said as she hefted her school
bag and walked off.

"Strange girl." A-ko said, shaking her head. She raced off to class.

***********************************************

Ranma sat next to Akane underneath a tree, calmly eating his lunch.

"Aren't you worried about Ryouga?" Akane asked Ranma, a bit annoyed at
his calm attitude to the lost boy's disappearance.

Ranma shook his head in a no. "Ryouga does this all the time. He can
look after himself. In a few days, he'll be back. A couple of days from
then he'll be lost again. Believe me, you get used to it."

"Saotome!" Kunou shouted as he strode up to Ranma. "What have you done
with the beautiful Ryoko?"

"What makes you think I had anything to do with her disappearance?"
Ranma asked as he stood, wary of an attack. As Kunou began to rant,
Ranma sighed to himself. He hoped that Ryouga was having an easier time
wherever he was.

***********************************************

Ryouga-chan looked at the new school she was facing. She was really
beginning to curse the fact that she hadn't payed more attention to the
Furinkan School on the first day, but Nabiki had been distracting him
with her questions. The sad fact was, she couldn't remember exactly
what the school looked like. The one she was standing in front of now
didn't look quite right either.

Ryouga-chan perked up as she heard the sounds of explosions coming from
within the school. Large explosions meant an even money chance of it
being Ranma. She rushed into the school.

Soon, she found herself outside again. There were some really weird
looking creatures in front of her, tormenting some guy in metallic blue
armour. [Maybe they're practising for a movie.] Ryouga-chan thought to
herself. "Excuse me." she shouted out to get the attention of the
monsters. "Is this Furinkan High School?"

The monsters turned from the armoured man to look at this small
reddish-brown haired girl. "Somebody kill her." a grey skinned rhino
like creature said.

"Sure thing." An equally strange creature with large growths on its
shoulders said. Two missiles sprung from it, heading towards
Ryouga-chan. She desperately leaped out of the way. The ground exploded
where she had been standing.

Ryouga-chan's eyes blazed in fury as she saw the smoking hole where she
had just been. Some jerk in a rubber suit had just tried to kill her,
and she wasn't happy about it. Quickly, she ripped six bandannas off
her head, and started twirling them on her two index fingers, three
bandannas to each hand.  As she directed ki into the bandannas to make
them razor sharp, she leapt high, almost impossibly high. At the apex
of her jump, she threw the six bandannas at the creature that had
attacked her.

The creature dodged two, but the other four bandannas hit their marks,
slicing through various parts of the monster's body, including the two
shoulder growths.

As a different coloured liquid leaked out of each shoulder, the monster
had time to say "Oh no." before the two liquids mixed in sufficient
quantity to make the entire store explode, blowing him into oblivion.

"You bit..." the monster with swords in its arms managed to say before
it was cut in half from behind by the blue armoured guy.

The remaining two monsters looked angrily at their two opponents before
they turned and ran.

"You may regret doing that." a voice said from above Ryouga-chan. She
looked up, and saw a man in similar armour to the blue guy, except his
was mostly black, with some red here and there. He waved/saluted
Ryouga-chan before flying off.

"Thanks for the help." the blue armoured man said. "How did you do
that? What are you?"

"Me? I'm just a martial artist." Ryouga-chan answered. [Who can swap
genders as easily as other people can swap clothes.] she thought
sardonically to herself. "Do you know where Furinkan High School is?"

The man's armour seemed to swell out before disintegrating, revealing a
young man who seemed to be about Ryouga's age. "Furinkan? Isn't that in
Nerima?"

Ryouga-chan nodded.

"In that case, Nerima is that way." the teen said, pointing out a
direction.

"Thanks." Ryouga-chan said as she began to walk off on a route that
wasn't quite the way the boy had pointed out.

"Wait! My name's Sho, what's yours?" the boy shouted to the departing
Ryouga-chan.

Ryouga-chan was starting to get used to using her 'alias' in this form,
so she said "Ryoko." as she continued to walk.

"You be careful, Ryoko." Sho shouted to her. "You don't know the
trouble you may have put yourself in."

***********************************************

Ryouga looked around tiredly at his surroundings. It was the start of
the fourth day since he had last been at Furinkan. In that time, he had
visited sixteen schools, at each of which he had attacked or been
attacked by something. Six times it was mecha or robots. Four times it
was some type of monster. Once, it was a tentacled horror that had been
doing some things to a girl that would be in any nightmare involving
him being stuck in female form for weeks to come (he hadn't needed
prompting to kill that thing). Three times he had been attacked by
various martial artists for no good reason. Once it had been a demon
who was after a three eyed girl and a guy who GOT BACK UP AGAIN AFTER
BEING DISEMBOWELLED. The last encounter had been the only one he
remembered with any fondness, it had involved some guys unsuccessfully
trying to beat up a naked girl who wore a red mask. Ryouga had passed
out, nose bleeding, so he hadn't been able to help her. Not that she
needed it. He had never realised just how dangerous the Japanese School
System was until this little journey.

Now he was in yet another school. He approached a girl with relatively
short hair. Her back was to him, so he cleared his throat and said
"Excuse me, this wouldn't happen to be Furinkan, would it?"

"Well of course its Furinkan." Nabiki answered as she turned to Ryouga.
"Oh!  Ryouga! We were starting to wonder about you. Where have you
been?"

"I really don't want to talk about it." Ryouga answered. "I don't
suppose you fixed that little problem, did you?"

"What little problem?" Nabiki asked, a puzzled look on her face.

Ryouga sighed, resisting the urge to slap his hand over his
forehead/eyes.  "The little matter of me being registered as a girl?"
He reached back and felt the reassuring lump of a thermos in his bag.
After some of the ridiculous ways he had been hit with water in the
last few days, he had prepared some hot water before breaking camp that
morning.

"Oh, that." Nabiki looked at the clock tower's clock. "I guess I can
fix that up. Wait here. Don't want you getting lost again now, do we?"
She asked as she walked off towards the school.

Ryouga plonked onto the ground under a tree. Four days of draining
fights and travel had taken their toll on him. He rested against the
tree, waiting for Nabiki's return. His eyes closed. He was almost
feeling peaceful when he was jolted from his rest by someone splashing
cold water in his face.

"What?" Ryouga-chan spluttered as she opened her eyes. She saw Nabiki
standing over her, an empty glass in her hand. "What did you do that
for?"

"We, or, to be more exact, you have a problem." Nabiki said. She almost
looked embarrassed.

"What do you mean..... problem?" Ryouga-chan asked.

"My.... contact in registration was transferred to another school. The
guy who replaced him is new. He refused to change the documents back,
so its going to take me a while to fix this up. I'll have to find
something to... convince him to help you out. That could take a while."

"You mean....."

"If you want to go to school, you'll have to do it as a girl."

A howl of mixed rage and anguish rang out along the school. Several
students shuddered as they imagined what sort of tortured animal could
make such a sound.

***********************************************

Akane and Ranma had just sat down in their class when Nabiki walked in,
dragging a frozen Ryouga-chan.

"What's wrong with hi... her?" Akane asked.

"Lets just say that she didn't take some information well." Nabiki
replied as she dropped her cargo into an empty desk next to Ranma.

Ranma looked around for witnesses, then he whispered to Nabiki. "Why is
he still a girl?"

Nabiki whispered back "Its going to take me some time to change his
records back, so until then he has to keep up this little charade if he
doesn't want his secret out."

Akane walked over to Ryouga-chan and poked her. Ryouga-chan didn't
respond. "I don't think he's taking this too well." she whispered.

Ranma sighed. "I guess we better start calling him her from now on. I
can't blame him for wanting to keep the curse a secret, and it wouldn't
be honourable of us to not help him."

"Well I can't see any profit in telling anyone." Nabiki said."See you
later." She waved and then walked out of the room.

Ranma and Akane turned back to Ryouga-chan when they heard a crumpling
sound.  They saw that Ryouga-chan was sitting up straight, chunks of
the desk in each of her hands.

"You all right?" Ranma asked.

"No I'm not." Ryouga-chan said. "I just had what may well be the most
miserable four days in my existence, only to come back here and find
out that I have to pretend to be a girl if I want to keep my secret and
stay here."

