Temporary Note

I just wanted to say that I made a few changes, but the only one worth checking is the preface, since I changed it entirely.

Chapter 3

Ranma sighed contentedly after she settled into the furo and allowed the hot water to carry away her concerns for a little while. Having access to a hot, relaxing bath every day was certainly going to be a plus to sticking around. She didn't really have anything against cold water sources that could be found out in the wild, between being accustomed to them and their potential for having a nice atmosphere and/or scenery: she simply preferred the bathing equivalent to sleeping in a warm and cozy place.

She couldn't allow herself to become too relaxed, though, or she would lose control over her form and change back into a guy. While she was still tempted to let the hot water trigger her curse, she remained steadfast in her decision to live as a girl, especially now that her father was suddenly trying to marry her off after what had happened in China. Besides, it might make things awkward with the three sisters if they saw her as a guy, rather than simply knowing that she had once been one. Plus, if they saw how awesome her birth form looked, they might end up working against her efforts to avoid getting married, which was not something that she wanted to deal with.

Being a girl wasn't so bad, though. By now she had gotten used to many of the differences in her new body, and some of those things were even welcome. In fact, since she wasn't quite human, spirit or cat, it just so happened that she wouldn't have to endure menstruation like every other human female. Instead, there was a notable increase in libido, a heightened sense of smell and taste, and an increased interest in sex around the time of ovulation. It was, for all intents and purposes, a much milder form of estrus.

Experiencing it was still a little disquieting, but it was manageable, and was partly responsible for how well she was adjusting to her new body. She still wasn't sure how she should feel about being the sex that bore the young, and what that process entailed, but she was relieved that her sexual orientation hadn't been flipped like a switch. While she hadn't been interested enough to seek out a relationship with anyone before being cursed, due — in large part — to her dedication to the martial arts, she had nonetheless found her interest drawn to girls. She didn't like the idea of that changing before she had a chance of coming to terms with being female, even though she wasn't sure whether her orientation would ever change.

Her ego had helped her to cope with being a girl as well, even before she had decided to remain as one. After all, if she was going to be a girl for any length of time, she might as well be healthy, strong and beautiful. Being healthy and strong was a relief because they were important to her as a martial artist, in addition to being a source of pride, but she viewed her beauty with an odd sense of satisfaction. She appreciated her appearance as a man would, true, but that and her vanity had nonetheless engendered a desire to take care of it — and even show it off — rather than see it go to waste.

She was rather lucky, all things considered: she was a better martial artist, to the extent that she could now defeat her father consistently and soundly; her ailurophobia wasn't so bad anymore, and promised to be even less of a problem in the future with more effort; she had a female body that she could like and accept, and it seemed like an ideal way of avoiding a marriage that she was neither interested in or ready for; her luck and good fortune had increased significantly, especially when compared to how little she'd had until becoming cursed; and, finally, she had more control over her life than many would deem fair.

It wasn't a surprise, however, considering the nature of her new self. It wasn't clear as to why, but her spirit had adopted the form of a maneki-neko while she was under the effects of the neko-ken, which her father had once witnessed when it had manifested in her battle aura. None of the Joketsuzoku could explain this development, because maneki-neko were fairly new to the world — as such things went — and were next to unheard of in their village. In fact, those who knew about the maneki-neko had believed that it was more likely for them to be good luck charms without basis than founded upon a real entity.

However, even though there weren't any known accounts of neko-ken practitioners who had experienced a similar outcome with their "training," there was much that a human spirit — and spirits in general — could be capable of. Add magic to the equation, and there was no telling where the limits of possibility might end. After telling some of the Joketsuzoku — who were intrigued about her situation and wished to understand it — about her thoughts and feelings, where the maneki-neko was concerned, a theory was posed: her spirit had conformed to that of a maneki-neko — instead of a normal cat — because the statues were so common and were neither feared nor avoided, which past practitioners of the neko-ken had not been able to experience. It didn't matter that the cat was fake, so long as it was identified as being one. The maneki-neko's nature could have also helped, because it separated them from normal cats.

When all was said and done, she was special, and she kind of liked that about her situation as well. Not only did she stand out as a martial artist, and as a beautiful girl, but she might also be a one-of-a-kind being. She wasn't sure how the last two things would affect her future, but it wasn't like many people knew much about their future anyway, aside from the plans with which they hoped to achieve their goals. Hopefully, as far as her current circumstances were concerned, she'd have a nice home for a while and manage to get out of the arranged marriage.

