The Hunter and The Hunted

A lone figure, covered in a shroud, walked determinedly through the barren landscape. Nothing around for miles in any direction. He walked for days and days, searching for his mark. Hunting for his prey. Savoring that victory he so desparately craved. With every town he passed, he stumbled across another clue; another hint forward, but no matter what he tried, his mark still evaded him.

From saving a village in Hokkaido from a rampaging boar, to fighting off tigers in dense jungles of who knows where, to finally making it towards the city and getting help from a beautiful girl with glasses, the man wandered. Someday he'd find his prey and unleash upon him the hell he deserved.

"Ranma Saotome..." he growled from a clifftop overlooking the sprawling concrete jungle that was Tokyo. Rain was pouring buckets over the entire region and all that protected the man was his trusty red umbrella. "I will find you and when I do, we'll settle this as men. In a man-to-man fight, you will face my wrath and perish for your sins. Ranma Saotome... prepare to die!"

Meanwhile, somewhere in that sprawling city, the 'man' in question was running from two girls chasing her around the house.

"I said I don't want to!" Ranma cried, running from her hunters.

"Ranma, you have to! I won't have you running around the house naked!" Kasumi called in her chase.

Finally, Kasumi and Nabiki had Ranma pinned against a wall at the end of the hallway. Ranma was wearing nothing but a towel around her body, fresh from the bath.

When the boy had realised all his clothes were in the wash, he pulled a towel and went to find out if Kasumi had finished the laundry yet. What he got instead was a no, a splash in the face, and an ultimatum she did NOT want to deal with.

"C'mon Ranma, the laundry won't be done for a few hours," Nabiki tried to reason. "We can't have you sitting around in a towel all day."

"B-but I can't just wear girl's clothes like it's nothing! What will Pops say? What will your dad say?!" she blubbered, trying to think of any excuse she could.

"Oh Ranma, your father's gone, remember? It's just for today. He won't find out," Kasumi said, trying to ease her nerves.

"And if Daddy has anything to say about it, I'll have something to say about it," Nabiki added.

"B-but..." Ranma continued, unable to think of anything else to counter.

Both of the taller girls pointed right at her and sternly said in unison, "You're a guest here, aren't you?!"

Ranma gulped. She had lost.

...

"I understand I guess, but why does she have to borrow my clothes? What about yours, Nabiki?" Akane complained.

Kasumi and Nabiki had dragged their unwilling prisoner to Akane's room where they were both digging through her closet and dresser trying to find something that would fit the embarrassed girl sitting on Akane's bed and wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her body.

"You're the closest fit!" Nabiki said. "Besides, you're best friends, right? Friends share clothes all the time!"

Nabiki didn't see Akane's deadpan with her face buried deep in the closed.

Akane just sighed and resigned herself to the situation. "Fine, but she's not wearing any of my underwear."

Nabiki stuck her head out and gave Akane and Ranma a sly wink. "No need to worry about that. I got ya covered, Ran-chan."

Ranma just blushed and looked down at her thighs. Unbeknownst to Akane, Nabiki had supplied her with a fresh pack of plain briefs for her uniform excursion that were currently hidden behind a panel in the guest room where she hoped nobody would find them.

"Ah, here we go!" Nabiki called.

...

Moments later, Ranma had returned to Akane's room from her own guest room where she dressed in private. She was wearing a three-quarter sleeve sweater over her bare chest and over that she was wearing fitted soft pink over-alls with the word 'China' embroidered on the top. The 'i' in China was even dotted with a little heart.

"Oh wow, it's so you!" Nabiki praised.

Even Akane was stunned at how well it suited her shorter friend. "It's perfect," she commented in surprise.

Ranma blushed and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "You really think so?"

"Of course! You're absolutely adorable!" Nabiki continued, walking up to her and testing the elasticity of the material. "How's the fit? Did I guess right?"

"Well it's a bit..." Ranma began but hesitated when she saw the growing look of indignation on Akane's face. For a moment, she feared what might happen to her if she was completely honest.

"They fit well enough, I suppose," she said. 'What did that face mean? That was pretty weird,' she thought to herself.

Having said that, Akane's expression relaxed and bit. She looked like she had something to add for a moment there, but decided to keep it to herself.

"Come over here and take a look at yourself, Ranma. You look absolutely adorable!" Kasumi said, pulling the shy girl in front of a tall full-body mirror where she was met with a startling sight.

She was adorable.

The overalls cutely cut in at her natural waist accentuating her figure and the light pink color complimented her fair skin. With her cascaded bangs and her braided pigtail with more volume than usual, she was shocked to see how cute she could be as a girl. How cute she really was. It was like seeing herself for the very first time.

"S-she... I... Is that me?" she stuttered in disbelief. "I never realized how I could look dressed like a girl. I'm actually kinda... cute? Yeah, cute. Imagine that; Ranma Saotome, 'cute'," she chuckled.

"Careful now, Ran-chan, you don't wanna go developing an ego now," Nabiki quipped. "Next thing you know, you'll be running around here in skirts and dresses," she teased.