"You could always just tell everyone about the curse. What's so bad
about being a girl anyway?" Akane asked.

Ranma and Ryouga-chan looked at Akane like she had just said the
stupidest thing on earth. Ranma looked at Ryouga-chan and asked "So
what are you going to do?"

Ryouga-chan sighed. "I'll have to think about it. For now, I guess I'll
pretend to be a girl. Hopefully, Nabiki won't take too long to get
things straightened out. I guess if I've learned anything from some of
the things I've seen on my last trip, its that there are worse things
at schools than having to pretend you're a girl."

"What?" Ranma asked, confused.

"Nothing." Ryouga-chan said. [Still, I wish I could find the place
where I saw that girl with the red mask. I'd like to ask her where she
hid those nunchakus.] She wiped away some blood that trickled out of
her nose. After all, even though she was in a girl's body, she was
still a guy. "So, anything happen while I was away?"

Ranma snorted. "You could say that. Kunou fell for your girl side bad.
When you disappeared, he blamed me cause he thinks that I'm also
responsible for holding my girl side captive. The idiot hasn't realised
that me and the 'pig-tailed girl' are one and the same, even though we
practically spelled it out to him."

"He fell for me? After I beat him into the ground? What sort of pervert
is this guy?" Ryouga-chan asked.

"A persistent one." He leaned over to Ryouga-chan and whispered "You'd
better be careful around Nabiki. She's been selling pictures of Akane
and my girl side to Kunou. I know how you'll react if you see Kunou
with those sorts of pictures, so it'd be better for all if you just
avoid getting photographed in compromising conditions."

Ryouga-chan sighed. [Great, another thing to worry about.] "What about
those big fights in the morning? They still going on?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nah, they gave up this morning after they saw
what I'd done in a fight with Kunou.

They stopped talking as the teacher walked in. "Ah, I see you're back
Ryoko." he said. "You've got some catching up to do, young lady."

Another chunk of Ryouga-chan's desk bit the dust as she squeezed it in
frustration at being called a girl. "Hai, sensei." she answered
sullenly.

***********************************************

Lunch time arrived. As Ryouga-chan started to follow Ranma out, she
found herself surrounded by girls.

"Hello there." a short brunette said. "Your name is Ryoko, right?"

Ryouga-chan fidgeted nervously. She might be a lot better at talking to
people than she used to be, but she still got nervous, especially when
it was a crowd of girls who were talking to him/her. "Um... yes?" she
said meekly.

Another girl, one with long raven-black hair, piped up. "We've been
wanting to talk to you ever since what you did to Kunou, but then you
disappeared before we got the chance."

"About what?" Ryouga-chan asked nervously. After all, even though she
had instantly disliked Kunou when she saw him, she realised that he was
a handsome man. Perhaps these girls were angry at her for beating him
up. Ryouga-chan didn't know what she would do if it came down to a
fight. She wouldn't like beating up on girls, even if they did have
martial training, and surely not all of these girls would be martial
artists.

The first girl spoke again. "We just wanted to congratulate you on
beating that loser."

Another girl, with black hair in a ponytail, nodded. "Yeah, we're all
getting sick of Kunou. The way he treats women, you'd think we were
only good as wives."

The second girl to speak said "He might go for Akane more than most,
but he still accosts the rest of us occasionally. He really is a pig,
and he deserved what you did to him. Not even Akane has ever beaten him
up like that."

Ryouga-chan blushed. "Well, I...."

The first girl grabbed Ryouga-chan's arm and started dragging him out
the door, as the other girls followed. "Come on." she said. "We all
want to hear about you over lunch."

"But I didn't bring any lunch." Ryouga-chan protested. It was true, she
had ran out of food yesterday. After all, there was only so much you
could pack in a school bag.

"You can share ours." a girl said as she pushed Ryouga-chan from
behind. "We want to hear about your training trip. Did you really
travel with Ranma to China? What's he like? What are him and Akane like
at home? Where did you learn how to beat up people like you did Kunou?
Was it Ranma?"

"Ranma's father taught me most of my..." Ryouga-chan began.

Another girl drowned him out. "And you've got to tell us why you dress
like that. Why are you dressed like a boy? And no bra! Have you no
shame?"

Ryouga-chan was blushing so hard she was almost purple as other girls
started asking her why she was dressed like that and more made comments
about underwear. She tried to think of something to say, then
remembered the excuse she had used to Ryunosuke. "I was raised as a
boy." she said, truthfully enough. "This is how I've always dressed."

"Well that just won't do." yet another girl piped up. "We're going to
have to get you dressed right. To the lockers, girls! I'm sure between
us we can scrounge up something."

As the other girls gave cries of agreement, Ryouga-chan was struggling
against their grip. Even though she was monstrously strong in either
form, the girls had numbers and determination on their side. "What? No!
I am not wearing a dress!" Ryouga-chan screamed as she was dragged
off.

**********************************************

Ryouga-chan was in a school dress. [This is the worst day of my life.]
she thought. Then she thought about Jusenkyo. [Well, it's the second
worst day of my life.] She sighed as she rolled her shoulders. [Damn
this bra is uncomfortable.]

The onlooking girls were nodding and speaking in approval. "Ryoko,
you're beautiful." one sighed, as others made similar comments.

Ryouga-chan looked in a mirror. Some of the girls had applied some
makeup to her. Nothing obvious, the school didn't condone heavy makeup,
but as one girl had sagely said while helping another ten girls to hold
Ryouga-chan down so the makeup girl could do her work, 'The best makeup
is the one you can't tell is being used.'.

[All I can see is myself in a dress.] she thought as she looked at her
reflection. [Sure, I'm cute enough, but so what? This isn't me. Its
just a horrible caricature. Maybe I should just give up on this. Maybe
I should just leave, and go back to my wandering.]

Ryouga-chan sighed again. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't face
the loneliness of her eternal wandering any more. When Ryouga had made
friends with Ranma, and their friendship had grown to a certain point,
he had found that whenever he got lost, he really felt the isolation of
being alone. Sure, he had been lonely before, but after he made
friends, he really began to feel it. And Ryouga knew he couldn't face
that again. When he was lost, it was the prospect of coming back to his
friends that drove him on.

He hadn't seen his mother in three years, his father in four. He had
been home so rarely, seen his parents even less, that he didn't even
know if he had any siblings. Ranma was like a brother to him, Genma
like a.....distant uncle.  They were his family, and perhaps, with
time, the Tendos would be family too.  The only other friend he had was
somewhere in China, perhaps dead.

He might get lost, but his days of wandering without a home were over.
He had somewhere to go, a friend, hopefully friends when he got to know
the Tendos, to come back to. And he would do anything, suffer any
humiliation to ensure that he could stay with what had become, to all
intents, his true family.

But damn it, Ryouga didn't plan on wearing a dress and [gad, how can
anyone wear these!] a bra too often. Ryouga-chan rolled her shoulders
again in a desperate attempt to get the bra to sit right.

"I can see why she didn't wear a bra." one of the girls muttered to
another.  "That was the biggest one any of us had, and its still too
small."

***********************************************

Ranma and Akane were eating their lunch together. Not that either of
them would admit that they were 'eating together', but they were having
their lunch within five feet of each other, so its close enough as far
as descriptions go.

"Have you seen Ryouga?" Ranma asked Akane. "I'm gonna kill him if he's
lost again already."

"Don't worry about it, Ranma. Some of the girls in our class wanted to
talk to him.... well, her, really. I've warned them about his sense of
direction. They won't let him get lost."

"But what do they want with him?"

"Just girl talk." Akane answered.

"Ah, that explains why you aren't with them." Ranma said, nodding
sagely.

Akane was about to belt Ranma when she saw something that made her spit
out the mouthful of drink she had been about to swallow.

"What? What is it?" Ranma asked, concerned. He still kept eating,
though.

Akane raised a hand, which was shaking, and pointed. Ranma looked up,
and started to choke as he saw Ryouga-chan, in a school dress, being
dragged along by about fifteen girls.

