Azusa-chan
mimzy@ix.netcom.com
http://oocities.com/Tokyo/Island/8158/
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction =)

Ranma 1/2 is the property of the wonderful Rumiko Takahashi. All rights reserved.

*****Atashi wa Ranko*****
Part one:
I'm a girl!

I open my eyes. I blink once, twice, eyes adjusting to the afternoon sun. Cherry blossoms dance on the breeze right outside in the yard. Where am I? I'm looking up at circle of faces that I don't recognize. There are three girls and two men. I sit up, looking at each of them in turn. I memorize their every feature, so familiar and so strange.

The first of the girls has blue hair, darker than the rest. It's also cut much shorter. She has a look on her face somewhere between panic and disgust. The second has medium length brown hair. She has her hands on her hips, lips pursed, and a hunting look in her eyes. The third girl has long brown hair. She looks down at me with a look of maternal concern. She wears a white apron.

One of the men has a cloth wrapped on his head. I feel a wave of sympathy, as I assumed it hides a lack of hair. He is slightly overweight, like a man who eats a little more than his fair share. He wears a dirty gi and looks at me with bitter disgust. The second man has long dark hair. He is very skinny. He looks a little confused, as if he isn't sure how he should be feeling.

They look worried. I am worried for myself, being surrounded by people that I fear may kick me at any moment.

"Are you...okay?" asks the girl with short blue hair. "I guess I shouldn't have hit you so hard. I'm..s..sorry." She seems to have a little trouble saying that. Embarrassed? I'm a little confused.

"Who are you?" I ask. My voice is soft, but not from weakness. If I were vain, I would say it sounds like an angels voice. But the blue haired girl doesn't seem so impressed.

The girl glares down at me. "You know damn well who I am! You don't have to act like a jerk just because I hit you! And what the hell is with that stupid voice of yours?" She looks like a pissed off cat. A feel a wave of terror. Cats scare me, but this girl scares me even more.

"What ever do you mean?" I ask. I don't know why she is acting this way. I'm trying so hard to be polite! I wish she would be nicer to me. It makes me sad to think of her as angry, for some reason. "Can't we sort all this out in a civilized, womanly way?"

The girl's eyes fill with tears suddenly. Moody. "Oh. Oh! No! Not again!" She grabs a pot that I suspect has already been used to hit someone today, as it has numerous cracks in it. A metal pot! Shouldn't metal pots dent...? I don't have time to contemplate this train of thought, as she raises the pot in question over her head.

"Sorry about this, but I have to hit you to get you to be normal again!" she says. I think she honestly means it. But that pot looks hard and I didn't want to mess up my hair.

"No! Please don't hit me! I'm against violence! It's unfeminine!" I'm panicing. I try to calm myself, but I don't know how. I try to back away, but the two men come around behind me and grab my arms. I try twisting to get away, but their grip is like the iron fear piercing my heart.

"I'm sorry about this, Ranma 'm boy." It doesn't much sound like he means it. How rude...I start. Boy?!

"What do you mean, boy? I'm a *girl*!"

"Okay! Hit him now!" said the man with the long hair. I look up at the girl. There is little emotion in her eyes. It is because she is concentraiting; looking forward but seeing nothing. She adjusts her grip on the pot. I gulp. I see the pot decend towards my cranium. The blackness of the pot matches the blackness I see seconds later. The blackness is all there is...

***

I wake up. I am lying on my stomach, and there is a warm, damp cloth on my head. I still don't understand why that girl hit me, but she is certainly violent! I'll have to keep out of her way. She's liable to hit me for no reason.

I hear the sound of civilized aruging. Well, one member of the aruging is civilized. The other is the violent girl. "But onee-chan! Why do *I* have to watch over him?" the violent girl says in a hissing whisper.

"Because you are the one that hurt him. And I have cooking to do. I'm sorry," the other girl says. Her voice is soft, prettier than mine, but in a different way. She has the voice of the perfect mother, soft and kind. I suspect it is the girl that I had seen earlier wearing the apron. "Don't worry. He should wake up any moment."

I hear a sigh. "Alright," growled the violent girl. "I'll watch him." "Thank you!" I hear a door open and close. Oh dear, I'm alone with...her... I roll over and try pushing myself into a sitting position. The second I move, I realize that she must have hit me even harder than I had first thought. I have a blistering headache. I collapse back down on the futon. The washcloth falls on the floor with an uncerimonious splat, my head falling with a similar thud. The girl dashes to my side, on her knees.