"Hardy har, Nabiki," Ranma said, turning to the girl and giving her a coy smile and a slight blush. She then turned to Akane, who was still unreadable. "Thanks for letting me borrow your clothes, Akane. I appreciate the help."

Akane, in her head, had been churning over the fact that without even trying, this half-girl actually looked better in that outfit than she did! It just wasn't fair. Ranma being a cup size bigger than her was a bitter pill to swallow. But part of her was just amazed at how well Ranma was taking this. She thought for sure she'd comment on how her clothes were tight on the bust and loose in the hips, and she was ready to go into full attack mode when Ranma said it, but she didn't. What's more, she's wearing girls' clothes and taking it in stride. 'Man she's weird,' Akane thought to herself. 'She really has no idea what society says a boy should act like. It's like she was raised by wolves or something! Or maybe she DOES know and just doesn't see the need to fit in with the norm. Or doesn't want to. Either way, it's pretty strange. I think Nabiki's on to something with Ranma being more of a girl than a guy.'

Akane was snapped out of her internal debate over gender expectations by Ranma thanking her, and all she could think to say in reponse was, "No problem, just don't make a habit of it."

"It's a good thing my dad ain't home," Ranma started with a light giggle. "He'd kill me if he saw me dressed like a girl!"

"I'd never let him, Ranma! Don't let him scare you," Kasumi said, surprising everyone in the room. "As long as you're living with us, feel free to dress however you like. I want you to be comfortable, no matter what your father says. I'll make sure of that."

Ranma was a little stunned at the implication that she'd end up in girls' clothes again at some point, but then she realized that was probably going to happen, being a girl half the time and all. It was bound to happen again sooner or later. But to dress like a girl because she actually wanted to? That... was something she didn't think she was brave enough to do, even with Kasumi's help. But why would Kasumi be so willing to help out? 'She probably talked with Doctor Tofu about me. So much for 'confidentiality', Doc,' she thought bitterly to herself.

"Uh, thanks, Kasumi. I'll keep that in mind."

...

Several days later~

...

The mysterious stranger in yellow had finally arrived at a high school somewhere in Tokyo, completely disheveled and with a torn map dangling from his hand. The sight of all of the students milling about had him cautiously optimistic that he'd finally found his quarry because the girls running about on their way home were all wearing the same uniform that the beautiful girl from a week ago had worn. She was kind enough to give him directions to Furinkan High School, so he assumed that she must attend as well. After he settled his score and killed Saotome, he made a note to find that girl and thank her for helping him fulfill his ultimate dream.

But still, there lay that seed of doubt that he'd ended up in the wrong place yet again. So unsure of himself was he that he yanked the nearest male student by the collar to ask him where Furinkan High was. When the scared boy simply pointed at the sign behind him, he turned and read the sign; sure enough, it was Furinkan afterall.

"At last, I've found it!" he exclaimed in joy, tears nearly running down his cheeks. After searching all over eastern Asia, he'd finally found the right school. He'd finally be able to exact his revenge. All he had to do was find his target.

Still holding his hostage by the collar, he turned to face him again and demanded to know where he could find Ranma Saotome. Once again, the boy remained silent with fear, and simply pointed towards the school's main entrance where a girl's voice steadily arose as she approached. And that voice was calling Ranma's name.

"Ranma, get back here!" Akane shouted. She was angry about something, but what, the stranger had no clue.

"Come and get me!" a boy called back at her. That was it, that was him! Now was the time to strike.

As Ranma ran from Akane and made silly faces to tease her about whatever their latest tiff had been, he suddenly froze when his danger senses sounded the alarm.

"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"

He suddenly jumped with a backflip and narrowly avoided a direct strike from the stranger's down-thrust umbrella. The hit on the concrete carried such force, it actually created a small crater in the cement! Ranma instantly knew this wasn't someone to underestimate.

"You!" Ranma shouted in surprise, recognizing the boy from last week. But why was he suddenly attacking him after being so kind before?

"Pheh," the man spat. "Still as good at running away as ever, ain'tchya Saotome?"

Akane was thoroughly confused. "Ranma, is that someone you know?"

Ranma turned his attention to and answered simply, "Yeah, I bumped into him last week, but I don't know what I could have done to set him off like this. He was so nice before."

"Last week?!" the attacker shouted. "If I had seen you last week, you wouldn't be alive today!"

"Oh yeah, I was changed at the time..." Ranma quietly mused to himself, but Akane overheard and muttered under her breath, "You really can't keep track of both sides of your life, can you?"

"Well it's all one life to me, Akane. It all just kinda blends together sometimes," Ranma innocently replied.

"Enough! Answer me this, Saotome! Why did you run out on our man to man fight?!" the man shouted again, drawing Ranma's attention back to him.

"Man to man fight...?" Ranma started in confusion when it hit him like a brick. "Wait, I remember now! You're my old classmate, Ryoga Hibiki! No wonder I thought you looked familiar! How've you been?"

Ranma's attitude was that of someone meeting an old friend once more, not someone whose life was being threatened. This only served to fan the flames of Ryoga's rage.