"Is that makeup?" Akane wondered aloud. Ranma didn't reply, probably
because he was too busy turning blue. Akane noticed his plight and gave
him a hearty slap on the back. Ranma gasped, then started sucking in
air in big gasps.

"What... the hell?" Ranma wheezed.

"Poor Ryouga." Akane said. Then, she couldn't hold it in any longer.
She started to laugh.

Ranma gave her the evil eye. He had just put himself in Ryouga's
position, and he was sure Ryouga wasn't having the time of his life.
"It's not funny, you know."

"I know, I know. But I just can't help it. Bwahahahha!"

***********************************************

Ryouga-chan had lost some of her nervousness around the girls. They
were sitting around in a group, eating their lunches. They had each
given her a little portion of their lunch so that she could eat as
well. After finally reigning in an unbelievable blush, Ryouga-chan used
a time honoured method to ignore the dress and bra. She just forgot she
was wearing them. Oh sure, she still knew she was wearing them (it was
a bit hard not to when the bra was too tight) but every time her mind
would start to say 'You are dressed like a girl', she would savagely
put it down.

Ryouga-chan was actually starting to find this.... pleasant. They were
being so nice to her, someone they knew nothing about. They were
treating her like just another girl, and it actually felt.... good.
True, Ryouga would have preferred to be male and over talking to the
guys, but this was very peaceful.

So it was inevitable that just as Ryouga-chan was starting to calm down
from being woman handled by the girls, Kunou happened to see her. He
began running towards her, shouting as he did.

"Ryoko! My beautiful bandannaed tigress! You have escaped the clutches
of that vile sorcerer, Saotome! How your heart must have yearned to run
into my arms whilst you were under his foul yoke. Fear not, I am here!
I shall take your mind off your worries by dating with thee!" With
that, he leapt towards her, his arms held wide, ready to hug her.

Ryouga-chan grabbed one of his outstretched arms, turned, and used
Kunou's momentum to slam him into the tree the girls had been sitting
under. Before Kunou could recover, Ryouga-chan locked his arms behind
him, and placed her knee into the small of his back so he couldn't
move.

"Ranma told me you were after me, but I couldn't believe it."
Ryouga-chan snarled. "Are you a pervert or just stupid? Didn't me
hitting you eighteen times give you a hint that I didn't like you?
Well, I'll spell it out for you, Kunou. I'd rather _you_ die than date
you. And believe me, if you keep this up, you'll find out that it's my
pleasure to give you pain."

She released him, and turned back to the girls. "Man, he is
unbelievable." She froze as arms encircled her from behind.

"Ah, she is like a lioness. Fierce and protective, but at heart, she is
just a big kitten." Kunou said as he rested his head against
Ryouga-chan's shoulder.

[And I thought Ataru was a hentai.] was her last coherent thought for a
while.  Ryouga began to glow a blinding shade of blue. The next few
seconds have been cut out because young children and people with weak
stomachs might be reading.

After finally deciding that she had beaten Kunou up enough for now,
Ryouga-chan hefted Kunou's battered body and, with her considerable
strength, flung the boy into low earth orbit. The girls that had been
sitting with her started clapping.

"Nice distance." one of the girls said.

***********************************************

Ranma and Akane led Ryouga-chan home. Showing more self preservation
than usual, Ranma decided to not say anything about the dress
Ryouga-chan was wearing.

Ryouga-chan practically bolted to her room, grabbing a teapot full of
hot water on the way. She was in such a hurry that she didn't even get
lost.

She raced into the room she, Ranma, and Genma shared, tossing off the
dress and the hated bra. With a sigh, she poured the hot water over
herself, changing her back into a man. Soon, he was dressed in his
usual yellow shirt and black pants.

Outside the window, Nabiki smiled as she returned to her room, camera
in hand.  "Gotcha." she said.

***********************************************

It was night, the Tendos, Saotomes, and Ryouga were sitting down to
dinner. At a lull in the conversation, Kasumi turned to Ryouga and
asked "So how long have you been a student of Uncle Saotome's for,
Ryouga?"

Ryouga seemed a bit startled to be included in the conversation, before
he replied "Umm... well it must be about two or three years now. You
see, what happened was..."

++++++++++++++++++++++ (Flashback:
 It is lunch time at the cafeteria at an all boys school. There is a
 huge rush of boys crowding around the cafeteria workers. Suddenly, one
 of the workers yells out "Last of the curry bread".

 "I thought it was soup bread." Ranma's voice-over interjected into the
 story.

 "Look, I'm telling the story Ranma, and it was curry bread." Ryouga's
 voice-over snarled before the flashback continued.

 The worker threw the piece of bread into the air. Several hands
 reached out for the precious prize, before a boy, obviously a younger
 Ranma cannons out of the crowd, grabbing the bread. As he lands,
 another young boy, Ryouga, walks out of the crowd, red footmarks on
 his face announcing that he was the springboard that Ranma used to get
 his height.

 "Who... who are you?" Ryouga asked this... thief, this worst of
 enemies.

 "Saotome Ranma." Ranma had answered as he stared at the other boy,
 curiosity on his face. He ate the bread he had claimed in two bites.

 "I am Hibiki Ryouga. I shall not forget this." Ryouga had then walked
 away, crying.

 "I was crying tears of bitterness." Ryouga's voice-over stated.

 "It was just bread, Ryouga." Ranma's voice-over interjected surlily.

 "I hadn't eaten in over a day !" Ryouga's voice-over retorted.
 "Anyway...."

 It was three days later, at the cafeteria again. There was a similar
 crowd to the last time.

 "Why three days later?" Akane's voice-over asked curiously.

 "Took him that long to find the place again." Ranma's voice-over
 replied.

 "Shut up !" Ryouga's voice-over snarled eloquently.

 The crowd in the cafeteria was mobbing the food servers again. Again,
 as the last piece of bread was thrown, Ranma was the one to leap out
 of the crowd to catch it. As he reached for it, a bandanna whizzes out
 of the air and deflects the bread out of Ranma's grasping hands. The
 thrower of the bandanna, Ryouga, calmly catches the bread.

 Ranma looked at Ryouga, who was eating the bread as quickly as he
 could. That had been a good throw. Ranma could respect someone who
 could beat him to a prize like that. He walked up to Ryouga, who
 looked back at him cautiously. Ranma smiled, and said "Ya got me this
 time Just don't expect me to fall for that one again."

 Ryouga smiled too. "Don't get too cocky. I have more up my sleeve than
 my bandannas."

 "And so it went." Ryouga voice over said. "We competed for the bread.
 Most of the times, Ranma would win. But I got my fair share as well,
 and we developed a friendship. One day, instead of just bragging to
 each other after Ranma managed to snatch the bread, we actually
 talked."

 Ranma looked over at Ryouga. The guy was getting pretty good at trying
 to get to the bread before him. Today, Ranma had won, but it had been
 a close thing. Perhaps it was time to make a peace offering. He tore
 the bread he had in half and offered half of it to Ryouga.

 Ryouga looked hungry, but he refused the bread. "I don't want your
 cast-offs, Ranma." he said. "I shall get my food through fairer
 means."

 "But if you really want some bread than why don't you just get here
 earlier?" Ranma asked. "C'mon, just take it." he added as he saw
 Ryouga looking at the piece of bread Ranma was still offering him.

 Ryouga stared at the offered piece of bread for a moment before
 snatching it and swallowing it ravenously. After sating his hunger
 somewhat, he considered Ranma's question before answering. "I'm....
 rarely here."

 "Aw c'mon." Ranma snorted. "You should be here every day, just like
 the rest of us, so what do you mean you're 'rarely here'?"

 Ryouga clammed up, refusing to answer. The two boys stood there,
 looking at each other in silence for about five minutes before Ryouga
 eventually asked something that had been on his mind. "So.... Ranma."

 "Yeah?"

 "Um... where did you learn to leap like that?"

 "Oh, that. I'm a martial artist. I've been training since I was five
 years old."

 Ryouga's face grew contemplative for a few seconds before he asked
 "Ah...  I don't suppose you could teach me how to do that?"