"R...Ranma! Are you okay?" The look in her eyes is one of genuine worry. That doesn't make sense to me. After all, *she's* the one who put me here. I attempt once again to sit up, much slower this time. "No," I say bluntly. I know, I know. Unladylike, but it is the true.

"You...You're back to normal again, aren't you?" The girl looks almost hopeful. I (almost) regret thinking of her as a violent girl. It was mean of me.

"What do you mean by normal?" I ask. "You hurt me bad, I think I may need medical attention." I put my hand to the top of my head. A bump with several scrapes and one minor gash. The feeling makes me woozy, the thought of blood and broken skin making me nautious.

She looks angry again, like a cat spitting and hissing. This girl is scary!! "What's with that whole soft voice?! Are you just trying to piss me off and make me feel even more guilty!? I mean...Uh...I..."

"What is your name?" I ask. Maybe if I distract her, she won't hit me again. "What's my name for that matter?"

"Ranma..." She turns her head away, her eyes filling with tears. "You've forgotten. I can't fix you like the last time." Fix me?! What am I, a househole appliance? And how does one get fixed by being hit?

"Di...Disorderly horse?" I feel my eyes fill with tears. I try to hold them back, but a big tear begins to roll down my cheek, taking the fatal drop to the floor, leaving a wet circle on my pant leg. Pants...Yuck. I want a dress. "I can't stand it!! Who would name a girl disorderly horse? Please," I grab onto her shoulders, trying to convey my urgency and fear into her, make her understand. "Tell me it isn't my real name!"

The girl looks over at me, sad. I think she honestly feels my pain. She sniffles, trying not to cry. It's like she's never seen a real girl before. "Yes," she says, her voice cracking slightly. My tears flow faster now. "But...I could call you...Ranko if you like?" she says, sounding pained.

I pull her into a tight hug. "Hai! Arigatou..." I pull back and blush. I still didn't know her name. And...I feel kind of funny around her. "What is your name?"

"Akane," the girl says. "I'm...Akane." Scarlet. Cute name, and fitting. "And I'm sorry for hitting you, Ran...Ranko." The look in her eyes makes me want to hug her again. I'm...attracted to her. That scares me.

"That's all right, Akane-san. I forgive you." I put my hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her. "I forgive you. Just please don't be sad. Uh..." I'm embarrassed. "Are these boyish clothes all I have to wear?" She looks even sadder now. I would kill to take the sadness out of her eyes...Waitaminute! I can't be feeling this way for another girl!! And I could never kill anyone. But still...

"I'll get you something to wear," Akane says softly. I can't figure out why she seems so sad. She feels guilty, sure, but there seems to be more. Oh well, she will tell me in due time if she wants. I hope she will. I suddenly don't want her to leave.

***

Later that day, I was in a cute, yellow summer dress that Akane let me wear. I thank Akane for letting me borrow such a pretty dress, and she winces, almost to the point of a facefault. I wonder why? We are in the livingroom, and I am admiring my borrowed outfit. I like the way it looks. The girl with short brown hair bit down on a laugh. She seems to be enjoying herself immensly, at someones expense. I worry that it may be mine.

"This is Nabiki," Akane says, gesturing to the smiling girl.

"Nice to meet you, Ranko," Nabiki says. She has a devious grin on her face. I wonder how she got a name meaning 'waving, fluttering.'

We walk into the kitchen. "This is Kasumi," Akane says, gesturing to the maternal girl. She smiled, then returned to cooking. "Is dinner almost ready, onee-chan?" Akane asks.

"Yes, Akane," she says. She smiles, and she has a pleasntly vancant look. Like her name, mist.

We sit down at the table. Kasumi serves us dinner, not allowing me to help. Saying I was a guest. The introductions continued, and ended, here. "This is my father, Tendou Souun," Akane says, gesturing to the man with the long tresses. His eyes flicker back and forth between me and Akane. I wonder what's wrong. "And that is your father, Saotome Genma." Dark horse. He must have been the one that named me.

"Kasumi," my father calls. "Could you get me some hot water?"

"Certinly, oji-sama," she responds from the kitchen. She returns, carrying a teapot full of steaming water. Otou-san stands and positions the water over me.