"How've I BEEN?! I've been through hell! And it all started with that duel! Answer me this Saotome, why didn't you show up at the appointed place?" Ryoga spat.

Ranma was taken aback by this accusation. "I did, Ryoga! I waited there for three whole days!"

"Three days?!" Akane gasped, echoing the reactions of the gathering crowd. When Ranma was involved in a fight, things were bound to get entertaining.

"And when I showed up on the FOURTH day, you were already gone, running away to China with your father like a coward!" Ryoga finished.

Ranma's disposition finally turned serious. "Ryoga, can I ask you something? ...Why did it take you four days to get to the empty lot when it was just five hundred yards from your house?"

"DO YOU THINK I WAS OUT FOR A CASUAL STROLL THOSE FOUR DAYS?!" he yelled. I SUFFERED to meet up with you!" he cried, remembering his trek across Japan in those four days, asking directions from every kind old person and officer he could find.

The crowd began to murmur at this, realizing the problem.

"Bad sense of direction," one boy said.

"Probably the worse in the world," added another.

Ryoga ignored them and drew his bamboo weapon once more.

"Breaking a vow between men, and running off to China with your father!" he swung, but Ranma easily jumped over it.

"In other words..." Ranma surmised as he landed, "you wanna finish our fight?"

"Finish our fight? How trivial. This is revenge!" he shouted again, throwing his umbrella almost like a spinning top, flying past Ranma's face and smacking several innocent bystanders before it returned to Ryoga's hand like a bamboo boomerang. "No matter what it takes, Ranma... I will make your life hell before I kill you! I will destroy your happiness!"

"M-my happiness?!" Ranma echoed with a start, seriously afraid of what that might mean. But after a second's though, he turned to Akane and asked, "Hey, Akane, am I happy?"

Akane just slammed her face into her palm. "Why are you asking me?"

"Enough talk; FIGHT!" Ryoga demanded, throwing his full brunt into a jab with his umbrella but Ranma easily dodged it by jumping onto the roof of the nearby bicycle shed.

"If you don't mind Ryoga, I'm not really feeling up to this today," he improvised, trying to defuse the situation. "I, uh, I have a doctor's appointment! Yeah! I gotta go see Doctor Tofu... right now! We'll settle this later, k?" he waved, running off by jumping from the shed to the nearest rooftop and hopping away, roof to roof like some sort of ninja.

"Running away again?! You bastard! I'll hunt you down if it's the last thing I do!" Ryoga shouted, dismayed at having lost his opportunity for revenge once again. "Does anyone know where that coward lives?!" he demanded of the audience.

They all nodded and pointed at Akane, shaking in fear from having the angry fighter's attention suddenly drawn to them.

Akane just sighed.

"Yeah, he's staying with my family at the Tendo Dojo."

"Watch out Ranma, I'm coming for you!" he yelled, running off in a random direction, having no clue where the Tendo Dojo might be.

Akane watched him run off with half-lidded eyes. "At least he could have asked for directions first. Now he'll never find him."

...

Later that week, somewhere in Okinawa, Ryoga was accepting that he lost his target once again. In frustration at this realization, he kicked the nearest tree with all of his might, severing it clean through the trunk where he made impact and knocking the severed portion back several yard, scattering walnuts all around him.

He sighed and picked one up.

"Just like this walnut Ranma..." he muttered with ragged breath while crushing it between two fingers, "I will crush your throat!"

...

Meanwhile, at the Tendo Dojo, a female Ranma sneezed something fierce.

"I guess someone's talking about you, Ranma," Nabiki commented from the dining table while sipping some tea.

Ranma had just finished an evening workout and was resting on the porch next to the dining room, and using a towel to not only dry the sweat, but to soak up the pond water that she'd just swam in.

"It was probably Ryoga," Akane surmised, setting down her own teacup. "What did you even do to him, anyway?"

"Believe me Akane, I wish I knew!"

Ranma was deep in thought trying to remember everything she could about Ryoga when Kasumi walked up and handed her a letter.

"There's a letter for you, Ranma. It's from a boy named Ryoga Hibiki. Friend of yours?"

"Oh, what now?" Ranma sighed, opening the letter to find that it was a formal challenge.

"You must have done something to earn this level of hate," Akane said, joining Ranma in sitting on the porch. "This isn't your everyday grudge."

"Hmm... Wait!" Ranma suddenly cried.

"I knew it!" Akane said.

"She finally remembered something?" Nabiki asked, joining the others to give Ranma her full attention.

"Yesss..." Ranma began, gathering her thoughts. "It was the start of a new semester in junior high..."

It was lunchtime at the school and boys were rushing as fast as they could to the cafeteria to fight for any scraps of bread they could get like starving hyenas.

The lunchlady called out the last of her stock and chucked the roll into the air above the crowd.

Ryoga reached up. It was heading right for him! It was his lucky day! When suddenly, a black-haired blur bounced off his head and snatched the roll from the air with his mouth like an animal.

"You..." Ryoga said, turning his ire to the bread theif. "Who are you?"

The boy with the bread smirked.

"Ranma Saotome."