 Ranma looked at Ryouga's earnest expression before saying "I can't
 teach you, my pop would kill me." Seeing the crestfallen expression on
 the other boy's face, he continued "But I'll take you to my pop.
 He's... a martial arts master, he can teach you if he wants to."

 "Ok." Ryouga said. "I guess I'd better get to class now." He wandered
 off, as Ranma followed a similar path to get to his own class. Their
 paths diverged when Ryouga went through one door, while Ranma
 continued down the hall. About two seconds later, Ranma stopped,
 turned, and walked to the door that Ryouga had stepped through.
 Opening it, he looked at Ryouga and said "Why are you in the janitor's
 closet?"

 "Eh...heh heh heh." Ryouga replied, blushing in embarrassment.

 Ranma rolled his eyes before grabbing Ryouga's arm. "C'mon." he said.

 After school, Ranma led Ryouga to where he and his father had been
 camping.  Ranma had quickly realised that Ryouga had an atrocious
 sense of direction after almost losing the guy at least six times
 along the way. Now Ranma kept a death grip on Ryouga's arm, and
 snarled every time Ryouga started to stray off course.

 Genma looked at the boy that Ranma had led to him with curiosity.
 "What have we here, son? Is this a friend of yours?"

 "This is Ryouga, pop. He wants to learn martial arts." Ranma replied.

 "I don't suppose you could teach me?" Ryouga asked hopefully.

 "Reveal the secrets of the Saotome School? Never !" Genma replied.

 Ranma snorted in disgust. "Aw, c'mon pop. He's not asking to learn
 your precious secret techniques. He's just asking you to teach him
 what you can."

 "Nevertheless, we won't be around here for long enough to start any
 training.  I'm sorry, but the answer is still no."

 Ryouga sighed as he felt his depression rise at this man's rejection.
 He really wanted to learn martial arts, but he had never been able to
 find a training place often enough to get beyond the bare basics. Many
 of the places that took him on had thrown him out when he didn't
 arrive for training very often (because, of course, he was lost). It
 was then that he remembered a lesson his father, a businessman, had
 taught him on one of the rare occasions that the two had seen each
 other. 'Son, ', he had said,'when all else fails, grease their palms.'

 "Mr Saotome...." Ryouga began hesitantly. "I could... pay."

 Genma thought about it for about a millisecond. He was poor, and he
 was planning to take a trip to China with his son in the very near
 future. The simple fact was, he needed money. So he took Ryouga's hand
 and shook it, saying "Glad to have you as a student." )
++++++++++++++++++++++

Ryouga continued his story, "So Mr Saotome began to train me.
Eventually he said that he and Ranma were going to China to continue
their training, so I asked if I could come along. After all, there was
nothing to keep me where I was. Hell, I didn't _know_ where I was most
of the time. At first he said no, but me and Ranma managed to talk him
around."

(Flashback of Ranma and Ryouga beating up Genma until he agrees to
allow Ryouga to accompany them to China.)

"And that's pretty much how it happened." Ryouga finished.

***********************************************

Ranma, Akane and Ryouga-chan were walking to school. Ryouga-chan was
wearing a boy's uniform again. She was sure she'd get grief for it, but
she didn't care. This time, she had brought her red bamboo umbrella,
just to make sure. There had been some times on her last trip when she
had been a girl where being a guy would have been a lot better.

Akane looked at Ryouga-chan and sighed. [He's being ridiculous about
this. He should just swallow his pride and admit to the school that he
has a curse.  He's going to find himself in big trouble if he doesn't
do it soon.]

They walked on for a few more minutes, occasionally correcting
Ryouga-chan's path, when Akane broached a subject with Ryouga-chan that
she had been meaning to talk about for a while. "Ryouga?"

"Yes Akane?" Ryouga-chan answered politely.

"What is it with you and Kunou?"

"What do you mean with me and Kunou?" Ryouga-chan said angrily. "There
is no me and Kunou."

Akane shook her head. "No, no. I mean the way you keep beating him up
like that. I really think you're going overboard on this. You might
kill him if you keep this up."

"Kill him?" Ryouga-chan asked confused. "If I wanted him dead, then I
wouldn't have stopped attacking him the first time. He just gets me so
angry, the way he tries to fondle me. He can certainly handle the
punishment. He gets back up again a few minutes after I've hit him. The
guy's already brain dead, so there can't be any damage to him."

"Well, I really think you should lay off him a bit. Its not healthy to
get so angry at someone."

Ranma snorted. "I'm sorry, who are you, and what have you done with the
real Akane? You're the last person to talk about controlling their
temper."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Akane asked angrily.

"Alright! Alright!" Ryouga-chan screamed. "If you two would shut up,
then I'll promise to go a bit easier on Kunou. Don't you two ever stop
fighting? I've been back one day, and all you two do is gripe and moan
at each other. You're supposed to be engaged! Engaged to each other,
not enraged at each other!  Aaarrrrggghhhh! You're making me wish I was
lost again!"

Ranma and Akane looked at each other sheepishly as Ryouga-chan strode
off, muttering to herself. Ranma ran up to Ryouga-chan before she could
get lost, and steered her in the right direction again.

***********************************************

Finally, the three made it to school. Unfortunately, along the way,
someone had spilled hot coffee on Ryouga-chan, reverting her to her
male form. They had been so close to school that the other two
convinced Ryouga that the easiest way to get cold water would be to
sneak him into the school and find an isolated spot, such as the p.e.
room, to change him back to his girl form.

"Can you believe this?" Ryouga asked, shaking his stained shirt at
Ranma.  Luckily, he carried a spare in his backpack. After all, YOU get
lost for weeks on end all the time and see how long it is before you're
packing spare clothes.

"Truthfully? Yes." Ranma answered. "You've had a curse as long as me.
You should know that the wrong sort of water will splash over you at
the worst possible time. It has before. You should feel lucky it
happened here and not at lunch time in the school yard in front of a
hundred students."

"Damn that idea." Ryouga said. "I will keep this curse a secret, if its
the last thing I do. I will not be looked down upon by everyone at
school for this." He stuffed the dirty shirt into his backpack as the
three walked through the school gates.

"Now just act cool, and no-one will notice you." Ranma assured.

"I'll get a glass of water, you head to the p.e. room." Akane said as
she headed off.

"I guess from now on I should pack a thermos of cold water." Ryouga
said. "I must admit, I usually do keep a flask of water, but I...uh...
forgot to refill it after my last..... trip."

"Doesn't matter." Ranma said, reassuringly. "You worry about your curse
too much. I've actually been here all week, and the only one who's seen
it was Kunou. And he was too stupid to figure it out."

"I've got to tell you the truth, Ranma." Ryouga said as he looked
around to make sure no-one was close. "I'm not sure if it would have
mattered about my curse before lunch yesterday, but now....."

"What? What happened at lunch?" Ranma asked, confused. "You mean that
thing where the girls dressed you up? Ah, that's nothing."

"No, Ranma, its not. They thought I was a girl, and so they treated me
as one.  They told me things they'd only tell a girl. And you remember
what happened when Akane found out we weren't girls, right? She was
ready to kill us!"

"You don't think it had something to do with her seeing us in the bath,
and us seeing her?" Ranma asked dubiously.

"But them changing me in the girls lockers is basically the same thing,
Ranma.  Don't you see? If they find out about my curse now, I'm going
to be branded as the biggest pervert ever. I can't handle that. I don't
know how I'm going to keep my curse secret, but I swear, I _will_ do
it."

"Wait a second." Ranma said, stopping walking. "What do you mean, they
changed you in the girls lockers?"

"You don't think I put that dress on voluntarily, did you?" Ryouga
asked as he also stopped. "They ganged up on me, stripped me, and threw
me into that girl's stuff."

"You're right." Ranma said. "If they ever find out you're a guy,
they'll kill you."

"Thanks, Ranma, you're a real help." Ryouga said sarcastically.