"Wha...?"

"Don't traumatize hi...her!" Akane yells, swatting away the tea kettle and splashing my father with her water. Why did she stumble over the 'her'? It sounded almost like she were about to say him, but...No, she wasn't insane. "You *do* remember what happened *last* time, don't you?"

I ask Akane about school. The prospect frightened her. She opens and closes her mouth several times before Kasumi intervenes. "Akane, Ranko-san can go to school with you. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

Akane looks momentarily downcast. I want to ask her what is wrong, but she doesn't look like she wants her thoughts interupted.

I wasn't sure what was going on.

***

The next day, Akane wakes me up by stepping on me. "Oh! I'm sorry...Ranko. I forgot you were there." She winces, as though putting her foot down hurt, or she has a sour taste in her mouth. The look disappears from her face as she shakes her head. "C'mon," she says, tone flat. "We gotta get ready for school."

Breakfast goes by in a whirl. I'm uncomfortable living here. Everyone carries on like they're used to me, and I hardly know their names. I barely have enough time to eat before Akane pulls me up rudely. She seems to try to distance herself, to anger me. I make a point to be patient and kind. Immature as it sounds, I find it funny when she gets angry.

She seems to insist on running to school. I don't want to run. The school uniform she let me borrow is too tight in the chest and too loose in the waist. Of course, I know better than to say so. "A...Akane," I gasp. "Please! Can we slow down?" We have been running for about ten minutes and I am beyond winded.

"Sorry, Ranko," she mumbles.

We walk slowly the rest of the way. Akane nervously passes her bag back and forth between her left hand and her right hand. She looks anywhere but me. It's annoying.

At the school entrance, I am greeted by laughter.

"Hey, Ranma!"

"What they hell are ya doin' in girls clothes?"

"I always knew he was a crossdresser."

"Eww!"

I blush. Well, of course I'm wearing girls clothing. "But, I *am* a girl," I say softly. I didn't think my voice was loud enough to carry, but silence fell, heavy and dense, as soon as the words escaped my lips.

A boy with short, curly brown hair walks up to me. "Buddy. We need to talk."

We are followed by a boy with dark hair. We round a corner and we are all three silent for a moment. Akane was apparently being kept busy by a bustling crowd of gossips wanting the scoop from a reliable source. "Look, Ranma," the dark haired boy says. "I admire your...female form...but what the hell is with you?"

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about," I say. Akane runs around the corner.

"Hiroshi...Daisuke..." Akane takes a breath. "Ranma...He isn't quite himself lately..."

Before she can say whatever she was going to say, which I am really curious about as she called me he, we are rudly interupted.

"Osage no onna! Akane-kun! I, Kunou Tatewaki, shall forever be your love!!" A very weird kendoist runs up to us, glomping onto both me and Akane. We both kick him in the stomach at exactly the same time. I don't know where that came from. But I'm glad I did kick him, because Akane is smiling at me and we are laughing.

Akane stayed with me the rest of the school day. She almost literally chases away anyone who tries to get near me. I ask her why, but she said it was for the better I didn't know. I take her word for it. I trust her.

***

When we get home from school, I suggest that we go out and get something sweet to eat. My treat. She agrees.

The walk to the ice cream shop is filled with an uncomfortable silence. Akane seems to be in thought, and I am trying to figure out how to address my growing feelings for her. I mean, we're both girls. And the boys at school bothered me. Especially that...Kunou guy.

We talk over parfait. "Akane, why are you so sad? I don't know why, but when I think of you, sad doesn't seem to fit in right. Is something wrong?" I look up at her. She is sitting across from me. The spoonful of ice cream that she is about to eat never makes it to her mouth.

Akane looks up at me. She seems like she is about to say something, then she just looks back down at her ice cream and mumbles a brief 'no.'

"If there is any way I can help, just let me know, ok? We're friends, right?" I smile reassuringly at her. But Akane reacts oddly to this. She gets up without finishing her ice cream, running from the restaurant. "Akane..."

Authors Notes:
This may not be as fun to read for those of you who read it a few months ago because you know how its gunna turn out. I mean, I hope everyone enjoys it, but all I did really was fill it out like everyone suggested. It felt great to go back and reedit this. I feel so much better about this story! It was always one of my favourites. ^_^

Take me home!
Take me back to the fanfic menu!

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page