"Saotome... I'll never forget this! Mark my words, this isn't the last you've seen of me!" Ryoga cried as Ranma walked off, casually finishing his lunch.

"He was crying," Ranma recalled from the porch. "Crying tears of bitterness. There are always casualties of war, and lunchtime was always war. After all, it was an all-boys school," she finished.

The three Tendo sisters recoiled in shock, all shouting at once, "A boys school?!"

Ranma blushed and shouted, "Hey, I was a BOY back then! 365 days a year!"

Akane collected herself, realizing that Ranma was right. "All of this over some bread, though? Seems a bit much.."

"Well, it wasn't just that once..." Ranma continued as Kasumi casually poured some hot water on him. "There was the curry bread, and the meat bread, and the nori bread..." he trailed off, listing as many as he could remember.

The longer he went on, the more the girls sympathized with Ryoga against him. Even Kasumi commented that it sounded like it was just the final straw on the camel's back.

"Wait a second, Ranma!" Akane called, snapping Ranma out of his never-ending listing of breads he stole. "Look here! It says in the challenge letter that the fight was supposed to be yesterday!"

"No worries," he replied. "That guy has the worst sense of direction. He had to begrudgingly ask me to walk him home sometimes even though he only lived a block away from the school! Right now, he's probably asking someone..."

"...So it's this way to Tokyo?" Ryoga called to an old woman as he walked along the path.

"NO, you fool!" she cried. "It's this way, THIS WAY!"

...

~One Week Later~

...

An anxious breeze blew across the empty field behind Furinkan High School where Ranma stood stoicly holding a bag several feet away from Ryoga who was holding his umbrella in a death grip. Spectators had gathered and students were anticipating the fight with a level of interest matching that of a school-v-school sporting match. People were snacking, Nabiki and her friends were collecting bets, and people were cheering Ranma on as they all anticipated the first punch.

After some time, Ryoga finally broke the silence.

"So, Ranma... I see you finally had the guts to show up!" he challenged.

"Listen Ryoga, I didn't come here to fight you," Ranma replied. "We used to be sorta friends, remember? So here..." he trailed off, flinging an object from his bag straight to Ryoga's face.

Ryoga snatched it out of the air before it could hit, thinking it was a cheap shot, but then he looked at the object to discover it was a bag of curry bread. He could only stand there in silent disbelief as he tried to process this.

"What... bread?" Ryoga asked in confusion.

"Well, it makes us even, right?" Ranma said with a kind smile.

"Am I a joke to you?!" Ryoga suddenly shouted. "What the hell is this?!"

"Wait wait, there's more, see?" Ranma said, throwing more and more packages of flavored bread to Ryoga until he could barely hold them all in his arms. "Happy now? I didn't forget anything, did I?"

Ryoga was beyond confusion and his rage was building. "Just what are you trying to pull?"

Ranma cocked his head and cocked a brow. "This is a bread fued, isn't it?"

"You think a bread-eating contest will avenge my honor?! Besides..." he cried, pulling out his massive backpack and shoving them all inside for later. "They're all past the sell-by date!"

"Well you're the one who kept me waiting a week," Ranma deadpanned.

"Enough of this nonsense, FIGHT!" Ryoga shouted, lunging at Ranma with several jabs from his umbrella.

Ranma, for his part, was thoroughly confused. "Wait a sec! What's this all about then?!" he asked in between dodges.

"Because of you Saotome," Ryoga growled, charging up his strength, "I have seen HELL!" he cried, jabbing with all his might, but Ranma was too fast for him and easily jumped up over the strike.

"What are you talking about?!" Ranma asked, still refusing to properly engage with the fight. All he did was dodge, and dodge well.

Ryoga stopped. "Do you honestly think that mere words can convey the depth of my suffering?!"

With a flick of his wrist, he span the umbrella on its pole, spinning towards Ranma at high speed before whirling off at an angle. In Ranma's surprise, he didn't have time to run from Ryoga's dash up to him, ripping his yellow and black bandana from his head and slapping it around Ranma's wrist where it instantly hardened in a knot.

Ranma and several others noticed that Ryoga was still wearing another headband underneath that one.

"This'll keep you from running away! Face your punishment!" Ryoga yelled.

Ranma had no choice but to block every thrust and kick. "Tell me, Ryoga... just how many bandanas are you wearing, anyway?"

"You won't make light of this, Saotome!"

Just behind them, the bamboo umbrella had finally stopped spinning and fell down in the crowd of observers where Akane was listening with concern as people in the crowd started to realize that Ranma and Ryoga were a pretty even match.

"They're blocking each other hit for hit, nobody's doing any damage!"

"That just shows how skilled they are. Both masters of their art."

"Man, if I were still training, I'd want a sparring partner like that. They're perfect for each other."

For a brief moment, this innocent comment created a funny mental image for Akane where a female Ranma was going toe to toe with Ryoga before landing on top of each other and making out.

Akane had to shake her head to force away the sudden blush and stifle a giggle from the unexpected mental picture and looked for any distraction from that thought she could when she heard someone comment about the umbrella.