Realizing that she had lost track of time while her thoughts had drifted, she supposed that she had spent enough of said time soaking in the furo. So, it was with a sigh of disappointment that she opted to end her soaking session instead of making up for her distraction and risk imposing herself as a guest. After all, even though she looked like a girl, the three sisters were aware that she hadn't always been one and may feel the need to wait until she was done in the furoba. Akane seemed to be the most likely to be inconvenienced, and had something against guys on top of that, so...

As if her thoughts had summoned the other girl, she was surprised when the door between the changing room and furoba was opened by her while she was in the middle of climbing out of the furo. She wasn't so much surprised that she hadn't noticed the other girl making noises in the adjoining room, since her mind had been elsewhere, but that a certain, entirely different sense hadn't alerted her about this misfortunate situation. At least, she was pretty sure that this development could only end badly.

They both paused to stare at each other, though it wasn't long before Akane's eyes drifted downward to take in her body, which was posed in such a way that there was no hiding the fact that she was a girl. Her gaze lingered for a few, quiet seconds, then she slid the door shut between them, her face still an unreadable mask, her towel stiffly held against her chest, and her movements mechanical in nature. After a moment of hearing neither movement or voice from the other girl, she began to become concerned, but was ultimately at a loss for what to do.

On the other side of the door, Akane stared at it blankly as she wrestled with her thoughts. She'd clearly seen a girl's body, but she knew that the owner of said body had once been a boy. Well, she only had their word on that, but still: a familiar rise of anger began to gnaw at her in the background of her thoughts. It didn't gain any real traction, however, because the image of the "boy" in her mind didn't match the profile for what she usually reserved such anger for.

She couldn't very well complain about it either, because her argument against marrying a girl would be undermined if she recognized Ranma as a boy, whether said boy was a pervert or not. She also recalled the conviction that she had made earlier: to make sure that Ranma wasn't a perverted boy in disguise, or otherwise remain one if that happened to be the case.

Besides, if teaching a "tomboy" how to behave like a proper girl didn't validate her own femininity to the majority of her peers, who mostly knew her for her morning fights and sports-related accomplishments, then she feared that nothing else would. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that she had been cursed in some way, to prevent her from expressing how feminine she wished to be. It was a silly thought, of course... Even though there was an actual catgirl on the other side of the door.

Upon remembering the current situation, she focused her mind on the present and pushed aside her personal grievances, as well as any thoughts about being cursed. She knew that she couldn't mess things up where Ranma was concerned, so long as she wished to avoid being married — which she did — and get along with the other girl while she was around. So, she gripped her towel with determination, slid the door open, and stepped into the furoba.

A step was all she took, because Ranma was standing no more than two steps ahead, who had her towel wrapped around her torso and an uneasy smile on her face. She noticed when her cat ears folded down, but didn't know that it was being caused by the hard look on her face, which was being mistaken for anger. Regardless of the reason for it, that, the smile and the somewhat awkward way in which she stood gave her the impression of vulnerability, which inspired more doubt to be cast on the suspicions that she held about the former boy's motives.

After they regarded each other in silence for a few seconds, Akane finally sighed and decided to give Ranma the benefit of the doubt. Then, it was with some embarrassment that she said, "Um... Sorry. It's just, you know..."

"No, it's okay," Ranma was quick to reply, whose relief was quite evident. "I understand. It wasn't easy for me to bathe with the opposite sex at first, either."

Akane's brow furrowed as she wondered whether or not she had heard that right. "Come again?"

"When I decided to live like this," Ranma began to explain, who — in an effort to improve her relationship with the other girl — decided to open up a little, "I was staying at a female-only village at the time. One of their suggestions, for the sake of helping me adapt, was to bathe with the other girls." She snorted in annoyance, as she recalled that time, and added, "Of course, I wasn't really given a choice... And they had a good laugh at my expense."

That brought up quite a few questions, but Akane decided to focus on the one that made the least amount of sense to her... And riled up the part of her that distrusted boys, in a way that had become fairly reflexive as of late. "So, how does that make you understand how I feel?" As a means of explanation, she sardonically added, "I mean, that must have been a dream come true for you."

Ranma looked at her oddly, and with some confusion. "What are you talking about? It was horrible!" She was quite piqued, and her tail began to twitch in agitation. "I was so mortified. I tried not to look at any of them, or touch them, but they made it next to impossible and they teased me about it mercilessly. I was a wreck by the time they were done with me the first time."