"I'm serious. Ok, ok, I swear I'll help you keep your secret, but I
honestly don't know how long we can keep up this charade. Can you take
being a girl every day? Can you act like a girl? How long before you
get hit by hot water?  Like a shower?" Ranma's eyes bugged as he
realised something. "How the hell are you going to get changed for
sport? You think Akane's going to let you change in the girl's lockers?
You think that even if she did, that you could handle it without
freaking out like you always do with girls? I don't think so. You've
been a half-girl for months now, and you still pass out when you see
even a hint of naked flesh."

"So I'm shier than you." Ryouga said evenly. "Look, I'll work something
out."

But Ranma wasn't about to let up. He had given this some idle thought
over the days that Ryouga had been away. Not that he had expected
Ryouga to be pretending to be a girl for more than that first day, but
it had been something to think about instead of boring school work.
"But what about _after_ sport, when you have to take a shower to get
clean? You can't do it in the boys lockers, Akane and your own....
shyness, if you're gonna call it that, will stop you from doing it in
the girls. And even if, for arguments sake, you could shower in the
girls lockers, you couldn't dare risk it. Even if you yourself took a
cold shower, the others wouldn't be. There'd be too much chance of you
getting hit with hot water. You have got a lot of thinking to do, if
you want to keep your curse a secret."

"I get the bloody idea, alright!?" Ryouga shouted. He continued in a
normal tone, "Look, I'll give it some thought. There has to be a way."

Ranma took some pity on him. "Look, don't worry about it too much. Just
take what comes as it does. Although I can't believe what a mess one
mistake Nabiki made, added to one lunch time's activities can make."

Ryouga nodded in agreement. He looked around and said "This isn't the
best place for a conversation anyway. I'm supposed to be keeping a low
profile, so that no-one connects me to Ryoko, right?"

"Right." Ranma said, nodding. "Come on." he started walking again. "So,
tell me. Tell me what happened on your latest trip." Ranma almost
always waited a couple of days after Ryouga had come back from a trip
before asking him about it. Practically every trip Ryouga had been on
had been the 'worst one of his life'. It was just the way Ryouga was.
After a couple of days, he was usually calm enough to talk about them,
and it helped him calm down.

"Well, there's this girl I saw. She wore a red mask, and the thing
is....." Ryouga began. He'd been dying to tell Ranma about that
particular bit of his journey.

"Saotome!" Kunou's voice shouted out. "The vengeance of heaven shall
strike down upon you today!"

Ranma groaned. Ryouga grinned and said, "Hey, I promised to go easy on
him, remember? Its your turn to take him."

Kunou raced up to the two boys. "Ranma, I do not know what you have
done to spite Ryoko against me, but I am here to defeat your hold over
her."

Ryouga shook his head as Ranma and Kunou began to fight. He was in way
too good a mood at the moment to get angry at Kunou's ridiculous
attitude to his girl side. Besides, he hadn't actually seen Kunou fight
yet. Ranma said that Kunou was a decent fighter when he was up against
a guy, and he was right.  Ranma was obviously in control of the fight,
but Kunou was making a good showing of himself. The usual crowd had
begun to form around the fight.

Ranma leapt within Kunou's defences and kicked him in the side before
leaping back out again. The force of the blow caused several small
white rectangular objects to flutter out of Kunou's uniform.

Ryouga curiously stepped over and picked up what turned out to be
several photos. He idly flicked through them as Ranma continued to leap
around Kunou.  Let's see... Akane lifting barbells, Akane jogging,
Ranma-chan sleeping in boxers and loose shirt on a futon, Ryouga-chan
topless, her front to the camera, Akane breaking some bricks.... wait a
second. Ryouga flipped back to the last photo. There was his girl form,
only dressed in boxer shorts (the girls had admonished Ryouga-chan for
wearing boxers, but had let it slide), the school dress she had worn
home from school hanging from an arm. Her breasts were clearly
viewable.

Ranma leaped back from a vicious swipe of Kunou's boken. He had had
enough of this fight, it was time to end it. He narrowed his eyes
slightly, waiting for the exact right moment to breach Kunou's
defences. He tensed as Kunou began to run towards him again.

"Stop." a chilled voice rang out. The amazing thing was that both Ranma
and Kunou did. They both turned to the person who had spoken out.
Ryouga stood staring at Kunou, a picture in his hand. Ryouga's face was
stony.

"Who are you, and what are you doing with my property?" Kunou asked.
"But wait, is it not the custom to give my name first? I am..."

"I know who you are." Ryouga said, his voice sounding slightly
strangled.

Ranma was worried. Ryouga was not acting normal. What was wrong with
him?

"Explain this." Ryouga said, showing the picture of his female form so
that Kunou and Ranma could see it.

[Oh.] Ranma thought. [Shit.] He had been worried this might happen. He
had been annoyed when he saw Kunou with pictures of his girl form, but
he knew that Ryouga would go berserk if he saw Kunou with pictures of
his own female form. Ranma knew that he was about to be proven right.
To make matters worse, the photo was of Ryouga-chan topless. Ranma was
an almost stupidly brave man.  He would fight anyone, anytime (unless
they were a girl.). This fight, however, had just become none of his
business. Ranma walked off to join Akane, who was at the front of the
crowd.

"What's happening?" Akane asked, as she held a glass of water in her
hand.

"Lets just say that I think Ryouga is about to break that promise about
hurting Kunou, and I can't blame him. I think Nabiki might be in
trouble when Ryouga catches up with her too."

Kunou, meantime, was answering Ryouga's question with some arrogance.
"I do not see how that is any of your business, peon. Give me your
name."

"I am Hibiki Ryouga." Ryouga said.

The crowd began muttering. 'Did he say Hibiki?' 'Hey, isn't Ryoko a
Hibiki too?' 'I wonder if they're related?' 'Well he looks like Ryoko.'
'Yeah, and he's got the same sort of bandanna she's got as well.'.

"Hibiki?" Kunou asked. "What relation do you have to sweet Ryoko?"

Ryouga's answer was to crack his knuckles, so Ranma decided to shout
from the sidelines "Hey Kunou, I see you've met Ryoko's brother!"

Akane turned to Ranma. "Brother?"

Ranma shrugged. "I swore I'd help him keep his secret. People are going
to guess that Ryouga is related somehow to Ryoko. This way, they don't
have to think about it."

"Brother, eh?" Kunou said. "Truly, your sister..."

Ryouga had had enough. He attacked. Kunou desperately swung at Ryouga
as Ryouga charged him. Ryouga grabbed the swinging boken and tore it
from Kunou's grasp. He grasped the boken in his hands and snapped it in
half. Kunou stared at Ryouga in shock. This man had just grabbed a
boken in mid-swing, without showing any pain from doing so. Now, Kunou
was weaponless, and his unarmed skills were basic to say the least. He
was in trouble.

Ryouga grabbed Kunou by the neck. He lifted him off the ground. "How
dare you have pictures like this?" Ryouga seethed at Kunou as Kunou
started to turn blue.

"Urk." Kunou replied.

"Who gave you these pictures?" Ryouga asked, his voice hard.

"Urgle." Kunou gasped out as his face whitened.

Ryouga loosened his grip a bit to let Kunou speak. "Who?"

"*gasp* Nabiki." Kunou managed.

"Thank you." Ryouga said. He tightened his grip again, and raised Kunou
as high above him as he could. Putting all his strength into it, he
slammed Kunou into the ground. Several people in the crowd winced in
pain as they saw this happen.

Ryouga nudged Kunou, who groaned in response. Still alive. Good, that
meant he didn't have any moral problems to worry about. He faced the
crowd, his mind a lot clearer than it had been for the last few
minutes. [So, I'm Ryoko's brother, am I?] he thought. [At least Ranma
was able to help me help myself.]

"Let it be known!" he shouted to the crowd. "I am Hibiki Ryouga,
brother to Ryoko. Anyone, no matter who they are, who buys pictures of
my sister, especially ones showing her undressed, shall face me! And
next time, I shall not be so gentle!"

Ryouga walked over to Ranma. "Get me out of here." he whispered. Ranma
nodded, and, with Akane, led Ryouga off.