"Woah, what's with this thing? It weighs a ton!" one boy said, trying to lift Ryoga's umbrella with all of his strength, but the thing wouldn't even budge.

Akane walked over and lifted it, realizing it was a weighted training umbrella that she could barely lift herself. 'Wait a minute,' she realized, 'He swings it with just one hand like it weighs nothing! This is no even match at all!'

Akane ran over to the edge of the field where the boys were fighting and shouted, "Ranma, be careful! Don't get in close with him!"

Ranma didn't exactly have a choice, being locked by the wrist with a bandana. "I can't exactly get away, Akane!"

"Just stay out of his reach!"

Ryoga's hand shot by Ranma's face, slicing a thin cut into his cheek with the sheer force alone.

A small trickle of blood ran down Ranma's cheek.

"You cut me!" he said, wiping the blood with the back of his hand. "I guess now I have to get serious."

"Ranma, get away from him fast! He has the strength of a monster!" Akane cried in concern.

"Heh," Ryoga scoffed. "Looks like you found out just a little too late!"

In Ryoga's satisfaction, he was caught completely off guard by how quickly Ranma had slipped under him and managed to flip them around so that Ranma sat on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

"What exactly did I find out too late?" Ranma teased with a soft laugh.

"How dare you..." Ryoga growled once more, using his free hand to push them both up and off the ground. "How dare you try to bring me to my knees!" he cried, pushing as hard as he could and launching both him and Ranma high up into the air.

"Woah, what a jump!" one spectator shouted in awe.

"And with only one arm!" added another.

As the duo began to fall, Ranma managed to flip them both just before they hit the ground so he could land on his free hand, coiling up like a spring, and he used the momentum to kick Ryoga with both legs so hard he went flying off into the crowd, ripping their bandana brace to shreds.

Before Ryoga could recover, Ranma was on him like a hawk, but Ryoga threw up a leg at the last second to knock him off course. With Ranma off balance, Ryoga ducked to the side and lunged for his trusty umbrella, spinning around to strike just in time for Ranma to kick him right in the jaw.

At the very same moment his kick landed, Ryoga's umbrella sliced Ranma's silk shirt, leaving a large tear right across his chest.

"Ahh!" Ranma cried. "This is my favorite shirt!"

"This is WAR!" Ryoga roared. "Don't act like such a girl!"

Ranma's eye twitched as he scowled. "Just who are you calling a girl?!" he shouted with a lunge; the ferocity of which Ryoga wasn't anticipating. All he could do was bounce back and dodge as Ranma lay in on him with a determination he hadn't seen before.

"What's the matter, Saotome?" Ryoga teased, trying to distract his opponent. Afterall, the more he could derail Ranma's focus, the better the advantage he would have. "Struck a nerve?"

Before they knew it, Ranma's push had led them to the edge of the field towards the water fountain trough, with the crowd of half the school following close behind to keep up with the action.

"Quit running from me! I said, who are you calling a-!" Ranma shouted in anger as he lunged at Ryoga who dodged at the last moment, sending Ranma straight into the trough with his momentum and shattering it into a huge spout of cold water.

"He's cracked the very Earth itself!" one student commented about the huge geyser of water spewing up around Ranma and being deflected by Ryoga with his handy umbrella.

"Even worse, he broke the water fountain!" another student cried in anguish.

"...GIRL!" Ranma finished as she shot through the gush of water, narrowly missing Ryoga.

They landed and faced each other, Ranma ready to attack and Ryoga staring at her with a completely dumbfounded expression.

An expression that was mirrored by the entire student body present, as they had all seen the magic happen right before their very eyes. Ranma Saotome had turned into a girl. The mysterious girl that had been seen wandering around the school over the past month. It was her.

"Well Ryoga?!" she challenged, snapping him out of his stupor.

"W-wait a sec- who are you?" he fumbled in surprise at the stranger. He stared for a moment before recognition hit him and he muttered quietly, "that face... Wait, you're that girl from before, aren't you? The cute one with the glasses..."

His musing observation wasn't heard by Ranma who was blinded by her own rage. She shot forward and span with a roundhouse kick, landing a clean shot to Ryoga's head. The power of the kick sent him spinning to the ground. He stood, trying to compose himself while Ranma held back, wondering why he didn't even attempt to block or dodge the hit.

"R-Ranma...? Is that you?" Ryoga quietly asked, disbelief still in his eyes.

"Who do I look like, you blind jackass!" she shouted back.

By then, Akane had managed to get close enough to tell her something important. "Ranma, your top!" she said with a blush on her cheeks.

"Huh? My..." Ranma puzzled, looking first to Akane and then finally down at her chest that had been exposed by the rip in her shirt. She immediately flushed red and threw her arms up to hide herself as she noticed for the first time just how many eyes were on her. How many people had seen her exposed. In the heat of the moment, she hadn't even noticed she'd changed.

She could hear the crowd of students start to murmur about what this all meant. The people asking amongst themselves whether this was some illusion, or if magic were real, and some were even wondering if this meant Ranma was actually a girl all along, and what that would mean for the engagement to Akane. Ranma was frozen in fear and shame, overwhelmed by all of the overheard conversations and unsure of what to do.