Akane stared at her in disbelief, which prompted her to add, "It's true!" Disgruntled over how she was being treated, she frowned and crossed her arms. "I don't know what you have against guys, but you're not even giving me a chance."

Realizing the truth of those words, Akane relented with a sigh. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just..." She trailed off, trying to find the right words to say to a virtual stranger who just happened to have once been a boy. In the end, she could only think of one, which she said in a way that expressed the lameness of using it under the circumstances. "...Complicated."

Ranma relaxed and uncrossed her arms, but her response was still a little defensive. "Well, it's complicated for me too, you know. So much has changed for me lately, and I'm still trying to get the hang of being a girl on top of everything else."

After a moment's consideration, Akane finally said, "...Alright, I'll give you a chance. But," she gave Ranma a look of warning, "don't think that I won't be keeping an eye on you."

"Fine, fine," Ranma conceded, with a put-upon expression on her face. "I won't. So," she stepped aside, and showed her intent to leave the room once Akane moved, "I guess I'll be on my way."

Akane was about to allow her to do just that, but she hesitated when a thought suddenly occurred to her. It was inspired by a bit of conscience, for losing her way so easily, and the realization that she would be working against herself if she continued to be too antagonistic. After all, if she wished to avoid getting married, or living with a perverted boy in disguise, then she needed Ranma to be a girl. To facilitate that end, it would be better for her to play a more progressive role in the matter.

Despite her rationalization and determination, however, she still felt plenty of reservation for what she was about to say. "Well, you're welcome to stay... If you don't mind washing my back?"

Ranma regarded her with an incredulous look, wondering if it was some kind of trick. "You serious?"

"I just want things to work out between us, alright?" Akane huffed defensively.

After thinking about it for a second, Ranma decided to accept the olive branch that was being offered to her at face value. "Well, if you're sure..."

When Akane nodded her head in reply, it was with some awkwardness that they both prepared to start the aforementioned task. For Akane, it was because she couldn't completely shake the idea that she would be tended to by a former boy; for Ranma, who'd had plenty of practice washing the backs of other girls at the Joketsuzoku's village, it was due to caution and not wanting to set off her touchy companion.

It wasn't long after Akane and Ranma had finished their business in the furoba that Soun called for a meeting in the living room. When they got there, everyone else was already present at the table, including Ranma's father. While none of the Tendo sisters had seen the man before, they were fairly certain about his identity, although only Nabiki suspected that they had first seen him as a panda.

While Akane sat with her sisters on one side of the table, opposite of their "new" guest, Ranma sat across from Soun instead of sitting on the same side as her father. Said father gave his "son" a dirty look for choosing to sit elsewhere, but didn't say anything because they had already exhausted words between each other, since that was all that he'd had left once he could no longer enforce his will through force with much in the way of success. After weeks of verbal sparring, he had eventually come to the conclusion that he was never going to get anywhere with it.

After clearing his throat, Soun gestured toward Genma and said, "Girls, this is my dear, old friend..."

"Saotome Genma," said man introduced himself.

Soun proceeded to gesture across the table as he said, "And this is his so—"

"Daughter," Ranma helpfully interjected.

Not wanting to raise any conflict before the heart of the matter could be seen to, Soun decided to rephrase his introduction and try again. "And this is his, er, child."

"Saotome Ranma," the one in question casually supplied. "We've met."

Genma glared at her with annoyance. "Don't be so disrespectful, boy!"

Ranma made a show of shrugging her shoulders helplessly. "Hey, I'm just saying it like it is."

"Now, now," Soun interrupted, with a somewhat strained expression on his face, before the situation could escalate. "With introductions out of the way, Saotome can explain the situation to you girls."

At those words, Genma pulled out a pail of cold water and a kettle of hot water from behind him, then turned to Soun's daughters and said, "Now, I'm sure that my son has claimed that he is a girl, but — in reality — he only appears to be one."

While Ranma regarded her father with a bored expression on her face, Nabiki simply said, "Yeah, we know."

That brought Genma up short. "...You do?"

"I would want to stay a catgirl, too," Kasumi claimed, as if that explained the reason for why Ranma wished to remain as she was, which inspired a drop of sweat to appear on the heads of everyone save herself.