The crowd looked at Kunou's mangled body. Until Ranma had come, no-one
had been able to beat Kunou. Except Akane, and many had questioned if
Kunou let her win. Ranma had beaten Kunou, but even he had not taken
him out so easily.  One boy piped up "Well, I guess there's some yen
saved. I'm sure as hell not buying those pictures with a psycho brother
like that protecting her." Several other boys nodded in agreement, as
one sweated profusely, looking at several white squares sticking out of
his pocket. He sidled over to a rubbish bin and, after ripping up the
photos, placed the tatters inside.

***********************************************

In the p.e. room, Ryouga-chan seethed. Ranma and Akane looked at each
other worriedly.

"How could she do this?" Ryouga-chan asked, waving the picture around.
"Damn it, it might not be my true body, but it's still me. How dare she
take pictures of me naked? How could she invade my privacy like that?
How could she sell them to Kunou?"

"Ranma." Akane began, turning to look at him. "Please leave. I've got
to talk to Ryouga about Nabiki, and I'd prefer it if you didn't hear
it."

Any other time Ranma would have been insulted. Right now, he was
worried too much about Ryouga's mental state for that. Ryouga could
have killed Kunou.  Ryouga might still kill Nabiki. Maybe Akane could
calm Ryouga down.

Ranma nodded, and left. Akane turned back to Ryouga-chan and sighed.
She still didn't know much about this guy. Ryouga seemed so vulnerable
at times, at others he seemed consumed with anger. On one of their few
civil talks, Ranma had told Akane that Ryouga was a man consumed by
loneliness. Ranma had been his only friend, and he was alone for days
on end when he got lost. Ryouga had had an empty existence, and he was
scarred by it. He was angry at the world, partly because of his
Jusenkyo curse, partly because of his directional curse. Ranma had told
her that he sometimes felt depressed just being around Ryouga. Akane
hadn't really understood that comment until now. She felt depressed
just looking at Ryouga-chan, who was looking at the picture of herself,
a sad look on her face.

"Ryouga." Akane began. Ryouga-chan looked up at her, but said nothing.
"Ryouga, you've got to understand some things about Nabiki. She's not a
cruel person. She's the one who basically finances the dojo, not Daddy.
She sells those photos to make money to help our family survive. That's
why I've never really tried to stop her before. She's never sold
pictures of me in anything too... compromising. I guess she thought she
could go a bit further with you and Ranma because these aren't your
true bodies. She was right with Ranma, he was just annoyed. But, I
guess, with you she was wrong."

"Damn it Akane, if she wanted to know if I was alright with having
these sort of pictures taken, then she would come up to me and ask. I'm
not alright with them. And I'm not alright with how she took them. Its
obvious she took these from outside my window. That's not right. It's
unfair to me. Ranma has handled his new body better than me. He doesn't
see it as being his true form, so he doesn't get embarrassed if someone
sees him naked as a girl. I don't think that way. The girl side is
still me, just with some added baggage. I get just as embarrassed about
someone seeing me naked as a girl as I do as a guy. Probably more so.
So she might have looked at it as just a harmless picture, but I see it
as a picture of me, naked, being sold to guys like I was.... I don't
know. But I don't like it. And I won't sit by and let Nabiki get away
with it."

Akane sighed. "I can understand you wanting to get back at her, but
what are you going to do? I can't let you hurt her physically. Like I
said, she is not really a cruel person, just a little mercenary. And
you can't hurt her in any other way....... or maybe you already have."

"What do you mean?" Ryouga-chan asked, interested.

"That little speech you gave to that crowd. Considering what you did to
Kunou, I doubt anyone is going to be buying pictures of you now. So, in
a way, you've already got the best revenge on Nabiki."

"Really? I just did that to try and stop people from buying them. I
didn't think it'd really affect Nabiki."

"Oh, it will affect her alright. If there's one thing she hates, its
lost business opportunities." Akane said, smiling.

Ryouga-chan smiled in return. "Well, I guess its the best revenge I can
hope for."

"See, now there's something you should do more often." Akane said.
"Smile. You look so much better when you're smiling."

"I guess I've never had much to smile about. Still, it's worth a try."
Ryouga-chan replied, widening her smile.

"Come on, we're already late for school. We'd best go take our
punishment."

Ryouga-chan nodded, standing up. She pocketed the picture.

Akane, noticing this, asked "You're taking that with you?"

"Well I'm sure as hell not leaving it around for someone to find."
Ryouga-chan answered.

"No, I guess not. I'd pity the person who took it if you did leave it
though!" Akane said, laughing, as she left for class.

Ryouga-chan laughed too. Perhaps Ranma was lucky to have this
engagement after all. When she let her guard down, Akane was very nice.
Now all Ryouga had to do was beat it into Ranma that Akane should be
appreciated.

***********************************************

The girls had spirited Ryouga-chan away again at lunch time, this time
to ask about the incident that morning.

"Was that really your brother, Ryoko?" one asked as they all sat down
at the same tree they were at yesterday.

"Well, yes." Ryouga-chan answered, hoping she could lie without being
found out.

"Boy, he was really angry at Kunou. What was his problem?" another
asked.

Ryouga-chan considered for a moment, then pulled the picture out of her
pocket. After all, they were all girls, it meant nothing if they saw
it.  Besides, this group had already seen her topless yesterday when
they forced her into that dress. "He saw Kunou with this." she said
showing the others the picture. "He wasn't too happy about it."

"Oh." a girl said. "I guess your brother had good reason after all."

"That's horrible." another added. "I'd die if a picture of me like that
was being fondled by the guys, especially one like Kunou."

"So, a brother defending his sister's honour." the first girl said,
sighing.  "He was pretty cute. I guess those fangs of yours run in the
family."

Several of the girls who had been at the fight sighed. Ryouga-chan was
starting to blush again. [Damn, I'm just digging myself deeper with
this secret. These girls would never speak to me again if they found
out.]

"So, is he coming to this school too?" a girl asked, a bit hopefully.

"What?" Ryouga-chan asked, a bit shocked. His brain turned over for a
few seconds, trying to think up a good lie, until he just said "No. He
goes to another school. He just came today to visit me."

"Oh. Oh well." the girl said, shrugging her shoulders.

***********************************************

Nabiki was in the usual spot she occupied when she was doing business.
She had the feeling something had happened this morning while she was
out getting some photos processed, something important that she wasn't
being told of. She hated being in the dark. Several people were giving
her a wide berth, and everyone refused to talk about whatever it was.

To make matters worse, the run of pictures she had made of Ryouga-chan
weren't selling as well as she had hoped. When she had shown the
preliminary round this morning, several boys expressed interest. So,
she sold the photos she had to the two highest bidders, Kunou and some
other guy, then went to a nearby photo processing store whose owner
knew her and didn't ask questions for a small cut.

She ordered several batches of photos to be made, and returned for them
at the beginning of lunch. The photos of Ryouga-chan topless were even
more popular than ones of Ranma-chan, possibly because no-one knew who
Ranma-chan was, but 'Ryoko' was a girl that they saw, that they knew to
be at school. It gave an added interest to photos of her.

Now, Nabiki was back from the photo lab, and no-one was buying them. If
she couldn't sell them than she was losing money. Not an incredible
amount, but Nabiki hated to lose money at any time. And where was
Kunou? He might not be the brightest pupil, but he didn't normally miss
school. Nabiki had seen him this morning (she had sold pictures to him,
of course she saw him) but he wasn't at class. The usual beating that
Ranma, Akane, or Ryouga-chan gave him never stopped him from being in
class.

She saw one of the boys who had shown a lot of interest in the photos
when shown them that morning walk by. "Kenji!" she called. "So, can I
interest you in the photos you saw this morning?"

Kenji turned to Nabiki, saw what photos she was talking about, and
began to sweat. "Are you crazy?" he asked as he backpedalled away. "I'm
not going to die, not even for photos like that!"

Nabiki stared at the retreating boy in shock. [Die?] she thought. I
have got to find out what happened this morning. With a determined look
on her face, she marched off to where the gossipers usually hanged out.
They were a free source of information, and they knew an incredible
amount about what went on both in and out of the school. They'd know
what happened, and Nabiki wasn't going to give up until she found out.