That was, until she heard an encouraging shout from within the crowd from Nabiki.

"Go on, Ranma! Now's your chance! Don't blow it!" she shouted, snapping Ranma out of her shame and helping her focus back on Ryoga.

"I-it's a curse, ok! Go ahead and laugh at me! So what if I'm a girl? We can still fight! Just, ah, let me find a new top first..." she trailed off, turning a deeper shade of red.

"So you... fell at Jusenkyo, then..." Ryoga stated, putting everything together.

"You've heard of it? Pops took me there on our training trip and, well, he can't read Chinese, so..." she began to explain but shouts from the crowd distracted her.

"So hey, are you actually a boy or a girl?"

"O-of course I'm a-!" she started, but she was cut off.

"Are those for real?"

"What kinda question is that?!"

"Are you a cross-dressing pervert?"

"NO!"

"Does that mean Akane's single?"

"I..." she faltered, being overwhelmed again. She wanted nothing more than to use the Saotome School's Ultimate Technique: running away. She tried to will her legs to move but they just wouldn't. She felt so exposed, far more than she did being literally exposed. It was once again up to Nabiki to save the day.

Nabiki rolled her eyes as she stepped out of the crowd and put a reassuring hand on Ranma's shoulder.

"It'll be fine, I promise. Just tell everyone the truth and it'll be fine. Then you can do whatever you want!" she smiled. 'And I can start a hundred different betting pools around you!'

Ranma reluctantly nodded and turned to face Ryoga and the crowd once again. With a deep bow she said, "It's true. While I was in China, my father knocked me into a cursed spring so now I change into a boy with hot water, and back to this," she motioned to her female body, "with cold. Sorry about this, everyone."

Ryoga couldn't believe his ears. "So there's a... hot spring of drowned man..." he muttered so quietly Ranma could barely hear.

"Huh? No, I meant-" she began but she was cut off by another round of intrustive questions from the audience.

"I knew you were really a girl!"

"But, I'm not really a-"

"To curse his daughter just to try and marry her off, how shameful."

"And to another girl, no less! I bet he just wants Akane's dojo for himself!"

"That's not what happened! I mean, yeah, the dojo's part of the dowry, but..."

"Hey, what are you doin' later?"

"Why?"

"That explains a lot, really."

"Huh?"

"So do you write your name as 'orchid'?"

"Uh, sometimes actually..."

"Does this mean you'll be changing with us in gym?"

"Why would I change-"

"So Akane IS single, then."

"Wha-? No, I- wait, you've got that- Nabiki, help me!" she cried.

Nabiki just facepalmed. "You blew it. I don't know how, but you blew it."

"Was it something I said?" Ranma asked with those childishly innocent puppy-dog eyes of hers.

Akane finally cleared her throat and chimed in with, "It was probably how you said it..."

"Huh? I'm a girl right now, so with hot water I change to a guy. It's the truth. What's so hard to understand about that?" she asked, seriously confused.

"Ran-chan, you're too innocent for your own good," Nabiki sighed. "The way you said it implied that you were a girl by default. On the bright side, I guess this means you can finally come to school as a girl, huh?" she said with that knowing smile of hers.

"Nabiki, why are you encouraging this? Shouldn't we help to set this straight?" Akane cried, unsure what the best option here was.

"It's more entertaining this way, sis! Besides, don't you think Ran-chan here might be a bit happier this way?" she said with a wink.

"B-but Nabiki, it's not right! Someone will find out, a-and..." Akane flustered.

"So what, Akane?" Ranma spat, having collected herself and taking a serious tone. She had been hoping for a chance like this since her first day of school and here was that opportunity, knocking so hard it damn near knocked her over. "Nabiki's right, this is my chance. I... I have to see how this goes. Please, Akane. I need to do this. For me."

Akane thought back to that conversation she overheard between Ranma and Doctor Tofu and how Ranma's been clearly struggling this entire time to figure out who and what she is. Maybe spending some time as an 'actual' girl would help her figure things out. Seeing the determined look on her shorter friend's face, Akane sighed and gave a gentle nod.

"I hope you don't regret this, Ranma," Akane quietly said to her friend so only she and Nabiki could hear. She then took off her uniform's blazer and gave it to the smaller girl so she could cover up. "Here, this'll help."

"Thanks Akane," Ranma said, turning from the crowd and hastily throwing it on and buttoning it closed to hide her modesty. "Seriously, thank you. Both of you. And honestly... I'm a little nervous about this. I hope I don't regret this either," she replied.

"Are we even for the pictures now, Saotome?" Nabiki asked with her cheshire grin.

"Totally," Ranma replied with a nod and a smile.

Once again, Ranma cleared her throat and clarified to Ryoga and the crowd, "So yeah, I fell in the, uh, hot spring of drowned man where, um, some guy drowned... like, two-thousand years ago... or something. Yeah. It's actually a pretty tragic story when ya think about it."