After taking a second to regroup himself mentally, Genma pushed his spectacles upward and said, "Well, no matter. The fact remains: if not for the special circumstances, my son would like his curse no more than I do." He looked up, closed his eyes, and placed the back of his hand against his forehead in a melodramatic fashion. "But, alas, for he was brainwashed by a village of women into thinking that it would be a good idea to use what control he had over his curse to become one of them."

"I wasn't brainwashed," Ranma muttered, rather than argue the point, because she had become tired of hearing her father's reasoning on the matter long before then.

"Curse?" Akane spoke up, as Nabiki leaned forward in interest.

"Didn't mention that, did he?" Genma remarked, with an air of achievement, which made Ranma grit her teeth in aggravation. "Well, while we were training in China, we came upon a certain training ground, called Jusenkyo. There are many springs there, and whoever falls into one is given the form of whatever drowned in it last. In effect, whenever they are dowsed with cold water," he took the pail of water and promptly dumped it over his head, and received the response that he had desired from his friend's daughters when he turned into a panda: that of surprise. After a short pause, for effect, he dumped the contents of the kettle over his head. "And hot water reverses the effect."

Even though he had already heard that from Genma earlier, Soun pretended to be disturbed and spoke up in order to collaborate with his friend. "The true horror of Jusenkyo has always been shrouded in mystery, but now..."

Genma's description — and accompanying demonstration — didn't match with Akane's experience, since she had seen Ranma getting out of hot water as a girl, but she wasn't about to let anyone know — if they didn't know already — that she had been with Ranma while naked, and that she had even gone so far as to let her wash her back. Since she couldn't contradict Genma without bringing unwanted attention to herself, and risking her time spent with Ranma in the furoba coming to light, she decided to remain silent.

"So," Nabiki said, who was intrigued by the nature of the curse, nevermind the fact that magic had just been proven to be real, "if Ranma is exposed to hot water, she'll turn into a guy... Except that she has some kind of control over the curse?"

Genma folded his arms over his chest, nodded his head gravely, and did no more than that, knowing that the explanation for his son's control wouldn't help him one bit. In his head, he began to repeat the same prayer over and over, like a mantra, hoping that no one would ask the obvious question.

"How?" Nabiki followed up with the aforementioned obvious question.

Genma cursed to himself, and began to sweat.

"Yeah, pop," Ranma goaded, who smirked at the position that her father had put himself in; not that she was the least bit surprised. "How come I can control my curse and you can't?"

Between the expectant looks coming from Soun's daughters, and being pushed into a corner by Ranma, Genma became desparate and acted without thought, because old habits died hard. He moved so fast that only Akane and Soun had seen him bounding over the table, toward Ranma. However, even they hadn't been able to see the girl's reaction, which had knocked him out of the house and head-first into the stone ring that surrounded the koi pond, which he fell into shortly thereafter.

For Kasumi and Nabiki, there was a brief sign of movement from Genma before he simply disappeared, and then they had felt an errant gust of wind a split second before they heard something crash in the garden. And if that wasn't strange enough for them, what had once been Genma's dōgi was now nothing more than confetti, and had been scattered across the room.

While Akane and Soun stared at Ranma in open-mouthed shock, Nabiki said, "Um... What just happened?"

"Sorry 'bout that," Ranma apologized, with a touch of embarrassment, since the speed required to respond to her father's threat hadn't given her much time for thought and finesse. She'd have to see about fixing up the koi pond later. "Pop sometimes forgets that he can't beat me in a straight fight anymore."

"...That was a fight?" Nabiki replied with evident disbelief.

When Akane had recovered enough to speak, she breathlessly said, "I couldn't even see you move."

After checking to make sure that his panda of a friend wouldn't drown, whose bulk kept his head propped up on a spot of ground where a stone used to be set, Soun turned back around in his seat so he could address Ranma. "I haven't 'seen' such speed since..." He shuddered, and opted to not finish that sentence.

Ranma smiled a bit in response to their reaction, since impressing others was one way of confirming how good she was, but she quickly turned somber. "Well, that speed is related to the question that pop didn't want to answer..."

She proceeded to tell them about the neko-ken, how it was "learned," and what it had to do with the control that she had over her curse. Akane and Nabiki were properly appalled by her father's actions, and even Soun was perturbed by what his friend had done, which sounded like something that had been taken from a page of their late master's training manual. While Kasumi certainly found the neko-ken training to be horrible, it was not without mixed emotions: because she wouldn't have encountered a catgirl — or, more importantly, known that it was possible to become one — if said training had never happened.