***********************************************

Nabiki was a bit pale as she walked into the Tendo house. She had found
out more than she really wanted to when she went to talk to the
gossips. Kunou was in hospital, and wouldn't be out for another two
days. Apparently Kunou was swearing vengeance on some guy, but at the
same time, refusing to id.  him to police. Apparently Kunou wanted to
be the one to catch the guy who had beaten him. And that guy was
Ryouga.

Nabiki was far from stupid. She knew why Ryouga had wiped the floor
with Kunou. It was those pictures. She hadn't expected this sort of
response from him. Ranma had shouted at Nabiki for maybe a minute when
he saw pictures of himself before giving up and walking away. Ryouga
had brutally beaten a guy, and Nabiki was starting to realise she
didn't know him well enough yet to know what, if anything, he would do
to her.

She had made a quick visit to Kunou at the hospital, just to make sure
that it was Ryouga who had done it, and so she wasn't surprised to see
that Ranma and Akane were home before her.

She walked up to her room, thinking about what had happened. Why did
Ryouga get so upset? It wasn't his real form. What was there really to
be upset about? She stopped as she entered her room. There was Ryouga,
sitting in the chair at her desk. He was looking at her calmly, her
camera (well, one of them, she had a couple) in his hand.

"So I guess you're here to rage at me about how I've abused your trust,
right?" Nabiki asked him.

Ryouga sighed. "I don't see the point. I've already effectively stopped
people from buying the pictures. I have to wonder if anything I say to
you would make a difference anyway. Akane told me that you wouldn't
have sold those pictures if you really thought I'd be hurt by them. So,
here's your chance. I can bet that what I did to Kunou won't change his
feelings towards my girl side. He will probably still want photos of
me. I saw what you sold him of Akane. They were ok. Suggestive, but
they didn't show anything. I know I can't stop you from taking pictures
of me, not without hurting you. I am not a bad guy. I don't go out with
the intention of hurting people. And I don't intend on hurting you. So,
here's the best compromise I will ever do. I can accept you selling
photos of me, as long as I'm not naked or semi-naked. Prove to me that
you're not bad either. Don't abuse my trust."

With that, he set the camera down and left.

***********************************************

Nabiki arrived at the table a bit late for dinner. She had had some
thinking to do. It had seemed like such an easy source of income. When
she had found out about the two boys curses, she had thought that there
could be some profit in it. Nothing had sprung to mind until she saw
the way Ranma acted in his female body. Nabiki had seen more of 'his'
flesh when he was a girl then him as a boy. Ranma just didn't get shy
as a girl, he had walked around topless on a couple of occasions, and
he was always taking his shirt off to wring it dry when he fell in the
pond.

And so Nabiki had her answer. The way to make money off of their cursed
forms was to take shots of them topless or in other risque poses. She
felt no moral compunctions because Ranma didn't care what people saw of
his female body, and presumably neither did Ryouga. If they found out
about the pictures, they wouldn't get too upset because it wasn't their
true forms. And the hentais at school, Kunou chief amongst them, would
pay dearly for the sort of photos she could get of the two half-girls.
A nice, simple money making scheme with no real moral problems.

But now there was. She had never found out how Ryouga viewed his girl
body before she took snaps of it. Nabiki had just assumed he would have
a similar view to Ranma. Ryouga's treatment of Kunou had proven
otherwise. He might not be a real girl, but taking pictures of him in
that form had the same effect on him as it would for a real girl. Damn,
he was shy about his body. And he had said he was giving Nabiki a
chance to show that she was not as cruel as some had thought Ryouga was
for his fight with Kunou. It had meant some soul searching.

But that didn't mean she should go hungry while searching. She sat down
at the table, not bothering to look at the other occupants as she
grabbed some food.  She looked up and saw that everyone was there
except for Ryouga.

"Where's Ryouga?" she asked.

"You mean he's not in your room?" Ranma asked.

"We thought he was still talking to you." Akane added.

Ranma groaned as he felt a headache coming on. "He's gone and gotten
lost again, the idiot."

***********************************************

Ryouga looked around him. This was not the Tendo Dojo. He was lost
again, but this time he didn't have his pack. He saw an outdoor and
camping shop and smiled. Luck was with him this time. Soon, he had all
he needed to survive one of his trips. The shop had even sold food and
the type of bamboo umbrellas he used (although none were as super heavy
as the one he used.). He payed for his new possessions with a credit
card. (One of the first things a Hibiki is ever given by their parents
is a credit card and an automatic teller card.  What, how did you think
that Ryouga could always replace his clothes and backpack when he lost
them? And how did you think he could afford all those souvenirs and
food gifts? The Hibiki's had lit candles to the gods the day that
electronic banking was invented. Ryouga's family was actually fairly
rich.  His father was a successful business man: he kept finding new
markets to explore, and people from the strangest of places did
business with his company because they had met him. Funds were
automatically transferred into Ryouga's account, and his credit card
was automatically payed. The reason why Ryouga was poor most of the
time was because he couldn't find a bank to withdraw his money from.)

Ryouga sighed as he settled his new backpack on his shoulders, a red
bamboo umbrella affixed to its top. These journeys were usually hell,
but he felt in his heart that he really needed some time away right
now. Some time alone.

Ryouga looked around. He was at an intersection. He took the Hibiki
time honoured method of travel decision, and chose the way to go at
random.

***********************************************

Ryouga surprised everyone by being lost for only a couple of days. He
went to school as a girl, and fought off Kunou every time Kunou got too
amorous.  In an attempt to control himself, he even gave Kunou less
injuries then he used to, just to show that he was a nice guy.

Kunou was finding it hard to get more of those pictures of Ryoko that
he had once paid so dearly for. If he ever saw that villain Ryouga
again, he would punish him severely for stealing his only copies. When
Kunou asked Nabiki if she had anymore photos of Ryoko, she gave him
some samples. Ryouga-chan sparring with Ranma-chan. Ryouga-chan in boys
uniform walking to school.  Ryouga-chan lifting a couch with Ranma and
Akane still sitting on it so that Kasumi could vacuum under it.
Ryouga-chan and Ranma-chan at the pool, both in one piece swimsuits,
with Ryouga-chan looking slightly embarrassed at what she was wearing.
But none as good as that glorious first set that Nabiki had sold him.
When he asked her if she had any more of those, she had said that she
wasn't selling those sorts of pictures anymore. And then promptly
offered him a set of shots of Ranma-chan in various compromising
positions, including one with her shirt off, wringing it dry after a
workout.

Ryouga-chan had still managed to keep her secret. It wasn't easy. Once,
only her quick reflexes had saved her from being splashed by a Bunsen
full of hot water in chemistry class. She got splashed at least four
times by cold water, but that didn't affect her when she was already in
her cursed state.

On the fifth day back from his second trip since coming to Furinkan,
Nabiki told him that she had finally got what she needed to get the man
responsible for registration to change the records back. It was time
for a decision.

Ryouga sighed as he looked at Nabiki. She had been true to her word.
First, she hadn't sold more pictures of his girl side that he couldn't
handle.  Secondly, she had finally got what she needed to fix that
registration problem. He could stop masquerading as a girl.

Or, to be more exact, he couldn't. Like he had told Ranma before, he
thought it was too late to safely switch back to being a guy. The
school still didn't know about Ranma's curse, but there had been some
close calls. Ryouga, while in girl form, had once been splashed with
cold water in front of fifty students (it had been a prank by some guy
who hadn't found Ryouga-chan's reaction to being dripping wet so funny
after she 'chastised' him.).

"Nabiki, thank you." he said. "But please don't change those records
back. At least, not yet. I'd be killed by my friends if they found out
I was a guy now.  Maybe by next semester I'll have found a cure for
this curse, and I can be a boy again then. But for now, I'm going to
still pretend I'm a girl."

Nabiki shook her head. All that effort for nothing. Still, he was
right. He had painted himself into a corner. He had made friends with a
fairly high number of girls, had heard some compromising things from
them that they would never had told a guy. If he turned up as a guy
again, his curse would be revealed sooner or later, and he'd have a lot
of angry females after him. At least if he stayed a girl, he'd have a
better chance of hiding it. Hot water was a lot rarer than cold at the
school.