Ryoga's mind was on the fritz. To think, the 'boy' he'd met those years ago in junior high was actually a girl... To him, it kinda made sense. She didn't look all that different, only more... filled out. Maybe she was a late bloomer? Maybe that's why he-she always kept her hair long. And since she was enrolled as a boy in an all-boys school, it'd make sense that her father would curse her to be a man to marry her off. 'I bet he always wanted a son and that's why he raised her as a boy, until he could finally take her to China... how cruel,' Ryoga thought, jumping to his own conclusions.

Ranma walked up to him as he stood there frozen in thought and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Ryoga? Earth to Ryoga? Helloooo..."

Nothing.

So, her instinct was to slap him across the face.

The jerk deserved it for starting all of this.

He immediately snapped out of it and put his hand to the sore spot on his cheek and stared at her. Just stared straight into her eyes, not sure what to say.

After a moment, Ranma crouched down and took her starting defensive pose. "We still doin' this or what?"

Ryoga didn't move. He thought about fighting her for a moment but instead he found his pack, sheathed his umbrella into place on top of it, and began to walk away without a word.

"Oh, so now you're done? After all that? Let's finish this!" Ranma called. "How can you just walk away?! I thought you wanted to kill me!"

He stopped walking but wouldn't turn to face her. "No way, Saotome."

Ranma fumed. "What? Why not?! You started this!"

Ryoga turned to look her dead in the eye and with hatred behind those shining green eyes he said, "I don't fight girls."

Ranma's jaw dropped. The nerve of him! "You WHAT?! You were fighting me all this time no problem!"

"Yeah but now that I know you're a girl, it isn't fair!" he yelled back. "I already did enough damage to that adorable face of yours!" he yelled, pointing to the blood still slowly dripping from the cut in her cheek.

Ranma was completely stunned by the verbal blow. She blushed, taken aback by the comment and struggled to collect herself. Unbeknownst to her, that was the second time he complimented her looks. "D-don't say things like that!"

"Like what, that you're adorable? Ha! If I had known you'd grow up to be so cute, I might have asked for a date instead of a fight. But the fact of the matter is, you being a girl means I can't exact my revenge. There's no honor in killing a girl. As it stands though, I still hate you."

"GOOD!" she cried in frustration. "The feeling is mutual! I wouldn't wanna date some miso-, misogyn-.. PIG like you anyway!"

His eye twitched at that comment. "I am NOT a pig! You take that back!"

She pulled her eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at him. "Make me!"

He growled, whipped out his umbrella, and ran at her with a new-found fury.

Nabiki laughed at the scene and the crowd cheered Ranma on with a passion, now entirely rooting for the poor cursed girl, but Akane just rolled her eyes and walked away.

"This is pathetic," she muttered to herself. "They really are perfect for each other."

Ryoga ripped off three more of his layered bandanas and chucked them at Ranma as hard as he could. She crossed her arms and jumped out of the way just in time to see one jab into the ground like a javelin, another shoot through the side of a building, and the last spinning so fast it sliced a tree in half.

"Woah, what the hell was that?!" Ranma cried out in surprise. "I've heard of people using ki to enhance their punches but never to enhance their clothes!"

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Ryoga yelled, throwing his umbrella once more at Ranma, who jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being sliced in half like the poor bike rack that was behind her this time.

"That thing's like a razor's edge!" Ranma yelped. She had to put an end to this before someone got seriously hurt, and she had to do it fast. But how? She couldn't get in close because of that brute strength, but maybe if she dashed away before he could swing... "Take this!"

She ran at him, ducking his arm and slamming a few fast hits into the same spot in his gut, hitting him repeatedly in one place.

With an oof, Ryoga keeled over, clutching his gut in pain. That's when Ranma noticed that Akane had started to walk away.

Checking that Ryoga was temporarily stunned, Ranma ran off to catch up to her.

"Hey, where ya goin'? Ain'tchya gonna stick around 'til the end?" she asked.

Her friend sighed and looked down at her with an unmasked sense of disappointment.

"Ranma, it's one thing to lie to strangers, but another to lie to someone you actually know. Now poor Ryoga thinks you're actually a girl and that doesn't seem right to me."

Ranma gulped, but had nothing to say in response.

"I don't even want to know what's gonna happen on Monday when class starts," Akane continued. "Why did you just let them all think that? You didn't even remotely think it through! Aren't you worried about the consequences?"

Ranma looked down at her feet in shame. "I... don't know why, Akane. You're right, I didn't think. It just kinda... happened." That's when the worry started to really take over and in her fretting, she didn't noticed a recovered Ryoga closing in on her. "Oh man, what am I gonna do about class?!"

"You won't have to worry about that, Ranma," Ryoga said, slicing the air in front of the girls with a ki-hardened belt that looked as strong as a sword. "Because you won't live to see it!"

He slashed again, this time slicing through thin air where the girls had stood only a moment prior. At the last moment, Ranma had scooped Akane up unwillingly and carried her off to a nearby tree branch and to safety.

"What are you doing?! Let go of me!" Akane screamed.

Ranma just scowled in return. "I'm protecting you, ya idiot! He was about to kill us both!"