"Anyway," she eventually continued, after giving everyone enough time to digest what she had just said, and because she wanted to get back on topic, "I didn't like the idea of switching back and forth at the whim of the water temperature, and after a while I was finally convinced that it would be better to stay like this. So, even if I were interested in getting married, I don't think that girls are allowed to marry other girls. Well, as far as I know..."

Now that the conversation had returned to a familiar subject for Soun, and one which he took seriously, his face hardened as he said, "Ranma, this is a matter of honor. You can still become a man, and thus uphold your duty."

Before Ranma could argue with him, Nabiki silenced her with a hand gesture so she could address her father instead. "Before we get into that, you never did explain to us how marrying Ranma would help us 'carry on' the dojo and secure our family legacy. After all, aside from Akane — and you, on occasion — using the dojo, all you do is rent it out every now and again, for things that have nothing to do with martial arts. Why the sudden interest in it now?"

"Well..." Soun shifted in his seat, as he caught and held down a plot hole that tried to escape from him.

Nabiki was far from done with him. "It's not like you taught any of us the family art, aside from what little you taught Akane. So, does Ranma — a Saotome — know our family style?"

Soun began to sweat a little: not just because of Nabiki's line of questioning, but having to hold down yet another plot hole as it tried to squirm free. "The Saotome style might specialize in different areas, but it's founded on the same principles, so..."

"You'd still have to teach him?" She finished for him, and had no trouble exposing the weakness in his argument. "Whatever stopped you from teaching one of your daughters, then?"

Soun began to sweat even more and didn't answer, knowing that they — especially Akane — would react badly to it. And being hated by his daughters was the worst!

Nabiki had a good idea of what his answer would have been, but didn't want to bring it up and get derailed by Akane. Instead, she leaned on the table with her folded arms and prepared to insert the final nail into her father's coffin. "Finally, is there anything to gain from producing a child with this union, that can't be accomplished with adoption?"

Now Soun really began to struggle, as a third plot hole appeared and tried to escape from under his weight. "That's, um... Well..."

Nabiki smiled toothily, not unlike that of a shark, as she went in for the kill. "Basically, there isn't any practical benefit or logical justification for this arrangement. If I didn't know any better," she paused for effect, to make her father sweat a little more before she set Akane against him, "I'd think that the marriage is being used as an excuse, in order to hide the truth from us: you're just too old-fashioned to allow a female to inherit and run the dojo."

Akane's outrage was immediate, who leapt to her feet, glared at her father and screamed, "What!? Is that true!?"

Soun shrank before Akane's ire, which was made even more evident by her fiery aura. He began to cry, and lamented about how he was being hated by his daughter, which only became worse when he caught sight of Kasumi's disapproving frown.

The plot holes were completely forgotten as Akane tore into her father. They escaped into the garden, where they congregated upon Genma's prone form and left poop of an indeterminable nature before being rounded up by the Great Will of the Macrocosm.

While her father and sister were otherwise engaged, Nabiki got Ranma's attention, gave her a thumb's up, and told her, "He'll be nice and pliant when this is over."

Ranma nodded her head somewhat absently, fairly impressed by the other girl's work, but nonetheless distracted by the spectacle of a grown man who was groveling at his daughter's feet and begging her for forgiveness. His behavior was rather unsightly, but at least something good would come out of it.

When Akane finally settled down, she returned to her seat in a huff and gave her father one last dirty look before she turned her head away from him. Said father whimpered and looked utterly defeated.

"Now, father," Nabiki said in a soothing manner, pretending to be sympathetic to his plight, "we know how much this means to you, so we've decided on a compromise."

Soun perked up and looked quite hopeful. "A compromise, you say?"

Nabiki nodded her head and indicated Ranma with a gesture of her hand. "We're going to adopt Ranma into our family... As a pet."

Soun opened his mouth to speak, closed it, then tried again. "As a... p-pet?"

"Don't worry," Kasumi tried to assure him, who had gotten the wrong impression about his reaction, "I'm sure that Ranma has been properly house-trained." When she saw everyone fall over, she placed a hand to her cheek and worriedly added, "Oh my; am I wrong?"

About adoption in Japan: It's not unusual for the Japanese to adopt an heir outside of their family if they lack a suitable one, or one entirely, and this practice has been done for quite a few centuries. This is why — in recent times — most adoptions in Japan overwhelmingly pertain to adult males, rather than children and females in general.