[Maybe I should start up a betting pool with the family on how long he
can manage to keep this a secret.] she thought idly. She thought about
blackmailing him about his secret, but then thought about just how
unstable he seemed at times, and decided that there were safer ways to
make money.

A week went by. Ryouga continued to go to school as a girl. Then he got
lost again.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Ranma noted to Akane as they walked
to school. They hadn't been able to find Ryouga this morning, so the
inevitable conclusion was made. "This has to be the longest he's ever
managed to stay anywhere without getting lost. We'll have to throw a
party when he gets back."

***********************************************

"Get back here Ranma!" Akane shouted as she chased Ranma through the
school grounds.

"Come and get me!" Ranma shouted as he looked back at her. Suddenly,
his senses pricked. [Trouble.] he thought, and he looked up.

Silouhetted by the sun, a figure was leaping towards him, some sort of
weapon in his hand. "Ranma! Prepare to die!" the stranger shouted as he
slammed the weapon towards Ranma, who deftly dodged before flipping
back out of attack range.

A boy stood there looking at Ranma. He had long dark brown hair, tied
in a ponytail by a white ribbon. He was dressed in a boys school
uniform, of a different colour and cut to the Furinkan style. He wore a
bandolier full of small spatulas, each of which was about the length of
a hand. The weapon he had used to attack Ranma with was a giant
spatula, about six feet in length.  Its blade was buried deep into the
ground where Ranma had been standing. If it had of hit, it probably
would have killed him.

"Still good at running away, Ranma. But then, that was always what you
were best at." the boy said as he pried his strange weapon out of the
pavement.

"Someone you know?" Akane asked Ranma in a part resigned, part annoyed
voice.

Ranma thought about it. He thought about it some more. He groaned.
"He's sorta familiar, but I can't....."

"Perhaps this will refresh your memory." the boy said as he pulled a
portable grill out of nowhere and prepared something with incredible
speed. He pulled a finished okonomiyaki off the grill and threw it at
Ranma.

Ranma caught it before looking at it. A silly face was drawn on it in
sauce.  "Wait! I remember! You're.... you're" he shouted as he pointed
at the boy.

The boy pulled out four of the small spatulas from the bandolier. With
a chuckle, he threw them at Ranma. "For ten years I have hunted you!"
he shouted.

Ranma leapt over the missiles, causing the people behind him to have to
dodge madly, as he landed next to the strange boy and slapped him on
the shoulder in a friendly manner. "Ucchan!" he cried. "From the
okonomiyaki yatai!"

"You were friends?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, we..." Ranma began.

"You were never my friend!" Ukyou shouted as he swung at Ranma with his
big spatula. Ranma dodged by quickly stepping back. Ukyou continued to
speak. "It was all a big lie to you. You pretended to be my friend, all
the while laughing behind my back!"

"What? I never..." Ranma began.

"Hear me Saotome! I will have my revenge, by ruining your happiness."
Ukyou cried. He pulled a small bag of flour out of his shirt and threw
it in front of him, ripping it as he did so to create a smoke screen of
flour.

After the flour settled, and it was apparent that Ukyou was gone, Ranma
turned to Akane and asked "Am I happy?".

"I have no idea." Akane answered.

***********************************************

Nighttime at the Tendo residence. Akane and Nabiki were sitting at the
dining table, drinking tea, while Ranma-chan sat on the porch, dressed
only in her black pants, a towel covering her breasts.

"Just what did you do to this Ukyou?" Akane asked.

"Believe me, I wish I knew." Ranma-chan answered. "I can't think of
anything.  We met when we were both six years old, we became the best
of friends, and then one day Pop and I went on our way, to continue my
training."

Kasumi walked in, holding an okonomiyaki in her hands. "Ranma, there's
a challenge here for you from a boy called Kuonji Ukyou."

She handed Ranma-chan the okonomiyaki, which had written on it, in
sauce, 'I challenge you to fight, after school tomorrow. In the school
grounds. Be there. -Ukyou'

"Interesting way to send a challenge." Nabiki noted.

"How did he get so much writing on one okonomiyaki?" Akane wondered.

"Damn it, why is he so angry at me?" Ranma-chan asked herself as she
pounded her fist into her other hand.

***********************************************

The next day, Ranma and Akane found out that Ukyou was in their class
for school. When Ranma tried to talk to him, Ukyou stonily replied that
anything he had to say could be said at the challenge.

After school, the usual crowd seeking free entertainment (and blood,
around Nerima, the two were usually seen together.) gathered outside
the school to see Ukyou, dressed in an okonomiyaki outfit, standing in
the middle of a ring, which was similar to a boxing ring. There was one
big difference, however. Only about the inside half of the ring had a
wooden floor.  Surrounding this inner box, stood an outer ring made out
of some sort of metal.

As Nabiki wandered around the crowd, making her usual money out of
fights from bets and charging admittance (some people still fell for
that), the crowd stared at the unusual ring. 'Whoa, check out the
ring.' 'What is that?' 'I heard Ranma's going to fight the new kid!'
'What is that metal bit?'. One of the students touched the metallic
outer part, and pulled his hand back in shock and pain. 'It's.. it's
hot. It's a gigantic hot plate!' he shouted. The crowd gasped at this.

Ranma landed lightly on one of the corner posts. "Hiya Ucchan." he
said.

Ukyou turned to him, drawing his combat spatula. He trembled from rage
as he said "We are here to duel." He swiped at Ranma, who leapt over
Ukyou to land in the ring. "So stop calling me that name!" Ukyou
finished as he turned to face Ranma again.

"Why not? I thought you liked it when I called you that! Why can't we
be friends like before?" Ranma asked.

"We can never be friends!" Ukyou shouted as he swiped at Ranma again.

So the fight went. Ukyou would swing and miss Ranma, while he would try
and talk it out.

"You're the most stubborn guy I've met." Ranma noted irritably.

"Rrrrr!" Ukyou growled as he threw five of his throwing spatulas at
Ranma.  Ranma dodged desperately, accidently burning his hand on the
hot plate part of the ring in the process. One of the spatulas whizzed
by, cutting his shirt across the chest.

"Try this on for size." Ukyou said as he grabbed a bucket. "Tempura
flakes..." he threw the contents of the bucket at Ranma, who was still
on the hot plate section. "... mixed with gunpowder." The flakes
exploded, sending up a cloud of smoke. "Maybe now you'll fight me like
a man!" Ukyou shouted.

The smoke cleared to reveal a still quite healthy Ranma. "So I don't
fight like a man, hey? Well, since you were a friend once, I'll be nice
and settle this somewhere less dangerous." With that, he kicked Ukyou
out of the ring and leapt to follow him.

***********************************************

Ryouga looked around him. Palm trees, white sandy beaches, big volcano
in the background, tropical birds flying overhead...... I guess this
isn't Tokyo. He looked up ahead and saw a Typical Native Village(TM),
consisting of straw huts, kept together by mud. The homely look was
somewhat marred by the satellite dishes hanging off of practically
every hut.

As he walked into the village, he was met by the village chief, who was
dressed in a three piece suit. "Hi there." the chief said. "You're just
in time."

"For what?" Ryouga asked.

"To be sacrificed to the volcano god, of course. Now hurry up, Oprah's
on in twenty minutes."

"I thought volcano sacrifices were supposed to be female?" Ryouga
asked, just as he tripped over a stone in the path and fell into a
trough full of water.

The chief gasped as Ryouga-chan looked at her wet form irritably.
"Well, you'll never do for a sacrifice. The volcano god doesn't like
cross dressers."

"I am not a cross dresser!" Ryouga-chan answered angrily as she stepped
out of the trough.

"Sure you're not." the chief replied.

"Look, do you know where Nerima is?" Ryouga-chan asked, eager to be
away from here.

"Sure. It's thataway." the chief said, pointing in a direction.

"Thank you." Ryouga-chan answered as she walked off.

"Of course, to get there you have to cross two thousand miles of
ocean." the chief continued, then saw that Ryouga-chan was gone. "Oh
well."

***********************************************

Ukyou landed on top of a