Akane growled in frustration. "Don't get me involved with your problems! I don't want to have anything to do with this fight!"

Ranma was taken aback by this. "Don't get you involved? You came to watch all on your own! You're the one who called out how heavy his umbrella was, remember? You got involved the second you tried to help me!"

"Because that's what friends do!"

"Oh, so we're friends again? I thought friends didn't run off!" Ranma bit back to Akane's shame.

As they kept arguing, neither of them noticed Ryoga walking towards the tree and with the flick of his wrist, he used his ki-blade to slice the tall tree in half.

"Maybe I'd stick around if you weren't such a pervert!" Akane screamed back, now red in the face.

"You're the uncute tomboy!"

"Better than a guy pretending to be a-"

Then they felt a sudden jolt shake the tree.

"Wait.. what's that?" Akane finished.

Then their world around them started to skew sideways.

Before she knew it, Akane was once again whisked away in Ranma's arms to a safe place on the ground about twenty feet from where the tree had fallen.

"Let GO of me, you pervert!" Akane screamed, slapping Ranma hard across the face.

The entire crowd, save for Ryoga, gasped at the reaction.

Ranma gingerly touched her hand to her sore cheek with wide eyes at Akane. Why was she so upset by this?

"Did Akane not know about this?" someone in the crowd asked aloud.

"Maybe she actually DID have feelings for her 'fiance'..." someone else answered.

Akane scowled in their direction and then angrily stood up, dusted off her skirt, and began to stomp away. "I'm going home! And I'd better not see you at dinner!"

"But... Akane, wait!" Ranma gently called to deaf ears, unaware that Ryoga was closing in on her, twirling a few more bandanas in his hand.

"No! I don't want to see you anymore today!" Akane called back without looking behind.

Ryoga threw three more razor boomerang bandanas towards Ranma who noticed at the very last moment and jumped to the side, but one was heading straight for Akane.

"Akane, watch out!" She cried, trying to run over in time to intercept it.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled back.

"Seriously Akane, please!" Ranma shouted.

Akane suddenly whipped around to face Ranma. "What part of 'leave me alone' don't you under-"

SHINK!

The rogue bandana had sliced through Akane's long beautiful hair. The hair she'd spent years growing out. In an instant, her world was shattered.

"Oh no, Akane, I'm sooo so sorry," Ranma quietly said with a gasp, covering her mouth in surprise.

The whole audience was stunned.

After a moment of silence, Ranma whipped around and slapped Ryoga as hard as she could. "How could you?! She had nothing to do with this!"

Ryoga was stunned at the reaction from the smaller girl. "I-it was an accident. I meant to hit you."

"Well now look what your idiotic 'revenge' has done!"

"So what? It's just hair, it'll grow back!" Ryoga yelled in defense.

And Ranma slapped him again.

"A girl's hair is her life, asshole!" she screamed.

Many of the girls in the audience nodded in agreement, realizing that Ranma must have kept the braided pigtail as a boy to hold onto that small sense of femininity when she was transformed. And they weren't exactly wrong there.

Ranma approached Akane with Ryoga tagging along behind, rubbing his cheek.

"Akane, I'm so sorry. This was all my fault, I should have never gotten you involved," Ranma pleaded.

"It's my fault, miss. I honestly didn't mean to hurt you," Ryoga said with a bow.

Ranma sneered at him from the corner of her eye. 'Feh, now he's acting all nice and cordial like he did with me before he knew who I was! This two-faced jerk...' she thought to herself.

Akane, for her part, was still in shock. She couldn't even speak, let alone focus on the people talking to her. She just stared off into the distance.

"Akane, please, you can take it out on me!" Ranma begged, trying to get her to open up. "Hit me as hard as you can, I can take it!"

"Me too, Akane!" Ryoga said, throwing a mock punch at his own face. "I deserve it for what I've done!"

...

Moments later, Ranma and Ryoga stood there and watched Akane walk away into the afternoon sun. They were covered in bruises and swelling so much they could hardly be recognized.

"Agreeable girl, isn't she?" Ryoga mused to his erstwhile partner who simply grunted in agreement.

...

A/N: There we go! Kind of a long one for me, huh? I just wanted to keep this particular story together as the further this project gets into the actual story, the more episodic it all gets. Next up will be a lot shorter (I think, I haven't started it yet), and deal with Akane's chop and what that means to her, how her friendship with Ranma is affected by all of this, and the introduction of her consolation prize: P-chan.

I've been looking forward to writing this chapter since the very beginning nearly four years ago! It might have minor sections re-written later on. But hey, here we finally have it- the big reveal! And with poor, innocent, naive Ryoga believing that Ranma's actually a girl (for a chapter or two), how will this change everything going forward? Will he exact his revenge or will his honor prevent him from following through? Will Ranma chicken out of attending school as a girl? Will Akane ever forgive her for the haircut? And as some students may be wondering, will Ranma try out for the school's martial arts rhythmic gymastics team?

The answers to these questions...

will be answered...

Right now!

In quite a lot of ways, he'll damn well try, no, yes, and probably not.

As always, thanks for reading!